Thursday, December 26, 2019

Questions On Online Article On Facebook Essay - 1810 Words

Ten Practices To Express Gratitude While Serving Others By Mahalene Louis | Submitted On May 11, 2006 Recommend Article Article Comments Print Article Share this article on Facebook Share this article on Twitter Share this article on Google+ Share this article on Linkedin Share this article on StumbleUpon Share this article on Delicious Share this article on Digg Share this article on Reddit Share this article on Pinterest Expert Author Mahalene Louis Although quite young, I can still remember my parents asking me, What do you say? as I was receiving something, be it a fruit, a gift, or a compliment. Of course, they were looking for the magical words thank you, which many parents adamantly train their children to respond. Isn t it interesting that the very first training we encounter is to express gratitude! I find it very meaningful that, from the first Spiritual Law of Pure Potentiality comes the second Law of giving and receiving. Indeed, from the one comes the two, and with it, the dynamics of exchange. As written by Deepak Chopra Giving and receiving are different aspects of the flow of energy in the universe. And in our willingness to give that which we seek, we keep the abundance of the universe circulating in our lives. How can you use this law to provide your customers a most fabulous service, which they will gratefully appreciate, and remember? 1. Give thanks; What and gratitude It has been said that, if there was only one prayer, it would be oneShow MoreRelatedQuestions On Online Article On Facebook905 Words   |  4 Pages Print Article Share this article on Facebook Share this article on Twitter Share this article on Google+ Share this article on Linkedin Share this article on StumbleUpon Share this article on Delicious Share this article on Digg Share this article on Reddit Share this article on Pinterest Expert Author Julie P Birkwood Especially in harsh economic times, it s common for ordinary individuals to be in need of cash. But if your credit is below average, getting a loan may be difficult. In such a caseRead MoreFacebooks Effect On Emotional Loneliness1715 Words   |  7 Pages87% of young adults are on Facebook and in How Time Horizon Perceptions and Relationship Deficits Affect Impulsive Consumption by Sinha and Wang (2013) the result of their study proved that for young adults the emotional loneliness causes more impulsive behavior. With that said people who suffer from depression do not need to be more impulsive because of the constant threat of self-harm. And that is why I chose to research if our emotional loneliness is affected by Facebook intensity. Some relevantRead MoreThe Impact Of Social Media On Relationships1698 Words   |  7 Pagesexamine the extent social media has on relationships. Nowadays people are finding their significant other, as well as forming close friendships with others onli ne. â€Å"In particular, we now live in an era in which much of our social interaction is not of the face to face variety but rather takes place via text, instant message, Internet chat room, Facebook, Twitter†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Aronson, p.348). Social interactions through media can have a positive impact on relationships; in regards to forming these bonds, at the sameRead MoreThe One Thing Students Can Improve Grades Dramatically !891 Words   |  4 Pages2011 Recommend Article Article Comments Print Article Share this article on Facebook 2 Share this article on Twitter 1 Share this article on Google+ Share this article on Linkedin Share this article on StumbleUpon Share this article on Delicious Share this article on Digg Share this article on Reddit Share this article on Pinterest Expert Author Nina Sunday Did you know smart students who gain top marks are less likely to be distracted with social networking sites such as Facebook, or texting,Read MoreSocial Media And Its Effects On Self Esteem And Self Control1422 Words   |  6 PagesAre Facebook users gaining any benefits from the popular social media site or just unconsciously being affected by all the negatives? Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook launched in 2004 and has been growing in popularity ever since. The purpose of Facebook is to allow individuals to voice what matters to them all while connecting and engaging with others. The social media platform has users accessing worldwide and according to Facebook’s newsroom, in 2015 there was an average of 1.04 billion activeRead MoreSocial Web And Its Impact On Society895 Words   |  4 Pagesform many questions, from ethical to philosophical ones. Questions that Diane P. Michelfelder Professor of philosophy forms and addresses in the article Web2.0: Community as Commodi ty. Michelfelder argues that â€Å"social web† is both community and commodity and the purpose for writing this article is to create discussion of the ethical consequences the â€Å"social web† can have due to the disclosure of private information. In the beginning of the article Michelfelder states the research question explicitlyRead MoreKey Success Secrets On How Social Networks Effectively By Wendy Lugo Santiago Essay833 Words   |  4 PagesSocial Networks Effectively By Wendy Lugo Santiago | Submitted On September 12, 2010 Recommend Article Article Comments Print Article Share this article on Facebook Share this article on Twitter Share this article on Google+ Share this article on Linkedin Share this article on StumbleUpon Share this article on Delicious Share this article on Digg Share this article on Reddit Share this article on Pinterest Expert Author Wendy Lugo Santiago The discussion whether or not to use Social Media MarketingRead MoreCoding Sheet for Research Article1215 Words   |  5 PagesCoding Sheets COM 401 During the semester, you will complete four Coding Sheets based on four research articles. Coding sheets outline key aspects of a research study. The articles and the coding sheets should help you write your Literature Review. Thus, you should choose articles for your Coding Sheets that relate to the research question or theory you will be writing about later in the semester. Specifically, each coding sheet should include the following information: APA citation (usingRead MoreWhy Do People Create False Identities And What Are Its Outcomes?1539 Words   |  7 PagesSocial media, a national phenomenon that is at the tip of everyone s fingers. Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, or twitter people can’t go a day without it. While most individuals think social networking is a great way to meet new people, it only compels people to do unethical things. This includes creating fake profiles and posing as another person. As individuals are creating these fake profiles they aren’t realizing the effect their lies are having on others as well as their own self-esteemRead MoreSocial Networking sites, and Resources1581 Words   |  7 PagesSocial Networking Sites, And Articles Social Networking Sites, And Articles Danielle Bachman INF 103 Computer Literacy Instructor: David Conway 3-14-2014 Abstract Social networks is a social networking services that are online services, platforms or sites that focus on reading, writing, voicing your ideas and share them with the world wide web two point zero Creating blogs, post, and the latest news and articles. What is digital literacy, are we safe or not? Online social networks have made

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

The Issue Of Cyber Bullying - 1772 Words

Cyber Bullying Social media is a way a person can stay connected to the world by a click of a button. But with the privilege to have access to such advanced technology comes responsibility and those people who abuse the right and take advantage of others via social media. In today’s society cyber bullying is discussed in the realm of the action taking place and the effect that it has on a victim and how people can step in and make a change in the fight against bullying. Cyber bullying is using any electronic communication system to hurt, harm, or belittle someone in a threatening or shameful manner. This topic is of importance because this is very relevant for the teenage group. Discussing in details the death ratio resulting from being a victim of cyber bullying also finding actual stories of victims who have been through that nightmare of depression conveying the truth behind the horror. Bullying is a character killer, in order to raise awareness research equipped with professional insight and victim testimony will unveil the truths of this demon and show that web us is a privilege and people need not use and abuse it for self-entertainment disregarding people’s feelings. Cyber Bullying is all around the modern technological world and the little actions accumulate and the people of the community need to have the knowledge to react, counsel, and end bullying; speak up and stand up for what is right and just. Cyber bullying is very common in the U.S mainly among theShow MoreRelatedThe Issues Of Cyber Bullying946 Words   |  4 Pages Coastal Carolina University The Issues of Cyber-bullying Alyssa Staub CSCI 101 – D1 Professor Matthews October 23, 2017 â€Æ' Cyber bullying has been a topic for scholarly inquiry, political debate, and policy reform since the commercialization of the Internet. Pre-internet bullying involved socially marginalized children and teenagers picking on their friends and other marginalized children at school. Traditional discipline included detentions, phone calls to their parentsRead MoreThe Issue Of Cyber Bullying1997 Words   |  8 Pagesare face to face with peers and friends daily so their internet use would be most prominent whilst at home. With such frequent activity and easily accessible Internet access problems are bound to arise which is how the issue of cyber bullying is born. The definition of â€Å"Cyber Bullying is the act of using the Internet, mobile phones, video games, or other technology gadgets to send, text, or post images intended to hurt or embarrass another person.† (Friendlyschools 2015). The case study topic of cyberbullyingRead MoreEssay about Exploring the Issue of Cyber Bullying1238 Words   |  5 PagesCyber bullying has been a topic for scholarly inquiry, political debate, and policy reform since the commercialization of the Internet. Pre-internet bullying involved socially marginalized children and teenagers picking on their friends and other marginalized children in the school yard. Traditional discipline included detentions, phone calls to their parents, and some sort of reconciliation between the children involved. Today however, the climate for bullies has dramatically changed and theRead MoreThe Prevention of Cyberbullying627 Words   |  3 PagesInternet, bullying persists with new forms and faces. Bullies can hide behind anonymous user profiles online, creating an environment in which young victims have no direct resources. Effective methods of controlling the problem of cyber bullying are necessary to prevent problems such as suicide. One student in Iowa committed suicide after bullies at his school posted that the student was gay on Facebook; as a result of this and related suicides, the state of Iowa is redefining what cyber bullying is inRead MoreCyber Bullying1455 Words   |  6 PagesRunning head: Bullying Issues 1 Bullying Issues: Cyber bullying vs. Traditional Bulllying Horache Allen Compostion1 Jan 29, 2013 Bullying Issues 2 Bullying Issues: Cyber Bullying vs. Traditional Bullying Are you a victim of cyber bullying? Or were you theRead MoreCyber Bullying Must Be Improved And Consistent1267 Words   |  6 Pages Amanda Bridges Ms. Shultz / Mrs. Seymore English 5th Period 28 January 2015 Cyber Bullying Have you ever been cyber bullied? The effects of cyberbullying are greater than many people have come to realize. Cyber bullies have been around for a long time, but technology now gives them a whole new way to get to their victims easier and faster. Cyberbullying is the use of information technology to repeatedly harm or harass other people in a deliberate manner (abouthealth). Cyberbullying happensRead MoreCriminalization of Cyberbullying1026 Words   |  5 Pageseffects of cyber bullying are becoming a growing problem, the criminalization of cyber bullying is needed to prevent its harmful repercussions to the United States and serve as a deterrent. Cyber bullying has become the 21st century version of bullying; it has extended beyond the classroom and onto a virtual world that seems to have no real-life effects. The world is now able to bully someone in the comfort of his or her own home, at any given point, with the use of technology. However, Cyber bullyingRead MoreCyber Bu llying And Its Effect On Society1536 Words   |  7 PagesBullying has been an extreme issue all around the world for hundreds of years, and since modern technology has advanced, so has cyber bullying. â€Å"‘Gimme’ your lunch money† has turned into texting and posting gruesome threats and embarrassing material all over social media. Millions of kids all over the world have taken their own lives due to the harmful effects of cyber bullying. Problems that cannot be resolved independently are brought to court, and the government has become increasingly involvedRead MoreCyber Bullying And Its Effects On Its Victims1651 Words   |  7 Pagescreating, changing and shifting the individuals who live in it, especially cyber bullying. With the rise in the use of technology, digital culture and anonymity, cyber bullying has become a prominent issue that can have negative psychological effects on its victims through the power of these technological advances. This new 21st century term is derived from standard physical bullying has become a prominent and revolving issue as cellphone, texting and social media sites take away one’s privacy by causingRead MoreTeens as Victims of Cyberbullying1482 Words   |  6 Pages â€Å"Around half of teens have been the victims of cyber bullies,† Richard Webster from the â€Å"Cyber bullying is when a person or a group is trying to embarrass and harm or intimidate those who are weaker than them†. â€Å"Cyber bullying to texting: What’s on your kids ‘Cell?† What is cyber bullying? The Stop bullying Organization explains what the meaning of cyber bullying is. Cyber bullies are able to use cells phones and the internet to make it very easy bully other people. Lawmakers and Schools should

Monday, December 9, 2019

Theory Of Planned Behaviour Essay Research Paper free essay sample

Theory Of Planned Behaviour Essay, Research Paper The Theory of Planned Behaviour: Nurses Attitudes towards Older Patients Edmund Fitzgerald O Connor 9724709 Abstraction The Theory of Planned Behaviour was tested in a survey for its ability to foretell purpose to act in specific ways towards older patients. There were 172 topics from 3 Scots universities, Napier, Edinburgh and Abertay Dundee. The consequences gained from a questionnaire suggest that the Theory of Planned behavior can be used to foretell behavioral purposes of nurses when working with older patients. Nurses purpose to act was predicted by their attitudes largely, perceived behavioral control besides carried a important beta weight although societal norms were found to be non important. The underlying beliefs of attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral controls were besides investigated in footings of anticipation value theoretical accounts. Nurses with positive attitudes towards older patients were found to keep patient orientated values, and occupation satisfaction, more of import than other relevant values. We will write a custom essay sample on Theory Of Planned Behaviour Essay Research Paper or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Nurses are besides more motivated to follow with senior staff that may portion their positive attitudes besides. One effect of the present findings is that greater degrees of support by senior staff and ways of increasing occupation satisfaction will better the degrees of attention and intervention for older patients. Introduction Last twelvemonth, for the first clip of all time, the developed states of the universe had more people aged 60 and over than young persons aged 14 and under. For the universe as a whole, the same will be true by the twelvemonth 2043. The per centum proportion of older people in Western Europe is predicted to increase by 14.8 % , 8.8 in Japan and 2.7 % in the U.S. ( U.S Census agency ) . Two major forces drive the displacement in age distribution. First, birth rates are worsening in most parts of the universe, but particularly in the industrialised states. and 2nd, life anticipation is increasing about everyplace. The U.K is a premier illustration of this phenomenon. In 1999 16 % of the population was 65 and over ( DOH 1999 ) . With the coming of new medical specialty and intervention for more and more unwellnesss and diseases the tendency will increase. The deductions of a human population that is both turning and aging are legion and worrying. Progresss in medical scientific discipline, nutrition and fittingness, and even bioengineering point to the twenty-four hours when many human existences will hold the option of life well past the age of 100 ( CSIS planetary enterprise 99 ) . The aged have been for a long clip the greatest users of health care ( Lefebre et al. 1979 ) . It can be inferred that this demand will go on to lift as the aged population does. About ha lf of the NHS outgo in 1999 was spent on the attention of the over 65 this equates to 5.21 billion lbs ( DOH 1999 ) . From hospital beds to prescriptions the aged were responsible for the greater portion of the cost. In the front line of health care are nurses, who play a primary function in supplying support and proviso The perceptual experience and attitudes of these primary health professionals will greatly impact the response to the turning job. It has antecedently been suggested that these caring services will be stretched to interrupting point in future ( Martin et al. 1988 ; Redfern, 1991 ) . Past research on attitudes of nurses towards the aged has looked at the many different aspects of primary nursing attention of the aged. At one terminal of the spectrum Robb ( 1967 ) highlighted illustrations of inhuman treatment and maltreatment within the attention of the aged. Similarly in the USA Stannard ( 1973 ) showed that institutionalised inhuman treatment existed on both sides of the Atlantic. Both documents are non con but one merely needs to look in the recent imperativeness to see illustrations of systematic maltreatment and negative attitudes. Harold Shipman was convicted of slaying 15 aged patients in his attention, likewise a nurse was convicted of the slaying of 3 aged patients. Examples such as these, taken with grounds of an increasing aged population, show that the demand to understand the mutual opposition of attention workers attitudes is pressing The inquiry of which are the right attitudes towards the aged has been a treatment point in the yesteryear. This thought and the survey of current attitudes of attention workers and how they have been formed has been the get downing point of the bulk of work within this field. Looking foremost at the thought of the right attitude Irvine ( 1970 ) suggested that the right attitude towards the aged should be constructed from credence, regard, understanding, and the ability to promote. But the cardinal concept of the right attitude has been brought into inquiry by many. Ingham and Fielding inquiry whether there is a individual right attitude proposing that this is dependent on establishments purposes and the perceptual experience of older people as persons. Institutions are more concerned with smooth running than the demands of single patients. However this philosophical attack is of small aid when turn toing the job and in surveies which show pigeonholing and malcontent in working with the aged, treatment on the rightness of right attitudes has proved of small usage. Care of the aged has for some clip been an unpopular field within health care ( Ray et al. , 1987 ; Solomon A ; Vickers, 1979 ; Mutschler, 1971 ) . Past research highlighted the reluctance to work with older patients in infirmaries and nursing places ( Campbell, 1971 ; Gillis, 1973 ; Gunter,1971 ) Why should this be the instance even when the aged are recognised as the group most in demand, in society ( Hardie, 1975 ) ? Psychologists have looked towards pigeonholing and agism for possible replies. Ageism, a term foremost coined by Butler ( 1969 ) , is a procedure of systematic stereotyping of, and favoritism against people because they are old ( Butler A ; Lewis 1975 p117 ) . Ageism and stereotyping has been developed as a possible ground for the negative perceptual experience and behavior to the aged. Not all research has found comparable consequences. Schoenfeild ( 1982 ) and Treharne ( 1990 ) suggested that in fact there is no grounds to propose negative attitudes towards the ag ed exists. However the bulk of research has shown negative stereotyping of the aged ( Levin, 1988 ; Ray et al. , 1987 ) . It has been argued that attitudes held by professional workers such as nurses can straight find the quality of attention given to old people ( Wells, 1980 ; Fielding,1986 ; Armstrong-Esther et al. , 1989 ) . The majority of research on nurses attitudes towards the aged has focused on the degree of preparation and experiences of respondents and how these impacted on their attitudes. A short period of preparation or intercession has resulted in additions in positive attitudes towards the aged ( Gunter, 1971 ; Robb, 1979 ; Tobiason et al. , 1979 ) , the bulk of this work concentrating on nurses. Snape ( 1986 ) nevertheless found contrary grounds. Student nurses who had been developing for 2-3 old ages held more negative attitudes than late enrolled nurses. Snape suggested that this was due to the absence from instruction, of excess straight specific stuff to make with the aged. Other variables such as features of the nurses and patients have been studied including age race, sex, and grade of attention needed. On the topic of grade of attention surveies have shown that the greater the dependence of a patient the greater the negative attitudes shown by the nurse ( Fielding, 1979 ) . The bette rments mentioned above ( Gunter, 1971 ; Robb, 1979 ; Tobiason et al. , 1979 ) have largely come from a positive get downing degree. Some research has shown negative attitudes but the bulk has shown impersonal to positive attitudes ( Slevin, 1991 ) . One must first expression at the methodological cogency when approached with this contradiction. One reply to this job is that throughout the different surveies there have been broad scopes of methodological analysiss, which can propose hard in pulling direct comparing. The bulk of the old surveies have looked at attitudes of nurses and inferred the degree of attention associated. ( Wells, 1980 ; Fielding, 1986 ; Armstrong-Esther et al. , 1989 ) Other surveies have tried to interpret those attitudes into an purpose to act. Study of existent behavior is debatable in certain contexts, and few have attempted this convincingly. Put together, the past research offers a baffled mosaic non rather covering every aspect of a complex inquiry. Previous research has non attempted to divide out and explicate purpose to act from attitudes and seems to lose out wholly other act uponing factors. Past research shows that attitudes although cardinal, are non the lone prognostic factor in explicating behavior ( Wicker, 1969 ; Kraus, 1995 ) . In the present survey an probe into nurses attitudes towards the aged will concentrate on the theory of sound action as a model to foretell an purpose to behaviour and hence the ground for that behavior. Attitudes The # 8220 ; attitude # 8221 ; concept received its first serious attending from Darwin in 1872. Darwin defined attitude as a motor construct, or the physical look of an emotion. For early psychologists, # 8220 ; attitude # 8221 ; was an emotion or thought with a motoric ( behavioral ) constituent. In some instances, the motoric constituent was sub-vocal address ; in other instances, gross behavior, such as postural alteration, was of involvement. Get downing in the 1930 # 8217 ; s, psychologists began to reason actively about what constituents should consist the attitude construct. Although there was understanding that all attitudes contain an appraising constituent, theoreticians disagreed about whether beliefs ( knowledges ) and behaviours should be included as portion of the attitude construct. The prevalent position among cognitive societal psychologists was that # 8220 ; attitude # 8221 ; has both affectional and belief constituents and that attitudes and behavior should be consistent ; i.e. , people with positive attitudes should act positively toward the attitude object. LaPierre s seminal experiment ( 1934 ) affecting a Chinese twosome in the USA started a immense involvement in behaviour anticipation. There is great trouble in straight researching behavior for matter-of-fact grounds. To procure a dependable step of a given behavior by one would hold to utilize observation ; the research worker would hold to enter the behavior on a figure of perennial occasions. Perceivers would hold to be positioned at all locations where participants might prosecute in the given behavior and record it often. Although non ever of assured cogency, self-reports are clearly more easy obtained. So attitude research frequently focuses on people s attitudes and purpose to act in a certain manner, presuming that they are a placeholder to behaviour. Attitudes are considered to be one of the most indispensable constructs in societal psychological science ( Allport, 1935 ) . Allport theorised that the attitude-behaviour relationship was non uni-dimensional as antecedently th ought ( Thurstone, 1929 ) , but multi-dimensional. Attitudes were viewed as complex systems made up of the individual s beliefs about the object, his feelings toward the object, and his action inclinations with regard to the object. Attitudes are one of the cardinal constructs in the theory of planned behavior. Attitude towards a behavior is the sum to which the public presentation of the behavior is positively or negatively valued. Fishbein and Ajzen ( 1975, 1980 ) carried out some of the most influential research within this country of societal psychological science. Fishbein and Ajzen ( 1975, 1980 ) assumed that persons are normally rather rational and do systematic usage of information available to them. Peoples consider the deductions of their actions before they decide to prosecute or non prosecute in a given behavior. They besides pointed out that to mensurate the consequence of attitudes one must be specific. La Pierre for case was inquiring eating house proprietors a genera l attitude towards Chinese people instead than attitudes towards a well dress couple accompanied by a smart westerner. They argued that attitudes must be specific to certain behavior to hold prognostic consequence. Figure. 1 The Theory of Planned Behaviour Fishbein and Ajzen ( 1975, 1980 ) assumed that persons are normally rather rational and do systematic usage of information available to them. Peoples consider the deductions of their actions before they decide to prosecute or non prosecute in a given behavior # 8221 ; ( Ajzen A ; Fishbein, 1980 p.167 ) . After reexamining all the surveies they developed a theory that could foretell and understand behaviour an vitamin D attitudes. Their model, which has become known as the Theory of Planned Behaviour ( TPB ) ( see figure 1 ) , looks at behavioral purposes instead than attitudes as the chief forecasters of behaviors. Theses theories effort to deconstruct the mensurable variables, which combine to impact a individual s behavior. From the diagram above you can see the assorted constituents of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Behavioural beliefs and ratings, normative beliefs and ratings, control beliefs and motive to follow, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral controls, and in conclusion purpose to act. Each will be explored in greater item and their interrelatednesss within the theoretical account. Most societal psychologists would hold that attitude formation involves cognitive or information processing. This thought is theorised in Fishbein A ; Ajzen s anticipation value theoretical account ( 1975 ) . This theoretical account suggests that attitudes develop from the beliefs people have about the object of the attitude. Beliefs trade with the representation of the information this person has about a specific object. Beliefs link a given object to an property ; beliefs refers to the personal subjectiveness refering some facet of his/her environment, i.e. , the understanding a individual may hold about the universe. Besides, beliefs consider the subjective chance of a relationship between the given object of the belief and another object, value, construct, or property. Beliefs are formed every bit shortly as an object is linked to an property. In the instance of attitudes refering behavior beliefs link the attitude with a certain result. Although a individual may keep a great m any behavioral beliefs merely a comparatively little figure are readily accessible at any clip. The theoretical account goes on to province that by uniting these accessible beliefs and the subjective values of the expected result of the behavior in inquiry you can find the attitude towards the behavior. This can be shown in the undermentioned equation. Nitrogen AB = biei I = 1 Where: AB = individual # 8217 ; s attitude toward the behavior B = Beliefs the person has about the fact that executing the behavior B leads to a effect or result I vitamin E = rating of the result I I = the specific belief figure, from 1 to N An of import note about the anticipation value theoretical account is that the beliefs concerned must be of a outstanding nature and must be elicited from the respondents themselves. The normative constituent of the theory trades with the influence the societal environment may hold on behavior. Subjective Norms refers to an single # 8217 ; s perceptual experience about his equals, household or friends sentiments and how this perceptual experience influences him in whether or non he performs a specific behavior. The theoretical account proposes that the general subjective norm ( SN ) can be obtained by adding the consequences of each generation between the individual # 8217 ; s outlooks sing the group he considers of import to him, i.e. , his normative beliefs ( NB ) , and his motive to follow ( MC ) with each of the referent group. Similarly as with behavioral beliefs ( precursor to attitudes ) , normative beliefs refer to the sensed behavioral outlooks of of import referents salient to the behavior being investigated. Motivation to follow is the extent to which the topic wants to follow with the referents. This preparation is presented in the undermentioned equation: N SN = ( NB ) I ( MC ) I I = 1 Where: SN = individual # 8217 ; s Attitude toward the Behaviour NB = normative belief MC = Motivation to Comply I = the specific belief figure, from 1 to N The theoretical account has been used in many attitude surveies in the yesteryear as a model for anticipation of behaviour purpose ( Conner A ; Sparks, 1996 ; Godin A ; Kok, 1996 ; Schifter A ; Ajzen, 1985 ; Terry, Gallois A ; McCamish, 1993 ) . The Theory of Reasoned Action later was refined to include a 3rd commanding factor on a individual s purpose to act. Perceived behavioral control was added as surveies indicated that when topics did non hold volitional control or perceived volitional control these variables input into the theoretical account returned a greater grade of assurance and success in the theory. Perceived behavioral control was conceptualised as a individual s anticipation of the easiness or trouble of executing the intended behavior ( Ajzen, 1988 ) . Perceived behavioral control is assumed to once more be preceded by beliefs, in this instance control beliefs. These relate to the perceived presence of factors that may ease or hinder public presentation of behavior. The control beliefs may be based on past experience or influence by second-hand information. The strength of each belief is weighted by the sensed power of the control factor. The merchandises are aggregated in the undermentioned equation. N PBC = curie pi I = 1 Where: PBC = individual # 8217 ; s Perceived behavioral control hundred = Control belief P = sensed power I = the specific belief figure, from 1 to N Ajzen and Madden ( 1986 ) confirmed the hypothesis that the incorporation of the behavioral control constituent allows for more accurate anticipation of behavior such as pupils category attending and class accomplishments, compared with the original version of the theory of reasoned action. The coming of the Theory of Planned Behaviour does non render the Theory of Reasoned Action obsolete. However when behavior is in some manner deemed to be under volitional control of the topic so the Theory of Planned Behaviour would make a more accurate history. Although, each aspect of the theory is of import surveies have shown that harmonizing to the research sphere, each has a greater or lesser influence. Out of 19 Theory of Planned Behaviour surveies Ajzen himself looked at merely 9 were found to hold important influence from the subjective norms, and so this suggests that the consequence of anticipation is specific ( Ajzen, 1991 ) . Attitudes were found to hold the most influence on the pur pose to act. With Ajzen s theory came a figure of unfavorable judgments and alternate theories. Psychologists such and Bentler and Speckart ( 1979, 1981 ) highlighted the importance of wonts when trying to foretell and explicate people s purpose to act. Other variables investigated and found to hold act uponing behaviors are the experient moral duty to demo certain behavior or the relevancy of this behavior for self-identity results ( Gorsuch and Ortberg, 1983 ; Granberg and Holmberg, 1990 ) . Alternate constructions have been hypothesized. Fazio s MODE theoretical account ( motive and chance as determiners of how attitudes influence behavior ) was suggested as Fazio believed that the Theory of Reasoned Action was merely utile when covering with state of affairss where people are extremely motivated and capable of believing intentionally about the attitude and/or the behavior relevant to this attitude ( Fazio, 1990 ) The Southern Cross of this thought was that in a state of affairs were there is a deficiency of motive or sensible ability to entree determination on an attitude behavior dependent issue so extremely accessible attitudes will act upon behaviors as they affect the individuals perceptual experience and judgement of the state of affairs. The premise of purpose to act was critised by many including Eagly and Chaiken ( 1993 ) . They wrote the construct of purposes remains developing in the sound action theoretical account. Purpose might. . . be conceptualized as a continuum running from mistily formulated ideas about future behavior to distinct programs that one is traveling to prosecute in a peculiar behavior at a peculiar point in clip ( p. 185 ) . Simon ( 1981 ) questioned the premise of human rational decision-making, which Azjen postulated was one of the premises the Theory of Reasoned Action took into history. Harmonizing to Simon given the capacity restrictions of human information processing, people do non seek to optimize results through their behavioral de terminations but are in general satisfied with any result that is above a subjective degree of aspiration. Persons strive non for maximal public-service corporation but for fulfilling results that can be far short of a theoretically accomplishable upper limit. Interesting developments of the TRA and TPB have been suggested by a figure of psychologists. These prevarication in the enlargement of the original premiss Azjen made about the ego. In these recent theoretical re-formulations, it is argued that the ego can be deconstructed into a figure of different spheres, such as private ego, personal ego, and interpersonal ego and other broader societal individualities. The private ego can be seen in footings of one s ain experiences and personality traits. The interpersonal ego can be loosely regarded as a signifier of societal individuality and self-categorisation, within a group scenario. The foundations of the Theory of Reasoned Action still hold in these surrogate proposed thoughts. Social norms can be translated into the slang of societal influence in which a group exerts societal force per unit area upon the topic to conform to a given societal ideal or behavior. These thoughts provide ways of explicating the changing grades of influence both attitudes and norms affects one purpose to act. For illustration if a behavior ( presuming the direct correlativity with purpose ) is the merchandise of a state of affairs with personal relevancy to the single so attitudes will play a larger function than the societal norms. If the antonym is true and the state of affairs is borne out from depersonalization so the norms are the better indicant of purpose. Theory of Planned Behaviour and Health Care The theory of Reasoned Action has been influential on a figure of past surveies focused on the attitudes of nurses ( Carter A ; MacInnes,1996 ; Hope,1994 ; J Snape,1989 ) . A figure of surveies across the comprehensiveness of health care have used the Theory of Reasoned Action and Theory of Planned Behaviour as support for their findings ( e.g. Conner and Sparks, 1996 ; Godin, Valois, Lepage and Deshamais, 1992 ; Schifter and Ajzen, 1985 ; Terry, Gallois and McCamish, 1993 ) . With the sphere of nurse health care and their signifier of work it is ill-defined as of yet if attitudes or subjective norms are of greater influence. Past surveies have possibly wrongly taken this subjective theorisation. There are statements for both attitudes being more of import due to the big proportion of interpersonal engagement on the portion of a nurse. Subjective norms can besides claim to hold a greater influence due to the construction of our health care system as a duty hierarchy. The Theory of P lanned behavior has non been used before to pattern nurses behaviour in regard to aged patients. Previously the premise has that nurses have volitional control whilst working on a ward with patients. There are nevertheless a myriad of nonvolitional influences, which may good hold a important consequence on a nurses behavior. These nonvolitional factors such as the working environment and infirmary policy, which in a hieratically organized environment such as a infirmary may play an influential function. Past research in wellness attention has frequently over looked these variables. Surely the high degree of interpersonal attention and contact in nurses daily work is straight influenced by the nurses own ego individuality ( Farley, Lehmann and Ryan 1981 ) , so hence attitudes are expected to be significantly prognostic of behavioral purposes. Perceived behavioral control has been shown to be of greatest influence when a individual has old experience and cognition of the mark behavior and environment ( Bentler A ; Speckart,1979 ; Fredricks A ; Dossett, 1983 ; Manstead et Al. 1983 ) . Gerontology is a big specialist field in health care and a big proportion of nursing instruction from the beginning of 1st twelvemonth preparation. The theory of planned behavior offers a better architecture in which to integrate these influencing factors. Hypothesiss H1 = The theory of Planned Behaviour can be used to foretell Nurses purposes to act towards aged people. H2 = Behavioural beliefs and ratings straight correlate with attitudes. H3 = Normative beliefs and ratings straight correlate with subjective norms. H4 = Control beliefs and control power straight correlate with sensed behavioral controls.

Monday, December 2, 2019

The Symbolic Significance of the Red Convertible in Louise Erichs Story

One of the reasons why Louise Erdrich’s story The Red Convertible is being commonly referred to, as such that represents a high literary value, is that the themes and motifs, explored in it, are thoroughly humanistic. That is, they do emphasize the counter-beneficiary effects of people striving to attain a social prominence in the society, where one’s possession of the strongly defined sense of self-identity is rarely tolerated – especially, if it is being concerned with these people’s visually and behaviorally observed cultural ‘otherness’.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Symbolic Significance of the Red Convertible in Louise Erich’s Story specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In this paper, I will strive to substantiate the validity of the earlier suggestion at length.  The plot of The Red Convertible is straightforward. It revolves around the story of a relation ship between two brothers of the Native-American descent – Henry and Lyman. The red convertible, owned by both brothers, symbolizes the subtleties of this relationship. Before Henry joined the U.S. Army and consequently ended up being sent to serve in Vietnam, he and his brother used to enjoy taking their car for rides. However, after Henry returned back, he was no longer in a position to appreciate his shared ownership of the red convertible – his wartime experiences in this country, caused Henry to become an altogether different man: â€Å"When he came home, though, Henry was very different†¦ Henry was jumpy and mean† (Erdrich 6). Despite the fact that, after having reunited with Henry, Lyman never ceased trying to bring his brother ‘back to life’ (in the allegorical sense of this word), such as by the mean of prompting Henry to take an interest in the red convertible, Lyman’s effort, in this respect, proved in vain. The story ends wit h Henry drowning in the river, followed by Lyman pushing the red convertible into the river, as well – as an emotional gesture of denying the fact that Henry’s experiences in Vietnam did affect his true-self. The above provided brief outline of the story’s plot contains a number of implicit suggestions, as to what can be considered the symbolical significance of the red convertible in Erdrich’s story.  First, the transformation of the car’s condition, throughout the story, emphasizes the transformation of a relationship between Lyman and Henry. Whereas, before Henry’s departure to Vietnam, both brothers never ceased striving to keep their car in tip-top shape, after Henry’s return this was no longer the case. In fact, Lyman deliberately ‘crippled’ the red convertible with a hammer, so that it would prompt Henry to consider fixing the car and consequently – to regain his pre-Vietnam identity of a cheerful and worr iless individual. This, however, did not have any effect on Henry, except for the fact that he simply became mad at Lyman: â€Å"(Henry): That car’s a classic! But you went and ran the piss right put of it, Lyman, and you know it don’t deserve that† (7). Apparently, the author wanted to emphasize the notion of self-identity, as something socially rather than biologically constructed.Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It is namely due to Henry’s exposure to the horrors of war in Vietnam that, upon his return back home, he could no longer relate to his former self, which in turn prevented Henry from being able to enjoy the relationship with Lyman in the way he used to, prior to having served as an active duty soldier. Second, the red convertible in Erdrich’s story symbolizes the counter-beneficiary essence of the process of Native-Americans aff iliating themselves with Western existential values. After all, it is namely due to White people’s endowment with the so-called ‘Faustian’ mentality, which seeks to dominate nature, that they were able to invent an internal combustion engine, in the first place – at the expense of becoming spiritually detached from the surrounding natural environment (Greenwood 53). Therefore, Henry and Lyman’s decision to purchase the red convertible can be well discussed, as such that reflected the fact that, despite their Native-American background, both brothers were emotionally comfortable with trying to integrate into the euro-centric society, as its integral parts. It can even be suggested that the car’s very color (red) symbolizes that Henry and Lyman did succeed in such their undertaking, to an extent. After all, it does not represent much of a secret that, along with having been referred to as ‘Indians’ in the past, Native-Americans als o used to be referred to as ‘Reds’. Therefore, in regards to both brothers, their ownership of the red convertible reflected their endowment with the ‘hybrid’ mentality of spiritually disfranchised Native-Americans – those who, despite appearing ‘red’ on the outside, are in fact ‘white’ on the inside, but who nevertheless strive to become ‘red’ on the inside, as well . The irony lies in the fact that, while longing to revive their Native identity, Henry and Lyman relied on the red convertible – the by-product of the ‘Faustian’ nonspiritual/mechanistic genius. As Dutta noted: â€Å"The red convertible, although extremely Western in its resonance, is the only native link between Lyman and Henry. It was in this car that he toured his native land, felt the breeze, drank the water, smelt the soil† (121). However, as The Red Convertible implies, Native people’s strive to adjust to the realities of a modern living in America, while accepting them uncritically, rarely proves beneficial in the long run. This is because, the price that Native people often have to pay, in exchange for being allowed to integrate into the society, is the abandonment of their cultural and spiritual traditions, which in turn causes them to end up being emotionally defenseless, while faced with life-challenges – hence, naturally making them prone to the thoughts of a suicide. Therefore, it will not be much of an exaggeration, on our part, to suggest that in her story, Erdrich promotes the subtle idea that, even though that Henry and Lyman did initially enjoy owning their red convertible, the automobile in question was the actual reason behind Henry’s ultimate demise. Hence, another aspect of the symbolic significance of the Lyman’s decision to sink the red convertible – by doing it, he expressed his unconscious disagreement with the process of Native-Americans being required to assimilate within the euro-centric society, as the pathway to happiness, on their part.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Symbolic Significance of the Red Convertible in Louise Erich’s Story specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Even though that Erdrich’s story takes place during the course of the seventies (the story’s context implies it), there can be very few doubts as to its discursive relevance, in regards to the realities of a contemporary living in America. After all, even today many Native-Americans often end up being subjected to the different forms of a subtle discrimination, on the account of their ‘otherness’. While trying to lessen the acuteness of their negative experiences, in this respect, many Natives choose in favor of distancing from their cultural heritage further and further. Yet, as The Red Convertible implies, such their decision is potentia lly capable of causing them a great deal of harm, especially when their emotional well-being is concerned. This once again highlights the sheer objectiveness of the story’s discursive value. I believe that this conclusion fully correlates with the paper’s initial thesis. Works Cited Dutta, Pratima. â€Å"Erdrich’s The Red Convertible.† Explicator 61.2 (2003): 119-121.  Print. Erdrich, Louise 1984, The Red Convertible. PDF file. Web. Greenwood, Susan. Anthropology of Magic, Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2009. Print. This essay on The Symbolic Significance of the Red Convertible in Louise Erich’s Story was written and submitted by user Dorothy R. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Predicting Formulas of Ionic Compounds Example Problem

Predicting Formulas of Ionic Compounds Example Problem This problem demonstrates how to predict the molecular formulas of ionic compounds. Problem Predict the formulas of the ionic compounds formed by the following elements: lithium and oxygen (Li and O)nickel and sulfur (Ni and S)bismuth and fluorine (Bi and F)magnesium and chlorine (Mg and Cl) Solution First, look at the locations of the elements on the periodic table. Atoms in the same column as each other (group) tend to exhibit similar characteristics, including the number of electrons the elements would need to gain or lose to resemble the nearest noble gas atom. To determine common ionic compounds formed by elements, keep the following in mind: Group I ions (alkali metals) have 1 charges.Group 2 ions (alkaline earth metals) have 2 charges.Group 6 ions (nonmetals) have -2 charges.Group 7 ions (halides) have -1 charges.There is no simple way to predict the charges of the transition metals. Look at a table listing charges (valences) for possible values. For introductory and general chemistry courses, the 1, 2, and 3 charges are most often used. When you write the formula for an ionic compound, remember that the positive ion is always listed first. Write down the information you have for the usual charges of the atoms and balance them to answer the problem. Lithium has a 1 charge and oxygen has a -2 charge, therefore2 Li ions are required to balance 1 O2- ion.Nickel  has a charge of 2 and sulfur has a -2 charge, therefore1 Ni 2 ion is required to balance 1 S2- ion.Bismuth has a 3 charge and Fluorine has a -1 charge, therefore1 Bi3 ion is required to balance 3 F- ions.Magnesium has a 2 charge and chlorine has a -1 charge, therefore1 Mg2 ion is required to balance 2 Cl- ions. Answer Li2ONiSBiF3MgCl2 The charges listed above for atoms within groups are the common charges, but you should be aware that the elements sometimes take on different charges. See the table of the valences of the elements for a list of the charges that the elements have been known to assume.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Self-Publishing a Family Memoir

Self-Publishing a Family Memoir Self-Publishing a Family Memoir Having previously published many children's books, Malaika Rose Stanley is no stranger to publishing. Yet with Loose Connections, she attempted something completely different from her usual style of writing. Read on to know what it was like for her to  self-publish her book and go on a familiar yet new adventure.Loose Connections is my first independently published book, my first book for adults and my first non-fiction book. But I have a history of writing traditionally published books for children dating back to 1996. I had to look back and check - and I’ve completely shocked myself with the realization that I’ve been involved in this writing and publishing malarkey for twenty years!‘Write what you know’ is a well-worn authorial snippet of advice, a clichà ©. At times, I’ve taken heed but at others, I’ve totally ignored it. My motivation for Loose Connections and for all my books has been to write what I love, to write what stirs my soul ; I don't plan them so much as channel what flows through me.My sons were born in the 1980s and I started writing children’s books when I realized that the lack of diversity in children’s and young adult books had persisted from my childhood to theirs – and I wanted to do something about it. I started to write Loose Connections because I wanted to tell another invisible story - of my mother’s incarceration in a mental hospital as an unmarried mother of a mixed-race child, and of what came before and after. At first, I tried to write the story as fiction; I tried to write it without including myself so the transition to ‘creative non-fiction’ and ‘family memoir’ was a lengthy process. I have files buried on my hard-drive that are at least ten years old.Why I chose self-publishingI decided to go down the route of self-publishing partly because I am familiar with and realistic about the barriers into traditional publishing for peop le like me. I’m not a bright, young thing with a literature degree from Oxbridge or a creative writing master’s degree from East Anglia or City East, at the beginning of my writing career.I’m not seen as ‘commercially viable’ or ‘marketable’ with a blog with thousands of followers, a huge social networking platform or a reality TV fan-base. I’m more likely to be perceived as a grizzled old cynic, with a chip on my shoulder and an axe to grind.It’s not true, of course - I’m actually rather delightful, with a story to tell! Loose Connections was published at the beginning of June - and my first Amazon review says it’s a ‘†¦wonderfully moving book†¦ really well written, clear and simple but heartbreaking too.’ Also true! I decided to self-publish even though I didn't have a huge social networking platform or fan-base. The Reedsy experienceThe Reedsy marketplace was a revelation. Although there is an option to ‘shortlist’ up to five professionals, I quickly narrowed down my choice to two editors and sent them a request for a quote for a structural edit together with a synopsis and the first chapter of my book. They both responded very quickly and it was clear that they were highly skilled and experienced. I thought either would be able to do a good job so my final choice came down to cost, although I definitely struck gold with Gillian Holmes. She did a first read-through, followed up with a phone call about possibly libelous content and my overall intentions for the book, a few minor copy editing corrections and queries about continuity, proposed cuts and a couple of gaps, in tracked changes – and then a detailed restructuring proposal. Wow! Her recommendations were straightforward and simple but I clearly hadn’t been able to see the wood for the trees – excuse th e continuing lumberjack analogies – and her suggestions were spot on!How to Write a Memoir: Breathe Life into Your Story in 8 Steps Read post What were, for me, the unforeseen advantages of self-publishing have been huge: creative control of my own work, choosing my own editor and designer and yes, compared to traditional publishing, which can take months – or years – even the speed of the process from word doc manuscript to e-book download and beautifully typeset, beautifully packaged paperback book! I would definitely recommend Reedsy and the self-publishing option to any new and aspiring authors and to grizzled old cynics alike. Two months ago, I swore blind I would never do it again, but now I’m already planning my next project, an anthology.Loose Connections  is available on both  Amazon US and Amazon UK, get your copy now!Ever thought of writing a family memoir? Would you self-publish it like Malaika did? Leave your  thoughts and experiences, or any questions for Malaika, in the comments below.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

IS Project Implementation Plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

IS Project Implementation Plan - Research Paper Example In citing an example of virtual organization, the case of an engineering company, John Brown Engineers and Construction concern comes into question. The company fulfills the globalization attribute of a virtual organization in operating through a network of 30 countries having a total employee base of around 21,000 people. Moreover, the company operates based on its own privately designed information systems linking the different offices of the concern. Through such developed and interlinked information technology network the employees of the company can effectively retrieve, share and implement information gained from large databases stored in the system. Thus, the people with information technology can effectively use the large pool of technological and other knowledge resources that would be required for the proper functioning of the organization. Moreover, the management of the company through the existence of information technology sources has also taken resort of developing a v ideo conferencing facility through which the directors and managers sitting at head office can learn the activities pursued in different units round the globe. Again, such use of technology also helps the management to get effective feedback from the employees in regards to operation and customers and thereby can design strategies differently to enhance business competitiveness (Igbaria and Tan, 1998, p.48). The business managers at John Brown Engineers and Construction concern worked to enhance and implement specific business strategies focused on globalization in the light of the information technology resources and opportunities gained. The Chief Executive Officer of the company identified the need for strategic alliances both within the internal and external policy framework to gain a competitive business position in the climate of globalization. Thus to gain the opportunity of strategic alliances the

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Virtual Machine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Virtual Machine - Essay Example Virtual machine is a collection of software like JVM (java virtual m/c) that provides run time environment (e.g. data structure support) to user applications. Such software is now referred with the terms virtualization that is running two or more copies of the same operating system or two or more different operating systems and virtual servers. The host software, which provides this capability, is often referred to as a virtual machine monitor or hypervisor. It resides between the hardware and the "guest" operating systems. There are four major conceptual models of Virtual Machines used today and cater for different problem The IBM Model as demonstrated in the IBM S/390 solved the need for a single computer system that could simulate multiple computers with different operating systems. instruction set and maps JVM calls to operating system calls. It simulates a fake CPU that interprets the fake CPU instructions (what is usually referred to as byte code). The most significant feature of the Java Virtual Machine the ability write a program once and execute it with Java Virtual Machines on multiple platforms. The OSI Virtual Machine and the Unix Virtual Machine, represented by the Unix user shell are used to create operating systems and providing services and functions at the operating system level that did not exist in the system hardware. The OSI Virtual Machine model solved the problem of providing services and functions at ... The OSI Virtual Machine model solved the problem of providing services and functions at the operating system level that did not exist in the system hardware. The Unix Virtual Machine model solved series of computer engineering problems by addressing the need for a modular approach to managing the launching and control of Unix processes. The success of the Unix operating systems is to a largely to the versatility and scalability of the Unix process. The History of Virtual Machines Around 1965 the researchers at IBM Yorktown Research center, developed first virtual machine environment, for the IBM System/360 mainframe called VM, which was entirely based in software. Later, IBM developed an implementation of its notion of a virtual machine and added hardware circuits to provide more robust and speedy partitioning between system images. This real world operating system, allows the user to share the resources available on their mainframe computers with many people, thus creating a multiple user environments. . This machine is now known as the IBM System 370 (S/370) and the IBM System 390 (S/390). These machines make use of the IBM VM/ESA operating system and are collectively referred to as IBM's VM lineage. Virtual Machine Research Paper 4 Benefits of running a virtual machine Virtual machine allow user to write applications on one OS and it can be executed on a machine which runs a different OS.One use is to provide multiple users the illusion of having an entire computer. Another advantage is that booting and restarting a virtual machine can be much faster than with a physical machine, since it may be possible to skip tasks such as hardware initialization. Virtual machine allows for testing OS's and requires less

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Hell Hath No Fury Like Medea Scorned Essay Example for Free

Hell Hath No Fury Like Medea Scorned Essay In Euripidess Medea, revenge can lead to destructive actions. This theme is a central part to the tragedy, mostly because it pops up time and time again. Euripides, through the use of motif, makes Medeas desire for revenge seem conceivable. Not only has Jason left her by marrying Creons daughter, but Creon has exiled her from Corinth because she â€Å"nourish[es] rancorous ill will toward [Jason and Creusa] whom [he] intends to protect† (Euripides 92). The protagonist is left with ultimately nothing and blames her misfortune on Jason. Throughout the play, Medea is described as a very determined and passionate woman who will stop at nothing to serve her sweet revenge. The death motif supports Medeas theme of revenge because it foreshadows her plans for vengeance. Medea shows the horror that can come when a person lets desire for revenge rule ones life. Death pops up very early in the play, when â€Å"death is [Medeas] wish† (87). She explains how she wishes death on herself, her enemies, and her children. She could â€Å"think of nothing but the death of three persons† (96). This foreshadows her plans for revenge because she eventually kills Creon, his daughter, and her own children, leaving Jason with nothing. Medeas plan for revenge starts with her children delivering a golden wreath and cloak that is cursed to burn the wearers body to death to Jasons new wife Creusa. This leads to not only the death of Creusa, but also her father, Creon. Although Medea has caused much damage and havoc, her vengeance does not stop there. She wants Jason â€Å"crushed, boneless, and crawling,† and she wants to sever all ties with him (119). She claims that â€Å"as long as [my children] live; I shall be mixed with him† (120). This brings her to her final and most destructive act of revenge: she kills her own children therefore leaving Jason with no wife or power. Ultimately, Medeas theme of revenge is supported throughout the tragedy and ends with Medea coming out victorious yet left with nothing to live for in her life. Death is brought upon multiple characters and is mentioned multiple times throughout the play. Euripides, by using theme and motif, sends a clear message that revenge can seem to control ones meaning of life and leave a person empty and with nothing except for a rancorous spirit. Medea ends with the protagonist exiting, carrying her dead boys with no home, family, or a reason to live. The protagonist’s need for revenge leads to irreversible destructive actions that not only leave Jason with nothing, but Medea as well.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Portland Cement Essay -- essays research papers

PORTLAND CEMENT Chemical composition. Portland Cement is made up of four main compounds: tricalcium silicate (3CaOSiO2), dicalcium silicate (2CaOSiO2), tricalcium aluminate (3CaOAl2O3), and a tetra-calcium aluminoferrite (4CaO Al2O3Fe2O3). In an abbreviated notation differing from the normal atomic symbols, these compounds are designated as C3S, C2S, C3A, and C4AF, where C stands for calcium oxide (lime), S for silica, A for alumina, and F for iron oxide. Small amounts of uncombined lime and magnesia also are present, along with alkalies and minor amounts of other elements Hydration. The most important hydraulic constituents are the calcium silicates, C2S and C3S. Upon mixing with water, the calcium silicates react with water molecules to form calcium silicate hydrate (3CaO 2SiO23H2O) and calcium hydroxide (Ca [OH] 2). These compounds are given the shorthand notations C-S-H (represented by the average formula C3S2H3) and CH, and the Hydration reaction can be crudely represented by the following reactions: 2C3S + 6H = C3S2H3 + 3CH 2C2S + 4H = C3S2H3 + CH During the initial stage of hydration, the parent compounds dissolve, and the dissolution of their chemical bonds generates a significant amount of heat. Then, for reasons that are not fully understood, hydration comes to a stop. This quiescent, or dormant, period is extremely important in the placement of concrete. Without a dormant period there would be no cement trucks, pouring would have to be done immediately upon mixing. Following the dormant period (which can last several hours), the cement begins to harden, as CH and C-S-H are produced. This is the cementitious material that binds cement and concrete together. As hydration proceeds, water and cement are continuously consumed. Fortunately, the C-S-H and CH products occupy almost the same volume as the original cement and water; volume is approximately conserved, and shrinkage is manageable. Although the formulas above treat C-S-H as a specific stoichiometry, with the formula C3S2H3, it does not at all form an ordered structure of uniform composition. C-S-H is actually an amorphous gel with a highly variable stoichiometry. The ratio of C to S, for example, can range from 1:1 to 2:1, depending on mix design and curing conditions. Structural properties. The strength developed by portland cement depends on its composition and the fineness to whi... ...s. Dust emission from cement kilns can be a serious nuisance. In populated areas it is usual and often compulsory to fit cyclone arrestors, bag-filter systems, or electrostatic dust precipitators between the kiln exit and the chimney stack. Modern cement plants are equipped with elaborate instrumentation for control of the burning process. Raw materials in some plants are sampled automatically, and a computer calculates and controls the raw mix composition. The largest rotary kilns have outputs exceeding 5,000 tons per day. Grinding The clinker and the required amount of gypsum are ground to a fine powder in horizontal mills similar to those used for grinding the raw materials. The material may pass straight through the mill (open-circuit grinding), or coarser material may be separated from the ground product and returned to the mill for further grinding (closed-circuit grinding). Sometimes a small amount of a grinding aid is added to the feed material. For air-entraining cements the addition of an air-entraining agent is similarly made. Finished cement is pumped pneumatically to storage silos from which it is drawn for packing in paper bags or for dispatch in bulk containers.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

FBI Case Study

The â€Å"Who Killed the Virtual Case File? † case study is a clear example of project failure which resulted on not only balloon the cost of the project, but also loss that could be counted on millions of dollars. Because of the size of the project and the failure of the project, it is broadly used to prevent future IT Project Management disasters. Project Overview: When special agent Larry Depew collected evidence of illegal activity of the Russian and Italian mafia tax skim activity, FBI didn’t have database system, which could organize and support all the information gathering processes that were needed for the organization. A decade later, Depew was landed in his first project management job called FBI Virtual Case File project (VCF), even though he had no previous experience. In the PMBOK Guide book describes what abilities a project manager should possess to successfully manage projects is: knowledge, performance and personal . In the results of lack of experience and ineffective planning the project was unfortunate failure. Because of availability of funds, the FBI’s 23 divisions developed own database system for each of the different divisions. In the result FBI ended up with 45-50 different investigative databases and applications, which are not communicating with each other. Also, the Automated Case Support (ACS) system was cumbersome to use, inefficient and had limited functional capabilities. Additionally all 13000 were really old which resulted in not supporting new software’s. Intranet that connected FBI offices had 56-kilobit-per second modems. SAIC (Applications International Corp. ) for software developed delivered 700,000 lines of code bug-ridden, off target system which resulted in $105 million worth loss. However, researches and findings showed that the FBI—lacking IT management and technical expertise—shares the blame for the project's failure. The research and study later on painted a picture of an enterprise IT project that fell into the most basic traps of software development, from poor requirement gathering, planning and bad communication between software developer and FBI. The key issues related to the failure of the project: * Violation of the Project Scope Management. One of the main factors of VSF project was poorly defined business requirements and overly specific nature of the requirements defined in systems design and analysis phase which resulted in creating 400 functional deficiencies found after testing the system. * Violation of the Project Cost Management The lack of IT investment processes resulted in ballooning the cost of the project in spite of the millions of dollars spending which was the also one of the main reason of VSF project failure. Violation of the Project Time Management Overly ambitious schedules and poorly defined schedule is one of the among VSF project failures. * Violation of Project Risk Management Procedure The lack of a plan to guide hardware purchases and deployment was one also of the failures of VSF project. Resolution: * The FBI’s higher management will be participating in the new software development to overcome the discrepancies associated with the previous those were VCF project. FBI is planning to purchase software from the vendor to digitize all documents, crime related evidence paperwork processes in the single database and still continue use VCF project systems up until it will be replaced with the desired software. * The new project will deploy and create new monitoring, risk management system which involves planning, scheduling and target oriented testing. Relevance to IT Project Management: * Project Scope Management Project Scope Management includes the processes required to ensure that project includes all the work required, to complete the project successfully. Scope Management includes following steps: clearly defining and documenting project business requirements by the company shareholders (collect requirements), develop a detailed description of the project (define scope), subdivide project deliverables and project work into smaller, manageable components (create WBS), formalize acceptance of the completed project deliverables, and monitoring the status and scope (verify scope), and managing changes to the scope baseline (control scope). FBI’s VSF project failed to define detailed project requirements, formalize acceptance of completed project deliverables by SAIC and monitoring and managing the scope by project manager. * Violation of the Project Cost Management Project Cost Management includes the processes involved in estimating, budgeting, and controlling costs so that the project can be completed within the approved budget. The cost management process includes: developing an approximation of the monetary resources (estimate costs), estimating costs of the individual activities (determine budget) and monitoring the status of the project budget and managing changes to the cost baseline (control costs). VSF project failed to address cost control in project cost management, because it had possibility to receive funding from the government. * Violation of the Project Time Management. Project Time Management includes the processes required to manage timely completion of the project. It includes following processes: identifying the specific actions to be performed to produce the project deliverables (define activities), identifying and documenting relationships among the project activities (sequence activities), estimating quantities of material, people, equipment, or supplies required to perform each activity (estimate activity resources), coming up with the approximate number of works periods needed to omplete individual activities with estimated resource (estimate activity durations), analyzing activity sequences, durations, resource requirements, and schedule constrains to create project schedule (develop schedule), and monitoring the status of the project to update project progress and managing changes to the schedule baseline (control schedule). In VSF project most of the required activities in time management FBI m anagement and SAIC failed to follow. * Violation of Project Risk Management Procedure. Project Risk Management includes the processes of conducting risk management planning, identification, analysis, response planning, and monitoring and control on the project. It includes following processes: defining how to conduct risk management activities (planning), determining which risks may affect the project and documenting their characteristics (identify risks), prioritizing risks for further analysis and combining their probability of occurrence and impact (perform qualitative risk analysis). Numerically analyzing the effect of identified risks on overall project objectives (perform quantitative risk analysis), developing options and actions to enhance opportunities and reduce threats to project objectives (plan risk responses), and implementing risk response plan, tracking identified risks, monitoring residual risks, identifying new risks, and evaluating risk process effectiveness throughout the project (monitor and control risk). In the FBI case none of the project risk management was applied to minimize risk associated with the possibility of the failure of the VSF project. Key Takeaways: It is important follow IT project management rules in order to develop the system. Main lessons learnt from the case study: * Business requirement analysis and technical requirements are crucial in the success of the project in planning phase. * Managing communication between companies’ key shareholders and server providers is required for productive outcome of the development. * Project monitoring and testing is vital task and should be accepted throughout the development * Prototypes be shown to client on regular basis to avoid all changes required at the end of the project * Having a individuals without proper knowledge in the rojects leads to the project success * Planning and monitoring leads to delivering the right product and timely completion of the project * Unsystematic approach in project time management could lead to delay in completion of projects * Deficient and unsatisfactory requirements lead to incomplete projects failure Research Approach For my research approach, I used Project Management and body of knowledge to identify main processes of the project management, and applied some basics acquired from the Systems Analysis and Design class to identify where FBI’s VSF project failed to address and manage this huge multimillion dollar project.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Comparing and Contrast the Allegory of the Cave and the Matrix

Have you ever wondered whether, Plato, if he were alive in the 20 century, would he be a brilliant movie director, with productions that earned more than $400 million? Both Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of Cave† and Andy and Lana Wachowski’s movie â€Å"The Matrix† explore the abstruse question of perception of truth. What is truth, and how do we determine what is truth? â€Å"I know this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. This quote from the Matrix vividly illustrates the truth that how people perceive is the way they think, their realization of the truth is due to the world in which they live. Different people may have different perceptions of knowledge, which leads them to a distinct understanding of truth. It is about personal experience seeking the truth, in the process to knowledge – an image does not accurately reflect reality that is the challenge for both Socr ates and Neo, the protagonist in the Matrix.Considering one day there is a chicken that has lived with ducks since he was born, and never seen other chicken. Will that chicken ever know he is a chicken, or even when he sees other chicken, does he know it is a chicken? The prisoners in the cave have been chained together and have been separated from the outside world since birth. Consequently, their perceptions of objects are based on the shadows of those things, shadows produced by firelight in the cave as true representations. The environment where they have lived creates a world basic on their perception of things.Like Plato mentioned in the story: â€Å"To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images. † The prisoners form their own opinion about things they perceive as true representation. By comparison, people who live in the Matrix accept the buildings and the things around them as the truth. However, the truth they have been accepting is merely their opinion, but no necessarily an opinion formed through knowledge. â€Å"If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then ‘real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain†.This quote identities are the result of opinions formed their brains. The tunnel in the Allegory of Cave and the red pill in The Matrix are the keys that open the door of knowledge for them. In the world of the Matrix, or the Cave, where everyone accepts objects as the truth, and real, like the shadows on the wall of the cave, this is a way to realize truth, to decide to walk through the tunnel and to pick a red pill, is a choice to enter a world of knowledge. As it is mentioned in the Matrix, â€Å"You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. † In both the story and the movie, everyone is so c lose to knowledge of the truth that they just need to put their foot across the threshold; nevertheless, it is the hardest step to enter door in their mind. It is a leap of faith into the unknown. â€Å"And if he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he not have a pain in his eyes which will make him turn away to take and take in the objects of vision which he can see, and which he will conceive to be in reality clearer than the things which are now being shown to him? This quote amply illustrates that everything is decided in their mind, it is their choice, and although Socrates and Neo suffer some physical discomfort in making the journey, they are now in the world of knowledge, the world of real truth. The profound brilliance of the sun can provide another source of discomfort, it cannot be seen directly through human eyes due to the intensity of the power it emits. Similarly, Socrates and Neo experience some physical suffering, such as, pain in their eyes and muscle problems while witnessing at true light for the first time. Why does my muscle hurt? Because you never used it. † This conversation dramatizes the difficulty faced by people as they make the transition from the limited world they know to the real world. The process of accepting and being able to â€Å"see† the real world is arduous; and comes about as a result of enormous changing in their belief and challenging knowledge of what they have long accepted. Knowledge is a concept that many philosophers, over thousands of years, strive to experience.Knowledge can be extremely powerful, but it can be illusive as well; however, once into the world of knowledge, people can distinguish the real truth from what they help as true. â€Å"And the first he will see the shadows best, next the reflections of men and other objects in the water†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦,Last of he will be able to see the sun,†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ and he will contemplate him as he is. † Plato believed that, as long as there is a gradual process of adapting to the light, Socrates will be available adjust, and to see through the essence of things.In Plato’s Allegory of Cave, Socrates is fully aware of the truth after a process of adjusting to the light of real world, and then he returns to the cave and tries to teach to the others, the truth he has discovered. â€Å"Men would say of him that up he went and down†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ and they would put him to death. † In spite of his efforts, the chained prisoners reject the real world due to the pain that is brought to them by the lights, they prefer to maintain the illusion of the images they saw as truer representations than the objects in the real world. Similarly, Cypher, the character in the Matrix, has been freed to see the real world.Unlike people who accept the truth and try to fight the agents in the Matrix, Cypher wants to go back to Matrix without knowing anything about real world. â€Å"The Matrix isn't real. I disagree, Trini ty. I think that the Matrix can be more real than this world. † People who free themselves may not perceive reality, like Cypher, he chooses go back to the Matrix because there is less suffering than in the real world. The same as the prisoners in Plato’s story, they would rather accept the illusion they see as truth, than go to the real world due to the pain it brings to them.Knowledge is the place where people want to be but may not necessarily be able to be in there. Even for people in the world of truth, the real world, who may also be bogged down in their search for truth, as apart from what they accepted before; this takes people’s mind to accept the changes from the previous knowledge held. In the Matrix, Neo does not confirm the truth in the real world where he is, until he accepts the training offered by Morpheus. Moreover, near the end of the movie, he makes the simple statement: â€Å"My name†¦is Neo! in which he accepts himself in the real world instead of the name, Thomas Anderson, used in the Matrix – a world build by computer programs. In comparison to the Allegory of the Cave, Socrates accepts the truth after he adapts to the real world and sees things clearly in the real world. As it is mentioned in the story â€Å"Last he will be able to see the sun†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦; and he will contemplate him as he is† No one can enlighten anyone else toward the world of knowledge, people have to enlighten themselves in their own minds.What is truth? The truth itself is a personal definition and realization of things in the world around us. Truth is a concept that seeks deeply to be defined in people’s minds; everyone has their subjective opinion of what truth it is. In both the story and the movie, some people realize the real truth but others do not; there is no right or wrong, just different view toward knowledge. Even now, the truth that people are accepting is not truth; even truth itself may not be truth.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Major and Minor Moods in English Grammar

Major and Minor Moods in English Grammar In English grammar, mood is the quality of a verb that conveys the writers attitude toward a subject. It is also known as mode and modality. In traditional grammar, there are three major moods: The indicative mood is used to make factual statements (the  declarative)  or pose questions, such as the interrogative.The imperative mood is used to express a request or command.The (comparatively rare) subjunctive mood  is used to show a wish, doubt, or anything else contrary to fact. In addition, there are several minor moods in English. Major Moods in English The indicative mood is the  form of the verb used in ordinary statements: stating a fact, expressing an opinion, or asking a question. The  majority of English sentences are in the indicative mood.  It is also called (primarily in  19th-century grammar) indicative mode. An example would be this quote from writer, actor, and director Woody Allen: Life is full of misery, loneliness, and suffering- and its all over much too soon. Here, Allen is expressing a statement of fact (at least in his interpretation). The word is shows that he is stating a fact as he sees it. The imperative mood, by contrast, is the form of the  verb  that makes direct commands and requests, such as Sit  still and Count  your blessings. Another example would be this famous quote from President John F. Kennedy: Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. In this sentence, Kennedy was essentially giving a command to the American people. The  subjunctive mood expresses wishes, stipulates demands, or makes statements contrary to fact, such as this line from the play, Fiddler on the Roof: If I were rich, Id have the time that I lack. In this sentence, Tevye, the main character, is expressing that he would have more time if he were rich (which, of course, he is not). Minor Moods in English In addition to the three major moods of English, there are also minor moods. A. Akmajian, R. Demers, A. Farmer, and R. Harnish, explain in Linguistics: An Introduction to Language and Communication that minor moods are usually peripheral to communication, infrequently used, and vary widely. One of the more common minor moods is a tag, a sentence, question, or declaration added to a declarative sentence. These include: Tag declarative: Youve been drinking again, havent you.Tag imperative: Leave the room, will you! Other examples of minor moods are: Pseudo-imperative: Move or Ill shoot!Alternative question: a type of question (or interrogative) that offers the listener a closed choice between two or more answers: Does John resemble his father or his mother? (In this sentence, there is a rising intonation on father and falling intonation on mother.)Exclamative: a sudden, forceful expression or cry.  What a nice day!Optative: a  category of grammatical mood  that expresses a wish, hope, or desire,  May he rest in peace.One more sentence: One more beer and Ill leave.Curse:  a pronouncement of ill fortune. You are a pig!

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

I Said Jerry Rig

I Said Jerry Rig I Said Jerry Rig I Said Jerry Rig By Kate Evans All I did was ask him if he wanted me to jerry rig his shower curtain, but he looked at me like Id asked him something really inappropriate. Its not the first time Ive gotten confused or blank looks when Ive used the term jerry rig, which is a shame, because Im a very good jerry rigger. I can fashion a rain jacket out of a cereal box or repair my car engine with a paperclip and a piece of used chewing gum. Thats what jerry rigging is, making makeshift repairs or creating contraptions out of whatever materials you have on hand. MacGyver was also a very good jerry rigger. The origins of jerry rigging are debated. The term could could be a mutation of jury rigging, which in todays lexicon, can be used with jerry rigging interchangeably. Jury rig has roots as a nautical term, referring to the replacement mast and yards used in an emergency. The term has been used since at least 1788. It is probable that jury comes from the Old French, ajurie, meaning relief or help. Another theory is that the term jerry rigging is separate from jury rigging and actually comes from World War II. Apparently, American troops adopted the term to describe machines that were repaired with salvaged parts, left behind by retreating German soldiers (jerry being a pejorative term for Germans). In any case, you should use it, to make MacGyver proud or just to see the looks on peoples faces. Should you need inspiration, here are a few examples of jerry rigging as demonstrated by Angus MacGyver, fictional star of the action/adventure series, Macgyver: Plug a sulfuric acid leak with chocolate Fix a water pump with two half dollars Make a telescope out of a newspaper and a magnifying glass Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Using "a" and "an" Before WordsBody Parts as Tools of MeasurementBail Out vs. Bale Out

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Preventing School Bullying Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Preventing School Bullying - Research Proposal Example The methodology of this study is based on 2 surveys conducted in 50 different high schools in the region. The study is applied to pupils between 6 and 10 grade and it is voluntary. The first survey is organized as a self-reported questions and answers, it is anonymous and tries to estimate the degree of bullying in the given school. The other survey concentrates on the desire of participants to name the reasons why they were bullied and the ways in which this was done. The collected data was statistically processed. The data collection process represented interviews with the pupils and classifications of their answers in the different categories. The study have found that bullies are predisposed to have positive attitude towards aggression, have negative attitudes towards school and education and have behaviour problems. On the bases of the collected data it was estimated that bullying takes two distinct phases - verbal and physical.

Friday, November 1, 2019

Strategy for Mega Bastard Corporation - Bionic Limbs Essay

Strategy for Mega Bastard Corporation - Bionic Limbs - Essay Example How fancy is that? The most important factors to consider in the introduction of bionic limbs is the strategic management variable involved in product and business development. Namely; Market entry, research and development, pricing, designing the product and competition prosthetic limbs producers. MBC will most probably benefit from a market segment of people interested in comic books, superhero movies and video games. The macro environment directly related to competition. DEKA is an example of prosthetic limb maker. They have made progress in making bionic arms, which basically gives MBC the advantage of differentiating their market segment to only limb/ legs bionic material. The market analysis will assume that MBC management has taken care of the approval process through the Food and Drug Administration body. MBC has two choices, either to enter the market or not to enter the bionic market. Now does not enter the bionic limbs market, then their competitors will obviously maintain the status quo and barely change the prices of bionic limbs. However, if MBC enters the market, then its potential competitors will definitely start a price war and that may affect the level of sales of bionic limbs. MBC will obviously be a credible threat to existing competitors in this monopolistic market as noted by Baines & Fill (2014). MBC already has the technology for making the bionic limbs, hence labour cost for the business and product development is greatly minimized and the only challenge will be for the management to identify a profitable market segment for their product. Getting a priced contract with competitors can always help MBC avoid any price wars that may emerge after they introduce their bionic limb. This is basically done by MBC paying a premium to a specific competitor and in exchange, the competition won’t start a price war against MBC. For MBC to effectively market the bionic limb, the product must be FDA approved in order to gain considerable favour even in the ‘villain’ market segment.  Ã‚  

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Culinary Class - Food and Religion Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Culinary Class - Food and Religion - Term Paper Example Many christen faiths associate various events with food regulation practices for instance. Orthodox and Catholic Church associate fasting with the strengthening of prayer during hardships. This is related to the story of Jesus in the mountain the night before he was crucified. He knew he was going to go through a lot of suffering thus used his last moments to pray and fast in the mountain (Sanford, 2013). Christians also use this opportunity to share what they may have saved in form of food with the poor societies and people living in harsh desert environments. During the lent period in the catholic calendar, Christians tend to avoid eating meat on Fridays to honour the death of Jesus Christ. Other Christians use this opportunity to sacrifice what they love in the form of food and distribute it to the needy communities (Wildman, 2010). Feeding the hungry is considered as an important practice in the Christian world. This is a way of following the example of Christ as he fed 5000 peop le with two fish and four loafs of bread. The ritual of communion is celebrated by Christians in many occasions. This ritual involves the eating of bread and drinking wine to commemorate the body and blood of Christ. Seventh day and Mormon Adventists are refrained from taking alcoholic and caffeinated beverages. The ‘seventh day’ Adventists do not take dairy products or meat due to their belief that dairy animals are productive animals just in the same way God provides for His people. The Buddhism religion considers all living beings as sacred. This has led to the practice of veganism and vegetarianism among religious members in the religion. It is a belief in the religion that all foods obtained from a form of violence or human aggressions are indeed considered to be bad (Diaz. 2012). The religion tries to maintain the principle of Ahisma which involves harmless and non-violence activities thus

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Vitamin D Deficiency Among Subfertile Women: Case Study

Vitamin D Deficiency Among Subfertile Women: Case Study Abstract Objective: To compare the dietary vitamin D and calcium intake among subfertile women (cases) versus pregnant women (controls) and to determine the vitamin D levels in the subfertile and pregnant women Study design was an observational case-control study where a total of 181 (83 previously diagnosed subfertile cases from various causes and 98 pregnant controls) women of reproductive age (20-40 years old) attending the reproductive endocrinology and infertility clinics were recruited. Ethical approval was granted from the Institutional Review Board at KFMC and written informed consent was obtained from each participant prior to inclusion. A validated questionnaire was used where it focused on key indicators evaluating vitamin D related factors. Blood was withdrawn for the measurement of serum calcium, albumin and phosphate to exclude secondary causes that might affect Vitamin D level. Data Analysis Data was analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). Frequencies were presented as percentages (%) and continuous variables were presented as mean  ± standard deviation. Chi-square was done to elicit differences in frequencies between cases and controls. Independent T-test was done to compare differences among continuous variables. Significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was significantly higher in the subfertile group than controls (59.0% versus 40.4%; p < 0.01). Calcium supplements intake was significantly higher in controls than the subfertile group (64.6% versus 10.0%; p-value < 0.001). Total dietary vitamin D intake (> 400IU/day) was significantly higher in the controls than the subfertile group. Conclusions: Total dietary vitamin D intake (> 400IU/day) was found to be significantly higher in the controls than the subfertile group. Thus, dietary vitamin D intake greater than 400IU/day and calcium supplementation should be encouraged amongst subfertile women since it may improve their fertility, but this needs to be proven prospectively. Optimization of serum calcium and vitamin D levels are encouraged. Key Words: Vitamin D, infertility, calcium, supplementation, Middle Eastern Condensation Dietary vitamin D intake and calcium supplementation may improve fertility. Optimization of serum calcium and vitamin D levels are encouraged. Introduction Vitamin D deficiency phenomenon over the recent years has earned the notorious reputation of being significantly associated to a plethora of many diseases, making it a major global public health burden [1]. Evidence that vitamin D is also associated with the reproductive physiology is just recently accumulating yet limited to animal models and very few human studies [2]. Animal and human studies have suggested vitamin D role in the reproductive system where vitamin D has recently been described to modulate reproductive processes in women and men [3]. Studies have found the presence of vitamin D receptor (VDR) and vitamin D metabolizing enzymes in reproductive tissues of women [3]. Additionally, low 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels have been associated with obesity, metabolic, and endocrine disturbances in PCOS women and vitamin D supplementation has been suggested to improve menstrual frequency and metabolic disturbances in those women [3]. Moreover, vitamin D might influence ste roidogenesis of both estradiol and progesterone in healthy women where low levels of 25(OH)D levels might be associated with infertility and high levels might be associated with endometriosis [4]. The most up to date vitamin D studies outside its conventional role of calcium homeostasis in the Middle East so far have covered most of the obesity-related diseases including diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, and the full metabolic syndrome [5-9]. Despite the abundance and overflow of recent literature with respect to vitamin D role in health and disease, there are an equal overwhelming number of questions left unanswered and this probably explains the rationale to conduct more research on vitamin D, namely the reported association between vitamin D deficiency and infertility. In brief, the target effects of vitamin D on certain reproductive parameters including pregnancy, spermatogenesis, implantation and progeny have been studied in both animal and human studies [10,11,12,13], whereas folliculogenesis and steroidogenesis were only proven in animal models [11]. Studies involving humans have so far pointed the vitamin D role in the endometrial regulation [11, 12] rather than folliculogenesis [13, 14]. In the Middle East where most women of reproductive age are vitamin D deficient, follicular fluid has been observed to be reflective of vitamin D status, but does not have a role in assisted reproductive technology [15]. A recent large, prospective, cross-sectional study has shown that low serum levels of vitamin D may impair a woman's chances of conceiving through in vitro fertilization (IVF) [14]. The authors concluded that a serum vitamin D level of 20 ng/mL or more was associated with a significantly greater chance of obtaining 3 or more high-quality embryos and with successful embryo implantation and clinical pregnancy compared with lower levels [14,16]. Given the novel and emerging role of vitamin D in the field of reproductive biology, the present observational study aims to determine on a nutritional level, whether differences exist in the dietary intake of vitamin D among sub-fertile Middle-Eastern women attending in-vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics versus pregnant women which was assessed by 25 (OH) D serum level. Material and Methods A total of 181 (83 previously diagnosedsubfertile cases from various causes and 98 pregnant controls) Saudi women of reproductive age (20-40 years old) attendingthe reproductive endocrinology and infertility clinics at King Fahad Medical City (KFMC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from August 2012 to January 2013 were recruited for this observational case-control study. Subjects requiring immediate medical attention and those with co-morbidities such as malignancies, chronic infection, chronic and cardiovascular-related diseases were excluded. Ethical approval was granted from the Institutional Review Board at KFMC and written informed consent was obtained from each participant prior to inclusion. Data Collection Variables include demographics (age and weight), subfertility types and causes. In addition, dichotomous variables (yes or no) on what type of vitamin D-rich food sources were also collected as well as data on other vitamin D related factors such as sunlight exposure for at least 10 minutes a day, use of Vitamin D supplement, and intake of Vitamin D rich food. A validated questionnaire was used to capture from recruited patients. It focused on key indicators evaluating vitamin D related factors. These indicators were adopted from pre-tested patient questionnaires used in various accredited hospitals. Our questionnaire was validated bybenchmarking against similar ones in the literature targeting diverse populations and using different approaches. Initially, the questionnaire was tested on 20 patients from KFMC to determinewhether the questions were clear, understandable, and in a logical order (face validity). Besides, 2 health professionalswho had experience in clinical research were asked to criticize the content of the questionnaire (content validity). Blood was withdrawn for the measurement of serum calcium, albumin and phosphate to exclude secondary causes that might affect Vitamin D level using routine laboratory methods. Serum 25(OH)vitamin D was also assessed using Cobas e411 (Roche Diagnostics, Mannheim, Germany). For the purpose of this study, vitamin D deficiency was defined as serum 25(OH)vitamin D level less than 20ng/ml [2]. Data Analysis Data was analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). Frequencies were presented as percentages (%) and continuous variables were presented as mean  ± standard deviation. Chi-square was done to elicit differences in frequencies between cases and controls. Variables exhibiting non-Gaussian distribution were logarithmically transformed prior to analysis. Independent T-test was done to compare differences among continuous variables. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was done using the grouping variable (presence or absence of subfertility) as the dependent variable and dietary vitamin D intake > 400IU/day as independent variables with obesity, sunlight exposure and skin color as co-variates. Significance was set at p < 0.05. Results One hundred and eighty one patients were analyzed, 83 cases and 98 controls. There was no statistical difference between the mean age of cases ,29.5  ± 5.5 years, verses controls, 29.9  ± 5.2 (P=0.64).Vitamin D deficiency (< 20ng/ml) was observed in 48.9% of the entire cohort. Comparatively, the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was significantly higher in the subfertile group than controls (59.0% versus 40.4%; p < 0.01). On the other hand, calcium supplements intake was significantly higher in controls than the subfertile group (64.6% versus 10.0%; p-value < 0.001). The controls significantly took more vitamin D supplements than the subfertile group (p < 0.05). The rest of the comparisons were unremarkable (Table 1). Table 2 shows the percentage differences in the vitamin D dietary intake of both controls and the subfertile group. The controls had significantly higher percentage consumption of food than the subfertile group in 9 out of 14 vitamin D dietary sources included in the study (wild salmon, farmed salmon, mushrooms, egg yolk, fortified milk, fo rtified orange juice, yogurts, butter and breakfast cereals; all p-values < 0.001). Consequently, total dietary vitamin D intake > 400IU/day was significantly higher in the controls than the subfertile group (p < 0.001) (Table 2). Table 3 shows the metabolic characteristics of subjects. There was a modest, borderline significance in BMI and vitamin D status between groups, with controls being higher than the subfertile group (p-values 0.051 and 0.08, respectively). The control group also had significantly higher levels of corrected calcium (p < 0.001) while the infertile group had significantly higher levels of circulating albumin (p < 0.001) (Table 3). Comments This study addresses the possible protective effects of increased dietary vitamin D intake and calcium supplementation among Middle Eastern women that harbor infertility conditions. Previous studies in Saudi Arabia considered obesity as a major risk factor for infertility [17]. Consequently, obesity is a major risk factor for vitamin D deficiency and both abnormal metabolic states can be manipulated through dietary interventions [18]. The issue of vitamin D status correction to improve fertility status among vitamin D deficient women of reproductive age may still require rigorous investigation since randomized trials are scarce. Nevertheless, several studies can already attest that micronutrient supplementation including vitamin D improves fertility outcomes [19,20]. Furthermore, available evidence confirms present findings in the beneficial effects of vitamin D in female infertility, with favorable outcomes among women with endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome [4,22]. Calcium supplementation to improve female fertility is not a surprise since it is directly regulated by vitamin D, receptors of which are found in various reproduction tissues, and correction of levels confer positive effects in terms of follicle maturation, menstrual regularity and improvement of hyperandrogenism especially among women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) [21,22]. The other equally important but less novel finding in the present study is the high vitamin D deficiency prevalent in both pregnant and sub fertile women. Vitamin D deficiency is relatively common in the Middle East in general, but more so for women because of cultural traditions and manner of clothing. Prevalence of hypovitaminosis D among this group ranges from 80-100% from the most recent local studies [23,24]. The modest but still insignificant difference in mean vitamin D status levels in both groups in our study could be attributed to a more vigilant behavior among pregnant women to ingest more food and vitamin supplements although comparison by prevalence clearly shows the high significant difference between the subfertile group and the control group. The authors acknowledge several limitations. Findings of the present study may only be true for women and as such a separate study should be done to reinforce if not negate the present results in non-pregnant women in comparison to subfertile women. Furthermore the case control nature of the study maybe subject to selection bias. Prospective studies are essential to determine whether vitamin D correction through dietary intervention and lifestyle modification can improve fertility among vitamin D deficient women. In conclusion, Middle-Eastern (Saudi) subfertile women have a higher prevalence of vitamin D deficiency as compared to apparently healthy controls, and this is aggravated by their lower intake of foodrich in vitamin D and lower calcium supplementation. Dietary vitamin D intake greater than 400IU/day and calcium supplementation may improve fertility in this population, but this needs to be proven prospectively. Optimization of vitamin D and calcium status among women of reproductive age are encouraged.