Lipstick Jihad

In Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America and American in Iran, Azadeh Moaveni has written a memoir of growing up first as an American girl born of Iranian parents in Southern California, then as an adult working as a reporter for Time magazine while living in Tehran, Iran. Azadeh Moaveni tells of her jihad (struggle) to develop from a self-centered, spoil girl into an adult with recognition that there are billions of others in the world, each of whom has opinions and beliefs that are equally as important as her own. While living among the community of expatriated Iranians and going to public schools, Azadeh Moaveni sometimes felt she was living a schizophrenic life: at home she was an Iranian daughter of upper middle class Iranians who had escaped Iran just prior to the 1979 revolution that overthrew the Shah of Iran and installed a Moslem Republic in its place. At school and at the mall she felt like an outsider because she was darker skinned and had a name no one could pronounce. She was ashamed of her parents, ashamed of being an Iranian because so many people remembered the taking of the American hostages and harbored resentment against Iranians. Since she felt out of place in California, Azadeh Moaveni had built a fantasy of what her life Iran would be like; it would be perfect. What she fails to realize is that she was really just a typical teenager; no one feels they fit in while going through adolescence; everyone is ashamed of his or her parents and other family members. Although the book isn't formally divided into two sections, it is in fact divided in this manner. The first four chapters tell of her life growing up in Palo Alto and San Jose and her first few months working as a reporter. The second half of the book tells about her realization that the beliefs and opinions of others matters; she moves from an egocentric worldview to a more realistic, balanced view of the world and her place in it. The first chapter, â€Å"The Secret Garden,† Moaveni tells of her life in the United States living within the Diaspora community of Iranian expatriates. Her parents and others of that generation had been among the upper classes in Iran before the 1789 revolution. In Iran they had lived well, they had servants, and led a life separate from the vast majority of the people of Iran. In many ways they had absorbed the superior attitude of the British who lived and worked in Iran to exploit the considerable oil resources at the expense of the less privileged members of Iranian society. In the United States they lived in their own Iranian community within the California community at large. Naturally they held a positive, nostalgic belief that Iran of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s was the real Iran and they waited for the Shah or his son to return to power so they could go home. Azadeh Moaveni had visited Iran once as a child when she and her mother spent a summer with their relatives in her grandfather's walled compound in downtown Tehran. In this compound she felt absolutely free. She climbed the trees and ate the fruit of the trees. Due to this memory from her childhood and to the almost fanatical reverence of Iran that the adults around her believed Azadeh Moaveni developed a fantasy of life in Iran. When she was unhappy that fantasy was her escape from the difficulties of the day-to-day problems of being an adolescent. Consequently, when she finished college and was looking for a place to work, she chose to return to Tehran. Azadeh Moaveni called chapter two â€Å"Homecoming† because she anticipated that she would finally be where she should be, among her people, people that could pronounce her name, people who could understand her.   She was to be disappointed, â€Å". . . we had assumed here, in this country where people could pronounce our names, our world would expand. Instead we felt constricted† (Moaveni, 2005). Everywhere she went she found barriers from the officials, from the police, and from the volunteer, Basig, a group of young toughs who enforced the rules of public dress and behavior with force, if necessary. Azadeh Moaveni had an elitist attitude indicated by her opinion of the Basig. â€Å"The Basig were carefully selected in the poorest of neighborhoods and were cultivated to violence with a skillful balance of brainwashing and small incentives.† Certainly the violence practiced by the Basig was wrong, but Azadeh Moaveni's failure to realize the Basig may not have seen their role as making barriers, but of enforcing the Islamic law established by the current administration. The fact that she speaks of them being from the â€Å"poorest of neighborhoods† indicates an aristocratic slant to her view of those less fortunate than she was. Much of her struggle at this point was a failure to look at any issue from any vantage point other than her own. She was very much the California girl. Her priorities were shallow and self-serving. â€Å"Celine became my first new Iranian girlfriend, guiding me to the best manicurist, waxing lady, and private pastry chef in the city with the shared belief that these were urgent priorities.† (67).   Throughout the remainder of the first half of the book she exhibited similar attitudes and priorities. Even her attempts to practice the precepts of Islam were lacking depth. For Ramadan I had â€Å"resolved to fast, naively expecting to spend the month in harmony with the daily rhythm of the millions of Iranians around me† (Moaveni, 2005). When she realized others she knew did not do, she was disappointed and gave up her fasting. Her fantasy view of Iran had begun to crumble. In the second half of the book, Azadeh Moaveni began to grow. More oppressive violence began to be practiced by the clerical militants in Iran in an attempt to discourage people from voting at all. It was clear to everyone that the reformist President Khatami would win the election, however the more conservative clerics wanted to make sure he did not win with a large enough majority to be able to claim that he had a mandate from the people to make changes and lift restrictions that had been established by the Ayatollah Khomeini when the Islam Republic had been established in 1979. Khatami was reelected with 78% of the vote with 66% of the people voting (Moaveni, 2005). Many of Azadeh Moaveni's friends had boycotted the election because their vote would mean nothing in a repressive society. She began to realize that the political and educational elite she lived among had little in common with the people who lived in Iran. Their non-voting meant absolutely nothing. It was irrelevant to the majority of people of Iran. For the first time Azadeh Moaveni began to look beyond herself and her class and realize the Iran she carried in her head, was not Iran at all. What she and her friends thought meant nothing. â€Å"About six months after I came to Tehran, I put my labors of self-interrogation to rest, happy to nominally consider myself Iranian from America, but mostly happy just to live, and not consider myself so much† (Moaveni, 2005). When the attack on the United States occurred on September 11, 2001, Azadeh Moaveni was devastated. She couldn't understand why no one seemed to care. The three thousand plus dead was a small number compared to the millions killed in the struggles in Bosnia, the genocide in the Sudan and Somalia. Thousands of men died in the recent Iran-Iraq war. Both sides in this war were armed by the United States. Azadeh Moaveni began to understand the anti-American sentiment throughout the Middle East. When this book began, I was disappointed. Based on the word â€Å"Jihad† in the title and the fact that it had to do with Iran, I expected something more universal than a memoir of a young woman. I felt deceived as if she had composed her title to attract more buyers who saw the word â€Å"Jihad† and were interested in learning about the Middle East and not at all interested in another teenager comes of age book. Throughout the first half of the book I saw little reason to change my opinion. I became more and more disappointed. Frankly, I did not care about Azadeh Moaveni or anything she did or thought. She seemed to be little more than a typical upper middle class teenager who thought the center of the universe coincided with her particular location at any particular moment. She was self-centered, arrogant and egotistical. By the time I had read half of the book, I was suffering from a Jihad of my own and wondered how I would be able to stand Azadeh Moaveni for the rest of the book. However, in the second half this changed. Azadeh Moaveni became a woman, a real person who understood that there were other people besides herself and her circle of friends and relatives. She recognized there were millions of people in Iran, and in California for that matter, who lived and struggled and died. Each of them was just as much a person as her educated, young, elite friends, and her relatives who had been made wealthy under the Shah and had made their wealth at the expense of workers in Iran. By the time I finished reading the book I had come to appreciate it. It was a Jihad for Azadeh Moaveni, a struggle to grow from the girl with childlike fantasies about life into a woman with sensitivity and balanced worldview that was not populated by solely her friends and relatives. It is a book well worth reading, not only for those who like coming of age stories, but for those interested in learning about the Middle East and America's role in the development of its current political, religious and ideological structure. It can help the reader begin to understand the anti-American attitudes of other countries. Interestingly, the United States has in many ways behaved in the past the way Azadeh Moaveni did in the first half of the book: like a spoiled, self-centered child. Hopefully we will see the same growth that Azadeh Moaveni experienced begin in the United States and its interactions with other countries and peoples. References Moaveni, A. (2005). Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America and American in Iran. New York: Public Affairs, a member of Persius Books Group.   

Critically Discuss the Claim That Education Is a Social Determinant of Health, and That It Is Closely Related to Other Determinants of Health. Locate Your Discussion Within an Australian Context.

The social determinants of health are the environments in which people born, live, grow up, work and age. The social factors in that place deal with all types of health illness. Health . The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines ‘health’ as A state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Health has to do with bodily, mental and social quality of life of people as determined in particular by psychological, societal, and cultural and policy dimensions Education plays a vital role for long term health and quality of life.Education is the essential processes of socioeconomic status and important determinant of health, employment and income. The higher education provides better opportunities in employment for higher income and it also provide knowledge and skills to access health care services for daily healthy life. Good education leads to longer health and well health. Education is an essential component of hea lth that closely related to promote health and prevent diseases. Inadequate education includes poor knowledge which mainly affects the ability to gain information about proper nutrition and preparation of healthy food.Inadequate education reduces the ability of person in occupation and can’t find the well-paying jobs. Education helps to provide the future life capability for selections of occupation and levels of income for healthy and long life. Education helps to develop the skills to manage with daily life problems and the main purpose of health education is too focused on the goals to promote the good health and prevention of disease. The factors of social determinants are healthy living conditions, Education, stress, social exclusion, occupation, age, sex, culture and racism.

Criminology Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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Valuation of Common Stock Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Valuation of Common Stock - Essay Example Also, the company may be able to attract better personnel as the company will be able to offer stock options. Stock options have the potential to substantially gain in value. In addition, generally the personnel will not have to invest as much of their own money in the company (The Advantages and Disadvantages of Going Public online). Also, Citrus Glow International will promote the company. In general, publicly traded businesses are more widely known than non-publicly traded businesses. The business gains publicity and an image of stability through trading publicly (The Advantages and Disadvantages of Going Public online). Going public requires a time commitment in setup and in statutory compliance. In addition, it will take the business owners' and managers' attention away from the everyday management of the company (The Advantages and Disadvantages of Going Public online). Also, going public requires money. The business will need to pay for the time spent on compliance. In addition, the business will need to pay legal counsel when setting up and maintaining the public offering (The Advantages and Disadvantages of Going Public online). Moreover, there are many new legal obligations. These include keeping stockowners informed about business operations, management, legal issues, financial standing, and business costs. Company time and money will be spent dealing with these and additional compliance issues (The Advantages and Disadvantages of Going Public online). Liability issues may arise if the business does not comply (The Advantages and Disadvantages of Going Public online). Lastly, gaining public shareholders may reduce a business owner's control over the company. This is especially true if shareholders are given approval power over business actions (The Advantages and Disadvantages of Going Public online). I agree with Lisa and Joe that Citrus Glow International needs to stay ahead of the game with competitors coming up with substitute products and hence the need to issue IPO. I do not agree with Dan that Citrus Glow International outsource the production and concentrate on its marketing efforts. This is because I agree with Matt that the success of the firm has come from its quality and that would likely be jeopardized if the firm lets others produce the product. However, I agree with Dan's point that the issuance of IPO would result in a loss of control. But as Matt said correctly, the firm can still retain control of a large portion of the shareholding and still raise the much-needed cash. QUESTION 2 The Corporate Value Model suggests that the firm's value is the sum of its discounted free-cash flows. Free cash flows are estimated by subtracting the firm's net capital investment from the year's net operating profits after taxes (NOPAT) and are discounted at a suitable risk-adjusted discount rate (weighted average cost of capital). The firm's equity

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Network Organization, Addressing, and Routing Protocols Research Paper

Network Organization, Addressing, and Routing Protocols - Research Paper Example The database maintaining a routing table develops a shortest path tree. The routes are than calculated the routes while minimizing the use of bandwidth ("Open Shortest Path First." 353-353). However, for a successful OSPF deployment, defining are boundaries and address assignment is essential. (Thomas 800) if all these domains are addressed adequately, the output will make all the difference. These domains are categorized in six different sections illustrated below: OSPF Network Topology OSPF Addressing and Route Summarization OSPF Route Selection OSPF Convergence OSPF Network Scalability OSPF Security In order to achieve the desired objectives, OSPF will ensure data redundancy over the network. Routers without OSPF enabled configuration will only be able to efficiently communicate routing information with other routers and do not provide redundancy, minimum network utilization and identification of the shortest path (Moy 339). However, there are some considerations that must be take n in to account for implementing network redundancy in OSPF. In order to implement a redundant network with OSPF there must be a backbone line. Moreover, the size of the backbone link must be appropriate, as every router located on the backbone requires reconfiguration for the routes whenever every state of the link changes. On the other hand, if the size of the backbone is small, the likelihood for change is minimized along with the quantity of CPU cycles that is required to re configure routes. Furthermore, OSPF backbone must be synchronized and all the routers should be directly connected (Moy 339). As OSPF comprises of virtual links, they establish a path between two border routers that are not directly terminated on the backbone link. Likewise, these virtual links are utilized for reconciling segregated backbone. Lastly, locating workstations, servers or shared network resources on the backbone are not a suitable option, as their absence makes the environment more stable and ea sy. On the other hand, OSPF enabled routers will ensure shortest path for transmitting data in time and with few hops. Moreover, routing loops can be considered as an alternative to OSPF but have certain drawbacks. For instance, data collision can be unexpected and unmanageable within the network. Therefore, OSPF is recommended for data redundancy along with eliminating traffic bottlenecks that may occur (Moy 339). The newly established IP version 6 protocol integration with OSPF facilitates for achieving the desired outcomes from the network. Moreover, OSPF is considered as an adaptive routing technique that synchronizes with business networks via Internet Protocol and provides link state routing. This algorithm is beneficial for business networks because large amount of data is exchanged with high redundancy and efficiency. The ultimate benefit for deploying link state routing is the cost, as it is considered as a cost effective solution (Moy 339). OSPF adoption provides an infras tructure for interior gateway that is beneficial for minimizing for excluding erroneous routing tables, minimizing memory usage and limits the usability on processors that are involved in the process. For satisfying the appetite of bandwidth hungry applications, advanced network protocols are essential to maintain even a network for small medium enterprises. Apart from its benefits to business networks,

CONTEMPORARY BRAND MANAGEMENT Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

CONTEMPORARY BRAND MANAGEMENT - Assignment Example The company’s brand portfolio comprises three major brands including: Adidas, Reebok and TaylorMade. Adidas market area includes sporting goods as well as the equipment industry. The chief segments of this industry include footwear for athletes, sports apparel, and also goods and equipment used for sporting. Other segments include equipment for: hunting, golf tennis, fishing, hiking, baseball, football, rollerblading, biking, snowboarding, surfing, skateboarding, skiing, and hockey, along with play scape and playground equipment. The company’s key competitors include Nike and PUMA. Others are Red tape, New Balance Bata, and Liberty. Athletes together with sports enthusiasts comprise the Adidas customers (Keller 2007, pp. 33). According to Kotler and Dubois (1991, pp. 23) a brand refers to a collection of mental links, held by a given consumer, and which add to the perceived worth of a service/product. These links should be strong, unique, and positive. Alternately, a pr oduct refers to anything which can be presented to a market for acquisition, attention, or consumption and which might fulfil a need or a want. The difference between a brand and a product is such that a brand is acknowledged with intangible values plus imagery, while a product is recognized with characteristics that are visible and very differentiating. Brand architecture strategy refers to the structure employed in organizing a company’s portfolio. It identifies the number and functions of brand names which the company utilises for its product range and also the target markets or target groups. Brand architectures are of various types including: product branding; house of brands; range branding; branded house; source branding; line branding; umbrella branding; endorsed branding and sub-brands. Adidas has adopted the branded house strategy. This is whereby, the brand shifts from being a leading driver to a more dominant one (John & Larry 1997, pp. 48). Brand positioning and its relevance to branding According to Aaker (1992, pp.22), brand positioning involves locating the brand in the intellect or minds of customers in order to exploit the potential profits to the business. Brand positioning is comprised of the following components: Product class or market. This refers to a collection of products/services and brands that are perceived as alternatives to fulfil some precise consumer need. Consumer segmentation. It describes consumer profiles that the brand will serve and what their needs are. Consumer segmentation can be accomplished in terms of geographical/physical location (i.e. region, urban/sub-urban, county size, seasons, climate, etc); demographic factors (i.e. age, education, sex, income, family size, religion, occupation, nationality and race); behavioural factors (i.e. loyalty status, benefits sought, purchase occasion, usage rate, user status, actual purchase and attitude to product) (Aaker 1992, pp.24). Perceptual mapping. This refers to a g raphic approach employed by marketers which tries to visually customer perceptions. It entails methods applied in the analysis and comprehension of how consumers perceive products. It includes the identification of product weaknesses; development and assessment of concepts; consumer perceptions’ tracking; and finally, unearthing group differences (Aaker 1992, pp.26). Brand benefits and attributes. The physical presence of a brand does not guarantee its position in mind of the target consumer. For the product to gain entry into that

(Counseling) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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The Origins of First Stars Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6000 words

The Origins of First Stars - Essay Example Investigating how from the universe was created and how this led to the precise moment in time when these first stars could and did evolve was researched and presented. Through a thorough examination of years of research, how first stars were created and when they came into existence was answered. This research also yielded the fact that no first star still exists within our galaxy - the Milky Way. Although, I am satisfied with the findings of this research that the Milky Way contains no Population III Stars, I can not help but sit here and wonder if somewhere in the outermost areas of the universe, in areas we may not even know exist, there sits a first star, a remnant of the very creation of the universe, waiting for me Ever since the dawn of time, man has been fascinated by the stars in the heaven. From a child's first wonder at the twinkling lights in the night sky to throngs of people staying up late to watch a meteor shower, the celestial display never ceases to amaze us. However, there is so much more to stars than the glowing light they project to earth. They are the footprints to understanding the origins of space and time. Scientists have been in the process of unraveling these mysteries for centuries. ... The Big Bang Theory, the accepted theory of the creation of the universe, which will be detailed in subsequent paragraphs, lead to the later creation of first stars, called Population III Stars. Initially thought impossible to still exist, these first stars and the quest to understand them have led researchers to continue to search for their origins. The first detectable signs of these Population III stars have now been found. How were they created and do any still exist Background Understanding what is known about the creation of the universe is necessary consider how Population III stars were born and if they have survived to present day. The accepted theory of the creation of universe is the Big Bang Theory. Astronomers have determined through observation and scientific research that "the galaxies of the universe all seem to be moving away from us. It turned out that they are moving away not just from us but from one another-that is, the universe seems to be expanding." [1] The laws of physics, specifically Hubble's Law told scientists that if the universe is ever expanding. Hubble's Law explains that "the galaxies were receding from us at a velocity proportional to their distance. The more distant the galaxy, the greater its redshift, and therefore the higher the velocity." [2] Hubble's Law The above graph is a depiction of the Hubble constant explaining rate of expansion. [3] "The velocity v could be determined by multiplying the distance R by H, the Hubble constant, given by the slope of the line in the above graph, in units of kilometers per second per million light years. The Hubble constant describes the universe's rate of expansion. The galaxies are not moving away through space, they are moving away with space, as space

Thorntons Company Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Thorntons Company Analysis - Essay Example Despite the fact that Thornton has been in the industry for a lengthy period, competitors like Cadburys and other related companies in the same industry. However, thorntorns enjoys a loyalty from its clients and this eases the rivalry to some level. Thorntons has only one percent share of the total market indicating that it is facing a pressure from rivalry and must make moves to survive. The high rivalry is probably a result of the slow market growth. There is a marked slow growth in the market for confectionaries. Most of Thornton’s products sell during festivities and this makes sales seasonal. In addition, the company produces perishable goods that last in the market for a short period, a factor that increases rivalry. At some instances, low switching costs may be the cause to the rising rivalry since a customer can switch to a Cadbury product easily. Thorntons is facing a threat from the existence of substitutes. Customers can choose from a wide variety of gifts. The fact that a variety of gifts exists presents multiple substitutes. A customer can willingly opt from any other. Substitutes are product s from a different industry but that offer potential competition in the market. During festivities, customers do not limit themselves to confectionaries. This factor causes a rise in rivalry for Thorntons. Substitutes affect the prices of a company’s products. This is the case because if a substitute is cheaper then the company must consider lowering prices in order to compete more efficiently. The company also experiences the effect of the buyer power. The buyers do not need confectionaries as a basic need. People buy confectionaries mostly during festivities and can go without them the rest of the year. Then buyer can also choose from a wide variety of gifts. Although Thorntons enjoys a level of loyalty from buyers, the buyers have the potential to affect the prices of products (Hill and Jones, 2009: 51). It is likely that buyers can turn sensi tive to the prices at times and the company cannot underestimate the power of the buyers. The power of the suppliers is another critical aspect that determines the efficiency with which a company can compete in the market. Thorntons faces a great effect from the suppliers. For its raw materials, it depends on two suppliers. In addition, the cocoa comes from developing countries that suffer the effects of political instabilities. The suppliers can exercise power over the company because Thorntons cannot substitute cocoa for anything else. In addition, the supply business likely makes more profits than the buying industry. Thorntons has no choice and experienced rising cocoa prices, a confirmation of the power of the suppliers. Concerning the threat of new entrants, Thorntons seems relatively safe. It has been in the market for a long time and has earned loyalty from buyer and established brand name for itself (Hill and Jones, 2009: 44). These form barriers for new entries. In additio n, the market portrays slow growth and this scares away new ventures. The existing government regulations limit new entries as well. This industry faces must observe strict health and nutrition measures. Having existed for a long time, the company has established distribution channels that new companies cannot penetrate easily. In order to

Stress and Burnout Essay Example for Free

Stress and Burnout Essay Burnout: A Challenge to the Human Services Roxanne Arballo BSHS 461 University of Phoenix Those who work in the Human Services field and nonprofit areas are highly vulnerable to burn out. 2010 provides larger numbers of clientele, forced human service personnel overtime work hours, on-call after hours, and other schedule and work imbalances. World population numbers are escalating as the budget for the health services is on a continual decline. Causes of burnout for the human services rofessional may be individual, cultural, organizational, supervisory, or from lack of social support. According to Johnson and Stone (1987), burnout refers to a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion resulting from involvement with people in emotionally demanding situations. Three major factors of burnout (Maslach, Jackson, Letter, 1996) are emotional exhaustion, a feeling of low personal accomplishment with clients, and a sense of depersonalization (a dehumanizing, uncaring attitude toward clients). According to Maslach Letter, burnout is the egree of dislocation between what people are and what they have to do. Effects of burnout might appear in the form of exhaustion, detatchment, and feelings of ineffectiveness. These results might be from the gradual process of loss during which the mismatch between the needs of the person and the demands of the Job grows ever greater. Maslach and Leiter (1997) have summarized these causes into the categories of work overload, a lack of control, insufficient rewards (from money to joy), a breakdown in community, the absence of fa irness (trust, openness, and espect), and conflicting values. Previously labeled causes of burnout included types of organization, supervision, social support, and culture. More recently, Maslach and Leiter (1997) summarized these causes into the categories of work overload, lack of control, insufficient rewards (from money to Joy), breakdown in community, the absence of fairness (trust, openness, and respect), and conflicting values. To prevent these various stages of burnout, included are individual, Job role, and organizational methods. Some clients might be violent and Jeopardize the professionals safety. Demands for a workers time might prevent taking meal or rest breaks. Steps must be taken to protect them, to the degree possible, from some of the work-related stress that can lead to burnout. Cherniss (1980) suggests that a number of positive steps can be taken to lessen organizational stress and prevent burnout. These include a change in the way Jobs are structured. Flextime, part-time work, Job sharing, new program development, and new career options might help modify the routine patterns of the human service professional and lessen likelihood of burnout. In eference to the organization, members who share a sense of excitement, strong purpose, clear goals and objectives help create preventative measures for burnout. ensure that workers are doing meaningful work (Cherniss, 1995). Also monitored are overload with impossible demands and a feeling of decision-making autonomy appropriate for human service professionals. Support, information, and some degree of structure might be needed along with feedback and an understanding of their own importance as role models. A number of factors can stand in the way of good job performance and cause well-earned productivity to decline. These can include job-related stress and personal concerns. When it becomes a concern of the organization, it affects on-the-Job behavior. Employee assistance programs (EAPs) for workers experiencing such problems (Van Den Bergh, 1995) have been developed to include services like counseling and referrals as well as crisis management services. These programs enhance employee wellbeing, offer supervisor training, and create employee problem-solving task forces that are part of the EAPs used by an increasing number of organizations. One method l, as a student and human services worker, se to reduce personal and work-related stress is to spend at least 10 minutes alone each day. Whether I spend this time at home, the library, or driving in the car, this alone time seems to put me in a better mood. I find that regular exercise is another way to reduce stress and prevent burnout. I notice that the less I exercise, the higher my stress level is. I try to get outside, thank my Higher Power for everything including the hardships that might be potential for burnout, and share the success in these measures of prevention. Due to personal changes in my life, I am taking on new esponsibilities and find it hard to adjust to these added tasks in my daily routine. Therefore I am working to decrease stress and possible burnout through a growing passion and thanks for my family, future career, and faith. My belief that personal struggles are ways to learn and be a power source for other human services students and professionals are certain preventative measures I do and will continue to take against the threat of burnout. References Cherniss, C. (1980). Professional burnout in human service organizations. New York: Praeger. Cherniss, C. (1995). Beyond burnout. New York: Routledge. Johnson, M. , Stone, G. L. (1987).

Conflict of Interest Essay Example for Free

Conflict of Interest Essay Abstract Information about the financial health of public companies provided by auditors ideally allows investors to make informed decisions and enhances the efficiency of financial markets. However, under the current system auditors are hired and fired by the companies they audit, which introduces incentives for biases that favor the audited companies. Three experiments demonstrate bias in auditors judgments, and show that these biases are not easily corrected because auditors are not fully aware of them. The first experiment demonstrates that the judgments of professional auditors tend to be biased in favor of their clients. The second and third experiments explore more closely the psychological processes underlying the bias. The results suggest that the closeness of the relationship between auditor and client may have a particularly strong biasing influence on auditors private judgments. Key words: Conflict of interest; Auditor independence; Self-serving bias; Motivated reasoning Auditor Independence, Conflict of Interest, and the Unconscious Intrusion of Bias By certifying the public reports that collectively depict a corporation’s financial status, the independent auditor assumes a public responsibility transcending any employment relationship with the client. The independent public accountant performing this special function owes ultimate allegiance to the corporations creditors and stockholders, as well as to the investing public. This public watchdog function demands that the accountant maintain total independence from the client at all times and requires complete fidelity to the public trust. -Chief Justice Warren Burger, writing on behalf of a unanimous United States Supreme Court in the case of United States v. Arthur Young Co. (1984) Independence is central to the function served by auditors. Although managers may have an interest in exaggerating, misrepresenting, or falsifying reports of their firm’s performance, an independent audit report is supposed to provide a credible, unbiased appraisal of the firms financial status. The importance of auditor independence is reflected in the Code of Professional Ethics of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and has been reinforced by numerous legal decisions, such as that rendered by the U.S. Supreme Court in the opening quote. Recent events, however, have led many to question whether the modern practice of public accounting is independent enough. In the wake of a number of accounting scandals, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) conducted a series of hearings on auditor independence in 2000. The SEC instituted modest changes to disclosure rules after the 2000 hearings and the issue receded from the public agenda until the failure of the Enron Corporation and the role of its auditor, Arthur Andersen, in that failure brought the issue of auditor independence to the fore. In analyzing the problem of auditor independence, both the academic accounting literature and the mass media have implicitly adopted what could be considered an â€Å"economic† perspective on the problem. Theoretical papers, empirical analyses, and media discussions of the Conflict of Interest 4 issue of independence assume, sometimes explicitly and sometimes implicitly, that auditor bias is a matter of deliberate choice (Antle, 1984; DeAngelo, 1981; Simunic, 1984). Auditors are assumed to have the ability to complete high-quality, independent, unbiased audits if they choose to do so. Bias, to t he extent that it is thought to exist, is seen as a deliberate response to incentives. This â€Å"economic† account of independence and bias is challenged by psychological research which suggests that biased information processing is not only pervasive, but is typically unconscious and unintentional—i.e., seldom a matter of deliberate choice. Applied to auditing, this research suggests that auditors who face conflicts of interest may find it difficult, if not impossible, to avoid bias even if they attempt to do so. Whether auditor bias is a matter of conscious choice or is unintentional and unconscious has wide-ranging implications for policy, because conscious corruption and unconscious bias respond to different influences. In this paper, we first review findings from empirical research on biased information processing. Then we report results from three experiments. The first experiment documents biased judgment among professional auditors. The second and third experiments delve deeper into the psychological processes at work and examine the causes of bi ased judgment. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for the practice of and rules surrounding auditing. Motivated Information Processing Research shows that people evaluate evidence in a selective fashion when they have a stake in reaching a particular conclusion. They tend to focus on evidence that supports the conclusion they would like to reach and evaluate that evidence in an uncritical fashion (Holyoak Simon, 1999; Koehler, 1991; Lord, Ross, Lepper, 1979; Russo, Medvec, Meloy, 1996; Russo, Meloy, Medvec, 1998, see Rabin Schrag, 1999 for a theoretical model). When evidence conflicts with their desired conclusions, people tend to either ignore it or subject it to particularly critical scrutiny (Ditto Lopez, 1992). This selective information processing effect is so strong that when people on different sides of an issue are exposed to the same information they can all feel that the information supports their position. As a result, they may even hold more strongly disparate opinions after receiving the same information (Lord et al., 1979). One important influence on how people evaluate information is accountability. When people know that they will be accountable for their decisions, they show more concern for how their decisions will be received. When they do not know the preferences of their audience, this heightened concern leads to more systematic cognitive processing and a more thorough justification of the conclusion (Tetlock, 1983). However, when the preferences of the audience are known, accountability need not lead to more thoughtful processing, but can instead increase the likelihood that the decision-makers judgment will be consistent with the known preferences of the audience (Tetlock, 1983). In an audit, there can be little doubt regarding the preferences of the management of the client firm: They want to get an unqualified audit report. The effect of accountability cannot be easily explained by simple self-interest, because most of the research on accountability has not included any rewards for agreeing with the individual to whom one is accountable (Tetlock, 1992). But this is not to say that self-interest does not influence judgment. When a particular interpretation of the evidence will benefit them materially, people gravitate toward that interpretation, even when they hold an explicit goal of being impartial. For example, people tend to think that the allocation of resources that benefits themselves is fair (Messick Sentis, 1979), and believe that others will share their perspective (Diekmann, 1997; Diekmann, Samuels, Ross, Bazerman, 1997; Messick Sentis, 1983). Moreover, they are typically unaware that they are processing information in a self-serving fashion and, thus, are unaware that they are biased. Thompson and Loewenstein (1992) found evidence of a self-serving bias in negotiators’ reports of fairness. In their experiment, participants played either the role of management or union in a wage negotiation, and both roles were given the same information about the details of the situation. Before they negotiated, both parties were asked what they believed a fair outcome to be from the vantage point of a neutral third party. Their responses were egocentrically biased; individuals representing the union tended to believe that a higher wage was fairer, whereas those representing management tended to report that a lower wage was fairer. The parties then proceeded to trade bids until they came to settlement, and delay was costly to both parties. The magnitude of the egocentric bias—the difference between the two sides perceptions of a fair wage—predicted the length of time it took parties to come to agreement: The more egocentric the parties ex ante perceptions of fairness were, the longer strikes tended to last. Later research demonstrated the same result in real negotiations between union and school board presidents in Pennsylvania (Babcock, Wang, Loewenstein, 1996). In the studies cited above, the pre-negotiation fairness judgments had no direct consequence for the negotiators, so it is unlikely that the bias resulted from strategic misrepresentation. However, subjects were not given any incentive to report their judgments accurately, so the studies do not reveal whether people are able to provide impartial judgments when they are motivated to do so. Two studies (Babcock, Loewenstein, Issacharoff, Camerer, 1995; Loewenstein, Issacharoff, Camerer, Babcock, 1993), however, offered a clear incentive to participants to be accurate in their private fairness judgments. Participants whose judgments came close to the determinations of an impartial judge were given a cash bonus. This incentive did not eliminate egocentrism in participants reports, suggesting that their roles influenced their assessments of fairness in ways they could not disregard even when it was in their interest to do so. Kunda (1990) argued that this motivated reasoning leads to biased conclusions whenever there is sufficient ambiguity in the evidence to allow for a biased interpretation. Thompson and Loewenstein (1992) explicitly manipulated ambiguity and confirmed Kundas prediction: Greater ambiguity leads to more bias. In general, as Babcock and Loewenstein (1997: 120) concluded on the basis of the aforementioned studies: As soon as asymmetries are introduced between the parties—for example, different nonagreement values or costs of non-settlement, or subtle differences in roles—both parties notions of fairness will tend to gravitate toward settlements that favor themselves. They will not only view these settlements as fair, but believe that their personal conception of fairness is impartial. In sum, research on information processing and bargaining suggests both that people process information in a biased, self-interested, fashion, and that this bias is strong, automatic, and unconscious. Implications of Motivated Information Processing for Auditor Independence The research on motivated information processing has significant implications for auditor bias. Very few auditors begin their work hoping to find a client has breached accounting standards. Rather, auditors typically start with a desire to reach a positive conclusion about their clients and issue an unqualified audit report. Auditors generally want to be rehired by their clients, and it is often the case that an unfavorable audit report is likely to result in a client firm changing auditors (Levinthal Fichman, 1988; Seabright, Levinthal, Fichman, 1992). Even if the accounting firm is large enough that one account is a trivial percentage of its revenues, individual auditors’ jobs and careers may depend on success with specific clients. Perhaps more importantly, accounting firms often treat auditing work as a way to build relationships that will allow them to sell other services including management consulting, information technology assistance, or tax accounting. Although some have argued that the contingent rents available through consulting services should not influence audit quality (Antle, Griffen, Teece, Williamson, 1997; Dopuch, King, Schwartz, 2001), other recent evidence suggests that it may (Frankel, Johnson, Nelson, in press). An auditor’s job is complex, involving the accumulation and synthesis of a great deal of information about a client firm. The information available to auditors often includes the kind of ambiguity that facilitates motivated information processing. Joseph Berardino, Arthur Andersen’s former chief executive, in his congressional testimony on the Enron collapse, commented that: Many people think accounting is a science, where one number, namely earnings per share, is the number, and it’s such a precise number, that it couldn’t be two pennies higher or two pennies lower. I come from a school that says it’s really much more of an art (as quoted in Harris, 2001). This imprecision allows motivated reasoning to insinuate itself into auditors judgments. Historically, those who have defended auditors against charges of bias have emphasized their high ethical standards and professional values. For example, at the SEC hearings on auditor independence, Gary Shamis, Chairman of the Management of an Accounting Practice Committee at the AICPA, stated that: Conflict of Interest 9 We take the existing independence rules quite seriously, and consequently abide by all the existing rules. We are professionals that follow our code of ethics and practice by the highest moral standards. We would never be influenced by our own personal financial well being (Shamis, 2000) While it is likely that most auditors attempt to remain independent, neither ethical codes nor training are likely to be effective remedies against a bias that is unconscious and unintentional. Undoubtedly, the vast majority of auditors do not deliberately author biased reports. Instead, auditors’ roles influence their professional assessments so that their private beliefs become consistent with the interests of their clients. Although it is possible that auditors sometimes intentionally misrepresent their findings in public, it is more likely that self-interest operates indirectly, by unconsciously influencing auditors’ assessments of a client’s financial condition. The Studies The three experiments reported here bring together research on motivated reasoning and accountability to study the psychology auditors judgments. Experiment 1 presents data from professional auditors and tests the hypothesis that their judgments may be biased in favor of client firms (Hypothesis 1). The second and third studies examine the causes behind this effect; they examine factors that could moderate the magnitude of bias, and test the extent to which the bias can be consciously undone. Participants were asked to produce two judgments: one public and the other private. For the public judgments, subjects were given an explicit incentive to be biased. For the private judgments, they were given an incentive to be unbiased; they were paid on the basis of how close their judgments came to those provided by an impartial panel of experts. If participants were fully aware of the bias in their public reports, and if properly motivated to do so, they should have been able to adjust their evaluations to eliminate the bias in their private judgments. If they were not fully aware of the bias, as the research on motivated information processing would suggest, then their private estimates should have been biased as well (Hypothesis 2). Experiment 2 specifically tests the consequences of financial incentives on bias. To the extent that financial incentives affect the strength of the auditors desire to reach a particular conclusion, one might expect to observe parallel changes in the magnitude of bias. Experiment 2 tests the hypothesis that the greater one’s financial interest in a particular outcome, the more biased one will be in the direction of that outcome (Hypothesis 3). The third study examines the effect of the relationship between the auditor and the principal. Material interests are not the only factors that can undermine the impartiality of judgments. Personal relationships and affiliations can have a similar effect. The power of affiliations is evident in sports fans; questionable referee calls often provoke outrage by the fans of the call’s loser, but rarely by fans on the winning side. Indeed, one of the first studies that documented the self-serving bias involved sports teams. In their classic study of a particularly rough football game, Hastdorf and Cantril (1954) showed that fans from each side blamed the other team for behaving more aggressively; this result also held for fans who had not seen the game live but only watched a film of the game. These fans obtained no material benefit from their energetic advocacy but nevertheless made judgments that favored their own teams. The self-serving bias does not require the powerful affiliations associated with sports teams. Thompson (1995) has shown, in a simulated labor dispute, that it takes only a whiff of affiliation with a partisan to create sympathetic leanings. Naturally, this tendency is only strengthened when people feel accountable to the partisan (Lerner Tetlock, 1999; Tetlock, 1992). Most auditors are likely to have frequent close contact with a client, creating much stronger affiliations. Indeed, it is the cooperation of the client that makes it possible for auditors to do their jobs. Thus, Experi ment 3 tests the hypothesis that the closer one’s personal relationship with a particular individual, the more biased one will be in that person’s favor (Hypothesis 4). EXPERIMENT 1: Role-Conferred Biases Method Participants were 139 professional auditors employed full-time by one of the Big Four accounting firms in the United States. Their ages ranged from 23 to 55, with a mean of 29 years (SD = 6.2). Fifty-six percent of the participants were male. They had a mean of five years (SD = 5.7) working as an auditor. Nine participants requested, after they had handed in their questionnaires, that their responses be excluded from subsequent data analyses. Participants were given five different auditing vignettes and asked them to come to a judgment regarding the proper auditing in each case. The problems were intentionally chosen to be somewhat difficult accounting problems for which generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) did not provide an unambiguous solution. Each of the vignettes depicts a situation in which accounting issues that are not clearly addressed by current rule-based accounting standards. The issues addressed include the recognition of intangible assets on the financial statements (vignette 1), the restructuring of debt with dilutive securities (vignette 2), the recognition vs. deferral of revenues (vignette 3), capitalization vs. expensing of expenditures (vignette 4), and the treatment of research and development costs on the financial statements (vignette 5). Subjects were told that these cases were independent of each other and hypothetical, although are intentionally realistic. It was our goal to design these vignettes such that the issues that are described are more general and do not particularly apply to any one  industry, to ensure that auditors specializing in one industry will not have a specific advantage or disadvantage in answering any of the questions. All participants saw all five vignettes in the same order. The five vignettes are listed in Appendix A. The experiment had a 2 (role: hired by issuer or by outside investor) X 2 (question order: make accounting valuation first vs. evaluate other’s accounting first) between-subjects factorial design. The role manipulation varied whom participants were told they were working for. Half the participants’ materials informed them that they had been hired as the external auditor for the firm in question. The other half of participants were told that they were working for an outside investor considering investing money in the firm. The question order manipulation varied the order of the questions that followed every vignette. Those in the choice-first condition were first presented with (1) the firm’s unaudited accounting, and were asked whether they would accept it as complying with GAAP; and (2) what the right accounting would be. Those in the valuation-first condition got these two questions in the reverse order. All participants were also asked how confident they were about their judgments. Results Neither age nor years of auditing experience affected the dependent measures reported below. Therefore, we do not report them in any of the subsequent analyses. We hypothesized that participants would be more likely to come to the conclusion that the accounting behind a firm’s financial reports complied with GAAP if they were working for the firm than if they were not (Hypothesis 1). To test this hypothesis, we conducted a 2 (role: hired by issuer or by outside investor) X 2 (question order: make accounting valuation first vs. Conflict of Interest 13 evaluate other’s accounting first) MANOVA using the five approval decisions as dependent variables. The results show a significant main effect of role. Consistent with Hypothesis 1, those working as external auditor for a firm were significantly more likely to approve its accounting (M = 29%, SD = 24%) than were those who represented outside investors (M = 22%, SD = 21%), F (5, 107) = 2.9, p .05. Neither the main effect of question order nor its interaction with role is significant. We also expected, consistent with Hypothesis 1, that in addition to being more willing to endorse the firm’s own accounting, participants would be more likely to come to valuation decisions that were favorable to the target firm when they were considering the problem from the perspective of an outside auditor then when they had taken the perspective of a potential investor. To test this prediction, we first generated standardized scores for each item by computing a zscore of the valuation and reverse-scoring items as appropriate so that higher scores indicated valuations more favorable to the target firm. We then computed an average valuation for each participant and submitted these valuations to a 2 (role: hired by issuer or by outside investor) X 2 (question order: make accounting valuation first vs. evaluate other’s accounting first) ANOVA. The results show a main effect of role: Those playing the role of outside auditor came to more favorable valuations (M = .08, SD = .56) than did those working for a potential investor, (M = -.11, SD = .50), F (1, 134) = 4.07, p .05. Neither the main effect of question order nor its interaction with role is significant. Discussion The results of Experiment 1 are broadly consistent with research on accountability that shows that people tend to be proactively responsive to those to whom they expect to be accountable. When people are accountable to others with known preferences, then their judgments tend to be consistent with the preferences of those to whom they are accountable (Tetlock, 1983). An auditor who feels accountable to the client is more likely to issue a clean, unqualified audit report than one who feels accountable to an audit partner within his or her own firm (Buchman, Tetlock, Reed, 1996). However, it is worth noting that the accountability manipulation used in Experiment 1 was weak compared with the standard accountability manipulations in which people are led to believe that they will actually be meeting with a real person to whom they will need to justify their decisions. In Experiment 1, no mention was made of such accountability and participants were not required to justify their opinions. Nevertheless, this weak manipulation had an effect. We speculate that one reason for its effectiveness may be that the participants were familiar with the role of auditor, and so were able to easily put themselves in the role of being employed by, and accountable to, the client firm. One notable feature of the results of Experiment 1 is the low levels of endorsement. Nearly three quarters of the time, participants rejected the accounting proposed in the vignette as not complying with GAAP. This fact stands in contrast to the fact that the vast majority of all audit reports are unqualified. Two facts can explain the low endorsement rates in Experiment 1. First, the proposed accounting we gave participants in each vignette was intentionally designed to be fairly aggressive. Second, participants general suspiciousness was heightened because: (1) before they responded to the questionnaire, participants had to sign the consent form which, according to the rules of the institutional review board that approved it, had to include the name of the study: Auditor independence and bias; and (2) the participants had all been recently hired away from Arthur Andersen, and several expressed the concern that their ex-employers fate would be assumed to reflect badly on them. It is, perhaps, striking that the experiments manipulation worked despite participants heightened suspiciousness. Experiment 1 leaves a number of important theoretical questions unanswered. What, exactly, is it in the relationship between auditor and client that leads it to have the power to sway auditors judgments, given the clear ethical standards of their professions prohibiting such influence? Experiments 2 and 3 test two possible answers to this question: financial incentives and personal relationships. Because these two factors are confounded in actual auditor-client relationships, the experiments are conducted with participants who are not professional auditors. However, due to the fact that these non-auditor participants were unfamiliar with GAAP and so could not judge compliance with it, we created a slightly different experimental paradigm. EXPERIMENT 2: The Role of Financial Incentives Method Participants. One hundred twelve individuals participated for pay. Participants were recruited with advertisements in local newspapers and with flyers posted on the campuses of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Forty-nine percent of the participants were male. They ranged in age from 20 to 41, with an average age of 24 years (SD = 5.18 years). Procedure. Participants were run in groups of four. They were assigned to one of four roles: the buyer, the buyer’s auditor, the seller, or the seller’s auditor. Principals (the buyer and the seller) were seated next to their auditors. All four participants received the same packet of information about the target firm, named E-Settle (see Appendix B). After reading through these materials, the principals made public reports on the value of the firm. The auditors then reviewed these reports and offered either an unqualified endorsement of the principal’s assessment or offered their own assessments that could include suggestions for revision. In addition, all auditors were asked to specify both the most they thought the buyer should consider paying and the least they thought the seller should consider accepting. Both the principals’ and the auditors’ public reports were viewed by both principals. Armed with their own estimates and those of their auditors, principals then negotiated the purchase of the firm. The principals were paid based on their negotiated outcomes. In addition to the auditors’ public reports, which went to both principals, the auditors each completed a private report that went only to the experimenter. This private report instructed auditors to report their true belief in the value of t he target firm, and told them, â€Å"Your goal is for this assessment to be as impartial as you can make it.† Participants were told that their estimates of the firm’s value would be compared with the opinions of nonpartisan experts. The panel of experts consisted of eight professors of accounting and finance at Carnegie Mellon University’s Graduate School of Industrial Administration. The experts had assessed the value of the firm at $14 million. If a participant’s valuation were within $3 million of the experts’, he or she would receive an additional $3 payment. Participants were then asked to express how confident they were in the accuracy of their private appraisals. They were given the opportunity to bet on their private appraisals. If they chose to take the bet, they stood to win more money ($6 instead of $3, but their appraisals had to be more accurate (within $1.5 million instead of $3 million). Finally, participants answered questions designed to assess the degree to which they believed their own appraisals of the target firm (E-Settle) may have been bias ed by the roles they played: Conflict of Interest 17 1) To what extent do you believe your private appraisal of the value of E-Settle was biased by your role? The response scale ran from 0 (no bias whatsoever) to 10 (powerfully biased). 2) To what extent do you think your role interfered with your ability to give an impartial estimate of E-Settle’s value in your private assessment? The response scale ran from 1 (it did not influence me at all) to 7 (I found it impossible to make an impartial assessment). 3) How do you believe your role influenced your estimate of E-Settle’s value in your private appraisal? The response scale ran from -$3,000,000 (It led me to make an appraisal that was at least $3 million below what it would otherwise have been) to +$3,000,000 (It led me to make an appraisal that was at least $3 million above what it would otherwise have been). Design. The experiments manipulation of incentive structures included three conditions: Fixed fee, Pay for performance, and Future business. In the fixed fee condition, auditors were paid a fixed $9 fee regardless of their reports and regardless of the principal’s outcomes. In the pay for performance condition, auditors received a $3 base payment plus the same contingent payments as their principals: $.50 per $1 million in sale price either above $0 (for the seller) or below $30 million (for the buyer). This manipulation was designed to mirror a practice that the SEC has made illegal in which auditors have a direct financial stake in the success of a client firm. In the future business condition, auditors received a $3 base payment; after the negotiation was complete, principals could choose to award future business to the auditor, worth anywhere from $0 to $10. The decision of how much business to give to the auditor did not influence the principal’s own earnings. This manipulation was designed to mirror the incentives present for auditors who would like to continue offering profitable services to a client who has the choice of hiring them or some other firm. Results Public reports. After reading about the target firm, principals provided estimates of its value. A 2 (role: buyer vs. seller) X 3 (pay: fixed, pay for performance, future business) ANOVA revealed a main effect for role. Sellers estimated the value of the firm to be higher (M = $21.5 MM, SD = $8.5 MM) than did buyers (M = $12.3 MM, SD = $12.3 MM), F(1, 49) = 18.94, p .001. After having seen this report, auditors had the option of either unconditionally endorsing the principal’s report or suggesting changes. A logistic regression reveals that neither role nor the extremity of the principal’s valuation influenced the frequency of endorsement. However, pay condition was a significant predictor of the tendency to endorse, B = -.75, p .05. Auditors in the fixed payment and pay for performance conditions were about equally likely to issue unconditional endorsements (50 percent and 47 percent respectively). However, auditors in the future business condition were less likely to issue an unconditional endorsement (17 percent) and instead tended to offer suggestions for revision (see Table 1), χ2(2) = 4.89, p .05. In professional auditing, issuing a conditional endorsement of a client’s financial statements suggests that the auditor believes there are problems. However, participants in the present experiment were not constrained in this way. In their reports, about 12 percent of auditors suggested that their principals had been too extreme in their valuation of the company, and advised moderation (lower prices recommended to sellers and higher prices to buyers).

Code of Ethics in Childcare

Code of Ethics in Childcare Ethical dilemma Ethical dilemma is a situation involving issues of right and wrong, duties, or obligations that have more than one defensible resolution, each of which can be justified in moral terms. It makes us think to choose what is right and wrong. Early childhood educators are faced with daily ethical dilemmas and moral conundrums that challenge our view of ourselves and the support we offer. The NZTC Code of Ethics is a tool that urges educators to privilege relationships with children, their families and the communities of which they are a part, and articulate these in terms of childrens growth and learning, just as New Zealand Code of Ethics is a tool that guides the educators to find their sense of what they ought to do. My 1st reaction I believe that we should follow the Curriculum. I accept that there is no Maori child in the centre but the children in the centre going to grow up and going for primary and higher studies and the situations in higher schools and colleges never going to be same like our centre. In early age children minds are fresh and accepting the morals and values what we are teaching them. If we not teaching them according to the curriculum at ECE centre then it going to be hard expecting respect from them for other cultures especially Maori. In respect of making them responsible citizens, I think us not playing our best role by not teaching them Maori at early age. It’s going to be new and hard for children to accept the bi-cultural curriculum at primary school level. They might not happily accept the Maori language in curriculum plus they might not be respectful toward the Maori culture. I agree that some parents might not happy with introducing their children with Maori language at centre. But my intentions is to introduce the language now to the children rather then they have to struggle in the future. Ethically I try to convince the teachers and parents to stick to the curriculum, which is more important. We all got to understand that Maori is the Native language of New Zealand and we can’t avoid it. Teach and model those positive values which are widely accepted in society and encourage learners to apply them and critically appreciate their significance. http://www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/required/ethics/coe-poster-english.pdf Identifying the stakeholders Teachers who want to implement Te Reo: Teachers are the main stakeholders in this situation. They are in a situation where it’s hard to choose what to do. 1st they have to think about the curriculum then about the opinions of staff members and the parents of children they teach. It’s more hard when other staff members justifying not to implement Te Reo and tikanga maori. Teachers who justifying don’t need to implement Te Reo: Teachers who are happy not to implement Te Reo. Even though they are right too in doing so in some stages, when they don’t have maori child in the centre. Teachers attend to the needs of children first and put children ahead of their own needs. They putting children ahead then the government agency. Parents who are happy with current situation: Those parents who are happy with not teaching maori to their children. Teachers have to consider their interests too when they don’t want their children to learn Maori. Gonzalez-Mena (2002) discusses the differences in individualism and collectivism with regard to early childhood education, and the difficulties that can arise when caregivers and family are at different ends of the continuum (Sarah Hartstone, personal communication Saturday, 23 January 2014, 10:35 AM) Parents who challenge the situation: Those parents who want to stick to the curriculum. Ministry of education: Ministry of education sets up the curriculum for early childhood which is bi-cultural and guide us to implement Te Reo. Children: Children at early stage learn through what they see. Children at that stage can’t make choices what they want to learn and what they don’t, especially if we talk about implementation of Te Reo. They learn about right and wrong not so much by what we say, but by what we do (Freeman,1997). Identifying the issues Personal Morality: We learned the differences between right and wrong through our life long experiences. We judge the things and situations on our decisions. Our personal moral decisions could be differ from social morality. Like in this situation my personal moral opinion is that we should be implementing the Te Reo and Tikanga Maori in centre even though if we don’t have maori children in centre. But the personal opinion of other educators could be totally different. They might don’t feel necessary to implement Te Reo when we don’t have any Maori child. Their 1st preference could be only best care for child and then curriculum or any other government agency is the second most preference. Ethical issues: Is it ethically necessary to implement Te Reo in the centre when we don’t have any Maori child in the centre? When we answering this question lots of issues comes to our mind like other staff member opinions, parents opinion, curriculum. We might not easily get the right idea what exactly is ethical acceptable. At this stage we need to follow the code of ethics. Cultural issues: The major problem in this situation is cultural issue. Staff members who wants to stick to the curriculum and wants to implement Te reo and tikanga Maori facing the major cultural issue. When they don’t have any Maori child in the centre. It’s quite pointless for some staff members and parents to teach Maori to non-Maori children. But if we look at wider picture the children just not going to stay in that centre they are going to explore themselves in further studies. Maori culture is a rich culture and heritage that have lot of moral values which is necessary for our children to learn when they are going to live in New Zealand. It’s important to learn about the history and native language of our country. Social issues: We are living in a society with majority of European and Maori in it. If Maori’s have learnt the English language then at least we should be knowing little bit of Maori culture and language. Our main responsibilities to make our children responsible citizens. To live with peace and love, it’s important that our children should have respect for other culture. If what we teaching children at home and what we teaching them at pre-school is same, then what is the benefit to send them to pre-schools!!? Actually we should be making them socially aware by teaching them about the native culture and language of New Zealand. Brainstorm solutions without evaluating them Early childhood services care for and care about children. The significance of caring and relationship both as an educational goal, and as a fundamental aspect of what the ECS does is recognised. We should stick to the Te Whariki which is bi-cultural and strictly pointing us to teach children both languages. ECS decisions do not conflict with what is in the best and appropriate interests of children and their parents/caregivers. Actions are not taken that could result in harm to any child and family associated with the ECS. A supportive, non-threatening and non-judgemental environment for children and parents/caregivers is provided. The ECS management and staff or contractors are conscious of their own biases and are careful not to let their personal and cultural views influence how they treat any child, parent, or group of children and families. It is important that our children should have knowledge of New Zealand native culture and language. If we follow the code of ethics even it tells us to teach Maori language in ECE centres. Code of Ethics for registered teachers Application of the Code of Ethics shall take account of the requirements of the law as well as the obligation of the teachers to honour The Treaty of Waitangi by paying particular attention to the rights and aspirations of Maori as tangata whenua. http://www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/required/ethics/coe-poster-english.pdf So, according to the Code of Ethics it is clarified that we should teach Maori language at centres. Our setting should be same, who knows when a Maori child get enrolled to the centre. We can’t say to the parents that sorry we have only European children studying in here. Even we can’t immediately start teaching Maori language, then other children going to find it difficult to understand and that why we changing the daily routine. According to Code of Ethics the professional interactions of teachers are governed by four fundamental principles: Autonomy Justice Responsible Care Truth Teacher should treat people with honour. They should share and prevent the abuse of power. Need to protect each and every ethnicity. They should be honest with their profession. As teacher we should be committed to these four code of ethics: COMMITMENT TO LEARNERS COMMITMENT TO PARENTS/GUARDIANS AND WHANUA COMMITMENT TO SOCIETY COMMITMENT TO THE PROFESSION The Sections a, b and c of Code number 3 Commitment to society a) actively support policies and programmes which promote equality of opportunity for all b) work collegially to develop schools and centres which model democratic ideals c) teach and model those positive values which are widely accepted in society and encourage learners to apply them and critically appreciate their significance. http://www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/required/ethics/coe-poster-english.pdf Help me to find good solutions that we need to promote equality of opportunity for all. We should support democratic ideas. We should be teaching positive values which are widely accepted. However, we have Maori children in our centre or not, but we need to stick to the Te Whariki. And we don’t know when new Maori child get enrolled to the centre. References New Zealand Code of Ethics for registered Teachers (NZTC,2004) Freeman,N.(1997, September). Using NAEYC’s code of ethics Mama and daddy Taught me Right from Wrong- Isn’t that enough?(pp.65) Sarah Hartstone (2014,January 23) Te Kea Kaha Day 9/10. (online forum comment) retrieved from Moodle: TEPS 751-14C (NET). New Zealand Code of Ethics for registered Teachers (NZTC,2004)

Parkinsons Disease - the chances of a trembling body Essay -- Biology

Parkinson's Disease - the chances of a trembling body I have been closely following the news in the past months and I have noted a continuum in the coverage of the medical condition of one person who for many symbolizes the virtues of man, has been associated with the liberation of the minds of people under the communist era, has firmly supported the foundations of the Catholic faith and has been inspiration for many - the current Pope John Paul II. The newspaper photos of his almost expressionless face and the constant trembling hand which have started hindering his public activities and my deep respect to the his achievements made me look into the roots of the Parkinson's disease and its effects on behavior. Parkinson's disease, or the "shaking palsy" as first defined by Dr.Parkinson in the early 19th century, is defined as a disorder of the central nervous system, affecting about 2% of the world's population. It is more common among older people and there is a higher percentage of men affected by it. (1)Cells in the part of the brain that control movement are lost, causing sometimes severe difficulty in performing movements with a variable intensity depending on the individual cases(2) The widely recognized symptoms include muscular rigidity, resting tremors, bradykinesia, inconsistency of posture, dementia. All of these symptoms directly or indirectly affect the patient's behavior. The symptoms only appear after the death of 80% of the cells which produce dopamine. (4) The loss of dopamine causes the nerve cells of the basal ganglia to fire out of control, leaving patients unable to direct or control their movements in a normal manner. Thus, the early diagnosis is very hard, especially in the sporadic cases. Early symp... ...ynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web2/www.parkinsoninfor.com 4) BBC Health News. , BBC News Agency with certain articles on current research http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/317413.stm 5) Research News. http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web2/www.nhgri.nih.gov/DIR/LGDR/PARK/media_rel.html 6) Molecules of the Mind: Dreaming of Parkinson's. , interesting article http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web2/www.medinfosource.com/mb/mb980212.html 7) The Parkinson's Institute http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web2/www.parkinsoninstitute.org/movement_disorders/parkinsons.html 8) An Active Web Resource for Parkinson's Disease Information http://cgi.sapien.net/cgi-bin/parkinsonweb/news 9) An Online Support Group for Patients http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web2/www.parkinson.org/denyingparkinson.htm

The Focus on Cultural Competency in the Social Work Profession Essay

The focus of social work practice can be best described as a pendulum, with major theoretical shifts occurring in accordance with, among many things, social climate, funding, and federal and state legislation. Thus, incorporating concepts of cultural competency into the clinical setting has been an evolutionary process. The focus on cultural competency in the social work profession has developed from a trend, to what is now regarded as an academic knowledge base and professional standard (Bridge, Massie & Mills, 2008). The nineties marked a shift towards multicultural and cultural diversity competency, it is still a fairly novel concept†¦.. In many instances discussions on cultural competency have been broached by non-social work professionals and in terms of multicultural therapy and counseling (Lu, Lum & Chen, 2001). With the client population becoming a more expansive group in terms of socioeconomic level, race, gender identification, and sexual orientation, it is imperative that clinicians engaged in cross-cultural work conduct ongoing â€Å"self-inventories,† and be involved in collaborative discussions with their agency in regards to cultural competency. The following paper will be a perspective on my conception of cultural competency as a clinical social worker in an agency setting. McPhatter (1997) defines cultural competency as the ability to bring cultural awareness and understanding into â€Å"health and/or psychosocial interventions that support and sustain healthy client-system functioning within the appropriate cultural context (pg.261).† Akin to many of my peers, I am inclined to envision myself upon graduation as a self-aware, knowledgeable, enthusiastic clinician capable of servicing all kinds of clients without prejudices... ...ural contexts, it is crucial that cultural competency garners attention from both the clinician, and agency. The ongoing work involved in this journey is emotionally demanding, and I find it incredibly helpful to revisit the very reason why I choose this profession. As Elizabeth J. Clarke, Executive Director of the National Association of Social Workers so eloquently states, â€Å"We are holders of hope for our clients, our communities, and our society†¦. social work is the last best profession (pg.11).† Given that, it is critical that as social workers we remember that although discussing societal constructs, such as, racism, classism, sexism, and homophobia in the therapeutic relationship can be remarkably challenging, by engaging in such conversations you are combating the power that these constructs possess in your life, your client’s and the global society at large.

Comparing Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher and Gardner’s The Ravages of

Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher and John Gardner’s The Ravages of Spring Edgar Allan Poe’s â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† and John Gardner’s â€Å"The Ravages of Spring† are two literary works which are unique; however, at the same time indistinguishably similar. Poe’s short story is a piece, which characterizes eighteenth century philosophy whereas Gardner’s tale is more modern. In fact, â€Å"The Ravages of Spring† is a story based on Poe’s â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher,† which â€Å"contemporizes its horror† (Fenlon 481). Both stories are inexplicably gruesome and leave a reader overwhelmed by the bizarreness of the tales. Nevertheless it is the strangeness of the two stories that distinguishes them within the literary world and makes Poe and Gardner authors of gothic literature. â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† and â€Å"The Ravages of Spring† parallel within their eerie tones towards the stormy environments and the supernatural houses wh ich set the basis for both of the stories. However, by the conclusion of both tales Gardner’s remake of â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† is still a considerably lighter version of Poe’s gothic story. Both stories correlate within their morbid tones as the narrators of the two tales discuss the stormy environment, which plagues the beginning of the stories. Poe characterizes the storm as â€Å"abroad in all its wrath†¦with huge masses of agitated vapour† (Poe 412). Then he goes onto describe an â€Å"unnatural light of a faintly luminous and distinctly visible gaseous exhalation which hugh about and enshrouded the mansion† (Poe 412). Thus, it is evident through Poe’s language that he is exerting a frightening and supernatural tone to describe this malevolent storm. ... ...oe’s tale and successfully does so when analyzing the paralleled tones towards the atmospheres and the houses which plague the two stories. However, when concentrating on the end result of both pieces the works are easily distinguishable from one another. One must still note that â€Å"The Ravages of Spring† is a brilliant reverence to â€Å" The Fall of the House of Usher† and both works are truly thought provoking and ingenious. Works Cited Fenlon, Katherine Feeney. â€Å"John Gardner’s The Ravages of Spring as re-creation of The Fall of the House of Usher.† Studies in Short Fiction. 31.3 (1994): 481-488. Gardner, John. â€Å"The Ravages of Spring.† The King’s Indian: Stories and Tales. New York: Ballantine, 1974: 39-71. Poe, Edgar Allan. â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher.† Tales and Sketches. Cambridge: Belknap, 1978: 397-417. 4452 - 1 – Marlow Engl. 12.37

Homelessness and Print Ad

Cassandra Allen June 26, 2012 English 1101 Ms. Kristen Miller Homelessness Do you think you can make it? Sometimes, I wonder how others can. Others, could what you may ask? Live on the street be homeless. Homelessness my affect the person sitting next to you, your best friend, or even your close family members. Just because they look like they are not homeless does not mean they aren't. When you watch a commercial or even view a picture in the newspaper about homeless people, what do you ask yourself first? Which one do you think captures your attention more to make you feel like you need to help make a change?In this essay I will compare two mediums a video and print ad which deals with homelessness and show you how emotional appeal ties both mediums together. I also, will show you how I think more emotional appeal is shown in the video than in the print ad. Emotional appeal is showed in homelessness whether it is when you are saddened by looking at a homeless person on the street o r even hearing them begging for something. When you take a look at the print ad, you have to think a picture is worth a thousand words and what does this mean.The print ad states the following: â€Å"When you give to the United Way, you're helping homeless people overcome the obstacles in their lives by providing things like shelter, hot meals, and training programs. With United Way funded agencies helping so many in our community, make a difference is easier than you think. † The statement you have just read is posted on the print ad and it is trying to promote awareness about homelessness. The print ad does a great job of showing emotion. In the picture on the print ad, you can see a person’s hand is trying to shield a homeless man from lying on the street in the rain.This picture explains a story that helping hands can be used to help shelter people around us in need. If we join hand in hand that we can make a difference in a homeless person’s life. In the Al oha United Way 2008 homelessness commercial, it shows you how normal everyday people become homeless not just because they wanted to but because they were force to. The couple in this video was able to join a shelter. Living in this shelter helped the couple acquire jobs to help themselves. This shelter was funded by the United Way.By helping fund organizations like this, you can help like I did and take part in â€Å"rewriting the stories of over 2,400 homeless people. † So, by viewing this video it shows you that you may not be homeless but it can happen to you also as well as me. This commercial makes homelessness turn into reality and shows you how it can really be. Just like the print ad both are funded by the United Way organization. Some people may feel like the print ad and the video ad affect them in the same way. In my opinion I think the video should impact your emotions more. By watching this, you will see and hear someone’s testimony.So the video has more visualization and also has audio while the print ad just has the one picture. I feel like the print ad leaves you asking questions. Both the video and print ads are helpful in ways that they help get the message across about homelessness and promote awareness. In this essay I have talked with you about a print and video ad that both target homelessness. I have explained to you that the video ad is more appealing to me. In the sense that the print ad you have visualization but no audio as the video have both which the audio is a testimony.So, think about what I have explain to you today and ask yourself which one would you use to get more funding for the United Way organization. Bibliography AUW808. â€Å"Aloha United Way – 2008 Homelessness Commercial. † YouTube. YouTube, 16 June 2008. Web. 26 June 2012. . Way, United. Without You. There Would Be No Way. Digital image. Coloribus. com. United Way, 17 Apr. 2008. Web. 26 June 2012. .

Borohydride Reduction

John Heger CMY 211 Lab Section 13 11-30-2011 Borohydride Reduction of Vanillin to Vanillyl alcoholic drink Introduction The usage of this research laboratory was to go down vanillin to vanillyl alcohol. This lab c everyplace recaps the procedure and results of the lab. The chemical process analyse in this lab was reduction, the process of reduction the issuance of bonds to group O and increasing the number of bonds to hydrogen. Other chemical processes included in the lab were recrystallization, liquescent depute, and extraction.Procedure Preparation of Vanillyl alcoholic drink 2. 5 mmol of vanillin were dissolved in 2. 5 mL of 1 M NaOH declaration in a 25 mL Erlenmeyer flask. The flask was swirled to produce a equal yellow solution. The flask was swirled in an ice-water lav for 1-2 proceeding and the solution was cooled to approximately 10C. 1. 95 mmol of NaBH4 was added while the solution was evermore swirled. It was added in three to four portions over a period of 3 minutes. The solution was allowed to stand undisturbed for 30 minutes at room temperature.After the time period, the flask was cooled in an ice-water bath and 3 M HCl was added dropwise with swirling. HCl was added until the pH of the solution was distinctly acrid to pH paper. The solution was gently cooled and the face of the flask was gently scratched with a starter rod to induce recrystallization. The crude overlap was suction filtered using a Buchner or Hirsch funnel and was washed with three minuscular portions of cold water. The crystals were allowed to air dry for several(prenominal) minutes while suction keep to eliminate excess water.The crude harvest was recrystallized from ethyl acetate. The dried crystals were weighed and a dissolve meridian was obtained. Results Table 1 data-based Data Table Initial mickle of Vanillin 0. 3843 g Final Mass of Vanillyl Alcohol 0. 2467 g Melting Point scat of Vanillyl Alcohol 75-90C Percent hold 63. 99 % yield Discussion Th e take aim of this lab was to reduce vanillin to vanillyl alcohol. The mechanism of the lab voluminous reduction. Sodium borohydride was used to reduce the aldehyde on the vanillin molecule, which left the oxygen with a negative charge.Feature Article sex act RatesFree-Radical BrominationHCl then reacted with the negative oxygen on vanillin, and the oxygen then became protonated, which make another alcohol on the benzene ring. The melting point range obtained for vanillyl alcohol was between 75-90C. The actual melting point was 115C, which was approximately 25 degrees high than the experimental values. The reason for this melting point difference can be attributed to impurities that create throughout the procedure. The percent yield from the pilot film sample was 63. 9%. A graceful percentage of the authentic sample was wooly throughout the reduction process of vanillin to vanillyl alcohol. completion Vanillin was reduced to vanillyl alcohol which obtained a melting point of 75-90C. The percent yield from the original sample was 63. 99%. The mechanism involved the reduction of vanillin to vanillyl alcohol, which increased the number of bonds to hydrogen and decreased the number of bonds to oxygen by the reduction of a carbonyl.