Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Fast Food Nation - Exploiting Adolescents Research Paper
Fast Food Nation - Exploiting Adolescents - Research Paper Example In his book, ââ¬Å"The Fast Food Nationâ⬠, Eric Schlosser brings gimmick to the exposà © summarizing the central idea of the topic in the following statement, ââ¬Å"A fast food restaurant can be a nice place to visit- but if you might not want to work there-especially if you are a teenager.â⬠The sentence cleverly adumbrates the vulnerability of the working ambience at the fast food outlet. American teenager dominates employment at these places (Wartman, Web). Consequently, the issue is being strongly analyzed as adolescence mark the future of the country. The book discusses the misery of a sixteen-year-old high school girl, Elisa Zimot. She was keen to work at the Mc Donaldââ¬â¢s outlet but resented later when a customerââ¬â¢s dealt with her brutally. Often people misbehave with fast workers as they look at them with disdain and contempt. Other teenagers work tediously at fast food restaurants, beyond their legal working limit. A survey illustrated that many high school students around fifteen years of age work for twelve hours and sophomores working late at night in these restaurants. Although the working duration assigned by the Fair Labour Standards do not exceed from more than three hours for school going children, below sixteen years of age. In other words, students are not allowed to work during school hours that is before seven in the morning and after seven at night (Sagon, Web). Even if the school is closed, they might work for few more hours but within the defined limit. Many students cross the limit and consequently, their studies are affected. It is proven by a survey that maximum fifteen hours of employment help students academically whereas beyond this range students show a decline in their overall academics and engage in anti-social activities linked with drug and alcohol abuse (Schlosser 9). Apart from this the fast food restaurants are well equipped with machines, some of which are prohibited for the teenagers to operate. The author discusses Colorado Stateââ¬â¢s law where it is illegal for teenagers below eighteen to use hazardous machinery during work.à Ã
Monday, October 28, 2019
Why a BSN is the future over ADN Essay Example for Free
Why a BSN is the future over ADN Essay Associate -Degree Versus the Baccalaureate degree level in nursing My theory is that the more education a nurse has the better he/she can be at their job of taking care of patient as a whole and on a complex level. To obtain a Nursing Degree one can start at the LVN or go all the way to a PHD in nursing. This paper will focus on the abilities or competencies of a prepared Associate Degree nurse, and the abilities or competencies of a Baccalaureate Degree Nurse. This is a hot topic now and has been for many years. I have been hearing for many years that ADN will be phased out, and only BSN will be used in the future. The time period in which to mandate this event is governed differently by the state where the nurse works. There are catchy phrases out there like BNS in 10, or BSN by 2020. ââ¬Å"As of 2010, at least 18 states, including New York, New Jersey, were considering BSN in 10 legislation.â⬠(nursing link 2011, 07.) The first step is to define nursing. ââ¬Å"Nursing is the knowledge based discipline, which focuses on the wholeness of human being.â⬠The ADN nurse and BSN take a different approach in teaching their students. They both take the same state mandated NCLEX, but have a different time of training. ââ¬Å"The Associated Degree takes a shorter path of two years where the BSN takes a longer with 4 years of education to complete the degree.â⬠Now to break this down and let you know the difference of a 2 and 4 year nursing program. The Associate trained nurse is more task oriented, while the BSN is based on theory and research. I having a diploma hospital based program spent 4 or more days in the hospital setting, but my wife has her BSN and she tells me she usually only spent 1 or 1.5 days at the hospital. I see this now also, where I work we see the Associate nurses more than the BSN students. The clinical experience is only part of what a BSN is exposed to. ââ¬Å"You will receive crucial training in key areas like communication, leadership and critical thinking enhanced knowledge that will become ever more valuable in the complex and changing future of health careà delivery.â⬠(NY Times 2012,06). In short a nurse that takes the extra time of going to a BSN is better educated to take care of their patientââ¬â¢s special and unique needs. Can provide a higher level of care and uses the tool of critical thinking as part of their treatment process. The arguments of BSN over Associate diploma will be supported with the following examples. The Association of College of Nursing provided examples and has linked it to better outcomes for patients, and is pressing for a higher educated nursing force. ââ¬Å"In the October issue of medical Care, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania found that surgical patients in Magnet hospitals had 14% lower odds of inpatient death within 30 days and 12 % lower odds of failure to-rescue comp ared with patients cared for in non- Magnet Hospitals.â⬠(aacn. 2012.10).This research is reflective of Magnet hospitals have a higher proportion of BSN. The push for higher education in nursing work force had shown to be beneficial. In its October 2010 report The Future of Nursing, the Institute of Medicine states ââ¬Å" and increase in the percentage of nurses with a BSN is imperative as the scope of what the public needs from nurses grows, expectation of surrounding quality heighten, and settings where nurses are needed proliferates and become more complex.â⬠Institute of Medicine 2010). This means that the population is getting sicker, living longer, becoming more complex to treat, and are in need of higher educated nurses. Knowledge of basic nursing skill in is not enough to get by on you need a higher level of education. ââ¬Å"According to the IOM Institute of Medicine, core competencies for todayââ¬â¢s nurse include : Leadership, Healthy policy, System improvement, Research and evidence-based practice, Teamwork and collaboration, Competency in specific content areas such as community and public health and geriatrics, and Technological knowledge.â⬠(nursing link 2011, 07.) This means that nur sing educational need are an ongoing process to meet the special needs of our complex, elderly, and sick patients. An advantage that a BSN will have over an Associate nurse is job opportunity. In the world of professional nursing BSN are chosen before, and is some case required to be in management position. Also it opens the door for further education such as but not limited to Certified Registered Nurse Anesthesia, Nurse Practitioner, and the list goes on, but these are my hot buttons. To conclude this paper it is imperative to pursue a BSN degree. It helps provide a higher level of careà to the population needs. Patient outcome has been proven to be improved. At some point a BSN is probably going to be mandated any way. The information here strongly supports the need for a BSN education. The oppurinity is out there. However one pursues a higher education on line, or in the classroom lets up the bar to give our population the highest level of care they deserve. References Fink, J. (2011, 07 11). 6 reasons to get a BSN. Retrieved from nursinglink.monster.com/education/articles/3542-6-reasons-to-get-a-bsn?print+=true. Marybabu. (2012, 02). Bsn vs Associate Degree in Nursing. Retrieved from studymode.com/essays/Bsn-Vs-Associate-Degree-In-Nursing . Medicine, I. o. (2010). The Future of Nursing. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. PÃâ°REZ-PEÃâA, R. (2012, 06 23). Why a BSN? The New York Times, pp. 1-2. Rosseter, R. (2012, 10 24). American Association of nursing Creating a More Highly Qualified Nursing Workforce. Retrieved from www.accn.nche.edu/media-relation/facts-sheets/nursing-workforce. Smoothieshah. (2012, 08 30). Difference between adn and bsn nurses. Retrieved from studymode.com/essy/Differences-between-adn-and-bsn.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Walt Whitmans Relation to the Romantic Period Essay -- Romanticism an
The time of Romanticism brought upon many trends extending from the idea of individualism as a rebellious separation from the classics, an idealistic outlook and finally to a strong religious base. Most of the writers of the Romantic period followed Pantheism "God is everything and everything is God ... the world is either identical with God or in some way a self-expression of his nature" (Owen 1971: 74). The idea of Pantheism was that everything in the world worked in unity. In some of the works of the Romantic period the expression of nature and humans are not separate entities, but one in the same. Even though in reality it did not work this way Pantheism was the ideal of most these writers and idealism in itself was yet another trend in the Romantic period. Another trend in the Romantic period was religion and the idea of sprits. Many writers of the Romantic Period such as Rousseau, Montaigne and Walt Whitman all shared this idea of being individualistic and in most their works it came out as an ego of self expression. Being an individual at the time was a popular thought of people living in the 19th century; thus, the start of the Civil War after most of poetry from this period was published. During the 19th century Walt Whitman was known as an unconventional writer. His work was rebellious and did not stick to any trends of poetry before his time. However, in this technique or lack of technique Whitman marked a new trend of free-verse. Whitman's anthology Leaves of Grass caused a conservational uproar which was no surprise due to his repetitive use of slang, angry diction and an all around "savage" style, (Matthiessen, 181). This now is too lamentable a face for a man; Some abject louse, asking leave to be-cr... ...rns of the poetry before him. For Whitman he felt he did not need to stick to a pattern, likewise he wanted his poetry to come to him randomly, "like music." For Whitman expression was the only purpose to his poetry and everything else was not important, (Allen, 212). Works Cited Allen, Gay Wilson. The New Walt Whitman Handbook. New York: New York University Press, 1975. Greenspan, Ezra, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Walt Whitman (Cambridge UP, 1995), Matthiessen, F.O. American Renaissance: Art and Expression in the Age of Emerson and Whitman. London, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1941. Owen, H. P. Concepts of Deity. London: Macmillan, 1971. Saintsbury, George. Review of Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman. Academy 10 (1874) http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pantheism/
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Academic Qualification!
Since a very early age we all have been told to give our academics a lot of importance because our academics are what will ensure you succeed in life. We all can remeber our parents yelling at us for a bad grade in school and made sure we perform better next time. In truth success is an arbitary term(very subjective) and differs from person to person and field to field. One could take as the economic success as the touchstone to which a person is labelled successful in life overlooking his/her other failure such as health, divorce and inefficiency, etc.To others overcoming obstacle and challenges irrespective of what someone earns and the nature of the personal life proves thier success. So who is a successful person and who is a failure? Do school and college grades provide a way to ensure success? Isn't it true that drop-outs like Bill Gates and Richard Branson have become the most successful and inspirational icons today? And should we consider the millions of un -educated people in the world to be failures in life? There are various points to show otherwise that academic qualification does not ensure success.Sure academic qualification is necessary but that would get you only so far, beyond that point various other factors play and important role. Success isn't about getting grades and degrees, if that was true then why aren't all the graduates from Havard, Oxford and Cambridge uniformly successful? The rule of success lies in hard work and well a little bit of luck(destiny). If an engineering student gets good grades and gets a job but is not practically effective and not good at problem-solving effectively he wont get very far and will soon fade out. Unfortunately the world has changed the concept of success.It has become a rat-race where every student chases grades and therefore the entire perception of success and prosperity had changed. Rather than studying to reach our full potential, we study because we think its necessary for a successful career. We spend ten-years in school and a few more at college to educate ourself and then a couple of years looking and hunting for jobs and even after finding it people tend to be un-satisfied and at the wrong profession.And then at times of crisis such as recession when wealth is scares due to the not-so-responsible decisions of CEOs people are worried about their job and he perception of success changes, if you are able to stay away from the pink-slip(or keep your job) you are successful. To conclude i would like to say that academic qualifications are necessary but not to the level most people make it out to be. Academic qualification ensure a more rounded experience to meet people from different backgrounds and cultures, skills necessary to be successful . Hard work, determination, resiliance and your destiny ofcousre play an equally important role in ensuring ââ¬ËSUCCESS'.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Amendment 2 ââ¬ÅThe Right to Bear Armsââ¬Â
This report provides background information about the Second Amendment. Also it offers a viewpoint on the magnitude and nature of the problem ââ¬Å"right to keep and bear armsâ⬠and discusses the two competing interpretations that predominates the Second Amendment. Furthermore this report identifies political, cultural, administrative, and law enforcement realities that pose enormous obstructions to formulating, passing, implementing, as well as enforcing more gun controls. IntroductionRegardless of being the subject of huge popular and political controversy, until relatively recently the Second Amendment was one of the most neglected areas of constitutional scholarship. The regulation of arms is not just a technical problem. It is an extremely charged ideological and emotional issue that carries an incredible amount of symbolic baggage. For American society, the debate over gun control is more like the debates over abortion and school prayer than like a debate over automobile safety.Millions of Americans, together with a noteworthy percentage of the intellectual elite, think that guns are bad in themselves and that owning them is at best misguided and at worst pathological. For millions of American gun owners, the right to keep and bear arms is associated to freedom and democracy; it is an article of faith similar to the belief that other Americans have in the centrality of freedom of speech and religion.That several Americans dismiss the right to bear arms as a myth that has no legal or constitutional reality is a challenge to the believers' worldview and offend to their very status in American society. It is just a short step to considering the proponents of gun prohibition as ââ¬Å"enemiesâ⬠to be resisted and condemned. Two competing interpretations of the Second Amendment predominate, the ââ¬Å"collectiveâ⬠or ââ¬Å"states' rightsâ⬠interpretation and the ââ¬Å"individual rightsâ⬠interpretation.In the collective rights model , American citizens have no individual right to bear arms; such a right, it is argued, belongs merely to those in the state militias since the purpose of the Amendment was to reassure the states that through the maintenance of ââ¬Å"well regulatedâ⬠militias they would be capable to protect themselves from any danger posed by the new national government's standing army.On the contrary, advocates of the individual rights interpretation contend that the Second Amendment protects the rights of all individuals to keep and bear arms (subject to certain conditions), not just those in the state militias; that it is the ââ¬Å"right of the people. â⬠This, it is argued, is in reference to how the First, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments are interpreted.While the terms ââ¬Å"republicanâ⬠and ââ¬Å"liberalâ⬠have clear-cut meanings to historians, the use of these terms can be quite confusing to the uninitiated, since the ââ¬Å"republicanâ⬠school of Second Amend ment interpretation would doubtless find themselves at variance with many Republican politicians today, and the ââ¬Å"liberalâ⬠school of Second Amendment analysis, with a few notable exceptions, would probably prefix the word ââ¬Å"classicalâ⬠before calling themselves liberals of any sort. (Clayton E. Cramer, 1994).The republican school asserts that the right to keep and bear arms was an outgrowth of republicanism, intended to protect the society from the related evils of a standing army and tyranny. While the arms might be broadly distributed, they would still be possessed by the population for the purpose of collective action against a foreign army, or a domestic tyrant. (Clayton E. Cramer, 1994). The liberal school asserts that the right was individual, a logical outgrowth of the right to self-defense. Such arms would be for the defense of the individual against private criminals; there was no need for a collective purpose or ownership.(Clayton E. Cramer, 1994). Whe n it comes to the question of identify the intellectual and historical antecedents of the Second Amendment, there is, again, broad agreement between the collective and individual rights theorists. Whether tracing its roots through the Florentine political tradition and Machiavelli or the radical English Whig tradition of James Harrington, John Trenchard, and Thomas Gordon, both sides accept that the Second Amendment has to be understood, at least in part, in terms of republicanism.Particularly, there is no argument that an armed citizenry was, as militia members contend, an essential component of eighteenth-century republican thought. The cause for this, in Gordon Wood's memorable phrase, is that republics were seen to be states of ââ¬Å"fragile beautyâ⬠Which is to say, that due to man's continual craving for power it was believed that republics were in constant danger from both external enemies and internal corruption, and citizens' militias were regarded as very important i n resisting these dangers.(Gordon S. Wood, 1969) Certainly, the militia movement's engagement with republicanism assists to elucidate why it reacts to any attempt at gun control with horror. After all, it was a commonplace of eighteenth-century republicanism that merely tyrannical governments would attempt to disarm their people. Voicing such concerns-and linking them to the sacrifices made by America's Revolutionary generation-the U. S. Militia takes the view that even though ââ¬Å"foreign governments may disarm their subjects, we will not go down that road.â⬠ââ¬Å"We will not disarm,â⬠they declare. As militia members see it, the right to bear arms allows Americans ââ¬Å"to back up our other Bill of Rights. â⬠Lose this right, they compete, and, sooner or later, they will lose all their rights. Republican support of citizens' militias went beyond the often expressed concern that standing armies might turn out to be the pawns of corrupt governments, and issues of who eventually controlled the means of force in society, however. The ownership of arms was essential to the very idea of republican citizenship.Arms, it was argued, provided the means by which a citizen could both maintain his independence and-as with jury service-actively participate in his own governance. In classical and early modern republican thought, arms were the ââ¬Å"ultimo ratio whereby the citizen pictures his life to the protection of the state and simultaneously makes sure that the choice to expose it cannot be taken without him. It was the possession of arms which made a man a full citizen, able to, and required to display, the multiple adaptability and self-development which is the crown of citizenship. Access to arms would not create a republican citizen in itself, though.The key to citizenship certainly the key to the successful functioning of republican society as a whole-was to be found in the concept of virtue. Wood describes virtue as the ââ¬Å"willingness o f the individual to sacrifice his private interests for the good of the communityâ⬠(Gordon S. Wood, 1969) that is, to serve the common good-and the ultimate sacrifice an individual could make, certainly, was to lay down his life in defense of the republic. This is mainly worth noting since it adds a republican dimension to the obvious readiness of militia members to sacrifice themselves in emulation of their Revolutionary forefathers.Considerably, militias were seen as institutions in which citizens could be trained in virtue-where virtue would not merely be inculcated and nurtured, however as well exercised in the act of resisting the republic's enemies. Modern militia members are well aware of these aspects of republicanism: that militias were intended to offer a means for citizens to vigorously participate in the republican polity and had a vital role in instilling virtue in those citizens. Proââ¬â and antiââ¬âgun control proponents sharply disagree regarding whethe r the Second Amendment poses an impediment to gun controls.Gun control proponents argue that the Second Amendment has nothing to do with individual rights; it guarantees merely that states can maintain organized militia units. They point to an unbroken line of court decisions that reject Second Amendment challenges to federal, state, and local gun controls. Gun owners' rights supporters cite a large and impressive composition of mostly historical scholarship that reveals that the founding fathers and, subsequently, the authors and ratifiers of the Fourteenth Amendment, intended the Second Amendment to protect the individual American's right to be armed.There is much to be said on both sides of the constitutional debate. The great majority of state constitutions have clauses protecting the right of gun ownership. The merely states whose constitutions do not hold a right to bear arms are Iowa, California, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Minnesota. However, Iowa's, California's, an d New Jersey's constitutions openly protect the right to ââ¬Å"self-defense. â⬠Some state constitutions use the same language as the Second Amendment, however several openly protect the individual's right to keep and bear arms.Consider Vermont's constitution, enacted in 1777: ââ¬Å"That the people have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and the Stateââ¬âand as standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military should be kept under strict subordination to and governed by the civil power. â⬠http://www. law. ucla. edu/faculty/volokh/beararms/statecon/htm Pennsylvania's constitutional right to bear arms is measured to be the precursor to the Second Amendment.Enacted in 1790, at the time that the Bill of Rights was being ratified, it states: ââ¬Å"The right of the citizens to bear arms in defence of themselves and the State shall not be questioned. â⬠http://www. law. ucla. edu/faculty/vol okh/beararms/statecon/htm This language has always been interpreted by Pennsylvania courts to protect the right of all Pennsylvanians, not just militiamen, to possess firearms. Oklahoma's constitution, enacted in 1907, overtly protects the right to keep a gun at home, at the same time as subjecting the carrying of concealed weapons to regulation:ââ¬Å"The right of a citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person, or property, or in aid of the civil power, when thereunto legally summoned, shall never be prohibited; but nothing herein contained shall prevent the Legislature from regulating the carrying of weapons. â⬠http://www. law. ucla. edu/faculty/volokh/beararms/statecon/htm In recent years, numerous states have added gun ownership rights to their constitutions. For instance, Wisconsin amended its constitution so thatââ¬Å"The people have the right to keep and bear arms for security, defense, hunting, recreation or any other lawful purpose. â⬠http://www . law. ucla. edu/faculty/volokh/beararms/statecon/htm These state constitutional provisions would not protect gun owners from federal gun controls; however they protect gun owners against some state and local gun controls. The Second Amendment to the U. S. Constitution states: ââ¬Å"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be abridged.â⬠http://www. law. ucla. edu/faculty/volokh/beararms/statecon/htm In U. S. v. Cruikshank, a nineteenth-century case, the U. S. Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment was merely a protection against federal infringements of a right to bear arms. Although this decision predated the Supreme Court's 20th century decisions incorporating various Bill of Rights guarantees into the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause, with the outcome of guaranteeing those rights against violation by state and local governments, plus by the federal government.It is not a t all apparent that mid-nineteenth-century judges were unaware to any right to keep and bear arms. Consider this passage from the Supreme Court's infamous decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1856), in which the Supreme Court held that slaves and their descendants could claim no rights of citizenship. What is interesting from our viewpoint is the Court's understanding of what are the rights of citizenship. The Supreme Court pointed out that the framers could not have intended that slaves or their descendants ever be citizens because thatââ¬Å"would give to persons of the Negro race, who were recognized as citizens in any one State of the Union, the right to enter every other State whenever they pleased, singly or in companies, without pass or passport, and without obstruction, to sojourn there as long as they pleased, to go where they pleased at every hour of the day or night without molestation, unless they committed some violation of law for which a white man would be punished; an d it would give them the full liberty of speech in public and in private upon all subjects upon which its own citizens might speak; to hold public meetings upon political affairs, and to keep and carry arms wherever they went. And all this would be done in the face of the subject race of the same color, both free and slaves, and inevitably producing discontent and insubordination among them, and endangering the peace and safety of the Stateâ⬠. (Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U. S.393 (1856)) Yale Law School professor Akhil Amar argues that the right of individuals to be armed was very much the intention of the drafters and ratifiers of the Fourteenth Amendment. After the Civil War, the southern states quickly passed ââ¬Å"black codesâ⬠that clearly denied the newly freed slaves the right to keep and bear arms. The debates in Congress in the 1860s over the Civil Rights Act and the Fourteenth Amendment were laced with comments regarding the need to assure that the freed slaves not be kept disarmed and thus submissive, and that they be capable to enjoy the same right to keep and bear arms as white citizens. (Akhil Amar, 1998).The Supreme Court has rendered merely one Second Amendment decision in the twentieth century. In U. S. v. Miller (1939), the Court held that, in making it a crime to own an unregistered sawed-off shotgun, the NFA did not violate the Second Amendment. Gun rights advocates say that the precedential value of the case is just that people are not guaranteed access to gangster weapons, like sawed-off shotguns, and that by negative inference they do have a right to arm themselves with traditional personal firearms. Gun controllers argue that the Second Amendment does not guarantee anybody anything and that Miller means that there is no personal right to possess firearms in the U. S. Constitution.Focusing on the amendment's first clause, they argue that the amendment means only that Congress could not abolish the state militia, now the Nation al Guard. Gun rights advocates believe that the Second Amendment guarantees every law-abiding American adult a right to keep and bear personal firearms. ââ¬Å"Implicit in the Bill of Rights, as in the entire structure of the Constitution, are the twin hallmarks of traditional liberal thought: trust in the people; and distrust in government. â⬠(David Hardy, 1979). Some proponents of this interpretation stress that the right to keep and bear arms was intended to guarantee protection against government tyranny.Liberal constitutional law theorist, William Van Alstyne, finds an individual rights view of the Second Amendment in a textual reading of the amendment. He argues that the amendment ââ¬Å"Speaks to sources of security within a free state, within whichâ⬠¦ ââ¬Ëthe right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. ââ¬â¢Ã¢â¬ He explains that this language guarantees the individual's right to have arms for self-defense and self-preservation. (Willi am Van Alstyne, 1994). Harvard Law School Professor Lawrence Tribe, a person closely associated with liberal politics and the Democratic Party, as well concludes that ââ¬Å"It is impossible to deny that some right to bear arms is among the rights of American citizens. â⬠(Lawrence H. Tribe, 2000).Conceivably the Supreme Court will take a chance to interpret the Second Amendment in a recent Texas case. The U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas stated unconstitutional the federal law (18 U. S. C. sec. 922 [g][8]) which makes it a crime to own a firearm while under a restraining order for domestic violence as applied in a situation where the state divorce court, which issued the restraining order, had made no exclusive findings that the defendant posed a threat to his estranged wife. The district court held that the Second Amendment guarantees a personal right to keep and bear arms (U. S. v. Emerson, 46 F. Supp. 2d 598 [1999]). Two years later, the 5th Circuit C ourt of Appeals (Nov. 2001) affirmed, holding thatââ¬Å"we find that the history of the Second Amendment reinforces the plain meaning of the text, namely that it protects individual Americans in their right to keep and bear arms whether or not they are members of a select militia or performing active military service or training. â⬠Even though the U. S. Supreme Court eventually affirmed that the Second Amendment does not guarantee an individual right to keep and bear arms, which may never happen, the contrary belief is strongly rooted in U. S. and English history, in the constitutions of most U. S. states, as well as in a mountain of pro-gun scholarship. Many gun owners think that possession of firearms is a right of American citizenship and would not be persuaded otherwise, even by a U. S. Supreme Court decision to the contrary, just as death penalty opponents suppose that the Supreme Court was wrongheaded in declaring executions to be constitutionally permissible.Jeffrey Sn yder made the point aggressively in his 1993 Public Interest article, ââ¬Å"A Nation of Cowardsâ⬠: ââ¬Å"The repeal of the Second Amendment would no more render the outlawing of firearms legitimate than the repeal of the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment would authorize the government to imprison and kill people at will. A government that abrogates any of the Bills Of Rights, with or without majoritarian approval, forever votes illegitimately, becomes tyrannical, and loses the moral right to governâ⬠. References: Akhil Amar (1998). The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction (New Haven: Yale University Press). Clayton E. Cramer (1994).For the Defense of Themselves and the State: The Original Intent and Judicial Interpretation of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms; Praeger Publishers, 1994 David Hardy (1979). ââ¬Å"The Second Amendment as a Restraint on State and Federal Firearms Restrictions,â⬠in Restricting Handguns, ed. Don Kates (Great Barrington, Mass . : North River) Gordon S. Wood (1969). The Creation of the American Republic; Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press http://www. law. ucla. edu/faculty/volokh/beararms/statecon/htm Jeffrey Snyder (1993). Nation of Cowards; Public Interest article Lawrence H. Tribe (2000). American Constitutional Law, 3rd ed. (New York: Foundation) William Van Alstyne (1994). ââ¬Å"The Second Amendment and the Personal Right to Arms,â⬠Duke Law Journal 43
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
The Hardest SAT Reading Questions Ever
The Hardest SAT Reading Questions Ever SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you're aiming for a really high SAT score, you'll need to learn how to beat the most difficult questions on every section of the test. Here, Iââ¬â¢ll go through a few of the most difficult questions Iââ¬â¢ve seen on the SAT Critical Reading section and how to solve them. Why exactly are they so hard? How do you tackle them? How well will you do? Challenge yourself for that top score. Question Type 1: Sentence Completion Sentence completion questions are tough because you canââ¬â¢t always rely on context to answer the question if you donââ¬â¢t know the word.The hardest sentence completion questions include difficult vocabulary in both the sentence itself and the answer choices, so youââ¬â¢re stuck in a Catch-22.If you canââ¬â¢t be sure what the sentence is asking for, youââ¬â¢re going to have a rough time choosing the right word or even guessing it. Hereââ¬â¢s a single blank sentence completion question that I think is one of the hardest on the publicly available SAT practice tests: Fred often used ___________ to achieve his professional goals, even though such artful subterfuge alienated his colleagues. A. chicaneryB. diligenceC. bombastD. disputationE. consensus This question includes difficult vocabulary in both the sentence (artful, subterfuge, alienated) and the choices (almost all of them).You can understand from the sentence that the word youââ¬â¢re looking for is a synonym for ââ¬Å"artful subterfugeâ⬠, but what does THAT mean? And even if you do know what it means, the words in the answer choices are also pretty high-level; you might know what diligence and consensus mean, but the other three words are more difficult. So how would you solve this question? First, letââ¬â¢s see what we can get from the sentence.Even if you donââ¬â¢t know what ââ¬Å"artful subterfugeâ⬠means, it must be something negative because it ââ¬Å"alienated his colleaguesâ⬠. If you don't know what "alienated" means, you might be able to infer it from breaking down the word: "alienated" has the word "alien" in it, so it looks like it means "to make alien," which is probably not a good thing. Youââ¬â¢re looking for an answer choice with a negative connotation.This Fred guy is clearly bad news.You can also infer that ââ¬Å"artfulâ⬠means something like ââ¬Å"craftyâ⬠, or in this case (with the negative connotation), ââ¬Å"underhandedâ⬠.You need a word that means a dishonest method of achieving goals. Ok, now we will look at the answer choices. Diligence and consensus are both words you probably know, and neither of them is negative, so you can cross those out. This is where it gets really difficult - the three choices that are left are words you might not know. Disputation sounds like a dispute. Thatââ¬â¢s pretty negative, but it doesnââ¬â¢t really have anything to do with being tricky or underhanded. Bombast sounds like something that would be loud or big, not artful or tricky, but you might not be sure. Chicanery could be right. It has the same ending as ââ¬Å"trickeryâ⬠, and it sounds lighter than bombast (in that the word "bomb" is not in it). It seems like we can narrow it down to bombast or chicanery. Chicanery appeared more likely, so A is the answer weââ¬â¢re going to choose (and the right answer!). This question might seem impossible on the test if you donââ¬â¢t know the words, but if you make some smart inferences about the sentence and the meanings of the answer choices, you still have a good shot of answering correctly without knowing any exact definitions. It's not a sure thing (our assumptions about chicanery above were pretty flimsy even if they turned out to be right) (which they did), but you always have a good chance on these questions if you can narrow your answer down to a couple of likely choices. Fred. Now letââ¬â¢s look at a really hard double blank sentence completion question: Favoring economy of expression in writing, the professor urged students toward a _____ rather than an ______ prose style. A. spare...ornateB. terse...opinionatedC. personal...academicD. baroque...embellishedE. repetitive...intricate This isn't as difficult in the vocabulary department, but it has confusing answer choices and sentence phrasing that requires a high-level understanding of expressions. How do we solve this question? We know from the phrase ââ¬Å"rather thanâ⬠that the two words we use to fill in the blanks must be opposites - thatââ¬â¢s important!The professor favors ââ¬Å"economy of expressionâ⬠, so the first word is going to reflect this type of writing style, while the second will be its opposite. What does ââ¬Å"economy of expressionâ⬠mean? We can infer from what we know about ââ¬Å"economyâ⬠that it probably means something like not being wasteful with words.So the first word should describe an efficient writing style and the second word should describe a more flowery one. Now for the answer choices - I think this is the really hard part of this particular question.You have to remember that both words MUST FIT EXACTLY. First, letââ¬â¢s look at all the first words in the answer choices and see which ones match up with our determination of what the first word must describe.Spare does, terse pretty much does, hmm not sure about baroque, keep that one for now.Personal and repetitive are definitely wrong, so we can cross out choices C and E. It doesn't matter what the second word is if we know the first one is wrong. Let's move on to the second words in choices A, B, and D. A. spare...ornateB. terse...opinionatedC. personal...academicD. baroque...embellishedE. repetitive...intricate Spare and ornate are opposites, so A seems to work pretty well.Terse and opinionated donââ¬â¢t work together, because opinionated is definitely not the opposite of terse, so we can cross out choice B.Baroque and embellished (choice D) is a tough one. Embellished definitely works as the opposite of what the professor wants, but we're still not totally sure what baroque means. So itââ¬â¢s either A or D. At this point, we know that A seems to work, so we should go with that choice even if we are not sure about D.As it turns out, baroque refers to a style characterized by ornate detail (which it to say, not efficient), so A is in fact the correct answer! With this question, we can see how important it is to verify that both parts of a two part answer fit the sentence. Even with very difficult double blank sentence completion questions, if you break down the answers carefully you can arrive at the correct choice. Baroque art: proof that people had way too much free time before the advent of modern technology Question Type 2: Passage-Based Now letââ¬â¢s look at some of the hardest passage-based reading questions. Iââ¬â¢ll break them down by category. Author Technique Author technique questions ask about why the author of the passage used a certain emphasis or device in his or her writing.These questions can be very difficult because you need to have a deep understanding of the authorââ¬â¢s viewpoint and how different writing techniques work to develop arguments. Hereââ¬â¢s one of the most difficult author technique questions I have seen: In lines 27-30, the author uses the word "conventional" several times in order to: A. reveal the performers' frustration with modern theatersB. disparage the present-day treatment of the artsC. parody the creative efforts of contemporary artistsD. emphasize the absurdity of a purely aesthetic approach to the artsE. exaggerate the importance of tradition in the arts The question refers to these lines in the passage: The trend toward preservation is significant not only because it is saving and restoring some superior buildings that are testimonials to the creative achievements of other times, but also because it is bucking the conventional wisdom of the conventional power structure that provides the backing for conventional culture centers to house the arts. I think this question is so difficult because it requires a very specific and nuanced understanding of the authorââ¬â¢s goals and technique. It also provides answer choices that are overall pretty confusing. Letââ¬â¢s figure out how to solve it! First, we need to understand the question. Why does the author use the word ââ¬Å"conventionalâ⬠so many times in this paragraph?Whatââ¬â¢s the viewpoint she is trying to support? Clearly she is pro-preservation of historic architecture (she describes the buildings that preservation saves as "superior" and "testimonials to the creative achievements of other times", which are both good things), and conventional is being used negatively to describe the systems in place that would dismantle these cultural monuments.She is trying to emphasize how important it is not to allow the ââ¬Å"conventionalâ⬠ideas, systems, and centers to completely take over the arts. Now letââ¬â¢s look at the answers, remembering to be very picky and specific about eliminating any answers that are even a little bit wrong! Choice A:reveal the performersââ¬â¢ frustration with modern theaters True, the phrasing does convey a certain frustration, but is it used to reveal the performersââ¬â¢ frustration? Is it specifically about modern theaters? Nope. This answer makes itself too specific by mentioning performers and modern theaters, so itââ¬â¢s gotta be wrong. Choice B:disparage the present-day treatment of the arts This seems correct. ââ¬Å"Conventionalâ⬠is definitely being used as an insult (to ââ¬Å"disparageâ⬠something).And it's insulting the attitudes and structures that surround contemporary treatment of the arts in public life. This oneââ¬â¢s a winner! Choice C:parody the creative efforts of contemporary artists No, this looks like an irrelevant answer. Contemporary artists are not criticized and certainly not parodied by the repeated use of ââ¬Å"conventionalâ⬠.Thereââ¬â¢s no mention of contemporary artists at all! Cross it out! Choice D:emphasize the absurdity of a purely aesthetic approach to the arts Hmm...a ââ¬Å"purely aesthetic approachâ⬠would mean an approach that only takes into account outside appearance.The author does seem like she might reject that sort of approach, but make sure you stick to the question. Is that why she repeatedly used ââ¬Å"conventionalâ⬠? Pure aesthetics isnââ¬â¢t what she's directly criticizing. Itââ¬â¢s more the unfeeling bureaucratic mindset (the "power structure") that pervades todayââ¬â¢s decisions about public cultural and artistic matters. This answer is slightly off from the authorââ¬â¢s point, so itââ¬â¢s not going to work! Choice E:exaggerate the importance of tradition in the arts Again, this does seem like something the author would do - she clearly values cultural history - but is it what sheââ¬â¢s actually doing here?In this case, ââ¬Å"conventionalâ⬠is used repeatedly to put down the current mindset surrounding the arts, not to raise up the authorââ¬â¢s point. Itââ¬â¢s part of a negative argument, not a positive one. This is an example of a weird type of opposite answer. Choice B is correct! This question was really hard because it gave a few answer choices that made some sort of sense with regards to the authorââ¬â¢s viewpoint but that didnââ¬â¢t directly answer the question.This is why you need to always be sure to keep reminding yourself what you are being asked: to avoid just choosing an idea you saw in the passage but that doesnââ¬â¢t answer the specific question. If you think it will help, write down a paraphrased wording of what the question is asking that's easier for you to understand so you can stay focused while you look at the different answer choices. Example of an American cultural monument, am I right? Analogy Analogy questions are also really tough. They require you to make a comparison between something in the passage and something unrelated to the passage that exemplifies a parallel relationship or theme. This means first understanding an abstract concept in the passage and then matching it to one of five other abstract concepts that sound similar. Letââ¬â¢s take a look at one of the hardest analogy questions: The "mystery" discussed in lines 10-13 is most analogous to that encountered in which of the following situations? A. Being unable to locate the source of materials used to construct an ancient palaceB. Being unable to reconcile archaelogical evidence with mythical descriptions of an ancient cityC. Being unable to explain how ancient peoples constructed imposing monuments using only primitive technologyD. Being unable to understand the religious function of a chamber found inside an ancient templeE. Being unable to discover any trace of a civilization repeatedly mentioned by ancient authors Hereââ¬â¢s the part of the passage we need to refer to: But finding Machu Picchu was easier than solving the mystery of its place in the rich and powerful Inca empire. The imposing architecture attested to the skill and audacity of the Incas. But who had lived at this isolated site and for what purpose? First, letââ¬â¢s figure out what the question is asking. Which situation in the answer choices is most similar to the ââ¬Å"mysteryâ⬠described in the passage?So we need to figure out what the mystery is based on the passage. Going from the first sentence, the mystery is the role Machu Picchu played in the Inca empire.We also should note descriptions of Machu Picchu in the passage to make as direct a comparison as possible. We know it had ââ¬Å"imposing architectureâ⬠and was ââ¬Å"isolatedâ⬠but no one knows who lived there or why it existed. Ok, letââ¬â¢s find the most similar answer choice now! Choice A: Being unable to locate the source of materials used to construct an ancient palace The mystery in the passage is about the purpose of Machu Picchu in the context of the Incan Empire.It doesnââ¬â¢t involve any confusion about HOW the city was created.This answer doesnââ¬â¢t fit because the mystery has nothing to do with the origin of Machu Picchu, it has to do with its function. Get rid of it! Choice B:Being unable to reconcile archaeological evidence with mythical descriptions of an ancient city This one doesn't work either. The content doesn't match with the mystery in the passage because there were no mythical descriptions of Machu Picchu. The mystery isn't about any sort of mismatch between the archeological reality of Machu Picchu and how it was described. It's about the fact that its purpose in the Incan empire wasn't described at all. Cross this one out! Choice C:Being unable to explain how ancient peoples constructed imposing monuments using only primitive technology This one is tricky, because the mystery does involve not being able to explain Machu Picchuââ¬â¢s existence.BUT the mystery is not about the logistics of its construction - itââ¬â¢s about the WHY, while this situation is about the HOW. This one is also incorrect! Choice D: Being unable to understand the religious function of a chamber found inside an ancient temple This answer looks promising - it talks about being unable to explain function, and the mystery is the role of Machu Picchu - synonyms!Explaining the religious function of a chamber found inside a temple is analogous to explaining the function of Machu Picchu in the Incan Empire. How does one part function in the context of the whole it belongs to? This answer seems correct. Choice E: Being unable to discover any trace of a civilization repeatedly mentioned by ancient authors This answer again presents a mismatch between evidence and reality (similar to choice B) when no such conflict exists in the mystery of Machu Picchu - thereââ¬â¢s simply no evidence at all. Another wrong answer! Choice D is the one we want! Analogy questions like this require you to think at a pretty high level in terms of inferences because you need to make a connection to something totally outside of the passage. However, this doesnââ¬â¢t change the rule about looking for direct evidence for your answers. Notice how in this question we focused on the fact that the mystery was about the role of Machu Picchu.By using this evidence, we were able to find the most direct connection in the answer choices by noting that role and function are synonyms. Machu Picchu - I think I need to go there. Paired Passages Paired passage questions contain some of the most difficult questions on the SAT Critical Reading section because they ask you to look at arguments from different viewpoints and make inferences about the views of passage authors. It's a real mental challenge when these questions ask you to put yourself in someone else's shoes (especially someone whose opinion is different from your own or unfamiliar to you) and then take it one step further and analyze another person's opinion from that viewpoint. Hereââ¬â¢s one of the hardest paired passage questions Iââ¬â¢ve seen: Based on lines 63-67 ("nobody...sheep"), the author of Passage 2 would most likely appear to the author of Passage 1 as A. a neutral observer of animal behaviorB. well informed concerning research into animal intelligenceC. having a deep fondness for border collies and therefore overestimating themD. having little respect for traditional scientific researchE. having a narrow understanding of what constitutes intelligence Hereââ¬â¢s Passage 1: And here are the lines referenced in Passage 2: ââ¬Å"nobody could believe dispassionately in the totality of positive and negative reinforcement after seeing the pure intelligence shining in the face of a border collie intent upon helping a shepherd herd sheepâ⬠How should we go about solving this question? This is the type of SAT Critical Reading question where it actually is important to read and absorb the whole passage.We need to have a strong idea of how the author of Passage 1 feels about canine intelligence. From reading the passage, itââ¬â¢s clear that the author of Passage 1 takes a more cynical view of the issue. People are inclined to believe that dogs are intelligent because we are always around them and they are good companions, but this has no basis in scientific fact. What does this mean about the author of Passage 1ââ¬â¢s opinions on the author of Passage 2 based on the quote? Well, it seems like he or she would probably think the author of Passage 2 was naive and falling into the trap of wishful thinking.The quote cites unscientific, emotional evidence of the intelligence of a particular dog breed. Ok, now letââ¬â¢s look at our choices! Choice A:a neutral observer of animal behavior Hmm no, I donââ¬â¢t think so. This is almost an opposite answer. Clearly the author of Passage 2 is biased towards believing dogs are intelligent. There's no way the author of Passage 1 would think of her as a neutral observer based on her statement about border collies. Cross it out! Choice B:well informed concerning research into animal intelligence Nothing in the quote says anything about research, so it wouldnââ¬â¢t make sense for the author of Passage 1 to consider the author of Passage 2 well informed about animal intelligence research based on the excerpt. This is definitely an irrelevant answer - get rid of it! Choice C:having a deep fondness for border collies and therefore overestimating them Hmm, this seems possible. The author's point in Passage 1 was that peopleââ¬â¢s emotional attachment to dogs causes them to overestimate their intelligence. In Passage 2, the author is clearly citing her own positively biased observations of border collies as evidence of their intelligence. The author of Passage 1 would definitely think she was overestimating border collies because of how much she likes them. This answer makes sense. Choice D:having little respect for traditional scientific research This one isn't going to work - it makes too many assumptions. The quote doesnââ¬â¢t indicate anything about the author of Passage 2ââ¬â¢s feelings towards scientific research.Thereââ¬â¢s no reason the author of Passage 1 would make this specific judgment based on the excerpt. This is a pretty tricky answer choice. It would make some degree of sense for the author of Passage 1 to believe this about the author of Passage 2 since she's citing anecdotal evidence rather than scientific facts to back up her point about border collies. However, this answer is too nonspecific to be correct. There's nothing that directly points to the fact that the author of Passage 2 doesn't respect traditional scientific research. She certainly does respect her own (perhaps biased) judgments that aren't based in science, but that doesn't mean that she looks down on real scientific research. Eliminate it! Choice E:having a narrow understanding of what constitutes intelligence If anything, the author of Passage 2 adopts a wider understanding of animal intelligence than the author of Passage 1 because she entertains the notion that dogs are more intelligent than scientists believe.Thereââ¬â¢s no reason why the excerpt would cause the author of Passage 1 to believe the author of Passage 2 had a narrow understanding of intelligence. This oneââ¬â¢s wrong too! Choice C is correct! I thought this question was particularly tricky because it asked you to do some high-level inference work and provided a correct answer that might at first have seemed too specific. It also gave some other answer choices that appeared plausible but didn't fit with any evidence in the quote from Passage 2. In these types of questions, itââ¬â¢s important not to doubt yourself and to use process of elimination very strictly. Even if you're being asked to infer something about one passage author from the point of view of another, your inference will still be based on direct evidence from the passages. In related news, border collies are too cute to handle. Review The most difficult sentence completion questions on SAT Critical Reading will expect you to understand high-level vocabulary in both the sentence itself and the answer choices. Even if you donââ¬â¢t know specific definitions of all the words, process of elimination can help you get down to one or two answer choices.Remember to look for connotation in the sentence and note relationships between words and phrases so you know exactly what youââ¬â¢re looking for. The most difficult passage-based questions on SAT Critical Reading will ask you to understand and compare abstract concepts and points of view. It's important to always be clear on what the question is asking first.Some choices might be relevant to information in the passage without being a direct answer to the question. Above all, BE PICKY. The hardest questions are relying on your inability to eliminate slightly incorrect answers.If you canââ¬â¢t find direct evidence for a choice, you have to get rid of it. Even the hardest Critical Reading questions can be answered confidently with enough practice! What's Next? Want more tips on how to master the SAT Critical Reading section? Check out our article on how to get an 800! Also, take a look at these articles for more tips if you're still struggling with running out or time or reading the passageson for Critical Reading. Finally, here are six strategies you can use to improve your score.Take a practice test to get started! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points? Check out our best-in-class online SAT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Reading lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:
Monday, October 21, 2019
Marketing Role in Business Strategies
Marketing Role in Business Strategies According to my own understanding, marketing can be described a series of activities aimed at accomplishing the objectives of an organization by simply anticipating what products and services are needed by customers and determining the strategies of communication, sales and ultimate development of the business. Through marketing, business companies and organizations get to create and develop loyal relationships as well as value for their respective customers.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Marketing Role in Business Strategies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More According to the American association of marketing, marketing is referred to as a process that involves an organizational function of creating and delivering goods and services to customers with appropriate communication and value (Kotler Keller, 2009). The association further states, that marketing is emphasized for the purpose of creating healthy re lationships between business organizations and their customers for the benefit of all the stakeholders and the organizations themselves (Armstrong Kotler, 2009). According to the chartered marketing institute, marketing is described as a process of management aimed at identification, anticipation and satisfaction of the needs and requirements of various customers in a profitable manner (Kerin et al., 2009). The institute further elaborates that the process of marketing seeks to increase the returns to all the share holders of business organizations through creation of a competitive advantage and strengthening the relationships with valued customers in a business environment. According to the above definitions, marketing contributes to the promotion of the awareness of products to the public and the target market. One of the primary goals of marketing is to get the products recognized in the market and this helps to increase the sales volume and revenue earned by business organizati ons. It is very hard for any dedicated business organization to think of letting the public or the customers find out about the products of the organization. For start-out business organizations, it is very important for their marketing departments to enhance the awareness of available products through advertisements and promotions. Although promotions and advertisement programs are costly to the organization, the major advantage is that the company information and the available products get disseminated to the public domain for buying purposes. For example, the Coca-Cola Company spends a lot of cash on advertising its products to the target market and this has enabled most of its brands to thrive worldwide (Kotler Keller, 2009). Another major importance of marketing is that it helps to boost and increase the sales of the organization. The main reason why business organizations exist is to make profits through delivery of various types of goods and services to respective customers. Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In order to enhance profits and meet business targets, business organizations have to boost their volumes of sales through strategic plans and marketing practices. In any case, whatever is being provided by a business organization will only generate sales after the target customers learn about the products on sale through; promotions, newspapers ads, online ads and other forms of marketing. The interest of the public to buy a certain product or service will only increase after they have heard of the product several times on television, radio advertisements or from any other lines of marketing. For example, when some of the products from McDonald Company started recording low sales volume in 2006, the management decided to direct most of the funds to advertisement and promotion of the brands and this led to ultimate improvem ent of the brandââ¬â¢s performance in the market in terms of sales (Armstrong Kotler, 2009). Marketing also helps to build and enhance the reputation of the company or the business organization. In business, reputation is one of the major qualities required by an organization to win the trust and loyalty of customers. It is very easy for a company with good reputation to reach a wide market scope and win many customers as compared to a similar company with a bad reputation. For instance, a business organization that engages in promotional and sponsorship activities such as sports, community development and other charity related events not only gains by marketing their products but also benefits a lot by gaining public confidence, trust and appreciation that contributes to the ultimate development of a good reputation. For example, Barclays bank is well known worldwide for its initiative to sponsor and support English premier league. This initiative has really boosted the reputat ion of the bank in terms of international recognition and customer loyalty. Very many people who like watching English premier league are as well interested in getting associated with the bank because they are well informed about the services being offered by the bank (Kerin et al., 2009). In conclusion, marketing is a very essential tool when it comes to business strategies that contribute to the ultimate success of a business organization. Marketing essentially helps in educating the public on the latest brands in markets and helps in boosting the sales as well as the profits of business organizations through development of company reputation.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Marketing Role in Business Strategies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, marketers need to be creative and strategic in their marketing activities in order to promote their products using acceptable tactics that are in line wit h marketing ethics. Although it is fundamental for any business organization to carry out marketing, there is need for implementation of proper marketing strategies and approaches to avoid loss of funds and time wastage (Kotler Keller, 2009). References Armstrong, G., Kotler, P. (2009). Marketing: An Introduction (9th ed.) New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Kerin, R., et al. (2009). Marketing (9th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Kotler, P., Keller, L. (2009). Marketing Management (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Sunday, October 20, 2019
Defining Racial Prejudice
Defining Racial Prejudice Words such as racism, prejudice, and stereotype are often used interchangeably. While the definitions of these terms overlap, they actually mean different things. Racial prejudice, for instance, typically arises from race-based stereotypes. People of influence who prejudge others set the stage for institutional racism to occur. How does this happen? This overview of what racial prejudice is, why itââ¬â¢s dangerous and how to combat prejudice explains in detail. Defining Prejudice Itââ¬â¢s difficult to discuss prejudice without clarifying what it is. The fourth edition of the American Heritage College Dictionary provides four meanings for the term- from ââ¬Å"an adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the factsâ⬠to ââ¬Å"irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race or religion.â⬠Both definitions apply to the experiences of ethnic minorities in Western society. Of course, the second definition sounds much more menacing than the first, but prejudice in either capacity has the potential to cause a great deal of damage. Likely because of his skin color, English professor and writer Moustafa Bayoumi says that strangers often ask him, ââ¬Å"Where are you from?â⬠When he answers that he was born in Switzerland, grew up in Canada and now lives in Brooklyn, he raises eyebrows. Why? Because the people doing the questioning have a preconceived idea about what Westerners generally and Americans particularly look like. Theyââ¬â¢re operating under the (erroneous) assumption that natives of the United States donââ¬â¢t have brown skin, black hair or names that arenââ¬â¢t English in origin. Bayoumi acknowledges that the people suspicious of him typically donââ¬â¢t ââ¬Å"have any real malice in mind.â⬠Still, they allow prejudice to guide them. While Bayoumi, a successful author, has taken the questions about his identity in stride, others deeply resent being told that their ancestral origins make them less American than others. Prejudice of this nature may not only lead to psychological t rauma but also to racial discrimination. Arguably no group demonstrates this more than Japanese Americans. Prejudice Begets Institutional Racism When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the U.S. public viewed Americans of Japanese descent suspiciously. Although many Japanese Americans had never stepped foot in Japan and knew only of the country from their parents and grandparents, the notion spread that the Nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans) were more loyal to the Japanese empire than to their birthplace- the United States. Acting with this idea in mind, the federal government decided to round up more than 110,000 Japanese Americans and place them in internment camps for fear that they would team up with Japan to plot additional attacks against the United States. No evidence suggested that Japanese Americans would commit treason against the U.S. and join forces with Japan. Without trial or due process, the Nisei were stripped of their civil liberties and forced into detention camps. The case of Japanese-American internment is one of the most egregious cases of racial prejudice leading to institutiona l racism. In 1988, the U.S. government issued a formal apology to Japanese Americans for this shameful chapter in history. Prejudice and Racial Profiling After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Japanese Americans worked to prevent Muslim Americans from being treated how the Nisei and Issei were during World War II. Despite their efforts, hate crimes against Muslims or those perceived to be Muslim or Arab rose following the terrorist attacks. Americans of Arab origin face particular scrutiny on airlines and airports. On the tenth anniversary of 9/11, an Ohio housewife of Arab and Jewish background named Shoshanna Hebshi made international headlines after accusing Frontier Airlines of removing her from a flight simply because of her ethnicity and because she happened to be seated next to two South Asian men. She says that she never left her seat, spoke to other passengers or tinkered with suspicious devices during the flight. In other words, her removal from the plane was without warrant. Sheââ¬â¢d been racially profiled. ââ¬Å"I believe in tolerance, acceptance and tryingââ¬âas hard as it sometimes maybeââ¬ânot to judge a person by the color of their skin or the way they dress,â⬠she stated in a blog post. ââ¬Å"I admit to having fallen to the traps of convention and have made judgments about people that are unfounded. â⬠¦The real test will be if we decide to break free from our fears and hatred and truly try to be good people who practice compassionââ¬âeven toward those who hate.â⬠The Link Between Racial Prejudice and Stereotypes Prejudice and race-based stereotypes work hand in hand. Due to the pervasive stereotype that an all-American person is blonde and blue-eyed (or at the very least white), those who donââ¬â¢t fit the bill- such as Moustafa Bayoumi- are prejudged to be foreign or ââ¬Å"other.â⬠Never mind that this characterization of an all-American more aptly describes the Nordic population than individuals who are indigenous to the Americas or the diverse groups that make up the United States today. Combating Prejudice Unfortunately, racial stereotypes are so prevalent in Western society that even the very young exhibit signs of prejudice. Given this, itââ¬â¢s inevitable that the most open-minded of individuals will have a prejudiced thought on occasion. One neednââ¬â¢t act on prejudice, however. When President George W. Bush addressed the Republican National Convention in 2004, he called on schoolteachers not to give in to their preconceived ideas about students based on race and class. He singled out the principal of Gainesville Elementary School in Georgia for ââ¬Å"challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations.â⬠à Although poor Hispanic children made up most of the student body, 90 percent of pupils there passed state tests in reading and math. ââ¬Å"I believe every child can learn,â⬠Bush said. Had school officials decided that the Gainesville students couldnââ¬â¢t learn because of their ethnic origin or socioeconomic status, institutional racism would have been the likely result. Administrators and teachers would not have worked to give the student body the best education possible, and Gainesville couldââ¬â¢ve become yet another failing school. This is what makes prejudice such a threat.
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Earnings per share FASB project on convergence with the IFRS Essay
Earnings per share FASB project on convergence with the IFRS - Essay Example The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) avers to serve "the investing public through transparent information resulting from high-quality financial reporting standards" (FASB, Home Page)The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the FASB acknowledge that the convergence of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the U.S. Generally, Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) is the primary objective of both boards. The FASB has taken up several 'projects' to address issues where differences have been found in reporting standards and have successfully concluded many; some are under current scrutiny. One of the current issues is the reporting of 'Earnings per Share' or EPS as it is popularly known.Different tools are available for making financial analysis of stocks and range from the very simple and elegant to the very complex and difficult to understand. The financial performance of the company, and therefore, its future prospects and stock performance, i s better understood through the calculation of some important ratios that assist us in a detailed appraisal. The EPS method looks at the financial performance of the company; focusing on the earnings recorded per ordinary share in a particular accounting period. This number provides a clear picture of the actual profitability of the company and is used to calculate the Price to Earnings (PE) ratio which represents the ratio of the market price of the share compared with EPS. Since the share price changes almost continually this latter ratio also keeps changing and needs to be calculated on real time basis at the time of making investment related decisions. This is the most important ratio used by the market generally to assess the relative rating of a share and the company's prospects and, of course, is the easiest to understand. It identifies the number of years' earnings needed to cover the current market price of the share. This paper presents the results of a detailed study of this project and its immediate and long term implications for the accounting fraternity as well as the users of accounting statements, viz. the management, shareholders and other stakeholders of the company as well as auditors, potential suitors (for takeover bids) and public. The Standards IAS are a set of financial reporting policies that typically require increased disclosure and restrict management's choices of measurement methods relative to the accounting standards of the local GAAP standards (Ashbaugh & Pincus, 2001). With regard to the Earnings per Share the FASB issued a statement (Statement No. 128: Earnings per Share) and the IASB its statement IAS-33. Both boards have been working together to resolve the differences in order to bring convergence in the two statements and plan to make their final recommendations open for public comment in the first quarter of 2008. This draft will be open comment for 120 days and will then be adopted, with modifications, if required through public opinion. This draft will represent the third such 'exposure draft' on the subject, the earlier ones required many changes based on public comment and had to be revised. The earlier drafts were based on the comments on the statement 128 in 2003 and the first exposure draft in 2005. The description of EPS i.e. The basic earnings divided by the average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the period (IAS33-R.10) leads us to the immediate issues involved: a) How are the basic earnings to be calculated, and b) what is the number of shares the earnings must be divided by to arrive at the EPS. We examine how these are considered under the IFRS and GAAP to arrive at the differences between the current practices under the two regulations. Basic Earnings The concept is to arrive at the profit of the company that is attributable to the ordinary shareholders of the company and therefore the basic earnings must be calculated as net profit (or loss) less preference dividends
Friday, October 18, 2019
How the Mongol Empire Conquered Topography Essay
How the Mongol Empire Conquered Topography - Essay Example That is to say, the people living within this landlocked area have historically been bestowed with a choice of inhabiting three biomes: Desert, Mountains, or cold Taga. As these are similarly difficult to settle in and survive, the Mongols led nomadic patterns along the steppe - those mid-areas at the cusp of Mountain plateaus, off the lines of parched expanses. This steppe of the Gobi desert can be characterized as rocky lands covered in layers of sand. The Mongol civilization developed as one of the world's first nomadic groups, cradled between mountain and desert. But here is where also developed one of Asia's most powerful empires. The contradiction is intriguing. What would nomadic tribes endlessly wandering undulating terrain have to do with the powerful Mongol Empire, which under the rule of Genghis Khan, moved armies across huge expanses of terrain, despite difficult topography, to conquer adjacent civilizations to the east and west Many maintain that was precisely the work of Genghis Khan and his closest successors, including Kublai Khan. Indeed, the height of the Mongols really only lasted from the 13th to the 14th century. Other factors pertaining to how the Mongols dealt with their geography come into play, for example, the methods they used for centuries to move across terrain, climate patterns, and population density. For centuries Mongols were known as pastoralists and nomads. Mongol tribes appeared around 500 BC, already carrying their proportion of horses.1 They wandered, while in nearby lands of China, people were beginning their Imperial Era as early as 220 BC.2 On the steppe, the Mongols herded cattle along Gobi oases, seldom traveling in clans larger than one or two families.3 In comparison to the frozen Mongol development, civilization boomed quite effortlessly south of the steppe. Within the fertile river basins of the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, China's multiple units successfully accommodated a mixed economy of commerce, farming, handicrafts and pastoralism. Internal competition also allowed science and technology as well as literature and art to thrive on the East Asian Mainland. This was known as "a hundred flowers blossoming" (baijia zhengming, literally "a grand song contest with one hundred contenders").4 But meanwhile in nomadic ambling across a rocky desert, trudging through shifting sands, the Mongols carried out their civilization, seemingly without a trace. For hundreds of years, up to 600-800 A.D., the Mongols had still left little evidence of their cultural existence, in terms of pottery or cultivation, and settled in not a single village.5 It has been said that Genghis Khan made the Moguls a strong empire by first unifying the Mongolian tribes. Previously known as Tem Jin, then "Granted the title Genghis Khan, he reorganized the Mongolian military and established the civil laws of his empire. His reforms included breaking tribal armies, implementing a meritocracy, developing a cavalry and a code of written laws".6 The interesting aspect of this quotation is in the explication of tribal activities. By converting many tribes into a single unified people, and then extinguishing individual clan ties, Genghis Khan ensured that the Mongols would become an empire by removing all
WRITING HISTORY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
WRITING HISTORY - Essay Example This was seen as a breakthrough in the rather fraught racial history that had galvanized America since its inception. Who would think of the election two years back? The election of Obama is historical as it opened a chance and possibilities for the country and the world in general. This was a defining moment for America as people even outside America changed their general perception about the Americans. Additionally, the election of Obama in the November 4th polls was a peak point for the electoral process in the US hence being a trademark for the post-civil rights revolution (CNN, 2010). Thus, historically, it can be affirmed that the significance is big. This was no more the republican versus the democrat dialogue but more of the moment when the struggles of the black will be alleviated. This in essence was unprecedented victory that blew away the 400 years of black slavery as well as legal segregation and institutional racism that has over time shadowed the progress and gains mad e by the American populace (CNN, 2010). The other historical event can be alluded to be the 2008 global recession that had wide impacts in terms of financial crisis since the Great Depression of 1929-30 (CNN, 2010). Early 2008, there were signs of serious crisis in the offing. This would be marked by the sharp drop in the profits that were made by Citigroup bank and consequently a fall on the New York Stock Exchange. This would then be followed by very sharp fall in share prices in all the major world markets. Massive losses would then be registered by American and European banks in the end of 2007 financial year (CNN, 2010). The following months would then witness the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the take-over of Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sacks and Morgan Stanley moving to seek banking status so as to be protected from any form of bankruptcy. This recession was historical as it called for desperate measures in the extra-ordinary times, with the US employing the most
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Research and Litereture review Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words
And Litereture review - Research Paper Example In this context, the study has been undertaken among 700 Thai undergraduate students among the six different faculties and four different institutions as the sample to view the perception of varied students. Moreover, in order to compare the rate of plagiarism across the different facility, one-way ANOVA test has been performed. Also, as the study has been undertaken from the prospective of six different faculties thus, the one-way AVONA test has been conducted to measure the similarity and dissimilarity in the mean values of the statistics. Furthermore, the result of mean values derived from AVONA test helps to address the question that the rate of plagiarism differs among the faculties, which signifies that the attitudes of students towards different faculty are not similar (University of Vermont, 2014; Songsriwittaya et. al. 2009). Schrimsher et.al. (2011) conducted their study with the goal of determining the attitude of students towards plagiarism as well as misconducts in the academic activities in the context of Samford University. Additionally, this research has been conducted using the primary data collection method from 681 Samford University students with the help of close ended question in yes/no form and rating based on Likert scales. In order to derive the aforesaid aim of the research, different research questions have been framed and the responses of the survey respondents have been analyzed using the Chi square test. Chi square method for the analysis of data significantly assists in determining the differences in the attitudes of the students, which is included in the survey. Moreover, the result derived from Chi square signifies in the research that majority of the students have the perception that if one submits others written work it will be termed as an act of plagiarism. Nevertheless, it al so signifies with the test that students have extremely disregarded the high amount of cheating at Samford University. Ryan et. al.
To make argument about your own academic experience to an academic Term Paper
To make argument about your own academic experience to an academic audiene - Term Paper Example Ideal may differ from person to person. Something which is ideal to me may not be ideal to others and vice versa. During my management I did my specialization in marketing. Lot of people did their specialization in finance. I think marketing as a subject/course is more ideal than a finance. Before discussing why marketing is more ideal than finance lets first understand what does an ideal college experience means. An ideal college experience means an experience in discovery. It can be related to a particular subject or also personal discovery of self. So an ideal course can be new ways of learning, learning new values, learning new ways of solving a problem or addressing an issue. It is not mere reading a book, remembering a subject and then writing the same in the exam. It is about applying your knowledge and tools to think critically. It is about handling different situations in different ways and finding solutions for all kind of problems Marketing as a subject has got very little to do with theories and concepts. Yes, theories and concepts are important but not from a reading or remembering point of view but from the point of applying it in day to day life. Marketing is about thinking and applying the concept learns during the lecture to handle tricky situation. It is about creating different, new and innovative methods to sell you product or services. It is about creating ideas and strategies. ... That is something a student needs to decide. This is where a student is really tested as in how good is his ability to think and rationalize. Advertisement is a part of marketing. Creating an ad for a particular product or service is a challenging job. That is where the analytical skills of a student is tested. You can judge how creative a student is. Marketing research is also a part of marketing where a student analytical skill is tested. Marketing has got to do with lot of group activities. Where a students learns how to work in a team. He learns the ways to respect you superior and work with you subordinate. Finance on the other hand involves more of theories than practical. Lot of reading is involved in finance. You need to be thorough in the concepts and you need to remember lot of definition. Practical knowledge and activities are very less in finance. Calculation and analytics are important elements of finance but other than that not a lot of all round skills of student is te sted in finance. Further finance has got to with numbers and application of numbers. But when it comes to practical application of finance it definitely is bare minimum. Finance is a very important department in corporate and is essential for any organization. But in studies it has very little do when it comes to group work or applying it in practical purpose. It is mostly theories and concepts and less of practical, creativity and inter-personal skills. Finance is far from being an idea subject because it is one dimensional and does not focus on most of the skills that a student needs to develop. So when you compare a marketing and finance as a subject you will agree to the fact that marketing
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Research and Litereture review Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words
And Litereture review - Research Paper Example In this context, the study has been undertaken among 700 Thai undergraduate students among the six different faculties and four different institutions as the sample to view the perception of varied students. Moreover, in order to compare the rate of plagiarism across the different facility, one-way ANOVA test has been performed. Also, as the study has been undertaken from the prospective of six different faculties thus, the one-way AVONA test has been conducted to measure the similarity and dissimilarity in the mean values of the statistics. Furthermore, the result of mean values derived from AVONA test helps to address the question that the rate of plagiarism differs among the faculties, which signifies that the attitudes of students towards different faculty are not similar (University of Vermont, 2014; Songsriwittaya et. al. 2009). Schrimsher et.al. (2011) conducted their study with the goal of determining the attitude of students towards plagiarism as well as misconducts in the academic activities in the context of Samford University. Additionally, this research has been conducted using the primary data collection method from 681 Samford University students with the help of close ended question in yes/no form and rating based on Likert scales. In order to derive the aforesaid aim of the research, different research questions have been framed and the responses of the survey respondents have been analyzed using the Chi square test. Chi square method for the analysis of data significantly assists in determining the differences in the attitudes of the students, which is included in the survey. Moreover, the result derived from Chi square signifies in the research that majority of the students have the perception that if one submits others written work it will be termed as an act of plagiarism. Nevertheless, it al so signifies with the test that students have extremely disregarded the high amount of cheating at Samford University. Ryan et. al.
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Critical Biodiversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words
Critical Biodiversity - Essay Example Each of these many species on earth plays a significant role in maintaining of a stable and healthy ecosystem. However, human activities have directly or indirectly led to a major loss of biodiversity and in turn raising questions as to the need of conserving species so as to maintain a stable and healthy environment. Human activities that directly affect biodiversity include deforestation, pollution and overexploitation of natural resources. Indirectly for instance, human activities have led to climate change which negatively affects other species. Since each and every species plays a significant role in maintaining a stable ecosystem, the existence of each species is vital to life. Human being cannot survive without biodiversity as we rely on it directly or indirectly (De Vere, 2008). Directly, most of the plant species are consumed as food and medicine by humans. In addition, all plants play a major role in changing carbon dioxide to oxygen which is vital for human life. Some animal species are also food to humans, and their existence means a continuous food supply. The importances of biodiversity to mankind are just a few to mention. I agree that the loss of a few species may have no profound effect on ecosystem processes, but there is a need to conserve all species for a better and stable environment. Conservation of biodiversity can include actions like restoration of ecosystems, controlled exploitation of natural resources and the requirement to conserve the species among others. In conclusion, humans need biodiversity for survival since diverse species play various roles in maintaining a stable and healthy ecosystem. As a result, they should conserve the species. I agree that just as our comprehension of social equality has expanded throughout history, our familial and social groups have grown in size. Therefore, our inclusion of the environment ought to become a part of our ethical
Keyboard and a mouse Essay Example for Free
Keyboard and a mouse Essay The two hardware that I used to produce this website are a Keyboard and a mouse. The need to capture data quickly and accurately has led to a wide range of input devices. For this project there are not many choices of hardware that I could have used other than the mouse and the key board. I could have used some other software such as concept keyboard, graphic table, touch screen, a scanner and a digital camera but these were needed due to the project that I was producing being so simple and did not need the help of these hardware. The advantages and disadvantages of a keyboard and a mouse are: Hard ware Advantage Disadvantage What else could I have used Key board It is very simple to use and comes free with a computer that you get. This has every key and letter place to suet us to give us the most comfort. This it is not wireless and that it cant be moved far form the computer and there are only letters and numbers on it and most of the functions of the keyboard are hidden. It is only in English so other languages could not be typed in by this qwerty keyboard. I could have used a concept keyboard which would have been even simpler to use. Mouse The advantage if using a mouse is that it is very simple to sue and has two buttons. This makes it very easy to use and anyone could easily learn to use this moue. The mouse is very accurate and is very sensitive so that the curser moves to the exact speed and accuracy as you prefer. The mouse could not always be the correct size to make it comfortable to use. The mouse that I used was not wire less and had a rollers ball at the bottom which could mean that the sensitivity of the mouse could decrease as time goes by. I could have used a graphic tablet. This would have been ideal for drawing things such as the logo and for designing the webpage to the actual details that you prefer. Use of Software In this project I used one major software which is called Serif Web Plus. There are many reasons why I choose this website instead of any of the other more famous software that that are out there. One of the main reasons why I chose this software to produce the website was because this is a very easy and simple software to use, This does not have many confusing steps. I preferred this software instead of Microsoft Front Page due to FrontPage being so confusing and so hard to use. Web Plus 9 breaks down the technical barriers, enabling anyone to create their own professional looking site. As with all Serif software, this Web creation superstar is full of features that make it simple, easy-to-use, powerful and quick. With Web Plus enhanced interface, incredible graphic presets, Web design functionality and publishing capabilities it is even possible to create a webpage within two hours. But the longer you take the more detailed and more accurate the web site will be. Software Advantage Disadvantage Serif Web Plus There are many advantages to this software. One of this is that this software is very simple to use and you might even be able to create a finished and a working website in within two hours. Every thing on this software is very easy to access and is very easy to use. One you start using this software you will find out how easy it is to create a website from scratch. There are a lot of variety of choices of colours, pictures, text, buttons and many other shapes that could be used to build your own website. This is one of the easiest web authoring software to create a link that I have come across. Every thing on this software is very simple and the page that you will be creating could only be a size of an A4 sheet. If you use software such as FrontPage you could make the page as long as you desire to fit the information you wish to enter. There a lot of things that you can not do using this software. This software seems to cause a lot of freeze in the computer sometimes and some the functions are too complicated to use or to learn. I could have used Microsoft FrontPage instead of this software but the MHC manager just wanted me to create a simple web page that included everything that they wanted me to include in this. I chose this software over FrontPage for one main reason and that is because of Serif Web Plus being so simple to use and the FrontPage which is very complicated and very advanced software to make a website on. Candidate Name: Niroshan Sivarajah Candidate Number:1177 Centre Name: Archbishop Lanfranc Centre Number: 14334.
Sunday, October 13, 2019
Panayiotopoulos Syndrome in a 3 Year Old Child
Panayiotopoulos Syndrome in a 3 Year Old Child Benign occipital epilepsy of childhood -Panayiotopoulos syndrome- in a 3 year old child Menon Narayanankutty Sunilkumar *, Vadakut Krishnan Parvathy Department of Pediatrics, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Amala Nagar, Thrissur-680 555, Kerala, India M N Sunil Kumar V K Parvathy Running title: Panayiotopoulos syndrome in a 3 year old child Manuscript type: Case study * Author for correspondence, Dr. Menon Narayanankutty Sunilkumar ABSTRACT Panayiotopoulos syndrome (PS) is a relatively frequent and benign epileptic syndrome seen in children in the age group of 3-6 years and is characterised by predominantly autonomic symptoms and/or simple motor focal seizures followed or not by impairment of consciousness. Although multifocal spikes with high amplitude sharp-slow wave complexes at various locations can be present in the EEG, interictal electroencephalogram (EEG) in children with this particular type of epilepsy characteristically shows occipital spikes. This syndrome has known to be a masquerader and can imitate gastroenteritis, encephalitis, syncope, migraine, sleep disorders or metabolic diseases. In the absence of thorough knowledge of types of benign epilepsy syndromes and their various clinical presentations, epilepsy such as PS can be easily missed. The peculiar aspects of this type of epilepsy in children should be known not only by paediatricians but also by general doctors because a correct diagnosis would avo id aggressive interventions and concerns on account of its benign outcome. In this case study, we report a case of PS in a 3 year old child. Keywords: Benign occipital epilepsy, Panayiotopoulos syndrome, Autonomic symptoms, Emesis, EEG I NTRO DUCTION The International League Against Epilepsy in their expert consensus has given due importance for the various benign childhood seizures which have good prognosis.1 PS is a common idiopathic childhood-specific seizure disorder formally recognized by the league and is included in the category of benign epilepsy syndromes and is recognized worldwide for its autonomic presentations.2,3 This early-onset benign childhood seizures was described by Panayiotopoulos.4 . It has been defined by Panayiotopoulos as consisting of brief, infrequent attacks or prolonged status epilepticus and characterized by ictal deviation of the eyes and/or head and vomiting, occurring in children usually between the ages of 3 and 7 years.5 Seizures are usually followed by postictal headache and are often associated with interictal occipital rhythmic paroxysmal EEG activity that appears only after eye closure.5 The PS has excellent prognosis and parents can be definitely reassured about its benign course 4,6,7,8,9. The risk of developing seizure disorder in later life is negligible 6. Detection of occipital epilepsy at very early stage is needed to successfully treat this condition and allay the fears of the parents and care givers of these children with PS.In this case report, we discuss about the occipital epilepsy in a 3 year old girl child. CASE REPORT A 3-year-old girl, only sibling from a poor socioeconomic family of a non-consanguineous couple, presented in the Out-patient Department of Paediatrics, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur, Kerala, with complaints of becoming limp after sudden episode of vomiting, followed by uprolling of eyes, stiffening of the both upper limbs and lower limbs and a brief period of drowsiness.The child was happily playing in the house about half an hour back.There was no associated fever,trauma,ear discharge ,no common paediatric illnesses like diarrhea,dysuria,cough,running nose,wheezing,throat pain. A detailed history was taken. The child was born of a non-consanguinous parents,fullterm normal vaginal delivery,with a birth weight of 2.215 kg. She was immunized to date and had normal milestones of development.The history revealed that she had similar episodes of vomiting especially getting up from sleep and having deviation of eyes to one side,becoming limp and followed by drowsiness for few minutes in the past from the age of 1 à ½ years old. Overall she had 5-6 such episodes and 3 times she had these episodes when she was sleeping.There was no associated fever during these episodes. Two times she had stiffening of all the limbs with deviation of eyes to one side,and followed by drowsiness. There was no focal type of seizures in this child. The parents attributed these to indigestion and gave home remedies as always there was vomiting and tiredness following the episodes.The child then used to play around normally. One month back the child was seen by a local doctor who advised EEG and it was done which was reported as normal and parents were advised follow up. The child on admission was tired, but was conscious. On examination,she was afebrile,signs of meningeal irritation were absent, central nervous system examination was normal,neurocutaneous markers were absent,fundus examination was normal. Other systemic examinations were normal.Laboratory investigations showed hemoglobin (11.7 g/dl) with low indices, total leucocyte count (11,550/cumm), neutrophils (75%), lymphocytes (22%), platelets (210000/à µl), ESR (35mm at1 hr),serum calcium(10 mg%),SGPT(28mg/dl),serum electrolytes levels were normal.EEG was done(Figure- 1A and B) and reported as symmetrically distributed normal sleep activities,with activation of rare sharp wave discharges arising from the left occipital region.An awake record could not be obtained. The diagnosis of PS was made based on the clinical history and EEG which showed the predominantly occipital spikes. She was started on carbamazepine with increasing the dose schedule to her required weight. The child did not have any allergic reaction to the drug and did not progress autonomic instability. She and her parents were given excellent emotional and pschycological supportive care, After completion of 5 days of observation for her symptoms and any allergy to the she was discharged on day 6 with improvement in clinical conditions on multivitamins, hematinics and deworming drugs with an advice to follow-up . DISCUSSION PS described by Panayiotopoulos4 is a common autonomic childhood epileptic syndrome with a significant clinical, pathophysiological characteristics and is multifocal.10 PS is now formally recognized as a distinct clinical entity within the spectrum of benign focal epilepsies of childhood.11 PS affects 13% of children aged 3 to 6 years who have had 1 or more afebrile seizures and 6% of such children are in the 1- to 15-year age group.6,7,12. Autonomic epileptic seizures and autonomic status epilepticus are the cardinal manifestations of Panayiotopoulos syndrome.12. The main aspect of PS is that irrespective of their location at onset, there is activation of autonomic disturbances and emesis, to which children are particularly vulnerable. These symptoms and pattern of autonomic seizures and autonomic status epilepticus in PS do not occur in adults and are very specific to childhood. 12 PS is often confused with occipital epilepsy and acute non-epileptic disorders such as encephalitis, syncope, cyclic vomiting or atypical migraine even with characteristic clinical and EEG manifestations. 13 The clinical and EEG features of PS is due to a a maturation-related diffuse cortical hyperexcitability 4,6. This diffuse epileptogenicitywhich may be unequally distributed,is predominating in one area of the brain , and is often posterior. The explanation for the characteristic involvement of emetic and the autonomic systems may be attributed to epileptic discharges which are generated at various cortical locations andthis in turn influence the childrenââ¬â¢s vulnerable emetic centers and the hypothalamus 4,6. The diagnosis is based entirely on clinical presentation and EEG.12 PS has some of the key clinical features which are often present as single, focal seizures with an unusual constellation of autonomic, mainly emetic, symptoms,associated behavioral changes, and sometimes seizure like clinical manifestations such as unilateral deviation of the eyes and convulsions 3,4,7,8,9,13. The emetic triad in PS (nausea,retching, vomiting) culminates in vomiting in 74% of the seizures; in others, only nausea or retching occurs, and in a few, vomiting may not be present. Other autonomic manifestations include pallor, , mydriasis or miosis, flushing or cyanosis thermoregulatory and cardiorespiratory alterations. Frequently incontinence of urine and/or feces, hypersalivation, cephalic sensations, and modifications of intestinal motility are also seen9. Half of the convulsions end with hemiconvulsions or generalized convulsions. Two thirds occur during sleep as was seen in our child for about three times.. Autonomic status epilepticus enveals then.. The seizures usua lly last for 5ââ¬â15 min, but half of them are prolonged, sometimes for hours, constituting autonomic status epilepticus. The patient recovers within a few hours. even after the most severe seizures episodes and status.12 An electroencephalogram is the only investigation with abnormal results, usually showing multiple spikes in various brain locations.12Multifocal spikes that predominate in the posterior regions characterize the EEG 6.The EEG variability in our child of 3 years is showing the characteristic occipital spikes from the left occipital region. The EEG done 5 months back was normal in our child. PS is the second most frequent benign syndrome of childhood after rolandic epilepsy,which primarily affects 15% of children at a peak onset at age 7ââ¬â9 years 1. Another epileptic syndrome categorized with PS and rolandic epilepsy is the Gastaut type childhood occipital epilepsy 2, manifesting with frequent and brief visual seizures. However, this is rare,of uncertain prognosis, and markedly different from PS,despite common interictal EEG manifestations of occipital spikes 6.Occipital spikes in non-epileptic children with defective vision, occipital slow spike-and-wave found in some patients wi th the Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, focal epilepsy due to occipital lesions, seizures originating in the temporal lobe secondary to an occipital abnormality, and complicated or basilar migraine must be considered in the differential diagnosis.5 There are typical and atypical case of PS15,17,18 .Lada et al 15 conducted a retrospective study of 43 patients with PS who were seizure free >2 years. In their analysis girls predominated ,as in our child was a girl.. The first seizure was seen in 5 years of age. 86% had emesis as the symptom with the seizures. Seizures during sleep (84%) were more common than those in wakefulness. EEG showed occipital spikes in more than 50% of patients.. Prognosis was excellent and 80% children have been free of seizures for > or =2 years as is in a typical case of PS.15 DeÃâÃ
¸erliyurt et al16 did a case series study of patients with PS and postulated that PS is associated with high rates of febrile convulsions, afebrile convulsions/epilepsy, migraine, and breath-holding spells in the patients and families suggested the importance of genetic factors 17.Febrile seizures are to be considered in the differential diagnosis because the recovery of consciousness from seizure is fast and Control of the seizure is paramount. uncomplicated usually.18 Ferrie et al. 17 postulated an atypical evolution of PS in a case report. The management of PS is not complicated. Education and knowledge about PS is the cornerstone of management. Control of the seizure is paramount. Prophylactic treatment with antiepileptic medication may not be needed for most patients. The emphasis is on treatment of possible fever and mainly of the underlying illness.One third (30%) of the seizures are relatively brief and self-limited. They subside spontaneously within 2ââ¬â10min. The other two thirds (70%) have long-lasting seizures(>10 min) or status epilepticus (>30 min to hours). These should be appropriately and vigorously treated as for status epilepticus19,20. Parents of children with recurrent seizures should be advised to place the child on its side or stomach on a protected surface and administer a preparation of intravenous rectal benzodiazepine (BZD). In an emergency facility, the childââ¬â¢s airway should be kept clear, oxygenation maintained, and intravenous or rectal antiepileptic drug (AED) given to halt the s eizure. A BZD is probably the first choice. The great majority with PS do not need AED treatment even if they have lengthy seizures or have more than two recurrences. There is no increased risk of subsequent epilepsy or neurologic deficit. If a child has multiple recurrences (only about 5% exceed 10 seizures) and if the parents too worried prophylaxis can be given.Continuous prophylaxis consists of daily medication with any AED with proven efficacy in partial seizures.Although there is no evidence of superiority among monotherapy with phenobarbitone, carbamazepine(CBZ), sodium valproate or no treatment in PS, most authors prefer CBZ 14.Our child was started on Oxcarbazepine ,a structural derivative of CBZ with no side effects since last 1 month.Autonomic status epilepticus in the acute stage needs thorough evaluation; aggressive treatment may cause iatrogenic complications including cardiorespiratory arrest.12The adverse reactions of the antiepileptic drugs such as severe allergic r eactions ,abnormal liverfunction tests and idiosyncratic reaction should be kept in mind and monitored.14 The prognosis of PS is excellent 4,6,7-9. The lengthy seizures and status do not have any adverse prognostic significance, and the risk of developing epilepsy in adult life is probably no more than that of the general population 6. One third of patients (27%) have a single seizure only, and another half (47%) have two to five seizures. Only 5% have >10 seizures, but outcome is again favorable. Remission usually occurs within 1 to 2 years from onset.6. CONCLUSION PS is a common cause of epilepsy in children and a knowledgeable doctor does not miss it. Physician education of PS and recent guidelines on epilepsy management is vital in detecting PS at very early stage, so further lifesaving interventions can be done and prevent delay in the trearment administration. Multiple antiepileptic drugs use is required in only in a small proportion of patients. Seizures in PS, like febrile convulsions, despite their excellent prognosis, are a frightening experience for the in experienced parents, who often think that their child is dead or dying. Parents of young children should have general information by the family doctor regarding PS. Parental education and a supportive group comprising the paediatrician, neurologist, nursing staff and the social worker can help and reassure these distort parents as was done in our child who is doing fine with no recurrence in the last 1 month. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors acknowledge the help of Dr Ajith TA, Professor Biochemistry, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Amala Nagar, Thrissur, Kerala during the preparation of the manuscript. REFERENCES Commission on Classification and Terminology of the International League Against Epilepsy. Proposal for revised classification of epilepsies and epileptic syndromes. Epilepsia 1989;30:389ââ¬â99. 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