AMUL – A case study on IT in SCM

AMUL – A case study on IT in SCM A live case of Use of IT Amul is a leading food brand in India. It offers a wide range of products like milk, milk powder, butter, ghee, cheese, chocolates, Shrikhand, ice cream and many more. The brand name AMUL is derived from the Sanskrit word â€Å"Amoolya†, meaning priceless. The first products with the Amul brand name were launched in 1955. Since then, they have been in use in millions of homes in all parts of India, and beyond.Today Amul is a symbol of many things: Of high quality products sold at reasonable prices, of availability, of service. Amul has been accredited with ISO 9001 and HACCP Certification by QAS, Australia-the first food company in Asia to receive the HACCP Certification â€Å"Amul† is a well-acknowledged and live example of making a strong use of IT Formed in the year 1946, Amul initiated the dairy co-operative movement in India and formed an apex co-operative organization called the Gujarat Cooperative M ilk Marketing Federation (GCMMF).Today, this movement is being replicated in 70,000 villages in over 200 districts in India, transforming the rural landscape. This co-operative revolution has made India the largest producer of milk in the world today. Amul is also one of the largest and most celebrated food brands in India. GCMMF markets its products through 50 sales offices throughout India; and distribution is done through a network of 4,000 stockists who, in turn, supply 500,000 retail outlets.The complexity of logistics can be visualized in terms of: millions of litres of milk to be collected from millions of village members. Interestingly, milk is a perishable commodity; hence a strong coordination function is required in storing, processing and distributing the milk in required time. The case of Amul's supply chain is noteworthy simply because the movement has not only lead to efficient collection of milk but, more importantly, has used IT to create higher profits for milk pro ducers. Role of Information Technology IT has played a critical role in the development of the Amul brand.The logistics behind the coordination of approximately six million liters of milk per day from numerous village co-operative societies throughout Gujarat, and storing, processing and producing of milk products at various district dairy societies, is carried out with clock-precision. In these, IT plays a critical role. The installation of over 3,000 Automatic Milk Collection System Units (AMCUS) at village societies to capture member information, milk fat content volume collected, and amount payable to each member, has proved invaluable in ensuring fairness and transparency throughout the entire organization.GCMMF is an apex co-operative organization that comprises affiliated member dairies/district milk unions, each having its own manufacturing unit. These member dairies in turn collect milk from members who supply milk twice a day to the respective village co-operative societie s. To meet the challenge of growing business, IT was decided as the thrust area that would streamline the production and collection process and the processing of milk products. This is where the installation of AMCUS made the entire operation look simple.As milk is a highly perishable commodity in the supply chain, the AMCUS initiative is vital for the operations. More importantly, this initiative has increased the trust and transparency for IT in rural areas'. On an average, around thousand farmers come to sell milk at their local cooperative milk collection center. Each farmer is given a plastic card for identification, at the milk collection counter, the farmer drops the card into a box and the identification number is transmitted to a personal computer attached to the machine.The milk is then weighed and the fat content of the milk measured by an electronic fat testing machine. Both these details are recorded in the PC. The computer then calculates the amount 1 AMUL – A c ase study on IT in SCM due to the farmer on the basis of the fat content. The value of the milk is then printed out on a slip and handed over to the farmer, who collects the payment at the adjacent window. With the help of IT the farmers receive their payments within a matter of minutes.Each member preserves the milk in the cold storage, processing it and producing several products, sold under the Amul brand name. As all products have a limited shelf life, the organization's ability to conduct its operations in a smooth way is much more praiseworthy-especially when one considers the scale of the operations. Amul makes about 10 million payment transactions daily. On the logistics side, more than 5,000 trucks move the milk from the villages to 200 dairy processing plants twice a day, according to a carefully planned schedule.Amul took a strategic decision to redesign and re-organize the existing software applications in 1994 to meet the challenges of growing business. Accordingly, Amu l assigned the ERP software development project named as Enterprise wide integrated application system (EIAS) which covers a plethora of operations like market planning, advertising and promotion, distribution network planning, stock control, sales and accounting, budgetary control, quality control management and co-operative service management.Each of Amul's offices is connected by e-mail and all of them send a daily report on sales and inventory to the main system at Anand. Also, sales offices, C&F points and wholesale distributors of GCMMF have been connected through the Internet for timely exchange of information. Amul is also in the process of Web-enabling the entire supply chain so that it can capture key information at the source and use the same for decision-making. This would include the likes of transporters, member manufacturing units, oil packing stations, suppliers, depots and the ntire field force. A web site (http://www. amul. com) has been constructed featuring sport s information, recipes and quizzes (to stimulate buyer interest and to establish national brand recognition) and business-to- consumer order placement. Amul has a customer feedback channel which uses e-mail addresses like [email  protected] com for cheese products and [email  protected] com for butter products. E-competency has been established at the supply and distribution ends of AMUL's business.At the supply end, a computerized database has been established of all suppliers and their cattle. Computerized equipment measures and records qualities and quantities collected. Computers have been set up at member unions and village cooperatives. At the distribution end, stockists have been provided with basic training and computers. AMUL experts assist stockists and retailers to build promotional web pages. AMUL cyber stores have been set up at various locations in India, the USA, Singapore and Dubai.Each visit to the Indian cyber store sites results in considerable purchases. A st rong e-mail database of more than 10,000 customers has also been developed. In addition to the EIAS, Amul has also been using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to plot zone/depot boundary as well as a pointer for zone, depot and distributor locations, which are superimposed by product-wise sales data. Going forward, there are plans to introduce features like Internet banking services and ATMs which will enable milk societies to credit payments directly to the seller's bank account.In line with this vision, officials at Amul are looking at upgrading the plastic cards, which are being currently used only for identification purposes, to smart cards which can be used to withdraw cash from ATMs. Amul has radically altered the complexion of the supply chain-by eliminating the middleman and bringing the producer closer to the consumer-resulting in benefits for both. Amul has also linked distributors to the network and also incorporated Web pages of top retailers in their web site (www. amul. com) as part of B2B initiatives.Distributors can place their orders on the website, amulb2b. com, especially meant for accepting orders from stockists and promoting Amul's products via 2 AMUL – A case study on IT in SCM E-commerce. A big achievement of IT in Amul has been the automation of the complex supply and delivery chain. The automated supply chain seamlessly integrates the manufacturing dairy units for production, planning and raw material procurement. It handles distribution of milk from surplus unions to deficit unions.It is a live example of practicing Just in time supply chain management with six sigma accuracy! Amul's success in leveraging IT to its advantage lies in the simple fact that the organization has a clear IT vision and has made full use of the potential of IT for managing its supply chain. In 2003, GCMMF won the prestigious international CIO 100 award from IDG's CIO Magazine, USA. The 2003 CIO 100 award recognizes organizations around the world th at excel in positive business performance through resourceful IT management and best practices.GCMMF, whose IT initiatives have been driven by the philosophy of being an IT company in food business, has inspired all its employees to sustain the challenges as a â€Å"change agent† by excelling their IT skills in order to transform the people around them towards IT integration on both the ends of supply chain (village dairy farmer to end-consumer), GCMMF has also won the prestigious Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality Award for the year 2003.GCMMF has bagged this award for adopting noteworthy quality management practices for logistics and procurement. Over the years, it has established an efficient supply chain that penetrates even the remotest corners of the country. In summary, Amul has developed world-class expertise in the physical distribution of short-life produce. Already advanced in physical logistics, Amul has innovatively explored ways to use IT to enhance its supply ch ain. (Source: amul. com, ExpressComputers(16 Sept 2002: article by Srikanth R P), and other sources)GCMMF: An Overview Members No. of Producer Members No. of Village Societies Milk collection (Total – 2002-03) Milk collection (Daily Average 2002-03) Milk Drying Capacity Sales Turnover (2002-2003) 12 district cooperative milk producers' Union. 2. 28 million. 11,132. 1. 86 billion litres. 5. 08 million litres. 510 metric Tons per day. Rs 27457 Million. IT Enablers used by Amul †¢ Uses automated milk collection system units for collection of milk. †¢ Implemented a customized ERP system which is used in conjunction with GIS. Uses data analysis software for forecasting milk production and increasing productivity. †¢ Has connected all zonal, regional and member dairies through VSAT. †¢ One of the first five Indian organizations to have a Web presence. †¢ Geographic information system for sales and distribution planning. †¢ Data Information System Kiosk for data analysis and decision support to help in improving milk collection. †¢ Web enabled customer feedback channels. †¢ Strong initiatives in e-commerce. 3

John Locke and Land Ownership Essay

John Locke in The Second Treatise of Civil Government makes several key arguments about what makes land ownable, these ideologies differ from how land ownership works in America but it is easy to see how America’s early days could have aligned with this ideology. In this paper I will focus on two key principles that Locke believed in that are basic requirements for land ownership. The first of these is that land ownership is obtained through labor and that items on the land have no value until labor is applied and the second describes government’s role in land ownership as simply being that the labor applied to land precedes government and government cannot dispose of the estates of the subjects arbitrarily and instead should be limited to securing the life and property of its citizens, and is only necessary because in an ideal, anarchic state of nature, various problems arise that would make life more insecure than under the protection of a minimal state. These two principles allow for the easy identification of claimed lands. While at the same time provide the motivation and encouragement to individuals so that they will want to find land that they can then harness through labor and thus make their own land. It is because of these reasons and more that land ownership through labor is a must for a successful society and a functioning government. In order to ensure that these principles are being viewed and judge from the same sense of meaning a few key words need to be defined as used in this paper. The term land ownership is vital to this paper and its meaning will be defined as, â€Å"the owner of contiguous property that has been improved upon from nature to provide for one’s living†. The term labor will only be used in reference to labor upon an individual’s land and will reference, â€Å"human time and effort put in to a particular task†. The term government will reference only the actual ruling body that â€Å"influences daily life based on policies and procedures they enact†. At the last term reward will refer to, â€Å"an item or exchange of labor promised or normally expected given in exchange for labor or with no expectation of any kind of return. The principle that labor is a prerequisite to land ownership fits in perfectly with the needs and situation of the early American nation. Outside of key city areas a majority of this nation’s land was unclaimed and unused bearing none of the fruits of labor and essentially leaving all of its value unclaimed and untouched. With a bounty of land larger than anyone person could actually work and apply labor to, it made sense to encourage land expansion. With land expansion individuals could claim land through labor and the value and goods on that land would no longer go to waste as unused items that could have benefitted society as a whole. The second principle helps to place limits on what the government can do once a parcel of land is owned by an individual. It is safe to say that any reasonable person would not like to see their possessions and livelihood wiped away with one fell swoop, but if governments have no restrictions in the use of their power it would be all too easy to force someone from their land, effectively robbing them of all their possessions and the livelihood that past labor has brought them. This is why Locke insisted that the government role in land owner ship remain limited in scope only to the extent that is needed to ensure this doesn’t happen. Without this assurance from governmental takeover acts similar to his could become standard practice. An unjust government might routinely perform these actions, unjustly claiming the land. This would result in a diminishment of the value of labor and would remove the incentives to work land and would result in a decrease in goods. Because of this looming threat it is clear that government must have some restrictions on acquiring land to avoid unjust actions and encourage a general sense of trust and security in the government. A government that is without citizens that have some sort of trust and security provided by having a reliable, continual and trustworthy shelter is bound to fail since this is a basic need of humans in general. Modern science can help prove the stress and additional energy expenditure humans endure if they can’t find a sense of comfort, safety and belonging a study performed by Dr. Gilman while at Princeton University showed, â€Å"humans that are in constant fear of loss of shelter expend an average of 2900 calories daily† (Gilman 03/01/2012), along with this extra energy expenditure a lack of shelter creates stress that in turn creates a reduction in productivity. This stress can actually change the human brain reaction method resulting in it , â€Å"going from more sophisticated but slower modes to the faster behaviors of the older brains when we are under stress† (Gilman 03/01/2012). This change in brain behavior limits creative thinking and essentially devolves human thought to a lower state this combined with the increased calories expenditure creates a vast pool of diminished talent that when viewed in a large scale population level, results in a huge waste of resources that could be easily reduced by the assurance of land ownership and security. The easiest way for a government to meet this need is to let individuals provide additional goods to society by applying labor to their land thereby reducing their energy requirements and providing goods for the benefit of all. With all the complications that are possible when it comes to providing for the needs of the many, it only makes to allow individuals the freedom of land ownership that will help reduce their needs while simultaneously benefitting others. This notion of having some sort of fruit from your labor is fundamental to increasing one’s value and having a desire to perform work that can be beneficial to all. A study from Yale University performed by Dr. Greene helps to illustrate just how deeply rooted this concept is into human psychology, an individual will work perform work equivalent to their valuation of a reward. The study was meant to determine the amount of work an individual would perform without a reward versus the amount of work performed for a reward. The study concluded that, â€Å"any individual who was assigned a tasked performed that task to completion with more detail and more efficiently when rewarded as compared to no reward† (Mark et al. 1978). This study helps to demonstrate that human psychology insists that any individual will perform more work and therefore be a more productive member of society if only that individual receives something for the labor they put in. As mentioned earlier if an individual lives under constant threat of having everything taken from them it is essentially making them perform labor on their land without a reward resulting in less work being performed and less goods for all of mankind, the only solution that removes this fear is placing limits on when and if a government can take someone’s land from them. With removal of this fear an individual can and likely will utilize labor to its fullest extend thereby adding value to the land. It is clear that the benefits of land ownership as defined through the use of labor allows for the creation of the best society possible, one that can help to provide for mankind as a whole, increase the value and abilities of its citizens that actively partake and utilizes the resources at hand to the best of its abilities without waste and undue stress. A society that is free of these constraints and provided with the best possible reward for work and sense of security can only flourish and enjoy the fruits of their labor helping to create the best future possible. Works Cited: Gilman, Robert. Context Institute, â€Å"The Inside Story Understanding the structure of the brain. † Last modified 03/01/2012. Accessed September 22, 2012. Mark, Lepper, and Greene David. Lawrence Erlbaum, â€Å"The Hidden costs of reward : new perspectives of the psychology of human motivation. † Last modified 1978. Accessed September 22, 2012.

Thanks giving speech

Thanks giving speech At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. The time has come to express our gratitude to the persons who have kindled our life with care and affection. At first our sincere gratitude goes to his Excellency Mar Joseph Kohlrabies cam, Who always takes a special concern, affection and who executed this English coaching programmer, thank you dear Bishop.Next our gratefulness goes to FRR. Rejoin and FRR. Santos who were there from the beginning till end, did all the arrangement for the success of this event. Dear fathers from the bottom of our heart we really thank you. We are grateful to FRR. Francis Kampuchea who was always with us and showed the paternal care and affection throughout this event. Thank you father. We also remember Sir. Nancy S. H and Sir. Jean M. S. M. I Who gave special guidance and timely support for our Roth.Thank you. We specially remember all the teachers BRB. Lam, BRB. Raja, BRB. Sander,†¦ Abash Sir, Rashes Sir and Arnold Sir, Who took pain and patience to teach us and make this event more colorful one thank you dear teachers. Next our appreciation goes to all the fathers and the sisters who came over here to see our programmer and always support us with prayers, thank you dear fathers and sisters. We are indebted to you. Thanking one and all I remain thank you.

'John Lewis' PORTERS FIVE SOURCES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

'John Lewis' PORTERS FIVE SOURCES - Essay Example This is in consequence encompassed in an exceedingly enormous market hare that has not stopped to grow due to continuous demand. Alongside such factors, there are current global trends that have totaled up to the crisis; this is the fact that the recent global recession has grossly affected the market. In effect this has seen other players advance based on their competitive edge over the company. This has stiffened the competition and it is evident in the market shares trend. However, the consumer’s behavior in regards to priority over commodities may regulate this stiff competition. This is a force that is considered strong. Due to rigid competition, the force is intensified and hence strong. However, the corporation has within its structure stern measures to avert such competition. This includes high quality products which come with fair pricing strategy. In as much as there is a wide range of products that can be used as substitutes, this is however controlled by the competitive edge the current market has already established. This acts as one of the major strategies of the corporation for its expansion. This is one of the analytic forces which may be considered insignificant and hence weak. In this regard it is believed that the entry of a new force into the market may have meager consequences on te general effect to the market, especially if the forces already in the market are major ones. This is due to the fact that when there is a new force in the market, what they need is financial and human capital; sufficient enough to enable it grasp a considerable share of the market. However, recent developments like the recession may be thought of as reverting the expected trends. Generally, this is a force that is considered weak and also limiting. In this regard, it means that suppliers are always consistent in their attempts to identify with big companies that have wide market shares. This is to ensure that they have

Essay on Gender Equality Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

On Gender Equality - Essay Example Not just the physical differences of these two, even at their physiological responses and to other fields. The society is just having misconception about the differences of the two sexes that is why conflicts arise. We can look closely to how we can link these two sexes. But to do that it is better if we recognize first what are their differences for us to be able to connect them and resolve the reasons why conflicts arise. In other words, let us look at the both sides on them and settle at the middle and understand their reactions or responses. When it comes to physical appearance men has more defined muscle structure than women. They are the one who are much capable of lifting heavy things as compared to women because their physical capacity is fit for such work. The brain structure of men is different from women. They have thinner corpus callosum. This is the one that connects the two halves of the brain. The left side of the brain is the one responsible for analytical thinking. And this is when the boys can level up to the scores of women because men are good with numbers (Turner, 1997). When it comes to sexual urges, men are more visual than women. Visual things can usually trigger their urges compared to women. When it comes to listening, men usually have different kind of behavior. In the research of Deborah Tannen (1990), she found out that men will usually eye on something else while listening to somebody. When you talk to them they don't look at you straight but will be eyeing other things in the surroundings. She also found at his research that even at the development of men will stand as the evidence of how different they are to women. They usually establish bonding with other boys with physical activities; they don't make talking as a medium for closeness to other boys. When it terms to command making, men are more direct to what they want and the orders that they give according to Theiderman. She even elaborated that even in asking question there is this line that separates men from women. Men are not into details and will ask fewer questions. Men ask questions because they want to know something. Their purpose of asking is plainly to gather information. Women Physically, women have less muscle definition. Instead they are built for the purpose of conception and therefore bear the gift of carrying their young. As to brain structure, women are have a thicker corpus collusom and are therefore capable of multi tasking as compared to men. In terms of sexual urges, women are more into touch than visuals. They are easily aroused when touched and not just by visuals. In terms of listening, women look at their partners when listening. They set their eyes to there friends when listening because it is their way of showing that their attention is set to conversation. As to making commands, women are softer in giving orders. They usually use tag lines and will usually use phrases that ask for confirmation but in away suggesting her own idea or asking for others to confirm with her, (Thiederman). Girls establish a different medium of bonding with other girls. They indulge their time to talking as establishing closer relationship with other girls, (Tannnen, 1990). Girls usually exchange secrets and talk about a constant topic as compared to boys. For them, if they spend time for talking with other girl

Examine the sources of English Law and comment on the relevance they Essay

Examine the sources of English Law and comment on the relevance they hold for the construction or property professional. You should in particular comment on the - Essay Example Hence, his conduct is therefore dependent upon the manner that laws develop, such that as policies and regimes change, affecting the principles of private property, the devices available to property professionals are likely to change, as well. Thus, given the recent changes brought about European Union (â€Å"EU†) legislations in English law, this essay will therefore assess the effects of EU legislations in English property law to determine its relevance on the duties of property professionals. Within English law, the rules governing property have been, for most part, determined by legislations made by the Crown and Parliament, as the land’s formal law-making authority. However, as Galbraith and colleagues have illustrated, this rule-making institution, although the supreme author of the law, is in practice subject to a number of limitations determined by statutory interpretation, in giving the legislation’s â€Å"true meaning†; and European legislation, as part of English law (2004, pp. 3-4, 9). For the property professional, this is of relevance for a number of reasons. First, as the supreme author of the law, the Crown and Parliament, through legislation, determines the core devices, rules, and standards property professionals must abide by in practicing their profession. However, whereas practitioners can be widely knowledgeable on the relevant legislations affecting their practice, the bulky system of precedent developing under case law altering standards and procedures informally necessarily calls for property professionals to change the way they conduct their responsibilities as well (Abbey & Richards, 2005, p.31). Second, given that equity is a pervasive element of land law where court judges have a broad discretion in distinguishing disputes brought to court in the context of equitable rights over land;

Scientific Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Scientific Management - Research Paper Example Referring to these notions, the essay primarily focuses on exploring the effectiveness of scientific management in the organizational context. The essay also aims at determining the usefulness of scientific management in order to manage organizational behavior and plan for changes within an organization. In a broader sense, the term ‘Scientific management’, can be referred as a managerial theory that is principally used for evaluating and synthesizing the workflow in an organization. The principal use of the notion underlying the theory of scientific management has been to enhance the financial efficiency and overall productivity level of an organization. This theory was developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the year 1911 with the aim of reconfiguring the management and engineering processes within manufacturing units with emphasis to better use of resources and obtainment of productivity. According to Trist, the concept of scientific management raises two questions, â€Å"what is science† and â€Å"what is management†. From a generalized perspective, answers to these questions might be plural and vague if thought philosophically. While from a historical perspective, the answers to these questions are single and clear. Contextually, scientific managemen t can be mentioned as the movement that is related to the measurement of work, which was developed by Taylor during the initial phase of industrial revolution (Trist, n.d.). According to the research conducted by Celik (2011), it was believed that Taylor was the first person to study management as a scientific subject through which, he obtained the idea to â€Å"Theory of Scientific Management†. It was revealed that the ideas developed by Taylor had a huge influence on various academics and scientists studying organizational management during the period. It would be worth mentioning that the ideas developed by

Business Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 4

Business Report - Essay Example The most recent count of the dead in 7,000 and rising, and as rescue efforts escalate various problems are starting to emerge relating to the difficulties in distributing aid, and the challenges in successfully managing the logistics tied to the relief process. In some areas that are the most badly hit and where the people have been chronically in need of help, the aid simply has not arrived. It is in this spirit that this business report is written, with an eye to exploring new products that can be deployed and used in disaster areas such as Nepal, with the aim of helping the displaced Nepalese in the most effective manner. The logistics of delivering aid to those who are most in need of them in disaster-struck areas such as Nepal require novel solutions, and require creativity in the use of available new technologies and products in order to crack seemingly intractable problems, save lives, and give hope to both rescue providers and the most desperate and destitute victims. The ear thquake in Nepal and the dire situation of the people who are in the disaster areas highlight the importance and the urgency of the use and availability of such new products. The problem lies in unearthing these products and creatively making use of them for them precisely in order to help in the direst situations in badly hit parts of Nepal and other such zones of disaster. The purpose of this business report is to present new products that can be deployed and used in disaster-hit areas (Khan; Burke).

Database server manager Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Database server manager - Coursework Example When archiving online redo log files previous redo log information is also preserved for tasks such as media recovery. You can set the pre-allocated online redo log file continue to be in use for storage of the resent database changes. This is a set of the operating system files which keep record of all changes made in any database buffer, these changes include data, rollback segments and index, these a\changes are recorded whether they are committed or not committed. Every redo entry is a combination of vector like structure illustrating atomic change to the database. Always the redo secures changes made to database buffer in the memory which has not been written to a data file. Once you have established the cause of the crash use database recovery software to recover the crashed database from the crashed database. In the process of database recovery make sure you restore it to the point where the database was that is ensuring you have the latest database data that was recorded before it had crashed. Since changing of database information before doing anything on the problem at hand I will back up the database so that I may avoid future problems which may arise due to change of database records. After the database backup now I will interrogate the user on what kind of data was entered wrongly. Depending on the nature of the information I may take another action by involving the relevant authorities before I make any changes. To evaluate the retention of customers is by queering the data ware house to determine whether the older customers still make transactions if not the organization should make follow up in order to bring them back on board. Parallel server technology coordinator looks individual operation in a SQL statement’s execution plan and then determines way in which each row operated on in the operation should be divided or shared among the parallel execution servers. The star query separates business operations data

Moghul Muslim Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Moghul Muslim Art - Essay Example Modern scholars have also tended to misinterpret these images, either as a sign of Mughal cultural capitulation to the West, or as a brief and superficial fad for exotica. Both views misunderstand the Emperors' intentions and underestimate their learning and shrewdness. The Mughals consciously appropriated Euro-Christian art as a vehicle for their message of universal supremacy and divinity. Indeed, the Mughal saints' pictures did not simply serve an aesthetic function, but played a vital role in the culture of the Mughal court.2 The Emperors and their artists took on Catholic art because they were intrigued by its affinities with Islamic, Mongol, Hindu, and especially Sufi symbols and themes, and entranced by its realism and spiritual energy. In the foregoing analysis, focusing on Manohar's art, the Western European influence on the Moghul Muslim artistic genre will be highlighted and its implications investigated. Manohar began his career in the 1580s, but only developed a style truly his own by the 1590s.3 Manohar spent the 80s and early 90s collaborating with his father, Basawan,4 on manuscript illustrations, and also imitated his works in the European style. More so than Basawan, Manohar came to appreciate European paintings and engravings, and by the advent of the third Jesuit mission in 1595 he appears to have succeeded Kesu Das as Akbar's chief specialist in Christian art. He later used his skills in pictorial realism to serve Jahangir as one of his principal portraitists. Manohar's early work, likely produced around 1590, after the court had moved to Lahore (1585), does not yet exhibit the love for crowded scenes and pageantry which characterized his work from the mid-l590s.5 Distinct from his father's style and that of the earlier Moghul painters, is a tendency toward crisp, hard outlines and a more linear treatment of modelling, with less interest in spatial depth.6 His drawings have a very finished, burnished appearance characterised by a reticent elegance. When comparing Manohar's paintings with those of his father and other earlier Moghul painters such as Kesu Das, one finds that even though their influence is apparent, there are evident differences. Differences, for example, are clear in Manohar's version of Basawan' s Jerusalem drawing, in Tehran.7 Here, Manohar has copied the earlier work [Fig. 62] with extreme precision, and has even worked out the problem of drapery more logically than his father, but it feels colder. The figure on the left, adapted from Basawan's Guimet 3619.J.a., is also given a more solid, finished appearance than its model-the artist has combed her hair and trimmed her weeds. Another work in a similar vein, although also betraying the influence of Kesu Das, is a high-quality painting in Boston depicting a Basawan-style woman enthroned in a palace interior with an attendant.8 Like many of the scenes of courtly life, this picture places the women in a pavilion reminiscent of Kesu Das' St. Matthew [Fig. 42]. The parted red curtain, shaded in the subtler manner of Manohar, reveals the usual "mystical chapel," complete with altar, chalice, and a censer or vigil light. Typically, Manohar has closed off the landscape with a wall, narrowing the depth of the scene.9 The central

Management and Leadership Essay Example for Free

Management and Leadership Essay Management and leadership are considered synonymous, but actually they are two different words. Management is defined as, The art, manner or practice of managing, handling supervision or control whereas leadership is defined as, The ability to: express a vision, influence others to achieve results, encourage team cooperation, and be an example. Leadership is getting others to want to do things. Leadership is intimately tied up with motivating and influencing others. Managers are administrators who write business plans, set budgets, monitor progress, solve problems and facilitate meetings. A manager achieves authority and position through experience, understanding, time and loyalty. Managers have subordinates but a leader has followers. A leader can be a manager, but a manager is not necessarily a leader. The leader of the work group may emerge informally as the choice of the group. If a manager is able to influence people to achieve the goals of the organization, without using his or her formal authority to do so, then the manager is demonstrating leadership. As put by Faye Wattle ton, The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.Organizational CultureAccording to Websters New Collegiate Dictionary culture is the integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thought, speech, action, and artifacts and depends on mans capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.Organization culture is a system of shared beliefs and values that develops within an organization and guides the behavior of its memebers .It includes routine, behaviors, norms, dominant values and a feeling or climate conveyed..The pupose and function of this culture is to help foster internal integration, bring staff members from all levels of the organization much closer together and enhance their performance. A companys culture determines a lot of the organizations behavior. A culture may be strong (having a dramatic influence over an individuals behavior) or weak (having a relatively low impact on behavior).A strong culture is a coherent set of beliefs, values, assumptions, and practices embraced by most members of the organization. It fosters motivation, commitment, identity, solidarity, and sameness, which, in turn, facilitates internal integration and coordination. An understanding of organizational culture and how to transform it is crucially important for managers and leaders to achieve strategic outcomes. The position of strategic leaders in an organization assists them to see the dynamics of their organizational culture and attain the essence of strategic success through positive transformation. Effective managers recognize that replacing a long term culture of traditional values with one that embodies the competitive values needed in the future can take years. But the rewards of that effort will be an organization much more effective and responsive to its environmental challenges and opportunities.(Bateman Snell, 2007)Organizational Culture at Southwest AirlinesSouthwest Airlines was founded in 1971 as a low-cost regional air carrier. The companys mission stated on its website truly reflects its positive and healthy organizational culture. We are committed to provide our Employees a stable work environment with equal opportunity for learning and personal growth. Creativity and innovation are encouraged for improving the effectiveness of Southwest Airlines. Above all, Employees will be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they are expected to share externally with every Southwest Customer.Southwest Airlines has consistently been successful in terms of profitability, good employee and union relations, and customer satisfaction at a time when most airline carriers are struggling in all these areas. Central to the companys success is a culture of flexibility, family-orientation, and fun. They believe in, The way you treat and reward employees is one part of your companys culture. Culture is the companys way of life. It is how the business functions, operates, handles stress and reinforces its staff. It is the companys general attitude toward the world. Southwest has built a reputation as a fun, light-hearted and irreverent airline with a happy staff. It is said that Southwests biggest hiring criterion is whether an applicant smiles during his or her interview. Southwest feels it can train anyone to do the job, but it cannot teach a person to have a positive attitude. Southwest Airlines has recognized that smiling staff members can  handle negative issues skillfully and still satisfy their customers. Southwest is also identified as the early leader of worker responsibility. The company limits emphasis on the formal organizational structure. At Southwest, decision making is the process which is done by management/worker committees. Leadership meetings are taped and shared with employees. The researchers learned that productivity could be maximized when employees felt as though their needs were being considered by receiving attention for their work. This phenomenon became known as the Hawthorne Effect. It is as true today as it was during the last century that paying attention to our human assets produces tremendous results. Southwest Airlines has learned to capitalize on the principles of the Hawthorne Effect. Southwest Airlines has consistently remained at the top of its industry, while placing a rigorous focus on employees feedback and needs. Southwest seeks to share the companys success with its employees. The airline achieved high levels of employee satisfaction and was included in the Fortune magazines list of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America for three years in a row. Southwests no-layoff response to September 11 was a reminder to its employees of the organizations tradition of caring for its people. When asked to comment on this, an official explained, Its part of our culture. Weve always said well do whatever we can to take care of our people. So thats what weve tried to do. Many analysts feel that the remarkable performance of Southwest is because of its ability to build and sustain relationships characterized by shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect between employees. Southwests organizational culture was shaped by Kellehers leadership. Kellehers personality had a strong influence on the culture of Southwest, which symbolizes his spontaneity, energy and competitiveness. Southwests culture had three themes: love, fun and efficiency. Kelleher treated all the employees as a lovely and loving family. Southwest attempts to promote a close-knit, supportive and enduring family-like culture. The Company initiated various measures to foster intimacy and informality among employees. Southwest encouraged its people to  conduct business in a loving manner. Employees are expected to care about people and act in ways that affirm their dignity and worth. Instead of decorating the wall of its headquarters with paintings, the company hung photographs of its employees taking part at company events, news clippings, letters, articles and advertisements. Southwests organizational culture encourages employees to be innovative, to communicate, understand and care, be devoted to customer service and most importantly to be an Individual. It maintains its success due to employee education, much of which takes place in Southwest Airlines festive learning center: the University for People. Southwest sees learning as a never-ending process. University for People trainers, known as facilitators, build a foundation for an ongoing learning environment through a supervisory leadership class called Leadership Southwest Style, which utilizes the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ® (MBTI ®) assessment for self discovery. At Southwest Airlines, management wants employees to feel comfortable, reflecting its philosophy that an employee who is comfortable can think more freely and creatively. Regular celebrations bring employees together. These include Spirit Parties, Culture parties, and weekly Deck Parties at headquarters. Activities at these events include talent shows, dance contests, limbo contests, karaoke, and famous person look-alike themes. The Culture Committee welcomes new employees with a New Hire Welcome Kit, which includes a bag, tee-shirt, badge holder, pen, and welcome letter. Southwest Airlines is an excellent example of social invention that helps people discover their true capabilities. The social environment combines humor with responsibility. Employees work in teams without outside supervision. At job interviews, along with other self-development attitude, the prospective employee must show a sense of humor. The company recognizes the key to its culture is The Spirit of LUV. Their commitment to hire people with the capacity to love and serve others has yielded a bountiful harvest of loyalty and money. Hence it shows a very well combination of management and leadership. Key concepts of organizational culture at Southwest Airlines †¢Encourage to assume ownership †¢Hire for life †¢Trust their decisions†¢Give employees  immediate access to critical information. †¢They have the power to make adjustments and to fix significant problems quickly. Results achieved through these concepts†¢On-time arrivals, proper baggage handling, and customer complaints are communicated on a weekly basis. †¢Everyone is focused on customer service and making Southwest a success which allows them to expand outside of assigned responsibilitiesStrategies that organizational managers and leaders can use to create and maintain healthy organizational cultureMotivation Management Leaders must have coaching skills, not control skills. Motivated people have goals and seek ways to achieve them. Efficiency is the result of motivated employees. The self motivated employees assume responsibility for their tasks. It creates an environment where workers trust management and management trust workers. Continuous Learning Opportunity Motivation is associated with the desire to learn. Without it, motivation dies. Most businesses operate with a wide knowledge gap between worker and management. All through history this has been the policy, it is job security for leadership. Today, efficiency requires workers to assume responsibility and this requires the narrowing of the knowledge gap. This is achieved by empowering workers. A strong organizational culture and an approach to learning that encompasses more than just training classes can create an organization that learns and improves upon its past successes. When change occurs, organizations with a learning culture and a focus on organizational development can surpass even their own expectations. ConclusionTo sum up, leadership is essentially related to a persons skills, abilities and scope of influence and management is a theory and a way of doing business. The managers who truly exercise the four functions of management; planning, organizing, leading and controlling, to accomplish their organizational goals are also true leadersAs time and requirements of  an organization change, there is always a need to change managerial functions. Managers at all levels must anticipate and adapt to changes. In any ordinary but expanding organization the next future change might be to restructure the organization. Technology is bringing a change in leadership styles. The command-and-control leadership methods of the last century are extremely inefficient in the fast changing technology world. Motivating environments are needed on the front-line with people who assume responsibility and exercise leadership. To attract and keep this type of person, the work environment must inspire and exploit employee capabilities. References Bateman, Thomas S. Snell Scott A. (2007). Management: Leading and collaborating in acompetitive world. (Seventh edition), Ch-2 12 pgs 66- 69 393-383Southwest Airline webpage. Retrieved on April 20, 2007 from www.southwestairlines.comSouthwest Airlines. Retrieved on April 19, 2007 from www.caseplace.orgFrazee, Bonnie (Nov, 2006).Organizational Behavior and the Learning Process. Retrieved onApril19, 2007 from www.innovativelearning.com

Psychology and Theology Essay Example for Free

Psychology and Theology Essay 1. My personal experience involves a combination of secular and religious study in the area of counseling.   This experience and education has led to a conclusion that although there are a number of opposing factors in the beliefs and theories used in both, the two are neither completely oppositional to each other nor mutually exclusive.   In many ways the views and methods of both can be combined to make a very effective counseling technique and a well rounded counselor (McMinn, 1996). Secular counseling has numerous theories on how people learn and that the ways they learn affect the methods needed to modify negative behaviors.    These techniques can work to some degree, such as offering a dollar for getting an A on a paper.   Children then become more motivated to get A’s.   These techniques often fail to create long term results however, as people often get tired and the excitement of the reward fades.   They then go back to old ways.   When the eternal rewards of spiritual counseling are added, however, the motivation for long term behavior change becomes much more long term. The two methods of counseling differ most greatly in life’s focus.   Secular counseling teaches that a strong sense of self will solve all problems, where as religious counseling teaches to focus everything around God and the problems will diminish (Kajer, 2006).   These can however be combined with the focus on God, while still encouraging the person to forgive himself and be comfortable with himself as the person God created.   This keeps the focus where it belongs while helping the person recognize himself as a creation from God. I have learned to find a combination of these views by realizing why secular counseling often fails, and realizing that although a person needs to be humble he still needs to respect what is God’s creation and take care of it. 2. All human beings have sinned, but not all of psychology is sinful or thinking  about humans as sinful.   Psychology is about the study of human behavior and because much of human behavior especially that requiring counseling is sinful, there is a degree of sin involved.   This does not make psychology sinful.   There are many psychologists and secular counselors with spiritual views and backgrounds.   Most of them are bound by legalities and job guidelines to keep the spiritual aspect of counseling out of the job, but not only because they are sinful humans or because they are thinking about sinful humans. Many of the theorists in psychology have developed theories that contradict many Biblical teachings, the most notable one being self actualization.   In this theory, the person’s main goal is to reach the perfect self at which time he has reached the ultimate existence. This additionally is based on the theory that human beings are inherently good and not evil and can naturally distinguish between right and wrong (Management, 2005). Obviously this kind of thinking is sinful as spiritual people are supposed to strive to be closer to God and to live according to his will in order to reach the ultimate existence. If a counselor can balance the basic idea of psychology (the study of human behavior) and the theological values, there is no reason psychology should be considered a sinful study or practice.   It does focus on the behavior of humans and how to change deviant behavior to make it more positive.   It is based on discovering how people learn and then taking that knowledge to help modify behavior.   It only becomes a sinful practice when those studying or teaching it contradict God’s teachings. 3. My goal as a counselor should be to help minimize the pain and negative  effects of suffering and to help prevent as many future problems as possible.   In order for a counselor to continue to function and perform the job successfully, it is important to remember and understand that there is no way to prevent every cause of pain and heal all suffering.   There is no way to completely take away the pain a child feels after losing a parent or prevent an accident from happening.   It would not be realistic for any counselor to think it is possible or even ideal to keep all pain from happening. People are allowed to suffer disappointments, set backs and losses in order for them to learn from them (Gress, 2007).   If   everything worked out exactly as people wanted them to and there were never any disappointments the world would be filled with a bunch of spoiled adults, who were unable to appreciate anything. Counselors who go into the profession with the belief they can solve every problem and make everyone’s pain completely go away are setting themselves up for failure and disappointment, because they are expecting to accomplish the impossible.   Those who set the realistic goals of providing comfort, minimizing grieving, speeding emotional healing, and modifying behavior when needed are the counselors most likely to stay in the field long term.   The ones who hope to solve everyone’s problems have a tendency to take the problems upon themselves and â€Å"burn out† relatively soon.   Counselors need to focus on the most significant problem for each person and work on one thing at a time. 4. The subject of a healthy sense of self is one major difference between  psychology and theology.   Both views involve people who are happy, and focused on a goal, but the views differ greatly in the center of the focus. Many psychological theories focus on making people feel good about themselves and then everything else in the world will fall into place.   In this case a healthy sense of self is essentially a â€Å"puffed up self†, or a person who thinks of himself as the most important person in the world and can do no wrong.   This involves making the person become the center of his Universe. The Biblical view of a healthy sense of self places God in the proper place as the center of man’s universe and when the focus is on God, everything else falls into place.   This requires the person to learn humility and to give God his proper credit for the role he plays in a person’s life.   The view here is that when a person is focused on living life for God, he will be happy and comforted in the knowledge that he is putting forth his best effort for God. A person with a true healthy sense of self would be a person who values himself as a creation of God and a worker for him.   This is a person who knows his place in the world, yet places the focus of the world on God.   As the person strives to be more like God, he appreciates what God has provided him and uses the talents God has given him.   This person is happy and well adjusted to the world around him.   He knows his talents and his mission and uses them to grow closer to God. This description of a healthy sense of self tends to lean more towards the Biblical view, but does place value on the person and God’s creation and teaches the person to have respect for himself.   This is consistent with God’s teaching that the body is his temple and that people need to care for their bodies and respect them. 5. Scripture can provide answers to essentially any problem that is faced by  people.   Verses that say â€Å"through God all things are possible† or â€Å"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me† (NIV) provide people with the knowledge that they do not have to face problems alone and that there is hope.  Ã‚   When a counselor is allowed to use scripture and the hope it provides, the counselor has a great deal more comforting hope to provide the person who is suffering. The instruction and guidance provided by scripture can provide the counselor with a great deal of information and guidance to help the counselee though most of life’s situations.   It additionally provides more appropriate alternatives to deviant behavior and provides people with ways to resist the temptation of falling back into old unhealthy habits.   In more extreme cases the Bible can show examples of what has happened to people who could not change behavior or are unable to turn problems over to God. In addition to providing the counselor with the most powerful tool available, it can provide a source of comfort and hope for the counselor as well.   When a counselor begins to feel overwhelmed or helpless, the same verses that provide comfort to the counselees facing crisis can provide renewed strength and hope for the counselor. Scripture provides the hope, answers, and promises to help people overcome the greatest obstacles, but they need to follow the directions and examples the Bible provides. 6. Most secular counseling jobs do not allow counselors to use scripture or express their personal religious beliefs to counselees.   The purpose of this is to avoid pressuring people into complying with beliefs that go against their religious beliefs.   In the United States people do have the right of religious freedom.   The rights of others have to be respected by the counselor.   Using prayer in these settings could cause the counselor to lose his job, or the counselee could lose respect for the professionalism of the counselor. Religious counselors have more freedom in this area due to the fact that they are counseling in a spiritual based setting.   When people seek the help of these counselors, they know they are going to a person who uses the Bible as a reference and a basis for the counseling.   Payer is more accepted and sometimes expected in these counseling settings and can be very helpful with counselees who need the hope and guidance of God (Goliath, 2007). A counselor with a new counselee should ask the person if they would like to pray,   this provides the counselee the option of being prayed for if they would like it.   For those who do not feel comfortable with prayer or would not take the prayer seriously additionally have the option of passing on it. The counselor can pray for those who choose against prayer when the session is over.   During the private times of prayer the counselor can ask for guidance to help the person not only overcome the crisis, but to grow more comfortable with prayer and asking God for his help.   Everyone needs prayer, but if a person prefers private prayer or has different beliefs than the counselor, it can either cause the counselee to not return or can cause a setback in the counseling process.   Counselees need to feel comfortable during counseling sessions in order for progress to be made. 6. Sin is often the source of the problems for which people seek counseling.   In  order for the situation to be resolved and the person to get past it, the sin has to at some point be confronted.   The problem is how a counselor should go about confronting the sin.   If the sin is confronted before the counselee is willing to admit that sin is the cause of the problem, there is a chance he will leave and the problem will not get resolved.   If the counselor however spends too much time making the counselee comfortable and avoiding the issue, the sin will not be likely to be confronted and the situation still stands the chance of not getting resolved. In the very first session, the counselor needs to get a back ground of why the counselee has either sought or been referred for counseling.   One of the best ways to do this is to ask him.   Along with this is a good time to ask if there was any sin involved that needs to be forgiven.   If he is able to state the sin and talk about it then the sin should be confronted and resolved very early in the counseling.   Then healing can begin quickly. If the person denies sin as playing a part in the situation, then the instigating situation needs to be discussed in greater detail and possible reasons behind that including sin pointed out.   Once the person is able to understand there is sin in his life, then is the best time to talk about ways to have the sins forgiven both by God and anyone who was sinned against. The best way to confront sin is to ask questions and to provide guidance as  needed.   Direct confrontation often leads people to be offended and shut down, but  questions can lead them to discover the problem on their own.   Although it is never easy to confront someone on sin, a counselor or church leader must do it in order to help those in need overcome the sin (Adams, 1980)

Biopsychosocial Model of Health Case Study

Biopsychosocial Model of Health Case Study Case Based Essay The biopsychosocial model of health (Engel, 1977) claims that health and illness are: the product of a combination of factors including biological characteristics (e.g. genetic predisposition), behavioural factors (e.g. lifestyle, stress, health beliefs), and social conditions (e.g. cultural influences, family relationships, social support). (Marks et al,2005). The biopsychosocial model takes into account that each patient is completely different and as a result they are affected differently by each biological, psychological and social happening. (Atkinson et al, 2005). The biomedical model of health however sees the patient as a biological entity which has developed a fault; this model leads people to believe that all patients with the same injury/pathology will respond the same to treatment and in the same amount of time. (Atkinson et al, 2005). The main difference between these two models is the role of the patient and practitioner in each. The biomedical model sees the patient as person who has to take orders from the practitioner. The biopsychosocial model sees the treatment as a negotiation between the practitioner and patient. (Annandale, 1998) The type of model a practitioner uses will greatly impact on the eventual outcome of the patient. In the case of Mrs. Chatsworth the biopsychosocial model of health would be the best approach to take when coming up with an effective treatment plan for her as there are many biological, psychological and social factors that a practitioner will have to contend with. This essay will explore these different biological, psychological and social factors that will face Mrs. Chatsworth throughout her treatment as well as the implications for her practitioner. There are a number of biological factors affecting Mrs. Chatsworth, some resulting from the total joint replacement in her right hip six weeks ago and others stemming from osteoarthritic changes which have been occurring for a number of years. According to (Moskowitz et al, 2007) osteoarthritis diseases are a result of both mechanical and biological events that destabilize the normal coupling of degregation and synthesis of articular cartilage chondrocytes and extracellular matrix, and subchondral bone. Mrs. Chatsworth experiences osteoarthritis in her knees, hips and shoulders. It was these changes in her hip joint that led to her having a total hip athroplasty. Daily activities such as shopping would be difficult for Mrs. Chatsworth as the osteoarthritis in her shoulders will make it difficult for her to carry shopping bags. Another biological factor to be concerned with, when dealing with Mrs. Chatsworth is the residual knee and thigh swelling as a result of the hip replacement. à ¢â‚¬Å"Wounds that failto heal in the expected time range are generally referred to as chronic.†(Shamely, 2005). Swelling present at this stage post-operatively would indicate chronic inflammation in the knee and thigh region. â€Å"Chronic inflammation must be replaced by acute inflammation for healing to occur† (Shamely, 2005 pg 4). This swelling has decreased the range of motion in her knee as it will be painful to move it. Mrs. Chatsworth is only partially weight bearing, with her knee slightly flexed and as a result requires elbow crutches to get around. This will affect Mrs. Chatsworth ability to climb stairs, which she has to do daily as her apartment is on the first floor of a building which has no lift. Her right hip is still very stiff after the operation; this again will affect her ability to get around. Also the therapist will have to be aware of the post operative guidelines when forming a plan, adduction and internal rotation of the hip are limited by these . Another issue facing Mrs. Chatsworth is weakened muscles in the thigh region; her right and left quadriceps have very little definition or bulk, also in her right leg there is a significant reduction in her gluteal muscle group, which are very important muscles involved with the movement of the hip and knee joint, her practitioner will have to prescribe strengthening exercises for these. According to (Schult et al, 2005 pg420) â€Å"the hip and gluteal muscles have evolved into massive and powerful movers and stabilizers of the femur counteracting the loads imposed by support of the whole body weight on two limbs and maintain balance and stability during bipedal locomotion.† This means that Mrs. Chatsworths balance is decreased as a result of this muscle atrophy and her practitioner will have to plan for this. Mrs. Chatsworth is also taking Atenalol for high blood pressure; this will affect her as over exertion may cause further injury. The practitioner will have to ensure that he/she makes a treatment plan that is effective but at the same time not too physically demanding on Mrs. Chatsworth. When dealing with Mrs. Chatsworth case the practitioner will have to look closely at the psychological and social factors which will have a bearing on her treatment e.g. treatment time and the eventual outcome of this treatment. Mrs. Chatsworth may be depressed or stressed over the death of her husband six months ago; this may have an adverse effect on her rehabilitation. The practitioner will have to realise that because Mrs. Chatsworth is lonely her motivation to follow a recovery plan may be somewhat limited. On the other hand Mrs. Chatsworth is worried about being a burden on her daughter who will have less time on her hands soon as her children will be on holidays from school, so this may give her added drive to recover quicker; this may lead to Mrs. Chatsworth causing further injury to herself by over working to recover. This issue will may lead to Mrs. Chatsworth trying to perform daily tasks which she was not able to do post-operatively. Another obstacle for the practitioner to overcome is Mrs. Chatsworths fear of weight bearing on her right leg. Her therapist will have to encourage and reassure her, walking behind a while there taking their first fully weight bearing steps can be a great form of reassurance to a patient. (Stein-Parbury, pg209) highlights this- â€Å"the presence of another human being is reassuring in itself, especially during times of disquiet.† Mrs. Chatsworth also has two cats which she may be overly attached to; a problem may arise as looking after them may put extra pressure on her during her recovery. As well as these psychological factors there are also a number of social factors that the therapist will have to incorporate into his/her plan for Mrs. Chatsworth. The fact that Mrs. Chatsworth is recently retired will give her more time to focus on her recovery plan; also there will be no pressure on her to be fit to go back to work. As her daughter lives close by, only five miles away, this will alleviate some of the pressu res on Mrs. Chatsworth such as shopping, cleaning and other common daily activities. Also her living conditions as mentioned earlier, living on the first floor and having to use stairs to go to and from her apartment will affect her recovery as it may be an incentive to follow her recovery plan. To conclude, this essay identified the different biological factors that affected Mrs. Chatsworth such as loss of range of movement, swelling and osteoarthritis. Also this essay highlighted the different psychological factors affecting her such as stress, the fear of being a burden to her family and the fear of weight bearing on her right leg. This essay also highlighted the different social issues that will affect her recovery. All these factors were related to the therapist will manage Mrs. Chatsworths case and what the eventual outcome will be.

Because I could Not Stop for Death by Emily Dickinson Essay -- Becaus

Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, on December 10, 1830. Except for a few months of travel, she remained in Amherst until her death. Dickinson began, in her twenties, a gradual retreat into the confines of the homestead, the house in which she was born, until for the last fifteen years of her life she didn't leave its grounds and saw no one but her brother and sister. As her withdrawal intensified, Emily's principal method of communication was through her letters. Emily Dickinson died on May 15, 1886 after an illness. ( Harold Bloom 11 - 13) Modern readers are apt to comment upon the frequency with which Dickinson returns to this subject of death. (Wolff, Cynthia, G. 749) "Because I could Not Stop For Death" was written in about 1863 (Kennedy 740) The poem is comprised of six stanzas of four lines each. The poem is long and aligned to the left. The rhyme scheme is ABCB in its first and last two stanzas; however, stanza three and four has different rhyme schemes as stanza three is read ABBC and stanza four is read ABCD. She frequently applies the use of personal pronouns; for example, in the first stanza of the poem, she uses the pronouns "I", "He", "Ourselves". In the second stanza she uses the pronouns "We", "He", "I". In the third stanza she uses the pronoun "We", in three out the four lines composing the stanza. As Harold Bloom, editor of "Bloom's Major Poets ' Emily Dickinson' " says,† When Dickinson declares her "I," these instants become our own" (Bloom 38) The use of pronouns in the poem makes us, as the readers, get involved so deeply into the poem so that we get to feel the protagonist of the poem which is of course the speaker. Most stanzas are composed of a two -beat line but the majority is three b... ...re is a paradise waiting for us. Works Cited Dickinson, Emily. "Because I could Not Stop For Death." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 4th Compact Ed. XJ Kennedy and Dana Gioia . NY: Longman, 2005 Wolff, Cynthia, G. "Dickinson And Death." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 4th Compact Ed. XJ Kennedy and Dana Gioia . NY: Longman, 2005 Bloom, Harold. "Biography of Emily Dickinson." Bloom's Major Poets. Edited And With An Introduction By Harold Bloom: Emily Dickinson. Comprehensive Research And Study Guide. Harold Bloom. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House Publishers, 1999 Tate, Allen. "Allen Tate On Emily Dickinson." Bloom's Major Poets. Edited And With An Introduction By Harold Bloom: Emily Dickinson. Comprehensive Research And Study Guide. Harold Bloom. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House Publishers, 1999

The Spiritual Athletes Path to Enlightenment :: Expository Description Essays

The Spiritual Athlete's Path to Enlightenment Throughout this world, there are many mysterious and amazing feats that can be found. People are capable of doing most incredible things that we have never deemed possible. Only by truly believing in ourselves can we accomplish what were thought as impossible goals. In Mount Hiei of Japan, there can be found a small group of monks who live in a monastery and can accomplish many remarkable challenges. This mountain had been a main attraction in Japan of Buddhism. "The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei" by John Stevens says that it "offers the seeker every type of religious experience--sacred scholarship, grand ritual, austere meditation, heartfelt repentance, heroic asceticism, mystical flight, miraculous cures, ceaseless devotion, divine joy, and nature worship-while promising enlightenment in this very body." This mountain monastery began in 1787 and the monks feel that Hiei still flourishes today. It is a beautiful place populated with all types of animals. No hunting is allowed. There is lots of rain in Japan and many tall trees which block the sun so it can get very cold there; snow covers the ground far into April. At the base of Hiei, there is a cute little temple-town where most of the retired priests go to live. The Tendai priests generally marry and raise families. Many of the trainees at Mount Hiei who hope to qualify for priesthood are their children. There are many who just appear from the general public though such as college drop-outs searching for the meaning of life, retired military men, reformed drunks, and a few women. These fascinating marathon monks began their story in the year 831 with a boy named So-o. He came to Hiei at age 15. An abbot called Ennin noticed this boy and initiated him into the mysteries of Tendai. He named him So-o which meant "one who serves for others." The legend is that the God, Fudo Myo-o, appeared before So-o by a waterfall. So-o was overwhelmed and jumped into the falls. He collided with a large log which he was able to drag out of the water. He then carved the image of Fudo Myo-o into the log . The temple was then built in this area for the God Fudo Myo-o and named Myo-o-in. So-o was an amazing monk who traveled around using his prayers which could accomplish many things such an curing people from terminal illnesses, difficult child births, demon possessions and much more.

Essay on Whartons Ethan Frome: Tale of the Living Dead :: Ethan Frome Essays

Tale of the Living Dead Ethan Frome, by Edith Warton is truly a tale of the â€Å"living dead†.   Don’t be confused by the way this term is used in movies, where the living dead are corpses that rise from the ground. In this case, the term â€Å"living dead† refers to a person who is physically alive but emotionally dead. In the novel, Ethan Frome all three main characters are emtionally dead.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The characters have been emotionally dead since the "smash-up" in which Ethan and Mattie had crashed their sled into a tree. This crash left them both injured severely. The Fromes were poor before, but after, with Ethan only able to do a little work, they were poorer than ever. Never a social man, Ethan cut off the few relationships that he had maintained so his old friends would not see his poverty. The townspeople speak of Ethan, Mattie, and Zeena in the past tense, just like they refer to dead people. When Mrs. Ned Hale talks about Ethan and Mattie she said, "Yes, I knew them both ... it was awful.." Ethan even talks about himself in the past tense. When asked if science interested him he replied, "It used to." Nothing is happening to Ethan in his present life so he could only refer back to his past one. When Mrs. Hale was asked if she went out to Ethan's house often, she replied, "I used to go a good dea l after the accident, when I was first married; but ..." This visitation is just like that to a graveyard. Right after a person dies his grave is visited often. After awhile relatives and friends get on with their own lives and make these trips rarely.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another reason why the three main characters are emotionally dead is they do not communicate with other people. Mrs. Ned Hale, when remarking on the fact that the narrator had stayed in Ethan's house said, "I don't believe but what you're the only stranger has set foot in that house for over twenty years." All living people communicate with others regularly. Not only did the main characters act like living dead, they looked liked living dead. Edith Wharton describes Zeena: "A slatternly calico wrapper hung from her shoulders and the wisps of her thin grey hair were drawn away from a high forehead and fastened in the back by a broken comb. Essay on Wharton's Ethan Frome: Tale of the Living Dead :: Ethan Frome Essays Tale of the Living Dead Ethan Frome, by Edith Warton is truly a tale of the â€Å"living dead†.   Don’t be confused by the way this term is used in movies, where the living dead are corpses that rise from the ground. In this case, the term â€Å"living dead† refers to a person who is physically alive but emotionally dead. In the novel, Ethan Frome all three main characters are emtionally dead.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The characters have been emotionally dead since the "smash-up" in which Ethan and Mattie had crashed their sled into a tree. This crash left them both injured severely. The Fromes were poor before, but after, with Ethan only able to do a little work, they were poorer than ever. Never a social man, Ethan cut off the few relationships that he had maintained so his old friends would not see his poverty. The townspeople speak of Ethan, Mattie, and Zeena in the past tense, just like they refer to dead people. When Mrs. Ned Hale talks about Ethan and Mattie she said, "Yes, I knew them both ... it was awful.." Ethan even talks about himself in the past tense. When asked if science interested him he replied, "It used to." Nothing is happening to Ethan in his present life so he could only refer back to his past one. When Mrs. Hale was asked if she went out to Ethan's house often, she replied, "I used to go a good dea l after the accident, when I was first married; but ..." This visitation is just like that to a graveyard. Right after a person dies his grave is visited often. After awhile relatives and friends get on with their own lives and make these trips rarely.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another reason why the three main characters are emotionally dead is they do not communicate with other people. Mrs. Ned Hale, when remarking on the fact that the narrator had stayed in Ethan's house said, "I don't believe but what you're the only stranger has set foot in that house for over twenty years." All living people communicate with others regularly. Not only did the main characters act like living dead, they looked liked living dead. Edith Wharton describes Zeena: "A slatternly calico wrapper hung from her shoulders and the wisps of her thin grey hair were drawn away from a high forehead and fastened in the back by a broken comb.

AP Government and Politics

Several parts of the Constitution have important implications for federalisms. Some examples are: the Tenth Amendment, Necessary and proper/ ‘elastic' clauses, and Supremacy clause. The Tenth Amendment -The Tenth Amendment is important because it allows states to hold elections. It also ensures that each state retains its power, sovereignty, independence and freedom. It is similar to the Articles of the Confederation. The Tenth Amendment was written to reassure the states that they would remain largely in charge within their own borders.Until the mid-19th century, the Tenth Amendment was often cited by state governments to prevent Federal regulation of everything from taxation to interstate commerce. Since 1837, however, various rulings have mitigated the straightforward meaning of the Tenth Amendment, and such matters as a Federal income tax were subsequently upheld in the courts. Necessary and Proper/'Elastic' clauses – It authorizes Congress to pass all laws â€Å"ne cessary and proper† to carry out the enumerated (listed) powers of congress.The lause allows Congress some degree of flexibility in enacting legislation. It gives the Congress more power than what is stated in the Constitution. For example, the government has the power to collect taxes. But, the Constitution does not say where that money should be held. It was argued that the Elastic Clause gave congress the power to establish a National Bank to hold the money. It allows congress to pass laws that are needed as time changes.Supremacy Clause – A Supremacy clause allows the National Government to outdo maller levels of Government, doing so can prevent unfair policies and a lack of justice in the form of Government that's all wrong. In other words, the supremacy clause makes any law passed by a state or local government that is in conflict with a federal law invalid. This makes the federal law ‘supreme'. The importance of the Supremacy Clause is that it establishes t hat the Constitution and Federal Law are the absolute law in the last resort of the United States.By that, it means that the Constitution and the Federal Law will win in any conflict between it and any state or local law. Thus, all states are bound to the limits placed on them by the Constitution and Federal Law. For example, in the McCulloch v. Maryland Case, McCulloch won because of the Supremacy Clause. The bank was established by the Federal Government therefore, the state of Maryland was not allowed to tax it because it would be like overpowering the ‘supreme' law. AP Government and Politics Essay By aprilmayJuly210918

The Taste of Watermelon

The story was written by Borden Deal, who died in 1985. He was an American novelist and writer of short stories. The story was set in the United States of America in a small village of the countryside. The main characters in the short story were, Freddy Grey and J. D. who are the narrators friends, Mr. Wills who is the father of the beautiful girl, and of course the beautiful girl – Willadean. The narrator has known his guy friends, Freddy Grey and J. D. for years since he moved to this place and started going to school. Willadean is this girl that the narrator is interested in, she is tall and slender. Mr. Wills who is Willadean’s father who everybody was afraid of. He has bright, fierce eyes under heavy eyebrows. The story is about this boy (the narrator) who moved to this certain place and started going to school, was never interested into girls, but he did have an eye on this girl called Willadean. Last year she was nothing compared to who she is now. The narrator mentions how her walk started to turn him on, and how beautiful she really was. But he was afraid to get close to her, cause of her father Mr. Wills who would shake anybody’s soul inside them, with his yelling and always being angry. He had been growing this specific watermelon for a really long time but the narrator decides to steal it at night, most probably to get closer to Willadean, to show that he is not afraid of Mr. Wills where as he really is. He brings his friends Freddy Gray and J. D. with him for support and to help him out, the boys tell him not to do this terrible thing, but unfortunately, he does it. In the end Mr. Wills gets sad after finding out that his watermelon has been kidnapped and bursts out into tears. The narrator does not get closer to Willadean unfortunately and doesn’t even try anymore. The style of the story is written in 3rd person. It uses a lot of hyperbole sentences to make it sound and look more dramatic has really warm atmosphere which really gives the love atmosphere away, which explains a lot of details in certain paragraphs of the story ‘The taste of watermelon’. Maybe the narrator would be able to add some alliteration to make it seem more dramatic. And I would add some more details about the characters to get a much better idea of the characters and be able to picture the characters in your head, to make it seem much easier to you. I enjoyed reading this story. I found it interesting because of the theme of the story, which is basically – love. Because this boy (the narrator) is in love with this girl Willadean and to get closer to her, he decides to steal her father’s watermelon which he had been growing for a really long time. As well as making him extremely mad for once to see the father’s reaction. In the end, the father burst into tears and was very sad for losing his ‘baby’ watermelon; he loved his watermelon so much that Willadean thought he loved the watermelon more than his own daughter. It just really interested me. The Taste of Watermelon Taste of Watermelon is written by Borden Deal. Taste of Watermelon is written in the year of 1979. It is a short story. He is an American author who is dead! He has been dead 25 years. The Taste of Watermelon is set in the country side where a bunch of farmers live. It is set in the states because of the language used. For example ‘golly’ and ‘gosh’. It is set in around the 1970s, the time it was written in. There are 4 main characters I would say. There is Mr. Will who is an old man who is a farmer and every night he guards his huge watermelon with a gun. Then there is a boy who steals the watermelon and eats it up with his friends. He then after he steals it feels really bad and collects the seeds from the floor and gives them to Mr. Wills The story is basically about a boy who steals the watermelon from Mr. Wills and together with his friends; Freddy, Gary, and J. D. , they eat as much as they can of the watermelon and destroy whatever is left. The boy goes home and watches Mr. Wills as he realizes that his watermelon has been stolen. He freaks out and starts destroying all the other watermelons and the boy after a night of not sleeping together with his dad collects all the seeds he could find and gives them to Mr. Wills to plant a field of watermelons for the following year. Mr. wills accepts his apology and is pleased to hear that the boy would love to help Mr. Wills in planting all these seeds. Mr. Wills is happy ?. The author uses 1st person. I personally prefer reading stories written in first person so I as the reader can make a character. When a story is written in first person it is usually more emotional and personal. The language used in this story is pleasant. It is not to formal or informal. The dialogue is funny as it is written in Old American Farmer Language like when they use ‘golly’ and ‘gosh’ I find it very amusing. There isn’t too much description in this story which I absolutely hate so ? I think the main point of this story is to entertain. Yes there is a morale behind everything like in this case it is basically don’t steal and if you do have the courage and decency to own up. But still it seems to me as if the idea of this story is that the writer wanted to write a story that would interest people and they would enjoy reading it. I don’t think that he wanted to send a message across to his readers. It was a great story and I really enjoyed it. It was a bit on the longish side but still enjoyable. The idea was original and really interesting to read. There was a good amount of suspense in this story and it was balanced out between boring bits and funny of interesting bits. As I said before the description wasn’t over done which I can’t stand so on a whole it deserves a ?

Harshness of Life Essay

Thomas and Frost have both written poems about the harshness of life. Compare and contrast two poems, one by each poet, taking account of the situation and tones of the speakers, and the form, structure and language including imagery, which each poet uses to present the theme of the harshness of life in two poems you have studied. Frost and Thomas both write about the harshness of life in their poetry. I believe the poems â€Å"Out, Out† by Frost and â€Å"The Owl† by Thomas best illustrate this. Frost choosing to show this through the impact of a hard days work on a little boy whereas Thomas uses an owl’s cry to connect the lifes of a solider and the poor/homeless to show the similarity in their lives. Both poets emphasise the same theme but their techniques differ to present this. The title â€Å"Out,Out† has an ominous tone to it, the title is a quote that Frost has used from Macbeth, â€Å"Out, damned spot, out†, this is in reference to the scene where Lady Macbeth dies. From the very beginning of the poem, Frost has set a menacing, almost tormenting tone eminently refering to the harsness of life. In comparision, we look at Thomas’s title â€Å"The Owl†. Owls are known to be solitary animals, many cultures, for example the Africans and the Middle East, believe that owls are harbingers of death or bad omens. Both poets have used their titles to immediatley engage the reader into the theme of the poem. Frost use of blank verse gives the poem more freedom within his lexical field, blank verse also gives Frost’s poem a matter of fact tone to it, â€Å"Call it a day, I wish they might have said† within the language used by Frost a sense is evoked that the day is an ordinary experience. Within the same lines we are given the inevitability of the boys death, this line is almost a plea for mercy automatically concentrating on the foreboding tragedy. Similarily Thomas uses simplistic language in a narrative tone to show the reflections of the speaker. Thomas’s â€Å"The Owl† has casual ryhtm to it, the use of abcb lines keeps the flow of the poem conversational and effectively keeps the reader interested through the ease of reading. While both poets differ in methods, Thomas using four lined stanza’s in contrast to the blank verse of Frost, each depicts the theme strongly. Frosts use of imagery in the rural setting, â€Å"five mountain ranges† creates a sense of insignifance to the boys misfortune of losing his hand. With gentle imagery at the beginning of his poem, â€Å"Under the sunset far into Vermont†, the unpredictability of the accident only further highlights the harshness of life. The personification used with the saw, â€Å"leaped out of the boys hand†, emphasises the horror of the tradgey. Within the phrase â€Å"big boy Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart†, Frost chooses to show us how the gruesomeness and strain of the boys accident could easily have been avoided if he carried out an average little boys life. Thomas’s description of the setting differs from Frost’s approach. Thomas, from the beginning sets a tone of desperation with the speakers state, â€Å"hungry†, â€Å"cold†, â€Å"tired†. The bleak tone of the poem gives a sense of reflection within the speaker. Thomas uses the owl’s cry to maintain the theme, with his repitition of sound and syllables â€Å"no merry note, nor cause of merriment†, he highlights once more the harshness of life.

How Economics Have Changed My Life Essay

They say that if you look at it things closely, you will see the essence of economics going about its daily routine. Indeed, from the man buying his morning coffee to the woman calling for a cab, the economic system is all around us. Not many people notice it (or are just apathetic about it). But surely, it’s everywhere. Day and night – it never stops. The moment the sun sets in one part of the world, money starts circulating on the opposite side. The buying and selling of goods begins. Services now continue with their proceedings and processes. And infrastructure construction resumes. Truly, depending on how one views his or her own surroundings, one will be able to see the active nature of economics. Economics, in the simplest sense, refers to the study of the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. As a field of study, economics aims to comprehend the daily processes of the subjects mentioned. As such, the study of economics helps people understand the never ending activity of economics within their daily lives. Apart from the study of the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services, probably one of the most important aspects of economics is the study or analysis of scarcity. Scarcity, in the economic sense, means the availability (or unavailability) of resources (insufficient) that are used to satisfy the needs and wants of the populace. As what the late Lionel Robbins – a British Economist of the late 20th century – had claimed, â€Å"Economics is the Science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses. Using Robbins’ definition, it can be deduced that the study of economics is the study of man’s choices over how to fulfill his needs and wants through the regulation and use of scarce natural resources. In its activities, economics attempts to make full use of scarce resources efficiently. This nature of efficiency helps the adherents of economics – and in the general sense, the entire world – to understand the world around them. Simply said, it helps the person who is familiar with economics understand how or why a certain product’s price goes up or down. Likewise, a person who understands the study of economics will be able to determine the economic health of his or her own country; thus, paving the way to understanding and interpreting some possible implications to the politics of the nation, its society and its environment. Truly, people who understand economics are people who understand how the world works (at least in terms of human resources and human activity). Let us take, for example, the Stock Market. How does a stock price go up? Why does it go down? How do people profit from it? Oppositely, how do people lose money from it? Economically speaking, the Stock Market is or can be used as a determinant for the country’s economic growth and development. As such, people who understand the Stock Market will be able to understand the aggregate economy of the country. However, before everything else, one must first understand the study of economics before one can understand the working’s of the Stock Market. This statement only highlights the importance of economics in our daily lives. Personally, my study of economics has helped me advance my life in many ways. For starters, it has helped me understand the law of supply and demand. The law of supply and demand is undoubtedly one of the strongest foundations of every economy in every country in the world. As the law dictates, the higher the demand, the higher the supply and consequently, the higher the supply, the lower the demand becomes. Basically, the law follows a simple cycle of product prices fluctuating in response to the populace needs and wants. Understanding this law benefits me in more ways than one. For instance, I am able to anticipate whether a certain product’s price will go up or down. By understanding that higher demand tempts sellers to increase their prices, I am able to expect such fluctuations and then make my monthly budgeting more versatile and frugal. Likewise, I am able to anticipate whether a certain product’s price might go down due to excessive supply and low demand. In that way, I am able to make certain changes in my spending habits by carefully predicting the right time prices will go down; thus, maximizing my available purchasing power. Indeed, knowledge about the Law of Supply and Demand can make an individual more frugal and less prodigal – simply said, it makes a person more â€Å"economic†. This knowledge may seem to be irrelevant for some people. But personally, I find this knowledge an advantage against others. Being able to hold a sort of reading reference for possible future circumstances pertaining to product prices can truly serve as an edge over other consumers. And this advantage does not stop there. The more a person studies the field of economics, the more he or she will understand the workings of the economy and ultimately use it to his or her own advantage. Let us take, for example, the Banking System. In the past, I found the system of banks and their proceedings to be an intricate process that is too much for the average person to understand and take advantage of. After understanding the basic foundations of economics, however, I was able to somehow comprehend the normal workings of the Bank. By being able to do so, I am able to take advantage of the Bank’s perceived benefits without ironically putting myself within the economic damages of the Bank’s perceived detriments. Furthermore, I am able to understand the workings of borrowing and paying loans – both in its deadly and beneficial aspects. Now armed with this knowledge, I am now able to perform financially competent within the economy of the country. I am able establish businesses with the help of the bank; of which, technically, results to the creation of jobs, the stimulation of buying and selling of products and materials and the circulation of money – all done accordingly in contribution to the aggregate economy of the nation. The study of economics, as some historians and economists suggest, has been around since the time humans first initiated commercial relationships with different societies within their own kind. Indeed, humankind started out with some simple trade rules and processes. The most famous of all (and probably the most ancient) was the trade process known as barter. Barter is simply an act of exchanging one’s goods in trade for another’s. Many traders and/or merchants from different societies have used this method for centuries – trading valuable goods in exchange for the exotic, the priceless for the unique and the old for the new. It is through this type of trading process that humankind first developed a sense of importance for this activity of buying and selling of goods. For one thing, security and trust was a problem. A lot of traders mostly lie about the quality (and sometimes the quantity) of their goods. Some even resort to petty thievery and conning activities – mostly after the trade has been conducted. Furthermore, people faced problems with regards to the implications of their activities. Imagine a situation in the past where we assume that a Chinese trader decides to bring Jadestones to India. The traders of India are delighted. They then exchange their goods. The next week, the Indian traders demand to the Chinese traders to bring more Jadestones for the people of India somehow found it both exquisite and valuable. Since trade was done merely through barter, Jadestones poured into the Ancient Indian Society in exchange for more important goods such as rice, wood and other agricultural or mineral products of lesser value. The end result would be a disaster: Jadestones overwhelming the country without any way of determining its value to other foreign traders whom they wish to sell it to or who wish to acquire it. If the study of economics was prevalent back then, this situation could have never happened. Speaking of commerce, history suggests that humankind eventually evolved from barter to the use of currencies through the development of ancient coins. Initially, currencies where first developed through the creation of small metal coins that were used to represent stored values of cargo and commodities. Eventually, these coins began storing value themselves. Coins made from many different kinds of materials – ranging from plain metal to solid gold – started becoming valuable. Thus, came a different era where trading no longer requires the loss of one’s goods in exchange for another. Coins of different kinds were now used to determine the value of the goods that were being taken – or in the economic sense, sold. Purchases and exchanges were now done in accordance with the value of the coins being exchanged. For instance, gold coins were used for large purchases and the backing of State activities. Silver coins represented large transactions between traders and merchants while copper coins represented common transactions between citizens. Eventually, the era of coins was put to an end when the introduction of paper money and credit money began in as early as the 7th century in Ancient China. Being that major traders were now trading in huge volumes whilst bringing and using large amounts of coins during their trips in order to conduct their proceedings and processes, the weight of their carriages became intolerable. Thus, ancient traders and merchants resorted to putting their name and the amount of coins they had on paper – indicating to their counterparts and colleagues that that were the amount of coins they had (which, unfortunately, they cannot bring). It was less burdening for merchants and traders alike. In fact, the Ancient Chinese Emperors found it so convenient that they began establishing the act (the putting the amount on paper) as a business norm. Paper money was then regulated among the populace and among traders and merchants overseas. The rest, as they say, was history. Governments, Empires and Monarchies alike began issuing a unit of currency for their paper money and no sooner, the era of currency trading began and at present, major international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and others now regulates the entire foreign exchange system of the world. All of these were made possible through the study of economics. And for that, I can safely say that economics have already made an impact on my life even before I was born. I can only imagine what life would be if currencies were not yet introduced in the world of business. Purchasing products would probably be a hardy task. Obtaining resources from other countries would also require intricate processes and mechanics. Ultimately, governments would probably find it hard to conduct businesses, regulate the economy and build infrastructures. The study of economics has helped me understand all these concepts and contexts (even though only in a minimal level). Indeed, though the existence of these ancient currencies may have been one of the earliest foundations of the development of the study of economics, it cannot be denied that it was the study of economics which made the nature of these currencies become more comprehensible. The creation of paper money and credit money has benefited humankind in many ways. First of all, people are now able to carry with huge amounts of money with as little weight as possible. Second, the value and goods can now be easily determined (coupled with the law of supply and demand). Finally, business transactions and salary payment can now be easily conducted. All these benefits have undoubtedly manifested themselves generally from the study of economics. The study of economics have helped me changed my life in more ways than one. Apart from making my life a lot easier (as compared to the absence of the knowledge of it), it has also made me change my view of a lot of things. Studying economics has made me understand how the country’s economy runs. It helped me understand how banks and other financial institutions work. Furthermore, it has also helped me understand the daily workings of everyday life – from the buying and selling of goods to the acquiring and paying of debts. As such, I am able to see things in a more â€Å"economic† view. And indeed, it has made my life more fascinating, if not complex. Learning economics is not an easy task. Economics, in general, covers a lot of topics and sub-topics ranging from microeconomics to macroeconomics. As such, it is important for its recipients to devote as much time as possible in order to – not necessarily master but – be adequate about it. For one thing, economics is not a walk in the park. With all its benefits and privileges comes a different set of detriments and sacrifices. I am not implying, though, that those who do master all the concepts and contexts of economics will be the ones who’ll practically lead better lives than others – that is a different issue. I am implying, however, that those who do master economics in all its wonders and intricacies will lead very different lives as compared to those who are completely ignorant or apathetic to the knowledge. As said before, economics is all around us. It never sleeps. Its processes and activities are present in every society, in every community. It is a sort of quasi-invisible force that, if viewed consciously, would guide our everyday lives. As such, it is important to note that having the knowledge of economics is better than having none.