How Russia was Christianized Essay

Religion, as one of the fundamental forms through which human beings make sense of their existence and experience, belongs to the intellectual and spiritual sphere of world-view, passion, or philosophy. Conversion to Christianity and gradual adaptation of the daily Christian rituals were a steps in continues process. Russian Christianization is a long-term, open-ended process; in other words, it was obliged to reinforce the Russian commitment to the faith through deeper understanding and performing daily rituals. Orthodox Christianity is the majority religion of Russia, estimates the number of adherents range from 55 to 80 percent. Russian Orthodoxy is an integral part of the Eastern Orthodox world and worldview (Ardichvili, 2006). The geographic reach of Eastern Orthodoxy today includes mostly Russia and the European part of the former USSR, Eastern Europe, and the eastern Mediterranean. For Russians, Orthodoxy is much more than simply a church; it is an entire way of life and culture (Clendenin, 2003). Russian approach to Christianity differed from Catholicism and Protestantism. It involved much singing and ritual and not much knowledge of the Bible. It also had a thick pagan substratum: peasants believed in wood spirits, sea demons and monsters of the lake. Orthodox teachings have stood the test of time; they are not teachings that serve popular culture. Russia’s state history as a history of its â€Å"core† people – the Russian people – is well known, and is a history of a Christian people. This paper provides a monograph on how Russia was Christianized. It shows how Russians are being molded by their belief as a whole. Further, it provides a deeper understanding of how Russians grows as a society through the Russia Orthodox Christianity. Russian Orthodox Christianity Orthodoxy came to Russia from Byzantium in A. D 988, when the ruler of Kievan Russ (precursor of modern Russia and Ukraine) Grand Prince Vladimir, converted to Christianity, married a sister of the Byzantine emperor, and started a rapid process of instituting Orthodoxy as the state religion. Having searched the world for a faith to unite his people, his emissaries to Constantinople returned awestruck. Orthodox worship possessed such beauty, they reported, and that they did not know if they were on earth or in heaven. Russians soon came to love and adore their new faith, taking Orthodoxy to heart and building numerous churches and monasteries. The church in Russia was governed by a hierarch appointed from Constantinople until the Turks sacked that city in 1453, leaving the Russians as the strongest defenders of Orthodoxy in the world. In 1472, Ivan III, the grand duke of Moscow, married the niece of the last Byzantine emperor (who had died in 1453). Ivan then took the title of czar-an adoption of Caesar-and Moscow began to consider itself â€Å"the third Rome. † Missionary activity spread Russian Orthodoxy throughout Siberia and beyond Russia’s borders to Alaska, Finland, Japan, and China. In effort to serve Russian emigrants around the world, the Russian Orthodox Church established dioceses in North America, Europe, and Japan. The Russian Church and state continued to play this central role in the Orthodox world for the next 450 years (Clendenin, 2003; Ware, 1997; World Fact Book, 2005). However, in 1917, the Bolshevik revolution resulted not only in abolition of Orthodoxy’s role as the state religion but also in destruction of thousands of churches and monasteries, and the deaths of millions of members of the clergy, monks, nuns, and lay believers. Communists, bent on creating a workers paradise in this world, fiercely attacked the church. Before the revolution, Russia boasted more than 50,000 churches and 160,000 priests. By late 1930s there were no more than 300 functioning churches. The clergy had been murdered or had died in the gulags, and only a skeleton crew of priests was allowed to serve such as the faithful. Outside communist Russia, the faithful suffered as they witnessed the tragic fate of the countless persecution of their church. Bishops in exile rallied around Metropolitan Antoni, forming a temporary church authority that took refuge first in Constantinople and, then, at the invitation of the Serbian patriarch, in Karlovei, Yugoslavia. The historical events of that year, 1917, caused the dispersion of millions of Russians worldwide, outside the borders of their native country. Back in Moscow, Patriarch Tikhon issued a decree supporting this action, though later, presumably under communist influence, he retracted it. The Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia chose to ignore the second decree, since Patriarch Tikhon issued it while under house arrest. He later died under circumstances so mysterious that he is now considered a martyr. One of his successors, Metropolitan Sergii, maintained correspondence with bishops abroad. This landed him in prison in 1926, where he stayed until he issued his now infamous â€Å"Declaration† in July 1927. In it, he demanded that all clergy abroad make a written promise of their loyalty to the Soviet government and declared that all Orthodox in the Soviet Union must be â€Å"faithful citizens and loyal to the Soviet government. † Perceived as a betrayal of the church by the Synod and many faithful within Russia and abroad, Sergii’s declaration silenced any doubts that the church in Russia was subject to communist control. The problem was compounded when he formed a church organization that was not sanctioned by the bishops in Russia and abroad. In the USSR, an underground â€Å"free† church sprung up in defiance, Russian Orthodox abroad dug in and held tight to their traditions, sensing that they alone preserved the faith undefiled and incorrupt. Archbishop Laurus, who arrived in America in 1946 with a group of monks fleeing the war in Europe, states that the primary purpose of Hollywood Monastery is to â€Å"preserve Orthodoxy as it was passed on from our predecessors and to give it to the next generation and also to Russia. † With the fall of communism, Russians were allowed to return to their churches without obstacles. It soon became clear that Orthodoxy had procreated the Russian soul so deeply that even seventy years of repression couldn’t stamp it out. Even so, the Russian Church outside of Russia and the Russian church in Russia have not reunite There are a number of unresolved issues blocking union, including the canonical ones cited above, moral questions, and others, such as the caution of all the new martyrs of Russia. The Synod, unwilling to taint the purity it has so ardently maintained, remains steadfast in its position. Moreover, Warem (1997) estimated that there were more than 54,000 churches in prerevolutionary Russia and more than 17,000 functioning churches in 1996. Although officially the whole country was supposed to be atheist during the Soviet rule, millions of people followed their religion in private, and many more joined the church after 1991. As suggested by Clendenin (2003), more than 70 million people in Russia today identify themselves as Orthodox. WORKS CITED Ardichvili, A. â€Å"Russian Orthodoxy worldview and adult learning in the workplace. Advances in Developing Human Resources. † 8(3). 373-381, 2006. Clendenin, D. â€Å"Eastern Orthodox Christianity. † Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Aademic, 2003. Warem T. â€Å"The Orthodox church. † London: Penguin, 1997. World fact book, December 20, 2005.

What Was the Cause for Segregation in the South?

Lemar Griffin Reconstruction April 28, 2011 Professor Eisenberg What was the cause for segregation in the south? The Day Freedom Died and When did Southern Segregation Begin are two books that cover events that happened during the Reconstruction period. Charles Lane through his political and social analysis shines an illuminating light on one of America's more sordid events. The Colfax Massacre gained national attention so much that the event is now an interracial group that commemorates an event.John David Smith the author of When did Southern Segregation Begin takes a straight forward approach in his book and explains multiple reasons for why this may have occurred. People often assume that segregation was a natural outcome of Reconstruction which can seem somewhat believable depending on your knowledge of the subject. But in all actuality scholars cannot agree on which events at the end of the nineteenth century mark the beginning of formalized Jim Crow. Studies show how blacks an d whites learned to be civilized when they encountered each other.The division of the two races happens soon after the end of the Civil War. This essay will attempt to analyze when southern segregation begin. Following the Civil War, Colfax, Louisiana, was a town, like many, where Negroes and whites mingled uneasily. But on April 13, 1873, a small army of white ex-Confederate soldiers, enraged after attempts by freedmen to assert their new rights, killed more than sixty Negroes who had occupied a courthouse. There were barely armed former slaves that were knifed, burned, smoked out of a courthouse, and gunned down by a white posse angry over an 1872 Republican election victory. the Ku Klux Klan declared. Its goals were â€Å"to protect the weak, innocent and defenseless,† and â€Å"to protect the constitution on the Untied States. [1] The United States passed the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, putting an end to almost 250 years of slavery. Following the Civil War, Colfax, Lou isiana, was a town like many where African Americans and whites mingled uneasily. When you look back at the events that unfolded in many towns like Colfax, Louisiana you start asking yourself: â€Å"What was the reason for all this. Throughout the year we learned more as a class why whites did horrible things to blacks, and about why Reconstruction is important to our America history. I feel that this goes back to a text we read earlier by Howard Fast in his book Freedom Road. The hypothesis that I have came up with is from a scene in Fast’s book. I believe that to some extent whites were afraid of blacks becoming independent and educated. I feel this way because I believe that money and power are two of the most important things in America, in my opinion. To gain money and power you must have the skill set to enable yourself to do so.This comes with knowledge, meaning that you would have to be very well educated to put yourself in a position to acquire power. Having knowled ge is one of the most powerful weapons you can have as a human, and the somewhat educated blacks were aware of this. I have this idea because of the fact that from taking this class I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about why slavery lasted so long and have the whites kept the blacks in control of such a long period of time without losing control of everything. That brings me to power, education, and money. Back in the day White was making a very good amount of money from slavery.If you look at slavery in the context I am for my hypothesis it will make more sense. I’m looking at slavery from a business aspect. If you dehumanize blacks and block out the fact that you’re hurting people, and that it is morally wrong to enslave people then you have what I call a â€Å"unethical business. † When whites feared that blacks could learn how to read and write it would scare them because is all blacks were able to read and write then they would have the knowledge th ey needed to realize that with the right plan and the will power and motivation that they could free themselves from slavery.I feel this way because from all the books we have covered in class I started to notice a pattern. It was starting to come more clearly to me after every book we finished in class. Education is important in the forthcoming of Reconstruction; the same also is true for knowledge. Changes were made by black people that were educated or people that have enough knowledge to understand the situation and see the way to fix it. Money is key factors in many choices many people in this country base their decisions off, morally and ethically.With money come the number one thing that all counties want let alone just individuals, power. With the right person in power everything thing can be either perfect for a certain group of people, as well as with the wrong person in power everything can be horrible for a certain group of people. To sum up my hypothesis if blacks would have had the chance to become educated then the world would be a totally different place, in my opinion. This separation of blacks and whites took without a doubt took time and a lot of effort by white southerners to make sure that it all went according to plan.This begins to happen soon after the end of the Civil War. The churches and schools were the main places and probably some of the first places to be spilt. During the time, neither place was to be segregated by law. Both places became segregated by the choice of the public. This is an early example of how the blacks separated themselves from the whites to start to own life as free people. The black communities were all against any law that would be restricting them from everyday rights and everyday conveniences that they felt they were entitled to as humans.However, many whites also were not satisfied with the thought of Jim Crow Law. These laws were unlike the black codes which had been done away with ten years earlier. The Jim Crow laws brought segregation to public schools, public places, and public transportation. It also separated restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains from blacks and whites. The U. S. military was also segregated. For more than 200 years before the Civil War, slavery existed in the United States. But after the war things began to get worse for blacks.The south thought they needed to do something. The Southern legislatures, former confederates, passed laws known as the black codes, after the war, which severely limited the rights of blacks and segregated them from whites. The south gradually reinstated the racially discriminatory laws. The two main goals they wanted these laws to achieve: disenfranchisement and segregation. To take away the power that the blacks had gained, the Democratic Party began to stop Blacks from voting. There were many ways to stop blacks from voting.Some of these things were poll taxes, fees were charged at voting booths and were expensive for mos t blacks, and the literacy test. Since teaching blacks were illegal, most adult blacks were former slaves and illiterate. â€Å"A favorite ploy was to change the registration site without notifying colored voters; some registrars demanded that elderly Negros prove that they were over twenty years old, not easy for those who had no birth certificates because they were born into slavery. †[2] This was something that was common back when the blacks would go and try to vote to make a change. Registered colored voters outnumbered whites 776 to 630 in Grant Parish. †[3] The white were doing everything in their power to cheat and make sure that the blacks did not win anything that they had put their vote in for. Voting is a powerful tool which goes back to my hypothesis about how power is important in America. They have said that this still goes on in America the power of the votes are suppose to be in the hands of American people but sometimes the polls don’t reflect o n what who really went out and cast their vote on election day.The power to change things that normal people have no control over is something that has been going on for a long time now in America. ———————– [1] Charles Lane, The Day Freedom Died, (New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, LCC, 2008) Pg. 3 [2] Charles Lane, The Day Freedom Died, (New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, LCC, 2008) Pg. 65 [3] Charles Lane, The Day Freedom Died, (New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, LCC, 2008) Pg. 66

Effect of Social Media

Johnson & Wales University [email  protected] MBA Student Scholarship The Alan Shawn Feinstein Graduate School 11-1-2011 The Effects of Social Media on College Students Qingya Wang Johnson & Wales University – Providence, [email  protected] edu Wei Chen Johnson & Wales University – Providence Yu Liang Johnson & Wales University – Providence, [email  protected] edu Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarsarchive. jwu. edu/mba_student Part of the Education Commons, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Repository Citation Wang, Qingya; Chen, Wei; and Liang, Yu, â€Å"The Effects of Social Media on College Students† (2011).MBA Student Scholarship. Paper 5. http://scholarsarchive. jwu. edu/mba_student/5 This Research Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the The Alan Shawn Feinstein Graduate School at [email  protected] It has been accepted for inclusion in MBA Student Scholarship by an authorized administrator of [em ail  protected] For more information, please contact [email  protected] edu. Running Head: EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON COLLEGE STUDENTS 1 The Effects of Social Media on College Students Qingya Wang, Wei Chen, and Yu Liang Johnson &Wales University Feinstein Graduate SchoolRSCH5500-Research & Analysis Submitted to Professor Martin Sivula, Ph. D. November, 2011 Peer Reviewers: Frederic Juillet , Anne Catelotti, Jennifer Gay, Rohan Kichlu, Christina L. Blundin, and Volha Ban 2 EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON COLLEGE STUDENTS Abstract As social media sites continue to grow in popularity, it is our premise that technology is a vital part in today’s student success equation. This descriptive, exploratory research study drew a random sample (N=48) of males (n=26) and females (n=22) who were administered a student perception questionnaire on how social media affects college students.Thirty-five percent of the participants were undergraduates and 65% were graduate students, studying at Johnson & Wales University. Thirty-one percent of participants have full-time jobs, 30% have part-time jobs and 39% do not have jobs. The results of the survey questionnaire indicate that 45% of the sample admitted that they spent 6-8 hours per day checking social media sites, while 23% spent more than 8 hours; 20% spent 2-4 hours and only 12% spent less than 2 hours on this task.Results indicate while most college students use social media and spend many hours checking social media sites, there was a negative aspect to college students’ use of social media. Key Words: social media, college students, learning efficiency 3 EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON COLLEGE STUDENTS Introduction The definition of social media is â€Å"the relationships that exist between network of people† (Walter & Riviera, 2004). In the last ten years, the online world has changed dramatically. Thanks to the invention of social media, young men and women now exchange ideas, feelings, personal informat ion, pictures and videos at a truly astonishing rate.Seventy-three percent of wired American teens now use social media websites (Oberst, 2010). Schill (2011) states that the social media sites encourage negative behaviors for teen students such as procrastination (catching up with friends), and they are more likely to drink and drug. However, every day, many students are spending countless hours immersed in social media, such as Facebook, MySpace, World of Warcraft, or Sim City. At first glance this may seem like a waste of time; however it also helps students to develop important knowledge and social skills, and be active citizens who create and share content.At present, whether social media is favorable or unfavorable, many students utilize these sites on a daily basis. As social media sites continue to grow in popularity it is our belief that technology is a vital part of today’s student success equation. Many researchers have been diving into a considerable amount of res earch on how social media influences student retention at colleges. Many parents are worried that their college students are spending too much time on Facebook and other social media sites and not enough time studying.Therefore, our research ascertains the relationship between the social media and students’ study efficiency. 4 EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON COLLEGE STUDENTS Statement of Problem To address the issue of the effectiveness of using social networking, the first question raised in this study is: for what purpose is the student utilizing social networking? Research on this topic will start to reveal social networking sites are simply part of how students interact with each other with no apparent impact on grades.Thus, the objective of this research is to explore the advantages and disadvantages of students’ use of social networking for study. The main purpose of this research is to expand on previous research, explore the relationship between the effects of socia l networking and students’ study efficiency, and to determine if social media interfering with students’ academic lives. Research Questions: Which is the most popular social media site for students? What is the amount of time students spend utilizing social media in various academic processes? Review f the Literature College students have great interest in social media. For the purpose of this study, social media was defined as Facebook, YouTube, Blogs, Twitter, MySpace or LinkedIn (Martin, 2008). Although, providing a detailed perspective on social media use among university students and underscoring that such use can produce both positive and negative consequences, according to a Nielsen Media Research study, in June 2010, almost 25 percent of students’ time on the Internet is now spent on social networking websites (Jacobsen, & Forste, 2011).Facebook is the most used social network by college students, followed by YouTube and Twitter. Moreover, Facebook alone reports 5 EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON COLLEGE STUDENTS that it now has 500 active million users, 50% of whom log on every day. In addition, according to a study by Online PhD, students spend roughly 100 minutes per day on Facebook. In 2007, the number of students who used Facebook was already enormous: 92 percent of college students had an account. By 2008, 99 percent of students had an account on Facebook.That is quite a large amount considering the service was only opened in 2006 to everyone. On one hand, the positive aspect of online communities is that youths can utilize them for academic assistance and support (Lusk, 2010). Due to the ability of social media to enhance connections by making them easily accessible, social media can yield many benefits for the young, including providing a virtual space for them to explore their interests or problems with similar individuals, academic support, while strengthening online communication skills and knowledge. Students who may be reluc tant to speak up in class are participating in book discussion blogs and writing for real audiences. There are new Web tools emerging all the time that are enhancing learning (Brydolf, 2007). † On the other hand, â€Å"Our findings indicate that electronic media use is negatively associated with grades. We also find that about two-thirds of the students reported using electronic media while in class, studying, or doing homework (Jacobsen, & Forste, 2011). † This multitasking likely increases distraction, something prior research has shown to be detrimental to student performance.As social media websites, such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter gain popularity, they are also are becoming increasingly dangerous as they create modes to procrastinate while trying to complete homework. Hence, in a survey of 102 students, 57% stated that social media has made them less productive. 6 EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON COLLEGE STUDENTS As to the relationship between social media and grad es, a study released by Ohio State University reveals that college students who utilize Facebook spend less time on studying and have lower grades than students who do not use the popular social networking sites (Kalpidou, Costin, & Morris, 2011).Moreover, according to a new study by doctoral candidate Aryn Karpinski of Ohio State University and her co-author, Adam Duberstein of Ohio Dominican University, college students who use the 500 million member social network have significantly lower grade-point averages (GPAs) than those who do not. Nevertheless, another study found no correlation between heavy social media usage and grades. There was no significant difference in grades between those considered to be heavy users of social media and those considered to be light users.Additionally, there was no correlation between grades and the social media platform used. For example, almost the same number of heavy and light users of both Facebook and YouTube received the same percentage hi gh and low grades. Regarding the relationship between using social media with the grades of college students, concurrent with past studies that find that online communication is linked to time spent in offline relationships, â€Å"our findings indicate that Social Networking Site (SNS) use and cellular-phone communication facilitates offline social interaction, rather than replace it (Jacobsen & Forste, 2011)†.Students commonly commented that connect should be invaluable for making friends and supporting each other, especially within the first few weeks after arriving at the University (Oradini & Saunders, 2007). Furthermore, â€Å"The relationship between Facebook and well-being appears to become positive over the college years, possibly because upper-class students use Facebook to connect socially with their peers and participate in college life (Kalpidou, Costin, & Morris, 2011). † EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON COLLEGE STUDENTS Therefore, â€Å"we need to keep in mind that the benefits of this interactive technology far outweigh the risks,† says Leri. â€Å"When it’s used in a positive way, it can be an extraordinary tool (Brydolf, 2007). † Method The purpose of collecting data was to perform a group research on how social media affects college students. In this research, an anonymous questionnaire was administered to collect data which was the standard survey collection method. The total number of questionnaires administered were 50, however the usable questionnaires were (N = 48).According to the respondents, males (n=26) and females (n=22) were involved in this survey. Thirty-five percent of participants were undergraduates and 65% were graduate students currently studying in Johnson & Wales University. Thirty-one percent of participants have full-time jobs, 30% have part-time jobs and 39% do not have jobs. The number of females who have jobs is higher than that of males. This was one part of our anonymous questionnaire. I n the following, other relevant questions were developed to carry out the research.Other questions focused on the lives of students and the feeling of students when they were using different social media. For example, â€Å"How many hours a day do you check your social media site? † and â€Å"Do you post or respond while completing homework? † Also, at the end of the questionnaire, we asked two open questions about the biggest advantage or disadvantage when college students used social media in studying and looking back to the last time that they used social media. The participants were randomly selected regardless of gender or educational level.These questions related to their lives. There were three different perspectives 8 EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON COLLEGE STUDENTS present in the research which included advantage, disadvantage or not sure. However, other independent variables were tried to decrease the impact on the results. Results Sixty percent of participants ar e in favor of Facebook, 22% like Skype, 10% prefer Twitter and 8% like My Space. Sixty-eight percent of the sample reported that they primarily used a laptop to check social media sites; while 20% use a cell phone; and only 12% preferred to use a desktop computer.Forty-five percent of the sample admitted that they spent 6-8 hours per day to check a social media site, 23% spent more than 8 hours, 20% spent 2-4 hours and only 12% spent less than 2 hours. The ratio of participants who posted or responded during school hours was 64%; 15% rarely used social media during school hours; 21% were not sure whether they would like to use it. Eighty percent of the sample reported that they posted or responded while completing homework; 8% would never use social media while doing homework; and 2% were not sure.In terms of the benefit of social media, 20% agreed that social media helps with school assignments; 25% agreed that social media helps to make new friends; and 55% just used social media for fun. Discussion According to the data we collected from the anonymous questionnaire, most college students would prefer to use social media and therefore spent vast hours checking social media sites. Facebook is very popular among college students, even though students would use it when they had classes. Ninety percent of students spent their time on entertainment; there were not too many college students who preferred using social EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON COLLEGE STUDENTS media to deal with their homework. Eighty percent of the sample admitted that they posted or responded while completing homework. It has definitely affected their efficiencies and their grades. Considering the data collected, there was a negative attitude towards social media when college students used them. For instance, imagining one student spent over six hours checking social media site and responded while completing their homework; it would be likely increase distraction of the students which can be det rimental to student performance.Conclusion Our research has revealed that college students were likely to be affected by social media. Social media is attractive; it not only provides college students another world to make friends, also provides a good way to release pressure. To some degree, it absolutely affects the lives of college students including the grades. This research also indicates that an approach is needed to better balance the relationship between social media and academic study. Therefore, college students should think more about the balancing equation of social media and academics.Limitations and Recommendations This study was limited in several aspects. First, the timeframe to collect data was too short. Three to four weeks for the study was not sufficient. Second, a total of 50 questionnaires were administered, however usable questionnaires were 48, so the result may not reflect the real situation for the whole population. With this sample size, the estimated samp le error is 14. 4%, so an increase in sample size might yield different results. And, of course these results might be affected by this very large sample error. 0 EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON COLLEGE STUDENTS Third, this research did not consider student’s psychological state; perhaps influences and motivations for social networking use. Our research indicated that most college students would prefer to use social media and spend many hours checking social media sites. Social networking is definitely affecting students’ efficiencies as well as their grades. Hence, educators need to be concerned about these problems and try to find better ways to solve these problems.Although, framed within an academic context, the concepts outlined here can be utilized to investigate the use of communication technology not only at school, however also at home, workplace, and various other settings, and for a variety of different audiences such as teenagers, young adults, the elderly, or f amilies. For future research, it may be more helpful to measure the social presence besides motivation and pressure, examining how a student’s psychological state influences motivations for social media use.Also, do social media sites have a positive influence on study and academics and are students leveraging them as cited sources in discipline research? 11 EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON COLLEGE STUDENTS References Baldwin, T. T. , Bedell, M. D. , & Johnson, J. L. (1997). The social fabric of a team-Based M. B. A. Program: Network effects on student satisfaction and performance. Academy Of Management Journal, 40(6), 1369-1397. doi:10. 2307/257037 Brydolf, C. (2007). Minding MySpace: Balancing the benefits and risks of students' online social networks. Education Digest, 73(2), 4. Domine, V. 2009). A social history of media, technology and schooling. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 1(1), 42-52. Gerlich, R. , Browning, L. , & Westermann, L. (2010). The social media affinity sc ale: implications for education. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 3(11), 35-41. Jacobsen, W. C. , & Forste, R. (2011). The Wired Generation: Academic and Social Outcomes of Electronic Media Use Among University Students. Junco, R. , Merson, D. , & Salter, D. W. (2010). The Effect of Gender, Ethnicity, and Income on College Students' Use of Communication. Kalpidou, M. , Costin, D. & Morris, J. (2011). The relationship between Facebook and the well-being of undergraduate college students. Cyberpsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, 14 (4), 183-189. doi:10. 1089/cyber. 2010. 0061. Lusk, B. (2010). Digital natives and social media behaviors: An overview. Prevention Researcher, 173-6. Margaryan, A. , Littlejohn, A. , & Vojt, G. (2011). Are digital natives a myth or reality? University students' use of 12 EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON COLLEGE STUDENTS digital technologies. Computers & Education, 56(2), 429-440. Oberst, L. (2010). The 6S Social Network.Retrieved from: http://sixs entences. ning. com/profile/LindsayOberst Rosen, L. , Lim, A. , Carrier, L. , & Cheever, N. (2011). An empirical examination of the educational impact of text message-induced task switching in the classroom: educational implications and strategies to enhance learning. (2011). Psicologia Educativa, 17(2), 163-177. http://dx. doi. org/10. 5093/ed2011v17n2a4 Schill, R. (2011). Social Networking Teens More Likely to Drink, Use Drugs, Study Finds. Retrieved from: http://jjie. org/teens-on-facebook-more-likely-drink-oruse-drugs-study-finds/20713

Stem Cell Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Stem Cell Research - Essay Example Most criticized is research involving human embryonic stem cells. Most opposition on stem cell research is mainly on moral and religious issues. Most controversies on stem cell research exist, attributed to myths and misconceptions regarding stem cell research. Misconceptions are arising due to the biased nature of reporting from the media as well as error that result especially when reporters are not conversant with facts on stem cell research. This paper is in favor of stem cell research due to the reasons listed below. The important role it will play in cancer treatment, regenerative medicine, repair of destroyed organs, in cure of killer diseases such as leukemia, Alzheimer’s, diabetes treatment, correction of developmental problems in humans even prior to birth, production of clones that could be used for organ harvesting and carrying out drug tests. As opposed to what most critic of stem cell research believes, blastocysts are not human beings thus their destruction does not constitute to killing. Scientifically, an embryo is not human until it is at least two weeks old, at least until the nervous system becomes evident (Mummery and Guido 672-673). In addition, the potential medical benefit from stem cell research is of greater importance compared to moral concerns raised about the embryo. With support and funds from the government, more talented scientist would be willing to get into stem cell research hence accelerate research. This will also enable the government to monitor embryonic research as compared to the privatized research (Mummery and Guido 672-673). In such cases, the government can ensure researchers carry out embryonic stem cell responsibly. Most people opposed to embryonic stem cell research claim that it is without the embryo’s consent. However, the same people are not opposed to organ transplant in children, which only requires parental consent. Embryonic stem cell research should therefore require only the consent of the d onor of the embryo since it is not different from organ donation involving children. In addition, it offers the opportunity to extend life or improve life just like in the case of the less opposed pediatric organ transplant (NIH Stem Cell Information 7; Jones, Byrne 75). Both the researcher and those oppose to stem cell research agree that stem cell research could be a possible solution to many diseases. The conflict is on the source and means of obtaining the stem cells. The argument that humans not be subjects for experimentation does not add up. Humans as well as human tissue act as specimens for experiments since time immemorial in both education and carrying out trial tests (Mummery and Guido 672). For example, all doctors have to dissect human cadaver as part of their medical training. In addition, the success in human organ transplant was only possible after several tests and experiments involving human subjects. Drug trials carried out all the time involve using human subjec ts. The issues discussed above have received little or no objection, yet they involve experimentation with human body just like in case of stem cell research (Mummery and Guido 672-678). From this, it is obvious that success in human medicine is not possible without taking the risk of involving human subject to carry out research. Considering abortion is legal

The Aesthetic Principle and a Factor in Art Essay

The Aesthetic Principle and a Factor in Art - Essay Example According to Bullough, distance plays an essential part in generating an authentic aesthetic response. Bullough supposes that there has to be a quantity of distance gained between an object or work of art and a viewer. This will make the observer understand the object or work of art. On the other hand, Bell’s views are drawn from Kant. Both Kant and Bell agree that an object or work of art can neither be intrinsically moral nor cognitive. In addition, they both agree that the value of an object or work of art is found in its form alone. Bell’s notion of significant form is representative in its clarity. Bell perceives the aesthetic response on the basis of a global standard and the source of the aesthetic emotion in the work of art or object (Arnold and Iverson 73). It may be valuable to approach an art object or work with physical distance and focus on its significant form because of several reasons. First, when the appropriate distance is observed, splendor can be observed and realized in an object or work of art. This does not mean that an artist or observer should be impersonal with regard to art, but instead, the viewer should separate himself emotionally and physically enough, so as to attain an accurate aesthetic response to an object or work of art. It is also essential to focus on a significant form of an object or work of art (Arnold and Iverson 76). Moreover, focusing on its significant form will assist an individual to focus at a work of art without preconceptions and predispositions and without being preoccupied by extraneous connections with the work or object of art. Second, according to Bullough, if a viewer does not position himself at an appropriate distance away from the object or work of art, he will become excessively enclosed in his own life. For example, in Othello, the jealous spouse looking at the play cannot realize it because he is so much entangled by how the play is personally affecting his life.

Policy Paper Middle East Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Policy Middle East - Term Paper Example The mere fact that Syria is facing a civil war constitutes the problem statement, and other associated factors in form of internal and external elements of the overall scenario of Syria. The paper looks at the current standing of civil war in Syria, the historic perspective and the elements that contributed towards it and the future outlook of the country. Syria at present is in the grip of civil war. Further intentions and objectives include getting an understanding and familiarity of the dynamics of the Syrian territory, politics, society, demographics and other associated factors. Assessment in terms of the foreign states and their influence is also part of the study . The topic also provides an overview of the current problem faced by Syria in terms of the ongoing internal civil war. Key words: Civil War, Shiite community. One party state, chemical weapons. Background: Syria is situated in the south western part of Asia and is important on multiple accounts. One of these accounts is the neighborhood and demographic importance. Syria has its borders with Turkey, Israel and Lebanon. Hence the mere geography of Syria speaks of its strategic importance and mere turbulence in Syria would lead to the disturbance of balance in the entire region. Population of Syria makes up for around 22 million citizens and Syria is a multi cultural society that is relatively progressive in its outlook as compared to various other societies of the Middle East. Damascus is the capital city of the country and is centre to the business and political activities and from foreign viewpoint; it is center of attention as well. Syria is a Muslim populous country with over 85 percent of population constituting the Sunni Muslims while the remaining small percentage constitutes the Shiite community of Muslims. Apart from the largely represented population of Muslims there are traces of Christians and they have absolute freedom of worship and other elements of private life in the best manner possible. The form of government in Syria: The country has an uneven history of political affairs. The first unevenness came about in the 1960s when an elected government was toppled by the then Military leader Hafiz Al Asad. Hafiz Al Asad went on to rule the country for next three decades. His rule and reign came to an end around the 21st century and his rule was succeeded by his son Hafiz Al Asad. Since then, the political spectrum of country has been dominated and run by the family politics. The Alawati family is in the corridors of power since last four decades and the country has shaped up into a single party state. It is the small minority of the Shiite community that has been ruling over the majority Sunni community and as a result has created a vacuum and imbalance of the political activities(Billingsley, 2009, 151). The country does not enjoy true and transparent democracy, Bashar Al Asad has been elected to the seat of President ship on multiple instances. Syria once also remained as the part of Mandate system set forth by League of Nations and was given into the custody of France and later on gained its independence as an independent state afterwards. The country depicts number of features and elements that are characteristic of a despotic, tyrant and unelected leadership. The first challenge and vacuum is in form of the absence of any other political party. The

Obesity Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

Obesity - Dissertation Example Obesity is defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as a condition of increased body weight that is caused by an excessive accumulation of fat. Obesity has also been termed the new â€Å"epidemic† in both adults and children. In 1998 the World Health Organization (WHO) designated obesity as a global epidemic (Anrig, 2003). Healthcare professionals can measure the percent of body fat in children by using Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI is calculated from a person’s height and weight and provides a reasonable indicator of body fatness and weight categories that may lead to health problems. Establishing healthy habits in youth can help prevent many health problems later on in life which will drastically reduce the costs of healthcare. For this reason many public health professionals are interested in working with school systems to reach children in school settings. If we look back over the past 50 years we can see dramatic changes in the way children play, eat meals, and soc ialize. Today lifestyles are busier but less active. (See table 1 in appendix A). Since 1950, the amount of nutritional information available to the public has roughly doubled every seven years. In the years between 1950 and 2000, â€Å"obesity rose by 214% until today, where 64.5 percent of adult Americans (about 127 million) are categorized as being overweight or obese† (Weiss, n.d.). Even though technology has taken away the need for most physical activity, there must be steps taken to provide cost effective solutions and provide a healthier lifestyle for children that will lead to healthy adults. The good news is that schools nationwide are becoming aware of this epidemic and are working with health professionals by taking steps to provide a healthy lifestyle for children. Schools can play an important role in improving the health of children and the adults they will become. Children generally attend school 5 days a week throughout the calendar year. During childhood and adolescent years habits develop that determine physical activity and eating habits. These health habits will determine the development of such diseases as cardiovascular, cancer and diabetes which are now major causes of premature death and disabilities in the United States and the Western World. Public Health professionals are very interested in funding school based programs that can provide a foundation for lifelong healthy behaviors and greatly reduce the burden of these preventable health conditions for both individuals and society as a whole. There is largely an unmet need for effective school-based programs that promote healthy behaviors. It has not been an easy task engaging these partnerships for many reasons, one being funding. With the embracing of these school based programs by public health professionals, it is imperative that these programs be rigorously evaluated to show effectiveness. To be considered effective these programs must undergo systematic measurement and an alysis using solid research methods and study designs. The Center for Disease Control’

Police administration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Police administration - Essay Example This role involves issues such as rules, employees, jobs, tasks, supervision, budget, efficiency, and workload. This role ensures that the police executive see to it that the functions of the police organizations are executed correctly. This is because the police executive is at the tiller of the police system and therefore must ensure that processes, inputs, outputs and feedback are dealt with properly in order to allow the police system accomplish its goals. This role is important to the police department because it sees the management of police inputs, processes and outcome. Without this role, the goals of the police administration may just be a mirage (Cordner & Scarborough, 2007). The second basic police executive role deals with external matters of the police organization. Because police organizations are open systems, the organization interacts with other organizations in its environs. These environments of the police organization are associated with a number of variable deman ds such as unusual and routine requests for services of the police organization; directives originating from the judiciary; inquiries of police management of specific crimes and incidents; and the minimum requirements for police training mandated by the state. Many of these demands are particularly received by the police executive personally as well as the requests from the environment. The police executive due to this is responsible for the response of the entire police organization. In general, the police executive is held accountable for managing the interaction between the environment and the police organization in order to enable the police organization system achieves its goals. Again this is important in police departments as failure to manage effectively the police organization environment, the attainment of the organizational goals will be impeded (Cordner & Scarborough, 2007). Both the internal and external basic roles of the police executive are important to the departmen t and the community. It is essential obviously that the chief of police pays attention to the internal police operations of the police organization. The internal basic role therefore fits the concept of responsibilities and duties of management. The external basic role of the police executive may be less obvious compared to the internal basic role. Because the police organization is an open system and is therefore impacted by its environs, the criminal law, job applicants, requests for police assistance, and money to pay to employees of the police organization all come from the environment to the police department. The central government system, the community, the system of criminal justice, and the media also make primary aspects of the environment of the police organization. In order to assure success of the police department, police executives must give attention and focus on relations with all the mentioned environmental elements because they affect the police organization signi ficantly and directly (Reiss, 2004). Failure to perform any of the roles sufficiently can possibly ruin the entire police department and the police chief. Issues of internal role may lead to poor morale, low productivity, negligent work, substandard equipment and personnel, and abuses such as corruption and brutality. The system of police department can easily fail to achieve its goals as a result of poor internal management. On the other hand, not executing external basic role of the police executive will result into declined goal achievement. For example, if the police executive estrange city hall, it is most probable that requests of the budgets of the police will be put at risk and funding will be less sufficient for optimal performance of the police

Reaction Paper about Communicating Through Nonverbal Behaviors Essay - 1

Reaction Paper about Communicating Through Nonverbal Behaviors - Essay Example ean my cupboard and I had replied with an â€Å"Okay Mum† but I received a thrashing in return and when I inquired as to the reason behind it, my mother said that I shrugged my shoulders and rolled my eyes which exuberated a lot of negativity. That day onwards I became watchful of my body language. A common misconception is that a person’s body language is the only form of non-verbal communication. That is not quite the case, other categories of non-verbal communication include: paralanguage, spatial usage and self-presentation. These encompass the pitch and tone of a person’s voice, the posture and use of space as also the attention a person pays to his/her appearance, even to the point of minute details such as the perfume a person is wearing. The multitude of cues which fall under non-verbal communication have the ability of perplexing people with how to react under different situations. A lot of conscious effort is required if a person wants to communicate a single message through his verbal as well as nonverbal cues. Sometimes, for example in front of elders decency would not permit a person to disagree blatantly with what the elders are saying, so through our verbal message we tend to agree with them, however our non-verbal communication reveals our true in tentions. Therefore, it is important to exercise ample control over our nonverbal communication, since with the progress of time awareness regarding nonverbal communication and its significance is

A Preprocessing Framework for Underwater Image Denoising Essay Example for Free

A Preprocessing Framework for Underwater Image Denoising Essay Abstract A major obstacle to underwater operations using cameras comes from the light absorption and scattering by the marine environment, which limits the visibility distance up to a few meters in coastal waters. The preprocessing methods concentrate on contrast equalization to deal with nonuniform lighting caused by the back scattering. Some adaptive smoothing methods like anisotropic filtering as a lengthy computation time and the fact that diffusion constants must be manually tuned, wavelet filtering is faster and automatic. An adaptive smoothing method helps to address the remaining sources of noise and can significantly improve edge detection. In the proposed approach, wavelet filtering method is used in which the diffusion constant is tuned automatically. Keywords: underwater image, preprocessing, edge detection, wavelet filtering, denoising. I. INTRODUCTION The underwater images usually suffers from non-uniform lighting, low contrast, blur and diminished colors. A few problems pertaining to underwater images are light absorption and the inherent structure of the sea, and also the effects of colour in underwater images. Reflection of the light varies greatly depending on the structure of the sea. Another main concern is related to the water that bends the light either to make crinkle patterns or to diffuse it. Most importantly, the quality of the water controls and influences the filtering properties of the water such as sprinkle of the dust in water. The reflected amount of light  is partly polarised horizontally and partly enters the water vertically. Light attenuation limits the visibility distance at about twenty meters in clear water and five meters or less in turbid water. Forward scattering generally leads to blur of the image features, backscattering generally limits the contrast of the images. The amount of light is reduced wh en we go deeper, colors drop off depending on their wavelengths. The blue color travels across the longest in the water due to its shortest  wavelength. Current preprocessing methods typically only concentrate on local contrast equalization in order to deal with the nonuniform lighting caused by the back scattering. II. UNDERWATER DEGRADATION A major difficulty to process underwater images comes from light attenuation. Light attenuation limits the visibility distance, at about twenty meters in clear water and five meters or less in turbid water. The light attenuation process is caused by the absorption (which removes light energy) and scattering (which changes the direction of light path). Absorption and scattering effects are due to the water itself and to other components such as dissolved organic matter or small observable floating particles. Dealing with this difficulty, underwater imaging faces to many problems: first the rapid attenuation of light requires attaching a light source to the vehicle providing the necessary lighting. Unfortunately, artificial lights tend to illuminate the scene in a non uniform fashion producing a bright spot in the center of the image and poorly illuminated area surrounding. Then the distance between the camera and the scene usually induced prominent blue or green color (the wavelength corresponding to the red color disappears in only few meters). Then, the floating particles highly variable in kind and concentration, increase absorption and scattering effects: they blur image features (forward scattering), modify colors and produce bright artifacts known as â€Å"marine snow†. At last the non stability of the  underwater vehicle affects once again image  contrast. To test the accuracy of the preprocessing algorithms, three steps are followed. 1) First an original image is converted into grayscale image. 2)  Second salt and pepper noise added to the grayscale image. 3) Third wavelet filtering is applied to denoise the image. Grayscale images are distinct from one-bit bi-tonal black-and-white images, which in the context of computer imaging are images with only the two colors, black, and white. Grayscale images have many shades of gray in between. Grayscale images are also called monochromatic, denoting the presence of only one (mono) color (chrome). Grayscale images are often the result of measuring the intensity of light at each pixel in a single band of the electromagnetic spectrum and in such cases they are monochromatic proper when only a given frequency is captured. Salt and pepper noise is a form of noise typically seen on images. It represents itself as randomly occurring white and black  pixels. An image containing salt-and-pepper noise will have dark pixels in bright regions and bright pixels in dark regions. This type of noise can be caused by analog-to-digital converter errors, bit errors in transmission. Wavelet filtering gives very good results compared to other denoising methods because, unlike other methods, it does not assume that the coefficients are independent. III. A PREPROCESSING ALGORITHM The algorithm proposed corrects each underwater perturbations sequentially.  addressed in the algorithm. However, contrast equalization also corrects the effect of the exponential light attenuation with distance. B. Bilateral Filtering Bilateral filtering smooth the images while preserving edges by means of a nonlinear combination of nearby image values. The idea underlying bilateral filtering is to do in the range of an image what traditional filters do in its domain. Two pixels can close to one another, occupy nearby spatial location (i.e) have nearby values. Closeness refers to vicinity in the domain, similarity to vicinity in the range. Traditional filtering is a domain filtering, and enforces closeness by weighing pixel values with coefficients that fall off with distance. The range filtering, this averages image values with weights that decay with dissimilarity. Range filters are nonlinear because their weights depend on image intensity or color. Computationally, they are no more complex than standard nonseparable  filters. So the combination of both domain and range filtering is known as bilateral filtering. A. Contrast equalization Contrast stretching often called normalization is a simple image enhancement technique that attempts to improve the contrast in an image by ‘stretching’ the range of intensity values. Many well-known techniques are known to help correcting the lighting disparities in underwater images. As the contrast is non uniform, a global color histogram equalization of the image will not suffice and local methods must be considered. Among all the methods they reviewed, Garcia, Nicosevici and Cufi [2] constated the empirical best results of the illuminationreflectance model on underwater images. The low-pass version of the image is typically computed with a Gaussian filter having a large standard deviation. This method is theoretically relevant backscattering, which is responsible for most of the contrast disparities, is indeed a slowly varying spatial function. Backscattering is the predominant noise, hence it is sensible for it to be the first noise Anisotropic filtering Anisotropic filter is used to smoothing the image. Anisotropic filtering allows us to simplify image features to improve image segmentation. This filter smooths the image in homogeneous area but preserves edges and enhance them. It is used to smooth textures and reduce artifacts by deleting small edges amplified by homomorphic filtering. This filter removes or attenuates unwanted artifacts and  remaining noise. The anisotropic diffusion algorithm is used to reduce noise and prepare the segmentation step. It allows to smooth image in homogeneous areas but it preserves and even enhances the edges in the image. Here the algorithm follow which is proposed by Perona and Malik [5]. This algorithm is automatic so it uses constant parameters selected manually. The previous step of wavelet filtering is very important to obtain good results with anisotropic filtering. It is the association of wavelet filtering and anisotropic filtering which gives such results. Anisotropic algorithm is  usually used as long as result is not satisfactory. In our case few times only loop set to constant value, to preserve a short computation time. For this denoising filter choose a nearly symmetric orthogonal wavelet bases with a bivariate shrinkage exploiting interscale dependency. Wavelet filtering gives very good results compared to other denoising methods because, unlike other methods, it does not assume that the coefficients are independent. Indeed wavelet coefficients in natural image have significant dependencies. Moreover the computation time is very short. IV. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND EVALUATION To estimate the quality of reconstructed image, Mean Squared Error and Peak Signal to Noise Ratio are calculated for the original and the reconstructed images. Performance of different filters are tested by calculating the PSNR and MSE values. The size of the images taken is 256256 pixels. The Mean Square Error (MSE) and the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) are the two error metrics used to compare image compression quality. The MSE represents the cumulative squared error between the compressed and the original image, whereas PSNR represents a measure of the peak error. The lower the value of MSE, the lower the error. In Table 1, the original and reconstructed images are shown. In table 2, PSNR and MSE values are calculated for all underwater images. PSNR value obtained for denoised images is higher, when compare with salt and pepper noise added images. MSE value obtained for the denoised images has lower the error when compared with salt and pepper noise added images. e D. Wavelet filtering Thresholding is a simple non-linear technique, which operates on one wavelet coefficient at a time. In its most basic form, each coefficient is thresholded by comparing against threshold, if the coefficient is smaller than threshold, set to zero; otherwise it is kept or modified. Replacing the small noisy coefficients by zero and inverse wavelet transform on the result may lead to reconstruction with the essential signal characteristics and with the less noise. A simple denoising algorithm that uses the wavelet transform consist of the following three steps, (1) calculate the wavelet  transform of the noisy image (2) Modify the noisy detail wavelet coefficients according to some rule (3) compute the inverse transform using the modified coefficients. Multiresolution decompositions have shown significant advantages in image denoising. best denoised image. In clearly, the comparisons of PSNR and MSE values are shown in Fig -1a and Fig -1b. V. CONCLUSION In this paper a novel underwater preprocessing algorithm is present. This algorithm is automatic, requires no  parameter adjustment and no a priori knowledge of the acquisition conditions. This is because functions evaluate their parameters or use pre-adjusted defaults values. This algorithm is fast. Many adjustments can still be done to improve the whole pre-processing algorithms. Inverse filtering gives good results but generally requires a priori knowledge on the environment. Filtering used in this paper needs no parameters adjustment so it can be used systematically on underwater images before every pre-processing algorithms. REFERENCES [1] Arnold-Bos, J. P. Malkasse and Gilles Kervern,(2005) â€Å"Towards a model-free denoising of underwater optical image,† IEEE OCEANS 05 EUROPE,Vol.1, pp.234256. [2] Caefer, Charlene E.; Silverman, Jerry. Mooney,JonathanM,(2000) â€Å"Optimisation of point target tracking filters†. IEEE Trans. Aerosp. Electron. Syst., pages 15-25. [3] R. Garcia, T. Nicosevici, and X. Cufi. (2002) â€Å"On the way to solve lighting problems in underwater imaging†. In Proceedings of the IEEE Oceans 2002, pages 1018–1024. [4] James C. Church, Yixin Chen, and Stephen V., (2008) â€Å"A Spatial Median Filter for Noise Removal in Digital Images†, page(s):618 – 623. [45 Jenny Rajan and M.R Kaimal., (2006) â€Å"Image Denoising Using Wavelet Embedded anisotropic Diffusion†, Appeared in the Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Visual Information Engineering, page(s): 589 – 593. [6] Z. Liu, Y. Yu, K. Zhang, and H. Huang.,(2001) â€Å"Underwater image transmission and blurred image restoration†. SPIE Journal of Optical Engineering, 40(6):1125–1131. [7] P. Perona and J.Malik, (1990) â€Å"Scale space and edge detection using anisotropic diffusion,† IEEE Trans on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, pp.629-639. [8] Schechner, Y and Karpel, N., (2004) â€Å"Clear Underwater Vision†. Proceedings of the IEEE CVPR, Vol. 1, pp. 536-543. [9] Stephane Bazeille, Isabelle, Luc jaulin and Jean-Phillipe Malkasse, (2006) â€Å"Automatic Underwater image PreProcessing†, cmm’06 characterisation du milieu marine page(s): 16-19. [10] Yongjian Yu and Scott T. Acton, (2002) Speckle Reducing Anisotropic Diffusion, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, page(s): 1260-1270, No. 11, Vol.11.

Eye Care Institute Analysis

Eye Care Institute Analysis Ishan Narma Jyotismaya Shabeer Pk Khayapam Raising Ujjval Rana Nahid Zafar Ipshita Prasad Usha Deepthi INTRODUCTION: The LV Prasad Eye Institute was established in 1987, with a mission to provide equitable and efficient eye care to all sections of society. Started with a goal to be a leader in combating global blindness through the direct impact of patient services and the indirect impact of training it provided to eye care professionals, LVPEI by 2011, had become a world class eye institute encompassing services such as clinical care, education, research, rehabilitation and high impact rural eye care. LVPEI was the brainchild of Dr. GN Rao, who after working for 12 years in the United States, was greatly inspired by the quality of eye care provided there. Born in a small village of Andhra Pradesh, Dr Rao was very sensitive to the health problems of the poor and wanted to do something for them. His dream of serving the poor was shared by film producer L.V. Prasad, who wanted to support a project dedicated to enhancement of vision. L.V. Prasad donated a 5 acre plot of land to Dr. Rao to start an eye hospital, along with the equivalent of 1 million US dollars. Dr. Rao named the hospital after L.V. Prasad, to respond to his generosity. Additional funds were generated for the hospital from the United States through the Indo-American Eye Care Society and finally the hospital started operations in 1987. The hospital was built with a keen eye for aesthetics. Dr. Rao did not want the hospital to look or feel like one, instead wanting a sunny and pleasant place with wide corridors and soothing dà ©cor. Dr. Rao wanted to focus on the patient, keeping in mind his dignity, needs and comfort. LVPEI offered services for all types of eye care diseases, from routine cataract surgery to complex procedures such as retinal, corneal and oculoplasty services. Special service facilities were set up for the vulnerable age groups such as children and the elderly. Since it was established in 1987, LVPEI had provided outpatient care to six million and surgical care to more than 585,000 patients, 52% of them free of charge. LVPEI had reached a total of 17 million people, and had built permanent eye care infrastructure in 16 districts of Andhra Pradesh. Vision 2020 – The Right to Sight In order to address the problem of increasing number of global blindness, WHO and the International Association for Prevention of Blindness jointly launched a common agenda for global action: Vision 2020 The Right to Sight. Five conditions were identified as immediate priorities based on their high prevalence, and the affordability of interventions to treat them. These were Cataract, Trachoma, Onchocerciasis, Childhood Blindness and Refractive Errors. PYRAMID OF EYE CARE In order to attain the aim of making eye care accessible to everyone, Rao and his team developed the LVPEI Pyramid of eye care. The main emphasis of this model was to provide eye care at appropriate level, easily accessible and affordable without any compromise in quality. This resulted in the creation of facilities within the community which are linked to higher levels of care. The pyramid consists of 5 levels of care. They are, Community Level Care, Primary Level Care, Secondary Service Centres, Tertiary Care Centres and Centre of Excellence. Community Level Care: The community level care is provided by the vision guardians. They look after the health of 5000 people. They monitor the health of children and elderly by doing door to door campaigns and through other means. They monitor those patients who have had surgery and provide readymade near vision glasses. They also refer those who need eye check up to the appropriate centre. Primary Level Care: The primary eye care is provided at the Vision Centres, managed by the Vision Technicians trained by LVPEI. They screen people at the centre and children at school. They cover a population of 50000. They dispense spectacles as well as educate the people about their use. They also identify people for surgery advanced eye care. Secondary Service Centres: At this level, outpatient services are provided where diagnosis of all eye diseases is done. They perform eye surgeries and also serve as the referral source for tertiary care. They serve a population of 1 lac. There are 11 secondary care centres and 9 partner centres. Tertiary Care Centres: They provide highest quality medical and surgical eye care irrespective of the socioeconomic status. They serve a population of 5 million. They offer finest medical education and surgical training to eye care professionals and also conduct innovative research. Centre of Excellence: It is situated at Hyderabad serving a population of 50 million. It provides services like management of complex cases, training to subspecialists and trainers, rehabilitation, research and capacity building of training centres. This model of LVPEI is so efficient that the Government of India has adopted the same model for eye care service delivery in current five year budget plan. EDUCATION AND TRAINING LVPEI considers training and education as an important factor which can influence the quality of eye health service delivery. The training aims to upgrade the skills of ophthalmologists and equip new entrants to the field with the appropriate skills and knowledge. The institute develops human resources internally through training and education. All the clinical staff, support staff, ophthalmic technicians and eye care administrators undergo a training program before they are recruited for the particular post which helps to maintain quality care across all the levels of care. It has a comprehensive co-operative agreement of mutual benefit in education and research with the University of Rochester Eye Institute, Case Western Reserve University, the University of Wisconsin, Duke University and Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in the United States and the University of New South Wales and University of Melbourne in Australia. This gives great opportunity for those who would like to excel in e ye care delivery. RESEARCH AND ADVOCACY LVPEI integrated research as a part of service delivery though it affected the clinical workload and productivity. It was 25 years ago, the research started at Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation (HERF), the research arm of the institute, with the support from Professor Brien Holden of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. The research concentrated on molecular genetics of inherited eye diseases, molecular diagnostics for early detection, microbiology of eye infections, biochemical features of cataract and stem cell technology for reconstruction of the damaged ocular outer surface. Research is spread over the centres at Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada. It not only conducts clinical research but also clinical trials. Each clinical research project and trial goes through a rigorous examination by Institutional Review Board (IRB), for its scientific and ethical aspects. Only those that are approved are taken up. The projects were supported by the grant s received from the Department of Biotechnology( DBT), Department of Science and Technology(DST), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR), National Eye Institute(NEI, National Institutes of Health), USA. HERF is one of the four pillars of the multinational research and development group called Vision Cooperative Research Centre (operating from Sydney, Australia). It conducts research on a series of clinical studies. Research at the Institute aims to be â€Å"relevant, rigorous and cutting edge†, and hopes to become one of the most productive eye research groups in the world. Towards this aim, there are six initiatives. They are a new Academy for Eye Care Education, Child Sight Institute, Institute for Eye Care for the Elderly, Centre for Ocular Regeneration (CORE), Institute for Eye Cancer, a Centre of Excellence in Eye Banking. The start of SRUJANA (a Sanskrit term meaning creativity), centre for innovation was a milestone. It is a bilateral program between HERF and groups at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA. INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR ADVANCEMENT OF RURAL EYE CARE (ICARE) International Centre for Advancement of Rural Eye Care (GPR ICARE), LVPEIs community outreach program, began in May 1998, with the aim of making high-quality, appropriate eye care accessible to all. Objectives LVPEI tried to develop high quality self-sustaining eye care services in neglected areas of India and other parts of the developing world and to train all cadres of eye care personnel for the provision of efficient eye care services. Its objectives include participating in planning eye health initiatives in the developing world to undertake operations and research projects. Also LVPEI collaborated with international NGOs like Operation Eyesight Universal (OEU), in turn to support the hospitals to scale up their capacity to perform affordable cataract surgeries and provide comprehensive eye care services around the world. This support of LVPEI helped the hospitals to increase the number of patients by 100 per cent. Organisational Excellence Rao gives the full credit of organisational excellence to the employees. It is achieved by constant nurturing of its employees by giving continuous education program and training activities at various levels. The culture of the institute is build around quality care. To instil quality consciousness, they conduct presentation once a month at 7am meeting on already audited files and will see how they had complied with the standards. This effort will reinforce the quality consciousness among the employees. Since the organisation is depending on their employees the biggest challenge in front of LVPEI is in finding right people at right position. According to them they don’t want to hire somebody to fill a slot, but need people with exceptional potential. Their recruitment process is unique as they try to bring young people from rural areas and train them both clinical teachings and the culture, which they are following in the institute. They always prefer to have fresh minds over personnel with previous experience, since the experienced people couldn’t follow the institute. LVPEI gives importance to individual growth and career development as well, as they allow doctors to allocate their time at hospital between patient care, education and research. LVPEI culture is highly patient centric, we can see it from their practices like, doctors directly go to the waiting room to fetch the next patient, instead of waiting for the nurse to do so. The closest parking area is reserve d for patients rather than doctors and the staff members. The founder of LVPEI, Gullapalli N Rao, did his graduation in medical science (MBBS) at Guntur, Andhra Pradesh and completed his post graduation from AIIMS, Delhi in ophthalmology. He then went to the US in 1974 and came back in 1986 and established LVPEI in 1987 in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh). The idea behind this institute is to help poor and needy people in terms of alleviation of blindness. By the technical knowledge and experience gained in India and US and his strong desire and passion toward the work for the poor and needy people develop his leadership quality. DR. RAO’S LEADERSHIP SKILLS As we are talking about the work done by Rao and his leadership under which LVPEI gets the highest level of honor in people’s mind, it is to be emphasized that this is achieved solely by strong desire. Dr. Rao displays basically three kinds of leadership – People oriented leadership Transformational leadership Contingency leadership In People oriented leadership there is a mutual trust that exists between the leader and the followers. Leader is very much concerned about the desire, demand and welfare of his follower and this gains him respect and popularity among the followers. Dr. Rao’s patient- centric approach is clearly seen from his own quotation -â€Å"Patient is king; his dignity, needs and comfort supersede everything also , regardless of whether he pays for it or is treated free of cost†. His nature towards the patients can be understood with the help of certain scenario described by his staff member and patients. For example, in terms of reducing the waiting time of the patient come for the treatment in OPD doctors of the hospital has to walk in the lobby to approach the patient. Another example is about the parking arrangement of the hospital where the area is clearly defined for the staff and the patients come for the treatment. Parking area of the patient is nearer to the hospital as compared to staff so the patient is given prior importance. There are mainly three kinds of qualities which we have observed in a transformational leader charismatic, inspirational and individual consideration. In case of Rao, he is a visionary in nature. He is totally devoted to his goal to alleviate blindness and plan and work accordingly to meet his desired goal. He is very professional and his communication skills are excellent and so people feel comfortable in approaching him. His long term planning quality makes him a charismatic personality. Rao is very good in technical knowledge and skills and these are built on the foundation of his hardworking and passionate nature. His hardworking attitude made him popular in the hospital under the name of ‘Task maker’ and he unwillingly became the inspirational model for many people. By rewarding the staff he motivates them to do best for the hospital and for the patients. He strives to resolve even the personal problems of his staff and provide moral support. Contingency leader is the person who responds according the situation required. In case of Rao many people give different opinion; some would say he is autocratic in nature, some would say he is charismatic but democratic in nature, and further some would say he is very supportive in nature. Actually he responds differently according to the situation required. He becomes autocratic when matters of policy making, decision making, task completion and quality of work are concerned; becomes democratic when we are talking about long term projects and providing help to the staff and he becomes supportive when his staff have any issues may they be personal or professional. Rao’s leadership might be different from other leaders but he is the one who has made LVPEI the pioneer institute for eye care in India. Apart from LVPEI, Aravind Eye Hospital has gained massive popularity among the people. All this has been possible by the transformational leadership of Dr. Venkataswamy, who started this not for profit institute on great Indian mystic Aurobindo’s philosophy. QUALITY MANAGEMENT LVPEI follows standard protocols and processes for providing best quality eye care. By having proper support from appropriate systems, the doctors are able to treat lot of patients in the OP. They are following data driven approach to monitor quality. They periodically review the programs to modify them accordingly and to implement policies. FINANCIAL VIABILITY LVPEI is under the supervision of two not for profit institutes, Hyderabad Eye Institute and Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation. Even after treating a large chunk of patients at free of cost, they managed to generate profit. The main source of income for LVPEI was through cross subsidization of treatment where the treatment cost of poor patients is covered by rich patients. They are receiving donations from like-minded organizations, who support its work. FUTURE OF LVPEI The Indian health care industry is entering into new era with significant changes in greater affordability, increased awareness in patients, and presence of more health care providers. The population opting for health insurance is about 2% in India and about 20-30% of insured patients visit urban hospitals for seeking health care services. Now-a-days patients’ requirements have shifted from good quantity of vision to good quality of vision. There are more specialized clinics that educate patients on various methods of eye treatment and their outcomes. Due to all the above issue LVPEI has been forced to restructure and reorganize its system of delivering eye care facility. ORGANIZATION LIFE CYCLE AND LEADERSHIP A FUTURE PERSPECTIVE Being a 27 years old organization, LVPEI has already reached a state of maturity in its life cycle, which is characterized by delay in decision making, being less proactive, less innovative and more risk-averse. LVPEI has a functionally based structure that is primarily led by doctors and exhibits as fairly centralized. So for this LVPEI has developed a bureaucratic style of functioning and decision making. Its focus is mainly on efficiency rather than novelty. The future head of LVPEI should to be an ophthalmologist having an outstanding track record and who could take forward the organization into a desirable state of its functioning. LVPEI prefers its future head to be a clinical scientist respected both nationally and internationally. COMPARING DR. VENKATASWAMY’S LEADERSHIP WITH DR. RAO Both the legendary leaders from India, who tried to held head up in the global eye care. The main attracting feature of Dr. Venkataswamy’s leadership was his clear vision about the hospital and its function, while Dr. Rao is very much concerned about the needs and welfare of his followers and this make him respectful among the followers. Dr. Rao put emphasis on quality care and highly patient centric approach in the institute’s culture, Dr. Venkataswamy believed in social marketing strategy for the development and expansion. CRITICAL ANALYSIS WITH ARAVIND EYE HOSPITAL LVPEI has got a clear cut strategy for community outreach programs, but Aravind eye care lacks clarity on it. LVPEI focused on producing human resources internally, while Aravind eye care preferred persons with experience. LVPEI’s focus is on quality care, Aravind eye care focused on quantity, by increasing the number of patients. CONCLUSION Facing great challenges from both environment and leadership change, LVPEI had set a few goals for itself in the next five years, such as, strengthening its brand as a cutting-edge eye care delivery system, providing good quality of services and education, strengthening the ability of the institute to conduct breaks through clinical research, improving the ability of LVPEI to provide high level community health services, and improving its ability to enhance the capacity of LVPEI to become a role model globally in eye care health delivery system. Ultimately the main focus of LVPEI is to provide eye care facility to 200 million people directly by 2020. LVPEI also aimed to enhance the eye health policy across India and globally through providing quality eye health. Finally Dr. Rao articulated in his dream that, â€Å"when people talk about best eye institutes globally, LVPEI must come up for discussion† REFERENCES: http://www.lvpei.org/

Impacts of Terrorism on Sporting Events

Impacts of Terrorism on Sporting Events Examining the Impacts of Terrorism on Sporting Events: Focusing on the FIFA World Cup. Terrorism is now, more than ever, a prevalent subject within media discourse. The impact of threats of terrorism, be they perceived or realised, is one that should not be underestimated. While the threat of terror attacks is one that we see on a regular basis, the fact that large scale events such as the FIFA World Cup draw thousands of spectators to one confined area (i.e. a football stadium, and the location surrounding the stadium) means that terror attacks and the threat thereof should be addressed as part of the risk assessment for the event. The events industry, focusing particularly on sports tourism, have been affected by the global concern surrounding terrorism. Hinch and Higham (2001) recognise that sport in general, be that on a local or a global level, has a huge influence on the numbers of tourists that are attracted to a particular area. Sport is a massive, multi-billion-pound industry, and the tourism that it encompasses makes a significant contribution to the revenue it creates. There are a number of facets to sport tourism that make it what it is. There are three prominent markers of this particular aspect of tourism, which include outdoor sports, fitness activities, and major events (Hall, 1992). If we consider one of those criteria – major events – then this study will focus on the FIFA World Cup, and will explore how the World Cup has been affected by terrorism. Since the 2001 terror attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Centre, major events have been directly affected by the threat of terror attacks. Sports tourists no longer feel as safe as they did travelling to destinations for major sporting events, as the risk of attack is perceived as being much greater. These fears are exacerbated by the fact that tourists are in enclosed spaces for the duration of the sporting event, with means of escape being difficult to navigate and police in large crowds. Since the late 1900’s sports tourism has seen a surge in popularity unrivalled by other large scale events (Standeven and DeKnopp, 1999). Sport tourists are known to spend a significant amount of their income on travelling to destinations in order to watch their favourite team or sportsperson perform. We can define sports tourism as â€Å"‘sport-based travel away from the home environment for a limited time, where sport is characterised by unique rule sets, competition related to physical prowess, and a playful nature† (Hinch and Higham, 2001, p.56). This can be directly attributed to the FIFA World Cup, as teams of players will take part in a match with defined rules, are athletic by their very nature, and if we break football down to a basic level, the players are playing a game. So, as discussed one of the criteria that makes up sports tourism is ‘major events’. This title can be attributed to the likes of the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics. We can see how the act of putting on such a large-scale event has benefits for both the fans of the particular sport in question (in this instance the FIFA World Cup) and also the country in which the event is to be based. The fans are afforded the opportunity to witness their favourite sports team in action, while the revenue produced through their tourism contributes greatly to the area in which the event is to take place. During the FIFA World Cup that took place in South Korea in 2002, the then-president of South Korea is quoted as stating that the event was ‘a chance for us to make the country prosper diplomatically, economically and culturally, in sectors like tourism and science’ (McCormack, 2002, p.39), ‘us’ in this instance being South Korea. As there is a significant return made when compared to the actual investment involved in the planning, launching, and running of such an event, many destinations who are able to host events such as the FIFA World Cup vie for the opportunity to do so, as they are all too aware of the benefits they will be rewarded with in exchange for their investment (Kelly, 2000). Although we have seen significant growth in terms of sports-related tourism (which may be due to the advancement of travel networks, and the ability to now travel to events for a smaller financial outlay), the notion of sports tourism is still a fairly new construct. With this in mind, consideration by organisers must be made towards how terrorism can have negative effects on sports tourism. Sport is a global phenomenon, which means that global incidents, such as acts of terrorism, have a direct effect on the industry. Terrorism is a difficult term to describe. In fact, the US Department of State (2001) has argued that there is no universally accepted definition of what terrorism actually is. There are a significant number of variables that can affect how people perceive an act of terrorism, and indeed whether they actually see an act as one of terrorism at all. Ganor (2001) argues that in order for terrorism to be fought back against, then a specific definition should be in place that sets out exactly what an act of aggression (or otherwise) should constitute in order for it to be labelled as ‘terrorism’. This inability to agree on what constitutes terrorism has led to several difficulties. Governments are unable to create laws around terrorism because they can’t agree on what terrorism is (Whitaker, 2001), and also opposing terrorism, in certain circumstances, could be construed as an act of terrorism in of itself. Freedman (2002) attempts to remedy the situation of disagreement regarding what is and isn’t terrorism by stating what those attempting to define it do agree on. These factors include: Terrorism is carried out in a purposeful manner (i.e. specific targeting).Terrorism is inclusive of acts of violence, which vary in their extremity.Terrorism has some form of political motivation.Victims of terror are not ‘pre-selected’ (i.e. victims of suicide bombers for example)The act of terror is intended to affect people, bodies or movements outside of the direct victims of the attack (i.e. coercion of a government to act in a certain way as a result of the attack). Most of the discourse surrounding violence within the sporting industry has been directed towards the violent conduct of spectators of a specific sport. Football fans in particular have found themselves the subject of much conjecture regarding the causes of sports violence, and this has been the case since the 1960s and 70s. There has, however, been an underwhelming degree of investigation into the effect of terrorism on sports tourism (Atkinson et al, 2000, p.54). Wedermeyer (1999, p.218) supports this assertion in stating that ‘specialist literature on the relationship between sport and terrorism is rare’. This is in contradiction to the fact that major sporting events are in no way insusceptible to terrorist attacks, a point which is highlighted by the fact that in December 2016, a series of car bombs was detonated outside the stadium of Turkish football team, Besiktas, injuring many in the process, the majority of whom were completely innocent civilians. Atkinson and Young (2000, p.54) further their point by saying that although, on the face of it, sports may not seem to be linked to acts perpetrated by terrorist organisations, there is no escaping the fact that major events in the sporting world may become the target for terrorist attack. These acts of terrorism may not only be directed towards the spectators at a major sporting event, but also those who partake in the events themselves (i.e. the athletes), or even the large corporations who have put funds towards sponsorship of the event. They are, in essence, saying that everyone associated with the event is a potential target for terrorism. If we consider the FIFA World Cup, then this is quite obvious a major event, with a huge amount of prestige attached to it. As a result, it makes sense that we can consider the FIFA World Cup, in the contemporary climate in particular, to be at risk of a terrorist attack. We have seen historical instances of major sporting events attracting the attention of terrorist groups. Perhaps one that will be forever remembered is the 1972 Olympic Games, which took place in Munich. A militant terrorist organisation known as ‘Black September’ stormed the grounds of the Olympic residents accommodation and attacked the Israeli team’s hospitality area. In doing so, they murdered one Israeli sports coach in cold blood, and took ten hostages. The attempts to save the hostages failed tremendously, and they all died as a result of the failed attempt, as did a number of the Palestinian terrorists involved in the coup, and several police officials. More recently, during the Olympic games which took place in Atlanta in 2002, several individuals died either as a direct result, or indirect result, of a concealed bomb which was hidden in a backpack in the spectator area of the stadium. Many were injured in the attack, while one of the spectators died as a result of the blast. We have seen how World Cup Football has contributed to violence in the past, and sometimes on a serious and larger scale than ‘mere’ hooliganism. In 1969, two countries, Honduras and El Salvador, ended up declaring war on one another after they came head-to-head in a pre-tournament qualifying match. Because friction between the two countries was already high, this translated directly to the football field, and as a result the spectators clashed violently with eachother. This escalated and the two countries entered into a war in July of that year. Whilst this may not be seen as a direct act of terrorism, it does serve to illustrate how violence is present in World Cup football, or any kind of football for that matter. However, this kind of violence can be seen as politically motivated. Two separate sets of fans are brought together, from separate countries, between which tensions may be running high. The emotion of the event, and the patriotism felt for each sets of fans’ own countries, by the fans themselves, could potentially lead to an act of terrorism taking place. As mentioned earlier, sport is a truly global phenomenon. So, it goes without saying that globalisation will have an effect on sports related-violence. We have seen how global travel has become much more accessible to those who previously were unable to make journeys to far-away destinations due to the financial implications of doing so. However, we briefly touched upon how football hooliganism has been an issue in sports events since the 70s. Inexpensive holiday deals, and even travel deals tailored specifically towards the sports tourist, have been prolific for the past 30 years, and so it makes sense to make the link between sports tourism and sports violence. Working class males have been given access to the deals mentioned above, which means that they can travel to destinations for a comparatively nominal fee. It shouldn’t be viewed as entirely coincidental that where these travel opportunities are made available, and are combined with cheap alcohol, that sports violence (particularly hooliganism, which is often associated with working class males) would increase and become more of a threat in the time leading up to a major sporting event. Taylor (2002, p.27) supports this assertion. He states that ‘For many (especially) ‘working class’ young men, it was football that first initiated them into ‘foreign’ travel’. To return to World Cup Football and acts of terrorism, we saw that there was a great deal of concern surrounding the safety of spectators and participants of the 2002 South Korean FIFA World Cup. As stated earlier, this was as a direct result of the atrocities that took place during the 9/11 terror attacks in America. Nevertheless, all the authorities involved decided that this major event should go ahead unhindered. This may well have simply been down to the fact that the revenue generated by the tournament would have been undeniably beneficial to South Korea. Indeed, as quoted earlier, the South Korean President, Kim Dae-Jung, stated himself exactly how beneficial it would be for their country, bringing in hundreds of thousands of tourists from across the globe. Bibliography Atkinson, Michael and Young, Kevin. 2002. Terror Games: Media treatment of security issues at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Olympika: the International Journal of Olympic Studies 9; 53-78. Ganor, Boaz. 2001. Terrorism: No Prohibition Without Definition.7 October. http://www.ict.org.il/articles/articledet.cfm?articleid=393. 14 April 2003. Hall, C. Michael. 1992 Hallmark Events: The Impacts, Management, and Planning of Event Tourism, Belhaven Press: New York. Hinch, Tom and Higham, James. 2001. Sport Tourism: A Framework for Research. The International Journal of Tourism Research. 3(1); 45-58. Kelly, J. 2000. Looking to sports for development dollars. American City & Country. 115(14); 20. McCormack, Gavan. 2002. Things more important than football? Japan, Korea and the 2002 World Cup. In Japan, Korea and the 2002 World Cup eds John Horne, J. and Wolfram Manzenreiter. pp 29-42. London: Routledge. Standeven, Joy and DeKnop, Paul. 1999. Sport Tourism, Human Kinetics: Champaign, Illinois. Taylor, Rogan. 2002. World Cup fans: hooligans or tourists. In Proceedings of the Korean Academic Society of Tourism Management International Conference for the Success of the 2002 World Cup., pp. 22-35. Seoul. 18 January. United States, Dept. of State. 2001. Patterns of Global Terrorism. Washington: Dept. of State: vi. http://www.history.navy.mil/library/guides/terrorism.htm#definition. 14 April 2003. Wedermeyer, B. 1999. Sport and terrorism. In The international politics of sport in the 20th century eds. Jim Riodan and Arnd Krà ¼ger. pp. 217- 231. New York: Routledge. Whitaker, Brian. 2001. The definition of terrorism. The Guardian. 7 May. http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,487098,00.html

The Effective Satire of Voltaires Candide :: Voltaire Candide Essays

The Effective Satire of Voltaire's Candide      Ã‚   In Candide, Voltaire sought to point out the fallacy of Gottfried Leibniz's theory of optimism and the hardships brought on by the resulting inaction toward the evils of the world. Voltaire's use of satire, and its techniques of exaggeration and contrast highlight the evil and brutality of war and the world in general when men are meekly accepting of their fate. Leibniz, a German philosopher and mathematician of Voltaire's time, developed the idea that the world they were living in at that time was "the best of all possible worlds." This systematic optimism shown by Leibniz is the philosophical system that believed everything already was for the best, no matter how terrible it seemed. In this satire, Voltaire showed the world full of natural disasters and brutality. Voltaire also used contrast in the personalities of the characters to convey the message that Leibniz's philosophy should not be dealt with any seriousness. Leibniz, sometimes regarded as a Stoic or Fatalist because his philosophies were based on the idea that everything in the world was determined by fate, theorized that God, having the ability to pick from an infinite number of worlds, chose this world, "the best of all possible worlds." Although Voltaire chose that simple quality of Leibniz's philosophy to satirize, Leibniz meant a little more than just that. Even though his p hilosophy stated that God chose "the best of all possible worlds," he also meant that God, being the perfection he is, chose the best world available to him, unfortunately it was a world containing evil. It seems as though Voltaire wanted to ridicule Leibniz's philosophy so much that he chose to satirize only the literal meaning and fatal acceptance of evil of Leibniz's philosophy.   To get his point across in Candide, Voltaire created the character Dr. Pangloss, an unconditional follower of Leibniz's philosophy. Voltaire shows this early in the novel by stating, "He proved admirably that there is no effect without a cause and that, in this best of all possible worlds....(16)" Pangloss goes on to say that everything had its purpose and things were made for the best. For example, the nose was created for the purpose of wearing spectacles (Voltaire 16). Because of his "great knowledge," Candide, at this point a very naive and impressionable youth, regards Pangloss as the greatest philosopher in the world, a reverence that will soon be contradicted by contact with reality (Frautschi 75).