Building Successful Relationships Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Building Successful Relationships - Essay Example What could probably be one of the most important relationships in a person’s life would be with a loved one who will reciprocate the love given. However, it should be noted that relationships do not just grow like weeds in the garden but are like flowers that have to be intentionally grown, needing love and care. Personally, I have learned important matters that need to be considered in having a relationship to make it beneficial to the parties involved. I once had a relationship in my earlier years that helped me realize my mistakes and that is helping and guiding me in the relationship that I currently have. Just a few years ago, I struggled in a relationship that I had with a girl that I met in school. She is pretty, cheerful and fun to be with and I liked her for being so loving and caring. She always wanted us to be together, spending time with each other and talking about anything only to pass the time together. However, being the outgoing person that I am, I always found it difficult to find time for her and this made her complain about my attitude. She said that I was to being inconsiderate of her need to be with me and our relationship to be nurtured. She doubted my feelings toward her because I seemed to be more indulged with my friends than with her. Although I tried to explain th at my shortcomings are not the measure of my love for her, I somehow failed to make it appear so to her and, we ended breaking up. The break up was difficult for me. I guess I really loved her so much that I was greatly affected when we had to part ways. I struggled emotionally and psychologically. There were times that I could not sleep well thinking of her. I tried to make things straight with my former girlfriend, asking for another chance for me to become a better partner to her, telling her that I have already learned my lessons. Nevertheless, that is perhaps the extent of understanding that she could give me. She asked me to stop wasting my time going after her. It took me time to finally overcome the grief I felt before I finally bounced back to normalizing my activities and making new friends. I could say that my current relationship is going smoothly because I have learned a lot from my mistakes from my past relationship. It is not that my relationship with my present girlf riend is perfect but at least, we are able to work out our differences and make our relationship work. I found out that truly, a relationship should be nurtured to make it grow. When I first had a relationship, communication was open and regular during the first few months but then, I stopped getting in touch with my former girlfriend on a regular basis because I thought I was already familiar with her and was very sure I knew her very well then. Now, I maintain communicating with my friend to avoid similar problems I had in the past. Whenever we are not able to see each other during the day, I always make it a point to call my girlfriend and ask how she is and how she spent her time. I think this makes our bond stronger because she sees that I am making efforts to show how concerned I am about her. Moreover, whenever I tell her how I spent my day, she stops worrying about me and understands how I spend my time so that whenever I am not able to make it for our dates or other planned activities together, she tries to be considerate and understands

Democratic Education Essay Example for Free

Democratic Education Essay Democratic Education should be a mainstream style of teaching, and should be taught specifically to anyone aspiring to become any type of successful instructor. Everywhere you go the world is constantly changing, people adapt, time ticks away, and the days come and go, every waking moment is progression to the future. Why is the one thing that we as a society depend on for survival going backwards? Our education system and the way we educate children is the only tool we as a society use to ensure our existence, think of the world as a well oiled machine. If you neglect certain parts, yes maybe it will keep working for a short while. Eventually the machine will fall apart because of the mistreating and lack of or poor maintenance, if we keep neglecting our education system by turning a blind eye to the type of educators we give teaching credentials to or the way our current teachers or professors are instruction our future, then our existence is headed for an abrupt halt. Schools need to embrace interesting, interactive-learning environments throughout the curriculum. â€Å"If you do not want to do something, you will not, period.† This thought means if someone is in a place that does not at least entertain the senses, let alone stimulate the mind then why even waste the time to just be physically be present? By doing that it wastes money, and more importantly the teacher and the students time. Democratic education as a teaching style is based on â€Å"affirmative authority without disrespect of freedom†; Democratic Education, by bell hooks. Authoritative guidance with inspiring, limitless, encouragement should be the goal of every type of educational course offered in the United States. We need to input this style of teaching into our aspiring teachers required classes to graduate at any institution or university across the country. We need democratic education because this type of teaching inspires the students, just because someone passes a test or any kind of written exam does not determine someones intelligence. The definition of the term intelligence, according to www.google.com, means the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. This applies to institutions and their instructors because if a pupil is not taught how to apply these skills he or she has been taught how does this apply to the fast-pace times that we live in today? The answer is, it does not. Democratic education benefits the entire classroom rather than just a select few because of the more upbeat style of teaching. The beauty of democratic education is that it can also be incorporated with the old style of a more text-geared curriculum as well. It has the potential to improve teaching as a profession because it would lengthen the required courses to become a teacher, therefore narrowing the number of instructors produced. With that being said, the teaching salaries can improve because of the new demand for this productive style of teaching that K-12 schools would require the employed instructors to have completed during their college career(s). Our future generations upbringing needs to be updated according to the new age that we live in today. Democratic education needs to be a mainstream style of teaching, not for our benefit, but for the future of the precious world that you and I share. This is not a type of thing to be organized and implemented to help certain individuals succeed but for everyone, we need to teach our children that as a country we are a collective, and as individuals we are our own. Democratic education be used as another tool to help us educate the country and create a more successful tomorrow.

Jane Eyre Essay -- essays papers

Jane Eyre The novel, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte delivers a strong feminist message. Jane was a strong woman in a time when women were not meant to be strong. She was very out spoken (even as a child) and very sure in her values and opinions. She would not change them for anyone. She did not even let men control her, which is what was expected of women in this era. Jane’s father died when she was a little girl, leaving her basically on her own. The only kin she had that she knew of was an aunt that saw her as nothing but a burden and treated her cruelly. Her three cousins were just as bad, which further distressed her situation. Jane’s only escape from living with these awful people was the solitude she found in books. Any time she had spare time she would read. It is Jane’s love for reading and the knowledge she gained from them that gives her the power to finally stand up to her aunt. Her aunt ultimately gets rid of Jane by sending her to a very strict boarding school designed for orphans called Lowood. At Lowood Jane befriends a girl by the name of Helen Burns. When she first meets Helen, she sees her being punished in front of her entire class for virtually no reason. After witnessing this incident, Jane talks to Helen about it because she does not understand why she did not resist the teacher she says: You are good to those who are good to you. It is all I ever desire to be. If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way: they would never feel afraid, and so they would never alter, but would grow worse and worse. When we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we sho... ...he now has complete financial independence which I believe makes her more secure in returning to Thornfield because she is in need of nothing but peace of mind in knowing that Mr. Rochester is alright. When she gets to Thornfield she finds it burnt to the ground. Mr. Rochester has gone blind and is very deformed after he went into the fire to try and save his wife from the burning house. His attempt had failed and his wife died. So in the end, Jane can now be with the person that she loves - Mr. Rochester. The irony of their marriage is that Jane will be the one taking care of Mr. Rochester instead of the other way around. Throughout the novel, Jane stands up for what she believes in even though in some cases it hurts her very badly. By her not being scared to do what it takes to follow her beliefs she went from a girl who had nothing to a woman who had it all.

The Appeal Of The Androgynous Man :: essays research papers

â€Å"The Appeal of the Androgynous Man† This article was published in Mademoiselle in 1976 for young female readers by Amy Gross. In this article Gross compares androgynous men to the all-man man. Gross talks about the advantages of the androgynous man as compared to the all-man man. There are advantages and disadvantages to every man. Seems as though Gross is in favor of the androgynous man and she tends to bash the all-man man. Gross describes the Androgynous man as being a self-amused, less inflated, more quirky, vulnerable and responsive man. Gross describes the all-man man as being a male chauvinist and possessing none of the characteristics of the androgynous man. These descriptions are of men that Gross had encounters with, not necessarily every man in the world. It is evident through her descriptions that she is more in favor of the androgynous man and sees them as a better mate. The androgynous man maybe be a better mate for Gross, however this does not mean he is a better mate for every woman. Further Gross explains the results of an experiment done with college students that were categorized as masculine, feminine, or androgynous. This experiment tests the degree of nurturing and caring abilities of each person within the experiment. Gross makes it a point to reveal that masculine men scored low and gave her sympathy for anyone stuck with this type of man. The choice of what type of man a woman chooses to spend her life with is left up to the individual woman. If a masculine man makes a woman happy who is Gross to giver her sympathy to this woman. Gross stereotypes the all-man man by suggesting that the all-man man will reject behaviors and interests that are considered feminine. This stereotyping is based on her experience with men, not by the experience of women as a whole. Gross is making a misleading statement about men, therefore she is possibly misleading her readers. Young adult women need to take a look at their own needs and choose a man that will fulfill those needs, regardless of whether it be an androgynous man or an all-man man. The Appeal Of The Androgynous Man :: essays research papers â€Å"The Appeal of the Androgynous Man† This article was published in Mademoiselle in 1976 for young female readers by Amy Gross. In this article Gross compares androgynous men to the all-man man. Gross talks about the advantages of the androgynous man as compared to the all-man man. There are advantages and disadvantages to every man. Seems as though Gross is in favor of the androgynous man and she tends to bash the all-man man. Gross describes the Androgynous man as being a self-amused, less inflated, more quirky, vulnerable and responsive man. Gross describes the all-man man as being a male chauvinist and possessing none of the characteristics of the androgynous man. These descriptions are of men that Gross had encounters with, not necessarily every man in the world. It is evident through her descriptions that she is more in favor of the androgynous man and sees them as a better mate. The androgynous man maybe be a better mate for Gross, however this does not mean he is a better mate for every woman. Further Gross explains the results of an experiment done with college students that were categorized as masculine, feminine, or androgynous. This experiment tests the degree of nurturing and caring abilities of each person within the experiment. Gross makes it a point to reveal that masculine men scored low and gave her sympathy for anyone stuck with this type of man. The choice of what type of man a woman chooses to spend her life with is left up to the individual woman. If a masculine man makes a woman happy who is Gross to giver her sympathy to this woman. Gross stereotypes the all-man man by suggesting that the all-man man will reject behaviors and interests that are considered feminine. This stereotyping is based on her experience with men, not by the experience of women as a whole. Gross is making a misleading statement about men, therefore she is possibly misleading her readers. Young adult women need to take a look at their own needs and choose a man that will fulfill those needs, regardless of whether it be an androgynous man or an all-man man.

Comparing and Contrasting the Pardoners Tale and the Wife of Bath Tale

I. Definitions A. Controls all products B. Is a part of the Economic System C. System of society of living things D. Political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership II. Pro and Cons A. Social programs 1. Food stamps 2. Public housing 3. Public health-care 4. Public education B. Allows for a stable economy C. All capitalistic system is all about individual and singular life 1. people don't necessarily like to share 2. think their higher than one another D. Distributes the wealth of a nation III.Statistics And Facts A. Socialism is equality for all and a classless system B. Became along in the late 18th and early 19th century 1. reaction to the economic and social changes 2. industrial revolution C. had become the most important political force on the continent D. Democratic socialism took firm root in European politics after World War 1 IV. Key Figures A. Utopian Socialist 1. Socialist writer 2. Followed Babeuf B. Louis Blanc 1. Followed the Utopians 2. Put forward a system of social workshops in 1840 C. Marxism . European socialism 2. Theoretical basis for most socialist thought D. Democratic socialism 1. Took firm root in European politics after World War I 2. participated in government in Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, and other nations E. Christian socialism V. Conclusion A. Has systems of social organization B. Socialist parties came to power in many nations throughout the world C. Believes in the removal of all borders between countries D. Includes a diverse array of political philosophies ‘

D O M I C A Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers, Research Papers

D O M I C A Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers, Research Papers D O M I C A Je to najvacsia jaskya Slovenskeho krasu. Jej zakladom je wettersteinsky vapenec abola vytvorena cinnosou Styxu aDomickeho potoka. Stala sa aj kratkodobou skrysou pre najstarsich neolitickych obyvateov, neskor jej povodny vchod vsak bol zava leny astala sa nedostupnou. Vroku 1926 J. Majko ako prvy prenikol cez jaskyu Stara Domica do Domice avroku 1932 bola tato jaskya spristupnena pre verejnos. Na mnohych miestach sa nasli staroveke nadoby, zbrane zkosti, hrebene ci prstene, tieto stopy minulosti potvrdili , ze nasi predkovia obyvali jaskyu Domica. Stala sa aj naleziskom kosti jaskynneho medvea. Teraz vtejto jaskyni zije az 16 druhov netopierov. Vroku 1995 bola spolu s alsimi jaskyami Slovenskeho krasu zapisana do Zoznamu svetoveho prirodneho dedicstva UNESCO. Ako jedina jaskya na Slovensku ponuka okrem obhliadky stalaktitov, stalagmitov, stalagnatov a kaskadovitych jazierok aj plavbu lokou po riecke Styx . J e prepojena nielen sjaskyou Stara Domica, ale aj sCertovou dierou atvori jednotny celok sjaskyou Baradla , do ktorej sa vchadza z uzemia Maarska . Juliane Gerbel , TA Zdroje: ssj.sk slovensky-kras.eu

Greenwich Mean Time vs. Coordinated Universal Time

Greenwich Mean Time vs. Coordinated Universal Time By the mid-nineteenth century, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) had been established as the primary reference time zone for the British Empire and for much of the world. GMT is based on the line of longitude running through the Greenwich Observatory located in the suburbs of London. GMT, as the mean within its name, would indicate, represented the time zone of a hypothetically average day at Greenwich. GMT disregarded the fluctuations in the normal earth-sun interaction. Thus, noon GMT represented the average noon at Greenwich throughout the year. Over time, time zones became established based on GMT as being x number of hours ahead or behind GMT. Interestingly, the clock began at noon under GMT so noon was represented by zero hours. UTC As more sophisticated time pieces became available to scientists, the need for a new international time standard became apparent. Atomic clocks did not need to keep time based on the average solar time at a particular location because they were very, very accurate. In addition, it became understood that due to the irregularity of the earth and the suns movements, the exact time needed to be modified occasionally through the use of leap seconds. With this precise accuracy of time, UTC was born. UTC, which stands for Coordinated Universal Time in English and Temps universel coordonnà © in French, was abbreviated UTC as a compromise between CUT and TUC in English and French, respectively. UTC, while based on zero degrees longitude, which passes through the Greenwich Observatory, is based on atomic time and includes leap seconds as they are added to our clock every so often. UTC was used beginning in the mid-twentieth century but became the official standard of world time on January 1, 1972. UTC is 24-hour time, which begins at 0:00 at midnight. 12:00 is noon, 13:00 is 1 p.m., 14:00 is 2 p.m. and so on until 23:59, which is 11:59 p.m. Time zones today are a certain number of hours or hours and minutes behind or ahead of UTC. UTC is also known as Zulu time in the world of aviation. When European Summer Time is not in effect, UTC matches the time zone of the United Kingdom. Today, it is most appropriate to use and refer to time based on UTC and not on GMT.

Obsidian - Volcanic Glass Prized for Stone Tool Making

Obsidian - Volcanic Glass Prized for Stone Tool Making The volcanic glass called obsidian was highly prized in prehistory where ever it was found. The glassy material comes in a range of colors from black to green to bright orange, and it is found everywhere rhyolite-rich volcanic deposits are found. Most obsidian is a deep rich black, but, for example, pachuca obsidian, from a source in Hidalgo and distributed throughout Mesoamerica during the Aztec period, is a translucent green color with a golden yellow sheen to it. Pico de Orizaba, from a source in southeastern Puebla is almost completely colorless. Obsidian Qualities The qualities that made obsidian a favorite trade item are its shiny beauty, its easily worked fine texture, and the sharpness of its flaked edges. Archaeologists are fond of it because of obsidian hydration-a relatively secure (and relatively low cost) way to date the period an obsidian tool was last flaked. Sourcing obsidianthat is to say, discovering where the raw stone from a particular obsidian artifact came fromis typically conducted through trace element analysis. Although obsidian is always made up of volcanic rhyolite, each deposit has slightly different amounts of trace elements in it. Scholars identify the chemical fingerprint of each deposit through such methods as X-ray fluorescence or neutron activation analysis  and then compare that to what is found in an obsidian artifact. Alca Obsidian Alca is  a type of obsidian that is  solid and banded black, gray, maroon brown and bottled black maroon brown, that is found in volcanic deposits in the Andes mountains between 3700-5165 meters (12,140-16,945 feet) above sea level. The largest known concentrations of Alca are at the east rim of the Cotahuasi Canyon and in the Pucuncho basin. The Alca sources are among the most extensive sources of obsidian in South America; only the Laguna de Maule source in Chile and Argentina has comparable exposure.   Three types of Alca, Alca-1, Alca-5 and Alca-7, outcrop on the alluvial fans of the Pucuncho basin. These cannot be discerned with the naked eye, but they can be identified on the basis of geochemical characteristics, identified through ED-XRF and NAA (Rademaker et al. 2013). Stone tool workshops at the sources in the Pucuncho basin have been dated to the Terminal Pleistoceneand stone tools dated to the same 10,000-13,000 year range have been discovered at Quebrada Jaguay on the coast of Peru. Sources For information on dating obsidian ,  see the article on obsidian hydration. See the History of Glass Making, if thats what interests you. For more rock science on the substance, see the geology entry for obsidian. For the heck of it, try the Obsidian Trivia Quiz. Freter A. 1993. Obsidian-hydration dating: Its past, present, and future application in Mesoamerica. Ancient Mesoamerica 4:285-303. Graves MW, and Ladefoged TN. 1991. The disparity between radiocarbon and volcanic glass dates: New evidence from the island of Lanai, Hawaii. Archaeology in Oceania 26:70-77. Hatch JW, Michels JW, Stevenson CM, Scheetz BE, and Geidel RA. 1990. Hopewell obsidian studies: Behavioral implications of recent sourcing and dating research. American Antiquity 55(3):461-479. Hughes RE, Kay M, and Green TJ. 2002. Geochemical and Microwear Analysis of an Obsidian Artifact from the Brown Bluff Site (3WA10), Arkansas. Plains Anthropologist 46(179). Khalidi L, Oppenheimer C, Gratuze B, Boucetta S, Sanabani A, and al-Mosabi A. 2010. Obsidian sources in highland Yemen and their relevance to archaeological research in the Red Sea region. Journal of Archaeological Science 37(9):2332-2345. Kuzmin YV, Speakman RJ, Glascock MD, Popov VK, Grebennikov AV, Dikova MA, and Ptashinsky AV. 2008. Obsidian use at the Ushki Lake complex, Kamchatka Peninsula (Northeastern Siberia): implications for terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene human migrations in Beringia. Journal of Archaeological Science 35(8):2179-2187. Liritzis I, Diakostamatiou M, Stevenson C, Novak S, and Abdelrehim I. 2004. Dating of hydrated obsidian surfaces by SIMS-SS. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 261(1):51–60. Luglie C, Le Bourdonnec F-X, Poupeau G, Atzeni E, Dubernet S, Moretto P, and Serani L. 2006. Early Neolithic obsidians in Sardinia (Western Mediterranean): the Su Carroppu case. Journal of Archaeological Science 34(3):428-439. Millhauser JK, Rodrà ­guez-Alegrà ­a E, and Glascock MD. 2011. Testing the accuracy of portable X-ray fluorescence to study Aztec and Colonial obsidian supply at Xaltocan, Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Science 38(11):3141-3152. Moholy-Nagy H, and Nelson FW. 1990. New data on sources of obsidian artifacts from Tikal, Guatemala. Ancient Mesoamerica 1:71-80. Negash A, Shackley MS, and Alene M. 2006. Source provenance of obsidian artifacts from the Early Stone Age (ESA) site of Melka Konture, Ethiopia. Journal of Archaeological Science 33:1647-1650. Peterson J, Mitchell DR, and Shackley MS. 1997. The social and economic contexts of lithic procureent: obsidian from classic-period Hohokam sites. American Antiquity 62(2):213-259. Rademaker K, Glascock MD, Kaiser B, Gibson D, Lux DR, and Yates MG. 2013. Multi-technique geochemical characterization of the Alca obsidian source, Peruvian Andes. Geology 41(7):779-782. Shackley MS. 1995. Sources of archaeological obsidian in the Greater American southwest: An update and quantitative analysis. American Antiquity 60(3):531-551. Spence MW. 1996. Commodity or gift: Teotihuacan obsidian in the Maya region. Latin American Antiquity 7(1):21-39. Stoltman JB, and Hughes RE. 2004. Obsidian in Early Woodland Contexts in the Upper Mississippi Valley. American Antiquity 69(4):751-760. Summerhayes GR. 2009. Obsidian network patterns in Melanesia: Sources, characterisation, and distribution. IPPA Bulletin 29:109-123. Also Known As: Volcanic glass Examples: Teotihuacan and Catal Hoyuk are just two of the sites where obsidian was clearly considered an important stone resource.

Particular policy debate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Particular policy debate - Essay Example ECB is assigned the task of maintaining price stability and it is the major component of Euro-system. The fate of Euro-zone is the topic of debate on international forum. European Union is commonly known as EU, a supranational body which proposed integration of European countries. It adopted a unique framework for integration and set the goal of complete integration among European countries. By complete integration, EU meant to integrate the economies, politics, educational, cultural and all other aspects. By economic integration, the EU dreamt of common market and common currency. The common market was based on the idea of free movement of goods, services, capital and labour (Toner, 2004). By free movement means, there were no tariff and quota restrictions, there was no excise duty and the exchange rate was relatively kept stable. In order to go a step ahead in economic integration, the common currency named as Euro was introduced. The member countries were required to abolish their local currency and adopt Euro as the official currency. Adoption of Euro is a difficult task for the member states and they need to make certain changes in their economic system to adopt this new currency. The fate of Euro-zone is important to determine because it is one of the most important key performance indicators of ECB and EU itself. EU has achieved many successful milestones in its earlier periods of economic integration. The common market initiative was warmly welcomed by the member states and in order to reap its benefits, many other European countries showed their willingness to join EU. When EU launched the initiative of common currency i.e. Euro, few countries showed enthusiasm while UK, Denmark and Sweden adopted the opt-out option. This option relieved them from the mandatory requirement of replacing their national currency with Euro. It has raised much confusion in the economic circles of EU. Many other

Managing strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words - 1

Managing strategy - Essay Example In this particular study different strategic frameworks shall be incorporated so as to analyze external environmental and internal conditions of Netflix. These tools will not only help to identify key resources and competencies but even facilitate determining critical success factors. In broader context these factors are highly responsible for acquiring sustainable competitive advantage. Michael Porter states that a strategy provides valuable and unique market position to a firm. A strategic fit needs to be achieved by a company in order to align business activities with overall business strategy. Business strategy can be defined as developing, finding and formulating a doctrine so as to ensure long-term success. Strategic thinking and strategic planning approaches are closely knitted with the framework of strategic management. Netflix is an organization founded in 1997 and providing Internet streaming media on demand to wide base of viewers. It has its viewers located across South a nd North America, and certain parts of Europe such as Norway, Netherlands, Denmark, France, Ireland, Sweden, United Kingdom, Finland, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Luxembourg. The company is even involved in sending DVD by mail at flat rate in various locations of United States. Netflix has implemented a subscription based model within its system. Members are able to choose from wide range of subscription plans encompassing option of unlimited streaming movies or media. This study shall not only highlight current strategies been followed by the firm but even would focus on available strategic options for future development. Netflix is a well-known organization operating in movie rental industry. The company is subjected to political, social, technological, economic, environmental and legal conditions. In legal and political context, the

Ultraviolet light Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ultraviolet light - Lab Report Example Additionally, UV-B is also harmful and is absorbed by the Ozone Layer on the Earth’s atmosphere. However, based on the effects of global warming, the penetration of the UV-B radiation through the ozone facilitates sunburn on human skin (Akram and Rubock, pp. 2-11). The discovery of ultraviolet light owes to the scientific research by John Ritter of 1801 which showed that in the presence of ultraviolet light, blue photographic paper would turn black. Following the discovery of the ultraviolet light/radiation, scientists have used the concept of ultraviolet wavelengths to monitor the formation of stars in the galaxy. Since most stars emit light at the wavelength of UV-light, scientists can monitor activity in the universe and provide information on newly forming stars (Mission Science, para 1-7). Practical application of UV-light is the study of the galaxy where scientists use Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope to investigate the differences between newly formed and older stars. Due to differing wavelengths, it is observed that the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope results show that optical and ultraviolet wavelengths affect how bright a star shines (Gam Products Inc.

Contract Law (Australia) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Contract Law (Australia) - Essay Example has done or abstained from doing, or does or abstains from doing, or promises to do or abstain from doing something, such an act or abstinence or promise is called a consideration for the promise.† â€Å"A contract is an agreement enforceable at law made between two or more persons by which rights are acquired by one or more to acts or forbearance on the part of the other or others.† (Quoted in ReportBD.com) Since both the plaintiff and defendant maintained social relationship, the agreement between them was a bit social in nature, as there was no intention of either of the parties to enter into any legal remedies against non-compliance of either of the parties to the contract. There are two types of agreements i.e. Social agreements are the agreements which are just promises between two or more persons or parties, but do not enjoy the status of contract. For example one person invites another at his office to have dinner with him, but if he fails to host dinner, no legal remedy can be demanded, as it is social agreement in nature. Such promises do not bind the parties, to fulfil the promise, thus no legal rights between the parties are created, as in the case of Balfour and Balfour (1919) 2 KB 571: â€Å"When a husband failed to pay a promised allowance, the wife sued. The court announced the judgement in these words: "There are agreements between parties which do not result in contracts within the meaning of that term in our law. The ordinary example is where two parties agree to take a walk together (or) arrangements which are made between husband and wife. They are not contracts because the parties did not intend that they should be attended by legal consequences. Each house is a domain into which the Kings writ does not seek to run.† (Quoted in Duhaimes Canadian Contract Law Centre) On the other hand, there are some contracts, which are legal in nature, and the parties are bound to execute the promise and agreements. In case of not complying with which,

Strategic Analysis of Hon Hai Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Strategic Analysis of Hon Hai - Case Study Example The study will also cover the merger and acquisition activities of the company along with the position of the company before and after the merger and acquisition activities. The report will also use key financial ratios to report on the financial performance of the company. While 'business strategy' represent the goal of the company to attain sustainable competitive advantage in one of the businesses of the company, 'corporate strategy' represents the objective of the company to manage multi-business activities to create corporate-wide advantage that will benefit each of the business the company owns and operates. The corporate strategy looks into the opportunities available to the company both internally and externally to enhance its competitive strengths and sustain its sales growth and profitability. A strategic analysis of any company thus includes assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the company on the basis of the internal environment as well as threats and opportunities that the company is subjected to because of its relative positioning in the market and the industry. The main objective of any strategic analysis is to identify the ways in which the existing resources can be shared between the multiple business activities and also identifyi ng new resources which will enhance the competitive strengths of the company. ... With this background this study intends to make a strategic analysis of the company Hon Hai (Foxconn) to report on the efforts of the company to enhance and sustain its competitive advantages. 1.1 Hon Hai (Foxconn) - An Overview Incorporated in the year 2004 the company is a group company of Foxconn Technology. Foxconn Group is the foremost provider of joint-design, joint-development, manufacturing, assembly and after-sales services to global Computer, Communication, and Consumer-electronics ("3C") leaders. Focusing on fields of nanotechnology, heat transfer, wireless connectivity, material sciences, and green manufacturing process, Foxconn's over 15,000 patents granted worldwide by 2005 made it a recognized leader of innovation and technical know-how in rankings such as MIT's patent scorecard. HonHai is mainly producing Hinge related products adopting an innovative technology. The production process is different from that of the traditional Hinge companies. By using the new technology the company has enhanced the production capacity to a great extent and has reduced the cost of production. The company has made a net operating income of $ 10.17 million representing 8 percent of the turnover, as of the end of the year 2006. The company is following a different production process than the competitors operating in the industry. The use of this modern technology has enhanced the production capacity of the capacity while lowering the cost of production. The company presently employs around 975 people. 1.2 Research Objectives The study will cover the following objectives among other things: (1) A detailed study of the advantages and disadvantages of merger and acquisition activities in general (2) A strategic analysis of the Company Hon Hai

Contract Law (Australia) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Contract Law (Australia) - Essay Example has done or abstained from doing, or does or abstains from doing, or promises to do or abstain from doing something, such an act or abstinence or promise is called a consideration for the promise.† â€Å"A contract is an agreement enforceable at law made between two or more persons by which rights are acquired by one or more to acts or forbearance on the part of the other or others.† (Quoted in ReportBD.com) Since both the plaintiff and defendant maintained social relationship, the agreement between them was a bit social in nature, as there was no intention of either of the parties to enter into any legal remedies against non-compliance of either of the parties to the contract. There are two types of agreements i.e. Social agreements are the agreements which are just promises between two or more persons or parties, but do not enjoy the status of contract. For example one person invites another at his office to have dinner with him, but if he fails to host dinner, no legal remedy can be demanded, as it is social agreement in nature. Such promises do not bind the parties, to fulfil the promise, thus no legal rights between the parties are created, as in the case of Balfour and Balfour (1919) 2 KB 571: â€Å"When a husband failed to pay a promised allowance, the wife sued. The court announced the judgement in these words: "There are agreements between parties which do not result in contracts within the meaning of that term in our law. The ordinary example is where two parties agree to take a walk together (or) arrangements which are made between husband and wife. They are not contracts because the parties did not intend that they should be attended by legal consequences. Each house is a domain into which the Kings writ does not seek to run.† (Quoted in Duhaimes Canadian Contract Law Centre) On the other hand, there are some contracts, which are legal in nature, and the parties are bound to execute the promise and agreements. In case of not complying with which,

Describe the ways that airports can prepare for and respond to Essay

Describe the ways that airports can prepare for and respond to aircraft accidents - Essay Example Set up and train emergency response team. This team is trained specifically to deal with emergencies in the airport while waiting for an external help from specialized teams like fire fighters who will take charge of the situation once they arrive. Have an onsite medical facility. The advantage of having an onsite medical facility in place is that the airport can perform first aid procedures on the affected persons so that their condition can be stabilized before they are transferred for further treatment outside the airport facilities. Have an onsite medics and fire fighters. Medical personnel and fire fighters have been trained and are always ready to respond to any emergency so long as it is within their control. Their presence in the airport facility is an assurance enough to travelers that their safety has been taken care of. In conclusion, a successful response of the airport during an accident is determined on how prepared they are and this can be gained by following the above guidelines in addition to the practices laid down by the airport

Case Study Child Development Project Essay Example for Free

Case Study Child Development Project Essay Abstract After an extended period watching and observing Adrian, the bystander is able to see where Adrian is developmentally. He is growing physically, mentally, and emotionally as a child his age, four years old, should be maturing according to many theorists. While he has not mastered all the required steps for his age group he is achieving more and more of them each day. The following case study will discuss where Adrian is excelling and where he still needs a little work. A Case Study about Child Development Adrian is almost four years old and lives with his parents and older sister in an apartment. His father is a financial advisor in a bank, allowing him to spend time with the family on the weekends, while his mother stays at home as a housewife. They have a lot of neighbors and no pets. Adrian loves trains, cars, dinosaurs, animals, juice, and being inside and outside of his house. His favorite movie is Cars. He does not like the word â€Å"No† and often ignores something when it doesn’t interest him. Adrian has fun, loving, goofy, energetic personality. Throughout this study, the observation of Adrian will take place at two places: his house, inside and out and his grandmother’s house. Physical Development Adrian developed normally through the prenatal, infancy, and toddler stages. He was born on August twenty eighth in 2010 by natural birth after a full term, normal pregnancy. At birth, he weighed eight pounds eleven ounces and measured twenty-two inches long, which according to the Center for Disease Control (2000), put him in the seventy-fifth percentile for weight and ninetieth percentile for length. As an infant Adrian’s mother, chose not to breast feed and instead gave him formula. As a toddler, Adrian hit all the  important milestones, according to his mother, included learning to walk which occurred around fifteen months. As Adrian progressed from a toddler to preschooler, he continued to progress as he should according to the normal growth and developmental process. At four years, he is forty-two inches tall and weights around forty-six pounds, keeping him in the same percentiles as birth, again according to the CDC (2000). Most of this growth occurred, as it should, during the toddler years. Even though Adrian just turned four he had accomplished many of the required gross and fine motor skills according Berger (Chapter 8), he can run, hop, jump, walk up and down stairs alone, dress and undress, use the bathroom on his own. I have witnessed Adrian running or jumping many times whether it be running to tackle someone for a hug or a warm welcome, jumping on the bed/couch usually when he gets excited about a movie or favorite cartoon, or when he is playing with his cousin who is just a few months older. Going up and down the stairs at his grandmother’s house, this is not a problem problem because Adrian gets plenty of practice due to must of the time he’s visiting his gradmother’s house. Using the bathroom is a big accomplishment for him, because it took him a long time and has only mastered it within the last few months. However, he still needs practice skipping and being comfortable using scissors. Adrian is right where he should be with his physical development. Cognitive Development Similarly to Adrian’s physical development his cognitive develop is also maturing at what theorist would say is a normal rate. Piaget and Vygotsky writes that upon reaching the age of four a child should be rapidly expanding his vocabulary, beginning to think intuitively but still thinking almost entirely on himself. He progressed through the building blocks of language beginning with babbling and moving through his first word around fifteen months and first sentence a little while later. While his mother does not know the exact time when he started babbling and spoke his first sentence, she does recall this never being a concerned about the development. Currently, he is speaking in full sentences that vary in lengths and purposes. He enjoys watching television shows about super heroes and if given the chance, he will spend large amounts of time, sometimes up to twenty minutes, telling his listener all about them. Adrian’s cognitive  development in the area of language has a lot to do with the fact he is inquisitive and seems to enjoy learning. According to many theories and developmental checklist a four year old should be able to count and should be drawn to letters and sounds. Adrian demonstrates an inclination to want to read and will often ask someone around him to read him his favorite book or play with the magnetic letters his mom bought him. Additionally, by playing games like Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders where he can count the required spaces indicating a beginning understanding of numbers. Another example a time when I noticed Adrian genuinely wanting to learn and wanting things to be perfect, he spent a few seconds growing more and more frustrated as he angrily smashed the top and bottom boxes together. Eventually, he got the two pieces together but not before tearing the corners of them. However, when someone stepped in and showed him how to correctly put the two pieces together he welcomed the advice and was then able to properly close the box. Like Vygotsky mentioned the mentor provide scaffolding, or temporary sensitive support, to help the developmental zone. After getting the box together, he started to think of ways to fix the box. He suggested taping it, and was excited when that idea was welcomed and put to use. This not only demonstrated intuitive thought but helped Adrian feel intelligent and begin to learn that it is perfectly fine and acceptable to ask for help when needed. Adrian is developing cognitively a little more everyday and seems to be on his way to accomplishing all the key milestones. His language skills are growing each day and he is learning to try new things on his own with the idea that he can always ask for help. Emotional/Social Development As with physical and cognitive development, observer is able to see that Adrian is attaining the social developmental milestones as he progresses to the preschool age. While Adrian hit all the important points through in infancy and toddlerhood. For example, he was always able to show a wide range of emotions, classified as a key achievement by Freud and Erikson. He was quick to show observers his happiness, sadness, confusion, or frightfulness. He also quickly established a secure attachment to his mother, another one of Ainsworth’s milestones. Adrian was child who needed and wanted to be with his mother and would cry or search for her as soon as  she left his sight. By achieving both of these Adrian was able to understand that he could trust people, which allowed him to make the transition from toddlerhood to the pre-school period successfully. As an energetic and, for the most part, easy going four year old, Adrian is accomplishing many of the expected landmarks yet needs more time to complete other. Observers can watch Adrian feeling safe and comfortable in areas other than those he is familiar too. Similarly, however, he can/will lose complete control of his temper and lash out violently to those around him. Other noticeable developments for Adrian are his ability to play with others, cooperatively and the idea that he is beginning to get a sense of gender. He enjoys playing games with his cousin who is just a few months older and they will play with cars or whatever suits their mood that day. He will also play board games, such as Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders, with the understanding that it is not always possible to win. Presently, he is fascinated with Wonder Woman and when asked why he likes her so much his response was because she is a girl and has boobs, as reported by Adrian’s mother. He is getting to the point also, where he understands that there are boys clothes and girls clothes, last year for example he enjoyed trying on the clothes his cousin received for Christmas. Yet this year, when his family went shopping and glanced through the area with all the children’s clothes he had no problem telling everyone which ones were for boys and which ones where not. Over all, Adrian is where he needs to be given he still has two years left in the preschool stage to improve and grow socially and emotionally developmental wise. Reflection This experience has taught me a lot about how preschoolers act and why they do the things they do. I truly enjoyed watching Adrian in a different, more professional light during the past few weeks. I cannot say I am thrilled with how I did everything throughout the project but for the most part, I am happy. By observing Adrian for specific characteristics in the areas of physical, cognitive, and emotional growth I was able to bring the lectures and information from class to life and am thrilled to be able to say I am leaving this class with the understanding of how a preschool-aged child operates. While I am happy about learning the Adrian is on target with his developments, I wish I could have observed him at different times and  places. Also, it would have been interesting to see how he reacted at different locations but that did not work like I had hoped it would have at the beginning, instead, I primarily just watched him inside his house: inside because it always seemed to be either too hot or rainy when I would visit. By completing this case study, I was able to accomplish a lot. I now have a much better idea of where a preschool-aged child is cognitively, emotionally, and physically and if that is the age. I really enjoyed being able to step out of my family role and see how Adrian is from a different, more professional standpoint.

United Health Group Ingenix Subrogation Services

United Health Group Ingenix Subrogation Services The company that I am most familiar with and will be discussing is Ingenix a wholly subsidiary of United Health Group. United Health Group is the parent company of Ingenix, therefore a lot of the financial information and applicable laws, regulations budgetary information will be Ingenix and United Health Group. Other information that I will providing, will included United Health Group, because it fall under the parent companys financial and budgeting background in regards how they filed Form 10-K with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The financial reporting statement sheet that is filed on form 10-K are separated among the different business entities that is under the umbrella of United Health Group Incorporated. United Health Group Incorporated (2010) a diversified health and well being company, United Health Group offers a spectrum of products and services through seven was operating business: United Health Care, Ovations, Americhoice, Uniprise, Optum Health, Ingenix and Prescription Solution. In 1977, United Health Care Corporation was created and is now one of the largest health insurer in the United States. (http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/main/Businesses.aspx, 2011) The organization that I am employed is Ingenix, in the subrogation department. founded by United Health Group in 1996 to develop, acquire, and integrate the worlds best in class health care information technology capabilities. Ingenix (2010) serve market needs for data and analysis, to build core data assets and expertise, built the largest health care expertise work and developed core intellectual property. Headquarter in Eden Prairie Minnesota, with annual revenue of more than $1.8 billion as of 2009. (http://www.ingenix.com/about/history/) In 2006, Ingenix emergence of market focused and launched and developed Ingenix Consulting, developed leading information based business solutions, health reform, payment, revenue cycle management, health IT. Between 2011 and 2014 Ingenix will enhance connectivity and workflow competencies, provide ubiquitous infrastructure to connect all parties, have close partnership with Optum Health in care setting and expand globally. (http://www.ingenix.com/about/businesses/2010) At Ingenix getting valuable information to the right place at the right time requires a unique set of strengths (http://www.ingenix.com/about/businesses/), Ingenix have built to stride to deliver the information and technology needs that are unique to health care, gathering information and analytics to make it useful. To create secure, interoperable networks that enable the exchange of information among communities, understand how those in health care actually can do their work; so that information can be seamlessly introduce the flow of their everyday activities. Critical to our success, Ingenix includes several best in class businesses with specific, leadership roles in healthcare. The market service by Ingenix is physicians, government agencies, hospitals, employers, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology. (http://www.ingenix.com/markets/2010) Ingenix ethics and integrity believes that no other industry deals with an individuals privacy and personal well being more intimately than healthcare. (http://www.ingenix.com/about/ethics-integrity/). As the leading health information company Ingenix maintains clear, firm policies on privacy and transparency, and promote an atmosphere of culture based on integrity, compassion, relationships, innovation and performance. Ingenix, (2010) has implemented policies, procedures and training ((http://www.ingenix.com/about/ethics-integrity/, 2010) in order to comply with the standards of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule and Security Rule. (Understanding Health Information Privacy, 2011) Information is the lifeblood of health care, applied at the right time and in the right place, when decisions need to be made, information can enhance the affordability, quality, usability, and accessibility of care integrity (http://www.ingenix.com/about/ethics-integrity/). As with any organization a cost analysis will determines the benefits and savings that are to be expected from the organization systems and compare with the expected costs. The cost benefit analysis for Ingenix is used to determine the degree of access to or the benefit of health care services to be provided to their members. Since Ingenix is a wholly subsidiary of United Health Group it is a complex system complied of many other subsidiary that falls under the umbrella of United Health Group. The ethical consideration as it relates to Ingenixs finance and budgeting came under fire, when United Health Care-Ingenix was sued by the former State Attorney General Perry Cumo. Ingenix settled out of court in the amount of $350 million dollars that they agreed based upon the determination of reimbursement that were used by insurance company nationwide. It argues that United Health -Ingenix rate setting practices violated several federal laws, including ERISA, RICO and antitrust law. Since that time United Health -Ingneix ethical consideration regarding to their finance and budgeting has put in place, a system that will attained independent certification of security procedures, Ingenix will demonstrate that the company will recognized and accepted measures to safe guard its assets. Providing health services, Ingenixs revenue has increased, $271 million or 17% during 2009 to 1.8 billion primarily due to the growth in new prayer business and new internal offerings. The contract of Ingenix backlog revenue grew $80 million or 21% percent during 2009 to $2.2 billion, which was led by growth in the government and payer sectors (UHC 2009 Annual Summary Report, Financial Results, pg. 36) While reviewing United Health Care 2009 Summary Annual Report of the Financial Results, the information that is excluded is the cash flow for each operating services, it only included as a whole the cash flow of United Health Group from operations revenue, reached $5.6 billion, which represent 147% percent of 2009 net earnings. (UHC 2009 Annual Summary Report, p.33) In reviewing the financial report for 2010 for United Health Group, according to the report for the full year of 2010 the net earnings were $94.2 billion an increased if 8% year over and it includes a 10% percent increase, which is $24 billion. Ingenix increase sequential revenue by 21%, buy 2010 year end. (United Health Group 2009, Annual Report, p.33) Table1: United Health Group 2010: Earning Release-Financial Content Three Months Ended Year Ended December 31, December 31, September 30, December 31, December 31, 2010 2009 2010 2010 2009 Ingenix Revenues $715 million $536 million $592 million $2.34 billion $1.82 billion Earnings From Operations $101 million $74 million $70 million $284 million $246 million Operating Margin 14.1% 13.8% 11.8% 12.1% 13.5% Note: Financial Statement. Three Months Ending to Year Ending 2009-2010 Because Ingenix (2010) is a wholly subsidiary of United Health Care, applicable laws and any regulation with the new health care reform bill or better known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) could potential effected the ability of price, managing medical costs, the enforcement that could have an affected on the companys financial position. These changes would have an overall effect, which will touch upon Ingenix that could including limited or reduced revenue, increase costs, and loss of businesses. These increase in costs and other liabilities associated with auditing and/or reviews cost, will impact future cash and capital requirements on the ability to maintain the quarterly divide payment cycle. Also this will affect the abilities to maintain the misappropriation of proprietary technology, and the ability to obtain sufficient funds from the other regulated subsidiaries (i.e., Ingenix) to fund United Health Group obligations. Ingenixs revenue cycle solution is part of a technology to improve the company financial and budgetary operations. The system will support the full spectrum of revenue cycle performance. The technology solution will included several systems from Patient Access Management, Billing Management, Payment Management and Audit Management technology to engage and conducted the finding of gaps in the ability to analyze the system for solutions. Ingenixs Management and Administrative Reporting Systems (MARS) have the capability of reporting expenditures, budget information, recoupment and collection according to federal and states criteria. MARS meets federal reporting and CMS system certification requirements with fiscal oversight and management. This reporting of various criteria will include funding sources, categories of the services and eligibility, the provider types. When processing and reviewing claims activity and the statistical analyst such how long it take to process claims, the remittance and payment summaries will be done for the financial analysis. (http://www.ingenix.com/government/solutions/business-intelligence-govt/solution/mars/features/, 2010) The MARS systems will provide specific provider either as individual or they will be categorize, in reporting which will include any error codes analysis, participation analysis, ranking and the status of filing of claims. With the MARS systems more than 80 core reports that will divided in six separated reporting modules and there will be one balancing module, that will provide the cost settlement and adjustment and financial transactions. (http://www.ingenix.com/government/solutions/business-intelligence-govt/solution/mars/features/, 2010) Ingenix-United Health group has to content with complex state and federal and local rules, laws and regulation in regards to their financial and budgetary operations, but it is bound by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to file a Form 10-K at the end of each year on December 31, 2010, which is part of the annual report for financial reporting to shareholder, and company executives. (United Health Group, Financial Annual Report, 2010). United Health Care Group is highly regulated at the federal, state, local and also international. Therefore, since the signing of the new health care laws or new regulations, and/or changes in the existing laws including and the enforcement of them could have an adversely affect on the company (i.e., United and their subsidiary) financial position and cash flow. (SEC Form 10-K, pg 19) Each state that United Health Groups wholly subsidiary businesses ( i.e. Ingenix) operates in, is require to keep a minimum level of statutory capital. This could place restriction on the dividend and distribution that is paid by regulated subsidiaries, this would limit the base entitys level of those statutory income, capital and surplus United Health Group Inc.(United Health Group Consolidated Balance Sheet, pg. 59), conducted an audit in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight (United States), the short term investments (in millions) for the end of the year of 2010 was $2,072 and for the year $1239.00 a gain of $833, the long term investments (in millions) for the year ending of 2010 $14,707 and for year ending of 2009, $13,311 a gain of $3396. (http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/invest/2010/UNH-2010-10-K.pdf) Stated in the (United Health Group 2009, Annual Report) is that, Ingenix has increased their revenue by 17% or $271 million dollars in 2009, from the organic growth of the new payer business and new internal services offering a total of 1.8 billions. As Ingenix revenues backlog increased by 21% or 300 million dollars, during the same period during 2009, the growth in government and payer sector totaling in the amount of $2.2 billion dollars. The backlog for Ingenixs revenue as of December 31, 2010 was $3.3 billion that was up 47%. Therefore, Ingenix full and fourth quarter for 2010 operation is $284 million against $246 million for the same period a year ago. Earning from their operations was very strong, exceeding management expectation for the full year. Looking forward to the first quarter of 2011, it is on the fast track of having a positive revenue and cash flow.

Sleep disorders Essay -- essays research papers fc

Sleep Disorders Child Sleep Disorders: Is Your Child at Risk? Recent research has proven that children just are not getting the sleep they need these days. Kids today seem to be doing poorer in school and have less attention spans. Most parents are not aware of a common problem effecting thousands of children in this country: sleep disorders. Parents often fail to follow there children's sleeping patterns which can result in some serious side effects if that child has a sleep disorder. A study done at Tulane University in New Orleans studied about 300 first graders that preformed poorly in school. They found that 18 per cent showed signs of a sleeping problem. The percentage of children with bad grades found to have sleeping problems was six to nine times higher than found in a previous study done over all of the childhood population. (The Toronto Star). Most people believe that sleep disorders only affect adults but in reality 30% of all children have some sort of sleep disorder. (Burcum). Sleep disorders are defined as a group of syndromes characterized by disturbance in the patient's amount of sleep, quality or timing of sleep, or in behaviors or physiological conditions associated with sleep. To qualify for a diagnosis of sleep disorder, the condition must be a persistent problem, cause the patient significant emotional distress, and interfere with his or her social or occupational functioning. (Frey p265). Some sleep disorders can effect children of all ages. The sleep disorder that children are subject to often depends on their age and development. Sleep disorders change most frequent in the middle-school years. Children often experience more anxiety at this time. (Burcum). The source of the certain sleep disorder cannot normally be pin pointed in every case. Many factors come in to play when dealing with the cause of a sleep disruption. Parental characteristics, personality, psychosocial influences, education, parenting skills, stress, trauma, school, culture and personal health can all bring about sleeping disorders in young to middle-aged children. Some parents find that there children sleep to much, while others don't sleep enough. Some fall asleep at the wrong times while others cant ever even get to sleep. There are about 100 different sleep disorders being researched currently. Although sleep is a basic behavior in animals as well as hu... ...nd Psychiatry. (1992). 12 Sept 2001. http://www.Ilboro.ac.uk/departments/hu/groups/sleep.com Klein, Hanne. "Troubled Nights". The Dallas Morning News. 1 March 1999. 19 Sept 2001. http://www.elibrary.com/s/edumark/getdoc.com Kryger, Meir. "Childhood Sleep Apnea". Online Posting. 24 Mar 1999. 19 Sept 2001. http://www.stanford.edu Kryger, Meir. "Children and Sleepwalking". Online Posting. 15 April 1998. 19 Sept 2001. http://www.standford.edu/slpwalking.html Kryger, Meir. "Night Terrors in Children". Online Posting. 10 Sept 1998. 12 Sept 2001. http://www.standford.edu/terrors.html "Night Terrors". The Sleep Tight Video for Sleepless Parents. Excerp. 12 Sept 2001. http://www.sleeptight.com/EncyMaster/N/night.html "Sleep Disorder Affects on Children". The Toronto Star. 11 Sept 1998. 19 Sept 2001. http://www.elibrary.com/s/edumark/getdoc.com "Sleep Problems". Online Posting care of Keep Kids Healty.com. 20 Apr 2000. 12 Sept 2001. http://www.keepkidshealty.com/schoolageproblems/sleep.html "Tipsheet: Nightmares, Night Terrors, and Sleep Walking". 1997. 12 Sept 2001. http://www.aca.ninemsn.com

Free Siddhartha Essays: The Search in Siddartha :: Hesse Siddhartha Essays

The Search in Siddartha "Siddartha" is a book of a man’s struggle to find his true self. But his searching leads him in all the wrong directions. Then finally after a long journey he stops looking. During his search he discovers four things, what the â€Å"oneness† of life is, how the four noble truths affect everything, enlightenment, wisdom and love. On page 142 and 143 Siddartha realizes that Atmen or the â€Å"oneness† of life is in everything. That no matter who you are whether the Buddha, the dice player, or robber, â€Å"everything is Brahman.† Even a rock is said to have Atmen, because eventually the rock would dissolve and become material for a human body. He understood that the human being needed certain outlets to release emotions, such as lust, desires, and wants. The four noble truths encapsulates the idea’s of Siddartha, where he believes that the human needs outlets. Throughout the book Siddartha, he struggles with his desire to find himself. In his life Siddartha was a Brahmin’s son, a Samana, a lover, and a merchant. Through his life he realized that no matter what you are, everything suffers. He also learned that most of his sufferings come from his own desires. As seen by his want for Kamala’s love, he did almost anything for that love. Finally Siddartha realized that everything that fulfilled his desires was all illusion. In the end he became a ferryman and the realization of what life was all about hit him; everything revolves around everything else and one must live life and enjoy it. Realization of himself came in two stages, the first was when he left Gotama, coming to the river on page 41 and 42. He realized that he had always tried to follow after the ways and in the paths of others, but now he needed to follow his desires and to just live life. The second time Siddartha was enlightened he was sitting by the same river with Vasudeva, on page 136 and 137, he realized that he must not fight against his destiny. This enlightenment actually came when he described, to Govina on page 143, what he thought life actually was. It was not Samsara or Nirvana, but it was the realization that life is only illusion, a person just does what he can. Siddartha, on page 34, did not believe that a person could gain â€Å"salvation through teachings,† but that a person needed to find his salvation through himself and no words could ever describe one’s enlightenment when he found it.

Market Efficiency

EMH or Efficient Market Hypothesis has been accepted as one of the foundations of financial economics, in fact, Fama first marked out the concept â€Å"efficient market† in financial literature in 1965. Fama stated it as one which safety values completely expose all accessible information. The market could be considered as efficient if the results of market values to new information are instant and impartial. EMH is the notion that information is rapidly and proficiently integrated into asset prices at any instance, in order to guarantee that old information could not be serve as an instrument which could predict price progresses. As a result, three types of Efficient Market Hypothesis are being classified depending on the degree of available information (Fama, 1998). The weak form Efficient Market Hypothesis specifies that existing asset prices already reveals past price and volume information, the information restrained in the previous succession of prices of a security is completely exposed in the present market price of the said security. Its name â€Å"weak form EMH† was derived from the fact that security prices are the most overtly and easily obtainable information. It entails that nobody would be able to outdistance the market by making use of something that everyone else’s know. However, there are still quantities of financial examiners who are examining the past stock price sequence and trading volume information in an effort to spawn revenues. This method is labeled as technical analysis that is declared by the EMH as ineffective in foretelling prospect price variations (Sewell 2007). The semi strong form Efficient Market Hypothesis on the other hand asserts that each and every openly accessible information are equally already integrated into asset prices, meaning to say, every openly accessible information is completely mirrored in a security’s existing market prices. The public data confirmed not only past prices. Rather they also show information conveyed in a company’s financial reports, company’s proclamations, and the like. In a way, this also entails that nobody would be able to outdistance the market by making use of something which everyone else knows, this also signifies that a company’s financial reports could not be used in foretelling future price progress and safeguarding high venture returns (Sewell 2007). The strong form Efficient Market Hypothesis specifies that private as well as insider data is immediately included by market prices and hence could not be utilized to gather irregular trading incomes. Therefore, all data or information is completely mirrored in a security’s existing market price which in turn entails that even the company’s administration would not be able to generate profits even by using the insider data they have. The justification for this is that the market expects in an impartial way, future advancement and thus, data has been integrated and appraised into market price in a more impartial and enlightening manner than insiders. The arbitrary walk style of asset prices is an enlargement of the Efficient Market Hypothesis, as well as the beliefs that the market could not be constantly beaten, arbitrage is not possible, and â€Å"free lunches† are in general, not available (Clarke et al. 2007). The EMH has entailed that nobody could surpass the market either with security selection or with market timing, therefore, it holds enormous negative consequences for several investment approaches. In general, the force of EMH could be scrutinized from two dissimilar angles. The first one would be from the investor’s perspective. Technical analysis makes use of price as well as the volume as the center point for foretelling future prices, the arbitrary-walk data implies that prices of securities are influenced by news; Positive news would help increase the price while negative news would be the cause of price deflation. Thus, it is only fitting to ask the value of technical analysis as a way of deciding security investments (Clarke et al. 2007). Fundamental analysis includes the use of market information in establishing the inherent value of securities in so as to classify those securities which are underrated. In spite of this, semi strong EMH implies that essential examination could not be utilized to surpass the market. In a proficient market, fairness research and assessment would be an expensive undertaking that offers no advantages. The likelihood of discovering an underrated supply should be arbitrary. Oftentimes, the advantages from data compilation and fairness studies would not include the expenses of doing the study (Jones 2002). For best investment approaches, investors are recommended to pursue an inert investment tactic, which does not make any endeavor to surpass the market. Investors ought not to choose securities arbitrarily based on their peril loathing or the tax arrangements. This, however, does not imply that there would be no assortment of management. In an efficient market, it is an excellent tactic to have a arbitrarily expanding across securities, which holds little or no records charge and minimum implementation expenses in so as to optimize the proceeds. An unyielding buy-and-hold procedure is not most advantageous for corresponding to the investor’s requested level of threat. Also, the portfolio manager ought to select a portfolio that is equipped in the direction of the time sphere and threats report of the investors (Jones 2002). Second is the financial managers’ perspective wherein managers ought to bear in mind that markets would either under or over react to information, the company’s share price would mirror the information regarding their declarations and the historical share price account could be employed as a determinant of company accomplishment and management would hold be hold accountable for it. When shares are under priced, managers should avert from handing out new shares since this would only aggravate the condition. In usual situations, market efficiency theory offers informative predictions into price performances. In general, one can conclude that investors should only anticipate a typical rate of proceeds while the company should be prepared to obtain the adequate value for the securities they handed out (Jones 2002). However, the idea that markets act constantly with the efficient market hypothesis is debatable, particularly in its stronger forms. For one, it is doubtful that man-made markets are strong-form efficient. Especially, when there are prima facie basis for ineptitude as well as the unhurried dissemination of information, the comparatively immense power of several market partakers, and the existence of seemingly advanced professional investors. I believe that one of the major defects EMH is the way markets respond to unexpected news. For an instance, news upshots like interest rate changes from ventral banks are not immediately taken credit of in stock prices. Instead root continued progress of prices over a certain period of time, say from a few hours to months and the like, one should also take into consideration that only a limited number of people have prior familiarity or awareness regarding laws about to be passed, new pricing controls fixed by certain organizations like Federal Reserve banks as well as legal verdicts that causes a broad array of economic parties. The public should consider these things as random variables; however, players within those inside information could rectify the market, but commonly in an inconspicuous way in order to escape exposure (Clarke et al. 2007). There is also another inconsistency which has been detected between the EMH theory and real markets. The said inconsistency is that at market extremes, what fundamentalists may regard as ridiculous behavior is in fact the standard behavior; in the latter parts of a bull market, the market is motivated by consumers who don not take much into account the core value. By the end of a crash, markets go into freefall while partakers disentangle themselves from the location in spite of the scarcely good value that their earlier positions symbolizes, this is denoted by the huge variations in the assessment of stocks in comparison to basics in bull markets in comparison to bear markets. A theorist may claim that reasonable partakers should always instantaneously take lead in the unnaturally low prices which resulted from the illogical partakers by acquiring contrasting places. However, this is noticeably not generally adequate to avoid bubbles and crashes from increasing. It might be supposed that countless sensible partakers are conscious of the illogicality of the market at extremes and are eager to permit illogical partakers to force the market as they like, and only benefit themselves with the prices when they have got more than just basic motives that the market would revert back near its earlier fair value (Sewell 2007). Behavioral finance stated that upon entering positions, market partakers are not mainly motivated by the price status; rather, they are mainly motivated by anticipating the rise or fall of the prices. To pay no heed of this could be perilous. Allan Greenspan cautioned participants of irrational exuberance in the market during the year of 1996. However, some merchants who sold short new economy stocks that appeared significantly overcharged during those times had to acknowledge grave losses when prices arrived at much more astonishing heights (Jones 2002). EMH was first presented in 1960. Before that, the existing belief regarding market is its exact opposite – markets are inefficient. Inadequacy was generally believed to exist. A good example of this was in US and UK’s stock markets. On the other hand, previous work of Kendall implies that the changes in United Kingdom’s stock market prices are arbitrary. Researches conducted by Brealey, Dryden and Cunningham showed that there are no considerable reliances in price changes which implies that United Kingdom’s stock market is a weak-form efficient, in addition to this proof, are other researches of capital market which suggested that they are semi strong-form efficient(Jones 2002). Examinations conducted by Firth in UK have contrasted the share prices presented after an invasion declaration with the bid offer, this showed that the share prices were completely and immediately modified to their exact levels; therefore the United Kingdom’s stock market was indeed semi strong-form efficient. Yet, the market’s capability to effectively react to a short term and broadly advertized event (i.e takeover proclamation) could not automatically be viewed as analytic of a market efficient at pricing concerning more long term and vague aspects (Clarke et al. 2007). Other pragmatic proof which defends Efficient Market Hypothesis came from researches which show that the revenue of market averages go beyond the revenue of vigorously ran mutual funds. Therefore, to the degree that markets are inefficient, the advantages achieved by capturing the ineptitudes are override by the inside fund costs occupied in locating them, promoting, and the like (Sewell 2007). It could be that proficient as well as other market partakers who have find out dependable trading regulations or devices could find no basis to disclose them to academic researchers or it could be that there are no information breach among the intellectuals who examine the markets and the professionals who works in the market. There are bystanders who identify apparently ineffective facets of the markets that could be take advantage of. Example of this is seasonal tendencies and deviating twists to assets with different traits. Efficient Market Hypothesis cynic’s maintains that there are investors who have outdistanced the market. Among them is Peter Lynch, Bill Miller, and so on. These investors’ tactics are to a high level founded on recognizing markets where prices do not precisely mirror the accessible information, in straight negation to the EMH which clearly entails that â€Å"no† such opportunity could ever exist (Clarke et al. 2007). It is imperative to take notice of the fact that the EMH does not account for the observed fact that the most profitable stock market partakers have equal share of stock picking guidelines, which would, in turn, denote an extensive conclusive correspondence among stock picking policy as well as investment accomplishments. The EMH also seems to be lacking in consistency with several occasions in stock market history. For an instance, the stock market crash which occurred in 1987 saw the S&P 500 drop more than 20% in October in spite of the fact that there is no major news or events that took place before Monday of the crash, the fall apparently came from nowhere, this would likely imply that relatively irrational behavior could seize stock markets arbitrarily. Furthermore, Bruton Malkiel, a renowned advocate of the universal legitimacy of Efficient Market Hypothesis has counseled that particular budding markets such as China are not empirically efficient, he further stated that the Shanghai as well as the Shenzhen markets, in contrast to the markets in US, show signs of substantial sequential relationship, non-random walk, as well as proof of exploitation (Clarke et al. 2007). Thus, in contrast to what Efficient Market Hypothesis implies, there are certain instances which go contrary to its claim. It is unlikely for market to be consistently efficient as was shown in this paper. Provided that the theory of EMH is true at some point in time, one could not just conclude that it would be true for all instances and for all period of times. Works Cited Clarke, Jonathan, Thomas Jandik, and Gershon Mandelker. â€Å"The Efficient Market Hypothesis.† (2007). Fama, Eugene. â€Å"Market Efficiency, Long-Term Returns, and Behavioral Finance.† Journal of FinancialEconomics. (1998). Jones, Steven L., and Jeffry M. Netter. â€Å"Efficient Capital Markets.† (2002). Sewell, Martin. â€Å"Efficient Market Hypothesis.† (2007).            

The Bridge at Dong Ha

The book The Bridge at Dong Ha written by John Miller is a narrative description of the story of how a bridge on Cua Viet river separating north and South Vietnam was destroyed by a brave American marine captain named Ripley in 1972 in US Vietnam war. The destruction delayed the movement of Vietnamese forces from the north to the south by three long years. The book narrates this adventurous event in a gripping and wonderful language. The presentation and the language of the book have made it very attractive to the readers.The Bridge at Dong Ha 3 The Bridge at Dong Ha by John Miller The book The Bridge at Dong Ha written by John Miller is the story of a genuine marine war hero of America’s war history. It also displays the dedication to duty of a person. The backdrop of the story is US Vietnamese war. There was a strong heavy bridge built by the US army several years back on the Cua Viet River in Vietnam. The bridge used to separate North Vietnam from South Vietnam.America was loosing out in the US Vietnam war and a large army of Vietnamese forces were approaching from the north to take over the south. The book The Bridge at Dong Ha has described how an officer from US marine forces named Captain Ripley destroyed this bridge with tremendous courage and aggression on Easter Sunday, 1972. It is to be noted that the destruction of this bridge that delayed the advancement of the Vietnamese army towards the south for three long years.The book has given the detailed description of his courage and it is really fascinating to go through the book. The book is an excellent narration of the events of how a single man, with his tremendous courage and dedication towards his nation destroyed the bridge and stopped the aggression of the enemy force comprising of 30,000 soldiers and 200 tanks. All these are available in the website http://www. amazon. com/Bridge-Dong-Ha-Bluejacket-Books/dp/155750587X. Every action of the event has been described in detail in the book. To quote from the website http://www. amazon.com/Bridge-Dong-Ha-Bluejacket-Books/dp/155750587X, â€Å"Capt Ripley climbs over barbed wire fences, swings across the under girding of the bridge, and fights this battle from street to foxhole around the little The Bridge at Dong Ha 4 town of Dong Ha (just a few miles from the DMZ). The writing is wonderful and gripping, putting you face-to-face with the action as it unfolds hour by hour. † While describing the heroism of Captain Ripley, the author has stated how he hand walked on the beams under the bridge, holding detonators with his teeth and brought back the burning fuses back to shore.He did all the risky jobs by himself and saved the life of his fellow soldiers from sure death. This heroic act earned him a Navy Cross in 1962. All these have been stated in the website http://www. amazon. com/Bridge-Dong-Ha-Bluejacket-Books/dp/155750587X The toughest part of the entire operation is that when Captain Ripley was in the process of detonating the bridge, continuous light machines firing was going on from the northern side of the bridge from the Vietnamese troops. Under such heavy firing, Captain Ripley completed the entire operation, risking his whole life and safeguarding the life of his other comrades.All these have been mentioned in the above mentioned website. The description not only shows his courage, but also displays his level of intelligence as he took the decision of destroying the bridge against the command from his superior officers. To quote from the above mentioned website, http://www. amazon. com/Bridge-Dong-Ha-Bluejacket-Books/dp/155750587X, â€Å"Ripley's gallant effort was especially courageous since he was acting against a command suggestion to hold the bridge for a counterattack that could not have been mounted, and South Vietnamese troops were in disarray and fleeing to the South all around theThe Bridge at Dong Ha 5 Vietnamese unit he advised. Miller's narration of this small action tend s more toward the sensational than the historical. † Though some people say that the book opened in a relatively slow note, but actually the stage was being set for a drama and all the main characters involved were introduced one by one. They include ARVN Major Le Ba Birth; his bodyguard Three Finger Jack, US Army major Jim Smock; and Birth's advisor, Ripley – the hero of the event and also the book.It has been mentioned in the above named website that Ripley was a product of American marine, Airborne, Ranger and Seal training with some added polish from British Royal Marine. The emotional side of Captain Ripley has also been nicely described by the author in the book. There was a time when he charged into the middle of a mortar fire to save the life of a little young girl. The humanity side is also displayed while narrating the events related to the behavior of the radioman, the commander of South Vietnam unit and the commander’s bodyguard.Dedication of Vietname se men towards their nation has also been described in the book. This seemed to be a very balanced approach. Another part that needs appreciation is that the author John Miller interviewed in detail Captain Ripley about the entire event while penning down the history. It has been stated in the above mentioned website that many minor incidents of the operation has been so vividly described that many civilians may not understand or feel the reason behind those actions, but only marine people can feel and judge them.Due to these factors, the reading of the book is not only fascinating, but I feel it can be described more of an adventure history type. It seemed as if an historical The Bridge at Dong Ha 6 event is presented and written in the language of adventure. This factor has made the reading of the book attractive to the readers. This can be understood from the comments by a reader in one of the reviews posted in the website http://www. amazon. com/Bridge-Dong-Ha-Bluejacket-Books/d p/155750587X.To quote from that review, â€Å"It is difficult for a reader to appreciate this without almost an engineering drawing of the undersides of the bridge. I would have loved to see drawings showing the design of the bridge, with little arrows and annotations, ‘pulled xx pounds of explosives across this girder'†. Frankly speaking, I do not consider the above quote from the reader a criticism of the book. I feel that the reader has become so involved with the drama that he is expecting a Stallone or Jacky Chan type of Hollywood thriller while reading the book.The writing of the book is so thrilling and gripping. It seemed that he is watching a movie version of the book. A diagrammatic presentation of the event would satisfy that expectation. But obviously that is not done. I have never seen any thriller novel, where the story has been described in the form of a diagram. I really appreciate the initiative taken by the author in penning down the heroic act of Capt ain Ripley so that the message of his heroism can be known by the future generations. Only a narrative description would have made reading of the book quite boring and history type.His blending of adventure and history has really made the book attractive for reading to the masses. In all the reviews, I found that readers have openly stated that they like the dramatic presentation of this 186 pages book a lot. It seemed that the author really understands the pulse of the readers. The Bridge at Dong Ha 7 Reference List 1) Customer reviews on November 10 2002, December 27 1999, August 12 2006 and also Editorial reviews: Retrieved 12th March, 2009 from

Are the commercial promises made about digital media just hype to Essay

Are the commercial promises made about digital media just hype to cloud our vision about the digital divide Explain in the context of your profession - Essay Example The global village feeling is not shared by everyone, and despite the convergence of digital media and falling costs, the divide remains. The question this blog considers is whether the commercial promises made about digital media are therefore just hype to cloud our vision about the digital divide. The reality is that while someone can have the latest technologies and access to the far corners of the world, the person living next door may still have no such concept of this form of ‘global community’ as envisaged by Daniel Boorstin (1978) in ‘The Republic of Technology’. The two will have very different concepts and experiences of community life and its boundaries, and this is what also characterises the digital divide. For example, the first person may conduct business in the comfort of his or her own home, internationally and without even seeing the customers in person, whereas the neighbour would have to physically travel to do the same although the customers may be met in person. This could equally be applied to personal, social, cultural, political, and other engagements but they still illustrate two very different sets of experiences for each neighbour. Between geographically apart societies, the digital divide would be even greater. Let alone ne w digital media, according to the UN, over half of the world still lives â€Å"more than two hours away from a telephone† (Flew, 2008). Thus, some people are in the slow and fast lanes of the information superhighway, but many are nowhere near any needed telecommunications infrastructure. Technological development has also always been taking place although the rapid pace and convergence phenomena are recent. They are all designed to make certain tasks easier for us and most do benefit us leading to the progress of society. But the extent to which the digital media revolution has penetrated into everyone’s homes and lives (or not) sustains the digital divide and

Prepare a marketing plan for a company of your choice for the next one Essay

Prepare a marketing plan for a company of your choice for the next one and three years - Essay Example GSK has a unique mission statement which explains their aim and (objective of) providing consumers with new products and with more improved projects. The following essay elaborates the marketing plan of the company by describing the current scenario of the industry and also GSK. SWOT analysis identifies the strength and weakness and also the opportunities and threats of GSK that are changing from time to time with the competitive market. The responsibilities that are taken by GSK towards the environment, consumers and the shareholders have been discussed in the study. To evaluate the position of the competitors of GSK, competitive analysis has been done. The Segmentation, targeting and positioning concept explains the target market of GSK and what they do to position their products among its consumers. Lastly a forecasted budget for the year 2013-2015 has been prepared. The income is expected to decrease, even though it can be assumed that the expenses can be controlled. This would p ossibly because of the unstable condition of the global economy. Mission Statement and Market Overview The mission of the company is to improve the quality of human life by giving them more products and make them feel better and live longer. The Research and Development units, the partners of the company and the workers of the company work in harmony to prevent and treat diseases and make the world a better place to live. The business is focussed towards the delivery of three strategic priorities, which aim to increase growth, reduce risk and improve long term financial performances. These priorities are; 1) growth of a diversified global business, 2) delivery of more products which offer more value, 3) simplifying operating model. Grow diversified global business by creating a balanced business and product portfolio capable of delivering sustainable sales growth. The main business areas are pharmaceuticals, vaccines and consumer healthcare which provide the company significant comp etitive advantages and opportunity of synergy. Deliver products of value: The Company has re-engineered the research and development (R&D) division in the organisation to develop a whole bunch of products that offer improvement in treatment of patients and healthcare providers. The company has outsourced the research activities allowing access to new areas of science and share the risk of development of its partners. Simplify the operating model through global restructuring programmes designed to deliver significant savings to support investment in priority growth business and thus improve competitiveness further. Pharmaceutical companies are making great contribution to the economy of UK,  higher than most  other high-tech industries. The National Health Service (NHS) accounts for more than 98% of UK’s prescribed medicines market, which is the sixth largest pharmaceutical market in the world. Most of this market is driven by approximately 35,000 general practitioners (GP s) of UK. The Pharmaceutical industry of UK is an open market, where the leading foreign companies and brands have strong presence. While the growth rate of this market has been decelerating, it remains one of the fastest growing components in

Entrepreneurship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words - 2

Entrepreneurship - Essay Example The main motive of an entrepreneur is to earn profit through production or distribution of product and/or services. On the other hand, entrepreneurship has been explained as a process of performing a work in a new and better way. As per the views of Peter F. Drucker, an entrepreneur is one who always searches for change, responds to it and exploits it as an opportunity (Drucker, 2007). In a broader way, it can be said that entrepreneur shifts economic sources out of lower into higher productivity and greater yield. Every management theorist has represented entrepreneurship in its own way. The entire management study has been based on entrepreneurship. Like any other management studies, entrepreneurship has diverse characteristics, themes and types (Magretta, 2014). With this concern, the essay intends to conduct a debate between characteristics and themes of entrepreneurship. Moreover, the entire essay provides a brief view about entrepreneurship types, characteristics and themes. Every profession has different characteristics or traits, which make that occupation more diverse and exclusive from others. Likewise, an entrepreneur has many unique traits, which make this occupation different from other (Magretta, 2014). An entrepreneur has various characteristics that are described hereunder. To make a mark in any field, every individual is needed to be confident. In an entrepreneur, confidence is recognized as a hallmark characteristic. It has been seen that individuals are able to be success in their profession by developing the level of confidence. In this regard, an entrepreneur is required to possess confidence, so that he or she is creative as well as risk taking in approach for better business performance (Otote, 2009). To be a successful entrepreneur, every individual should have strong leadership qualities for

Critically evaluate the religious conflict in Northern Ireland using Essay

Critically evaluate the religious conflict in Northern Ireland using both contemporary and traditional sociological theories. Examine the ways in which the con - Essay Example The popular perception usually centres on such things as gang warfare, tribal disputes, or religious animosity or perhaps even an inclination for straight-forward mindless violence. As is so often the case, this turns out to be, if not completely misguided, at least a gross over-simplification of a complex human phenomenon. One of the main aims of this essay will be to illustrate not just how popular myths as to the causes of the Troubles in Northern Ireland are misconceived, but also how some of the more serious attempts to understand the conflict have suffered from a limited appreciation of the multiple factors involved. In order to pursue this goal, it is first necessary to identify the main historical precursors that led to the conflict and the various strategies that were engaged by way of resolution. We will then be in a better position to assess the different theoretical frameworks that have suggested a way forward and to ascertain how they might be applied to the political reality of Northern Ireland from the perspective of religion and secularisation. Even before England became a Protestant country, its brand of Catholicism was different to that of Ireland. Irish Catholicism was deemed to be idiosyncratic because it followed the northern Celtic tradition. So, though both countries were Catholic, differences had already begun to emerge in their respective religious identities. Henry II of England was the first to invade Ireland gaining control over the region around Dublin but the expansion of English influence did not occur until the 16th century with the reign of Elizabeth I. It was during this period that the Ulster clans allied themselves against the invading army. By the time of Elizabeth, however, England had already left the Roman Catholic Church. The break from Catholicism was essentially political and not doctrinal, the Anglican and Catholic services remaining almost identical. It was only after Henry VIII's death and the accession of Edward VI did the tendency towards Lutheran Protestantism begin. It was also during Eliz abeth's time, in face of the threat from the Catholic Spanish, that English nationalism became wedded to Protestantism. Eventually, Ulster came to be dominated by the English and Irish leaders sought sanctuary in Europe. Their lands were confiscated and given to colonists from England. As English foreign policy had come into conflict with those of Catholic Europe, Ireland became a convenient 'back door' to European enemies. To counter this problem a program of colonial settlement called the Plantation was embarked upon. Although English settlers were at first encouraged, they were reluctant to take up the invitation and it was the Scots from Galloway, who were already accustomed to travelling to Ulster, who took up the challenge. With the arrival of the Scottish Presbyterians, the native Irish were banished to peripheral lands. There was no deliberate policy of populating Ireland with Scottish Presbyterians as, like the Catholics, they were regarded as dissenters by James 1 of England (Clayton 1998). The counties of Antrim and Down, where Presbyterians were most numerous, did not form part of the Plantation but were