Movie Review The Impact of Globalization in the Movie Still, the Children Are Here

Animal Behavior Essays - Ethology, Limbic System, Human Behavior

Animal Behavior Essays - Ethology, Limbic System, Human Behavior Animal Behavior Biology lb Abstract Animal behavior is predictable. Their behavioral tendencies are influenced by the relationship of its anatomy to their environment. By observing various forms of life, and associating the mechanism of their abilities to perform a behavioral action, evolutionary influence thereafter, can be analyzed and deduced from that point. Introduction The science and study of animal behavior involve an enormous array of complicated factors. For instance, stereotyped responses are unlearned behavioral reactions to some environmental stimulus predicated upon an organism relationship to its physical environment and anatomy. This obviously begs the question; is the observable behavior such as, the vertical movements demonstrated by brine shrimp (marine plankton experiment) or peristaltic movements showed by earthworms (animal behavioral lab experiment) a form of deliberate taxis or random kinesis? However, to properly be able to address those questions, it's far more important to examine the intricate factors involving the complex interactions between the effects of environmental stimuli,(dry air for the earthworm and directional light for the brine shrimp) towards the affected anatomical structure and physiological function of a specific organ system of those particular animal species. Therefore, I hypothesize, that an ! earthworm will exert random kinetic behavior through peristaltic movement in an arid clinical environment because, it's sensory apparatus (respiratory system) will detect a potential life/death situation precipitated by the threat of desiccation; whereas, the brine shrimp will demonstrate deliberate vertical movements of behavioral taxis because, the environmental stimuli of light will be effecting an entirely different sensory apparatus (ocular nervous ) ofwhich, doesn't afford the potential possibility of impending doom. By that, affording the luxury of stereotypical behavior that can be later linked to environmental fitness. In short, an animal's behavior about a particular type of movement is predicated upon the environmental clues, which directly influence the innate survival mechanisms of a species or its anatomical configuration with evolutionary fitness. However, inasmuch as some forms of animal behavior can be easily be analyzed by a simple stimulus and response scenario, such as with earthworms and brine shrimp. Others such as the rheotactic behavior of trout (aquarium field trip) and penguin mating habits (zoo field trip) are far more complicated. These particular types of animal behavior involve a wider spectrum of coordinated organ systems. For instance, trouts are migratory fish and posses the additional physical characteristics of using chemorecptors (smell) too located their initial spawning grounds. Because of this evolutionary/genetic characteristic, they must swim against currents to be able to maximize their olfactory senses. Although the sense of smell is apart of the nervous system, the mechanism that coordinates rheotactic behavior is an entirely different nervous component. Trout like other fish use their mechanoreceptors located in their lateral line system to detect the movement and direction of water.! Which solicits the question, if trouts are rheotactic, then why do they need to intermediately break from the current and swim in a particular pattern? Therefore I hypothesize, which a trout's general rheotactic behavior is predicating upon the coordinated environmental stimulus of an aqueous solute concentration, ofwhich will confirm olfactory distance, and the lateral line thereafter functions to facilitate in the correct direction. Consequentially, rheotactic behavior controlled by the lateral line is dependent upon the chemoreptors of the olfactory senses of a trout. Thus, a trout's intermittent behavior during rheotactic movement is more or less a pause for the benefit of olfactory orientation. Penguins unlike trout, brine shrimp and earthworms are flightless birds. Because of their physical size, they inherently have a larger cerebral capacity. This anatomical characteristic complicates the qualitative analysis of penguin mating behavior tremendously. Largely because, penguins have the physical capacity of conscious thought, interactive communication immersed in a sheath of innate unlearned behavior. However, penguins are similar to trout in that, they to are migratory creatures. Thus, penguins like trout integrate a number of different physiological systems for mating behavior. One of which involves the coordinated interaction between their endocrine system and nervous system. Therefore I hypothesize, that male penguins during the mating season are territorially aggressive due to the imbalance of testosterone within their system, and female penguins are passive and somewhat behaviorally more submissive due to the higher amounts of estrogen within their sys! tems. Furthermore, because the endocrine system is

Preliminary Investigation of the Company Assignment

Preliminary Investigation of the Company - Assignment Example The company's target markets include local clients as well as clients from foreign countries. Several concerns and opportunities were mentioned. The first is to establish the company as a household name when it comes to land management software. The company also hopes to establish itself as a big brand name in providing consultancy services, training, and customization in the said field. In order to establish itself as a market leader in the local scene, one should have a lot of customers. To rake in more sales, the company should be visible to potential clients locally as well as abroad. With this end in mind, the company is keen on putting up their own website. This will serve not only as an information center to current and potential clients but will bring in more sales what with the ease of availing products online and within the comforts of one's home. The company, being global in scale has recently felt that the market is too large to maintain strong relationships with all potential buyers. The company has been used to utilizing direct mail to attract new clients. However, this method does not ensure that the brochures and advertisement material are reaching the decision makers of the target companies. The current advertisement setup uses mail-outs to special groups which have been selected based on predefined criteria. These are sent out every 2-3 months. Instead of doing this, focus on the key persons for such companies, send them emails and find out how they will be able to use the software, and if possible, set up presentation meetings over lunch or dinner. This way, with a clear void to fill, the goal is more focused and a strategy to present the product in the best way possible to the potential customer can be formulated. Also, contingency plans can be set up in case the client rejects the first approach. Moreover, if the correspondences would prove that the prospect is a dead end, it should send the signal that it's time to move on to other prospects, thus saving time.     

Breast Cancer Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Breast Cancer - Research Paper Example Morphologically breast cancer is divided into two basic types depending on the anatomic site affected by the tumor cells; Ductal and lobular carcinoma. As the name indicates, the ductal type originates form the ducts or lactiferous tubes of the breast while the lobular carcinoma originates from the stroma or lobules of the breast responsible for lactation. On the basis of penetration through the limiting basement membrane, the breast cancers are divided into two basic subtypes; Invasive and non-invasive. The non-invasive types are classified into two types which include ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) on the basis that tumor cells have not invaded the adjacent tissues (Chen 2010; McPherson et al 2000). The causes or risk factors of breast cancer can be divided into two major categories which are modifiable and non-modifiable. Non-modifiable risk factors are age, geographical variations, family history, menstrual history, associated familial syndromes and genetics. The increase in the age of a woman is also a risk factor for breast cancer. Women who fall between the age group of 40-50 are at the highest risk of getting this malignancy. Moreover, if family history shows positive cases especially in first degree relatives like mother, daughter or sister, then it also increases the chances to develop breast cancer. Breast cancer has been associated with genes which include BRCA1 and BRCA2 which have been linked to the causation of familial breast cancer. These are genes located on chromosome 17 which undergo autosomal dominant mutations and are responsible for 5% to 10% inherited cases of breast cancer. The sporadic breast cancer is considered to be caused by mutations in several tumo r suppressor and oncogenes like p53, c-myc, c-myb and bcl-2. Moreover, the over expression of HER2/neu also has a very strong relation to breast cancer. The age of menarche and menopause also plays an important role in the incidence of breast

Sexually transmitted diseases Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sexually transmitted diseases - Essay Example The foremost factor that contributes to the pending problem is that people are not knowledgeable about the dangers and risks of sexually transmitted diseases. In-depth awareness of the causes, risks, and effects of STDs is clearly lacking in the public. Such lack of awareness is evident in the lifestyle that many Americans live today. Although people may have realized the need for safe sex, they continue to be uninformed about the other ways by which they can contract sexually transmitted diseases. Increasing awareness regarding sexually transmitted diseases has become a growing concern in today's society. Various means of educating the public have been continuously been explored. However, the most important public information source has yet to be fully utilized, the media. The media in the modern times has served as the primary means people gain knowledge about the various issues that are present in society. It is from the media that people get information about current issues ranging from politics, global affairs, economics, and public health. The media is the information resource that has the most extensive reach. Moreover, the influence of media in the lives of people is vast. It can sway public opinion towards one side. (Stoughton) With such great influence over public perception and opinion, media can easily promote awareness regarding important issues such as STDs just as it promotes awareness regarding violence so easily. This paper will discuss the role of one form of media, newspaper, in increasing the public's knowledge and awareness regarding sexually transmitted diseases. New articles found in the nationally-circulated newspapers that tackle the issue of STDs will be analyzed to determine the extent to which the issue is discussed. Furthermore, past researches and studies will likewise be reviewed. The primary objective of this study will be to determine the extent to which print news media informs the public regarding sexually transmitted diseases. Review of Related Literature In this section, previous studies will be discussed to determine what their findings suggest about the coverage that the subject of STDs receives from print news media. Also, news articles from nationally-circulated newspapers will be analyzed to ascertain whether sexually transmitted diseases received ample substantive news reporting from the newspapers. Furthermore, this section will discuss how print new media reports STDs to the public and whether such kind of reporting contributes to increasing the awareness of the public significantly regarding the problem. A study conducted by Davidson and Wallack (2004) involved a content analysis of articles from the leading American newspapers to determine the type of new coverage that print media outlets gave to the issue of sexually transmitted diseases. The results of the study revealed a lack of substantive reporting on the subject of sexually transmitted diseases. Davidson and Wallack found that less that one-fourth of the articles they reviewed contained anything that pertains to the causes, consequences, prevention, signs, or symptoms, screening, transmission, treatment, trends or rates of STDs. (2004). Most of the articles contained statistical information regarding sexually transmitted diseases. According to Davidson and Wallack (2004), statistical information may be what journalists perceive as newsworthy about STDs; journalists report that they are

Top and Bottom Down Approaches in Research

Top and Bottom Down Approaches in Research 1.1 Introduction: The theoretical challenge of managed environments General works in the field of development studies or environmental management typically imitate structural, institutional and political economy analyses. This dissertation however focuses on the theoretical and methodological foundations of an actor-oriented, process-based and social constructionist form of analysis. It also aims to show the usefulness of such an approach for providing new insights into critical areas of empirical enquiry. In the introductory chapter I posed the dilemma confronting change managers and citizens with existing practices of environmental governance reform that are performing inconsistently. My starting point is the premise that experiences of decision-making over environmental management practices have not reflected the intent of smoother transitions and greater legitimacy that a turn to more participative approaches had promised. More democratic methods are not consistently producing more democratic outcomes, at least so are reports from practice warning. Instead, governance reform is experienced as frustrating struggles by actors brought together using ideals of collaborative practice that are frequently proving disappointing in application. The stories that this report recounts are indicative of the type of struggles and indeterminacies more and more encountered by policy actors in addressing issues of society-nature relations. It will be shown that the day-to-day tensions are not well expressed in the languages of social science or practitioners. Are there better ways to conceptualize these problems? Do we have language for this? To answer this, I will have to look for alternative ways to enter the subject and pose questions in different ways. A search for models of practice and theoretical foundations that may prove relevant to the rapidly changing contexts of managed environments encounters a rich literature that has engaged with the problems posed by the environmental pressures of population increase and technological development. However, as will be seen, existing conceptualisations encounter limits of abstraction. The implicit recognition of that has seen practitioners develop a wide range of approaches that are nearer to a recognition of actor perspectives in the field of environmental governance reform that more anthropological perspectives will highlight. A closer examination shows that abandoning abstraction in order to acknowledge the natural complexity of modern contexts in a post-modern time does not resolve the problem of constructively navigating changing knowledge systems. I therefore turn to post-structuralist thinking which allows me to give more attention to the social constructivist view and, in particul ar, to the co-constructed nature of knowledge, framing and subjectivities. The method that proves most promising to demonstrate and resolve the ambiguous nature of social knowledge is a dialectical approach to mapping the deliberative spaces of 21st century environmental governance reform. To do this work, perspectives from different disciplinary areas are brought together, including environmental sociology, environmental policy, anthropology, development studies, conservation management, political ecology and public policy. The discussion will seek to ‘ambiguate key notions in the society-nature literatures, that is, work with the ambiguity that becomes exposed when different scholarly worldviews are applied to core concepts of environmental governance. Working dialectically with the framings of theorists and practitioners means moving at different levels of extension, probing generalisation and rethinking subjects. This will show how ideas of nature, knowledge, community, and identity are central. The journey I will pursue in this chapter and effectively continue in the following transects key themes in the literature on environmental and development issues that I will not attempt to treat comprehensively a futile task even with the best of intentions but instead I want to trace insightful tensions and contours in the landscapes of academic, practitioners and subjective knowledges that shape the individual and institutional behaviour of social actors. By focussing on boundaries, and the conceptual or physical movement across these, I claim that I can show useful insights into the processes through which actors engage in participative, democratic spaces. By evoking a journey through the literature, I shadow the journey that I myself followed when I entered into and pursued this research, coming from a career as aid worker and encounter with the Great Barrier Island setting. Entering into academic reflection on social and political situations from that background opened perspectives that are not easily available to a researcher arriving from the outside or evaluating social processes with less reference to practical experience. At the same time, a positioning on the boundaries of the settings studied that my own background with the frequent geographic and career changes allowed, can be said to have greatly elevated my ‘hermeneutical horizon, opening up better appreciation of multiple, overlapping contexts. The aim of this chapter is to reveal a range of features and entry points into a number of settings that I gained access to, even if not comprehensively but certainly illustrative. I want to show that abstraction needs to adopt not only an actor-grounded and situated methodology but equally a more subjective theorisation, in order to give new meaning to abstraction. The literature I will bring into the discussion will help me elaborate how simultaneously seeking out top-down, bottom-up and reflective positions can give complementary insights into processes of actor engagement over environmental governance. The reason is that the political, social and cultural complexities that determine human-nature, and particularly society-nature, relations impose a need for multiple perspectives. In the following sections I will construct several positions located on metaphoric boundaries that offer perspective on subject areas and cultures of practice. To do that, I will open three views, or categories of view: one as a top-down view, which uses analytical thinking looking at overviews, comparisons and indicators to form structural explanations that underlie theory and practice. A second position approaches actors within a situation and is interested in narratives that convey the struggles and explanations present in a given situation, as they are seen from the bottom up. And with a view that is neither top-down, nor bottom-up, I want to emphasize a self-conscious, reflective treatment of knowledge and the co-construction of world views that deliberative practices can entail. 1.1.1 Case study or research intervention? The scholarly practitioner as participant in knowledge production Before I enter the subject area however, I must first clarify my point of entry into and positionality within the subject. In particular, the performative character of social science research needs to be acknowledged. Scientific inquiry is recognized as a social practice mediated contextually through symbolic means {Foucault, 2002; Pryke, Rose, Whatmore, 2003}. Sociological research has documented the extent to which science is as much a socio-cultural activity as a technical enterprise. The post-positivist challenge to the social sciences that was evoked by Fischer and quoted introductory chapter, derives from evidence that the elements of empirical inquiry from observation and hypothesis formation through data collection and explanation are grounded in often limited theoretical assumptions of the socio-cultural practices through which they are developed {Root, 1993}. Scientific explanations therefore have to be understood as explanations offered by specific communities of inquirers situated in particular places and times, so Fischer emphasizes (1998). These are discursive communities that are located alongside and intermeshed with other political communities in the social landscape. This draws attention to positioning researcher and science within the political communities that are present. Attention must be paid throughout the approach, engagement and interpretation of social situations to be reflective about the relation of the researcher to the subject. In my engagement with the actors within the settings I investigated, my approach and interest was shaped by all of my curriculum vitae but especially by my background as former aid worker. At least three specific aspects of this career were particularly significant in forming my approach to this study and, in particular, the lines of questioning that I adopted. For many years while working on behalf of large non-governmental aid organisations like Oxfam and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), when I was often assigned as project planner in collaboration with medical or logistics experts with the task to research the humanitarian, political and security context in a particular setting to identify priority needs an organisation was able to address and to design the detailed aid interventions. I led needs assessment missions lasting 2 to 4 weeks to Georgia, Tajikistan, Congo, Burundi, Syria, Iraq, and Nepal among others,. The output would consist of reports documenting findings of data collection and interviews, verbal and written interpretation of implications for launching aid operations, and proposals to governmental donor agencies that complied to institutional requirements and priorities in order to maximise chances of gaining funding support. Essentially this was a research role with an action orientation. My primary role while working for these international aid organisations was project manager and/or country representative, positions that I held in Russia. Chechnya, Congo, Kenya, Lebanon, and Mauritania among others. Aid projects would be managed by a team of expatriates and local staff, often growing into large, well-resourced and formalised organisations with up to 50 staff. This required me to manage teams and situations with a view to producing outcomes, conforming to organisational policies. As head of usually one of the larger NGOs in a sector, I would frequently also act on behalf of a wider community of aid agencies that shared similar values and objectives in collaborating and representing interests to government counterparts. The emphasis on advocating for universal rights and principles on behalf of vulnerable and victims under threat was an important advocacy priority for organisations like Oxfam and MSF, and thus was a critical rationale for situating, maintaining, and promoting many aid activities. At the same time I would be representing associations that had explicitly defined visions and principles in an organisational environment and so I had to be very self-conscious about the philosophical distinctions between advocacy, religious, purely charitable, bilateral or inter-governmental agencies. In other words, through this work I had been sensitized to the subtleties of organisational culture and its relationship to operational policies. In general, as a project manager I shared an outcome orientation that allowed me to identify with the role of other project managers in comparable organisational settings, even outside the domain international aid. The reason I found myself in a ten-year career as aid worker was in part due to a long-standing interest in foreign settings and the extensive time I had already spent living abroad. The familiarity with different cultures from growing up in the Middle East, emigrating during school years to New Zealand and working in several European countries not only opened my appreciation of how cultures and societies are distinguished but also permitted me to acquire conversational fluency in eight languages. Overhearing the words our interpreter used to translate my speech into Arabic for a group of village elders in a Sahel village, or joking with Russian militia officers to be able to enter an ethnic enclave in the Caucasus, added diverse points of view that only first-hand knowledge can make relevant to other situations. The value of knowing how language and cultural upbringing can shape world views, understanding and humour is invaluable when attempting to reflect on other situations from a position that is neither entirely inside nor outside but on the boundary between cultures and places that are in (dialectical) relation. 1.1.1.1 Adopting an inside-out view: focus on protagonist, on the relationship between identity and subject. While it is tempting to examine a situation from the point of view of those with the power to affect it the change makers and potential audience for the research findings it can be critical to also adopt the point of view of less influential actors. An inside out view seeks to show how outside forces influence the nature of polity, rather than using the people in the area of interest to provide a background against which to set the actions of outsiders {see also Routledge, Pacific History as seen from the Pacific Islands, Pacific Studies Spring 1985}. This study, in other words, seeks to be not merely island-centred but islander-oriented. The perspective thus adopted is that of a scholarly practitioner. Bentz and Shapiro {, 1998 #1684} use this term to recognise that in the enterprise of knowledge generation and critical reflection, there is a two-way relationship. The role of the scholarly practitioner involves â€Å"using professional practice and knowledge as a resource for the formulation and production of scholarly knowledge as well as for evaluating, testing, applying, extending, or modifying existing knowledge† (p. 66). Bentz and Shapiro stress that this requires also an awareness of the limits of knowledge, and, I would add, the contested nature of knowledge. This recognition brings attention to the production of knowledge in environmental politics. 1.1.1.2 Social science must be conscious of its performative character: Reconnecting the researcher with the researched There are a number of research traditions that address the ontological gap between researcher and the researched. Action research for one, is a participatory methodology that seeks to produce knowledge that emerges from context of action as a collaborative project between researcher and the researched. It typically sees the researcher performing functional roles within groups working together on real world projects and tasks (Wadsworth, 1998). Participatory research finds many other outlets and emphasizes a philosophy of co-production or research, from the formulation of the question, through reflection on outcomes to the communication of findings (Cornwall Jewkes, 1995). A methodology that seeks to discard theoretical preconceptions completely is grounded theory. Theories are grounded in the groups observable experiences, but researchers add their own insight into why those experiences exist. It is a method formulated by Strauss and Corbin that categorizes empirically collected data to build a general theory to fit the data (Barney G. Glaser, 2004; B.G. Glaser Strauss, 1967; A. McCarthy, 1999). The investigator develops conceptual categories from the data and then makes new observations to develop these categories. Hypotheses are derived directly from the data, and may be tested against it. All conclusions must be grounded in and supported by the data. Their seminal work, The Development of Grounded Theory (1967), moved researchers past the hypothesis-testing uses of raw data into the hypothesis-generating potential of their observations. The approach has been steadily expanding its reach within academia through sociology and social anthropology an d, more recently into applied disciplines like nursing and educational research. Notwithstanding the uptake of grounded philosophy by researchers motivated to reconnect with the empirical subject, the lack of theorizing underlying this may be criticized by more ‘sophisticated theorists like Habermas, who I later want to bring into this discussion. For the German, the lack of critical framing that grounded theory represents is a crucial shortcoming that needs to be addressed methodologically. I will begin this by first discussing methodological treatment of settings and context. 1.1.2 Accounting for context with mental models and ethnographic methods The cognitive patterns that underlie social behavior are not easily accessible to the researcher. Conceptualizing mental models that can account for communicative behavior in a way that relates to settings and context must represent basic notions of cognition such as ideology, knowledge and values. Ideologies in the sense used here, are general and abstract, principle based, axiomatic beliefs, while knowledge are the actual facts and beliefs held as true. Attitudes are taken to comprise opinion, beliefs, feelings, and intentions about specific issues, typically socially shared (see also Leiserowitz, Kates, Parris, 2006). A mental model then, is the categorical understanding constructed from ideologies, knowledge, and attitudes of specific contexts and situations. An accompanying notion is that of group knowledge as those social beliefs that which a group, or imagined community, holds to be true according to its own evaluation or verification (truth) criteria (eg science) and which can be doubted by outsiders. But such cultural, common ground knowledge is not challenged within groups, and is presupposed in public discourse, even when they are shifting as are the notions of conservation, environment and sustainability did that were discussed. 1.1.2.1 Context models as subjective representation To study context and its relation to subjective meanings, ethnographic approaches hold most promise as they work with subjective representation and group knowledge processes (e.g. Descola, 1996; Wolfe Yang, 1996). Such a view is also interested in how context structures social relations (communicative and interactional), social dynamics (group membership and interaction). But it also brings another interest relevant to the study of participation, of how cognition has a role in terms of framing goals, knowledge and other beliefs of participants in deliberation. The notion of context is used in scholarship as ambiguously as ‘environment is in wider discourses. To be able to treat it as an analytical object needs a basic model. By defining contexts and contextualization in terms of mental models and their role in discourse production and comprehension, this can account not only for the role of social representations such as attitudes and ideologies in discourse, but also allows a more subjective explanation of discourse and its variation in terms of personal mental models. The empirical studies will demonstrate this. Van Dijk (2001) sees context as a model of relevance that shapes actors opinions and actions. He recognizes that context is subjective and individual and with that is ideologically based and has coherence within group discourse. Thus, context models are subjective representations of social situation, including communicative events they define what is relevant. This makes an account of context critical for understanding participation. And subjective context framing may be ideologically biased. 1.1.2.2 Frames of referenceand the ‘black box of mental models The concept of frame of reference is also used commonly used to refer to the cognitive effect of contextual models (Swaffield, 1998). It describes and categorizes the attitudes displayed by individuals when discussing a management issue. The framing concepts in this study were defined as follows: A frame of reference is an analytical model of attitudes concerning a resource policy or management issue. A personal frame of reference refers to the attitudes expressed by an individual. A common frame of reference refers to the distinctive pattern of attitudes that is common to a number of individuals. However, there is no claim that the frame of reference as defined here represents cognitive processes. Rather, it is a model of the attitudes openly expressed by individuals when discussing an issue. A basic problem that remains, is that context, subjectivities and cognition remain inaccessible to a researcher. A ‘black box model of subjective context therefore lacks explanatory relevance. But as the subject of deliberation, context circumscribes the cognitive boundaries of actors ‘mentalities. For van Dijk (2001), the advantage of such an approach is that it accounts not only for the role of social representations, such as attitudes and ideologies in discourse, but also allows a more subjective explanation of discourse and its variation in terms of personal mental models. And since contexts are by definition unique and personal, context models of framings precisely allow an individual approach to contextualization to be combined with a more social one, in which shared representations, groups, and other societal aspects play a prominent role. 1.1.3 Boundaries: Locating and moving across by following, pushing or re-imagining phenomena ## I will begin with the premise that the totality of relations in a socio-ecological geography are meaningful, that is the relations between people, places and things. And that the inverse of relationships are distinctions that coalesce to form boundaries between categories and instances. This is worth emphasizing since the recognition that boundaries constrain meaning can draw attention to the contrived and therefore limiting nature of abstraction. How this premise will permit established abstraction and meanings to be questioned, fragmented and reassembled is the work that this chapter will begin and will be completed in the methodological chapter that follows. The first boundary to highlight and that can show what is meant by transgressing distinctions consists of the separation of human from non-human nature. Imagining environmental governance reform as regulating the entry of humans into nature and the export of non-human resources out of nature is counter-intuitive to any gardener. Fence lines, compost bins and patio seating all blur the boundaries. Self-identity for many derives from emotional attachments to home and garden, nurturing roles that a vegetable plot reinforces and status that manicured lawns or urban bio-diversity islands respectively can demonstrate. Thus the domain of interest should not be a non-human nature as an object of human intervention but instead a nature as a geography of human relations that are linked to an environment through diverse interests. This is a geography that is physically located in both the commons and in private property another paired abstraction that will prove to be divided by a blurred boundary. But this is also a geography that exists in the social imagination as social, cultural or political objects. The environment so seen can be conceived as the total of society-nature relations which relate to all material, subjective, cognitive, political, and other interests or dimensions. The challenge then becomes not in naming these complex relations but in thinking about them, in framing them. 1.1.4 Environmental governance as an adjustable lens [## develop] The first conceptual tool to prepare will thus be the notion of environmental governance as an adjustable lens. Rather than using the literature in an inevitably selective manner to stabilize the meaning of this concept at least for the duration of this discussion, I will adopt a counter-strategy of reinforcing the ambiguity of the notion and employing it with shifting meanings to approach the research problem from different scales, extension and perspectives. Environmental governance is a category of practices and ideas that are of interest to several perspectives. As a domain of practice it is the concern of academic text books (Durant, Fiorino, OLeary, 2004; Hempel, 1996; Kettl, 2002; Levy Newell, 2005) as much as ministerial policy statements {Ministry of the Environment 2000, 2003}, international donor policy, and publications of environmental agencies. In practice, actually relating good governance to ecological outcomes is near impossible. Choosing one arbitrary example from international experience, an in-depth evaluation of different forest management governance regimes in Madagascar showed how there were enormous difficulties in explaining the dynamics and assessing measures of sustainability and equity (McConnell Sweeney). The term of environmental governance can be encountered in a range of contexts. In a recent survey of issues in environmental policy and management Durant et al (ibid.) identify key topics in environmental governance as sustainability, the precautionary principle, common-pool resource theory, deliberative democracy, civic environmentalism, environmental justice, property rights, environmental conflict resolution, devolution, among others. This has introduced a range of perspectives from environmental economics, democratic theory, public policy, law, political science, and public administration. In effect, environmental governance does not so much represent a theoretical field or a professional discipline, but a theme of shared concerns in scholarship and applied practice. This chapter will consider how environmental governance can be re-approached by detaching it from the portfolio of resource managers and relocating it within a wider arena of development and democratic practices. In the development field the notion that the public, stakeholders or local people have an important role in environmental governance is emphasized. Environmental governance includes the structures (e.g. management regimes), organizational forms (e.g. farmer research teams, water user associations), processes (e.g. multi-stakeholder dialogue), actors and rules (e.g. negotiated access rights and boundaries) that determine how resources are managed at international, national and local levels. (International Development Research Centre) Aside from government agencies and development practitioners, scholars will also characterize contemporary environmental governanceas a â€Å"collaborative approach to policy formulation and implementation†(Durant et al., 2004, pp. 22-23). Environmental governance therefore is relevant to several different fields of interest to scholars and can be framed in several ways. In the first instance, environmental governance is political and so a subject of political inquiry. This opens up a diverse body of literature to employ in developing an approach to environmental governance. Another dimension that arises out of the political, and that the following discussion shows to be explicitly present, is deliberative democracy. But the most promising approach to begin to problematize environmental governance lies with the notion of development and its contemporary manifestation as sustainable development, particularly its application by foreign agents in local settings. Each of these dim ensions embodies unresolved tensions tensions that can also be encountered in many sites of social theory and practice which centre on epistemological concerns. It may also be useful to think in terms of environmental governance as a body of political theory, as Humphrey has done (2007), that has a central focus upon environmental concerns as these relate to democracy, justice, globalization, political economy, freedom, the welfare state, and other aspects of political life. This body of work is no longer as closely related to the environmental ethics and values of nature of a deep ecology, but is more integrated into mainstream political theory. For the purpose of this discussion, I will develop the notion of environmental governance as a conceptual tool to approach the research problem from different scales, extension and perspectives. The complementary notions of environmental governance offer entry points into related literatures and cultures of practice: Environmental Democracy, Environmental Reform, Environmental Collaboration, and Environmental Sustainability. Environmental governance can thus best be treated as both as assembly of practice and as a body of theory that is doing political work. To reconnect theory and practice will be the task of this chapter. 1.1.5 We are being ‘participated again: An incomplete typology of participative approaches There is an emerging consensus that the public need to be more involved in the processes of environmental decision making. From the international arena exemplified in documents such as Agenda 21 and the initiatives of the World Bank to national government policy initiatives, local policy and planning systems such as the New Zealand Resource Management Act, and in the discourses of actors including scientists and business groups, a role for public participation has been instituted (Davies, 2002). Implicit in the idea of participation is that the initiative lies with the reformers, the change-makers to approach the public with a project to respond to. From the perspective of an un-associated citizen, the prospect of another round of workshops and discussion groups events that have become familiar to many villagers in target zones of international aid the process is passive and invites the expression not surprisingly encountered in developing nations of ‘we are being participated again. The notion of taking part in environmental decision-making and in contrast to an authority taking top-down action is taken up by a wide range of terms and practices. Participation in the social science is an umbrella term including different means for the public to directly participate in political, economic, management or other social decisions. Participatory decision making then infers a level of proportionate decision making power and can take place along any realm of human social activity, including economic (e.g. participatory economics), political (e.g. participatory democracy), cultural (e.g. communalism) or familial (e.g. Feminism). In practice, the term participation applies to processes initiated by an agency seeking to initiate a project or introduce reform. It thus becomes critical to ask, who is invited to participate, and by whom. What regulatory requirements may apply, is there precedent, and what resources are available are only some of the parameters that the term participation by itself does not convey. In the government sector, at least in New Zealand, the word consultation is frequently used to describe a range of processes to engage with the community i.e. citizens and citizen associations. These range from the prescribed processes in the Local Government Act (2002) such as the special consultative procedure (section 83) to informal processes such as e-mail chat groups or anecdotal local knowledge. In this report, the term consultation will be used in a broad sense to include any form of government agency engagement with local communities, including activities carried out by an authority to inform itself of community views as well as specific consultation exercises. Collaboration is another category that carries the notion to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavour. The sense that will be used here, emphasises the absence of authority, a consensual decision making process with respect to an established domain. Dispute resolution is a related practice that seeks to reduce differences or to seek a solution when a conflict situation exists. When the services of a third party are utilized, this is often referred to as mediation. These categories denote some of the dimensions that structure relationships in public involvement: consultation as an exercise in information exchange, participation implying a direct input into deliberation over decisions linked to

Critical Evaluation ? Lamb to the Slaughter Essay -- essays research p

A tale of the unexpected is Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl. The story has a twist in the tale ending in which a loving wife gruesomely murders her husband. Mr Patrick Maloney, a senior in the police force seemed a happy married man to his pregnant wife, Mrs. Mary Maloney. Mr Maloney comes home one night, shocking his wife with the news he is leaving her. Mrs. Maloney is in great shock, to a state that she kills her husband, with a frozen leg of lamb. In the end she gets away with it, unwittingly the police then destroy the evidence by eating the cooked lamb. Mrs. Maloney is your normal housewife, she sits at home in suspense waiting for her prized husband to return home from work. Her relationship with her husband Patrick is almost as a sunbather feels the sun. This is shown in the opening part of the story when Patrick returns home from work. Mary has his usual drink set out for him and when he comes in she is just content to sit in silence, his presence gives her a glow. Throughout the opening part of the story Mary will do anything that Patrick says, showing that she has a great love for him and would never want to disappoint him. At six months pregnant she is the one that should be resting but instead she is jumping around just to try and please her husband. At the start of the novel, Mary seems very innocent, but her whole personality changes when she kills Patrick. At the start she seems happy, loving, caring, friendly and very dependent on Patrick. After Patric...

San Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert

The San Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert A well-known foraging community in the southwest region of Africa is the San Bushmen. These hunting and gathering bands have lived in the Kalahari Desert region for thousands of years. The men of these communities are the primary hunters, who provide about 20 percent of the diet from the animals they kill. The women collect a various nuts, tubers, melons, and berries that provide the other 80 percent of the San diet (Nowak & Laird, 2010). The San live in one of the most marginal environments in the world and generally move around in bands when hunting or while moving around to find water or food about two to three times a week. Women can collect enough food in one day to feed their families for a full week, while men hunt two or three days a week. Vegetation is found in the same place every year, whereas animals are less reliably found in a particular location. Thus, women's knowledge about reliable locations to find food is respected and seriously considered. The rest of the time is spent in leisurely pursuits: visiting, playing, sleeping, and just enjoying each other's company (Lee, 1979). Like other foragers, have many hours of free time for leisure activities, including socializing with their kin and friends. San men vary widely in their skill at hunting, but different levels of success do not lead to differences in status. Self-deprecation and understatement are rigorously required of the hunter after a successful hunt. This modesty is evident from the moment he enters the village to relay his news. Although an energetic man might be a successful hunter, he is the â€Å"owner† of the meat only if the spear or arrow used to kill the animal was his. A man who does not excel at hunting can therefore be successful by giving an arrow he made to another hunter. If his arrow was used in the kill, he is considered the â€Å"owner† of the meat (Shostak, 1981). When looking generalized reciprocity from the outside, one would think a hunter, who chooses to share his kill among others is being very generous. However, the real reason behind this is that it enhances their survival. Without collectively sharing, the San life would be much harder. This way of life helps relieve tensions and strengthens their bonds of kinship. Reciprocity helps foragers in the way of a safety net. If a community loses a food or water source, they can ask another community to share theirs. As far as ownership is concerned, the San, have rights to waterholes, and if others want to use the waterhole, they must get permission. By sharing the use of the waterhole, the community receiving the water will reciprocate in the future with other goods or services. Other forms of ownership include tools, such as blowpipes, darts, digging sticks, and animals. Today, the San are having trouble maintaining their identity, their traditions and their cultures. The land that was once free to them is being taken away and used for game reserves and other purposes. Forcing them to move from their lands disrupts and weakens their kinship. Kinship in today’s society can go either way. It can be cohesive or disconnected due to the nature or patterns of how the relationship was built. If a child for instance had a great relationship with his/her family while growing up, they are more likely to have a great relationship throughout their lives and continue respecting their family and others. If the opposite applies, as it unfortunately happens in today’s world, they grow up to believe that they are an â€Å"island† and if they do not take care of themselves, no one else will. References Nowak, B. , & Laird, P. (2010). Cultural anthropology. San Diego, Bridgepoint Education, Inc. https://content. ashford. edu. Lee, R. (1979). The ! Kung San: Men, women and work in a foraging society. Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge University Press. Shostak, M. (1981). Nisa: The life and words of a ! Kung woman. New York: Vintage.

Transition Words

Transition Words Transition Words Transition Words By Maeve Maddox A frequent fault of inexperienced writers is a tendency to present thoughts and ideas without showing connections between them, or without making their significance clear to the reader. Transition words and phrases keep the reader on track by showing relationships between ideas and information. Consider the following paragraph: People who adopt a dog need to teach it basic commands.  Basic obedience keeps the animal safe and prevents it from becoming a danger. Many pet owners fail to teach their dogs to obey. They should always consider the need to train their puppies to obey. The writer of this paragraph sees value in training a dog in basic obedience, but a reader might wonder what connection there is between basic obedience and the dog’s safety or dangerous behavior. Transitions are needed to show these connections. The paragraph revised: People who adopt a dog need to teach it basic commands in order to keep it safe and prevent it from harming others. For example, a dog that won’t come when called might run into the street and be hit by a car. A dog not trained to keep from jumping on people could cause injury by knocking someone down. Unfortunately, many pet owners fail to teach their dogs to obey, and, as a result, the animal becomes a nuisance or danger to family and strangers alike. To avoid undesirable behavior in their pets, dog owners should always consider the need to train puppies in basic obedience. Here is a list of transition words grouped according to the types of transition they can be used for: To add information: and, not onlybut also, also, moreover, furthermore, in addition, again, besides, equally important, what’s more, too To give examples: for example, for instance, specifically, in particular To show contrast: but, however, on the other hand, otherwise, instead, in contrast To show concession: yet, nevertheless, however, although, even though, despite the fact that, despite To show similarity: likewise, similarly, in the same way To show result: so, as a result, therefore, thus, as a consequence, consequently To indicate time or sequence: first, second, finally, meanwhile, immediately, thereafter, soon, finally, previously, formerly, next, following this, after, soon, therefore To offer conditional thoughts: or, whetheror, ifthen To explain or emphasize: in fact, actually, in other words, namely, obviously, in any case, naturally, certainly, unquestionably To offer alternatives: or, eitheror, neithernor To compare: on the other hand, on the contrary, by comparison, compared to, balanced against, visvis, although, in contrast To prove: because, for, for the same reason, obviously, evidently, in fact, in any case To conclude: in conclusion, in brief, on the whole, to conclude, as I have shown Some transition words, like also, and, or, like, as for, and further are unobtrusive, directing the reader without distracting. Others, like albeit, jump out at the reader and must be used sparingly. Still other transitions cast doubt on the credibility of the writer. Here are some transitions often seen in freshman compositions. They are perhaps best avoided: in all honesty, to tell the truth, to put it briefly, be that as it may, last but not least, to get back to the point, to make a long story short. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Fly, Flew, (has) FlownFlied?30 Baseball Idioms5 Erroneously Constructed â€Å"Not Only . . . But Also† Sentences

Consideration of HRM Essays

Consideration of HRM Essays Consideration of HRM Essay Consideration of HRM Essay Title A Consideration of Human Resource Management future: Its time to unleash HRS full potential Introduction Human Resource Management involves the recruitment and management of the people who work in an organization. The focus of Human Resource Management is to attract, select, train, motivate and compensate employees, while making sure that they comply with employment and labor laws. In the stressful environment of todays businesses, organizations and managers are faced with numerous challenges. Technological change and innovation in product on one hand and the management complexity, on the other hand, make managers rely on human capital. Due to the changing business environment, human resource management also does undeniably need to change to respond to changes. The future is unpredictable and difficult to determine. As a result, the flexibility and business knowledge towards responding to this uncertainty is important. Today, the strategic challenges in the field of human resources are not limited only to administrative matters, but at the same time ttention should be given to the four criteria: 1) Human resources development infrastructure should be maintained, 2) Employees commitment should be engineered, 3) Human resource professionals are strategic partners of the organizations and, 4) HR professionals as internal consultants handle their change management. Literature Review Researchers and theorists have different views about what will happen to human resource function in future. Most research has been done on topics of technology, intellectual capital, and government regulation, workforce demographic changes, hrinking organizations, international management and globalization. It is evident that all the issues mentioned play a very important role in human resource management over the coming decades, and some are clearly more effective than others, but very broad issues like the Future of human resource management are ambiguous. Workforce planning grew during the 1960s and early 1970s in a period of relative economic stability when unemployment was low and organizations were faced with supply shortages and the need to improve labor utilization (see Reilly, he economic downturn of the 1980s when the failure to prove the economic value of workforce plans resulted in many efforts being eliminated. The Problem Identification The activities of HR appear to be and often are disconnected from the real work of the organization. In fact, the primary responsibility for transforming the role of HR belongs to the CEO and to every line manager who must achieve business goals. The reason? Line managers have ultimate responsibility for both the processes and the outcomes of the company. It follows that they should lead the way in fully integrating HR into the companys real work. Indeed, to do so, they must become HR champions themselves. More important, they must hold HR accountable for delivering it. A team of professionals cannot be built by an organization without good Human Resource Management. As a result, businesses with good Human Resource Management (HRM) have higher profits than businesses without or with poor HRM. So, now its demand of time to explore new value for HRM. Although, some studies was done previously in he field of HRM but mostly all studies explored the importance of HRM (Q. Ye et al. , 20110) and scope, limitation which is now only for an historic symbol . These studies do not generalize for the future orientation. Also, there is a very limited research in the existing HRM literature by exploratory method. Therefore, this study will be undertaken to explore the Future of HRM among the world. Objectives The objectives of this study are to investigate and create an entirely new role and agenda for the field that focuses it not on traditional HR activities, but on outcomes. HR should be defined by what it delivers results that enrich the organizations value to customers, investors, and employees. Methodology A qualitative, case study research methodology will be chosen in this research. The research will be conducted through semi-structured interviews and common themes. Participants will be HR officials Experts who will be chosen randomly by sampling method from various famous organizations in Malaysia. Importance of the study The findings of this study will be useful for HR officials to be informed of new role for heir framework and also to make decision in different key point. It will also be helpful to make themselves capable while taking new challenges. Moreover, they can utilize this information to develop such an imperative plan model using user- generated content. 2013-2014 research time line Activity/Duration November December January February March April May June Problem formulation Finding Literature review Preparing Methodology 2014-2015 research time line July August Sep oct Nov Jan Feb Data Collection Analysis acquired data Thesis Submission References

A Day at Belton Lake Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A Day at Belton Lake - Essay Example The most common is sand though mud can also be up the Leon River that drains to Lake Belton and the cowhouise arms. Lake Belton has no aquatic vegetation, but some investigation reveals little presence of some vegetation in the lake. The water of the lake is usually cool in the summer time making the environment cool for swimming and in water relaxation. I had great anticipation that morning to participate in the activities that are in the lake. I hurriedly rush to my drawer containing my swimsuit. I pulled out my favorite blue swimming costume. I rush down the stairs to start off the daddy with daddy’s famous chocolate, grapes and biscuits for the morning. That is an original breakfast that we do have every time before we spend our day in Belton Lake. Lak Belton is a public lake that is open for all public access facilities. Ramping using boats, bank fishing, camping and picnics are all available. This place forms the best are to spend some time with family members and enjoy the weekend (Carpenter et al. pg. 163). The serene environment altogether with the hot summer makes the atmosphere and the lakes water cool for swimming to take place. My parents and I love swimming in Lake Belton and nearly every summer we take a day to send in the cool waters of the lake. Along the lakes beach, there is 300 foot plus the water slide curve that plunges from the start tower down to the splash pool that is four foot. The family picnics are usually located just adjacent to the lakes beach (Hoare and Hoare. pg. 225). Before taking off on our boat, we have to make sure that every equipment is in place, and we are fully prepared for any circumstance. My duty is to ensure that all essentials items including lotion, drinks, snack food, beach towels and sunscreen are all packed. As I do that, my brother and dad are always busy our boat fuel tank is full of gas, life jackets in plenty and intertube that is usually fun but dangerous

The Role of Communication in the Strategic and Program Planning Term Paper

The Role of Communication in the Strategic and Program Planning Processes in a Health Care Oganization - Term Paper Example Sometimes changes can be small tweaks and fine tuning of the existing strategy or a complete replacement of the old strategy with a new one. A development of a strategy or a program, majority of the times, is a case for change. The change can be for development of an existing service or introduction of an entirely new service and it can involve minor or major changes. But irrespective of what kind of change is being brought in organizational strategy, it will definitely make an impact on the quality of care (Rowe, 2008) Communication plays a very important role not just in the implementation process but also in the strategic and program planning process. Health care organizations have very less products and in all probability are completely based on the service offered which is wholly dependent on the human resources of the organization. It is the employees at the bottom level who have hands on experience of what the problems are at the most basic level than those at the top manageme nt of the company. Their inputs during the strategic and program planning process can be vital. Also it is the employees at the bottom level who are responsible for the actual implementation of the strategy and program designed by the top management. Communication need not be one sided but needs to be an interactive process where there are exchange of views and ideas. Active participation and effective communication among all stakeholders (internal to the organization) can be the difference between designing an effective strategy and a mediocre one. Also even more important is the role that effective communication can play in the process of identifying the areas that are problematic and need to be addressed. Hence, communication channels must be created between the employees at the basic level and those at the top for the formulation of an effective strategy. Now moving on to the implementation phase of the strategy and programs, communication plays an even more important role. As m entioned earlier, any organizational strategy is a case of change and change is always met with resistance from employees. Employees at all levels need to be communicated the purpose and need for the change. Also, what the change in strategy could mean to the employees and how it can improve their job performance. It is only when employees identify with and understand the intent and need for the change in strategy or a program that their full cooperation can be expected and this is vital for the overall success of the strategy. A health care organization has numerous functional units and the broader organization strategy will not be able to cater to the different needs of each of these units. A broader organizational strategy must be used a reference and a strategy must be prepared by the managers and the stakeholders of each functional area that would best suit the function. There are two main criteria that need to be considered here. One, the functional area strategy must be in ac cordance with and mesh with the wider organizational plan. Two, it must be in sync with the plans of the other functional areas (Moseley, 2009). The role of communication is vital in the process. Effective communication between stakeholders of the functional areas and that of wider organization is essential to meet the first criteria. More important one is the communication