Approximately

Chapter 9 1)Approximately how much water do you need each day to stay healthy? Water constitutes 50% to 70% of the human body. Its unique chemical properties enable it to dissolve substances as well as serve as medium for chemical reactions, temperature regulation and lubrication (found in the knees and other joints of the body); it also aids in regulating the acid base balance in the body. It helps remove waste from the body and is the basis for saliva, bile and amniotic fluid. It is clear that obtaining the proper daily intake of water is extremely important.For adults daily water needs are estimated at 2. 7 liters (11 cups) for adult women to 3. 7 liters (15 cups) for adult men, total water is a combination of fluids and food. For fluid alone this corresponds to at 2. 2 liters of water (9 cups) for women to 3 liters water (13 cups) for men per day. (Fluid intake does not have to be derived from water alone). Identify at least two situations that increase the need for water. ?Dehyd ration: Dehydration is triggered after the loss of water due to illness and drinking alcohol.The following are signs of the early stages of dehydration: dry mouth and lips, difficulty concentrating, dizziness, headache, elevated heart rate and fatigue. ?Thirst: If you do not drink enough water your brain lets you know by signaling thirst. Your brain communicates the need to drink. Thirst mechanism can lag behind actual water loss after a prolonged exercise and illness, as well as in older people. Children that are ill especially those with fever, diarrhea, vomiting and increased perspiration should be encouraged to take in adequate fluids.Then list three sources of water in the average person’s diet. ?Liquids: Beverages that we consume, such as water, milk, coffee, tea, soda and fruit juices. Beer and wine are also considered forms of water however – these should be consumed within healthy daily guidelines (2 for men and 1 for women). Plain water is considered by many experts to be the best source as it provides water intake without adding any calories – even though it doesn’t provide any other nutrients. ?Foods: Much of the food we consume has water.Many fruits and vegetables are more than 80% water. ?Metabolic Water: Water as a byproduct of metabolism. 2)What is the relationship with sodium and water balance, and how is that relationship monitored as well as maintained in the body? Sodium is the major positive ion found outside cells and is essential to fluid balance and nerve impulse balance. The North American diet provides abundant sodium through processed foods and table salt. Table salt is chemically known as sodium chloride, it is 40% sodium and 60% chloride.The human body absorbs almost all sodium consumed. Once absorbed it becomes the major positive ion found outside of cells in extracellular fluid and is a key factor in retaining body water. Fluid balance throughout the body depends partly on the variation of sodium and o ther ion concentrations among the water containing components in the body. Sodium ions also function in nerve impulse conduction and absorption of nutrients like glucose. Both deficiency and toxicity can occur with sodium; the greater concern lies with toxicity.Sodium deficiency is less common than excess sodium since it is so readily available in the diet; many health problems can occur when either happens. Kidneys are essential for regulating the volume and composition of bodily fluids. Water balance is achieved by ensuring that the amount of water consumed and generated by metabolism equals the amount of water excreted by the body. Consumption side is regulated by behavioral mechanisms which include thirst and salt cravings. Urine is produced not only to eliminate cellular waste products, but also to control the amount and composition of extracellular fluid.Controlling the amount of water and sodium as well as other chemicals is essential to life – our body controls this b y producing various amounts of urine so that we can conserve water and chemicals when short in supply. Too much or too little water and/or salt in our bodies is dangerous. Therefore the amount of water and salt excreted in urine and the amount of urine excreted is adjusted to meet the needs of the body. 3)Identify four factors that influence the bioavailability of minerals from food. Food supplies us with many minerals, but the way in which our bodies are able to absorb them varies.The degree to which ingested nutrient is absorbed from food sources and is available to our body is called bioavailability. The bioavailability of minerals depends on many factors. The mineral content listed in food composition table for amount of a mineral in a food is just a starting point for estimating the actual contribution the food will make to our mineral needs. For example spinach contains much calcium but only 5% can be absorbed because of the vegetables high concentration of oxalic acid, a calc ium binder. Usually 25% of calcium is absorbed by adults.Minerals from animal products are absorbed better as binders such as fiber in plant foods are not present to hinder absorption. The mineral content of plants greatly depends on mineral concentrations of the soil in which they are grown. Refined plant food has a lower content of minerals. Four factors that influence bioavailability of minerals from food are outlined below: ? Fiber -Mineral Interactions: Components of fiber, particularly phytic acid in grain fiber can limit absorption of some minerals by binding to them. Oxalic acid is another substance in plants that binds minerals and makes them less bioavailable.High-fiber diets can decrease the absorption of iron, zinc and possibly other minerals. ?Mineral-Mineral Interaction: Many mineral, such as magnesium, calcium, iron and copper are of similar sizes and the same electrical charge causes these minerals to compete with each other for absorption, and therefore they affect each other’s bioavailability. An excess of one mineral decrease the absorption and metabolism of other minerals. ?Vitamin-Mineral Interaction: Many beneficial vitamin-mineral interactions occur during nutrient absorption and metabolism.When consumed in conjunction with Vitamin C, absorption of certain forms of iron such as that in plant products improves. The active Vitamin D hormone improves calcium absorption. Many vitamins require specific minerals to act as components in their structure and functions. ?Mineral Toxicities: An excessive mineral intake, particularly of trace minerals (such as iron and copper) can have toxic results. For many trace minerals the gap between just enough and too much is quite small. Using mineral supplements should be closely monitored and should not exceed any upper level set on a term basis.The potential for toxicity is not the only reason to carefully consider the use of mineral supplements – there can also be harmful interactions with other nutrients, as well as the possibility of the supplements being contaminated. 5) In terms of total amounts in the body, calcium and phosphorous are the first and second most abundant minerals, respectively. What functions do these minerals have in common? Approximately 99% of calcium is found in the bones. In addition to its critical role in bones, it also functions in blood clotting muscle contraction, nerve-impulse transmission and cell metabolism.Calcium requires a slightly acid PH and the Vitamin D hormone for efficient absorption. Calcium deficiency is a major factor in osteoporosis. Approximately 85% of the body’s phosphorus is found in the bones – the remainder is found in the bloodstream and functions inside cells. Phosphorus is a component of enzymes, other key compounds, DNA, cell membrane and bone. The body efficiently absorbs phosphorus at about 70% of dietary intake. The high absorption rate and the availability of phosphorus in foods makes this mine ral less important than calcium in dietary planning.The active Vitamin D enhances absorption. Although there is currently no specific disease associated with inadequate phosphorus intake, a deficiency may contribute to bone loss in older women. The functions that these two minerals have in common are that they are both critical to good bone health, have a cell function of sorts, the majority of each is found in the bones, and Vitamin D enhances the absorption of both. ? Chapter 10 1)How does greater physical fitness contribute to better overall health? Explain the process. Physical fitness has many health benefits.Physical fitness refers to the ability to perform moderate to vigorous activity without undue fatigue. The benefits of regular physical activity include, less injury, better sleep habits, reduced blood pressure, increased cardiovascular function and improved blood lipid profiles, aids in weight control/loss, increases muscle mass and strength, improves GI tract peristalsis , slows aging process, reduces risk of certain cancers, improves immune function, increases flexibility and balance, reduces stress and improves self-image, improves blood glucose, and strengthens bones and joints.Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends that all adults should be active to some extent – some activity is better than none. The Physical Activity Guidelines set specific time goals for adults – they are outlined below: ? For substantial health benefits, adults should do at least 150 minutes a week or moderate-intensity activity or 75 minutes of a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity or an equivalent combination of moderate and vigorous intensity aerobic activity. For additional health benefits, adults should increase aerobic activity to 300 minutes a week or moderate-intensity activity or 150 minutes of a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity or an equivalent combination of moderate and vigorous intensity aerobic activity. ?Adults should also include muscle strengthening activities that involve all major muscle groups at least two days a week. ?In order to stay with an exercise program the following are recommended: oStart slow oVary activities, make it fun oInclude friends and family Set specific and attainable goals and monitor progress oSet aside a specific time each day for exercise oReward yourself for keeping up with your goals oDon’t worry about occasional setbacks; keep focus on long-term health goals. 2)You have set a goal to increase muscle mass and decrease body fat. Plan a weekly fitness regime, specifying activity types, frequency, intensity, duration, and progression. Commitment is an important step in participating in a physical fitness program and is the first step in putting together a weekly fitness regimen.There are three main components to a good plan that will decrease body fat and increase muscle mass; aerobic, stretching/flexibility, and strength training. ?Aero bic: Aerobic exercise focuses on improving cardiorespiratory and cardiovascular health. oActivities: Walking, running, hiking, cycling, basketball, tennis, soccer, elliptical trainer, etc. o Duration: 20 to 60 minutes. oIntensity: 55% to 90% maximum heart rate or RPE of 4 or above. oFrequency: 5 days a week oProgression: Initiation Phase 3 to 6 weeks/Improvement Phase 5 to 6 months/Maintenance Phase plateau in gains in fitness. Stretching/Flexibility: Focuses on stretching muscles in an effort to maintain and increase mobility. oActivities: Yoga and stretching o Duration: 4 repetitions of 10 to 30 seconds per muscle group oFrequency: 2 to 3 days a week and during warm-up and cool down oIntensity: 5 to 10 minutes during warm-up and cool down oProgression: Start with smaller muscle groups (arms) and work toward large muscle groups (legs) ?Strength: Focuses on increasing or maintaining muscle mass through resistance exercise. oActivities: Weight lifting, Pilates, push-ups and ull-ups o Duration: 8 to 12 repetitions of 8 to 10 to different exercises oFrequency: 2 to 3 days a week oIntensity: Enough to condition major muscle groups of the upper and lower body. 3)How are carbohydrates, fat and protein used to supply energy during a 100-meter sprint, during a weight lifting session, during a 3-mile walk? Nutrients are converted to adenosine triphosphate (ATP) base on intensity and duration of any activity. Carbohydrates are the main nutrient for fueling exercise of moderate to high intensity, and fat providing energy during low intensity exercises.For example, fat is a great fuel for endurance events, but would not be good for 100-meter sprint. If exercising at a low intensity (50% of the max heart rate) you would have enough stored fat to fuel activity for hours or days as long as their sufficient oxygen to allow fat metabolism to occur. As the intensity of exercise increases, carbohydrate metabolism takes over. While it is more efficient than fat metabolism it has limited energy stores. This stored carbohydrate can fuel about two hours of moderate to high level exercise.One could continue with moderate to high intensity for longer by replenishing carbohydrate stores during exercise. If carbohydrates are not restored you will have to reduce your intensity and draw energy from fat. As exercise intensity continues to increase, carbohydrate metabolism efficiency drops and anaerobic metabolism kicks in – because the body can’t take in and distribute oxygen quickly enough to metabolism carbs or fat easily. Low amounts of protein are metabolized during all levels of exercise – slightly more in endurance exercise especially when carbohydrate fuel has been depleted.

A Leadership Profile of American Project Managers Essay

Although the needs and demands of clients have always been the highest priority for any project manager, increasing global competition, ever heightening client expectations, and the magnitude of the projects impact on a firm’s bottom line has begun to place greater emphasis on the skills necessary to successfully lead today’s project teams. Historically, strong technical skills and knowledge of the industry would have been the key selection criteria. It was, in many cases, simply assumed that men and women who possessed these qualities would lead the project to a successful completion. Today’s complex project environments require even greater skills at leadership than ever before. â€Å"Cookie-cutter† formula-based management was probably never correct, but in today’s environment it will inevitably lead to disaster. Performance expectations for quality, cost effectiveness, timely delivery, and a host of other client measures are ratcheted-up a notch each year. In the highly competitive arena in which most projects operate, be they external or internal, the requirement to produce results that exceed client expectations has become the norm. As one respondent shared, â€Å"I have not worked on a project in the past five years that was not viewed by the client as being ‘fast track;† The stakes are high, and getting higher. The days when cost overruns and delayed completion were common are history. So are the projects where technical personnel were once allowed to â€Å"experiment† until they got it right. With the managerial practices of outsourcing, downsizing, total quality management and continuous improvement becoming even more prevalent in our organizational environment, it can be expected that project managers are experiencing increased performance pressures. Internal project managers are possibly just as vulnerable to not having their contracts renewed as external consultants and contractors. Recent Literature Jeffrey Pinto and Om Kharbanda shed light on this problem in two journal articles published in Business Horizons, â€Å"Lessons for an accidental profession† (1995) and â€Å"How to fail in project management† (1996). These authors emphasize the increased need for projectmanagers. Increasingly technically complex products and processes, vastly shortened time-to-market windows, and the need for cross-functional expertise make project management an important and powerful tool in the hands of organizations that understand its use† (Pinto & Kharbanda, 1995). In their follow-up article, â€Å"How to fail in project management,† the authors write a stinging criticism of the practices that combine to produce project failures (Pinto & Kharbanda, 1996). Karen Ayas (1996) takes a broader brash to the whole issue through what she describes as a â€Å"project network structure. The design of the system should â€Å"stress the synergies between organizational strategy, structure, culture and systems to allow organizations to build and expand learning capacity. † The application of â€Å"process management view† to project management was reported recently in Harvard Business Review. The study of leading companies such as AT&T, Hewlett-Packard and Raychem over an eight-year time span led the author to report that, â€Å"managers can benefit by applying a process management approach to their product development process. Companies can create an aggregate plan that allows them to assign practices to theirprojects with an estimate of needed resources †¦ managers can eliminate congestion and long hours by evening out workloads† (Alder, Mandelbaum, Nguyen, & Schwerer, 1996). (See also Jungen & Wowalczyk, 1995. ) Bob Lewis (Info World, 1996) sets forth the five keys that he believes differentiate successful projects from the others: scope control; regular, concrete, reasonable results; weekly status meetings; team buy-in to the plan; and walking around. Project management is considered a vital tool for the implementation of business process reengineering. â€Å"Project management allows organizations to break things down into simple processes and assign these activities and modules to individuals. This approach helps organizations identify existing built-in dependencies among processes †¦ A multidimensional forum for enterprisewide visibility is essential and will lead to significant productivity and cost savings. †¦ Project management is the organizational ‘glue’ that binds together dispersed, high accountable teams throughout the organization. Teams will seek and demand a framework to ensure their success under the new rules of rapidly changing intensely competitive markets. Project management provides the framework, encourages dispersed leadership and provides visibility of effort to stakeholders throughout the organization† (King 1996). Clearly, project managers are being viewed as pivotal leaders in the introduction and implementation of both operational and behavioral managerial changes. Are project managers viewing their roles and responsibilities in the same light as the authors of leading journal articles? What do practicing project managers believe are the critical characteristics necessary to be effective? On the other hand, what factors contribute to producing ineffective project managers? On the operational side, what do they see as the primary causes of projects that fail to meet budgetary and time constraints? What do they see as the most effective project management â€Å"tools,† and the extent to which these â€Å"tools† contribute to the success of a project? Finally, how powerful is â€Å"the leadership factor† in the success of a project and what are the specific characteristics and behaviors of leaders that will have a positive influence on organizational effectiveness in the next decade? The authors found no research that specifically addressed these questions nor reported results obtained directly from project managers. Research Instrument Design The research instrument was compressed of both open-ended and forced-answer questions. In addition, the respondents were asked their agreement or valuation of several statements through the application of a traditional five-point Likert scale ranging from a high of 5 to low of 1. The completed instrument was then pretested by 12 project managers and executives in a number of firms. All suggestions were incorporated into the final research instrument. The research instrument was then mailed to a selected sample of 100 senior-level project managers who, it was assumed, would possess a wealth of experience regarding the issues being studied. The authors received 76 usable responses to the research instrument from the mailing of 100. The extremely high response rate was due in part to an aggressive premailing and postmailing telephone campaign. The respondents were all relatively senior project managers with a minimum of 10 years experience in projectmanagement. All of the project managers surveyed were employed in large architectural and engineering consulting companies. Research Results and Discussion What Are the Characteristics of Effective Project Managers? The following results (presented in Table 1) were obtained from an open-ended question that asked respondents to list, in rank order, the characteristic that they believed was essential for effectiveness. Possibly the most interesting aspect of the project manager’s responses to this question was the fact that technical competence was the third highest rated characteristic. Eight of the nine characteristics were managerial in nature, reflecting a basic understanding that effectiveness is directly related to the ability of theproject manager to lead and manage more than simply possess exceptional technical skills. This finding is consistent with the academic literature, but is more powerful when drawn from open-end responses of experienced practicing project managers. What Factors Contribute to Ineffectiveness Among Project Managers? In order to examine the question of effectiveness in a different light, the project managerswere then asked, via open-ended questions, the specific nature of personal flaws of project managers that directly contribute to ineffectiveness, as well as the organizational factors that produced the same results. The intent of these questions was to identify how both personal flaws and organizational factors contributed to producing an ineffective project manager. To a large degree the personal flaws are a reverse image of the characteristics of ffective project managers from Table 1. There seems to be a good deal of internal consistency among the respondents (see Table 2). The organizational factors that contribute to becoming an ineffectiveproject manager are equally relevant, but not surprising. Lack of upper-management commitment and support is a well-documented source of project problems. Theproject management literature has addressed each of the organizational barriers to effectiveness and it is again reinforcing to discover that the responses document that practicing project managers’ perceptions fully support the literature. The past few decades have not seen the elimination of these classic sources of organizational ineffectiveness, although their negative impact on project performance has been known for some time. Resistance to change and a reactive approach to environmental turbulence are signs of a firm struggling with adjusting to new competitive conditions. Traditional reward systems are generally not well suited toproject management. Traditional reward systems tend to have very little direct linkage between the performance criteria of a project and compensation. With competition being very intense in some sectors, some projects are priced and sold at dangerously thin multipliers with little opportunity to show a significantly positive return. When the realistic expectations for the project are not considered in the compensation plan, it can be expected that dissatisfaction with the compensation or reward systems are bound to be voiced. Project managers know that under difficult competitive conditions, jobs are taken to keep the staff utilized and the expected profit margin is possibly at breakeven. It is often just as difficult to manage a project with no expected profit than one with above average profit expectations. In addition, reward systems seldom reflect the nature and varying degrees of difficulty of the task and often focus solely on the final profit numbers. Failure to develop a reward system that reflects the specific nature of the project can create potential long-term conflicts. Consider how new market entry is normally achieved: the firm â€Å"buys† a project. The firm intentionally bids a project below what established competitors minimum bid to get the work and, hopefully, enter a new market successfully. Logic would suggest that a firm would want one of its best project managers to lead such a project to ensure success. But if the projectaffords no opportunity to earn a performance bonus based on project profitability who would volunteer to â€Å"take on† a known loser? In too many cases, organizational insensitivity to the negative realties created by poor organizational practices and policies are not understood or simply ignored. The result of these negative practices and policies is the eventual erosion of a potentially high-quality professional staff. The lack of upper management support and commitment results in a complete breakdown of trust and respect. One of the sure killers of motivation is when project managers become conditioned to being abandoned by their management at the first sign of client conflict. As one project manager described the situation: â€Å"it’s like discovering that your management is sitting on the client side of the table at every meeting, and that you are left alone to defend every decision. † It doesn’t take too many such experiences beforeproject managers modify their style of management to protect themselves. Under these conditions one is not likely to find that the project team is performing to the maximum potential. What Are the Primary Reasons That Projects Experience Budgetary and Timely Completion Problems? Table 3 reports the respondents’ reasons for why projects run into budgetary and timing problems. The most frequent responses reflect both organizational and managerial problems. As an example, â€Å"failure to utilize the toolsavailable to manage a project to completion in a timely fashion and within budget† was the most frequent response. Poor leadership on the part of the projectmanager† was the second most frequently reported cause of problems. â€Å"Lack of effective interorganizational communication† and a â€Å"lack of timely decisions and corrective action† were also reported. The only external factor mentioned by the respondents was â€Å"the client’s failure to respond in a timely fashion. † Almost everyproject manager has dealt with clients who seemed unable or unwilling to make timely decisions yet retained their expectations that the project would be completed on time and within budget. It seems that managing the client is an art that only experience can teach. This need to learn the diplomacy of client management becomes increasingly important as a client-oriented strategy is recognized as essential to survival. What Are the Project Management â€Å"Tools† Most Often Used and How Effective Are They? Managing the project requires the skillful application of projectmanagement tools that are designed to assist the project team complete the project on time, within budget, and to the satisfaction of the client. Table 4 reports the responses from experienced project managers regarding the extent to which they use eight recognized project management tools and the extent to which the tools contribute to the success of a project. As you would expect, the two highest rated tools (actually tying for first) were the project schedule and theproject budget. Irrespective of project size or complexity, these project tools were rated highest in use and first and second in terms of contribution to the success of the project. Of the eight project management tools that the respondents were asked to evaluate, none were reported to be of no value. Some of the more detailed tools were used less often and consequently may have been perceived as less valuable to project success. Despite the discussion in the projectmanagement literature regarding the need to increase the degree of accuracy in the determination of the percentage of project completion, the â€Å"earned value reporting tool, was rated the least used and correspondingly reported to have made the least contribution to the success of a project. The top five projectmanagement tools most often reported as used (project schedule, project budget, project cost system, project execution plan, and client communication log) were also rated as making the greatest contribution to the success of the project. Clearb; more effective project managers exercise managerial discipline in the consistent application of what they have found to be the most valuable project management tools for achieving success. What Are the â€Å"Other† Factors That Contribute to the Success of a Project? In addition to the direct managerial actions that project managers can take through the implementation of project management tools, project managers focus on their managerial and leadership skills as controlling sources of influence that contribute to the successful completion of projects. Table 5 reports the source of influence on successful completion of a project as reported by the project managers surveyed. As expected, â€Å"the decision made by the client† was the strongest influence, with â€Å"responding to the changing client request† second. The third source of influence on the successful completion of a project is the â€Å"desire to excel,† reflecting the strong positive personal motivation of project managers to make every project they lead a success. â€Å"The decision made by the project team† and â€Å"the pressures from inside the project† were the next highest rated sources of influence reflecting the need for the project manager to focus on the leadership of the project team. Equally interesting are the lowest rated sources of influence on the success of aproject. Respondents give little or no credence to â€Å"luck† or â€Å"external politics† as barriers to success. How Critical Is the â€Å"Leadership Factor† to Project Success? Given the many factors that can directly or indirectly influence the success of a project, do projectmanagers believe that there is one overriding factor that contributes to whether a project will be a success or a failure? In fact, the answer is yes. When asked to weigh the percentage of success or failure of a project that can be contributed directly to the pressure of either positive or negative leadership the responses were powerfully revealing (see Table 6). Positive leadership contributes almost 76% to the success of a project. Consider what this response means. Variation in projectsuccess can be contributed to the leadership displayed on the project by 76%. Equally meaningful is the second statistic: negative or poor leadership contributes 67% to the failure of projects. Clearly, firms that fail to train and reinforce the need for project managers to practice positive leadership seem to run an unacceptable risk. In a recent interview with five vice presidents of major engineering consulting firms, a question was posed regarding the number of projects in the past five years that failed due to a lack of technical competence on the part of the project manager or the project team. In what was estimated by them to be more than 1,000 projects, both large and small, the executives could recount only 10 failures due to lack of technical competence. Yet, when you ask most company executives what the most critical criteria for promotion to project manager is, technical competence generally leads the list of responses. Possibly what is absent is the recognition that technical competence must be supported by persons who are capable of managing a project and providing positive leadership to the team. All the evidence of recent research supports the idea that successful projects are led by individuals who possess a blend of technical and management knowledge, but beyond both, leadership skills. Sensitivity to the client’s needs, the composition of the project team, the strategic importance of the project to the firm, and the technical requirements of the project reflect themselves in a continuous stream of communication and personal interactions that serve to reveal the true nature of theproject manager. Project managers were asked to rate 50 characteristics or behaviors that they believed, based on their experience, would have a positive influence on organizational effectiveness in the next decade. Tables 7 and 8 highlight the highest and lowest rated characteristics and behaviors and reveal some very interesting findings. The highest rated characteristics and behaviors build a profile of an individual that most of us would wish to work for. The profile reveals a leader who recognizes that it is absolutely essential to build aproject team, reinforce positive behavior, communicate, demonstrate trust and respect, develop team members and empower them to perform and set goals while remaining flexible to respond to the inevitable changes. Important by their absence from the â€Å"golden dozen† are characteristics and behaviors such as technical expertise, individualistic, effective organizational politician, or detail oriented. The profession has moved beyond the mind-set that the best-qualified individual to promote to the project manager’s position is the best technical person or some flashy politically savvy character with the â€Å"right contacts. † Table 8 reports the characteristics and behaviors that practicing and experienced project managers rated as the 12 least important characteristics for the achievement of organizational effectiveness. Some of these responses were a surprise to the researchers while others were not. Project managers rated â€Å"strategic thinker† very low. This may be explained by the fact that many project managers are totally operations-oriented and become involved only when the job is sold. In terms of preparation for promotion into the firm’s executive ranks this shortcoming could be costly. Yet, this lack of recognition of the need for the practice of strategic thinking may explain the managerial practices of some firms who employ project managers.

The Case Study of Soren

1. Define the problem (from student’s perspective) 2. Ensure safety (including assessing potential for self-harm) 3. Provide support 4. Examine alternatives 5. Make a plan 6. Obtain a commitment (including no-harm agreement where applicable) Tragedy struck a small west Texas town Saturday when beloved Lubbock Christian School (LCU) superintendent, Peter Dahlstrom, accidentally shot and killed his nine year old granddaughter, Soren, while rabbit hunting on the family farm. The entire community has been shocked by this tragedy and the effects of the incident will be felt in the community for some time.Many people in the community will benefit from crisis intervention techniques during this time. I have applied Robinson’s Crisis Response Model for successful crisis intervention to develop a plan of action to help teachers, students, and faculty through this difficult time. The model suggests the following six steps: 1) Define the problem; 2) Ensure safety, including assess ing potential for self-harm; 3) Provide support; 4) Examine alternatives; 5) Make a plan; and 6) Obtain a commitment, including a no-harm agreement where applicable.The first phase of the crisis intervention plan is to inform as many people of the issue as quickly as possible. To quickly reach as many people as possible, the crisis team sent out an email to inform parents as immediately after the accident occurred. It would be best if the children are not blind-sided by the information at school on Monday morning. I expect several of the students and faculty members to go through the 5 classic stages of grief identified by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (1969), which are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.Sometimes this can be a slow process, so I think some students and teachers will require on-going help to process this tragic loss of life. My plan involves the following crisis intervention steps: 1. Have a Staff Pre-meeting first thing Monday morning: a. Invite all the staff who feels affected by the crisis. I feel it is important to include part-time teachers, bus drivers, playground supervisors, janitors, secretaries, and any other workers who would like to join. b. Keep communications open and give facts on the situation, as appropriate within the bounds of confidentiality.Prepare a handout for staff not in attendance. c. Share reactions and feelings with one another, taking time for mutual support. The school crisis team shares information on grief, and answers the questions and concerns of the staff. d. Give a plan for the day that has been prepared by the crisis team. 2. Prior to the first active school day How to tell Students e. Decide which students are to be told. f. Confirm what information they will be told. g. Decide who will tell the students. h. Outline the procedures for how they will be told. i.Discuss how they may react and what to do. 3. The Debriefing Meeting: A meeting with staff at the end of the day to discuss how the day w ent for both students and staff. 4. Activities to Discourage: Large assemblies or public address announcements – these make it difficult to provide support to students on an individual basis. When he Lubbock Christian School community mourned the loss of a student and the pain of their leader. â€Å"This is a great tragedy for our school,† said Brian Pitaniello, chairman of the Lubbock Christian School's Board of Trustees.Pitaniello said Peter Dahlstrom has worked as superintendent of the school for 17 years. â€Å"He is a spiritual leader for our school; he loves our kids,† he said. Hundreds of students, teachers parents and friends of the Dahlstroms gathered for a student-organized prayer vigil in honor of the family Saturday morning in the school's auditorium. â€Å"That just shows the impact this family had on our school,† Pitaniello said. â€Å"This school and this community loves this were answered by a family friend who said the family did not wis h to speak with the media. family. and our heart breaks for this family.We hurt for her family for a loss of a child as well as for the loss of a classmate and the loss of a student. † School administrators sent an email to parents early Saturday informing them of the incident. Parents were told grief counselors would be available for students. Parents of third-graders were urged to meet with a children's grief counselor at 8 a. m. Monday morning at the school to help mothers and fathers feel more confident in talking with their children about the tragedy. Classes were expected to go on as scheduled Monday. Phone calls to the Dahlstrom house in Anton . k. Student and staff contact with the media while at school – media contacts can be disruptive and sometimes insensitive. Direct all media to the public information officer or representative. l. Removing belongings of the deceased- this is best done gradually and can include family members and friends. Having concrete rem inders in the classroom can help teachers and students let go gradually. m. Staying rigid with regard to curriculum and scheduling – reactions will vary, from needing flexibility to needing structure. Decisions must be made on an individual basis. n.Not communicating with students, staff, parents and community on unfolding events. o. Treating the death of students differently because of status or community position, etc. 5. Safety Valves p. Make sure there are enough staff and school crisis team members to support all who may need it. It's much better to have more than you need, than to need, more than you have. q. Designate a safe room for anyone wanting a place to go to, if needed. Make sure everyone knows its purpose and location. r. Hold a debriefing meeting at the end of the day to give people a place to process the day and receive support and validation. bnnhb

Women In the Antebellum Reform Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Women In the Antebellum Reform - Research Paper Example The reform organizations involved both men and women in relation to the issues they raised to advocate for change. It is reported that for a full week session, women and men from North West and mid west travelled to New York to conduct such speeches, which advocated for change (Elizabeth 91). Gradually, movements for change by women and men, who belonged to the reform organizations, started addressing different religious beliefs, goals and strategies. In addition, the leaders of reform groups started demonstrating to the public ways in which a better society would perform tasks to avoid massive killings. The mission for the activists for change was that one time; the United States of America could be improved, uplifted and perfected. Other issues that characterized the Antebellum period were such as; financial panic which erupted in New York in early 1837 to the extent that few people made purchases on shops. Wealthy people who supported different groups had run Bankrupt and New York registered a large number of street beggars that year compared to the previous years. Unemployment, hunger, homelessness, prostitution, and criminal cases were highly registered (Finkelman 39). Advocates for change during the antebellum era held debates over gender and cultural issues; segregation on grounds of lasses. The effort to test reforms was also attributed to the fact that white women and men dominated charity organizations that they took the rest of the citizens as their subordinates. As a result, other citizens were present to acts of oppression. The following report contains works of various authors in their books about the status of women in Antebellum. Professor Ginzberg gives an idea of women in relation to antebellum improvement in two ways. In the first way, women are examined alongside factors such as belief, class and race, upon which reform movements were based. In another perspective, Ginzberg views women participating in favour of social change. Women particip ated in social change through distributing Bibles, resisting intemperance, charity initiatives, tracts, they were opposed to slavery, and in general, women demanded their rights. The Antebellum Era was so, characterized by alteration mechanisms, which sought to empower women in the world over (Finkelman 39). One of the basic features of concern for women in Antebellum was to express their attitude towards sex. Women’s views about sex in Antebellum can be traced in the works of Helen Leftkowitz. Helen discusses about the social and cultural implications of gender and sex education in the antebellum era. Helen bases her studies at Amy Greenberg, Pennsylvania state University. Women challenged the idea that social problems, which affected America at the time would be changed through maintaining the ruling governments. Reformers made movements, one after the other in search for reforms in the government systems (Elizabeth 91). According to Oregon Public broadcasting media in Amer ica, the antebellum movement, which he also terms as a period of industrial action had social, economic, religious and political consequences to women in the United States and the surrounding countries. An article by Oregon Public broadcasting reveals that I the Antebellum movement, as middle class people and the original born families who were abandoned and made to be the production units of the home. As men left household chores to look for jobs in offices, women remained calm and barely got chances of moving to look for jobs in public places. Oregon public broadcasting however reveals that women of different classes and races

Liberty, Equality, fraternity Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Liberty, Equality, fraternity - Assignment Example This  redefinition  can be seen by the passage of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen during the beginning of the revolution 1. A revolutionary document that declared all men are born and remain free, and have inalienable rights to liberty, security, property and to resist being oppressed. Pre-revolution France was an unequal society where the aristocracy and the clergy enjoyed enormous privileges and power above ordinary  countrymen 2. The two groups were subject to different laws, and this created legal inequality. Peasant rebellions during the early days of the revolution saw the abolition of feudalism 3. This elimination in addition with the Rights of Man and of the Citizen had the effect of granting equality to all French citizens. The concept of fraternity had not exercised prior to the French revolution with the monarchy being indebted to the whims of the aristocracy and clergy4 . Fraternity requires putting the interest of others above your own. The Rights of Man and of the Citizen eliminated the privilege enjoyed by the nobility and clergy. Therefore, the French residents were not indebted to the monarchy but each other. The French revolution personified the ideals of liberty, equality, fraternity which the old regime had failed to protect. Revolts and riots led by the middle and low-class citizens resulted in several fundamental legislation such as the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the elimination of the feudal system. These laws unified French citizens and signaled the entry of an era where every man free and

Sustainability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sustainability - Essay Example ..7 SUSTAINABILITY†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.8 REFERENCES†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..9 FIGURE†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦PAGE # Fig 1†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.6 INTRODUCTION:- There are extensive pressures on the nations to meet the water demands according ly because of international conflicts, economic crisis, poverty, and water availability etc. PCA states that only 0.3 percent of total water is can be used for drinking purposes (PCA, 2005).Global issues stated from the report that 1.1 billion people in developing countries having inadequate access to water (Global issues, 2010). Not only a management that is expert in the level is required but along with it there is a need to use alternatives water resources for the future water use that is affordable and even if it is not, then external funding for the transfer of the water is required. It tells us that sea water can be used in the developing countries for the different water use requirements. Although the water treatment for the sea water is not an easy task, but still it can be used as an alternative water source. Still the transferring of sea water to different parts of the developing countries could be costly, and extensive water supply engineering is required and a need to ma nage these water storage and transport facilities is a matter of cost and debate. National geographic society states that if water source is not within one kilometer range then per capita consumption drops to 5 liters/person (National Geographic News, 2003). The sea water hence could be used as a water resource in the developing countries, but along with this intervention, the need to recycle the sea water must also be taken into consideration. Specially for domestic purposes it could be used as a good alternatives source, but for drinking it depends on the area and geography, that either other clean drinking water resources are present in the country or not. The sea water could be used after the treatments such as distillation, electrolysis, and reverse osmosis. The countries such as Pakistan, Africa, India, Srilanka, Nepal, Srilanka, Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa are the countries that are exposed with the sea water and these nations has from little to extensive problems of wate r scarcity or water quality. There is a need to design the treatment plants for sea water purification, the water transport facility, water supply engineering to closely related areas, and the reservoirs for containment. Houston news states that non-profit organization brings ways to solve the problems of third world countries (Houston News, 2011). Also Life Science states that 15000 desalination plants are there in the world working and more with cheaper costs are estimated (Life science, 2011). SPECIFICATION:- These are the stated initial design specifications that are important for the project to be implemented. Rough design requirements for the

Coal-Fired Power Plants (CFPPs) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Coal-Fired Power Plants (CFPPs) - Research Paper Example Because of its dedication to fight the global climate change, BNP Paribas created its coal-fired power generation policies last September 20113. Being the 4th European bank† that has issued CSR policy on projects related to coal-fired power plant4, BNP Paribas’ policy objectives is to â€Å"integrate climate change issue in coal-fired power generation sector by taking into account greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions† and â€Å"avoid investing in companies with low environment and social standards†5. BNP Paribas set a minimum efficiency standard of 43% in high-income countries and 38% in low-income countries for its generic greenfield CFPP projects and a maximum emission requirements of not more than 550 CO2/kWh in high-income countries and 660 CO2/kWh in low-income countries for other greenfield CFPP projects6, 7. For brownfield CFPP projects, BNP Paribas require the applicants to comply with â€Å"IFC Environmental, Health and Safety Guidelines for Thermal Pow er Plants† to meet the required level of emission and/or at least 10% increase or improvements from the required level8. CFPPs projects that were not in compliance with BNP Paribas’ policy on coal-fired generating projects were purposely turned down (i.e. projects in Turkey and Vietnam in 2011 and India in 2012)9. As of 2011, BNP Paribas avoided additional 70 MteqCO2 each year10. 2.2 Credit Agricole Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank is Europe’s 4th biggest bank and the world’s 5th biggest bank which aims to serve client’s investment banking needs11. Credit Agricole’s policy on CFPP projects are based on the guidelines set by the Climate Principles initiative, Environment Health and Safety Guidelines, IFC Performance Standards, International Energy Agency (IEA), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Kyoto protocol, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the World Coal Association12. Before gra nting a financial support to CFPP projects, Credit Agricole will analyze a set of its ESG criteria which includes the plant location, quality of coal utilized in generating electricity, compliance with national and international regulatory frameworks, technology used in generating electricity, limit in the emission of pollutants, etc.13, 14. 2.3 Citibank Citibank is a US-based banking corporation. For the past 200 years, Citibank managed to establish a strong connection in more than 1,000 cities and 160 countries around the world15. Back in 2003, Citibank implemented its Environmental and Social Risk Management (ESRM) Policy16. Unlike the other banks and financial institutions, Citibank has been recognized as one of the biggest financiers of CFPP projects worldwide17. Since 2008, Citibank was able to finance almost 150 CFPP projects in US alone18. Even though Citibank plans to sell its shares in the Indonesian coal producer of Adaro Energy, Citibank is very much decided not to remov e or cut down its active participation in the financing process of new CFPP projects19. 2.4 Societe Generale Societe Generale is a French multi-national banking and financial institution that is currently operating for more than 149 years in history20. As part of its environmental sector policy, Societe Generale created its E&S laws and regulations which require all clients to comply with their requirements.

Infusing Technology in the Classroom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Infusing Technology in the Classroom - Essay Example At the departmental meeting a group of teachers presented on more effective means of constructing ‘word walls’ – these are walls of relevant terminology that go up in all the classroom. They opened their presentation with an attention grabbing video and then proceeded to demonstrate ways world walls could be constructed daily through videos instead of the traditional way. There are also other development opportunities. There is even now a site called TeacherTube that is formatted much like YouTube, except that the uploaded videos are a related to teacher development. Many teachers report personally using this for professional development purposes on a number of occasions, and believe that its pool of communal knowledge could be implemented by teachers throughout the nation in developing more efficient means of instruction. Other uses of educational technology through the internet have occurred in the growing use of Social Networking Sites (SNS) among students and teachers. The institution has implemented Ning.com in a number of projects. Ning is a social networking tool that allows students and teachers to create their own social networking site and designated whether it will have a closed or open invitation policy. This technology has been used with great success in a number of classrooms. In some of the humanities classrooms throughout the nation, it has been implemented extremely effectively as students are required to develop a site that corresponds to a particular character, for instance, Hamlet.

The Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Law - Essay Example When Arthur is discharged from hospital he discovers that the landlord of his flat, which he was occupying before the accident, has let the flat to another tenant. Arthur applies to the Local Authority for alternative accommodation but is told that he fails to come within the statutory definition of homlessness. In the above there are several issues that need to be discussed on order to be able to discuss the legal actions that might result from the scenario. The issues that require examination are unfair dismissal with regard to the dismissal from work and dangerous driving on the part of Barry. With regard to the injuries of Arthur caused in the accident there needs to be a discussion on the chain of causation to determine whether Barry should be held liable for the suffering caused or whether Arthur has a claim against the doctor for the negligent treatment. In respect of the flat there needs to be a discussion on breach of contract and unlawful eviction as the landlord has let the flat to someone else in breach of the tenancy agreement. In respect of the homelessness there needs to be an examination of the Housing Act 1996 to determine why Arthur is not regarded as legally homeless. Unfair dismissal as is suggested is when an employer dismisses an employee without good reason. In some instances unfair dismissal can be regarded as automatically unfair. This might be the case in situations where the employer has not followed a proper dismissal procedure before dismissing the employee1. In some claims for unfair dismissal the employee has to have worked for the employer for at least a year whereas in other case the year rule does not apply. In recent times the law has been changed by placing statutory requirements on the employer before the employee can be dismissed. Previous legislation used to regard the employee more as a servant to the employer than a contributing member of the workforce2. Section 94 of the Employment Rights Act

Protein Families Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Protein Families - Coursework Example The analysis of a single gene sequence is done by establishing similarity with other known genes, determining phylogenetic trees and evolutionary relationships; identifying well-defined domains in the sequence, identifying physical properties, binding sites and modification sites comprising of the protein sequence features. For analysis of complete genomes and to determine which gene families are present in the protein and which are not present, several techniques such as location of genes on the chromosomes, correlation with function or evolution, expansion of duplication of gene families, identification of missing enzymes, and presence or absence of biochemical pathways are considered. Large scale events that have affected the evolution of organisms are also studied for genome analysis. When genes or genomes are analyzed with respect to functional data the techniques used are expression analysis, micro array data, mRNA concentration measurements, protein concentration measurements, proteomics, and covalent modifications. For analysis of gene and genomes from a functional perspective, comparative analyses of biochemical pathways are made along with deletion or mutant genotypes vs. phenotypes and identification of essential genes, or genes involved in specific processes in structure and functions of the organisms. Analysis of protein structure and functions are done with the help of computer simulations which are used as tools to investigate protein structure and dynamics under a wide variety of conditions.... When genes or genomes are analysed with respect to functional data the techniques used are expression analysis, micro array data, mRNA concentration measurements, protein concentration measurements, proteomics, and covalent modifications. For analysis of gene and genomes from a functional perspective, comparative analyses of biochemical pathways are made along with deletion or mutant genotypes vs. phenotypes and identification of essential genes, or genes involved in specific processes in structure and functions of the organisms (Lengauer, 2002). Analysis of protein structure and functions are done with the help of computer simulations which are used as tools to investigate protein structure and dynamics under a wide variety of conditions, ranging from ligand binding and enzyme-reaction mechanisms to denaturation (in which protein molecules become biologically inactive) and protein re-folding (Ponder and Case, 2003). In all these simulations, the energy of a protein is represented as a function of its atomic coordinates. These functions are known as force fields as forces on individual atoms are related to the gradient of this potential energy function (Ponder and Case, 2003). The protein force fields are represented using a simple equation that shows the potential energy function (Source, Ponder and Case, 2003) Source, Ponder and Case, 2003 The summations shown here are on bonds, torsions and angles and this equation represents the very basic potential energy function that can reproduce only the essential features of protein energy at an atomic level. According to Ponder and Case (2003), the combination of potential energy function and the other parameters constitute a force field.

Religion and Ethnic Diversity Paper Essay Example for Free

Religion and Ethnic Diversity Paper Essay According to Grace Communion International, people of the black churches believed much like the European Americans. They shared the belief that God’s past dealings give light of future life. The black churches tend to see America as the land of captivity rather than the promise land. The black churches shared similar beliefs to other groups but they did not always see quite the same, black churches tend to hold church into the late afternoon and felt they should try to help all members of the church with all aspects of life, other groups did not hold church for many hours. The historically black churches took it upon themselves to care for blacks, not just spiritually but physically as well because they felt they were discriminated against. The churches made it their job to try to care for the people who had no one else to care for them. Many churches offered services to blacks and whites, even though they did this the blacks were still segregated from the whites. It was standard practice for things of this nature to be done before there were churches built specifically for them, some didn’t even allow their presence. The black churches received a lot of discrimination, hatred, and prejudice from the white community. Often times they were not treated equal to white people as they should have been. I feel that reading a little bit about the black churches has given me a lot more history on it but it has not really helped me to understand the religion more than I already did. I have visited a black church and while they do not believe very different they practice their religion very differently. Black of the African decent are otherwise known as African Americans differ from many other groups based on their hair, skin tones, physical appearance, and the way they talk. Black people even have beliefs about how children should be raised and cared for. They may have similar qualities of other groups but there are many more differences. African Americans have had many, many experiences with other groups and how they differ from them and what qualities they display. Blacks are often discriminated against by many groups for the choices they make and the beliefs they practice. Blacks as a group tend to keep to their own and mind their business. Blacks originally over from Africa bring many things to the American culture such as food, clothing styles, music and much more. The African decent in foods has altered spices and more, and clothing varies by pattern and style of clothing but both have made a rather large impact. For many years in history  blacks were made to be slaves and were bought, sold and bartered for in America and even other countries. They were enslaved for a very long time until the north and south finally went to war over the matter and they gained their American right to freedom. Blacks were also segregated from whites for many years. Blacks were very heavily discriminated against by many groups but especially whites. Whites made enslaving blacks very important in their lives, while whites were the main source of slave drivers, there were also very wealthy black people who chose to have black slaves. Blacks received discrimination from many directions. I feel that I already had a very fair amount of information on blacks and the discrimination and prejudice they have received in the past and continue to receive. Blacks are often not given enough credit for all that they have to put up with, but society in my opinion has lightened up tremendously. Prejudice and discrimination in historically black churches and blacks are very similar, they were made to remain segregated for many years, and they were also discriminated against by many especially the whites, both groups revolve around blacks which make the prejudice and discrimination very similar. The prejudice and discrimination that blacks and the historically black church differ in the fact that the churches were not enslaved. There are not that many differences due to the fact that the churches are for the blacks. There are far more similarities than differences in the groups. From my personal knowledge of these two groups I can conclude that blacks are mostly discriminated against by whites, especially further back in history. Other groups discriminate against blacks and the historically black church but whites much more commonly discriminate against them and are prejudice. The more time that passes the better the circumstances become between groups.

White People and Racial Passing Essay Example for Free

White People and Racial Passing Essay How does Eugenides put racial passing and gender passing in conversation with each other in his novel â€Å"MiddleSex†? Passing means being hidden. People are trying to be accepted into a world with a different identity from their own. Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex presents passing as something else just to be seen as â€Å"normal† or to be accepted into the society and not get discriminated. Racial passing and gender passing were seen many times in this novel within the characters. Not only were they seen in the novel, they were also seen through two articles that we discussed in class. Those articles were â€Å"Who’s the fairest of them all? † by Jill Nelson and â€Å"Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time has Come† by Leslie Feinberg. Racial passing and gender passing are in relation to each other because they are both showing the sense of people passing for something that in reality they are not. â€Å"Who’s the fairest of them all?† by Jill Nelson claims that black girls and women can never obtain the true ingredient of female beauty in America, which is being white. The article states that a black woman’s natural hair is basically seen as unacceptable. That in order for it to be accepted it should be relaxed, straightened, or some would even have to put weave in. Long and straight hair is what is desirable to the society and it sends the message to black women that because they do not have the silky long and straight hair that they are known to not be desirable. It explains why most black women have extensions and perm their hair to be socially accepted. Even the black models that are out there in the world today do not completely portray a natural black woman. For example, Naomi Campbell has weave in all the time and wears colored contact lenses. The media portrays a certain identity for black women. Nelson says in this article that she cut all her hair off and got so many weird looks because it was not known as â€Å"normal† for black women to walk around in their natural bodies. This article ties into the topic of racial passing and gender passing because black women try to fit in this culture to be accepted and they feel the only way they would be accepted is by changing their look to be looked at as being desirable. The true beauty of what is fundamentally correct in America is whiteness. This is as if they are trying to pass as being white, just as Desdemona in the novel tried to pass as being a different culture just to fit in and to be able to make it somewhere in the society for her family.

The Inclusion For Special Education Needs Students Education Essay

The Inclusion For Special Education Needs Students Education Essay Introduction This essay is divided in to three main parts: the first part discusses the inclusion for special education needs students and specified on inclusion for students with ASD and discuss the role of inclusive policies in school, school managers and staff in generating a positive experience for autistic students; the second part discusses some of the barriers to learning that students with autism might have: including their social impairments, language development and some of other symptoms they might have such as obsession with routine. The third part illustrates how these barriers might be overcome and gives more then one solution such as training for skills and attitude for teachers and students. Making the school experience a positive one for all students with learning difficulties and practically for students with ASD Inclusion is the right for all students regardless of their background or disability and to be given an equal opportunity with non-disabled people in the society inclusion is a process of meshing general and special education reform initiative and strategies to achieve in order to achieve a unified system of public education that incorporates all children and youth as active, fully participating members of the school community, that views diversity as the and that achieve a high quality education for each student by assuring meaningful effective teaching, and necessary support for each student (Ceri,1997, p.53) . Including students with learning difficulties requires supporting them with the services they need to enable them to be included successfully in school. The supporting efforts included forming inclusive policy in schools to give the right for each individual to be included and have equal opportunities (Armstrong, Armstrong, Barton, 2000); trained teachers in dealing with student with learning difficulties; taking into consideration the individuals needs and try to meet them (Lewis, Norwich 2005); having an additional support team in place with an adequate supportive framework, including regular special education assessments in order to assess the progress of the student and to adjust, as necessary, their educational need and the additional support they receive. Managers in schools play a significant role as well in making the school more positive experience for pupils with learning difficulties (Homas, Walker, Webb, 1998). In a line with that, each school should include encouraging p olicy for involving parents in the learning process for their children as this a crucial factor to ensure successful inclusion and then successful leaning to the students (Hornby, 1995;Ceri, 1997). Policy and curriculum Regarding to the school policy, the aim of inclusive policy is to prevent the marginalization for people who experience unfavourable circumstances in life (Vitello, Mithaug, 1998, p24). The role of Inclusive policy in school is to offer educational opportunities to each individual, taking into consideration all their different needs and regardless of their disability, culture or race. . Educations system should be formed on the basis of meeting each individual needs as some students are vary in their needs. A school policy should take into consideration how to address the need for the entire student in the classroom such as gifted and talented students or student with learning difficulties such as children with ASD and apply inclusive curriculum to meet such these students need. In terms of inclusive curriculum the national curriculum council (1990) defined three main roles for developing inclusive curriculum: setting suitable learning challenges. This means that the teacher should facilitate an experience of success by providing students suitable learning for their abilities, not harder and not easier: Responding to pupils diversity learning needs; teacher have to recognize their students need and try to meet all of them; Overcoming potential barriers to learning and assessment for individuals and groups for pupils: some individuals have a special requirement for learning and assessment and if such requirements have not been addressed then students may fail in their learning which could create barriers to learning for them. Therefore, teachers have to meet all these requirements and assess the students progression in the learning process. (National curriculum council, 1990, p.18). The role of school managers To implement inclusion in schools, schools have to consider inclusion as one of the main goal that school have to achieve, with the importance of principals leading the school toward inclusive setting. The school managers have a huge responsibility to ensure inclusion practice in school. They have to make sure that; the inclusion procedures are followed in schools and all the inclusive policies are applied in the classroom. They have to assess whether their staff needs for any further training in order to create a positive learning experience for student with learning difficulties (Eaney, 2006). In line with that, managers have to support the communication between the stockholders inside the school such as between special education coordinator and the subject teacher as it is key element in successful inclusion, as one student stated: It is the teachers [that] are rubbish they know about their subject but they know nothing about us with Aspergers syndrome (Umphrey, Lewis, 2008, p.1 35) this expression from a student in mainstream school who felt that teacher does not understand him. In this case the teachers lack of experience and information may cause the problem. However, this would not put the responsibility away from the teacher but it shows the importance of the communication between the staff in the school for better understanding for students with learning difficulties ((Eaney, 2006; Umphrey, et al., 2008). (Kugelmass, Ainscow, 2005) argued, head teachers and other school managers as leaders are expected to make commitments to all their students, Educating every child is not just about SATs or GCSEs or all of that standards written agenda that the government is so obsessed with, its about turning them [out] as human beings and developing of the skills to enable them to go on learning through their lives and what it is to be a member of the community and so on and so on. (Umphrey,et al., 2008, p.134) for example. A school leader made this commitment. As such, this attitude for school mangers reflects a positive attitude toward inclusion and it is encouraging for school staff to meet their students needs which would lead to here they treat me just like all the other pupils, but also provide the backup that I need to (Thomas, Vaughan, 2004, p.180). A student with learning difficulties in mainstream school made this statement, as it is the main aim for inclusion to give the all the students equal opportunities for learning. As such, school managers are fundamental in determining the success of any mainstreaming school experience for a student with learning difficulties. On the other hand, the opposite is true, If a school manager, or head teacher shows any sign of a negative attitude towards special needs students, this will reflect this negative attitude in the inclusion for student with learning difficulties in school, I think one of the major difficulties is that the senior management team dont really understand about these childrens needs(Umphrey, et al., 2008, p134). This statement was taken from special education coordinator in mainstream school when the head teacher has a negative attitude toward inclusion, indeed in such condition this may lead to exclusion and not inclusion (Umphrey, et al., 2008). Concerning the head teacher negative attitude toward inclusion and special for children with ASD, Praisner (2003) illustrates that such negative attitudes for school leaders could lead him to fail to provide a suitable educational programme and fail to provide the students with the additional services they might need such as, support staff. As co nsequences a negative learning experience for children with learning difficulties might develop. The role of teachers In line with head teacher attitude toward children with learning difficulties, Campbell (2006) argued that, attitude of teachers toward children with learning difficulties is an important in creating a positive learning experience in the school for them. This is for several reasons such as the influence that teachers have over the students attitude and their academic attainment. Indeed, Teachers hold a huge responsibility in making inclusion a successful experience for children with learning difficulties. (Riseser, 2004) summaries teachers responsibilities as followed; teacher have to plan their lessons in a advance in order to ensure a satisfactory improvement for each child in the class room; making the atmosphere of the classroom challenging, encouraging and enjoyable for all the students; seeking each student needs and adapting a suitable teaching methods for individuals; providing easy access to the learning resources and encouraging the student to engage in school activities to gether; monitoring students progressions. In summary, including an inclusive policy in school is significant in making school a positive learning experience for pupils with learning difficulties. Thomas, Loxley (2007) claim that it is important to reform educational policy to ensure it dictates that all members of society should be treated in the same manner and offered the same opportunities in life and this policy should be applied in schools as a part of the society. However I firmly believe developing and maintaining an inclusive policy in schools is a crucial for the inclusion process but that would be conditional upon the practitioner attitude toward students with learning difficulties in the school such as and the degree of training they have had to dealing with these students. They may accept students with learning difficulties in the school physically but do not fully include them Some teachers ignore kids with learning disabilities altogether even though they are in the lessons they are stood separately(Umphrey, et al., 2008, p.134) this statement was taken from learning support assistance in mainstream school. Therefore the responsibility falls on the managers, teachers and all the stockholders in the school in their attitude and training to meet all students needs and to make their inclusion a successful learning experience for them. Inclusion for students with ASD Inclusion for students with ASD is not different from inclusion for students with learning difficulties, which was discussed in the previous part. However, taking into consideration their specific characteristics is important in making schools a positive learning experience for them. ASD is a lifelong developmental disability that affects the way in which a person communicates and related to people around them (Wall, 2010.p.7). The term autism derived form Greek word autos which means self and it was first identified by Kanner in 1943 and then by Hans Asperger in 1944 while they were studying children behaviours (Worth, Rynolds, 2008) and both of these researchers believed that children are born with it. The cause for this disorders is wildly believe to have a biological basis, however the research in this area is still ongoing (Sugden, 2010). (Barnard, Prior, Potter, 2000) carried out a study about the notion of inclusion for autism and they examined this idea in wider context, which include the society and arrived to inclusion can not rely on the interest, commitment and enthusiasm of one or two individuals (Barnard et al, 2000, p.12). They emphasised the essential role for every individual who involved with the child to support the inclusion process. However, that does not mean involving some of the individuals and not all of them would result failing in including for students with ASD. Sugden (2010) stated that involving and training each individual in the school or in the society in which the child is involved in some manner, in a real situation may seem hard to achieve. In terms of education for children with ASD, Moore (2007) stated that autistic children are academically able to learn. As a consequence, he assumed that autistic students should have the ability to cope in mainstream schools. Furthermore, Jordan (2008) added that education should be a useful therapeutic approach for children with ASD, however that would depend on many factors such as, training teacher to teach student with ASD which could make mainstream schools positive learning experiences for children with ASD; using Information and communication technologies (ICT) in teaching pupils with ASD, which could help students with ASD to learn; for students with severe autism, providing them with specialist support may be useful, but that should not segregate them; a suitable curriculum and teaching methods for students with ASD. However, Jordan (2008) claimed that, teaching autistic students is not an easy task for the teacher, as it is, learning for them in our school system is hard and that would be for some of the difficulties they have which will be illustrated in the next part of the assignment such as, difficulties in communication with other people (Umphrey, et al., 2008); the preference for routine (Moore, 2007), predictability and low sensory stimulation; preferred learning style which is sometimes challenging for teachers to teach these students some skills (Jordan, 2005). The next paragraphs will illustrate these symptoms in details. Barriers to inclusion for students with ASD ASD is a lifelong developmental disability as it was illustrated in the definition in the previous part and it is characterised by impairments in social interaction, social imagination and social communication, with these impairments occurring to different degrees in different individuals, leading Wing and Gould (1979) to the establishment of term autistic spectrum disorder to describe a wide range of abilities and disabilities caused by deficiencies in these areas (Umphrey, et al., 2008; Good Schools Guide, 2010). ASD influences individuals in many ways, such as their language development, their ability to interact with other people and the ways in which they deal with routines. They may experience impairment in their language, and it is likely that children with ASD may have delays when they start to speak compared to typically developed children. Even in the usage of language, once their language is developed, it may be not as typically developed child in term of vocabulary they use and in the way they speak (Worth, et al., 2008; Good Schools Guide, 2010). Children with Autism have a problem in developing social relationships, as they can fail to understand the social interaction. Moreover, It is difficult for autistic children to use or even understand, what do social cues are such as non-verbal signals or eye contact mean. This may cause the children with ASD to misunderstand the others and may react improperly to them. Furthermore, children with autism have a deficit in empathy, which is the ability to understand peoples feeling and understand their problem (Moore, 2007; Baron, Cohen, 2008; Umphrey, et al , 2008; Good Schools Guide, 2010) In regarding to the lack of communication skills in children with ASD which could affect their interaction with the people around them, Batten (2005) stated that the inequalities in social interaction and communication between children with ASD and their peers can lead to frustration, bullying and low self-esteem (Batten, 2005, p.93). Since, their lack of understanding of normal forms of communication, such as verbal, non-verbal and cues, it is necessary to communicate with these children in very literal ways in order to avoid any misunderstanding to them, which may cause confusion for them and then might lead to anxiety or frustration. As consequences for this frustration or anxiety, students with ASD may demonstrate different types of behaviours than other children exhibit such as self-injurious behaviours or repetitive movement behaviours, which may affect their interaction with the others and then their inclusion in the school (Batten, 2005). In addition, children with ASD are bound by routines and sameness, such as their need for routine in their everyday lifes activities, such as in playing or in educational time. They do not like the routine to be absent from their activities as they resist any change even to their physical environment such as, in bedroom or classroom and if that happens for any reasons, this may cause for them frustration and distress. Autistic children have imagination impairment and they may engage in doing the same activities such as playing in the same game, repetitively, without showing any lack of interest (Moore, 2007; Baron, et al, 2008; Umphrey, et al, 2008). These kind of characteristics for children with Autism which may lead them to prefer some particular subjects in schools such as since and mathematics for the natural of this subject. Since they have some rules need be followed, at the same time this may lead them to dislike some interpretive subjects such as history (Good Schools Guide, 2010). All of these symptoms for Autistic children verify that they may experience difficulties in learning in the school, beside the fact that some Autistic children also have concurrent attention deficit disorders and/or other conditions, such as epilepsy or dyspraxia, which means that they are faced with significant barriers to their learning (Reid, 2005). However, a huge improvement can be made with autistic children and this improvement can be made through educating them and providing them the suitable learning environment which will require removing the barriers they may face in their learning, which may contribute to their development (Sugden , 2010). On the other hand, students with ASD have strengths and not only weakness. In terms of education some individuals with Aspergers syndrome show a unique performance in particular subjects such as Mathematics or Computer since, and not only in education but also in working life, some companies prefer employees with Aspegers syndrome for their stickiness with routines and obeying the rules. Therefore, educators have to take that into consideration and try to support their talents (Sugden , 2010). The next section will look at the ways in which a child living with ASD can be helped to overcome the barriers that they might face in schools. Overcoming the barriers to learning faced by students with ASD There are multiple issues relating to include children with autism in school, In the top of what have been mentioned about their characteristics, teachers understanding of the disability and their capability to work with children with ASD has a significant impact on including children with ASD (Batten,2005; Reid,2005). An autistic child goes to the front of the dinner queue. A teacher standing nearby tells him not to barge in. The pupil becomes anxious but does not move. The teacher insists that the pupil must not jump the queue. The pupil becomes more and more agitated and hits the teacher (Batten, 2005, p.94), This student was excluded from the school for his behaviour, whereas, this kind of behaviour would be as a result for the students inability to manage and understand this kind of social situation. To avoid exclusion for children with ASD from schools, Schools managers and staff may have to equip themselves and their students by sufficient knowledge to deal with this kind of s ituation in a suitable way. That may happen by training the staff skills and attitude to understand the ASD and how to deal with children with autism in any situation and training the student in how to behave in the classroom and in a social situation (Batten, 2005; Reid, 2005). This could promote their learning and overcome the barriers they may face in mainstream schools. Teachers attitude and training Inclusion for student with ASD requires teachers with an inclusive attitude because they play an important role in including children with learning difficulties such as ASD (Ried, 2007). Some school administrators and teachers are in disagreement with the idea of including pupils with ASD as they claim that, the characteristics that children with ASD demonstrate such as, their inappropriate behaviours would not make their mainstreaming a positive learning experience for them (Connor, 2000, 2006). However, Waddington and Reed, (2005) argue that, it is the teachers negative attitude rather than the students capability to study in mainstream school or the school ability to include them. 2006). It is, therefore, essential that teachers have a positive attitude toward children with ASD. As Cook (2001) argues, however, this can be influenced by different aspects, such as the amount of experience that teachers have in dealing with autistic students, the level of training the teachers have received, the preparation that teachers do in order to meet their autistic students needs in the class room and also the severity with which the autistic child presents themselves. Teachers attitudes to students with ASD is, thus, made up of a variety of different factors, each of which determines how, overall, the teacher deals with the presence of a student with ASD in their classroom. Training teachers is an essential factor for including children with autism, as many teachers are not aware about the spectrum and dont have the ability to deal with children in the spectrum. Indeed, children with autism are varied in their needs (Sugden, 2010), it is, thus, important that teachers are trained to meet all the needs for students with ASD, and in the skills that they may need to deal with these special needs, in order that they can offer a good teaching to these students. In regard to teachers training, Reid (2005) stated that One of the key aspects to ensuring that inclusion is effective in terms of practice is to ensure the tasks that are set for students and the objectives that have to be met actually match the students needs and, importantly, that students have the means to achieve these needs and outcomes (Reid, 2005.P107). Indeed, teachers would be required to have certain skills in order to deal with children with ASD as they have to identify the individuals needs in order to meet them and then, making schools a positive leaning experience for pupils with ASD as they have different needs then the other students do. (Lewis, et al., 2005) put forward three forms of educational needs, the first one is common needs, which are the needs that are shared by all the students; second one, specific needs, which means the needs for groups of students have the same characteristics; third one, unique needs, which are the needs for each individual and not s imilar to any other one. As the idea of individual needs or what is so called distinct needs position in terms of mainstream educational provision for students with ASD is gathering support (Hmphrey, et al , 2008, p.133). Considering the teachers skills, Marks, Shaw-Hegwer, Schrader, Longaker, Peters, Powers, Levine, (2003) argued that the use of antecedent management strategies in the classroom can make it as a positive learning environment for student with ASD and assisting the teacher to increase the chance for learning and reduce the students challenging behaviours. Indeed, by addressing the problems that prevent students with ASD from learning in the classroom such as their challenging behaviour, their chance of leaning in the classroom would increase. As Market et al. (2003) argued, most of autistic students would be able to understand the content of the lessons when their problem are accommodated. In addition, students with ASD can be easily become overwhelmed by the large amount of knowledge and information they may receive in the classroom and they may not be able to recognise the most important information during the lesson in the classroom. Therefore, it is fundamental that teachers have to stress and repeat the important part of the lesson for them (Marks et al., 2003). There are many methods teachers could use to overcome this problem for these students, for example, teachers may use electronic equipment such as a recording machine and videotaping, as it enables the students to access the information as many times as they want. Moreover, teachers may use visual aids such as graphics or mind maps, to help the student visualise the information of the lesson, which can lead to better understanding for the students (Marks et al., 2003). Providing ASD students with some electronic equipment or other methods for learning such as visual aids can be very useful for students living with ASD and may help them to perform better in the classroom (Marks et al., 2003). However, teachers should ensure not to place a very high expectation on Autistic students, because if they could not meet these expectation, this may lead them to anxiety and frustration, which could lead them to demonstrate some impropriate reaction such as, self- injury behaviours or anxiety as a student with ASD once said when he faced anxiety in mainstream school Im upset every second, every second Ive got tears in my eyes (Humphrey, 2008, p.43). One of the major issues that autistic students may face is becoming familiar with the routine of the lesson as students with ASD require always a specific stricter to their activities, which requires that all information is presented in a controlled manner (Marks et al., 2003). Reducing ambiguity is the key element to mange any negative behaviour that might arise as a consequence of the ASD and so lesson planning in a detailed manner can allow the symptoms of the ASD to be controlled, as students know what will be coming in the lesson and what is expected of them (Marks et al., 2003). Training for students with ASD In addition, training students with autism to cope in school is an important for them to experience a positive inclusion in mainstream school setting. This may happen by priming Autistic students to what they could expect in their school time and providing them a timetable of what they should expect every day, every week and every term, which is a good technique of providing these students with antecedent management. Preparing students with ASD to position themselves and assimilate the required information before the beginning of the lesson may allow them to be symptom-free, as this preparation would give them time to recognise and understand what is required from them to do, which may enable them to come to the class, and their school experience, relatively anxiety-free (Marks et al., 2003). Indeed, preparing students with ASD in this way could be important and fruitful in managing their symptom and as consequences that may contribute to a positive learning experience for student wi th ASD. Moreover, as it has been discussed that, individuals with ASD have a social impairment, which can become main barriers for their inclusion in school. As they find social cues are not understandable for them such as body language. Myles and Simpson (2001) called these cues a hidden curriculum. Students have to be trained to understand these social cues and how to understand and respond to any social interaction. (Humphrey, 2008) illustrated one popular method to help autistic students to cope in social situations, which is social stories. The social skills simply describes a situation, skill, or concept in terms of relevant social cues, perspectives, and common responses in a specifically defined style and format (Humphrey, 2008, p.44) and the goal for these stories is to enhance children (change to childrens) understanding to social cues and interaction as it equips the children by some skills, which they can use them in interaction with other people (Humphrey, 2008). The role of school managers Furthermore, school managers have a crucial role to play in including children with autism as it was discussed earlier in this assignment. (Beaney, 2006) classified the school leaders responsibility and put them into four groups. The first one would be the leader positive attitude and their commitment toward inclusion, which can influence the staff and other students as well; communication, empower the school staff and give them the confidence to deal with students with ASD is an important factor in making the school a good learning experience for them, as some school leaders state that Give confidence teachers flourish when they know they are doing well. (Beaney, 2006, p.20); Approach which is the responsibility for school leaders to be in the front position in implementing inclusion and not only just to supervise it; development implementing inclusion in school and providing children with ASD the service they need is really important, however, developing these services, when it is required, as some of the students may develop their symptoms and then developing the degree of training that the teacher has in order to cope with mainstreaming autistic students successfully (Beaney, 2006). In terms of development, school managers should support continuously training courses for their staff, a week every year for example, to ensure a positive attitude for teachers toward children with ASD and to develop their basic skills in dealing with students with ASD, and support any special courses for particular teachers, special education teachers for example, in the schools which enable the teachers to be highly skilled in dealing with autistic students and keep the other staff always up to date with latest information about this spectrum and how to deal with it (Sugden, 2010). All-in-all Cutler (2000) discuss, in order to make the inclusion for autistic children a positive learning experience, a wide range of criteria need to be followed by the school, including a positive commitment made by the managers and the staff to include autistic children in regular classes; an awareness of the managers and staff about the need for the autistic students, ongoing, training for the staff to deal with these needs and continuous training for the student to enable them to overcome their barriers to learning (Humphrey, 2008) ; making links with the family and additional support staff as to the objectives and need of the student (Connor, 1996) as a parent for autistic child state Its good for parents and practitioners to come together and to hear each others views and frustrations. (Beaney, 2006, p.37). When theses conditions are achieved then inclusion for student with ASD is more likely to happen. Inclusion Firstly this essay discusses how the school experience can be made a positive one for students with ASD, including a discussion of the role of inclusive policies in school, school managers and staff in generating this positive experience and It was shown the important of them in making school a positive learning experience for student with learning difficulties such as those with ASD. Then the barriers to learning for autistic students as a result of their condition were discussed, such as difficulties in social interactions, with communication and problems with frustration and anxiety, which may lead the child to demonstrate some extreme behaviours such as self-injury which would be disruptive to their learning in the school. For these barriers some solutions were put forward such as training attitude and skills for teacher and students, accommodating the needs of students with ASD via antecedent management and training the student how to overcome some of the barriers they may face.

Free Pride and Prejudice Essays: Characters Guilty of Pride and Prejudice :: Pride Prejudice Essays

Characters Guilty of Pride and Prejudice Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen marvelously portrays the life of a middle-class country family in England during the early nineteenth century. The family, the Bennets, is presently engaged in finding suitable (rich) husbands for their five daughters. The main character, Elizabeth Bennet, is an intelligent, witty, and opinionated young woman. She has already rebuffed one would-be suitor because she felt he was unfit, and in this scene, she turns down another, Fitzwilliam Darcy, because she feels that he is arrogant and cruel. This scene portrays a lively exchange between the two, with Elizabeth accusing him of prejudice and Darcy charging her with being full of pride. The scene opens with Darcy entering the room where Elizabeth was reading. After inquiring about her health, he pauses for a few moments and then suddenly declares, "You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you" (Austen, 142) He then proceeds to tell her all the things that are wrong with her family and her own "inferiority" (142). Despite all this, he still loves her. Darcy seems sure she will accept, but Elizabeth's dislike of his pride and arrogance make it impossible for her to accede. They then proceed to enter into a heated argument and each volley cutting insults upon the other. Austen's wording during this exchange adds to the liveliness of this quarrel. Elizabeth first disparages his proposal by saying, "Why with so evident a design of offending and insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character" (143) Darcy's proposal was a far cry from romantic and it convinced Elizabeth that D arcy wants a wife inferior to him, something she would never stand for. She goes on to accuse him of being prejudiced against another by laying charge after charge upon him and concluding with, "You have done all this! and yet you can treat the mention of his misfortunes with contempt and ridicule" (144). He retorts, "These offenses might have been overlooked, had not your pride been hurt by my honest confessions of the scruples that had long prevented my forming any serious design" (144). She counters by saying, "You are mistaken, Mr. Darcy, if you suppose that the mode of your declaration affected me" (145). She goes on to say, "You could not have made me the offer of your hand in any possible way that would have tempted me to accept it" (145).