Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Water wave Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Water wave - Research Paper Example Thirdly, it was found out that water waves are divided into three main groups namely: Shallow water wave, Intermediate depth wave, and Deep water wave. It was found out that the distinction between shallow water waves and deep water waves is not associated with oceans’ or seas’ absolute depth. The distinction is usually determined with the ratio of depth of water to wave’s wavelength. Finally, the research paper found that molecules of water in water waver normally exhibit circular motion (orbit) in deep sea water wave, and as the depth of ocean or sea increases, the diameter of the orbit decreases. A disturbance of any type on water (be it on the surface of water, in the water or at the bottom of the water) normally causes wave; this wave is known as water wave. These disturbances on water may include: a pebble that strikes the surface of the water, earthquake, boat movement or even wind among others (Dingemans, 2007). When an individual stands at a beach and closely observe how water waves break and roll in, or even observe surface of disturbed water, the individual might see that the disturbed water is actually travelling towards the shore, or towards the boundaries of the container that holds the disturbed water (Stoker, 2011). Actually no water is moving towards the shore or the boundary of the container that holds the water. When a closer look is made on an object that floats on the water, it is observed that the object moves towards the shore or towards the boundary of the container on the wave crest, and moves the same distance away from the shore with the wave trough ( Hermans, 2011). Several researches have been done regarding the properties of water wave. These properties include: the pattern of water waves, water wave wavelength, water wave frequency, water wave amplitude, types of water wave, what

Monday, October 28, 2019

Information Systems and Organization Essay Example for Free

Information Systems and Organization Essay This paper, and the special issue, address relationships between information systems and changes in the organization of modern enterprise, both within and across firms. The emerging organizational paradigm involves complementary changes in multiple dimensions. The revolution in information systems merits special attention as both cause and effect of the organizational transformation. This can be illustrated by considering two key variables: the location of information and the location of decision rights in organizations. Depending on the costs of information transmission and processing, either the MIS solution of transferring information, or the organizational redesign solution of moving decision rights, can be an effective approach toward achieving the necessary collocation of information and decision rights. When information systems change radically, one cannot expect the optimal organizational structure to be unaffected. Considering the interplay among information, incentives and decision rights in a unified fashion leads to new insights and a better organizational planning. The papers in the special issue address different facets of this interaction. Despite significant progress, our understanding of the economic role of information systems in organizations remains in its infancy. We conclude that successful design of modern enterprise will require further narrowing  of the historic gap between research in information systems and research in economics. The organization of work is in the midst of transformation. In many industries, mass production by large, vertically-integrated, hierarchically-organized firms is giving way to more flexible forms of both internal organization and industrial structure. Work is increasingly accomplished through networks of smaller, more focused enterprises. The resulting structure of loosely coupled sub-organizations blurs the boundaries of both firms and industries. A canonical case in point is the computer industry. In the past, the industry was dominated by large, vertically-integrated firms such as IBM and Digital Equipment which created products and services throughout the value chain from the microprocessor level all the way up to the provision of solutions. The vertical structure is now being replaced by a series of layers, each of which is, in effect, a separate industry. Value is generated by ever-changing coalitions, where each member of a coalition specializes in its area of core competence and leverages it through the use of tactical or strategic partnerships. Internally, team structures are replacing the traditional hierarchical form, and the Silicon Valley model of internal organization is emerging as a clear winner.3 Internal incentives are increasingly based on performance, and this further blurs the differences between inter- and intra-firm contracts. In sum, modern enterprise is undergoing major restructuring. In this short paper we briefly discuss the newly emerging organizational paradigms and their relationship to the prevailing trends in information technology (IT). We argue that IT is an important driver of this transformation. Finally, we place the studies selected for this special issue of the Journal of Organizational Computing within this context. 1. Emerging Organizational Paradigms: Symptoms and Causes At the turn of the century, Frederick Taylor sought to put the nascent wisdom  for successful business organization on a scientific basis. His work guided a generation of managers towards success in meshing their organizations with the technologies, markets, labor and general environment of the era. By the 1920s, Henry Ford had applied the Taylorist approach with a vengeance and soon dominated the automobile market, driving dozens of competitors under. Ironically, these same principles are almost diametrically opposed to the prevailing wisdom of the 1990s. For example, consider the following guideline from The Science of Management [1] It is necessary in any activity to have a complete knowledge of what is to be done and to prepare instructions the laborer has only to follow instructions. He need not stop to think. The current emphasis on empowerment, learning organizations, and even thriving on chaos stands in sharp contrast to Meyers advice (cf. [2] , [3] ). Similar contrast can be found with many, if not most, of the other principles that lead to success even as late as the 1960s. Consider, for example, the growing calls for downsizing (vs. economies of scale), focus (vs. conglomerates), total quality (vs. cost leadership), project teams (vs. functional departments), supplier partnerships (vs. maximizing bargaining power), networked organization (vs. clear firm boundaries); performance-based pay (vs. fixed pay), and local autonomy (vs. rigid hierarchy). Milgrom and Roberts [4] make the point that the different characteristics of modern manufacturing, an important example of the emerging organizational paradigm, are often highly complementary. This complementarity, coupled with the natural tendency to change organizational attributes one at a time, makes the transition from one paradigm to another particularly difficult. Strong complementarity implies that in order to be successful, change must be implemented simultaneously along a number of related dimensions. Organizations that adopt only one or two key components of the new organizational paradigm may fail simply by virtue of this complementarity. For instance, Jaikumars [5] study of 95 US and Japanese companies found that the majority of US companies had failed to achieve productivity  increases despite switching to flexible manufacturing technology. The reason was that they had preserved dozens of manufacturing practices such as long production runs and high work-in-process inventory levels, which complemented the old technology but kept the new technology from fulfilling its potential. Thus, the transition from the old structure to the new one is overwhelmingly complex. The switch would be easier if we apply design guided by theory instead of piecemeal evolution. There are many possible explanations for the change in the prevailing wisdom regarding organizational design. For instance, it is common to justify calls for radical change with reference to heightened competitive pressures: although firms that applied the old principles were among the most successful competitors of their day, presumably the nature of competition has changed in some way. Others suggest that consumer tastes have changed, making customized items more appealing than they once were. While historians would argue that the taste for mass marketed items was itself something that had to be developed in the early days of mass production, increased wealth or social stratification may make this more difficult today. It can also be argued that some of the new principles were as applicable fifty years ago as they are today, but that they simply had not yet been discovered. Although the enablers of the current organizational transformation are undoubtedly numerous and far from mutually independent, we would like to single one out for special attention: the rise in IT. Brynjolfsson [6, p.6] argues that IT is an appropriate candidate for explaining these changes for three reasons: First, compared to other explanations, the advances in information technology have a particularly reasonable claim to being both novel and exogenous. Many of the fundamental technological breakthroughs that enable todays vast information infrastructure were made less than a generation ago and were driven more by progress in physics and engineering than business demand. Second, the growth in information technology investment is of a large enough magnitude to be economically significant the result has been what is commonly referred to as the information explosion Third, there is a  sound basis for expecting an association between the costs of technologies that manage information and the organization of economic activity. The firm and the market have each been frequently modeled as primarily information processing institutions (see Galbraith [7] and Hayek [8] , respectively). Miller [9] foresaw the key features of the new paradigm as a natural outcome of the information era and the associated economy of choice: The new technologies will allow managers to handle more functions and widen their span of control. Fewer levels of management hierarchy will be required, enabling companies to flatten the pyramid of todays management structure. The new information technologies allow decentralization of decision-making without loss of management awareness; thus employees at all levels can be encouraged to be more creative and intrapreneurial. The key responsibility of the CEO will be leadership; to capture the light or energies of the organization like a lens and focus them on the key strategic objectives. The new organizational paradigm is indeed intertwined with the structure of an organizations information systems. Under the old paradigm, the firm was governed by a relatively rigid functional structure. This separation into distinct and well-defined organizational units economizes on the information and communications requirements across functional units and reduces cost and complexity. There is a tradeoff, however: the old structure is less flexible, less responsive and ultimately results in lower quality. In our view, the growing use of IT and the trend towards networking and client-server computing are both a cause and an effect of the organizational transition. Lowering the costs of horizontal communications, facilitating teamwork, enabling flexible manufacturing and providing information support for time management and quality control are key enablers on the supply side. It is equally clear that the new organizational paradigm demands new information systems: nothing can be more devastating for cross-functional teamwork than a rigid information system that inhibits cross-functional information flows. We can unify these perspectives by noting that the structure of the organizations information system is a key element of  organizational transformation. Changes in IT change the nature of organizations just as changes in organizational structure drive the development of new technologies. 2. Information Systems, Economics and Organizational Structure Jensen and Meckling [10] provide a useful framework for studying the complementarities between information systems, incentive structures and decision rights in organizations. In their framework, the structure of an organization is specified by three key elements: (i) The allocation of decision rights (i.e., who is responsible for what actions/decisions); (ii) the incentive system, which defines how decision makers are to be rewarded (or penalized) for the decisions they make; and (iii) a monitoring and measurement scheme used to evaluate these actions and their outcomes. According to Jensen and Meckling, informational variables are key to the structure of organizations because the quality of decisions is determined by the quality of information available to the decision maker. The co-location of information and decision rights enables the decision maker to make optimal decisions. The implementation of this co-location depends on the nature of the pertinent information. Jensen and Meckling distinguish between specific knowledge which is localized, difficult to represent and transfer, and depends on idiosyncratic circumstances, and general knowledge which can be easily summarized, communicated and shared by decision makers. Now, there are two ways to bring information and decision rights together: (i) The MIS solution: transfer the information required for the decision to the decision maker, using the organizations (possibly non-automated) information systems; or (ii) the organizational redesign solution: redesign the organizational structure so that the decision making authority is where the pertinent information is. By definition, general knowledge which is useful for a decision calls for the MIS solution because it can be transferred at low cost. In contrast, when specific knowledge plays a key role in a decision, the best solution calls for restructuring decision  rights so as to provide the decision authority to the one who possesses or has access to the pertinent information (since the transfer of specific knowledge is too costly).4 Jensen and Meckling thus represent the structure of organizations as an efficient response to the structure of their information costs. But then, a change in information costs must induce a change in organizational structure. In particular, IT has changed the costs of processing and transferring certain types of information (e.g. quantitative data), but has done little for other types (e.g. implicit knowledge or skills). IT changes the structure of organizations by facilitating certain information flows as well as by turning knowledge that used to be specific into general knowledge. By developing a taxonomy of information types and identifying the differential impacts of new technologies on their transferability and importance, we can take a significant step towards applying the simple insight that information and authority should be co-located [11] . Intra-organizational networks and workgroup computing facilities reduce the information costs of teamwork and hence make it a more efficient solution to the organizational design problem. Client-server computing technology lowers cross-functional (as well as geographic) barriers. IT (when applied properly) streamlines the types of information that used to be the raison detre of middle management quantitative control information and turns it into general knowledge that can be readily transmitted to, and processed by, people other than those who originally gathered the data. A reduction in the number of management layers and the thinning out of middle management ranks is the predictable result. Similar considerations apply to enterprises that cross firm boundaries. As a simple example, consider the organization of trading activities [12, 13, 14] . Traditionally, trading took place on the floor of an exchange, which was the locus of numerous pieces of specific knowledge, ranging from the hand signals indicating bids and offers to buy and sell a security to traders facial expressions and the atmosphere on the floor of the exchange. Under that structure, much of the information pertinent to trading is specific and  localized to the floor. Thus, when an investor instructs her broker to sell 1,000 shares of a given stock, the broker transmits the order to the floor of the exchange and only the floor broker attempts to provide best execution. The decision rights (here, for the trading decisions) are naturally delegated to the decision maker who has the pertinent specific knowledge, and since that knowledge resides on the floor of the exchange, the floor broker is best suited to have the decision rights. Technology, and in particular screen-based systems, turns much of the specific knowledge on the floor (i.e., bids and offers) into general knowledge. This shifts decision rights up from the floor to the brokers screens. The inevitable result is the decline of the trading floor and the increased importance of brokers trading rooms. The demise of the trading floor in exchanges that turned to screen-based trading (such as London and Paris) is a natural outcome of the shift in the locus of knowledge. More generally, markets in particular, electronic markets transform specific knowledge into general knowledge [15] . Ironically, even as IT has sped up many links of the information processing chain and vastly increased the amount of information available to any one decision-maker, it has also led to the phenomenon of information overload. This can perhaps best be understood by a generalization of the Jensen and Meckling framework to include finite human information processing capacity. As more information moves from the specific category to the general category, the limiting factor becomes not what information is available but rather a matter of finding the human information processing capacity needed to attend to and process the information. Computers appear to have exacerbated the surfeit of information relative to processing capacity, perhaps because the greatest advances have occurred in the processing and storage of structured data, which is generally a complement, not a substitute, for human information processing. As computer and communications components increase their speed, the human bottleneck in the information processing chain becomes ever more apparent. Information overload, when interpreted in light of this framework, can provide an explanation for the increased autonomy and pay-for-performance  that characterize a number of descriptions of the new managerial work (cf. [6] ). Economizing on information costs means that more decision rights are delegated to line managers who possess the idiosyncratic, specific knowledge necessary to accomplish their tasks. Shifting responsibility from the overburdened top of the hierarchy to line personnel not only reduces the information processing load at the top of the hierarchy, but also cuts down unnecessary communications up and down the hierarchy. This blurs the traditional distinction between conceptualization and execution and broadens the scope of decision rights delegated to lower level managers. By the Jensen-Meckling [10] framework, any such shift in decision authority (and in the associated routing of information) must also be accompanied by a change in the structure of incentives. Disseminating information more broadly is ever easier with IT, allowing line workers to take into account information that goes well beyond the formerly-narrow definitions of their job. Meanwhile, providing the right incentives for the newly empowered work force is an equally crucial element of the current reorganization of work. Agency theory predicts that performance-based pay is necessary when decision rights are decentralized (otherwise, the agents may be induced to act in ways that are inconsistent with overall organizational goals). It therefore follows that incentive-based compensation is appropriate for better-informed workers [16].5 Thus, the confluence of better-informed workers, an empowered workforce and more incentive-based pay is consistent with our thesis that IT is a key driver of the new organizational paradigm. Furthermore, the theory of incomplete contracts suggests that the analysis can be extended to include interorganizational changes such as increased reliance on outsourcing and networks of other firms for key components [17] . Here again the shift can be explained in incentive terms: one ultimate incentive is ownership, so entrepreneurs are likely to be more innovative and aggressive than the same individuals working as division managers. Both within and across organizations, then, changes in information systems are accompanied by changes in incentives and in the organization of work. 3. The Special Issue The papers in this special issue attest to the role of information systems in the structure of modern enterprise and the blurring of the differences between inter- and intra-firm transactions. Starting from the firms level, Barrons paper studies how a firm determines its internal organization and how IT affects this determination. Barron considers a traditional firm, with well-defined boundaries that are endogenously determined by considering flexibility and scope of control. Ching, Holsapple and Whinston broaden the scope of the enterprise to the network organization a construct obtained by tying together a number of firms that cooperate through a well-defined communication mechanism. Specifically, they use a bidding protocol to manage the relationship between suppliers and producers. Beath and Ang examine another form of inter-firm cooperation, the relational contract, in the context of software-development outsourcing. They show how relational contracts embody a relationship that can be characterized as a network consisting of two organizations. Whang studies a more subtle form of networking information sharing between buyers and suppliers. Bakos and Brynjolfsson examine the impact of incentives and information costs on the nature of buyer-supplier relationships. They show that committing to a partnership with a small number of suppliers can be an optimal strategy for a buyer because it will maximize the suppliers incentives for non-contractible investments such as information sharing, innovation or quality. The papers thus present a spectrum ranging from a study of the boundaries of the traditional firm through different forms of networking to explicit buyer-supplier relationships. A common theme is the organization of work so as to reduce overall information costs not only within an organization but across them as well. The surviving enterprise is often (though not always) the one that attempts to reduce information costs while capitalizing on the comparative advantage of the participating organizations. This calls for opportunistic cooperation that benefits the members of the network for as long as they cooperate. IT reduces the costs of such cooperation by  facilitating communication and increasing the flexibility of the participating organizations. Using the Jensen-Meckling terminology, different network participants can make more effective use of their specific knowledge when the costs of transferring and processing general knowledge are reduced. Further, technology enables the development of markets that, by their very nature, transform specific knowledge into general knowledge. Thus, the bidding and communications protocols proposed by Ching, Holsapple and Whinston in their paper Modeling Network Organizations effectively transform the specific knowledge inherent in the production technology of the competing suppliers into general knowledge that encompasses not only prices but also their reputations. From this perspective, IT is key to the development of network organizations. In his paper Impacts of Information Technology on Organizational Size and Shape: Control and Flexibility Effects, Barron builds a stylized quantitative model to study the impact of IT on the structure of organizations. Examining flexibility and scope of control, he identifies sixteen different cases with different patterns of the actual causality between IT and firm structure. Barron shows that simplistic statements regarding the impact of IT are not as straightforward as one might imagine due to the interaction of size, scope and flexibility. His results suggest that the impact of IT is rather complex, and that further specification is necessary prior to making predictions on the impact of IT on organizational size or shape. Hierarchical Elements in Software Contracts by Beath and Ang focuses on the contractual structure of outsourced software development. This is an interesting example of the new organizational paradigm because of the key role of information systems in any organization. Effective software development hinges on cooperation, communication and joint management which are at the heart of the new organizational paradigm. Beath and Ang examine the mechanisms used to govern outsourcing projects as specified in their outsourcing contracts. They suggest that the relational contract, which converts an arms-length transaction into a joint project with governance and resolution procedures that resemble those used by firms internally, is an  effective way to accomplish this. Thus, while Ching, Holsapple and Whinston view bidding and explicit reputation formation as the alphabet of the network organization, Beath and Ang view actual contract clauses as the key linguistic constructs. The paper shows how the structure of the contract is driven by the attributes of the project as well as those of the parties to the transaction. In Analysis of Economic Incentives for Inter-Organizational Information Sharing, Whang addresses the question of information sharing in non-cooperative buyer-supplier settings. Whang studies this question for two different models. He first shows that due to adverse incentives, suppliers will not be willing to share information regarding their costs. The situation is different when the information to be conveyed is regarding the expected delay or lead time. Whang shows that suppliers are better off disclosing lead-time information to buyers (when the demand curve for their product is convex). This result is consistent with our general thesis, whereas the former one introduces a note of caution: adverse incentives pose limits to the scope of information sharing among network organizations. In From Vendors to Partners: Information Technology and Incomplete Contracts in Buyer-Supplier Relationships, Bakos and Brynjolfsson start with the assumption that, in many cases, complete information exchange between two firms will be infeasible, so any contract between them will be incomplete in the sense that some contingencies will remain unspecified. They then explore how the interplay of IT and organizational structure can affect the role of non-contractible investments, such as innovation, quality and the exchange of information. For example, Bakos and Brynjolfsson show that when fewer suppliers are employed, they collectively capture a larger share of the benefits of the relationship, and this will increase their incentives to make non-contractible investments. As a result, even when search costs are very low, it may be desirable for the buyer to limit the number of employed suppliers, leading to a partnership-type of relationship, rather than aggressively bargaining for all the benefits by threatening to switch among numerous alternative suppliers. Like Whang, they show that the incentive effects of the applications of IT must be explicitly considered in any model  of their effect on inter-organizational cooperation. 4. Conclusion In this paper, we have stressed the joint determination of the location of information and decision rights. The default mechanism used to achieve this co-location depends on ones point of reference. Information Systems researchers are likely to take the locus of decision authority for granted. They will typically focus their attention on devising schemes that will efficiently organize, retrieve, sort, filter, transmit and display information for designated decision makers. In contrast, the economist is likely to focus on the allocation of decision rights and the concomitant effect on incentives.6 As we discussed in Section 2, transferring information and transferring decision authority are two sides of the same question. Because economics and information systems research evolved to address different problems, this complementarity long went unnoticed. Each of the papers in the special issue addresses a different aspect of the interplay among information, incentives and the structure of economic enterprise. In every case, insights resulted when both information and incentives were explicitly considered. Each paper contributes an additional piece to an emerging mosaic that describes not only the features of the new organization, but also gives some insight into their theoretical underpinnings. The papers in this special issue also highlight the incomplete state of knowledge in the subject area and the dearth of empirical guidance to the formulation and testing of theoretical research. We started this paper with a discussion of the computer industry as the canonical example of the new paradigm as exercised in Silicon Valley, and continued by arguing that its products actually fuel the shift to this paradigm. It is only appropriate to close the loop by examining the dictum of that paradigm as it applies to the inner workings of firms in the computer industry. A major effort along these lines in being undertaken by one of the authors and his colleagues in Stanford Universitys Computer Industry Project. Understanding these changes so that they can be harnessed for productive ends remains a central challenge for the next decade of research. The rapid progress in designing computers and communications systems contrasts starkly with the uncertainty clouding organizational design. Yet, new ways of organizing will be necessary before the potential of IT can be realized. Furthermore, because the new organizational paradigms involve numerous complementarities, the trial-and-error methods which were important in the rise of the organizational forms of the past century, such as large hierarchies and mass markets, may be unsuited for making the next transition. Understanding and implementing one aspect of a new organizational structure without regard to its interaction with other aspects can leave the make the organization worse off than if no modifications at all were made. Design, rather than evolution, is called for when significant changes must be made along multiple dimensions simultaneously. Successful organizational design, in turn, requires that we understand the flow of information among humans and their agents every bit as well as we understand the flow of electrons in chips and wires. Perhaps, then, the revolution in information processing capabilities not only calls for a change in business organization, but also a re-evaluation of the historic separation between Information Systems and Economics. REFERENCES [1] Meyers, G. The Science of Management. In C. B. Thompson (Eds.), Scientific Management Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1914. [2] Kanter, R. M. The New Managerial Work. Harvard Business Review, Nov-Dec, 1989, pp. 85-92. [3] Peters, T. Thriving on Chaos, Handbook for a Management Revolution. New York: Knopf, 1988. [4] Milgrom, P. and Roberts, J. The Economics of Modern Manufacturing: Technology, Strategy, and Organization. American Economic Review, Vol. 80, No. 3, 1990. [5] Jaikumar, R. Post-Industrial Manufacturing. Harvard Business Review, November-December, 1986, pp. 69-76. [6] Brynjolfsson, E. Information Technology and the New Managerial Work. Working Paper # 3563-93. MIT, 1990. [7] Galbraith, J. Organizational Design. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1977. [8] Hayek, F. A. The Use of Knowledge in Society. American Economic Review, Vol. 35, No. 4, 1945. [9] Miller, W. F. The Economy of Choice. In Strategy, Technology and American Industry HBS Press, 1987. [10] Jensen, M. and Meckling, W. Knowledge, Control and Organizational Structure Parts I and II. In Lars, Werin and Hijkander (Eds.), Contract Economics (pp.251-274). Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell, 1992. [11] Mendelson, H. On Centralization and Decentralization. Stanford, forthcoming, 1993. [12] Amihud, Y. and Mendelson, H. An Integrated Computerized Trading System. In Market Making and the Changing Structure of the Securities Industry (pp. 217-235). Lexington Heath, 1985. [13] Amihud, Y. and Mendelson, H. (1989). The Effects of Computer-Based Trading on Volatility and Liquidity. In H. C. Lucas Jr. and R. A. Schwartz (Eds.), The Challenge of Information Technology for the Securities Markets. (pp. 59-85). Dow Jones-Irwin. [14] Amihud, Y. and Mendelson, H. Liquidity, Volatility and Exchange Automation. Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance, Vol. 3, Fall, 1988, pp. 369-395. [15] Malone, T. W., Yates, J. and Benjamin, R. I. Electronic Markets and Electronic Hierarchies. Communications of the ACM, Vol. 30, No. 6, 1987, pp. 484-497. [16] Baker, G. P. Incentive Contracts and Performance Measurement. Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 100, No. 3, June, 1992. [17] Brynjolfsson, E. An Incomplete Contracts Theory of Information, Technology, and Organization. Management Science, forthcoming, 1993.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

vikings Essay example -- essays research papers

Vikings In Control They were fierce, heartless Barbarians who Seized and looted many European lands from the 800’s to 1000’s. They made their sneaky attacks at the crack of dawn killing anyone who came axe length away. Including innocent babies defenseless children of all ages, and helpless women. ( The Celebration Program) During their time, these people never called themselves â€Å"Vikings.† This name isn’t even meant to be the name or a group, but an activity. The base word vik was simply another name for a pirate. Therefore, to go a-viking meant to fight as a warrior. The Northmen, which is another name for Vikings, lived in small communities that were ruled by either a king or a chief. People were divided into three classes being noble, freeman, or slaves. The nobles were usually considered Kings because they were people who were wealthy. The freemen were farmers, merchants and people who served the ruler. Last, but not least slaves were Scandinavians whose ancestors had been enslaved. (The Celebration Program) Even though Vikings are addressed by one very large group, there are actually three kinds of Vikings. They are Norwegian, Swedish and Danish. The Norwegian Vikings were actually the group that began the raids in Lindisfarne in 793. They raided England, Ireland, the Isle of Man and Scotland. Because of Ireland’s fertile farms, rich churches and monasteries, it was a big target. Norwegian pirate chief Turgeis attacked Ireland from 839 ...

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Language and Violence

The Abstract: This paper will be dealing with the use of Violence and its legitimization through manipulation of language by the state in dealing with â€Å"the other†. In an attempt to investigate the role played by the state, which monopolizes the use of violence for the sake of civilizing its people, inspired by a documentary titled â€Å"where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? †, this paper tries to go beyond spoken and written words to reach a better understanding of this role. It starts by defining the concept of â€Å"violence† and drawing a clear distinction between its meaning and that of other related, but not similar concepts, and specifying the agents of violence, mainly focusing on the state, for the entire paper focuses on its use of violence. Thinking in terms of methodological nationalism, this paper tries to find an answer to how we define ourselves and why do we define anyone outside this â€Å"we† circle as â€Å"the other† and how, as a result, violence became the means of dealing with â€Å"the other†. It then moves to justifying this â€Å"legitimate† use of violence by the state against the other and highlights the important role that language plays in this process. Finally, there is an attempt to understand the usefulness of violence advocated by some against that of the mainstream thinkers and philosophers, accompanied by exploring the role the civil and the global civil society can, and do, play in finding new means of communication and dealing with one another. It comes to the following conclusion: violence as used by individuals before the formation of the state resembles violence as used by the state apparatus, Civility is a myth. The only difference is in the agents, the targets, the interests and the domain where violence is practiced. And for that, an informed, aware and active role should be pursued by the civil society, to curb the use of violence either by the state or by any other actor. The outline: I. Introduction II. Body: Defining violence: What does the concept of violence mean? Making a clear distinction of violence vis a` vis other related concepts Recognizing the agents of violence Defining the â€Å"we† and the â€Å"other†: The constituents of identity The way we perceive ourselves The way we perceive â€Å"the other† Dealing with the â€Å"other†: The psychological mindset The use of violence as a means of dealing with the other The role of language in legitimizing the use of violence: The manipulation of language The reasons behind the manipulation of language Providing a moral cause Avoiding opposition The means by which language is manipulated Dehumanization of violence Replacement of direct descriptors by * euphemistic equivalence The areas where language can be manipulated In the public sphere In the battle field An assessment of the usefulness of violence The role of global and civil society in curbing violence III. Conclusion IV. List of References I. Introduction: â€Å"I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent. †Ã‚  Mahatma Gandhi In an interesting movie called â€Å"where in the world is Osama Bin Laden†? A newly father-to be, fearing that his son comes out to life in such a violent world, decides to set on a mission to track down and kill Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaida, and the world will thus seize to know violence and will be a fit place for him to raise his son in. He visits Egypt, Morocco, Israel, Palestinian territories, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. He goes around and talks to people there asking them questions like: where is Bin Laden? What do they think of the Americans? How do they view terrorism and the war on it? What do they want in life? And questions of that sort. He didn’t find Bin laden, however what he found was that the people in the countries he visited are ordinary people just like himself and the audience. They are not â€Å"the barbarians† he once thought them to be, they have no desire or interest in using violence against the United States and its citizens, and their goals in life is for them to secure good living conditions for their children, just as the goals of the American newly father to be. This movie inspired me to raise a question, to which I sough of an answer through writing this paper. The question is: Why and how does the state monopolize and legitimize, through manipulation of language that enables it to portray such a barbaric and violent image of the other, its use of Violence against them? I raised this question because of a simple fact: the state was created to â€Å"civilize† people and tame their use of violence, but now I found that this was nothing but a change in the agents of violence, its targets, and the space where it is practiced. I started exploring different ideas, different opinions, and different studies, that were all concerned with violence, language, manipulation, identity, and other concepts related to my topic. Stances and views varied, but I decided on adopting the following position concerning the topic at hand: The state manipulates the use of violence because we’ve willingly subordinated this right to the state; however our consent depends on the manner by which violence is used, for if its illegitimate and goes against our consent, we ill no longer continue to support the state apparatus in its actions; that is why, via the manipulation of language, the state creates an exclusive identity to its people, portrays the other as a threat to this identity, demonize him, and thus legitimizes its use of violence when it’s used by posing it as an act in response to defend the â€Å"we† against the â€Å"other†. If that is so, this led me to raise other questions related to the usefulness of violence, and our role, as active members in a civil society, be it domestic or global, when it comes to violence. To these questions, and to other ones, I try to find answers as follows. II. Body: A. Defining violence: In this section my aim is to clarify what the concept of Violence means, and who has the right to practice it, before I further investigate why we resort to violence in dealing with others and how states and their apparatuses make use of such thing. 1. What does the concept of violence mean? Violence is an extremely wide and complex phenomenon. Defining it is not an exact science but a matter of judgment. Notions of what is acceptable and unacceptable in terms of behavior and what constitutes harm, are culturally influenced and constantly under review as values and social norms evolve, domestically and internationally. Besides, there are many possible ways to define violence, depending on who is defining it, for what purpose, and depending on one’s political orientations and ideological beliefs. Generally speaking, the World Health Organization defines violence as: â€Å"The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation. † In this sense, we could distinguish between so many kinds of violence; †¦accumulated violence, cultured violence, self-protective violence, the violence of aggression, the violence of competition, the violence of trying to be somebody, the violence of trying to discipline oneself according to a pattern, trying to become somebody, trying to suppress and bully oneself, brutalize oneself, in order to be non-violent†¦ † 2. Making a clear distin ction of violence vis a` vis other related concepts: It is very important, though, to make a clear distinction between violence and other related concepts to be able to apprehend what violence means. Such keywords include power, strength, force and authority. According to how Hannah Arendt puts it, power is related to the â€Å"ability† to act â€Å"in consent†, thus its existence depends on the group providing such consent, in other words, it depends on legitimacy; Strength is a natural endowment and an inherent property; Force indicates the energy itself that later manifests physically through an act of violence; And authority entails recognition either to a person or to an office; it requires neither coercion nor persuasion. Violence on the other hand is distinguished by its â€Å"instrumental† character; it denotes the physical manifestation itself. . Recognizing the agents of violence: There are many agents of violence; formal and informal, institutionalized and un-institutionalized, state, and non-state agents. However, our only concern in this paper shall be the state and the state apparatus institutionalizing, legitimizing and practicing violence. Typically described in normative terms as a vital necessity of modern life, the nation-state has employed violence to accomplish questionable ends. Its apparatus is charged with committing unprecedented barbarism. Examples of disasters brought about by the nation-state are the extermination of indigenous peoples in colonized territories by â€Å"civilizing† nations, the Nazi genocidal â€Å"holocaust† of Jews, and most recently the â€Å"ethnic cleansing† in the former Yugoslavia, Ruwanda, and so on. Thus from postcolonial perspective, the nation-state and its ideology of nationalism are alleged to have become the chief source of violence and conflict since the French Revolution. In the same vein, Marx regarded the state as an instrument of violence at the command of the ruling class; but the actual power of the ruling class did not consist of, nor rely on violence. It was defined by the role the ruling class played in society, or more exactly, by its role in the process of production. B. Defining the â€Å"we† and the â€Å"other†: In this section I try exploring how identity defragments, divides and thus paves the road for violence to occur. 1. Identity and its constituents: In pre-modern societies, identity was mainly related to affiliations, both in the private and in the public space. Identity depended on the place attributed to each individual by his birth, his lineage or his group. Later on it involved the Legal recognition. However a person was not only a legal or civic entity, but also a moral being with an individual soul. That is why under the influence of postmodernism and debates over multiculturalism, the late 1980s and 1990s found historians, anthropologists, and most of all humanities scholars relying heavily on â€Å"identity† as they explored the cultural politics of race, class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, citizenship, and other social categories. â€Å"Identity† is presently used in two linked senses, which may be termed â€Å"social† and personal†. In the former sense, an â€Å"identity† refers simply to a social category, a set of persons marked by a label and distinguished by rules deciding membership and characteristic features or attributes. In the second sense of personal identity, an identity is some distinguishing characteristic (or characteristics) that a person takes a special pride in or views as socially consequential but more-or-less unchangeable. It is the social sense of identity that would be of use in this paper; namely the national identity, that denotes the depiction of a country as a whole, encompassing its culture, traditions, language, and politics. It must be noted here that a sense of conflicting identities may result from the presence of multiple identities for the same individual, but the issue of concern here is the â€Å"inter-conflicting identities† rather than the internal conflicts related to identity. 2. The way we perceive ourselves: Since identities are necessarily the product of the society in which we live and our relationship with others, there is therefore a desire and a need to identify with a nation or group; to take up a â€Å"collective identity†, an example of which would be the â€Å"national Identity†, that is described by some as a†self-aware† ethnicity. This way, identity provides a link between individuals and the world in which they live i. e. their state. 3. The way we perceive â€Å"the other†: The individual defines himself, but he also needs â€Å"significant others† to acknowledge this definition. This is the base of the ethic of â€Å"authenticity. † Identity, however, implies definition by negation, inclusion based on exclusion for a â€Å"we† to be present, there has to be an â€Å"other† outside this â€Å"we† circle. Identity, mainly national identity in this case, has been constantly charged of being racist and exclusive, and sometimes even demonizing the other. That is why governments in boosting nationhood and asserting the Nation’s identity are, whether they recognize it or not, advocating more exclusion and hostility in perceiving the other. C. Dealing with the â€Å"other†: What gives rise to violence? Are identities really to be blamed? Or does the problem lie in their manipulation which results in violence being deployed when we deal with different identities? 1. The psychological mindset: To Krishnamurti â€Å"†¦The source of violence is the ‘me’, the ego, the self, which expresses itself in division, in trying to become or be somebody which divides itself as the ‘me’ and the ‘not me’; the ‘me’ that identifies with the family or not with the family, with the community or not with the community and so on.. † . However this doesn’t require that all human beings respond to difference in a violent manner, for it hasn’t been proven that the human nature is in itself violent, and it is believed by many that violence is bred from social interactions. An interesting idea of how violence is a societal creation can be found in the writings of Amartya Sen concerning colonialism. Sen talks about the social memory that colonialism, which is in itself an act of violence, has shaped. General psychological attitude towards the subject people often generated a strong sense of humiliation and imposition of perceived inferiority, one which the subject tries to overcome through hostility and supporting acts of violence against the humiliator. Franz Fanon also subscribes to such a view on colonialism, and sees that it is healthy to use violence to get rid of colonialism, which is again, an act of violence in itself to begin with. 2. The use of violence as a means of dealing with the other: â€Å"†¦ Violence in postcolonial discourse is thus deployed to suppress difference or negate multiple â€Å"others† not subsumed within totalities such as nation, class, gender, etc†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Everything that man has put to another man, belief, dogma, rituals, my country, your country, your god and my god, my opinion, your opinion, my ideal. All those help to divide human beings and therefore breed violence. This is due to our tendency of adopting a spaceless and timeless conception of culture, which is linked either to the identity or to the belief system of the others; a form of stereotyping if you might say. Thus Violence is embedded in the dialectic of identity and Otherness. This is something that governments not only understand, but try to make use of to achieve its interests. D. The role of language in legitimizing the use of violence by the state: 1. The manipulation of language: According to George Orwell, â€Å"Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. † Therefore those who are charged with committing violence on behalf of the state will adopt language designed to obscure from themselves or the people, the reality of what violence they do on their behalf. Generally speaking, Language is an instrument for expressing and not for concealing or preventing thought. However it is an instrument which we shape for our own purposes as well. And as Hegel puts it, when we think, we think in language against language, which implies that selective language will lead to selective ideas formed and advocated. This is why language itself, the very medium of non-violence and of mutual recognition, involves unconditional violence. This manipulation of language involves: â€Å"†¦ enhancing the power, moral superiority and credibility of the speaker(s), and discrediting dissidents, while vilifying the others, the enemy; the use of emotional appeals; and adducing seemingly irrefutable proofs of one’s beliefs and reasons†¦ By manipulating the language, the government wishes to alter the public’s way of thinking. This can be done, psychologists theorize, because the words that are available for the purpose of communicating thought tend to influence the way people think. The linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf was a firm believer in this link between thought and language, and he theorized that â€Å"different language s impose different conceptions of reality†. Habermas also pondered upon the role which language plays in masking political interests with apparently sophisticated terms. This distortion of communication and misuse of concepts, in his opinion, might be the reason that has brought about violence in the first place as a manifestation to such distorted communication. a) The reasons behind the manipulation of language: The reasons why language can and does get manipulated by the apparatus of the state when it comes to violence are many, and they vary according to the situation. But mainly because Violence absorbs power, and lessens authority when it’s used, that is why providing a justification for the use of violence and legitimizing it is important. Here, it might be useful to distinguish between â€Å"justification† and â€Å"legitimization†; (i) Providing a moral cause; Justification: We find the state using terms like â€Å"national security†, â€Å"defensive war†, â€Å"maintaing peace and security†, â€Å"spreading democracy†, etc. But the use of such terms is supported by good reasons and arguments; it is consistent and attempts to place such ideas at the core of its concerns. This way, the state is attempting to â€Å"justify† its use of violence, i. e. roves it has good reasons for using it, which is closely linked to the following reason; (ii) Avoiding opposition; Legitimization: When these moral causes succeed in convincing the public, through its appeal to fundamental values and claims, appeals to the emotions of the masses, and its reliance on ungrounded cultural prejudices and inconsistent doctrines, the state manages to â€Å"legitimizes† as well as â€Å"jus tifies† its use of violence, i. e. the state not only has good reasons why it is using violence, but it managed to convince the masses with these reasons as well. This way the monopoly of the state over the use of violence cant not to be questioned, threatened or shared by others. b) The means by which language is manipulated: (i) Dehumanization of violence: â€Å"Terrorists, Fundamentalist, Extremists, Seditionists, Rebel, Communists†¦Ã¢â‚¬  These and other terms perform the role of the â€Å"distancing of humanity†, but they also are designed for other purposes. These terms have persuasive power to allow the directors of violence to feel comfortable with the human destruction for which they are opting. It suggests that those toward whom the state directs its violence are either irrational (and thus diplomacy or persuasion are impossible) or have objectives (â€Å"the destruction of the people’s way of life†). (ii) Replacement of direct descriptors by â€Å"euphemistic equivalence†: Euphemism is an expression intended by the speaker to be less offensive, disturbing, or troubling to the listener than the word or phrase it replaces. So for instance we call it â€Å"collateral damage† when it means unintentional killing or damage; bystander deaths and injuries. But because collateral damage sounds less troubling, and more likely for the people to accept than â€Å"unintentional killing or damage†, it is used by the state to justify sometimes the results of its use of violence and what it has brought about. That is why we find government officials and politicians talking about just wars, liberation, war on terror, national security, and so forth, instead of just explicitly mentioning the truth behind their use of violence against others. c) The areas where language can be manipulated: (i) In the public sphere: The heart of the terms used in the public sphere stress ideological or political otherness, where the use of language is indirect and emotionally distancing. The state apparatus does all it can to deny that the violence of conflict is occurring, suggesting that â€Å"areas† are being secured rather than people killed, that violence is being prevented rather than initiated by its actions and that its ends are always just rather than self-serving. (ii) In the battle field: The heart of the terms used for the â€Å"enemy† on the battlefield arise primarily from the racial, ethnic or personal otherness of the opponent. There is no place for the persuasive or the justificatory on the battlefield; the situation on the battlefield is understood as follows: â€Å"kill or be killed†. The requirement of the manipulation of language at the point of conflict is therefore to reinforce hatred and distance so that violence can be pursued without real threat to the mental health of the soldier, which would be in danger if the humanity of the opponent were fully absorbed. Thus in the field, language will serve to dehumanize the other while in the public sphere the language will be designed to convince us that our violence toward others is justified. That is why the â€Å"National identity† card and related usage of language are used by the state to legitimize its actions within a delimited territory, to insure mobilization and coordination of policy. E. An assessment of the usefulness of violence: I have tried to expose how the state makes use of identity, difference and language to pursue its interests through deploying violence against â€Å"the other†. But does it follow that this process performed by the state is an evil one, or can it be a useful one with good coming out of it? In a series of lectures at the College de France in the 1970s, Michel Foucault put forward the interesting hypothesis that history is actually the history of violence. Foucault’s ideas on history indicate that we do not enjoy democratic privileges due to some divine decree: rather, they are the product of successful wars and civil struggles; the result of â€Å"successful violence†. The pioneers of Post-colonialism like Edward Said, Franz Fanon, among others, concerned themselves with the social and cultural effect of colonization. Fanon looked at violence in positive terms. His engagement with decolonizing violence was a form of a strategic response of subjugated peoples to the inhumane violence of colonial racism and imperial subjugation. Fanon was very clear in his message, the struggle for power in colonized states will be resolved only through violent struggle, because the colonized states were created and are maintained by the use of violence or the threat of violence, it is a necessity that it will take violence to reverse these power relationships. However, according to Edward Said's reading of Fanon’s â€Å"liberationist† critique, nationalism is always a tool of the hegemonic oppressor and holds no socially emancipatory potential. This leads us to the following conclusion, that violence is the mediation that enables state power to prevail, for good or for bad. It cannot be eliminated by counter-violence that simply inverts it. The state's hierarchical structure is made possible because of this institutionalized violence that privileges the hegemony of a bloc of classes over competing blocs and their alternative programs. But hegemony is always underwritten by coercion. Thus as Max Weber puts it, the state monopoly of legitimate violence would be used to defend private property and promote the overseas interests of the domestic business class. An opinion which is also shared by Marx and Engels who defines violence as the accelerator of economic development. These are not only the world of theories, but a truth backed up by evidence. This evidence can be tracked down as far as the nation-state itself wasn’t still created. However since I am interested in investigation the use of violence by the nation state, then if we look at the colonial experience, the two world wars, the cold war and the war on terror, we will know that the state did not used violence as it should have done. I will not use the term â€Å"misused†, but I would rather question the ends to which the state has deployed violence, and I will question the justifications and arguments it gave to legitimize its actions. And if the state is such a questionable agent of violence, and if already its monopoly of it has been breached by informal, outlawed or legitimate non-state actors, this means that we are in a serious need of not only questioning, but reviewing the concept of violence, its use and its agents. For this, scholars like Heba Raouf and Mary Kaldor think that there is a powerful case for questioning the state’s monopoly of â€Å"legitimate† violence, and suggest placing the use of force by the state under greater constraints, not only that, but to take over the â€Å"civilizing role† that the state has failed to achieve. F. The role of global and civil society in curbing violence: The prospects of peace are dependent upon the institutionalization of traditions of dialogue. And it is precisely here that civil society agents can play a vital role by bringing people together and invoking understandings that are common across difference. Basically, humankind has been rendered â€Å"civil† because violence was tamed. And violence was tamed because states had acquired, as Max Weber argued, a monopoly of violence; the modern state replaces violence by order and authority and firmly controlled the production and reproduction of violence. But this has been fundamentally challenged by the pervasive violence that infiltrates all corners of a globalised world; all controls and all norms that prescribe when the use of violence is permitted and for what reasons have been lifted. â€Å".. The employment of violence at any time and at any place sends a powerful message, no one agent howsoever powerful this agent may be, can control the use of violence, or penalize the perpetrator of violence. Violence has escaped all restraints, all monitors, and all notions of where the use of violence is legitimate and where it is illegitimate, where it is sanctioned and where it is not sanctioned. Today there is no recognized owner of violence, the adversary is unrecognizable, the goals are unclear, and the site where violence will be consumed is unknown†¦ † Therefore, civil societies are caught between two kinds of violence; that employed by trans-state and sub-state agents, and the violence of the state. A way out and a means to counter such violence appears to be in the development of a culture of civility. This happens when members of the civil society address the phenomenon of violence, intolerance and even hate, as the notion of civil society is based upon a peaceful world which is marked by the spirit of dialogue, negotiation, compromise, and coordination. This dialogue means recognizing the â€Å"other† in a conversation, and validating his moral standing. Thus civil society is important because the values of civil society encourage dialogue. But the limits of civil society have to be understood. And one of these limits is institutionalized violence within the state that has led to the breakdown of dialogue, thus making civility and toleration mere dreams. On a wider level, the Global Civil Society would have the mission of recapturing the power of language, regaining its â€Å"civilizing† role, providing a forum for deliberative democracy, re-rooting legitimacy in civil society, and highlighting the importance of the â€Å"politics of presence† rather than the â€Å"politics of representation†. III. Conclusion: A lot of theoretical debates and concepts could lead us to talking about violence and boil down to it, because violence is too wide a subject, too complex and debatable a concept that is intertwined and tangled in our everyday life affairs. The attempt of this paper was to try to investigate and explore the conditions that are responsible, if not single handedly, but to a great extent, for setting the conditions for violence to be practiced. I didn’t involve myself in questions related to human nature, and whether violence is something innate or socially created, I rather tried exploring it from the â€Å"we† and the â€Å"other† point of view, that can and does have both innate and social roots. With such conditions set for violence, it’s only a matter of who practices it. I picked the state as an agent of violence, and tried to highlight why and how it manipulates language when it uses violence to achieve its interests. The conclusion I reached was unfortunately the one I had in mind when I first started thinking about this topic. Violence did not disappear with the rise of the nation-state, it only took different forms, sometimes even more devastating than it used to be before its use was subordinated to the state, and it penetrated different domains and corners in our life. Different situations came to being, different language was used, different arguments and different debates, but the fact remained: violence did not disappear, it was not curbed, and the state did not â€Å"civilize† the people. That is where and why our role comes. Not that I advocate the complete incompetence of the state in achieving its â€Å"civilizing† mission, but I do believe that we, as citizens, as individuals and as human beings, should engage in this process as well, not because we are bound by a social contract to do so, but because we are part of this process, we can stop, alter, change, direct and correct its path when we feel it has gone out of its lane. Our engagement should take different forms and be on different levels. On one level and in one form it can be through monitoring the manipulation of language conducted by the state apparatus, on another one it can protesting against it when it fails in curbing the use of violence, it can be in the form or raising awareness and spreading a culture of negotiation, communication and tolerance, trying to understand one another, instead of dealing with those outside the designated â€Å"acceptable† identities, as the other, and the list can go on and on forever. That is our mission as citizens of the nation-state, and as citizens of the world. Because after all, as Spurlock concluded in his movie â€Å"where in the world is Osama Bin Laden? †, we are not so different after all, and our similarities are more than our differences. We just have to understand and tolerate both. IV. List of References: Books: * Arendt, Hannah. On Violence. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, INC. , 1969. * Edwards, John. Language and identity. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2009. * Gaus, Gerald F. Political Concepts and Political Theories. United States: WestView Press, 2000. * Sen, Amartya. Identity and violence, the illusion of destiny. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006. Books online: * Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. Trans. Constance Farrington. New York: Grove, 1963. http://ls. poly. edu/~jbain/socphil/socphillectures/F. Fanon. pdf (19th of May, 2010) * Krishnamurti, Jiddu. Beyond Violence. India: Krishnamurti Foundation, 2002. http://www. scribd. com/doc/6568712/Beyond-Violence-Violence-Chapter6 (19th of May, 2010) * R. P. Lorin. â€Å"History of violence† in International Encyclopedia of the Social and Bhavioral Sciences. ELscier Science ltd. , 2001. http://www. scribd. com/doc/12497335/Violence-History-Of (19th of May, 2010) Reports: * Ezzat, Heba Raouf, and Mary Klador. â€Å"Not even a tree: delegitimizing violence and the prospects for pre-emptive civility†. Global Civil Society. Reports – Online: * â€Å"World Report on Violence and Health: Summary†, World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva, 2002, p. 4, http://www. who. int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/summary_en. pdf (18th of May, 2010) Articles in Journals – Online: * Ashley, Larry. â€Å"The language of violence†. Peace Studies Journal (Vol. 1 Issue 1) Fall 2008. www. peacestudiesjournal. org/archive/Ashley. doc (19th of May, 2010) * Fairchild, Halford H. Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth in Contemporary Perspective†. Journal of Black Studies (Vol. 25, No. 2) December 1994. http://www. jstor. org/pss/2784461 (19th of May, 2010) * Orwell, George. â€Å"Politics and the English language†. The journal Horizon (Vol. 13, Issue 76) (1946): 252-265. http://www. scribd. co m/doc/65590/Politics-English-language (19th of May, 2010) * Zizek, slavoj. â€Å"Language violence and non-violence†. International Journal of Zizek Studies (Vol. 2, Issue 3) http://www. scribd. com/doc/12605279/language-violnce-and-non-violence (18th of May, 2010) Online Publications: Chandhoke, Neera. Is violence constitutive of civil society?. The London school of Economics and Political Science (NGPA) Program, 13th July, 2007. http://www. lse. ac. uk/collections/NGPA/publications/WP_Violence_Civil_Society_Web. pdf (18th of May, 2010) * Fearon, James D. †What is Identity? †. Department of Political Science, Stanford University, November 3rd, 1999. http://www. stanford. edu/~jfearon/papers/iden1v2. pdf (18th of May, 2010) * Juan, E. San Jr. â€Å"Nationalism, the postcolonial state, and violence†, Center for the Humanities, Wesleyan University. http://www. leftcurve. rg/LC26WebPages/Nationalism. html (18th of May, 2010) * Manjula, B. â€Å"Identity and C ulture†. Centre for Media and Cultural Studies, http://www. scribd. com/doc/4119098/Identity-and-Culture (19th of May, 2010) * Van Dijk, Teun A. â€Å"Discourse and manipulation†, Discourse and society, Sage publications, 2006. http://das. sagepub. com/cgi/content/short/17/3/359 (19th of May, 2010) Web Sites: * Berkes, Jem, â€Å"Language as the â€Å"Ultimate Weapon† in Nineteen Eighty-Four†, May 9, 2000, http://www. sysdesign. ca/archive/berkes_1984_language. html (19th of May, 2010) * De Benoist, Alain, â€Å"On Identity†, ttp://www. scribd. com/doc/3323754/On-Identity-Alain-de-Benoist (18th of May, 2010) * â€Å"A History of Violence†, http://www. scribd. com/doc/937601/Foucault-and-Pinker-on-Violence (19th of May, 2010) * â€Å"Questions of identity: What is identity? †, the Open University, http://openlearn. open. ac. uk/mod/resource/view. php? id=176757 (18th of May, 2010) * â€Å"Questions of Identity: who am I? †, the O pen University, http://openlearn. open. ac. uk/mod/resource/view. php? id=176759 (18th of May, 2010) * http://dictionary. reference. com/browse/national+identity (20th of May, 2010) * http://jcomm. uoregon. du/~tbivins/J496/readings/LANGUAGE/euphemism_defandlist. pdf (19th of May, 2010) ——————————————– [ 1 ]. â€Å"World Report on Violence and Health: Summary†, World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva, 2002, p. 4, http://www. who. int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/summary_en. pdf (18th of May, 2010) [ 2 ]. ibid. [ 3 ]. Jiddu Krishnamurti, Beyond Violence (India: Krishnamurti Foundation, 2002) , pp. 3-4 http://www. scribd. com/doc/6568712/Beyond-Violence-Violence-Chapter6 (19th of May, 2010) [ 4 ]. Hannah Arendt, On Violence (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, INC. , 1969), pp 43-46. 5 ]. E. San Juan, Jr. , â€Å"Nationalism, the postcolonial state, an d violence†, Center for the Humanities, Wesleyan University, http://www. leftcurve. org/LC26WebPages/Nationalism. html (18th of May, 2010) [ 6 ]. Hannah Arendt, ibid, p. 11, http://www. uc. edu/nationfamilystate/Authors/Hannah%20Arendt/HAOnViolence1. pdf (19th of May, 2010) [ 7 ]. Alain de Benoist, â€Å"On Identity†, pp. 9-10, http://www. scribd. com/doc/3323754/On-Identity-Alain-de-Benoist (18th of May, 2010) [ 8 ]. James D. Fearon ,†What is Identity? †, Department of Political Science, Stanford University, November 3rd, 1999, p. 4, http://www. stanford. du/~jfearon/papers/iden1v2. pdf (18th of May, 2010) [ 9 ]. http://dictionary. reference. com/browse/national+identity (20th of May, 2010) [ 10 ]. â€Å"Questions of identity: What is identity? †, the Open University, http://openlearn. open. ac. uk/mod/resource/view. php? id=176757 (18th of May, 2010) [ 11 ]. â€Å"Questions of Identity: who am I? †, the Open University, http://openlearn. open . ac. uk/mod/resource/view. php? id=176759 (18th of May, 2010) [ 12 ]. John Edwards, Language and identity, (United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2009), p. 162. [ 13 ]. â€Å"Questions of Identity: who am I? †, ibid. [ 14 ]. Alain de Benosit, Ibid, p. 5. [ 15 ]. E. San Juan, Jr. , ibid. [ 16 ]. J. Krishnamurti, ibid, p. 4. [ 17 ]. Sen, Amartya, Identity and violence, the illusion of destiny (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006), pp. 85, 89. [ 18 ]. Fanon, Frantz, The Wretched of the Earth, Trans. Constance Farrington (New York: Grove, 1963), http://ls. poly. edu/~jbain/socphil/socphillectures/F. Fanon. pdf (10th of May, 2010) [ 19 ]. E. San Juan, Jr. , ibid. [ 20 ]. Ibid, p. 12. [ 21 ]. Ezzat, Heba Raouf, and Mary Klador. â€Å"Not Even a Tree: Delegitimizing Violence and the Prospects for Pre-emptive Civility†, Global Civil Society, p. 24 [ 22 ]. E. San Juan, Jr. , ibid. 23 ]. George Orwell, â€Å"Politics and the English language†, The journal Horizo n, Vol. 13, Issue 76, (1946), p. 9, http://www. scribd. com/doc/65590/Politics-English-language (19th of May, 2010) [ 24 ]. Ashley, Larry, â€Å"The Language of Violence†, Peace Studies Journal, Vol. 1 Issue 1, (Fall 2008), p. 84, www. peacestudiesjournal. org/archive/Ashley. doc (19th of May, 2010) [ 25 ]. George Orwell, ibid, p. 9. [ 26 ]. slavoj Zizek, â€Å"Language violence and non-violence†, International Journal of Zizek Studies, Vol. 2, Issue 3, p. 11, http://www. scribd. com/doc/12605279/language-violnce-and-non-violence (19th of May, 2010) [ 27 ]. bid, p. 2 [ 28 ]. Teun A. Van Dijk, â€Å"Discourse and manipulation†, Discourse and society, Sage publications, 2006 ,p. 380, http://das. sagepub. com/cgi/content/short/17/3/359 (19th of May, 2010) [ 29 ]. Jem Berkes, â€Å"Language as the â€Å"Ultimate Weapon† in Nineteen Eighty-Four†, May 9, 2000, http://www. sysdesign. ca/archive/berkes_1984_language. html (19th of May, 2010) [ 30 ]. Heba R aouf Ezzat, and Mary Klador, Ibid, p. 21 [ 31 ]. Hannah Arendt, ibid, p. 46. [ 32 ]. Gerald F. Gaus, Political Concepts and Political Theories, Tulance University, (United States: WestView Press, 2000) , p. 39 [ 33 ]. ibid [ 34 ]. ttp://jcomm. uoregon. edu/~tbivins/J496/readings/LANGUAGE/euphemism_defandlist. pdf (19th of May, 2010), [ 35 ]. Ashley, Larry, ibid, p. 81. [ 36 ]. Ibid, p. 84. [ 37 ]. E. San Juan, Jr. , ibid [ 38 ]. â€Å"A History of Violence†, http://www. scribd. com/doc/937601/Foucault-and-Pinker-on-Violence (19th of May, 2010) [ 39 ]. B. Manjula, â€Å"Identity and Culture†, Centre for Media and Cultural Studies, p. 9, http://www. scribd. com/doc/4119098/Identity-and-Culture (19th of May, 2010) [ 40 ]. Halford H. Fairchild, â€Å"Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth in Contemporary Perspective†, Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2 (December 1994), Sage Publications, p. 192, http://www. jstor. org/pss/2784461 (19th of May, 2010) [ 41 ]. E. San Juan, Jr. , ibid. [ 42 ]. Ibid. [ 43 ]. Hannah Arendt, Ibid, P. 9. [ 44 ]. Heba Raouf, and Mary Lakdour, Ibid, p. 21 [ 45 ]. Neera Chandhoke, â€Å"Is violence constitutive of civil society? †, The London school of Economics and Political Science (NGPA) program, 13th July, 2007, p. 39, http://www. lse. ac. uk/collections/NGPA/publications/WP_Violence_Civil_Society_Web. pdf (19th of May, 2010) [ 46 ]. ibid, p. 40 [ 47 ]. Ibid, p. 41 [ 48 ]. Ibid, pp. 42 [ 49 ]. Heba Raouf, Mary Kaldor, ibid, p. 36

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Analysis of the Voice by Thomas Hardy

POEM: THE VOICE BY THOMAS HARDY What is the genre of this poem? To me this poem speaks about â€Å"Woman Much Missed† Meaning there is someone very dear to the poet that is much missed & is no longer seen. The poem has a sense of Reminiscence, Depression, Sorrow & Death. What is the tone of voice? The tone of voice is rather Nostalgic, Emotive and Anxious. Because he says â€Å"Let me view you, then, Standing as when I drew near to the town Where you would wait for me: yes as I knew you then,†What is the theme? The theme is rather about love and a great loss. Because it says â€Å"Saying that now you are not as you were, When you had changed from the one who was all to me† What is the structure? The structure is rather Emphatic, because he emphasizes when he says â€Å"How you call to me, call to me† twice. What is the setting? The setting is in a rather sad & depressed/scared mood. He says â€Å"Thus I; faltering forward† shows he’s fear to move on without this woman. What is the Image being Portrayed?The poet is setting a rather mysterious/miserable image. Mysterious because as he says â€Å"Can it be you that I hear? † It makes you wonder if the poet is going mad. Miserable because he shows how much he misses this woman by saying â€Å"Woman much missed† What is the Key Statement? The key statement to me is in the title because the title in itself makes you reason out what the poem is about. The title is THE VOICE, this title would make me ask, Why the voice? , Who is the voice? What about the voice? So in short it’s all about the voice. What is the sound being portrayed? The impression being portrayed to me is that life is all about love and that life cannot continue without it, for others. What is the Language use? The poet is using the language rather narratively because rather than describing his emotions he’s narrating the events that are happening e. g. â€Å"Traveling across the we t mead to me here† What are the qualities that resonate/evoke with the reader?The poem is rather much private because he says â€Å"Woman much missed, how you call to me call to me† which confirms the poets love for someone missing. He indirectly channels the reader to his feelings through someone else. In the third stanza he starts to question the authenticity of the voice. â€Å"Can it be you that I hear? † The poet uses a mixture of alliteration and assonance to guideaid the reader with these lines. What is the value of this poem? Value the people you love for you never know what the future holds for you or your spouse/partner in life. Related essay: In Exile Poem Line by Line Analysis

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

From Training Camp to Boot Camp essays

From Training Camp to Boot Camp essays Pat Tillman: From Training Camp to Boot Camp When Pat Tillman turned down his $3.6 million salary from the Arizona Cardinals so that he could join the United States Army, no one made a big deal out of it. People just admired his patriotism and desire to fight for his country. But after he died, he was made the poster-child for Americans. Even though most people are not willing to give up their normal lives in order to fight for their country, it seemed more feasible after a millionaire football player did it. He not only gave up his multi-million dollar job, he gave up his life. There is only one problem I have with Pat Tillmans death, and it is not that he was fighting for reasons other than patriotism or pride. It is the fact that the national media put him on a pedestal above all other soldiers fighting overseas. Of course his story was the most compelling, but was his life worth more than Master Sgt. Evander Earl Andrews, USAF36 Solon, Maine; the first US casualty in Operation Enduring Freedom? I believe that Pat Tillman should be honored, but I also believe that no solider should be honored for dying because he was famous. All of the soldiers deserve equal credit, no matter if it is John Q. Rich from New York, or Joey B. Poor from Kansas. All soldiers go into service fully knowing that they may die in combat, they even get the same haircuts to stress the point that once you are in, you are equal to every man and woman serving with you. So in my humble opinion, every person that dies serving our country deserves the hero treatment, not just Pat Tillman. ...

Monday, October 21, 2019

Understanding Jacklighting

Understanding Jacklighting Jacklighting is the practice of shining a light into a forest or a field at night, to find animals for hunting. This can be done with car headlights, spotlights, searchlights or other lights, mounted on a vehicle or not. The animals are temporarily blinded and stand still, making it easier for hunters to kill them. In some areas, jacklighting is illegal because it is considered unsporting and dangerous because the hunters cannot see far enough beyond the targeted animal. Laws Regarding Jacklighting Where jacklighting is illegal, the law has a specific definition of the prohibited activity. For example, in Indiana: (b) A person may not knowingly throw or cast the rays of any spotlight or other artificial light:(1) not required by law on a motor vehicle; and(2) in search of or upon any wild bird or wild animal;from a vehicle while the person possesses a firearm, bow, or crossbow, if by throwing or casting the rays a wild bird or wild animal could be killed. This subsection applies even though the animal is not killed, injured, shot at, or otherwise pursued.(c) A person may not take any wildlife, except furbearing mammals, with the aid of illumination of any spotlight, searchlight, or other artificial light.(d) A person may not shine a spotlight, searchlight, or other artificial light for the purpose of taking, attempting to take, or assisting another person to take a deer. In New Jersey, the law states: No person or persons while in or on a vehicle shall throw or cast the rays of any illuminating device including, but not limited to, a spotlight, flashlight, floodlight or headlight, which is affixed to a vehicle or which is portable, on or in any area where deer may reasonably be expected to be found, while having in his or their possession or control, or in or on the vehicle, or any compartment thereof, whether or not the vehicle or compartment is locked, any firearm, weapon or other instrument capable of killing deer. Additionally, hunting at night is illegal in some states, whether or not a spotlight is being used. Some states specify which types of animals may be hunted with spotlights at night. Also Known As: spotlighting, shining, lamping Examples: A conservation officer caught four men jacklighting in the state park last night, and cited them for violating state hunting regulations.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

3 Amazing CoSchedule Features That Will Keep You Super Organized

3 Amazing Features That Will Keep You Super Organized If marketers have anything in common it’s that we all need fewer scheduling headaches and more free time. We need to stay organized, and that’s why we built in the first place. It’s also why we keep adding more time-saving features to your favorite editorial calendar. As we head into a new year of publishing, here are a few of our newest and most popular features that you should already be using to save time while staying organized. They are all new, and exclusively available in our newest set of plans.Feature #1: Google Chrome Extension Curate content from around the web and track it on your calendar. Our brand new Google Chrome Extension is the answer to one of our most requested features of all time. has always made it easy to schedule social media messages that promote your own content, but many marketers are also looking for an easier way to curate content from around the web. With our new extension, you can quickly add social messages from anywhere on the web to your calendar. Youll have a perfectly-tuned social media presence in no time. Can I tell you, I FREAKING LOVE ! Why didnt I jump on this MONTHS ago? Its SO awesome being able to just schedule this stuff and know that its going out,  that Im promoting, but dont have to be sitting on the computer (as I most often do) to do it!!! - Lynne Feifer Feature #2: Built-In Headline Analyzer Write the best headlines without ever leaving .  You know that headlines matter. They matter a lot. A well-optimized headline can get you more shares, retweets, clicks, likes, and loves. More importantly, a great headline can help you get the traffic you deserve for each and every post. At , we’ve collected data from millions of blog posts to  develop the internets leading Headline Analyzer Tool, and now that technology is built right into - saving you time, and making your marketing even better. As you are creating new blog posts and marketing content you can now score your overall headline quality in seconds and rate its ability to result in social shares, increased traffic, and SEO value. Headline Analyzer is awesome! Always more reasons to love .† - Danielle, Blue Kite Marketing Feature #3: Evernote + Google Docs FTW Write your content in Evernote (or Google Docs) and convert it into WordPress  with a single click.   The world of a marketer includes many tools- including a few that are specifically geared at content creation. We asked our customers what their most important editing tools were and both Google Docs and Evernote immediately jumped to the top of the list. During the past year, we’ve integrated with both.Now, allows you to connect your Evernote Notes or Google Docs directly to . To sweeten the deal, weve even built a way to convert those Notes (or docs) into real live WordPress blog posts. Simply click convert, and we’ll import all your formatting, text, and images directly into WordPress without skipping a beat. It’s the perfect integration to leverage some of your favorite tools, while saving tons of time in the process.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

What should the UK Government do to make our transport systems work Essay

What should the UK Government do to make our transport systems work better - Essay Example Road congestion has now become a trend in the society and even for individuals in particular. As we have observed, traffic is very rampant especially during the so-called â€Å"rush hours† wherein people are in the speed for work or school. So, as the inconvenience of road congestion grows, cities world wide are struggling to deal the problem of increasing mobile population (Edwards & Smith, 2008, p1). Not being notice by many, that this simple phenomenon on transport problems can produce other problems in the society, or at least point, it contributes to it. We shall see in the study made by Edwards and Smith, the domino effect of the growing mobile population to other predicted problems and even to unforeseen predicaments. Thus, we can see this scenario in a dynamic complexity manner wherein it is still rational to say (though hardly be seen with just a simple glance), that these effects are a by-product of such occurrence (growing mobile population) and that they are simult aneously linked to one another. Problems in the society today like oil price hikes, global warming and economic recessions are mentioned to be the result of a mounting transport population. In their paper entitled â€Å"Transport Problems Facing by Large Cities†, it depicts relevant factors which cause transportation problems. The researchers focus their study mainly on four large world cities, particularly London, Tokyo, Paris and New York. As a result of the study made, the researchers conclude several factors that affect the transportation and traffic flows as well as the other flaws linked to it. These would include: large population; high car dependency; and ageing transport infrastructure. We can also see in their study the connection of transport predicament as an inevitable result of other world issues that we are facing at present. Simple questions like â€Å"how does a large population affects the expansion of new transportation business?† to a more complex q uestion like â€Å"how can a high mobile dependency scenario can lead to economic recessions?† will be discussed and shown in the later part. What the government can do and must do is to make our transportation system better is to create and enact a law or a policy that will efficiently and effectively solve the issue. Though there are already existing policies with regards to this problem, it is still lacking because it does not yet solve the identified predicament. Moreover, the aspect that we will be focusing will be the factors indicated by Edwards and Smith in their study to come up with a strategic policy to answer the problems on transportation in UK as well as its under-effects. There are already proposals to this matter that this paper will be dealing into to have a competitive policy that will somehow ensure a better transport system. But first we must have to look at the factors which contribute more to transportation problem to have a greater knowledge on which to concentrate more our policy to avoid misusage of effort as well as money and to achieve our desired result in a more effective manner. The diagram in the next page will show relevant connections on the factors mentioned by Edwards and Smith regarding transportation problems and there effects on other problems. MONOPOLY IN TRANSPOTATION BUSINESS LARGE POPULATION EXPANSION OF TRANS. BUSINESS LOW BUSINESS COMPETTIVENESS HIGHER RATE OF TRANSPORTATION DEMAND HIGH MOBILE ROAD DEPENDENCY CONGESTION ECONOMIC RECESSION OIL SCARCITY IN WORLD MARKET HIGH CO2 EMISSION/ AIR POLLUTION OIL PRICE HIKE DECLINE IN PRODUCTION GLOBAL WARMING INFLATIONS LOWER CONSUMPTION The Domino Effect As we can see in the diagram, the primary contributor in the interlinked world problems would be the factor of high mobile dependency. If we notice, there is a cause and effect relations between transportation problems to other economic, societal and environmental predicaments that will

History of Environmental Education and Environmental Policies Essay

History of Environmental Education and Environmental Policies - Essay Example Today, an Environmental Education includes not only the technical impact that technology has presented, but also the responsibility that industry and individuals have in their approach to maintaining a sustainable geography that is productive as well as healthy. Modern attitudes towards an Environmental Education have been the result of an evolution in thinking towards the environment that has spanned the last two and a half centuries. Environmental Education traces its roots back to 1762 and the publication of Emile, a novel on educational philosophy that argued that education should focus on the environment (McRea). Wilbur Jackman's 1891 publication of Nature Study for the Common School initiated the Nature Study Movement that was pioneered by the American Nature Study Society headed by the naturalist Liberty Hyde Bailey (McRea). A greater environmental awareness was fostered in the United States by the Romantic Nature Movement and the Progressive Education Movement led by John Dewey (Haskin). In essence, "Environmental education did not spring forth fully formed from any one discipline, but rather as a product of a co-evolutionary process within science, public awareness of environmental issues, and educational ideas" (Haskin). The Dust Bowl of the 1930s was accompanied by an even greater awareness of our environment and the need for conservation and sustainability. The movement towards toda... Movement was spearheaded by Aldo Leopold, a Wisconsin educator that advocated an "an approach to science that merged environmental thinking, science and life practice" (Haskin). This thinking led to the first college degree in conservation at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 1946 and the coining of the phrase 'environmental education' by Thomas Pritchard, Deputy Directory of the Nature Conservancy, at a meeting of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in Paris in 1948 (McRea). The next decade would see a greater public awareness of nature and the natural surroundings and a call for increased sensitivity and responsibility in our actions that affect our world's environment. These attitudes were brought into greater focus by the 1962 publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, a critical review of the devastating effects that man and technology can have on the environment (Haskin). The modern environmental movement had been born and the first Earth Day in 1970 can be considered the birth of the modern national policies on Environmental Education, as well as environmental law and policy. Since the 1970s, environmental education has been addressed in the US and around the world based on a few basic principles. 1977 marked the world's first intergovernmental conference on environmental education held at Tbilisi, in the former Soviet republic of Georgia (Archie and McRea). The conference set forth five broad objectives for environmental education that the EPA agreed to and continues to support. These five principles are (1) Awareness and sensitivity to the environment and environmental challenges; (2) Knowledge and understanding of the environment and environmental challenges; (3) Attitudes of concern for the environment and motivation to

Friday, October 18, 2019

THE COLLAPSE OF THE HALIFAX BANK OF SCOTLAND, AND THE SUBSEQUENT Essay

THE COLLAPSE OF THE HALIFAX BANK OF SCOTLAND, AND THE SUBSEQUENT RESPONSE OF THE UK AUTHORITIES - Essay Example HBOS formation took place in the year 2001 as a causal resulting from the merger of both Halifax and the Bank of Scotland. The former’s position towards mortgages and the latter’s bravery in corporate lending that was to create a balanced Big Five Bank. In the year 2001, it had a total assets summing to 275 billion pounds, much bigger than that of its ultimate rescuer Lloyds and approximately three-quarters as big as Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland (O’sullivan & Kinsella 2013, p. 9). This report will highlight the four areas in which this new banking force sowed its destruction seeds. These four areas include aggressive expansion; deluded management; failure of internal controls; and reluctance to heed to the warnings of the FSA, and even allowing the shortcomings of the regulator. The key to the growth of HBOS, as per the findings of the commission, was in accepting of more risks across all the division of the group. The strategy was to ensure a new cultures in the higher echelon of the banking system. This culture was brash and underpinned by the belief that the growing market shares were as a result of a special skills category possessed by the HBOS and lacking to the competitors. The culture effects became even more corrosive when joined with the absence of corporate self–knowledge within the organization top as time elapsed. Tellingly, in October 2007, as the alarm bells rung in banks all over the world, Cumming, the head of HBOS debt-fuelled corporate wing, remarked that people appeared to lose their nerves. They were panicking even to the days testing property environment (Veron 2010, p. 113). Cumming’s corporate division ended up with an impairment of 25 billion pounds, an equivalent to the 20pc of its loan book in 2008, and away out of balance with rival banks. But while the corporate book holes hastened, the rescue by the taxpayers and

End of Life Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

End of Life Paper - Essay Example (Morgan, 2009). The parents, siblings and the health care providers are only left to grieve the loss of such a young life. The primary philosophy behind palliative care is to assist the patients and their families in achieving the best quality of life and to die peacefully and comfortably with dignity. For children, it is the active total care of the child’s body, mind, and spirit, as well as a means of providing support to the family. Part one of this paper will address the kind of nursing care needed for children who are dying and things to be taken into consideration for dying children. There are common diagnoses that affect the length of life of children including prematurity, chromosomal defects, cancer, AIDS, congenital anomalies among others. However among the diseases considered to be life-limiting, the one ignored most and considered not to be palliative care is the wound care. Though contradictory, child patients nearing their death can benefit from the curative aspects of wound healing. A wound can have a devastating effect on the child patient’s quality of dying thus one kind of care that I would engage as a nurse. Dying is a natural part of life and is usually filled with mixed emotions and times of reflection for both the dying person and the caregiver. However when a child dies, it seems like a massive failure that such a young life had to be lost. Seated next to her bed, my niece could barely talk. It was difficult to accept the fate of our beloved child; letting go of the hopes for a long-term future with her. As a nurse and her caregiver, I had to accept what was happening including my role as a caregiver with new demands and duties; making her comfortable. It became obvious that taking care of a child or teenager with such a life-limiting condition is a daunting and challenging task emotionally and practically as it requires specific support and skills, unlike for an adult suffering from such conditions.

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Problems related to information management Essay

Problems related to information management - Essay Example Though organizations tend to spend a major proportion of their budgetary allocations on maintaining, updating and renewing their information infrastructure, they many a times fail to address the human factors associated with information management (Smith 19). In that context, information literacy could be deemed to be a central aspect of managing information at the workplace. A failure to initiate the employees into the basics and fundamentals of information management could expose them to a plethora of problems like an overload of information, problems faced owing to a lack of ability to locate and retrieve the required and right information, anxiety faced owing to a lack of cognizance of the essentials of information management, inadequacy in the requisite skills required to share the necessary information, day to day issues culminating into misinformation or disinformation, incumbent time constraints, and the like. Hence, to facilitate the smooth accomplishment of information mana gement at the work place, it is necessary that the organizations do invest in training the associated personnel in the requisite skills such as networking, time management, information analysis, data mining, team work, computer skills, online networking, resource management, etc so that they may be able to exploit information as a key to the overall organizational success. A lack of information literacy and improper information management at the workplace could hamper productivity in multiple ways (Milner 4). It could not only lead to a loss of the much precious time in searching and finding the right information but could inevitably be accompanied by various debilitating human ramifications like a commensurate rise in the employee frustration and stress incurred owing to the wastage of scarce resources. It could also slow down the progress at the work place owing to a lack of the required information as and when it is