A History of How American Culture Lead Us Into Vietnam and Made Us Fight the Way We Did

A History of How American Culture Lead Us Into Vietnam and Made Us Fight the Way We Did, by Loren Baritz, was published by The Johns Hopkins University Press in 1998. It runs to 400 pages in paperback. Baritz has held administrative positions in numerous universities in the United States. He went to the Amherst campus of the University of Massachusetts in the early 1980s as Provost and served as Chancellor for a time in 1982. He is a noted historian and well respected in his field.This book is a different sort of history from the usual in that it deals with the clash of cultures and the differences between those of the United States and those of Vietnam. Baritz shows the mindset of the American leadership, which was instrumental in leading us down the path to a disastrous war that was not winnable from the outset. In three parts Bartitz explains why it was the myths of our invincibility and our belief that a Christian god watched over all of our endeavors which convinced us to contin ue the war.He quotes Herman Melville’s lines concerning the American condition (Baritz 1998 p 26). He paints a portrait of a nation lulled by its own perceptions of righteousness and how apple pie, motherhood and love of Old Glory caused us to think we had the moral right and obligation to foist our system of beliefs on others on the other side of the globe. He shows that the idea of a separate South Vietnam was a total fabrication and had ever had any basis in fact.We intervened in a civil matter between one nation and the egos of our leaders prevented us from admitting it was all a mistake, apologizing and withdrawing with our 58,000 plus dead still alive. We failed to win because we did not understand the mind of the Vietnamese. Baritz says, â€Å"Vietnam finally won its war because it was willing to accept more death than we considered rational,† (325). We had trained a South Vietnamese army to fight like American soldiers, making them totally dependant on American supplies and materials.Therefore, says Baritz, the South Vietnamese were never capable of sustaining the fight on their own. Baritiz’s thesis is that the entire war was doomed from the outset because the American government never understood why the North was fighting or to what lengths they would go to continue the fight. They would never have stopped had we paved the jungle and decimated them. Because of their cultural beliefs the North Vietnamese may not have been capable of stopping. The reunification of their nation was more than a holy war, it was a living, breathing tangible of what they were as a race and a nation.It was imbedded in their psyches that losing was never an option. We never understood that they would fight to the last man standing. In proof of his thesis Baritz says that while our enemy was fighting a war of nerves, using politics and psychology to attack us, along with every other method at their disposal, including the use of women and children, Americ a was lulled, by the idea that this country is the New Camelot, where justice and righteousness are dispensed to all, whether or not they wish to be recipients of our largess.Baritz believes that as the winners of World War II we see ourselves as the champions of democracy, as the New Israel, as God’s chosen. Therefore we believe that with God on our side we are blessed in all of our endeavors. We became the city on a hill (29). We fought the war, Baritz says, in the classic Ugly American way, which is how we conducted foreign policy in Southeast Asia. We did not advise, we commanded, and expected them to obey, for we believed that whether or not they would admit it, all nations wish to be us.Baritz argument is constructed in tiers, giving the read a quick insight into the oriental mind from the first page where he begins by relating the tale of Colonel Chuc who, in 1972, while in a temple in South Vietnam, was given a revelation. â€Å"†¦Colonel Chuc sank into a trance and received a battle plan and a magical sword from the spirit of the Vietnamese general who defeated Kublai Khan's Mongols seven hundred years earlier† (3). That this was effective illustrates just some of the cultural differences between our two countries.Baritz leads the reader through the American administrations from Kennedy to Nixon, and gives insight into the games our bureaucrats played with such figures as the body count of enemy dead. Though Baritz points out that time after time, when government decisions were made there was no follow-up to determine the outcome of those policies, and whether or not they were a success. Still the reader is left with the belief that much of Baritz’s argument, while sound and acceptable, is not as fully documented as it could be.Some of what he has to say seems to be based on well- educated speculation that his ideas are positively the way things occurred during the divisive and disastrous war. His argument that the American p eople had no hatred of the enemy and quickly wearied of the entire operation seems too obvious to dispute, prima facie, yet how is such an assertion proven? It seems to be an assumption. Baritz’s book is an easy and enjoyable read, though scholarly in concept and execution. He appears to be emotionally attached to his subject, but this works in his favor and makes the book more believable.I would think that while this work does not contain all of the nuts and bolts of history, it is still a valuable treatise on the cultural clashes and is gives us a lesson in cultural differences which may have escaped the minds of today’s leadership. Officials in policy-making positions should read this as a matter of course. I believe it was worth my time, and should be used in classrooms. Works Cited Baritz, L. 1998 Backfire: A History of How American Culture Led Us into Vietnam and Made Us Fight the Way We Did Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press

Haefren-Baum Case

Name of the business: Haefren Baum GmgH Nature of the business: Haefren Baum is a retailer of high quality home furniture located in Cologne, Germany. They have also added three outlet stores in Rhineland, a nearby suburban area. Marketing Analysis: Haefren retails high quality furniture manufactured by Wiegandt has advertised aggressively in order to build and maintain a strong brand image. Haefren benefited tremendously from the successful marketing provided by Wiegandt. Wiegandt has However, because the nature of the product is high-end and durable, sales are subject to fluctuations of the business cycle.During the economic boom leading up to 1993 Haefren, as well as the industry in general, enjoyed strong sales. However, the economic bust in 1993 has slowed sales growth. Decreased consumer confidence caused industry sales growth to decrease from 42. 9% in 1992 to 9% in 1993. Haefren experienced negative sales growth during this period. Haefren has a strong competitive position; h owever, it is quickly deteriorating. The addition of 3 outlets give Haefren an opportunity to capture a wider market than it currently has. However, new competitors entering the market are all competing for stagnant demand.European retailers are also entering the German furniture market which makes it even harder for Haefren to maintain its competitive advantage. Operations Analysis: Haefren obtains its merchandise directly from the manufacturer, Weigandt. Weigandt has provided â€Å"fairly liberal† credit terms which include a discount for early payment (2% 10, net 30). However, they have jeopardized their lose credit terms because of inefficiencies with their receivables, inventories, and fixed assets. A major issue that Haefren needs to address is the delinquency of their customers accounts.From 1993 to 1995, days sales outstanding have increased to 77 days, which is dramatically higher than the 30-day monthly installment terms. This delay in collection is creating cash fl ow problems for Haefren. It is causing them to fall behind on their payments to Weigandt and miss out on significant savings from the early payment discount. The increase in its collection period was expected in 1993 due to the worsening economy. However, the economy is now improving and Haefren’s collection period is still increasing. This signals to inefficiencies within the company’s collection department.Perhaps, they should even consider increasing the down payment required to establish credit. The sluggish sales in the furniture industry can account for the increase in inventory days. Haefren inventory in 1994-1995 stayed on the floor for around 129 days before it was sold. The longer period that they are holding inventory is increasing their cost of goods sold. Not only are they holding inventory for a longer period of time, but they are also underutilizing their fixed assets. Fixed asset turnover decreased for Haefren from 1993-1994. They constructed three new outlet stores which should have helped them with sales.However, due to the sluggish demand, these new fixed assets are not returning the sales they were supposed to. Haefren needs to consider whether these outlets are worth the investments. They could potentially benefit from sending inventory from their retail store to the outlet sooner. Even if they have to sell it at a discount, if they do not lose money on it, the lower revenue would be more beneficial. It appears that Haefren might be experiencing problems with human resources as well. They carry a debt account for notes payables for employees.This account reflects loans that have been made from the employees, or their relatives, to the company. Why are they borrowing from employees? This could potentially come from accrued wages, which would be an even greater issue. Financial Analysis: Haefren’s funding has come from bank loans and utilizing credit from its vendors. Funding needs increased due to the addition of 3 new outlet stores. These outlet stores have increased Haefren’s debt over the three years in questions. Along with this new debt, two of the original partners sold their shares to the other two partners.It seems like there are too many changes going on at Haefren all at once. In regards to cash flows, Haefren is performing poorly. Cash flows from operations are unhealthy and the total cash on hand has declined over the three years in question. Total cash flow from operations is positive, however, they appear to be driven by depreciation. Their negative net income (net loss), is not driving operations cash flow in a positive direction. They are also carrying a great deal of inventory which is consuming their cash. In order for them to drive up net income they need to find a way to decrease their inventories.Accounts receivables are also impacting cash flows in a negative way. A/R have increased each year, which can be attributed to the weak economy. This drag in A/R is causing the m to receive cash-in after cash goes out. Their cash flow problems are evident when analyzing their account payable days. Wiegdant has given them competitive terms (2% 10, net 30), however, Haefren cannot meet those terms. Their account payable days have increased to 66 days. It is taking them twice as long to repay their current liabilities. All of these cash flow problems are having a negative impact on their liquidity.Their quick ratio is increasing from year to year, but it is being driven by inventories. Their Current ratio also appears to be ok; however, it is being driven by accounts receivables. Although they appear to going in the right direction, it is not a good sign for Haefren. Inventories and receivables are also driving down operating margin. The positive cash flow from investments reflects the addition of the three new outlets. Investing in long term assets is a good thing. Ideally, the addition of these assets (outlets) should have led to higher revenues for Haefren . However, they invested in those assets at the wrong time.Their sales growth (revenues) cannot support the addition of the outlets. Weak sales led to a negative return on equity and the addition of the three outlets led to a negative net profit margin. The interest being paid on the current debt in 1995 was 3. 08% of their net sales. Haefren cannot handle any more debt without first making significant changes to their operations. Summary: A weak economy has led to Haefren poor financial conditions. They expanded at the wrong time, right when the economy went sour. They also need to handle their inventories and accounts receivable in order to avoid further cash flow problems.

Johann Kilian and the Wends: the Foundation of Lutheranism in Texas

Through this course (LCMS History) and others, I have heard the story of German Lutherans who left Europe and settled near Saint Louis, Missouri, under the leadership of Martin Stephan and (soon thereafter) C. F. W. Walther. This story seems quite familiar to many of my seminary classmates who originate from the Midwest and nearby regions. As a nearly lifelong resident of Texas, I had never before heard much of that story. The Lutherans in my communities generally have a different history – one involving a people group known as the Wends. These histories have merged at some point between their beginnings and the present; both communities are currently at home in the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod and share in fellowship and confession. Naturally several questions arise for further investigation. Who are the Wendish people? Who led them to America? Why did they come to America? What is their religious history? How did they integrate with the Missouri Synod? Why are they a valuable people group in our church body? Answering each of these essential questions necessitates a fairly broad scope, though certainly a coherent inspection. To address the topics at hand, I will present first a brief overview of the European climate during the time that the Wends left Germany as well as an account of their migration. Second, I will offer a concise biography of Johann Kilian, the early leader of the Texan Wendish community. Third, I will describe historically significant moments of interaction between the Lutheran Wends and the LCMS (and its predecessors and associated church bodies) and illustrate how these events contributed to the Wendish assimilation into the LCMS. Each of these components serves the purpose of presenting the Wendish community as a significant component of American Lutheranism, and one with an enduring impact on the LCMS church body. The necessary information is gathered mostly through printed and published texts on the subject at hand. It is also shaped by personal memory of this topic through experiences with members of the Wendish community as well as its associated institutions. Content in support of my purpose is present in these following paragraphs. European Pressures and the Wendish Migration In the early 19th century, the Wends were culturally and politically suppressed by their dominant political leaders. The land of the Wendish people, Lusatia, was intentionally divided between Saxon and Prussian rule. This virtually eliminated any possibility for national independence; the Wendish language became increasingly distinct between the nationalities (Caldwell1961). Also, they were economically dependent on German landholders and had little opportunity for social success. Those who sought better standards of living left their farmland for cities such as Bautzen and generally assimilated into the German culture in the process. A very small group of the Wends was training for the clergy in Prague and in Leipzig; as these students encountered political theories and topics of higher education they developed into the intelligentsia of the Wendish community. These educated people served as the leadership that the Wends needed to rise out of their lowly confinement (Grider 1982). Religious difficulties also characterized this time period. The Wends experienced great pressure to participate in Prussian Unionism, instituted by the Calvinist-leaning King of Prussia, Frederick William III (Nielsen 1989). Since the time of the Reformation, the majority of the Wendish people had been Protestants. This switch to Lutheranism distinguished the Wends religiously from the mainly Catholic Czechs and Poles with whom they shared many cultural and linguistic similarities (Grider 1982). As a people they were very interested in maintaining a definite and self-defined identity, distinct from surrounding people groups. This mandate of Prussian Unionism was an affront to this endeavor. Many spoke against this offensive consolidation, including Johann Kilian who was at that time a young student of theology at the University of Leipzig. In this context of religious pressure, a group of deeply conservative Wends began worshipping together in a private house-church. By 1845 they had established a small congregation with a building devoted as their worship space. After nine more years enduring religious antagonism, a core group of lay leaders drafted, in 1854, a constitution to govern the migration of the whole congregation to a new land with religious freedom. At this time, the congregation issued a call to Kilian, requesting that he shepherd them on their journey and minister to them in their future situation (Grider 1982). Kilian, eager to employ his missionary education, accepted their call. Additionally â€Å"agricultural disasters† during the mid-1800s spurred the Wends into discussions of leaving Germany/Prussia and seeking a new land for a new opportunity. Some impoverished German farmers, with whom the Wends were amiable, had already immigrated to America and Australia. Their joyous letters to the homeland were published by the German press and encouraged these hopeful Wendish immigrants. Of the Wends immigrating to Texas, the â€Å"first trickle of Wendish adventurers† (Grider 1982) arrived around 1850. A group of 35 set sail for America in 1853 but wrecked off the shore of Cuba. While stranded on the island, many learned how to roll cigars to supplement their income during their stranded time. Eventually compassionate German organizations in Havana, Cuba, and New Orleans funded and arranged for their transport to Galveston. One year after this small group’s arrival in Galveston, the â€Å"highly educated and forceful† (Grider 1982) Pastor Johann Kilian led a boatload of 600 of his congregants, pious and devout Wendish Lutherans, from Germany to Galveston. They made their voyage on the Ben Nevis, still considered within the Texan Wendish community as a counterpart of the English Pilgrims’ Mayflower (Grider 1982). Kilian was the only professional, educated man in the congregation; all the others were farmers and craftsmen. Yet the people possessed between them an adequate variety of skills to guarantee a self-sufficient colony. This group established the town of Serbin, which continues to be a place of cultural influence in central Texas. The Life of Johann Kilian The only son of Wendish farmers in Upper Lusatia, Johann Kilian was born on March 22, 1811. Two years later his mother, Maria Kilian nee Mattig, and his infant sister died. His grandmother helped to care for him for the next three years at which time his father, Peter Kilian, remarried. Soon thereafter his grandmother died. In 1821, while Kilian was ten years old, his father also died. Following the death of his parents, he inherited enough money to fund his education at the gymnasium (high school) in the chief Wendish city of Beutzen (Caldwell 1961). Johann found himself under the care of his uncle who leased the child’s inherited property and used the income to support the boy’s schooling. One can only imagine what sort of psychological impact these deaths must have had on young Kilian. According to Nielsen (2003), â€Å"nothing in his writings indicate any anxiety during these early years. † It is likely that during his youth with his extended family he began to learn about Christian living and developed a deep hope in the resurrection promise. Kilian spent more than four years at the Gymnasium in Beutzen. There he was educated in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, and German; Wendish was only used in private and in his earlier years in grade school. Kilian and some of his classmates organized a Wendish club on campus to facilitate informal conversation in their mother tongue (Nielsen 2003). He was quite successful in Beutzen and soon enrolled at the University of Leipzig to study theology, where he once again encountered a Wendish circle. This organization propagated a rising attitude of Wendish nationalism, especially in contrast with German culture. Rather than associating with this divisive group, Kilian joined a German club whose central goal was â€Å"the preservation of pure Lutheran teaching† (Nielsen 2003). This decision seems to have been more of a growing attraction toward orthodox Lutheranism than a rejection of Wendish culture. It also seems that in this association He was taking a stand in contrast to the majority of the faculty of Leipzig who were heavily influenced by rationalism at the time. In 1835, Kilian obtained his license to preach and was assigned to an assisting position at Hochkirch, a large parish which included several surrounding viliages. The following year, he travelled to Switzerland and attended a small mission school in Basel, remembering his childhood vow to become a foreign missionary. Back in eastern Germany, his uncle (different from the one who had helped to raise him as a child) was the pastor of a Lutheran church in Kotitz; he died while Killian was away at school. Then in 1837 Kilian returned to Kotitz and received his full ordination. This enabled him to assume the senior pastorate there (Nielsen 2003). Most of the Wends in his congregation could not understand German, so Kilian undertook several translation projects for the benefit of his flock. He published a book containing twenty eight hymns in Wendish; some were translations of German hymns and a few were his original pieces. These musical arrangments were very well received by both his own congregation and numerous other Lutheran Wendish assemblies. He continued to translate many German songs and eventually produced more than one hundred of his own hymns (Nielsen 2003). These hymns emphasize the centrality of Jesus in Christian living and often contain declarations of profound hope. Several of his songs and poems are contained in a collection edited by David Zersen (2010). Included, here, is one verse from Kilian’s hymn, â€Å"Blessed Land†: Jesus leads his saints on earth: Witnesses are we! Sadness, trials, suffering? Faithful we will be! Christ is our life. There’s a kingdom waiting there; No more sorrow, no more care. Christ is our life. In addition to his musical translation efforts, Kilian translated the Lutheran Confessions into Wendish. He began with Luther’s Small Catechism in the late 1840s and finished the remainder of the confessions in 1854. Other prominent Wendish intellectuals frequently frowned upon his efforts, insisting that importing German religious thinking would contaminate the Wendish culture. They preferred to advance hopeful nationalism for the Wends and showed little priority for proper doctrinal adherence. Kilian disagreed with their attitude and continued â€Å"translating religious works into the mother tongue to enrich the language and simultaneously nourish religious life† (Nielsen 2003). These exercises in translation eventually led to a reasonable popularity for Kilian, especially among likeminded Wendish Lutherans. One such congregation of people at Weigersdorf was becoming increasingly troubled by the pressures of Prussian Unionism. In 1844 they issued a call to Kilian with hopes that he would agree to lead them in their migration away from their oppressive setting. Kilian accepted the call on two conditions. He required that the congregation would pledge faithfulness to pure Lutheran doctrine and also that the congregation acquire an immigration permit from the appropriate Prussian authorities. (Nielsen 2003). Kilian over the next several years served this as well as other parishes (especially one in Klitten) which shared in the Lutheran confession. During that time, he married Maria Groschel, with whom he had four children while they remained in Europe – only one of which survived into maturity (Nielsen 2003). Religious pressures continued to build until in 1854, a group of 600 Wendish Lutherans (under Kilian’s shepherding) began the process of relocating to Texas. While Kilian is often credited with leadership of this venture, such wording is misleading at best. He did not object to the exodus from Europe, but the instigation of the process was from the laypeople. Kilian’s role was to accompany them as their pastor (Nielsen 2003). The journey was characterized by illness, danger, and loss of life. Kilian was heavily relied upon for his pastoral care at several points on the journey. In one instance while at sea, several people were suffering from sea-sickness below the deck. The captain of the Ben Nevis (the ship that carried them across the Atlantic) instructed that the migrants come up for fresh air to improve their health. Some did not cooperate with the captain’s orders. Kilian gently persuaded those who remained below deck to come up. While this shows the authority the Wends saw in Kilian, it also caused resentment from some because he was exceeding his religious responsibilities. The voyagers eventually crossed the Atlantic and arrived at the port of Galveston. They then travelled to central Texas and established the colony of Serbin. For the next three decades, Kilian served the Texan Wends as their pastor and endeavored to connect them with likeminded believers in their new land (Nielsen 2003). Eventually he was able to forge a confessional relationship with the Missouri Lutherans and connect his people to a larger church body. After Kilian’s death on September 12, 1884, many tributes were written about him. These included a handful of lengthy pieces n Der Luteraner, the official periodical of the synod (Martens 2011). The Texan Road to Missouri â€Å"Religious isolation was not part of his tradition† (Nielsen 2003). In Texas, Kilian became a friend of Caspar Braun, a Lutheran who had already been in Texas for about five years. Braun had formed the Evangelical Lutheran Synod in Texas and served as its first president. While Kilian certainly en joyed his friendship with Braun, he was hesitant to join this Texas Synod because he considered that it shared too many similarities with the Prussian Union which he had left. He also lamented the lack of enriching liturgy in its churches (Nielsen 2003). Rather he became drawn to the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States. Geography was certainly a hindrance to fellowship with this church body, he considered it far less of a barrier than theological incompatibility. In his effort to establish fellowship with the Missouri Synod, he wrote a letter introducing himself and the Wends to C. F. W. Walther, who was also born in 1811. Though Kilian and Walther did attend the University of Leipzig simultaneously in 1832, there is no indication in any of their correspondence that they knew each other before they were in America. Kilian had learned of Walther chiefly through his writings. He owned a copy of Walther’s Stimme der Kirche in der Frage von Kirche und Amt. Kilian agreed with Walther’s position on church polity which â€Å"empowered the voters’ assembly as the supreme authority and diminished the power of the ecclesiastical leaders† (Nielsen 2003). His congregation joined the Missouri Synod in 1866 with Kilian as the first Missouri Synod pastor in the state of Texas. Under Kilian’s pastoral leadership, the Wends became fervent supporters of synodical education and eventually began to issue calls to American-trained pastors. By 1877 nearly a dozen pastors were serving Missouri Synod congregations in Texas and the group gained recognition as the Texas Conference of the Western District. Only a couple years later, the Southern District was organized, ranging from El Paso, Texas, to San Augustine, Florida. Then in 1903, the Texas District of the LCMS was formed; it contained 23 congregations, nearly 40 pastors, and 11 school teachers. Concluding Remarks The Texas District of the LCMS owes its genesis to the migration of the Wends and the pastoral leadership of Johann Kilian. It is now one of the largest districts in the LCMS and has produced more synodical presidents (Behnken, Harms, and Kieschnick) than any other district. The Wendish culture and religious experiences have shaped and continue to shape the theological thinking of Texas Lutherans. It is especially for these reasons that the Wends are a valuable people group in the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod.

Case Study of Gucci Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Case Study of Gucci - Essay Example Most brands products of Gucci group of companies suffered a drop in sales in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis except the two strong brands whose sales increased even in the most extreme of circumstances. Due to the circumstances involving the general drop in sales volume and the traditional beliefs and sales concepts, it is important that Gucci explores the best marketing model or mix to employ so as to revamp the market. One of the popular marketing strategy/model is the Ansoff Growth marketing mix. This describes the growth of a business in its attempt to market new or regular products in a new market or previously existing market. It therefore brings together growth in the market and growth or increase in brand of an organization. Ansoff can be achieved through various strategies such as market penetration, market development, product development and product diversification (Pickton & Broderick 2005). Market penetration involves the marketing of the products or the specific br and in existing market with an aim of increasing the market proportion for the product which can be achieved through the 7 P’s of marketing. ... wear whose sales have dropped since they are neither producing new brands nor investing in a new market but trying to retain their market share amid a crisis. Under the Ansoff mix, marketing development is also a strategy which involves seeking new markets for an existing product. The methods used can include exploiting new geographical markets through exporting or setting up of outlets where they originally did not exist. The company can also adopt a new distribution channel which will ensure the product penetrates into the markets it did not attract. In this case, other methods such as differential pricing can be used to attract consumers of different economic or social status (Mao and Krishnan 2006). Since Gucci might have limited their market in terms of size, the company should consider increasing the market size for the product whose sales volume is on the decline so as to ensure a balance. Ansoff also includes product development where a company undertakes to introduce a new p roduct into the market and will require new competencies and modified products. Gucci is more concerned about its products which are on the decline but could choose to restructure their brands so as to produce more acceptable brands into the market and therefore avoid declining sales. Apart from all this strategies under Ansoff, the company may also opt for market diversification. This is a marketing strategy of exploiting totally new markets without prior experience or knowledge of the market. It is a risk venture which might result into unprecedented losses if not carefully approached but should be taken if circumstances demand. In the middle of the economic crisis, Gucci should not take this approach since it might result into more losses, especially the costs involved in promotion so as

The Industrial Revolution 1820 - 1850 PowerPoint Presentation

The Industrial Revolution 1820 - 1850 - PowerPoint Presentation Example In America, the industrial revolution had a strong influence on the lives of ordinary people. This happened through the modification of the family structure and it affected the role of women and children. In other words, the industrial revolution shaped the way things were social, cultural and economic system of American families to the extent that women and children had to change the way they were delivering their services and earning income. This paper examines the way the contribution of women and children changed in America during the industrial revolution. This objective is attained in this paper through the examination of how women and children used to contribute their quota to the American economy before the industrial revolution. It goes on to view the changes that the industrial revolution brought and how it affected women and children. The paper then examines how the changes of the industrial revolution modified the way American women and children contributed their quota to building of the economy after the 1850s when the American revolution was entrenched in American society. The paper ends up with the lives of women and children after the industrial revolution by revealing some of the lasting effects of the industrial revolution on the earning patterns of women and children in the country.... Thus the period prior to the industrial revolution could be seen to be a period where labor intensive techniques were combined with archaic systems of agriculture to produce just enough for export. Another dominant factor that could be identified about this period is in the fact that America had very limited industries at the time of independence (Ulrich, 1998). Most of the goods and services produced were shipped off to Europe where the most sophisticated industries of the world were located around that time in the late 1700s. However, between 1810 and 1820, things began to change and the concept of industrialization began to to gain root throughout America (Ulrich, 1998: Dublin, 1995). Socially, the country was organized around the agrarian system that was dominant in the country. This is because the socio-cultural trend of the American people was one that depended strongly on business structures that existed at that time. â€Å"Whole family units worked together to grow crops and raise livestock† (Hillstrom & Hillstrom, 2007 p194). This implies that the whole country revolved around a system whereby families owned lands and worked on those land to produce crops and animals. These products were harvested and sold for some income that each family unit used to honor their individual and collective needs. At that time, the commercial system that existed in America was one where agricultural goods were battered for the purchase of other goods (Hillstrom & Hillstrom, 2007 p194). This shows that the systems of business were quite basic and unsophisticated. Most people had to rely on crops that they produced and harvesting was what all the families in

Developing Scenarios of the Future of the Social Networking Sector Assignment

Developing Scenarios of the Future of the Social Networking Sector Strategic Decision Making - Assignment Example This model considers the social network systems as interactive systems with different components that have to be considered, and how they interact with one another. The model as designed represents a technology push innovation. Technology push describes a situation where an emerging technology, or a set of existing technologies act as the driving force of an innovative product and mode of problem solution in the market (Herstatt & Lettl 2000, 2). In this case, the new social networking technology when transformed into a radical product or process innovation claims its own market positions. The use of social networking in social communication and in a business platform represents an innovation that has come into being out of research and development. The fact that technology push is marked by a higher market uncertainty requires different methods in social networking are required to win in a competitive market (Herstatt & Lettl 2000, 2). ... s have to apply business model innovations that respond to changes in the external and internal environments, and anticipate market needs in such a new environment to enhance value creation in serving customers. The type of reasoning used in this method was inductive reasoning. This is because; inductive reasoning requires increasing semiotics content in inferring information as one proceeds from premises to a conclusion (Wilheim 2004, 21). The various facts that affect communication in social networking as a social tool, or a business platform were considered when making an informed conclusion, constituting to an inductive reasoning. Evaluation: Systems thinking Summary of Osterwalder  &  Pigneur  Business Model Canvas The advantage of the systems theory is its potential to offer a trans-disciplinary framework that necessitates normative and critical real relationships between human perceptions, and the worlds they purport to represent (Laszlo & Krioppner 1998, 3). Therefore c ompanies have to employ business –models innovations aimed at responding to both internal and external changes, and in anticipating market needs in a process of creating value to customers. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Orkut, Bebo, and Twitter have millions of fans globally who visit these sites each month (Kazeniac, 2009). These sites have of late gained much attention and support from multinationals and other organizations in search of markets making it plausible to have an integrated platform that connects these social networks with business platforms to tap this rich market. The proposed model on the future of social networks offers in integration of factors necessary to enhance effective communication in both the social and corporate world. For example, students, companies,

Advance Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Advance Accounting - Essay Example ncome is generally identified as a construct that causes an entity’s money supply to increase for a specific period of time (Auger, Burke, Devinney, & Louviere, 2003). The means which help the organization in increasing cash reserves is called an asset whereas, the source that causes the money supply of the company to drain is known as expense or liability. The expense occurs when an organization has to pay money in order to keep its daily operations running and this particular head includes salaries of employees, utility bills and other office related short term costs. However, the liability is of two kinds. The first one is called short term liability that has to be paid within one year while the other one which is usually of a long term nature and has to be paid over the tenure of more than one year. The companies always attempt to keep its expenses and liabilities less than the value of income. The notion of income changed a great deal whereas, other business models emerged that included no tangible product but they started to sell services such as hotels, medical professionals and even psychologists. The revenues are generated against rendering services to the customer base in the industry (Badelt & Weiss, 1990). In the past times, services industry was not a common way of making a living but now it is considered the most lucrative one regarding its ability to help people in generating income. The professional lenders are also lending their money in order to obtain substantial level of return on the base amount. The capitalists are making money with the help of lending their financial resources to others and interest income is realized as a consequence. The traditional income’s definition is modified and now one does not have to do anything for anyone in order to make obscene amount of money (Greve & Salaff, 2003). The professional lenders have accumulated financia l power by either inheriting the wealth or they managed to make money by hard working in the

Strategic planning within organizations Dissertation

Strategic planning within organizations - Dissertation Example The paper tells that strategic planning within organizations is one of the most essential aspects of both sustainability and growth. Without the ability to meet the needs of strategic planning, there is the inability to move forward with specific needs and to reach the full potential of the organization. While strategic planning is required for the development of a company, the implementation and the end goals are often not met. The problems which arise are based on the various aspects of the organization and how it associates with the needs of each of the goals. Leadership capacities, communication tools, participation and the ability to reach smaller and larger goals through various initiatives are some of the several areas in which strategic planning is not implemented in the correct manner. This is followed with complexities which arise from the organizational culture and the expectations which are associated with meeting change or resistance to the workforce that is a part of th e organization. Defining the specific problems and understanding why end goals and implementation is not met is then shown as one which identifies levels and dimensions of difficulties that are within the work force. The approach which is taken toward strategic planning and implementation is one which is based on the understanding of taking action within a corporation. Without the correct strategies, there is the inability to provide higher amounts of sustainability and growth within a company. However, there are often problems and difficulties with creating the required changes. This literature review will examine the various aspects of strategic planning and implementation as well as how it alters according to the difficulties which are in the organizational culture. The review will examine the various dimensions that are associated with strategic planning. It will further define the obstacles that do not allow the plans to be implemented at various levels within an organization. There will also be reference to theories which are created to alter the strategic planning so it becomes one that is associated with constructive results with businesses that work in creating new plans within the organization. Dynamics of Strategic Planning There are specific dynamics with strategic planning as well as obstacles which stop the goals from being met. Defining the obstacles is the first step to altering the performance as well as the ability to finalize the strategies into action. According to a current study (Mollaoseini, Ahmadhkhani, 2012), there are diverse obstacles which create the resistance and stop the dynamics of change and strategic development. The study showed that the problem with the final strategy and implementation is inclusive of 68.09% planning consequences, 65.48% organizational obstacles, 60.40% managerial obstacles, 72% staff obstacles and 63.99% environmental obstacles. The indications of this are based on showing that the dynamics within an organ izational structure carry diverse obstacles that create resistance and which lead to a lack of implementation with

Mod13 Dyn Dis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Mod13 Dyn Dis - Essay Example For example, hiring more employees during peak season may be necessary but hiring more during the low season of a business is irrational. If a change does not fit the current and future customers is may not be necessary. Any change done should match the corporate culture. Intended changes that do not match corporate culture may result in unintended consequences, and thus business leaders should avoid them. A business leader should ensure that the organization has the necessary resources to implement proposed changes (Langley et al., 2013). It may not be a beneficial idea to implement changes which the organization has no capacity to accommodate. Intended changes that do not have quantifiable value to the business are not appropriate. During the last holiday, I and my friends came up with a group whose mission was to clean up the local town twice a month. We hoped that this would motivate people to maintain the town cleanliness. All the members of the group were college and university students studying in different areas. Initially, the group looked superb but it ended up failing after we resumed school. There was no one to run the group, and it ended up being inactive. Our group failed due to lack of a good plan, lack of resources and lack of accurate speculation that are all needed for implementing changes. Langley, A., Smallman, C., Tsoukas, H., & Van De Ven, A. H. (2013). Process Studies Of Change In Organization And Management: Unveiling Temporality, Activity, And Flow.  Academy Of Management Journal,  56(1), 1-13.

The Ways In Which Communication Fails In Accident And Emergency Essay

The Ways In Which Communication Fails In Accident And Emergency Between Radiographers - Essay Example to be the leading cause of unnecessary delays in patient care and treatment, insufficient radiation exposure to the patients, improper use of imaging technology facilities, prenatal deaths and injuries, and is the second leading cause for patient falls (JCAHO, 2006). A very important fact is mentioned in a report that is about how medication errors can be reduced in the hospitals according to which, â€Å"between 44,000 and 98,000 people die each year as a result of all types of medical errors.† (Patel, 2004). The ultimate importance of communication is suggested by almost every person, because it lays the foundation for good results unequivocally. Actually, the basic characteristics of good inter-professional communication need to be understood but, despite many efforts to develop healthy and bias-free relationships in the hospital setups, no research regarding the ways to develop beneficial inter-professional communication exists in the present. It is mentioned by (Wear, 199 7) that the medical students are not deeply taught about ways to handle relationships with other health care professionals like technologists, radiographers etc. in their medical schools. (Zwarenstein M, Goldman J, and Reeves S, 2009) suggest that inter-professional communication (IPC) skills need to be properly taught to both doctors and radiographers, so that they may know how to practically use those skills when needed in emergency situations where immediately many x-rays one after another are required and for good x-rays, doctors must collaborate vigorously with radiographers. (Pearson, 2011) suggests that lack of verbal communication between doctors and radiographers can lead to the professionals simply forgetting some patients, which leads to chances that those patients might be left... The purpose of this is to establish new and better lines of communication between doctors and radiographers. Critical discussion is also presented in the report which underlines the major reasons why doctors and radiographers find it difficult or impossible to communicate with each other in emergency situation especially. Some recommendations are also included which may help in improving the patient care and removing the deficiencies resulting primarily from bad management and poor inter-professional relationships. Rationale: The main purpose of this report is to identify the major reasons that prove to be hurdles in the path of effective communication. From the discussion above and the results of the survey analysis, this much becomes clear that the heavily strained communication between doctors and radiographers in situations of emergency proves to be markedly hazardous for the patients. There is also lack of understanding about the significance and importance of inter-personal communication and good managerial skills, due to which occupational stress results and chaos is produced in the hospitals. There do exist some strategies like â€Å"VoIP Telephony and wireless communications† for modernizing the communication capability between the health care professionals. For proper and person-to-person communication between doctors and radiographers, wireless communication must be ensured in all the hospitals. Moreover, both doctors and radiographers should be especially educated about the ways to handle the important burden of patients in A&E departments and OTs for improving the patient care.

Physiology of Aging Essay Example for Free

Physiology of Aging Essay Aging is a process that all humans must go through, and as life expectancy increases it becomes more important to understand the intimate details to normal aging process. Maintaining health is very important to this process, the older a person becomes the more medical services is needed. Since aging is a process that begins when you are conceived and continues for as long as we live out life span, our body reflects genetic components and environmental experience. So in a genetic way our bodies has the capacity to adapt and repair as well as collect damages from disease process. In this society, we now think of 65 to 74 years old as â€Å"young old†, 75 to 84 as â€Å"middle old† and 84 plus, as â€Å" old old†. With the our age advancing all of our body’s systems eventually reduce to a slow rate while everyone’s aging experience is different, there are some generalizations that can be seen in each of the body’s systems. Skin, the primary function of the skin is to protect the organism from the environment. But as we age our skin looses it is thickness by about 20 percent. The skin becomes thin and fragile and can no longer retain internal heat. For the Musculoskeletal, muscle mass is a primary source of metabolic heat. When muscles contract, heat will generate. The heat that the muscle puts out maintains body temperature, to require normal body function. Around the third decade of person’s life span, the muscle tissue reduces in size, elasticity and strength. As a result the body gets older and muscular activity becomes less takes more to complete a task. As for the respiratory function the lungs lose elastic recoil in the lung tissues. These changes can reduce the efficiency of gas exchange and lake hard to exercise. The cardiovascular function usually shows a slowdown in the autonomic nervous system, but is usually good enough to allow moderate physical activity, throughout their lives. As for the metabolism and Endocrine with old age comes the reduction in hormone production. This reduction affects the metabolism, water, electrolyte, carbohydrate, protein, lipid and vitamins disorder is common with the aging process. Like other systems, the nervous system also changes with age. There is loss of neurons and in the spinal cord and hearing, slight, and touch is reduces depression can easily be the result of this. All and all-elderly people are at a disadvantage when it comes to generating metabolic heat. They have less muscle structure. And their skin provides less protection from heat loss. They have impaired neurotransmissions that then make them less active. This is life and its aging process, which need to keep healthy and take it â€Å"one day at a time†.

300 - Rationalism vs Empiricism - Summary and History Essay Example for Free

300 Rationalism vs Empiricism Summary and History Essay What is reality really like? A current running through much of the philosophical thinking around the time of Socrates and Plato was that there is a difference between how the world appears and how it is. Our senses reveal one layer of reality but it is our minds that penetrate deeper. The world of appearances is a world in flux but underneath there must be a stable reality. For there is much that is unchanging. We recognise kinds of things – badgers, daffodils, mountains – and whilst members of these kinds are born, change and die, and differ from one another in ever so many ways, the kind-defining essence doesnt change. We see here the key rationalist idea that knowledge is a priori knowledge of necessary truths Plato said that kinds were defined by the transcendental forms. He presented a number of arguments for the existence of these things. Prior to our incarnation, our souls existed in the realm of forms where we learned about these essences. In our terrestrial state, we cannot recall what we know. Socrates considered himself a midwife to knowledge instead of a teacher, helping his interlocutors to draw out what they dont know that they know. The example of Meno and the slave-boy shows this idea clearly. Like many philosophers, Plato was also fascinated by mathematics. We are able to tap into a universe of truths that are non-sensible: we do not see numbers and we do not see the perfect geometric forms. Once again, we see the difference between the powers of the mind and the powers of the senses. It was in the 17th century that the debate between the rationalists and the empiricists came to a head. Philosophers such as Descartes and Leibniz emphasised the power of reason over the senses. Descartes argued that our senses were fallible and that we could not rule out the possibility of the demon deception hypothesis on the basis of sensory evidence alone. Descartes argued that he knew he existed, as a mind, on the basis of reflection alone: when I think, I cannot fail to be aware of myself as existing as that thinker (cogito, ergo sum). Having proved that he exists, Descartes argued that God exists. Since God is no deceiver, he would not have given us senses that systematically mislead. But let us not overemphasise the powers of the senses. Descartes argued that even with material things, it is reason that exposes their essences. In his piece of wax reasoning, he argued that the senses merely reveal a succession of impressions: it is reason that grasps the underlying and enduring substance as extended (and filled space). Plato and Descartes believed that we are born with concepts and knowledge. In Descartes case, there was a religious motive: we are all born in the image of God. We discover more about the world primarily through metaphysical reflection. The philosopher Francis Bacon, an early empiricist, famously dismissed this rationalist approach to knowledge. He compared rationalists to spiders who spin complex metaphysical systems out of their entrails. Empiricists get their hands dirty: like bees gathering pollen, they gather knowledge about the world and only then reflect on it. Around the same time as Bacon, many new discoveries were being made that shook the prevailing views of reality. The Earth was dethroned from its position at the centre of the universe by Copernicus. A new star (a supernova) was observed by Tycho Brahe in 1572 – yet the heavens were supposed to be timeless and unchanging. Galileo discovered the moons of Jupiter – again, everything clearly didnt revolve around the Earth. Later in the 17th century, scientist-philosophers such as Newton, Boyle, Gassendi and Huygens would revolutionise our understanding of reality. The original empiricist manifesto was written by John Locke. In his Essay Concerning Human Understanding, he sought to show how a mind that was blank at birth – a tabula rasa or blank slate – could come to be filled. His first targets were the innate concepts and knowledge (ideas) of the rationalists. There are no such things. There are no truths everyone agrees on. Many people fail to grasp the supposed metaphysical truths. Instead, our senses deliver ideas to us. We store them, abstract from them to form general ideas, and compound and mix them to generate new ideas. Like Lego bricks, we build the meagre sensory data into ever more complex structures. Even Leibniz thought Locke was onto something here. He claimed that our minds were like blocks of marble that had to be carefully chiselled at to reveal the hidden structure (the innate truths). It is hard work and not everyone will end up well-chiselled. Hume took empiricism to its limit. Where Locke talked indifferently of ideas, Hume distinguished impressions and ideas. Impressions are the direct deliverances of the senses and are forceful and vivid in comparison to ideas, which are the copies our minds makes. (He also agreed with the Empiricist Berkeley that Lockes theory of general ideas was wrong. We do not abstract from particular ideas to a general idea but use a particular idea in a general way via a general name. ) What about the precious necessary truths philosophy is supposed to study? Locke argued that once we have ideas in our mind, our mind will perceive the necessary connections between them – e. g. that a triangle has internal angles that add to 180o? But where does the idea of necessity come from? Hume provided an answer. He distinguished statements into two categories: those expressing relations of ideas (analytic) and those expressing matters of fact (synthetic). The analytic truths express mere definitions: we simply are aware of an association between terms. The synthetic truths are the contingent truths. So what happens to interesting necessary truths, such as God exists or nothing exists without being caused to exist? Hume argued that if these werent analytic – and they arent – they arent necessary. We feel that they are necessary and this is all necessity is: a psychological property. When we say that X caused Y, we think we have said something about the universe. We think we have seen an example of a law of nature (e. g. the water in the bucket froze because it was cold exemplifies the law water freezes at 0oC). Science investigates these laws. Hume said that causation was all in the mind. We see one thing after another and when weve seen instances of a regularity enough, we develop the feeling that one thing must be followed by the other. Hume, like Locke, emphasised how all we can be certain of are our impressions – how the world seems. Scientists are really investigating how the world appears: they can never be certain that the world really is the way it appears. So, empiricism seems to lead straight to scepticism about the external world. Kant objected strongly to this. Science really is studying the external world and there really is an external world for it to investigate. Kant brought about a revolution in philosophy (he called it a Copernican revolution). He argued that the empiricists and rationalists were both right and wrong. The Empiricists were right: science requires the study of the world and the world is brought to us via the senses. The Rationalists were right: our mind is not blank but contains structures that enable us to interpret the stream of data from the senses. We may liken the mind to a mould and the data to jelly: one only has something structured by combining both. Or: the mind is a computer with an operating system and the data is the input from the user. A computer with just an operating system is inert. A computer into which data is inputted but which has no operating system is just data: it cannot be interpreted. Only when you combine both do you get something useful. Our minds contain the structures for space, time, objects and causation, for example. (In Kants terminology, space and time are the pure forms of intuition whereas the structures for objects and causation are pure concepts of the understanding. ) This means that we experience a world of spatio-temporally located objects in which causation happens because this is how our minds make it appear. Does this mean that the world as such is all in the mind? Or is the mind somehow tuned to the structure of reality, so that our pre-programmed minds mirror the structures of reality? This is a very difficult question over which there is no agreement amongst experts. The Empiricist movement came back with a vengeance in the 20th century. Philosophers such as Bertrand Russell agreed with Hume that our knowledge begins with our knowledge of sense-data (classical empirical foundationalism). Armed with new discoveries in mathematics and logic, and backed by the successes of science, the logical positivists argued that the only proper way to investigate the world was the scientific way. If I say p and p is synthetic and there is no objective, scientific way to verify my claim that p, then my claim is meaningless. (This is the celebrated verification principle). So, if it is true that there atoms, we should be able to find empirical – sensory – evidence of them. If it is true that nothing happens without being caused to happen, then we likewise need scientific evidence for this. We cannot discover whether it is true by pure reason. The Logical Positivist movement failed. There is much that seems meaningful that is not objectively verifiable by the senses, such as the occurrence of private sensations. The principle makes it impossible for general claims such as all mammals are warm-blooded to be true, as we cannot verify all of them. The very verification principle itself fails its own test! The Logical Positivists responded by watering down their principle: a meaningful claim is one we could gather some evidence for in principle and the principle itself is special – exempt from this rule. But it was not enough. (* Then Quine argued that the fundamental division between analytic and synthetic sentences was incorrect. Analytic sentences cannot be false. But no sentence enjoys this privilege. As we learn more and more, truths we thought were beyond doubt are rejected. Once upon a time, we would have thought it analytic that no object can be in two places at once or that there is no fastest velocity. Quantum physics and general relativity theory show that they are not true. Instead, we should have a web of belief. At the centre are those sentences least likely to be revised – our core beliefs. As we move out, we find those sentences that would be easier and easier to accept as false – that would cause less and less disruption to the rest of what we believe. ) In the 1950s, Chomsky became famous for suggesting that we are not born as blank slates when it comes to language. We are born knowing the fundamental structures of human language. When we are young, we hear our mother tongue and use our knowledge of language to pick up our language very quickly. (At 24 months, the average child understands 500-700 words; at 36 months, 1000; at 48 around 2500-3000; at 60 around 5000 words: thats around 7 words a day between 3 and 6). More recently, studies have shown that children are born with brains structured to expect the world to behave in certain way. Very young children expect objects to persist over time: not to disappear and reappear at two different places, for example. Is this a revival of rationalism? Not according to many people. Rationalists argued that we had innate concepts and knowledge. By reflection, we can discover them and manipulate them to gain new knowledge. But our knowledge of language is altogether different. None of us can easily articulate the rules we follow in generating syntactically-correct English. (And certainly none of us at all can articulate the common structure rules to all human languages. ) Our brains are certainly pre-programmed, but only perhaps in the same way that a computer is pre-wired: clearly something has to be there but nothing as advanced as software. So where are we today? No side is victorious: this would be to grossly over-simplify the debate between the empiricists and the rationalists. We definitely have minds in some way ready to receive the world – hardly surprising, perhaps, given the time it has taken for us to evolve. But when it comes to working out what is true? Few philosophers are rationalists in the old-fashioned way. There is no sharp division between metaphysics and science: our study of reality cannot be done from the armchair alone. But our capacity to grasp abstract mathematical truths has always been difficult to explain from an empiricist perspective. We seem to have an access to a mathematical realm and a cognitive or intuitive access instead of a sensory one. You cant see numbers, after all, and it is not easy to say what we could see that would lead us to generate the ideas of numbers.

Literature Review Of Women Suffering From Multiple Sclerosis Nursing Essay

Literature Review Of Women Suffering From Multiple Sclerosis Nursing Essay The focus of this study will be the lived experience of women suffering from Multiple Sclerosis and their ability to maintain a quality of life through various coping strategies. Therefore, literature surrounding the quality of life and coping mechanisms in MS sufferers will be critically appraised. A literature review was performed to identify published material relating to the lived experience of women suffering with MS with the main focus being on how women cope with the challenges that MS brings everyday and how they try and maintain a quality of life. This was done to introduce the topic of interest. When conducting the research there was little research into this area but the search was limited to health and social care databases such as CINALH, Internurse, Science direct, Pubmed and the library catalogue. The key words that were initially used in the literature search were lived experience, multiple sclerosis, women and quality of life and coping mechanisms, however this revealed little research so key words such as fatigue, education and depression were included. 2.1 Emotional Responses in Multiple Sclerosis 2.1.1 Uncertainty Uncertainty is one of the first stresses that MS places on women. First there is uncertainty until the diagnosis has been confirmed. Having MS means living with uncertainty and adapting to changing situations with the course of MS. Being unpredictable posses an emotional challenge to build a sense of stability and security in the face of uncertainty (Halper Holland, 1997). Millerà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s (1997) phenomenological study emphasized the primary role of uncertainty in the lived experiences of patients with relapsing MS. The participants in this study are described as living one day at a time, not knowing how they will feel tomorrow, leading to negative effects on employment, family life and coping abilities. It was also evident that fear and loss of control in daily life were also experienced due the unpredictability of relapsing MS. Olsson, Lexell Soderberg (2007) conducted a qualitative in order to describe the meaning of womenà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s experience of living with MS. The study consisted of 10 women with secondary progressive MS and the fact that daily life was influenced by MS. Women spoke about their daily lifeà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s, their experience of symptoms and their thoughts about their illness. They described that they were no longer in charge over their body and this had a great impact on their quality of life, however, women were found to actively strive to maintain strength and power to carry on to protect their dignity. This study showed that people with the progressive form of the disease appeared to cope better and were determined to improve their quality of life despite the effects of the illness, this could be due to them accepting MS as part of their life. 2.1.2 Hope Hope relates to those things that can be realistically achieved (Pinson, Ottens Fisher, 2009). This implies that the individual has devised a plan that has the likelihood of being carried out to achieve resolution of a problem. Miller (1997) found that hope provided a means for dealing with the uncertainty of MS. In a quantitative study carried out by Goretti, Pataccio, Zipoli, Hakiki, Siracusa, Sori and Amato (2009) they found that women tend to have higher levels of hope and optimism when facing the disease at early stages. Their study looked at the psychological features of depression, fatigue and anxiety, coping strategies and their influence on quality of life in people suffering from remitting relapsing MS. , furthermore, a qualitative study by Pinson et al (2009) found that hope was present as a coping resource. Also, hope seems to interact with psychosocial resources such as self-esteem, hope has often been related to higher levels of self-esteem and evidence of better socia l support. However, Pinson et al (2009) study only focused on people with a progressive form of MS and who did not suffer with depression. Depression itself can have a significant affect on a individuals self-esteem, if a MS sufferer as lowered self esteem due to depression then their coping mechanisms will be compromised and this will contribute to a lower quality of life perception ( Murphy, 1998). 2.2 Information and education Multiple Sclerosis considerably changes peoples every day life and the power and capacity to meet personal expectations (Yorkson, Klasner Swanson, 2001). Toombs (1995) stated that living with MS implies insecurity on a daily basis as their body can not be taken for granted or trusted, instead, it demands constant attention. To manage every day life, people with MS find it urgent to prioritise their personal goals and the search for information and knowledge regarding the disease has been described as crucial in maintaining control. A qualitative study carried out by Fleming Courts, Buchanan and Werstlein (2004) investigated the lived experience of people with MS and examined their needs from their perspectives using two focus groups consisting of 4 men and 6 women, they found that education is power and having education about the disease helps whose in maintaining a quality of life, without knowledge, information and education from health care professionals about the disease, its sy mptoms and what support is available then coping with daily activities will be compromised and a good quality of life will not be achievable. Miller (1997) and Pinson (DATE) are supportive of this but conclude that people with MS need information to deal with the uncertainty and the unpredictability of the disease in order to remain in control of their lifeà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s. 2.3 Coping Coping is an abstract concept that refers to how individuals make meaning and values and can be see as a way of problem solving. Psychological as proved to be crucially important for adjusting to the adaptive demands of the chronic illness and in the past few years as received a growing interest in MS. A study conducted by McCabe, Stokes and McDonald (2009) evaluated the relationship between quality of life and coping among people with MS over a 2 year period using a longitudinal approach. The sample consisted of 144 men and 238 women. The World Health Organisation quality of life scale was used to assess participants overall quality of life. They found that people with MS experienced lower levels of quality for independence, social, environmental and spiritual quality of life but experienced a higher psychological quality of life and focused on positive coping compared to the general population, these findings may suggest that although people with MS have lower levels of quality of life in many areas, they may be more accepting of the situation and knowing that their condition is going to change. However, in a quantitative carried out by Goretti et al (2009) found that MS patients were less likely to use positive and problem focused strategies and often adopted avoiding strategies more frequently, it was also found that younger patients with relapsing remitting MS were less disabled so therefore the disease had a lower impact on their quality of life, also, positive attitude and planning activity strategies were less likely to be adopted by patients with lower disease duration. They tended to have higher levels of hope and optimism when facing the disease at its early stages. Those who adopted avoiding strategies were more likely to experience depression and anxiety that contributed to their overall quality of life. The results finish later, re word !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2.4 Support Pinson et al found that knowing family and friends would provide support either emotional or physical was very important to the participants. This support system appears to act as an anchor for these women if situations became difficult. McCabe also found that when people were more accepting of the situation, there was an increased need for social and emotional support., they also found that women with MS compared to men were more likely to seek social support, but more likely to wish that things were different. This is also supported by Olsson and Goretti. However, Olsson (2008) also found that accepting needing support from family led to feelings of guilt and failure as they felt that the whole family was suffering too. They also described being dependant on others when performing daily tasks that they wished to have done themselves. To engage in daily life was crucial in maintaining a good quality of life. This study only focused on women with the progressive form of MS, so are more likely to have more disabilities. McCabe states that increased needs may lead them to seek and obtain more social support and rely more on friend, family and community assistance (Murphy, 1998). Although support is

Searching For A Cure :: essays research papers

People say the only things that are inevitable in life are death and taxes. I beg to differ. I believe that another inevitability is soon coming – the cure for spinal cord injuries. Scientists have made many breakthroughs in the last 25 years in terms of spinal cord injuries. In past years when a person would get a spinal cord injury, there was pretty much no hope for them to regain any function or movement that was lost, unless some sort of miracle took place. Today, there is still no cure; however, experiments are being done that have shown promising results.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Stem cell research looks to be one of the most promising treatments for spinal cord injuries. Stem cells are special because they are the primitive cells that give rise to different kinds of tissues in the body, and because they are self renewing in the body and in the laboratory so that large quantities can be produced for medical purposes (The Promise of Stem Cells, 2002). Another great quality of stem cells is that they have the potential to develop into many different cells in the body. When a stem cell divides, it can either remain a stem cell or develop into another type of cell. Today, donated organs and tissues are often used to replace ailing or destroyed tissue, but the need for transplantable tissues and organs far outweighs the available supply. Stem cells, directed to differentiate into specific cell types, offer the possibility of a renewable source of replacement cells and tissues to treat things such as spinal cord injuries (Stem Cell Basics). In a study conducted by the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, rats were induced with a spinal cord injury. Nine days after injury, the rats were treated with embryonic stem cells. Two to five weeks later, the rats showed improvement in weight bearing and coordination. Another study was conducted where fifteen mice with spinal cord injuries were studied. Eight of those mice were treated with transplants to their spinal cords of stem cells. The remaining seven mice were used as controls. Seven days later, the mice that had received stem cells showed greater functional recovery than the control mice (Stem Cells Information Center).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another possible cure for spinal cord injuries is functional electrical stimulation. Functional eletrical stimulation uses implanted electrodes to stimulate paralyzed nerves so that arms and legs can be used for improved function (Spinal Cord Injury Treatment and Cure Research).

American History Terms :: American History

American History Terms 1. Government role in RR building- Congress was impressed by arguments supporting military and postal needs and began to advance liberal money loans to two favored cross- continent companies in 1862 and added enormous donations of land and tracks. Within the routes the RR’s were allowed to choose alternate mile- square sections in checkerboard fashion 2. Significance of Transcontinental RR- A magnificent engineering feat- most impressive peacetime undertakings. Welded West Coast firmly to the Union. Facilitated flourishing trade with Asia. Stimulated growth with the West. Architectural feat- increased nationalism. Huge fortunes, jobs. 3. Stock watering - favorite device of the moguls of manipulation. Originally meant the practice of making cattle thirsty by feeding them salt and then having them bloat themselves with water before they weighed in for sale. Using a variation of this, RR stock promoters grossly inflated their claims about a given line’s assets and profitability and sold stocks and bonds far in excess of the RR’s actual value. 4. Secret Rebates – kickbacks given to powerful shippers in return for steady and assured traffic- not given to everyone. Often slashed prices on competing lines, but more often mad up the difference on noncompeting ones 5. Wabash Case - 1886 Supreme Court ruled that said individual states had NO power to regulate interstate commerce. This would be done by the federal gov’t 6. Interstate Commerce Act - Prohibited rebates and pools and required the railroads to publish their rates openly. Forbade discrimination against shippers and outlawed charging more for a short haul than for a long one over the same line. Created Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to enforce and administer the new legislation. It did not really beat corporate wealth, but it did provide a forum where businesses could resolve their conflicts peaceably. 7. Vertical and Horizontal integration - vertical integration was combining into one organization all phases of manufacturing from obtaining raw materials to marketing. It made supplies more reliable, controlled the quality of product at all states of production, and cut out middlemen’s fees and was perfected by Carnegie. Horizontal integration was consolidating with competitors to monopolize a given market, used a lot by Rockefeller. 8. Trust’s benefits – Gave consumers a superior product at a relatively cheap price. The efficient use of expensive machinery called large-scale production and consolidation proved more profitable than ruinous price wars. 9. Sherman Anti-Trust Act – 1890 – forbade combinations in restraint of trade, without any distinction between â€Å"good† and â€Å"bad† trusts.

Essay --

From Faulkner’s description, the story, â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, takes place after American Civil War in a period that the southern aristocrats are declining but many still stick to their old traditional ways of living. Also, the story shows that there are still many unresolved conflicts between the North and South. In my opinion, the setting of this story, including the time, the place and the culture is the necessary factor for the development of this tragedy. In southern society, the father is always the center of a family and has the final word. The story depicts a vivid picture about Emily and her Father, â€Å"Miss Emily, a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door†.(716) Her father represents the thought of patriarchy in this story; he controls Emily’s life; moreover, he imprisons her, in a figurative sense. I can image that he uses his horsewhip to drive away every young man who shows love to Emily. This is the reason that â€Å"none of the yo... Essay -- From Faulkner’s description, the story, â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, takes place after American Civil War in a period that the southern aristocrats are declining but many still stick to their old traditional ways of living. Also, the story shows that there are still many unresolved conflicts between the North and South. In my opinion, the setting of this story, including the time, the place and the culture is the necessary factor for the development of this tragedy. In southern society, the father is always the center of a family and has the final word. The story depicts a vivid picture about Emily and her Father, â€Å"Miss Emily, a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door†.(716) Her father represents the thought of patriarchy in this story; he controls Emily’s life; moreover, he imprisons her, in a figurative sense. I can image that he uses his horsewhip to drive away every young man who shows love to Emily. This is the reason that â€Å"none of the yo...

Prejudice and discrimination Essay

Andrew Cuomo states, â€Å"I believe discrimination still exists in society and we must fight it in every form. † Discrimination and prejudices are negative manifestations, especially when formed without enough thought or knowledge, instead of bringing people together, it pushes them apart. Prejudices can be formed when a person forms its own opinion of another person or group of persons without having knowledge or facts about them. Meanwhile, discrimination is based on treating one particular group of people less favorably than others because of their skin color, gender, age, or socioeconomic status. Racism, sexism, ageism, and socioeconomic discrimination are all prejudices and types of discrimination which should be avoided. Indeed, confrontation may be one of the most effective weapons in the battle to end prejudice and discrimination because if someone forms a prejudicial idea about us, or discriminates against us, our job is to try to change their way of thinking and let them know who we are and how we really are. People should confront this type of discrimination by demonstrating a different picture of what other people have about them. For example, someone who experienced a lot of discrimination and was prejudiced by a lot of people is Melba Patillo Beals. According to Patillo’s book â€Å"Warriors Don’t Cry†, she clearly writes about the importance of being given the chance to get to know people better before judging. Additionally, she wrote about how much she wanted the white people to give her a chance to get to know her better before they judge her and make a decision wether or not she and the other eight black students were allowed to be part of Central High School. Every time in her diary Patillo wrote how painful was to hear everyday bad words and support bad treatment from the white students. All this stereotypes were so painful for Patillo, but she decided to resist them all and keep going to school to show to the white people that black people are not so different from whites. The skin color does not make people worse. Patillo wrote on her book, â€Å" Today is the first time in my life I felt equal to white people. I want more of that feeling. † (Patillo 90). All people can have more of that feeling if we all decide to stop with racism, and all kinds of discrimination. If people confronts discrimination they will show other people that we all have rights and we have to stop being prejudiced. We have to be treated equal. In the same way, Patillo’s friend, Minnijean, insisted to participate in a school event to show her talents to the white students so they might finally accept her, and stop treating her bad. This two examples of Patillo and her friend Minnijean are ways to confront prejudice and discrimination. They tried to show people that by giving others a chance to know them better, people can realize the image they had about others or the prejudice towards that person is not true. Regarding this, many things can be done in order to get to know others; reading more about different ethnicities can open the mind of a lot of people who have so close mind and who only know about their culture. This could be a good way to get to know other people, and they will have the chance to demonstrate how they really are. For example, in the essay â€Å"Don’t Misread My Signals†, by Judith Ortiz Cofer, she explains how people can stereotype others just because of their heritage, in her case, the Puerto Rican heritage. After reading her essay, people can understand better the Puerto Rican Culture and why Puerto Rican girls chose a certain type of clothes which are not necessarily sexual signals like American people think. Moreover, just because of â€Å"the myth of the Latina as a whore, domestic worker or criminal† (Ortiz), doesn’t mean that all Latinas are the same. That is only a stereotype, and discrimination toward Latinas. However, Ortiz confronts this prejudice and discrimination by writing books of poetry and novels in which she tries to change the way of thinking of her audience. She explains to the audience that the skin color, the accent, or the clothes are not good reasons to prejudice or discriminate against others. Similarly, the essay â€Å"Of My Friend Hector and My Achilles Heel† by Michael T. Kaufman, explains the same issue as the essay â€Å"Don’t Misread My Signals† (Ortiz). That it is bad to stereotype people without having a fact that the stereotype is correct. Kaufman started writing â€Å"This story is about prejudice and stupidity. My own. † By having a epiphany, Kaufman realized that he was stereotyping his friend Hector Elizondo just because he is Puerto Rican and because Hector was not in the same special class in school as Kaufman. Also, Kaufman stereotyped Hector because he always saw Hector wearing a knitted watch cap, so he deduced that Hector was probably working as a longshoreman. Kaufman stereotyped Hector just by his appearance, nationality and education level, but he didn’t try to ask Hector what was really happening in his life. Finally, Kaufman saw in the newspaper that Hector was performing in a play on Broadway, so Kaufman realized that he stereotyped his friend and prejudice him. When people realizes that they are wrong about their prejudice, is exactly the moment when they start to confront prejudice. Is the moment when they change their way of thinking. They realize that sometimes the appearances do not show the real identity of the person. That is the reason of why we need to know people better before we start judging them. People say that the first impression is very important, but they can’t rely only on their first impression because that is the moment when they start to discriminate against others. They need to know that it is important to know someone better before they start judging or stereotyping. After all, we all are human beings and we are not perfect. We all have made prejudices, or have made discriminations towards others sometime. However, this is not so dangerous if we learned the lesson from the past, and realized that discriminating is not the best way to get along with people and live peacefully. If we want to end this, we need to stop transmitting this way of thinking to the next generations. With this change, people will create a world without prejudice and with equal rights for everybody.

Early Literacy in Education Essay

Introduction â€Å"Literacy learning has a profound and lasting effect on the social and academic lives of children. Their future educational opportunities and career choices are directly related to literacy ability. Since early childhood is the period when language develops most rapidly, it is imperative that young children are provided with a variety of developmentally appropriate literacy experiences throughout each day, and that the classroom environment is rich with language, both spoken and printed. Early childhood teachers are responsible for both understanding the developmental continuum of language and literacy and for supporting each child’s literacy development. Literacy learning begins at birth and develops rapidly during the preschool period. The main components of literacy—listening, speaking, reading, and writing—should all be encouraged and supported through conversations and activities that are meaningful to the child and that involve adults and peers. Each child’s interest and motivation to engage in literacy-related activities are evident before that child is able to read or write conventionally. Children should be provided with environments that encourage literacy exploration and their emergent reading and writing behaviors should be valued and supported by their teachers. Effective language and literacy programs provide children who do not speak English with opportunities for listening, speaking, reading, and writing in both English and the home language. It is important for the teacher to recognize the need to make modifications in the presentation of vocabulary, directions, storytelling, reading, and other oral language communication when working with children who do not speak English as their home language. These modifications may include the use of visual aids, scaffolding, repetition, rephrasing, and modeling. † (NJ Department of Education, 2009) Gone are the days in which manual labor was the backbone of our society. We are a people living in the information technology age. Everything that is done from brewing your morning cup of coffee to setting your I-pod to wake you up morning and everything in between requires reading. Without reading a person will face great adversity in day to day living let alone success. It is now critical that every child and adult be able to read and comprehend. Over the past ten years, the amount of information that requires one to read, utilize writing skills, problem solving, and critical thinking has grown enormously. Studies have shown that one of the strongest indicators of a child’s success in school is the educational attainment of his or her parents. As you can imagine, this can plainly effect more than the person who is illiterate. This can also be a death sentence of poverty and destitution as the child grows into adulthood just as doors open for the life-long reader. Today we will discuss: what is needed to prepare children to read, the methods used to help recognize phonics and begin the transition into emergent readers, and what can be done to encourage reading in the future. Preparation In order for a child to begin reading parents must begin assisting their child from an early age. â€Å"Every step a child takes toward learning to read leads to another. Bit by bit, the child builds the knowledge that is necessary for being a reader. Over their first 6 years, most children †¢Talk and listen. †¢Listen to stories read aloud. †¢Pretend to read. †¢Learn how to handle books. †¢Learn about print and how it works. †¢Identify letters by name and shape. †¢Identify separate sounds in spoken language. †¢Write with scribbles and drawing. †¢Connect single letters with the sounds they make. †¢Connect what they already know to what they hear read. †¢Predict what comes next in stories and poems. †¢Connect combinations of letters with sounds. †¢Recognize simple words in print. †¢Sum up what a story is about. †¢Write individual letters of the alphabet. †¢Write words. †¢Write simple sentences. †¢Read simple books. †¢Write to communicate. †¢Read simple books. Children can take more than one of these steps at the same time. This list of steps, though, gives you a general idea of how your child will progress toward reading. † (Helping your child become a reader) While these ideas may seem structured, it is also important to allow children to be creative and use their imagination. Although reading is imperative, too many arrangements and rules can turn a child off and lead to feelings of resentment, anger, and resistance. Reading should be set to the tone and pace of the child. Emergent Readers As the standards of education change a consistent factor remains the focus on reading. Early childhood educators must provide an atmosphere that is both developmentally stimulating to the student while also meeting the standards of education. The methods used to help recognize phonics and begin the transition into emergent readers vary from student to student. Without the foundation of phonics research shows that a child will not learn to read. All children must know the alphabet in order to communicate effectively. Phonics cannot be drilled into the child. This will only produce memorization. Instead, educators must understand a child’s individual needs as well as balance. There is no true need to teach phonics as a separate subject. Most children will develop a sense of curiosity from their own knowledge, ideas, and interest. There will of course be a select few that may benefit from a more formal instruction. When children have a reason to know this will provide enthusiasm. For example: The first letter and sound a child typically learns may be his or her own name. A teacher may ask Billy to identify the first letter of his name. â€Å"B† replies Billy. â€Å"What sound does the letter B make? † â€Å"Buh-buh-Billy exclaims the child. Billy is now inspired and driven to want to learn the other sounds the letters make. Parents and teachers must also realize that reading will contrast greatly as children grow. Below is a list that may help each parent as well as teacher: â€Å"Infants †¢Talk, read, and sing to infants–they learn from everything they see and hear even in the first stages of life. †¢Take your baby to the park, zoo, and the store with you. Bring her attention to objects, signs, and people. †¢Always make books a part of your baby’s toy selection, even if he enjoys handling books more than being read to. As your child grows, point out pictures of objects and offer their names. Eventually, your child will be able to name the pictures, too. †¢Encourage associations between symbols and their meaning–as they get closer to toddlerhood, children may begin to recognize familiar signs for products and logos for cereal or fast food restaurants. Toddlers †¢Help toddlers make the transition from baby talk to adult language by repeating their words and expressions correctly without reprimanding them. †¢Let toddlers â€Å"read† their favorite picture books by themselves while you remain close by to comment. Or, pause before a familiar word as you read to your toddler, and let her fill in the missing word. This works especially well with rhymes or repeated refrains. †¢Provide magnetic and block letters to introduce a toddler to the spelling of his name. †¢Before you take your toddler on a new type of outing, read about the events you are about to witness. Talk with your child about the experience, and follow up with further reading to reinforce learning. Preschooler †¢Add new books to your child’s collection, but keep reading old favorites. Your preschooler may know them by heart now–this represents an important step in learning about reading. †¢Continue to take children shopping with you, and let them help identify products with coupons. Let preschool children join in as you follow a recipe. †¢Take books on long trips with you to encourage reading as entertainment. School-age children †¢Continue to read to your child, even if she has learned to read already. Take turns reading pages of your favorite books. †¢Encourage story writing by listening to the stories children tell. †¢Play word games like Scrabble or Boggle with children and introduce them to crossword puzzles. † (NAEYC, 1998) Encouragement â€Å"The first step in teaching a child to read is encouraging them to read. † – Unknown. This is a proven fact in the development of children. A child that is encouraged has no limit on what he or she can achieve. As educators and parents the responsibility begins early. Reading will encourage children to develop a life-long love for learning. If knowledge is power, books are full of it. Why is reading so important to children? â€Å"The Media Awareness Network emphasizes the potentially negative effects watching television can have on kids. This includes increased exposure to violence, sexual content, and adversely affecting a child’s course of development. In addition, watching television teaches children habits that promote a sedentary lifestyle, contributing to childhood obesity. Meanwhile, reading has been proven to enhance a child’s life by assisting cognitive development and helping children build language skills. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization points out that reading helps children develop a sense of empowerment. It can also help children develop social and communication skills. Furthermore, good reading skills increase educational opportunities and may dramatically increase a child’s chances for academic and lifelong success† (Lendabarker, 2010) There is a vast assortment of options for parents to help encourage reading at home. One of the longest running programs to encourage reading is Pizza Hut’s â€Å"BOOK IT† program. â€Å"This provides an incentive to motivate children to read. BOOK IT! runs every school year from October through March. The teacher sets a reading goal for each child in the class. A tracking chart and reproducibles are included to make it that much easier. As soon as a child meets the monthly reading goal, the teacher gives him or her a Reading Award Certificate. † (Pizza Hut) Flexible BOOK IT! goals are based on reading ability. Number of books, number of pages, or number of minutes – they all work. BOOK IT! can also be used with the reading curriculum or as support for comprehension or intervention programs. For children not reading independently, the goal can be set where a parent or others read to the child. Fun Pizza Hut is proud of all BOOK IT! readers! The restaurant manager and team congratulate every child for meeting the monthly reading goal and reward them with a free, one-topping Personal Pan Pizza, BOOK IT! card and backpack clip. Other ideas to encourage reading include: †¢Make a habit of reading to your child every day, whether she is a one-year-old or a 10-year-old. †¢When your child is able to, have her read to you. You can take turns reading chapters in a simple chapter book, for example. †¢Get a library card for your child. Go to the library every week and take out several books. †¢Be aware of your child’s interests and direct your child to related books. †¢Try to find a series that she really likes and will want to continue reading. †¢Provide a comfortable reading area, with good lighting, in your home. †¢Discuss books with your child. †¢Buy books for your children that are related to their special interests. †¢If your child is a reluctant reader and not reading on grade level, buy her hi/lo books (books with a high interest level, low vocabulary). †¢Talk to your child’s teacher and ask for suggestions. †¢If your child likes incentives and the computer, enroll in an online book group. †¢If your child really enjoys a particular author, check with your librarian about other authors or books she might enjoy. †¢Children also often enjoy the opportunity to read children’s magazines As parents and educators, it is more important to spend time reading with your child on a consistent on-going basis. The method you select is not nearly as important as the time spent actually reading together. Conclusion Show me a child that can read and research will show you a child on his or her way to succeed. Parents, educators, grandparents, aunts, uncles all need to take time to read to a child. All too often parents rush out to buy the latest video game or latest toy. Where is that enthusiasm for the love of reading? How many children even see their parents read? We live in an age where technology surrounds us at every given moment; that does not negate the need to read and to take an active role in the education of children. The research speaks for itself. Reading equals succeeding. Works Cited Bagert, B. C. (1993). Helping your child learn to read. Retrieved February 25, 2010, from Kids Source: http://www. kidsource. com/kidsource/content/learread. html Lendabarker, K. (2010, January 3). Encouraging Children to Read. Retrieved February 25, 2010, from Suite101: http://earlychildhood. suite101. com/article. cfm/helping_children_develop_good_reading_habits NAEYC. (1998). Phonics and Whole Language Learning. Retrieved February 25, 2010, from Education. com: http://www. education. com/reference/article/Ref_Phonics_Whole/ NJ Department of Education. (2009, Unknown Unknown). Retrieved February 16, 2010, from www. state. nj. us: www. state. nj. us/education/cccs/2009/PreSchool. doc Pizza Hut. (n. d. ). Pizza Hut. Retrieved February 25, 2010, from Pizza Hut BOOK IT! program: http://www. bookitprogram. com/bedtimestory/ Uknown. (n. d. ). Literacy Guide. Retrieved February 24, 2010, from Bankstreet: http://www. bankstreet. edu/literacyguide/early2. html Unknown. (unknown, unknown unknown). Helping your child become a reader. Retrieved February 19, 2010, from Ed. gov: http://www2. ed. gov/parents/academic/help/reader/part4. html