Dyspraxia

The term dyspraxia derives from the Greek work praxis, meaning â€Å"movement process† (Dworkin, 2005). It is a disorder that affects motor skill development. People with dyspraxia have trouble planning and completing fine motor tasks. This can vary from simple motor tasks such as waving goodbye to more complex tasks like brushing teeth. Throughout the years, dyspraxia has also been called congenital maladriotness, developmental coordination disorder, clumsy child syndrome and sensory integration disorder (Hamilton, 2011). The first documented research in â€Å"poor muscular coordination in children† was in 1926 by Louisa Lippitt.She developed a manual for corrective gymnastics for women to help correct coordination problems. Lippitt felt that the coordination issues were a condition of the nervous system and was one of the first to want to treat it with therapeutic measures (Cermak & Larkin, 2002). The term Dyspraxia was first documented and given a name in 1937 in the U. K. by Samuel T. Orton, who called it developmental dyspraxia. He was a neurologist and he felt that dyspraxia was caused by lesions in the brain, especially to the dominate hemisphere of the brain.The technology available at the time could not prove or disprove his theories. Most scientists since have discounted his view, and instead believe it to be a problem with neural connections. Even so, his work was important because he was the first to note that dyspraxia caused problems with complex movement and could involve speech as well as body movements (Platt, 2011). In the USA, dyspraxia was first given recognition in 1947, through the work of Strauss and Lehtinen. They published research and were considered pioneers in the observation of behavioral characteristics of what they termed â€Å"the brain injured child†.Lehtinen was actually one of the first to use the term â€Å"learning disabilities† (Kass & Maddux, 2005). In 1975, people began to call it â€Å"Clumsy Child Syndrome† and children who had the disorder were called â€Å"Clumsy Children†. This term is now considered inappropriate, as it describes the child and not the movement and has negative connotations (Hamilton, 2011). There are four categories of dyspraxia. They include ideomotor dyspraxia, ideational dyspraxia, oromotor dyspraxia and constructional dyspraxia. Ideaomotor dyspraxia is the inability to complete single step motor tasks like waving goodbye or brushing one’s hair.Ideational dyspraxia is difficulty with multi-step tasks like making a bed or buttoning and zipping pants. Oromotor dyspraxia has to do with speech in that it presents itself as a difficulty coordinating the muscle movements needed to say words. Lastly, constructional dyspraxia is difficulty with spatial relationships like moving objects from one place to another (NCLD Editorial Staff, 2010). Dyspraxia also presents itself differently in different age groups. In babies and young childr en, it can be seen as a difficulty learning to walk or jump.It can also show as a difficulty in speaking and being understood. Also, some young children will be slow to establish left or right handedness. Young children with dyspraxia may seem clumsy and frequently bump into things. Babies and children may be easily irritated by touch, like the feeling of some fabrics on their skin (NCLD Editorial Staff, 2010). In school aged children, dyspraxia looks a bit different. Students will have trouble with fine motor skills and it exhibits itself as difficulty holding a pencil or holding scissors.These students will also have trouble with sports or gym class due to poor coordination. If they have oromotor issues, they may have slow or difficult to understand speech. These issues often cause social withdrawal because these students feel embarrassed and awkward. This is the age in which students begin to have psychological issues in addition to their dyspraxia (NCLD Editorial Staff, 2010). I n adults, dyspraxia looks similar, with some slight differences. Adults with oromotor issues will still have speech issues, but it is generally problems with volume, articulation and pitch.Some adults with dyspraxia will have difficulty writing. They may not be able to drive and are still very clumsy. It can also become evident when an adult has difficulty with personal grooming due to motor skill issues. They also continue to have texture issues and sensitivity to touch (NCLD Editorial Staff, 2010). References Cermak, S. A. & Larkin, D. (2002). Developmental Coordination Disorder. Albany, NY. Delmar, a Division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Dworkin, J. (2005). Apraxia. Gale Encyclopedia of Neurological Disorders. Retrieved from http://www. encyclopedia. com/topic/Apraxia. spx. Hamilton, S. S. (2011). Overview of Developmental Coordination Disorder. Retrieved from http://www. uptodate. com/contents/overview-of-developmental-coordination-disorder. Kass, C. E. and Maddux, C. D. (2005) A H uman Development View of Learning Disabilities: From Theory to Practice. Springfield, IL. Charles C Thomas Publisher, LTD. NCLD Editorial Staff. (2010). What is Dyspraxia? Retrieved from http://www. ncld. org/ld-basics/ld-aamp-language/writing/dyspraxia. Platt, G. (2011). Beating Dyspraxia With a Hop, Skip and a Jump. Philadelphia, PA. Jessica Kinglsey Publishers.

How Effective Is the Media in Creating Dissatisfaction in the Body?

How effective is the media in creating dissatisfaction in the body image of teenage girls? 1. Introductory Paragraph – Attention Grabber: 75% of teenage girls have a celebrity they look up to for a body image they would like to have according to the National Institute on Media and the Family. – Definition of Body Image: Body image refers to one’s sense of his or her own physical appearance influenced by his/her personal experiences, personality and various social and cultural forces. Thesis Statement: The trouble these days is that the media is constantly and greatly impacting the teenage girls of today’s generation who are aged 13 to 19 years of age to having a negative and distorted body image which leads to psycho-physical problems which cause teenagers to go to extremes in order to achieve what they perceive as the ‘perfect’ body. – Question: Do you feel ashamed, self-conscious and anxious about your body? If you do not, you have a negative body image and this essay is meant for you. 2. Supporting Paragraph 1 Topic Sentence: Teenage girls have an increasing desire to be either ultra-thin or to have more sex appeal under the influence of the media which cause a negative body image. – In the magazine, you can see what is considered as the ‘perfect’ woman and what is not the most ‘in’ thing. Teenagers shape how they see themselves based on what they see on television, magazines, newspapers and websites. – Media images depicting ultra-thin and digitally altered women models are the reason for body dissatisfaction in girls.What they see mostly in these advertisements are tall, skinny, flawless, and beautiful women selling fashionable products. – Fashion marketers use provocative marketing campaigns featuring young teenage models such as Abercrombie & Fitch and Guess. These ads are selling more than just clothing to teens. They are also selling adult sexuality. Moreover , the media’s trending definition of beauty as portrayed in celebrities and models would be having a curvaceous bodyline, and large breasts which supposedly increase the sexuality of a woman. Thus, they would eventually feel that they have to look like these perfect flawless women in order to be considered beautiful, though this ‘perfect’ appearance is one that few people can ever attain. Teenage girls are influenced and under constant pressure to be thin, beautiful and highly sexualized and this brings me to my next point on the severe impact of stimulating marketing campaigns. 3. Supporting Paragraph 2 – Topic Sentence: Teenage girls are both mentally and physically affected by pursuing such perfect body images as ensued by the media. Pretty pictures we see in magazines are often not what we would see in real life. However, teenagers aspire and go to extremes to get the ‘look’. Therefore, the media is responsible for creating ideals about bo dy image and the influenced teenagers suffer from inferiority complex and resort to unhealthy practices in order to achieve their perception of the ‘perfect’ body. – Firstly, the ultimate effect of the media on teenagers would be depression, and a loss of self-esteem. A study in 1995 found that spending 3 minutes looking at models in a fashion magazine caused 70% of the women to feel depressed, guilty and ashamed.Also, it has caused the development of unhealthy eating habits as the media often brings about the message that physical perfection is what we should all strive for if we want to be successful. – Being strongly influenced by the media, teenagers who are striving for the ‘perfect’ body and to achieve a strong sense of ‘achievement’ by reducing their weight will eventually start eating disorders. Teenage girls therefore follow blindly to achieve the ‘perfect’ image and suffer from psychological problems such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. refer to page 2 and 3 – preteens) – These psychological problems then lead to physical problems (refer to page 2 – teens) 4. Supporting Paragraph 3 – Topic Sentence: Not only do teenage girls suffer from psycho-physical problems, but they also go to extreme means and take drastic measures such as plastic surgery in order to achieve the perfect body crafted by the media which in turn, creates more health problems for girls. – A study done by BBC stated that three-quarters of girls who have had plastic surgery think it has improved their lives and 71% would do it again.During 2010, there were over 93000 people who had the plastic surgery in USA (if they cannot achieve the perfect body naturally, they would rather do so artificially. ) – Many girls want to undergo plastic surgery as they are obsessed with creating the ‘perfect’ body. Thus, they are open about having normalized surgery.  œ A dying young woman, Lisa Connell spent $40,000 on plastic surgery as she strongly desired to die looking like movie star Demi Moore. She was convinced that surgery would make her look as beautiful as Demi Moore who endorses cosmetic surgery herself. . Concluding Paragraph – After considering the points above, one has to agree that the media has negatively impacted teenage girls both mentally and physically and has caused the desire to have the ‘perfect’ body to take control of their lives. One thing is certain. The media are to be blamed for the 80% of girls who responded to More! Magazine that images of women on television and in the movies makes them feel insecure. The term ‘beauty’ holds different meanings and understandings to every individual teenage girl.The media has a large influence of what society believes is beautiful and what is not and made teenage girls feel insecure and fear that they are not good enough. However, the numerous probl ems and damaging impacts of such a negative body image are devastating and one must be sure that aspiring for such beauty is not the way to go about life. Inner strength is the key towards a happy and successful life and not beauty. We were all crafted and made by God and there is no need to bother about who you are or what you look like. The important thing is to love yourself and that is all that matters.

Mona Lisa Paper

Is It Her Twin or Sister? An art collector in 1913 made a discovery that has baffled many historians for some time now. Huge Blaker, an English art collector found the Isleworth Mona Lisa shortly before World War I. The Isleworth Mona Lisa is a painting of, what looks to be, a young Mona Lisa. This painting has been identified as a Leonardo da Vinci painting, but some historians believe that this cannot be true. With some differences in the paintings they believe it may have been another small artist at the time trying to copy da Vinci.The Isleworth painting is seemed to be with an international consortium while the original painting is kept in Paris' Louvre Museum. The famous woman is this picture is Lisa del Giocondo. Lisa was from Florence and Tuscany, Italy. She married a cloth and silk merchant in her teenage years. Lisa was born in Florence on June 15th, 1479, many think that she was born on a rural property that is though to have been owned by the family. Lisa had five childre n with the merchant named Piero, Camilla, Andrea, Giocondo, and Marietta.Lisa's husband, Francesco di Bartilomeo di Zanobi del Giocondo, increased her social status because he was from a middle class family, while Lisa was from a lower class with no dowry from her family. Francesco was an art lover and commissioned da Vinci for a portrait of his wife. â€Å"He is thought to have commissioned Lisa's portrait to celebrate bother Andrea del Sarto's birth and the purchase of the family's home. † (http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Lisa_del_Giocondo#Mona_Lisa) In the painting in the Louvre, Lisa is â€Å"portrayed as a faithful wife through gesture-her right hand rests over her left. † (http://en. ikipedia. org/wiki/Lisa_del_Giocondo#Mona_Lisa) Da Vinci also represented Lisa in high fashion with dark clothing that would have come from Spain. This would have not represented Lisa in her family because she would not have been able to afford these type of clothing with her family's income. Many historians have said that Lisa is wearing dark clothes because she would be mourning the death of her first daughter, which, in many ways, is wrong. The painting took da Vinci some time to finish because he received money for the painting The Battle of Anghian, which was offering more money than the portrait of Lisa.Some historians have guessed when da Vinci finished the painting because he carried it around with him through-out his later life in France. The guesstimate is around 1516 is when da Vinci finally finished the Mona Lisa. The Isleworth Mona Lisa is what seems to be a younger Lisa, but because we do not have actual proof, that is only an assumption. Historians cannot give an exact date as to which this painting was started or even finished because they found the painting in was found with a noble family.After Blaker purchased the painting it was moved to Isleworth, England, where the name came from. Whilst the first World War was going on, the Isleworth paint ing was moved to America for preserving. â€Å"The Portrait eventually made its way back to Europe, where is was analyzed in Italy before being sent to the Swiss bank vault for safekeeping. † (http://abcnews. go. com/blogs/headlines/2012/09/second-mona-lisa-unveiled-for-first-time-in-40-years/) Since that time period the Mona Lisa Foundation has worked on the painting to prove it's authenticity and if da Vinci really painted this portrait. pic] The differences between these two paintings are not significant ones, but they are big enough that some may believe that this cannot be a true da Vinci painting. The Isleworth is painted on canvas while the Louvre Mona Lisa was painted on wood. The Isleworth also has a very plain background and columns on either side of the figure, but the Louvre painting seems to be the same background with a lot more details included and no columns. The sizes of these two painting also is making historians scratch their heads because the Louvre paint ing is narrower. pic] However there are eerily many similarities between the two paintings that have made historians and scientists believe that it had to have been painted by the same person. â€Å"It strikes us that in order for that to be so accurate, so meticulously exact, only the person who did one did the other†¦ † said art historian and Mona Lisa Foundation member Stanley Feldman. (http://abcnews. go. com/blogs/headlines/2012/09/second-mona-lisa-unveiled-for-first-time-in-40-years/) The clothing in the two paintings seems to be of the same high Spanish fashion.The pose shows that Lisa was a loyal wife with her left hand over her right, this pose is that same in both paintings. It took art historians 35 years to conclude their tests on both Mona Lisa paintings. The Mona Lisa Foundation performed many experiments comparing the two. First the foundation placed the painting side by side and found that Lisa in the Isleworth painting is smaller than she is in the Louvr e painting. â€Å"The simple graphic illustrations demonstrate that the figure in the ‘Louvre Version' is approximately 10% larger than the figure in the ‘Earlier Version'† (http://monalisa. rg/2012/09/10/leonardos-hidden-technique/) The features of Lisa in both of these paintings are exactly the same; with same positions that are perfectly aligned. â€Å"They are dramatically different compositions, and the technique of proportion and related geometric measurements employed, points to the two portraits having been painted by the same artist; someone intimately familiar with both, and who had the intention to create two different paintings of the same subject†(http://monalisa. org/2012/09/10/leonardos-hidden-technique/)With these two paintings being so eerily similar, but also having some obvious differences, art historians have drooled over these two paintings. The general population knowing the famous Mona Lisa painting in the Louvre, but not knowing unti l this year that there was another painting of Lisa del Giocondo, and earlier painting. Some historians believe that this paint could not have been done by the famous da Vinci because there were so many copies of the original Mona Lisa, but without doubt that Mona Lisa Foundation has proven them wrong. Over 35 years of test have proven them that both paintings were actually done by da Vinci.

What Is Racism All about Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

What Is Racism All about - Essay Example Africans were enslaved and heavily discriminated against during this period. This essay sheds light on the definition of racism and the types of racism. The belief that a specific race is superior to the other in terms of physical appearance, abilities and traits is viewed as racism. The Oxford English Dictionary states that racism is the ‘belief or ideology that members belonging to a certain race have features or certain skills that are specific to a certain race, setting them apart as being superior or inferior to the other race’ (Aarts, Chalker and Weiner 676). This definition is sufficient, however; it does not give a clear definition of what racism generally is. The UN does not give a clear definition of racism however, it defines racial discrimination is defined as: ‘shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other fie ld of public life’. (HR-Net Group).

Internation Relation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Internation Relation - Essay Example This essay stresses that many theories of International relations are contested. International relations scholars have witnessed heated debates on one hand and philosophers, biologists and environmental activists on the contrary. In spite of this multiplicity of divergent views, several major schools of thought have emerged. The principal difference is the variables they put emphasis to, for instance, military power, material interests, or ideological beliefs. This paper makes a conclusion that while many green theories of international relations are fiercely contested, it is usually not appropriate to see them as rivals over some universal truth about world politics. Each rests on certain assumptions and epistemologies. Moreover, each is constrained by certain specified conditions and pursues its analytic goal. While various theories may lead to more or less compelling conclusions about international relations, none is definitively ‘right' or ‘wrong. Rather, each possesses some tools that can be of use to students of international politics in examining and analyzing rich, multi-causal phenomena. For International Relations to remain relevant in the face of global environmental change and degradation, it should progress, in a ÃŒ ³critical and not analytic style. It should, in other words, pay more attention to the very framework for action and ultimately, with the aim of transforming this structure.

Cyber Bulling and Its Discontent Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cyber Bulling and Its Discontent - Essay Example lack of legislative policies, several methods, such as prevention and endurance, concealing personal information and being positive, can help teenagers to avoid this online bullying trend. According to Andrew Solomon, prevention and endurance are among the ways of avoiding online bullying or real life challenges. He says that people should be cautious when interacting with others online, especially strangers and friends (Solomon, n. p). This is because it helps in avoiding negative reactions from others and making them positive stories. This implies that social media sites where users interact freely increases the chances of being a bullying victim since it attracts strangers and bullies to access one’s profile (Solomon, n. p). The viable way to preventing such interactive connections is by avoiding the sites and being tolerate not to be an addict. Solomon offers examples of interviews he conducted, suggesting that people will always fall victims to things that they accept (Solomon, n. p). Online harassment among the teenagers is widespread because they have allowed interacting and accommodating the bullies instead of avoiding their advances. I strongly believe that avoidance is suitable since it distances the bullies from the victims. Non-accessibility of personal details is another way of avoiding the online bullying. This implies that a person should employ security measures that prohibit access to unauthorized users. The stigmatized identities use information derived from the profiles that target a specific group of individuals. For instance, the race, faith, category or sexuality aspects are always the ones used by bullies to haunt their prey. Tyler Clementi’s death arose because of the sexuality aspect in which his roommates and friends victimized him online for being gay, which was untrue (Parker, n. p). Ravi and Wei had placed on Twitter that Clementi was seen under a blanket with another man. Clementi felt sad and embarrassed, which he could not

Researched argument essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Researched argument - Essay Example uch individuals has been depicted in several literary books and articles with a view of informing the entire nation and the world, at large, about the unlucky population in the United States. One of these books is Ehrenreich’s â€Å"Nicket and Dimed†. The book has its settings in Florida, Maine and Minnesota (Ehrenreich 38). People normally work to get money and make their lives better. However, what most of the workers in Florida experience is opposite, or contrary to what a reasonable person would think of. Most of the people in this area work hard but poverty still remain the greatest challenge to their existence and lives. Most of the workers strive to do their best but they do not achieve their target of affording a good lifestyle. The same is experienced by workers in Twin Cities in Minnesota and Maine. Another contradicting issue on the poverty life among people in these regions is that the demand for labor in most industries and companies is high, but the wages are very low and there are no increments. This is against the normal law of economics whereby an increase in demand naturally leads to an increase in the price of the product, or labor in this case. In addition to the above, the workers work tirelessly under these low wage rates. It is uncommon to find people commit themselves working on a peanut pay. Ehrenreich says that she grew with a belief that the secret of success was hard work and nothing else (E-notes.com). What she experiences in the mentioned areas makes her doubts her beliefs and the childhood teachings. ‘Hard work’ was the secret of success: ‘Work hard and you’ll get ahead’ or ‘It’s hard work that got us where we are (Chazelle & Chainani)†. She remembers this, through flashback, and believes that it is only t hrough hard work that she will achieve her life dreams and consequentially succeed in his plans. The reality that unveils the low-wage workplace is like a mockery to her (E-notes.com). She does not believe it

Poetry explication paper ( literture ) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Poetry explication paper ( literture ) - Essay Example Both the mother and the baby are anonymous throughout the poem. Going along with the rest of the poem, the father of the baby is also seldom mentioned, only in passing as the mother points out that he has no part in either of their lives. The mother spends much of the poem dwelling on the fact that her child is a bastard child, as is evident in the line â€Å"I hold you and name you bastard in my arms.† It is also made clear throughout the poem that the responding doctors and nurses do not approve of the fact that no father is being named for the child. Judging by the fact that the mother gets to spend only certain amounts of time with the infant, it can be assumed that there is an underlying medical factor with the mother, whether it be physical or mental. It seems that the mother only gets the child when the child needs feeding, a task the only the mother can perform. After the feeding is over with, the child is taken from its mother and is brought to another room until it n eeds feeding again. There are numerous dramatic situations taking place throughout the poem. The absence of a father for the infant seems to be the situation that the rest of the situations are formed and gathered around. As the tone of the poem is that of anger and sadness, it is clear that the father just decided that he wanted no part in raising a child, therefore abandoning both mother and child. It may be due to this abandonment that the mother does not seem too attached to her newborn child, which may also be the reason that the mother does not get to spend all of her time with the baby. Abandonment is the main theme in this poem, and it seems to be coming from every direction. The father abandoned the mother and his baby, the mother is losing touch with the baby, and the nurses and doctors are not getting too close to the mother in her time of need and confusion. It can even be said that the mother was

Operations Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 7

Operations Management - Assignment Example urse of this study the knowledge that I have acquired with regards to operations management is simply based on some of the activities that are listed above. My understanding of operations management is that it mainly focusses on the substantial measurement as well as analysis of the internal processes. The nature of this module depends on the nature of each product or service that an organization deals with. Therefore, judging from the way various organizations present their products and services is solely based on the nature they possess. This paper will thus reflect on the knowledge that I have gained throughout my operations management course. More so, the paper will also focus on how I can use the knowledge gained from this module to add value to the organization where I am currently working which is Tamkeen. Having total concentration on this module has equipped me with knowledge as well as skills that are required in order to perform the necessary processes to convert or transform the inputs of materials, human skills and energy information into products and services that will satisfy the customers’ needs. It is quite evident that operations management has given me an understanding of both the design and implementation stage of a system for better delivery of various processes such as planning and controlling. In relation to Tamkeen, below is a thorough analysis of the relevant knowledge adapted from my course that can help me in performing and adding value to my job duty. Tamkeen is a service company which focuses on providing a wide range of technical advanced equipment and components, designs solutions and also aftermarket service. The organization’s operations are centred on technical and human capital development support. Tamkeen’s customer base is the contracting and manufacturing sectors in the economy. The organization supplies various components for various markets such as the energy, water, power, petrochemical, gas and oil markets. The

Tchaikovsky and his Symphonies Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Tchaikovsky and his Symphonies - Research Paper Example Symphony in F Minor The Symphony in F Minor is a customary four movement piece by Tchaikovsky written in the key of F minor. Tchaikovsky composed this great and remarkable piece during 1877 and 1878. Ironically speaking, he wrote it when he was passing though the phase of his disastrous marriage to Antonia Milyukova. (Sylvester, 102) On account of this very fact, one can easily presume that the great infatuations and contrasts that are written into the symphony are an upshot of his marriage. But this observation is not at all absolutely true, because it is alleged that the piece is in fact devoted to his patron Madame von Meck. Tchaikovsky himself declared it as a "musical confession of the soul."(Brown, 119) The information pertaining to the first presentation of the Forth Symphony is very imprecise, but there are certain issues that can be presumed. For example, one can suppose that the piece was first performed in St Petersburg, since that is to where Tchaikovsky escaped after his marriage fell apart, and that Tchaikovsky was the performer since that was ordinary for the style era. As to larger detail, due to deficiency of information, it is just not feasible. First Movement The first movement of the Forth Symphony begins with the brass instruments in a sort of brass trumpet blast with a rapid rhythm to move the music along. While composing this piece, Tchaikovsky in actuality makes use of the crescendos and decrescendos and, in fact, this is most likely the constituent for which affects the movement the most. He really incorporates large jumps between loud and soft because of the profound use of the horns in this movement. The other component that has great effect is the tempo. He never detaches the two. Every time, in this connection, the music goes soft, the tempo slows down and, in the same way, every time that it gets louder, the tempo is picking back up. There are, on the other hand, a few atypical times in this movement that the tempo alterations aren 't stable with this, but for the mainly part, Tchaikovsky adheres to this prototype of soft-slow and loud-fast through the first movement. (Poznansky, 513) Tchaikovsky used this soft-slow, loud-fast model as a way of attracting his audience's concentration and maintaining on to it. This specific movement is very emblematic of the Romantic style period because of its glaringly visible contrasts and musical color. Tchaikovsky’s emotions can be rightly felt trickling through his music. This is a very turbulent piece because of many of its contrasting ingredients. Second Movement Unlike first movement, in the second movement, Tchaikovsky quit the infrequent jumps in rudiments that were the first movement to a softer and gentler style of music. This entire piece is sort of soft, slow, soothing and doesn't in fact have a lot of adornment, but does surround much color, creating it the easiest to listen to of the four movements. The element that has the greatest effect on the whole p iece has to be the mood. The two other elements are the synchronization and consistency of the piece. The synchronization of this movement is pleasurable because of how Tchaikovsky mingles his instruments jointly at this point approximately affording a genuine flowing sound that calms down and seizes your concentration at the same time. (Shostakovich, 33) Third Movement The third movement is the most delicate, the briefest and most unusual of the four movem

Book Report on Dear America Series- Diary of Hattie Campbell Essay Example for Free

Book Report on Dear America Series- Diary of Hattie Campbell Essay This book, written by Kristiana Gregory, is about a thirteen year old girl from Pennsylvania, Hattie Campbell. On her birthday, she was given a diary by her mother and her Aunt June. In the first entry, she mentions her Uncle Milton’s death three days ago while fixing her family’s barn and his funeral the eve of her birthday. At the funeral, the coffin fell out of their cart and was washed into the nearby river. Her father tried to save it but was almost sucked into the paddles of a riverboat. As a sign of apology, the riverboat captain agreed to give Mr Campbell and his family free tickets on his riverboat to go anywhere they wanted. That night, he announced that the family would be heading to the untamed West, at that time occupied by the Indians who were known to be violent. Mrs Campbell was very angry and initiated a â€Å"cold war† with her husband. Two days later, she relents and agrees to head out West. On the way out West, the family met a young adult named Tall Joe, who eventually becomes the captain of their group. Throughout the long trip, they lost many partners as their oxen died or they were shot by Indians. One day, Hattie and her friend, Pepper, are out playing and happened to stumble across what they thought were wild carrots and parsnips. They took some back as it was their turn to cook for the group. Back at camp, they got around their chores and started cooking. A little girl, Cassia, looked longingly at the â€Å"carrots and parsnips† and takes two bites before running off to play. Later, as they were rolling out pastry, they heard screams. They went in the direction of the screams and were horrified to find Pepper’s twin brother, Wade, and some of his friends lying on the ground, jaws clenched so tightly that nobody could pour charcoal and water into their systems to absorb the poison. In the end all of them except Wade died. The women were able to pour charcoal into his mouth. Hattie’s father then went to the tent where the kitchen was. When he saw the â€Å"carrots and parsnips†, he asked Hattie to cut some for him. He put it on the edge of his tongue and spat it out immediately. He said that it was actually water hemlock, a poisonous plant which could kill a horse if it just ate one. A man would die from a bite. They immediately remembered Cassia. They found her limp body and buried her together with the boys. The priest prayed over their graves. The next day, they called all the children and drew on the dirt to show them the difference between water hemlock and wild carrots and parsnips. Eventually, after twenty six months on the road, they reach their destination, Oregon. Along the way the accompanying Aunt June gave birth to a daughter, River Ann Valentine. The family, Aunt June and her husband settled in Oregon and became one of the first pioneers to make it to their destinations.

Dissertation on Teamwork and Customer Service Quality Essay Example for Free

Dissertation on Teamwork and Customer Service Quality Essay 1.0 INTRODUCTION This chapter includes the background of the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, objectives of the study, research questions, and scope of the study, significance of the study, limitations of the study and operational definition of terms. 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Phil (2002) team working is a group of people who work together towards a shared and meaningful outcomes in ways that combine their individual skills and abilities and for which they are all responsible. He added that a real team does not just happen but an organization has to work at it, create it, maintain and sustain it for the development and provision of quality standards and expectations to the customers. Organizations need teamwork in order to promote innovation and synergy, improve their goal achievement, promote professional development of team members, achieve time reduction targets and get cross-boundary ownership of tasks and problems. Ronald (2004) argues that customer service depends on the expectations of the individual customer. However, all attempts to define customer service tend to focus on the relationships at the buyer/seller interface. He further added that to achieve the customer service levels expected, an organization need to ensure that for each of these two categories: the systems, measurements and the people are in place to respond to each customer group or market. Juran (2000) says that quality is the degree of excellence that is fitness for the purpose. It can also mean the degree in which customer requirements are met. Quality is built at every stage and teams solve problems where everyone is responsible for the quality of the product. A customer is a person or an organization that buys goods or services from the shop, business, etc on a regular basis. Woods et al (2001) assert that customer service quality as the satisfaction of the agreed customer requirements. This means that the total customer service quality is the mobilization of the whole organization to achieve quality, continuously and economically. National curriculum Development Centre is an arm of the Ministry of Education and sports responsible for the Inter-alia development of curricula and related materials for various levels of education. The National curriculum Development Centre was established by NCDC act chapter 135, laws of Uganda Revised Edition 2000 whose history is decree No 7 of 1973. Baale(2010) a curriculum specialist in math for secondary at NCDC, team working is very crucial in the development and review of curriculum that result into the satisfaction of parents, stakeholders, learners, teachers and the general public. He emphasized that team work cannot be avoided when developing curriculum as it includes a panel composed of members from different areas such as subject specialists, practicing teachers, teachers associations, UNEB representative, ESA representative, teacher trainers especially from some Universities and employers or parents. Team work comes when a subject curriculum is being developed. In this case a panel of 18 members from various institutions sits and develops the curriculum. Baseline survey is conducted from parents, teachers and sometimes from learners which result into child based curriculum. Then pilot study of selected teachers from few schools is done and cluster meetings held by teachers who carried out pilot study. The education system preparation trains all teachers about the developed curriculum and NCDC specifies instructional materials to the ministry of education that are purchased and sent to schools where implementation starts. In a period of 5- 10 years the developed curriculum is supposed to be reviewed. Enyutu (2005) stated that available test results from a wide variety of sources had demonstrated prior to the curriculum review that a majority of Ugandan children entering primary school were failing to achieve adequate literacy and numeric standards. Dropout rates were high with only 22% of the 1997 P1 cohort progressing through to P7 in 2003. NAPE test results in 2003 indicated that only approximately 20% of P6 students achieved basic standards of literacy. The combination of these two pieces of information suggested that of the 1997 P1 entry cohort, only 4-5% achieved basic literacy. NAPE testing also revealed very large and unacceptable regional differentials particularly between Kampala and the north of Uganda. Bearing in mind the enormous efforts and the substantial investments in primary education made by the government of Uganda with strong support from its development partners over the past 10 -15 years, these outcomes were disappointing. In all cases the proposals in these related areas have been discussed with senior staff in the Ministry of education and sports departments concerned and with the agencies and development partners directly involved in primary education in Uganda and there has been a very large measure of agreement on the way ahead. Nevertheless, the primary review team did conclude that there were significant flaws in the current primary curriculum and a failure to provide both sufficient time and an adequate syllabus concentration on the achievement of early literacy and numeracy in lower primary grades was by far the most important problem that needed to be addressed. Failure to achieve basic literacy and numeracy in any language in lower primary grades inevitably has a devastating impact on educational quality and student performance in all other subjects. Failure to achieve early literacy was clearly the issue of greatest concern to parents and the wider community that emerged from the primary curriculum review research. It was also perceived to be one of the major causes of drop- outs. National Curriculum Development Centre seems to be using teamwork when executing its functions. It is against this ground that the researcher will investigate how teamwork at NCDC meets customer requirements. 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Many organizations are focusing on teamwork as a measure to improve the quality of their services delivered through brainstorming, innovation and creativity. Amidst these efforts results are not achieved due to poor coordination, lack of commitment by top management and limited funds. To address these short comings of teamwork visa-a-vie customer service quality in non profit making institutions one needs to access the level of involvement of all stakeholders in order to achieve overall performance levels (Tony 2005). NAPE (2003) report shows poor performance of children in literacy and numeracy skills in either local languages or in English due to insufficient orientation, training and support provided to teachers before the implementation of the curriculum. School supervision by the district inspectorate outside urban areas was almost everywhere insufficient to ensure good school management, the effective delivery of curriculum and regular teacher attendance. Therefore it is the interest of the researcher to know whether customer service quality is achieved through teamwork. 1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: The purpose of the study will be to examine the impact of team work on customer service quality using National Curriculum Development Centre located at Kyambogo as a case study. 1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: The research objectives will be: i. To find out the benefits of using team work in organizations ii. To examine the appropriate team work techniques used in organizations to achieve customer service quality iii. To establish the level of customer service quality at National curriculum Development Centre 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS i. Are there benefits of team work gained by National curriculum Development Centre? ii. What team work techniques does National curriculum Development Centre use to achieve customer service quality? iii. What is the level of customer service quality at National curriculum Development Centre? 1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY The scope of the study will cover the subject, time, geographical and sample scope. 1.6.1 The subject Scope: The research will be limited to the impact of team work on one hand as the independent variable and customer service quality as the dependent variable. It will also focus on the achievements of team work at NCDC towards the development of curriculum for educational institutions in the country. 1.6.2 The Geographical Scope: The study will be carried out at National Curriculum Development Centre which is located at Kyambogo near Banda Trading centre off Kampala-Jinja road. NCDC will be an ideal case study because its core values include Respect and Team work, availability of well documented data, commitment to quality and Excellence. 1.6.3 The Time Scope The study will consider an operational time frame of a period of 2 years i.e. from the year 2010 to date. 1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY: The study is expected to be beneficial in the following ways: i. The study guides planners and policy makers in making factual decisions on serving customers which ensures that all the customers, shareholders and management needs are met satisfactorily. ii. To the academicians, this research gives recommendations for future research and may act as a reference for the entire world regarding contributions of team work on performance of organizations. iii. The study helps the government and customers to identify how team working at NCDC develop curriculum that is relevant to the future career of the learners. 1.8 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS: Team work is working together towards a shared and meaningful out come in ways that combine their individual skills and abilities and for which they are all responsible. Customer service is the satisfaction of agreed customer requirements. Quality is the degree of excellence that is the extent to which something is fit for its purpose. CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 INTRODUCTION This chapter consists of what other people have said about the researched problem. The researcher therefore reviews some of the related literature for the better insight of the problem. The chapter includes definition of key terms, impact of team work on customer service quality, benefits of team work in organizations, team work techniques and the level of customer service quality. 2.1 DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS Team work is a group of people who work together towards a shared and meaningful out come in ways that combine their individual skills and abilities and for which they are all responsible Phil (2002) .He added that real team does not just happen but an organization has to work at it, create it, maintain and sustain it for the development and provision of quality standards and expectations to customers. Ronald (2004) argues that customer service depends on the expectations of each individual customer. However, all attempts to define customer service tend to focus on the relationships at the buyer/seller interface. He further added that to achieve customer service levels expected an organization need to ensure that for each of these categories; the systems, measurement and people are in place to respond to each customer group or market. Michael (1999) stated quality as satisfying customers’ and stakeholders’ needs by means of sufficient mutually agreed deliverables that ,meet all the agreed requirements and specifications every time, on time and in affordable manner. It can also mean meeting the requirements of the deliverables that satisfy the needs which have been identified and agreed upon by customers, stakeholders and contractors. 2.2 IMPACT OF TEAM WORK ON CUSTOMER SERVICE QUALITY According to Baguley (2002), team work has a great impact on customer service quality. He raised the following points; Efficiency: Team working is important if people are to continue to be efficient members of the organization. Efficiency is whereby employee’s performance is improved up to the standards of the organizational goals. Team working helps employees to achieve maximum efficiency in their current jobs. It also helps the organization to meet its targets for developing and keeping people with the right skills to meet future needs. It applies to all levels of employees in an organization that is the strategic level, tactical level and operational level. Improved customer service: Team working involves different members of the organization working together and combining their individual skills and abilities to come up with something that is either a product or a service that will be highly accepted by the customers (Baguley, 2002). Innovation and Creativity: Sometimes teams of employees work together to develop new products or services through contributing and combining their different ideas and skills. This helps organizations to have new services for customers that eventually improve on its performance and create and sustain customers (Baguley, 2002). Allan Woods et al (2001) stated that team working requires meetings of teams, sections or departments to understand clearly who does what and ensure reliability which is the single most important aspect of delivering outstanding customer service. The teams organize themselves to take the advantage of the individual skills team members bring with them, work together as a group in ways that bring out the best results and every member of the team must be accountable to each other for the success of the whole team. Team working makes it possible to define and insist upon the maintenance of the standards on behalf of the customers and clients as most of the times customers do not specify their needs by referring to the teams’ attitudes or reliability standards but complain bitterly when the team falls below their perceived standards. Michiel and Harold (1997) observed that cross functional teams are used in new product development to shorten development cycle times, improve quality and reduce development costs. These goals are attained because the functional areas perform their tasks in groups rather than each functional area performing its task and passing the project off to the next functional area and the key functional groups usually design engineering, manufacturing, quality assurance, purchasing and marketing work on the new product and development simultaneously. Baguley (2002) said that team working involves integrating individual skills like problem solving, communication, inter personal skills, decision-making and functional skills for the desired out comes. He further added that a good executive team provides a model for everybody in the organization that encourages cooperation and commonality of purpose at all levels of the organization. An assembly team, erection team, machine shop team add value by creating tangible out comes or products which are specific and clearly defined by others and such products meet the expectations of customers. Bradfield et al (1998) are of the view that direct competition is one of the factors that make companies form development teams. They further stated that to be effective, production has to provide a means by which an organization can focus its resources to meet the needs of their chosen customers efficiently. First it is important to know where you are starting from, second is the decision on where you wish to go in future and the outcome should be a commitment by the organization to a deliberate policy on which customers to serve with products or offerings. Woods et al (2001) further observed that the essence of team working skills lies in good communication and open approach to people and ideas and that all communication skills should be used in promoting good customer service. They also noted that for any organization to meet the needs of customers there is need for team work to obtain feedback from customers and colleagues (both within and outside the organization) as well as about the need to establish planning cycles. Each cycle of planning and doing should therefore reduce the amount of uncertainties being faced and obtain feedback not simply from planning but by doing. Adair (1990) argues that innovation calls for a special form of creativity which he called team creativity. He said that all organizations are teams or at least they are potentially so. For effective production and marketing of goods and services these days, delivery on time, at the required quality and at a competitive price calls for a high performance team work. But to improve these existing products or to develop new products and services requires a different order of teamwork (team creativity). Organizations that practice team creativity will survive and prosper while those that do not will decline and disappear. All employees need to participate as each person at work has approximately 10,000 million brain cells, together with a full range of mental faculties, analyzing, synthesizing and valuing abilities. In all of us these processes can take place intentionally on a conscious plane of thought and also less intentionally in our un conscious minds, giving us insights, intuitions, brain waves, gut feelings, intimations and the occasional pear of a genuinely new idea. As a general principle people with a â€Å"hands- on† involvement in any product or service providing they have a modicum of interest in their work will tend to have new ideas for doing it better. The important thing from the motivational perspective is the feeling of being really part of the enterprise with a full share of responsibility in developing the quality of the product or service. Developing a quality team takes hard work because development of team skills, time and patience is not something you can decide to have one day, then achieve overnight. The entire organization is part of the same team working toward meeting the requirements of its customers. Whether management, front line or behind the scenes employees, everyones work contributes to the end result. There are also specific work unit teams (departmental) with specific goals and assignments. Teams working together can and should be responsible for identifying problems not previously recognized; finding the root causes of problems; suggesting who should work on problems; solving manpower assignments and scheduling improvements; and providing communication throughout the organization. To be effective, teams in the workplace must develop standards and skills, and then implement ongoing training and coaching to ensure they are put into practice (Anand, 1997).

Distributed Systems Definitions

Distributed Systems Definitions Distributed Systems: There is always compromise when we use distributed systems. Being a distributed systems expertise means knowing the best compromise to make. There is no global clock. Distributed systems definition: A distributed systems is defined as a collection of independent computers that appears to its users as single coherent system. Software systems that operate on more than one computer Internet, Intranet. Mobile computing, Wireless and other modern technologies. Distributed Systems areas: Parallel computing Grid computing Cluster computing Distributed computing Motivation for distributed systems: Resources sharing Geographical and legacy reasons Flexibility Scalability Robustness Security System Design Distributed pervasive Systems Requirements for pervasive systems Wireless, small, battery powered Discover environment. Embrace contextual changes. Encourage ad hoc composition Recognize sharing as the default Personal space vs. shared space No central admin 1.Distributed Systems: A distributed systems is defined by collection of autonomous independent systems that shown to users as a single system via through network. The characteristics of distributed system are multiple autonomous components which are not all shared by the users. Resources cannot be shared to all the users. Software running on the system is concurrent on different processors. In which happened to be multiple point of control and multiple points of failure. Some common characteristics can be achieved using distributed systems resource sharing, openness, concurrency, scalability, fault tolerance, transparency. Types of distributed systems include distributed computing systems, distributed informative systems, distributed pervasive systems. 2.Transmission Control Protocol: Transmission Control Protocol totally depends on network connection to transfer data, TCP requires connection between client and server, It does like a three way handshake.   Host A sends a SYN to B, B sends a SYN and ACK and Host A sends a ACK to B then TCP connection is established. I used this as reference http://www.inetdaemon.com/tutorials/internet/tcp/3-way_handshake.shtml. 3.User Datagram Protocol: User Datagram protocol is connectionless. It does not check if the packets are received are not and there is no guaranteed connection. There is chance in packet loss during transmission,   more unreliable way to send data.   The advantage is speed and cost free. UDP mostly used in online gaming which uses more interaction and respond quickly from player, video streaming like YouTube, twitch 4.Lamport Bakery Algorithm: Lesile Lamports bakery algorithm is designed for the safety purpose of using shared resources between multiple threads by mutual exclusion.   There will be a global counter that displays the number threads being served. The remaining threads have to wait in the line. When the thread completes its process the next thread being served. There are some limitations in the analogy. Its is possible that more than one thread have same number and when they request it. Request cannot be provided So to clear this limitation each thread is provided with a priority. The priority is based on the lower value or higher value then thread will enter the critical section. Critical section: The critical section requires immediate attention access to resources and only be executed one thread at a time.   When a thread enters a critical section, Its has to have its turn and must have smallest number because in case the other threads have the same number the smallest will be executed first. 5.Remote Procedure Call(RPC): Remote procedure call is based on the client and server model. The client machine sends the data to the server machine based on request from user its is a synchronous operation that requires suspend the current program until the RPC is returned. Its a light weight process so multiple RPC can be performed concurrently. RPC Is like a function call, the calling arguments are passed through to the remote procedure and the caller waits for the response from the remote procedure. The RPC is made between two networked systems. A thread can be blocked until either a request or reply is arrived or it will time out. When the request is received the server will send a dispatch routine that performs the requested services and sends the client a reply. 6. Internet Protocols: Internet protocols are used for computer communication and also used to identify a computers address. An IP address as a 32 bit number and this called as IPV4 the development of IPV6 is predicted that depletion of available addresses. So IPV6 uses 128 bits for a address. IPV4 example 172.16.254.1 (IPV4) and 2001:db8:0:1234:0:567:8:1 (IPv6). 7. Synchronization: Synchronization policy is not to go into deadlock condition. Consider multiple process tries to access resources which is in the distributed environment. The synchronization process is to handle all the requests from the process and assign them the resources based on the priority requested client and with pre-defined conditions synchronizing the clients with their request without going into deadlock condition. 8. Server: A server is a computer programs that runs in a computer or other computer and it provides other computer to connect through via network. A computer that usually runs server program are usually the server. If it run every time then it usually called the dedicated server. In client/server program the server program always waits and fulfills the client request. The few types of servers from other number of possibilities: Application Server: Its in the distributed networks that provide the business logic for an application program. Proxy Server: A proxy server is software that acts as a mediator between endpoint devices such as computer and a client and another server from which a user or client requesting a service. Virtual Server A virtual server is a program that usually runs on the shared server. The way it seems to each user that they have the complete control over the server. Policy Server: Policy server is a security component which has a policy based network that provides authorization services and facilitates tracking and control of files. 9. Client: A client is a computer that retrieves information from or users resources provided by the server or main computer. Web browsers are clients that connect to the web servers and retrieve web pages for display same as email clients and multiplayer video games. A client is a part of client-server architecture and client and servers are computer programs that may be run in the same computer and get connected to each other through Inter process communication (i[i) techniques through Internet sockets. There are different types of clients Fat client, Thin Client and Hybrid Client. Fat Client: A fat client is also said to be rich client which stores bulk number of data and does not rely on data processing operations itself. Thin Client: A thin client is a minimal sort of client. It requires resources from the host computer. It process data only provided by an application server. Hybrid Client: A hybrid client is combination of both fat and thin client. But relies on the server for storing the persistent data. Fat client supports (multimedia support, high performance) and thin client supports (high manageability, flexibility). 10. Bandwidth: Bandwidth is referred in bits, how many bits of data are transferred per second in a connection. Higher bandwidth often translates into high performance, although overall performance also depends on the other factors. Bandwidth can measured in units of bits per second(bps). 11. Synchronous and Asynchronous calls: A synchronous call can be defined by call opens a socket and waits for a response before closing the socket. Using synchronous calls server can waste resources, and can timeout. Such as running a server upgrade or downloading a big file. When using Asynchronous calls can be defined by, the client sends the request and then immediately a   response is sent to the specified callback server. A http 202 response is immediately returned from the HTTP connection that invoked the service. Asynchronous calls do not wait for a response to the close the socket. Once the service is complete, the response is sent to the specified callback server. 12. Gossip Protocol: A gossip protocol   is a method of communication now used in the modern days to spread message. This is epidemic protocol sometimes pronounced as gossip protocol where the gossips spread the information in a manner similar to virus spread. Most often distributed systems use gossip protocol to solve the mighty difficulty problems because the network might be huge, because gossip solutions are the easiest ones to spread the solutions. There are three prevailing types of Gossip protocols Dissemination Protocols: They basically work as a   flooding agents in the network. It produces the worst case loads: Event dissemination protocols: It uses high latency to report events. Gossips occurs periodically and the events dont trigger any gossip. Background data dissemination Protocols: Constantly gossip about the information associated with the participating nodes. Latency isnt a concern Anti-entropy protocols: Anti-entropy protocols are used to repair the replicate the data. By comparing the replicas and reconciling differences. Protocols that computes aggregates: These compute the network-wide aggregates by sampling the information at the nodes in the network and combing the values to arrive at a system-wide value- The largest value for some measurement nodes are making, the smallest etc. The key requirement is that the aggregate must be computable by fixed-size pair wise information exchanges; these typically terminate the after a number rounds of information exchange logarithmic in the system size. 13. Network Address Translation Network address Translation (NAT) is the virtualization of internet protocol addresses. NAT is a process of remapping the IP address space into one another by modifying the network information in internet protocol. The technique was originally used to improve security and decrease the number of IP addresses an organization needs. The more advanced implementations used in NAT are the Ip masquerading. Ip masquerading is also form of NAT which allows the internal computers with no known address outside their networks, to communicate to the outside. 14. Middleware: Middleware is defined as the software layer that is between the operating system and system applications and it can be found in both client and server machines.   When two computers are getting communicated the middle ware hides the information of both computers to one another. The middleware also acts as a bridge between the client and server.   The middleware allows the client and server to communicate with each other so that there arent any issues such as incompatible OS, programs. 15. DHCP: DHCP (Dynamic host configuration protocol) is a client/server protocol. There is a DHCP server that will dynamically distribute network configuration parameters. It assigns the IP address to the network dynamically. When a client connects to a network, the DHCP clients sends a broadcast request a information. DHCP manages a pool of IP addresses and information about the client such as default gateway, domain name, name servers. A DHCP server can assign a new address whenever it wants based on administrator assignment policies. DHCP server have three methods of allocating IP address: 1) Dynamic allocation 2) Automatic allocation 3) Manual Allocation 16.Inter-process communication: Inter process communication is interfaces that allow programmer to coordinate activates among different program processes that can run concurrently in a an operating system. This allows program to handle many user requests at the same time. The single request may lead to multiple process running on this situation process needs to communicate each other. So IPC interfaces will take care. 17.Bluetooth: Bluetooth is a wireless technology was designed in 1994 by Ericsson. Bluetooth uses UHF radio waves which covers a short distances of ISM band from 2.4 Ghz to 2.485 Ghz. It was the wireless alternative to RS-232 data cables. It uses a radio technology called frequency-hopping spread spectrum. Data is getting divided into packets and transmits each packets to designated Bluetooth channels. The channels bandwidth is of 1MHz. A Bluetooth device can connect up to maximum of 7 devices. It switches rapidly from one to another using a round robin scheduling algorithm. 18.One time pad: One time pad is an encryption technique. In this technique the actual message is converted into binary form and data is padded with extra new random binary bits the logic is implemented along with it. When the process is done we should be having a new binary bits which is no longer similar to the original message or the padded bits. These bits are padded using XOR binary operator. The padding bits has to lengthy so decrypting will take a time. If its too short the padding can be easily decrypted. 19.Authorization:

Ghana and the Social Contract :: aristotle, family, values, communities

Aristotle rightly said that the family is the building block of the society and each family has its common values and preferences. Even though individuals may belong to the same family and society, they would have diverse opinions on what the society should be and where it should be headed. Even in the face of shared values by a society, there is another discriminant of individual’s value systems- their experiences. These experiences make them masters of themselves because they assume that their experiences are unique to only them and therefore these views should be recognized as valid. James O’Toole categorised the value systems of individuals under the four major themes of community, efficiency, liberty and equality (O'Toole, 1995). This paper reflects on the good society and its constituents in the light of these four themes. O’Toole believes these four are the great themes of political argument which face trade-offs with each other and have an inverse relati onship with each other, that is, an increase in one causes a decrease of the other. Thomas Jefferson considered the good society to be a society in which everyone was happy and I agree with that because happiness is the end product of various favourable factors in a person’s life. Furthermore, I am of the same view that a good society is one that ensures the rights of every member of the society. This is because every human being is innately self-seeking and this is evident in a child’s selfish efforts to attain his or her wants in spite of being young in knowledge of the society. Even though humans can be selfless, their basic needs should at least be met because the satisfaction of their needs sustain them and ensures their contentment. To ensure basic rights of individuals, it is essential to know which value they hold dear, whose fulfilment would bring them long lasting pleasure, thus, leading into the exploration of these major core values. Liberty is concerned with freedom of the individual in three spheres, which are in politics, religion and economics and this value births individuals who are known as libertarians. The modern Libertarian principle that these individuals operate by is that â€Å"the equal right to freedom constitutes the full extent of human equality; all other equalities are unwarranted and unjust† (O'Toole, 1995). Thus, libertarians support every kind of liberty which includes economic liberty hence, capitalism. As such they believe that government interventions in the free market stifle economic progress.

The Rise of Civilization and Writing :: World History

The Rise of Civilization and Writing The phenomenon of writing has been invented independently five separate times in the history of man. While History textbooks almost exclusively talk about the writing of Mesopotamia and Egypt, writing has also been developed in the Indus Valley, China, and Mesoamerica. This strange phenomenon has led many historians and anthropologist to conclude that writing is necessary for a complex society to exist. Nevertheless, there was a society located in the Andean Mountain in present day Peru in which writing was never invented yet it is still consider complex or, in other words, a civilization. This civilization, instead, used a method of record keeping that functioned in place of writing. This suggests that although there is a strong correlation between the development of a civilization and writing, it does not necessarily mean that writing is one of the causative factors in its rise. However, a record keeping system is crucial to a society's evolution towards complexity. One civilization that developed writing was the Sumerians in Mesopotamia which is located in present day Iraq. The Sumerians impressed wet clay with the end of a reed leaving a wedge-shaped form. This kind of writing on clay is called cuneiform, from the Latin "cuneus", meaning "wedge." Cuneiform owes its origins to the need arising from public economy and administration. With the rise in production of the country, accumulated surplus were sent to the cities. This necessitated a method of keeping account of all the goods coming into the cities as well as of manufactured goods leaving for the country. However before the first tablet was written, the Sumerians used an uncomplicated but inefficient system of recording transactions. It involved enclosing clay tokens signifying certain commodities and their quantities in a round clay object called a bulla. Seals of the individuals involved in the transaction were placed on the outside to validate the even. However to check the honesty of the deliverer, the bulla had to be destroyed to reconcile the goods with the tokens inside thereby destroying the record of the transaction as well. So to preserve the record, they impressed the tokens on the outside of the bulla before sealing them in. As time passed the bulla became the tablet and the impressions of tokens became symbolized by wedge-shaped marks. Eventually these marks came to denote distinct words and syllables of their spoken language. The purposes for writing also evolved.

Use of Repetition, Word Choice, and Imagery in Neuromancer :: Neuromancer Essays

Use of Repetition, Word Choice, and Imagery in Neuromancer While reading "Neuromancer", one may become extremely baffled if he or she cannot interpret the terminology used or the framework in which the book is written. Hence, the use of the formalistic approach is necessary in order for the reader to actually understand the concepts trying to be declared by Gibson. Through the formalistic approach one can begin to see that Gibson uses repetition, and specific word choice to set the tone for the novel, and imagery to relate the content of the book to the lives of his readers. Gibson chooses words to aid the reader in imagining the "dystopia" of the Freeside, a place where the main portion of the book takes place: "For Case, who'd lived for the bodiless exultation of cyberspace, it was the Fall" (6). "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel" (3). Gibson describes Freeside as if it is one of the worst places to go. Katie Cooper also describes the dystopia portrayed in this book as well. Gibson also uses words out of the science fiction terminology such as "jack-in and flatline" to encourage the reader to feel as though he or she is actually in the mist of cyberspace. Even the title of the novel depicts a certain characteristic of the book: "'Neuromancer,' the boy said, slitting long gray eyes'The lane of the land of the dead. Where you are, my friend Neuro from the nerves, the silver paths. Romancer" (243). Through Gibson's use of specific words he creates a constantly depressing mood and he allows the reader in many ways to visualize cyberspace themselves. William Gibson is able to project a clear-cut conception of human communication and exactly how we interact with one another through imagery. He symbolizes this relationship through the use of the two Artificial Intelligence's (AI), Wintermute and Neuromancer. In the book, the AIs live completely different contexts than the other characters such as Case, Molly, or Linda. "No. I saw her death coming. In the patterns you sometimes imagined you could detect... My methods are far more subtle than Wintermute'. I brought her here. Into myself" (259). Neuromancer, one of the AI's, uses Case's close friend, Linda, to try and deceive Case into staying on the beach. Hence, the AI's speak through old friends of the characters to communicate with them.

Financial Accounting Exxon Shell Case Essay

Objective: Understanding the effect of inventory valuation assumptions on financial statements. Assignment summary: You are taking the role of a security analyst who recently started following the Oil and Gas industry. The analyst has a task to draw a comparison of several financial indicators for two industry leaders: Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell, based on their income statements and balance sheets (attached at the end of this document) as well as the information from the notes to the financial statements summarized below. The two companies appear to be quite similar and are similar in size based on total assets. A private investor notes, however, that some financial ratios appear to be different. Your task is to guide an investor through the basic steps that will help them understand the effect of inventory valuation assumptions on the financial ratios. The following information is based on Exxon’s and Shell’s 2011 Annual Reports. Exxon Mobil Background information. Exxon Mobil Corporation was incorporated in the State of New Jersey in 1882. Divisions and affiliated companies of ExxonMobil operate or market products in the United States and most other countries of the world. Their principal business is energy, involving exploration for, and production of, crude oil and natural gas, manufacture of petroleum products and transportation and sale of crude oil, natural gas, and petroleum products. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Inventories. Crude oil, products, and merchandise inventories are carried at the lower of current market value or cost (generally determined under the last-in, first-out method – LIFO). Inventory costs include expenditures and other charges (including depreciation) directly and indirectly incurred in bringing the inventory to its existing condition and location. Selling expenses and general and administrative expenses are reported as period costs and excluded from inventory cost. Inventories of materials and supplies are valued at cost or less (i.e., lower of cost or market). The aggregate replacement cost of inventories was estimated to exceed their LIFO carrying values by $25.6 billion and $21.3 billion at December 31, 2011, and 2010, respectively (Convert LIFO to FIFO).

Kant Moral Ethics Essay

Immanuel Kant’s moral theory can be best explained by comparing it to a math equation. Kant’s moral system will always hold true no matter what the circumstance just like how two plus two will always equal four. According to Kant, our lives should be lived according to maxims that can be willed into universal law (Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, p 303). However the action regarding a moral decision is not judged by the consequences of that action, rather by the motive of that action. Kant’s the method of moral reasoning starts off by first realizing the principle the rational agent is acting under. To fully understand what this means, a rational agent is to be defined as an entity who is capable of making rational decisions regardless of their natural inclinations. This condition excludes such examples as, animals, infants, and people in a coma from being considered to be a rational agent because they do not show the capacity to reason. After realizing the principle the person is acting under, determine if the reason is morally right. In order to determine if the maxim is ethical and able to be willed into universal law, it must pass three tests: autonomy, respect for humanity, and the kingdom of ends. Autonomy describes the feeling of accomplishment. This can be illustrated as a man who promises his wife that he will take off the weekend from golfing and file their tax reports. By keeping his promise to his wife he not only feels the satisfaction from finishing their tax report but also, more importantly feels good about following through with his promise. Autonomy is important because if the husband breaks his promises and lives his life as a promise breaker then this maxim is clearly self-defeating. The entire maxim of promising to break promises does not pass the test of autonomy therefore could never be passed as a universal law. However, if after passing the autonomy test, then a principle must also respect everyone else’s autonomy. In order to respect humanity, make decisions that show an overall concern for rational agents. If by treating them as a rational agent, then the principle will not affect another person’s ability rationalize. In order to do this, it is never acceptable to treat a rational being as merely a means (Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, p 307). That is to say, the act of rape treats the rational agent as a means to sexual gratification. The act of rape does not respect the agent as a rational being and could never be willed into a moral universal law. However if a principle was able to pass the first two conditions, then it is necessary to subject it to the kingdom of ends test. The kingdom of ends is composed of a group of rational agents all with different objectives in life. The importance of having different objectives in life insures that all perspectives and backgrounds have been covered. These agents have been given the responsibility of creating a free society. A free society entails laws that every rational agent in that society would agree upon. If the principle is not a measure that the kingdom of ends would enact, then the principle, by Kant’s definition, is immoral. Let us analyze the principle of apathy. Living an apathetic life does indeed pass the test of autonomy and by showing indifference to other rational agents it also passes the test of humanity. However, apathy would not pass the kingdom of ends, as no rational being would accept such a maxim. As a result, an apathetic life could not be passed as universal law. As an example, we will refer back to the persecution of Jews during World War II. Say a man is hiding a Jew in his house and the Gestapo comes knocking on door. However, as the Gestapo questions the man of the whereabouts of the Jew, the man cannot lie and say that no one is hiding within his house, but at the same time, if he were to tell the truth he would be indirectly bringing harm upon himself and the Jew. The man should question the Gestapo about what they plan on doing to the Jew once they have located him. According to Kant, consequences have no relevance, although if all possible consequences were known, then it would be permissible to lightly take them into account. Since telling the truth by giving the Gestapo the whereabouts of the Jew would bring direct harm, it is permissible to lie. The maxim would be to never lie unless the truth results direct or indirect harm. This maxim respects autonomy and human nature and would be pass the kingdom of ends test and thus can be willed into universal moral law. Now take the case of Harry and Sally, according to Kantian moral reasoning, should Sally seduce Harry? If Sally were to seduce Harry by taking him back to her place and having sex with him, she would be using him as a means to her ends. By Sally using Harry simply as a means to achieve her ends, that moral decision is breaking a fundamental Kantian principle. Using people as only a means is never acceptable. The difference between Sally seducing Harry into sex and Sally having consensual sex with Harry is the difference of deception and coercion. According to Mappes, deception and coercion are the methods for sexually using someone (Mappes, Sexual Morality, p. 166). The whole idea is based off the respect for an individual person to voluntarily make their own decisions. By deceiving someone, it is clearly misleading a person to make a decision that they would not have made, had it been on their own regard. However the objection can be made that Sally should do what ultimately brings her pleasure. Using Utilitarian morality, something that results in the greater pleasure, or avoidance of harm, of the populations involved is morally correct. Even though Harry is somewhat apprehensive of the whole casual sex idea, he is not defiant or strongly against it. It can even be reasoned that Harry might even enjoy himself once him and Sally are having sex. And also, casual sex is perfectly okay if there is no lying, deceiving, or exploiting (Elliston, In Defense of Promiscuity, p. 170). I believe Elliston’s definition of deceiving is different that Kant’s definition. Kant covers all and any type of deception as immoral. Elliston agrees that deception is indeed immoral, but his definition of deception would be a man telling a woman he does not have herpes when indeed he does. As long as sex is consensual, there is no harm. Sally would only be seducing Harry back to her house under, say, the premise to watch a movie, however when the actual act of intercourse happens, Harry is not being deceived at all. Even with the arguments above, Sally would ultimately be using Harry simply as a means to achieve her ends of sexual pleasure. By using Kantian morality, Sally should not pressure Harry to going home with her nor should she try to seduce him. Kant reasons that human beings have been given this gift of free will to act as the dividing line between humans and animals. Animals are considered animals because they lack the ability to rationalize. What then, is the ultimate value and purpose of having a free will? If the point of having a free will was to seek pleasure and avoid harm, then we are nothing more than animals and have wasted this ability to reason. Instead, humans have free will so they could follow moral law. Therefore, follow moral law even in situations where social laws or natural inclinations could conflict. By following Kant’s moral reasoning, what we do in our lives is right not only because we ourselves believe it to be right but also since we have willed it to become universal law, it could not possibly be wrong. The maxims that we base our lives on are intrinsically good because we are able to will it into universal law. Therefore, moral decisions made using Kant’s ideas can be applied universally. Kant’s ideas show respect for humanity and people’s decisions are not made for selfish pleasure seeking reasons by treating people as a means, but rather they are made based on universal morals and by treating everybody as an rational agent. By following Kant’s moral reasoning a rational agent will be able to make the right decision when faced with any type of moral dilemma.

Analyzing Legal Alien Essay

For many years now people have judged one another based on characteristics and family background. Some judge based on skin color, race, where your family has come from, and how you came about. â€Å"Legal Alien/ Extranjera Legal† by Pat Mora gives a very realistic message of how it can feel to be a mexican american and to be seen as a ‘legal alien’. To feel not wanted by either side, and to be judged based on the origins of your ancestors and your race. â€Å"viewed by Anglos as perhaps exotic,/ perhaps inferior, definitely different,/ viewed by mexicans as alien. This here, is a perfect example of the way Mora feels about being judged and seen as an alien and her interesting use of diction, metaphors and similes. I think the tone Mora has is one of somebody who feels like an outsider, due to being judge by the people who surround her daily. Moras choice of diction in the first four lines is very interesting and has continued to interest me throughout the poem. Diction is a writer or speakers choice of words. Mora’s diction lets you know a lot about the poems meaning and also about the speaker or the character right away. Mora chooses to tell it back and forth, from one side to another, but mainly from two different points of view. Being seen as an american and also being seen as a mexican. I believe Mora is telling this poem in her own point of view, as if she is the character. Mora starts by off saying â€Å"bi-lingual, bi-cultural† line one. That alone can be interpreted as the speaker or the character is able to speak and understand two languages. It also means she can participate in both of their cultures as well. Mora follows the first line up by enforcing her meaning with â€Å" able to slip from ‘how’s life? to ‘ me’stan volviendo loca. †( this means they’re driving me crazy in spanish. ) Lines two and three. Moras choice of diction here is interesting because she makes it sound like she lives two completely separate lifes as if they could not be mixed together. Mora writes â€Å"able to sit in a paneled office/ drafting memos in smooth english/ able to order in fluent spanish/ at a mexican restaurant† Lines five through seven, really show how she lives both sides and experiences them both separately from one another. It also shows that she fits in and seems as if she really isn’t different from any of the others. In lines eight through ten Mora uses more of her interesting diction. â€Å"american but hyphenated/ viewed by Anglos as perhaps exotic,/ perhaps inferior, definitely different. † ‘American but hyphenated’ highlights the point that although she is part american, she is still different because she is not a full american. There is more than that though, and thats exactly why she is seen differently from both sides. Either way she is more than that so she is seen different and that is Moras overall message. â€Å"viewed by Anglos as perhaps exotic,/ perhaps inferior, definitely different. † supports that she is viewed as an outsider from both sides. Mora also uses inferior. Which has a strong meaning to it. Inferior means: lower in rank, status, or quality. Mora uses the word exotic which also sends a very clear message of how she is viewed. Exotic means to originate in or characteristic of a distant foreign country, so her choice of words completely supports her overall message of what it can feel like to be judged based on the origins of your ancestors and your race. Mora even uses a very simple but clear simile. â€Å"viewed by mexicans as an alien. † She states that the mexicans, the other half of her ancestors race, also see her as an alien, as an outsider. Different from them because she has american blood to even though the rest of her blood is made up of that of the same as theirs. She still is not the same in there eyes. They refer to her as an alien because they believe that. â€Å"(their eyes say, ‘you may speak/ spanish but you’re not like me’)† lines twelve and thirteen, support the fact that all though she is similar, she is not seen like them. Moras choice of diction is interesting here because she is writing what she knows they want to say but won’t always will but also what some do imply using different words. There eyes make her feel different like an outcast not wanted by anybody. The way they find hers and judge her so quickly, so harshly. Mora again supports that she is viewed as an outsider, a ‘legal alien’ by following that up with lines fourteenth and fifteenth. â€Å"an american to mexicans/ A mexican to americans. † These two lines have a strong meaning, and also supports the way she feels, nobody wanted her. She did not belong to either because they judged her based on the other half of her race. the other half of who she is. When in all reality race should not matter, should not affect one’s judgement. Somebodys race makes them no better nor no worse than the next person. Moras next two lines sixteen and seventeen, have a strong meaning and the use of a metaphor. â€Å"a handy token/ sliding back and forth. † She is referring to herself or her character as a ‘hand token’, which I would assume is a metaphor that symbolizes that she slides back and forth between what feels like two completely different worlds just trying to fit in. To be seen for who she truly is. â€Å"between the fringes of both worlds. † Mora now very matter of factly states that to her or her character those lives are two different worlds completely. It also supports that she does not mix them together very much. In the next line Mora chooses to show an emotion in a way. I believe Mora chooses to wait so long before putting a real emotion into her character so you and I, as the readers could really understand what it is like to be mexican american and judged constantly and in general. â€Å"by smiling† line nineteen. Mora follows up the short but to the point line nineteen, with using very strong diction. â€Å"by masking the discomfort† (line twenty) is a strong phrase alone and already says a lot. ‘Masking discomfort’ means that the speaker or character masks how discomfortable being judged can be. How hard it can be to cope with and that says the speaker or the character is very strong, to hide something like that simply by smiling when it has most likely gone on for years. But also a devastating effect. â€Å"of being pre-judged/ bi-laterally. † line twenty. Mora ends her poem with one, very strong meaningful word. Bi-laterally means by both sides. Mora is saying ‘being pre-judged by both sides’. Both races that make her up as a whole, pre-judging her before they got the chance to know her. People judge one another all the time based off their clothes, and much much more. But to judge somebody due to their race or heritage, things they have no control over, thats not right. Its one thing to judge based on how they project themselves but it is not right to judge based on something out of their control either. I think that Moras choice of diction, metaphors, and similes really support her feelings of being judged and seen as a ‘legal alien’. â€Å"Legal Alien’/Extranjera Legal† gives a very realistic and strong message of how it can feel to be viewed as an alien by the people that surround you and are in your life like the people you work with. Mora’s character knows how it feels to be not wanted nor accepted by either side, and to be judged on the origins of her ancestors and her race. Mora uses strong diction throughout this poem with her interesting choice of how she uses her words. â€Å"perhaps exotic, perhaps inferior, definitely different,† Her choice of diction has a strong effect on the message itself. Moras use of similes is interesting to because she says â€Å"viewed by mexicans as alien†, she very clearly says they compare her to an alien and that as a very great impact to. Mora also uses metaphors in her writing in an interesting way, she refers to herself as ‘a handy token/ sliding back and forth’, to symbolize how it feels to not be accepted and to be judged. Many people could relate to this poem whether they are judged on their race, on their upbringing, on their clothes, and many more factors. Being pre-judged is a major problem in society today and is all around us constantly. Some are not lucky enough to escape it, but are capable of understanding the bigger picture in the message behind this poem.

Armani Markting Plan Essay

Product:The original Armani Couture product line is the most well respected, developed and successful. Over the next three years this line should release all ties to the other products and become a stand alone business to differentiate itself and reestablish itself as the face of Giorgio Armani retaining its exclusivity and Brand distinction. This is the signature line or Armani and should remain under his management and direction. The other products Emporio, Collezioni, Armani Jean, A/X, Armani Jr. hould all be franchised to retain the Brand image yet capitalize on explosive growth potential. †¢ Promothion:ARMANI:Since  the  brand  was  founded  . almost  all  of  the  actress  have  had  close  contact  with  it  in  some  Large  awards  banquet,  Ã‚  ,such  as  in  the  Academy  Awards,  Cannes  Film  Festival,  you  can  see  the  well-designed  Armani  suit  dress. In  2005,  the  brand’s   new  Privecollection  suit  series,  priced  from  200,000  to  700,000  Yuan. Its  flagship  brand  Qiaozhi  Ou  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã‚  Armani  has  been  widely  praised  by  the  successful  people. †¢ Place:The private holdings of Giorgio Armani span over 35 countries. They include 16 Armani casa home furnishing stores. 13 Armani Junior stores offering clothing for early to late teens and the twenty something crowd. 11 Collezioni, 120 Emporio, 94 A/X Retail outlets and 60 Giorgio Armani Boutiques for Couture offerings †¢ Price:Positioning in high-grade, aim at wealthy . Armani as high-end luxury brands, the main target consumption group is the high-income class, successful man, a famous film star, senior white-collar workers, etc. ), the main products are men’s clothing brand.

Analysis for the European Brewing Industry

Analysis for the European Brewing Industry Political Environment Political environment affects the European companies but as government is stable in Europe, the brewing industries can easily work if they follow a certain approach while keeping the government system in mind. In Europe taxes, duty rates and VAT are higher on products as compared to UK and France, so the companies should consider small and under developed nations where taxes are low. In Europe there was a governmental pressure of eliminating the agricultural subsidies that can lead to a change in the agricultural base. Brewing firms should understand this change and be ready with differential pricing schemes which can complement this change in agriculture. Economic Environment In Europe, most economies have a sustained growth rate of above 8 %. This shows that there is huge scope for industries to grow. European markets were also affected by 9/11 attack which in turn affected the tourism industry and at the same time, global recession also affect the whole Euro pean market. People invest a big part of money for their entertainment and fun. Very least part of their income goes for alcohol consumption as they are becoming more educated about health (The European Brewing Industry, 1999). Socio-cultural Europe had nine out of ten highest median populations in 2005. So health issues were a big concern unlike the youth population of India and China etc. (Demographics of Europe). The younger generation of population had a changed lifestyle and this turn have impacted European markets because of the smoking and poor nutrition habits (Ageing Population and Lifestyle Changes Drive Demand for Orthopaedic Biomaterials in Europe). These kinds of awareness issues will impact the sale of breweries in European market to the younger generation. Most of the retail companies are keeping beer in their stores because of the family shopping is done through retails. Technology The customer interest has changed as they are more attracted with flavoured Beer and w illing to taste new brands. With the help of technology new and more efficient ways are open for the production of beer, assisting in achieving economies of scale (European Brewing Industry, 1999). Legal Alcohol related advertisements have been restricted by European Union Consumption of drinking alcohol has also been affected by strict law of drinking and driving and domestic violence as awareness and different rules have been set up to stop this. W H O has planned to increase tax as well as advertising ban for alcohol products and proposed breathe testing of drivers. It has given this model to EU for implement as physician advice this model is estimated to cost 1.3 billion Euros for implementation. (Institute of Alcohol Studies, 2009). WHO estimated that using by this model disability and premature death could be avoided by 1.4million (Institute of Alcohol Studies, 2009). Environmental EU’s main priority is toward health problems and also concentrating on Climate change and preserving biodiversity (Europa, 2010) 20% of emissions and 20 % of total energy consumption has planned to be reduced by EU by the year 2020 (Europa, 2010). Eco- friendly products which are energy efficient are being put up for promotion by the commission (Europa, 2010).

Foods in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Foods in America - Essay Example Although these dried foods are used to give flavor to dishes, I still eat them raw and at times I fry them as snacks. One of my favorite dishes made from dried foods is Pemmican. This dish is made up of dried berries, nuts, and meat. What I like about this food is the fact that it is very handy and convenient because you could eat it without cooking it first. You can eat it anytime you want. Yet, there are some American Indian foods that I do not like that much. One of those I like the least is their smoked foods. Although I like dried foods, I still find the taste of smoked foods quite unpleasant, especially the smoked salmon. I find it too salty and fatty. I think smoking foods is best for preparing and preserving food, but not as an actual dish. Even so, I really like most of American Indian foods. They are natural, healthy, and savory. Madison, Deborah & Gary Paul Nabhan. Renewing America’s Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent’s Most Endangered Foods. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2008.