Collaborative Health Care

Running head : IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY WITH LEADERSHIP 1 Improve Productivity with Leadership Natalie Misyuk Chamberlain School of Nursing Marilyn Smith NR 447 Collaborative Health care IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY WITH LEADERSHIP 2 Improve Productivity with Leadership Introduction Working in the VA has made me become a leader, I have been employed here for about 4 years and it feels like family.I started becoming a leader by learning though out my experience from my colleagues of my other jobs that I held and the knowledge I have acquired through my school that helped me prepare for the future. I want to be there for my whole career as a Registered Nurse and as a Leader in my clinic to improve productivity and processes. The two SMART goals that I have choose are: 1. Reduce late and cancelled appointments in the Women's clinic. 2. To provide the female veterans with the newest technology available on the market. I choose them because I want to be the best nurse advocate to my patients.Goal 1: Leadership Development My leadership development is about being a natural leader. I attend conferences, read books and keep myself updated on the different theories of leadership. I always wondered what kind of leader I would become but over the years I have learned to lead and improve my skills to become a natural leader. It is about certain strategies that you just have to have. Strategic thinking helps you to learn to step back from the day-to-day tactical details and focus on the â€Å"why†, not just the â€Å"what† and â€Å"how†.Being a good listener means to learn to pay attention and demonstrate to others that I value what they have to say. IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY WITH LEADERSHIP 3 Peer-Reviewed Articles The article that I found is called â€Å"Empowering others to take an active role in patient care† This article talks about how leadership traits are very difficult to apply into the real world when you try to learn them from someone. Each individu al is a leader within himself and is a product of individual xperiences, individual opportunities, and individual training who has been exposed to challenging situations, unique opportunities (Sara J. White 2012). It is simply not realistic to think, â€Å"How can I be like her? ,† or in â€Å"How can I be as good a leader as Abraham Lincoln? † When we think about the great leaders that we have come across in our lives, it would be difficult to retrace the knowledge, experiences, and perspectives that shaped their ability and effectiveness. It is difficult to acquire or develop the attributes necessary to be a good leader by seeing examples of ood leadership in others. Good leadership ability will result from applying knowledge useful in situations that require leadership, practicing the skills associated with leadership, and having the desire and motivation to exert these in appropriate situations. (Sara J. White 2012) Leadership is â€Å"about coping with change. â €Å"‘ This requires more specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes. The individual must have the knowledge necessary to be a good leader, including the knowledge necessary to develop a vision, stimulate change, work well with people, and become a person of influence.Credible Websites The website that will help me with the development of my SMART goal talks about â€Å"10 Tips to Improve productivity at work. † by Adam Gurian. It is a business professional website, but it can be applied to anyone that wants to improve processes in their work. He talks about how to quickly manage IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY WITH LEADERSHIP 4 difficult situations and how to be a leader at work, which will result in productivity in the workplace.The number one is to Act immediately on phone the messages, I never knew how important this is for my patients, but if you can return the phone call back to a patient that is in a great emergency then it can accomplish much maybe even and save the patien t's life. It all starts from the little things that we do as nurses to help our day run smoothly. Another important tool is to organize your tasks for the day, so you can tackle your most important priorities together, you will save time and be more efficient and produce higher quality work. By starting your day ith the most important task, you will increase your productivity and get your day off to a good start. This is a credible website that applies to my specific SMART goal because it talks about different positive ways to get the job done. This website is very helpful for employees in any field to be productive in their job. Informational Expert I have spoke with the Nurse Educator in my job about how to reduce late and cancelled appointments in the Women's Clinic. The nurse educator had informed us, for all the clinics the number one priority to reduce late and cancelled appointment is to make reminder calls at least 2-4 days in advance.We all forget things, and appointments a re among the easiest things to lose track of. Appointment cards are helpful, but in the end, a phone call is your best bet. Email, text message and other automated solutions are starting to make some headway, but a good old-fashioned telephone call is still the most effective tool to combat schedule disintegration. We are very busy in our clinic, so not all the time these phone calls are able to be made but for the most part we have to start making it our number one priority.The Nurse Educator told us to create a workbook where we will type everything out; the patients name, date or appointment, time, which doctor and for what reason. In this work book IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY WITH LEADERSHIP 5 we will keep track of patients who received the call, who the message was left for and who cancelled or just didn't show up. My goals are to be on top of these reminder phone calls and try to call everyday to the patients scheduled when I have some free time. In the worst case scenario when phone calls weren't able to be made, our clerk will send out reminder letters.I can definitely achieve my SMART goal this way, by working together as a team and collaborating with each other to meet our clinics goals. Goal 2: Organizational Planning I know this goal is a difficult one to achieve, because it is all about the timing and the finances of the VA hospital. It is one of the goals for our clinic to have the most recent and newest technology offered to the Women Veterans. A few months ago I went to a conference and I heard about the new Mammography technology that is being offered, which is called Computed Tomography Laser Mammography.This medical imaging technique uses laser energy in the near infrared region of the spectrum, to detect angiogenesis in the breast tissue. The technology uses laser in the same way computed tomography uses X-Rays, these beams travel through tissue and suffer attenuation. It would be great to see my clinic have one of these in the near future, I know how painful getting a mammogram can be and this new way o f getting a laser detector can do the best job pain free. Detect tumors, and any abnormal tissue with this pain free mammogram. Peer-Reviewed ArticlesThe article named â€Å"Exploring the Influence of New Technology Planning and Implementation on the Perceptions of New Technology Effectiveness† by Bellamy, Al talks about that organizations that recently installed new technology bettered the workplace and its effectiveness. Technology is believed IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY WITH LEADERSHIP 6 to have more effective outcomes when it is integrated systematically within an organization’s strategy process. Organizations that have good leadership, have good decision-making processes, and rganizational policies and procedures. Organization with new technology is much more effective in every way. An organization that is characterized by its members as being rigid and unwilling to change would probably approach new technology planning and implementation differently than an organization described as open and that does not resist change. There may also be parallel differences in the effectiveness in which new technology is deployed. The perceived climate of the organization may mediate the relationship among technology, the planning processes, and the perceived effectiveness of he deployment of technology (Bellamy, 2009). This all means that new technology in the workplace is for the better in every way, and the number one goal is to to better patient outcomes. The way that this article relates to my SMART goal, is by talking about that new technologies improves production and patient satisfaction. Credible Websites The website that talks about why technology is very beneficial to the workplace because it simplifies and reduces the labor involved to complete the task at hand. Technology is the use of any tool that was developed by man to enhance the productivity of any given task.This website has a differe nt approach about technology because it does not talk about the medical field with its new technologies, but it talks about technologies in the work place. This specific website talks about farmers utilizing various technologies to increase their farm production. New farm technologies improved in quality production and more foreign exchange was brought into our country because of this. The way that this IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY WITH LEADERSHIP 7 ebsite applies to my SMART goal is by talking about new technologies benefiting any work environment to improve the quality of the produce. The actual website is http://www. fiji. gov. fj Informational Expert My nursing manager has told my team that it is a great goal that we have thought of, however it is something that will take place not until the year 2015. The financial situation is very bad right now with the VA Hospital, after the hurricane Sandy, the Manhattan VA was destroyed which put us in great financial loss. New technologies are o n their way but we will just have to wait.My nurse manager recommended that the patients that are in a lot of pain doing mammograms the old way, can be referred to an outside specialty clinic that provide these types of special services with laser Mammography machines. Summary I have learned a lot in this research paper, being a leader in the work environment lets me realize that there are many things to look out for to keep the clinic running smoothly. Make pre-visit telephone calls is one great goal that I came up with, with the Nurse educator in order to improve productivity and efficiency.My goal is to continue learning about different leadership styles in my workplace and to continue to build and lead high performing teams is especially in the Women's Clinic. We must work closely together and wear many different hats to effectively meet our company's demands. I appreciated doing this research and learned a lot about how we can improve quality and productivity. Creating an envir onment that will promote problem solving is part of creating an effective team.My informational expert has taught me that you should never be afraid to communicate whatever it is you want to learn IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY WITH LEADERSHIP 8 more about, because it will only help you learn something new, you can never be wrong from asking a question instead of doing something without the correct answer. References Bellamy AL. (2007). Exploring the Influence of New Technology Planning and Implementation on the Perceptions of New Technology Effectiveness.Journal of Technology Studies, v33 n1 p32-40. 9 pp. White SJ ; Wilkin NE ; McElroy SR. (2012). Leadership development: Empowering others to take an active role in patient care. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association:(J AM PHARM ASSOC), 2012 May 1; 52 (3): 308-18. http://www. businessnewsdaily. com/3272-improve-productivity-tips. html http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Computed_tomography_laser_mammography http://www. fiji. gov. fj/index . php? option=com_content&view=article&id=739:technologies-improve-production&catid=97:features&Itemid=198

Department of Social Services

The national organization of caring for the values mostly given attention by the society today through voluntary services is that of the Department of Social Services. Likely, their existence in the society makes it easier for the entire human society within the communities that they serve to be able to garner the most basic commodities that they need for life. These commodities involve food and shelter as well as medication. Having them operate within the current tumultuous situations in the society makes the earth a more livable place.It is through this particular organization that the needs of people are given fine attention by the government. The Objectives of the Organization As a major organization that handles the needs of the society, the American Department of Social Services sees to it that the major issues about human needs in the society is well attended to. The said needs are divided into several points of concentration that involves the different divisions of people nee ding support in the society. The divisions are as follows: †¢ Child Foster Care Services †¢ Child Abuse and Neglect Services†¢ Family Support Services †¢ Elderly Assistance Services †¢ Health Care Services With these objectives in mind, the administration of the organization actually intends to make it certain that each division of the population in the society receives the attention that they need to be able to exist in the communities that they are living in. it is also the aim of this particular organization to handle the needs of immigrants transferring to the country who are usually in need of assistance with regards community familiarity as well as with their basic needs. The MissionAs noted earlier, the Department of Social Service particularly wants to extend help to special groups of people in the population of a certain society that they are involved in. With this mission in front of them, the organization constantly makes it certain that everythin g they have outlined to perform for their stakeholders, mainly the community, are seriously attended to at the appointed time as they themselves have scheduled. To attend to the needs of the target audience in the society is the main idea of the establishment of the said organization.Being funded by the government and assisted by commercial organizations, the organization’s mission of providing the society with the finest service that they deserve is not that hard to complete. The Issues Living in such a tumultuous society, finding somebody to ease the stresses and the pains brought about by the world indeed helps so much especially when it comes to facing the challenges of life. This is the reason why the existence of social workers and Non-government Organizations aiming to help the whole human population to cope up with life is an important factor considered whenever voluntary work is being discussed.With regards to social work, as the name of the job suggests itself, the main focus of NGO’s involved in social work is the social issues that are found in the human community. Because of this, they have continuously tried in alleviating the human systems of living through their assistance in the issues and problems that are mostly considered as the main reasons of stress and depression in the community. With issues on psychosocial difficulties emerging in the entire4 human community, the social workers have an important role when it comes to supporting the said people caught up in those situations hard to deal with as mentioned above.It is more often than not that the nature of social worker’s job is closely related to mediating between agencies and the clients needing their services and yet does not have any means or power to do so. According to the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) and the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), the main definition and role of social work in the society are as follows : â€Å"The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in humanRelationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well- being. Utilizing theories of human behavior and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work. † (The American Psychological Association) But although this is true of the main goals of social work, thee are still some certain important issues needed to be addressed within the systems of organization making up and bonding social workers together.One of the said issues is the existence f racial discrimination. This issue actually affects the social work systems both in and out of the organizations of social workers. Internally, this is naturally because of the fact that social workers are usually made up of people from different countries, cultures and races. In this way, some conflicts are pr esent because of the fact that each individual joining the social works are widely diverse and have different views on several points of concern within the social work.Externally, this issue is usually developed when social workers tend to chose the people they opt to help. With regards to this issue, several social workers as well as society experts have conducted studies and tried to solve the problems brought about by the issue within the systems of the organization in the social working tasks. The following paragraphs shall introduce the vital informations collected by the researchers regarding the said issue. Racial Discrimination and Its Effects to the Society Megacities are plagued by even more serious problems.Besides insufficient housing, overcrowded schools, and understaffed hospitals, psychological aspects are also involved. Dr. Paul Leyhausen, a leading German ethologist, claims that â€Å"a great number of neuroses and social maladjustments are, partially or totally, d irectly or indirectly, caused by overcrowding. † (1999, 12). Megacities rob their citizens of a sense of community, turning the city into a faceless mass of numbers. In the midst of hundreds of neighbors, a city dweller can be lonely, yearning for friends and companions he can find nowhere.The sense of alienation created by this situation becomes dangerous when it causes multinational populations to break up into racial or ethnic groups. Economic inequalities or acts of discrimination—real or imagined—can lead to disaster, as Los Angeles learned in 1992 when outbreaks of racial violence resulted in more than 50 deaths and 2,000 injuries (Leyhausen, 1999, 13). Indeed, racial discrimination is already considered as a social plague, affecting the whole world.And Along with this, the fact that the whole society of man is naturally diverse, even people who aims to help the society with their problems regarding the issues of social diversity also face the same challeng e of staying united amidst the changes they have against each other. Cities especially encounter the grave effects of the issues behind racial discrimination and according to the American Psychological Association, these dilemmas bring so much depression and stress to the population comprising the cities’ territories.This is also the main reason why behind the wonderful goals of social workers around the globe, issues such as racial discrimination brings them so much hindrance in getting their goals done for the society. As mentioned earlier, several researchers already worked on this topic and thus got considerably fine results regarding their studies. Through the use of surveys and interviews, a lot of the results of the studies were taken into conclusion.The following paragraphs shall discuss several ways in which racial discrimination has been proven as a part of the regular social work and yet had been continuously used by many social workers as an opportunity to bond to gether better than to simply get along with the flow of dispute brought about by the issue. In the Journal of Women and Social Work in an article entitled â€Å"What racial discrimination does to the social work society†, it has been mentioned that racial discrimination is indeed considered an organizational sickness especially when it comes to working ethics (Dinerman, 2005, 11).Usually, this issue of diversity causes a lot of problems within the system of assistance that social workers give to their fellowmen. It has been mentioned too that racial discrimination also sets the workers apart and drives them to choose who among the needy people should they help basing upon the cultural or racial qualification of the person to be helped. On the other hand, the British Association of Social Workers say otherwise, to them â€Å"racial discrimination is an opportunity opened to the social workers in showing their unity and bond beyond the cultural differences they have from each other (1999, 14).True, if the issue is carefully dealt with, racial discrimination could bring different people joined by an organization in a stronger bond. It may be considered an irony by many. However, because of the fact that the right ways of facing the dilemma had brought many social organizations more bonded together than separated by differences, it is really not impossible to make the issue of racial discrimination â€Å"a bridge to better opportunities of bonding with people from other cultures.Seeing differences as a positive factor in the society which sets the uniqueness of each individual in the entire human community† (British Association of Social Work, 1999, 12) is indeed a key factor in making racial diversity a successful aspect of the social organizations. The Role of Social Work in Discrimination Issues Through the use of adequate studies done by social work experts as discussed in this paper, racial discrimination is referred both as an asset and weakne ss of a social organization designed to help the people in the communities.It is more often than not though that the lack of effective ways in facing the challenges of racial discrimination to an organization, many social groups fail in controlling the dilemma of the issue. As Anne Rosegrant Alvarez mentioned in her Article â€Å"A look at cultural diversity† that proper handling of disputes regarding racial discrimination within social organizations bring considerably fine results for both the association and the individual performance of each member towards the fulfillment of their goals as a group (2006, 13).The following are the six ways in which social workers are able to control if not completely eliminate the dreadful effects of racial discrimination to organizations aiming to serve the community. As these six practices are implied within the rules and regulations of the organization in dealing within the organization and with the people in the community, the goals of the organization is observed to have easier ways in achieving their goals as a group.These practices are as follows: †¢ Having oriented as social equalizers, the social workers become more capable of handling disputes and controlling both their fellow social workers and themselves in dealing with social discrimination. †¢ Seeing everyone as a part of an important purpose in the society helps every social worker to work well with their colleagues as well as serve all people of all races amidst all the differences they have against others.†¢ Having the aim to give pure and undoubted service to everyone also allows the social worker to serve the people with purpose, disregarding the accent or the color of the skin of any person they ought to serve in the community. †¢ Being considerate with what the person needs and not where the person cam from is also an important factor to be considered by the social workers. As repeatedly mentioned, the main focus of social grou ps is to be of service to others, and failing to do such an aim is a betrayal to the profession.†¢ Having fair views of everyone may not be that easy, especially if the person has significant cultural background that has a negative impact on the other. However, if both parties would be able to consider the fact that social work is bounded by love for one’s fellowmen, the hatred brought about by discrimination could as well be covered by concern for others welfare. †¢ Making the best out of one’s time and neglecting unnecessary details about senseless things could as well help a social worker see the importance of doing â€Å"first things first.These means that prioritizing social service above all could drown the ideas of racial discrimination completely. (Source: Gutierez, 2006, Pp 4, 5). Indeed, considering the six major practices of ethical social service given by an excellent social worker to his or her fellow workers and to the people, gives a promising successful result of hard work for a certain social group. As clearly seen, the researches have been able to put concrete and relevant details down into writing for the benefit of the social workers in enhancing their servicing skills.These informations were taken into consideration since they are all sourced out from people who have actually put the principles of social work into practice in their own experiences of rendering services to other people. Having been able to see the importance of proper handling of racial disputes and racial discrimination in both internal and external setting of the relationship of the social workers to the community, it is also important to know how effective the practices mentioned above are when it comes to actual practice of social service operations.How the Implementation of Rightful Practices on Racial Discrimination Affects Social Work As mentioned earlier, the six practices which are designed to at least control racial discrimination within a nd outside the social groups, have been already applied by many social workers and were proven effective as they have observed the effects of the practices both on them, their organization and the community. In the book â€Å"International Perspectives on Social Work in Health Care: Past, Present and Future†, Auslander mentioned that: â€Å"the social practices around the world have been exceptionally developingduring the past few years. The fact that many social workers are already able to successfully work within a highly culturally diverse group, the level of excellence of social services provided internationally are known to have been developing as well† (1997, 16). Yes, because of the fact that many social workers already recognize the importance of racial equality in aiming for the best results of social services, the relationship between the community and the Non Government Organizations have been strongly enhanced during the past years.In this regard, it is sim ply rightful to say that as researchers of social work and racial discrimination have concluded, â€Å"the right handling of disputes give best results† (Feit, 2002, 3). Aside from this, it could also be said that in many cases, self-control and self-discipline helps a lot in the implication of equality within the activities of social work. The ability of a certain social crew to divert his thoughts of racial discrimination to a healthy thought of cultural respect of diversity naturally helps that worker to become fairer when it comes to his treatment towards his colleagues and the people of whom he serves.As obviously seen, the studies performed by the researchers and social work experts helps us understand the deeper issues which social workers have to face in their profession. It has been clearly shown though their works that racial discrimination is an expected source of dispute between colleagues in the social work systems. However, although this is the case, many social organizations still manage to deal with the problem and thus get considerably fine results for their hard work.It could also be added that in many ways, turning dispute into becoming a bridge towards a closer bond between the differences and uniqueness each person possesses compared to others helps a lot in making a peaceful and more concerned society to exist. (Hoefer, 2006, 18) Surely, the consequences of having been able to meet and survive the challenges of combating racial differences has a very great effect on how social groups deal with their communities.This is the reason why it is most advised by the researchers that further studies on the matter should be generated in an aim of further increasing the capability and the credibility of social groups in providing social help. Conclusion and Recommendations Although a lot of studies regarding the matter of social work and racial discrimination have already been commenced and finished, it would still be helpful to continuously search for possible ways in which social groups could combat the negative effects of racial discrimination to the goals of the organizations.In this way, it would also be advisable to look deeper on the reason why racial discrimination is present in the society. In this way, the roots of the issue could be traced and solved at the same time, making it possible for social workers to do their duties to the community without being hindered by discriminating ideas and cultural differences. True, as great as social work is when it comes to serving the community, so are the issues that are arising within the groups or organizations of such kind. Yes, issues on racial discrimination could be considered as a hindrance to the social worker’s fulfillment of their goals.Yet, an effective and strategic way of facing the challenges placed by the dilemma could help in even developing the servicing skills of the social workers further as they are forced to discipline their thoughts as well as their acts when it comes to facing the issue of struggling through with social differences. BIBLIOGRAPHY Books: Ruth Crocker. (1992). Social Work and Social Order: The Settlement Movement in Two ndustrial Cities, 1889-1930. University of Illinois Press. Lena Robinson. (1995). Psychology for Social Workers. Routledge; 1 edition. Anna Metteri.(2005). Social Work Visions From Around The Globe: Citizens, Methods, And Approaches (The Social Work in Health Care Series). Haworth Social Work. James G. Daley. (2006). Advances in Social Work: Special Issue on The Futures of Social Work. Trafford Publishing. Nancy Elizabeth Sullivan. (2002). Social Work With Groups: Social Justice Through Personal, Community, and Societal Change. Haworth Press. Richard Hugman. (1995). Ethical Issues in Social Work (Professional Ethics). Routledge; 1 edition. John S. Wodarski. (1996).Cultural Diversity and Social Work Practice. C. C. Thomas; 2nd edition. Journal Articles: Miriam Dinerman. (2005). â€Å"Wha t racial discrimination does to the social work society†. Journal of Women and Social Work. Yeshiva University. British Association of Social Workers. (September 1999). â€Å"Working beyond racial diversity†. British Journal of Social Work. Anne Rosegrant Alvarez. (Volume 14 Number 1 spring 2006). â€Å"A look at cultural diversity†. Journal of Community Practice. Lorraine Gutierez. (Volume 14 Number 2 spring 2006). â€Å"Making things work†. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity. University of Texas Arlington.Marvin D. Feit. (Volume 15 Number 3 August 2002). â€Å"How the society behaves†. Journal of Human Behavior and Social Environment. University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Richard Hoefer. (Volume 5 Number 1 Spring 2006) â€Å"Effective Despite Differences† . Social Policy Journal. University of Texas, Arlington. Paul Leyhausen. (1999). â€Å"The big cities, the big differences†. Journal on Ethnology. University of Tennessee, Knoxv ille. American Psychological Association. (1990). â€Å"The cost of social work†. Psychology Journal. American Psychological Association.

Buddhism and Monkey Clan

A Number of magic arts 5. Why does Tripitaka need to control Monkey? Monkey needs to learn patients and control his temper 6. Why does the Bodhisattva stop Monkey from destroying the wizard? To teach him how to control his temper. 7. What does Monkey find out about the city Cart Slow? For twenty years had been ruled by three Taoists who could procure rain during times of drought. Their names were Tiger, Deer, and Sheep. 8. In what way are Monkey and Pigsys characters different before they meet Buddha while on the journey? Monkey Is increasingly bound to both his master and the journey without ever losing his energy and humor. Pigsy on the other hand, thought the journey, is always distracted by his desire of sex and food. 9. How is Sandy different to Monkey and Pigsy? Sandy is the water monster and expelled from Heaven after his interference caused Heavens Jade Emperors precious jade cup to be broken so by going on the journey he can be forgiven for his sin. 10. In what way is Tripitaka not necessarily the leader of the group? On the journey Tripitaka is easily frightened, and never knows what to do. He is the empty center of the group kept alive and carried forward by his more powerful and active disciples. 11. How do the characters change when they reach Buddha? They get new names. 12. How does the turtle cause the characters problems at the end of the story? The turtle gets angry, however, as Tripitaka hasn’t kept a promise he had made and drops them in the water 13. What are the characters new names? Tripitaka and Monkey are made into Buddhas, Pigsy is named the Keeper of the Holy Temple, Sandy becomes the Golden-Bodied Soldier 14. Why does Buddha not give Pigsy the title of Buddha? He is not trustworthy 15. What role does religion play in the text, especially Buddhism? What is the author trying to accomplish in terms of religion? : Buddhism was the religion of China during this period and the story has a strong religious message. If we listen to what the gods tell us, we will not be harmed and we will find salvation. The idea of a journey towards enlightenment was central to Chinese beliefs, and pilgrimages were common. 16. What do you think is the purpose of the journey the characters take? To help tripitaka retrieve the scriptures and take them back to china. Also while each character learn many lessons about their behavior. 17. Summarize the book in your own words. This is a story of a priest’s journey to India to collect the Scriptures and take them back to China. He is accompanied by three pilgrims and they face great adversity on the way. It is overflowing with magic, demons, gods, immortals, action and adventure.

Nurse Graduate Challenges Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Nurse Graduate Challenges - Essay Example The transition of newly graduated nurses (NGOs) into professional service is on its surface, no different from the transition of a newly graduated teacher into becoming full-fledged professors. But an essential difference lies in the need for NGOs to alter their personal perceptions and shape them in accordance with their upcoming professional responsibilities (Heslop, McIntyre and Ives, 2001). Duchscher (2010) defines it as "consist[ing] of a nonlinear experience that moves the new practitioner through personal and professional, intellectual and emotive, skill and role relationship changes and contains within it experiences, meanings and expectations." This transition is also characterized as the evolution of the nursing student into hospital staff following four stages: (1) honeymoon, where the graduates are expectedly anxious to get a moving on their careers; (2) shock, where the professional value and intellectual credence of the graduates are forced to face the realities of the industry; (3) recovery, when the graduates begin to have a full rein on their careers and start to have the hang of things; and finally, (4) resolution, when the graduates are able to establish habits and form long-term goals (Kramer & Schmalenberg, 1978).This NG transition has been classified as the initial twelve months into practice where character transformations, perception changes, intellectual enhancement, emotional adjustment, physical development and even social maturity are attained (Duchscher, 2010).... Duchscher (2010) defines it as â€Å"consist[ing] of a nonlinear experience that moves the new practitioner through personal and professional, intellectual and emotive, skill and role relationship changes and contains within it experiences, meanings and expectations.† This transition is also characterized as the evolution of the nursing student into hospital staff following four stages: (1) honeymoon, where the graduates are expectedly anxious to get a moving on their careers; (2) shock, where the professional value and intellectual credence of the graduates are forced to face the realities of the industry; (3) recovery, when the graduates begin to have a full rein on their careers and start to have the hang of things; and finally, (4) resolution, when the graduates are able to establish habits and form long-term goals (Kramer & Schmalenberg, 1978). This NG transition has been classified as the initial twelve months into practice where character transformations, perception cha nges, intellectual enhancement, emotional adjustment, physical development and even social maturity are attained (Duchscher, 2010). Challenges Associated with Transition The main crisis in the transition of graduating nursing students into practicing or professional nurses lies in the difficulty to translate their numbers into the field (Duchscher, 2010). That is, the number of students that are apparently graduating is not equivalent, actually less than the number of nurses entering service in health institutions and hospitals. Somehow, a large fraction of the graduates opt out of the industry and take on employment in private facilities or even to some

Justice System Position Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Justice System Position - Research Paper Example However, with the passage of time the intensity of the crime committed by juvenile increased which lead to the shift in the focus of the justice system. The justice system shifted its focus from rehabilitation to punishment. This shift in focus has initiated the debate of what the focus of Juvenile Justice System should be. While many are of the opinion that this shift in focus is just, I believe the focus of juvenile justice system should be rehabilitation and not retribution. Many individuals and groups of society believe that the threat of harsher punishment would help in decreasing the rate of juvenile crime. While it may be true if approached from one aspect but the other side of the coin indicates very different and adverse result of this approach. According to a study conducted by the North-eastern University in 1996 on juvenile recidivism, the treat of harsher sentences like that of adult has done little to decrease the juvenile crime rate. Reason for supporting rehabilitation as the focus of juvenile justice system is the belief that children being young still have the potential and ability to change. Children are what the surrounding circumstances have shaped them to be. If treated with proper care, there is a very less chance that they will not change. Saving children is easy because they are young and not fully matured in their thinking. It is necessary to save these children so that they make a better part of the society in the future. Rehabilitation through its various approaches and programs has a better capability to save these children’s than punishment. Rehabilitation through its various programs like Youth Outreach Service (YOS) focuses on assessing mental health of the youth. These programs aim to provide the youth with immediate assistance regarding the mental and emotional problems caused by the trauma youth faced thus saving helping to save the child. It is because of this focus on psychological improvement

Minamata Bay in Kumamoto Japan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Minamata Bay in Kumamoto Japan - Research Paper Example The pollution was suspected to have been caused because Hyakken Habour released the poisonous mercury from the Chisso Corporation. This not withstanding, Minamata Bay has its own unique geographical and natural make-up, that makes the bay distinguished. Minamata Bay is part of the bigger Shiranui Sea but it is locked up in the middle of the Kyushu coast and the Island of Kumamoto and Nagasaki prefectures. From afar, the bay presents beautiful scenery of nature’s popular sea color, which is sea blue. The bay is generally calm with no heavy tides that randomly break its banks. The bay is shallow, yet possesses every thing that a regular sea area should possess. To the north of the bay is the Ariake Sea and to its south is the East China Sea. This means that Minamata Bays share a lot of common features with the East China Sea and the Ariake Sea. †¢ Climate Precipitation and temperature in the Minamata Bay varies significantly during different times of the year. However compa ratively, because of the presence of the sea, precipitation in Minamata Bay is generally low when compared with other parts of the country such as Tokyo. The graph below gives a pictorial difference in temperature and precipitation of Minamata in General as compared with Tokyo. Source: Travel Friend (2011) Precipitation is generated from the clouds. According to the Frondriest Environmental Inc (2011), precipitation is any form of water that falls to the earth’s surface. This includes snow, rain, sleet, freezing rain and hail†. From the graph we see that because of the presence of the Bay and sea in general, Minamata has a very high precipitation as compared to Tokyo. The highest precipitations of the year are recorded in June and July when precipitation can go as high as rising beyond 15mm. January, February and December however records very low precipitations because at those times of the year, there is relatively low levels of water in the air. As far as temperature is concerned, Minamata records temperature levels that are not very much different from that of Tokyo. Temperatures also vary a lot in the course of the year. Whereas temperatures can go as low as below 5 °C in the months of January, February and December, it at times rises high above 30 °C in August and September. To this effect, it can be said that Minamata Bay has a temperate climate. The specific values of temperature and precipitation for the various months are given in the table below: Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Average High Temperature ( °C) 10.5 11.3 14.8 19.9 23.8 26.6 30.1 31.1 28.1 23.5 18.3 13 Average Low Temperature ( °C) 2.7 3.1 6.3 10.4 14.6 19.3 23 23.3 20.2 14.3 9.5 4.5 Average Precipitation (mm) 74 78.2 158.5 147.5 190.3 409.8 417.5 228.6 198.8 95.8 80.4 52.6 Source: Travel Friend (2011) †¢ Human Presence, Activities and Alternations People live all around the Minamata Bay and are involved in active regular activities. Accord ing to the GeoNames geographical database, Minamata Bay, Japan has a population of 29,428 people. Majority of the working class of the people living in Minamata Bay are involved in factory work. This is because Minamata itself is tagged as a factory town. Most of the people in Minamata depends on the presence of factories to make a living. There are some who also take advantage of the presence

UWB Ad-Hoc Networks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

UWB Ad-Hoc Networks - Essay Example gnal has a bandwidth that exceeds the lesser of 500 MHz or 20% of the center frequency, there is an authorized unlicensed use of the frequency range starting from 3.1 GHz and up to 10.6GHz, also the emission limit is -41.3 dBm/MHz. This technology uses the Impulse Ratio (IR) method for its transmission; the rate is different for radar and imaging purposes to the communication purposes. The rate of impulses for radar and imaging is in the range of 1 to 100 mega pulses per second. The communication rate can be in a range of 1 to 2 giga pulses per second. This diagram shows how much faster Ultra Wide Band technology is over any existing current technologies also it provides a high level of mobility which is important for a mobile devices it is intended for. The advantage of UWB over traditional radio transmissions is that traditional way would be to modulate the frequency and phase of the signal as well as power, of a sinusoidal wave. However UWB transmits impulse at a specific time, there fore it allows pulse position modulation and time modulation. Among the advantages of UWB that helps to prevent multi path propagation. It gives the possibility of the system to establish the time for an impulse to travel from the transmitter to the receiver in the direct path. The other advantage of UWB IR system is the short length of pulses does not allow them to overlap so the multipath fading is not an issue in this case. On the other hand in a system with high pulse rate there can be inter-path interference, it can be eliminated by error correction coding at the receiver. UWB can be combined with multiple antenna technology that doesn’t only allow increase in transmission speed but increases the reliability of the channel, there are a number of solutions that can increase the transmission speed over the regular SISO (single-input single-output); Technologies like multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) allows reaching gigabits per second range of transmission speed.

Government Inefficiency and Policy Implications of Economic Research Essay

Government Inefficiency and Policy Implications of Economic Research - Essay Example Sections 861(b) and 862(b) state generally how to determine taxable income for a taxpayer with income sources within or without the United States after such source has been determined. Regulation 1.861-8 provides more information on allocating state and local taxes to U.S. - and foreign-source income (Kozub 2010, p.1). In return, we could see the effects of taxes in our country thru, for example, roads for better accessory of goods coming from farm to local markets and for better transportation; public schools to ensure the education of our children and our children’s children; and public funds to support and aid the citizens in terms of calamities and unforeseen disasters. Well, these are good aspects of tax in our society in which it ensures a good future for us and for the next generation. What seem to be erroneous so to speak now are the urge of the government and the abuse in the use of tax. We all know that the government highly depends upon its citizen’s support to make its substructure work. In the article made by Crane (2010, p.1), she criticized and questions the imposition of tax to the extent that everything that people do, the government will levy tax. It is also shown in her article the question on blurred distinction between income tax and property tax wherein the so-called right to jus fruendi or the right to use the fruit of the property is assumed to be just a constitutional right that is vested upon the citizens because of the unclear dissimilarity of the property and income tax. She made use of the farm, being a property as an example wherein â€Å"If the value of an asset that one assessor claimed had arisen in any one year, perhaps when the crops were first harvested, could be taxed again in another year (simply because that first year's base was used again as the measure of the tax), and then again when the value was transformed into a security, and then again when that security was transformed into cash, what was the diffe rence between a property tax and an income tax?† (1). Issues and Problems on taxes What I want to raise here as an issue would be the redundancy of the taxes that are being imposed on the citizens. The government is now being misunderstood because instead of him intervening in the affairs of the people, it is now the people intervening in the affairs of the government and making profit out of it. Thus, people discover the government not as a privileged position to serve the people, but rather, as a situation and a place of income, using the money of its citizens. As a result, heavy taxes are levied and other forms of it are implemented to gain more income, having in mind that the people could not resist it because it is mandated by the law. Moreover, the espousal of income taxes did not inevitably flow from economic forces, but rather was conditioned by social and political power and complex historical processes (Mehrotra 2010, p.1). History will show us that these kind of tax is a by-product of the excessive expenditure of the government in wars that they are engaged to or the destruction incurred are in large scale. They put the burden to the people to restore the economic power of the state, therefore, making the government to be financially strong again in the international arena because state and the government can hardly be distinguished nor separated. The government dictates what the people should do in

Conflict Resolution Paper Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Conflict Resolution Paper - Coursework Example The message had not been replied after half an hour. I decided to write her another text message; this time round it was worse because it included abuses. Still she did not reply. After 2 hours, my anger had cooled down; I decided to call my roommate’s boyfriend to inform me why his girlfriend was not answering my message. I was shocked to learn from the boyfriend that my roommate had gone unconscious before they left the room and rushed her to a medical facility. I suddenly remembered that my roommate was epileptic. The boyfriend confessed of the mess in the room, he confessed that he was trying to look for her medical records and because of the hurry, he ended up disarranging everything. I felt so ashamed to learn that I had to confess to both my roommate and her boyfriend afterwards. If I had to find myself in the same situation in future, I would first of all wait for her to return, ask her why it happened before reacting (Van de Vliert and Euwema 679). I will never let my emotions dominate me next time I find myself in

Team Ground Rules and Guidelines Essay Example for Free

Team Ground Rules and Guidelines Essay Members should be on time with assignments and responsibilities agreed to. If they are not going to be on time, post a message ASAP stating late or absent. They should check the Learning Team Forum every day for questions and late/absent notices. Lastly, communicate when you are having trouble or struggling and need assistance. Expectations for Time Management and Involvement (Participation, communication with the team, accessibility, etc) Communicate, communicate, communicate! If you will be absent or out a particular day of that week communicate on Monday of each week when you will be out. If a member is struggling or needs assistance, ask right away. Always check the learning team ‘A’ forum everyday to see if there are questions or help needed. I think we need to step-up a team secretary\admin posting sections, assignments, and updates, etc. If no one volunteers, I will be happy to do it. What to do if a team member cannot be reached or isn’t participating to the satisfaction of the team? Again, communication is key. If we do not here from a member by Wednesday 6pm on their contributions each week, we divvy up the sections that need a volunteer. A time line and due dates should be set for each task. If someone has misses a deadline then a message is posted and we finalize the missing assignment. Also, a message is posted to professor Rita Solomon-Moore, as she should be our corporate boss and he needs to know when a member is slacking so credit is assigned appropriately. Special Considerations What do you, as a team, agree will make this team experience different from past team experiences. I have only been a member of 2 previous teams now which was a horrid experience in the first team because we went from 4 assigned members to two actual participating members and I felt I pulled most of the weight on the team of 2. So, it was not a team, but just a group of members. The 2nd team was better, but didn’t follow our charter. I hope that this team builds on the definition of a team – â€Å"a group of people organized to work together†. Communication is key allowing a group of people to work together. So, if there is no communication from a member for 3 consecutive days within the Learning Team A forum, we send a note to that member. If there is no response for a day, we notify the professor.

The Life Span Developmental Perspective Psychology Essay

The Life Span Developmental Perspective Psychology Essay The first chapter was very interesting from start to finish. However, out of all the concepts covered in this chapter the original sin, tabula rasa, and innate goodness views were the concepts that really fascinated me. The reason for this is that I am a Roman Catholic, therefore as part of my faith I am supposed to believe that we are all born with original sin. After reading the Tabula Rasa View and dwelling on my basic knowledge of human behavior, I leaned more towards English philosopher John Lockes theory. I believe that children are not born innately bad. It has been said that a childs brain is like a sponge therefore it absorbs everything. With that being said, it is obvious that a child develops characteristics through experience. This would also mean that I agree with nurture as oppose to Nature for child development. However, I do believe that genetics and disorders such as mental illness that one might acquire through birth can impact the way they are developed. Chapter 1 gave me a basic understanding of Life Span Developmental Psychology as well as an idea of what I can expect to learn and study in later chapters. Chapter 2 : The Science of Life Span Development introduced me to theories of development, such as Psychoanalytic, Cognitive, and Ethological. In addition, the different research methods used by scientists such as standard tests and correlation research. As well as the challenges ethics, gender, and culture have on the research. This chapter also informed me on the different theories developed by scientists such as Erik Erikson, Sigmund Freud, and B.F. Skinner and the impact they had and still do have on life span development. As chapter 1 grabbed my interest with the ideas and concepts of Life Span Development being predominantly environmental as oppose to biological, so did chapter 2. Not only did I agree with the view of Social Cognitive Theory being that behavior, environment, and cognition are the key factors in development, I was fascinated on how the book related Banduras model to a college students achievement behavior. The example stated that a college student who studies hard and gets good grades produces positivity in their thoughts and abilities. If the college provides a study skill class and the students succeed, then this is an example on how environment influenced behavior. In return, if the college expanded their study skills program based on the success of its past students, then this is an example of behavior changing the environment. The most interesting part of Chapter 2 was the role ethics play in Life Span Development research. Obviously people are entitled to rights of privacy and do not like the intrusive vibes that some researchers might give off during an experiment. However I do believe that in order to obtain the greatest amount of useful information, flexibility and professionalism by the scientists and subjects are needed to produce the best result. Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Biological Beginnings examined the concepts of evolution and the early stages of Life Span Development. Genetics, DNA, chromosomes, and the effects of biological make up have on development were introduced. In addition, the relationship and importance of hereditary and environmental interaction were examined. Essentially, this chapter was everything you would have learned from fifth grade sexual education, but on a larger more in depth scale. I am one of six children and hope to be a father someday. With that being said, I found the section on infertility the most interesting as well as the most useful concept revealed in this chapter. I was already aware of the fact that drugs such as cocaine and marijuana can affect the sperm count in men, but I was not aware that it was reversible after approximately one year. With all the shows on TV such as John and Kate Plus Eight or the Octo-Mom craze, it was interesting to learn how infertility drugs have caused super ovulation, meaning to produce three or more babies at a time. While the infertility section was useful and informative, I would have liked to learn more about preventative actions that could be used against problems such as immobile sperm, and Pituitary or ovarian tumors. The chapter only covered possible causes and treatments for fertility disorders, not the acts that could save someone from the pain, suffering, and expense that infertility brings. Even if it were small common known facts like wearing boxers over briefs. Its a simple yet effective way of eliminating low sperm count and ultimately infertility. I feel that this type of information could decrease the ten to fifteen percent of couples who face infertility in the United States as stated by the book. Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Prenatal Development and Birth covered anything and everything there is to know about pregnancy before, during, and after. Prenatal developmental subjects such as cultural beliefs, teratology and prenatal hazards were introduced as well as the three periods of prenatal development. These three periods are germinal, embryonic, and fetal. Following the three periods of prenatal development, the book described the three stages of birth which are contractions, movement of the babys head to the cervix, and finally the afterbirth where the placenta and umbilical cord are removed. The chapter ended with the post-partum period, where the woman returns to pre-pregnancy state as well as her adjustments and relationship with the baby. With such an informative and interesting chapter, it is difficult for me to choose a topic that intrigued me more or left me with doubt and unanswered questions. Perhaps the section that I absorbed the most information from was the post-partum period. The information given about the physical, emotional, and psychological adjustments that a woman goes through after pregnancy will be useful for me with the future mother of my children. A part of post child birth that this chapter exposed me to that I never really gave much thought, was the fact that the men go through difficult adjustments in the post-partum period as well. Apparently, men suffer from a jealousy of the babys attention which I felt was ridiculous. However, I do believe that time set aside for the couple is very important for their sanity and will ultimately lead to better parenting. So if my wife is suffering from excessive worrying, depression, extreme changes in appetite, crying spells or inability to sleep, I will kn ow from chapter 4 of Life Span Developmental Psychology, that she might require professional help. Chapter 5 As stated in the title, chapter 5 covered the Physical Development in Infancy. The physical growth aspects of infancy such as Cephalocaudal and Proximodistal patterns, height weight, nutrition, and even toilet training were described. Following the physical developments, motor, sensory and perceptual development was defined through definitions such as sensation, when information interacts with sensory receptors, and the five different forms of reflexes. Chapter 5 alone can be a useful tool for parents who have any questions on the development of an infant. Out of the many topics covered in this chapter, I of course identified most with the toilet training. For years I had pride myself on the notion that I was some sort of baby genius because I learned to potty train at the age of four. After reading that children have the physical and motor skills to use the toilet as oppose to their pants, I realized that I was not a baby genius but a late bloomer. Besides destroying my ego, I did learn that one of the main reasons I have been underweight my whole life is due to the fact that I was not breast fed. The book states the breast feeding allows appropriate weight gain, fewer allergies, less diaherria and many other benefits that I did not have the opportunity to experience. This chapter had me realize how the physical development in infancy can affect the physical developments of adolescence and adult hood. Ultimately, this chapter reinforced the importance of proper nutrition, continuous stimulation of the mind and body are crucial during infant development. Chapter 6 The memory, sensory, and language of infants were all described in Chapter 6 Cognitive Development in Infancy. A name that was mentioned numerous times throughout the chapter was psychologist Jean Piaget. Piaget developed a theory on Cognitive Development after meticulously observing of his own children; Laurent, Lucienne, and Jacqueline. Piaget believed that a child passes through different stages of thought from birth to adolescence. An important concept of his theory is scheme, which helps individuals organize and understand their experiences. The most fascinating part of chapter six for me was the defining, of language and a childs development of vocabulary. An interesting fact I learned was that children all over the world reach language milestones at about the same time developmentally despite vast variation in language input. The chapter also offered helpful strategies to develop an infants language and those are recasting, echoing, expanding, and labeling. An example for recasting is if the baby says the bell rang the parent should respond by saying where did the bell ring. This allows the infant to learn the language by elaborating on an interest they had already stated. Perhaps the most common method is labeling, which is just basically naming objects and having the baby repeat them such eyes, and ears. The chapter ended by stating that parents should not use any deliberate method to teach their children to talk and that if the child is a slow learner intervention should happen naturally with the goal of being able to convey a meaning. Chapter 7 Chapter 7 Socioemotional Development in Infancy defined what emotional and personality development are in addition to the definition of attachment and infants in social contexts. The vast emotions an infant contains from crying to smiling were detailed such as the differences between an anger cry and a pain cry, as well as the difference between a reflexive smile and a social smile. Other concepts introduced were defining temperament, which psychiatrist have argued that there are three types an easy, difficult, and slow-to-warm-up child. The chapter ended focusing on the importance of a childs surrounding such as family and day care. These concepts were the transition to parenthood, the family as a system, and maternal/parental infant care giving. What captivated my attention the most from this chapter was the section on attachment, because it is something that I believe is very crucial in a childs development, however there are many different ideas and methods that can sometime cause debate or conflict between parents. Something I learned new about attachment from the chapter was that attachment does not emerge suddenly but rather develops in a series of phases. The first phase starts from birth to two months where infants are instinctively directing their attention to any human being, family or stranger. The second phase is from two to seven months in which the attachment becomes focused on one figure usually the primary caregiver, and learns the difference between familiar and unfamiliar faces. From seven to twenty-four months in phase three the infant makes specific attachments to their main caregivers. Finally, in phase four a goal corrected partnership is formed which the child becomes aware of others and takes this into account when deciding their actions. Chapter 8 The early childhood section of the book started in Chapter 8 Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood. The physical development was defined by body growth and change, motor development, nutrition, and illness/death. The concepts described in the cognitive development, were Piagets and Vygotskys theories of development, information processing, language development, and early childhood education. In addition, to information processing, language development, and early childhood education. The most alarming information listed in this chapter was the leading causes of illness and death for young children in the united states. Out of all the diseases that could potentially harm a child, accidents are still the leading cause of child fatality. Accidents such as motor vehicle, drowning, falls, and poisoning are higher risks than cancer, meningitis, measles, and even chicken pox. One of the many useful tips listed in this chapter were the descriptions of young childrens education programs. Such as the difference between Montessori and child centered kindergarten. In kindergarten, the instructor focuses on the process of learning, rather than what is actually being learned. Montessori instructors serve as more of a facilitator allowing children to practice freedom and spontaneity. I learned that Montessori offers way more than what I thought was just a glorified day care. Studies have shown that while early childhood education is good, it is important to not add too much stress on a child early, for they can develop a pattern of stress. Chapter 9 The theme for chapter 9 was Socioemotional Development in early childhood development. This included emotional and personality development, families and peer evaluations. The emotional and personality development covered self understanding, emotional development, moral development and gender identity. The family section of this chapter consisted of different styles of parenting which included authoritarian, authorative, neglectful, and indulgent. In addition to sibling influence, relationship, and the affect working parents have on a childs development. Finally, the funnest part of the chapter was all about the different aspects of childs play such as games and television. As I stated earlier, I really enjoyed the different descriptions of child playing listed in this chapter. According to Mildred Parten, there are four classifications of childrens play which include unoccupied, solitary, onlooker, parallel, associative, and cooperative. Each different classification offers the child different skills of learning and drawbacks. Unoccupied play, solitary, onlooker, and parallel play are generally practiced by children between the ages of 3 to 7, preschool kindergarten years. Associative and cooperative play is generally more structured and is aimed towards competition and winning therefore they are aimed for 7 years and beyond. A shocking statistic that the book offered was the effects of television on Childrens Aggression and prosocial behavior. In on longitudinal study, the amount of violence viewed on television at age 8 was significantly related to the seriousness of criminal acts performed as an adult. The chapter contained a chart that exposed the percentage of 9 year old children who report watching more than five hours of television per weekday, the chart revealed that the United States led all countries in the 21.3 percentile. Chapter 10 Chapter 10 opened section 5 of the book which covers middle and late childhood. The chapter covered the Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle and Late Childhood. The physical development section covered body growth and proportion, motor development, exercise and sports, health, illness, diseases, and children with disabilities. The cognitive development section consisted of Piagets theory, information processing, intelligence, creativity, and language development. Being a firm believer in the importance of exercise and sports, I identified with that aspect of the chapter. As I was completely already aware of, the book stated that American children do not receive enough exercise in their development. According to a 1997 study, only 22 percent of children between the ages of 9 to 12 participate in thirty minutes of physical activity a day. The parents of the other 78 percent said their children were too busy playing video games, watching TV, or wasting time on the computer. I really liked how the chapter brought up the issue of school sports programs not facing enough moral questioning. I am a firm believer in the costiveness that sports have on students. I believe it raises their confidence, teaches them to work hard and push themselves. However, often times the school sport programs interfere with a childs academic, which is by far the most important aspect of human development. There needs to be better regulation of these programs to ensure the success of its student-athletes. Chapter 11 The Socioemotional Development in Middle and Late Childhood. The following concepts were Emotional and Personality development, families, peers, and schools. Like in previous chapters, emotional and personality development consisted of the self, emotional, moral and gender identity and development. Family section covered parent child issues such as the issue of changes in discipline. The peers section dealt with concepts of peer statuses, bullying, social cognition, and friendship. I enjoyed the peer section of this chapter. It was interesting to read their definition, and reasoning behind social statuses such as popular children, neglected children, rejected children, and controversial children. According to the book, popular children are frequently nominated as a best friend and are rarely disliked by their peers. Popular children give out reinforcements, listen carefully, maintain open lines of communication with peers, are happy, act like them, show enthusiasm and concern for others, and are self-confident without being conceited. I disagree with this definition. From my understanding, popular children are usually popular based on superior athletic abilities, good looks, charm and charisma. Most of the time they are very conceited and show very little concern for others, speaking as a former popular child, I was an asshole. The section on bullying was very informative. I particularly enjoyed their suggestions on the reducing of bullying which were to get older peers to serve as monitors for bullying and intervene when they see it taking place, form friendship groups for adolescents who are regularly bullied by peers, incorporate the message of the anti-bullying program into church, school, and other community activates where adolescents are involved. Chapter 12 Section 6 Adolescents opened up with Chapter 12 Physical and Cognitive Development in Adolescence. The concepts covered in this chapter were the nature of adolescence, puberty, adolescent sexuality, adolescent problems and health, adolescent cognition, and schools. Puberty was defined by pubertys boundaries and determinants, hormonal changes, height, weight, sexual maturation, body image, early and late maturation. Adolescent sexuality consisted of developing a sexual identity, the progression of adolescent sexual behaviors, risk factors for sexual problems, contraceptive use, sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. Adolescent health and problems covered substance use and abuse, eating disorders, and general adolescent health. Adolescent cognition was defined by Piagets theory, egocentrism, and information processing. Finally schools impact on adolescence went over the transition of middle school, effective schools, high school dropouts, and moral education. Without a doubt chapter 12 was by far the most interesting and informational chapter yet. With such well written, intelligent facts on the changes that adolescence brings, I almost felt as if I was reliving that time in development myself after reading this chapter. Perhaps one of the more interesting facts listed was the progression of adolescent sexual behavior. According to a survey done in 1998, the majority of adolescent females first voluntary sexual partner are 27 percent of the time to be 3 or four times older and 12 percent are 5 or more years older. The average age children lose their virginity is 17, this means that 12 percent of the time, 22 year olds or older are engaging in sexual intercourse with teenagers. I found that to be very distributing. Chapter 13 Following the books typical pattern, the second chapter in the section of Adolescence dealt with the Socioemotional Development in Adolescence. The chapters concepts were identity, families, peers, culture and adolescent development, and adolescent problems. Identity discussed contemporary thoughts about identity, identity statuses and development, family influences on identity, cultural and ethnic aspects of identity. The Families section had two major concepts which were autonomy and attachment as well as parent adolescent conflict. The peers section was defined the three concepts of Peer groups, friendships, and dating/romantic relationships. Culture and adolescent development consisted of the cross cultural comparisons and rites of passage and ethnicity concept. Finally, the adolescent problems section of the chapter discussed concepts of juvenile delinquency, depression and suicide, in addition to the interrelation of problems and successful prevention/ intervention programs. After reading this chapter I realized that I am more intrigued by the Adolescent development stage rather than early childhood. I think this could be because I am closer to it age wise, but mostly due to the fact that it is such an intense, and complex part of a persons life that it can affect their future. Speaking from a former delinquent, I felt that the chapter described the causes of delinquency being partially hereditary, identity problems, community influences, and family experiences all just factors. Chapter 14 Section 7 Early Adulthood was opened with Chapter 14 Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Adulthood. The chapter dealt with the transition from adolescence to adulthood, physical development, sexuality, cognitive development, careers and work. The section on the transition from adolescence to adulthood consisted of two concepts being the criteria for becoming an adult, and the transition from high school to college. Physical development included the peak and slowdown in physical performance, eating and weight, regular exercise, and substance abuse. The sexuality section was defined by sexual orientation, sexually transmitted diseases, forcible sexual behavior and sexual harassment. Cognitive Development focused on cognitive stages and creativity. The most intense section was careers and work because it consisted of the following concepts; developmental changes, personality types, values and careers, monitoring the occupational handbook, the skills employers want, finding the r ight career, and just work in general. Since I could be considered an early adult, I found this chapter to be very relatable and interesting. Of course the most interesting section of this chapter was sexuality. What was so interesting about this section were once again the surveys results. According to this survey Americans tend to fall into three categories, one third have sex twice a week or more, one third have a few times a month, and the other third has it a few times a year or less. A result from the essay I did not agree with or thought perhaps is out dated, was that America believes strongly in sexual behavior between married couples and monogamy. There have been many other studies and surveys that proved opposite that we are one of the many non-monogamous countries in the world today. Chapter 15 Socioemotional Development in Early Adulthood was what was covered in chapter 15. Topics included Continuity and Discontinuity from Childhood to Adulthood, Attraction, Love and Close friendships, Marriage/Family, The Diversity of Adult Lifestyles, Gender, Relationships, and Self Development. Temperament and Attachment were covered in the Continuity and Discontinuity from Childhood section of the chapter. Attraction, Love and Close Friendships was divided into three sections of attraction, the faces of love, and loneliness. Marriage and Family consisted of the family life cycle, marriage in general, the aspects of gender and emotion in Marriage, as well as parental roles. Single, cohabiting, divorced, remarried, gay and lesbian adults were examined in the diversity of adult lifestyles section of this chapter. The last section, Gender, Relationships, and Self-development consisted on the development of men and women. I enjoyed the section on marital expectations and myths because it gave me a good sense of what I can expect if I ever do get married. According to the book, the reason for our nations high divorce and dissatisfaction of marriage is due to the fact that we have too high of expectations. We expect our spouse to simultaneously be a lover, friend, a confidant, a counselor, a career person, and a parent. The myths of marriage were the most interesting part of this concept. Apparently, avoiding conflict does not save marriages, sex is not the main cause of affairs, and men arent all philanderers. After reading this chapter all I could say was, AMEN! Tools that make marriage work are establishing love maps, nurturing fondness and admiration, Turning toward each other instead of away, letting your partner influence you, and solving solvable conflicts. Useful tool were provided in this chapter. Chapter 16 Section 8 Middle Adulthood began as all other sections with Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Adulthood. Topics included in chapter 16 were changing middle age, physical development, cognitive development, careers, work, and leisure, religion and meaning of life. Physical development included physical changes, health and diseases, culture, personality, relationships and health, morality rates and sexuality. Cognitive development was described through the concepts of intelligence and information processing. Job satisfaction, career challenges and changes, and leisure were what was covered in the careers, work and leisure section. Finally, Religion and meaning of life consisted of the affect religion has on the health and psychological development of middle adult hood. This chapter was kind of depressing to read. It made me realize that middle adult hood is usually spent wishing that you were still in early adult hood and are constantly fearing for late adulthood. With middle adult hood comes a terrible physical change like wrinkles, aging spots, decrease in height, increase in weight and the more likelihood of containing a serious disease or illness such as cardio vascular disease. An interesting part of the chapter was the description of leisure in middle adult hood. Leisure refers to the pleasant times after work when individuals are free to pursue activities and interests of their own choosing. One aspect of middle adulthood to look forward to be the fact that most adults have more money therefore they can do hobbies such as traveling. He book states that traveling is very important to the well being of a middle adult because it gives them a chance to distress and get away from the typical routine aspects of life. Adults who vacation can live up to nine years longer than those who dont. Chapter 17 Chapter 17 was about the Socioemotional Development in Middle Adulthood. Personality theories and development in middle adult hood, which consisted of adult stage theories, the life events approach, and contexts of midlife development, were the first section of this chapter. Stability and Change was described by two concepts of longitudinal studies and conclusions. The last part of the chapter discussed close relationships which was described by love/marriage at midlife, the empty nest and its refilling, parenting conceptions, sibling relationships and friends, and intergenerational relationships. My mothers relationships with her siblings and parents are complex. Therefore the sibling relationships and friendships section of this book was what I felt I could identify with the most because I wanted to learn more about the dynamics of those relationships and how they change when you reach midlife. Unfortunately, the chapter didnt really cover anything it just said some stay close some grow apart. I would have like to know why some siblings stay close and some grow apart. In addition to maybe some strategies to keep those relationships close would have been nice. One interesting aspect of this chapter was the empty nest syndrome. According to the book the empty nest syndrome is the marital satisfaction decreases because parents derive considerable satisfaction from their children and the childrens departure leaves parents with empty feelings. Parents who live vicariously through their children suffer from emptiness syndrome. On the other hand, other couples greater marriage satisfaction when the children leave because they are able to live as they did before there was children, like more time for each other and other pursuits. Chapter 18 Finally Ive reached the last section which is the inevitable Late Adulthood. As always, The physical Development in Late Adulthood was examined first. The topics were Longevity, The course of physical development in late adulthood, and health. Longevity consisted of life expectancy, life span, the young old, the old old, and the oldest old and biological theories of aging. The course of physical development in late adulthood is the aging brain, physical appearance, sensory development, the circulatory system, the respiratory system, and sexuality development. As if all that wasnt enough, the book discussed late adulthood health, with topics of health problems, the robust oldest old, exercise, nutrition, weight, and finally health treatment. This chapter was depressing, informative, and interesting all at once. The depressing aspect of this chapter was the descriptions of the physical changes you face with late adulthood development. You become more vulnerable to diseases, we lose considerable muscle mass, contain a more sagging look, as well as loss of hearing, smell, taste and just about every other aspect of our physical being is worsen. Not to mention you become more asexual, due to diseases such as erectile dysfunction and societal views of disgust towards senior citizens engaging in such acts. Some of the more informative information in this chapter was the growing controversy over vitamins and aging. My grandparents take several vitamins because they were instructed that it was crucial to their health. According to the book, some researchers believe that just a balance diet is all that is needed to achieve health at an old age. Why this is true and important, other studies have shown that other factors such as pollution, smoking, and poor food quality can make it difficult, therefore those who took antioxidants like vitamin E reduced their chance of heart disease. Chapter 19 Chapter 19 was the Cognitive Development in Late Adulthood. The topics Cognitive functioning in older adults, work and retirement, the mental health of older adults, and religion in late adulthood were discussed. Cognitive functioning in older Adults consisted of the descriptions of the multidimensional, multidirectional nature of cognition, education, work, and health links to cognitive functioning, the use it or lose it approach, and the training of cognitive skills. Work and retirement talked about work for senior citizens in general, retirement in the united states and other countries and their adjustment to it. The mental health of older adults discussed its nature, depression, dementia, Alzheimers disease and other afflictions. As well as fear of victimization, crime, elder maltreatment, and meeting the mental health needs of older adults. I was very intrigued by the story of ninety-two year old Russell Bob Harrell. Apparently, this man puts in twelve hour days at Sieco Consulting Engineers in Columbus Indiana, as a highway and bridge engineer designing and planning roads. I

Comparing the Country Estate in Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park :: comparison compare contrast essays

Importance of the Country Estate in Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park       The world of Jane Austen's novels is a world of the country estate. Her central characters   are members of the parish or landed gentry and their lives and adventures often circle around the local estate and the people who live there. One of Austen's main literary principles was to write only about the things she knew about in her own life, and the world of the landed gentry was one to which she had access. However the country estate in her novels serves a greater purpose than that of a mere background to the lives of her characters. Austen uses the country estate to give the reader an insight into the personalities of her characters, and as a way of discussing political, religious and aesthetic ideas of the period.       One of the most obvious functions of the country estate in both Prideand Prejudice and Mansfield Park is that of mirroring the character of its owners and Inhabitants and thus of providing a symbolic representation of their values and traits of personality. When Elizabeth Bennet visits Pemberley, she is impressed by what she sees:       It was a large, handsome stone building, standing well on rising ground, and backed by a ridge of high woody hills; - and in front, a stream of some natural importance was swelled into greater, but without any artificial appearance. Its banks were neither formal, nor falsely adorned. Elizabeth was delighted. She had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste.  Ã‚  Ã‚   (p.267)    This description occurs at a point when Elizabeth is being forced to reconsider her opinions of Darcy. She has already read his reply to Wickham's slurs on his character, but still believes Darcy to be a man of excessive pride, a belief which is overturned during her visit to Pemberley, and this view of the estate is the first stage of her transformation of opinion. The information which the author gives us enables us to start challenging our assumptions about Darcy, and follow the process which is occurring within the mind of Elizabeth. This description of the estate gives us information about many aspects of Darcy's character. The beauty of the house and grounds make us feel that perhaps he has justification for any pride he displays. Comparing the Country Estate in Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park :: comparison compare contrast essays Importance of the Country Estate in Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park       The world of Jane Austen's novels is a world of the country estate. Her central characters   are members of the parish or landed gentry and their lives and adventures often circle around the local estate and the people who live there. One of Austen's main literary principles was to write only about the things she knew about in her own life, and the world of the landed gentry was one to which she had access. However the country estate in her novels serves a greater purpose than that of a mere background to the lives of her characters. Austen uses the country estate to give the reader an insight into the personalities of her characters, and as a way of discussing political, religious and aesthetic ideas of the period.       One of the most obvious functions of the country estate in both Prideand Prejudice and Mansfield Park is that of mirroring the character of its owners and Inhabitants and thus of providing a symbolic representation of their values and traits of personality. When Elizabeth Bennet visits Pemberley, she is impressed by what she sees:       It was a large, handsome stone building, standing well on rising ground, and backed by a ridge of high woody hills; - and in front, a stream of some natural importance was swelled into greater, but without any artificial appearance. Its banks were neither formal, nor falsely adorned. Elizabeth was delighted. She had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste.  Ã‚  Ã‚   (p.267)    This description occurs at a point when Elizabeth is being forced to reconsider her opinions of Darcy. She has already read his reply to Wickham's slurs on his character, but still believes Darcy to be a man of excessive pride, a belief which is overturned during her visit to Pemberley, and this view of the estate is the first stage of her transformation of opinion. The information which the author gives us enables us to start challenging our assumptions about Darcy, and follow the process which is occurring within the mind of Elizabeth. This description of the estate gives us information about many aspects of Darcy's character. The beauty of the house and grounds make us feel that perhaps he has justification for any pride he displays.

Thomas Jefferson: The Man, The Myth, and The Morality :: History

Thomas Jefferson: The Man, The Myth, and The Morality Thomas Jefferson was a man of the greatest moral character who has been excoriated routinely over the last 30 years by historical revisionists and presentists. His commitment to America and his vast contributions to the framing of society as it is today are overlooked in favor of base analysis of his character that, while not flawless, is that of a morally upright person who has deeply held convictions and lives by them. Jefferson was born to a prominent family of Virginia tobacco growers. Plantation life is based largely around the work of slaves, so Jefferson was surrounded by them from the time of his birth in 1743 until the day he died. One of the harshest criticisms of Jefferson comes from the fact that, while he vehemently opposed slavery, was indeed a slave owner himself. As historian Douglas L. Wilson points out in his Atlantic Monthly article â€Å"Thomas Jefferson and the Character Issue†, the question should be reversed: â€Å"...[T]his was of asking the question... is essentially backward, and reflects the pervasive presentism of our time. Consider, for example, how different the question appears when inverted and framed in more historical terms: How did a man who was born into a slave holding society, whose family and admired friends owned slaves, who inherited a fortune that was dependent on slaves and slave labor, decide at an early age that slavery was morally wrong and forcefully declare that it ought to be abolished?† (Wilson 66). Wilson also argues that Jefferson knew that his slaves would be better off working for him than freed in a world where they would be treated with contempt and not given any real freedoms. Another way that Thomas Jefferson shows his moral character is in his most famous achievement, the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. This document is probably the most important document in the history of the United States, and one of the most important in the history of the world. Jefferson writes that â€Å"all men are created equal† and argues that every man has the right to â€Å"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.† Jefferson’s document shows not only his strongly held beliefs in freedom, but his acceptance of and belief in the views of the Age of Reason. He believed himself to be a person who was doing what was morally right, not for the fame that would eventually accompany it. Thomas Jefferson: The Man, The Myth, and The Morality :: History Thomas Jefferson: The Man, The Myth, and The Morality Thomas Jefferson was a man of the greatest moral character who has been excoriated routinely over the last 30 years by historical revisionists and presentists. His commitment to America and his vast contributions to the framing of society as it is today are overlooked in favor of base analysis of his character that, while not flawless, is that of a morally upright person who has deeply held convictions and lives by them. Jefferson was born to a prominent family of Virginia tobacco growers. Plantation life is based largely around the work of slaves, so Jefferson was surrounded by them from the time of his birth in 1743 until the day he died. One of the harshest criticisms of Jefferson comes from the fact that, while he vehemently opposed slavery, was indeed a slave owner himself. As historian Douglas L. Wilson points out in his Atlantic Monthly article â€Å"Thomas Jefferson and the Character Issue†, the question should be reversed: â€Å"...[T]his was of asking the question... is essentially backward, and reflects the pervasive presentism of our time. Consider, for example, how different the question appears when inverted and framed in more historical terms: How did a man who was born into a slave holding society, whose family and admired friends owned slaves, who inherited a fortune that was dependent on slaves and slave labor, decide at an early age that slavery was morally wrong and forcefully declare that it ought to be abolished?† (Wilson 66). Wilson also argues that Jefferson knew that his slaves would be better off working for him than freed in a world where they would be treated with contempt and not given any real freedoms. Another way that Thomas Jefferson shows his moral character is in his most famous achievement, the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. This document is probably the most important document in the history of the United States, and one of the most important in the history of the world. Jefferson writes that â€Å"all men are created equal† and argues that every man has the right to â€Å"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.† Jefferson’s document shows not only his strongly held beliefs in freedom, but his acceptance of and belief in the views of the Age of Reason. He believed himself to be a person who was doing what was morally right, not for the fame that would eventually accompany it.

Ben-Hur Video Review Essay -- essays research papers

For many centuries, the Roman Empire dominated the known world. Several great emperors brought Rome from a small city in central Italy to the largest world power to date. It didn’t happen all at once, but was a sluggish process. Rome began her quest for power in the last centuries B.C. and continued well into the time of Jesus. Rome ruled with an iron fist and wouldn’t allow anyone to speak out against the empire. Their plan of conquest consisted of taking an area over by force and then acting friendly with the inhabitants of their newly acquired territories. The motion picture â€Å"Ben-Hur† tells of a Jewish family who is caught right in the middle of a similar situation with the empire during the days of Jesus. Judah Ben-Hur is the main character in the movie â€Å"Ben-Hur.† He grows up in a wealthy and politically influential family who had everything they could possibly want. While still a young child, Judah’s best friend, Messala, moved to Rome for education. As the years went by, Judah and Messala never forgot each other. But while in Rome, Messala grew to be a wicked man that would do anything or use anybody to gain social prominence. Ordered by the Emperor, Messala returned to his homeland to rule as a Tribune. Judah heard of Messala’s return and met him as soon as he arrived. While talking with each other, they decide to see who can throw a javelin more accurately. Both men hit the same target and Judah interpreted this as a sign that Messala still considered them equal. Pr... Ben-Hur Video Review Essay -- essays research papers For many centuries, the Roman Empire dominated the known world. Several great emperors brought Rome from a small city in central Italy to the largest world power to date. It didn’t happen all at once, but was a sluggish process. Rome began her quest for power in the last centuries B.C. and continued well into the time of Jesus. Rome ruled with an iron fist and wouldn’t allow anyone to speak out against the empire. Their plan of conquest consisted of taking an area over by force and then acting friendly with the inhabitants of their newly acquired territories. The motion picture â€Å"Ben-Hur† tells of a Jewish family who is caught right in the middle of a similar situation with the empire during the days of Jesus. Judah Ben-Hur is the main character in the movie â€Å"Ben-Hur.† He grows up in a wealthy and politically influential family who had everything they could possibly want. While still a young child, Judah’s best friend, Messala, moved to Rome for education. As the years went by, Judah and Messala never forgot each other. But while in Rome, Messala grew to be a wicked man that would do anything or use anybody to gain social prominence. Ordered by the Emperor, Messala returned to his homeland to rule as a Tribune. Judah heard of Messala’s return and met him as soon as he arrived. While talking with each other, they decide to see who can throw a javelin more accurately. Both men hit the same target and Judah interpreted this as a sign that Messala still considered them equal. Pr...

Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria Essay

This development was heralded as an avenue to usher in democratic stability and good governance. However, contrary to widespread expectations, the post-military regime became an avenue for the explosion of violent ethno-religious conflicts in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, since the emergence of democracy in May 1999, not less than one hundred ethnically and religiously instigated conflicts have occurred in Nigeria which resulted in loss of lives and unquantifiable material and psychological damage. Drawing from documentary research and findings, this paper probes the persistent spate of ethno-religious crises in Nigeria and its harmful implications on democratic consolidation in Nigeria. It investigates the history, causes and manifestations of ethno-religious conflicts in Nigeria and maintains that unbridled lust for power, corruption, religious intolerance and the failure of the government to deliver democratic dividends, have resulted in these conflicts between ethnic and religious groups in the country. In the light of all these then, can democracy thrive in an atmosphere of crises? Can Nigeria come out of ethno-religious conflicts? If so, what steps can the government take to rein in the menace of these crises? Finally, the paper provides submissions for curbing this social epidemic, which has become a permanent feature of the Nigerian social polity. Keywords: Nigeria, Ethno-religious, Crises, Democracy, Development Introduction Democracy could be said to be a seed: when you sow bountifully, you reap bountifully. Thus, one of the dividends of democracy, which Nigerians have reaped in abundance since the transfer of power from the military to the civilians on May 29, 1999, is the rising wave of ethno-religious conflicts with devastating and untold consequences on lives and property (Jega, 2007: 116). Nigeria is a very populous nation in Africa with diverse cultural heritage. In fact, the country has a population of over 140 million and over 400 ethnic groups belonging to different religious sects as well (Salawu, 2010: 345). Since the attainment of independence, Nigeria has remained a multi-ethnic nation, which has been grappling with the problem of ethnicity on the one hand and that of ethno-religious conflicts on the other hand. At the inception of independence, for administrative expediency the various ethnic factions were fused and merged together by the colonialists. Then, the colonial masters left and things started falling apart, the center no longer held. No ethnic group desired to see the other. Little wonder then that the former Secretary of State at the British Colonial Office (1952-1959), Sir Peter Smitters regretted the action taken by the British to merge diverse ethnic groups into one in Nigeria. According to Ali (2004) cited in Adebayo (2010: 214), he was reported to have lamented that it was extremely dangerous to force diverse radical and social entities into single rigid political structure. However, that statement was medicine after death; the deed had been done. Indeed, a conglomerate of almost four hundred ethnic groups, each having its distinct history, language, culture and political systems before the colonial rule, all preserved in mitigated forms with the British system of governance super-imposed and named Nigeria really had future implications for unity. The colonial administration, for administrative convenience, compressed and merged the various ethnic groups in their respective regions, making Hausa/Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba the major ethnic groups and reinforced the three political/administrative divisions – the north, the east, and the west, under appropriate constitutional arrangement. At independence and post independence era, the status-quo of the colonial era was retained under that infantile freedom, with every group retaining its tradition, language, and culture while sharing the common central institutions in a federal arrangement (Adebayo, 2010: 214). As a result, these major ethnic groups, because of their opportunistic positions were seen as consistently dominating the political and economic scene before and after the attainment of independence in 1960 and this led to agitations for state creation by the other â€Å"minor† ethnic groups who saw themselves as the marginalized groups. However, the more states were created, the more the complaints of marginalization and inequality by the new minorities against the new majorities in each state (Abdullahi and Saka, 2007). Consequently, the proliferation of ethno-religious and political turbulence in the country is therefore necessitated on the one hand by cultural, communal and religious differences and on the other hand by fear of domination nursed by the minority groups. As if what constitutes the federalism is not satisfied, there have been agitations for reversing back to the old regional autonomy of the different groups for the purpose of determining the pace of their development and control of their respective resources. These pernicious phenomena of ethnicity and religious intolerance led to the incessant surge of ethno-religious conflicts, which gave birth to the many ethnic militias today like the O’dua People’s Congress (OPC) put in place by the Yoruba in the south-western part of the country to fight for the protection and defence of Yoruba in Nigeria; the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), fighting for the cessation of the Igbo ethnic tribe in Nigeria; the Bakassi Boys; the Egbesu Boys; the Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC), the Igbo Peoples’ congress (IPC); the Arewa People’ Congress (APC) and the Ohaneze Ndigbo among others. This might probably be the feeling of Elaigwu (2005: 12) when he writes †¦the violent protests in the Niger-Delta over perceived injustice in resource distribution; the Itsekiri-Ijaw violence in the Delta; the resumption of the Ife-Modakeke communal violence; the menace of Odu’a Peoples’ Congress (OPC) and the accompanying violence in Lagos and Shagamu areas; the formation of the Arewa Peoples’ Congress (APC) and the Igbo Peoples’ Congress (IPC); the MASSOB feeble attempt to resuscitate Biafra; the Sharia crisis and the demands for a confederation; the South-South demand for the control of its resources; and all the recent interethnic/religious conflicts in various states across the country are all part of the bubbles of the Nigerian federation. They are based on the historical structures of mutual fears and suspicions among Nigerian groups in a competitive process. They reflect dissatisfaction of Nigerian groups with the state of the federation. With the emergence of all these ethnic militias and the deep divide between the various ethnic groups, religious intolerance became more violent and bloody with more devastating results using the ethnic militias as the executing platforms of ethno-religious agenda. Federalism thought to be an approach to national unity, resulted to anarchy in the country. A number of steps were taken to at least mend the disunity and disarray prevalent then and promote unity among the various ethnic groups. These included the establishment of federal institutions in some states of the federation, promotion of national cultural and sporting activities, and, more significantly, the National Youth Service Programme (NYSC), just to mention a few (Adebayo, 2010). Although these steps yielded pockets of successes in achieving national unity, the â€Å"unholy† marriage of convenience of the ethnic groups still begs for irrevocable divorce. While the ethnic rivalry held sway, religious pluralism, which culminated in many crises, shook the country to its very roots. The pernicious effect of this trend is not entirely surprising given the fact that religion is so sensitive to Nigerians that many are not only ready to defend it at all costs, but are ready to die for it. Hence, religious pluralism which resulted in religious intolerance was fused with ethnic rivalry, producing the recurrent spate of ethno-religious crises. And because of the violent nature of ethno-religious conflicts, which often take the form of riots, sabotage, assassinations, lynching and maiming, kidnappings, armed struggles, guerilla warfare and secession in Nigeria, they undoubtedly pose dangerous threats to democracy in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. Yes, as Jega (2007: 116) truthfully stated, the genetically engineered seeds of democracy planted by our colonial masters and further successive military regimes have grown to mature crops for harvest. Instead of democracy yielding peace, stability and security to lives and property, it seems to have yielded a return, full circle spate of ethno-religious conflicts and violent eruptions. Thus, the discussion of ethno-religious conflicts in whatever context becomes all the more necessary given the fact that there is a phenomenal recurrence of these conflicts around the nation thereby increasing its threat level to democratic consolidation in Nigeria. It is against this backdrop that this paper attempts to probe the history, manifestations and implications of ethno-religious crises in Nigeria since the dawn of democratic dispensation. Causes of Ethno-Religious Crises in Nigeria According to Awolowo (1990: 35), the notion of Nigeria as â€Å"a mere geographic expression† was engendered by the forceful packaging by colonial authoritarian fiat of unwilling communities of diverse origin and culture under the same polity. Consequently, relations and political behavior of the peoples are characterized by mutual suspicion and invidious hatred since they are strange bed-fellows, who were only coerced into the nation-state via amalgamation. Until 1960, Nigeria was a British colony. Like most colonies, it was not constructed for internal coherence, but rather for the administrative convenience of the British (Shively, 1997: 39). Over 400 different languages and dialects are spoken within its borders, and there is also an important religious split, as the north is primarily Muslim and the south is predominantly Christian, making her not only at ethno-religious crossroads but also at linguistic crossroads. As diverse as these ethnic groups are, they are also not accommodative of each other’s religion and professions of faith. This state of intolerance has added up to fuel the spate of crises in Nigeria. It should be noted that religion has always been the platform for frontal expressions of ethnic aggressions and conflict. Hence, ethnocentric politics, sectional solidarity and primordial interests became prominent features in the nation’s political practice. Sectional and individual virtues and interest rather than collective virtues and national unity are advanced and exalted. Thus, communal orientation precluded any attachment to the state and the syndrome of the ‘son of the soil’ took preference over merit and competence in the choice of policies and leaders. Although as Obasanjo and Mabogunje (1992: 4) aptly observed, colonialism provided scaffolding of holding the different communities together, not much change was achieved in altering communal mentality and predilection. Nonetheless, the persistent military incursion into government and politics did much harm for the body polity as national issues was mostly tribalized and primordial virtues extolled. These regimes had primordial outlook and sub-national mentality under which the northern part of the country was favoured brazenly, on one hand, and the southern part was deliberately dealt with in terms of appointments, contracts, location of government establishments, political oppression and repression as well as provision of social services and infrastructures. As a result, ethnic sectarianism has left a trail of destructive violence and even threatened the territorial integrity of Nigeria (International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2001). Indeed, after long years of authoritarian rule, when the military clique and their civilian collaborators privatized the Nigerian state (Ukiwo, 2003), politicians in the emergent Fourth Republic were all too anxious to claim control of the state and its oil wealth as well. This thus led to an unbridled competition for political relevance and spheres of interests among politicians, especially in the context of the division of the country into geopolitical zones, states and local governments and the fact that distribution of benefits among the political class depended on the ability of each member of the ruling class to deliver his constituency. This lust for power has led to the neglect of the needs of the masses and the demand for peaceful co-existence. Instead, the rulers continue to enrich their pockets through corrupt dirty means and seek for elongation of tenures for selfish gains. In the circumstance, ethnicity, religion and other sectarian identities are exploited, resulting in avoidable violent conflicts among component units of the country. The persistence of mass poverty and increasing income inequality, largely as a result of the transformation of the fortunes of politicians and their allies from jobless neighbors to emergency billionaires in less than two years after capturing power, have deepened popular alienation. It has also called into question the legitimacy since 1999. Consequently, some of the easiest things to do in contemporary Nigeria are to mobilize an assassin, vigilante, ethnic-cum-religious militia, rioter, crowd or rented pro-government demonstrator. The result could only be imagined. The power lust of the political cliche is one of the perceived causes of ethno-religious crises in Nigeria. Another reason responsible for ethno-religious crises in Nigeria is the wrong interpretation by those who claim authority to the understanding of the holy books. If not so, one wonders why people act contrary to the teaching of the holy books (whether the Quran or the Bible) in matters pertaining to peaceful co-existence, unity and sanctity of life, and property. As it is a serious disease for someone who does not have a full grasp of the interpretation of any of the holy books to claim authority to knowledge, many of the so called ‘religious leaders’ use their shallow knowledge to put up interpretations to suit their selfish ends banking on the ignorance of their followers. Lamenting on the wide gap between the teaching and practice of religion among its adherents, Adebayo (2003) cited in Adebayo (2010: 219) identified some factors responsible for using religion as instrument of polarization, among which is leadership tussle, which also culminated in the proliferation of many denominations in the country. Also, sectarian jingoism, as well as excessive patriotism to one’s religious sect, which consequently transformed to fanaticism, is another major factor contributing to this social menace. Salawu (2010) also noted that the failure of the Nigerian leaders to establish good governments, forge national integration and promote what can be called real economic progress, through deliberate and articulated policies, has led to mass poverty and unemployment. This has resulted into communal, ethnic, religious and class conflicts that have now characterized the Nigerian nation. Poverty and unemployment have therefore served as nursery bed for many ethno-religious conflicts in Nigeria because the country now has a reservoir of poor people who warmongers as mercenary fighters. What this means theoretically is that poverty and unemployment increase the number of people who are prepared to kill or be killed for a given course at token benefit. This explains why all ethno-religious crises that ever occurred in Nigeria have a large turnout of people (including the under-aged) as fighters. Lastly and very importantly, and not the least, the ethno-religious conflicts in Nigeria also have some historical antecedent (Salawu, 2010). This is because many governmental actions during the colonial rule and after independence encouraged, to a large extent, the sowing of the seeds of ethno-religious conflicts that are found to be rampant in the Nigerian nation today. Over the years, many events in Nigeria have led to the politicization of mistrust, intolerance, violence and acrimonious relations between the mainly Moslem north and the Christian south of Nigeria. To this extent, there has been an unfortunate insertion of ethno-religious discrimination and incompatibility in the structures of the Nigerian State since the colonial period. The political events of the January 15, 1966 coup and the July 1966 counter-coup further entrenched ethno-religious configuration in Nigeria. This is because the killings and counter-killing that followed the coups which took ethnic and religious colorations as the Muslim dominated tribes in the north were set against the Christian-dominated tribes of the southern region.