Patient X Essay

Patient X’s doctor has been trying to convince him to practice better lifestyle habits to for several years to help combat his hypertension (on antihypertensive medication for 3 years), diabetes (6 years) and growing waistline. A recent routine check-up revealed a deterioration of his lipid profile (TC 260, TG 310, HDL 29, LDL 170) and fasting glucose of 172. Patient X is 55 years old, weighs 245 lbs and he is 5’10 . 1) Hypertension: Weight control to lower the risks associated with hypertension include a diet low in sodium and high in potassium. The risk of hypertension is lower when salt intake is lower and potassium helps reduce blood pressure by increasing the amount of sodium excreted in the urine. The DASH eating plan is the best option for maintaining hypertension. Physical activity is also a major lifestyle modification that should be adopted. Engaging in regular aerobic physical activity such as a brisk walk will lower the risk of hypertension. Diabetes: A diet to help control diabetes also focuses on weight management. Low glycemic index diets have been shown to reduce complications associated with diabetes. Exercise is also a key factor to controlling diabetes. A 3-5 days of the week exercise, which focuses on caloric expenditure and duration rather than intensity, has been proven to increase insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance. *Exercise can reduce other risk factors such as weight control, lipid profile, and hypertension. Lipid Profile: Elevated triglycerides are best treated with increased physical activity and weight reduction. Aerobic exercise, weight reduction, smoking cessation, and moderate alcohol consumption will favorably affect HDL-C and lower LDL-C. After comparing these three aspects, it is easy to see that a diet focused on weight management, smoking cessation, and physical activity involving aerobic exercise will greatly lower Patient X’s risk factors for hypertension and diabetes. 2) Suggesting that Patient X begin the DASH diet would be the first place to start. The DASH diet includes an easy-to-use chart which helps plan menus. It also includes items that people generally like to eat, just in less moderation and with more fruit and vegetables. To help Patient X quit smoking, there are prescriptions or over the counter patches that will allow cessation. There are also therapy groups that Patient X could try if addiction proved to be too great. Exercising with someone, a friend or significant other is always easier than exercising alone. I would suggest that Patient X find an exercise buddy and possibly start a gym membership. If they feel this isn’t the right choice for them, then even walking around their block for 30 minutes allows some form of aerobic exercise in their life. After 6 months I would expect to see a lower blood pressure if Patient X had indeed been participating in physical activity. Improvement in blood pressure among hypertensive, takes effect within the first few weeks. I would also expect to see major improvement in total cholesterol, LDL-C, and triglycerides if the proper diet was maintained. I would also expect to see an increased insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance. A drop in BMI will also be indicated.

The policy of the United States

This essay will generate the ideas of the role between border security and counter terrorism. The subcategories that will be discussed along side this theory are the lack of border security, both south of the United States and north. The policy of the United States toward immigration will also give the paper a close-up of the harm illegal aliens who are not apprehended will do, not only to the status of the economy but to national terrorism . In the emergence of a lax border security, finally, the issue of this juxtaposed with the opportunity that exists for terrorists to exploit will also be developed in the paper.In order for a more substantial argument to evolve in this paper a brief history with terrorism and border control will be argued as well as the history of the US Patriot Act and other issues in the past with the United States concerning immigration, illegal aliens, and terrorists. Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, there have been many changes in the ways the United States government functions. The first act of alteration to the normal code of conduct was the drafting and passage of the USA PATRIOT Act.There are many who see this act as a bold defense against the fear of terrorism for the American public, however, a growing number of people see the changes in American governmental policy and overall attitude towards enemies and allies alike as an affront against proper American values and freedom. As Andrew Kydd and Barbara Walter explain, there is a distinct politic to the notion of terrorism. However, these tactics are not always effective. There are many events of terrorism in the world each year, yet only a handful are regarded with any merit.According to Kydd and Walter, through a well argued and insightful article, it is â€Å"the trust between groups† that must be destroyed for an extremist attack to be successful. This is the motivation behind the response to the attacks of September 11, 2001. On December 6, 2001, then Attorney General John Ashcroft addressed the Senate Judiciary Committee in praise of this act, and it’s restructuring of the NSA, CIA and FBI. (Ashcroft 524) His rhetoric was patriotic and concise, and his views of the USA PATRIOT act and its changes seemed sincere.This was supported with the passage of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373, which paved the road for the Patriot act itself. Eric Rosand wrote about the resolution in 2003. His response to its necessity was one of sympathy to the government, for having to face such a difficult challenge. However, not everyone who has commented on the alterations of the US governmental policy has done so with such reverence. David Cole compared the investigations into possible terrorist cells in the United States, to the â€Å"Palmer Raids† of 1919 – where, following a series of bombings, J.Edgar Hoover led a series of â€Å"round ups† of immigrants across the country and held them without trial or charge in â€Å"unconscionable conditions, interrogated incommunicado and in some cases tortured†. (529) This attitude has spread throughout the country, as the appearance of indecency has flooded the government’s handling of the terrorists investigations. Mary Jacoby brings up the question of the legal definition of â€Å"Detainee†. This is in response to the holding of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba.The prisoners of this facility have been acquired from around the world – from the war in Afghanistan, and from arrests done in dozens of countries around the world. However, the problem arises when the soldiers fighting for the Afghan military are brought in as detainees, rather than prisoners of war. While the Guantanamo prison has its apologists, such as Charles Krauthammer – who states that freeing of these men would be â€Å"lunacy† (537) – the fact remains, that in strict terms, the United States is in br eech of the Geneva Convention by holding POWs.The United States government however sees this detention as necessary. The United States also enlists other tactics involving border control. The United States since September 11 has kept a more watchful eye on the Mexican border to ensure that large trucks are not passing the borders which could hold weapons, but this seems to be the only action officials and military are taking in regards to border control according to Zagorin (2004) in The Mexican Border Will Get a Closer Look.In this article Zagorin is hard pressed to find any true action the US is taking in regards to border control and Zagorin sites many examples of how Mexico is making its own efforts to decrease the chances al-Qaeda terrorists coming into the country or leaving the country, â€Å"The Mexicans will also focus on flight schools and aviation facilities on their side of the frontier. †¦another episode has some senior U. S.officials worried; the theft of a crop- duster aircraft south of San Diego, apparently by three men from southern Mexico who assaulted a watchman and then flew off in a southerly direction†¦ a senior U. S. law-enforcement official notes that crop dusters can be sued to disperse toxic substance†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (19). In contrast to the underlying belief of the lax nature in Zagorin’s article Andreas (2003) holds a very different opinion in his article Perspective.This article gives details about the before and after September 11 border security in the United States dealing with both the Mexican and Canadian border. Prior to September 11 the United States focused its energy on deterring the flow of drugs between the borders. Thus the model by which the United States is equipped in handling border security in regards to terrorism is very juvenile in design because their previous focus has been on migrant workers and masses of illegal immigrants rather than to search a crowd and discover a few terrorists (4).Another i ssue that arises in the approach of the Mexican border is that the south border of the United States received much more attention than the Canadian border, â€Å"†¦only 334 agents were assigned to the 5,525-mile northern border compared with over 9,000 agents stationed at the 2,062-mile southern edge† (4), however, since September 11 there are an equal amount of agents patrolling both borders. Under the Patriot Act, as stated previously, the number of agents present in the Canadian border has tripled in a response to September 11.In an effort to stop terrorism, the US coastguard now stops every boat crossing the Great Lakes as well as escorts large tankers. Thus, Andreas states that these new border securities have merely taken the old ideas of drug trafficking measures and applied them to terrorism which makes for an increase of difficulty in border control (Andreas, 5). Fernando Reinares noted in his article, The Empire Rarely Strikes Back, that after â€Å"more than 2400 acts of terrorism against American citizens and interests† there have been only â€Å"three occasions of overt military response†.(Reinares 92) However, because of the incredible size and depth of impact of the September 11th attacks, war became unavoidable. There did arise a problem with the military action, however, as a growing public opinion seemed to point the target ast Islam itself, rather than just Al-Qaeda. This prompted the United States to â€Å"enlist the help of as many Islamic nations as possible† to counter act this perception. (Aretxega 143)This coalition of Islamic nations does nothing to counteract the rise in racial profiling within the United States. Sherry Colb wrote about the foreseen changes in American law enforcement following the September 11th attacks. Her article articulated the problem of racial profiling and its consequences. Cold notes that â€Å"real numbers do not support profiling†. (539) However this does not stop th e utilization of profiling in airports, or in traffic stops. However, this too has its supporters, from such sources as law professor Roger Clegg.His response to the topic of racial profiling is one of acceptance and justification. â€Å"So what? † (Clegg 542) Clegg asks of the act of profiling. However his racial make-up lends itself easily to such opinions, as an educated white male is rarely confronted for being white, educated or male. But profiling at the borders is the number one cause by which patrols see fit to apprehend an individual since they fit the profile and the Patriot Act backs up the idea of border security no matter what the cost.The changes in the United States since September 2001 have been many and wide in scope, however there is little agreement as to whether these changes are for the better – or even legal. As illustrated in these articles, the several aspects of governmental policy that have been affected by these attacks have been met with acc eptance and praise, as well as contempt and ridicule – with communicative and sincere arguments on both sides. Though, despite the eloquent nature of the arguments, they do not dissuade one from his or her own opinion.It is the learned set of moral values that create one’s opinion of the new America. The issue of border control seems increasingly to be an issue of economics and as much as the United States focuses its attention on increasing patrol, it is also obstructing trade between countries and so the lax behavior or approach in certain instances of policing and allowing immigrants to cross borders presents to the theorist that increased border control does not necessarily lead to a more protected country.In Kiely’s (2006) article GOP View, she states that the United States is more focused on illegal immigration than terrorism and using terrorism as a guise by which to exert an autocratic policing style which does not give rights to immigrants, â€Å"A bil l the House passed in December called for making illegal immigration a felony offense, punishable by at least a year in jail†¦Under the law, people who cross the border without permission are already guilty of a criminal misdemeanor.But people who enter the country legally and then overstay their visas—as many as 40% of the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, according to Sensenrenner—are guilty of a civil violation† (1). Thus it becomes apparent that the United States is focusing more attention on illegal immigration than on terrorism since all of their efforts are geared toward this goal. Since the United States has merely adapted their approach to finding terrorists in the same fashion by which they find illegal immigrants there seems to exist a very unreliable system.The terrorists that entered the country each had different ways to travel, false papers of identification and would have been apprehended if the border security had not been as lax as they had been and since their approach to border control has not changed dramatically as a system, but merely as having more patrols and policing the gate is left open for terrorism, as The US 9/11 Commission on Border Control (2004), states, â€Å"We found that as many as 15 of the 19 hijackers were potentially vulnerable to interception by border authorities.Analyzing their characteristic travel documents and travel patterns could have allowed authorities to intercept 4 of the 15 hijackers and more effective use of information available in U. S. government databases could have identified up to 3 hijackers† (570).Since these hijackers could have been apprehended but were not, and the government has only increased the number of patrols on the either border and not per se the system by which illegal immigrants are apprehended it stands to reason that the government is not altogether prepared or establishing a methodology in apprehending terrorists, they are mere ly cracking down by using brute force without strategy,Looking back, we can also see that the routine operations of our immigration laws—that is, aspects of those laws not specifically aimed at protecting against terrorism—inevitably shaped al Qaeda’s planning and opportunities. Because they were deemed not to be bona fide tourists or students as they claimed, five conspirators that we know of tried to get visas and failed, and one was denied entry by an inspector.We also found that had the immigration system set a higher bar for determining whether individuals are who or what they claim to be—and ensuring consequences for violations—it could potentially have excluded, removed, or come into further contact with several hijackers who did not appear to meet the terms for admitting short-term visitors (570). Thus, the article emphasized the lack of a system in uncovering terrorism as part of border security. Aristotle was partial to pluralism. He did place his faith in the idea that humans ‘aped’ reality and copy what they are witnessing, and thus making reality a reserved, unattainable subject.A person’s personal truth, through the philosophy of pluralism and Aristotle, has a background involving historical context and empirical evidence wherein truth can be extrapolated. Aristotle believed that pluralism dealt more with a person’s culture than with a vast array of immitigable scenarios. For Aristotle, pluralism, and not unity allowed for change in the universe, and in this avenue of discourse Aristotle presented the concept of both motion and rest existing in the world in simultaneous reality, â€Å"†¦it is not the case that all things are at rest or in motion sometimes and nothing for ever; for there is something which always moves the things that are in motion, and the first mover is itself unmoved [Ibid. , 29-32, p. 751]. † Therefore, life, reality, self exist on a plane where the poss ibility of truth is represented in many. Thus, the United States’ approach to terrorism is found to be understood as the common good for everyone as opposed to the common good based on one man.This is shown in the allowance of holding foreigners in prisons without trial in order to gain information from them, and even in some cases indulging in torture in order to protect the greater good as is stated in Aristotle’s logos. In the reality that existed for Aristotle through the philosophy concept of pluralism, empirical facts were the focus, goal and reality which human beings base their existence. In this existence, it is not necessary for a common laborer to delve into the meanderings of the Ideal Good possibly having relevance for anyone besides a philosopher.The absolute idea for Aristotle was not found in abstract concepts but rather in empirical multiplicity and continuous transformation of facts based on frame of reference, history, and culture. It is through thes e fundamental approaches that human beings come to know their own truth instead of delving into the misrepresentation of Forms given through Plato’s unity, â€Å"Pythagoreans say that things exist by ‘imitation’ of numbers, and Plato says they exist by participation, changing the name.But what the participation or the imitation of the Forms could be they left an open question [Ibid. , ll-14, p. 7O1]. † The interaction of Forms and human beings in the universe is the core concept on the philosophy of pluralism, as Aristotle states, â€Å"Platonists speak as if the One were homogeneous like fire or water; if this is so, the numbers will not be substances.Evidently, if there is a One-itself, and this is a first principle, ‘One’ is being used in more than one sense; for otherwise the theory is impossible [Ibid. , 992a 7-10, p. 7O9]. † Through metaphysics Aristotle suggests that existence is not reliant upon numbers, reasons, or Forms alone, but only that the realistic forms are primary, which is the approach the United States government is taking in regards to counter-terrorism. The number one priority of preventing terrorism is to prevent terrorist travel.This tactic however has not been seriously employed with regards to border security and finding and preventing terrorism since the focus, as previously stated, is more about finding terrorists, not finding the means by which they are mobile. One system that has not be utilized in border security is the means by which to detect whether documentation is authentic since terrorists have system by which they infiltrate a country. Their travel channels should be found and exploited, but no real clause in the Patriot Act has been given or stated.Terrorists establish themselves in the United States through their travel channels by which there is a paper trail of documents; therefore, the Patriot Act, and NAFTA should not only be focusing their efforts at the borders where t he terrorists may or may not be traveling but the government should also be wary of terrorist activity already transpiring inside the country, as The US 9/11 Commission on Border Control, â€Å"Each of these checkpoints or portals is a screening-a chance to establish that people are who they say they are and are seeking access for their stated purpose, to intercept identifiable suspects, and to take effective action† (571). This paper has shown that although the United States is refocusing efforts on border control their methodology has not been new in design as counter terrorism efforts call for, but instead the United States seems to have merely increased the number of patrols across the border and not changed the system by which they seek out terrorists.In the information presented in this paper it gave different avenues by which the United States could be making a better effort to fight terrorism by simply having a different strategy on terrorism inclusive of finding thei r travel channels and relying on identification and false passports. The United States approach to border control, since they are using the same system now as prior to September 11 have not changed how they approach terrorists and their apprehension thus leaving room for terrorists to take advantage of this lax method and exploit it. Bibliography Andreas, Peter. (2003 3rd Quarter). Perspective. Regional Review. Vol. 13, Issue 2, p3-7. Aretxaga, Begona. (Winter 2001). Terror as Thrill: First Thoughts on the ‘War on Terrorism’. Anthropological Quarterly. Vol. 75, No. 1, p138-150. Kiely, Kathy. (13 April 2006).GOP View: Illegal Immigration Won’t be Felony. USA Today. Kydd, Andrew; Walter, Barbara. (Spring 2002). Sabotaging the Peace: The Politics of Extremist Violence. International Organization. Vol. 56, No. 2, p263-296. Reinares, Fernando. (Jan-Feb 2002). The Empire Rarely Strikes Back. Foreign Policy. No. 128. P. 92-94. Rosand, Eric. (April 2003). Security Counci l Resolution 1373, the Counter-Terrorism Committee, and the Fight against Terrorism. The American Journal of International Law. Vol. 97, No. 2, p333-341. The US 9/11 Commission on Border Control. (2004). Blackwell Publishing Ltd. p569-574. Zagorin, Adam. (22 November 2004). Bordering On Nukes? Time. Vol. 164 Issue 21, p19.

“Moon Palace” by Paul Auster Essay

This is the story of Marco Stanley Fogg, an orphan searching for love, his father and the key to the riddle of his origin and fate. Marco’s mother was killed in a car accident when he was eleven years old, and he never knew who was his father. Since then he had lived with his Uncle Victor in a small apartment on 112th Street in N.Y. His Uncle was a part of a band who was named Wally Moon and preformed at the Moon Palace diner. When Stanley grew up he went to the University; Uncle Victor gave him for this occasion a present, one thousand books. Afterwards, his Uncle had suddenly died. Then Stanley’s situation became worse; He saw his money dwindle to zero, he lost the apartment and wound up living in the streets (He slept for three weeks in Central Park without food and with little money). His friends David Zimmer and Kitty Wu had found him and took care of him til he recover from his illness. Staley lived in Zimmer’s house until he had moved away to another apart ment, then Stanley searched for a new place to live and found a job as a live-in companion for an elderly gentleman in a wheelchair. He lived with him for about half year until the gentleman died. His name was Effing Thomas but his real name was Julian Barber. In the past he was a famous painter but he stopped painting after the death of his brother and he changed his name after being considered dead by mistake. Stanley and Effing were very bonded since Effing was like the father Stanley never had. Dear Diary June, 1967 Today I was again in Broadway Street where was Chandler’s Bookstore. I had sold him another box of Uncle Victor’s book. Sure, I had already read them. I know that they were the only memory, which was left from my uncle, buy I need the money to pay the rent and to buy some food and eat. August, 1968 Today I woke up early in the morning and got out to the street. As I was walking I saw that the drugstore had been opened already, I entered and I dropped a penny into the drugstore Exacto scale to see what was happening to me. From 154 in June, I fell to 139 in July and then to 123 in august. For someone who measured slightly over six feet, this began to be dangerously little. August, 1969 Today Fernandez, the owner of the building, threw me out my apartment. I took my knapsack with a few odds and ends, tucked the clarinet case, that Uncle Victor had left to me, and walked out the door†¦ I don’t know what I’ll do, or where do I’ll go†¦ October, 1970 Now I have just finished to type down the life story of Effing on the typewriter that he had gave me. I have copied it from the notes I had taken in those nights when we sat down after supper. Me on the sofa and him in his wheelchair. He had told everything; Why had he changed his name and why did he choose this name (Effing), why did he stop painting, what happened to his wife and to his son. And eventually he told me that when he will die he wants his body to be cremated.

2 Questions about The Road Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

2 Questions about The Road - Essay Example The sun is permanently hidden behind the clouds, as are the moon and stars. Everything, everywhere has been burned, turning the world into black and grey underneath a ‘sullen’ light that casts only feeble shadows at its peak. There are no animals, no plants and very few people. What life does survive is scarce and desperate, willing to commit atrocities upon one another for the simple necessity of food or clean water. â€Å"The world shrinking down about a raw core of parsible entities. The names of things slowly following those things into oblivion. Colors. The names of birds. Things to eat. Finally the names of things one believed to be true. More fragile than he would have thought† (McCarthy 75). The bond between the father and son is thus predicated on surviving in this very harsh environment where all they have is each other and the knowledge still stored in the father’s mind from the time before the disaster. The man is forced to adapt to an entirely foreign world despite all his conceptions of a better place while his son is enlightened by his father’s confusion. The man’s reluctance to accept the reality before him forces him to feel pity for the young son. This is obvious in the touching scene when he finds the can of Coke. â€Å"[H]e put his thumbnail under the aluminum clip on the top of the can and opened it. He leaned his nose to the slight fizz coming from the can and then handed it to the boy. †¦ You drink it †¦ It’s because I won’t ever get to drink another one, isn’t it?† (McCarthy 20). As the man comes to realize, the world he remembers will never be anything more than a fantasy world to his son, a place of unrealizable possibilities for which the son must ultimately pity the father for having lost. Although the man and the boy consider themselves the good guys, defenders of the old knowledge and the bonds of enlightenment, there are also

Nanotechnology Applications Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Nanotechnology Applications - Essay Example The rapid advancement in the field of nanotechnology calls for advance knowledge and research in its applications as well as the associated risks. Nanotechnology is currently the center fold of research and study. In consequence, the technology is rapidly growing in terms of advancements. The technology has immense potential for producing innovations and improvements in a variety of area in life; faster and smaller devices; increased product life cycle; mitigated use of harmful and scarce resources; improved health treatment, and faster, cleaner and safer manufacturing (Langwith, 2009). Nanotechnology entails the manipulation of matter at an atomic or molecular level with the aim of manufacturing novel devices and materials with new astonishing properties. The technology is not new rather it is the combination of knowledge from the amalgamation of multiple scientific disciplines to transform materials at the nano-scale. The research and studies done on the application of quantum mechanics enables nanotechnology to be revolutionary and innovative at the same time. It has been discovered that there is a momentous changes in the performance of matter when its surface area to volume ratio is dramatically increased. The behavior of materials is currently under the control of quantum physics instead of classical physics. For this reason, nano-structured material poses more favorable properties and abilities than the bulk material version. Polymers are considered insulators in their bulk form but nanotechnology transforms them into semiconductor at nanoscale (Langwith, 2009). Medicine: In medicine, nanotechnology has been employed to develop nano-particles capable of delivering drugs to the diseased cell. The machinery has also aided in the manufacture of bio-compatible materials which are used to make medical implants. The production of stents is significant in preventing artery blockage. Engineering: The

Human resource Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Human resource - Case Study Example It is pretty obvious from the case itself that the company is facing problems in retaining the customer service representatives. According to the representatives some of the causes for high rate of attrition have been working on weekends, very little contact with the other departments, hesitance for cold calling, lack of remuneration for success, etc. Therefore in order to solve the problem of employee retention these problems need to be take care. Here are a few recommendations that may provide a way out. One of the major causes of retention has been working on weekends. Customers can need help or support at any point of time in the day, hence the customer care representatives need to be there for help even on weekends. However, the each of the customer care reps the may not have to work on each of the weekends. For example a customer service rep may work on two weekends in the month and may get rest on the other two. The reps should be given some extra remuneration for working on the weekends. Another root cause for attrition has been the lack of fact between the reps. and other members. Hence from time to time job rotation policy can be used. This can reduce the boredom as well as give the reps an opportunity to understand the way the other departments function. It can come in real handy while handling the customer queries. Another problem has been lack of recognition for the reps. hence there could be a token of appreciation for the best customer service rep. of the month. Also th ey reps should be provided some extra incentives for each sale they make. This can also minimize the problem of hesitance in cold calling. But that is not all it has been mentioned by the reps that most of time problems faced is something beyond the control, such as billing issues or late delivery. Hence the organization should make sure that the end product is being delivered to the customers in time,

Community assessment and project planning Essay

Community assessment and project planning - Essay Example The paper explains the health problems and issues that were identified in the community and how the problems can be solved by utilizing the resources available in the community. This community assessment is a review of population health in Philadelphia, highlighting key health concerns as well as resources that can be utilized to combat the health problems that are identified. Conducting a community health assessment is the important activity associated with public health experts. Community health assessment enables both nongovernmental and governmental organization to identify community assets and needs, develop program and policies, allocate resources while at the same time monitor the public health changes in the community. The information was obtained from various health sources in Philadelphia such as the department of public and community health. Philadelphia is considered the fifth largest city in the United States of America. The 2010 population census revealed a population o f around 1,536,006 people. The largest portion of the population is between 15-34 years old. Birth rates have also increased over the past decade. Philadelphia is both ethnically and racially diverse with at least a third of the population identified as non-Hispanic whites.

Science Project Idea Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Science Project Idea - Research Paper Example Moreover, Kowalski (1987) points out that another research found that several days of fasting produced irritability, muscular weakness and depression or apathy. Since then studies has focused on how cognition is affected by nutrition. The sparse research on effects of food deprivation has created a void for further studies. Up to date no research has investigated perseverance despite its significance in cognitive functioning. According to McLeod (2002), perseverance can be a better indicator other than achievement tests in growth assessments in thinking abilities and learning as perseverance assists in complex problems solving. Testing as many cognition aspects as possible is the solution because the tasks nature is important when doing interpretation of the link between cognitive performance and food deprivation (Crumpton et al, 1966). Therefore, this research will help us understand how food deprivation for a short term affects perseverance and concentration with a difficult task. Particularly, participants starved for 24 hours will be expected to perform worse on perseverance task and concentration test than the ones starved for 12 hours who in turn are predicted to perform worse than the ones who were not starved. ... (ii) Materials Accuracy and concentration speed will be measured using number matching test found online (www.psychtests.com/tests/iq/concentration.html) which contained 25 numbers in 6 lines each as suggested by Eisenberger (1980). Participants will be required in 6 minutes to find in each line pairs of numbers that can add up to 10. Scores will be calculated as a percentage correctly pairs identified out of possible 120 (Eisenberger, 1980). On the hand, perseverance will be measured with a puzzle containing five octagons. Every octagon will include a specific object stencil such as flower or animal. The octagons will be piled on top of another in a particular way to make a rabbit silhouette. However, three of the identified shapes will be altered slightly to make the task impossible. Finally, perseverance scores will be calculated as a number of minutes spent by a participant on the puzzle before giving up (Green, Elliman & Rogers, 1995). Results After following all the procedures and doing the experiment, the results were as follows. Three questions of manipulation check indicated that every participant followed the rules and perceived correctly their deprivation condition. The average score for concentration was 77.78 with a standard deviation of 14.21 which was good. An average time of 24 minutes with standard deviation of 10.16 was averagely spent on the puzzle. From our prediction that 24 hour deprivation grouped participants would perform on the perseverance task and concentration test worse than 12 hour group participants, who would in turn perform worse than control group participants. From one way ANOVA, the results portrayed no significant effect of starvation condition on the concentration. On another ANOVA showed a significant effect on starvation

Violence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Violence - Essay Example This paper tackles the topic of violence in films over different time periods and how these films differ. Each film is discussed using the theoretical perspectives of how violence occurs in a society. The film industry has many types of films or genres, and one of these is the gangster or criminal movies which portray the lives and exploits of criminals. These portrayals can often be too realistic for comfort although films which depict violence continue to enjoy its popularity. In this paper, the two films being considered for discussion are the â€Å"Gangs of New York† and also â€Å"There will Be Blood† in which the former was made in 2002 but the time period of the film was in 1863 while the latter film was made later in 2007 and its time setting was in 1902. It is just a mere coincidence the two selected films featured the same actor, Daniel Day-Lewis. This paper adopts the theoretical perspective of differential association theory in terms of explaining the violence in these two films. This particular theory best explains and is thought to be the most credible or realistic among several theories propounded regarding crime causation. Other theories may explain deviant behaviors in society but the differential association theory is right on the dot on why people commit crimes, which is due to their learned behavior. This theory states that people commit crimes because of their association with criminals via social interactions with these criminals, in which crimes are not viewed as inherently evil. In the film â€Å"Gangs of New York† the main protagonists learned how to be violent due to their prior associations with crime leaders. Bill Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis) learned to be violent to enforce leadership of a crime gang under his mentor, Boss Tweed. On the other hand, Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) also learned to be violent due to his association with some underworld and unsavory characters, namely the former allies of his murdered

Industrial revolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Industrial revolution - Essay Example Industrial revolution was not welcomed by every person, it left many people jobless. The living conditions of the poor and working class deteriorated and thus they were not comfortable with the changes that came with industrial revolution. The mechanization during this period meant that less human labor was required and most people were relieved of their duties. For example, the spinning jenny was developed that enabled mass production of spools of threads over a short period of time. The power loom was another machine that made the production of cloth easier. The other salient feature that marked the period of industrial revolution was the factory system. This saw different people specialize in different areas. There was also development in the field of agriculture where food was produced for a larger population that did not practice agriculture. Basically, the changes that took place during this period were in the fields of transportation through the use of steam operated locomotives, the development of factories that led to the division of labor and specialization, change in the political sphere to cater for the shift in economic power as well as the use of sophisticated

How Technology Helps in Communication Essay Example for Free

How Technology Helps in Communication Essay If we talk about what are the tools that we can use in developing communication, than I say that â€Å"technology is one of the tools that we can use for communication†. Worlds are globalizing, we cannot depend on only one medium. We are lucky to have science gift that is technology. Communicating involves giving, receiving and making sense of information. Children do this by using non-verbal means of communication, talking, listening, thinking, and understanding. In time, the skills of reading and writing enrich this experience. Communicating is a two-way activity; as well as learning to share their experiences with others children also learn to interpret what others are sharing with them. They communicate in many different ways including facial expressions, gestures, body movements, sounds, language and for some children, through assistive technology. Children’s language is more than words, phrases and sentences. It includes art, Braille, dance, drama, music, poetry, pictures, sculpture, signing, and stories. While most children eventually master spoken and written language as their key means of communicating, they continue to speak through their gestures, body movements and expressions to a greater or lesser extent. Some children with special educational needs may need additional and consistent support throughout their lifetime to practise, learn and perfect the art of non-verbal communication. Language technologies are information technologies that are specialized for dealing with the most complex information medium in our world: human language. Therefore these technologies are also often subsumed under the term Human Language Technology. Human language occurs in spoken and written form. Whereas speech is the oldest and most natural mode of language communication, complex information and most of human knowledge is maintained and transmitted in written texts. Speech and text technologies process or produce language in these two modes of realization. But language also has aspects that are shared between speech and text such as dictionaries, most of grammar and the meaning of sentences. Thus large parts of language technology cannot be subsumed under speech and text technologies. Among those are technologies that link language to knowledge. We do not know how language, knowledge and thought are represented in the human brain. Nevertheless, language technology had to create formal representation systems that link language to concepts and tasks in the real world. This provides the interface to the fast growing area of knowledge technologies. In our communication we mix language with other modes of communication and other information media. We combine speech with gesture and facial expressions. Digital texts are combined with pictures and sounds. Movies may contain language and spoken and written form. Thus speech and text technologies overlap and interact with many other technologies that facilitate processing of multimodal communication and multimedia documents. Although existing LT systems are far from achieving human ability, they have numerous possible applications. The goal is to create software products that have some knowledge of human language. Such products are going to change our lives. They are urgently needed for improving human-machine interaction since the main obstacle in the interaction between human and computer is merely a communication problem. Todays computers do not understand our language but computer languages are difficult to learn and do not correspond to the structure of human thought. Even if the language the machine understands and its domain of discourse are very restricted, the use of human language can increase the acceptance of software and the productivity of its users. Language technologies helps in developing listening and speaking skills Being a good communicator is crucial to children’s development. The adult encourages children to communicate by listening to them, interpreting what they are saying, responding to them, and by modeling good communication. The adult also provides an environment which motivates children to interact with each other and the adult, and with the objects and places in it. By capturing children’s interest and curiosity and challenging them to explore and to share their adventures and discoveries with others, this environment can fuel their thinking, imagination and creativity, thereby enriching communication. These early experiences support children in becoming confident and competent communicators Natural language interfaces enable the user to communicate with the computer in French, English, German, or another human language. Some applications of such interfaces are database queries, information retrieval from texts, so-called expert systems, and robot control. Current advances in the recognition of spoken language improve the usability of many types of natural language systems. Communication with computers using spoken language will have a lasting impact upon the work environment; completely new areas of application for information technology will open up. However, spoken language needs to be combined with other modes of communication such as pointing with mouse or finger. If such multimodal communication is finally embedded in an effective general model of cooperation, we have succeeded in turning the machine into a partner. The ultimate goal of research is the omnipresent access to all kinds of technology and to the global information structure by natural interaction. In an ambitious but not too far-fetched scenario, language technology provides the interface to an ambient intelligence providing assistance at work and in many situations of daily life. Language technologies can also help people communicate with each other. Much older than communication problems between human beings and machines are those between people with different mother tongues. One of the original aims of language technology has always been fully automatic translation between human languages. From bitter experience scientists have realized that they are still far away from achieving the ambitious goal of translating unrestricted texts. Nevertheless, they have been able to create software systems that simplify the work of human translators and clearly improve their productivity. Less than perfect automatic translations can also be of great help to information seekers who have to search through large amounts of texts in foreign languages. The most serious bottleneck for e-commerce is the volume of communication between business and customers or among businesses. Language technology can help to sort, filter and route incoming email. It can also assist the customer relationship agent to look up information and to compose a response. In cases where questions have been answered before, language Technology can find appropriate earlier replies and automatically respond.

Chocolate Research Paper Essay Example for Free

Chocolate Research Paper Essay Chocolate is a key ingredient in many foods such as milk shakes, candy bars, cookies and cereals. It is ranked as one of the most favourite flavours in North America and Europe. Despite its popularity most people do not know the unique origin of this popular treat. Chocolate is a product that requires complex procedures to produce. The process involves harvesting cocoa, refining coca to cocoa beans, and shipping the cocoa beans to the manufacturing factory for cleaning, coaching and grinding. These cocoa beans will then be imported or exported to other countries and be transformed into different types of chocolate products. Cocoa beans grow in countries like Cote dIvoire, Ghana, Indonesia, Brazil, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Malaysia, but the highest cocoa producing country is Cote dIvoire. The production process of cocoa beans include: first, cocoa is harvested manually. The seed pods of cocoa are collected and the beans are selected and placed in piles. These cocoa beans are then ready to be shipped to the manufacturer for production. Cocoa grows in pods that sprout off the trunks and branches of cocoa trees. The pods have the shape and almost the size of football. The pods start out green and turn orange when they are ripe. When the pods are ripe they are harvested gently with machetes. Machines can damage the trees or the clusters of flowers and pods that grow on the trunk, so workers have to harvest the pods by hand, using short, hooked blades mounted on long poles to reach the highest fruit. The cocoa seeds then undergo a process of fermentation by placing them in large, shallow, heated trays or by covering them with large banana leaves. If the climate is right, they may be simply heated by the sun. Workers mostly women come along periodically and stir them up so that all of the beans come out equally fermented. This process may take up to five or eight days. After fermentation, the cocoa seeds are dried before they can be scooped into sacks and shipped to chocolate manufacturers. Farmers simply spread the fermented seeds on trays and leave them in the sun to dry. The drying process usually takes about a week and results in seeds becoming reduced to about half of their original weight. During the production process, labor is not equally divided between men and women who work in the planation; this brings us to the issue of gender division. The gender divide that exists on the cocoa plantation is that most farm work is conducted by men, although most certainly there are tasks where women are very active, such as scooping the beans from the already opened husks, turning the beans during the fermentation and drying process, and sewing the jute sacs needed for the packaging of the dried beans. Women in the farms normally tend to the needs of the family. When female labor is hired during the harvesting time the wages given to them are not the same as those for men. Perhaps another reason why men are preferred is because of their assumed higher productivity rate compared to that of women. Due to different practices followed in individual regions, even within countries, the participation of women and their assigned tasks vary enormously. For instance, because of the popular method of sun drying cocoa beans in Ecuador, it is necessary to â€Å"clean† the beans. This job is mostly undertaken by women. This is not the case in Ghana or Brazil where sun drying is accomplished while protecting the beans from foreign matters and waste. It is interesting to note however that there is no specific pattern for the assignment of tasks to women, except during the harvest when the scooping of the beans from the opened pods is primarily performed by women in most cocoa producing countries. Given the great differences in the systems of production in producing countries it is difficult to find a common percentage that reflects the average participation of the female work force. It is worth mentioning that unlike the coffee agricultural sector, there are no associations or specific groups that house ‘women only’ involved in the cocoa sector at any level, although all associations and cooperatives are open to all who qualify. Due to fluctuation of cocoa prices in the world market, farmers have no long-term security, and in some situations, they do not have enough funds to support their farming business. Cocoa farmers are always faced with financial hardship; they are not able to provide for their families as they would want nor have enough funds to start up their own farming business because they only receive a fraction of the proceeds from the selling of the beans on the world market and there are many people in the trading chain. Cocoa farmers around the world face many challenges. It is estimated that about one-third of global cocoa crops are destroyed by pests and diseases every year. Many cocoa farmers have limited access to the latest agricultural technologies or methods of cultivation and few of them have business backgrounds to help them effectively market their products and manage their operations. Many of the farming communities live in poverty and are infected with diseases. Industry groups, governments and consumers worldwide have raised concerns about the use of pesticides and child labor on West African cocoa farms. An interview conducted by Christophe Koffi showed that one major problem that women in cocoa production encounter is the lack the of financial capability or backing due to the fact that most of these women find themselves in a male dominated occupation. It is very difficult for them to secure financial aid or loans to manage their farms. For instance, â€Å"Women cannot inherit or even create a cocoa plantation under our patriarch-dominated tradition,† said Vanie, criticising what she called a â€Å"backwards and misogynist† practice† (Koffi, 2008) because we still live in a patriarchal dominated society where women do not have the right to own lands and properties. This paper further talks about the sustanability in the production process of cocoa. We will be looking at Lindt Sprungli’s which is a family company and a major producer of chocolate and other cocoa products with a headquaters in Kilchberg, Switzerland. Lindt Sprungli is one of the few chocolate makers that have complete control over every step of the production chain starting with the precise selection of the finest cocoa varieties from the best growing areas in the world right on through the careful and expert processing until ending with the elegant packaging. Lindt gets its cocoa beans mostly from Ghana and Central and South America. Lindt has been very conservative in the amount of energy its invests in the chocolate production process. Each existing and future facility and investment undergoes very detailed analysis to determine how much energy can be saved. Through better insulation and energy recovery, Lindt Sprungli was able to cut down on energy consumption by more than 13% per ton produced between 2004 and 2010. The company intends to continue reducing the energy consumption rate per ton produced by an average over the coming years. According to the Lindt publication, The company’s efforts: since 1999, Lindt Sprungli’s Swiss subsidiary, Chocoladefabriken Lindt Sprungli (Schweiz) AG, has been an active member of the Lake Zurich Energy Model Group†¦The Swiss government and independent engineers have audited the progress and as a result, the Swiss subsidiary has been granted the official certificate. (Kilchberg, 2012) Since 2007, Lindt Sprungli under water conservation has been participating in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)†¦Since then, the measurements of water emissions and energy consumption have been largely based on the concept of the ‘Methodology Fossil Fuels’ set out in the CDP Protocol†¦Waste water, Lindt Sprungli continuously monitors and analyses the use of water and the output of wastewater in the production process and intends to further reduce the use of fresh water in this process, which, in turn will impact the output of wastewater (Kilchberg, 2012). The major people that benefit from cocoa production are mostly the big corporations. The corporations exploit cocoa farmers in the sense that they do not pay them the true worth of their labour. Women who work on the farms are underpaid and marginalized. There is also the issue of child labor where children of school going age are forced to work on the farms instead of going to school thereby denying them the right to education. The big corporations are not forth coming in releasing information as to how and where they get their cocoa beans from. Most of these African countries where these big corporations get their raw materials from do not have access to good roads, health care facilities, schools, electricity, and there is poverty in most of the communities. These big corporations buy the cocoa beans at a very cheap rate and then import them to the western society and the refined product is processed into different kinds of chocolates (e. g. chocolate drink, chocolate bars of different shapes and sizes and chocolate candies etc. ) . Which are sold consumers at exorbitant prices considering the price at which the cocoa beans are bought from the cocoa farmers. This explains how capitalism and big corporation exploit cheap labour. Almost everyone enjoys a bit of chocolate every now and again. But if you take a closer look at how cocoa is produced, it may well leave a bitter taste in your mouth. The conditions under which the cocoa farmers in many producer countries live and work are worrying: Despite the fact that cocoa is usually their main source of income, the families struggle to make a living from it. Child labour is not uncommon. As consumers we can work with NGOs to find means of helping the farmers to adapt to new systems of cocoa farming that result higher yields, under socially more acceptable and environmentally friendly conditions, to meet market demands and hence ensure a stable flow income. As a major part of the global cocoa industry which has remained inactive and invisible for so long, consumers of chocolate can demonstrate that they want slavery in the cocoa sector stamped out, and your pressure can highlight their lack of commitment and make them more accountable. Finally all cocoa products, including chocolate, run the risk of being tainted by child labour and slavery. To achieve a satisfactory standard of ethical production in chocolate consumers must help to ensure that companies commit to credible and sufficient actions against such things as use of child labour and the exploitation of cocoa farmers and not make false and unsustainable promises to consumers of being â€Å"slavery- free†. The consumers can liaise with government bodies and NGOs to negotiate fair prices for the purchase of cocoa products and this will in turn help the farmers to gain access to basic social amenities of life. Reference Page Archer, D. (2012). ADM’s commitment to sustainable cocoa. Milwaukee: Copyright 2012 Archer Daniels Midland Company . Clarkson, T. (1998). Anti-slavery. Retrieved November 15, 2012, from www. antislavery. org: http://www. antislavery. org/english/privacy_policy. aspx Kilchberg. (2012, April 22). The environment in the Production Process. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from www. Lindt. com: http://www. lindt. com/swf/eng/company/social-responsibility/lindts-sustainable-cocoa-supply-chain/ Koffi, C. (2008, November 7). Ivory Coast women defy taboos. Retrieved November 11, 2012, from iol News: http://www. iol. co. za/news/africa/ivory-coast-women-defy-taboos-1. 423405.

Social Issues In Sport

Social Issues In Sport Sociology is the study of how society is structured and how people experience life through its processes, directly or indirectly. A basic understanding of social issues helps us to learn how these processes affect us in everyday life. Discussing social issues in sport can help us understand different sociological concepts and perspectives of sport in society. These sociological perspectives can help explain the underlying reality of sports organisations, participation barriers, influence on sport performance, and how to develop strategies to deal with social complexities. Such concepts include that of; functionalism, figuration, class and Bourdieu, conflict and Marxism. Functionalism is a perspective that examines society through a functional framework which stresses that everyone and everything, no matter how seemingly harmful or out of place, serves a purpose. Society is looked at on a macro scale so it generalises ideas toward the whole of society. For example they look at what ed ucation does for society as a whole not just certain people in society. Functionalists also believe that society is based on consensus or agreement that we are all brought up to agree on how to behave and what values are right and wrong. Functionalism could be described as the most generalized of the sociological perspectives. It does not distinguish between cultures and it cannot effectively explain change. It also assumes that all social groups benefit equally from sports. The functionalist viewpoint is a distinct contrast to that of figuration. Figuration is a sociological concept that believes everyone is linked in groups of interdependence, such as schools, families and in the workplace. Sports games are seen as microcosms of social life. For example, a basketball match is in a constant state of flow, with ongoing tests of physical and mental balance between opponents. It suggests power exists only through interconnected relationships and that a stronger competitor still needs weaker opposition to be successful. Due to a more increasingly complex society, there is a greater need for social interdependency, therefore continuing the civilizing process. Unlike the Bourdieu theory, where there are distinct divisions between social classes. The Bourdieu theory of class and classification evaluates the social world and expresses the division between classes, age groups and the sexes. It believes there is a highly complex system of social positions, structured and fighting for the ultimate goal of control over capital. The field is a competitive system of social relations in an area or place where there is a struggle for power between the dominant and subordinate classes. Capital may be categorized as social, cultural or economic. This sociological concept also explains the use of habitus, a conscious or unconscious train of thought stemming from social origins. It influences the way we act by our common preconceptions. Were it not for the influence of Pierre Bourdieu, the notion of class would be given surprisingly little individual attention in the sociology of sport. In contrast to this perspective, there is the theory of Conflict which resembles some of the conceptions of figuration. Conflict theory and Marxism is a structural sociological hypothesis, structural meaning that our actions are determined by social forces and structures. Conflict theory explains society as a fight for authority, linking groups that are struggling for limited capital. Karl Marx was the socialist thinker behind conflict theory. He believed that capitalism would in due course be overtaken by communism. This Marxist based theory suggests that the social classes within society are in a constant fight to gain capital, and that the more powerful groups, usually higher class, use that power to exploit those with less power, usually the lower working class, in a bid to stay in control. This will now be discussed further, as a more detailed explanation into Marxism and Conflict theory will be given. Karl Marx is best known as a philosopher, a revolutionary communist and a social scientist (Burke, 2000), whose works inspired the foundation of many communist regimes in the twentieth century. He believed that capitalism would ultimately be replaced with communism, a classless, stateless society. He thought that society consisted of two interconnecting parts; infrastructure and superstructure, each playing there part in the process. Infrastructure includes and signifies all the power of production. This includes method of production, labour force, the logical and physical abilities of workers and the organization of social classes. Infrastructure interlocks with superstructure, which is the foundation, and which refers to the different forms of societal consciousness, such as; ideology, religion, philosophy and the political structure. As Coakley (2002) reiterates, Marxist theory focuses on economic activities and relations, the infrastructure, and their impact on social institution s, such as politics and culture, the superstructure. Marxist theorists assume that social development is initiated through economic processes, in particular, any change in the system of production. The economic conditions of capitalism involuntarily generate social economic conflict between the owners of production and the workers; this is known as the class struggle for power. Marx believed that this exploitation would become conscious to the working class and unite the people, resulting in the elimination of the class struggle. Marx saw the upward rise of the working class as the driving force of its own freedom. It would be this working class, created and organized into an industrial workforce that would overcome its domination and lead in a society liberated from exploitation and oppression. What the bourgeoisie consequently would produce would be its own downfall (Burke, 2000). In his disapproval of the wage structure and the acceptance of the working class to live with it, Mar x explained the need for false consciousness, used by the Bourgeois class and how social life influences consciousness. What Marx meant by this is that the ruling capitalistic class within society reap the benefits because it is very one sided. Antonio Gramsci was one of the first Marxist theorists to work on the problems of major change in twentieth century western society and to recognize the importance of the battle against bourgeois values, such as an ideological cultural struggle (Burke, 1999, 2005). Marx claimed that one way to help release the stranglehold of the bourgeois on the proletariat was to remove control over education. He assumed that education had been used to reinforce class consciousness and the capitalists system of production and with power wrested from the bourgeoisie, the proletariats position would then be reinforced by the promotion of proletarian ideology through education (Carr, 1972). Marx felt that education, as a social institution that imparts values, and by the introduction of free education, this would guarantee a distribution of cultural opportunity. Therefore, no longer would education support class distinctions and capitalist ideology, although in todays society it does still happen, wit h private schooling available to those with greater economic capital. One of the main topics within the study of Marxism is the thought that all social changes result from conflict between existing classes in society. Marxists believe that the main ideology of each society is the ideology of the ruling class. Marx believed that this concept could be applied throughout all of history and would continue to exist, ultimately resulting in a proletariat revolution and the abolishment of all classes. Burke (2000) suggests that what Marx brought was to recognize that the existence of classes was made due to the production or economic structure and that the proletariat, a new working class that capitalism had shaped, had a historical capability in helping toward the collapse of all classes and to the construction of a classless social order, resulting in the creation of communism. Berger (1982) also shows that history is based on unending class conflict just as Marx stated. In contrast to this view, Boyne (2002) suggests that class appears to be less noticeabl y determinant of social action now than was the case just a quarter of a century ago, and that it has even been overtaken in the ranks of social structural influences by ethnicity, economic geography and gender. Marxs view was complete economic sight. The two classes have interests in common; therefore they are in conflict with those of a whole other class. This is turn leads to conflict between individual members of different classes (Berger, 1982). In addition, Marx did not recognise other systems of classification. The Marxs perspective only views the classes between employer and employee as a substantial system of classification, and others like; religion, race, and nation, are not included. The reasons behind this being that, Marx believed these social influences were not natural or useful to humans. It is in the relationship between work and sport that socialist sport theorists draw a strong association. A basic physical relationship is seen between work and sport, in so much that fundamental forms of work activity are repeated in the motor movements of sport. Although the technical development of society is now at a stage where elite sport as a preparation for productive work is no longer necessary in the manner that Marx envisaged it, the approach supporting the relationship between production and sport still exists even though a certain degree of independence is now granted to sporting activity. Through these similarities, sport was used as a capitalist control tool. As shown by Delany T and Madigan T (2009), Karl Marx said that religion is the opiate of the masses, this is means that Marx saw religion as a way of dulling the pain of reality by encouraging a feeling that no matter how oppressed of unfulfilled the working class may be, there will be a joyous afterlife for thos e who endure such inequalities on earth. Since then, a Marxist perspective from Hoch (1972) said that, Five generations ago, Karl Marx called religion the opiate of the masses. Today that role has been taken over by sports. He suggested that people were more concerned by baseball and football scores than the Vietnam War at the time. Both views relate, as both are social institutions within society, and the realisation that sports is in the age of the spectator and consumer, giving an escape from reality that some people crave during everyday life. The bourgeois as a social class, is defined by Marx as those with ownership of capital and power. Therefore, they do not agree with the Marxism concept, simply because a communist society would not be beneficial to them in anyway, showing that those with power and influence do not wish to share or lose it. Sport, just like society, is an ever changing institution that has grew and moved on with the times. Sport is not the same kind of activity in the advanced capitalist societies of the late twentieth century as it was in the pre-capitalist societies of the seventeenth century. As Jones (1988) states, in the early stages of industrialisation sports was a diversion, but more than that, it was linked to rules and hierarchies of an established social order, as well as often a release from them. The society reinforcing sport was very different to todays democratic interests and commercialised lifestyle. By the twentieth century football has become structured and pacified, despite the hooligan element. It has become a spectator sport, controlled on a national basis and is a fundamental aspect of todays consumer culture. It is a necessary distraction in their lives. For millions of people, participation in sport offers an escape from the hard work of everyday life, and something that they be nefit from. For many others, watching sport live or more so these days, on television, gives both a release from workday stresses and allows a straightforward and easy identification with sports athletes or sports clubs which offer them satisfaction in their lives. Football related disorder, or what it is more commonly known as, football hooliganism, is a kind of behaviour ranging from verbal abuse and aggressive posturing through to rioting and even murder. Such things have been a regular topic of many books, DVDs, web sites, digital games, features films and documentaries in the UK over the last two decades. Although this subject has been portrayed in many ways in recent history, it is a very real concept, and can be explained by many theorists relating to sociological issues. As shown by (Dunning, E. Murphy, P. Williams, J. 1986) the early works of Ian Taylor, from a Marxist point of view, states that the rise of the football hooligan stems from the boursification and internationalisation of the game, and that clubs used to be the working mans voice or resistance movement against the middle class groups seeking to gain control and to implement their middle class values on society. It was believed that spectacularisation of the game through p re match shows, better seating and increased commercialisation alienated the working class fans. A largely similar approach was developed by Clarke (1978), he argued that hooliganism originated in the way in which the traditional forms of football watching encounter the professionalization and spectacularization of the game, saying it was a consequence of the changing relationship of its audience and the game. He also believed that due to some sub cultural differences, young working class males needed to resolve essential conflict in their lives, so in turn choose hooliganism. Over recent years, professionalism has been increasingly associated with sporting organisations. Clubs and sporting organisations must perform well financially, or at the very least remain viable, if they want to survive in the highly competitive world of commercialised sport. Elite sport has developed into a business that demands nothing less than specific, professional preparation. As Shilbury and Deane (2001) suggests, institutions must now conform to commercial process of professionalism, which give emphasis to minimalist inputs, business decision making and a keen awareness of the financial interests of the shareholders. Wilson. B (2007) argues that sport has become increasing globalised and transnationalised to a point where it is possible to analyse a team or individual athlete from any country in the world and be constantly updated of their activities, even from the side of the planet. He also points out the effects that it has on the sport related cultures around the world, not to mention the increasingly realized potential and means of promotion of a capitalist agenda. This shows the capability of the media and the internet to internationalise or globalise almost any brand, allowing a capitalist ideology to be explored globally. In sport today there is an unhealthy and unequal distribution of resources, this can easily be seen when comparing economic growth between sports in Britain. For instance, football in Britain far exceeds any other sport in economic growth and in media coverage. You only have to look at the sports section in almost any newspaper in the UK, to see that is dominated by football. This is especially true when you consider the number of games broadcasted across television and the increasing need for internet streaming, all of which results in a huge financial difference between football and other sports in the UK. Burke (1999, 2005) suggests that Gramsci identified two rather distinct forms of political control, domination and hegemony. The domination refers to direct physical force by authorities, and hegemony, which referred to both ideological control and more importantly, consent. He assumed that no rule, regardless of how authoritarian it might be, could sustain itself continuously through state power and force. In the long run, it had to have popular support and legality in order to maintain stability. Even in real life today, the capitalist governing body are desperately seeking a revival to the current economic crisis, and are looking to economic business for recovery. As Woods (2009) proposed, the governing class are concerned about the social and political effects of the economic situation. Thats why they invest huge sums of money into the economy, which creates exceptionally large levels of debt. As people know, sooner or later these debts must be repaid, and that in itself is a rec ipe for an enormous crisis in the future. The theory of class conflict explains the human social history between two classes, the exploiting and the exploited. As Marx explained, in the interests of the bourgeois, ownership of the means of production enables them to employ a system of exploitation to a large mass of wage workers, the proletariat, and usually out of necessity the workers go along with this system as they have no means of livelihood other than to sell their labour to the property owners. Marxists argue that new wealth is created through work, therefore if someone gains wealth that they did not work for, and then someone else has to work for it and they do not receive the full wealth created by their work. In other words, that someone else is exploited. This is how the capitalist bourgeois might turn a large profit by exploiting workers. An example of this is shown in work by Hickman (2010) where it is suggested that many of todays top brands such as; Nike, Puma and Adidas, were found to be exploiting low wage labour workers from developing countries to a means of economic production. This can also be shown in sport through the form of child labour, which gained a lot of attention recently when extensive media coverage reported that sporting goods manufacturers were using underage child labour in a range of developing countries, the children were paid much less than the minimum wage and were used to manufacture footballs and football merchandise. The news was extremely damaging to the sporting goods industry, especially because the children would never have the chance to use any of the equipment manufactured in the factories. This evidence shows that children are being openly exploited in the sports industry and that large divisions of the industry remain unregulated. As shown by Keys (2010), child exploitation has been ongoing since the late eighteenth century, just to sustain the capitalist class and produce their economic surplus value. The theory of Marxism does contain strengths and weaknesses in relation to todays society. As is derived from Marxist principles, the increase in production in all areas of socialist life is extremely important to the success of socialism. Physical education contributes effectively towards increasing the total work output of the socialist community. The progressive development of socialism depends upon the socialist consciousness of each individual. Sport provides a good means for the development of political assurance because of the possibilities it provides for social training. Marxism can be also be viewed in a good light simply because some people, like to know there place in society as it gives them a sense of the order of things, it also gives good opportunity for personal growth. Although, the Marxist concept does show a number of weaknesses, especially as some of their views may be outdated in todays society. The industrial proletariat described by Marx is undeniably a threat ened species, particularly in western societies, in which heavy manual labour is increasingly a thing of the past. To the extent that most adults can be described as workers in terms of their relationship to the means of production, Marxs original understanding of the idea of a working class becomes less tenable. Students relate how their parents have worked all their lives. That they also earn large amounts of money and acquire considerable social status from their occupations, so this does not necessarily invalidate the claim that they are, workers. The Marxist perspective also ignores the possibility that spectatorship or participation in sport can empower individuals within capitalist societies. Furthermore Marxism only gives an exclusive focus on economic factors and underplays the significance of non economic types of conflict, for example; gender, race, age, sexual orientation and ethnicity.

Isolation in John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men Essay -- Essays Papers

Of Mice and Men Isolation John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men contains the haunting theme of isolation that captures the "abused" little man of 1920’s America. Throughout the novel, it is shown that loneliness and isolation has a greater affect on us than may seem. Steinbeck's characters experience different forms of isolation based on the specific prejudice contained within themselves. This theme is shown in Crooks and his isolation due to his race, Candy due to his age, and Curley's wife due to her quality as "jail bait." Candy, characterized as an old swamper, is victimized into isolation as a result of two main factors: his basic disability and his age. Throughout the book we find the farmhands out bucking the barley while Candy is left behind to sweep and clean the ranch. We see the reason for isolation due to his lack of a hand which he lost after getting it caught in a piece of machinery. Candy's age also adds to his isolation. Because Candy himself thinks that he is useless he puts himself in a state of mind that handicaps him more than his missing hand ever. He looks down on himself as an old worthless man that's wasting away his last few years. Candy's character shows us that sometimes its not just other people that isolate us, but that in some cases it is also ourselves. The most evident case of loneliness throughout the book is Curley's wife. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find attention. In response to her reputation for being a flirt none...

Music Appreciation and the Auditory System :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Music Appreciation and the Auditory System Have you ever come home after an exhausting day and turned on music to relax your nerves? While you are taking it easy, your auditory cortex is not. It works hard to synthesize the several musical elements of rhythm, pitch, frequency, and timbre to create a rich auditory experience. First, a discussion of the ear physiology is needed. Vibrating air moving at different frequencies hits the eardrum which causes the middle ear's three bones to move accordingly. The stapes, one of these inner ear bones hits on the oval window of the inner ear, and because the inner ear is filled with fluid, the bulging of the oval window causes this fluid to slosh around. The round window, also in the inner ear, compensates for the increased pressure by bulging outward. The inner ear has two functions, to transduce sound via the cochlea and to maintain a person's vertical position with respect to gravity via the vestibular system (1). . But here, we will only consider the transduction of sound. The cochlea is filled with hair cells that are extremely sensitive and depolarize with only slight perturbations of the inner ear fluid. At the point of depolarization, a neural signal is transmitted and on its way to the brain. This nerve impulse travels to the auditory nerve (8th cranial ne rve), passes through the brainstem, and then reaches the branched path of the cochlear nucleus: the ventral cochlear nucleus or the dorsal cochlear nucleus. The nerve signal that passes through the ventral cochlear nucleus will reach the superior olive in the medulla where differences in timing and loudness of sound are compared, and location of the sound's origin is pinpointed (1). The nerve signal that crosses the dorsal cochlear nucleus ultimately is analyzed for sound quality. As seen in the final step of sound transduction, the information relayed by the neural signal branches and processing occurs at different sights. No consensus has been reached as to where music is processed in the brain. Most researchers agree that the different components of music are processed in different parts of the brain, as exemplified by the branching pathway of the cochlear nucleus which facilitates the separation of sound timing and loudness with the sound quality analysis. But this information is not sufficient to answer the question of where our sense of music originates. Frackwiak has supplied a small part of the puzzle.

Paradise Found And Lost - Critique :: essays research papers

â€Å"Paradise Found and Lost† from Daniel J. Boorstin’s The Discoverers, embodies Columbus’ emotions, ideas, and hopes. Boorstin, a former Librarian of Congress, leads the reader through one man’s struggles as he tries to find a Western Passage to the wealth of the East. After reading â€Å"Paradise Found and Lost,† I was enlightened about Columbus’ tenacious spirit as he repeatedly fails to find the passage to Asia. Boorstin title of this essay is quite apropos because Columbus discovers a paradise but is unable to see what is before him for his vision is too jaded by his ambition. Although this essay is historically accurate it lacks important details, which might paint a different view of Columbus. Boorstin writes favorable of Columbus and depicts him as a heroic and determined figure who helped shape history, but he neglects to include Columbus’ unethical acts committed in the world that was not supposed to exist, the Americas. When Columbus first discovered the New World, he took care that the royal standard had been brought ashore and he claimed the land for Spain in front of all, including the indigenous population who had been sighted even before Columbus made landfall. According to the medieval concepts of natural law, only those territories that are uninhabited can become the property of the first person to discover them. Clearly this was an unethical act. Thus, the first contact between European and non-European worlds was carried out through a decidedly European prism, which ensured Spanish claim to the islands of the Americas. Faced with a co lony in an inhospitable area, the Spanish soon inaugurated the practice of sending regular military parties inland to subdue the increasingly hostile natives. Members of the indigenous population were captured and enslaved to support the fledgling colony. The object of Columbus’ desire changed from exploration and trade to conquest and subjugation. Boorstin eloquently writes of the depreciating mentality of Columbus and his hopes. As each voyage is unsuccessful in producing Oriental splendors or in establishing relations with the Great Kahn, it becomes harder for Columbus to persuade others to support his missions. His explanations become increasingly farfetched and they are lese and less received. The Spanish monarchs revoked his monopoly on the newly discovered region. He never waiver in his belief that he had found an alternate route to Asia. Columbus had found a paradise just not the one of his hopes and aspirations.

To what extent would you explain gender differences in terms of gender socialization?

We are living in the world with gender difference, though the difference is varied from one culture to another. Sociologists often explain gender difference in terms of the Nature and the Nurture Explanation. Nature Versus Nurture Explanation also called the Genetic versus Environmental Controversy, questions if the difference in behavior of male and female is due to their genetics (Nature) or their environment or ways of upbringing (Nurture). Some phenomenon of gender stereotypes is better explained by the Nature Explanation while most of them can be explained well by the Nurture Explanation. Though genetics do play a role in separating the actions and behaviors of males and females, it is only to a certain extent; most differences between the sexes are based on differential socialization of men and women. In this essay, it explains a little about the Nature Explanation but focus on the Nurture Explanation. It attempts to give validity to the nurture side by showing evidences that gender roles are a product of gender socialization. Firstly, it gives concrete examples of socialization in our daily lives. Then, the causes of gender difference and gender roles stereotypes will be examined by the Social Learning Theory and Cognitive Development Theory. At the end, the criticism of socialization and the recent change in socialization will also be stated. The Nature Explanation The Nature Explanation was proposed by Steven Goldbery. He argued that anthropological record shows that all human societies past and present have been patriarchies, that is, societies in which men dominate women. The majority of top positions and highest statuses are occupied by men rather than by women. Thus, Goldbery concluded that men are born with dominance. (Haralambos, 1995) Therefore, Biology, and hence genetics and hormones, serves as the answer to account for and give rise to masculinity1 and femininity2, for instance, men are more aggressive and competitive than female. The Nurture Explanation — Gender Socialization Is The Key Sociologists have also tried to open the door to the Nurture Explanation and prove that gender differences are the product of culture. Gender Socialization is one important field of the Nurture Explanation. Under the effect of socialization, male and female develop different personalities, aspirations and role expectation or even achievements in the society. 1) Examples of Gender Differences under Socialization Socialization is a gender-role model tried to specify the ways in which males and females are socialized to be what is considered masculine and feminine in a particular culture. (Abbott, 1992). Sociologists claim that we are under the effect of socialization through our life cycle. Some examples are given as follows: 1.1 Infant Socialization — Effect of Parents' Upbringing Certainly, it is difficult to distinguish between a boy baby and girl baby, apart by observing their difference in biological features. When they are being brought up, they have been unconsciously under the effect of gender socialization. It is believed that parents have great influences in extending the effects of socialization in the process of nurturing their children. For instance, boys are dressed in blue and girls in pink; girls wear dresses with hearts or flowers while boys wear super hero pajamas. 1.1.1 Toys and Games The parents' choice on toys for their children also reveals socialization. As children get older, parents reinforce gender roles by encouraging activities and choosing toys that are gender-specific. (Bryant & Check, 2000) — Girls play with Barbies dolls and kitchen sets while boys with Legos, trucks and motor cars. Toys for boys tend to encourage their exploration, manipulation, invention, construction, competition and aggression whereas girls' toys typically rate high on creativity, nurturance, and attractiveness. (Renzetti & Curran, 1998) Moreover, Parents, especially fathers, tend to engage in rougher and more physical play with sons. Moreover, even for story books and cartoons, men are always typically rewarded for being smart and brave heroes like Supermen and Spidermen; Girls are usually princess with good look and being gentle, warm and kind hearted. (Renzetti & Curran, 1998) 1.1.2 Emotional Expression and Altitudes Tthe parents socialize the boys by encouraging them from a very early age to express certain types of emotions but not others, like fearfulness. Research in 1974 and again in 1995 showed that parents, especially fathers, describe newborn girls as softer, finer-featured, smaller, weaker, and more delicate than boys. (Bryant & Check, 2000) In addition, they think that it is natural for boys to be ill-mannered and aggressive. They consider it as â€Å"energetic†. Yet girls have to be polite, gentle and quiet. All these observed behaviors are obviously not because of genetics and are not preceded when they were babies, it is the parents who think their sons should behave in these ways, and therefore they treat them in such a way that elicits these behaviors and altitudes. 1,2 Socialization of School Education Schools reinforce traditional gender roles in many ways. Boys are socialized to be more analytical, critical and scientific-minded. This accounts for the fact that boys dominate in Science subjects like Engineering, Computer Programming and Pure Sciences. Girls are socialized to be good at language, so larger proportion of girls study in Business Administration, Literature and Fine Arts. Concerning other special subjects in secondary schools, Woodwork is only available for boys whereas Home Economics is for girls only. This also creates a gender stereotypes that men must deal with heavy works but women must be learnt to do housework. 1.3 Socialization of Mass Media — Advertisements Advertisements not only sell products, but they also sell gender stereotypes. The models and photos appeared in the advertisements in newspaper and magazines are also carefully chosen to display cultural understandings about differences between male and female (Richardson, 1988): Women are chosen for selling household products and cosmetics while men selling luxurious cars, mobile phones and high technology products. Sometimes, Many advertisements even promote the product being user-friendly by saying that â€Å"Even housewives know how to use it!† They unconsciously convey a message to the public that women are intelligently inferior to men. To conclude, we have been consciously and unconsciously socialized in many aspects in our daily lives. Eventually, men develop masculinity: self reliant, independent, assertive, forceful and analytical; women develop femininity: affectionate, sympathetic, sensitive to other's need, understanding, compassionate, emotional, warm and tender. 2) Social Learning Theory and Gender Role Stereotypes Two theories have been put forward to explain gender socialization as well. They are the Social Learning Theory and the Cognitive Development. 1) Social Learning theory Mischel, Bandura and Walters have developed a theory of learning sexual identity known as Social Learning Theory. It is a behaviorlist theory that relies on reinforcement of the environment of the society and modeling explanations of behavior (Coltrane, 2001). Initially, there are few physiological or behavioral differences between males and females at birth. However, as boys and girls are treated differently and put into different learning environments by their parents, they learn the behaviours of both sexes by means of their observations. They are more likely to imitate the behaviors of his or her own sex. Eventually, they develop different needs, wants, desires, skills and temperaments and eventually give rise to masculine and feminine direction to the emotions and behaviours of men and women. Gender roles are defined â€Å"entirely social created expectation of masculine and feminine behaviour initiated and perpetuated by the institutions and values of a society† (Abbott, 1992), that is, by Socialization. Gender roles usually contain certain general characteristics. These characteristics include: i) The expectation of certain personality traits. ii) Social roles iii) Social positions and occupations In this section, it will focus on how social learning brings out gender difference in social roles and occupations. 2.1 Social learning in Social Roles Due to the traditional family structure which has been deep-rooted in people's mind, men always take up the role of fathers and breadwinners while women are mothers and housewives. As a result, men are socialized to be assertive, independent and strong so that they can be the â€Å"pillar of the family†. On the other hand, women are socialized to be gentle, warm, tender, sensitive and dependent to fulfill her jobs of taking care of their husbands as well as nurturing their children. At the same time, since parents serve as the primary models for their young children, children learn from their parents by seeing what their parents do. Thus, socialization continues to exert its effect through generations. If the mother always does all the cooking, the implication to their children is that this is women's work; if the father is always the one to climb on the roof and repair electrical appliances; children soon learn that this is men's job. (Abbott, 1992) Boys and girls thus imitate their fathers and mothers respectively by acquiring the same kind of skills and developing same personality traits. Research has found out that daughters directly internalize their mothers' attitudes because they perceive these attitudes to be realized in the practice of their mother's daily life. (Carine, 1998). The internalization of altitude of girls is stronger than that of boys as fathers have high chance to go out for work and lowers the chances for their boys to imitate. In addition, parents may consciously or unconsciously have special expectations of their boys and girls and attempt to teach a child appropriate gender role behaviour. Research shows that the more traditional the gender role attitudes of a mother, the stronger her tendency to emphasize a daughter's conformity, and the more traditional her daughter's attitudes appear to be a mother's conformist orientation substantially contributed to the extent in which daughters develop a more traditional view on gender roles. (Carine, 1998) 2,2 Gender Role Stereotypes in Occupation Gender is often attached to different social positions and occupations in several ways. This results in gender inequality in work (Haralambos, 1995): According to the Human Capital Explanation, Women are less committed to paid employment as women are generally not considered as â€Å"human capital3† by most employers. Employers believe that women, who has been socialized to be home-centred, marriage-centred and child-centre, are less committed to their work. Thus, they are often employed in the secondary labour market with lower pay, job security and promotion prospects. On the other hand, there are expected roles of men and women at work. For instance, in cultures of many countries, women are usually considered at jobs as nurses, social workers, flight attendants, domestic workers, etc because these jobs involve nurturing and sensitivity that are associated with femininity. (Abbott, 1992); by coincidence, most of the jobs associated with women rank lower in the society, thus people claim that women are being discriminated by taking up lower levels of the occupational hierarchy. For men, they are usually considered better engineers, politicians, bureaucrats as they are socialized to be more logical, rational, independent and capable. As a result, they are likely to take up professional roles in the society. Needless to say, for jobs that require excellent physical institution, like the Police Force and fire fighters, men always dominate. Women, even with accepted levels of physical institution and qualifications, are less welcomed, because female hav e been portrayed as the weaker sex. 3) Cognitive Development Theory A Cognitive Developmental Theory, advocated by Kohlbery, posits that children learn gender and gender stereotypes through their mental efforts to organize their social world. Kohlbery claimed that men and women are different and these differences constitute a central organizing principle of social life. The process is called gender polarization. The theory also views gender acquisition as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Children are active agents employing cognitive processes in understand the society and the world. Initially children understand their world by sorting objects and people into categories, one of the example is to organize information on the basis of gender categories. Children interpret and learn about gender stereotype and how to â€Å"do gender† in culturally appropriate ways in thinking and behaving. It is because as they gradually grow up, they understand that gender stereotype is central to the way the society is organized. (Coltrane. 2001) At the very early stage, a baby is not concerned with his or her gender identity. As the child gets older, he or she begins to develop an identity for him- or her-self and establishs a personality that reflects their masculinity or femininity. For example, boy and girl babies usually play with each other when they are very young, but they choose to play with other kids of the same sex starting form their Oedipal period (beyond age 3). Also, Boys are raised up by their mothers and they used to be under the clutches of their mothers. However, they want to be with their dad when they gradually grow up. They refuse to go shopping with their mothers anymore because they think that it is not something that a boy should do, according to their understanding about gender stereotype. If they play with children of the opposite sex, they are likely to be teased by their peers; if they act in such ways that do not match with their own sex, like boys wearing dresses and girls being aggressive and fighting with boys, their behavior will be considered as deviance and may even be condemned by the society. To conclude, in order to be considered as competent members of the society, men and must learn how to fit in appropriately as gender individuals. This is how cognitive development brings out gender differences. Criticism of Socialization Socialization is the evil for the rise of gender roles stereotypes, which may cause gender inequalities and many problems in the society. Throughout the history, all human societies have been patriarchies and androcentristic, that is, male are superior to female and male experience is the normative standard (Coltrane, 2001) Girls seem to accept a negative stereotype of their abilities. Research studies showed that even girls get better grades in the college than the boys do, they are less likely to believe that they can be more successful in a career (Abbott, 1992). Job segregation and alienation caused by gender role stereotypes greatly narrow the field of career that each sex can choose. Both men and women may be prevented form choosing certain careers that are considered as not suitable for their sex: Women find it difficult to be fire fighters and join and Police Force. Similarly, men's chances to be secretaries, nurses and flight attendants are much reduced even they are ambitious to do so. Therefore, socialization is to blame for limiting the potential development for both sexes. Regrettably, because of socializa tion, employment somehow counts on sex, but not ability. Men and women have been socialized to perform certain gender specific roles. These roles have been changing in the society at a relatively rapid pace, but the traditional value of gender role stereotypes is changing at the same rate. One vivid example is that women nowadays may earn more than their husbands do and provide for the families whereas men are forced to take up the role of doing housework and rearing children. Thus, negative consequences arise from resistance to these role changes. This imbalance of role and value change has large implications for the future of the stability of the family. The difficulty our society has with accepting these changing roles can cause strain between spouses which can ultimately lead to an increased divorce rate. Worse still, if the accepted traits of stereotypes do not match with a person's real inclination or characteristics, this could causes stress and leads to low self-esteem of both sexes for being unable to live up to an ideal masculinity and femininity. (Reiter, 1980) High degrees of competitiveness may lead to stress and violence in men; passivity and dependence may leave women unable to support themselves in a crisis. In more serious case, the problem can be fatal: Men have long been socialized to be strong and independent. The pressure to conform to traditional roles limits the emotional expression by men and hinders them from seeking assistance even when they encounter high level of psychological stress. This can explain the increased suicidal rate of men in recent decades. Changing Gender Role of Stereotypes However, as mentioned before, socialization occurs in different ways according to the time and the particular culture. When time changes, there are also changes in the forms of socialization. Firstly, there is an obvious change in pattern of the labour force. Women are getting more education and this makes the working opportunities to them more attractive. They can become professional like lawyers, doctors, accountant, engineer, etc. Today, many important government positions and even principal officers in Hong Kong have been taken up by women. For example, the former Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs. Anson Chan, the former Secretary for Security, Mrs. Regina Ip and the Secretary for Justice, Ms. Elsie Leung are influential political figures in the society. Secondly, as women begin to marry later and are more likely to stay in the labour force longer, more employers are more confident and willing to employ female in the primary labour market which gives them higher income and promotion prospects. Lastly, because of the economic downturn, there is an increased participation in the work force. All these train women to be as competitive and capable as men in order to survive. Women are no longer expected to take up occupations at the lower level of the occupational hierarchy. In addition, there is also a slight change in the gender role in the family: Mothers have increasing power in the family, no matter in terms of finance and â€Å"administration†. Fathers are no longer as the only breed winner while mothers also contribute to the finance of the family. Similarly, housework is not considered as women's work anymore, but it is duty shared by both fathers and mothers. Besides, mothers have a say at home on all matters and involves in important decision making. Conclusion: Strike A Good Balance To conclude, many daily examples have proved that socialization is the evil for most cases of gender difference. It portrays the expected image of male and female in one culture and also restrict their thinking, behaviour and lives in a number of ways. As given in the previous paragraph â€Å"Criticism of Socialization†, many problems may arise when stereotypes are seen as ideals for behaviour which makes people follow blindly. It seems that socialization is an inevitable evil deep rooted in our norms and values. Thus, it is important to strike a balance: we can live under the effect of socialization but we should avoid serious gender stereotypes. Only by doing so, we can build up a healthy society where gender differences and inequality can be minimized.