Indian American Immigrants in the Golden Age Essay

Arthur W. Helweg is known as a Cultural Anthropologist and a Professor of Anthropology at the Western Michigan University, who studied the lives and stories of many Asian Indian Immigrants in different countries around the world which includes Australia, Canada, Great Britain, India and the United States of America (Arthur W. Helweg). Through his love and passion for the people with Asian Indian origin, he worked with different publications and has already written various books that feature the tale of many Asian Indian Immigrants around the world. He also co-authored the book entitled â€Å"Immigrant Success Story: East Indians in America,† which has been awarded with the Theodore Saloutos Book Award given by the Immigration and Ethnic History Society, as the best book on immigration history category in the year 1990. More so, he has also done co-editorial task wherein he has been chosen to be a part of the editorial team for the book series entitled â€Å"Discovering the People of Michigan. â€Å" The book entitled â€Å"Strangers in Not-So-Strange Land: Indian American Immigrants in the Golden Age† is regarded as one of the most brilliant works of Arthur William Helweg in his chosen field of interest in studying the narrative of many Asian Indian people around the globe who seek for better life and fortune outside the premises of their motherland. This book is also characterized as one of the apparent proofs that signify the dedication and excellence of Arthur Helweg, as a Cultural Anthropologist and an enthusiast of the Asian Indian struggles as immigrants in different countries abroad, more especially in the United States. Currently, there are now thousands of Asian Indians who are living in the United States. Synopsis of the Book In a sense, this book of Arthur Helweg presents his own account of case study regarding the narrative and struggle of many Asian Indians in the United States. For more than three decades, the story of these people has never been in the mainstream and almost regarded as nonexistent ever since they arrived in the U. S. However, this profound community of Asian Indian is regarded to be a group of immigrants with the highest educated members and known as the highest earning average family of any ethnic group in North America. Thus, theses Asian Indians are noted as valuable members and representatives of the latest type of immigrants arriving in the United States. In a sense, the author, Arthur Helweg, has focused more about the theme of immigration of these people in the United States. This book highlights the truth and facts about the narrative of Asian Indian immigration and how these highly educated and professionally trained immigrants vary and deal with different challenges and difficulties associated to the traditional concepts of migration in the United States. Thus, this book tells about the real stories of these people regarding their journey to the land of America and how they adjusted to the new set of laws in the United States, as immigrants and foreign people. This also highlights the case study of the author about the adjustments involved in creating a new line of respect between the Asian Indians and the Native American people. Furthermore, this reading also renders a clear overview about the historical narrative of the Asian Indian in the United States and how the Indian Diaspora becomes a global tribe, which has been all over the world. This also explains the origin of these people and how their homeland is being recognized, as these people continuous to create good recognition across their names internationally. With the fact that these people is now recognized as one of the well acknowledged group of immigrants in the United States, this book also highlights the real happenings as to how the ethnicity of the Asian Indian survived in a relatively new world and volatile nature of the United States. More so, this also depicts the apparent pictures with regard to the efforts and hard work of these people in laying the foundation of their ethnicity in the United States. The Critique From a personal point of view, it is of reasonable grounds to say that Arthur Helweg, as a cultural anthropologist, professor and author is indeed a master and specialist of what he does best, which is that of studying the narrative of Asian Indian immigrants in different areas around the globe, more especially in the United States, as evident in the excellence of this book. More so, this book is observable to be cohesive and reliable in presenting valuable and factual accounts of the Asian Indian ethnicity and their journey towards instituting their equal position in the American society. Starting from the fundamentals and discussing the significance of the main story, the writing style of Arthur Helweg for this book is indeed informative and at the same time profoundly entertaining, as he also incorporates most of his distinct humor in presenting and discussing some of the light aspects of the book. Though writing a case study type of book is a bit tricky and complicated to do, the author, Arthur Helweg, has done a good job in presenting a well researched and comprehensive readings with regard to the life and struggle of these people, as valuable refugees in foreign countries like the United States. The way Arthur Helweg highlights and reveals both of the minor and major issues that these people are experiencing in the United States, as immigrants, is really one of main factors of that has made this book cohesive and well informative, not only for the member of Asian Indian community in U. S. but also for the people who wants to know more about the narrative of these ethnic people. Relation to Class Material As for this book, the topic about ethnicity and race of the Asian Indian in the United States is what I really understand the most. As a part of the class discussion, I learned that though people from other countries with specific ethnicity or cultural background prefers to live and start a new in a foreign outside of their original home turf, they can still be classified as an individual according to their culture, as seen evident through their beliefs, actions and language. Thus, as for the case of Asian Indian, depicted in the book of Arthur Helweg, it has become more understandable that these people, though they traveled so far and miles away from their homeland, still remain as a recognizable ethnic society in the U. S. because of their cultural background and racial origin, which can never be easily altered though they are already living in a relatively strange world. More so, through the materials we have discussed in class, it made me understand better that racial inequality in diverse countries like the United States is one of the most significant and common issues as well as dangers that typical ethnic immigrants like the Asian Indian in the United States are facing as a group of people living a strange world. Lastly, it is of my well established knowledge that migration of different of ethnic group in particular country helps alter the cultural background and/or orientation by the people involved in the process. In the end, this book of Arthur Helweg, has helped me better understand the issues and facts as to how migration of different ethnic groups of people around the world is changing the world cultures and influencing the formation of various policies both local and international. More so, through this book, I learned that in the end, race and/cultural differences should not be the main basis from which one would draw the importance and superiority of ethnicity. Instead, people should value the worth of one another according to their abilities and help for the betterment of a given country, regardless of race or cultural background. Works Cited Arthur W. Helweg. 15 may 2009 Helweg, Arthur. Strangers in a not-so-strange land: Indian American immigrants in the global age. California: Wadsworth, 2004. Miller, Barbara. Cultural Anthropology in a Globalizing World. Boston: Addison-Wesley, 2007. Profile of Asian Indians in the U. S. A. spindlepub. com. 15 May 2005

An Analysis of Ann Petry’s “Like a Winding Sheet” Essay

There have been countless studies to that show Stress, Frustration and Anger are related. In Ann Petry short story â€Å"Like a Winding Sheet† you can observer this relationship. First, let us study the title â€Å"Like a Winding Sheet† the words Winding Sheet means â€Å"shroud†, this indicate the characters of the story could have a shroud hanging oven him? The story is told in a third person point of view it takes place in the Ghetto’s of Harlem. As you start reading the story, you can see right away Johnson and his wife Mae seem to be a happy black couple. He tries to get up before his wife Mae, and he wants to â€Å"surprise her by fixing breakfast† (1). This divulges a romantic side of Johnson to the reader however, instead of getting up he goes back to sleep because, he has worked ten hours at night and his legs are sore. Another sign of Johnson’s love for Mae is when they were arguing about being late for work and â€Å"he couldn’t bring himself to talk to her roughly or threaten to strike her like a lot of men might have done† (59). Although, this appears from the outward appearance to be a normal relationship it’s hard to ignore the inward emotion that Johnson has been keeping bottled up. Was this the beginning of Johnson’s Stress, Frustration, and Anger? As the story moves on Johnson arrive to work late as always, he see the forelady, a white woman who is upset about something. He avoids looking at her, but she stops him anyway. He greets her â€Å"good evening; Mrs. Scott’ (91) and waits for her reaction. The forelady refers to the time and tells him that â€Å"he is late again† (92). Johnson explains to her that his legs are giving him trouble. Then suddenly she makes a remark that’s bring out Johnson anger â€Å"Every guy comes in here late always has an excuse† (100) â€Å"and niggers are the worse† (102). She also points out that she is â€Å"sick of niggers† (104) which is definitely, in today society considered a racial statement. This along with the fact that it was coming from the mouth of a white woman was more than Johnson was prepared to handle. But, he reframes from hitting her because she is a woman. Was this the beginning of Johnson’s Stress, Frustration, and Anger? Work is finally over and Johnson’s anger has subsided. However, this doesn’t last long. As Johnson makes his way home he sees a line of people being service coffee at an urn. He stops to get some when the white girl who is  serving the coffee refuses to give Johnson a cup and he assumes it is because he is black but in really it was because the young lady had to make more. Just the thought of not being serviced the coffee because, he was black made him furious and makes him want to â€Å"hit her so hard that the scarlet lipstick on her mouth would smear and spread over her nose, her chin† (253). But, as with the forelady he reframes from hitting her because she is a woman. Was this the beginning of Johnson’s Stress, Frustration, and Anger? Johnson makes home from work and starts arguing with his wife. She says that he is â€Å"nothing but a hungry nigger who is trying at act tough† (312).This pushes Johnson over the edge his anger and frustration take over. He finds his hands on this wife face not realizing that he was taking all his anger and frustration on the one he loves. You may ask why Johnson didn’t hit the forelady when she calls him a nigger, and why did he control his anger when the waitress refuse to give him a cup of coffee, and more important why did he lose it when his WIFE called him a† hungry nigger†. As the reader of this story I came up with two answers to these questions: one is if a black man lost control on a white woman his life would be worthless and black on black violence was acceptable. My second reason is as human being we have the tendency to take all of our frustrations and anger out on the ones that we love hoping that they will understand and will forgives us.

Should Cell Phones be allowed in School? Essay

Do you take your cell phone with you to work, and use it all day long for organization and needed communication? Well, school to us students is like our work, but our organization and communication tool is prohibited. Cell phones have so many positive uses in the classrooms, yet at the same time we aren’t putting our current technology to good use. For example, cell phones in our school are banned, and I feel that this should be changed immediately. The many benefits of cell phones in school are the following: they increase student participation, student/teacher safety, student organization, and student records and grades. Technology is surrounding the world today, it is used in every aspect including hospitals, office buildings, and fire departments, even in schools. I feel there is no need to ban the use of cell phones in schools, they can help in many different ways. By keeping our community updated with all the new technologies out there will help make a more useful point to all of these new gadgets. Let’s face it, modern technology is fun, and students love to have fun. Moreover, if we bring that exciting technology into the classroom than we can create a more relaxed and enjoyable environment for the students and the teachers. For instance, instead of taking notes in class the students can record a lecture so that they could replay it back while doing homework. In addition, if in science the students do a lab experiment then they can take a video of that lab and replay it for homework and further understanding. Furthermore, classes can download a school program onto their phones and the teachers can use it in the classroom. According to a Speak Up survey, 62 percent of parents report that if their child’s school allowed cell phones to be used in school they would probably purchase a cell phone for their child. Read more:  Argumentative Essay on Cell Phones in School As a result, the school would not have to worry about supplying the students with phones, and most students already have cell phones. This is only one great way that cell phones are beneficial. When students carry around cell phones they also increase student and teacher safety. For example, if someone falls down the stairs and gets badly injured students can call the ambulance quicker than telling a teacher and then having to call. Also, if there is a school intrusion somebody can call the authorities with their cell phones. Consequently, if students do not have cell phones in these types of emergencies then help will not be provided soon enough. In other words,  students need to have cell phones in school in case these emergencies happen. On the other hand, cell phones are also organization tools. For instance, the other day I came home from school and started my regular routine. I let my two dogs out, then grabbed a snack and sat down with my book bag. Then I preceded to take out my assignment book, but what I found, however, is that I appeared to have left my assignment book in my locker. Again. When this happens I have only my memory to tell me what my homework was, and that is not very reliable after a long day at school. I do have my phone with me, however. If we were allowed to have cell phones in school I could have plugged my homework into the calendar for today, and as a result have been able to do it. That way I wouldn’t have to worry about carrying around that small book with scribbled assignments in it. Students always check their phones when they are at home, so every time they pick up their cell phone they would be reminded of their homework tonight. And if a student had a test the next day the teachers could remind the students to set an alarm telling them to study that night. If students are better reminded about their homework, grades will go up because students will be doing their homework. The school will also save money because they will not have to buy assignment books. It is realistic that there will always be bulling through text message, online, or face to face, although if someone is bulling another student through text message that student could save these messages as proof to show authority of what was really said. There will always be problems with cheating on tests, although to solve this problem since the teacher already knows that every student has a cell phone, the students would have to take their cell phones out, turn them off and place them on the corner of their desks during test time. The use of cell phones in school may take away the students urge to use them, which would than create a better learning place for these students.

Type 2 diabetes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Type 2 diabetes - Essay Example If this process does not occur, then the blood sugar rises beyond the desired amount, which is 160 mg/dl on the upper limit (Macleod, 2007). Until recently, type II diabetes was considered to be a disease for the adults but current trends have shown that even children are at the risk of acquiring it thanks to poor lifestyles, which have culminated into numerous cases of childhood obesity. This paper will discuss type II diabetes, its causes and effects as well as its prevalence rate among other related issues. Type II Diabetes Type II diabetes is considered to be the most prevalent among the various types of diabetes that we have such as type 1 and gestational diabetes. This is due to the fact out of the approximated figure of 220 million people suffering from diabetes worldwide, 90% are said to be suffering from this type II diabetes (Zimmet, 2009). It is sad to note that a lot of people continue to lose their lives as a result of diabetes, which, according to health experts, is a d isease that is mostly reliant on our lifestyle and therefore is preventable. It is estimated that in the year 2004, 3.4 million patients lost their lives and to make matters worse, statistics indicate that the rate of deaths will have doubled in the period between 2005 and 2030. Currently, it is estimated that 285 million i.e. ... For example, India is believed to have the highest number of diabetic cases with approximately 51 million patients, followed by China with more than 43 million patients (Takrouri, 2007). This can be attributed to poverty, which makes it difficult for people to access medical services in terms of regular checkups so as to perform early diagnoses. Most people in these regions will find it necessary to visit a doctor when the condition has already become chronic and therefore more difficult to treat. This is made worse by the fact that type II diabetes is not easily detectable as it is considered as not having obvious symptoms in its early stages, which makes it almost impossible for someone to suspect that he or she is suffering from the disease. In fact, research indicates that a person can live with the disease for as long as 10 years or more without knowing (Chase, 2002). There are various symptoms which when observed, a person should take the step of consulting a doctor so as to co nfirm whether he or she is ill or not. These are for example frequent urination also known as polyuria, fatigue, increased hunger and thirst as well as unintended weight loss. Polyuria in this context results from high concentration of glucose in the blood, which triggers the flow of water from the cells through osmosis and into the bloodstream, in an effort to create a point of equilibrium (Elaine, 2007). Consequently, the water in the bloodstream increases and as a result, the kidney is forced to react by ejecting it out as urine and the cycle continues. By so doing, it means that a lot of water is discharged from the body unnecessarily and therefore, the patient becomes increasingly

Reasons for Falling of Students Proficiency Rates and the Resource Assignment

Reasons for Falling of Students Proficiency Rates and the Resource Depletion in the Computation of GDP - Assignment Example Also, I think another reason would be that even if federal funds to be allocated are substantially big when it is divided among numerous public schools all over the country, the end amount may be considerably small already. It may be so small that it is already insufficient to have any bearing on the improvement of proficiency rates. To address this, the act intends to focus on those schools that need the funds more. This is the very reason why there are conditions imposed. To increase the funds of schools with satisfactory student proficiency rates would be a waste of resources. It would have the effect of increasing the already high proficiency rate or some, leaving those with low proficiency rates behind. In my opinion, forest resources are to be considered as capital. Trees in the forest provide a lot of benefits, especially in the environment. And I recognize the fact that it is very important to keep a growing forest. However, prior to being cut down, trees cannot be considered as a product.   For me, trees that are still part of the forest cannot be considered as consumption or as an export for the computation of GDP. Nor can they be considered as an investment because there is no spending involved.Hence, if forest resources are capital, its depletion should be considered as depreciation in the capital. "Gross" means that capital depreciation is not considered or subtracted in the equation of GDP. Otherwise, we come up with the Net Domestic Product. As to whether or not an increase in forest resources should be added to GDP, in my opinion, the answer is no. As previously stated, I believe forest reserves are merely capital. As such, decrease or increase in the number of trees in our forest must be considered as a capital loss or gain - which is considered in the computation of NDP, not GDP. I believe that to add it to GDP would cause inaccuracy. The trees, if not cut down would not result in an actual commercial gain.  

Literature Review on Marketing Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

On Marketing - Literature review Example The goals of a successful brand include conveying the message clearly; verifying the integrity of business; psychologically linking with the target prospects; motivating the customer, and improving consumer loyalty. A powerful brand is priceless as the battle for consumers is increasing gradually (Rice & Atkin, 2012, p. 102). It is vital to invest time in researching, classifying, and developing the brand since it is a foundational part within the marketing communication strategy. Brands let the customer to purchase with assurance, and they offer a route map in a confusing range of alternatives. The actual strength of booming brands is that they meet the beliefs of individuals that purchase them or, to put it in a different manner, they signify a promise kept. They can be considered as an agreement between a retailer and a consumer - if the retailer adheres to its side of the deal, the consumer will be contented; if not, the consumer will henceforth look somewhere else. The value to companies of having powerful brands is unarguable. Brands that maintain their promise draw loyal customers who will come back to them on regular intervals. The advantage to the brand owner is that that predicting cash flows becomes simpler and hassle-free, and it becomes feasible to arrange and control the progress of the business with better assurance. Therefore, brands, with their capability to secure revenue, can be ranked as prolific assets in precisely the same manner as any other, more conventional assets of a company, for instance, investments, equipment, and cash. In general, the top bran ds are developed around an exclusive business thought or a persuasive idea (Kozinets et al, 2010, p. 82). When workforce is motivated by the plan, they will facilitate to maintain it and communicate it to clientele, dealers and others by means of their eagerness and dedication. Luxury Brand Luxury brands are considered as â€Å"images in the minds of consumers† (Caywood, 2013, p. 96) that involve links regarding a higher price, value, aesthetics, uncommonness, and a high level of non-functional connections. The contemporary perceptive of a brand is focused on customer and individuality. As a result, brands are considered as images in the minds various target groups, which are designed by businesses to categorize their products. Luxury brands are well connected with their core products. This is revealed by the current definitions of luxury brands, which talk about particular associations regarding product traits. As a result, the constitutive traits of luxury products communic ate mainly with those of luxury brands. Producers of luxury produc

Native Americans and criminal justice Assignment

Native Americans and criminal justice - Assignment Example They play an intricate role in nation building. This is through some of the cultural beliefs that they hold dear to them, to this day. Some may think they are uncivilised, savage, and unruly, but Native Americans bring a certain cultural difference to the lands (Nielsen & Robyn, 2009). In regards to the criminal justice system, their system and set of beliefs are quite different. What they might believe to be wrong in their eyes might hold a different opinion in a court of law, in present time. The underrepresentation of Native Americans in many areas of the American society shows of the struggle they have to go through in modern times. They are a marginalized community, and their needs are not often addressed by the few representatives they have. Although colonization tried to bring in different ideologies, Native Americans still hold onto their beliefs (Nielsen & Robyn, 2009). They are now engaged in a war to prevent the erosion of their culture, by struggling to survive as a distinct, cultural community. In conclusion, to better understand what the Native American community goes through, it is best to understand them from before pre-colonization, to present time. This can give one an understanding as to how they relate to others as a people. One can also find the different ideologies they hold toward the criminal system (Nielsen & Robyn, 2009). Through the struggles they face, it is frighteningly normal to see why they are a marginalized group of people, and how they are trying to overcome these

3 Assignments Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

3 Assignments - Assignment Example Tolentino-DelosReyes, F. A., Ruppert, D. S., & Pamela, K. S. (2007). Evidence-based practice: Use of the ventilator bundle to prevent ventilator associated pneumonia. American Journal of Critical Care, 3 (4), 12-13. In this article, the effect of educational program on nurses’ is studied and performance in the CCU and SICU is observed. Here, it is shown that compliance of the program improved knowledge, and helped in reducing VAP incidences. It was showed that a 30 minute education session improved both the nurses’ knowledge and clinical performance. The relation of aspiration factor which contributes to VAP is studied. It was revealed that the pneumonia rate increase from 24% in day one to 48% in day 4 was caused by high secretions level. The clinical education project that was used to asses nurses’ knowledge on the use of VAP bundle supported the proposed change (Zaydfudim et al., 2009). Here, the implementation of VAP dashboard system to measure and record compliance of VAP bundles is described. Statistical information is given, showing that VAP accounts for about 60% of deaths among patients with hospital-acquired pneumonia. VAP prolongs the hospital stay by about 4 to 9days while considerably rising hospitalization costs (Hawe et al., 2009). Compliance with the VAP bundle improved from 39% to 89% for the period of August 2007 to July 2008, after the implementation of electronic VAP dashboard system, while the incidence of VAP reduced from a mean standard deviation of 15.2 to 9.3. Here, the study findings supported the proposed change through the implementation of VAP bundle dashboard system to measure and record compliance of VAP bundles (Hawe et al., 2009). By giving examples of VAP incidence, the article provided morbidity and mortality rate in ICU, which was measured at a rate 40/1,000 patient days in 2004 and 15.9/1,000 ventilator days towards the end of 2005. By offering staff education and overall changes in the organization in order

Malaria Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Malaria - Essay Example In actual fact, Malaria is still the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in many parts of the world and more especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, it is an indication that the tools available for malaria control are neither adequate nor good enough for the prevention. Therefore, participating in malaria clinical trial will help in finding a permanent solution for this disease as together with other researchers we try to find curative and preventive drugs and vaccines for malaria. Additionally, by getting involved in malaria clinical trial I will be able to have a chance to propagate and advocate a malaria vaccine and make it available for routine use. Moreover, I will be able to offer my own ideas and notions about this terrible disease as well as get to know qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection purposes especially in Africa. This will help to know how endemic is this disease and also facilitate in finding a malaria vaccine which will be more efficacio us than the malaria drug which has been used from time immemorial as a malaria control tool. To be precise it is clearly known that malaria is a tropical disease and is spread by female Anopheles mosquitos which are infected by a plasmodium parasite. Therefore, this plasmodium falcipavum malaria causes millions of clinical episodes globally but mostly endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria involves diseases such as shaking chills and high fevers among others. In countries like Ghana malaria claims so many lives of children and in 2008 only there were numerous deaths of children under the age of twelve years. Malaria can leads to cerebral malaria and anemia if not well controlled (Isle, 2001). Many strategies and measures have been taken to combat malaria; rapid diagnosis, treatment, intermittent preventive treatment especially given to pregnant women, use of sulphadoxine- pyrimethamine insecticide treated nets and introduction of sprays and mosquito repellant lotions. All these have been known to reduce morbidity and mortality, but this does not mean that there are no challenges. For instance, if mosquito nets are not used effectively people will still continue to die. For example, the nets may have a hole and used badly, some of the therapies are also facing resistance in some countries. These include Artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) which is facing challenges of resistance in Thailand especially in Cambodian border. Therefore, going back to research more on how to eradicate malaria is very essential. Hence my participation in a clinical trial will not be propagation for new effective and appropriate drugs but to try and convince the researchers to focus on a vaccine and not a drug. Truly, vaccine has worked effectively for so many years’ records, and history has it that the vaccine has a great ability to protect humanity from diseases. Precisely, a vaccine has helped so much in combating smallpox, fighting polio and making the measles and yellow fever very rare (Dziedizc, 2010).. Therefore, vaccine can do so much more for public health, and I have a great conviction that malaria vaccines

Health and Aging Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Health and Aging - Essay Example This happens when the size of old retired population widens while the working population shrinks at the same time. Therefore, this puts more burden socially and as well as economically. Almost all countries mainly developed, like Australia, Japan and The United States of America, that have managed to increase their life expectancy rate by effective public health strategies are either presently suffering from this problem or anticipating future concerns over this issue. This change in the population structure has recently became a source for concern and now all the countries are doing whatever they can to deal with this problem as smoothly as possible. According to the Population Division of the United Nations, in 2006 the number of old persons (60 years or older) in the world passed 700 million. And it is estimated that by 2050, 2 billion older persons are expected to be living. According to this estimation, in a span of 50 years, the number of old people in the world will triple in number. The Population Division also gave the increasing rate of the aged people. According to them, the world aged population is increasing at a rate of 2.6 percent per year. When compared with the 1.1 percent increase per year in the total population, this increase of 2.6 is noticeably faster. (UN, 2007) The statistics show that this rapid increase in the number of aged people i... As a person becomes older, naturally he will become relatively unhealthy and would definitely be in need of some sort of medical assistance. In America, the health care costs for the older population have risen dramatically. If steps are not taken right now, then, in future, the standard of living and life expectancy rate will fall greatly. One problem with giving old people health care is that they usually suffer from chronic diseases which are the result of an unhealthy life style. The cost of curing these diseases is very high. Therefore, if these chronic diseases can be avoided, this will not only benefit the person but also the people who were supposed to provide for them. Now the question remains how can these diseases be avoided One way is to maintain a healthy lifestyle in terms of regular exercising, avoiding tobacco and alcohol etc. This includes making people aware of the importance of this. People need to be health literate but the statistics show that older people who need to be health literate are not. The statistics show that 39% of the people of age 75 or above have below basic health literacy. 23% of the people of ages 65 to 74 and 13% of people ages 50 to 64 have below basic health literacy. Therefore making them aware is very necessary. (NIH, 2008) Another way how this can be avoided and reduced is regular medical check ups. These measures would either prevent the people from suffering from these chronic diseases or would help in detecting the diseases when it is not too late. Most countries have not yet realized the importance of this. Only a negligible amount of funds are spent on prevention. The challenge for the society is to give people more

Wisdom Tradition and how life is best lived Essay

Wisdom Tradition and how life is best lived - Essay Example They determine whether one lived his or her life the best way or not. This has always been the way of life for communities that have been guided by the teachings of their religious books. Besides, clergymen can be used to teach a number of people in the field to bring about the desired final effect. Plato and Augustine observed that all religions in the world did share number of specific truths. Among them are the wisdom books and teachings that are used to guide the respective folders. Through the perennialism theory, the various religious groups in the world have various truths that take care of their flock’s social, intellectual, and psychological needs of a given culture over a period. A number of people that include the founders of the various religions, prophets, and philosophers have further echoed this. Despite the fact that the scriptures might oppose each other superficially, one can distinguish a common doctrine for the final purpose of human life (Brown, 88). Through Socrates and Augustine, a number of philosophers have gained insight on what is meant by wisdom tradition that has been of the great contribution to the development of the field. Plato had a clear picture of what wisdom is. He defines it as the best thing in life. Essentially, he comes up with three platonic images of wisdom to make his wisdom perception clear. The icon of leaving the cave depicts wisdom as a factor that enlightens and illuminates the mind and the nation. With its possession, one is at the verge of having a new dimension of life. The second iconic point is wisdom as the tool that cares for the heart. Primarily, it does insist on ensuring that the knowledge is put into practice (Brown, 89). Most significantly, he professes that to mean that he is ever willing to learn. One must remain committed to learn and satisfy the intrinsic

Students on the Internet Essay Example for Free

Students on the Internet Essay The internet is a very resourceful and useful tool for highschool students. With the internet students can access information from any computer with internet access, transfer data and use a large variety of online resources that are in more depth than high school text books. Information resources such as web sites and online Libraries can be accessed from any computer, with internet access. A computer with internet access can go online to a website that a student may have access at home or at school. With a student being able to access web sites and online resources at their own discretion, research for projects can be done at a students own pace. Now that research can be done at home and both school a student can go into more depth with their work, due to more time of research. The internet can also be used to transfer data to and from school, and also with other students and peers. Programs such as online messengers and e-mails can be used to communicate. Communication that is done over the internet is very fast and unlike the telephone can be used to transfer data such as work done on the computer. The quality of transferred data is in the same shape as it was when it was sent to another computer. With students being able to transfer data quickly and reliably with each other, they will be able to work with positive in croups. There are large numbers of resources that can be found on the internet, these resources are often in more depth than a high school text book. When a internet user goes online to a search engine such as google and types in a topic thousands of links relevant web sites show up. With all of these resources available the amount of information that a student can use is endless and in more depth than high school textbooks. With a large number of in depth resources on the internet a student can achieve a grade of high standards. With the internet as a fast reliable and safe resource at a students disposal, the input and information in a students homework and assignments  with be of great quality, filled with information. The number of great tools and possibilities available to students on the internet is endless and should be used by every one.

Business Development And Its Relationship To Ict Information Technology Essay

Business Development And Its Relationship To Ict Information Technology Essay From time to time, Information and Communication Technology has made a great impact in contributing to the business development and improvement that enables a business to become more efficient, beneficial and also it also provide secure jobs. Besides, Information and Communication Technology has assist in effective communication and also co-operation between a company and its clients. Unlike the old days, when Information and Communication Technology has not been widely introduced and used into the society, business people are unable to speed up their work and also less efficient. In the globalizing technology society today, Information and Communication Technology is used in marketing, by helping companies to reach new markets and to offer customers to purchase goods and services at anytime they need, and almost all the time, at a reduced cost and also enhancing the level of customer service by using website. Business people also use e-mails to contact their clients and also to market their products and services directly to their potential customers and also to stay in contact with many customers and suppliers. In fact, by using the advanced marketing strategies, it will increase the effectiveness in communication and is able to access information through their websites, so that customers are able to gain information and to increase their business needs. Before the society started using Information and Communication Technology, business people uses pamphlets, banners and etc. to market their products. Without Information and Communication Technology, business men have difficulties staying in contact with their customers and hardly reach to other potential customers and suppliers. On the other hand, finance has also developed in the Information and Communication and Technology. Practically almost all companies use software program in business society today. In example, Sage and Excel are companies that manage other companies accounts and monitor at the financial information from time to time. These companies help to respond to the customers by offering discounts and also help in improving the management of their finances. With the help of these advanced technologies, many companies are relief for their accounts are managed by a company that alters at almost 24 hours. In the 80s, when Information and Communication Technology has not even exist, accountants have to spend wee hours checking the accounts in their offices or even at home in order not to make any mistakes in the finances. Even so, without these advanced technologies in the 80s, accountants had to record and file the companies account in files and papers and often, accountants had difficulties in fin ding the old records when needed. However, Information and Communication Technology has helped many accountants in saving companies data in the database which is easier to locate when the files are needed. In the business society, companies often need their staffs to be away from their desk and office to attend meetings and meeting clients at almost everywhere. From this aspects, many employers demand for an adjustable working systems which is accessible to the computer. Now that the society is so dependable in Information and Communication Technology, business people can work out of their office with laptops, PDA and smart phone. During the time when Information and Communication Technology has not exist, staffs and business people can only access into customers and suppliers needs and information from files in the office only and this could not help to satisfy a customer needs in any changes. In an office that have two or more computers creates a network, which allows the resources like printers, internet access, files and information to be share among colleagues and staffs can also access into the information and files at home to remote working systems that supports changing busines s needs. Back when the Information and Communication Technologies had not exist, staffs and business people can only access to resources like files or printers one thing at a time. This will delay ones work speed. Moreover, in the developing 21st century today, Information and Communication Technology is widely used in social media. The society today connects among themselves via advanced technology and social network like Facebook and Twitter, networks that helps in spreading messages faster and in simpler ways. Besides, it is essential that businesses are dominated by Facebook and Twitter which are used in business line that provides better solution for customers because business people and customers tend to communicate more in two-way communication instead of one-way communication. Business people also use social media to market their products, provides information about their products and deliver application to their user base towards the society today who uses and connects into social network every day. Studies show that the society today connects themselves into the social media two times more than before. Hence, business people who want to market their products connect themselves to soc ial network like e-Collaboration, Facebook and Twitter and post them online to market their products for a wider coverage. Before Information and Communication Technology was introduce into the society, where there werent any advanced social network like Facebook and Twitter, business people cannot market their products into a wider coverage of the society and resulting low marketing sales and lesser the profit for the company. Back then, business wasnt as developed as how it is for now. Also, many companies today are very dependable on the Information and Communication Technologies in managing and monitoring customers and clients. Many companies use advanced technologies like Customer Relationship Software(CRS) to manage their existing clients and also generate potential clients from there. Companies that use Customer Relationship Software have many data recorded in their database to keep track with customers, send messages and promotion to the potential clients. During the time when Information and Communication Technology hadnt been brought up, customers data and records are recorded in papers and files, which has never made it easy for business people to keep track with the potential customers. Without the technologies before, things werent any easier for business people. In addition, the impact of Information and Communication Technology in business is great and has influenced and change many things in many ways. In example, Information and Communication Technology is used in e-Business in order to reduce the transaction costs and also to widen the marketing coverage, as well as to increase the productivity and speed of doing business. Trinidad and Tobago are the examples of how the technologies has helped in e-Business in modernizing the private sector, to aim in encouraging e-Business For example, where the impact of ICT in Business like the E-business as the use of ICT in business to reduce transaction costs, to broaden market reach, and to increase the productivity and speed of doing business. E-business is a catalyst for modernizing the private sector in general, such as Trinidad and Tobago, seek to encourage e-business with a view to increase demand for domestically produced ICT products. To this end, the government of Trinidad and Tobago plans to co-develop, with private sector, an integrated e-business application for local companies to conduct online sales. Furthermore, the government has offered to help identify comparative advantages for local e-business and will collaborate in the development of skillnet, a service that provides recruitment, learning and career information. It is the close alignment between ICT and business processes that can provide competitive advantage to organizations and produce high quality products and services at lower cost, resulting in a strategic advantage(McCabe, 2003; Nevens, 2002). In general, there are two types of enterprise applications that support business processes example, logistics,CRM, etc and applications that directly implement business processes like example, electronic banking,mobile telephony, airline e-tickets and so on. For the first type of enterprise applications, it is possible to gain competitive advantage by combining ICT with unique company culture and knowledge. This unique combination enables the company to function effectively and utilize key assets such as organizational knowledge and culture. The second type type of enterprise application provides a service or product to customers and its timely deployment and unique features can result in competitive advantage. Due to the impact of ICT on the main factors influencing the way of doing business abroad, manifold changes are taking place within the organizational structures of the economy. The analysis below examines the consequences of these changes for three ares; the internal organization of companies, the organization of markets, i.e. the relationship between companies and its customers, and the organizational forms of co-operation between different companies. This classification is useful, since the fiscal analysis will refer to these three categories. ICT also serve as a platform for the business activities of a company, for example if the supply of information and services constitute its main business activities. Moreover, companies may market ICT and the Internet itself, example, if they provide memory capacity or websites, as an Internet Services Provider (ISP). Using ICT tools, such as video-conferencing or e-mail, decisions which are relevant to the company can be taken either in dif ferent locations or at the same time in different places. In addition, the management of a company may often be situated elsewhere and not in the company itself. As link between different companies can be created using ICT, it is possible to cooperate internationally without needing to centralize all activities in one location. Thus, activities are no longer dependent on geographical distances Information and Communication Technology has expended so great in business and it was so successfully developed especially in telecommunication, and it has impacted so many people in good aspects. Maxis and Digi are examples of how Information and Communication Technology has successfully developed in telecommunication. Information and Communication Technology has contributed as a communication tool and aided in keeping everyone in contact in just a key button away even though the distance is very far away. In this case, it is known that Digi uses many communication tools in keeping track with its customers especially via Facebook in Malaysia. Besides, Information and Communication Technology has helped telecommunication in keeping track with business partners and people via video conferencing in business plans, and research shows that it is two times more of people communicate via face-to-face in various forms. Moreover, business people need not travel far to attend a meeting instea d they can sit in their office and attend the meeting via video conferencing. However, there are also negative impacts of Information and Communication Technology on business sectors in telecommunication. People tend to abuse the usage of Information and Communication Technology that has expended so great to assist the society in a different form while some people uses Information and Communication Technology in a way which it is not created for. Some people uses the advance in telecommunication in Information and Communication Technology to start a crime, such as kidnapping and also blackmailing someone else. It has been shown in research that telecommunication usage is abused with other way especially in identity stealing. Business Development and its relationship to ICT? Business Development is the process of improvement that enables a business to become more efficient, profitable, and thereby creating or safeguarding jobs. Business development therefore does not only concern marketing and sales departments, but all parts of a business which constitute its value chain and requires effective communication and co-operation within a company. Over the last 20 years ICT has increasingly been identified as a major contributor to the process of business development and improvement and it has been identified that ICT à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. is responsible for around half of productivity growth in modern economies. It drives improved efficiency and better services and products across the entirety of the private and the public sectors. (Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission responsible for Information Society). What has been the impact of ICT on Business? The use of ICT and technology has affected every aspect of business, transforming not only the way that business is conducted but also creating new business sectors and jobs. The creation of companies like Google and e-Bay which did not exist 10 years ago, was only made possible by advances in technology and the changes that this has created in the way that people behave (currently Google is valued at  £44billion Source BBC 5th June 05). Some examples of the nature of this change include:

Point Of View In A Film Film Studies Essay

Point Of View In A Film Film Studies Essay Often many good animation films mesmerize the vital element of the film known as Point of View to allow a viewer to make important connections and seeing the world in certain way. How To Train Your Dragon uses its first act of point of view through the use of camera shots, the collage of friendship , the upper and lower shot cuts to get across the range of dragons that inhabit this world, including the one nobody has ever seen, the sinister Night Fury. Its a character (Hiccup) that has end of game boss tattooed across it from the moment its first mentioned. Hiccup instantly knew that dragons werent harmful to humans but only defend themselves as would a typical person had done in unease situation. Crammed with lively scenes and plenty of action, this rowdy tale is just right for fantasy fans or anyone with a spirit of adventure. The Point of View in a film is a vital element because similar to narrative it has connection with the literacy and visual arts. Point of View as defined by Corrigan is as the vantage point from which a story is presented, something is seen and, by implication, the way the point of view determines what you see (49). So it makes sense that there would be a sudden surge of movies from this point of view because it so connects to peoples experience. Anything that calls for a level of naturalism and voyeurism can absolutely be filmed in this style. The face to face of the Hiccups and night fury for the first time, the way the intense scene the camera presented, the closeness among the sounds of approaching danger, the alert generated when the night fury first abandoned by the hiccups, the closeness of facial gestures on both the characters ultimately not only created a suspense but a general attraction to the shot. The short and long term camera angle around the eyes of night fury as he see the hiccups for the first time made a statement pertaining as if an unknown person was looking doubtful and vicious. With a dragons eye view, the viewers fly through gorgeous wrinkly rock formations that rise from the sea. As mentioned in the A Short Guide to Writing about Film by Corrigan, the camera can take the actions to the higher level bringing subjective and objective perspectives so that what is shown is not confined to any one persons perspective (49). In Viking culture, theres nothing more disloyal or perilous than consorting with the enemy- especially when its a dragon. But Hiccup discovers that maybe the dragons fear the humans as much as they fear them. Will Hiccup finally become the man his father wants him to be by slaying a dragon, or will he honor his newfound friendship with Toothless deliberately done by the camera work? A different kind of simplicity works, to equally satisfying effect, in the scenes that refer most directly to the films title. When Hiccup first meets Toothless, a type of dragon especially feared by the Vikings of Berk, the animal is hurt and scared. As noted in the middle of the movie, the camera mainly focuses more on the actions of hiccups and the objective actions between him and night fury to build a concept of the film. The camera gives close shots of night flurries first outburst and then love with the hiccups thus making the entire scene vibrant with the sounds, realism, and voyeurism what a norm al viewer would have asked from a good film. As viewer notes hiccup in a scene where he goes to explore the place the night furry fall, the camera makes the scene more vibrant than anything to create a stage of exploration, a new settings and tone of the shot. The dragons, not surprisingly, are the main visual attraction and come in various shapes and sizes with clever names like the two-headed Hideous Zippleback, or the Monstrous. The most fearsome and illusive of all is the Night Fury basically, a fire-breathing stealth bomber in black scales. As he further to the point where he notices the impaired dragon, the close of up shots, a complete silence, and along with the direct sound, the camera ultimately changes the position of sniper, to be exact the view of the people. It takes the audience through the entire scene as creating fear, a fear that any typical human would have gone through at the moment when he or she has seen something vicious, out of frontier, and moreover compell ing to defeat. The camera slowly builds a tense situation, close shots at the face of the hiccups to pertain the sweating of a normal person, and none the less to show cause and effect. The broken tree truck in half, the impact of the fall of night furry on the ground, the long muddy slide made by the fall, recalls in viewers mind that the dragon must be something dangerous and so powerful that his fall slashed a tree in half and made a drag in the dirt. This scene represent as if the viewer were walking through the process of finding the dragon. This is another factor of point of view that as viewers watch the particular scene they might feel that they are seeing another character through the eyes of Hiccups, and that character of course is the viewer himself (49) This film doesnt excite straight away, but when it starts to warm up, youre left with a moral tale and a fun animated kids film. Hiccup is a pretty rubbish viking. His lame Viking-ness is made much worse by the fact that his dad, Stoick (Gerard Butler) is the daddy of all Vikings and chief dragon slayer. When Hiccup downs one of the toughest dragons of all no-one in the village believes him. That is until he feeds, tickles, tames and flies the beast leading to the blurring of the line between human and dragon. Gone are the ironic one-liners, replaced by some genuinely funny jestings. From when Hiccup first encounters Toothless and all the following dragon/human interaction that follows, the jokes are straight from the Pixar more than words handbook. As for the flight scenes, its really not too far off the majesty of other animations, comprehensive and soaring over seas and forests. The viewers will believe a dragon can fly. As for the mild danger that adorns the movie scenes theres n othing particularly mild about it. Toothless may have huge, pensive eyes and tiny retractable teeth but some of the other beasts are enough to get the viewer scared. The camera angles around the Night Fury physical appearance make his look so aggressive and enormous in size but in fact the dragon is merely a small compared to other dragons. When the true foe rears its scaly head, the camera affect will surely make children and adults alike quivering in their glasses. Hiccups world is turned upside down when he encounters a dragon that challenges him and his fellow Vikings to see the world from an entirely different point of view. Although the viewer might feel stranded from the actual element but fire-breathing dragons, medieval projectile weaponry and dragon dive-bombing provide edge-of-seat suspense. The action sequences are well-balanced with humorous and poignant scenes from the emotional life Hiccup so the subjective and objective perspectives stay alive and viewers get the mix of all kind of emotions. Regardless, Hiccup ventures out into battle and downs a mysterious Night Fury dragon with his invention, but cant bring himself to kill it. The scene that makes Hiccup realize that there is a hope of consideration that dragons are likeable, and the camera switches back and forth to the actions of both to make a scene of curiously. In the process, Hiccup finds a kindred spirit and gets to know the secret life of dragons (it turns out that theyre far from nightmarish beasts, despite being snuggle-toothed and bug-eyed). A scene that would make a twist or force the viewer to think, Will he! Will he! Kill the dragon or not. Beside that scene the viewers doesnt get to see that much interaction between both of them, especially when Hiccup and Astrid were taken by the Night Furry to the dragon world. The overall view and standpoint after the in progress of the movies changes as to something solemn. Instead, Hiccup and the dragon, whom he names Toothless, begin a friendship that would open up both their worlds as the vigilant boy learns that his people have misjudged the species. But even as the two each take flight in their own way, they find that they must fight the destructive ignorance plaguing their world. Through the use of point of view in the film, the viewers get to experience the abnormal yet adventurous and realistic scenes in the film. The camera help generate the scenes that viewers perceive would have experience themselves thus making the film more enthusiastic, blastic, and more over the complete scene of something fresh off the bucket. The notion of significance or urgency immensely is shattered all throughout the entire film scenes. Several examples but more truly the love of Hiccups for Astird is visible through the friendship of hiccup and the night fury. Since she hasnt seen the coolest dragon and noticed the hiccups have controlled the deadly one, it has opened a path for a girl to trust someone who is capable of dealing with vicious dragons. Hiccup spends much of the film flustered and frustrated. But with a voice that is both geeky and vulnerable, Hiccup ultimately winds up attracting our sympathy and love. The bond between both the hiccup and dragon are can be pertai ned as ultimately, a boy and his dog, only the dog is played by a massive black dragon named Toothless. Both characters are shown openly taking risk of their own safety to protect the other, and their connection is all the more affecting because its wordless. The viewers ultimately feel that Toothless, like the rest of the dragons, is not anthropomorphized or attribution of human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena. Unlike the creatures in other Animation films, Toothless doesnt speak or crack wise, make pop-culture references, or dance to songs by Smash-mouth. This film hits on point of view such as diversity and acceptance and is mixed in with the humor and spunk of Viking teenage anguish. Hiccup does a fantastic job as voice talent for the adventurous character and his love interest, Astrid a tomboy out to be the best Viking girl displays comic relief throughout the film. Other than that the film ends in much the same way i t begun, but it has a more positive outlook and the perspective constantly changes as the scenes progress. I dont think it was a good enough way to resolve the issue. The story builds up this climax, but it felt more like a cop-out. Hiccup gets banished, losing his father, and then in an instant hes forgiven. The different views the audience see makes them feel like Hiccups personality and his interactions with the dragons and the different personalities of the Vikings are the basis for the humour in the story, versus humour that is more satire or topical. An animated like Zero to Hero, where the title character is a awkward misfit who, after accidentally wreaking chaos on his own village, must undergo training in order to attain his true potential, the same goes for this film. From the beginning to the end of the film, the viewers feel as if theres a camera room where one can walk around with a little monitor and see the set and the characters in virtual space. Viewer can change the lenses and do tracking shots through a virtual world. Its peculiar, but its instructive in terms of finding camera angles and lens lengths. Somehow walking around with a camera on a virtual set is like shooting live action on the fly. The close up shots and the wide ranges shots of the characters help both the voice actors all provide great performances that always keep pace with both the humor and the range of the characters emotions. Like most movies Its the kind of generational divide you can see repeated throughout history.   It is where the clash ha s been established by the older, its the younger generation who be trained that the only way to bring peace is to reexamine the nature of the conflict and then try to resolve it non-violently.   Violence perpetuates violence.   These lessons of courageous kindness and violence-begets violence may seem corny, but Dragon makes it work.   The lessons are subtext that kids will pick up on by seeing how the characters behave and that adults should appreciate because it makes the film more than the sugar cereal of most animated films. From the eye-catching, hillside Viking settlement to the peaceful mountain lake where Hiccup carefully nurtures his relationship with Toothless, the films design elements known as Point of View bring the viewers into the lives of these dragon-blighted people conjuring up vivid pictures of what that place in history might have looked like. The inhabitants may be modern and the situations a bit fantastical, but the realistic approach to perspectives makes for a more livable film.

Platos Argument For A Just Life :: essays research papers

Plato's Argument For A Just Life Plato's argument for the benefits of a just life is intrinsically linked to his definition of good and its relation to people's desires. He begins by showing that when the objective of a desire is simple (e.g. quenching a thirst), the desire must be correspondingly simple. Since thirst is a simple desire, the man's objective must also be simplistic and should we assign an adjective to his objective, we would falsely complicate it. In addition, Plato believes that we would be seriously erring if we assign a value of good to an desire. In common use, the adjective good would denote something that is good in relation to others of its kind. We consider a drink good if it contains characteristics that we look for in a drink (e.g. pleasantness or taste). Plato takes this a step further and states that something that is good must not only be good in relation to others but it must be wholly good. Thus a drink cannot be truly good if evil results from it. This poses an interesting question for Plato's readers namely, since no one wants bad things to happen to them, why do people engage in self-destructive activities? The answer lies in the fact that the only reason that we desire to drink is that we anticipate the result of our thirst being quenched. Our appetites see no further consequences than the immediate fulfillment of our desires; they do not contemplate the results of the actions we take to fulfill our desires. For this reason, Plato believes that we must separate the soul based on how it reacts to desires. There must be a part of the soul, Plato reasons, that contemplates the end result of our actions and makes decisions based on a higher reasoning than desire. So we see two distinct parts of the soul. The first is said to be appetite (which desires without reason) and reason (which considers the consequences). Reason may thus work against anything that is not for the total good of the man. Plato holds that if the desire were truly for a good drink, reason would never oppose it. Our usage of the word good, however, has come to denote an expectation of usefulness to our purpose; although this may be relative to the end result that we experience from the object. For example, we call a knife good because it is sharp and cuts well but if the end result is that we cut ourselves, we would say that the knife would have been better if it

The First Amendment Essay -- essays research papers

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to assemble peacefully, and to petition the Government for e redress of grievances. The first and inargueably the most significant of the amendments to our Constitution is the First Amendment. The amendment that established our freedoms as citizens of our new confederation. The First Amendment insured, among other things, freedom of speech and of the press. Since the establishment of these rights, they have often been in question. People have debated over, "What is too much freedom?", and "When is this freedom not enough?" I believe that these rights were established to protect the people, and as a society, we must try to determine whether they are. One of the major organizations that exercises free speech is the press. The press has coined the phrase, "It is the people's First Amendment right to know." This first example best relates to a situation we have now; that of national crisis. The press has the right to release information to the public, but they must use judgment in what they release. Certain news that they might release could put people in danger, therefore taking away the right of all people to be safe. For many years, the idea of the press telling too much has been made fun of. In popu...

Central Route

Describe how each side used central route or peripheral route influence principles to effect the negotiation outcomes These two â€Å"routes to persuasion† are 1) the â€Å"central† route and 2) the â€Å"peripheral† route. An individual who is using the â€Å"central† route will be more engaged in processing and evaluating the merit of the opposing parties proposal. This â€Å"route† is much more analytical and is concerned with the actual logistics of the proposal/argument.An individual engaging in the â€Å"peripheral† route, by contrast, will focus less on the actual merit and logic of opposing counsels arguments and instead will be more influenced by things that are more peripheral to the issue at hand, such as the physical attractiveness of the person trying to persuade them, or presentation or â€Å"packaging. † It is very important for negotiators to realize that numerous factors can influence their negotiation partners to use either one of these two â€Å"routes†. It would be a mistake to assume that an opposing party will always operate in the same way based on immutable factors such as education or intelligence.Something as simple as not having gotten enough sleep, or being hungry, can have a huge effect on how the opposing party will process your arguments during negotiation, making even a savvy or intelligent negotiator more likely to use the â€Å"peripheral† route. The Central Route to Persuasion: Research has established that decision’s reached using the â€Å"central† route to persuasion are generally going to be more satisfying and beneficial to parties in the long run. However, It is important for negotiators to be aware that they only want to encourage this type of decision-making if they have something of true value to offer the opposing party.Once you have determined you have something of value, the first great way to encourage this type of thinking is to discuss the issues in the negotiation as a joint problem-solving venture. This type of prompting will encourage the opposing party to look at the situation in a detailed and thoughtful way. Next, it is important to reduce distractions during negotiations if you wish to encourage this type of analysis. A simple way to do this is to ensure that you will have a quiet, distraction free environment for the negotiation where the opposing party will feel calm and comfortable.Finally, recommending open dialogue where all individuals are required to give in-put encourages individual responsibility and independent thinking among opposing parties. This can be a great way to solicit the â€Å"central† route to persuasion. When people are placed in a position of responsibility and the burden is placed on them to come up with creative and effective ways the attack the problem, they are much more likely to deeply analyze the arguments and proposals made by the other side. The Peripheral Route of Pe rsuasion:Clearly, the â€Å"peripheral† route to decision making is far less attractive when negotiators are seeking a long lasting, sustained result. Individuals who use this route to persuasion often are influenced by superficial factors such as the clothing, appearance or job title of the opposing party. These negotiators also use mental short cuts and make decisions without closely analyzing the relevant facts and consequences of the opposing parties proposal. Because this route to persuasion is less likely to result in a long lasting, sustained agreement it is only advisable to use in specific situations.Namely, those in which a short-term solution is all that is desired. The easiest and most effective way to encourage this type of decision-making is through use of the â€Å"expertise heuristic†. A mental short cut used by those engaged in the peripheral route to persuasion. This mental short cut can essentially be summed up like this: people tend to defer to perc eived authorities or experts when making decisions without thoughtful analysis. Therefore, it could be extremely useful to emphasize skill and knowledge in the area of negotiation in order to encourage this type of analysis by the opposing party.

Electronic Health Record

Abstract Electronic health records (EHR) is more and more being utilized in organizations offering healthcare to enhance the quality and safety of care. Understanding the advantages and disadvantaging of EHR is essential in the nursing profession as nurses would learn its strengths and weaknesses. This would help the nursing profession know how to deal with the weak areas of the system. The topic on advantages and disadvantages of EHR has been widely researched on with different researchers coming up with different opinions.Nurses ought to have knowledge on the advantages and disadvantages of EHR systems for them to use systems efficiently. This would transform the operations of health systems and benefit patients with quality service. The advantage and disadvantage of Electronic Health Records Electronic health records are designed for offering national access to selected information amassed from data found in medical records created by various providers irrespective of whether prov iders are in a similar healthcare system or in the event of patients of accident in a different healthcare facility (Devine, Hansen, Wilson-Norton, et al 2010).EHR is essential to nurses because it increases their efficiency hence undertake their mandate to offer care to patients effectively. Recently most of the sectors have made heavy investments in computerization of their services. The nursing practice is impacted significantly by the use EHR systems. There are both positive and negative impacts in the use of EHR systems. Some researchers have associated EHR with increased efficiency and high quality of care while others cite negative effects like high start of cost and confidentiality of health information.Understanding the advantages of EHR encourages nurses to make greater use of them, while understanding their disadvantages enables nurses to determine areas in which they ought to take caution when using them. Advantages of Electronic Health Records EHR and organizational out comes These organizational outcomes of EHR are mostly comprised of increased revenue and cost containment, together with other less tangible benefits like enhanced regulatory and legal compliance, increased job satisfaction, and improved ability to undertake research. Various authors have made the ssertion that EHRs help care givers in capturing patient charges accurately and at the right time (Devine, Hansen, Wilson-Norton, et al, 2010). Use of EHR ensures elimination of billing errors together with erroneous coding; this in turn increases the cash flow of the provider and enhancement of revenue. Appointment reminders by EHR to patients increases visits by these patients hence increasing revenue. Majority of averted costs linked to EHRs result from efficiencies which result from storing the information of patients electronically (Fleming, Culler, McCorkle, et al. 2011).These comprise of increased test utilization, reduction in resources of staff used in management of patients, redu ction of cost of supplies required for maintenance of paper folders decrease in cost of transcription and costs linked to pulling of charts. Other less tangible benefits include that there is increased operational performance and compliance to legal and regulatory requirements is improved. Additionally, researchers who use EHR experience less malpractice claims. EHRs Clinical outcomes The majority of clinical outcomes been focused relate to care quality and safety of patient.Care quality is defined as doing the appropriate action to the right person at the right time and in the appropriate manner and obtaining optimal results. Similarly safety of the patient is defined as avoiding injuries to patients from care aimed at helping them. Most of the research on EHR is focused on efficiency, effectiveness and patient safety. Weinger, (2010) made the assertion that computerized alerts directed at physicians enhanced the use of prophylactic care for patients hospitalized with the condition of deep vein thrombosis.There was a 19 percent increase in use of anticoagulation prophylaxis when computer alerts are used. This meant that there was 41 percent reduction in the risk of pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis ninety days following discharge. In addition, researchers have established that there is a relation between efficiency and EHRs in the delivery of healthcare. EHRs societal benefits Improved ability to conduct research is another less tangible benefit associated with EHR.When the data for patients is electronically stored, makes the data easily accessible hence more quantitative analysis can be undertaken for identification of evidence-based best practices with ease. In addition, public health researchers use electronic clinical data more actively which have been amassed from a huge population hence coming up with research that benefits the society (Mitka, 2011). Clinical data availability is limited but this form of data will increase. Probable EHRs disad vantagesIrrespective of the findings regarding the advantages of various functionalities of EHRs, some probable drawbacks on EHR have been identified by researchers. These comprise of financial concerns, temporal loss in productivity linked with adoption of EHR, change in workflow, security and confidentiality concerns and several unintentional consequences. Financial concerns comprise of costs of adoption and implementation, cost of maintenance, revenue loss due to temporal low productivity, and revenue declination. These factors act as deterrent for physicians together with hospitals in adopting and implementing an EHR.The purchase and installation of software and hardware, conversion of paper files to electronic forms and training of end-users are major costs. Irrespective of the associated costs, EHR technology has become common recently, as the cost has gone down significantly. The cost of maintenance for EHR can as well be high; there ought to be replacement of hardware and up grading of software regularly. Other costs include fees for support, vendor software maintenance, external contractors’ payments and information systems staff payment.The majority of EHR financial benefits are not linked with the provider, but to the payers of third party in form of averted errors, and enhanced efficiencies; these translate into reduced payment of claims (DesRoches, Campbell, Vogeli, et al. 2010). Poor alignment of incentives for healthcare organizations and towering direct costs are an obstacle. Another probable disadvantage is the risk of violating the privacy of patients. Some of these concerns have been relieved by having policy makers take actions to ensure that patient data privacy is maintained (DesRoches, Campbell, Vogeli, et al. 2010). Recent legislation enforces stringent requirements which prevent unauthorized entities from accessing the data. Topic availability The topic on advantages and disadvantages of EHR is widely available both online and on printed sources. Searching the topic online a wide range of information was obtained. Google search engine had considerable information on the topic. In the search the keywords used were ‘Electronic Health Records’ and ‘EHR. ’ With these keywords, the information obtained was on general knowledge on electronic health records.On adding advantages and disadvantages to the EHR, more refined results on the positive and negative impacts of EHR were obtained. On adding ‘EHR effect on nursing’ the results obtained showed how EHR has positively and negatively affected the functionality of the healthcare system and nursing profession. Nursing and medical journals were mostly used to get this information. In the search, online libraries like EBCOHOST and Apollo library were used. When conducting the search only peer reviewed materials were chosen by selecting that option and the sources selected were not older than five years.For this case sources were chosen to be from 2010 up to 2013. On EBSCOHOST, with the above mentioned criteria and keywords the search results were 485. Apollo online library had search results of 502. This indicates that the topic is widely researched and there is adequate information online to be used for research and practical nursing practice. This search criterion was also used on Google scholar and relevant information was obtained. Information availability On conducting search online with various search engines, information was accessible in various formats.The information obtained showed articles written by researchers regarding the advantages and disadvantages of electronic health records. While some articles presented challenges, others presented benefits of the EHR system. Files were found in PDF PowerPoint and Word document formats. The obtained results on this topic could be used for a wide range of reasons. Some on the information touched on how professionals could use this information in their w ork. For instance, the information on the benefits of using EHRs could help nurses determine how well they can use the EHR systems to enhance efficiency in their operations.Professionals can also get the information of some of the negative impacts of electronic health records. As nurses get to understand this information, it can form basis for their research to unearth what has not yet been found. Some sections of information were useful for patients who want to know about the efficiency and privacy of the system. The administration would find the information useful because it shows ways in which the hospital will benefit as well as how it will be affected negatively by the EHR system.For instance, the administration of the health care facilities will ensure increase in efficiency in the provision of services and billing process would be improved (Otto & Nevo, 2013). Understanding these benefits would encourage healthcare administrators to make decisions on whether to adopt EHR syst ems. Personal views In the nursing practice, this technology of electronic health records poses some challenges that need to be addressed before it is adopted. The major concern of this topic is the security issue, whereby the confidentiality of the information stored in these systems is under question (Weinger, 2010).It is felt that unauthorized people may get access to this information and use it maliciously. Patients wouldn’t be willing to use this system unless they are assured that their information is secure. In addition, some nurses may have inadequate skills in using the system and can easily make errors that can put patients in danger. Therefore, the nurses should be adequately trained on the use of EHR systems. Failure to do so may put patients at risk and lower the quality of the care provided which would be contrary to the intentions of EHR. Though there are cons to using the system, the pros outweigh them. ConclusionThis paper has discussed the topic on advantage s and disadvantages related with adoption of EHR. EHR is widely believed to ensure that there is improved efficiency in provision of healthcare, cost is contained and that accuracy is maintained by reducing medical errors. Through adoption of EHR, it will be easy to conduct research as medical data of the required population would be readily available. Some of the drawbacks associated with use of EHR are financial concerns, temporal loss in productivity linked with adoption of EHR, change in workflow, security and confidentiality concerns and several unintentional consequences.Despite having many unintentional consequences of EHR on balancing the benefits with the drawbacks, EHRs are beneficial specifically at social level. Information on this topic is readily available and can be used as a basis for deciding whether to adopt the system or not. References DesRoches, C. M. , Campbell, E. G. , Vogeli, C. , et al. (2010). Electronic health records’ limited successes suggest more targeted uses. Health Aff (Millwood) 29(4), 639–646. Devine E. B. , Hansen R. N. , Wilson-Norton J. L, et al. (2010). The impact of computerized provider order entry on medication errors in a multispecialty group practice.J Am Med Inform Assoc. 17(1):78–84. Fleming NS, Culler SD, McCorkle R, et al. (2011). The financial and nonfinancial costs of implementing electronic health records in primary care practices. Health Aff (Millwood) 30(3), 481–489. Mitka, M. (2011). Electronic health records, The Journal of the American Medical Association, 305(14), p1402 Otto, P. & Nevo, D. (2013). Electronic health records, Journal of enterprise informationmanagement, 26(1/2), 165-182 Weinger, M. B. (2010). Electronic health records, The New England journal of medicine, 363(24), 2372-2374 Electronic Health Record Abstract Electronic health records (EHR) is more and more being utilized in organizations offering healthcare to enhance the quality and safety of care. Understanding the advantages and disadvantaging of EHR is essential in the nursing profession as nurses would learn its strengths and weaknesses. This would help the nursing profession know how to deal with the weak areas of the system. The topic on advantages and disadvantages of EHR has been widely researched on with different researchers coming up with different opinions.Nurses ought to have knowledge on the advantages and disadvantages of EHR systems for them to use systems efficiently. This would transform the operations of health systems and benefit patients with quality service. The advantage and disadvantage of Electronic Health Records Electronic health records are designed for offering national access to selected information amassed from data found in medical records created by various providers irrespective of whether prov iders are in a similar healthcare system or in the event of patients of accident in a different healthcare facility (Devine, Hansen, Wilson-Norton, et al 2010).EHR is essential to nurses because it increases their efficiency hence undertake their mandate to offer care to patients effectively. Recently most of the sectors have made heavy investments in computerization of their services. The nursing practice is impacted significantly by the use EHR systems. There are both positive and negative impacts in the use of EHR systems. Some researchers have associated EHR with increased efficiency and high quality of care while others cite negative effects like high start of cost and confidentiality of health information.Understanding the advantages of EHR encourages nurses to make greater use of them, while understanding their disadvantages enables nurses to determine areas in which they ought to take caution when using them. Advantages of Electronic Health Records EHR and organizational out comes These organizational outcomes of EHR are mostly comprised of increased revenue and cost containment, together with other less tangible benefits like enhanced regulatory and legal compliance, increased job satisfaction, and improved ability to undertake research. Various authors have made the ssertion that EHRs help care givers in capturing patient charges accurately and at the right time (Devine, Hansen, Wilson-Norton, et al, 2010). Use of EHR ensures elimination of billing errors together with erroneous coding; this in turn increases the cash flow of the provider and enhancement of revenue. Appointment reminders by EHR to patients increases visits by these patients hence increasing revenue. Majority of averted costs linked to EHRs result from efficiencies which result from storing the information of patients electronically (Fleming, Culler, McCorkle, et al. 2011).These comprise of increased test utilization, reduction in resources of staff used in management of patients, redu ction of cost of supplies required for maintenance of paper folders decrease in cost of transcription and costs linked to pulling of charts. Other less tangible benefits include that there is increased operational performance and compliance to legal and regulatory requirements is improved. Additionally, researchers who use EHR experience less malpractice claims. EHRs Clinical outcomes The majority of clinical outcomes been focused relate to care quality and safety of patient.Care quality is defined as doing the appropriate action to the right person at the right time and in the appropriate manner and obtaining optimal results. Similarly safety of the patient is defined as avoiding injuries to patients from care aimed at helping them. Most of the research on EHR is focused on efficiency, effectiveness and patient safety. Weinger, (2010) made the assertion that computerized alerts directed at physicians enhanced the use of prophylactic care for patients hospitalized with the condition of deep vein thrombosis.There was a 19 percent increase in use of anticoagulation prophylaxis when computer alerts are used. This meant that there was 41 percent reduction in the risk of pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis ninety days following discharge. In addition, researchers have established that there is a relation between efficiency and EHRs in the delivery of healthcare. EHRs societal benefits Improved ability to conduct research is another less tangible benefit associated with EHR.When the data for patients is electronically stored, makes the data easily accessible hence more quantitative analysis can be undertaken for identification of evidence-based best practices with ease. In addition, public health researchers use electronic clinical data more actively which have been amassed from a huge population hence coming up with research that benefits the society (Mitka, 2011). Clinical data availability is limited but this form of data will increase. Probable EHRs disad vantagesIrrespective of the findings regarding the advantages of various functionalities of EHRs, some probable drawbacks on EHR have been identified by researchers. These comprise of financial concerns, temporal loss in productivity linked with adoption of EHR, change in workflow, security and confidentiality concerns and several unintentional consequences. Financial concerns comprise of costs of adoption and implementation, cost of maintenance, revenue loss due to temporal low productivity, and revenue declination. These factors act as deterrent for physicians together with hospitals in adopting and implementing an EHR.The purchase and installation of software and hardware, conversion of paper files to electronic forms and training of end-users are major costs. Irrespective of the associated costs, EHR technology has become common recently, as the cost has gone down significantly. The cost of maintenance for EHR can as well be high; there ought to be replacement of hardware and up grading of software regularly. Other costs include fees for support, vendor software maintenance, external contractors’ payments and information systems staff payment.The majority of EHR financial benefits are not linked with the provider, but to the payers of third party in form of averted errors, and enhanced efficiencies; these translate into reduced payment of claims (DesRoches, Campbell, Vogeli, et al. 2010). Poor alignment of incentives for healthcare organizations and towering direct costs are an obstacle. Another probable disadvantage is the risk of violating the privacy of patients. Some of these concerns have been relieved by having policy makers take actions to ensure that patient data privacy is maintained (DesRoches, Campbell, Vogeli, et al. 2010). Recent legislation enforces stringent requirements which prevent unauthorized entities from accessing the data. Topic availability The topic on advantages and disadvantages of EHR is widely available both online and on printed sources. Searching the topic online a wide range of information was obtained. Google search engine had considerable information on the topic. In the search the keywords used were ‘Electronic Health Records’ and ‘EHR. ’ With these keywords, the information obtained was on general knowledge on electronic health records.On adding advantages and disadvantages to the EHR, more refined results on the positive and negative impacts of EHR were obtained. On adding ‘EHR effect on nursing’ the results obtained showed how EHR has positively and negatively affected the functionality of the healthcare system and nursing profession. Nursing and medical journals were mostly used to get this information. In the search, online libraries like EBCOHOST and Apollo library were used. When conducting the search only peer reviewed materials were chosen by selecting that option and the sources selected were not older than five years.For this case sources were chosen to be from 2010 up to 2013. On EBSCOHOST, with the above mentioned criteria and keywords the search results were 485. Apollo online library had search results of 502. This indicates that the topic is widely researched and there is adequate information online to be used for research and practical nursing practice. This search criterion was also used on Google scholar and relevant information was obtained. Information availability On conducting search online with various search engines, information was accessible in various formats.The information obtained showed articles written by researchers regarding the advantages and disadvantages of electronic health records. While some articles presented challenges, others presented benefits of the EHR system. Files were found in PDF PowerPoint and Word document formats. The obtained results on this topic could be used for a wide range of reasons. Some on the information touched on how professionals could use this information in their w ork. For instance, the information on the benefits of using EHRs could help nurses determine how well they can use the EHR systems to enhance efficiency in their operations.Professionals can also get the information of some of the negative impacts of electronic health records. As nurses get to understand this information, it can form basis for their research to unearth what has not yet been found. Some sections of information were useful for patients who want to know about the efficiency and privacy of the system. The administration would find the information useful because it shows ways in which the hospital will benefit as well as how it will be affected negatively by the EHR system.For instance, the administration of the health care facilities will ensure increase in efficiency in the provision of services and billing process would be improved (Otto & Nevo, 2013). Understanding these benefits would encourage healthcare administrators to make decisions on whether to adopt EHR syst ems. Personal views In the nursing practice, this technology of electronic health records poses some challenges that need to be addressed before it is adopted. The major concern of this topic is the security issue, whereby the confidentiality of the information stored in these systems is under question (Weinger, 2010).It is felt that unauthorized people may get access to this information and use it maliciously. Patients wouldn’t be willing to use this system unless they are assured that their information is secure. In addition, some nurses may have inadequate skills in using the system and can easily make errors that can put patients in danger. Therefore, the nurses should be adequately trained on the use of EHR systems. Failure to do so may put patients at risk and lower the quality of the care provided which would be contrary to the intentions of EHR. Though there are cons to using the system, the pros outweigh them. ConclusionThis paper has discussed the topic on advantage s and disadvantages related with adoption of EHR. EHR is widely believed to ensure that there is improved efficiency in provision of healthcare, cost is contained and that accuracy is maintained by reducing medical errors. Through adoption of EHR, it will be easy to conduct research as medical data of the required population would be readily available. Some of the drawbacks associated with use of EHR are financial concerns, temporal loss in productivity linked with adoption of EHR, change in workflow, security and confidentiality concerns and several unintentional consequences.Despite having many unintentional consequences of EHR on balancing the benefits with the drawbacks, EHRs are beneficial specifically at social level. Information on this topic is readily available and can be used as a basis for deciding whether to adopt the system or not. References DesRoches, C. M. , Campbell, E. G. , Vogeli, C. , et al. (2010). Electronic health records’ limited successes suggest more targeted uses. Health Aff (Millwood) 29(4), 639–646. Devine E. B. , Hansen R. N. , Wilson-Norton J. L, et al. (2010). The impact of computerized provider order entry on medication errors in a multispecialty group practice.J Am Med Inform Assoc. 17(1):78–84. Fleming NS, Culler SD, McCorkle R, et al. (2011). The financial and nonfinancial costs of implementing electronic health records in primary care practices. Health Aff (Millwood) 30(3), 481–489. Mitka, M. (2011). Electronic health records, The Journal of the American Medical Association, 305(14), p1402 Otto, P. & Nevo, D. (2013). Electronic health records, Journal of enterprise informationmanagement, 26(1/2), 165-182 Weinger, M. B. (2010). Electronic health records, The New England journal of medicine, 363(24), 2372-2374

Islam and Ramadan Essay

Ramadan in Britain during the early Eighties, when I was growing up, was very different from the way it is now. There was no awareness of the rotating month of fasting in the Islamic calendar, no flexibility to working hours, no facility for prayer in offices and no calls for prayer on television. For one month every year, my family and I would undertake this annual Islamic duty furtively, tip-toeing around for the pre-dawn meal for fear of waking up the neighbours with the kitchen clatter, and reluctant to talk about the practice for fear of censure or mockery. Four decades on, Ramadan is marked far more openly in Britain. Some employers are offering flexi-time to those Muslims who, from this week, will undertake a daily fast for 30 consecutive days that will involve around 19 hours of abstention from all food and drink – from sunrise to sunset. Some firms are allowing Muslims to begin their working day later, so they can catch up on sleep after waking up at 3am to eat, and to end their shifts earlier, so that they are not working when they are physically weakened. The Eid festival that marks the end of Ramadan is also increasingly celebrated in public venues around the country, including Trafalgar Square in London. Channel 4 announced last week that it would broadcast one out of five â€Å"calls for prayer† during the month-long fasting period. The channel called it a deliberately â€Å"provocative† act that would, it hoped, challenge prejudices that link Islam to extremism. It is not just Ramadan that has received a PR boost in recent times but fasting itself. In the early days of fasting – at school and then at university – I was often warned by well-wishers of the danger I might be putting my body under and that abstaining from eating and drinking water for long hours could do me harm. Now, fasting seems to have been reinvented as the ancients saw it – a way of giving the body a rest, cleansing both physically and spiritually, and a way of sharpening our collective sense of self-restraint. These objectives are being resurrected in our obesity-riddled Western world, with its binge culture, its childhood obesity and its addictions to food. Dr Michael Mosley’s Horizon investigation in 2012, which studied the effects of intermittent fasting, and in which he fasted two days out of every week (living on 600 calories during his fasting days) spawned the popularity of the 5:2 diet. Dr Mosley presented medical evidence for the life-extending and life-improving benefits of fasting on the human body, though this is still contentious territory in the scientific and nutritional community. Even grander claims came from American scientists last year who said that fasting for regular periods could help protect the brain against degenerative illness. Researchers at the National Institute on Ageing in Baltimore found evidence that a severe reduction of calorie intake for one or two days a week could protect the brain from the most detrimental effects of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Aside from the health benefits, there are ethical reasons for fasting, too, even for the most irreligious amongst us. Steven Poole, in his book, You Aren’t What You Eat: Fed Up With Gastroculture, argues compellingly against the recent explosion of â€Å"foodie culture† in Britain, in which food has become a self-indulgent, status-bound and profligate middle-class pastime. Celebrity chefs are now worshipped, he says, and people post pictures of their meals on Facebook. â€Å"Western civilisation is eating itself stupid,† Poole writes. â€Å"The literary and visual rhetoric of food in our culture has become decoupled from any reasonable concern for nutrition or environment.† It is naà ¯ve to think that a few hours of abstinence will harm the majority of the overweight population in the West, though of course, those with certain ailments such as heart conditions or diabetes should avoid fasting on medical grounds (and are exempt from the obligation of Ramadan). After all, hundreds of thousands of people across the world have access to only one meal at best, and limited water, yet they live on. Mohammed Shafiq, founding member of the Ramadhan Foundation, believes that the persistent hunger and weakness of religious fasting may slow us down but it also increases our compassion for those who have been weakened physically in some way. â€Å"During Ramadan, you understand how someone feels when they live in a place with no food or water.† In this sense, there are gains to be made for the soul and its expanded capacity for empathy. Fasting leads us to think about our bodies, their dependencies and their frailties, as well as those of our fellow men and women. And that’s not a bad thing.