Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Essay

This is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts in the fight against hunger. It serves both developing and the already developed countries. FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. It is also a source of advice and knowledge to member countries as it helps in the provision of information, and helps developing nations to modernize and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices, by ensuring good nutrition and food security for all (Amin,2002). In urban agriculture, FAO plays a general role of educating the urban farmers on the best methods of farming such as proper animal husbandry. It also offers them variety of species of crops to cultivate on in the urban areas. It protects the farmers from interventions by the specific governments, and they ensure food security for the already produced crops. Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) This is a North American coalition of people from different nationalities and organizations working from the local to international levels to build community food security. Membership in CFSC is diverse with almost three hundred organizations from social and economic justice, anti-hunger, environmental, community development, sustainable agriculture, community gardening and other fields. The main objective of CFSC is to build a strong, sustainable, local and regional food system that ensure access to affordable, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food to all people at all times. CFSC has facilitated the development of urban agriculture through developing self reliance among all cities in obtaining their food and to creating a system of growing, manufacturing, processing, making available, and selling food that is regionally based and grounded in the principles of justice, democracy and sustainability. Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture (APA) This organization involves the growing of plants and the rearing of animals within urban and peri-urban areas. It influences urban agriculture in a number of ways. UPA increases the availability of locally grown vegetables and fruits. This is done through making land available to increase production. UPA also recognizes the added value of combining vacant spaces with growing food in or near cities. It helps to restore consumer confidence in locally produced food. It helps promote food production to help reduce poverty and inequalities in urban centers. UPA has helped growers in urban agriculture to get closer links to their consumers and made it possible for retailers to improve access to affordable fresh vegetables and fruits sourced from the urban farming. UPA has improved logistics which has in turn increased access for instance transport services and home deliveries for those unable to get to the shops to buy food products. Resource centers on urban Agriculture and Food Security (RUAF Foundation) This is an international network of seven regional resource centers and one global resource centre on Urban Agriculture and food security. It was formed as a result to the expressed need of organization and local governments for effective mechanisms for the documentation and exchange of research of research data and practical experiences in urban agriculture. The major objective of RUAF is to help in eradication of poverty, generation of employments, food security and to help in stimulate participatory city governance and improved urban environment al management. This is achieved through creation of conditions for empowerment of male and female urban and peri-urban farmers. 3. Importance of urban agriculture Agriculture has been the primary occupation even in societies that are advanced. any form of improvement and innovation in agricultural methods has significant importance to the ever increasing populations (White, Jr. , 1974). Urban agriculture has come with improvements which have seen the societies benefiting economically, socially and environmentally. Economic importance Urban and peri-urban agriculture expands the economic base of the city through production, processing, packaging and marketing of consumable products. This results in an increase in entrepreneurial activities and the creation of job opportunities. This has led to increase in supply of food products in the cities, leading to decrease in prices of commodities. The quality of food products also improves, and the country can export more food products abroad and earning the country foreign exchange. Urban agriculture gives women an important opportunity to be part of the informal economy of a city (Paul, 1984). Farming and selling activities can be combined more easily with household tasks and child care. As women take care of the home, men are out there trying to make ends meet in urban agriculture. Through this, women participate in the economic development of the country as they help their spouses in other chores (Feder, 1970). In another perspective, women provide labor to farming activities, thus contributing to economic development. Urban agriculture provides employment, income and access to food for urban populations, which together contributes to relieve from chronic and emergence food security. With employment, every individual earns income and the cases of poverty in the city will considerably reduce with the practice of urban agriculture. Social Importance Better health and nutrition is one social importance of urban agriculture. With production of food products, there is enough supply of food in the city. Children cannot suffer from malnutrition because they have enough food and thus have a balanced diet. Having a balanced diet helps reduce diseases thus better health and nutrition. Increased income and employment are other social benefits of urban agriculture. Urban agriculture has been seen as means of improving the livelihood of people living in and around cities (Pereira, 1999). Taking part in such practices is seen mostly as informal activity, but in many cities where inadequate, unreliable, and irregular access to food is an occurring problem, urban agriculture has been a positive response to tackling food concerns. Households and small communities take advantage of vacant land and contribute not only to their resident city (Pereira, 1999).

Should a Woman Be More Educated

SHOULD A WOMAN BE MORE EDUCATED THAN A MAN OR SHOULD A MAN BE MORE EDUCATED THAN A WOMAN? August 13, 2012 SHOULD A WOMAN BE MORE EDUCATED THAN A MAN OR SHOULD A MAN BE MORE EDUCATED THAN A WOMAN? Thesis: Education is the key to success and therefore every woman or a man should be equally allowed to be educated if they so desire, the reason is society achieves more with both educated women and men and also educated women can make a family stronger whiles educated men can influence the nation with their leadership skills and enthusiasm.Another reason is that women are like role models in their homes and also in the eyes of their children. Their passion and love they have for their children is so unique that nothing can stop a mother’s love and care for children and society. I. Keeping a girl child in the kitchen as some societies do and some cultures accept is not a better way to raise a great generation, For as the saying goes, educating a woman will help you raise a nation but educating a man will help you give good counsel. II. It is true that men are known as the head of the family yet without an educated woman in the house, the house is always empty.III. Research have proven that at a time when women are consistently outperforming men in college enrollment and completion, women tend to value higher education more highly than men do and believe it has had a more positive impact on their lives, according to the results of a survey that was released in march 2010 by the Pew Research Center. IV. Some part of this world do not agree that a woman should be educated especially where I come from In Africa called Ghana, the belief is that a woman’s place is in the kitchen and the man needs to be more educated but I on’t agree to that and my stand in this argument is that â€Å"The woman should be more educated or equally educated because the pride of a nation is how their women are educated as well as the men. The public seems to be undecided ab out the impact of changes in the gender makeup of the student body. A majority of people surveyed welcomed the fact that more women than men were graduating from college and this makes me happy as woman because society makes us feel like we belong to the kitchen but not to be highly educated in some parts of the world. .Conclusion: I believe that everyone should be given the chance to a higher education regardless of culture traits, country or tribal differences, for when you raise a woman, you have raised a nation, even though men still take their positions in the home as the leaders and the decision makers, without an educated woman, a house will collapse and loose its sense of great direction. REF: http://chronicle. com/article/Women-Value-Higher-Education/12871http://www. statcan. gc. ca/pub/89-503-x/2010001/article/11542-eng. htm http://www. good. is/post/women-make-less-than-men-at-every-education-level/

Five Forces Analysis-US Express Mail Industry Essay

Question 1 asked to complete a five forces analysis of the US Express Mail Industry. A five forces analysis is done to rate the attractiveness of an industry. Threat of new entry is low because the barriers to entry are high. Newcomers to the industry would require an enormous amount of up front capital to set up the distribution networks and infrastructure, such as establishing hubs, and acquiring aircraft and a large amount of ground transportation vehicles (vans, trucks, ect). Economies of scale are significant and would deter new firms from entering because initial sales volumes would be low do to the fact that existing brands already have strong brand identification, and there are no cost advantages to entering, like government subsidiaries or favorable locations. There would also be aggressive reaction from the three main players (FedEx, UPS, Airborne) since the level of rivalry is already so high. Buyer power (customers consisting of businesses and the general public) is high mainly because the large volume of customers have no brand loyalty in the express mail industry. Customers base their selection of a carrier on reliability, price, and convenience and there is not much product differentiation in any of those areas between carriers so customers can bounce around between carriers, essentially playing the competitors against each other, forcing prices down and demanding higher quality and services. Supplier power is high overall. The main inputs, or supplies, for the express mail industry are fuel, airports, aircraft, ground transportation, and the employees. The employees are unionized and have the power to demand higher wages and benefits, they may not always get that, but then there is the potential for strikes, like with UPS, which costs UPS $700 million in revenues and hurt their reputation. Fuel is another supplier power that is high. Fuel is a key component and there is limited bargaining when it comes to negotiating fuel prices. Another key product is the airports, there are only a few in each major city, and the carriers have to go where they have to go, hitting those hubs in major cities, thus causing there to be little bargaining power with airports. The airports and the aircraft suppliers aren’t only relying on the express mail industry, so that also gives those suppliers more power to charge what they want (landing fees, cost of planes). Ground transportation vehicles is the only input that would allow for more bargaining power since there are numerous alternatives available, there is more room for the  industry players to negotiate price. The availability of substitutes is medium mainly because there aren’t a large number of substitutes out there for express mail outside of the industry. Most next day deliveries are business documents, parcels, letters, ect, not typically cargo. So substitutes could include email and faxes, both are faster and cheaper than express mailing. Depending on the nature of the business, video conferencing or the old fashion telephone could be used. If the parcel is going somewhere local maybe could use bike messengers, or just hand deliver. There are also the second tier players, like RPS, DHL and TNT, while they are still in the delivery industry; they tend to specialize in areas other than express mail. With RPS, it is second day service at 40-50% less, and a business that does a large amount of overseas or international express shipments may want to substitute with DHL or TNT, who specialize and differentiate themselves in the international market. The Intensity of rivalry is high. The domestic express mail industry only consists of three major firms, UPS, FedEx, and Airborne, and six second tier firms, such as DHL, RPS, and the U.S. Postal Service so there isn’t a high level of concentration. The big three make up 85% of the U.S. express mail market. There is intense competition, when one company lowers prices, so does another, leading to price wars. When one company improves it technology or offers more service, so do the others, leading to difficulty in differentiating products. Fixed costs are high (planes, hubs, transportation) and when fixed costs are high it causes companies to want to reduce prices in order to sell more and generate more revenue, but the revenues have not kept up with falling prices and has caused the industry growth to be slow so the companies are all fighting for market share. The exit barriers are also high, financially and non-financially. Financially because of the enormous amount of capital that has been invested (fleets of planes and/or trucks, set up of the distribution networks and infrastructures), and non-financially, mainly due to social costs. People conduct business everyday and rely on urgent delivery of time sensitive information (documents, contracts, and perishables like medical samples) and not having the services of the express mail industry to deliver those time sensitive parcels could cripple the economy, for example when UPS when on strike for 16 days, there was a â€Å"noticeable disruption† to the economy as a whole. So in conclusion, based upon this analysis, the US Express Mail Industry in terms of profitability is very unattractive and would be considered unattractive by any firms considering entering as well.

Mystic River Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mystic River - Essay Example Other players could carry the potential to make the story a whodunit. However, actors in the film evoke genuine pain as they make the story actually deep. The director sets the film a blue-colour Boston neighbourhood. The plot that makes the Mystic River develops gradually. This gives the audience humble time to engulf the dynamism of the story with the aim of providing a solution to the crime. However, it is essential to mention that over its two and quarter hours flow, it stagnates at intervals. The film Mystic River offers solid performances from the first scene through to the last act. Tim Robbins treats the audience to a convincing presentation of the mentally crippled Boyle who fails to recover fully from his ordeal. Acting as the emotional wife to Boyle, Harden provides a hitherto performance. It is possible for every viewer to step into her shoes and empathise after feeling what she goes through. Among other issues, there is conflict, development of fear, and distrust in the process of struggling with the doubts about the connection of the murder to her husband. Sean Penn presents the most extraordinary performance in the entire family. Penn acting as DeNiro’s look-alike merges his souls and character coming out as Markum. In my opinion, the performance where Markum discovers that the daughter is dead presents the most wrenching part of the movie. Keeping him out of the scene of crime requires the effort of six police officers. The performance by Sean Penn is exemplary. Penn is settled in life and he boasts of a daughter named Emmy Rossum but acting as Katie out of his marriage. His lovely daughter dates Tom Guirry appearing on stage as Black Hawk Dawn, a boy from the neighbourhood albeit secretly. Ironically, for reasons not clear, Danny prefers hating the boy. He immediately comprehends half of what Jimmy puts forward that they belong to the world of hurt. As much as the film Mystic River tries

Housing association governance puts the interests of the organisation Coursework

Housing association governance puts the interests of the organisation above those of residents. Discuss - Coursework Example hort a Housing Association is a society or company established for the purpose of providing; constructing; improving or managing; facilitating and encouraging the construction or improvement of housing accommodation. Housing associations are not governed by the state or the government. It is a privately functioning body that aims to provide people of all categories with the type of homes they need in their desirable location. The association consists of a board of members, senior officers who have knowledge about this sector, and some volunteers. The targeted groups for housing association can be older people, disabled people, young people, bachelors, couples, or any other type of people who are looking for homes to buy or for rent. The housing association is earning a great amount of money through this property dealing business as the housing has become expensive, especially in larger cities, which makes it difficult for people to find suitable homes for themselves. Good governance in the housing association is fundamental to establishing successful organisations. It enables them to deliver their aims and objectives and, in particular, deliver excellent quality services to tenants, ensure the proper use of public funding, and safeguard the reputation of the sector. The housing association governance operates according to the law and their constitutions; it is headed by an effective board with a sufficient range of expertise and executive arrangements that gives capable leadership and control. Housing association maintains the highest standards of integrity in all their dealings; it protects public investment and is responsive to residents’ views and priorities. Further the duties of housing association governance includes dealing with the Housing Corporation in an open and co-operative manner, notifying any anticipated or actual violation of the Code or anything that might significantly affect its ability to fulfil its obligations under the Code and de-track

Create a Business Plan for Your Own Company - With Financial Statement Assignment

Create a Business Plan for Your Own Company - With Financial Statement Data - Assignment Example The company also has other investments in steel and iron businesses such as steel manufacturing operations including electrical furnaces, steel processing service centres that take care of processing and distribution services, steel sales business and production of motor vehicle parts. Apart from manufacture of steel and iron products, the company has other portfolios that include supply of mineral and metal resources to Japan and other areas of the world. The company also has investments in generation of renewable energy, industrial and infrastructure, water treatment and supply, project development in fields such as logistics and social infrastructure. In its integrated transportation systems business unit, the company deals with logistics, financing and sale of motor vehicles, sale and financing of construction machinery, trade and ownership of commercial ships, sale, purchase and leasing of aircrafts and helicopters and rolling stock leasing. The basic chemicals business unit dea ls with manufacture of industrial chemicals and the logistical support for their clients. The performance chemicals business unit deals with manufacture of agricultural chemicals, performance materials such as plastics and synthetics. In addition, the unit also deals with liquid crystal display material and commodities, semiconductors and supplies for printed circuit board. Energy business unit I and II deals with exploration and processing of energy sources such as oil, gas and uranium among others, in addition it also develops environmental business such as carbon credits, biomass ethanol and hydrogen. The food business unit deals with grains for livestock, energy production and human consumption. In addition, it also deals with food ingredients, distribution, retail support services and agri-foods. The consumer service business unit deals with a wide variety of business activities that include medical and health care services, real

Leadership Models Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Leadership Models - Essay Example Situational contingency theories have are organizational development application that are effective at applying leadership concepts that are adaptive to the situation at hand. There are three major situation contingency models. The three models are Fielder’s leadership model, House’s path – goal theory of leadership, and Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership model. The Hersey – Blanchard leadership model framework implies that there is no one single best way to approach a problem or situation. According to Hersey and Blanchard situational leadership requires adjusting the leader’s emphasis on task behaviors such as giving guidance and direction, relationship behaviors, and providing socio-emotional support (Schermerhorn, J., Hunt, J., Osborn, R., 2003). The leadership style application has become very popular in the 21st century due to the fact that business changes are occurring faster than ever and manager have to be adapt the busin ess strategy of the company and the vision of its human resources to meet the market demands and requirements. The Blanchard and Hersey model can be characterized in terms of the amount of direction and support that the leader gives to his or her followers (12manage, 2009). Appendix A illustrates a matrix that explains the functionality of the model. The four factors illustrated in each quadrant of the matrix are S1, S2, S3, S4. The S1 variable which is located in the bottom left quadrant represents the telling style. In this style the manager provides a high task low relationship work output. This means that manager provides specific instructions and closely supervises the performance of the subordinate. This style is most effective when the leader is dealing with employees that are unable to take responsibility for themselves. An example of an employee that needs his supervisor to apply a telling style is a new employee in a firm. This person needs more

Business functions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Business functions - Essay Example They become partners for running the business efficiently. For starting a partnership business all the partners needs to sign different legal agreements. By this the partners contributes money, divides profit and design different business operation or activities which will be under their control. Partnership business can be of medium size or big. The owners of this business are not personally liable for any business losses or credit. Private limited company or business is a voluntary organization. This type of business can have more than one owner but not more than fifty. This business has proper legal existences. For starting a private limited company the owners have to undergo through different legal formalities. The business has to be registered under company act. Shareholders of these companies are its owners. For performing its business activities private limited company has to follow different legal rules and regulation of the country where it is operating its business. The company whose shares are sold and purchased in stock market is known as public limited company. Any people can purchase and sell share of public limited company. This type of company strictly follows legal rules and regulations of business. The company needs to disclose its financial position to its investors for determining the value of its shares. Public limited company can or cannot be listed in stock exchange. Many people are the owners of this type of company. In unlimited liability business, the owner of company has unlimited liability of all debts and credits of business. Another name of unlimited liability company is private unlimited company. It is hybrid type of business which can be run with or without share capital. The shareholders of unlimited liability company have too many non limited obligations for meeting business requirements. The partners or shareholders of this company accept all these unlimited liabilities to avoid double taxation

Pericles Funeral Oration (after 490 BCE) from Thucydides, The Essay

Pericles Funeral Oration (after 490 BCE) from Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War - Essay Example Historians and scholarly readers may find this oration packed with clues and information on the culture, government and economy of Athens in Pericles’ era yet its validity raises speculations among others. The eloquence of Pericles’ testimonies, as recorded by the Greek historian Thucydides, could indeed make a reader believe his description of Athens as the real Athens. Pericles described Athenians as people with a sense of pride and a hint of arrogance as he restated their glories through every battle and the gratifying courage and character of each Athenian. He praised their ability to live their life as they wanted both in time of peace and war, and noted that they can still have pleasure and relaxations even in the time of difficulty. Athenians, as he described, acquired homes satiated with beauty and goods from their lands and from other country (Brians par.6). He further boosted the morale of the soldiers and their families as he sang in praises that â€Å"Our enemies have never yet felt our united strength† (Brians, par.7) claiming their military force to be as invincible once fought in union. This strength sterms from education and training instituted from the early ages of the Athenians therefore making them audacious and confident at every peril they may come across. Power, versatility and grace are the forces that embrace each Ath enian’s personality making them a country envied by their neighbors. He further described their government as democratic â€Å"for the administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few† – a picture of a perfect nation in the hands of the people (Brians par.7). It can be noticed that only a few words were dedicated to confer the flaws of Athens such as presence of poverty in their economy and unequal treatment for the women (Brians par.12). Instead it was soaked in positivity and praise. This speech can be a basis for

Training and Development Assignment Essay Example for Free

Training and Development Assignment Essay I have chosen the case #2, about the DEEP BAY INTERNATIONAL HOTEL, where there is a clear necessity to develop a certain strategy for training and development of the hotel’s personnel in order to gain more customer satisfaction and as a result more customers and consequently more profit and better position of the hotel in the market. Part 1: First of all we will conduct the training needs assessment TNS for the organization in order to identify the key concepts that need the most attention for creating a good training program for hotel’s personnel. It is true that the Tutors themselves play a key role in the recognition of students needs in this area as they are their first / main point of contact. Younger Tutors with less experience often need specific training to help them to be able to identify the signs which indicate that help may be required. In larger organizations such as universities there are normally professional councilors and mentors available for one to one sessions. In our case it is necessary to employ tutors from the outside in order to make an initial introduction to what the staff’s main goals and objectives should be like and than move on to implementing that knowledge at the workplace.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are often practical issues that need to be dealt with to ensure that students can achieve their learning goals i.e. crà ¨che facilities, transport issues, times of training and flexibility of training. Many training and further education establishments will address these issues to different degrees depending upon the size of the organization and the facilities and resources available. All of the areas discussed rely upon the correct management systems, administrative systems and infrastructure being in place. To enforce this it is the requirement that any training organization in the public sector involved with awarding bodies such as City and Guilds or O.C.R must have a comprehensive Equal Opportunities Policy in place. This policy outlines the philosophy of the organization in terms of offering equality of opportunity to all and specifically deals with issues such as race, gender, disability and age. The policy is available for public scrutiny and it (or parts of it) is quite often on display within the public areas of the organization. Once the policy has been established it is essential that it is reviewed regularly by a nominated department and kept up to date with current guidelines and legislation. All tutors, by the nature of the work that they do, must have excellent communication skills and be able to relate to individuals on a personal basis. This ability helps them to spot potential problems early and avoid unnecessary complications. It is also necessary to ensure that all students are aware that they can talk to their tutor in confidence about any problems that they may have. Development of communication skills for students is now becoming an essential part of the course content of many courses particularly NVQ’s and often includes other aspects of basic skills such as literacy and numeracy. Constructive feedback helps students assess their performance and gives the Tutor an opportunity to provide direction and praise or help them to be aware of their mistakes and what they need to do to ensure that they learn from them. However, perhaps some of the most important and challenging functions of HR professionals are directly related to the recruitment, selection, training, and appraisal of the organization’s employees (or potential employees as the case may be). It is up to HR manager or management team to create processes and methodologies in recruiting, training, and appraising its staff in such a way that it is congruent with the values, vision and culture of the organization. This can be an enormous challenge – especially in today’s business world where companies are constantly acquiring and merging together forming whole new identities at an exponential rate. In dealing with the ambiguity of the corporate world HR professionals realize that it is not singular performance of each and every HR function that will assure the best human resources for their organizations, it is the alignment and integration of all of the HR functions that create an environment that empowers and encourages employee growth, competency, and loyalty. In our case I would recommend the learner’s centered training approach because of the audience, which is the hotel staff that already has experience in working in the industry and only need to improve their skills and perception of the new wave of development. The health of any organization depends on the development of its people. If indeed the greatest asset is its human resources, then it is even more vital that the organization allow for its HR professionals to invest time and energy into this vital planning function. When planning how best to train new and existing employees, HR professionals should always be sure to address both immediate and long-range goals, behaviors and skills. However, more often than not, just like anyone else, HR people cannot always assume or pretend to know what would best work for everyone, so it is critical that before planning out the training process, they must conduct a thorough needs assessment. This can be done through many ways such as the administration of questionnaires and surveys to determine employee needs and expectations, observation of job functions and the organization as a whole, and other methods of qualitative information gathering. Once a training plan has been established, the entire process by which people learn what is expected of them in their new roles in the organization is socialization. This process, not unlike many other HR processes, has multiple stages such as: Entry/Anticipatory Socialization, Socialization/Accommodation, and Mutual Acceptance. It is important for HR professionals to recognize and encourage the full development of the new employee through all of these stages. Throughout the orientation and training of new (or old) employees, it is also important for an HR professional to conduct a training and development assessment. A thorough assessment would include an analysis of the training needs as well as the development needs over the next few years. Training needs should be based on immediate needs for changes in behavior, where as the long-range development goals should be based on the acquisition of knowledge and skills to be used now and in the future. Positioning employee training to focus on short and long term development helps HR professionals to look â€Å"down the road† and address how they can help their employees meet challenges, create change and ensure the overall health of the organization. In using this futuristic approach, an imperative strategic alignment is built to integrate employee training and development, with that of employee performance management. Through the needs analysis that was conducted with the current manager, we found that even the best employees can always use a little more training. Even though the new employee may come with experience under their belt, they still need to be trained to do their job within the Deep Bay International Hotel organization. Since most new employees in this position come from a corporate background, they need to be acclimated to the Deep Bay International Hotel and its unique culture and position as a teaching hotel. The employee also has the need to be trained in just what their duties on the job are, beyond what the job description tells them. This type of training needs to be done within the first weeks that the employee is on the job, so that they can perform their job function as effectively as possible. Management skills in particular are not usually fully developed until someone has been working as a manager for years, and even then, there is often room for improvement. Since the new employee in this situation may only have two years experience, and in what may have been a limited managerial role; management training is necessary. By participating in a training program, managers can make more informed decisions in their management capacity. One area that the needs analysis found training to be necessary is in the human resources side of this management position. Thus, one of the key areas a new manager will be trained in his how to hire, fire, and retain good employees. Leadership and teamwork skills are an integral part of working at the Deep Bay International Hotel. Thus, the training programs allow the new employee the ability to grow their leadership skills and learn how to function well in a team and develop teams among those that they supervise. Part 2: Training Objectives Familiarize the new employee to the Deep Bay International Hotel culture and operations. The employee should be able to state how their job functions within the whole Deep Bay International Hotel organization. The new employee will learn what are the responsibilities of their job at the Deep Bay International Hotel and the correct way to perform their key duties. Within two weeks the employee should be able to manage the functions of the banquet and conference services department with only limited help from other managers. Management development, enhance upon the employee’s current management skills so that they may become more effective managers. Evaluate and improve skills relating to human resources. The employee should understand and be able to discuss and the proper techniques for hiring, employee retention, and firing. Improve management leadership skills, so that the manager can more effectively manage their employees. Manager should be able to interact with and work in a team environment on a regular basis. Manager should be able to divide his subordinates into functional team groups to maximize their effectiveness. Part 3: Evaluation Process The evaluation process is multi-part because the employee is going to be trained in such a breadth of topics. The first two objectives, understanding the employee’s place in the Deep Bay International Hotel and its culture, and being able to perform their job function with only limited assistance can be evaluated together. After the employee has been on the job for three weeks, the Banquet Dept. head should sit down and meet with the new manager. The department head should discuss with the manager their level of understanding about their job. Additionally, the department head should speak with the employee’s coworkers informally to see if they have any constructive criticism for the job that the new manager is doing. The Banquet Dept. head should prepare a performance appraisal for the employee that should state the employee’s current level of acclamation to their job. This appraisal should then be presented to the employee and discussed with the department head so that the employee can work on the areas in which they are weak. The appraisal should be presented as something that is purely to help the employee, not as something that will affect things like raises, etc. The employee’s human resource skills, the third objective, will be evaluated in two ways. The first way that the skills will be evaluated is in an interactive test that will be given both before and after training with the Retention and Motivation CD-ROM from the AHMA. This test will evaluate the employee’s skill improvement after they have completed all of the training parts of the CD-ROM. The employee’s skills will also be evaluated in an objective fashion by the employee’s supervisor, the banquet dept. head. The skills will be given an initial ranking after the head’s meeting with the employee in the beginning of training. The dept. head will do a performance appraisal approximately two months after the employee has started. As part of this appraisal, the head will distribute anonymous evaluations to the supervisor’s subordinates that ask about his/her motivational skills. This appraisal will evaluate the employee’s current human resource skills as well as his/her level of improvement from starting at the Deep Bay International Hotel. The team building skills of the employee will also be evaluated in multiple steps. The evaluation will come after step one of the training process, the Increasing Teamwork: Productivity video. Simple tests that quiz about the basics of teamwork will be given to the employee before and after and their performance accordingly evaluated. From the dept. head’s meeting with the employee initially, a framework of teamwork skills to work on will be developed. The team retreat will help the employee to further develop his/her skills in this area as well. About two months after the employee has been hired, the dept. head should determine the change in the employee’s level of teamwork skills. This evaluation should cover both the manager’s ability to work within teams as well as to form then amongst his subordinates.       Bibliography: Adler, Nancy J. International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior. South-Western College Publishing, Cincinnati, 1997. Fishman, Shirley R. Developing a Global Workforce. Canadian Business Review, 1996. Fowler, Sandra M., Mumford, Monica G. and Hoopes, David S. Intercultural Sourcebook, Vol. I: Cross-Cultural Training Methods. Intercultural Press, Inc., Yarmouth, 1995. Harris, Philip R. and Moran, Robert T. Managing Cultural Differences: Leadership Strategies for a New World of Business. Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, 1996. Hofstede, G. Cultures and Organizations; Software of the Mind. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1991. Knowles, Malcolm, Swanson, Richard and Holton, Elwood. Adult Learner: Definitive Classic on Adult Education and Training. McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Ltd., Whitby, 1999. Wheeler, Mardy and Marshall, Jeanie. â€Å"Developing Human Resources†, 1986.

Selected Personal Hygienic Measures Health And Social Care Essay

Selected Personal Hygienic Measures Health And Social Care Essay Hygiene is an old concept related to medicine as well as to personal and professional care practices related to most aspects of living, although it is most often wrongly associated with cleanliness. In medicine, hygiene practices are employed as preventive measures to reduce the incidence and spreading of disease. Other uses of the term appear in phrases including body hygiene, dental hygiene, mental hygiene used in connection with public health. The term hygiene is derived from hygienic, the Greek goddess of health, cleanliness and sanitation. Hygiene is also the name of the branch of science that deals with the promotion and prevention of health, also called hygienic. Oral hygiene is the practice of keeping the mouth and teeth clean to practice dental problems and bad breath. Teeths cleaning is the removal of dental plaque and tartar from teeth to prevent cavities, gingivitis and gum disease causes at least one-third of adult tooth loss. Good oral hygiene essential for preventing tartar build up which causes the problems mentioned above. This was done by carefully and frequently brush and the use of dental floss to prevent accumulation of plaque on the teeth. Hand washing for hand hygiene is the act o cleaning the hands with or without the use of water or another liquid or soap, for the purpose of removing soil, dirt and micro-organisms. The hygiene behavior has been shown to cut the number of child deaths from diarrhea and from pneumonia. Kinder garden which is otherwise called as the term childrens garden is a type of education which is given for small children. Through this method children attained some basic skills. The children between the ages of 2 and 7 years are usually attending the kinder garden. Good personal hygiene is essential in reducing the risk of infection from pathogenic microorganisms mainly by limiting person-to-person contamination. NEED FOR THE STUDY Personal hygiene is very important because no one likes to a person who stinks and is dirty. So, whoever you are and whatever you go to remember, wash your hands before you eat and your feet before you sleep. Threadworms are a fairly common occurrence especially in children and can cause more distress for the parent of the child than the actual person whom has the complaints. It can be prevented by making sure that everyone in the household abilities by some basic hygienic rules like wash the hands after using the toilet every time, wash hands before eating, educate the children on the importance of hygiene. Teaching correct and acceptable hygiene principles is vital to achieve lifelong habits of prevention and spread of illness and infections, but also to maintain a suitable appearance an avoid offending others. Allow youngsters to attempt to clean their own teeth even if they need cleaning afterwards, they will enjoy the responsibility. Give encouragement to maintain their own hygiene and will carry this knowledge with them through life. (W.Pope, et.al., 1996). Diarrhea is a serious global public health problem, particularly in low- income middle income countries. The WHO estimate that over 3 million episodes occur each year, with many people dying, especially children aged, 5 years in low middle income countries. Persistent diarrhea also contribute to malnutrition, reduce resistance to infections sometimes impaired growth development. The organisms causing diarrhea can be transmitted from infected faeces to people through food water, person to person conduct, or direct conduct. Hand washing after defecation handling faeces before preparing eating food can reduce the risk of diarrhea. ( Ehiri JE, Meremikwumm critchley JA Hand washing for preventing diarrhea Cochrane Database of systemic reviews 2008). Good oral hygiene is very much useful and essential for young children. Hence the children must be taught regarding practicing oral hygienic measures. Hand washing is very much important is prevention of infection in young children as well as for the adult. The researcher personally felt from the experience on seeing the children that an effort may be reverse the life style habits of improper personal hygiene to manage infection and reduce the incidence of dental carries, diarrhea. So the researcher is interested to conduct this study which may mutually benefit the children and also the society. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM A study to assess the effectiveness of kinder garden method of teaching on selected personal hygienic measures in terms of practice among students in a selected school at Salem. OBJECTIVES To develop and validate the kinder garden method of teaching regarding selected personal hygienic measures. To assess and compare the mean pre-test and mean post test practice score on selected personal hygienic measures among samples. To find the association between the pre-test practice of selected personal hygienic measures among samples and their selected demographic variables (gender, area, siblings). HYPOTHESES: (Level of significance at p H1: The mean post-test practice score on hand washing technique will be higher than the mean pre-test practice score among samples. H2: The mean post-test practice score on brushing technique will be higher than the mean pre-test practice score among samples. H3: There will be significant association between the pre-test practice score on hand washing technique among samples and their selected demographic variables (gender, area, siblings). H4: There will be significant association between the pre-test practice score on brushing technique among samples and their selected demographic variables (gender, area, siblings). OPPERATIONAL DEFINITONS 1. Effectiveness: It refers to the change in the level of practice of Upper kinder garden school children regarding selected personal hygienic measures. a) Practice on selected personal hygienic Measures: It includes oral hygiene Hand hygiene. The oral hygiene includes the following aspects like brushing, Gargling general aspects and the hand hygiene means Nail cutting, Hand washing. The practice score is classified as, if the practice level is 75%- graded as adequate. 2. Kinder garden method of teaching on selected personal hygienic measures: It means teaching the children by adapting different methods like Rhymes, Pictures, and Demonstration with models. Through this method the importances and various aspects of hand washing technique and brushing technique taught to the kinder garden children. 3. Students: It refers to the child of both genders between the age group of 4-6 years studying upper kinder garden in selected schools at Salem. 4. Demographic Variables: Gender: Boy and Girl children. Area: Urban and Rural. Siblings: One, Two. Brushing teeth per day: Once, Twice ASSUMPTIONS The child may have inadequate practice regarding selected personal hygienic measures. Kinder garden method of teaching may be an effective tool for creating awareness on practice of personal hygienic measures. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS Permission obtained from the administrative authority of all the selected private school Salem. All information was kept confidential and used only for the present study. DELIMITATION The study was delimited to only selected private school at Salem. Data collection period was delimited to 6 weeks. Evaluation of effectiveness of selected hygiene measures is in term of practice. SUMMARY This chapter dealt with the introduction, need for the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research hypotheses, operational definitions, assumptions, delimitations, and ethical considerations.

Islamic Fundamentalism And Terrorism

Islamic Fundamentalism And Terrorism Introduction All religion preaches peace and brotherhood and Islam is no different. However, how do you justify the killing of thousands of innocents by the Islamic terrorists. Islamic terrorism is the common term for violence,[1] rooted on Islamic fundamentalism, and aimed at defending, or even promoting, Islamic culture, society, and values in opposition to the political, allegedly imperialistic, and cultural influences of non-Muslims, and the Western world in particular.  [1]   Today, it is global terrorism has come to fore of the world politics after terror attacks on World Trade Centre on 09 September 2001. While looking at the globosity of the phenomenon of terrorism, it has to be appreciated that before terrorist groups attain their national, regional or global stature the first begin the same at local levels. A consideration of the origins of various terrorist groups would indicate that the growth of the small groups into the national or supra national movements could have been attributed to, if not large measure, to the frustration of the people, with the inability of their governments to provide with the elementary justice, security and welfare. It is difficult to say at which point local terror groups joins hands with the other groups operating in the region to form supra national entities that can operate trans national boundaries. If concrete steps are not taken immediately with due foresight, terror menace can well become the the biggest threat t o mankind.  [2]   Varieties of Terrorism Fundamental conformist religious movements have been associated with terrorism in almost all parts of the world starting from Middle East, Africa, Central and South East Asia, China, Europe and US. It would be prudent to is necessary to study terrorism before further investigating the link between fundamental religion and the clinch of violence. Terrorism is difficult to define as one persons terrorist is anothers freedom fighter. Political violence can be of various types. There are various types of egregious political violence that are sometimes conflated. Certified papers on terrorism seldom define terrorism or distinguish it from supplementary forms of hostile political action, for example, guerilla movements, ethnic conflict or racial movements. Countries frequently trademark opposition/resistance/demonstrations as terrorist actions to disgrace and dishonor such movements. Ahmad (1998) offered a typology of five varieties of terrorism:- State terrorism. Religious terrorism. Criminal terrorism. Pathological terrorism. Political terrorism. There are different motives for these. Some highly visible expressions of terrorism can be thought of as spectacles of violence, media events staged to dramatize an issue by gaining the attention of the world. Terrorism acts as both a symbolic message and supposed means of social change aiming at political transformation. The terrorist act dramatically advertises the grievance to a larger community that may support their goals. Further, the pain and suffering inflicted is believed, at least by the terrorists, to avenge a prior injustice and/or attain the organizations goal.  [3]   Jehad The word Jihad links its origin to the Arabic word JHD, which means strive. Jihad in essence means the measures taken to practice religion even during the times of adversity in the face of oppression and persecution. In Arabic, the terms Mujahid/Mujahideen and jihad, are Islamic-derived terms indicating righteous struggle, and are commonly used to refer to what the Western world calls Islamic terrorists and Islamic terrorism. In the non-Muslim world, this usage is often considered to be inaccurate and giving religious glorification to murder, and Islamic terms like hirabis and Muharib have been promoted as alternatives when referring to terrorists. Islamic terrorism is itself a controversial phrase, although its usage is widespread throughout the English-speaking world. Ordinary Muslims who have nothing to do with terrorism find it reprehensible because it forces upon them a label simply because they, too, are believers of Islam. In fact, the common Muslim believes that you are making him a racial hate target by using the word Islam with terrorism. Bernard Lewis believes that the phrase Islamic terrorism is apt, because although Islam, as a religion is not particularly conducive to terrorism or even tolerant of terrorism  [4]  . In his own words:- Islam has had an essentially political character from its very foundation to the present day. An intimate association between religion and politics, between power and cult, marks a principal distinction between Islam and other religions. In traditional Islam and therefore also in resurgent fundamentalist Islam, God is the sole source of sovereignty. God is the head of the state. The state is Gods state. The army is Gods army. The treasury is Gods treasury, and the enemy, of course, is Gods enemy. This argument is countered by Jamal Nassar and Karim H. Karim, who contend that because there are over a billion adherents of the religion, the phenomenon is more precisely regarded as Islamist terrorism or, because describes political ideologies rooted in interpretations of Islam. In this vein, describing terrorism as Islamic may confirm a prejudicial perspective of all things Islamic.  [5]   Radicalisation of Islam As has been noted, modern Islamic political fundamentalism is the product of a desire by some Muslims to return to a pure faith in order to counter and overcome growing pressure from an increasingly westernized world. Identifying and analyzing these pressure points is essential to understanding the rationale behind the often violent expressions of Islamic political fundamentalism whose ultimate purpose is to bring individual, country and world under the sovereign reign of Allah. As has been noted, Islamic political fundamentalist movements are a twentieth-century development. Not surprisingly, the majority of these movements are of the Sunni variety. Of the 175 Islamic fundamentalist groups (mainly of the political variety) in the Arab world as identified by Dekmejian from 1970-1995, only 32 were Shiite fundamentalists (with an additional four having both Sunni and Shiite followers). The modern era radical clerics have interpreted the Koran to their advantage and have used it effecti vely to strengthen the military wing of Islamic fundamentalists and use terrorism as a tool against the non practitioners of Islam. Some clerics supporting the hard stand against non Islamic societies and nations are reflected in the subsequent paragraphs. Radical as part of his sermon one Friday in August 2004, the Palestinian Sheikh Abu Muhammad al Maqdisi told his followers, Cutting off heads is part of our religion. Indeed, by God, slaughtering Allahs enemies is part of our religion. It should be done in accordance with the interest of Islamic nations. In another article titled The Infidels will be Obliterated, the cleric Seif al-Din al-Ansari writes Allah made annihilating the infidels one of his steadfast decrees. According to (divine) natural law of alternating fortunes, Allah said (Allah will) obliterate the infidelsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.It inevitably follows that this wisdomà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.has become the way the life is to be livedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. The (Koran) mentions his decree frequently, to the point that it makes you feel that it is truth of supreme importance. In another context, Shiekh Nasser ibn Hameed, an al Quaeda affiliated Saudi cleric, considers the permissibility of using the weapons of mass destruction to bring about the will of Allah. The sheikh concludes that, considering what Americans have done:- If a bomb was dropped on themà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦that would annihilate 10 million and burn their lands to the same extent that they burned the Muslim lands this is permissible with no need to mention any other proof. Yet if we want to annihilate a greater number, we need further proof  [6]   Creating an Ideology A century ago, Islam had the same Koran, the same Prophet Muhammad, the same stories about founding of the faith, and the same religious and the legal traditions. Yet there were no suicides bombers like Salah Ghandour, no incendiary leaders like Hassan Nasrallah, no militant sheikhs like Yousaf al-Qaradawi and no murderous conglomerates like Hamas and al Qaeda. And that there was not should give pause to all those who claim that Islam is, necessarily, a violent and destructive faith. To attribute todays problems to the essence of the religion is to commit a grave error of oversimplification. Islam is a grand tradition that has proven itself capable of sustaining many different cultures, philosophies, approaches to life and political arrangements. Since September 11, and to a lesser extent before, many authors have probed the history of Islam and the Arabs in search of the roots of extremism. One good place to start is the story from the recent past, the story of Sayyid Qutb, an Egypt ian writer who is described as the intellectual hero of every one of the groups that eventually went to Al Qaeda, their Karl Marxà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ their guide.  [7]   Sayyid Qutb was born in Egypt in 1906. His early education was in the western system of education. After completing his studies, he took up the job of a teacher. He later became a novelist and a functionary in Ministry of Education, Egypt. In late 1940s he did his masters from Colorado. However, during 1930 to 1950, Qutb lost faith in the secular system and became a radical Islamist. On return from America, Qutb supported the Nassers secular revolution. Difference arose between Nasser and Qutb and later was imprisoned. It was during this time Qutb wrote some of his best known and influential work Milestone (a thirty volume commentary on Koran) and In shade of Koran. Qutb was latter executed by Nasser in 1966, giving Islam its earliest and most revered martyr. Qutb was influenced by Mawdudis writings but constructed a khariji-like revolutionary ideology. He stressed both Gods sovereignty and governance (hakimiyya) and the unity of God (tawhid) with the resulting unity in nature, rel igion, society, and state as the foundation of the integrated and comprehensive Islamic system. Qutb transformed the meaning of the Islamic term hijrah (emigration) from a simple description of the Prophets historic migration from Mecca to Medinah to signifying a definite stage in the development of all true Muslim societies hijrah is the response of true Muslims to the state of jahiliyya prevalent in their society. They must withdraw from society in order to create a vanguard of committed activists able to take over society when the right time comes.  [8]  Some of Qutbs interpretation of Jahiliyyah in his own words are as follows:- Islam cannot accept any mixing with Jahiliyyah, either in its concept or in the modes of living which which are derived from this concept. Either Islam will remain or Jahiliyyah: Islam cannot accept or agree to a situation which is half Islamic and half Jahiliyyah. The foremost duty of Islam in this world is to depose Jahiliyyah from the leadership of man, and to take the leadership into its own hand and enforce the particular (Islamic ) way of life. Indeed, people are not Muslims, as they proclaim to b, as long as they live the lier of Jahiliyyahà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Today th task f the call is to return these ignorant people of Islam and make them into the Muslim all over again. A person who feels the need of defence, justification and apology is not capable of presenting Islam to people. Indeed, he is a person who lives the life of Jahiliyyah, hollow and full of contradictions, defects and evils, and intends to provide justification for the Jahiliyyah he is in. These are offender against Islam.  [9]   Qutbs central mobilizing concept was a reinterpretation of Jahiliyya, and provided an ideology to military faction of Islamic leaders. Most terrorist Islamic groups today, derive their ideology from his writings. Interpretations of the Quran The role played by the Quran, Islams sacred text, in opposing or in encouraging attacks on civilians is disputed. Certain scholars such as Zakir Naik have said all Muslims should be terrorists in the context of war and fighting evils of society. When he was asked about the verse. Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies. [Quran 8:60] He replied. Every Muslim should be a terrorist. A terrorist is a person who causes terror. The moment a robber sees a policeman he is terrified. A policeman is a terrorist for the robber. A Muslim should be a terrorist for the Robber and all other anti-social elements. The Princeton University Middle Eastern scholar Bernard Lewis, states that Islamic jurisprudence does not allow terrorism. Professor Lewis notes At no time did the (Muslim) jurist approve of terrorism. Nor indeed is there any evidence of the use of terrorism (in Islamic tradition). Muslims are commanded not to kill women, children, or the aged, not to torture or otherwise ill-treat prisoners, to give fair warning of the opening of hostilities, and to honor agreements. Similarly, the laws of Jihad categorically preclude wanton and indiscriminate slaughter. The warriors in the holy war are urged not to harm non-combatants, women and children, unless they attack you first. A point on which they insist is the need for a clear declaration of war before beginning hostilities, and for proper warning before resuming hostilities after a truce. What the classical jurists of Islam never remotely considered is the kind of unprovoked, unannounced mass slaughter of uninvolved civil populations that we saw in New York two weeks ago. For this there is no precedent and no authority in Islam. Indeed it is difficult to find precedents even in the rich annals of human wickedness. In 2007, Osama bin Laden, best known for the September 11 attacks, used quotes from the Quran-and a militant Taliban clerics interpretation of those verses-to justify his declaration of war on Pervez Musharraf and the Pakistani army, such as: O prophet! Strive hard against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be harsh against them. Their abode is hell, and an evil destination it is. [Quran 9:73] O you who believe! Take not the Jews and Christians for your friends and protectors: they are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily Allah guides not a people unjust. [Quran 5:51] And fight them until theres no fitnah (polytheism) and religion is wholly for Allah. [Quran 8:39] However, the interpretation of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban has been condemned by influential group of Pakistani scholars and religious leaders, who declared that suicide attacks and beheadings as un-Islamic in a unanimous resolution. Marmaduke Pickthall, a Western convert to Islam and an Islamic scholar notes that Nowhere does the Quran approve a spirit of revenge and situates verse 2:194 in the context of a defensive war. Ibn Kathir stated that the Quran clearly commands believers to prefer forgiveness over retaliation wherever possible. Michael Sells and Jane I. Smith (a Professor of Islamic Studies) write that barring some extremists like Al-Qaeda, most Muslims do not interpret Quranic verses as promoting warfare; and that the phenomenon of radical interpretation of scripture by extremist groups is not unique to Islam. According to Sells, Most Muslims no more expect to apply the verses at issue to their contemporary non-Muslim friends and neighbors than most Christians and Jews consider themselves commanded by God, like the Biblical Joshua, to exterminate the infidels.  [10]   Root Cause of Terrorism The Worldview of the Fundamentalist. It is obvious to mention that Islamic fundamentalism is caused by the actions of the fundamentalist. What we can ask ourselves is what drives these individuals to advocate fundamentalism? Several scholars have proposed that fundamentalists adopt a literal reading of the Quran. Consider the following verses:- And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. And Al-Fitnah is worst than killing. And fight not with them at Al-Masjid-al-Haram (the sanctuary at Makkah) unless they (first) fight you there. But if they attack you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the unbelievers (Surah Al-Baqarah). If one takes a literal reading of the above passage, then it is quite obvious that Muslims should kill non-Muslims where and whenever the former thinks that they are in a position to do so. Take for example Palestinians. Palestinians have been resettled to accommodate for the state of Israel, consequently displacing the former from their own homeland in the process. When seen within the light of the above verses, the perceived injustice suffered by the Palestinians would mean that Palestinians have every right to oppose the Israelis as well as their American benefactors. This is if a literal reading of the above verses is taken devoid of the context and historical circumstances that gave rise to such verses in the first place.  [11]   Islams Identity Crisis in Confronting Modernity. The historical inevitability and pain of transition to modernization/capitalism has been met with resistance and conservative religious leaders sees such forms as imperialism, colonialism, and the spread of neoliberal ideology. As conservative religious leaders struggled to deal with the advent of modernity, Islamic modernizers were more open. Indeed, these Islamic modernizers worked with secular nationalists and were better able to cope with modernity, using European models of socialism and capitalism for nation building and national development (Hossein-Zadeh, 2005). However, when socialism and capitalism failed to deliver for example, instances of poverty were rife; people were alienated from the system they were in; materialism and decadence prevailed in the capitalist system the disappointed masses of the Muslim world turned to the more radical message of Islam as Muslims especially those alienated and disaffected by socialist and capitalists models looked for an Islamic Alternative. This yearning signalled a desire to return to the state of Islam during its Golden Age. Conservative religious leaders thereby became the sources of mobilization and self-respect as the disappointed masses sought to return to the Golden Age (Hossein-Zadeh, 2005).  [12]   Socio-Economic-Political Factors. Islam is not a monolithic entity how Muslim states/Muslims relate to the non-Muslim other depends a lot on their socio-economic-political factors. For example, poverty and undemocratic regimes are significant factors that can contribute to Islamic militancy. In Aceh (Indonesia) and Mindanao (Philippines), marginalized Muslim communities suffer acute deprivation and alienation vis-vis the post-colonial state dominated by the ethnic and religious minority (Rahim, 2003). Additionally, given the lack of democratic mechanisms in these regions, there are no means for legitimate and sufficient political representation thereby making Islamists act subversively. Undemocratic and draconian measures adopted by oppressive regimes to contain the radical Islamists will also exacerbate the threat rather than effectively reducing it. Instances of poverty as well as undemocratic regimes and draconian legislation among many other factors can contribute to the conditio ns fuelling Islamic Militancy.  [13]   American Foreign Policy. American foreign policy is also a significant variable in the surge of Islamic Militancy. Many argue that Islam is a religion of peace Islamic terrorism, however, is a product and response to American foreign policy. This sentiment is reflected upon Americas unconditional support for Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; the ubiquity of American troops in the Gulf; historical legacy of European colonialism; and terrorist attacks are a cumulative process of humiliating Arabs (for example, displacing Palestinians in their homelands; the Abu Ghraib Prison scandal; torture techniques used by the Bush administration). The rise of non-state actors such as Osama Bin Laden represents the Muslim and Arab worlds rage against American hegemony or simply arrogance/hubris (the so called Liberation Theology). Moreover, the double standards as exercised by the Americans in regards to supporting oppressive regimes so as to secure regional cooperation in the war against terrorism is seen as having veiled intent that the war against terrorism could be a war against Islam. American, it has been argued, should look into the causes and conditions that fuel Islamic rage that is, by reflecting upon its own foreign policies rather than blaming the other for the calamities that had happened thus far.  [14]   Drug Trafficking. Drug trade entered the murky scene of terrorism, in a big way, in Afghanistan during the Taliban operations using Afghanistan Pak axis. Initially, they justified the use of drug business as it was for a sacred cause and even convinced the clergy. However, gradually it became a part and parcel of their activities and drug mafias became big players in the venture and terrorist became synonymous of drug trafficker. Equally, the wide network created by the drug mafia was exploited by the terrorist outfits for their operations. As big money was involved politicians in Afghanistan and Pakistan were easily drawn into vicious circle. Drug trafficking provided the illegitimate money to fuel the Holy War Jihad across the globe. Conclusion Conceivably, future reforms in Islam is more vital than the ideology debate over the character of Islamic past. Kepel in 2002 suggested that Islamist terrorism does not, nor can it produce its intended goals and has become consumed with a fantasy of a world-wide triumph of radical Islam. Understanding the reasons for rise in fundamentalism in Islam and factors contributing to global terrorism, it is neigh important to take concrete measures against terrorism, else, we are likely to inherit a world without peace to the coming generations. Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. 33.29. Quran

Adolf Hitler :: essays research papers

Adolf Hitler was a German political and government leader. And he is one of the 20th century’s most powerful dictators, when he ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945.He turned Germany into a powerful war machine and provoked World War II in 1939,when he invaded Poland. He built the Nazi party into a mass movement. For sometime he dominated most of Europe and North Africa. He caused the slaughter of millions of Jews and others whom he considered inferior. Adolf Hitler was born on April 20,1889 in Branau am Inn, Austria. Adolf’s father, Alois Hitler was a minor customs official. He died in 1903.Adolf’s mother, Klara Hitler was a peasant girl. She died in 1907.Hitler did not do well in school and he dropped out of high school. He was eager to become an artist, so he applied to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1907 and 1908 but he was rejected both times. During his spare time he read alot, developing anti-Jewish and antidemocratic views. When World War I started Hitler was rejected by the Austrian Army, but accepted by the German Army. He served as a messenger on the Western Front for most of the war, taking part in some of the bloodiest battles. He was wounded and received the Iron Cross for bravery. But he was never promoted higher than lance corporal. But after the war he found himself unable to find a job. After Germany’s defeat in 1918 he returned to Munich, remaining in the army until 1920.In September 1919 he joined the nationalist German Workers’ Party. In April 1920 he went to work full time for the party, now renamed the National Socialist German Workers’ Party or the Nazi party. In 1921 he was elected party chairman with dictatorial powers. He now became known as Der Fuhrer. The Nazis aim was to organize all Germans into one nation. And to rid the Jews of German citizenship and eliminate them completely. He organized meetings with his personal bodyguard force, the Storm Troopers. In November 1923,at a time of political and economic chaos, he led an uprising or Putsch in Munich against the postwar Weimar Republic, the German government. This was known as the Beer Hall Putsch. However the Putsch collapsed. Hitler was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison. He only spent nine months in prison. During this time he spent writing his autobiography, Mein Kampf which means My Struggle. In it was a plan to conquer Europe and much of the world. The failure of the Beer Hall Putsch taught Hitler that the Nazi Party must use legal means to assume power. Adolf Hitler :: essays research papers Adolf Hitler was a German political and government leader. And he is one of the 20th century’s most powerful dictators, when he ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945.He turned Germany into a powerful war machine and provoked World War II in 1939,when he invaded Poland. He built the Nazi party into a mass movement. For sometime he dominated most of Europe and North Africa. He caused the slaughter of millions of Jews and others whom he considered inferior. Adolf Hitler was born on April 20,1889 in Branau am Inn, Austria. Adolf’s father, Alois Hitler was a minor customs official. He died in 1903.Adolf’s mother, Klara Hitler was a peasant girl. She died in 1907.Hitler did not do well in school and he dropped out of high school. He was eager to become an artist, so he applied to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1907 and 1908 but he was rejected both times. During his spare time he read alot, developing anti-Jewish and antidemocratic views. When World War I started Hitler was rejected by the Austrian Army, but accepted by the German Army. He served as a messenger on the Western Front for most of the war, taking part in some of the bloodiest battles. He was wounded and received the Iron Cross for bravery. But he was never promoted higher than lance corporal. But after the war he found himself unable to find a job. After Germany’s defeat in 1918 he returned to Munich, remaining in the army until 1920.In September 1919 he joined the nationalist German Workers’ Party. In April 1920 he went to work full time for the party, now renamed the National Socialist German Workers’ Party or the Nazi party. In 1921 he was elected party chairman with dictatorial powers. He now became known as Der Fuhrer. The Nazis aim was to organize all Germans into one nation. And to rid the Jews of German citizenship and eliminate them completely. He organized meetings with his personal bodyguard force, the Storm Troopers. In November 1923,at a time of political and economic chaos, he led an uprising or Putsch in Munich against the postwar Weimar Republic, the German government. This was known as the Beer Hall Putsch. However the Putsch collapsed. Hitler was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison. He only spent nine months in prison. During this time he spent writing his autobiography, Mein Kampf which means My Struggle. In it was a plan to conquer Europe and much of the world. The failure of the Beer Hall Putsch taught Hitler that the Nazi Party must use legal means to assume power.

All Quiet on the Western Front Essay -- essays papers

All Quiet on the Western Front The novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque describes the psychological and physical battles of young soldiers such as the main character Paul Baumer who was pressured by the spirit of nationalism and his school master into joining the German army during World War I. In the beginning the young students are glowing with enthusiasm with the honor to be trusted with serving their nation in a time of crisis. The inexperienced soldiers soon loose their innocence and eagerness as they watch the new technological capabilities of the twentieth century painfully kill their comrades one by one and in the end become weary, burnt out, rootless, and hopeless. Over time the young soldiers, through experience, begin to realize their years of schooling are completely useless in a society filled with war. They were taught the basics of the world of work, duty, culture, and progress when the only knowledge they need is how to survive. The author, through his novel All Quiet on th e Western Front, attempts to portray the vivid horrors and the raw nature of war and to change the popular belief of war as an idealistic and romantic character. This is evident through the barriers placed between Paul and the relationship with his parents and the rest of society who still view war as glamorous and cherish his war stories as though he were telling them a fairy tale. The novel also attempts to explain the purposes of war and its uselessness in society. The ultimate question that Erich Remarque raises in his novel is what did a whole generation give up their lives and precious innocence to accomplish. All Quiet on the Western Front is a story not of Germans, but of men, who even though â€Å"they frequently escape shells, are destroyed by the war†. This novel have could easily been transformed into the tale of a Frenchmen, an Englishmen, or an American fighting in World War I. Throughout the entire novel Erich Remarque uses the characterization of Paul Baumer, a youthful soldier, to demonstrate how war is not the glamorous, idealistic scenario that many people make it out to be but the gory, inhumane, and inescapable experience that it truly is. In the beginning of the novel the young student was ambitious, but as time goes on Paul’s attitude toward life completely changes. In the beginning, he felt that there was hope fo... ... horrors of war such as, his parents who still view war as glamorous and idealistic. War takes a heavy toll on soldiers who fight in it and in these dangerous moments anybody would have gone insane. It takes a very special type of soldier to be able to handle both the psychological and physical challenges that a soldier has to face in everyday battle. A soldier such as this must be capable of handling the sight of a mutilated comrade and not immediately chatter to pieces. The author conveys this message in his extreme use of words with negative connotation such as shells, typhus, dysentery, and trenches. In this portion of the novel a great deal of emphasis is placed on the word death which is repeated several times and standing on its own it holds a great deal of negative connotations. Therefore, due to the severity of the situation and the extensive use of words with negative connotations the overall tone of the novel appeared to be very depressing or serious. This selection a lso demonstrates just how mythical the character of war that many individuals who have not experienced the tragedy of battle believe to be true by illustrating just how appalling and grim war is in reality.

Irony in “The Story of an Hour” Essay

There are many types of irony such as basic irony which is the use of word to convey a meaning that is opposite of its literal meaning. Situational irony which is the moment a characters actions have the opposite of their intended effect. Finally there is dramatic irony which occurs when there is a contrast between the readers knowledge and the knowledge of the characters in the work. However situational irony is what mostly transpires in Kate Chopin short story â€Å"The Story of an Hour† Situational irony is used in â€Å"The Story of an Hour† through Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death. When she first heard the news of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard, â€Å"wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment† (Chopin, 1). Everyone in the house thought that she was upset and went upstairs to be alone in her room because this is a common reaction after having just lost a loved one. Although once Mrs. Mallard is alone in her room, Chopin wants the reader to witness that she is not saddened by the loss of her husband but relieved, â€Å"When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: â€Å"free, free, free!†Ã¢â‚¬  (Chopin, 1) Although Mrs. Mallard is â€Å"free† from her marriage that does not mean that she did not love her husband, as she looks through the open window from which she gazes represents freedom and opportunities. Instead of being dark and full of grief to symbolize how one would expect her to feel, she sees patches of blue sky, fluffy clouds and treetops. She also hears singing of birds and smells a rainstorm coming. Chopin signifies this as new beginning for Mrs. Mallard. Everything that she experiences through her time of â€Å"mourning† suggests joy and a new life that awaits her. She is expected to mourn her husband’s death, but she is thinking about her new life â€Å"There would be no  one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for her self† (Chopin, 2) this is to be understood that she has sacrificed her life for her husband, although there is no evidence that her husband has done her living â€Å"for her†. The language Chopin uses throughout her story foreshadows the ironic happiness that she feels with being free. Chopin further more tries to explain that she is not only feeling happiness through her husband’s death when she writes, â€Å"She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead.†(Chopin, 1) It is not clear on why Louise Mallard feels this way about her husband’s death because there is no evidence on any physical or emotional abuse, repression or neglect from her husband â€Å"it might have been external, in society or in her marriage or whether it was internal, a recognition that it takes strength to control one’s feelings or whims.† (Berkove, 153). Through Louise’s recognition that she is free from her husband there is situational and dramatic irony as well. While she was alone in her room she realized that she would no longer be bound to her husband but rather free to do whatever she should choose, † â€Å"Free! Body and soul free!† she kept whispering.† (Chopin, 2) She continues to whisper this to herself because although she is alone in her room she acknowledges that she should not be having such thoughts and does not want anyone to know how she really feels about her husband’s death. No one else knew this, they all believed that she was sorrowful and wanted to be alone to grieve. Josephine, a woman in the house, even though Mrs. Mallard was making herself sick, but in reality Louise was absorbing the days ahead of her. Her overwhelming joy all comes to an abrupt stop when she descends from her room to only find out that her husband is not dead. She is so shocked to see her husband that she has a heart attack and as doctors described it as, â€Å"joy that kills,† which is perceived as the dramatic irony part of the short story. Everyone believes she died in that way so the reader can actually realize that she was in fact not joyful to see her husband instead in disarray and upset that she only had a glimpse of real freedom and would rather be dead than to go back and live the life she had. â€Å"Louise dies in the world of her family where she has always sacrificed for others† (Ewell, 160.) Kate Chopin’s â€Å"The Story of an Hour† is one of the many books that says â€Å"so much in so few words† (Berkove, 152). The irony in her story is almost never ending. Louise Mallards life after discovering about her husbands death is the true meaning of â€Å"the story of an hour† because she had a quick look of how her life was going to be. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. â€Å"The Story of an Hour.† Katechopin.org Kate Chopin International Society, April 19, 1894. Web. 1 Nov. 2014. 2. Berkove, Lawrence I. American Literary Realism, Vol. 32, No. 2 : Fatal Self-Assertion in Kate Chopin’s â€Å"The Story of an Hour.† Jstor.org. 2000. Web. 1 Nov. 2014 3. Ewell, Barbara C. â€Å"Chopin and the Dream of Female Selfhood: Kate chopin Reconsidered† Jstor.org. 2000. Web. 1 Nov. 2014

Layman View of Osi Reference Model

Layman View of OSI Reference Model (By Diganta Deka, Former Student, Proprietor-Trainer East India Technologies, Guwahati. ), diganta. [email  protected] com When we talk about computer networks and how computers operate in networks, things do not remain as simple as it seems to be. Here numerous protocols work in tandem for the sake of data integrity during the course of data transfer. To make things worse there are a lot of vendors in the market who provide and produce great number of network hardware and push us to use them.Therefore to provide a solution and to make all these devices communicate in 1984, The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) developed the Open Systems Interconnections (OSI) reference model. Basically it described how information is transferred from one networking component to another, from the point when a user enters information using a mouse or a keyboard to when that information is converted to electrical or light signals transferred along a piece of wire or radio waves through the air and vice versa.So we can say, OSI reference model provides a foundation to use when you are considering what happens between the network components when they talk with each other. ISO developed a seven layer model which allowed vendors and network administrators to understand a stable data transfer and also provided guidelines for implementing new networking standards. Table-1 below briefly describes these layers, their associated services and protocols supported. Layer| Function| Service Description| | Application| The Application layer provides an interface between the communication software and any other application that needs to communicate outside the computer on which the application resides. This layer represents the services that directly support applications such as software for file transfers, database access, and electronic mail. | 6| Presentation| The Presentation layer translates data from the Application layer into an int ermediary format, such as ASCII text, EBCDIC text, binary, BCD, JPEG etc.This layer also provides services such as data encryption, and data compression. | 5| Session| The Session layer allows two applications on different computers to establish, use, and end a session. This includes the control and management of multiple bidirectional messages so that the application can be notified if only some of a series of messages are completed. This allows Presentation layer to have a seamless view of an incoming stream of data. | 4| Transport| The Transport layer defines the end-to-end transmission of data between nodes (e. . PCs), including flow control and error recognition and recovery. It also repackages long messages when necessary into smaller packets for transmission and, at the receiving end, rebuilds packets into the original message. | 3| Network| The Network layer provides routing, logical network addressing, path determination, media/framing translation, frame fragmentation, and congestion signaling/control. The routing concepts define how devices route or forward packets to their final destination.Logical addressing defines how each device can have an address that can be used by the routing process. Path determination refers to the work done by which all possible routes are learned, but the best route is chosen for use. | 2| Data Link| The Data Link layer packages raw bits from the Physical layer into frames (logical, structured packets). This layer specifies the device addressing, topology and media access, bit/byte synchronization, flow control, and error detection/recovery services associated with sending frames of data over a physical link. 1| Physical| The Physical layer specifies how bit streams are to be transmitted over a physical link in the network. This includes physical characteristics of transmission medium, including pins, use of pins, electrical, current, encoding, light modulation and the rules for how to activate and deactivate the use of the physical medium. | Table-1 Within the network, data traverses a network stack using a process called encapsulation. When an application requires communications resources, the message is handed over to the network stack’s application layer.There, the message is processed into a Protocol Data Unit (PDU). Application specific header information is wrapped around the data. The resultant PDU is then passed to the stack’s presentation layer, where additional header information is added. Each subsequent layer in the source system’s network stack adds service-specific header information to the PDU, until a fully formatted data frame is presented to the physical layer for transmission onto the communications medium.This encapsulation process is illustrated in Figure 1. Encapsulation Process Fig-1 The real data transfer process starts from the Transport Layer, where the data is segmented and hence the data is termed as segment in transport layer. When the segments rea ch the network layer each segment is broken into packets. As these packets are transferred to Data Link Layer each packet is again broken into frames and in Physical Layer the frames converts into Bits. When the bit stream reaches the destination system, the reverse occurs.Each layer in the destination system’s network stack analyzes and then strips its associated header information from the message. The resultant PDU is then passed to the next higher layer, until the original message is presented to the destination application. Typically, a communication layer does not process, or alter the PDU’s content as generated by an adjacent layer. Information exchange only occurs between peer OSI layers. The peer relationship between OSI layers is illustrated in Figure 2.Illustrated Peer Relationship between OSI Layers Bit Stream Frame Packet Segment Data Stream Data Stream Data Stream Bit Stream Frame Packet Segment Data Stream Data Stream Data Stream Figure-2 Till now we hav e been talking about the concept behind the OSI reference model, but if we do not discuss about the protocols (protocol is an agreed set of rules by which devices in a network or number of networks can successfully communicate with each other) and devices that work in each layer of the model then the discussion would remain incomplete.Table-2 and Table-3 respectively represent the devices and the protocols used in various layers in the OSI Reference Model. Devices and the Layers at Which They Function Layer| Name of the layer| Devices| 3| Network| Router, Layer3 Switch| 2| Data Link| Switch, Bridge and NIC| 1| Physical| Hub, Repeater| Table-2 Protocols and the Layers at Which They Function Name of the Layers| Protocols| Application| FTP, Telnet, NFS, HTTP, TFTP, DHCP, DNS, VoIP, SNMP, POP3, SMTP| Presentation| ASCII, HTML, JPEG| Session| SQL, RPC|Transport| TCP, UDP, SPX| Network| IP, X. 25, IPX, Q. 931| Data Link| HDLC, Ethernet, LLC, Frame Relay, ATM, Q. 921, FDDI| Physical| RS-23 2, V. 35, 10bT, RJ45, G. 703/G. 704| Table-3 In the field of networking there very few people who is not aware of OSI reference model and it is impossible to imagine the world of Information Technology without this model. Over the years we have come across so many network hardware, software or operating systems but everything is manufactured keeping OSI reference model as a benchmark.

Cultural History of Rap Essay

Public Enemy opens the track with â€Å"Cant Truss It† in a rap merge with Flavor Flav who shouts â€Å"Confusion† their voices paralleled over the heavy and energetic baselines. Even though the song speaks about slavery as rapped by Chuck D about the legacy of slavery, the opening rhymes could as well be used to describe the cultural history of rap music (Rose 272). While there is widespread perception that rap culture is nothing but a noisy and confusing genre of music that has crept into contemporary America’s culture, there are those who posit that rap is an educational tool, as a component of the hip hop culture it is a way of life, a representation of social activism and a music genre with deep social undertones that are drawn from its identifiable origins. Any discussion on the aesthetic edge of rap cannot be made unless a critical analysis is done of the sequential developments in rap music. Never even in its tutelage did rap gain the adoration of the larger populace. The obstacles it faced as it grew from its roots to achieve its present status are so many that it would be a great disservice to take a criticism leaning on the concept of aesthetic edge to disregard rap and pronounce it dead. Initially rap music was regarded as a passing fad that was nothing but a playful and ephemeral expression of black culture whose origins could be traced to the musical energies of the black urban teens. Wynston Marshalis dismissed hip hop as nothing but adolescent â€Å"ghetto minstresly† (Dyon xv). When it was realized that rap as a form of music was meant to stay longer than it had been expected, it received a novel christening that permanently fixed it as a form of music played by and for black ghetto youths. It is at this point that reactions against rap became transformed from dismissal to denigration and it was commonplace to hear attacks from both the white and black quarters. Trying to chart the origins or rap music as a form of cultural expression is very tricky because we are either forced to accept that the cultural foundation existed but only gained expression through rap or view rap as an independent cultural facet that spontaneously erupted without deep cultural roots from where it had existed way before it gained wide applause or derision. However, for the sake of charting the cultural history of rap and pinning it to what critics say about the music genre, it can be conclusively said that the first instance of rap could be traced to the revolutionary verse that was done by Gil Scott-Heron and the Last Poets. Pigmeat Markham followed next with â€Å"Here Come de Judge,† to Bessie Smith rapping along to the beats in her blues (Keyes 17; Forman & Neal 61). For the purposes of pinpointing the origins of rap, it is also prudent to cite that Rap existed in some ancient African oral traditions and consequently in contemporary African American cultural practices. Specifically, modern cultural history of rap begins in 1979, with Sugarhill Gang rapping in the song â€Å"Rapper’s Delight†. These early cases were mostly underground rap forms. Underground rap was viewed as the signal breaker and what followed next was the birth of hip hop and the beginning of the global popularity of rap music. Usually the first stage in production of rap music was the record production where the artist would place their rhythmic repetitive speech over known black music hits which were mostly R&B rhythms that were well known. This stage would later on transform with the help of advanced technical virtuosity through drum machines, instrumentation and the sampling of existing records so as to make rap a form of music that was creatively symbolic(Forman & Neal 61; Keyes 122). Despite all these changes rap was still limited to the inner city neighborhoods, especially in at its cradle; the New York City. Artists like Cold Rush Brothers, Africa Bambataa, Kurtis Blow, Busty Bee, Kool Moe Dee, Funky 4 plus 1, Grandmaster Mel and DJ Kool Herc, began actively experimenting with this new music genre as well as proclaiming its African roots (Keyes 17). Its development was thus marked by the description and analysis of the social, political and economic factors that stimulated its emergence and consequent developments. Such factors included police brutality, drug addiction, teen pregnancy coupled to a variety of cases of material deprivation. A notable case is Kurtis Blow’s lyrics in â€Å"Those are the Breaks†, and the â€Å"Message† a song merges between The Furious Five and Grandmaster Flash. These songs pictured the hues existent in the social misery as well as the stains that could be observed as profoundly reminiscent of urban catastrophe. A rendition of the â€Å"Message† was as follows; â€Å"You’ll grow up in the ghetto living second rate/ And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate/ The places you play and where you stay, / Looks like one great alleyway/ You’ll admire all the number book takers/ Thus, pimps, and pushers and the big money makers/ Drivin’ big cars, spending like a jungle sometimes/ It makes me wonder how I keep from goin’ under. † (Forman & Neal 62) This song together with Flash’s â€Å"New York, New York† became the pioneers of the social awakening that characterizes rap music in combination with musical creation, social protest and cultural expression (Forman & Neal 62). Kool Herc who was a Jamaican DJ in the Bronx is credited with revolutionizing the rhythms in rap. Herc had a unique style of deejaying where rhymes could be recited over instrumentals. In places where he was deejaying such as house parties, he would rap on the microphone while involving a variety of the in-house references. These duplicates of house parties where Herc was deejaying quickly diffused to Manhattan and Brooklyn and followers of rap music began to grow in number (Keyes 40; Adaso 1). Next stage of growth was the increment in financial fortunes from rappers. However, at the background there were still beliefs that rap was nothing but an epiphenomenol cultural activity that would with time wane off after the youth became bored or acquired a different diversion in life just like what had happened to graffiti art and break dancing. But the growth of groups such as the Run-DMC rap group entrenched rap as an independent sphere of an expression of art that increasingly took control of its destiny. Run-DMC became the progenitor of the modern form of rap that is basically a creative integration of diverse musical elements, social commentary and uncompromising cultural identification. This strong integration pushed rap into the mainstream of American culture as well as securing its future as a music genre that has a clearly identifiable tradition. The commercial and critical success that Run-DMC accomplished almost single handedly, pushed rap music into American homes by being certified gold, being featured on MTV as well as being the first rap album(Raising Hell in 1987) to go triple platinum(Keyes 67). Moreover, with the song â€Å"Proud to be Black† they intoned unabashed racial pride that was missing in those days of chronic racial discrimination. It can also be said that it was at this time in the cultural history that Run-DMC acting like a self proclaimed ambassador of rap music began to concentrate its characteristic subversive cultural didacticism to address issues of racism, classism, urban pain, and social neglect. In rap concerts, rappers engaged in ritualistic refusals to abide by the censoring of speech. The concert also acted as space for cultural resistance, loosening the strictures that Blacks were subjected to through demoralizing condemnation and tyrannizing surveillance. The latter actions by the hegemonies white ruling class only served to muffle cultural creativity and self expression. Based on these developments rap music became a strong social force fighting for their civil rights and liberties. Commercial success was instrumental in pushing rap music to the mainstream American culture on one hand but on the other, another charge was levied on rap music: that rap expressed and promoted violence. A notable personality, Tipper Gore has often retained his repeated stance that rap music only appeals to those kids who are angry, disillusioned and unloved. He posits that rap tells them that it is okay to engage in violence. To this day there is a popular perception that there exists an intimate linkage between rap music and the violence exhibited in the social arena especially by Latino and black inner city youth. However, much people may try to substantiate these claims, they are merely side shows and have nothing to do with the deep understanding of rap as a genre of music as well as a cultural and historical identity of the American people. There are countless numbers of rappers who have spoken against violence. On point is rapper KRS-One on his track titled, â€Å"Stop the Violence† in the top selling album of 1989, â€Å"Self Destruction†. In the track KRS-One raps that violence predates rap and is therefore not a characteristic of rap music. He urges a stop of black on black violence as it only erodes the social and communal fabric that had for decades debased inner cities where blacks resided across America (Forman & Neal 66). Despite the potency of the message that KRS-One put across, categorically negative images in against rap have persisted. In a nutshell, rap music is emblematic of the existence of glacial shifts in aesthetic sensibilities that have for decades progressed as blacks moved from one generation to the next with regard to the severity of economic barriers that have been at play in the movement from the ghetto life to middle or upper middle class blacks. Fortunately, these negative perceptions of rap have led to the development of a fierce competitive steak among rappers and hence their continual transcendence across boundaries to global markets. It is upon this developments that rap modeled the modern definition of hip hop which opines that it is a form of music comprised of emceeing and deejaying coupled with graffiti and break dancing. These are the four components of hip hop that catapulted it to its current big business nature. As this evolution progresses other components like clothing trend, lifestyle, slang and the general mindset are becoming more and more incorporated into the hip hop culture. In differentiating rap and hip hop it can be said that rap is a genre of music in the hip hop culture. Hip hop is a lifestyle complete with its own dress codes and lingo. To borrow the words of KRS-One, hip hop defines how you life while rap is definitive of what you (Adaso 1; Cheryl Keyes interview with KRS-One). Therefore, as a product of decades cross cultural integration with deep roots in the African culture, African oral tradition and consequently African American tradition, it is deeply weaved into the social fabric that pronouncing it dead based on the basis of aesthetic edge is simply parochial. First, it is prudent to understand the cultural developments of rap music because it is only in such an understanding that it becomes considerably plausible to attribute lack of aestheticity in its present forms. In context, rap music brings together so many complex social, economic, cultural and political issues. Its contradictory articulations are neither signs of losing the aesthetic edge nor signs of the absence of intellectual clarity. As stated in the beginning of this discourse, the obstacles that rap has survived to become what it is today are may and variable. Therefore, the contradictory articulations that are existent today are but common features of cultural dialogues that not unidirectional but multi directional in that they include the social, cultural and political contexts that define the everyday struggles over pleasure, resources and meanings in the environment where we live and interact(Rose 274). Rap music is a cultural expression that is a preserve of the black community since it prioritizes black voices living in the inner cities of urban America. It is highly rhythmic with a very strong storytelling component. The music is basically electronically based. These are some of the characteristic features of rap music. It is upon these tenets that rap music should be judged so as to form an opinion on its relevance. Rapping which is currently embedded on the powerful technological, industrial as well as ideological institutions usually involve the telling of long and sometimes abstract stories that are necessary in passing the information to the wider audience. Memorable phrases and rhymes that are themselves black sound bite packaged in an ever changing black slang. In essence, rap music wizards, all sounds, images, icons and ideas for recontextualization, mockery, pun and celebration. All these characteristics lie at the core of rap and are therefore definitive of it. In his book, Hip Hop Matters, Watkins, quotes David Samuels who asserts that â€Å"rap has forfeited whatever claim it may have has to particularly by acquiring a mainstream white audience whose taste increasingly determined the nature of the form. What whites wanted was not music, but black music, which as a result stopped really being either† (85). This statement confirms that rap has lost its aesthetic edge because owing to its origins that clearly defined the cultural difference between white and black music, such a divide was broken by rappers like Eminem who symbolized the first breakage of that division. The fact that Eminem rose to a celebrity status despite his white background also confirms that from the earlier days when rap was a preserve for only the black kids, rap has revolutionized and rewritten the racial and cultural history of America. This assertion can be counterbalanced by the fact that the existence and the inevitability of social change cannot be used as a reason to proclaim that rap has completely lost its aesthetic edge. Moreover, the American landscape has changed both socially, economically, politically and culturally. Days when white hegemonies and racial discrimination have gone by. There cannot be a greater explanation for the political changes than the mere fact that a Black president is occupying the white house. In introducing the book, Know What I Mean, by Dyson rapper JZ reiterates the socio-economic underpinnings that defined his life as he grew on the tough streets of Detroit. These conditions of life opened up his mind to the benefits of learning. He could have become a teacher at Baltimore to show the young kids the benefits of leaning just like Tupac had been shown that there existed a power in knowledge and understanding a people’s history (Dyson ix). He further points out that hip hop are not only Black American but American as well. It is correct in the context of cultural discourses to pinpoint forms of music that are termed as rap and are indeed not. Nas’ assertion that hip hop is dead is welcome as it denotes artistic vigilance. Moreover, Nas forms the caliber of rappers who have maintained the original style and content of rap music. As a rapper he has come into contact with a variety of musicians who are not driven by the basic nature of the rapper to use music as a form of activism against social ills. In his book, Dyson describes Nas as one of his generation who is not illiterate, destructive or materialistic, a man who read for passion, pleasure and intellectual stimulation (iv). At the core, rap music can never be called rap without an examination and acceptance of its true nature in the social fabric of America’s landscape. According to Nas, hip hop is dead is a title he used for his album because he felt that unlike in the historical past, people no longer have political voices. Speaking in an interview with MTV, he said, â€Å"When I say ‘hip-hop is dead’, basically America is dead. There is no political voice. Music is dead †¦ Our way of thinking is dead, our commerce is dead. Everything in this society has been done. It’s like a slingshot, where you throw the m- back and it starts losing speed and is about to fall down. That’s where we are as a country †¦ what I mean by ‘hip-hop is dead’ is we’re at a vulnerable state. If we don’t change, we gonna disappear like Rome. I think hip-hop could help rebuild America, once hip-hoppers own hip-hop †¦ We are our own politicians, our own government, we have something to say† (MTV. com) In another interview Nas said that he used the title as a way of engendering reaction from other artists which like he expected happened. Nas blamed the hip hop world especially those in the South for reducing the quality of rap with sub genres like snap music and crunk. Such productions were ideally an affront to Nas’ street credibility. It is aspect of street credibility that Keyes refers to as street consciousness. A critical analysis of the lyrical content as well as the social message in many of today’s rap hits confirms Nas’ assertion that hip hop is dead. The noble quest for social voice that had existed in the past has been replaced with a music genre that is solely driven towards material possession and the pleasures that accompany such acquisitions of wealth. In another interview he could not be more exact, he said that rappers were simply monkeying around and just scrambling for attention. As a counter attack to the notion that hip hop has lost its aesthetic edge, Young Jeezy, Ludacris, Lil Wayne and Kanye West scoffed at the assertions made by Nas. Specifically, Ludacris intoned that hip hop ain’t dead that it was indeed living in the South. Saying that it was the South keeping it alive, he added that hip hop is what you make it to be. Moreover, they believed that due to the booming South, saying that hip hop is dead does not make sense as the south would have been dead too(http://tbohiphop. net). According to Keyes, Rap music if a forum used by rappers to address economic and political disfranchisement of youths especially black youths, it fosters ethnic pride, displays cultural values and aesthetics. At the core rap is artists, the themes they portray and the variation of styles in the portrayal of these themes as a sure reflection of urban life and street consciousness values and aesthetics. Therefore as countries, cultures and cultural components change and socially restructure, there is going to be a continual transformation across cultures and not even rap music can escape such an onslaught. However, a dominant cultural force like rap genre can never be erased. There are core components that will forever define and differentiate rap music from other musical genres. Works Cited Dyson, E. Michael. Know What I Mean? Reflections on Hip Hop. Westview Press, 2007 Forman, M. & Neal, A. Mark. That’s the joint! the hip-hop studies reader. Routledge Press. 2004 Keyes, L. Cheryl. Rap Music and Street Consciousness. University of Illinois Press. 2004 Rose, Tricia. Voices from the Margins: Rap Music and Contemporary Cultural Production. In Popular Culture in American History. By Jim Cullen. Blackwell Publishing, 2001 Watkins, C. Samuel. Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement. Beacon Press, 2005 Websites Adaso, H. A Brief History of Hip-Hop and Rap. http://rap. about. com/od/rootsofraphiphop/p/RootsOfRap. htm Is Hip-Hop Dead? Luda, Big Boi Disagree With Nas. http://tbohiphop. net/is-hip-hop-dead-luda-big-boi-disagree-with-nas/18/ MTV. NAS Interview, â€Å"Hip-Hop Is Dead†. MTV. com