The Concept of Death Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Concept of Death - Essay Example Death relates to the end of an individual’s life. It defines a permanent and irreversible end of all fundamental functions like breathing. Death leads to a condition of being dead. Ideally, various definitions of death depend on distinct factors like religion, culture, age, and academic field. The paper addresses various definitions of the concept of death. It also defines the different perspectives adopted by children and adults about the concept of death. The paper equally defines the concept of death with respect to culture especially the Chinese culture. Ultimately, the paper draws my opinion on the definitions of the concept of death.  Legally, we can define death as a legal declaration by a person in authority that there is no need to continue offering medical assistance to a patient and that the patient is dead under the law. Furthermore, under medical terms we can define the concept of death as the end and cessation of all important body functions like breathing, thi nking, and thumping. We also have a Biblical meaning of the concept of death. Indeed, the Bible refers to the concept of death as a separation of two things (Elliott 1). The Bible refers to the concept of physical death as a separation between the body and the soul (Elliott 1). On the other hand, it refers to the concept of spiritual death as human separation from God (Elliott 1). Regardless of these definitions, it is clear that humans do not adore death and barely want to think about it. However, it is true that the concept of death is universal since everybody must experience at some point in life. As such, there is need to seek more understanding on the concept of death.  The understanding and perspective of the concept of death differ between children and adults. Indeed, the understanding of death changes as children grows and approach maturity. Adults always struggle to explain the concept of death to children (Speece 57-60). As such, adults should beware of how a child unde rstands death at different stages of child development.

Introduction To Duty Of Care In Health Essay Example for Free

Introduction To Duty Of Care In Health Essay I heard you were thinking of working in the Care Profession which is excellent, I just wanted to fill you in on a few things which would help you. Health and Social Care work places have what is called a duty of care which means that you have a duty of care towards the people that you are looking after that means you must do everything you can to keep the individuals you look after safe from harm. It is not only the work place that has to prioritise the safety, welfare and interests of the individuals using the service but also the care staff. Care workers must also have a duty of care towards other staff members to ensure that all working conditions are safe and suitable to deliver the best service they can. It also means being a responsible care giver for other individuals who could be too ill or physically unable to care for themselves and requires another person to assist them on a daily basis, this could include assisting the individuals with their personal hygiene, safety, meal preparation or other medical and physical needs until they are met to the highest standards that the individual is happy with. Duty of Care affects the way people work as the employer provides policies and procedures and ways of being aware of any dangers by carrying out Risk Assessments. Social Care workers and Care organisations must do as much as possible to keep individuals safe from harm, we do these Risk Assessments by looking for either a hazard which is an actual or potential such as a chemical or process that may lead to an accident, also risks a situation that can lead to a hazard and carry the possibilities of something serious happening.

Racism and Prejudice Essay -- Racial Relations, Carl N. Degler

Racism and prejudice against African Americans in the United States can be found many years before the institution of slavery was legally defined in any state or federal law. Historical documents reveal that almost a half a century before slavery delineated by law, racism against colored people was apparent. Although some modern historians may argue that racism was a result of the clear-cut slavery codes, according to author Carl N. Degler, â€Å"if one examines the early history of slavery in the English colonies and the reaction of Englishmen toward black people, it becomes evident that the assumption slavery is responsible for the low social status of Negros is open to question† (29). Slavery did not precede racism. Rather, legal slavery helped discrimination against African-Americans perpetuate and flourish from the 17th to the 19th century. In fact, racism and fear of the norm is a commonly found behavior in history. For instance, Irishmen in the colonies were referred to as â€Å"beyond the Pale† or even â€Å"slaves† (30). The famous poet and playwright Shakespeare even referred to the African prince â€Å"Othello† as a â€Å"thing† (31). The Africans were of a different culture and considered an inferior race for these differences. They were destined to be slaves due to the prevalent prejudice such as being labeled â€Å"savages† in Africa. As early as 1620, â€Å"Virginia and Maryland records†¦ rarely refer to ‘slaves’ but mainly speak of ‘Negroes’† (31). The label â€Å"Negros† is in no way a positive term. Discrimination was widespread in law codes throughout the world before the establishment of slavery as well. In Bermuda, â€Å"the Assembly of Bermuda passed an act restraining ‘the insolencies of the Negroes’† (32). Notice the word â€Å"insolencies†,... ...s well as the hatred of blacks. White southerners, both rich and poor, looked down upon Africans as the inferior race. Both felt the cerebral status as higher beings, especially the poor, who would be the lowest of all classes in the southern hierarchy if slavery never existed. One backcountry farmer addressed his fellow southerners, asking, â€Å"How’d you like to hev [have] a nigger steppin’ up to your darter [daughter]† (182-183). Recorded commentary such as this demonstrated the common fear of the black-man. Slavery played a key role not only in the economy, but in society as well. Racist ideals along with the psychological effect of being â€Å"above† another class led to the defense of slavery by both the rich and poor alike. Works Cited Degler, Carl N. Neither Black Nor White: Slavery and Race Relations in Brazil and the United States . New York, 1971 .

emmitt smith :: essays research papers

Emmitt Smith & His Annual Rushing Yards   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Emmit Smith announced his retirement February 3, 2005. It was a very emotional moment for Smith, who has played running back in the NFL for fifteen years (thirteen of those years for the Dallas Cowboys). As Smith announced his retirement tears began to flow down his face stating â€Å"It’s been a tremendous ride.† Over his career in the NFL, Smith has racked up many impressive statistics and awards. Smith has played on three Super Bowl championship teams (including an MVP award in 1993). Smith is currently the NFL’s all time leading rusher with 18,355 yards.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For my derivative project I chose to graph Emmitt Smith’s annual rushing yard total. Emmitt was drafted out of University Florida in 1990 and began his career as an NFL Great. As you can see on the graph, Smith began his career slowly, amassing only 937 rushing yards his rookie year. However, his second year Smith improved to 1563 rushing yards. In his third season, Smith again improved to 1713 rushing yards. The decrease in production Smith’s fourth and fifth year (1486 and 1494 respectively) in the NFL can be partially credited to the fact Smith did not compete in all sixteen regular season games due to injuries. Smith redeemed himself the following year with a career high 1773 rushing yards. Over the next six years Smith’s age slowly caught up to him as he ranged from 1021 to 1397 yards. Finally, after his thirteenth year as a Dallas Cowboy, Smith was traded to the Arizona Cardinals. In his first year with the Arizona Cardinals (2003), Smit h was injured and played as a backup for the majority of the year. This is illustrated through his career low 256 rushing yards. However, in Smith’s final year in the NFL, he rushed for 937 rushing yards, bouncing back from a disappointing year. Strangely, Smith ended his last season with the same rushing total as his rookie season. I plotted these points in a graph in an excel document and created a line of best fit. This line was a cubic equation (f(x) = 1.4228x3 - 8533.3x2 + 2E+07x - 1E+10).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To calculate the first derivative, I found the average rate of change of Emmitt Smith’s annual rushing yards from the two years surrounding the year I was deriving. Smith’s yards per year had an increasing slope in the years 1990, ’91, ’94, ’97, ’98, and 2004.

Alexander Hamilton: Memoirs and Contributions

If one must remember Alexander Hamilton, it must be for his ideals on man’s natural rights and parity. It is not however a question of nationalism but that of universalism. One could misinterpret his unique ideas on democracy yet what truly is the essence of his views could be known from his early writings. His conviction as a youth against colonialism and advocacy on democratic principles were known to him in his speeches. His first political writing was entitled the Vindication which he wrote when he was below eighteen years of age, was full of assertions against the parliament for instance he said:No reason can be advanced why one man should exercise any power or pre-eminence over his fellow creatures more than another, unless they have voluntarily vested him with it. (Cited in Morse, 1890) Also, in his arguments against the Tory opponents he uttered in reference to his human rights advocacies: The fundamental source of your errors, sophisms and false reasoning is a total i gnorance of the natural rights of mankind. (Ibid) Hamilton argued that blacks' natural faculties were as good as those of free whites.In lieu of his support for equality and argument against slavery, Hamilton attacked his political opponents as demanding freedom for themselves and refusing to allow it to blacks. He was also a member of the committee of the society banning the export of slaves from New York in the form of a bill through the New York Legislature. Who really is this man whose face graces the ten US dollar bill and a lot of monuments and historical museums? Alexander Hamilton was born on January 11, 1755 in Charlestown, Nevis and died on July 12, 1804.His contributions to the society are mainly political yet far-ranging. Indeed every aspect of our political life could have traces of or are related with Hamilton’s lessons. For example, his Federalist papers have been significant for the interpretations of United States Constitution. The first policies and policy d irections during the formative years of the government were also highly influenced by Hamilton being the Secretary of Treasury under George Washington’s administration. His ideal government is one where there is a strong central government.In line with his support to Federalism he said: A government ought to contain in itself every power requisite to the full accomplishment of the objects committed to its care†¦free from every other control but a regard to the public good and to the sense of the people. (Cited in Magstadt, 2006) In his view, an expeditious democracy is necessary to guard against any excess of checks and balances that might impede or impair the government’s ability to act energetically when circumstances dictate.Hence, the US Constitution created a strong executive capable of conducting the nation’s foreign affairs, vetoing legislations and appointments of judges. He admired the British system in terms of financial and trade networks and opp osed what he viewed as the excesses of French revolution. His contribution to the political party formation is also evident in the founding of his Federalist Party. This is the first American political party which was opposed by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party.His service as assemblyman of New York County in the New York State Legislature started in 1787. His participation in the Constitutional Convention was limited because of another faction opposing his strong government concept. He made an interesting speech during that time which said that the ideal form of government had represented all the interest groups, but maintained a hereditary monarch to decide policy. To him, the country should imitate this form of government and proposed to have a President and elected Senators for life, with possibility of removal for corruption or abuse.He also discussed abolition of autonomous state governments. He has remained loyal to the constitution desp ite some of his reservations against it and worked very hard for its national ratification. Hamilton’s concern for the country extends up to his economic agenda. His active role in the development of US economy is revealed through his efforts as Secretary of the Treasury. His five reports which boosted Financial Revolution in the US economy are as follows: (1. ) First Report on the Public Credit: Communicated to the House of Representatives, January 14, 1790 (2.) Operations of the Act Laying Duties on Imports: Communicated to the House of Representatives, April 23, 1790 (3. ) Second Report on Public Credit: Report on a National Bank Communicated to the House of Representatives, December 14, 1790 (4. ) Report on the Establishment of a Mint: Communicated to the House of Representatives, January 28, 1791 and (5. ) Report on Manufactures: Communicated to the House of Representatives, December 5, 1791. Hamilton helped create the first National Bank, the United States Mint, also wh at is known now as the United States Coast Guard and the sophisticated system of tariffs and import duties.The Hamiltonian program turned the chaotic financial system of the confederation era into a modern mechanism providing financial stability to the new government giving the investors confidence. Alexander Hamilton is considered the â€Å"patron-saint† of the American School of economic philosophy as he dominated economic policy after 1861. Hamilton opposed the British ideas of free trade which he believed skewed benefits to colonial/imperial powers, in favor of U. S. protectionism which he believed would help develop the fledgling nation's emerging economy. In 1801, Hamilton founded the New-York Evening Post.We now know him therefore as a man with many careers; a writer, politician, economist, was formerly an Army officer, lawyer, Founding Father, leading statesman, financier and political theorist. How did all these professions and colorful life ended? Before that, it mu st be noted that Alexander Hamilton had on December 14, 1780, married Elizabeth Schuyler, daughter of General Philip Schuyler. Although his married life was marred with a lot of controversies of infidelity, Elizabeth remained loyal to him and in the preservation of his dignified political career.His death was nearing soon after the gubernatorial election in New York—in which Morgan Lewis, greatly assisted by Hamilton, and defeated Aaron Burr. His confrontations with Burr and attacks on his defeat had caused an arrangement for a duel on July 11, 1804, along the west bank of the Hudson River. Vice President Aaron Burr shot Hamilton, the latter died. Such was the end of a beautiful life for Alexander Hamilton. This paper briefly shared the life and career of Alexander Hamilton. It is not without doubt that the environment in which he had chosen to exist has equally given him fame and struggles.As a description of his reputation, he is indeed worthy of admiration along with his l imitations and weaknesses. No one could object to his influence over our past and current political system. Alexander Hamilton is one personality, who has given us exemplary conceptualizations on democracy, government institutions, economic trade and finance, and equality and human rights. The memoirs of Alexander Hamilton ergo are dominated by reflections on his socio-political and economic contributions.Works Cited Magstadt, Thomas. Understanding Politics, Ideas, Institutions and Issues, 7th Edition. Wadsworth: California, 2006 Morse, Anderson. â€Å"Alexander Hamilton. † Political Science Quarterly Vol. 5 No. 1. (March, 1890): 1-23. Robert E. Wright. One Nation Under Debt: Hamilton, Jefferson, and the History of What We Owe. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. Samuel Eliot Morison and Henry Steele Commager. Growth of the American Republic. New York:Oxford University Press, 1969. www. wikipedia. com .

The Ancient World essays

The Ancient World essays The art of expression can be traced back to early time periods in which simple cave men spat paint upon the walls. Some would argue that modern art is sometimes no better; however, this archaic art form allows us to get a glimpse into our ancestors. The first period that left us hints into their world was the Paleolithic Period which lasted about from about 40,000-8,000 BC. Cave drawings are characteristic of the Paleolithic Period, also known as the Old Stone Age. Drawings found in Lascaux, France show exaggerated bulls superimposed upon one another to show supposed depth perception. Simple sculptures are also found from the Paleolithic period. The objects found are usually pregnant women with enlarged breasts and thighs, which were perhaps used for their magical qualities to ease childbirth. The next period, called the Neolithic, or New Stone Age, lasted from about 8000-2300 BC. Starting in the New Stone Age, man started to change earth to accompany him, which is seen at t he famous Stonehenge. This megalithic sculptures are the earliest of architecture and show the mysticism and knowledge the ancients possessed, for the stones are arranged in astronomical positions. The earliest view of civilization is seen in ancient Mesopotamia. Before even the Egyptians, the Sumerians ruled the world. The Sumerians, whom lived between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, benefited richly from the irrigated fields they created. The Sumerians were the first to use writings and make large buildings. Their writing, called cuneiform, was used to records contracts and track money, since Mesopotamia was such a booming metropolis at the time. The Sumerians also penned down their religion which gives us insight into ancient beliefs. Their temples, large stepped pyramids called ziggurats were often made of brick and were used as alters many times. [Editors note: I just rebooted my computer from locking up after losing about 150 words,...

Grow Calcium Chloride Crystals

Grow Calcium Chloride Crystals   Its easy to grow calcium chloride crystals. The crystals are thin, six-sided needles that catch the light so that they seem to glow from within. Materials calcium chloride - CaCl2 water - H2O Although you may not know it, you probably have calcium chloride in your home. This salt is used in moisture control products, such as DampRid, and in salt to remove ice from sidewalks. If you use road salt, check the label to make sure its calcium chloride and not another chemical. You can also order calcium chloride online. Grow Crystals The procedure for growing calcium chloride crystals is essential the same as growing table salt crystals or those of any salt.   Heat water to a full rolling boil. The solubility of any salt is highly dependent on temperature.Stir in calcium chloride until it stops dissolving. If you like, you can filter the solution into a new container, discarding any remaining solids.Place the container with the solution in a place where it wont be disturbed. Let the crystals grow. Tips Ordinarily you can remove crystals and preserve them, but calcium chloride is so hygroscopic, taking the crystals out and leaving them in open air will lead to degradation within hours. Its best to appreciate these crystals in their solution.Calcium chloride crystals are naturally colorless. You can try to color the crystals by adding food coloring to the crystal growing solution.One easy way to grow these crystals is simply to leave a container of DampRid hanging in your home or vehicle. Eventually the conditions will become right for crystal formation.

102 Monsters and Purpose Professor Ramos Blog

102 Monsters and Purpose Quick Write Quick Write Which Monster theories apply to your monster? Purpose of Evaluations Let’s look at an example evaluation for a movie. The Hunger Games: EW Review Lisa Schwarzbaum is reviewing â€Å"The Hunger Games† movie. Does she acknowledge what her mission is and who her audience is? What criteria does she establish for it to succeed? Does she anticipate her audience’s questions and reactions? Does she address any differences between the book and movie? What is her grade or judgment of the movie? Dracula Untold 2014 Roger Ebert Review In small groups, answer these questions. How does he introduce us to the topic? What is the purpose of each paragraph? How does he evaluate the movie? What is the final verdict? Peer Review Critical Thinking Clarity of Thought Analysis and Thesis Images and Title MLA and

Case Analysis on two firms operating in two differenct countries Essay

Case Analysis on two firms operating in two differenct countries - Essay Example A business environment consists of a number of factors that help a firm to grow and develop as well as subsequently witness a decline in the same; these factors may be ranging from socio-cultural and political to economical, legal, ethical as well as technological aspects. There are a number of key factors that help a firm to meet its organisational needs and most of them depend on these. All these factors coupled together help a firm either meet or fade away from reaching its goals. Thus, it is imperative for every business manager to be able to mark out the various factors within the environment and use it to the opportunity of the firm and not let it hinder the process of meeting the desired results. The political factors within a business environment consist of the kind of government that has established itself in the respective economy and the way it lets the economy operate. Adhering to government rules and regulations is vital for each and every enterprise in order to grow and develop within the economy. If the political environment is not stable enough, then the enterprise might have to face restrictions on growth and development and undergo obstacles. Thus, the government should be able to let the firm take its own decisions and thus decentralise a certain amount of power in terms of corporate significance. Ethical issues are most often talked about by people because these are on the basis of what individuals deem is moral in society. Most enterprises need to be ethical in order to be able to survive. This is because customers are the main reason because of which firms run, and if they see that firms are not being ethical in terms of demand and supply of products and materials, they will not indulge in making purchases. Business ethics thus need to be followed in terms of keeping the employees happy and satisfied as well as meeting each and every need of the customer without causing much harm or damage to the environment. Economic issues crop up due to the rise and fall of the economy that the enterprise persists within. His refers to the demand and supply of products within the economy. Since every economy depends heavily on these two main factors, firms must ensure that their customers are being supplied with the demand that they require. If not, then firms might face a downturn and have to shut down on their production scales as they will not be able to cover their costs and expenses. Finally, every management within an enterprise also has to take measures in order to understand the legal aspects of the business environment. This refers to the laws laid down as per which businesses can establish and run themselves. This forms a very important aspect of any firm within an economy because a firm may fall into trouble due to dealing with illegal activities and products. In a nutshell, the various aspects of the four factors within the business environment has been talked about within this paper with the help of two firms that are experiencing them. Two firms named Firm X (Amarchand and Mangaldas) and Firm Y (Clifford Chance) have been hypothetically created for the purpose of this paper... This paper helps to position a strong and in depth analysis of these two firms on the basis of the business environment that they are surviving within. It helps to present the political, ethical, economical as well as legal aspects that both the firms are subject to. This paper also helps to provide an

Performance Feedback, Performance Incentives and Rewards, and Employee Essay

Performance Feedback, Performance Incentives and Rewards, and Employee Evaluation - Essay Example The researcher states that in the current day context, human resources management practices which deal with the management of the workforce in a company have experienced the dramatic shift. Performance feedback is essential for the evaluating and analyzing the performance of the employees in an organization. Every organization follows certain performance feedback processes to evaluate as well as encourage their employees among which the 360-degree feedback system has gained considerable importance. In performance feedback, the implication of Multi-Source Feedback programme, also known as 360 Degree is very popularly used nowadays. Garber stated that the 360-degree feedback system has gained popularity in these recent years. The main motive of the 60-degree feedback system is to enhance the efficiency of the human resources by providing them with feedback on their performances. However, the feedback provided to the employees through this system eradicate the chances to de-motivate or negatively motivate them hampering their contribution to the productivity of the organization. Rather, it emphasizes on encouraging them for better performance by identifying their weaknesses along with their strengths. Here, the main focus is on feedback not on evaluation. It also helps in developing the professional capabilities of employees further enabling them to communicate with the organization’s culture and values. 360-degree feedback assessment must be considered to be more valuable than a data collection programme as the system considers the utilization of the feedbacks obtained to enhance the performances of the employees. Heisler further suggested that 360-degree feedback assessment programme should be designed to measure the behaviors and characteristics of the employees with relation to the organizational strategies. The author also stated that the 360-degree feedback process must be supported by the employees as well as with the tools implemented by the organiz ation for the analysis and interpretation of data collected through this system. Finally, he concluded by saying that the process should be supported by developmental planning for the participants.

When Do Opportunity Costs Count Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

When Do Opportunity Costs Count - Article Example The author in this article initiated with defining opportunity costs and how the knowledge is gained to properly identify the opportunity costs in any working environment. The author illustrated this idea by considering two different groups of people. This was experimented by using management accounting students with management accounting professionals (having proper management accounting work exposure and experience). Thus, this experiment lead to the conclusion that professional management accountants were more capable at identifying the opportunity costs associated with any project. This better identification of the opportunity costs was declared as the procedural knowledge by the writer. Later, the writer explains that opportunity costs perform as a referee between the two issues of the opportunity cost vagueness and the project completion stage. Opportunity cost vagueness, as described by the writer, is the inability to derive a proper and exact value for the benefit forgone i.e . the opportunity cost. The writer further explains that management accountants usually use estimates of opportunity costs and then these estimates are included in the final appraisal of a project. The management accountants who had higher knowledge of the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles were deemed to consider opportunity costs lightly as compared to accountants who had lesser knowledge of these Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. According to the writer, at the project completion stage, individual tend to invest heavily in the project with a rush to  finish off the project even in circumstances when the project is profitable one.  

Post traumatic Stress Disorder Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Post traumatic Stress Disorder - Essay Example This resultant stressed mind negatively affects individuals’ ability to function normally and wrecks their daily life, further causing depression and in extreme cases psychological disorders. That is, in a stressed and depressed state, individuals may not be able to utilize their physical as well as mental parts optimally. When that happens there will be a poor match between the personal, societal expectations and the functional ability of the individuals, which in turn leads to disorientation of individuals’ psychological systems causing disorders like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Background about PTSD and the main claim or theme PTSD, an anxiety and stress related psychological disorder, can develop in individuals, when he/she is exposed to a shocking event or ordeal, during which grave mental torture or physical harm has occurred. Traumatic events that may trigger PTSD may include violent personal assaults on the individuals, or when the individuals get cau ght in natural or human-caused disasters, accidents, or even military combat. (â€Å"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder†). Individuals affected with PTSD could undergo grave mental ordeals, affecting not only their personal, professional and social lives, but also that of their related and associated lives. This disorder will be visible in persons immediately after a traumatic event and could continue for a shorter or a longer time, according to the severity of the event. When persons are afflicted with PTSD, they exhibit many symptoms like persistent frightening thoughts and memories of their ordeal, feeling emotionally detached as well as numb, especially with people they were once close to, experiencing sleep deprivation or problems, etc. (â€Å"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder†). So, it is a difficult disorder that could afflict all types of individuals, particularly the people who have high chances of facing traumatic events like the soldiers in the battlefield, war ret urnees, etc. The severity of the affliction due to PTSD also depends on the character, thought process, physical ability and mental fortitude of the individuals. Because based on the above mentioned qualities only, the individuals will cope up or given in to PTSD. This being the case, treatment options for the sufferers of PTSD has to be oriented based on their personal as well as social life. Although, various medications as well as psychological therapies are being practiced, it is of crucial importance in any method of treatment to include the partner as well as family members of the affected including that of the war returnees in the treatment process, with this essay focusing on that aspect. Symptoms and its repercussions As pointed out above, PTSD is a condition which is brought about by exposure to a traumatic incident that kind of plays back through flashbacks or in the dreams/nightmares of the affected individuals. (Yehuda 67). The traumatic events could directly involve th e individual, where he/she has been exposed to a threat of death, as well as other physical and psychological assaults, and also when someone else, who are known and close to the individuals, are exposed to the same threats and assaults. When they or ‘others’ are under threat, it is natural for the individuals to get afraid, with that fear only triggering sizable split-second changes in the individual’s body and preparing the body to face it or avoid it, through a response called

Global Environment of Business. The Saudi Stock Market (2009-2011) Research Paper

Global Environment of Business. The Saudi Stock Market (2009-2011) - Research Paper Example Factors such composition of sectors; investors as well as regulations also have dominant impact on the performance along-with world indices impact. Moreover, being in infancy stage the research as also made certain recommendations based on the research conclusions. TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 Background To The Problem 5 Role And Importance Of Stock Market 5 Importance Of Saudi Stock Market 5 Origin And Growth 6 History 6 Regulator 6 Tadawul (The Saudi Stock Exchange) 6 Current Statistics In Comparison With GCC Countries 7 Problem Statement 10 Research Objectives 10 Overview of Research Methods 11 Analysis and Findings 12 Performance Of Tadawul 12 Overall Performance Of Tadawal 12 The Collapses And The Peaks In TASI 14 Analysis Of 2011 16 Factors 17 Oil Prices 17 Investors Composition 17 Regulation 18 Comparison With Other International Markets 18 Conclusion 20 Recommendations 21 Limitation to the Research Study 22 Limitations in the research study can greatly influence the findings and analysis of the research. Therefore it is significant for the researcher to identify and comprehend the limitations of the research. This research study also has some limitations and these limitations can influence the findings of the research study. ... In addition to this, if the researcher had collected primary data and used it to analyse the findings then it would have further improved the findings of the research study. So, these limitations have influenced the findings of the research study. 22 Background To The Problem Role And Importance Of Stock Market Stock market is considered as the main component of every economy for playing multi facet role. On one hand, stock markets are reflective of economic condition in terms of growth or otherwise; while on the other hand, stock markets contribute to the economic growth with attracting local and foreign investments. Stock markets are also important as they provide an important fund raising avenue to corporate; ensuring the prices of stocks based on their value while leading profitable companies to generate considerable returns (Lamin, 1997). Hence, indentifying and understanding the factors affecting stock market are of immense importance in understanding the current economic state as well as making prediction about future economic prospect of stock market and hence the country. Importance Of Saudi Stock Market Economic status of Saudi Arabia has been regarded as unknown to global financial crises that hit the world in the recent past. This aspect of the strengthened economy has been attributed to the many factors such as increased public investment by government etc. Hence attracted attentions to explore the various components of economy and stock market being one of them and hence, making it an important avenue to explore. It is also important to explore for the fact that Saudi Stock market is the biggest market based on market capitalization among GCC

Post traumatic Stress Disorder Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Post traumatic Stress Disorder - Essay Example This resultant stressed mind negatively affects individuals’ ability to function normally and wrecks their daily life, further causing depression and in extreme cases psychological disorders. That is, in a stressed and depressed state, individuals may not be able to utilize their physical as well as mental parts optimally. When that happens there will be a poor match between the personal, societal expectations and the functional ability of the individuals, which in turn leads to disorientation of individuals’ psychological systems causing disorders like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Background about PTSD and the main claim or theme PTSD, an anxiety and stress related psychological disorder, can develop in individuals, when he/she is exposed to a shocking event or ordeal, during which grave mental torture or physical harm has occurred. Traumatic events that may trigger PTSD may include violent personal assaults on the individuals, or when the individuals get cau ght in natural or human-caused disasters, accidents, or even military combat. (â€Å"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder†). Individuals affected with PTSD could undergo grave mental ordeals, affecting not only their personal, professional and social lives, but also that of their related and associated lives. This disorder will be visible in persons immediately after a traumatic event and could continue for a shorter or a longer time, according to the severity of the event. When persons are afflicted with PTSD, they exhibit many symptoms like persistent frightening thoughts and memories of their ordeal, feeling emotionally detached as well as numb, especially with people they were once close to, experiencing sleep deprivation or problems, etc. (â€Å"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder†). So, it is a difficult disorder that could afflict all types of individuals, particularly the people who have high chances of facing traumatic events like the soldiers in the battlefield, war ret urnees, etc. The severity of the affliction due to PTSD also depends on the character, thought process, physical ability and mental fortitude of the individuals. Because based on the above mentioned qualities only, the individuals will cope up or given in to PTSD. This being the case, treatment options for the sufferers of PTSD has to be oriented based on their personal as well as social life. Although, various medications as well as psychological therapies are being practiced, it is of crucial importance in any method of treatment to include the partner as well as family members of the affected including that of the war returnees in the treatment process, with this essay focusing on that aspect. Symptoms and its repercussions As pointed out above, PTSD is a condition which is brought about by exposure to a traumatic incident that kind of plays back through flashbacks or in the dreams/nightmares of the affected individuals. (Yehuda 67). The traumatic events could directly involve th e individual, where he/she has been exposed to a threat of death, as well as other physical and psychological assaults, and also when someone else, who are known and close to the individuals, are exposed to the same threats and assaults. When they or ‘others’ are under threat, it is natural for the individuals to get afraid, with that fear only triggering sizable split-second changes in the individual’s body and preparing the body to face it or avoid it, through a response called

Human resource management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Human resource management - Essay Example a brief introduction provides an overall view on the business model that Banco has adopted. The discussion then goes on to focus on the Human Resource Management processes adopted and their relevance to the business context. The current role of a centralised HR operation is examined and suggestions are provided to alter it and increase its suitability to the need of the business. The major issues relate to the direct application of the HR organisation, policies and procedures as used in the banking sector without considering the distinct features of call centre management. In conclusion it is pointed out that the bank has used a ‘one size fits all’ approach when the need was to understand the very distinct demands of call centre operations. It is recommended that the bank review the organisation of HR services for the call centre to facilitate its value-addition to the business. Context and Problem Key characteristics The call centre sector has been growing at a fast rat e as an increasing number of companies seek to gain a competitive advantage of outsourcing task-based jobs. Call centres utilize sophisticated technology to provide better service to an increasingly demanding client base. The sector allows companies to provide 24-hour service to a global market. Call centre sector may be set up as a shared service to offer specialized routine services to a larger corporate or to the customer base. The sector is an outcome of organizations to provide superior service to compete effectively. Banco, a mid-sized retail bank has set up a call centre to counter competitive offerings by providing 24-hour service to and improve service levels at reduced cost. The bank has faced the challenge of coming up to speed on the technological demands of this business. Banco has chosen to manage the call centre centrally and opted to use resources that have no experience with that aspect of the business. Banco Call Centre is located in a high employment and economica lly developed area with a booming service economy. Strong HR practices are required to retain the employees because of presence of external job options. The call centre has employed 35% of its staff on a part-time basis. The focus on service is demonstrated in the structure and standards set by the call centre. The call centre has a local team to decide policy issues comprising section heads and a centre manager with no experience in call centre operations. HR policy and procedures are centrally determined by Banco and are considered inappropriate to call centre requirements. The environment in which Banco is competing involves the presence of an increasingly technology-savvy customer who is aware of the competitive offerings in the banking sector and will quickly switch to the offer of better quality, speed of service and accuracy. Service quality is the differentiator in the business and is determined by the availability of sophisticated technology and mature processes. Competitor banks have created a gap by

Emotional, Behavioral, and Physical Disabilities Essay Example for Free

Emotional, Behavioral, and Physical Disabilities Essay The education of students who have emotional and behavioral disorders, physical disabilities, health impairments, or traumatic brain injuries can be a difficult and challenging task if proper teaching strategies are not put in place. It is also important to for these students to gain self-advocacy skills and for teachers to teach the other students understanding, respect, and how to respond appropriately to the students with disabilities in their class. Another important aspect of the education of special needs students is an individual education plan (IEP). It is important to understand each individual disability before a teacher can properly determine the best teaching strategies. The education of students with emotional behavioral disorders is interfered because of an inability to build and maintain relationships with peers or teachers, an inability to learn, exhibiting inappropriate behavior and feelings, constant unhappiness or depression, and unreasonable fears about school (Clayton County Schools Special Education Department, 2012). Emotional behavior disorders in children are caused by environment, heredity, or both (Anjeh, D. , 2007). The education of students with physical disabilities is also more difficult. Physical disabilities are broad categories that include many conditions such as muscular dystrophy, missing limbs, spina-bifida, and cerebral palsy. There are many different causes of physical disabilities. Physical disabilities make it hard for children to more around and to control their voluntary motor movements (Anjeh, D. , 2007). Health impairments also cause issues related to a student’s education. Health impairments can limit a student’s alertness, vitality, and strength. Often health impairments cause a student to have extended absences, inability to attend a full academic schedule and/or inability to attend to tasks for the same length of time as peers (Clayton County Schools Special Education Department, 2012) A traumatic brain injury can also affect a student’s educational performance. A traumatic brain injury is an injury to the brain caused by an external physical force. These types of injuries can cause impairments of judgment, problem solving, sensory, motor ability, memory, cognition, thinking, physical functions, and speech (National Association of Special Education Teachers, 2006/2007). The most common cause of traumatic brain injuries are caused by motor vehicle or bicycle accidents. Other causes include being shaken, falling, sports related injuries, and gunshots. Traumatic brain injuries can cause physical, cognitive, and/or psychosocial-behavioral/emotional impairments (Anjeh, D. , 2007). Teachers can try many different strategies to help students with the above disabilities. These strategies are often beneficial for the regular student as well. Lash (2000) suggests that to help a student to concentrate better or pay attention a teacher can reduce distractions in the work area of a student, divide the student’s work into smaller sections, having students summarize the teacher’s instruction, and using verbal or non-verbal cues. Because short term memory is often affected by a traumatic brain injury a teacher can repeat or summarize the information needed frequently. The teacher can also encourage the student to use note cards, calendars, or planners. The use of mnemonics may also be helpful to the student. A teacher could provide students with traumatic brain injuries additional time, checklists, schedules, outlines, and other organizational materials. When teaching students with emotional and behavioral disorders the teacher must remain sensitive to these student’s issues. First the teacher must identify the behavior and its cause. Lewis, Heflin, DiGangi (1991) found that the best approach is to pinpoint the specific behavioral problem and apply data-based instruction for remediation. Remediation should include encouraging new behavior in place of the bad behavior and using positive reinforcement (Algozine, Ruhl, Ramsey, 1991). Extra training in social skills is also important. Teaching strategies for the physically impairment deal with the provision of certain accommodations and making learning as well as the learning environment accessible. Some strategies include giving the student extra time, reducing the amount of furniture in a classroom, and training staff on the health care needs of the student. The removal of physical barriers, elimination of social barriers, participation in extracurricular activities, inclusion in sports and leisure time activities are all strategies teachers can use with students with disabilities. Some students may require many visuals while other may require added audio. To improve a disabled students self-esteem and self-advocacy the student should be allowed to assume responsibility for their own learning which will improve their self-concept, feeling of belonging to the school, and success at school. A focus should be placed on teaching the student the skills necessary for taking responsibility and showing initiative in making decisions about their own instruction. It is also important for the teacher to help the disabled student’s peers to understand, accept, and include their peers with disabilities (CSWD, 2002). Inclusive classrooms can be helpful because they enable disabled and nondisabled students to discover the similarities they share and to accept each other’s unique traits that they have (Kliff Kunc, 1994). As school communities become increasingly diverse, it is more important than ever that teachers, administrators, parents, and students work together to create a tolerant school climate where each student feels safe and valued. IEP meetings are an important part of a disabled student’s educational process. Present at the meeting were the student’s father, the special educational teacher, and a member of the staff that is responsible for any financial related issues that may come into play. The meeting began with a brief introduction and signing of an intake sheet. The special education teacher reviewed the child’s present academic levels and discussed reading comprehension and fluency improvements. A copy of all testing scores was provided to those present. The father discussed worries that his child is shy and the need for social skill training. Moving the child to an inclusive classroom was discussed but it was decided to wait for this transition for the beginning of the next school year due to the child’s need for routines. Lastly it was determined there would be a short meeting scheduled for the end of the school year to determine classroom placement for the following school year.

Quality Assurance in Construction Projects

Quality Assurance in Construction Projects ABSTRACT: The main aim of this research is to let readers know how useful quality assurance is and its benefit to the community. To guide construction industries on how they can assure quality in their constructions and also how building industry to can achieve minimum loses and avoid risk on site. Furthermore, to also let contractors satisfy the need of their clients. KEY WORDS: Quality assurance, implementation, improvement, effectiveness and comparison. INTRODUCTION: The main motive behind this research is to produce a reliable source to identify the need for Quality Assurance in Design (Construction). Statistics has revered that lot of problems facing construction work is due to the fact that, Quality is not assured in construction. In my point of view, quality assurance can be done if we avoid all the following problems: Poor coordination of subcontractors work, unable to supervise and verification on site, lack of communication among architects, engineer, subcontractors and material supplies, uncertain instructions and unqualified operators and also misinterpretation of drawings and specification. As a matter of fact these problems can cause frequent delay in project, financial loss in companies and loss of confidence in contractors as result of inefficient quality assurance. A project lacking all these effects could end up as indication in fig 1.1. See below how the demonstration of a good quality assurance project and non quality assured project could be. As you can see from the diagram illustration, the red line explains the stability of a construction with good quality, however it also means that, the construction will not face any problems in some years to come. Whereas, the blue line indicate how a building can be of no quality and as a matter of fact, it is possible for the building to collapse in a short period of time. I have therefore decided to research on the subject as I believe that construction industry could improve upon it performance if the above mentioned is avoided so that construction would be quality assured. Besides, since construction work is team work and all members need to contribute to its effectiveness and quality of the construction, therefore this will allow the members of the project team to identify the main objectives of quality in a project. In order to achieve this, it is better to establish a technique for modeling the relationships between the project environments, objectives, control systems and feedback in the construction process. In this case the purpose will make recommendations to clients of the construction industry and their advisers and about how to make sure projects are quality controlled and assured. PROBLEM FORMULATION Quality Assurance is one of the major areas in construction in which much attention must be drawn into. As a result of this, it is my duty to figure out how quality can be assured in the construction industry. Generally speaking, there has been complains, delayance and financial losses in construction companies due to lack of quality in the construction industry. Again, if a project lacks quality assurance, the consequences of a time overrun are always serious and hard to resolve. It also distracts a project from meeting deadlines and this brings financial losses to the users and, more often than not, it has a negative impact on the profitability of the project for the promoters. Besides the above mentioned problems, lack of quality assurance in construction is causing litigation among architects, engineers, subcontractors and material supplies since each party is blaming each other for the problems at the building site. As a matter of fact, the positive feeling and understanding of enjoying the beauty of a house is to give a full comfort and safety of the client but due to lack of quality assurance in construction, this comfort cannot be fulfilled. In addition to this, my argument will be basing on quality assurance in design and project scrutiny. METHODOLOGY: Before this research can be accomplished its main aims and objectives, the method to use will basically base on existing informations, general observation and other internet sources which will be very useful to the topic. However, this research will be limited within the information gathered on the internet, general observation and existing information from the researchers and will provide answers to the questions in the problem formulation. RESEARCH QUESTIONS: ÃÆ'ËÅ" How can quality be assured in design ÃÆ'ËÅ" Problems affecting construction industry as a result of lack of quality assurance. 1.0 WHAT IS QUALITY? The term quality means different things to different people. Some takes it to be the characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy a need. Whilst others take it as the degree to which a product exceeds a customers requirements and expectations. On the other hand, others think it is the attainment of prescribed standards. (http://www.qualitydigest.com/html/qualitydef.html) The international Organization for standardization (ISO DIS 9000:2000), formally defines quality as the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfils the requirement. In the situation of quality assurance, quality is not a statement of excellence in a comparative sense. It is just a short cut for `desired quality` that should be laid down as clearly as possible. The producer, on the other hand, attempt to attain the desired quality at an optimum cost while the customer requires confidence in the producer`s ability to deliver and firmly maintain that quality. However, quality in construction is more difficult to explain. Firstly, the product is not a mechanical unit but a piece of work with specific characteristics. An example will be building construction, the product can be a whole building or just a prefabricated component that ultimately forms part of a building. Also the need to be satisfied includes not only the client but the expectations of the community as a whole, into which the completion of the building will be integrated. The construction cost and time of delivery are also important characteristics of quality. In other words, all these things must be properly introduced in designing the building and the outcome should be expressed absolutely in drawing and specifications. Besides, in the building industries, it is a traditional practice to have different contracts for design to that of the construction with the designer taking up responsibility of supervising the construction. The quality of the finished works will be controlled by ways of inspecting and testing as construction process. For example, the quality of concrete and other materials on site is judged by samples of test and thorough inspection of the finished work is done without any exception before finial acceptance. The major aim of this à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“inspectional systemà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  of quality control is to identify the mistakes after the product has been produce. Even high strength of concrete can be defective if it is not properly compacted, cured and the potential hazard of steel corrosion will not surface until some years later. In view of this, many short comings are covered up with the existence of subsequent construction and consequently the quality of the finished works cannot be assessed by the final inspection. Unlike consumer goods, problems in building work are very difficult to replace. The client is often left with no choice than to patch up the original which is the source of recurrent troubles and huge expenditure in some years to come. Sometimes, poor workmanship is disregard to keep up with expected productivity or just labour. However, to show commitment to quality, the senior management of the companies should therefore provide enough resources on site to avoid anybody cutting corners. Furthermore, an inclusive record of in process inspection is to ensure that the intended verification is actually done. The extra efforts are managerial in nature and complementary to the functional techniques of quality control in assuring the quality of the product. 1.1 WHAT IS QUALITY ASSURANCE? Quality assurance is defined a set of procedures designed to ensure that quality standards and processes are adhered to, that the final product meets or exceeds the required technical and performance requirements. Whereas, (ISO 9001:2000) also defined Quality assurance as that part of quality management focused on providing confidence that quality requirement is fulfilled. In other words, all those planned and systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that a product or service will satisfy given requirements for quality. Despite all the wealth of site experience throughout the pass years, one out of ten building contracts still leads to clients dissatisfaction and complains against contractors. Researches made by the (Building Researches Establishment) in the United Kingdom indicate that 40% of building defects occurs during the construction phase (BRE, 1982). In most cases, the defects are found to be the following: ÃÆ'ËÅ" Inadequate supervision and verification on site. ÃÆ'ËÅ" Misinterpretation of drawing and specification. ÃÆ'ËÅ" Ambiguous instructions or unqualified operators. ÃÆ'ËÅ" Use of superseded drawing and specification ÃÆ'ËÅ" Poor coordination of subcontracted work ÃÆ'ËÅ" Poor communication with the architects, engineer, subcontractors and material suppliers. Perhaps, due to the above mention, it is obvious that the following defects rising in construction are mostly caused by poor management and communication. In this case, it is assumed that mistakes occurring on site are usually made on site. These mistakes somehow can be traced back to the purchase of incorrect materials and failure to recover the out-dated drawings. On the other hand, the end result of site problems can be of disregard or malpractices in the head office. Obviously, quality can be achieved when such preventable mistakes are avoided in the first instance. Serious measures must be taken to minimize the risk of managerial and communication problems; this is basic concept of quality assurance. Besides, the conduct of an individual in an organization could directly or indirectly affect the quality of a finished product. Responsibility for quality can therefore stretches from the chief executive right down to the person on the job. If persistent quality is to be assured, all members in the organization, both in the head office and on site must; have proper organization structure, clear lines of responsibility and communication and also to have good motivation. Before quality assurance can be practice, an organization has to be constituted and maintain a quality management system in its day to day operation. A quality system contains, among other things, a set documented procedure for the different processes carried out by the organization. Also implementing quality system does not replace the existing quality control function, nor does it conclude in more inspection and testing. It just ensures that, a proper type and amount of verification is performed when and where it is planned to be done. In short, quality assurance is oriented towards prevention of quality short coming. It also aims at minimizing the risk of making mistakes in the first place, therefore avoiding the necessity for rework, repair or reject. From the indication of the diagram above, less time and money is used in the 1st and 2nd phase, whereas less time and money is used in the 3rd and 4th phase due to the fact that mush time and money was used in the earlier phase. 1.2 PURPOSE OF QUALITY ASSURANCE (ISO 9001:2000) Quality assurance ensures that a product has achieved it highest standard and that its production, modification or repair (in the case of a manufacture item) has been completed in an efficient and timely manner. The purpose of quality assurance is there to provide assurance to a client that the standard of workmanship within the contractor ´s premises of the highest level of quality and that all the products leaving the industry is above a certain minimum level of specification. It should also further ensure that the company personnel, sub-contractors and key suppliers are aware of customer requirements and that they are fully met. Conformance with requirements of the detailed procedures developed in accordance with the Quality Manual has to be mandatory for all staff employed in the company. It is essential to the system that encouragement is given to each employee to develop and maintain an attitude of continuing quality improvement and customer satisfaction. [11] Also, to ensure that, the standard of productions are in order between the divisions or section and they have remain constant despite changes in personnel. 1.3 HOW TO IMPLEMENT QUALITY ASSURANCE Construction industry has been struggling with it implementation of quality assurance for many years. The cost could potentially be reduced reasonably if the industry were to hold onto the concept of quality assurance with the use of great success by the means other companies. (Construction Quality Assurance White paper.) However, various case studies and initiatives have succeeded in introducing quality assurance to the construction industry on a small scale, but as a whole, it has mostly been ignored by the industries. The construction industry is unique and therefore the application of quality assurance requires to be implemented in the industry. Some of the major steps of this process are discussed below; 1. First of all, project managers in various companies have to form a team or groups who will be dedicated for quality assurance. This team will be responsible to value and report on the evaluation regarding every part of the company. The team will be working individually having authority and freedom of work, at each point of their operation. The team has to report to the senior management of the company and keep all results in files. [9] 2. Once the team is formed, the main responsibility of the team will be to define the tasks and assign them to respective persons. Some of these responsibilities are to review the products, tools, services as per the requirements, standards and guidelines, audit project processes, suggest various methods, standards or tools to be used in the project, report the outcome of the evaluation etc. [9] 3. The team then defines the plans for the quality assurance process. In this case, it depends upon the nature of company; the details of the plans in the company might change. However, it basic plan remains common for most of the companies. Mostly the list includes quality objectives, defining the tests and verificational activities, process evaluation, defining the individual responsibility of the team members, identifying training requirements, budgeting and funding for quality control jobs, scheduling all activities, documenting and tracking etc. [9] 4. Generating the test process, checklists and related activities to explain the way quality assurance will be performed is the next step. [9] 5. The team in simple sense has to perform according to the plans made to ensure the next steps of quality assurance process. These resources can be acquired to perform the procedures, when the team starts evaluating the project. Tools required for this evaluation are identified depending on the nature of the project. Any non conformance with the standards or requirement are notified and reported to the appropriate department. The problems are then corrected and again sent for testing to the quality control team. This way, testing and correcting goes on, till the project is proven to be in conformance with the standard. [9] 6. The next step is to identify the training requirement for the team members to perform the evaluation processes as specified in the quality control plan. [9] 7. The performance of the team should be monitored regularly by the project manager against the plans, schedule and budget. In case the progress of the team is not doing a good job, then corrective actions should be taken. [9] 8. The team activities and results are reviewed by the senior management of the company and their stakeholders on regular intervals. Any unsolved issue for the team procedure is taken care of by the senior management at this point of time. [9] 9. The team collects review information from various sources. Again, suggestions for improvement at any step of quality assurance process is accepted and implemented in the next session, if it satisfies the various limitations. Recommendations are accepted from any level of the company for future use. [9] 10. The team refines the total process to give it a defined structure with the team ´s descriptions, templates and checklists. This structure can be reused as a model for future or might become an example to other companies or organizations. [9] 1.4 WHY DO WE USE QUALITY ASSURANCE IN DESIGN? In the construction industry, quality assurance is adopted in nuclear and offshore works mainly for safety and reliability reasons. The process of construction involves different types of professional and tradesman with a wide range of skills and level of education. The environments where these processes are carried out are often revealing to aggressive element, in such condition it is arguable whether the procedures can be standardized at all. On the other hand some contractors think that trying to do so merely place another layer of administration in the industry. Despite, the differences of the work handled by a construction company, the corporate procedures apply to all varying degrees. Some examples of such are tendering, procurement, document control and record keeping. Mostly, the adoption of quality assurance in the construction industry has been mainly client-led. Noting that the implementation of contract in law cannot undo any damage already done, a progressive client, when awarding a contract, tends to take into account, the contractor ´s capability to do it right at the first time down the hidden philosophy of quality assurance. Besides, there is a general movement towards making the enforcement of quality systems in a contractual requirement. Most of the government bodies that are responsible for public works and housing have begun to persist on an effective quality system as an obligatory for tendering; perhaps public utilities companies are doing the same thing. In this cases, the basis of competition for industries will move from à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“priceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  to the combination of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“price and qualityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ , meanwhile if the contractors do not want to keep out from bidding for available work, they should then wait no longer in establishing a quality system in their companies. Such contractors will be fighting a lose battle against their competitors who have already enhanced their product through better quality assurance or quality management. More so, trying to satisfy a condition for tending or contracts may not be the best argument for practicing quality assurance, but it would have probably be the most compelling reason in the first place. However, the companies that benefit mostly from quality assurance are those who do so for the purpose of improving their own efficiency. These improvement leads to higher productivity on the on hand and client satisfaction on the other. Lets see some few constructions analyze with poor quality assurance. 1. Damage to the terrace roof surface. 2. Roof leakage through joints, bushings and so on, which lead to drenching of the thermal Insulation material and discolorations on internal surface layers. 3. Roof leakage at the eave with discolorations and flakiness on the faÃÆ' §ade surface layer underneath. Sources: 5th semester project 2009 Moisture has caused many damages through the roof terrace covering because of different reasons. Some of which are discovered in the construction by some blemish on the faÃÆ' §ade and inside the building. The extent to which these damages can be determined is after the construction has been exposed. Besides, the deformation of this damage depends partly on changes in the supporting substrate and partly on movement of the building structure. 2.0 ROOF 2.1 BAD WORKMANSHIP And the most common damage on roof construction is water leakage More often than not, the leakage can occur anywhere in the roof construction and also at other place then where the water from the outside normally penetrates. These leakages are caused by innumerable; another reason could be a damaged roof membrane. Above all, the roof membrane can be a reckless traffic, ice blasting and thermal movements in the roof coverings. Also there can be movement underneath the roof membrane duo to shrinkage in the thermal insulation boards. The water that comes through the openings in the roof membrane is partly absorbed by the thermal insulation boards and partly penetrates the roof covering. On terrace roofs with external thermal insulation, the thermal insulation boards make up a substrate for the roof membrane. Terrace roofs with no thermal insulation or with internal thermal insulation occur more occasionally, but when it does the concrete surface becomes the substrate for the roof Membrane. The roof membrane can consist of one or two layers. Roof membranes made of one layer are usually made of: * Thermoplastic materials (mostly PVC) * Rubber materials * Polymer modified bitumen. 2.2 BENEFITS OF QUALITY ASSURANCE Quality Assurance has become basic part of most of the construction industries. Every construction industries nowadays face tough competition and hence it is essential for them to provide goods or services of high quality at low cost to their clients. Different systems are implemented in construction firms to improve upon the quality of the companies. Besides this does not only helps to satisfy the client requirements but also helps in reducing costs and increasing profits of the firms. Most of the construction industries understand the importance and necessity of maintaining good quality to survive in today market and that are laying even greater emphasis on their QA systems. The first benefit is that, it helps in understanding the wants and expectations of the client. It thus aids the industries to focus on its processes to satisfy those needs and expectations, so as to keep it client happy and satisfied. For e.g. construction companies that offer good quality of buildings to their clients get lots of contracts from the community benefit from it. They can also over shadow their competitors and enjoy good sales and profits. Secondly, quality assurance has increased the effectiveness of the construction industries. It requires that, the construction industries gives proper training to their employees so that they can understand their jobs better as well as get trained on the new technology to work and perform better. The entire construction industry works in a predefined fashion with the aid of these procedures. It helps the employees in knowing and understanding their roles and responsibilities. They also make the employees understand the different inter linkages within the departments. Thus, the employees understand the importance of teamwork in improving the quality of products and thus improve the brand value of the company. Moreover, the quality assurance improves the flow of work within the companies. It helps to identify the problem areas within the companies very early. There are regular inspections and audits that pin point the problem areas of the companies. Not only the problems of the company, but also the low quality and other problems of the vendors are highlighted during these performance inspections. The aim of these systems is to continuously improve the entire quality of the companies, so as to attain high productivity while maintaining good quality. Last but not the least, quality assurance help all the departments to work efficiently. There are fewer lags in the manufacturing of the products and as a result the construction companies benefits from a short cycle time. For e.g. if proper quality systems are implemented in a prefabricated company, it will benefit from fast and good production to its buyers. There are many big names in for instants the Danish companies that claim to serve their customers in a very short time. Such companies benefit tremendously from increased sales and clients satisfaction. In short, quality assurance is essential for companies in order to get a strong foothold in the market. These systems help the companies to work effectively, which then reduces the operational costs of the construction companies. Also, it helps to infuse confidence in the employees though training and role clarity. All this helps the construction companies to serve their clients better every day. 3.0 HOW TO DO QUALITY ASSURANCE IN DESIGN Design in itself has four phases before a project can be completed. These phases include: PRELIMINARY BRIEF OUTLINE PROPOSAL PHASE SCHEME DESIGN PHASE DETAIL DESIGN ONE PHASE DETAIL DESIGN TWO PHASE A project needs to go through all these phases before it becomes a complete one and legally accepted. Quality has to be ensured step by step as well. 3.1 QUALITY ASSURANCE IN THE PRELIMINARY BRIEF In as much as, this project is a renovation project it still has the basis for drafting the client preliminary brief. (The Constricting Architect ´s Manual) Preliminary brief is the sum total of the client ´s visions and wishes / needs for a building. In most cases the clients idea should be put on paper which should comprise as follows: the client has to make the architect aware of the reason of the building; the function, location, rooms, space etc. Because the clients mostly have different backgrounds and experience with the construction projects, the brief should be presented in forms. Besides it is somehow necessary for the architect to assist or explain to the client some important informations in the project. Minutes of the conversation between the client and the consultants should be taking into consideration. These minutes can be used as basis for drafting the preliminary brief. The preliminary brief should be drafted in such a way that not only the consultants can use it but every one concern with the project, so as it can also be used as the basis for the project. 3.2 QUALITY ASSURANCE IN THE OUTLINE PROPOSAL PHASE This is a phase where materials for construction have to be taken into consideration, analysis of where to place each room as long as design is concerned to fit regulations and demands. In redesigning such a construction, the materials to be used must critically be taken into consideration. As to how and where to place for example the bathroom and the material to use in order to get a better construction and as a matter of fact it life span. As seen in the figà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.the materials to use in the walls around the bathroom has be water proofed in order not to soaks with water. Sound and fire also has to be taken into consideration which also make construction meet the demands in law. 3.2.1 Budget ÃÆ'ËÅ" To have a successful preconstruction phase, it is important to have an accurate first budget. The key to an accurate first budget is communication of expectations by all team members. This will lead the dialog among the team members, asking the right questions to clearly establish the scope of the project. This includes identifying phasing plans, finishes, systems, equipment and responsibilities of the owner, consultants, proprietary items and long lead items that might impact the project cost, schedule and quality. ÃÆ'ËÅ" Preliminary detailed cost estimating and budget development must be performed at schematic design, design development and construction document phases. At each milestone design and budget must be evaluated against the master project budget for conformance with the established program price. Corrective action, if required, should be reviewed at each stage to keep the project on target. ÃÆ'ËÅ" Contractors perform detailed independent checks of estimates with subcontractors pricing prior to competitive bidding to the subcontractor base. This is essential to ensuring accurate numbers in the variable mountain market. ÃÆ'ËÅ" Value engineering must be done early in the process. When utilized at this stage, it is not cost cutting, but rather a process that balances the Owners goals of meeting quality, budget and schedule objectives. ÃÆ'ËÅ" A Team if possible must be formed to provide quality assurance, constructability and multi-disciplined peer reviews to improve document quality and ultimately achieve lower base bids and reduce change order exposure. ÃÆ'ËÅ" Proceeding to the issuance of bid documents, the bidding requirements must be established and clearly communicated to all bidders. A compiled à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"bid book must be made in addition to the plans and specifications that helps to clarify how they intend to build the project, as well as clarifying the role of each subcontractor. This eliminates doubling up on or missing a scope. ÃÆ'ËÅ" Contractors uses an extensive select list of qualified subcontractors and suppliers who in a position to respond to the needs of the project. 3.2.2 Schedule ÃÆ'ËÅ" A project schedule should be developed and validated to maximize construction efficiencies and optimize owners program requirements. ÃÆ'ËÅ" Schedules must be validated at each step in the design. ÃÆ'ËÅ" Subcontractors must be asked for input in the schedules early on to ensure an accurate, achievable schedule. 3.2.3 Design Intent ÃÆ'ËÅ" Evaluation reviews are performed in the design phase. Assemblies and systems are evaluated for ease of construction so they are not later discovered to be difficult or even impossible to build. The evaluation reviews can help avoid cost increases and schedule delays during construction. The Teams experience in construction should allow productive reviews and analysis of the proposed design to identify these items. ÃÆ'ËÅ" Submittal requirements and timing must also be identified in a submittal log so that the design intent can be properly validated. ÃÆ'ËÅ" Contractors must compare the merits of various design ideas at the preconstruction stage, including a cost analysis, life cycle analysis, schedule impact analysis and an overall quality comparison. This will give the Owner the information needed to decide which design best meets the needs of the project. 3.2.4 Workmanship ÃÆ'ËÅ" Quality levels must be determined and incorporated in the Project Mission Statement. ÃÆ'ËÅ" Drawings and specifications are reviewed with subcontractors and designers to identify potential conflicts, which may affect constructability and quality. 3.3 QUALITY ASSURANCE IN THE SCHEME DESIGN PHASE These stage shows where critical problems in the construction can be solved before it actually get to the detail design phase ÃÆ'ËÅ" There must be a focus on constantly scrutinizing for value adding ideas to best meet the owners objectives. ÃÆ'ËÅ" Contractors work to find creative solutions to problems during construction in an effort to minimize cost, schedule or quality impacts. ÃÆ'ËÅ" Contractors provide a review of the proposed changes, with regards to cost, schedule, design, constructability and quality implications as part of the role in the change order management process during construction. ÃÆ'ËÅ" The contractor meets all contractual schedules. This eliminates additional costs for owners due to schedule delays.

Recidivism of Sex Offenders Essay -- Adult Sex Offender Recidivism

Sex offenders have been a serious problem for our legal system at all levels, not to mention those who have been their victims. There are 43,000 inmates in prison for sexual offenses while each year in this country over 510,000 children are sexually assaulted(Oakes 99). The latter statistic, in its context, does not convey the severity of the situation. Each year 510,000 children have their childhood's destroyed, possibly on more than one occasion, and are faced with dealing with the assault for the rest of their lives. Sadly, many of those assaults are perpetrated by people who have already been through the correctional system only to victimize again. Sex offenders, as a class of criminals, are nine times more likely to repeat their crimes(Oakes 99). This presents a problem for the public, as potential victims, and the legal system which is entrusted by the public for protection. It would be irresponsible for the legal system to ignore the criminal class of sex offenders, for they are subject to a recurring physiological urge that requires the use of effective restraints that would curb the habitual repetition of episodes producing the harmful consequences to the public(Schopf 95). In light of this realization, steps beyond treatment have been taken to reduce the recidivism rate of sex offenders. Notification laws, special supervising techniques by parole officers, and both surgical and chemical castration are techniques used in various forms in this country and abroad with success. However, notification laws and both forms of castrations have not come about without criticism on constitutional grounds. Any criticism should take into account the extraordinary recidivism rates found only in the criminal class of the s... ...Interpersonal Violence, Vol. 15. pp. 279-290 Martin, R. (1996). Pursuing Public Protection Through Mandatory Community Notification of Convicted Sex Offenders: The Trials and Tribulations of Megan's Law. The Boston Public Interest Law Journal, Vol. 6, Issue 29 Oakes, S. (1999). Megan's Law: Analysis on Whether it is Constitutional to Notify the Public of Sex Offenders Via the Internet. The John Marshal Journal of Computer and Information Law Sampson, E. (1999). Supervising Sex Offenders: Alternatives to Incarceration, Bethpage, Vol. 5, pp.6-7 Schopf, S. (1995). "Megan's Law": Community Notification and the Constitution. Columbia Universtiy School Journal of Law and Social Problems, 29 Seto, M. & Barbaree, H. (1999). Psychopathy, Treatment Behavior, and Sex Offender Recidivism. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Vol. 14, pp.1235-1248

Nathaniel Hawthornes Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment :: Literature Authors Essays

Nathaniel Hawthorne's Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment Leon Trotsky, the Russian revolutionist, wrote in his Diary in Exile, " The depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves." Nathaniel Hawthorne gives us a 19th century example of this phenomenon in "Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment". The theme of this story is that a person’s character, once developed does not change over time, and when faced with conflict and adversity, their true character becomes boldly evident. Hawthorne himself provides the narration, although he does not identify his character, nor is his character present during the experiment. The narrator appears to be telling this story based on events relayed to him by other people, and there are times throughout the story when Hawthorne admits that the events are sometimes unbelievable. He leads us to question whether this story actually takes place, or is the story merely a tool, a demonstration of a moral Puritan principle, similar to a parable found in the Bible. The effect is the same: a lesson about morality, about living life as God would want us to, and the consequences we suffer when we fail to do so. Relevant symbols are abounding in this story, from setting to names to objects. The dim room that the five occupy is a symbol of death, the death that they will soon face. Complete with dust, cobwebs and a skeleton, the description of the room is more like that of a mausoleum, instead of the good Dr.’s study. The oak bookcases are reminiscent of the wood that will create their coffins. More peculiar is the large black folio. The folio is a scrapbook that represents Dr. Heidegger’s life. We all have a folio. It is that glimpse of our own lives, that flash we see briefly but completely right before our eyes when faced with the unexpected reality of our own death. God sees this folio also, but in a manner more thoroughly than we would. In this sense Dr. Heidegger symbolizes God. But is Heidegger in fact playing God by giving these poor souls this elixir of life?

Challenges of Studying Written and Oral Sources in Africa

One of the biggest issues facing African historians is the fact that the study of actual African History is relatively new. A large majority of the sources available are written from the point of view of Europeans, with an Intended audience of Europeans. L In this egocentric method of reporting history, Africans were viewed more as objects: a people with a past but no history. 2 The written â€Å"historical† sources provided by imperialists robbed Africans of their voice.The principal challenge facing African historians Is to find a way to Inject the African voice Into the narrative, and thus roved a more accurate representation of the continental history. This task presents more profound questions. What qualities make someone an African? Is it sufficient to be a black person living on the continent? Are there levels of ethnicity? Are the descendants of Africans brought to other parts of the world In the slave trade â€Å"Africans†? Ultimately, who decides who Is  "African†? Equally problematic is the Issue regarding what represents a credible source, either written or oral.Each presents unique challenges that must be addressed in order to qualify the value of the Information they portend to provide. While the more traditional African historical sources are Invariably prone to the problem of European bias, cave paintings offer a source that was born out of a desire of an African (not a European) to document their experiences. For example, the rock art of Gill Kefir in what is present-day Egypt represents people allegedly engaging in the catchy of swimming. 3 This offers historians perhaps the oldest example of source material regarding African history. UT what does this ‘Written† source actually tell African historians? Most importantly, it definitively proves that someone was there, and through scientific dating cuisines, It indicates approximately when they were there. This is real, hard evidence, which â€Å"underpins al l historical research. â€Å"4 This Is not to Infer that there are not problems with the use of the paintings as a source of usable evidence. The older a source is, it is more likely to be inaccurate. 5 Were the people in the paintings actually swimming, as scientists believe?Does that mean that the desert where the cave paintings were found was once a land that contained lakes or rivers? Or did the cave painters devise their art from the second-hand memories of others who had traveled to faraway lands? What was the reason they chose to document their experience? Was it graffiti? Was it done for religious reasons? Was it a territorial marking? Archaeological sites are less prevalent in Africa than other parts of the world, which Is problematic In having the ability to compare this particular site to others.Further, the available archives needed to compare these archaeological finds are fewer in number in African regions, and sometimes less accessible due to political reasons. The I nformation In the African archives that do exist Is often more difficult to translate than traditional archival Information In that most African engages are oral, and not written, and nearly impossible to document without the benefit of oral history. 6 How can African historians mitigate these challenges and ‘OFF source?One suggestion is to actively search for other existing examples of cave paintings and to compare them based on materials, method, content, location, etc. When such comparable examples do not exist, scientists could initiate more archaeological digs, extend communication among scientists to broaden the evidence base, and exert political pressure upon leaders to focus on scientific endeavors, as well as the preservation of the archives. Like historians in other parts of the world, African historians face the challenge of deteriorating archives because of damage caused by the elements, water damage, and insects. Traditional written sources such as government docu ments, tax records, and newspapers may also be lost due to archival neglect. Historians must consider several criteria of source criticism to determine each written source's historical value. 8 Regardless of the name on the document, who was the actual author? What was the real purpose of the document? Who was the intended audience? Did the author have personal motives in reporting it in the manner in which he did? For example, most government documents from Colonial Africa were written by Europeans, with an intended European audience.There is no African voice in this â€Å"history. † Africans were treated like objects,9 and colonial imperialistic authors of written sources â€Å"believed that they actually were generating history for the first time?that Africa (and Africans) had no history before their arrival. â€Å"10 Another limitation of written documents is that they are created from the point of view of an observer, and thus produce an opinion that is completely subj ective, and thereby, by definition, are open to other opinions and observations. To address the limitations of written documents, historians often attempt to incorporate oral sources in conjunction with written sources in order to strengthen historical evidence. â€Å"Anxiety about flawed written sources drew scholars away from libraries and into towns and villages for historical narrative. â€Å"12 The incorporation of oral history into the narrative makes it more evidential and gives the written documents a more verifiable African voice. Relying on written documents from the Colonial period without the incorporation of oral sources, in many cases, produces an inaccurate version of African history.Typically, in the African â€Å"history' provided by Colonial Europeans their culture, norms, and ideology were largely ignored. â€Å"One of the key methods to avoid (the possibility of denying Africans a voice in their own history) is to include a people's own oral traditions and li fe histories in ethnographically and archaeological work. â€Å"13 Because most African languages in Colonial Africa were oral and not written,14 it is imperative to consider oral sources to bolster the evidence provided by written sources. Oral sources can provide a wealth of historical evidence.For example, Historical linguists use oral sources to accurately track the movement of people across the continent. 15 This evidence of human migration can help explain cultural change, which is important when considering that a lack of concentration of people in a particular area makes a study of their culture less possible. Oral histories offer first-hand accounts of events. These oral histories evolve into oral traditions;16 stories passed down from generation to generation, offering us a glimpse of pre-colonial Africa not found in the Euro-centric written documents of imperialists.Oral sources obviously can complement the written, a realization that was for too long lost on most profes sional order to strengthen written sources to form cohesive historical evidence is Jan Vinson, who â€Å"established that the stories handed down from one generation to another †¦ Were as stable and reliable accounts of their past as were the written chronicles and personal narratives†¦ (and) that in fact they were of the same genre. â€Å"18 In Banana's own words: â€Å"by creating a lifelike setting, (oral tradition) gives evidence about how situations as they were observed, as well as about beliefs uncovering situations. 19 Thus, oral sources, through both shared oral history and oral traditions, combined with written sources, form a more credible account of historical occurrences than written sources alone provide. Oral sources, though, are not without their limitations. â€Å"(H)Astoria can place trust in oral sources only to the extent that they can be verified by means of external evidence of another kind, such as archaeological, linguistic, or cultural. â€Å" 20 Oral sources are subject to misinterpretation because of selective or collective memory, rumor, myth, or hearsay. That being said, oral sources subject to these limitations still offer substance, because historians can still study why the subjects believe it happened that way. 22 African historians can mitigate the limitations of oral sources by searching for information that is valuable, if not as historical evidence, but as information that is not readily apparent through the written archive. While attempting to glean evidence from a source on one topic, a historian may gain knowledge of another unintended topic.Ultimately, â€Å"it is the duty of the historian to subject all written accounts to radical internal and external analysis to determine authenticity and credibility. If the accounts are thoroughly examined, and the texts can be compared to one another with the information contained in oral and other sources, they will continue to yield valuable information on the hist ory of Africa. â€Å"23 These things considered; if an historian wanted to get an approximation of how many Africans were enslaved, maimed or killed in the occupation of King Leopold in the Congo, where would they start? What sources would they utilize, and what would they expect to find?What there information might they â€Å"accidentally' stumble upon? I propose that a good place to start would be to examine any existing hospital documents from 1885-1908, to determine if there is a written record of the number of people treated for loss of limbs. Local censuses (if available), police records, military ledgers, property records, death certificates might also prove as fruitful written resources. Additionally, missionary records in the region mighty prove to be valuable, especially considering that they would probably not require translation, lessening the possibility that any information would be mistranslated.Another possible valuable written source might be records in the Belgia n archive, or that of the present-day Democratic Republic of Congo. The historian might hope to find information or documents concerning the Congo Reform Association, which might shed some light on the information she seeks. Additionally, research on the Congo Free State propaganda war and the International Association of the Congo might provide valuable useful written sources of evidence of injuries and deaths to those enslaved at that time.One might also be able to glean useful information from historical-based literature, such as Joseph Concord's Heart of Darkness, Sir Arthur Cowan Dole's The Crime of the Congo, and Bertrand Russell Freedom and Organization. Research on the parties evidence of the atrocities in the region, including Edmund Dine Muriel, Roger Casement and the aforementioned Bertrand Russell. Local museums might contain artwork from the region during Loophole's occupation that captures the outrage, despair and helplessness of the affected.By speaking to locals, she might learn, through oral tradition, the stories passed down from generation to generation about the occupation. In the unlikely, yet still possible event, that any 106-year-old residents still survive, they would be able to provide first-hand oral history. Other than gaining information regarding the number of enslaved, killed and maimed, she would, in all probability, gain an understanding of the long-term effects of the occupation of Leopold upon the citizens, as well as information of how Loophole's occupation came to an end due to intense international criticism.Possible obstacles that she might experience: In retreat, Leopold may have destroyed written evidence of the atrocities, as well as local artwork or libraries. His regime may have been so strict that any expression, either written or oral, was prohibited and subject to the same penalties as those who refused to work in the mines, or underperformed in their duties, diminishing oral sources. Let's consider that the same historian endeavored to learn the approximate number of the descendants of diasporas Africans who returned to partake in the so-called â€Å"redeeming of Africa. Where might she begin, and what would she expect to find? What limitations might she encounter? What other information might she learn along the way? A good starting mint would be to visit the archives in Liberia and Sierra Leone; countries set up as places of African repatriation for freed slaves. There, she could view the legal records regarding who came back and when they returned, who their family members were, where they lived, as well as their professions. Available Census documents would prove to be invaluable in that regard.Ship's manifests would reflect the number of passengers returning to these countries, as well as the number of family members that accompanied them. She could research the founders of both countries, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, the first president of Liberia, and Christopher Koru Cole and Osaka Stev ens, early leaders of Sierra Leone, to find documents pertaining to the numbers of returning Africans. She could study historical literature about repatriation, such as Back to Africa: the Colonization Movement in Early Africa by Timothy Crummier, as well as Black Migration in America: a Social Demographic History by Daniel M.Johnson and Rexes R. Campbell. She could also read the works of the men who themselves returned, such as George Washington Williams, Samuel Jay Crotchet, and Henry McNealy Turner. 4 Some limitations she might experience in her research: inconclusive data due to the relative impossibility of proving that they (or their descendants) were indeed originally removed from the continent. Incomplete or inaccurate documentation might also prove to be a stumbling block in attaining this information.Additional research on topics such as the American Colonization Society, and the histories of both Liberia and Sierra Leone would not only provide numerical data, but also und oubtedly uncover unintended useful information about the achievements and political and religious aims of those who returned, as well as how hey were received. Did they consider themselves more â€Å"civilized† than the native Africans whose descendants had not been removed from the continent?What other the reasons why some Africans did not return, even though they had the opportunity. Through personal interviews of present-day citizens who are descendants of returning freed slaves she could learn of the oral traditions they had developed. She might also learn of the artwork prevalent in these regions, as well as the folklore and literature that the return to Africa produced, and how it differed from that of indigenous Africans. â€Å"As a recognized academic endeavor, (African history) has emerged only in the last four or five decades. 25 Until recently, African â€Å"history' was written by and for Europeans, and as such, didn't provide a realistic depiction of the people , the culture, and the overall actual history of the continent, but served more as a record of White encroachment, and functioned as a tool of propaganda to legitimate the â€Å"civilizing mission† of Europeans. By altering traditional methodology and utilizing both written and oral sources, a more accurate picture of African history ND its people can be discovered and studied.Beyond the fade of imperialistic African â€Å"history,† there is a real history of the African continent that invites further study, and such an endeavor is necessary in restoring the African â€Å"voice. † If we fail to do so, â€Å"(w)e run the risk of not only denying people a voice in the reconstruction of their own history, but offending and demeaning indigenous cultures when we use them as a model for the past without recognizing not only their changing past but their active involvement in changing and/or maintaining their identities and history in the present. â€Å"26