Nursing Theory Of Ramona T. Mercer Maternal Role Attainment

Nursing Theory of Ramona T. Mercer: Maternal Role Attainment - Becoming a Mother The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the role of the labor and delivery nurse to the â€Å"maternal role attainment - becoming a mother† model. The model (MRA) was proposed by nursing theorist Ramona T. Mercer in 1991 to guide nurses in implementing the nursing process while providing care to the non-traditional mother. Revised in 1995 to â€Å"Becoming a Mother†, this model soon proved useful for nurses to access, concentrate on, and attend to the needs of all new mothers. New mothers experience various stressors such as an ill infant, their own health, financial strains, and postpartum depression. This model is evidenced- based and incorporates the four global nursing concepts into it. The importance of this model is the provisions it makes for mother-infant bonding that affects the health and development of individuals and families throughout the lifespan (Role Attainment, 2005). For the professional nurse in labor and delivery, the m odel has significant use aiding the impact that labor and delivery nurses have on new mothers perceiving and attaining their maternal role. Personal Background of Ramona T. Mercer Mercer born October 4, 1929, obtained her nursing degree at the young age of 21 from St. Margaret’s School of Nursing in Montgomery, Alabama. Mercer spent her first 10 years as a nurse working in pediatrics and obstetrics. Following this, she obtained herShow MoreRelatedThe s Nursing Theory : Maternal Role Attainment1321 Words   |  6 PagesRamona T. Mercer’s Nursing Theory: Maternal Role Attainment Tiffany A. Walter Benedictine University Ramona T. Mercer’s Nursing Theory: Maternal Role Attainment Ramona Mercer is a well-known nursing theorist who specializes in nursing of the mother and child. Ramona Mercer developed a theory that helps a mother bond with her child/children. This theory is called the Maternal Role Attainment Theory. Bonding between a mother and her child is very important in the development andRead MoreMaternal Role : Becoming A Mother1743 Words   |  7 PagesMaternal Role Attainment- Becoming a Mother: Ramona T. Mercer Ramona T. Mercer has been an influential theorist; whose middle range theory has been implemented in nursing more focused on maternity and child. (Masters, 2015 p.284) Keeping in mind that this is a middle range theory it maintains the variables to a minimum and its application to the real world allows its concept to be tested. This theory emphasizes on the interaction and evolving process of a mother and her new infant and the role theyRead MoreBonding : Maternal Infant Attachment And The Maternal Role Attainment Theory1707 Words   |  7 Pagesblock of a theory. Concepts are necessary components of a phenomenon, which are used to comprehend and be synthesized into a theory or paradigm. (McEwen, M. Wills, E.M.) According to McEwen Wills concept exploration, concept clarification, and concept analysis are three strategies described by Meleis in 2012. These are used in nursing theory, research and practice to develop conceptual meanings. (McEwen, M. Wills, E.M.) This concept exploration paper will focus on Bonding: maternal-infantRead MoreThe Science Of Nursing, Nurses, Doctors, And Nurses2053 Words   |  9 Pages  Ã‚   Nursing theories are a standardized and systemic delivery of a set of claims that are related to various questions in the discipline of nursing, and they are used to explain phenomenon in the field. The science of nursing is focused around the notions of person, health, environment, and nursing.   Theories serve to guide nurses through the steps of assessment, interventions, and evaluation of nursing care. Ramona T. Mercer’s Maternal Role Attainment Theory (MRA), is a Mid-Range Nursing theoryRead MoreHistorical Development of Nursing Essay4338 Words   |  18 PagesHistorical Development of Nursing Timeline Create a 700- to 1,050-word timeline paper of the historical development of nursing science, starting with Florence Nightingale and continuing to the present. Format the timeline however you wish, but the word count and assignment requirements must be met. Include the following in your timeline: †¢ Explain the historical development of nursing science by citing specific years, theories, theorists, and events in the history of nursing. †¢ Explain the relationship

Cyber Bullying And Its Effects - 1411 Words

Studies indicate that cyber-bullying incidents have quadrupled in past five years (Ross). Cyber-bullying has become a huge issue recently. Every time you turn on the news there is another bullying, or a suicide related to bullying, incident being reported. â€Å"Love is louder† has been a common phrase among celebrities and influential figures lately. They are trying to send out a message to their followers saying that bullying is not right and should not be tolerated. The expansion of communication technologies is widening the way bully’s can torture their victims. The fact of the matter is, technology is not going anywhere, so we need to figure out a way to put an end to cyber-bullies. Cyber-bullying is becoming a major problem and we all†¦show more content†¦Anything sent out into cyberspace is very difficult, sometimes impossible, to remove. Therefore, being cyber-bullied can sometimes be much more severe than traditional bullying. Ann Frisen in the article , â€Å"Cyber-bullying: A Growing Problem† states, â€Å"This type of bullying can be more serious than conventional bullying. At least with conventional bullying the victim is left alone on evenings and weekends† (ScienceDaily). What exactly is ‘cyber-bulling’? The author of the article, â€Å"What is Cyberbullying: Bullying Comes Home† explains it as, â€Å"any harassment that occurs via the Internet† (Hardcastle). Cyber-bulling messages can be communicated through text, e-mails, instant messaging, web pages, blogs, chat rooms, or any other information communication technologies. For example, Michigan’s assistant attorney general, who is a grown adult, has been harassing the University of Michigan’s openly gay student body president. Andrew Shirvell, assistant Michigan attorney general, created a blog in April of 2010 targeting Chris Armstrong, University of Michigan’s student body president. On this blog he has posted many rude, untrue, and unnecessary comments towards Chris Armstrong, along with distorted pictures. According to the article, â€Å"Assistant Michigan AG targets openly gay college student† the authorShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Bullyi ng And Cyber Bullying1811 Words   |  8 PagesThe effects of bullying and cyber bullying in today’s society have grave consequences that can lead to the untimely deaths of many children throughout the nation. In the past there have been numerous incidents involving teenagers shooting up schools and most recently children taking their own lives because they were tortured, teased in school, and made fun of online in their very own homes. What is a bully and what can we do to prevent our children from harming themselves and others because of theseRead MoreCyber Bullying And Its Effects1411 Words   |  6 PagesStudies indicate that cyber-bullying incidents have quadrupled in past five years (Ross). Cyber-bullying has become a huge issue recently. Every time you turn on the news there is another bullying, or a suicide related to bullying, incident being reported. â€Å"Love is louder† has been a common phrase among celebrities and influential figures lately. They are t rying to send out a message to their followers saying that bullying is not right and should not be tolerated. The expansion of communication technologiesRead MoreCyber Bullying And Its Effects952 Words   |  4 PagesCyber-bullying is a term that has only gained notoriety in the past few years. Like many things that adapt to their surroundings, cyber-bullying is no exception. As new ways to socialize appear every year, it is a great tool for children and adults alike to communicate with friends and family. However, it can also turn into a tool of terrorization just as easily. The term bullying is usually defined as aggression that is intentionally carried out by one or more individuals and repeatedly targetedRead MoreCyber Bullying And Its Effects1146 Words   |  5 PagesCyber bullying as defined by (Mason, 2008, p, 325) is â€Å"an individual or a group wilfully using information and communication involving electronic technologies to facilitate deliberate and repeated harassmen t or threat to another individual or group by sending or posting cruel text and/or graphics using technological means†. Cyber bullying is also any behaviour performed through electronic or digital media by individuals or groups that repeatedly communicates hostile or aggressive messages intendedRead MoreCyber Bullying And Its Effect On Society1536 Words   |  7 PagesBullying has been an extreme issue all around the world for hundreds of years, and since modern technology has advanced, so has cyber bullying. â€Å"‘Gimme’ your lunch money† has turned into texting and posting gruesome threats and embarrassing material all over social media. Millions of kids all over the world have taken their own lives due to the harmful effects of cyber bullying. Problems that cannot be resolved independently are brought to court, and the government has become increasingly involvedRead MoreCyber Bullying And Its Effect On Society1201 Words   |  5 PagesINTRO Cyber bullying is any form of bullying that takes place over the internet, whether via texts, twitter or other forms of social media. Approximately 52% of children have reported being cyber bullied at one point, or another*. While this number may not seem catastrophic, this statistic is based only on the instances of cyber bullying that have been reported. The reality is that there are many more children who have been cyber bullied, and did not tell anyone that it was happening to them. AnotherRead MoreCyber Bullying And Its Effect On Society Essay1396 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction There are two specific types of bullying. Bullying in itself and cyber bullying are two of the worst and most aggressive behaviors teenagers are involved in these days. No matter how this problem comes about or what process individuals go through to get to this point, it is an irresponsible yet dangerous form of action. Bullying in any form can cause harm to the victim, even death. Making a choice to be a bully is like that of building a bad character for one’s self. Definition CentersRead MoreCyber Bullying And Its Effects On Society1283 Words   |  6 Pagesis also now being used to cause harm to people. Cyber bullying differs from traditional physical bullying, because it occurs through emails, texts, or social media. The person behind the computer can remain anonymous because the internet allows individuals to make up false information. Negative effects, such as depression, suicide, and anxiety are some factors resulted in cyber bullying. There is a strong emotional impact caused by cyber bullying due to the lack of remorse demonstrated online.Read MoreThe Eternal Effects of Cyber Bullying1196 Words   |  5 Pageslends itself to advancements such as cyber bullying, allowing predators of all ages to interrupt what should be the safe haven in life; home. The eternal effects of cyber bullying on the victim and their families is potentially fatal as pointed out in the May 2013, Journal of Youth and Adolescence article by, published authors and psychology graduate’s in adolescent studies, Brett Litwiler and Amy Brausch. The article not only identifies this form of bullying as a problem but Litwiler and BrauschRead MoreCyber Bullying And Its Effects On Its Victims1651 Words   |  7 Pagesin it, especially cyber bullying. With the rise in the use of technology, digital culture and anonymity, cyber bullying has become a prominent issue that can have negative psychological effects on its victims through the power of these technological advances. This new 21st century term is derived from standard physical bullying has become a prominent and revolving issue as cellphone, texting and social media sites take away one’s privacy by causing harmful psychological effects on its victims (Siegel

Social Influences Impact Product and Brand Purchase Decision

Question: Discuss aboutt the Social Influences Impact Product and Brand Purchase Decision. Answer: The company that we will take up for this assignment is Woolsworth Supermarket, a retail super market chain that is the largest retail chain in Australia majorly selling grocery and vegetables but side by it is also selling other products like DVDs etc. and has its own range of products too. Together it has captured nearly 80% of the Australian market. The major products being sold are the grocery items with the belief that they are selling fresh healthy food to their customers straight from the farmers (Wools-Worth Group). The super-market has largely selling the chain of grocery items with its concentration mainly on food items that are unprocessed like fresh vegetables and fruit directly from the farmers field. It has used acquisition and loyalty programs in past to expand its base of customers. Being one of the pioneering retail chains it has used the demographics, taste and culture of the Australians to achieve an unequal high growth trajectory as compared to its competitors. Australian cuisine includes a lot of sea-food and locally available meat of kangaroos, beef and sheep. With dairy also emerging as a main part of farming the various products produced from it has also entered in the diet of the Australians. Fruits are grown everywhere in the country and constitute a major part of diet with certain fruits considered special. In the staple diet wheat, sugarcane and other grain crops are grown intensively in Australia. With immigration from Europe and Asian countries diversity in the cuisine has been creeping continuously and it cant be denied that Australia which was dwelled 60000 years ago by the aboriginals and later by out-laws had over a time-frame with its rich mineral deposits and high rate of immigration has also led to absorption of change in the taste, preferences, diet of the Australians. (Garret, Johnny, 2014) If we really, based on the analysis of society of Australia, would like to identify two peculiar societal culture values it will be (Kotler, Philip et al) High absorption index: Its capacity to allow people from different back-grounds and different nations to live and co-exist peacefully without any bias under the aegis as a commonwealth country with full traditional and societal structure of a developed-colony. Low Connectivity: Australians identify themselves very less with their country and high growth or exceptional capabilities are seen with awe. They are persons who would like to live a life in an ordinary way and would want a society of equal values and standards. With this if we analyze how the two identified societal factors should be inculcated in themarketing strategy of the organization Woolsworth, we would have to keep in mind that we are dealing with the people who can easily change their societal values and belief both publicly and privately what technically we can call internalized social values and this will allow that immigrants strong bonding to their values will allow mix of both and with frequent it would allow a change in the taste too. In short we will see that a wide range of products can be brought on the shelf of store and sold successfully as the absorption of new things so great. So quality will prevail and length of time and branding wont matter much. Woolsworth has used the concept of freshness as stated to sell its product which is a hygiene factor necessary for the Australians in terms when they select product. If we now go on to price and people it can be easily seen that they do not intend to go for something which is being sold on hiked attributes as being against the societal norms listed under low connectivity and they prefer a moderate healthy life-style so the product-shelf should be optimized on price. Promotions on loyalty and rewards will definitely allow the organization to retain and also to expand its base but more than that it needs to market itself on the fact that it has to be associated with hygiene factor than the motivational factor due to its cultural dilemma which arises due to weak link to branding or image. (Robbins et al) In next few lines we will consider 7Ps namely price, place, promotion, people, product, physical environment and processes and relate it to the associated targeted market segments and in-process would like to create a viable strategy-map of the same too. Places all over Australia are rich in resources be it land or other natural resources so anything that connects the nature and price will go with such a place. We can bet that the fellowmen will prefer road-side unknown vendors rather than high-class expensive hotels. To go for it they will not go for motivational factors and would prefer a life less ordinary with hygienic available food free from chemicals and easily available which makes the tagline of the organization apt. If we see consumer behavior here these are easily driven customers and would go for cheap fresh quality easily available objects and would avoid any deviations in their choices to stand out as distinct (James et al). They would choose time-tested products which at present goes in favor of the organization we are discussing seeing it is a century old. To test for the new products lined up with their positioning and segmentation we can consider that we see that they are not motivated to buy any new products but will go quality and ease and also trust-factor which will come through word of mouth or their experience accidentally or due to some other reason. One way to decide which new products will go in the market there is a need to study the current immigration patterns closely as it has been seen from the past that as the composition of population, on their ethnicity, has changed the pattern of consumption has changed too. Right now if we see the trend Asians are coming in in more and more numbers so Asian foods and products should come up as a new product line in the company (Ohmae, Kenichi). In a nutshell we are discussing a country where people have weak social attachments and have extensive taste for diverse natural resources and cuisines which are changing with always-changing demographic reality. Motivational levels are low and hygiene is considered utmost with little or no bias. Competitive spirit is less and emphasis is on quality which has led to life less known but well dwelled. And for this organization to survive it has to bring in the quality in its sell with trust-factor kept at all time high to enable high-parallel growth channels. References Kotler, Philip, Keller, Kevin Lane, Koshy, Abraham, Jha, Mithileshwar, Marketing Management, 13th edition, Pearson Education Robbins, Stephen P., Judge, Timothy A., Sanghi, Seema (2009). Organizational Behavior, 13th Edition, Pearson Prentice Hall Cooper, Donald R. Schindler, Pamela S (2009). Business Research Method, 9th Edition Tata McGraw Hill Ohmae, Kenichi (2013). The Mind of the Strategist: The Art of Japanese Business, 16th Edition Tata McGraw Hill Wools-Worth Group (2017). retrieved on 18 April 2017 from https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/ Garret, Johnny (2014). Australias 10 Top favourite Dishes, Retrieved on 18 April 2017 from https://www.jamieoliver.com/news-and-features/features/australias-favourite-dishes/ Kart, Optima (2013). Optima Kart, Retrieved on 18 April 2017 from https://optimakart.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/the-7ps-7cs-in-marketing/ James, Muriel, Jongeward, Dorothy. (1978). Born To Win, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Penrose, John M.. Rasberry, Robert W., Myers, Robert J.. Business Communication for Managers. 5th Edition Cengage Learning Winston, Wayne L. (2011). Microsoft Excel 2010: Data Analysis and Business Modelling. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.

The Rise of Civilization in the Middle East and Africa Essay Example

The Rise of Civilization in the Middle East and Africa Essay The first full civilization emerged by 3500 B. C. in the Tigris-Euphrates valley in the Middle East. Relatively soon thereafter civilization developed along the Nile in Egypt, and later spread to other parts of the Middle East and one region in Africa. The advent of civilization provided a framework for most of the developments in world history. Additionally, the specific early civilizations that arose in the Middle East and Africa had several distinctive features, in political structure and cultural tone, for example. These features secured the evolution of these societies until the partial eclipse of he river-valley civilizations after about 1000 B. C. The early civilizations in the Middle East and North Africa served as generators of a number of separate and durable civilization traditions, which can still be found in civilizations around the Mediterranean, in parts of Europe, and even across the Atlantic. Both of these early civilizations formed around major rivers the Tigris an d Euphrates in Mesopotamia and the Nile in northeastern Africa. Explaining how civilizations emerged in the Middle East and then Africa requires a reminder of the conditions that contributed to change after 4000 B. C. and a ore precise definition of civilization. Once that is done, we can turn to the characteristics of Mesopotamian civilization, from its origins around 3500 B. C. until it experienced an important period of disunity around 1000 B. C. Next comes Egypt, the worlds second civilization in time, which again can be traced until about 1000 B. C. The two early civilizations had very different cultures and political structures reflecting their very separate origins. By 1000 B. C. both of these two early civilizations produced offshoots in eastern Africa, southern Europe, and additional centers in the Middle East. These smaller centers of civilization made important contributions of their own, for example, the monotheistic religion created among the Jewish people in Palestine. Early Civilization In Mesopotamia Even the technological innovations that shaped the context for the rise of civilization took many centuries to win full impact. Soon after 4000 B. C. however, conditions were ripe for a final set of changes that constituted the arrival of civilization. These changes were based on the use of economic surplus and the growing needs of a coordinated regional network of villages. The Sumerians The scene for the first civilization was the northeastern section of what we today call the Middle East, along the great rivers that led to the Persian Gulf. The agents were a newly-arrived people called the Sumerians. The first civilization developed in a part of the Middle East slightly south of the hilly country in which the first agricultural villages had emerged several thousand years earlier. Between the northern hills and the deserts of the Arabian peninsula, running from the eastern Mediterranean coast to the fall plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, lies a large swath of arable land called the Fertile Crescent. We will write a custom essay sample on The Rise of Civilization in the Middle East and Africa specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Rise of Civilization in the Middle East and Africa specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Rise of Civilization in the Middle East and Africa specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The rivers rise in the spring, depositing immensely fertile soil. Rainfall was scant in the region, so as population pressure increased, farming communities began to find ways to tame and use the rivers through irrigation ditches. Construction of the ditches required improved tools that were not available much before 4000 B. C. , and from that point onward developments in the region were swift. Irrigation plus the fertility of the Tigris-Euphrates region generated substantial food surpluses promoting population growth and village expansion, as well as increasing trade and specialization. The region was vulnerable in one respect: It was so flat that it was open to frequent invasion. By 3500 B. C. farmers in Mesopotamia, as the Tigris-Euphrates region is also called, were benefiting not only from rich agriculture, but also from flourishing pottery and obsidian tool production. The wheel had been introduced, and community coordination was steadily improving to support the irrigation network. The final boost toward establishing civilization was provided by the Sumerians, a people who had migrated into the area from the north around 4000 B. C. They settled in an area of about 700 square miles where they mixed with ther local races in a pattern of cultural mingling that has remained characteristic of the region. Sumerian culture early developed important religious values with centers of pilgrimage and worship. Well before 3000 B. C. many of these centers were provided with elaborately decorated temples, built with mud brick. Sumerians were impressed with the power of grim gods who ultimately controlled human destiny. Sumerian Culture And Politics Into this rich economy and culture writing the most important invention between the advent of agriculture and the age of the steam engine was introduced around 3500 B. C. The Sumerian invention of writing was probably rather sudden, based on new needs for commercial, property, and political records including a celebration of the deeds of proud local kings. Writing was preceded by the invention of clay cylinder seals, on which little pictures of objects could be recorded. The earliest Sumerian writing simply evolved from these pictures baked on clay tablets, which were turned into symbols and gradually transformed into phonetic elements. The early Sumerian alphabet set of symbols representing sounds may have had as many as 2000 symbols derived from the early pictures. Before long writers began to use more bstract symbols to represent sounds which allowed Sumerians and their successors to reduce the alphabet to about 300 symbols. Sumerian writers used a wedge-shaped stick to impress the symbols on clay tablets. The resulting writing is called cuneiform, meaning wedge shaped, and it was used for several thousand years in the Middle East for many differ ent languages. Cuneiform writing was difficult to learn, so specialized scribes monopolized most of it, but the Sumerians in fact believed that every object in nature should have a separate name to assure its place in the universe; knowing the name gave a person some power over the object. Writing, in other words, quickly took on essentially religious purposes, allowing people to impose an abstract order over nature and the social world. Sumerian civilization lasted intact until about 2000 B. C. Its political organization was based on tightly organized city-states, where the agricultural hinterland was ruled by an urban-based king who claimed great authority. In some cases local councils advised the king. One of the functions of Sumerian states was to define boundaries, unlike the less formal territories of precivilized villages in the region. The government helped regulate religion and enforce its duties. It also provided a system of courts for justice. Kings were originally war leaders whose leadership of a trained army in defense and war remained vital in Sumerian politics where fighting loomed large. Kings, the noble class, and the priesthood controlled considerable land. Slaves, conquered in wars with nearby tribes, were used to work this land. Sumerian political and social organization set up traditions that would long endure in this region. City-state government established a tradition of regional rule, that would often be overlaid by larger empires but would frequently return as the principal organizational form. The reliance on slaves was maintained in the economy of many successor civilizations. Use of slaves along with the lack of natural barriers to invasion help explain recurrent warfare, for war was often needed to supply labor. At the same time, slavery in the Middle Eastern tradition was a variable condition, and many slaves were able to earn their own keep and even buy their freedom. The Sumerians, aided by regional political stability and the use of writing, added to their regions economic prosperity. Agriculture gained as farmers learned how to cultivate date trees, onions, and garlic. Oxen were sed to pull plows, donkeys to carry goods. Wheeled carts helped transport goods as well. The Sumerians introduced the use of fertilizer and adopted silver as a means of exchange for buying and selling. Major cities expanded one city reached a population of over 70,000 with substantial housing units in rows of flat-roofed, mud-brick shops and apartments. More commonly, cities contained as many as 10,000 people. The Sumerians improved the potters wheel, which expanded the production of pottery. Because of the skill level and commercial importance involved, men began to take the trade away from women. The Sumerians also invented glass. Trade expanded to the lower Persian Gulf and to the western portion of the Middle East along the Mediterranean. By 2000 B. C. the Sumerians had trading contacts with India. The Sumerians also steadily elaborated their culture, again using writing to advance earlier forms. By about 2000 B. C. they managed to write down the worlds oldest story, the Gilgamesh epic, which went back at least to the 7th millennium B. C. in oral form. Gilgamesh, a real person who had ruled a city-state, became the first hero in world literature. The epic describes a great flood that obliterated humankind except for a favored family who urvived by building an ark and producing descendants who formed a new race of people. The overall tone of the epic and of Sumerian culture (perhaps reflecting the frequently disastrous floods of the region) was somber. Gilgamesh does great deeds but constantly bumps up against the iron laws of the gods, ensuring human failure as the gods triumph in the end. The heroes, the wi se men, like the new moon have their waxing and waning. Men will say, Who has ever ruled with might and with power like Gilgamesh? As in the dark month, the month of shadows; so with-out him there is no light. O Gilgamesh, this was the meaning of your dream. You were given the kingship, such was your destiny; everlasting life was not your destiny . . . Gilgamesh, why do you search? The life you seek you will never find. When the gods created the world, they made death a part of human fate. Along with early literature, Sumerian art developed steadily. Statues and painted frescoes adorned the temples of the gods, and statues of the gods decorated individual homes. Sumerian science aided a complex agricultural society, as people sought to learn more about the movement of the sun and stars thus founding the science of astronomy and to improve their athematical knowledge. The Sumerians employed a system of numbers based on units of 12, 60, and 360, which we still use in calculations involving circles and hours. They also introduced specific systems, such as charts of major constellations, that have been used for 5000 years in the Middle East and through later imitation in India and Europe. In other words, Sumerians and their successors in M esopotamia created patterns of observation and abstract thought about nature on which a number of later societies, including our own, still rely. Religion played a vital role in Sumerian culture and politics. Gods were associated with various forces of nature. At the same time gods were seen as having a human form and many of humanitys more disagreeable characteristics. Thus the gods often quarreled and used their power in selfish and childish ways which made for interesting stories but also created a fear that the gods might make life difficult and hard to control. The gloomy cast of Sumerian religious ideas also included an afterlife of suffering an original version of the concept of hell. Because gods were believed to regulate natural forces such as flooding in a region where nature was often harsh and npredictable, they were more feared than loved. Priests played a central role because of their responsibility for placating the gods through proper prayers, sacrifices, and magic. Priests became full-time specialists, running the temples and also performing the astronomical calculations necessary to run the irrigation systems. Each city had a patron god, and erected impressive shrines to please and honor this god and other deities. Massive towers, called ziggurats, formed the monumental architecture for this civilization. Prayers and offerings to prevent floods as well as to protect good health were a vital art of Sumerian life. Sumerian ideas about the divine force behind and within natural objects in rivers, trees, and mountains were common among agricultural peoples. A religion of this sort is known as animism. More specifically, Sumerian religious notions, notably their ideas about the creation of the earth by the gods from a chaos of water and about divine punishment of humans through floods, continue to have force in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim cultures, all of which were born much later in the Middle East. Sumerian activities in trade and war spread beyond the regional limits of the civilization in the Middle East. The adoption of portions of the Gilgamesh tale in later literature such as the Jewish Bible developed well to the west of Sumer. Even after Sumer itself collapsed, the Sumerian language was still used in religious schools and temples, showing the power of this early culture and its decidedly religious emphasis. What Civilization Meant The emergence of the worlds first civilization in Sumer brought to fruition the key features of this form of organization. Sumerian society certainly met the basic criterion of civilization in that it built on fairly regular economic surpluses. Sumerian farmers produced enough that they could e taxed in order to support a small but crucial number of priests and government officials. They produced enough to allow some trade and specialization, thus encouraging groups of artisans and merchants who did not farm. The Sumerian economy also stretched out along the great irrigation systems of the Tigris-Euphrates. One of the tasks of regional government was to elaborate and maintain these systems: regional coordination was thus a vital feature. The advent of civilization in Sumer also involved additional innovations building on the key features of surplus and coordination: the creation of ities beyond the scope of individual centers, such as Jericho, where at least several thousand people lived and considerable specialization developed; and the invention of writing. While these innovations were not found in all civilizations, they were vital in Sumer and other early centers such as Egypt and the Indus River. The Importance Of Cities In Middle-Eastern agricultural civilization (all civilizations were fundamentally agricultural until about 200 years ago), most people did not live in cities. The cities that existed were crucial, however, because they amassed wealth and power; allowed relatively easy exchange of ideas, ncouraging intellectual and artistic changes; and promoted further specialization in manufacture and trade. Early Middle-Eas tern cities radiated considerable influence and power into surrounding countrysides. Cities also relied on broader attributes of civilization, the most notable being relatively extensive trade and political organization. Cities could not be founded until the Middle East produced a significant agricultural surplus above what farmer families needed to live on and had groups merchants to organize trade that brought food to the city and carried urban-made goods to the countryside and other cities. Cities could not be founded until there was a sufficiently solid political organization a government, with some recognized legitimacy, and some full-time officials that could run essential urban services, such as a court system for disputes, and help regulate the relationship between cities and the countryside. Saying that early Middle-Eastern civilizations were based on cities, then, even when most people remained in the countryside as agricultural producers, is partly saying that civirizations had generated more elaborate trade and political structures than initial agricultural societies had managed. This helps explain, also, why civilizations generally covered a fairly wide area, breaking out of the localism that described the economics and political activities of the initial agricultural communities. The Importance Of Writing The second key ingredient that emerged in the Middle East after 4000 B. C. was the invention of writing. Some historians and anthropologists urge against focusing too much on the development of writing, because concentrating only on this aspect, albeit important, can leave out some civilizations, such as the civilization of the Incas in the Andes region of South America, that produced ignificant political forms without this intellectual tool. We now appreciate the sophistication societies can attain without writing, and rate the division of early human activities between hunting and gathering and agriculture as more fundamental than the invention of writing. Writing was a genuinely important development even so. Societies with writing can organize more ela borate records including the lists essential for effective taxation. Writing is a precondition for most formal bureaucracies which depend on standardized communication and the ability to maintain some documentation. Societies with writing can also organize a more elaborate intellectual life because of their ability to record data and build on past, written wisdom. For example, it is no accident that with writing many early civilizations began to generate more formal scientific knowledge. Societies before the development of writing typically depended on poetic sagas to convey their value systems, with the poetry designed to aid in memorization. With writing, the importance of sagas such as Gilgamesh might at first have continued but usually the diversity of cultural expressions soon increased ith other kinds of literature supplementing the long, rhymed epics. Some experts argue that the very fact of becoming literate changes the way people think encouraging a greater sense that the world can be understood by organized human inquiry as opposed to a belief in whimsical magical spirits. Writing, in other words, can produce more abstract religious thinking and also secular thinking that seeks to des cribe nature and human affairs in nonreligious terms. Writing, like the existence of cities, certainly helps explain how civilizations could develop more extensive trading and political systems than hose of most earlier agricultural societies. As a basis for even small bureaucracies and as a basis of record-keeping for merchant dealings beyond purely personal contacts writing played a considerable role in extending the geographical range of key civilizations and in developing new forms of economic and political organization. It is vital to recognize, however, that the advent of writing in the early history of civilizations also created new divisions within the population, for only a small minority of people mainly priests, scribes, and a few merchants had time to master writing skills. Kush And The Eastern Mediterranean Toward the end of the early civilization period, a number of partially separate civilization centers sprang up on the fringes of the civilized world in Africa and the Middle East, extending also into parts of southern Europe. These centers built heavily on the achievements of the great early centers. They resulted from the expansion efforts of these centers, as in the Egyptian push southward during the New Kingdom period and from new organizational problems within the chief centers themselves; in the Middle East, separate societies emerged during the chaotic centuries following the collapse of the Hittite empire. Kush And Axum: Civilization Spreads In Africa The kingdom of Kush sprang up along the upper (southern) reaches of the Nile. Kush was the first African state other than Egypt of which there is record. This was a state on the frontiers of Egyptian activity, where Egyptian garrisons had been stationed from time to time. By 1000 B. C. it emerged as an independent political unit, though strongly influenced by Egyptian forms. By 730 B. C. , as Egypt declined, Kush was strong enough to conquer its northern neighbor and rule it for several centuries, though this conquest was soon ended by Assyrian invasion from the Middle East. After this point the Kushites began to push their frontiers farther south, gaining a more diverse African population and weakening the Egyptian influence. It was at this point that the new capital was established at Meroe. Kushites became skilled in iron use and had access to substantial African ore and fuel. The use of iron tools extended the area that could be brought into agriculture. Kush formed a key center of metal technology in the ancient world, as a basis of both military and economic strength. Kushites developed a form of writing derived from Egyptian hieroglyphics (and which has not yet been fully deciphered). They established a number of significant cities. Their political organization, also derived from Egypt, emphasized a strong monarchy with elaborate ceremonies based on the belief that the king was a god. Kushite economic influence extended widely in sub-Saharan Africa. Extensive trade was conducted with people to the west, and this trade may have brought knowledge of iron making to much of the rest of Africa. The greatest period of the kingdom at Meroe, where activities centered from the early 6th century onward, lasted from about 250 B. C. to A. D. 50. By this time the kingdom served as a channel for African goods animal skins, bony and ivory, gold and slaves into the commerce of the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Many monuments were built during these centuries, including huge royal pyramids and an elaborate palace in Meroe. Much fine pottery and jewelry were produced. Meroe began to decline from about A. D. 100 onward and was defeated by a kingdom to the south, Axum, around A. D. 300. Prosperity and extensive political and economic activity did not end in this region, but extended into the formation of a kingdom in present-day Ethiopia. The outreach of Kush is not entirely clear beyond its trading network set p with neighboring regions. Whether African peoples outside the Upper Nile region learned much from Kush about political forms is unknown. Certainly there was little imitation of its writing, and the region of Kush and Ethiopia would long remain somewhat isolated from the wider stream of African history. Nevertheless, the formation of a separate society stretching below the eastern Sahara was an important step in setting the bases for technological and economic change throughout much of upper Africa. Though its achievements flow less fully into later African development, Kush holds for Africa what Sumer chieved for the Middle East it set a wider process of civilization in motion. The Mediterranean Region Smaller centers in the Middle East began t o spring up after about 1500 B. C. Though dependent on the larger Mesopotamian culture for many features, these centers added important new ingredients and in some cases also extended the hold of civilization westward to the Asian coast of the Mediterranean. The smaller cultures also added to the diversity of the Middle East, creating a varied array of identities that would continue to mark the region even under the impetus of later empires, such as Rome, or the sweeping religion of Islam. Several of these smaller cultures proved immensely durable and would influence other parts of the world as well. The Jews The most important of the smaller Middle Eastern groups were the Jews, who gave the world one of its most influential religions. The Jews were a Semitic people (a population group that also includes the Arabs). They were influenced by Babylonian civilization but also marked by a period of enslavement in Egypt. They settled in the southeast corner of the Mediterranean around 1600 B. C. , probably migrating from Mesopotamia. Some moved into Egypt where they were treated as a subject people. In the 13th century B. C. , Moses led these Jews to Palestine, in search of a homeland promised by the Jewish God, Yahweh. This was later held to be the central development in Jewish history. The Jews began at this point to emerge as a people with a self-conscious culture and some political identity. At most points, however, the Jewish state was small and relatively weak, retaining independence only while other parts of the Middle East were disorganized. A few Jewish kings were able to unify their people, but at many points the Jews were divided into separate regional states. Most of Palestine came under oreign (initially Assyrian) domination from 722 B. C. onward, but the Jews were able to maintain their cultural identity and key religious traditions. Monotheism The distinctive achievement of the Jews was the development of a strong monotheistic religion. Early Jewish leaders probably emphasized a particularly strong, creator god as the most powerful of many divinities a hierarchy not uncommon in animism but this encouraged a focus on the father God for prayer and loyalty. By the time of Moses, Jews were urged increasingly to abandon worship of all other gods and to receive from Yahweh the Torah (a holy Law), he keeping of which would assure divine protection and guidance. From this point onward Jews regarded themselves as a chosen people under Gods special guidance. As Jewish politics deteriorated due to increasing foreign pressure, prophets sprang up to call Jews back to faithful observance of Gods laws. By the 9th century B. C. some religious ideas and the history of the Jews began to be written down in what would become the Jewish Bible (the Old Testament of the Christian Bible). Besides the emphasis on a single God, Jewish religion had two important features. First was the idea of an overall divine plan. God guided Jewish istory, and when disasters came they constituted punishment for failures to live up to divine laws. Second was the concept of a divin ely organized morality. The Jewish God demanded not empty sacrifices or selfish prayers, but righteous behavior. God, though severe, was ultimately merciful and would help the Jews to regain morality. This system was not only monotheistic but also intensely ethical; God was actively concerned with the doings of people and so enjoined good behavior. By the 2d century B. C. , these concepts were clearly spelled out in the Torah and the other writings that were formed into the Old Testament of the Bible. By their emphasis on a written religion the Jews were able to retain their identity under foreign rule and even under outright dispersion from their Mediterranean homeland. The impact of Jewish religion beyond the Jewish people was complex. The Jews saw Gods guidance in all of human history, and not simply their own. Ultimately all peoples would be led to God. But Gods special pact was with the Jews, and there was little premium placed on missionary activity or converting others to the faith. This limitation helps explain the intensity and durability of the Jewish faith; it also kept the Jewish people a minority ithin the Middle East though at various points substantial conversions to Judaism did spread the religion somewhat more widely. Jewish monotheism, though a landmark in world religious history, is noteworthy for sustaining a distinctive Jewish culture to our own day, not for immediately altering a wider religious map. Yet the elaboration of monotheism had a wide significance. In Jewish hands the concept of God became less humanlike, more abstract a basic change not only in religion but in overall outlook. Yahweh had a power and a planning quality far different from the attributes of the traditional gods of the Middle East or Egypt. The gods, particularly in Mesopotamia, were whimsical and capricious; Yahweh was orderly and just, and individuals could know what to expect if they adhered to Gods rules. The link to ethical conduct and moral behavior was also central. Religion for the Jews was a system of life, not merely a set of rituals and ceremonies. The full impact of this religious transformation on Middle Eastern and Mediterranean civilization would come only later, when Jewish ideas were taken up by the proselytizing faiths of Christianity and Islam. But the basic concept formed one of the legacies of he twilight period from the first great civilizations to the new cultures that would soon arise in their place. The Minoans The Jews were not alone among the distinct societies popping up in the eastern Mediterranean. Around 1600 B. C. a civilized society developed on the island of Crete. This Minoan society traded widely with both Mesopotamia and Egypt, and probably acquired many of its civilized characteristics from this exchange. Minoan society, for example, copied Egyptian architectural forms and mathematics, though it developed important new artistic styles in the colossal palace built in the capital city, Knossos. The alphabet, too, was adapted from Egypt. Political structures similar to those of Egypt or the Mesopotamian empires emphasized elaborate bureaucratic con- trols, complete with massive record keeping, under a powerful monarch. Minoan navies at various points conquered parts of the mainland of Greece, eventually leading to the establishment of the first civilization there. Centered particularly in the kingdom of Mycenae, this early Greek civilization developed considerable capacity for monumental building, and also conducted important wars with city-states in the Middle East, including the famous conflict with Troy. Civilizations in Crete and in Greece were overturned by a wave of Indo-European invasions, culminating around 1000 B. C. , that temporarily reduced the capacities of these societies to maintain elaborate art or writing, or extensive political or economic organizations. While the civilization that would arise later, to form classical Greece, had somewhat separate origins, it would build extensively on the memories of this first civilized society and on its roots in Egyptian and Mesopotamian achievements. The Phoenicians Another distinct society grew up in the Middle East itself, in what is ow the nation of Lebanon. Around 2000 B. C. a people called the Phoenicians settled on the Mediterranean coast. Like the Minoans, they quickly turned to seafaring because their agricultural hinterland was not extensive. The Phoenicians used their elaborate trading contacts to gain knowledge from the major civilization centers, and then in several key cases improved upon what they learned. Around 130 0 B. C. they devised a much simplified alphabet based on the Mesopotamian cuneiform. The Phoenician alphabet had only 22 letters, and so was learned relatively easily. It served as ancestor to the Greek and Latin lettering systems. The Phoenicians also upgraded the Egyptian numbering system. The Phoenicians were, however, a merchant people, not vested in extensive cultural achievements. They advanced manufacturing techniques in several areas, particularly the production of dyes for cloth. Above all, for commercial purposes, they dispersed and set up colonies at a number of points along the Mediterranean. They benefited from the growing weakness of Egypt and the earlier collapse of Minoan society and its Greek successor, for there were few competitors for influence in the Mediterranean by 1000 B. C. Phoenician ailors moved steadily westward, setting up a major trading city on the coast of North Africa at Carthage, and lesser centers in Italy, Spain, and southern France. The Phoenicians even traded along the Atlantic coast of Europe, reaching Britain where they sought a supply of tin. Ultimately Phoenicia collapsed in the wake of the Assyrian invasions of the Middle East, though several o f the colonial cities long survived. The End Of The Early Civilization Period The proliferation of spin-off civilizations brought important innovations within the framework set by the achievements of the great progenitors in Mesopotamia and Egypt. The simplified alphabet, the major cultural shift described by the first great monotheistic system, and a number of quite practical improvements the introduction by another Mediterranean coastal peoples, the Lydians, of coined money considerably advanced the level of civilization itself. The spread of civilization into Kush and into some European portions of the Mediterranean, fed by deliberate expansion and growing trade, also set the basis for the development of major civilization cent

A Man Pushed to the Edge essays

A Man Pushed to the Edge essays I ask, is it possable for obsession, desperation, and tradgity to push a man over the edge of sanity to maddness? The film The Field, written/directed by Jim Shariden and produced by Noel Pierson, shows one man's obsession with his field causes many tradgic events to occur. McCabe, played by Richard Harrison, is obsessed over a field that has been in his family for years,that had been bought by an English lady from his father durring the potato famine. McCabe now rents that land from her to keep the land n the family. One of the main problems in the filmis that the widow decides to sell the farm by putting it up for aution. McCabe is fine with the autioning off of the land because he knows that no one in the village would take the chance and bid against him. A critic for the Desert Sun News remarks that "...the larger-than-life "Bull" McCabe, a bearish bully who has terrozied his tiny village-not to mention his family-for years"(Hicks). In other words "The Bull" McCabe has alot of pull in the village and no one dare to cross him. Though in McCabe's mind the land was already his, there was a quick reality check in store. An outsider, which they called The American, played by Tom Berringer, unknowingly bid against McCabe and The American was willing to double and bid that McCabe made. In some senses The American could be viewed as the villian in this story. His idea was to bring this small Irish villige into a nw age by cementing McCabe's field in a campain for Roads and Factories. I believe that the fact that The American is rather ignorant to the way of life of those in the village slightly sways him away from the villiness type, because he belived he was doing something good by helping the town progress. ...

History of Kitchen Appliance Inventions

History of Kitchen Appliance Inventions By definition, the kitchen is a room used for food preparation that is typically equipped with a stove, a sink for cleaning food and dish-washing, and cabinets and refrigerators for storing food and equipment. Kitchens have been around for centuries, however, it was not until post-civil war period that the majority of kitchen appliances were invented. The reason was that most people no longer had servants and housewives working alone in the kitchen needed culinary help. The advent of ​electricity greatly advanced the technology of labor-saving kitchen appliances. History of Large Kitchen Appliances Dishwasher:  In 1850, Joel Houghton patented a wooden machine with a hand-turned wheel that splashed water on dishes, it was hardly a workable machine, but it was the first patent.Garbage Disposer:  Architect, inventor John W. Hammes built his wife the worlds first kitchen garbage disposer in 1927. After 10  years of design improvement, Hammes went into business selling his appliance to the public. His company was called the In-Sink-Erator Manufacturing Company.Ovens or Stoves:  The first historical record of a stove refers to a device built in 1490 in Alsace, France.Microwave Ovens: The microwave oven was invented by Percy L. Spencer.Refrigerator: Before mechanical refrigeration systems were introduced, people cooled their food with ice and snow, either found locally or brought down from the mountains. History of Small Kitchen Appliances Apple Parer: On February 14, 1803, the apple parer was patented by Moses Coates.Blender:  In 1922, Stephen Poplawski invented the blender.Cheese-Slicer:  The cheese-slicer is a Norwegian invention.Corkscrews:  Corkscrew inventors were inspired by a tool called the bulletscrew or gun worm, a device that extracted stuck bullets from rifles.Cuisinart  Food Processor:  Carl Sontheimer invented the Cuisinart food processor.Green Garbage Bags:  The familiar green plastic garbage bag (made from polyethylene) was invented by Harry Wasylyk in 1950.Electric Kettle:  Arthur Leslie Large invented the electric kettle in 1922. General Electric introduced the electric kettle with an automatic cut-out in 1930.Weber Kettle Grill:  George Stephen invented the original Weber Kettle Grill in 1951.Mason Jar:  John Mason patented the screw neck bottle or the Mason Jar on November 30, 1858.Electric Mixers:  The first patent that can claim to be for an electric mixer was issued on Novemb er 17, 1885, to Rufus M. Eastman. Lillian Moller Gilbreth (1878-1972), the mother of 12 children, also patented an electric food mixer (at a later date). Mixmaster:  Ivar Jepson invented Sunbeam Mixmaster, which he patented in 1928, and first mass-marketed in 1930.Paper Towels:  The Scott Paper Company was founded in Philadelphia by Irvin and Clarence Scott in 1879. Brothers Seymour and Irvin Scott ran a paper commission business for twelve years, but the poor economy in the 1870s forced them out of business. Irvin and his younger brother, Clarence, then decided to form their own company out of the remains of the first. Irvin reportedly borrowed $2,000 from his father-in-law and added it to the $300 the two brothers had to form the capital of Scott Paper Company. In 1907, Scott Paper introduced the Sani-Towels paper towel, the first paper towels. They were invented for use in Philadelphia classrooms to help prevent the spread of the common cold from child to child.Peelers:  The nineteenth-century created numerous kitchen use inventions: toasters, potato mashers, apple/potato peelers, food choppers, and sausage stuffers were all invented. Over 185 patents for coffee grinders and over 500 patents for apple/potato peelers were patented in the 1800s. Early peelers were made of iron and the patent number and other information were included in the casting. Peelers ranged from the familiar and simple round swiveling rod with a knife blade that peeled skin, to contraptions full of gears and wheels that could peel, core, slice, and section. There were separate peelers designed for different fruits and vegetables; there were even peelers that removed the kernels from ears of corn. Pressure Cooker:  In 1679, French physicist Denis Papin invented the pressure cooker, called Papins Digester, this airtight cooker produced hot steam that cooked food more quickly while preserving nutrients.Saran Wrap:  Saran polyvinylidene chloride or Saran resins and films (called PVDC) have been wrapping products for more than 50 years.Soap and Detergents: The history of soaps and detergents as we know them today date back to the 1800s.Squeegee:  The single-blade window cleaning squeegee was invented by Ettore Sceccone in 1936.Toaster: Toasting bread began as a method of prolonging the life of bread. It was a common activity in Roman times, tostum is the Latin word for scorching or burning.Tupperware: Tupperware, plastic containers with airtight lids, was invented by Earl Silas Tupper.Waffle Iron: The waffle iron was patented on August 24, 1869, invented by Cornelius Swarthout of Troy, New York. The patent described the invention as a device to bake waffles.

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

Advanced Entrepreneurship - Research Paper Example This will add value to the stakeholders. This new brand will broaden the cash flows of the company and reduce the risk of failure due to diversified income sources. The project might consume an average of 50 million dollars for it to run effectively. The full implementation could take an average of 1 year. The new product will be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound) (Taylor, 2009). The product is planned to include next generation technology that will help create a high demand for the admissions. This will help increase the quality and pricing of the classes. The company also expects support from NGOs and the government. School fees shall include operating expenses plus profit for the company. The main cash flow target will be school fees, library subscriptions and sale of projects done in the school by continuing/completing students. Most academic institutions all over the world will normally teach students the basics to the area of study and leave them to explore real life applications for themselves. This means that employers will need to hire experienced workers or first train their own through internships, internal training colleges, internal online colleges, extended probations and contracts. If Triangle solutions could train their own software developers, employers would highly appreciate the relief and demand such students. Students would also be very willing to learn from the actual developers of software. Triangle Solutions would have the opportunity of hiring the best and/or the most talented students as their staff. It would also be an opportunity for extended research and skill on software development products. The students will help the company develop its products and introduce new products. The opportunity will also help the company to increase its staff and regularly train the current staff in a cheap way. Most companies will not prefer purchasing ready-made software, but they

Provide an explanation that reconciles this research finding with Coursework

Provide an explanation that reconciles this research finding with expectancy theory - Coursework Example Expectation theory operates on the premise that people choose a certain course of action because they find it more rewarding because of the desirable outcome. This desirable outcome can come in several ways either that the individual will become more successful and/or that there is remuneration that awaits for choosing such course of action. We can set the example in a sales organization where sales people are given high quotas which entail high compensation in the form of commissions and salaries and other perks (including recognition and possible promotion) and mediocre quotas where they are only given basic pay. Sales people will tend to prefer the more difficult goal of having high quota because its outcome is more rewarding and desirable. In sum, when difficult goals are established that it is more rewarding and has more desirable outcome, individuals would prefer it rather than mediocre goals that has little reward or less desirable

Interview summary Essay Example for Free

Interview summary Essay Introduction: Hi! I am ______________. Could you please let me know if you are taking interviews and if so, how soon I might see you? I’m interested in how mental health practitioners like you got your training. Some specifics that I need to know are queries like, why should one see a therapist and how does a typical day with a client be like? 1. How did you get into this kind of profession? Where did you get your training and what are the necessary things that are of primary importance for one to have as a mental health provider? 2. What makes one competent to conduct counseling or therapy? 3. So what are the competencies that are expected by a typical patient as well as the organization which every professional is sanctioned and affiliated with? 4. There must be a sort of internship that every specialist must go through; how did you get into the on-the-job-training and what kind of requirements that you must pass? 5. Let us move on to the ethics of the profession. I have read that the effects of setting limits or boundaries in the therapeutic relationship are lessened effectiveness. What I mean is that due to the risks of being accused of malpractice or running the risks of being involved in a toxic relationship, the therapist must set limits or boundaries. The therapist even has to define many of these things at the outset or before the start of the helping relationship. However, this may mean the reduction of effective treatment to the patient or client. Is this is true with our experience? Why or why not? 6. Could you please tell me what are some of the sensitive issues you’ve encountered so far in dealing with your patients? 7. Have you been in a malpractice suit or know of someone who had undergone this? 8. Let us go to the personal attributes that are generally found to be appealing and attractive for a would-be therapist. Can you enumerate some? 9. Are they natural tendencies or must one acquire them in the process? Are these necessary for a successful practice? 10. I see that communication plays a vital role. What are the nuances of communication necessary for a practitioner to develop as his/her own style and strategy? Interview Summary PART 2 Introduction: Hi! I am ______________. Could you please let me know if you are taking interviews and if so, how soon I might see you? I’m interested in how mental health practitioners like you got your training. Some specifics that I need to know are queries like, why should one see a therapist and how does a typical day with a client be like? 1. How did you get into this kind of profession? Where did you get your training and what are the necessary things that are of primary importance for one to have as a mental health provider? A: Actually, I got interested only to make a career of my course until around my senior year in college that I wanted to be in a â€Å"helping relationship† kind of profession and so I started to plan out what I needed. I evaluated my personal weaknesses and strengths. Most importantly, I realized that I needed to spend more time and money in various seminar/workshops to specially hone whatever skills I have. There are things that I must fully be able to grasp that are basics where I was to deal with a variety of clients since I started and these are: Knowledge of clients’ culture (history, traditions, values, family systems, artistic expressions). Knowledge of the impact of racism and poverty on behavior, attitudes, values, and disabilities. Knowledge of the help-seeking behaviors of ethnic minority clients. Knowledge of the roles of language, speech patterns, and communication styles in different communities. Knowledge of the impact of the social service policies on clients of color. Knowledge of the resources (i. e. , agencies, persons, informal helping networks, research) available for ethnic minority clients and communities. Recognition of how professional values may either conflict with or accommodate the needs of clients from different cultures. 2. What makes one competent to conduct counseling or therapy? Of course, not only should one come from a reputable institution known for excellence in learning, which has clearly transferred to the student and future practitioner the necessary knowledge and skills, pass state licensure exams which are essentials and are given. Competence includes a thorough knowledge of the nature of various individuals coming from different cultural milieu and other factors. Competence involves having insights and enough exposure to the risks that are involved in this profession. Therefore, the ethical considerations and guidelines as a mental health provider must be thoroughly understood. 3. So what are the competencies that are expected by a typical patient as well as the organization which every professional is sanctioned and affiliated with? Today, the demands are increasingly high to start with. Competencies include professional skills which are basically elucidated in the following: In particular, there are a number of generally expected levels of knowledge, skills and attributes that are essential to providing competent mental health services. One must have the ability to evaluate new techniques, research, and knowledge as to their validity and applicability in working with people from all walks of life. 4. There must be a sort of internship that every specialist must go through; how did you get into the on-the-job-training and what kind of requirements that you must pass? Definitely, before one gets to practice what one has to specialize on, a mental health provider must successfully pass an on-the-job-training which is a comprehensive one. The more number of hours one has spent on an institution and the more variety of disorders or diseases that he/she has dealt with, so much the better. I happened to not only spent sufficient time with the National Institute for Mental Health and one of its affiliates where cases are more than adequate, the training was indeed very rigorous. The patients were closely monitored and so were our studies and follow-up done on the patients. Moreover, after my graduation, additional years of training in a private Mental Health Institution as a volunteer then as an employee working with over 400 patients. It was long and tedious but it was a very productive for me and now it is paying off. Cases include more the usual bulk of Schizophrenics, major depression and the manic depressive types. Of course, there were the walk-ins and those who had the illnesses as offshoots of drug addiction/dependence which are rampant and/or still prevalent today and sadly comprise much of the demographics. 5. Let us move on to the ethics of the profession. I have read that the effects of setting limits or boundaries in the therapeutic relationship are lessened effectiveness. What I mean is that due to the risks of being accused of malpractice or running the risks of being involved in a toxic relationship, the therapist must set limits or boundaries. The therapist even has to define many of these things at the outset or before the start of the helping relationship. However, this may mean the reduction of effective treatment to the patient or client. Is this is true with our experience? Why or why not? Indeed there have been certain times that when taken too far, several well-intentioned ethical guidelines can become transformed into artificial boundaries that serve as destructive prohibitions and thereby undermine clinical effectiveness. Rigid roles and strict codified rules of conduct between therapist and client can obstruct a clinicians artistry. Those anxious conformists who go entirely by the book, and who live in constant fear of malpractice suits, are unlikely to prove significantly helpful to a broad array of clients. It is my contention that one of the worst professional/ethical violations is to permit current risk-management principles to take precedence over humane interventions. 6. Could you please tell me what are some of the sensitive issues you’ve encountered so far in dealing with your patients? One example is transference. It is helpful in many ways but this is where certain limits or boundaries must be applied and the therapist must know when this must be in place. Other issues include countertransference, dual relationships, etc. Basic to the relationship between a therapist and a client is trust and this must be preserved all throughout. The respect between the parties is not to be taken for granted. The right to be informed of what the client must go through is critical as well. What really happens between a therapist and their client when transference is occurring? Transference is the displacement or transfer of feelings, thoughts and behaviors originally related to a significant person, such as a parent, onto someone else, such as the massage therapist. It is not a rational process. It is an unconscious process. It is created just by the fact that clients come in and take their clothes off, leaving them feeling more vulnerable at first. We become an authority figure or the expert in their eyes. We often become their parent in some ways. 7. Have you been in a malpractice suit or know of someone who had undergone this? Fortunately I have not gone through that and nobody I know of personally. 8. Let us go to the personal attributes that are generally found to be appealing and attractive for a would-be therapist. Can you enumerate some? Personal qualities that reflect â€Å"genuineness, empathy, nonpossessiveness, warmth,† and a capacity to respond flexibly to a range of possible solutions. Acceptance of ethnic differences between people. A willingness to work with clients of different ethnic backgrounds. Articulation and clarification of the worker’s personal values, stereotypes, and biases about his/her own and others’ ethnicity and social class. Also, recognizing ways that these views may accommodate or conflict with the needs of clients from different cultures. 9. Are they natural tendencies or must one acquire them in the process? Are these necessary for a successful practice? There are a few natural tendencies but the rest can be learned. 10. I see that communication plays a vital role. What are the nuances of communication necessary for a practitioner to inculcate? Obviously, the most fundamental function of any therapeutic session is communication. We all use verbal and non-verbal ways of expressing ourselves that have been influenced by the culture in which we were raised. These styles can vary dramatically for people from other backgrounds. For example: †¢ Personal Space: In the United States it is common for people to stand about 3 feet apart when having a personal conversation. In other cultures, people may typically stand close, which may feel awkward to someone unfamiliar with this style. †¢ Eye Contact and Feedback Behaviors: In the United States, individuals are encouraged to look each other directly in the eye and participate actively in feedback behaviors (leaning forward, smiling, nodding, etc. ). In contrast, people from other backgrounds may show respect or deference by not engaging in eye contact or participating more passively in their body language. †¢ Interruption and Turn-taking Behaviors: Most Americans have come to expect a conversation to progress linearly, while in other cultures it may be more natural for several people to be talking at once. Listening skills to deal with different turn-taking rules must be developed. †¢ Gesturing: Hand and arm gesturing can vary quite a bit in different cultural backgrounds. In general, extra gesturing should not necessarily be interpreted as excitement since it can just be an ordinary manner of communication, depending on the speaker. †¢ Facial Expression: Variance in this form of communication is also common, and again it is important to not assume that someone is cold or distressed based solely on one’s own cultural experience.

The Early History of Golf in the U.S. Essay -- Golf Sports Athletics E

The game of golf is one of the oldest of today’s modern sports. Its exact beginnings are not known; however, some historians trace golf back to the Stone Age while others claim it originated from the â€Å"idle antics of shepherd boys knocking small stones into holes in the ground with a crook while their flocks grazed nearby† (Peper 1). Researched back to the time of the Roman Empire, it is also believed the sports-oriented Romans played a forerunner of the game of golf called paganica. This sport involved the use of a bent stick and a ball stuffed with wool played in the open countryside. Golf comes to the United Sates The legendary beginnings of golf in the United States can be traced back to the mid-1600s. One of the first published references to golf in America was in 1659 referring to the ban on golf in the streets of Albany, New York. The next substantial reference to the game comes from Charleston, North Carolina in 1786. At that time, a local Charleston newspaper ran a story about the formation of the Harleston Green Golf Club. The Harleston Green remained in operation for approximately twenty-five years, closing about the time of the War of 1812. Around the same time period, approximately1795, another golf club opened in Savannah, Georgia. References to this golf club continued until 1811 again apparently closing just before the beginning of the war. The War of 1812 served to destroy the desire to play golf. It wasn’t until the late 1870s, well after the Civil War ended, that there was a resurgence of golf in the United States. Golf fever springs up throughout the United States Charles Macdonald was an early founder of American golf. He recalled playing golf in the Chicago area as early as 1875. Another promoter of golf, a young man named Andrew Bell from Burlington, Iowa, was initially exposed to golf when he went to Scotland to attend the University of Edinburgh. Upon his return to the United States in 1883, he laid out four informal golf holes on the family farm and played a few rounds with his friends. In 1884 Colonel Hamilton Gillispie, a former Scotsman who went into the lumber business in Florida, was known to hit golf balls in a field that is now the main street of Sarasota (History of Golf 7). Also in 1884, the Oakhurst Golf Club was formed in North Carolina now famous for it’s first hole from the Club’s Homestead course, celebrated to... ...ip. Today, the USGA membership exceeds 5,500 clubs throughout the United States. Golf, being one of the oldest of today’s modern sports, thrives in popularity continuing to entice young and old, male and female, rich and poor players. Works Cited Simpson, W.G. â€Å"The Origin of Golf.† A Tribute to Golf. Ed. Thomas Stewart. Harbor Springs, Michigan: Stewart, Hunter, and Associates. 1990. 78. Golf Magazine’s Encyclopedia of Golf. The Editors of Golf Magazine. New York, NY: Harper-Collins 1993. Doyle, Kathleen. â€Å"In John Reid’s Cow Pasture.† Sports in America. Sept. 1988: 34-38. Peper, George. â€Å"The Father of American Golf.† Golf Magazine. Dec. 1995. 118. Peper, George. â€Å"Birth of the USGA.† Golf Magazine. Dec. 1994. 124. Hannigan, Frank. â€Å"The History of the game of Golf.† Golf Digest Magazine. Jan. 2000. 171. Fields, Bill. â€Å"Changing the course of history.† Golf Digest Magazine. Sept. 1999. 17. McCord, Robert, R. Golf: an album of its history. Short Hills, NJ: Burford Books. 1998. Anderson, David. The story of golf. New York: W. Morrow. 1998. Menzies, Gordon. World of golf. New York: Bantam. 1982.

Can Classical and Operant Conditioning Account for the Development of Phobias?

Can classical and operant conditioning account for the development of phobias? Classical conditioning involves pairing an unconditioned stimulus with a conditioned stimulus. The conditioned stimulus then produces a conditioned response. Operant conditioning then refers to associations between the response and the outcome. The following essay will examine evidence supporting classical and operant conditioning as a cause of phobias.Other theories, such as biological and evolutionary, will also be taken into account, as conditioning theory is criticised for a number of reasons. Psychologists have suggested phobias develop as a consequence of conditioning, and many phobics can remember a specific episode which caused the onset of their phobia (Freud, 1909; Ost and Hugdahl, 1981). However, research suggests it is not necessary for a specific episode to occur to change behaviour. Kirsch et al (2004) studied rats in a maze.They were left to explore before food was introduced, at which point errors in the rats' route through the maze were reduced significantly. This suggests the rats learned to navigate when they were not reinforced for learning, and they formed cognitive maps without reinforcement. This evidence of latent learning suggests learning can occur without classical conditioning. Davey (1992) also found many phobics do not remember a particular aversive conditioning episode, claiming they have had their phobia since they could remember.This suggests their phobia may have developed without conditioning. Instead there may be, for example, a biological aspect of developing phobias. There are certain phobias, such as for snakes and spiders, which are more common than others. Mineka and Ohman (2002) suggested primates and humans can quickly associate these objects with frightening events because they have evolved to do so; these objects posed a threat to their ancestors.To support this evoluntionary theory, Cook and Mineka (1989) exposed monkeys to various object s, and found they easily acquired new fears of toy snakes and crocodiles, but did not develop fears of flowers. They suggested this is because they had no prior exposure to flowers in a frightening episode. While this research may still suggest conditioning theory is a factor in the development of phobias, as the primates still learnt to fear the object, evolution may also be a factor of phobia development.

Democracy vs. Dictatorship Essay

There are basically two types of government, Democracy and Dictatorship. Democracy is a majority ruled government. The origin democracy government formed in 400 B.C. in Athens. There are three kinds: Direct democracy where people directly vote in decision; indirect democracy where people elect representative to make decisions, such as our Congress; and Elite democracy where the rich make decision. A dictatorship is government ruled by the few over the many. There are different kinds, such as Communism which meet basic needs of all people; Monarchy where ruled by birth right; Oligarchy where ruled by the few military; and Fascism which is the system of government in Italy. These two types of government are totally opposite of each other and they both have their advantages and disadvantages. In a democracy, people are free and they have their human right. Such as in the United States, we have the bill of right, the first ten amendments. We have freedom to speech; have the right to vote for our government. We also have written rule to limit our government that no one is above the law. Therefore everybody have equal opportunity to success. Moreover, democracy trend to have peaceful power transaction, such as our President we voted for it every four years. However, there are also disadvantages in democracy. Discussion making is slow in democracy since it has to be voted on and pass through many steps. It also has weaker military during peacetime. In addition, since people have more freedom and the government not strict as dictatorship, it usually has higher crime rate and has a wider disparity between rich and poor. In dictatorship, government got their power from the military, therefore they have a stronger military and have lower crime rate. Moreover, since the government has the power to make decision, it has quicker act on decision-making. Dictatorship government potential to provide for the basic standard of living for everybody, but only China and Cube does a good job. The weakness for dictatorship is people have no personal freedom. The government makes all the rules and they can change it as they want anytime. Beside the basic need, government not responsive for other people. And because of the strong control government, a lot of corrupt going on, people have neither opportunity nor fair justice. And when time comes to change of  government, it tends to be violent and bloody because they will never give up their power in the government, therefore it will come to revolution. Democracy and dictatorship both have their advantages and disadvantages. We still can find these two types of government throughout the world. Even though nowadays, many countries worldwide are more trends towards to the democracy such as country in Latin America and Earthen Europe. Weather you like it or not, are your choice if you want your freedom in democracy or if you want much easier to be a subject in dictatorship.

APES Chapter 6 vocab Essay Example

APES Chapter 6 vocab Essay Example APES Chapter 6 vocab Paper APES Chapter 6 vocab Paper cultural carrying capacity an optimum level that would allow most people to live in reasonable comfort and freedom without impairing the ability of the planet to sustain future generation population change calculated by subtracting the number of people leaving a population (through death and emmigration) from the number entering (through birth and immigration) during a specific period of time (usually a year) crude birth rate the number of live births per 1,000 people crude death rate the number of deaths per 1,000 people fertility rate the number of children born to a woman during her lifetime replacement-level fertility rate the average number of children that couples in a population must bear to replace themselves total fertility rate (TFR) the average number of children born to women in a population during their reproductive years infant mortality rate the number of children per 1,000 live births who die before one year of age life expectancy the average number of years an infant can expect to live age structure the distribution of males and females among age groups in a population demographic transition a hypothesis of population change. Involves four transitions (preindustrial, transitional, industrial, and postindustrial) preindustrial stage of demographic transition population grows very slowly because of a high birth rate and a high death rate transitional phase of demographic transition population grows rapidly because birth rates ate high and death rates drop industrial stage of demographic transition population growth slows as both birth and death rates drop postindustrial stage of demographic transition population growth levels off and then declines as birth rates equal and then fall below death rates family planning provides educational and clinical services that help couples choose how many children to have and when to have them

Biography of Johannes Kepler, Pioneering Astronomer

Biography of Johannes Kepler, Pioneering Astronomer Johannes Kepler (December 27, 1571–November 15, 1630) was a pioneering German astronomer, inventor, astrologer, and mathematician who is best known for the three laws of planetary motion now named for him. In addition, his experiments in the field of optics were instrumental in revolutionizing eyeglass and other lens-related technologies. Thanks to his innovative discoveries combined with his original and accurate methodology for recording and analyzing his own data as well as that of his contemporaries, Kepler is considered one of the most significant contributing minds of the 17th-century scientific revolution. Johannes Kepler Known For: Kepler was an inventor, astronomer, and mathematician who served as a central figure in the 17th-century scientific revolution.Born: December 27, 1571 in Weil, Swabia, Germany  Parents: Heinrich and Katharina Guldenmann KeplerDied: November 15, 1630 in Regensburg, Bavaria, GermanyEducation: Tà ¼binger Stift, Eberhard Karls University of Tà ¼bingenPublished Works:  Mysterium Cosmographicum (The Sacred Mystery of the Cosmos), Astronomiae Pars Optica  (The Optical Part of Astronomy), Astronomia Nova  (New Astronomy), Dissertatio cum Nuncio Sidereo  (Conversation with the Starry Messenger) Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae  (Epitome of Copernican Astronomy), Harmonices Mundi (Harmony of the Worlds)Spouse(s): Barbara Mà ¼eller, Susan ReuttingerChildren: 11Notable Quote: â€Å"I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.† Early Life, Education, and Influences Johannes Kepler was born on December 27, 1571, in Weil der Stadt, Wà ¼rttemburg, in the Holy Roman Empire. His family, once prominent, was relatively poor by the time he was born. Keplers paternal grandfather Sebald Kepler, a respected craftsman, had served as mayor of the city. His maternal grandfather, innkeeper Melchior Guldenmann, was mayor of the nearby village Eltingen. Keplers mother Katharina was an herbalist who helped run the family hostelry. His father Heinrich served as a mercenary soldier. Keplers gift for mathematics and interest in the stars became evident at an early age. He was a sickly child, and while he survived a bout of smallpox, he was left with weak vision and damage to his hands. His poor eyesight did not hinder his studies, however. In 1576, Kepler began attending the Latin school in Leonberg. He witnessed both the passing of The Great Comet of 1577 and a lunar eclipse in the same year, which were thought to have been inspirational in his later studies. In 1584, he enrolled at the Protestant seminary at Adelberg, with the goal of becoming a minister. In 1589, after obtaining a scholarship, he matriculated to the Protestant University of Tà ¼bingen. In addition to his theological studies, Kepler read widely. While at university, he learned of the astronomer Copernicus and became a devotee of his system. Career, Religion, and Marriage After graduation, Kepler obtained a position teaching mathematics in Graz, Austria, at the Protestant seminary. He was also appointed district mathematician and calendar maker. It was in Graz that he penned his defense of the Copernican system Mysterium Cosmographicum in 1597. Kepler married a wealthy 23-year-old twice-widowed heiress named Barbara Mà ¼eller that same year. Kepler and his wife began their family but their first two children died in infancy. As a Lutheran, Kepler followed the Augsburg Confession. However, he did not accept the presence of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of Holy Communion and refused to sign the Formula of Accord. As a result, Kepler was exiled from the Lutheran Church (his subsequent refusal to convert to Catholicism left him at odds with both sides when the Thirty Years War broke out in 1618) and was obliged to leave Graz. In 1600, Kepler moved to Prague, where he had been hired by Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe- who held the title of Imperial Mathematician to Emperor Rudolph II. Brahe tasked Kepler with analyzing planetary observations and writing arguments to refute Brahes rivals. Analysis of Brahes data showed that the orbit of Mars was an ellipse rather than the perfect circle that was always held to be ideal. When Brahe died in 1601, Kepler took over Brahes title and position. In 1602, Keplers daughter Susanna was born, followed by sons Friedrich in 1604 and Ludwig in 1607. In 1609, Kepler published Astronomia Nova, which contained the two laws of planetary motion that now bear his name. The book also detailed the scientific methodology and thought processes hed used to arrive at his conclusions. It is the first published account wherein a scientist documents how he has coped with the multitude of imperfect data to forge a theory of surpassing accuracy, he wrote. Mid-Career, Remarriage, and War When Emperor Rudolph abdicated to his brother Matthias in 1611, Keplers position became increasingly precarious due to his religious and political beliefs. Keplers wife Barbara came down with Hungarian spotted fever that same year. Both Barbara and Keplers son Friedrich (whod contracted smallpox) succumbed to their illnesses in 1612. After their deaths, Kepler accepted a position as district mathematician for the city of Linz (a post he retained until 1626) and was remarried in 1613 to Susan Reuttinger. His second marriage was reported to be happier than his first, although three of the couples six children died in childhood. At the opening of the Thirty Years War in 1618, Kepler’s tenure in Linz was further imperiled. As a court official, he was exempt from the decree banishing Protestants from the district but he did not escape persecution. In 1619, Kepler published Harmonices Mundi in which he laid out his third law. In 1620, Keplers mother was accused of witchcraft and put on trial. Kepler was obliged to return to Wà ¼rttemburg to defend her against the charges. The following year saw the publication of his seven-volume Epitome Astronomiae in 1621, an influential work that discussed heliocentric astronomy in a systematic way. During this time, he also completed the Tabulae Rudolphinae (Rudolphine Tables) begun by Brahe, adding his own innovations that included calculations arrived at by the use of logarithms. Unfortunately, when a peasant rebellion erupted in Linz, a fire destroyed much of the original printed edition. Later Years and Death As the war dragged on, Keplers house was requisitioned as a garrison for soldiers. He and his family departed Linz in 1626. By the time the  Tabulae Rudolphinae  was eventually published in Ulm in 1627, Kepler was unemployed and was owed a great deal of unpaid salary from his years as Imperial Mathematician. After efforts to obtain numerous court appointments failed, Kepler returned to Prague in an attempt to recoup some of his financial losses from the royal treasury. Kepler died in Regensburg, Bavaria, in 1630. His gravesite was lost when the churchyard in which he was buried was destroyed at some time during the Thirty Years War. Legacy More than an astronomer, Johannes Keplers legacy spans a number of fields and encompasses an impressive number of scientific firsts. Keplar both discovered the universal laws of planetary motion and explained them correctly. He was the first to correctly explain how the moon creates the tide (which Galileo disputed) and the first to suggest that the Sun rotates around its axis. In addition, he calculated the now commonly accepted birth year for Jesus Christ and coined the word satellite. Keplers book Astronomia Pars Optica is the foundation of the science of modern optics. Not only was he the first to define vision as a process of refraction within the eye, as well as explain the process depth perception, he was also first to explain the principles of the  telescope and describe the properties of total internal reflection. His revolutionary designs for eyeglasses- for both nearsightedness and farsightedness- literally changed the way in which people with vision impairments see the world. Sources â€Å"Johannes Kepler: His Life, His Laws and Times. NASA.Casper, Max.  Kepler. Collier Books, 1959. Reprint, Dover Publications, 1993.Voelkel, James R.  Johannes Kepler and the New Astronomy. Oxford University Press, 1999.Kepler, Johannes, and William Halsted Donahue.  Johannes Kepler: New Astronomy. Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Leadership Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Leadership - Assignment Example Equity theory therefore centers on two surfaces: outcome and input. A worker will most probably compare their inputs with the ratio of outcome. If the worker senses inequality, they adopt corrective measures against it. When there is inequity at workplace, an employee is likely to lower the organization’s productivity or minimize the job quality which may lead to resignation of absenteeism. Equity theory entails human motives and thus it should have an enormous application in order to comprehend organizational behavior. The Human Resource Department (HRD) should consider equity theory under scrutiny. This is because equity theory would help the HRD demystify behaviors of employees and present them with possible elements that might limit the performance and efficiency of employees as well as the entire organization (Al-Zawahreh and Al-Madi, 2012). Organizational HRD and leaders can assist in creating equity perceptions by guaranteeing that there is fair rewards and that workers are treated equitably. Otherwise, when a worker is unaware of a co-worker’s earnings, they are likely to overestimate their salaries, thus perceiving a relationship that is inequitable. This perception may implicate the organization since the employee may reduce their inputs (Buhler, 2002). Equity theory should be carefully considered in a case study such as Healthcare HRD. This is because healthcare has a sustained nursing scarcity, which leads to unequal levels of staffing and dissatisfaction of job. The situation is grim in hospital context where patient-nurse ratio is high and results to emotional exhaustion (Niles and Niles, 2012). The leaders can provide the employees basic needs such as housing, safety, salary, and job-security as well as proper job design (Pattanayak,

Reserch Disaster Bonds (also known as CAT bonds or catastrophe bonds) Research Paper

Reserch Disaster Bonds (also known as CAT bonds or catastrophe bonds) - Research Paper Example lves risk taking; investors acquire disaster bonds for a principal and then enjoy the high rate interest accumulation as long as the disaster does not occur. According to leading experts in risk management, â€Å"Catastrophe bonds are fixed income securities, typically issues by insurance companies, which pay an attractive yield to investors, but with a provision that should a specific predetermined event†¦..occur, bondholders suffer the loss of their income and potentially all their capital† (197). Events may be due to natural damage or human induced disasters where the bond may cover either the whole or part of the damage preventing the buyer from reaching to unbalanced sheet. The risk is conveyed to the investors rather than the insurers. The structure of CAT bonds is expressed in CAT bonds demystified (See fig. 1). These bonds are now used widely as they may forego interest and principle either in part or whole as stated in the condition. They require investors’ specialized knowledge and skills in judgment of where to invest. However, the jurisdiction of application affects the disaster bonds effect on parties involved. In the above structure, SPV or SPE are the established entities that insurance companies forward the reinsurance agreement to, which then relay’s the default provisions, as reflected in the agreement as a note; if the terms are approved, transactions are managed to generate money market returns where the SPV or SPE transfer back the principal and accumulated interests in cases of minimal risk involved (â€Å"CAT Bonds Demystified,† Rsm). The disaster bonds act like financial instruments; they were first issued in mid 1990s and most specific in 1997 in American history. American continent has had numerous attacks, U.S blizzard and tornadoes in 1993, Northridge earthquake in 1994 and especially the numerous hurricanes in Mexico, U.S, Caribbean, and Bahamas among others. Japan has also had its difficulty during the 1995 Hanshin earthquake