Thursday, October 31, 2019

Web Application development Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Web Application development - Assignment Example The people who share same spirits in sports would find this application as a great place for sharing their experiences, giving and taking advises, organizing events etc. This application will use the latest technology and simple yet elegant user interface. The Application allows it user to search people based on their interest in any sports. Search results could be filtered by location when the area of the operation expands in the future. The application will be developed with HTML5 and JavaScript in the front end and PHP in the server side scripting. Initially MySQL could be used as database client as number of users and frequency of interactions are considered. When future functionalities are introduced and website’s hits will be increasing, a more scalable database client such as Cassandra could be used. In this report we are including a detailed timeline for the development of application, design, structure, implementation details and future development ideas. New users can register to our web application through a signup facility. Users are requested to provide an username and password in order to gain full access to Sports pal .Non registered users can access only the homepage contents. User data is only passed through an encrypted SSL connection (Buttyan n.d.: 1). During the registration process Sports pal will collect details such as Full name, Date of Birth, Email address and physical location of the users. These details are displayed in our profile page. User can also update these details even after signing up to our application. These profiles are publicly viewable by all users of the application. Users are requested to add a sport of their interest during signup process and it could be edited in user profile functionality. Users can update their status message logging in to Sports Pal. This is a common featured shared by all social networking websites today. This facility will allow

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Answer questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 12

Answer questions - Essay Example Here, issues of bank overdraft are nonexistent and the business is in a good business shape. An example of when underlying circumstances may be such that the accounts receivable turnover increases one period to the next and is favorable is when the accounts receivable turnover has a high value, which shows that there is an improvement in the process of collecting cash on credit sales. An example of when underlying circumstances may be such that the accounts receivable turnover increases one period to the next and is unfavorable is when the accounts receivable turnover has a lower figure that indicated inefficiencies in collection of credit sales. A example of when the underlying circumstances may be such that the accounts payable turnover increases from one period to the next is favorable is when a company is paying its suppliers longer than it should take. This means that the company is taking advantage of discounts that come with early payment. Credit analysis refers to the method used to investigate whether a company has the financial ability to repay its obligations. It is done through the development of classification-based approach that seeks to differentiate potential defaulters from non-defaulters. The basics of credit analysis can be understood through five C’s that include character, capacity, capital, collateral and conditions. The first C, character, refers to the general impression the customer has on the prospective investor or lender. The lender comes up with a subjective opinion regarding whether the company or client can be trusted to repay a loan or generate a return from the funds that are invested into the firm. The background of the company and the experience in its particular field of business are issues that must be considered including issues of employee experience, and the quality of the references given

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Rise of the Merchant Class in the Middle Ages

Rise of the Merchant Class in the Middle Ages The Middle Ages, which is considered to be the time between 500 and 1500 AD gave rise to a new economic and cultural experience in Europe. The transition from the Classical Age to the Renaissance was a process of evolution. After the barbarian invasions of Europe during the fourth and fifth centuries by the Anglos, Saxons, Goths, and Huns, the great Roman Empire declined. It was only starting in the eighth century that Europe slowly began its cultural, as well as economic, recovery. Politically, several new states emerged starting in the year 900, including the consolidated Scandinavian states under King Sweyn of Denmark; the creation of a Hungarian state; and the states of Bohemia and Poland. These states were very stable monarchies, which helped widen commercial exchange between one another. The Scandinavians traded extensively with the east, the Mediterranean countries, and with Russia. The end of various civil wars in Europe helped countries like Italy make a name for themselves in trade with the Mediterranean. Pisa, Genoa, and Amalfi, were all major commercial hubs. Germany and northern Europe were also able to make use of trade routes to the Mediterranean through Italy and France. Another result of the more settled Europe was the revival of agriculture, which was further stimulated by commercial expansion due to the growing exchange economy. Many cities began expanding, creating the demand for larger amounts of agricultural produce. As a result, previously unproductive lands in countries such as France and Germany were converted to fertile farms, rich with grazing herds. Nobleman with large pieces of uncultivated land offered these lands to peasants for cultivation in return for which they collected payment or rent. This was the beginning of the feudal system in Europe. Under the feudal system, kings gave nobleman large grants of land in exchange for soldiers. In exchange for fighting, the soldiers were given gifts of jewels, horses, and sometimes land, in territories that had been newly conquered, called fiefs. These vassals, or servants to the king had authority over the peasants, called the serfs, who worked on their land. The vassals became powerful local rulers who made their own laws, which the workers on their land were required to obey. Economic progress stimulated by this system gave rise to new towns and a rise in population in areas that were previously unsettled. The rapid increase in population due to the economic revolution resulted in a shortage of land. However, instead of causing a problem, farming and land cultivation techniques improved so that land could be used more efficiently. This also shifted quite an amount of the population away from farming jobs, and into jobs in towns and cities. By the 1100s, these hard working urban citizens formed the middle class and were enterprising, ambitious, and contributed to the success of an early form of capitalism. This medieval capitalism is often referred to as the birth of capitalism. Contributing to the development of the European intellectual, religious, and moral recovery was the setting up of new monasteries, since the church had also suffered due to the numerous invasions in the past. The more settled political climate helped bring back the influence of the church. A few of the great noblemen founded new reformed monastic houses that were more inclusive including the famous abbey of Einsiedeln, the monastic school of St. Emmereram, and the Episcopal school of Bamberg. This reformation of the monasteries broke down regional differences and revived discipline as well as literary and artistic life. The feudal ideas of lordship extended even to the monasteries, as in the case of the abbot of Cluny who was the head of all monasteries founded or reformed by his order. Even though there was much political, economic, and religious progress, new problems were created by all this development. Consolidation of kingdoms created complications for German, Italian, Hungarian, and Polish rulers. In Germany, the economic recovery caused tension between the aristocracy, which was only interested in profiting as much as possible from the revived economy, and the government. In Italy, it led to antagonism between the knights, and their feudal lords, or bishops. However, the social revolution between the knights and the bishops gave rise to powerful new classes that strived to better their positions, leading to nobles and non-nobles. In spite of all of these tensions, people still had jobs to support the growing population in cities and towns. Any commodity that was unavailable in individual fiefdoms, was obtained by barter. Artisans made farm implements, dishes, and clothing, which they exchanged for the grain, wine, and meat produced on the farms. Beginning in the tenth century, a new class of trading people emerged, referred to as peddlers. Peddlers traveled from town to town, supplying the nobility and the peasants with the products they needed. The areas frequently visited by them quickly developed into towns, which emerged as major centers of trade and attracted many merchants who supplied the prospering nobility. As the nobility got wealthier, they were able to afford gems, silks, exotic spices, and other symbols of wealth. The merchants who previously went from town to town, were now traveling to foreign locations such as Egypt, Morrocco, and Turkey. The activities of the traders permanently altered the f ace of European society, leading to a commercial revolution, which was essentially the shift of power from the landlords and nobility to the merchants. Concentration of wealth in emerging cities such as Florence, Venice, London, and Paris attracted merchants worldwide. By the tenth century, extensive trade routes had been established connecting Britain, the European continent, the Middle East, and North Africa, by river and by sea. Asia and the Middle East had several excellent overland trade routes. For instance, the four thousand mile long Silk Road led out of China all the way to the Black Sea in Eastern Europe, through Persia, Afghanistan, and India. Germanys Hanseatic League saved traders time with their larger ships that carried wine and salt to the East in exchange for the grain and timber they bought back. Some traders and merchants began plying the sea routes in search of more goods and profits. Due to its location between the East and Europe, Italy was a vital trading country. Merchants from Venice traded with those from the Byzantine Empire through Turkey, and merchants from Pisa and Genoa traded with cities in North Africa. They brought back African gold and ivory, precious stones, silks, perfumes, and spices from Persia and India, Turkish carpets, Persian ceramics, and Syrian glass and metalwork, all of which commanded high prices in Europe. In the eleventh century, local merchants primarily sold their goods in weekly markets. A network of weekly markets was one of the main components of the booming economic progress that swept across Europe in the Middle Ages. These markets spurred the creation of money, and harbored huge amounts of wealth to the merchants. Fairs, which lasted for weeks and were held at crossroads of important trade routes, were another means by which well-established merchants bought and sold goods. Some of the most important trading fairs included the 12-day cloth fair and the 8-day leather fair, both held in Champagne, France. Since fairs and markets could easily be ruined by undesirable weather conditions, some traders eventually came up with ways to make profits without ever leaving their homes. Using credit, they bought and sold goods through agents at various fairs, giving rise to a form of banking. This contributed to a free flow of money, which enriched the lives of people in all classes of society. This increase in wealth helped patronize artisans, goldsmiths, and retailers. The towns that expanded around the fair sites attracted business and brought about the standardization of currency, weights and measures. The merchant class largely populated the new towns that sprang up, and influenced the economy and social life of their societies. The towns attracted specialists such as grocers, spice merchants, cobblers, apothecaries, and goldsmiths who formed unions called guilds. These guilds set the prices for the goods they produced, as they were the only ones in the area creating this product in the area. Therefore the citizens in this area were willing to pay whatever price they charged. Their control over these prices led to much of their control over the economy. Additionally, they effected and influenced social life with the elaborate feasts and celebrations they held for religious services, holidays, and similar events. With the increase of merchant activities and the rise of the merchant class, it became necessary for them to learn to read, write, do arithmetic, and have a general knowledge of foreign affairs. Local governments and scholars, both of which profited from teaching the children of these merchants, set up schools to take care of the demand for education. The success of the schools in turn, led to the establishment of universities, so that people were able to continue their education if they desired. Some of these universities include Oxford, Cambridge, Chartres, Reims, and the University of Paris. The rising importance of schools broke the monopoly that the church previously had in the area of education. Since merchants made great profits from buying and selling goods, they were considered sinners by the church, because they enriched themselves rather than working for common good. The fear of hell was very real and the church often confiscated merchant estates. To avoid this, merchants began contributing some of the wealth they made to monasteries and churches, and providing funds to charitable causes including hospitals and homes for those without shelter. The rise of the merchant class gained them access to high society and some became famous patrons of the arts, constructing concert halls, churches, and other cultural centers. These merchants spread wealth and culture to the masses and assisted in dissolving the previously existing social structure by creating a society where even a peasant was able to rise in wealth and status. Merchants that joined the ranks of nobility further strengthened their position in society by patronizing the arts even more. They hired artists, musicians, and writers to produce works that still live on today, including works of art such as Madonna and Child, Nativity, and the Wise Man, by renowned artists such as Michaelangelo, Botticelli, and Leonardo Da Vinci. Some of the extremely successful merchants, known as the merchant princes, sometimes became so powerful they controlled their countries wealth. The Medicis, a family of bankers that lived Italy, are an example of such powerful and successful merchants. As a result of this patronage of the arts, many architectural and artistic gems were produced during this time. Some of the buildings built during the Middle Ages using the Gothic or Romanesque styles used such advanced techniques that these buildings are still existent today. The Chartres cathedral, the Laon Cathedral, and St. Denis, all in France for instance, represent the quality of the churches, houses, and castles built during that time. Also produced during the Middle Ages was some beautiful art work that is often overlooked, including jewelry, pottery, metalwork, carved woodwork, sculptures, and illustrated manuscripts. Most of the art work was created in the setting of the church, such as murals of Biblical stories, chalices, shrines, reliquaries, and statues of angels and saints. The rise of the merchant class also made portraits very popular, along with intricate work for personal use such as woven tapestries, decorated manuscripts, tableware, jewelry, and carved furniture . Inventions and technology during the Middle Ages were in the form of a gradual improvement in the way things were done, rather than a series of dramatic discoveries. It took place in the form of a gradual shift away from mass slavery, the use of wind power, of open fields in agriculture, the use of the wheelbarrow, double entry book-keeping, and finally the use of firearms and printing. The windlass, a rope around a barrel which turned using a crank, was used to lift heavy loads. Water mills and windmills were used to power all kinds of machinery. For instance, a hammer driven by a mill was used in fulling cloth, which is a method of cleaning fabric used in textile production. A new kind of loom was introduced as well as the invention of the spinning wheel, which greatly reduced the time taken to weave cloth, and produce new fabrics. The secrets of producing silk were passed on from Greece to other parts of Europe. Papermaking was brought back from China, greatly reducing the cost an d time to write and produce books. The growth and progress of the European civilization in the middle ages was largely due to the rise of the merchant class. With their ambition and hard work, they paved the way for modern times. Under their leadership, Europe enjoyed a prosperity not known since the Roman Empire. When Europe emerged from the Middle Ages, it had attained a level of sophistication in its universities, literature, art, learning, science and technology, that were unmatched in the world. Significant advances were made in the areas of tenant farming, harnessing the horse to the plough, cloth making, iron working, ship building and navigation. This technical progress would not have amounted to much if it had not been coupled with the intellectual tools that the businessmen of that time used to manage his business and observe and measure fluctuations in the economy. The world of trade had to perfect various systems: from dealing with rates of exchange for goods and services outside their towns or even countr ies, establishing credit procedures, legal bases in keeping with the times, and methods for monitoring and balancing their accounts. All of these eventually became the foundation for our modern system of economic relations. Although it is often ignored in history, the Middle Ages saw the birth of a new cultural experience in Europe, which eventually led to the Renaissance. The cultural heritage of the Middle Ages is still apparent in architecture, art, education, science and technology, that have survived the test of time. Bibliography: Gold and Spices: The Rise of Commerce in the Middle Ages, Jean Favier The Medieval Merchant, Stuart A. Kallen The Middle Ages, Giovanni Caselli The Late Middle Ages, Raintree Steck-Vaughn Library The Medieval World, Mike Corbishley Life During the Middle Ages, Earle Rice, Jr.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Women and Islam Essay -- Islamic Females Islam Essays

Women in Islam   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Religious institution has a profound impact on any and every society. Social norms, mores, and expectations are mostly defined by our belief systems, even if we ourselves don’t practice a religion. Government too is always based on common agreement upon what is right and wrong, and who is to rule. A society can experience violent opposition and revolutions because of radical religious groups. There’s no doubt about it. In any society, small or large, primitive or modern, religious institution plays a leading role. Islam is no exception. This paper will explore three critical aspects of Islamic society. The first is Democracy. Just how incompatible is an Islamic society with democracy? Secondly, how are women treated by Islamic society? Are they treated as equal to men, and why? Lastly, is Islam conducive to human rights? Is this reflected by Islamic governments? All of these questions and more will be considered in the following. It’s definitely not the first time it’s been asked. Can Democracy really function in an Islamic society? Some say yes, some say no. But the answer doesn’t seem to be quite so black and white. The Muslim countries in the world today are all different, and all have or have had different relationships with democracy. In order to better understand the answer to this question, we must look at some of the factors that influence the relationship between Islam and Democracy. According to Daniel E. Price, there are seven major categories of influences on the relationship between Islam and Democracy. These are historical influences, regime strength, regime strategy for dealing with political Islam, Islamic political groups, modernization/economics/demographics, politicized sectarian, ethnic, linguistic, or class cleavages, and minority religious groups. In history, there have been several notable aspects of society that have influence on Muslim countries. Colonialism has obviously induced a sort of backfiring from Radical Islam, and it is for this reason that most Muslim Countries that have had a history of Colonialism have a stronger presence of Radical Islam. These countries include Algeria, Syria, and Egypt. There is a stronger lingering hostility toward ideas attributed to the West (liberalism and democracy) and Westernized classes because of their association with the former colonial overlords. (Price, ... ...rn ideology. There is nothing in the Qur’an or Sharia that actually directly confirms that these three aspects of Islamic society are exactly as we in the West perceive. The problem is that the way that Muslims interpret their scriptures is contrary and even offensive to the West and its common ideologies. Lastly, the criticism and influence from the West toward Islamic culture, in addition to historical colonialization, only intensifies their rejection of the West and its criticism, and actually seems to make the problems concerning Democracy, women, and human rights even worse. Bibliography Esposito, John L. 1980 Islam and Development: Religioni and Sociopolitical Change   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Syracuse University Press: Syracuse. Macionis, John J. 1992 Society: The Basics   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lehigh Press, Inc.: New Jersey. Price, Daniel E. 1999 Islamic Political Culture, Democracy, and Human Rights: A Comparative Study   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Praeger Publishers: Connecticut. Spellberg, D.A. 1994 Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: The Legacy of A’isha Bint Abi Bakr   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Columbia University Press: New York. Turner, Bryan S. 1974 Weber and Islam   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Western Printing Services Ltd: Great Britain.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Midaq Alley as the Woman

The women of the Middle East would continue to uphold their traditional image, even though in their heart of hearts many of them may be yearning for plain liberty.   The chief character of Naguib Mahfouz’s Midaq Alley (1992) is a woman by the name of Hamida, who must put up acts to stay true to her traditions, at the same time as she yearns for something beyond the ordinary.   Yet, her passage into a world where men and women must be considered equal is a narrow one. As a matter of fact, her life is the Midaq Alley, which â€Å"resembles a ‘trap,’ with walls on three sides, making darkness one of its pervasive features (Deeb).†Ã‚   What is more, there is a very narrow entrance and an equally narrow exit to the small alley – away from the big, outside world – that the Middle Eastern woman has come to represent in Mahfouz’s novel (Deeb). Yet, Hamida is not the kind to give up easily.   She sneers at her husbands-to-be simply because she wants something better than them, most definitely a life that is more prosperous, and outright superior, that is, the big, outside world.   She considers her husbands-to-be as nonentities because she thinks she can achieve well for herself without them.   At the same time, she is bounded by Middle Eastern customs and culture to choose one prospect and get married like ordinary girls (Mahfouz). Hamida admires the women who have escaped their marital bonds.   She is especially inspired by the factory girls she knows – who all happen to be Jewish.   She informs her mother about the same, â€Å"If you had seen the factory girls!   You should just see those Jewish girls who go to work.   They all go about in nice clothes.   Well, what is the point of life then if we can't wear what we want? (Mahfouz)† According to Middle Eastern customs for women, Hamida must control her true desires before the cultural expectations that are attached to all women.   All the same, Mahfouz brings to the mind’s eye the picture of Middle Eastern women that are longing to free themselves from the bonds of patriarchy, and all the rules of society that are connected to the same.   Apparently, the Middle Eastern women would also like to free themselves from the difficult clothing they are forced to wear. Perhaps they would like breaks from such clothing.   While women such as Hamida may genuinely face a problem with restrictive customs, Mahfouz also describes the ‘proper’ girls that are not expected to show their desires anyway.   Boys of the Middle East, on the contrary, are allowed various other facilities, also according to the author.   Boys are permitted, among other things, access to sex, nightlife, and friendships outside the family (Mahfouz). When Hamida gets married to Abbas, she only does so to escape her mother’s home.   Escape seems to be her only wish.   She turns into a prostitute as soon as her husband leaves home for an indefinite period of time.   But, does she find her eventual escape route through this act?   It appears that while many Middle Eastern women may be searching for escape routes from traditions, once and for all, it was only Hamida who actually managed to escape.   Whether she had dreamt of reaching a brothel or not is not the point of Mahfouz’s tale. The fact remains that Hamida had no choice to live a liberated life as a Middle Eastern woman, except as a prostitute.   Most Middle Eastern women would shun the idea of prostitution altogether, calling it a major sin.   However, Hamida was so desperate to escape that she defied the common image of the Middle Eastern woman to truly escape her cultural constraints, once and for all.   Whether she also found happiness is not the concern of the author either.   Hamida’s liberation, on the other hand, is an important message of Midaq Alley (Mahfouz). Hamida was the kind who merely upheld the traditional image of the Middle Eastern woman, just as many other Middle Eastern women probably do.   At the same time, she was desperate enough to express her suppressed desires of liberation that she chose the career of prostitution so as to escape all associations with the patriarchal traditions.   Perhaps, therefore, Mahfouz’s writing is a warning for the extremely strict movements that reduce people to suppressed desperation, which eventually bursts into crimes and various other problems (Mahfouz). Works Cited Deeb, Marius. â€Å"Najib Mahfuz's Midaq Alley: A Socio-Cultural Analysis.†   Bulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies), Vol. 10, No. 2 (1983), pp. 121-130. Mahfouz, Naguib. Midaq Alley. Reprint edition. New York: Anchor, 1992.   

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Hybrid technology: shaping society’s future Essay

An Introduction to Hybrid Cars According to TechFaq, A hybrid car depends on two kinds of engines for propulsion power. Most hybrid cars available today use a combination of gasoline and electric engines while some use a combination of diesel and electric engines. Traditional gasoline-powered cars derive their propulsion power from combustion of gasoline. The combustion of gas produces the energy needed to turn the transmission as well as the wheels. Unfortunately, although fossil fuels still delivers the most power per pound, their by-products are harmful to the environment. Fossil fuels are also non renewable resources so as they became more scarce, their prices continued to rise. Electric-powered cars, on the other hand, have a set of powerful batteries for powering the electric motor which in turn rotates the transmission and turns the wheels. Although their by-products are almost pollution free, electric powered cars take a lot of time to recharge and are generally slow. A hybrid car combines the strengths of each type of engine. It produces less pollution and it is more economical than the conventional car while still being more powerful than electric powered cars. Its Components The components of a hybrid car are a fuel tank for the gasoline engine, a cutting-edge gasoline engine that is much smaller, more efficient and produces less pollution than usual gasoline engines, an electric motor/generator which can either draw energy from the batteries to power the car or charge the batteries while the car is slowing down, a set of batteries which acts much like the fuel tank for the electric motor, and the transmission which turns the wheels. It also has Regenerative Braking, Temporary Engine Shut-off, and other features like minimal-drag tires, carbon fiber, and other lightweight materials to reduce overall weight and state of the art aerodynamic designs for the body. All these things make it easier for a hybrid car to drive up inclines and accelerate, attain higher speeds as well as minimize fuel consumption and emissions (TeqFaq). Hybrid Cars and their Effects on Society Sky-high oil prices and an increased awareness of the energy and global-warming crises are helping fuel the hybrid’s gradually increasing visibility, wrote Donaldson-Evans of Fox News. â€Å"It’s part of the popular culture now. You are going to see more offerings,† said Aaron Robinson, technical editor at Car and Driver Magazine. â€Å"Car companies that do not offer hybrids will be seen as behind. † Its Effects on the People’s Buying Habits: According to the Donaldson-Evans report, with gasoline now being sold at higher than $3-a-gallon in much of the U. S. , hybrids are certainly getting more attention than ever before in their short lifespan. (Those sold in the United States are all less than 10 years old. )Almost every major car company that does business in America is offering hybrids or has them in the works. â€Å"Fuel is only going to get more expensive,† Robinson said. â€Å"People are changing their buying habits as a result. † Toyota has also pledged to make a total of one million hybrid cars by the end of the decade. â€Å"The hybrids have been profitable since very early on,† said Toyota Motor Sales U. S. A. spokesman Wade Hoyt. â€Å"We’re not losing money on it. It’s not a charity operation. We see the market as expanding. † Its Effects on the Car Industry The Japanese car manufacturer isn’t the only game in town when it comes to autos powered by gas and electric batteries, however. Ford Motor Company (F) offers the For Escape and the Mercury Mariner SUVs in the fuel-efficient forms, with plans for Ford Fusions and Mercury Milans to go hybrid by 2008. Ford Motor Co. spokesman Monte Doran said sales of the Escape and Mariner hybrids were up 55 percent in the first five months of 2006. â€Å"Ford is researching many different ways to deliver greener miles to consumers,† Doran said. â€Å"Hybrids are a very important part of that: They deliver amazing improvements in fuel economy without sacrificing performance and utility. † Other car makers with hybrids in the works: Hyundai, Nissan and GM’s Saturn and Chevrolet divisions, according to Robinson. Its Effects on Public Transportation The Fox News report went on by relaying how one Yellow Cab taxi driver in San Francisco has been carting passengers around in a Ford Escape hybrid since 2004 and can’t remember what his life was like in the strictly gas-powered world. â€Å"I love it. I wouldn’t go back to a regular cab,† said Paul Gillespie, the driver representative for the city’s seven-member taxi commission. â€Å"It saved me between $4,000 and $5,000 in gas last year. † Gillespie said San Francisco has between 40 and 50 hybrid taxis on the road, and he hopes to see that number climb steadily. â€Å"You’re just so much less noisy and intrusive and stinky,† he said. â€Å"It’s a win-win situation — you’re putting thousands of dollars in drivers’ pockets in addition to reducing CO2 emissions. † In the hybrid’s early days — around 1999 or 2000 — consumers and automakers were hesitant to latch onto the trend in part because of the fear that the battery would die every so often and be expensive to replace. Robinson believes hybrids will one day become so common and so widely used that they’ll just be another feature drivers can choose, rather than a totally different animal, the way they still seem now. It is expected that more and more public transportation vehicles will be using hybrid technology since it is to those vehicles that stop and go more often that hybrids work best as.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Macchiavellian theories in King Lear.

Macchiavellian theories in King Lear. William Shakespeare's "King Lear" has within it many Machiavellian theories. This is evident once we examine the characters of Edmund, Goneril, and Regan. The Machiavellian principles relating to politics, ethics, and virtue are exemplified throughout "King Lear" play by these three characters. Machiavellian politics deal with acquiring power and forming very strong governments. For Machiavelli, power meant politics. Ethics can be best described as a branch of knowledge concerned with moral principles. The Theme of morality and ethics keeps evolving throughout "King Lear" and is demonstrated by these three characters. Virtue is the final principle highlighted by this Shakespeare play. By examining each of the three characters in more depth, we can better understand how Machiavellian theories apply to the play "King Lear"Edmund is the most Machiavellian character in "King Lear" for many reasons. Edmund was born as illegitimated son of Gloucester.English: Title page of Shakespeare's Ki ng Lear (16...He had elder brother named Edgar who was legitimated son of Gloucester and beloved suitable heir. Edmund shows his avarice, greed, and envy towards Edger. Edmund states soliloquy "Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law, ... now, gods, stand up for bastards."(I, ii, 1-22) This shows that he blame the nature that he never meant to born as an illegitimated, such as bastard son. He also decides that as concern everything think as a bastard, he will act as a bastard, the way of being Machiavellian as manipulating and taking advantage of others. Especially from the part of soliloquy, "legitimate Edgar, I must have your land." (I, ii, 16) He is showing his jealousy towards Edgar, and all that he has. Back in Shakespeare's time, land ownership was a form of wealth. Wealth equaled political power. Acquiring political power is a Machiavellian trait.Edmund also criticized...

Monday, October 21, 2019

Winterbourne View Hospital Essays

Winterbourne View Hospital Essays Winterbourne View Hospital Essay Winterbourne View Hospital Essay Identify two reports on serious failures to protect individuals from abuse. Write an account that describes the unsafe practices in the reviews. Below are 2 different accounts of abuse within hospitals and care homes. I will explain the alleged abuse against residents in their care. In the 1st Account I sourced the information from the following website: bbc. co. uk/news/uk-england-bristol-14181646 The 2nd Account I sourced the information from the following website: irminghammail. co. uk/news/local-news/west-midlands-police-probe-footage-5325705 / Account 1: On the 18th July 2011 a health watchdog had reported a `systemic failure to protect people ‘at a hospital where alleged abuse was secretly filmed by the BBC. BBC Panorama secretly filmed patients that were being pinned down, slapped and taunted by the some staff members. Mr Terry Bryan contacted the BBC after his concerns he raised were not followed up by the home`s management or the Care Quality Commission (CQC).The CQC were ordered to review the Winterbourne View Hospital after the Panorama Programme. The report on Winterbourne View had found that the owners Castlebeck Care had indeed failed to protect its resident that was living at the home. They found that they were not adequately protected from harm including the risks of unsafe practices by its own staff. The owners had failed in its legal duty to notify the CQC regarding the serious incidents which included injuries to patients or on occasions when they had gone missing.Panorama filmed for five weeks and during that time they filmed some of the hospitals most vulnerable patients being repeatedly pinned down, slapped, dragged into the showers whilst being fully clothed, they were taunted and teased. An ex employee of Castlebeck Care, a senior nurse reported his concerns to his managers. When his reports were ignored by his managers he then contacted the CQC three times, Even using the word `Abuse` they too ignored his concerns. Winterbourne closed down in June 2011.There were 11 staff members convicted of assault at the Winterbourne View Hospital. In the final report it looked at how the abuse had taken place, it had discovered that the social workers and other professionals failed to challenge the quality of care, lack of response to serious incidents, which included assaults on patients. It was seen that lack of practice and procedures was a major fault in the professionals involved, as they should have seen what was happening to the patients. Account 2:On the 10th July 2012 a former employee of Selbourne Care Home recorded an alleged attack on a resident in the care home. She recorded a further two more alleged attacks on residents. The first recording showed a resident sitting on the sofa at the care home and the carer trying to wake him by seeming to slap his stomach and pull on his ears and nose. He is also caught shaking, shouting at the resident and also clicking his fingers in his face. The second and third recording shows a very distressed female resident standing behind a table between two care staff.Miss Lee had told the management several times about the alleged abuse, she had also tried to work in accordance with the home to raise their standards. She decided to contact the external bodies as the care home failed to listen to her allegations. Miss Lee claims she contacted the CQC regarding the alleged abuse but there was no action taken by them. She also showed the recording to the Birmingham`s Social Services, But the county council can find no record of it.Selbourne Care Home also claims they had not received any complaints about the treatment of any residents by Miss Lee. The CQC confirmed they had received an anonymous report about Selborne Care Home. They referred the matter to Birmingham City Council and they became the lead authority for investigating safeguarding matters. The CQC has been monitoring the home closely and has been in regular contact wit h the council. The care home immediately reported the allegations to the police and Birmingham Social Services and this then initiated the Authority`s Safeguarding procedure.The care home started its own investigations regarding the actions of their staff involved. The Male carer that was recorded in the first film has since left his employment with the care home in September 2012. Regarding the other two members of staff one of them has been suspended from duty pending further investigation and the other is currently on maternity leave. Selborne Care home is subject to the on-going monitoring of its compliance with the national standards of quality and safety, which also includes nannounced inspections of the home. CQC has inspected the home on four separate occasions. On conclusion to the above reports I have discovered that both hospital and care home management played a part in the alleged abuse as they did listen to their staff when they reported their findings. I also felt tha t the CQC had played a part as they had failed to act on information quickly, and I believe that had they acted sooner then maybe some of the alleged abuse if not all of the alleged abuse would not have happen.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

10 Unexpected Realities of Self-Publishing Your Books

10 Unexpected Realities of Self-Publishing Your Books 10 Surprising Realities of Self-Publishing Your Books I know it seems easy.You’re probably thinking that self-publishing is nothing more than uploading a document to the web and hitting an all-powerful â€Å"PUBLISH† button.You’re far from the truth.In all honesty, self-publishing is certainly a process. There’s a reason big-name publishing houses have beenaround for so long; they take care of a lot of the work. You do all the creative thinking while they do the other heavy lifting.But that also means they get a (very) big cut of your earning. Your hard-earned income. But all of that’s already been discussed.Instead, we’ll talk about what you can actually expect when you decide to put yourself first and commit to self-publishing.And believe me, I know it’s a hard choice to make.Taking that leap can be difficult, especially if you’re not sure what to expect. Let us do some decluttering of your mind by cluing you in on some of the unexpected realities of self-publishing your book!#1 You’ll become a tech-savvy self-publishing whizA lot of technical coordination needs to happen in order to self-publish your book.You’ll have to:Write the bookGet it formattedGet a cover designedCombine into one productCreate online self-publishing accountsUpload materials to the accountsCoordinate your launch team in a single placeThere is more but I think you get the idea.Self-publishing involves a number of different technical capabilities you probably don’t know of before starting the process.And because you’ll be responsible for the entirety of your publishing journey, you’ll learn a lot about all of the different platforms you’ll need to make it happen which is made a lot easier with a program that shows you exactly what you need to do, when to do it, and how to get it done. #2 A lot more incomeYou probably think of self-published authors as the â€Å"starving artist† type, forever playing catch-up with bills and life in gene ral.In reality, that couldn’t be further from the truth.That fact is, self-publishing gets a really bad reputation for bankrupting those who pursue its path. And sure, some people may have spent a lot of time and money on their book only for it to tank.But those people often decide to go it completely alone instead of using a program or guideline of sorts to ensure they succeed.If you do work hard and pursue self-publishing by learning from those who have done it before, you can actually expect some cushy additional income.Why is that, you ask?Because you don’t have to fork over a chunk of your earnings to a publisher. Because you are the publisher. #3 You’ll learn a lot about yourselfThis is especially true if you’re writing non-fiction but it’s just as meaningful for fiction authors as well.Writing a book takes a lot of your own experiences, values, and meaningful content to you. That means you get to do some digging into your psyche to uncover the very core of who you are. And if youre writing a memoir, be prepared for a lot of this.That’s a bit deep, but I really want you to understand just how much you can learn about yourself from self-publishing a book.And it’s not even all about the writing itself, either.Self-publishing takes a lot of drive, ambition, and a very determined individual.It’s a challenge and whenever we enter into challenging times in our lives, we learn more about ourselves than ever before.Self-publishing a book is the same.Through your writing, editing, rewriting, marketing, and self-publishing journey, you can figure out more of who you are and what you want out of life.And that alone is worth it.#4 You’ll make amazing connectionsNetworking isn’t really something many people think of when they consider self-publishing.In fact, most people assume self-published authors are shut-ins who spend all their time shrouded in thick blankets with a steaming mug of spiked co ffee between their hands.But when you have to market and ask others for advice or even if you become a member of a powerful self-publishing group, you meet all kinds of people.And knowing talented, hardworking individuals will only help you reach your goals faster.The point is, self-publishing helps you build those connections you might not otherwise get. After all, self-published authors stick together.#5 You build almost-instant credibility The crazy thing about self-publishing is how much other’s view of you changes.Before, you may have just been a blogger with a business that just wouldnt take off. After you have a book available, others will see you as an authority figure in your field.They will feel more comfortable paying for your products or services simply because you wrote a book.It might seem a little silly because your knowledge base is the same, but when a potential customer can purchase your book, they instantly see you as someone with expert knowledge and this increases the likelihood that they’ll buy from you.Even if you’re not a business owner, self-publishing a book will still give you a boost in the eyes of strangers and even people you know well.#6 Opportunities will come knockingWe like to refer to self-publishing a book as opening the door to Narnia. Once you go through with the process, you will throw yourself into an entirely new world where opportunities basically fall into your lap.By this I mean that you might be contacted for speaking gigs, bring in more high-value clients, get requests for interviews, and more.Because publishing a book places you as an authority figure and heightens your credibility, more people will want to hear what you have to say on the subject.This could lead you down new roads, offer new business ventures (like this entire company!), and change your entire life just because you decided to take action and self-publish a book.#7 Your business will flourishThis is the amazing thing about self-publishing a book. When your credibility sky-rockets, so will your business.In fact, most aspects of your life will flourish but a book will directly aid your business (and even your side-hustle!).Take our alumnus Ashley Emma, for example. After the launch of her book, her business generated $24,000 specifically from her book Fearless Author.So if your business is struggling and you need a new way to bring in sales, writing and self-publishing a book is a fantastic method to do so.#8 You’ll want to write another book ASAPThe process of self-publishing can be a long and arduous one and you’ll still want to publish another book as soon as you can.Why? Because of everything you gain from it.Many of our students love what having a self-published book offers so much that they dive into the program again in order to write another one.In fact, one of our alumni (and now one of our Coaches!), Lise Cartwright, has self-published 26 books simply because of the opportunit ies she’s gained through doing so.One of the (arguably) best opportunities granted was becoming part of the Self-Publishing School team behind the scenes by teaching and helping other students find the same success she did.Bottom line: you might become addicted to writing books. #9 You’ll generate tons of new ideasWriting a book forces you into a quicksand-like imaginative headspace. The more you write, the more you understand what else you can be writing and you end up in a pit of creativity that releases your mind and allows you to think outside the box. You practically get sucked into creative thinking.Meaning, you’ll come up with so many new ideas for other books, blog posts, or even business ventures.Think of your creativity like a muscle and self-publishing as the gym.Each time you sit down to further your self-publishing progress, the more creative you will become.#10 You’ll become a routine-writerBefore you learn the real process of self-publish ing a book, you probably only ever wrote when you were inspired.And thats not always useful.You’ve always had this book idea and would spend bursts of time typing out so much contentonly to lose that inspiration the next dayand the nextand the next, until you basically forget all about it.When you actually self-publish a book, you learn that becoming an author isn’t just about writing when you want to but writing anyway.The best part about this?You write faster, become better, and can publish much sooner than if you waited around for inspiration to find you.Your Next Steps Toward Self-Publishing SuccessNow you know just how much you can expect to gain from self-publishing a book. But how do you get started? What steps do you need to takeright now?Ive got those answers right here for you:#1 Join your free trainingAre you ready to take the first step toward your self-publishing journey? Then make sure to save your spot and sign up for ourfree video training!Chandler Bol t, 6-time bestselling authorand our super knowledgeable CEO, will take you through exactly what you need to go from blank page to published author in 90 daysor even less if youre really ambitious!

Saturday, October 19, 2019

European Social Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

European Social Policy - Essay Example Ebing-Andersen understands the â€Å"role in society† of social assistance programs as complicit with the principal of â€Å"not to spend or tax†. It is also self-avowedly distancing itself from anything that resembles an institution in the aid of â€Å"creating equality†. These are some of the important dimensions of their position as stated in the conclusion from â€Å"The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. While it should be argued that essential attributes include subsistence, this would entail creating equality and that is unquestionably not one of the concluding marks made by Ebing-Andersen. It remains to be asked, to what extent does the exclusion effect or mediate the interpretation? What is 'neglected' can often and at least, sometimes, be victim of abuse. By systemically neglecting the creation of equality, Ebing-Andersen is a-priori creating a condition under which gender equality becomes likewise an issue that is challenged. Ebing-Andersen: An Overv iew. Within the domain of the published literature about contemporary, social policy theory, many references can be found to Ebing-Andersen's Welfare Reform Theory. Before getting to the kernel of this idea, some remarks will be made on the broader context or background of the seminal 1990 publication. There is a gravitas about welfare that carries with it a weight that is only comparable to health-care. In an age or era when Western governments routinely preside over conditions of a â€Å"welfare deficit†, a consideration of one over-lap with health care is the quantifiable amount of neglect involved that can be attributed to, or said to be caused by poverty? Ebing-Andersen define a welfare-deficit as a system under which: â€Å"the essential welfare contribution to the household is no longer available" [Ebing-Andersen, 1990, p. 49]. Written in 1990, the context or background environment was marked by government cutbacks to social assistance in the United States in particul ar. The rising cost of childcare which by then was 23 percent of the total income for poor people [Ebing-Andersen, 1990, p. 59]. What was then an â€Å"emerging deficit† [Ebing-Andersen, 1990, p. 49] was compounded further by the fact that in the majority of the states at the time, the majority of children from identifiably economically deficient backgrounds, had no access to any type or form of childcare [Ebing-Anderse, 1990, p. 64]. As a preliminary consideration, the impact of the cutbacks with respect to who it effected, has to bear in mind that childcare is unquestionably a burden that is being quantifiably shouldered by women. Ebing-Andersen on Decommodification. Ebing-Andersen goes far in explaining who is burdened under these circumstances with his notion of â€Å"decommodification† or the â€Å"the degree to which individuals, or families, can uphold a socially acceptable standard of living independently of market participation† [Ebing-Andersen, 1990, p . 37]. A commodity in the sense used by Ebing-Andersen is the participation of labor, and thus to decommodify this means to stand outside of the boundaries of â€Å"market participation†. Women who stay at home raising children are unfortunately a good proportion of the individuals accepting social assistance, and being beyond market participat

Friday, October 18, 2019

Assignment 9 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Assignment 9 - Essay Example Therefore, human relations based on the school scenario are important, as it provides a strong foundation that enables the staff to be able to focus on their self-development thereby enhancing a better and effective working environment. It is through great relationships that most organizations are able to prosper. One major development is the increasing importance of the interpersonal skills in every work setting in all organizations. It is well noted that technical ability in this age of information is not enough in achieving organizational success. Interpersonal skills as well as communication skills are major rating factors when it comes to hiring employees. For example, the school board hired most of their staff based on their interpersonal skills. The board rated their staff’s interpersonal skills because they wanted to know how well the staff will relate to their co-workers and students in terms of their speaking and listening skills (Wiles & Bondi, 2004). Based on the organizational settings of the studies within our textbook, organizational culture simply refers to a collection of shared beliefs, rituals, values, myths and stories that tend to give a feeling of unity among the organizational members(Wiles & Bondi, 2004). It is quite clear that the culture depicted by most organizations is simply a reflection of the beliefs, behaviours and the values that are brought up by a group of individuals. Therefore, the success of any organization is also built on its abilities to portray a good image and outcome of the organization’s objectives. Communication is referred to as the means through which we are able to create a common understanding between others and ourselves. In order to bring out the aspect of self-development, people should be able to learn on how to communicate effectively. It is through the development of communications skills that employees are able to boost the working relationships that exist among them. For

What is worth sacrificing for Speech or Presentation

What is worth sacrificing for - Speech or Presentation Example (Mahatma Gandhi Quotes) It is a matter of great commonality to think about what a person should sacrifice and whether or not the same is ever worth it. The question arises when a person must give something or someone up for the greater happiness of someone else even though it might cost a great deal including the happiness of the man willing to give something up for another. Thus, what is worth sacrificing for; is it happiness, morals and ethics, or just about anything else, materialistically speaking, that would make someone else happier than the person giving it up was when he owned it? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word sacrifice has been defined as ‘something given up or lost’ or ‘destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else’. (Sacrifice-Definition) ... in common - the people that formed a part of the minority were forced to sacrifice their freedom and lives for the people who they were forced to be under. However, was the same worth sacrificing for? According to historians and philosophers, it was not, because the sacrifice did not involve a happy ending. The Indians were unhappy because they were being denied the rights to use their own resources and bring about development within their own country; the Vietnamese people were being forced to give up their personal and national identity and adopt the lifestyle of the French despite the kind of difficulty it was proving to be; the Jews did not even have a choice because it was their lives that they were forced to sacrifice during the Holocaust; and the people of Zimbabwe have faced a vast amount of political as well as ethnic challenges. (Magasia, T. Alex) All of these aspects that have been sacrificed during the past by different groups of people go against the quote that Gandhi sa id. According to him, a sacrifice is not worth it if during the course of it, the person giving something of his own up is not happy about it. Thus, this helps to answer the question pertaining to the topic, what exactly is worth sacrificing for. It is now clear, that one should only give something up if he is happy to give it up; if not, then it tends not to be a sacrifice, it ends up being something that has been snatched away for selfish reasons. Keeping this in mind, it is important to note, that in the examples provided earlier, the Indians, Jews, the Vietnamese and the Zimbabweans were ‘forced’ to sacrifice their freedom, lives and daily living. Their happiness was taken away on purpose even though they were not happy about it. But it is a sacrifice, because they wanted to

Islamic Politics and Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Islamic Politics and Culture - Essay Example They were the minority and through them, he ruled for some time as the Caliph, a title that was normally given to Muhammad successor. However, this rule ended after the majority Sunni Muslims killed his son Hussein and went ahead to monopolize political power. After this, the Shia has lived in the shadow of the state and appeared to give up politics in favor of religious concerns looking to Imams rather than political leaders. The first 12 of the Shia Imams descending from Ali gradually directed the faith of their followers to create a disparity between them and the Sunni. Sunni Muslims regard themselves to be the orthodox or traditionalist of Islam, their name, Sunni is derived from the word Ahl al-Sunna† which translates into people of tradition. This is in reference to the traditions that were inherited form the actions of the prophet and those he held close. The Sunnis are well known for their veneration of all the prophets that came before Mohamed although they view those that followed him to be little more than temporal figures. Unlike the Shias, religious teachers by the Sunni have in most cases come under state control given that their system emphasis a codified system of Islamic law and the adherence to its four schools of low. The Shias on the other hand have a messianic attribute about them and they have a hierarchy of clerics that practice independent and current interpretations of the Islamic texts. The Shia Muslim number between 120 to 170 million, which is on average about a 10th of all Muslims globally. The Shia are the majority in Iran, Iraq Bahrain and some people claim that they are also the majority in turkey although this has never been verified (Barzegar 51). Shia Muslims hold that the Imam is holy and cannot commit sins which makes his authority both perfect and divine under the assumption that

Thursday, October 17, 2019

The People Factor Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The People Factor - Research Paper Example If there is some form of risk, there is some form of insurance that can act as a cover for the risk. In other words, risk can be converted into an equivalent form of insurance. In most cases, higher the risk, higher is the amount of return and the premium for insuring the risk. Risk arises as a result of uncertainty in various investment activities. Cost of investment and its benefits vary according to the varying levels of risk (Anderson & Brown, 2005). Ethical concerns in healthcare management The healthcare management sector is rising in importance in the economy of United States. A large range of ethical dimensions are currently arising in the US healthcare sector. The private healthcare sector is operating like any other organization in the private sector with their profit maximization objective (Zhou-Richter, 2009). However, healthcare is one of the basic rights of any individual. According to ethical principles, an individual is entitled to receive support and care for his or her healthcare issues. In this regard, the most daunting task is to make the rightful decision with respect to some ethical problem arising in healthcare sector. Insurance providers have to recognize the challenges and assess the seriousness of a given situation with confidence. Only when the challenges in dealing with healthcare problems are identified and understood fully, professional and management in this sector can cater sufficiently to the insurance needs of people (Labspace, 2013). The ethical implications refer to the issue of beneficence, justice and respect for the basic need of an individual irrespective of the class or income group that the person belongs to. These ethical values refer to the culture and values embedded in a society and its people and their... The functioning of the dual forces of demand and supply depends on the appropriate measurement of the extent to which the customer is prone to demand insurance owing to sickness. In the US, the broadest recommendation that has been made by President Barrack Obama is that insurance companies should bring the maximum possible number of customers under their policy. There is no substitute for this process since there is lack of sufficient amount of money to cover the actually sick people in the country. Therefore, the number of insured people would imply that companies would be able to earn higher amounts of money in the form of premium. This would allow the companies to run profitably even after paying out large sums of money for claims (Cheney & Haberkorn, 2013). Apart from this method, it is highly recommended that the companies develop a stringent medical screening process to judge the actual health condition of the customers before allowing them to purchase a particular plan. It is recommended that premium should be charged on a dual basis of income of the consumer as well as the level of sickness. Customers with higher annual income would be charged the higher premium than those with lower or marginal income. The problem of lemon arises in the market when there is information asymmetry between the consumers and the sellers. In this problem, both parties involved in transaction posses dissimilar levels of information regarding the same level of product or service regarding which the transaction is being made.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Analysis Report on the Airline Industry The Strategic Management Essay

Analysis Report on the Airline Industry The Strategic Management process - Essay Example Strategic options would be used to evaluate the growth and expansion of the industry to establish if the industry has a competitive edge or not and if it measures up with its competitions. . This report employs a methodological approach with huge implications for the reliability of findings while a whole lot of secondary data provides for all the analytical views and conclusions of this paper. The prime reason behind preparing the report is to gain insights into the development of airline industry internationally amidst economic and political turbulences. Airline industry is a growth factor for tourism industry and accounts for the lion’s share of the GDP of many nations (Page 2009:218). Delving deep into the airline sector could throw much light on how economies are developing and what solutions and means are available to them to handle increased competition, globalization and financial downturn. The findings of the report have presented us with favourable results that could motivate the airline carriers and could pave the way for future practices to be developed in airline industry. This paper seeks to present a very clear view in enabling the reader to have a better understanding of the global airline industry’s environmental business climate. In doing this various firms and regional markets that make up the industry are looked into, by examining the competition between the airline operators (service providers), consumers, regulatory implications, weakness of different sectors and regions involved, homogenous threats, the negative and positive trends coming up in the industry and a forecast for the future, if there would be growth or reduction. Importantly, it views the challenges a new provider (entrant) could face within the present industry condition. The industry at the moment is passing through a period of change caused by revolutionary restructuring in the industry, this occurs

The People Factor Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The People Factor - Research Paper Example If there is some form of risk, there is some form of insurance that can act as a cover for the risk. In other words, risk can be converted into an equivalent form of insurance. In most cases, higher the risk, higher is the amount of return and the premium for insuring the risk. Risk arises as a result of uncertainty in various investment activities. Cost of investment and its benefits vary according to the varying levels of risk (Anderson & Brown, 2005). Ethical concerns in healthcare management The healthcare management sector is rising in importance in the economy of United States. A large range of ethical dimensions are currently arising in the US healthcare sector. The private healthcare sector is operating like any other organization in the private sector with their profit maximization objective (Zhou-Richter, 2009). However, healthcare is one of the basic rights of any individual. According to ethical principles, an individual is entitled to receive support and care for his or her healthcare issues. In this regard, the most daunting task is to make the rightful decision with respect to some ethical problem arising in healthcare sector. Insurance providers have to recognize the challenges and assess the seriousness of a given situation with confidence. Only when the challenges in dealing with healthcare problems are identified and understood fully, professional and management in this sector can cater sufficiently to the insurance needs of people (Labspace, 2013). The ethical implications refer to the issue of beneficence, justice and respect for the basic need of an individual irrespective of the class or income group that the person belongs to. These ethical values refer to the culture and values embedded in a society and its people and their... The functioning of the dual forces of demand and supply depends on the appropriate measurement of the extent to which the customer is prone to demand insurance owing to sickness. In the US, the broadest recommendation that has been made by President Barrack Obama is that insurance companies should bring the maximum possible number of customers under their policy. There is no substitute for this process since there is lack of sufficient amount of money to cover the actually sick people in the country. Therefore, the number of insured people would imply that companies would be able to earn higher amounts of money in the form of premium. This would allow the companies to run profitably even after paying out large sums of money for claims (Cheney & Haberkorn, 2013). Apart from this method, it is highly recommended that the companies develop a stringent medical screening process to judge the actual health condition of the customers before allowing them to purchase a particular plan. It is recommended that premium should be charged on a dual basis of income of the consumer as well as the level of sickness. Customers with higher annual income would be charged the higher premium than those with lower or marginal income. The problem of lemon arises in the market when there is information asymmetry between the consumers and the sellers. In this problem, both parties involved in transaction posses dissimilar levels of information regarding the same level of product or service regarding which the transaction is being made.

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Compare the ways in which 3 poets write about relationships Essay Example for Free

Compare the ways in which 3 poets write about relationships Essay Introduction To his coy mistress, Remember and Since theres no help are all poems about relationships, the difference is the interpretation of the poets message, structure and other various aspects of the poems. To his coy mistress by Andrew Marvell and Since theres no help by Michael Drayton were both written around the 16th and 17th centuries and explain very different characteristics of love. Drayton wrote a poem about the end of a relationship with a partner expressing that the love between them is dying. On the other hand Marvell writes, in a poetical way, someones argument to a lover trying to persuade them to have sex with them. This poem captivates your attention with the extremes a man would go to have sex with a young virgin, unlike the other poems that are about two partners love for each other. Similarly to Draytons poem, about love in a relationship, Christina Rossetti wrote a poem in the late 19th century to her partner telling him what to remember about their time together. Themes/subject The poem To his coy mistress starts with Marvell addressing the young lady, whom he wishes to be his lover that there is no time for her to be coy. Straight away this gives the impression that hes an intimidating and powerful man. Had we but world enough, and time, this coyness, lady, were no crime Marvell tells the lady that being coy is alright when you have time but implies their time is limited and therefore she has no time to be coy, in effect he is pressurising her to do something that she is uncomfortable with. Through the repetition of time in the above sentences you may have guessed that it plays an important role in the poem. Marvell refers to time regularly in the poem as part of his persuasion techniques. The way in which he uses time pressurises the woman into doing what he wants. For example Times winged chariot hurrying near implies that she cant live forever so must make the most of the time she has. He uses time again in the concluding lines of the poem as a last persuasion to get his way Thus, though we cannot make our sun stand still, yet we will make him run Here Marvell explains to the lady that they cannot make time stand still completely but they can make the most of the time they have. When you feel bored and upset your time seems to go slowly compared to when you are happy and this quote uses this to say that their time will be running if they are together due to the good times they will have. Similarly to Marvell, personifying time, Drayton uses the same technique by personifying love Now, if thou wouldst, when all have given him over, from death to life thou mightst him yet recover Here Drayton has personified love by saying it is dying but may come back to life. I feel this is a good method by which the poet can get his message across with ease. In this case Drayton has personified love as a person on the verge of death. When comparing the two poems it becomes clear that this technique is also useful in distinguishing the message from a speech or letter into a poem. Images A positive image in the love poem Remember is where Rossetti writes Better by far you should forget and smile than you should remember and be sad. She is expressing that she would rather be forgotten if that is the way to make her husband remain happy as she doesnt want to be remembered if it will make him sad. Rossetti symbolises her love for her husband because she couldnt bare him being sad by remembering her, therefore giving an optimistic image of their relationship. Rossetti also expresses sorrow images Gone far away into the silent land. When you can no more hold me by the hand portrays that when she dies she will go to a silent land where she will be all alone, in comparison to when she is alive she can hold her husbands hand, this reminding him that when she dies they will be separated forever. This is a sad image because it implies that their close bond will be split for eternity. The sadness is emphasised further because their relationship together was obviously true love yet now it is near its end. Marvell uses death in his persuasion, Times winged chariot hurrying near A downbeat quote persuading the young lady that if they do not have sex that soon times winged chariot will collect them. He is implying it will be too late if they wait as eventually they will get old and die. Marvell personifies time as a chariot and I think his meaning is that a chariot collects people once they die and as they age the chariot gets nearer and so tries to put across this image to the woman. Marvell attempts to persuade the young lady that he will spend an age to admire each part of her and at the very end of the admiration she will love him back. He then says that she deserves no less than this and that he will never give her less than what she deserves. An age at least to every part and the last age should show your heart: for lady, you do not deserve this state; nor would I love at lower rate this quote is not intimidating, like most of the poem I think he says it so the young lady thinks he is a good man. I dont think Marvell wrote the poem because of his love for her, even though in some parts of the poem he tries to re-assure her that he does love her, instead I think he uses it to take advantage of her naivety quote gives a pleasant image but has malicious intentions. I feel he says this only because writing about love is a good method when trying to lure her into bed and even though this quote may be deceiving she will probably not realise due to her young age. At the end of the poem Marvell tells the young lady that he would rather die than be without her Rather at once our time devour than languish in its slow-chapped power Lines 39-40. This gives an image that he would rather all his time go, and would prefer to die than be without her because he would have to suffer in times power as his life would seem to be going slower if he wasnt with her. As this quote is written in the concluding lines of the poem it continues to lead your thoughts to think he uses love as a means of enticing her into doing what he wants and to trick her into believing that hed rather die than be without her. In the poem Since theres no help there are a lot of negative images with few positive ones. This is due to the fact that love is dying out compared to Marvells poem in which the man wants the lady to believe he is in love with her, so if he expresses too many negative images then she would be less likely to believe him, different in that of Rossettis poem in which the relationship is very strong but the circumstances are of the person dying and not the love and by this she portrays how much love she has for him. In the opening lines Drayton tells the lady he wants nothing more to do with her you get no more of me even the phrase itself gives you the image that he doesnt want them to be together any longer. He continues to feel bitter and depressed and he reflects his mood in the negative images he gives in the poem. I am glad, yea, glad with all my heart, that thus so cleanly I myself can free Drayton is almost trying to persuade her and himself that he doesnt love her anymore and that he can be free of her, if their relationship ends. I dont think Drayton does want the relationship to end but says this because he feels that he has no choice and doesnt want to give his partner the impression that he would forgive her, whatever she does, otherwise she will take him for granted. Structure Marvell, Drayton and Rossetti all use rhyming couplets in the structure of their poems and this makes the poem easy and interesting to read. If it excluded the rhyming couplets reading the poem would be dull and the poets message would probably be lost in what would sound more like a speech. Drayton and Rossetti both wrote traditional love poems, the differences being that Rossetti wrote about the great amount of love between a couple and Drayton wrote about the lack of love in the relationship. Both poems include only 14 lines as opposed to the 46 of Marvells poem, however, all three poems work well. I felt Marvell chose to write a longer poem so he could properly express the argument and message it contained whereas I felt Rossetti and Drayton chose the shorter structure would be the most efficient way to explain what they wanted as they may have felt that choosing a longer structured poem to end a relationship or to express someones feelings would make the poem dull and boring. The difference between Rossettis and Draytons traditional love poems is that Rossetti split the poem into two stanzas; one with 6 lines and the other with 8 and thus uses the structure of a Petrachan sonnet whereas Drayton used the Shakespearean Iambic Pentameter which contains what would now be 10 syllables per line. Rossetti and Drayton writing a sonnet is evidence that they must love their partner. To write a sonnet to someone puts across the fact that you love them through the structure alone because of it being a traditional love poem. Language / Tone Marvell wrote his poem with persuasive and argumentative language. He tries to pressurise the person it is written for by consistently using death in his argument. At the beginning he says that there is no time to be coy but later says the opposite by saying if you please, refuse till the conversion of the Jews. As Jews are renowned for the pride they have in their religion he may feel there is not much chance of his succeeding with the young lady unless he poses this argument to change her opinion. Marvell tries to allure the young woman into having sex by using shock tactics Then worms shall try that long-preserved virginity and your quaint honour turn to dust and into ashes all my lust Notice the language that he uses, as opposed to saying that someone else will take her virginity he gives her the image of her losing it to worms once she dies. This is a horrific image and using this destructive image it is far more effective because of the message behind it. Rather than using kindness to persuade his mistress into having sex he tries to scare her and in using such a forceful phrase on someone he claims to love further confirms his intimidation of this poor innocent girl. In comparison Rossetti wrote her poem in a more relaxed way but still with an important point to make. This is because she was writing it to someone who she has loved for most her life, however, she still wanted to persuade him not to grieve. Remember is repeated throughout the poem, this is because she wants to be remembered but doesnt want to be mourned. Her message is expressed when she writes Only remember me; you understand and and afterwards remember, do not grieve both these quotes found in the second stanza of her poem prove that she doesnt want him to forget her nor grieve. Rossetti, unlike Marvell, didnt write on her own behalf as Rossetti wrote solely for her husband and mentioned herself rarely in the poem, I felt this was sad as she is the one dying but she didnt want to meake her husband feel more upset so she couldnt tell him how she was really feeling. You can tell she loved her partner and that the poem was written with good intentions. Drayton wrote his poem in such a way that it seemed that he was trying to persuade himself that he would be better off ending the relationship as well as telling his partner that their relationship had finished. Draytons intitial message to his partner is that their relationship is worth nothing, however, at the end begins to realise the love he has for her and so tells her the love may come back and as he does this the message at the end is very similar to the message expressed by Rossetti when all have given him over, from death to life thou mightst him yet recover Drayton, talking about love personifying, hints that the love may come back to their relationship and may this happen his relationship could be similar to Rossettis loving relationship with her husband. My response to the poems My feelings about each poem differ; I feel the poem by Rossetti is sad as you can tell the relationship was strong and the poem was written to give her husband strength to go on after her death and remember the good things once shes dead. It is effective as you know they had a good relationship because information such as their planned future together can be taken from the poem no more day by day you tell me of the future that you planned. It is also sad because she showed no self pity and so makes you feel sorry for her husband who wouldnt know how his wife felt about her nearing death. My feelings about Marvells poem are completely different. I think this poem is quite threatening and harsh. He tells the young lady in the poem that she has to make her decision before she is old and ugly as he will no longer love her. I think he is also mean to write a poem in the persuasive language he does because she is young and naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve and he uses this to his advantage. The horrific images he portrays further prove that he uses love falsely because if he did love her he wouldnt scare her into having sex against her will. Then worms shall try that long-preserved virginity and your quaint honour turn to dust and into ashes all my lust This illustrates the extremes the speaker is prepared to go to in order to get what he wants, he is trying to give her negative thoughts of what will happen if she rejects him. As mentioned before, the poem was written in the 17th century in an era which girls normally married as virgins and usually at a very young age. Marvell uses this to his advantage by continuing to express, what I think, is false love because by getting her to believe he is in love with her he feels he stands a greater chance of her losing her virginity to him. I felt sorry for Drayton after reading his poem because I felt he wrote it after finding out about his partners affair and this would account for his harsh way of ending their relationship and angry tone used when ending it. However, to tell his partner that he can be free without her is surprising, especially when at the end of the poem he says the love may come back. I think Drayton wrote this poem on the back of an affair his partner had been having, Now at the last gasp of loves latest breath, when, his pulse failing, passion speechless lies, when faith is kneeling by his bed of death. The phrase speechless lies could be a reflection of the times she lied to him while having the affair and faith kneeling by deaths bed shows that along with the love, faith had also left the relationship giving further reason to think she had an affair. Aswell as this Drayton lets his partner know that the love in their relationship is dying and has nearly gone completely, by saying that it is taking its last gasp of breath. Shortly after, Drayton gives his partner the impression that the love may come back. Now, if thou wouldst, when all have given him over, from death to life thou mightst him yet recover. This quote gave me the feeling that the relationship could come back giving reason to believe that the poem was written as retaliation after finding out about an affair. Understandably he would be distraught and so uses the harsh images mentioned in the early stages of the poem but finally ending by realising the amount of love he has for his partner and so says that they might be able to overcome this and love each other again. The poem I preferred Overall the poem that I most preferred was Draytons poem Since theres no help This is because unlike Marvells poem it isnt as long and is kept to a simple 14 line structure. I feel that this made it easier to understand as opposed to Marvells longer poem. Even though the longer length may have added more detail I found this made it far easier to lose interest. Rossettis poem, like Draytons, was short, however, I liked the way Drayton personified love throughout his poem by expressing loves life in his relationship. I disliked the overuse of remember in Rossettis poem, even though it was obviously intentional, I thought it made the poem repetitive with Rossetti continually telling her husband what to remember and remember what not to do. However, I did think that Marvells poem was strong in its persuasiveness and thought it would probably be successful in taking advantage of the young girl, which was the purpose of him writing it. Another reason for my preference of Draytons poem is that it questions the strength of the relationship and whether feelings can be turned off so easily.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Subscriber System using Identity-Based Encryption

Subscriber System using Identity-Based Encryption Secure Message Transmission to the Publisher Vivek Sharma INTRODUCTION The major mechanism regarding to the Publish-Subscribe based system are security, confidentiality, scalability and authentication. Publish-Subscribe system can be classified into two groups like as Type based and Content based message transmission. The publish-subscribe system is facing difficulties regarding Authentication just because of their Loose coupling nature. Content based routing face the difficulties in term of event confidentiality and their subscription. Hence, A new way is needed to the transmission of encrypted events to publishers-subscribers without knowing subscriptions between them and authenticate to each-other during transmission of an event. Security is the major facor in the broker less publisher-subscriber systems. To successful subscription, the subscribers should be in clustered form according to their subscription. The proposed approach gives permission to subscribers to manage the credentials in respect of their subscriptions. Credentials are labelled with private keys to the subscriber and Publisher connected with each-every encrypted event and related credentials. By using identity-based encryption, we must ensure that a particular event will decrypt only if a common credential between both publisher-subscriber associated with the particular event and their private key which is generated by the key generator are matched correctly in system and subscribers can check the authenticity of events to the publisher-subscriber system. SCOPE OF PROJECT : The project will provide the high authentication, reliability and scalability to the publish-subscribe system. An authentication and confidentiality will be achieved by the publishers and subscribers system to the particular occurring event by applying the pairing based cryptography and Symmetric encryption. Both publisher-subscriber are assigned with a same private key mechanism differentiate with the other mechanism like as public key infrastructure. So it provides more secure and reliable way to the communication between publisher and subscriber. LITERATURE SURVEY : Title: Cipher text Encryption based on attribute Author Bethencurt , Sahali A. Year: 2007 Description: According to the attribute based encryption based on the cipher text policy, the publisher or encryptor fix the policy to the subscriber, who will decrypt the message. With the help of attribute, the policy can be formed. In previous Cipher text encryption based on attribute, policy is embedded with the cipher text to the transmission. In this proposed method, the access policy is not sent with the cipher text, so it would provide better privacy environment to the encryptor. Title: Public-Key Encryption related Search of particular keyword Author: D. Boneh, P Crcenzo, R Ostrvky Year: 2004 Description: We study the problem of searching on data that is encrypted using a public key system. Consider user Bob who sends email to user Alice encrypted under Alices public key. An email gateway wants to test whether the email contains the keyword urgent so that it could route the email accordingly. Alice, on the other hand does not wish to give the gateway the ability to decrypt all her messages. We define and construct a mechanism that enables Alice to provide a key to the gateway that enables the gateway to test whether the word urgent is a keyword in the email without learning anything else about the email. We refer to this mechanism as Public Key Encryption with keyword Search. As another example, consider a mail server that stores various messages publicly encrypted for Alice by others. Using our mechanism Alice can send the mail server a key that will enable the server to identify all messages containing some specific keyword, but learn nothing else. We define the concep t of public key encryption with keyword search and give several constructions. Title: Identity-Based Encryption from the Weil Pairing.e Scheduling Independent Tasks Author: D. Boneh and M.K. Franklin Year: 2001 Description: We propose a fully functional identity-based encryption scheme (IBE). The scheme has chosen cipher text security in the random oracle model assuming a variant of the computational Die- Hellman problem. Our system is based on bilinear maps between groups. The Weil pairing on elliptic curves is an example of such a map. We give precise dentitions for secure identity based encryption schemes and give several applications for such systems. Title: â€Å"Supporting Publication and Subscription Confidentiality in Pub/Sub Networks Author: M. Ion, G. Russello Year: 2010. Description: The publish/subscribe model over’s a loosely-coupled communication paradigm where applications interact indirectly and asynchronously. Publisher applications generate events that are sent to interested applications through a network of brokers. Subscriber applications express their interest by specifying filters that brokers can use for routing the events. Supporting condentiality of messages being exchanged is still challenging. First of all, it is desirable that any scheme used for protecting the condentiality of both the events and filters should not require the publishers and subscribers to share secret keys. In fact, such a restriction is against the loose-coupling of the model. Moreover, such a scheme should not restrict the expressiveness of filters and should allow the broker to perform event filtering to route the events to the interested parties. Existing solutions do not fully address these issues. In this paper, we provide a novel scheme that supports (i) condentiality for events and filters; (ii) filters can express very complex constraints on events even if brokers are not able to access any information on both events and filters; (iii) and finally it does not require publishers and subscribers to share keys. Title: Efficient Privacy Preserving Content Based Publish Subscribe Systems Author: M. Nabeel, N. Shang, and E. Bertino Year: 2012. Description: Privacy and confidentiality are crucial issues in content-based publish/subscribe (CBPS) networks. We tackle the problem of end-user privacy in CBPS. This problem raises a challenging requirement for handling encrypted data for the purpose of routing based on protected content and encrypted subscription information. We suggest a solution based on a commutative multiple encryption schemes in order to allow brokers to operate in-network matching and content based routing without having access to the content of the packets. This is the first solution that avoids key sharing among end-users and targets an enhanced CBPS model where brokers can also be subscribers at the same time. Title: Encryption-Enforced Access Control in Dynamic Multi-Domain Publish/Subscribe Networks Author: L.I.W. Pesonen, D.M. Eyers, and J. Bacon Year: 2007 Description: This paper extends previous work to present and evaluate a secure multi-domain publish/subscribe infrastructure that supports and enforces engrained access control over the individual attributes of event types. Key refresh allows us to ensure forward and backward security when event brokers join and leave the network. We demonstrate that the time and space overheads can be minimized by careful consideration of encryption techniques, and by the use of caching to decrease unnecessary decryptions. We show that our approach has a smaller overall communication overhead than existing approaches for achieving the same degree of control over security in publish/subscribe networks. Title: Hermes: A Scalable Event-Based Middleware Author: P. Pietzuch Year: 2004 Description: The core functionality of an event-based middleware is extended with three higher-level middleware services that address different requirements in a distributed computing environment. We introduce a novel congestion control service that avoids congestion in the overlay broker network during normal operation and recovery after failure, and therefore enables a resource-efficient deployment of the middleware. The expressiveness of subscriptions in the event-based middleware is enhanced with a composite event service that performs the distributed detection of complex event patterns, thus taking the burden away from clients. Finally, a security service adds access control to Hermes according to a secure publish/subscribe model. This model supports fine-grained access control decisions so that separate trust domains can share the same overlay broker network. Title: Enabling Confidentiality in Content-Based Publish/Subscribe Infrastructures Author: C. Raiciu and D.S. Rosenblum Year: 2006. Description: we focus on answering the following question: Can we implement content-based publish/subscribe while keeping subscriptions and notifications confidential from the forwarding brokers? Our contributions include a systematic analysis of the problem, providing a formal security model and showing that the maximum level of attainable security in this setting is restricted. We focus on enabling provable confidentiality for commonly used applications and subscription languages in CBPS and present a series of practical provably secure protocols, some of which are novel and others adapted from existing work. We have implemented these protocols in SIENA, a popular CBPS system. Evaluation results show that confidential content-based publish/subscribe is practical: A single broker serving 1000 subscribers is able to route more than 100 notifications per second with our solutions. Title: EventGuard: A System Architecture for Securing Publish-Subscribe Networks Author: M. Srivatsa, L. Liu, and A. Iyengar Year: 2011. Description: a framework for building secure wide area pub-sub systems. The EventGuard architecture is comprised of three key components: (1) a suite of security guards that can be seamlessly plugged-into a contentbased pub-sub system, (2) a scalable key management algorithm to enforce access control on subscribers, and (3) a resilient pub-sub network design that is capable of scalable routing, handling message dropping-based DoS attacks and node failures. The design of EventGuard mechanisms aims at providing security guarantees while maintaining the system’s overall simplicity, scalability and performance metrics. We describe an implementation of the EventGuard pub-sub system to show that EventGuard is easily stackable on any content-based pub-sub core. We present detailed experimental results that quantify the overhead of the EventGuard pub-sub system and demonstrate its resilience against various attacks.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

The Decline Of Fatherhood :: essays research papers

The Decline of Fatherhood   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  David Popenoe's 'The Decline of Fatherhood'; discusses the rapid decay of our children due to the loss of male parenting. Popenoe's use of logos and ethos are efficient in the context of the paper to relate the behavior of present day children due to the growing absence of fatherly figures. The author, however, uses very little if any emotional appeal; but because of the nature and direction of the writing, the lack of pathos has no profound effect on the overall intent of David Popenoe's purpose. 'The Decline of Fatherhood'; by David Popenoe is a well written essay that convincingly persuades his view point through intelligent observation of facts. Logos is David Popenoe's most useful tool for argument in this essay. He uses several statistics to show the growing number of fatherless children from the turn of the century until the present, he and then successfully compares it to the alarming amount of growth in the delinquency and scarcity of education in children of the latest generation. The factual information provided with the explanatory details from the author makes his points obvious and clear to the reader. Because of the efficient use of the data and facts, the paper backs itself with rationale and logic which leads the audience to a greater understanding of the science behind the reasoning. For example, Popenoe wrote that only fifty percent of children born from 1970 until 1984 are now living with both parents. The results of this dramatic increase has tripled teen suicide, dropped SAT scores seventy Braithwaite 2 points, increased the drug alcohol rate at an incredibly quicker pace, and has placed thirty-eight percent of the nation's children in poverty. The cause and effect relationships demonstrated by the author are logically appealing and unmistakably apparent in his perspective and studies. The infallible devising of the facts linked with common sense easily portray the convincing ideas of Popenoe on to others as they indulge into his essay.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yet another great example of appeal is established in the work of the author. The essay is not only well supplied with evidence and explanation, but it takes advantage of the superior credibility and reputation proceeding the writer. Before any words were even read on paper, Popenoe immediately sets an intellectual and believable tone being a professor in sociology. The fact that the writing was conceived by a well educated, knowledgeable man heightens the confidence of the reader to believe the information contributed.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Socrates versus Nelson Mandela Essays -- essays research papers

As an Athenian philosopher, Socrates spent his life in constant pursuit of insight. He loved engaging in conversations that helped him derive philosophical views on a number of different issues. The birth of ideas through critical reasoning can be credited back to his method of teaching, which is now known as the Socratic Method. Although widely respected today, many of his teachings were found controversial in Athenian times. Socrates was placed on trial and put to death soon after because of the disapproval of his ideas. Even with the anticipation of death linguring in his path, Socrates remained composed and curious. During his defense, he made it clear that death was nothing to fear, but rather an accepted inevitability of life. â€Å"Those of us who think that death is an evil are in error†(Plato, 39). Instead of viewing his sentence as a burden, Socrates regarded it as a potential opportunity. If death was the soul's journey to another place, the possibilities could be endless. He could obtain a considerable amount of knowledge by conversing with those who had already passed on. He could discuss virtue with victims who had also suffered death through injustice. Socrates would be able to reveal his philosophical views without having to fear for his life, which to him could be the greatest gift attainable. His uncertainty of death left him with one other view, if not a journey, then death was simply a state of nothingness. It would be an eternal resting period free of any and all d isturbances, like a peaceful sleep where even dreams were absent. As Socrates saw it, either alternative was just an advancement of the soul and nothing to be uneasy over. Socrates spent time carefully challenging the true meaning of... ...ad the right to learn, it was the soul’s most admirable gift, in which he could place no price on. Mandela deemed an education important as well. In fighting against the apartheid, he hoped that people of all colors and social classes could have equality in education. Mandela wrote, â€Å"Education is the great engine of personal development (Mandela, 166).† He believed it was the only cure for poverty and ignorance. â€Å"I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions,† this famous line quoted by Lillian Hellman depicts the outlook of Socrates and Nelson Mandela. Even after being accused of some form of treason and being subjected to the punishment of losing their lives, neither man chose to conform to the basis of their authority. They had already carefully conceived their notions, and were not ready to mold them to fit someone else’s standards.