The Sociology of Religion Aspects

Discussing the aspects of sociology of religion, it is necessary to refer to the religion as the social phenomenon when the religious groups can be determined and analyzed as any other social groups according to their specifics and goals. The sociology of religion as the sphere of knowledge is developed by sociologists in relation to their discussion of the issues of religion in its connection with the society.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Sociology of Religion Aspects specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There are a lot of problematic questions studied by sociologists in this field of knowledge which are associated with the nature of the people’s religious beliefs and realization of their religious practices in the social life. It is important to pay attention to the fact that religion as the concept within the sociology of religion is discussed and examined with the help of the scientific methods used in the field of sociology. However, the subject matter of such an examination is the people’s religious beliefs and practices. Thus, following Johnstone’s discussion, it is possible to state that sociology of religion can be defined as the study which focuses on determining and analyzing the people’s attitudes to the sacred notions, their beliefs and practices, and their visions of the definite sacred beings and events. There are questions about the relevance of discussing religion not as the individual choice or practice but as the social phenomenon studied by sociology of religion. Nevertheless, sociologists provide many arguments to support the idea that religion should be also examined in the context of sociology and that this subject is really important (Furseth). To support the vision, Johnstone analyzes Simmel’s considerations in relation to the issue and states that â€Å"society precedes religion. Before religion can develop, there must first e xist general patterns of social interaction – that is, a society – that can serve as a model† (Johnstone 30). Thus, it is possible to conclude that any religion cannot exist without society because it emerges within it. From this perspective, the subject is important because it refers to both the society as studied by sociology and people’s religious visions. It is important to concentrate on studying sociology of religion because religion develops according to the definite patterns of interactions used within the definite social group (Furseth). Furthermore, in his statement, Turner provides the answers to the questions about the nature of the sociology of religion and its importance. According to Turner, â€Å"religion refers to those processes and institutions that render the social world intelligible, and which bind individuals authoritatively into the social order.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Ge t your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Religion is therefore a matter of central importance to sociology† (Turner 284). Religion is important for the sociological studies because it is one of the major spheres of the people’s life, and it can influence the development of the social group in relation to determining the definite religious practices and rituals along with following the certain moral presumptions. The religious visions of different groups are also different. That is why, the study of the religious practices can provide researchers with the important information about this or that group of people as a kind of the social community. According to Turner, the examination of the religious phenomena among which it is possible to determine magic and myth can be effective for developing the sociological knowledge (Turner 284). In his turn, Johnstone states that religion is closely connected with studying the group dynamics as well the social impact that is why religion can be discussed as the subject matter of sociology (Johnstone 2). Moreover, the study of the members of the group and their interactions is significant to explain their religious beliefs, practices, and rituals. To understand the particular features of the social development, it is necessary to pay attention to the ideas and beliefs which are interesting for the representatives of the social groups at the spiritual level of their perception of the world. Sociologists are inclined to determine a lot of theories according to which the religious visions were developed and perceived by the public. It is necessary to accentuate the rational choice theory as the most appropriate one to explain the origins of religion from the sociological perspective. According to Johnstone, the rational choice theory is a theory that tries â€Å"to deal seriously with not only the persistence of religion but also the observation that some form of religion appears to be ubiquitous among societies, even if some individuals deny the validity of the religions that surround them† (Johnstone 36). In spite of the fact there are many opinions that the rational choice theory cannot be discussed as relevant to explain the origins of religion because of its rationality and appropriateness to refer to the economic processes rather than to the moral and spiritual choices, this theory is effective to discuss the people’s choice of religion as the conscious act to receive some benefits from this choice (Bruce).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Sociology of Religion Aspects specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The rational choice theory can be used to explain how people make the necessary choice in relation to their religious vision. People are inclined to act rationally in almost all the spheres of their life, basing on the definite personal or public’s experience (Corcoran). To make the choice, it is important to examine the situation and its implications with references to the positive and negative perspectives. Johnstone accentuates the fact that people make the similar rational choices also in relation to choosing the religion (Johnstone 36). This choice is based on the experience and on the proper examination of the information about different religions, their rituals, practices, and moral presumptions. Johnstone stresses that â€Å"people have a set of mental images stored in their brains with which they make decisions as rationally and sensibly as they know how† (Johnstone 36). From this point, it is necessary to concentrate on making the right choice because of the variety of the possible religious visions which exist in the contemporary world. Sociology of religion began to develop in the 19th century, and a lot of its aspects require their further discussion by researchers because of the significant controversy in vision of the main theories used in sociology of religion to explain its main ideas or the nature of the religion as a phenomenon. The characteristic feature of sociology of religion as the study discussing the people’s religious beliefs and attitudes to the sacred points is the dependence on the empirical information used to examine the main aspects of this sphere of knowledge. Thus, the religious concepts and the people’s beliefs and practices are examined with the help of the sociological methods which are rather scientific, and they allow speaking about religion as the social phenomenon which can be observed and studied with references to the definite social group. Works Cited Bruce, Steve. â€Å"Religion and Rational Choice: A Critique of Economic Explanations of Religious Behavior†. Sociology of Religion 54.2 (1993): 193-205. Print. Corcoran, Katie. â€Å"Religious Human Capital Revisited: Testing the Effect of Religious Human Capital on Religious Participation†. Rationality and Soci ety 24.3 (2012): 343-379. Print. Furseth, Inger. An Introduction to the Sociology of Religion: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives. USA: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2006. Print.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Johnstone, Ronald. Religion in Society: A Sociology of Religion. USA: Pearson, Prentice-Hall, 2007. Print. Turner, Bryan. â€Å"The Sociology of Religion†. The SAGE Handbook of Sociology. Ed. Craig Calhoun. USA: SAGE, 2006. 284-300. Print. This essay on The Sociology of Religion Aspects was written and submitted by user Tabitha Leon to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Puberty in Alice and Wonderland free essay sample

One of the most prominent themes in children’s   is maturation and grasping with adulthood. In keeping with this tradition, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland presents a girl who transforms immensely from the bored little girl who can’t imagine reading a book without pictures to the mature adult described at the end of the novel. Throughout much of the novel, the reader witnesses Alice struggling with frequent, rapid changes in her body. While the repeated size changes in the book serve to illustrate the difficulties of children in grasping the changes of puberty, the changes in Alice’s personality and state of mind that come with each fluctuation in size hint at the greater rewards of knowledge and certainty that accompany Alice’s maturation. Alice’s first adventure in Wonderland presents the emotional frustration that comes with being so uncertain about one’s identity. After noticing a fifteen-inch door and the flourishing garden that lays behind it, Alice expresses a desire to shrink in order to fit through it, a wish that is then fulfilled by her consumption of a drink laying on a nearby table (Carroll 22-3). We will write a custom essay sample on Puberty in Alice and Wonderland or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page From the onset of her time in Wonderland, Alice is concerned by her inability to fit in with her physical surrounding. We see this in her initial reaction to shrinking; she’s immediately elated expressing her pleasure at being â€Å"now the right size† (24). Yet this joy quickly dissolves into apprehension.. Alice’s sudden diminution is accompanied by a strikingly different perspective of her surroundings that creates a more hostile environment. Small and out of place, Alice’s persistent effort to climb up the slippery legs of the glass table brings her to tears. This sudden inability to conquer her surroundings startles Alice and concerns the narrator, who begins to repeat variations on the phrase â€Å"poor Alice† (24), causing readers to identify her shrunken state with frustration and dejection. Essentially, Alice’s response to being small in a large world seems to mirror the frustration of those who desire to grow up. Alice’s confusion merely continues after eating the cake she finds under the table (25). From the beginning, she is unsure in which way her body will respond: will she grow larger or smaller? Alice even delays to see how her body will respond to this relatively ordinary event, placing her hand on her head and awaiting the results â€Å"anxiously† (25). The resultant size change further alarms Alice as she explores her body after growing. With her increase in stature (26), Alice is so disconcerted on how far emoved her head is from her feet that she meditates rather nonsensically on the idea in an effort to grasp the new perspective she has developed. Now too small for surroundings that were formerly too small for her (and even before that, just the right height), â€Å"[p]oor Alice† (27) is still in no position to achieve entering the garden. Remarkably, her initial reaction is quite similar: she begins crying hopelessly—but she quickly admonishes herself, claiming that â€Å"a great girl like [her]† (the word â€Å"great† here referring to her new size) has no business crying like the small child that appeared merely two pages before. Despite her remarkable change in size, then, Alice’s personality and views remain unaffected, a fact that leaves her even more frustrated as she continues crying. In other words, Alice knows she is acting inappropriately for her new size, but she still remains unable to seize control of her increasingly volatile emotions. Similar to biological hormone surges, Alice’s rapid changes in growth are accompanied by fierce emotions and mood swings that she is unable to control. Alice’s meditation upon the recent events also provides great insight into how changes in size have affected her mentally. On page 28, the girl confusedly discusses the identity crisis that has befallen her, identifying the puzzling question that these changes have led her to: â€Å"Who in the world am I? † As she begins to meditate on whether she may have been changed for another child, we see the depth to which she has been affected. So flustered by these constant changes, Alice’s memory and knowledge have suffered, as she is unable to recall basic facts. This, accompanied by the realization that her voice has become hoarse and strange, once again moves â€Å"poor Alice† to tears. Finding both her body and mind to be completely altered, Alice hints towards not liking who she has become, resolving to stay in Wonderland and only come out if she is somebody else. Just as soon as this stream of thoughts leaves her, though, Alice realizes that she has shrunk once again, and rather than being comforted, Alice is â€Å"frightened at the sudden change† (29), saying that she is now â€Å"worse than ever† and that she â€Å"never was so small as this before. † She finds herself confronted by a pool of tears that had once seemed so inconsequential, frustrated once again by her uncontrollable emotions: â€Å"I wish I hadn’t cried so much! (30). Once again, she realizes somewhat bitterly that â€Å"everything is queer to-day. † Alice’s size continues to come into play through her interactions with the mouse. Not used to seeing things from small eyes, Alice’s etiquette is brought into question as she offends the mouse with h er talk of cats (31). Despite being the same size as the normally-small animals she now interacts with, Alice is viewed as foolish for not utilizing the same logic as her counterparts. In essence, while she is physically small, her mind has not adapted to this new size and she does not fit in among small creatures. The animals’ simplicity seems incredibly childlike throughout the third chapter, particularly with the childlike arguments and faux pretentiousness that many of the creatures utilize (34). The Caucus-race seems to resemble childlike games that make little sense to observers, and Alice notes this absurdity (36), again showing her inability to fit in with this other world. As her travels continue, however, Alice begins to come to terms with the frequent size changes and shows increased logic in dealing with the unpleasant situations. Upon her foray into the White Rabbit’s house, Alice expresses both a desire to grow and frustration with being â€Å"a tiny little thing† (41). While Alice realizes that she will grow upon drinking the bottle, she still does not recognize that her inability to control her growth. She is surprised by the rapidity of the action, and despite her explicit wishes, she continues growing until she is too large for her physical surroundings, her body extending outside of the house. Alice has not yet learned that her changes in size will cause her discomfort and unhappiness, and once again she finds herself hopeless (42). Commenting on her physical size, Alice notes that she is â€Å"grown up now† and pleased that there’s no room to â€Å"grow up any more†. However a sentence later, she contradicts this thought, worrying that she will â€Å"never get any older,† yet comforted by never having to be â€Å"an old woman† (42). This contradiction shows the confusion with which Alice views herself: she is not a childnor does she desire to be one—and yet she does not entirely see herself as a woman. In other words, Alice is stuck between stages of her life: while her size suggests maturation, she does not identify herself as a mature adult. This is further evidenced by Alice’s subsequent fear of the White Rabbit (43). Still in the mind-frame of a child, she trembles, neglecting to come to terms with being â€Å"about a thousand times as large as the Rabbit. † Yet with her increased size, Alice has become more assertive and more prepared to handle her situation. Wielding her sudden growth as a weapon rather than seeing it as a ulnerability, she scares the Rabbit with her motions in order to fend him off and kicks Bill the lizard as he goes to retrieve her (44). Contrary to her interaction with the mouse, Alice is now adequately prepared to handle smaller creatures: she displays an increased knowledge and a stronger capacity for coping with her situation. More aggressive now, she embraces the physical change, resorting to vocal threats that are backed by the differen ces in size between her and the creatures. Even more remarkable, Alice becomes aware that she can use these size changes to her advantage, responding to the violent attacks of the creatures by shrinking in size (45). Still, after the ordeal, Alice is desperate to reach â€Å"the right size†, wanting to â€Å"grow up again† (47). Alice’s lack of identity is further underlined in her conversation with the Caterpillar. From the outset of their interaction, Alice explains her identity crisis, explicitly stating, â€Å"I can’t understand it myself†¦and being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing. (49) She is remarkably unable to answer the simple question of identity, telling the caterpillar that while she is fully aware who she was when her adventures began, she has changed several times since then. Alice states that her problem is not with the size that she is (an odd contradiction to her previously-stated desire to return to the right size), realizing that she simply doesn’t like changing so often. The Caterpillar responds in scorn, insinuating that Alice is being ridiculous with his standoffish remarks. He appears to be rather knowledgeable throughout their whole conversation, speaking authoritatively on not only her size changes, but her recitation of ‘You are old, Father William’. After their conversation, Alice launches into a similar identity crisis: eating the mushroom causes her body to undergo strange changes where some parts change and others do not (54-55), but after much experimenting, she eventually manages to return to her â€Å"usual height. † (56) Alice sums up her recent events by stating that the fundamental problem with her physical changes is that she never knows what she’ll be â€Å"from one minute to another. The vast knowledge of the caterpillar provides an odd conundrum when compared with the Mouse from chapter III, whose small size seemed to be associated with the childlike state of mind that he possessed. However the size contrast of Alice and the Caterpillar provides a reasonable explanation: he is larger than her (48: â€Å"a la rge blue caterpillar†), and thus more knowledgeable just as Alice was able to outsmart the Rabbit when she was previously a thousand times its size. This lays the foundations for the idea that relative size appears to indicate knowledge and power in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, an idea that is further affirmed by Alice’s final size change in the book and will signal Alice’s passing through puberty. During the trial, Alice’s growth accompanies the point at which her logic finally begins to triumph over the nonsense that dominates Wonderland. Alice begins growing rather helplessly during the trial, but her physical change is now accompanied with a more bold and assertive personality (106). As she moves to take the stand, Alice suddenly realizes just how large she has grown, but for the first time in the novel, she doesn’t seem concerned or disconcerted by her new stature. Alice is marked by her critical attitude towards the trial, assertively answering the King’s questions and countering the King’s attempted attacks on her with her own logic (112). Alice is also marked by her aggressive attitude towards the Queen; instead of attempting to please her, Alice now cuts her off and demands attention and order rather than nonsense and whim (113, 115). Alice’s greatest realization occurs as she grows to full size and declares that those who formerly inspired fear are only a pack of cards (116). This is the final change of the novel, and its effects are best summarized by Alice’s sister at the end of the novel. As she dreams of Alice’s adventures, she remarks on Alice’s initial status as â€Å"little Alice† with the â€Å"tiny hands† and â€Å"eager eyes† (117). However after her adventures (in the â€Å"after-time†), she views Alice as a knowledgeable and loving â€Å"grown woman† who would reflect fondly on â€Å"her own child-life† (118). She creates a contrast, identifying Alice apart from the â€Å"simple and loving heart† of her childhood. Thus, with her growth in size, Alice has received a wealth of knowledge and finally achieved maturity. On the surface, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland regards Alice’s physical changes with hostility and apprehension. However upon further examining the mental and emotional changes that accompany them, it becomes clear that the physical changes produce the eventual reward of self-awareness and knowledge that allow Alice to finally triumph over her threatening environment. It is through these changes which Alice achieves the ability to brandish adult logic against the childhood nonsense that governs Wonderland. Thus, Carroll manages to accurately portray the emotional difficulties of maturity by also depicting their eventual reward.

Bastille Day and the French Revolution essays

Bastille Day and the French Revolution essays "Bastille Day, on the Fourteenth of July, is the French symbol of the end of the Monarchy and the beginning of the French Revolution" (www.hightowertrail.com). It is very much like Independence Day in the United States because it is a celebration of the beginning of a new form of government. Several factors led to the Revolution. King Louis XV and King Louis XVI both led extremely extravagant lives. They spent a lot of the government's money on luxuries even while the government had some financial problems. One of the government's primary jobs back then was to protect their country from and manage wars. In the Seven Years War against England, France spent large sums of money on the war effort, but they still lost the war and had to give up their colonies in North America. Many French citizens regarded this loss as a major humiliation. The population was divided into three estates. The Third Estate, also known as the commoners was made up of the bourgeoisie, wage earners and the peasantry. They were the majority of the population. The Second Estate was for the nobility. The First Estate was composed of the clergy. The Upper Clergy were very wealthy and powerful, and therefore they related to the First Estate. The Lower Clergy related more to the Lower Estates. "The first two states enjoyed privileges over the Third Estate. Although they were the richest, they were exempt from taxes. They were also the only members in society who could hold positions of importance such as Officers in the army" (www.members.aol.com). This caused great discontent within the Third Estate. In the 18th Century, the peasant population increased dramatically. This growth in population increased the demand for more land. The land was being divided into smaller and smaller sections to cope with this problem. Eventually, some sections of land were not even enough for a peasant to support his own family. The wars in America left France in huge debt. To try an...

Lewis and Clark essays

Lewis and Clark essays You are children of a great new father, Meriwether Lewis declared to the Native Americans the Corps of Discovery encountered on the expedition that shaped history. Most people tend to think that there isnt enough credit given to Lewis and Clark, but I believe the opposite. Seldom are the Native Americans mentioned that made the Westward expansion of the young United States possible. Although the extensive preparation immensely helped, without the kindness and open minds of most Native Americans, in particular Sacagawea, the Shoshones, Salish, and Nez Perces, the expedition wouldnt have been such a success. Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, was crossing his fingers upon finding a continuous water route that ran straight through to the Pacific Ocean after he purchased the Louisiana Territory from France. Jefferson felt that the Native Americans were potential trading partners. He asked Congress to fund the expedition; they approved spending $25,000. In 1803, He selected 28-year-old Meriwether Lewis, his private secretary, and Lewis chose his 32-year-old friend William Clark to join him, both formerly in the army, to explore the West in 1804. Their duties were to basically explore the lands, keep detailed journal entries, map regions, and record scientific information about the plants and animals that were home to the west. The perfect men were selected for the adventure; both had numerous talents in several fields. Clark was a skilled frontiersman, first-rate mapmaker, and had substantial knowledge of medicine, despite the fact of limited formal educati on. Lewis in preparation took courses in medicine, botany, Zoology, and celestial observation. Through research, they familiarized themselves with various tribes. Although outstanding skills would aid them, solely they wouldnt guarantee survival. Peace with the inhabitants of the unexplored territory would. Jeffers...

The problem of unaccompanied illegal immigrant children Essay - 184

The problem of unaccompanied illegal immigrant children - Essay Example Conversation surrounding this unaccompanied immigrant child has been polarized politically, as the opposition appears intent on laying the blame at the president and government’s claiming that they are not doing enough to secure the nation from intrusion (The Editorial Board). While the government may or may not agree with this sentiments their primary concern at the moment is how to address the situation at hand and try to solve the problem without endangering the lives of the vulnerable minors. One of the issues that have been subject to incessant opposition from the republican side is the fact that many of these children have to be tried and provided with lawyers which comes at a cost to the government. However, others argue that the cost of keeping the minors in detention is far greater than that of providing them with legal representation. Attempts by the state to have unaccompanied and unregistered minors to access and education have been frequently opposed by the opposi tion, but on the large those released in the custody of the relatives in the US can access it. Both sides are justified in their different positions on the matter, despite the opponents appearing uncaring its worth noting that these children will likely lead a life of poverty and as young adults will be likely to engage in criminal activities in the US. Besides, there is no way of knowing why there really come to the US and some of them may well be juvenile delinquents (You Hot News). Nevertheless, the government has a responsibility for all those who enter its boarders; thus, children deserving of refugee or asylum should be granted the same without irrespective of the circumstances under which the entered the US. Ultimately, it is inevitable that there are serious challenges underpinning the immigration issue, but they are best solved by collective action objectively addressing the concerns of both sides.  

Biological system Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Biological system - Assignment Example Another category of devices, know as, Ventricular assist devices (VADs) use model-based control to make required adjustment for changes in patient needs. This reflects on the fact that these devices are related to automation and control. The article reflect on the health care or medicine industry. Different controls and sensors have been used for each device. For the artificial pancreas linear and nonlinear proportional-derivative (PD) algorithms to emulate the naturalistic biphasic insulin secretion profile. Advanced control technologies have been, including variations on PID control, run-to-run control and model predictive control. Control and manipulated variables differ from device to device as all devices are used for different reasons and are also based on different models. The articles highlights the issue of ventricular assist devices. Although high-level physiologic control is a promising technology a thorough research is required to understand how to control the speed of the pump and in response to what sensors. The paper reflects on the gap between engineers and clinicians. It shows that engineer can contribute and are highly contributing to the health care industry. With the help of automation and control, many traditional issues have been overcome and have caused an advancement in the field of biotechnology. Areas under research have given a glimpse of hope for many hopeless individuals and families suffering from different disease. Even though so much advance has and is taking place, they are many barriers that are causing resistance to the advancement. Not only are these barriers to be overcome but also different ways of improvement are to be sought. Those which are known should also be implemented. From a regulatory point of view, during development the centre of focus shouldn’t be the drug but the device. This is because opting to focus on the device usually leads to a shorter pathway of

Annotaed bibliography and rephrase Annotated Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Annotaed and rephrase - Annotated Bibliography Example He notes that socialist markets are controlled and do not respond the forces of demand and supply. In his context, this policy indirectly recommends women and children to work, centrally to capitalism where anyone works at their own wish. In addition, he says that this trend can be changeable the respect the natural forces of the market. David Stark’s article is an important source of knowledge. It would mostly help someone to know the differences of socialism and capitalism. It would also enable one to know why socialism was popular in the industrial revolution of America and how it ended. The objective of the article is achieved since it gives a vivid description of socialism, capitalism, and the industrial revolution in America. His article was of much help to me since it informed, me of the differences of socialism and capitalism as it pertains to industrial revolution in America. Chapters in this article could be used in classes to explain the notable differences he gives of socialism. Information contained in this article could be used in research projects as a hypothesis to enable the researcher prove the differences indicated in this article. Problems arose in contemporary America because of socialism. Labor unions powers have largely been eliminated and capitalists can engage in any transactions aimed at reducing the cost of labor thus weakening workers and socialism. Workers are threatened since the socialist inspired safety nets have been abolished (Bissett

Literature Review of Health Literacy and HIV Treatment Adherence Thesis

Literature Review of Health Literacy and HIV Treatment Adherence - Thesis Example Health Literacy and HIV/AIDS-----------------------------------------------------------8 5. Why is Treatment Adherence Important for HIV/AIDS-----------------------------10 6. Health Literacy and HIV Treatment Adherence--------------------------------------11 7. Strategies to Improve Treatment Adherence in Low Literacy Subjects-----------15 8. References---------------------------------------------------------------------------------19 Abstract The only effective treatment for HIV/AIDS is regular medication with anti-retroviral therapy (ART). Regularity in timing and dosage of medication is essential not only for the improved health of the subject but also to prevent the emergence of resistant strains of the virus. Non-adherence to the treatment is one of the biggest hurdle in tackling the AIDS pandemic. Among the different factors contributing to non-adherence, health literacy is considered one of the major players. We carried out a literature survey using search terms â€Å" †Å"Health literacy† and HIV†, â€Å"Treatment adherence and HIV†, â€Å"Literacy and Treatment Adherence† and â€Å"Literacy treatment adherence HIV) in the databases of OVID and Pubmed. The relevant articles were reviewed. Any new articles that were encountered amongst these articles in their citations were retrieved and also reviewed. We found that there are a fair number of articles dealing with various aspects of health literacy, educational literacy and HIV/AIDS. However, there are very few articles on interventions designed to improve treatment adherence in low literacy patients. Health Literacy and Treatment Adherence Health Literacy According to Healthy People 2010, health literacy is defined as â€Å"the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions†. Apart from the healthcare aspect, where the focus is on communication betwee n healthcare providers and patients, explaining and obtaining informed consent and managing patient’s treatment regime, an extremely important facet of health literacy is in the field of public health. As per the CDC data, the American patient obtains information and makes his or her treatment decision based on the feedback received from the home or the community, while spending just about an hour a year in the medical care provider’s premises. Health Literacy and Health-Related Behavior and Outcome The Council of Scientific Affairs, American Medical Association states that poor health literacy is â€Å"a stronger predictor of a person’s health than age, income, employment status, education level, and race†. The Institute of Medicine reports that nearly half of the US population, about 90 million individuals, have poor health literacy. This culminates into poor understanding of their health status and its treatment, poorer health status, irregularity in d osage consumption, sub-optimal use of health services, inability to understand the do’s and don’t of medication consumption and a higher hospitalization rate. Poor health literacy creates barriers to fully understanding an individual’s health, illness, treatment and medication management. The population at risk includes the elderly (older than 65 years), minorities, immigrants, economically challenged and those suffering from chronic ailments. Not only are these individuals unable to decipher the instructions accompanying

MARKET RESEARCH Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

MARKET RESEARCH - Essay Example â€Å"Different kinds of market research need to be conducted during different periods in the life cycle of a company and those of a product† (Hewitt, 2011). For a market oriented company like Kellogg’s, market research adds business value and improves the company’s competitive advantage. Before launching a new product, Kellogg’s usually conducts a market research to understand the preference of consumers concerning new products and this helps them to reduce the chances of failure. The major difference between qualitative and quantitative research are that the qualitative one is subjective and the quantitative one is mainly objective. Inductive method is used in qualitative while the deductive method is used in quantitative research. The qualitative research is text-based whereas the quantitative one is number-based. The method used under qualitative research involves focus groups and in-depth interviews while surveys and structured interviews are the meth ods adopted in quantitative research. Qualitative research focuses on smaller groups, on the other hand, the quantitative one deals with larger groups. The former one spends more time for selecting subjects, while the latter takes more time on data processing. The data collected using qualitative research is unstructured whereas quantitative research collects structured data. â€Å"Kellogg’s has flourished through skilful marketing of good products, and by creating and sustaining a highly valuable brand name† (Kellogg’s: Revitalizing a valued character, n.d). Kellogg’s company faces the problem of innovation when compared to other competitors. Further qualitative and quantitative research is necessary to know the consumer preference and to increase the demand for commodities. Competition from other companies can only be reduced by introducing new innovative products, which is possible through market research. The problem of substitute goods is faced by th e company, which can be tackled only through perfect knowledge about the market and this further increases the need for market research. To expand market internationally, the knowledge of foreign market is a must and so further qualitative and quantitative research is required. Section 2- Findings from marketing research: Critically analyze the 4 stages that Kellogg’s underwent in order to launch the new Crunchy Nut bites. Provide a critical analysis for each stage. Also provide 2 suggestions to improve Kellogg’s marketing research in this instance. Kellogg’s is concentrating on importance of market research during the launch and development of Crunchy Nut bites. Kellogg’s undertook four different stages of research in order to develop this new product. Stage 1: Discovery: Kellogg’s is a market oriented organization, wherein, market oriented means that the entire organization focuses on the needs of its customers. So, in order to find the needs of the customers, Kellogg’s has done a research to identify a set of new food ideas that would be appropriate for developing the new Crunchy Nut product. The company has also conducted secondary research to find out modern trends in the cereal market and to acknowledge new products, flavors and food from around the world. â€Å"Kellogg’s have a world-class food research and development facility, Kellogg’s food scientists, nutritionist and engineers turn wholesome grains and other

South African Foreign Policy in the 1930's Essay

South African Foreign Policy in the 1930's - Essay Example The links between the Afrikaans and the German people extended through time and had been present since the first European settlements were made in South Africa. J.F.J. van Rensburg, who later became the Kommandant Generaal of the Ossewa Brandwag, wrote in his autobiography that he carefully, meticulously and gratefully learnt the German language since it was the language of a kindred people. Oswald Pirow, the Minister for Justice and later Defence Minister was a self confessed Germanophile. He visited Europe on several occasions, and made it a point to pay his respects to German and pro-German Leaders like Hitler, Goering, Mussolini, and Franco (Bunting, 1964). Mussolini himself employed racial discrimination as a factor in the foreign policies and government of his country much like South Africa (Robertson, 1998). Considering the example set by her father, Pirow’s daughter must have done her father proud when in 1939 she arrived in England and gave an interview on her way to a German Women’s camp while talking to a representative of the Daily Express to whom she said that even though she had never been to Germany, it felt like home. Her grandparents on both sides were German and her father spent his boyhood in Germany. This idea of taking Germany as home was present in many of the Afrikaner people of German descent since there was a natural affinity between them and the Germans (Bunting, 1964). It can hardly be expected that such sentiments could give the British much confidence in South African support at the eve of war.

SWOT Analysis of Dominos Pizza in India

SWOT Analysis of Dominos Pizza in India The case described below is about Dominos Pizza and its position in the market by analyzing it through different framework of analysis like the SWOT and the PORTERS FIVE FORCES. Dominos is one of the leading pizza makers all over the world and is acquiring a very good position in the market but is facing a very tough competition from its main competitor pizza hut which is better than it in a no of things due to which it captures a major share of market. Using the low price strategy it is growing in the market and expanding its business all over the world but still it has to work on a no of things in order to come up to the expectation of the customers. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: Dominos Pizza currently operates in more than 60 countries across the globe. It owns a well-knitted network of both company owned as well as franchise stores worldwide. It is one of the leading and most popular pizza delivery companies in the USA. The 8773 global outlets are spread across all the USAs states and the 60 countries of the world. Currently about 10,500 people are employed at the Dominos pizza. Dominos Pizza India Ltd. was incorporated in March 1995 as the master franchisee for India and Nepal, of Dominos Pizza International Inc., of USA. Moreover, the company holds the master franchisee rights for Sri Lanka and Bangladesh through its wholly owned subsidiary. Mr.Shyam S. Bhartia and Mr. Hari S. Bhartia of the Jubilant Organosys Group were the promoters of the company. (Kaul, n.d.) Since inception, Dominos Pizza India Ltd. has proceeded to become one of the largest and fastest growing international food chains in South Asia. The first Dominos Pizza store in India opened in January 1996, at New Delhi. Today, Dominos Pizza India has grown into a countrywide network around 250 outlets in 49 cities and is the leader in the fast food delivery segment. Ever since it was established, Dominos Pizza India has maintained its position of market leadership with its constant product innovation and maintenance of stringent service standards. In the year 1973, dominos began a guarantee scheme that its pizzas would be delivered in 30 minutes or less of ordering failing which the customer would receive the pizza free. So it has established a reputation for being a home delivery specialist capable of delivering its pizzas within 30 minutes to its community of loyal customers from its entire chain of stores around the country. Customers can order their pizzas by calling the countrywide Happiness Hotline 1800-111-123 and 44448888 which is valid only for NCR, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. (Patel, 2010) WHY DOMINOS PIZZA? Dominos mission is focused on Exceptional people on a mission to be the best pizza delivery company in the world!Dominos is committed to bringing fun and excitement to the lives of our customers by delivering delicious pizzas to their doorstep in 30 minutes or less, and all its strategies are aimed at fulfilling this commitment towards its large and ever-growing customer base. Dominos constantly strives to develop products that suit the tastes of its customers, thereby bringing out the Wow effect (the feel good factor). Dominos believes strongly in the strategy of Think local and act regional. Dominos Pizzas topped with cheese and happiness, Dominos is committed to put an extra smile on its customers faces with this mission. (Anon., 2010) 30 MINUTES AND DOORBELL! The first thing that comes to your mind after hearing HUNGRY KYA! (Are you hungry.?) Is of course Dominos? Dominos managed to become the PIZZAS KING of South Asia. Heres how an ordered pizza covers the journey from shop to our home, while chomping our favorite pizza, we never thought how it always got home within 30 minutes of placing the order on phone? And how time could never beat the friendly delivery boy even by a minute, crushing our free pizza dream? Well, heres why. They do scientific survey of city traffic to ensure delivery of our pizza within 30 minutes. Revealing how they are able to ensure delivery within half an hour? they prepare master plan to reach the destination within time. They send out their senior managers on bikes and check high traffic hours and calculate the actual time of delivery, all their employees are duly trained to deliver pizza safely. And snags? Even changes in traffic scenario, like construction of bridges and closing of passengers are taken into account and the schedule is changed accordingly. they are able to deliver pizza within 30 minutes in 99 percent cases, else is give free to the customer. Heres another surprise: A few people know that they do not allow an employee to drive the bike at the speed of more than 40 km/ph. Their safety is paramount to them, (Kaul, n.d.) That is why they call them Safe Delivery Persons (SDP). Informing that they have 3,000 bikes on the Indian roads for delivering pizza, Slogan before leaving for delivery: You have to drive safe. I also find out that soon every bike will have a speed control meter to further check SDP. LITERATURE REVIEW: MODELS: To find out the market position of Dominos Pizza we should know about the models like SWOT, PESTEL.PORTERS FIVE FORCES which we can apply: SWOT ANALYSIS: SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats inside a company, project, or a business venture. It involves identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable/ unfavorable for business to succeed. So it is four factors analysis. PESTEL ANALYSIS: It is to analyze the broad macro-environment of organizations in terms of these factors: Political Economic Social Technological Environmental and Legal PORTERS FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS: It is to define the attractiveness of industries and sectors for investment and to identify their potential for change. SWOT ANALYSIS STRENGTH: Dominos have strong service facilities like 30 mins NAHI TO FREE (otherwise FREE): dominos were the first to start the trend of 30 minutes otherwise free that means they will deliver your order within 30 minutes otherwise they will give you for free and they are very honest with this concept as they do what they say but they never let their employees to drive the bike so fast in order to reach before 30 minutes and all the employees have to follow this rule strictly and they reach any place before 30 minutes. So it has good door step services within half an hour. Low price menu: In India Dominos is trying to attract the middle class and lower middle class people who are interested to spend their money on pizza but in low price. Those people are eager to go for an outing in any festival and want cheap and best family restaurant. Dominos would be most preferable. They do not need high class ambiences or amusement in the shop so the establishment cost is low for the dealers and the price of pizza is very reasonable for the customers. Variety of Pizzas: Dominos Pizza has a lot of varieties like vegetarian and non-vegetarian. In vegetarian lots of pizzas are available as well as non-vegetarian too. (Adam, 2010) Quality of Pizzas: the quality of Dominos Pizza is also very good. The taste of all the pizzas are very yummy. More outlets- Even in smaller towns: dominos have its outlets even in the smaller towns its popularity and pizzas are not limited to big cities but small cities also due to which people know it more whether from a metro city or from small city. Quick service at outlets: the service at the outlets of dominos is very fast and customers dont have to wait for long for their order which makes the brand even better because low price along with good service as a very rare combination. Excellent offers: The Dominos pizza franchise constantly keeps on inventing ways through which it can make a greater impact on the fast food market. That is how the fast food franchise came up with Fun meal is four offers. Through this method, the pizza franchise is able to produce more variety in the food delivered to its customers at their door steps. Through its Fun meal for four pack the Dominos pizza India offers four pizzas at the rate of Rs. 180. This means charge of one pizza will be just Rs. 45. Dominos mainly offers are more attractive for the students and middle class people and they are the main customer which they targeted. Dominos also regularly introduces sell-in-schemes like promotional schemes for dealers, promotional coupon, festival offers etc. Sometimes they also give great discounts to the customers. (Prasso, 2007) They are strong presence in the market as a brand name: they have a very strong presence in the market and through its long presence in the market and continuous loyalty toward the customer providing them a great service at a cheaper rate it really have created a very good reputation and brand name. So it makes Dominos Pizza better than its competitors. WEAKNESS: Dominos just has delivery outlet but does not have an eating outlet, where the consumers could enjoy themselves. This has provided pizza hut with a competitive edge over Dominos. Dominos also do not have any fixed customer through they are one of the main competitors of the pizza hut. Pizza hut is also an internationally known chain of pizza outlet that entered the Indian market towards the end of the 20th century. Its target audience is basically the youth and the families who like socializing. They are initially targeting only the metropolitan cities as they have positioned themselves as an outlet for rejuvenating lost relationship and socializing as they have an excellence ambience to boost it. Thus pizza hut emphasizes more on the ambience, it provides rather than the product it offer. As far as the price is concerned, pizza hut products start at around Rs 160. It is priced much higher than dominos pizzas but they justify it on the basis of the service and the ambience they provide their customer at the outlet. Pizza Huts marketing strategy is basically aimed to make the consumer feel very important. It actually wants the consumer to believe that Pizza Hut is the ultimate outlet for celebrating anything and everything. It has created an ambience to ensure that customers start finding excuse to the outlet. Dominos has a major threat from Pizza Hut in this aspect. With the increasing number of professionals and increased exposure to western style of eating outdoors frequently, Pizza Hut may quickly score over Dominos. In addition the great interiors, the music and the overall service at the pizza hut outlets create an atmosphere which tempts you to visit the place again. So Dominos have to do something to overcome this problem. Leaving aside the local restaurant and a few local brands like Smokin Joes gracias etc, Dominos mainly faces competition between two players Pizza Hut and Smokin Joes. (Jones, 2008) They dont have dine-in facility: they dont have the dine in facility in their outlets that gives its competitors advantage over it and because its main competitor pizza hut have this facility and dominos is facing the main competition from pizza hut. Outlets lack space: the outlets lack space which creates the problem of limited sitting space for customers and sometimes customers have to wait for the seats to be vacant for them. Ambience not up to expectations: it is not so successful in creating an environment which reflects its brand and reputation as dominos being a brand should come up with a different idea which influences the customer. No option for birthday parties and corporate lunches: instead of being such a big brand in the fast food industry dominos lack the facility of birthday parties or meetings which is a very big weakness as its competitor pizza hut is very good at all these things. (Shreshtha, 2010) OPPORTUNITIES: New restaurant at busy places: it should open its new restaurants at busy and crowded places where it can attract more customers. Capturing the new customer through low price menu: it offers a low price menu which is an advantage to it and it should take the proper benefit out of it growing fast food market-scope for expansion: fast food market is growing very fast along with the time as the new generation all are very fond of fast food and pizza is on top of the list hence making it a great opportunity for the company to expand its business and make profit. Introduce more varieties: it should introduce more varieties of pizzas and add more food items along with the pizza. Bigger outlets: it should increase the size of its outlets as its outlets all being smaller than the competitors hence giving less space for customers to sit and enjoy the meal. Take away counters: it should include take away counters to its outlets so that people feel more comfortable and easy to bring back. (Boyer, 2007) THREATS: From their competitors: it is facing a very tough competition from the existing competitor pizza hut as pizza hut have some of the better facilities with it is regarded better than dominos and hence really affects the market of it distributing the consumers. Pizza hut main competitive advantage over dominos is dine-in facility: the main competitor pizza hut has a unique dine in facility that makes it different and much better than dominos. Emergence of Papa Johns Worlds Pizza makers: new entrants entering the market are coming as a big threat for dominos as it is facing a hyper competition situation from pizza hut and it this scenario a new entrant can make the situation worse and make it loose market. Better quality and variety of competitors: dominos being a low price pizza seller than its competitors that gives it an advantage but at the same time the difference in quality can be seen and that makes the difference. No take away counters for pizzas: doesnt have any take away counters which in turn harms its own market and the consumers coming to it. (Jones, 2008) PORTERS FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS: Analyzing the above using the five forces framework we can see that in the above discussion it is stated clearly that the threats of new entrants is quite high and a no of new competitors are entering into the market like the papa johns and the pizza being an all time favorite of humans everyone knows that its profitable to invest in it and hence can enter in the market with high hopes. We can also see that it is in a hyper competitive situation with its existing competitor pizza hut. And Smokin Joes also giving a tough time to it hence making the situation even difficult due to which we can say that the threat of rivalry within the industry is too high. We also know that pizza being an all time favorite for people its very normal that instead of going to dominos pizza they can switch to any nearby confectionary or bakery in order to enjoy pizza and hence can harm the business of dominos because a lot of time people prefer not to order and wait for the delivery to come or waste so much of time going there and prefer to go and buy the cheaper pizza from the nearby confectionary or shop which taste same or sometimes better. Hence we can see that Dominos faces threat of substitute products and can be affected from it not so highly but still will have medium affects. RECOMMENDATION: The dining conditions have to be changed drastically if Dominos have to target the Premium segment of customers. They are way behind Pizza Hut in the dining experience. Some of the Dominos Restaurants lack even basic amenities. Due to this a condition can occur where customers judge the quality and taste of the Pizza with respect to the restaurant environment and ambience. Thus to have a greater market share and tap premium segment of the market, Dominos can provide good quality restaurants. There should also be provision for music, TVs, kids zone etc in the restaurant. By doing this they can even charge a little bit more on the food items. CONCLUSION: This assignment is based on Indian pizza market. Now in global market where they are stand in recent scenario. The main objective is increasing the number of customer base of Dominos Pizzas. This also has talked about the entry of various giants in Indian pizza industry. It has touched various aspect of pizza industry such as product line, comparison, strategy, competition, etc Dominos pizza industry is purely based on home delivery service industry. Dominos is the current market leader in India, but may soon face very tough competition from both McDonald and pizza hut. So to improve their brand image and consolidate their position in the market, they need to take up some innovative approach very soon. Special area of dominos is home delivery 30 mins concept, using this punch line they grow their business in various segment like opening dine-in facility, all over the India. , Also starting the new restaurant with new innovative products as well as opening the new segment for Dominos pizza.

Personal Leadership Skills Analysis

Personal Leadership Skills Analysis For this essay I have audited my leadership skills using theoretical models and referred to specific situations and experiences. This encompasses personal, academic and professional reflections and explores opportunities for my career paths and personal development with an Action Plan for the future. This has required critical evaluation of my own development needs in light of my own aspirations, establishing an understanding of my transferrable skills and how these can be enhanced. For this I have considered situations in which my leadership traits, styles and skills have been utilised to help create successful outcomes. Background My career path has involved working closely with and taking an interest in people, both clients and colleagues alike. In developing my management skills, I am continually pursuing further ways of improving the effectiveness of these interactions which is immensely rewarding for me. On leaving school, my first employment was within the travel industry. From the outset, I sought to improve skills and enjoyed the challenge of meeting the needs of customers, budgetary targets, training of staff, problem solving, through to the opening and management of a travel agency branch several years later. Apart from the GCSE qualifications gained at school, any further academic or professional learning has been gained whilst in employment. The skills and achievements in my personal life are equally transferrable to my work life. For example, as Chairman of a genealogical society for several years and public speaking engagements both serve as reminders that I have organisational, research and presentation abilities which I can and should be utilising and developing along my career path. I am a prison officer and, three years ago, I learnt that my establishment was funding a Foundation Degree in Offender Management. My initial reaction was one of excitement as I had, for several years, considered some form of Higher Education by way of personal and professional development, but had never explored the options. It was a source of immense satisfaction to pass the course and achieve Distinction grade. My learning journey, experiences and personal developments, undertaken in the last three years, would take more than the word count of this essay allows, yet there are key points to reflect on in order to analyse my own leadership skills and continue their development. Theoretical Models and Personal Experience of Reflection in my Professional Development: From my earliest days in retail employment, then Care Work and on to prison officer, I have been fascinated by people and behaviour. Working alongside others, as well as empowering and training gives me great personal and professional satisfaction. Using reflective models such as Gibbs (1998), shown in Appendix III, I came to realise that how I interpret situations influences my interactions with others. As I will illustrate, this relates directly to my personality style and how I manage people and situations. Linked to this is the importance I place on how I am viewed by others and naturally seek collaborative and open relationships. Many of these values are found in Carnegie (1938), listed in Appendix I. The Study Skills Self-Assessment which I completed on 23 October 2007 (Appendix II) highlighted three main employability skills I need to develop as: Improving own learning and performance Application of number (data collection and interpretation) Information and technology proficiency Alongside these, to develop, are my personal attributes of Self confidence Flexibility and adaptability Judgement In this assessment I also reflected on my own specific weaknesses which include being too self-critical and not praising my own achievements enough which can affect my ability to be objective about my performance. I have a strong underpinning need to defend others and leap to their rescue which I have come to see as a hindrance to my own development and of those I seek to help. This is a particularly important area for me to address as future management roles will require me to allow others to take their own personal responsibility and only offer guidance as appropriate. This rescuer style is schema-related and I have considered schema theory and how this applies to me. Beck, (1967:233), described a schema as ..a cognitive structure for screening, coding, and evaluating the stimuli that impinge  on the organism. In short, schemas are the filters or core beliefs we have about ourselves or the world around us which influence how we interpret different situations in our lives. The nature of the work I do in offender rehabilitation requires me to undertake regular de-briefing, supervision, yearly health reviews and bi-monthly counselling. This, together with schema theory and other therapy models I use with prisoners, which I have also applied to myself, means I spend a lot of time being introspective and sharing reflections with colleagues. This helps define practical steps for a successful future but also enables me to gain wider perspectives in understanding, leading and managing others with a range of resources and situational analysis capabilities. Whereas, in the past and even recently, I have questioned the decision making processes of management, this has reshaped into a desire to gain a holistic overview of the work environment. Understanding the way we think and manage ourselves and others has been an important facet of my learning over the last three years. Straker (2008) who expands on the work of Gardner (2006) was helpful in appreciating that how we interact with people, at all levels, and is crucial for self development. Overcoming objections to understanding others, for fear that this might disprove our own theories about ourselves and the world are key hurdles of which I must continually be mindful. Negative experiences in this have resulted in an unhealthy view of the workplace but, as I said earlier, the benefits of a more engaging view have proved beneficial in my work and personal well being. As well as using Gibbs Reflective Cycle (1998), Kolb (1984) also helped me to evaluate experiences and test hypotheses but I did not find it took me to the point of action whereas Gibbs sets out the plan for ongoing development which is crucial for me so as not to remain procrastinating. Moon (2004) has been a useful resource on reflective practice, reminding me that reflection is not just important in itself, but must also lead to positive change, In observing what gets in the way, rather than being stuck in analysis, to move beyond and set goals for positive development has been essential learning for me and has been a surprising benefit which I had not expected several years ago. Leadership Employability Skills I recently completed an Employability Skills self assessment exercise which we first undertook in the first semester of the Foundation Degree. On doing this, I compared the results from the two. It was encouraging that one of my main developments appears to have been in problem solving and I consider my Higher Education studies over the last three years as contributing to my deeper analysing abilities. In light of earlier descriptions of my learning journey and reflective logs, it is gratifying to see that I have come a long way in, not only overcoming my own obstacles to learning, but making measured and significant achievement which then enables me to guide others in their roles. Among the key learning experiences for me, alongside the above, are a recognition of the roles of others, networking and effective communication. My career path has involved working closely with and taking an interest in people, both clients and colleagues alike. This was particularly apparent when I recently updated my Curriculum Vitae (Appendix IV), which was last compiled almost fifteen years ago. In developing my management skills throughout my degree studies, I have discovered further ways of improving the effectiveness of these interactions which is immensely rewarding for me. Through networking with management and departments for resources on researching prison policy, security and management skills, I am now feeling positive and motivated to succeed in career development. Not only is this important from a practical, self-development perspective, but also the fulfilling sense of achievement this will bring. Until recently, I was Supervisor of the Core Sex Offender Treatment Programme which was an important role in developing my leadership skills, promoting staff well-being as well as guiding staffs professional development. Another important aspect of this was to remain flexible yet consistent in balancing these needs whilst focussing on the goals of the establishment Business Plan and Key Performance Target (KPT) priorities. This mirrors Handy (1987) who argues for such flexibility in his Trust Control Theory. I find myself taking the opportunity to develop the skills of others very seriously and is personally rewarding and empowering. The values I attribute to this mirror those of Kandola and Fullerton (1994) in their Mosaic Vision which I have included in Appendix V. In Transactional Analysis Theory (Bern, 1961), every individuals personality is made up of three parts Parent, Adult and Child. An assessment of my own revealed a predominantly Nurturing Parent relationship style which is immensely rewarding personally, but can prove emotionally draining and is not without its practical problems. However, developing assertiveness skills in establishing my own identity and skills base has the benefit of overcoming any negative rumination and keeps lines of communication open. An example of achieving this was in challenging my line manager over my yearly performance review where I was rated Achieved and not Exceeded which I felt was deserved. I could have overlooked this and ruminated unhelpfully, believing him to be responsible for not recognising my achievements, but chose instead to manage my manager and argued my case. I found the www.h2training.com website interesting which had useful strategies for reminding me how to maintain my own degree of self-determination. Quoting from this site: Its unreasonable to expect your manager to be entirely responsible for accelerating your career: ultimately, its your own responsibility. Remember that an expectation is also resentment waiting to happen, and it is very difficult to hide resentment. http://h2training.com/managing_manager_tips.html [accessed November 2010] Suffice to say, my performance record was amended accordingly. I recently had to step down from Sex Offender Treatment work which I found difficult to accept. I, therefore, reappraised my personal development and used reflective skills (Kolb, 1984 and Beck 1967) to help evaluate the experiences and to understand how I was interpreting them. By doing this, I was able to negotiate a role within the drugs support team after originally being offered an office based assessment position which I would have found unfulfilling. Indeed, on reflection, assertiveness and negotiation are two core management attributes which are now part of my skills set. Drawing together the range of experience and interests I have enjoyed over successive years keeps me, first and foremost, actively engaged in working for and alongside others. My role as a drugs support worker requires the key skills I possess with the realisation and expectation that they can be further developed with a particular emphasis on evaluating the management requirements of this work. This is encouraging and, in this period of change, I have come to realise the importance of job satisfaction as a key motivator for me. An important element of my professional life is to uphold personal and corporate values of decency and ethical practice including cultural diversity. I was pleased to be able to highlight these values in my Diversity Foundation Degree project from January 2009 where I made recommendations for valuing the diversity of staff and prisoners and improving ethical practice in Programmes Awareness training at Full Sutton. This was well received by the treatment management team resulting in the training being strengthened in this area. On sharing the findings of my Transactional Analysis with a work colleague, my nurturing parent style was acknowledged and confirmed through my perceived empathic nature. In looking at my management style, it is important that I maintain a balance between this and being careful not to go into White Knight schema-driven mode, where I need to defend others at all costs. Developing a style which cares for others yet enables them to function on their own merits allows me to function better as a genuinely caring person in my work and as a leader. Maslows Hierarchy of Needs theory (1943), reminds me that my own needs count as well as those of other people. In other words, putting other people first all the time is detrimental to my own well-being and valuing myself is, in itself, a key assertiveness skill. I continually remind myself of the announcements on aircraft during safety briefings where, in the event of oxygen masks being deployed, you are instructed to put your own on first before aiding anyone else. If you dont, you might pass out beforehand and then no one is saved. Critically evaluating My Leadership and Management Style Some years ago, a colleague of mine who has since retired, told me his thoughts on a particular Senior Manager. He used a phrase which, though meant in a derogatory sense, I have never forgotten. He said ..as a leader of men, I would only follow him out of curiosity. This colleague had spent many distinguished years in the Armed Services as a Regimental Sergeant Major and had been in the Prison Service for around 15 years. He had, therefore, some considerable experience of different management and leadership styles. Using established theory I continually analyse my own strengths and weaknesses in areas of leadership and management. Fayol (1916) highlighted five commons elements of management which are essential to the role. These include the ability to look to the future, to be organised and co-ordinate the organisational objectives, leading (though he defined it as commanding which is unhelpfully autocratic) and, finally, to control the above elements using all means at his or her disposal. Whilst this was written at the beginning of the last century, the basic tenets of management Fayol lists are still valid though ones own personality also engenders an effective workforce which can achieve results. The latter is personally important as I seek to have followers rather than delegates and makes me, as a manager, more of a leader. I recently completed the Myers Briggs Personality Type Questionnaire. Having done this a couple of years ago, I decided to redo this using an internet-based assessment resource (www.teamtechnology.co.uk) [accessed 15 September 2010], which produced a comprehensive 200 page report. Summary in Appendix VI The results proved very interesting and formed a cohesive assessment which affirmed the beliefs about my personality and leadership attributes gained over the last few years. This was confirmed through the initial questionnaire together with a separate subtest which had similar outcomes and, interestingly, the results were very similar to my previous assessment two years previously. Essentially, I have a strong focus on values, feelings, compassion and important beliefs where current experiences hold great learning importance. Team values are high and my role in ensuring the well-being of those with whom I work is important to me. There are, however, elements of this personality type which I am aware can be problematic if not managed appropriately. I do have a tendency to avoid conflict yet can be stubborn where my own values come into conflict with corporate ideals in which I run the risk of failing in objectivity. These are negative traits which I have been consciously working on over the last few years and serve to remind me that, whilst having a default style, this does not preclude effective working on these to the benefit of all concerned. Interestingly, the top two best matches of jobs for me based on enjoyment are actor and musician; for match came out as counsellor and customer care and a combination of match and enjoyment came out as counsellor and actor. All of these I have both experience and interest in and the traits from these have indeed shaped my leadership style. The Humanist approach described by McGregor (1964) looked at how individual attitudes can affect behaviour. He purported that there are 2 types of leader (using an X and Y continuum ranging from a negative to positive view of subordinates respectively). The latter, he showed, have a greater chance of effective performance from the workforce through a nurturing approach which I can identify with. A reflective log from December 2009 is included in Appendix VII. Again, as with most models, there is a typical style for each individual manager but even the most open and supportive one can revert on occasions to X-typical strategies and responses. This can be somewhat confusing and lacking in continuity for the workforce and, potentially unsettling as I will illustrate later in this essay. The model is similar to Tannenbaum and Schmidt (1958) who use the continuum from Authoritarian Task Orientation to Democratic Relationship Orientation where I operate towards the latter and Goleman (2000) on which I identify with the Affiliative (people come first) stage. Operational leaders, as covered by Maxwell (2002) have great value to an organisation in providing stability, devising systems and solving problems with positive engagement. However, because of their focus on detail they can overlook the bigger picture, sometimes lack motivation and are not effective in dealing with conflict. Very often, paraphrasing Maxwell here, operational leaders are not very good at getting their hands dirty but readily raise the flag at the moment of achievement. Thankfully, whilst viewing myself as an operational leader, I do like to share in tasks as well as delegate. John Adair (2002) in his range of leadership treatises, (which, incidently, build on the previous models of Maslow (1943), Herzberg (1964) and Fayol (1916) highlights three key management responsibilities under his banner of Action Centred leadership. Achieving the task Managing the team or group Managing individuals Whilst advocating a shared responsibility between the individual and external factors, it does not, however, take stock of the individual in the leadership role which I view as crucial. A similar but more complex model I have become interested in, is known as Crew Resource Management (CRM) which was originally devised by NASA to explore the human factors in civil aviation accidents in the 1970s. Several industries have adopted and adapted their own models accordingly and my interest will culminate in a dissertation for my Degree on the benefits of adopting a CRM approach to Prison Service critical incidents. Tasks or people? Workforce or Team ? It is clear that leadership is different to management though a good leader will have good management skills. In considering whether I impose myself as leader to focus on task or allow the team to flourish utilising their own skills, I completed the T-P leadership questionnaire (Appendix VIII). This scored exactly midway between the two, highlighting my awareness and flexibility to respond to both important aspects. How we respond to a leader gives some indication of our own skills and that of the one in the supervisory role. As one who aims to lead by inspiration, I am more inclined to follow Kolbs (1984) model of learning and encourage people to adapt concrete way of doing things to update their skills base and find more effective ways of working (feeling, watching, thinking, doing). An autocratic leader would be less inclined to allow such flexibility and attempt to ensure compliance from those who might be more inclined to kick and scream in and against the process. An effective leader should also take individual learning styles into account as no one method fits all. Honey and Mumfords Learning Style Inventory (1982), highlights the differences that exist, as I have found even within small teams, yet we all work together and effectively, notwithstanding that everyones experience of being under the same leadership will be different. One of the most important sources of reflection in considering my own style of leadership, plus a reinforcement of my own beliefs and values, is represented in the Style Theory of Leadership developed by Blake and Mouton (1964). This, essentially, follows on from McGregors X-Y theory and is more relevant to those predominantly on the Y axis and where a level of trust in management structure exists in the workplace. However, Blake and Mouton explored the benefits of those that put tasks before people and vice versa. Ultimately they considered whether concern for people or concern for production was more important for leaders. As with other models, the day to day style of individuals in leadership roles can vary but everyone has their own default mode. Where productivity appears more important than the maintenance and well-being of the staff, I can find myself at odds with the management and perceived ethos of the establishment at which I work. With the Blake Mouton model, I was relieved to have my default leadership style confirmed as Team Leader. This is indicative of high concern for both people and production where emphasis is placed on a spirit of teamwork and mutual co-operation. This also engenders a safe environment in which commitment from all sides is more readily forthcoming. However, in completing a recent practical assessment for a promotion board I failed to attain the required grade. I knew this as soon as the assessment was over, though I had to wait two months for the official result. In fact, I knew during the assessment, I was reacting totally contrary to my normal sense of priorities when faced with a constant stream of problems to solve. I found myself focussing primarily on the tasks and not enough on the personnel. For example, when faced with a member of staff who was emotionally upset at a domestic issue, I asked if he was okay to continue to get his landing unlocked and would look to help him with his problem later. Afterwards I learnt that the assessors were looking for Utopian responses in all scenarios assuming all needs could be immediately provided so I could have put staff welfare first, getting his role covered immediately so he could then get home to sort his issues. However, I reverted to my current work role where the pressure to meet deadlines sometimes overrides well-being. As this was completely at odds with how I believed I would normally have reacted, I was left feeling ill at ease and questioned why I persisted in this way when I am naturally Y (using McGregors model, 1960) and more team focused than task orientated (Blake Mouton, 1964). Whilst I may not fully understand why, at least it is a recognised trait à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..theory X managers (or indeed theory Y managers displaying theory X are primarily results oriented Internet source http://www.businessballs.com/mcgregor.htm [October 2010] On reflection, I am convinced that the culture and environment of the higher management structure (which demands and focuses on results and targets) filters down and, no matter how much one tries to resist or even kick against it, it permeates ones own work practice after a while. The climate in which I work consistently places emphasis on the meeting of Key Performance Targets (KPTs) and now, the Service Level Agreement (SLA). In meeting these as well as ever increasing budgetary constraints, every facet of work culture is placed under the microscope and, wherever possible, cut, yet the targets must be met regardless. However, no matter the circumstances in which we find ourselves or expectations laid at our office door, it is how we respond that is important and the acceptance of our personal responsibility to be channelled into effective working. An important element of relationships, at all levels including personal and business, is trust. Where one perceives this to be eroded or not present due to conflict in aims or values, it can have a destructive affect on effective co-working. As can be seen above, this is something I am struggling with in the corporate ethos where I am constantly second-guessing the motives behind management decision-making. However, to be an effective manager, I am mindful of maintaining a healthy approach to embracing the mission of the workplace even though I may not fully understand or have access to the full rationale behind the decision making processes from Higher Management. As a leader, I have to convey to those I wish to work effectively under me, that this mission is achievable and in the common interest despite my own such uncertainties. Maintaining personal integrity and establishing trust are essential in my personal, professional and leadership identity. Straker (2008:208) talks of transaction cost and trust boundaries. Essentially he argues that trust, if allowed to erode or not fostered within an organisation can impact on delivery and there has to be a cost on both sides to re-establish this. As he says .. the overall cost can be minimised with up-front investment in, and subsequent maintenance of, trust. If one does not have that sense of belonging within the trust group then there is something wrong with the work relationship and part of effective management and leadership performance is to be pro-active in fostering trust and encouraging people to enter the trust boundary. It begs the question, therefore, who and under what conditions will we follow? Should we be expected to lead and expect blind faith? What criteria and principles should be presented in order for others to set out on the journey with us ? Handy (1987) suggests that in order for an outcome to remain constant, the Trust-Control balance might need to shift between leader and subordinates and I can see merits in this as relationships, as well as work pressures, are fluid in nature. There are three established styles of leadership: autocratic, paternalistic and democratic. History records successful leaders who have exhibited all of the above. Each style can work and produce results but demands a flexibility on the part of the workforce to fit in with the style and it is that response which can be acknowledged and worked with or not as the case may be, As for my own style, confirmed as a nurturing parental approach, this has immense benefits for myself and for those who work under me as they feel supported and, more importantly in my opinion, affirmed in their roles with their own skills base recognised and developed. As with any style there are costs and, as I am finding, where my own sense of values conflicts with the demands laid upon me, this can have a detrimental effect to my own sense of purpose within the organisation. It is important, therefore, that structures and lines of communication are open which allow for that expression of view. However, this, in itself, is not without the potential cost. As I found when raising my head above the parapet on several occasions, to express concern and personal frustration with the direction expected by senior managers, it can blot ones copybook. Again, it is important for me to consider how much of this is down to my own personal perception and how able I am to see my subordinates perspective and, crucially, the aims and focus of the establishment delivery objectives. Conclusion In terms of future roles, I am best placed to consider managerial positions. The Foundation Degree and BA(Hons) are regarded as valuable qualifications both for their content relevant to the Criminal Justice System and Leadership and Management but also symbolising the desire and commitment I have and have shown for continued self development (Appendix IX). In the final analysis, the human dynamic is the most beneficial resource in the workplace but it is also the most fickle and, at times, fragile. To lead is a privilege and to follow is an opportunity. I can only strive to make myself worthy of the trust placed in me to, not only get the job done, but to enable others to be the very best they can be and, in the process, ensure I am followed out of respect and not coercion or, indeed, curiosity. Appendices: I. Excerpt from Carnegie (1938) II. Study Skills Self Assessment III. Gibbs (1998) Reflective Cycle IV. Curriculum Vitae V. Kandola and Fullerton (1994) Mosaic Vision VI. Myers Briggs Personality Type Questionnaire VII. Reflective Log on McGregor X,Y Theory VIII. T-P Leadership Questionnaire IX. Professional Development Plan Appendix I Excerpts from How To Win Friends and Influence People Carnegie (1938) Fundamental Techniques in Handling People Dont criticize, condemn, or complain. Give honest and sincere appreciation. Arouse in the other person an eager want. Six Ways to Make People Like You Become genuinely interested in other people. Smile. Remember that a mans Name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in any language. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves. Talk in the terms of the other mans interest. Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking Avoid arguments. Show respect for the other persons opinions. Never tell someone they are wrong. If youre wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically. Begin in a friendly way. Start with questions the other person will answer yes to. Let the other person do the talking. Let the other person feel the idea is his/hers. Try honestly to see things from the other persons point of view. Sympathize with the other person. Appeal to noble motives. Dramatize your ideas. Throw down a challenge. Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment Begin with praise and honest appreciation. Call attention to other peoples mistakes indirectly. Talk about your own mistakes first. Ask questions instead of directly giving orders. Let the other person save face. Praise every improvement. Give them a fine reputation to live up to. Encourage them by making their faults seem easy to correct. Make the other person happy about doing what you suggest. Appendix II. Study Skills Self Assessment Appendix III. Gibbs (1998) Reflective Cycle Appendix IV. Curriculum Vitae Appendix V My Personal and Professional Values Related to The Mosaic Vision (Kandola and Fullerton, 1994) Mission and values (I tend to have a rescuer style in

Treasure Island :: Treasure Island Essays

Treasure Island   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      Treasure Island is an epic adventure: a tale of pirates, treasure, and exploration of an unknown and mysterious island.   Throughout the course of the book, many lessons are learned that give the reader advice so he/she can better survive in the real world.   The literal Treasure Island itself represents the world in which we live, a world with many hazards and scattered rewards to be found.   The bookà ­s most important lesson to be learned though, is that a solid command of the language and knowing when to use it can make life much easier for a person.   Although this story takes place centuries before our time now, this useful lesson found in it can still be applied to our lives today.      This story is so realistic in its context of the time and its superb character dialogues, that it is very easy for the reader to be transported right in the middle of that age, and right in the company of sea-faring pirates.   The authorà ­s vivid descriptions of Jim, the main character and narrator, the many Pirates and other characters he comes across during his adventures are painstakingly detailed. You can see young Jim's eager and excited face when he finds out he is going on a treasure hunt.   You can also easily picture the rips and bloodstained rags of the pirates, and smell the foul alcohol on their breaths.   The description of the island itself is extremely detailed also, and it seems like the author was looking straight off a geographical map when he wrote the in-depth account of it.    However deep these descriptions of setting and character pull you into the plot, the dialogue the author places in the story is what makes the story more impressive and impossible to escape.   It is so captivating and original to us because we hardly ever hear it, and the phrases are very creative.   An example is this quote from Long John Silver: " But for two year before that, shiver my timbers! the man was starving. He begged, and he stole, and he cut throats, and starved at that, by the powers!"   The colorful language of the book even had me repeating phrases such as this one long after I had finished reading it.

Huntingtons Disease :: essays research papers

Huntington's Disease   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Huntington's disease, or Huntngton's chorea, is a genetic disease that causes selective neural cell death, which results in chorea, or irregular, jerking movements of the limbs caused by involuntary muscle contractions, and dementia. It can cause a lack of concentration and depression. It also may cause atrophy of the caudate nucleus, a part of the brain. However, symptoms vary between individuals, with some sufferers showing symptoms that others do not. Those suffering from Huntington's disease normally begin displaying symptoms between the ages of 30 and 50, but has been known to show itself in people as young as two and as old as 80.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Huntington's disease is inehrited from one of the victim's parents. Since the gene for HD is dominant, there is a 50% chance of a sufferer's offspring inheriting the disease. Because a victim usually does not begin to display symptoms until after the period in which he or she would have children and the disease may have been misdiagnosed in earlier generations as Parkinson's disease or other similar affliction, he or she might pass along the gene without even knowing it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The gene for Huntington's disease is located on the short arm of chromosome four in cytogenetic band 4p16.3. It was first identified in 1993. While everyone posseses this gene, in someone suffering from Huntington's disease, the number of repeats of a certain trinucleotide, cytozine-adenine- guanine (CAG), is much larger than what it is in a normal person. In an average person, the number of repeats is between 9 and 37. But is a sufferer of HD, the repeat count is from 37 to 86. While nobody has found a direct correlation between the number of repeats and the age when symptoms appear, there is evidence that people with very high numbers of repeats contract the rarer early- onset Huntington's disease, which usually affects people under the age of 20. It is estimated that between .1 and 10 % of people who suffer from Huntington's disease have obtained it through new mutations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are three different tests for Huntington's disease. The first, presymptomatic testing, is for people who are at risk for the disease. The second, prenatal testing, is a testing of a fetus at risk for the disease. The third type of testing, confirmatory testing, is used on someone suspected of having Huntington's disease.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Treatment of Huntington's disease usually involves counciling and education about the disease of both the family and the patient. Since the symptoms are so varied in both type and severeness from patient to patient, medical treatment must be individualized.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Depression, a common symptom, is usually treated with tricyclic

Aztec and City

Jarrett Barber Mr. Slaughter 11/16/12 Tenochtitlan Tenochtitlan was the main city and capital of the Aztec empire. The city was founded in 1325 when the Aztec emperor told some of his tribes to look for a spot for their new capital city. He told them that the spot for the city would be found when they saw an eagle eating a snake on top of a cactus. This symbol is now on the Mexican coat of arms and on the Mexican flag (King). The tribes wondered around in what is now present day Mexico City, looking for this strange site. They finally came to the spot where they saw the scene.It happened on a small island in the middle of Lake Texacco. All of the surrounding area of the lake was all swamp land, but because they saw the eagle there, that’s where the city was to be built. The construction of Tenochtitlan took place under the rule of four different Aztec kings. They laid out the construction plans for the city on a grid, making the building of the city much easier and run smoothe r. The city was linked to the mainland by three raised causeways; the three different causeways pointed north, west, and south.The raised causeways had bridges in the middle of them to allow canoes and other traffic underneath; the bridges could also be raised up in case of an attack. The city had two aqueducts that were 2. 5 miles long to supply fresh water from the springs of Chapultepec, though most of this water was used for bathing, washing dishes, and other various reasons (Stearns). Most of the Tenochtitlan population bathed twice every day, but ruler Montezuma was rumored to bathe as many as 4 times a day.The people preferred their drinking water from the nearby mountain springs, as it was much cleaner. When it was at its biggest point, Tenochtitlan covered a little more than five square miles. And at the height of its existence, Tenochtitlan’s population was approximately 150,000 people (closely comparable to the size of the population of the city of Cordoba). Tenoch titlan was the largest city in Mesoamerica, but also one of the largest in the world (Tenochtitlan). The only two cities larger than this at the time were Paris and Constantinople which had populations of 300,000.The language of the city was Nahuatl, it was spoken throughout the Aztec empire. The people also practiced Aztec religion, the religion consisted of human sacrifice and religious festivals. Gods of different elements were worshiped and given sacrifices. Human sacrifices were given to the sun god in fear that the sun might not rise the next morning (Stearns). Templo Mayor was the largest temple in Tenochtitlan, it was rebuilt 6 different times (King). The temple first went under construction in 1325, in succession with the rest of the city.Each time it was rebuilt, it grew slightly larger. The temple was dedicated to 2 different gods,  Tlaloc, god of rain and agriculture, and Huitzilopochtli, god of war. Each god had its own separate temple at the top. In 1427 Aztec empero r Ahuitzotl sacrificed tens of thousands of people in the span of 4 days in honor of the temple.. The organization of the city was that of a city-state, with an organized central region. Agriculture was a thriving practice in Tenochtitlan. Because there was no room for it in the city, chinampas were developed.Chinampas were fields created on floating platforms on the lake’s surface. Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes visited the city in 1519 and was amazed. Cortes and his men were in awe at the sight of the city. They were greeted by the Aztecs with gifts and food. Despite the hospitality, Cortes challenged the Aztecs and took emperor Montezuma hostage. The Aztecs declared war and drove the Spaniards out in 1520. Cortes led later attacks on the city but most of the population was wiped by diseases that the Spaniards had brought.The city finally fell to the Spaniards in 1521. The city was demolished and rebuilt to what is now Mexico City. There are still ruins of Tenochtitlan that can still be seen today in central Mexico City. Works Cited Stearns, Peter et al. World Civilizations. 3rd ed. New York. Pearson Longman, 2000. â€Å"Tenochtitlan. † Retrieved from https://www. courses. psu. edu/anth/anth008_cmg149/aten. html King, Heidi. â€Å"Tenochtitlan†. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (October 2004) Retrieved from http://www. metmuseum. org/toah/hd/teno_1/hd_teno_1. htm (October 2004)

Biblical Worldview Essay

The foundation to the Christian faith is the belief that mankind is created in the image of God. But what does the image of God look like? Mankind has debated for years on what Jesus looked like, whether he was white in pigment or black. I feel that me believing mankind was created in the image of affects the way I interact with people tremendously. Believing in mankind believes in life, which is essentially synonymous with the word heart. Since mankind was created in the image of God, my job as a United States Sailor is to protect life, which in the bible is referred to as heart. By protecting and defending my country I am walking in the image god created. â€Å"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. â€Å"(Ezekiel 36:26) A new spirit I will put within you is telling me by protecting mankind from evil its allowing someone to receive the new spirit. Removing the hea rt of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, is blessing someone with a second chance a life. Heart refers to life, as well as spirit. Joining the military gave me a new heart and spirit and god helped me understand why I needed to enlisted and serve my country. My country is god’s creation and if I believe that mankind is created in the image of god I will allow him to give me a new heart and spirit. With my new heart and spirit I will be able to help others and help them to see how they were created in the image of god because they are living proof. God has given them life and as a sailor it’s my duty to protect their life. Understanding the meaning of mankind was created in the image of god will help in your everyday life. â€Å"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.† (Psalm 51:10) Since we all were created in the image of god we were created with a clean heart and once we accept that we are the image of god we will all be renewed a right spirit within us. I think this passage is relevant to being created in the image of god and life. As a Christian once you have accepted god as your savior and understand the meaning of it, you will have a clean heart and renewed spirit which will give you life. As a sailor I’ve struggled with understanding how everyone who enlisted in the military is created in the image of god until I looke d around and saw just a uniform and not what anyone looked like. Whether a sailor was white, Asian, Mexican, Black, or mixed we were all the same because we all were given life and the opportunity to accept god as our savior. Also we go to church on the ship and realize there we are all created in the image of god and we exemplify that in our day to day lives when we have general quarters and are protecting each other from them enemy. Part of being made in God’s image is that all mankind has the capacity to make free choices. â€Å"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.†(Proverbs 3:5-6) If you trust in the lord with all your heart you are making a free choice. You are choosing to live; you are choosing to acknowledge him and once you do that God will make your walk with god easier. Before I joined the military I did not trust in the lord with all my heart, which means my life. Until I got in a bad accident in 2008 and al most died and had to hear from the police that I should of died and there had to be an angel with me; I then realized I need to trust in the lord with all my heart and not lean on my own understand of what I thought god was. This passage from proverbs is my life. In order for me to fully understand all mankind, which means me, is created in the image of god I needed to accept that and trust in the Lord. This belief affects the way I interact with people within my chosen vocation, life, which is essentially synonymous with the word heart. †According to the Bible, the heart is the center not only of spiritual activity, but of all the operations of human life.† â€Å"Heart† and â€Å"soul† are often used interchangeably (Deuteronomy 6:5; 26:16; Compare Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30 Mark 12:33), but this is not generally the case.† Heart in the Bible is the inner life that one lives before God and himself. Understanding that with every action you take in life you will interact with people differently. You would respect them knowing that every human being was created in the image of god and given life just like you. Also I treat people how I want to be treated and not to judge some one. This is a conscious choice that I make because I understand that mankind is the image of god and not just in a physical aspect. We have been given hearts, which in the bible refers to the mind. However, if you did not have life you would not have a mind, and if you were not created in the image of god you would not exists. Refrences: http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/eastons-bible-dictionary/heart.html M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain, copy freely.