Graceland by Paul Simon free essay sample

In Paul Simon’s Graceland, you can find everything from rock, a cappella, isicathamiya, pop, and mbaqanga. With this CD, Paul Simon hoped to spread world music types to other countries. He wanted to show the world styles of music from other cultures that you don’t hear every day. Warner Bros. Records was tentative in releasing this album at first, seeing as how it was primarily recorded in South Africa, and with some African musicians. However, when the Album was released it was highly praised and became the number one album in many countries and Paul Simon’s best selling CD. Through this album he showed many people the style of African music and a piece of their culture. Paul Simon got his musical beginnings as a teenager, along with Art Garfunkel, who he partnered with and became very popular. Afterwards he started producing Albums by himself and has made many since. We will write a custom essay sample on Graceland by Paul Simon or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He will occasionally pair back up with Garfunkel for musical performances. He is presently on tour with Art Garfunkel in Australia and New Zealand. The Album is very well rounded. It has a little of everything. Some of the songs are slow and flowing. Others are upbeat and catchy. His song â€Å"The Boy in the Bubble† almost has a philosophical poetic feeling to it. â€Å"You Can Call Me Al† was one of the most popular songs from the album at the time of its release in many countries. â€Å"Homeless† is entirely a cappella and features the African singing group, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and many of the lyrics are African. However, my personal favorite song is â€Å"I Know What I Know,† and its charismatic upbeat tune and likeable phrases, â€Å"it’s the things I keep in the back of my head.† For a one sentence summary of the Album: A beautiful, poetic, sympathetic arrangement of musical cacophony and cadence that makes â€Å"the days of miracle and wonder† personified in sound. Paul Simon, Graceland, Warner Bros. Records, 1986.CD.

Cognitive Dissonance and the movie 2001 essays

Cognitive Dissonance and the movie 2001 essays The argument that the paper states is that a persons wants and desires influence more than just behavior. They influence his/her thinking and even his/her power of perception. The most important point made is that when a person is confronted by ideas or facts that are against their pre-existing notions and ideas, what results is cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is referred to as a sort of static in the human psyche. This static caused by cognitive dissonance has the power to distort or even block perception. When disturbing information creates cognitive dissonance, the static discredits the information, so that a person does not feel compelled to cope with it, even if it is true. Cognitive dissonance is a very powerful self-preservation mechanism that can completely override the human desire for truth. The movie 2001 illustrates the points the author is trying to make. The fact that the geometric slab is kept secret is an example of the potential for cognitive dissonance. The government feared that if the Earths inhabitants learned of it without adequate preparation and conditioning, widespread culture shock and social disorientation would inevitably ensue. This disturbing information would have created a cognitive dissonance with the earths inhabitants; the people would simply discredit the evidence so that they would not have to cope with the far-reaching effects. I agree with the argument made about cognitive dissonance and the illustration with the movie. I dont really believe the producers of the film 2001 intentionally set out to make a film tackling the psychological issue of cognitive dissonance, but somehow stumbled upon it. ...

Living experience of a person of another race Essay

Living experience of a person of another race - Essay Example Additionally the book brings out an aspect of female discrimination and how they were not given a position in the society. If I was born black and was in the shoe of the young black lady, I think my life would have been harder. People of color were discriminated more that the Asian, in fact, the Asians faced discrimination mainly because they were thought to be brighter than the white. Secondly, the white felt that Asians would take over. As much as all immigrants faced racial discrimination, the black people were more oppressed, because of the color and the fact that they were seen as illiterate hence considered inferior, especially the female. If I was in a colored skin, I would not have an opportunity to experience some opportunities because black women were not even give a chance by their community to have a profession. Unlike the Asian where the society encouraged their girls to study so that they can be able provide for their family financially. Asians also believed in a strong culture that emphasis on the connection between efforts and achievement. Being born black especially as women one was reduced to a state of enslavement working as a salve, nannies in their master homes and in fields. The pay was minuscule. Black people were victims of racism, chauvinism, and manipulation specially the black woman. Therefore, they had no voice in the society and the black men also did not give them the chance and considered them as inferior too, and their role was to look after their family. That is why in the book Bell narrated how it was sickening to have to do things to please his brother. This demoralized the young black girls since they did not have a role model in the society, neither were they give a chance to go to school. Furthermore, they did not have people to push them to acquire good education as the Asian. Most grew up knowing

Governmental Program Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Governmental Program - Research Paper Example Part B also called medical Insurance helps cover doctors’ and other health care providers, services, outpatient care and home health care. It also covers preventive services. Here most people pay a standard Medicare part B Premium. Medicare part C also known as Medicare advantage offers health plan options run by Medicare –approved private insurance companies. Part D also called Medicare prescription drug coverage helps cover the cost of prescription drugs. It also helps in lowering the cost of prescription drugs and shield against higher cost (CMS, 2011). Financial Compliance Medicare spending is a large component of the federal budget and national health spending, in 2006 the Medicare benefit payments totaled $374 billion, in 2007 Medicare spending accounted for 12% of the federal budget and the same year spending on Medicare benefits was 20% of the nation’s total health care sending (Kaiser, 2007). Medicare is financed majorly by payroll tax revenues, general revenues and premiums paid by beneficiaries. Part A is financed by a dedicated tax of 2.9% of earnings paid by employers and their employees. Part B is financed through a general revenue and premiums paid by beneficiaries. ... its part has ensured that they comply with all the laws put in place to ensure that the money generated from revenue streams is spent on the right services (Piper, 2011). In order to prevent fraud, wastage and abuse in Medicare the department of Human and Health services has instituted the office of the Inspector general and another department that works jointly with the HHS called the Fraud Prevention and enforcement team (HEAT). The two offer compliance training programs such as seminars, training materials and webcasts (Piper, 2011). To ensure that there is compliance another program was begun called the Senior Medicare Patrol program which aims at educating the older adults on Medicare benefits how to prevent detect and report health care fraud. The program recruits volunteers nationwide in the effort to empower older adults to protect themselves from fraud. The programs initiatives are funded by the US administration on Aging (HHS & DOJ, 2011). This program together with the HEA T task force has ensured that they reduce false billings that. This year alone it was able to charge 91 defendants for participating in Medicare fraud schemes that involved approximately $295 million in false billings. Although Medicare as a government agency has complied with all the laws pertaining to financial compliance and used the money they have been allocated wisely, there exist insurance agencies who work on behalf of the Agency that take part in fraud schemes in order to taint the name of the Agency. False billings are a common phenomenon and this has made Medicare to look into ways of ensuring that they stop this kind of fraud. Otherwise all departments have complied with the law (HHS & DOJ, 2011). Economy and efficiency Medicare is considered more economical and efficient in

401k pension Plan Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

401k pension Plan - Research Proposal Example It is a retirement savings plan and its only funds are through the employee’s contributions which are done at the agreed time period and also may involve some contributions from the employer. The advantage with this pension plan is that the contributions which are made to it are from the pre-tax salary hence meaning that they are portable. Over the past decades, it has had a lot of importance in most of the employees working in the private sectors in US. It is due to the increased demand by most of the employees working in the private sectors that it has served as the most popular defined contribution plan which having the largest number of participants and assets. For example, research tells us that by the year 2006, around 50 million people that is the American workers participated fully at the 401K action plan and by the end of the same years, it was also found that the number of invested assets also grew hence representing 15% of all the retirement assets in US hence this in terms of US dollars can be around $2.7 trillion in assets only. The 401K has its rules and regulations are these rules are constructed by the US tax code hence this pension plan takes its name from the Internal Revenue Code of the year 1978 that created them. So you will find that the activities of the pension plan can be regulated by the employee benefits security administration in US department of labor. (Ben, 2005). At 401(K) investment plan, you find that there are a number of investing options whereby the participants in this case can fall in the category of their choice. You find that these investments options are grouped in to eight categories. One of the investment options is the equity funds whereby under this investment, it only involves a pooled investments inform of stocks only and an example of such investments may include stock like life insurance, some

Development of a Resilient Wireless Sensor Network

Development of a Resilient Wireless Sensor Network Development of a Resilient Wireless Sensor Network for Real-Time Outdoor Applications Maneesha Vinodini Ramesh, Parvathy Rajan, Divya Pullarkat Abstract Wireless sensor networks that are deployed for any outdoor applications face the challenge of link variations. The outdoor sensor network would be affected because of unpredictable changes in the environment. The effect can vary accordingly with a single hop and a multi hop sensor network. In this paper, we analyze the causes of poor link quality, received signal strength and packet reception rate due to factors such as shadowing, fading, foliage, and rainfall. We use the packet-oriented simulation tool, Qualnet 5.0.2 to create a simulation framework. This enables us to observe the effects of the signal quality separately and independently after the environmental factors. The results developed from the simulation are tested and assessed with the data received from the real time wireless sensor network to monitor landslides located at Munnar, India. Keywords— wireless sensor networks, shadowing, fading, link quality, received signal strength, rate of packet loss, path loss, fault tolerant I. Introduction Wireless sensor networks are extensively used for environmental monitoring, landslide detection, disaster management etc. These networks are mostly deployed in outdoor scenarios. These outdoor deployments of wireless sensor networks experience intermittent loss of link due to rainfall, foliage, fading and shadowing. This will affect the reliability of the network due to reduction in the packet reception rate. Hence outdoor wireless sensor networks needs an efficient fault tolerant mechanism capable to deal with the dynamic changes in the environment. For the design and development of a fault tolerant network it is highly necessary to accurately predict the expected dynamic changes in the environment and its effects on the network. The dynamic changes in an outdoor environment are due to rainfall rate, fog, vegetation, reflection, diffraction, shadowing etc. Due to these effects we cannot assure a line of sight path in every scenario. The non line of sight path causes the signal to degrade and cause the low quality in the transmission. To avoid the degradation of the link quality this work aims to determine the causes of link variation and the network parameters that get affected due to this change. Existing empirical models for rainfall, foliage, shadowing and fading are used to analyze the cause and effect relation using Qualnet software simulator. These analysis results will be used for developing an adaptive routing protocol that will increase the reliability of the system. To find out how the environmental factors are affecting the signal quality a simulation model was done in Qualnet. By integrating the models in the Qualnet simulator the impact of different rate of packet transmissions were analyzed with respect to path loss and packet reception rate variations. It is observed that rainfall rate and propagation distance through foliage above a particular value affects the signal quality drastically than any other propagational parameters. To investigate the accuracy of the simulated model, data from the real-time wireless sensor network system for landslide monitoring, deployed at Munnar, India was correlated with the simulated result and it showed about 95% similarity. In this paper section II describes the related works. The propagational challenges prone to the wireless sensor networks are described in section III. The software architecture design used for the simulation is shown in section IV. The simulation results with various cases were shown in section V. Section VI conveys the conclusion and future works. II. Related Works: In [1] Margham et al. the effect of rainfall rate on the link quality was analyzed and the result shown that there is a negative impact on the link quality. But the authors did not considered or investigated any effect of path loss, shadowing and fading effects. In [2] Boccur et al. a statistical analyzing on the link quality estimation is done by building a software bench marking tool called RadialE where the authors failed to discuss on the dynamic change of environment effect on the link quality. In [6] Ahmed et al. the authors discussed the accuracy of the existing path loss model with linear regression method on the measured data. Then concluded that a site specific information is necessary for the deployment of the wireless sensor networks. In [3] Ren et al. the effect of Rayleigh fading and shadowing was done by simulation in the opnet simulator. The effect of the path loss was also optimized through adapting the path loss exponent values. In [8]Dasarathan et al. the signal st rength measurements were taken with path loss, shadowing and fading models. Done with InSSIDer simulator to take different signal strength values on outdoor and indoor environments at different locations. In [9] Erceg et al. a path loss model and path loss exponent model based determination of signal strength was done for the deployment at outdoor. Putra et al. [15]explains that a signal is affected with the effect of vegetation and wind. A statistical analyzing is done. The linearity relationship between the received signal strength and link quality is calculated in Ekka [4] et al. In [7]Nose et al. a signal strength based route construction is done to tolerate fault in the network. In most of the existing works the network performance was discussed either through any propagation effects, a combined analyzing is not done so far. This paper analyzed the combined effect of the propagational effects in the network quality. III. Propagational challenges: The wireless sensor networks deployed in the outdoor can be affected by various propagational challenges such as path loss, fading, shadowing etc. Most of these propagational effects are mainly due to the environmental factors such as rainfall, foliage, fog, wind etc. The effects of fading, shadowing, path loss, rain and foliage in WSN are studied in this work that are discussed in below sections. A. Foliage model selection: Most of the empirical foliage loss models for the propagation path are exponential decay models, such as Weissberger model ,ITU Recommendation(ITU-R) model COST235 model, ITU-R model, Maximum attenuation (MA) model, Nonzero gradient (NZG) model, and Dual Gradient (DG) model [5]. In general, the exponential decay model has the following form [5]: (1) Where A, B, and C are the parameters from different experiments with regression techniques. The gradient models, the NZG model [5] was proposed by Seville to rectify the zero gradient problem associated with the MA model [5]. However the NZG and MA model are not taking the frequency information as inputs. Hence by these models, we cannot analyze the propagation effects of different frequencies. Subsequently, the DG model is proposed with the antenna beam width and the operating frequency as the input parameters. since there is no frequency information in both the NZG model and MA model [5]. The different models based on horizontal path propagation with its empirical formula are as follows: Weissberger model [5]: (2) Where f is the frequency(GHz) , and d is the distance of propagation through foliage it should be between 14 meter and 400 meter. ITU-R model [5]: (3) Where f is the frequency in MHz, and d is the tree depth in meter. MA model [5]: (4) Where Am is the maximum attenuation, R0 is the initial gradient of the attenuation rate curve, and d is the distance of propagation through the foliage. Since most of the wireless sensor networks uses GHz frequency range for communication, the weissberger model for determining the path loss effects in WSN. B. Rainfall model: The rainfall model is used to study attenuation in the transmited signal due to rain fall. Many scattering models are existing to find the signal degradation due to rainfall. But all those scattering models require the complex calculation of the distance between the scattering object and the receiver and the transmitter. The rainfall attenuation model’s applied equation is [1]: (5) Where, R is the rainfall rate in millimeter per hour. (6) (7) C. Fading Model: Fading is one of the major propagation effects in all wireless communication systems. The fading may differ with time, geographical position and radio frequency, and is modeled as a random process. A communication channel that experience fading is a fading channel. In any wireless systems, fading may either due to multipath propagation, known as multipath causing fading, or due to shadowing from obstacles affects the wave propagation, sometimes called as shadow fading. As Rayleigh fading model is used to model the fading in non line of sight path, it is used in this work. Rayleigh fading distribution is as follows [14]: (8) Where r is the rms value of the voltage of the signal and sigma is the standard deviation from the expected mean value. D. Log Normal Shadowing Model: The large scale signal power strength model is used for predicting the average signal strength as a function of distance between the Transmitter and Receiver which may include antenna gains, height, and frequency of operation. The path loss model does not discriminate between two locations which are at the same distance from the base station, but are at two distinct directions. This is due to the fact that the path loss model is not considering the effect of local clutter. In reality if we consider two locations then the local mean of the path losses will vary. The Path loss model only conveys an average value of path loss of the transmitted signal in a region or area. The local mean is a random value and its effect is calculated through the shadowing model. Thus the Path loss formula is extended in order to taken care the local mean variation as well. Hence the combined effect of the path loss and the shadowing are considered to calculate the received signal strength at a distanceâ €˜d’ [7]: (9) Where: K is a constant which depends on the antenna characteristics. à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ ºÃ‚ ¾ is the path loss exponent. à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ ºÃ‚ ¹ is the Gaussian distributed random variable. The above mentioned propagation models are used to analyze the characteristics of the degrading signal such as received signal strength and the packet loss due to poor link quality. IV. Software Architecture: The architecture is designed in such a way to study the characteristics of the output signal with the different effects of the propagational parameters. In the figure 1, the propagation models module includes the fading model, shadowing model, rainfall attenuation model and vegetation attenuation model. Fig 1: Architecture used for the simulation The output signal is analyzed with link quality, received signal strength and the packet reception rate. The link quality is the ratio in the received signal strength to the noise power. Signal strength is the received signal strength received at the receiver. Packet loss is the number of packets received out of the total packet sent. It can also be inferred as the packet reception rate. V. Simulation and Results: A. Simulation modeling for rainfall attenuation model: According to equations (6), (7) and (8) we created different simulation scenarios in Qualnet to obtain a series of data with the link quality and received signal strength .The simulation results obtained using Qualnet GUI interface are shown in figure 5 and figure 6. B. Simulation of path loss: In Qualnet simulator a sensor network scenario is created where the sender node is sending a total of 100 packets. This scenario is used to infer the effect of path loss in the transmitted signal with combined effect of the environmental parameters such as the rainfall rate and the distance of propagation through foliage. Then at different transmitter-receiver distance, the path loss is calculated and plotted the graph in Matlab. From the investigation of the graph shown in figure 2, a 40 dB difference in the path loss estimated without the effect of the environmental factors than with the effect of the environmental factors. C. Simulation of packet reception rate: The packet reception rate is analyzed with the combined effect of the environmental factors like the rainfall rate and the distance of propagation through foliage. The result in figure 3 shows the packet loss due to the effect of environmental factors is higher than the scenario where there is no effect of environmental factors. This is due to the rainfall attenuation and the foliage effect. Analyzing the effects of these two factors is needed drastically to find out the minimum level of rainfall rate and the distance of propagation through foliage which affects the degradation of the signal. On analyzing the graph it conveys that rainfall Rainfall rate above 350 millimeter per hour is Environmental factors increase the effect of path loss which results in the reduction of the link quality. D. Effect of shadowing mean in the transmitted signal: The shadowing mean is varied and analyzed the packet loss with the variation. From the analysis of the simulation result, it is clear that the packet loss started when the shadowing mean is above 4dB. All the packets are lost when the shadowing mean is above 11dB. E. Effect of Rainfall rate in the transmitted signal: The variation in the rain fall rate has affected the signal only above 350mm/hr. No packet loss is observed within the range of 50-350mm/hr . The reduction in the link quality can result in packet loss is proved through simulation result which is shown in figure 6. Also the link quality of the signal is analyzed and The link quality is observed to be decreasing with  increase in rainfall rate. F. Effect of foliage in the transmitted signal: The distance of propagation through the foliage, affects the signal quality. Even the movement of vegetation due to degrade the signal quality which is not investigated in this paper. In figure 7, the simulation result of foliage model is shown. If the distance through foliage is more than 10 meters, it will affect the packet reception rate. The link quality is also analyzed with the variation in the distance through foliage. The result from graph in figure 8 shows if the distance through propagation is above 10 meters can affect the signal quality. G. Effect of transmission power in the packet loss: With the result obtained using the different rainfall rates which is shown in figure 9, it is clear that when rainfall rate is above 5.833 mm per minute packet loss is observed. So assuming the rainfall rate to be 5.833 mm per minute the distance through foliage is varied and the result is analyzed. Figure 9: Varying the distance through foliage with different transmission powers H. Real Data Analysis: The real data is received from the real-time wireless sensor network system for landslide monitoring, deployed at Munnar, India. 90% match with simulated result and real data from munnar is obtained in the real data analysis result shown in figure 10. The real data from landslide monitoring system is analyzed with the simulated result in the Qualnet with the combined effect of the environmental parameters like the rainfall rate, foliage, shadowing and fading. The result holds the fact that the models were showing similar results as in theoretical models. VI. Conclusion and Future works: To analyze the effect of propagation and environmental factors on the signal quality we implemented simulation of these models in the Qualnet. Simulation result shows the rainfall rate and the distance of propagation through foliage have a major effect on the performance of the network especially on the link quality and packet reception rate. Then the simulated result is analyzed with real time wireless sensor network system for landslide monitoring deployed at munnar. In future from these analyzed results we are planning to design an adaptive routing protocol that adapts its path with the best available link quality.

The Impact on Culture of Islam and Christianity Essay -- Comparative R

The definition of religion has two parts in the Webster’s dictionary, the first being a simple belief or reverence in a supernatural being, the second being a personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief. The common man often sees the large religions in the simplest forms, creating obvious differences between the basic beliefs of major religions. These differences, seen in the comparison of Judeo-Christian and Islam worldviews, have had an immense impact upon each separate culture and interpretation of religion within each culture. In the current political battles across the world, government regulation determines how large the role that a given religion plays within the societal structure. American culture is a result of a strict Protestant perspective traveling the course of time and an associated governmental deregulation of religion (Burr, Religion in American Life: 16). Originally founded on the Christian religion, the United States of America still has roots in religion but is no longer the cohesive religious unit it was when at its genesis. The lack of institutionalized religion provided by the government has allowed a wide variety of religions to prosper within the borders, creating both more religious tolerance and more variations within each religion. Middle Eastern culture, on the other hand, is still strictly religious because of a continuing regulation of religion by the government in power (Jatava, Religions in Modern Society: 136). Culture and religion seem to go hand in hand, as people’s actions are affected by their spiritual beliefs, and their spiritual beliefs stem from their interpretation of their environment. Religion will always have a basis in culture as lo... ...igious Diversity A Philosophical Assessment; Ashgate Publishing Company, Burlington, VT, 2002. Burr, Nelson R.l; Religion in American Life; Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, NY, 2004. Hinnels, John R.; The Facts on File Dictionary of Religions; Facts on File, New York, NY, 2004. Jatava, D.R.; Religions in Modern Society The Puzzling Issues; National Publishing House, Chaura Rasta, Jaipur, 2000. Lewis, I.M.; Religion in Context Cults and Charisma; Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, 1986. McCasland, S. Vernon, et al.; Religions of the World; Random House, Inc., Toronto, Canada, 2001. Wakeman, Gordon S.; The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Spirituality; Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA, 1983. http://www.adherents.com/ - Religious Statistics. Web. 13 July 2015. http://www.factmonster.com/ - Online Encyclopedia. Web. 10 July 2015.

New Political Dispensation in South Africa Black Economic Empowerment (Bee)

Pro forma 1. Aims of the Dissertation: Since the new political dispensation in South Africa black economic empowerment (BEE) has continually come under scrutiny (Leonard & Grobler, 2006). It has been seen as an ethically just initiative to compensate previously disadvantage individuals, and as a pragmatic strategy, which undercuts the nation of merit with a very strong undertone of racism. Increasingly, physicians, in both primary care and specialities form partnership of single or multi-specialty group practices as competition among physicians grows.The purpose of this dissertation would be to investigate challenges transformational leaders are facing within private pathology services in South Africa. Nationalization of medical funders and how it would affect the private business has long been a concern within the South African private pathology market. Focusing on change strategy and how the role of different leadership images can be applied in making multicultural knowledge sharin g work and eventually develop an organizational culture were people feel empowered.To quote Kotter and Heskett (1992), â€Å"When culture are our own, they often go unnoticed, until we try to implement a new strategy or program which is incompatible with their central norms and values. Then we observe first hand, the power of culture. † Culture and organizational structure dimensions relationship within private pathology have in recent years being influenced by advancements made in technology, regulation enforced by current political dispensation and the emerging characteristic of the 21st century corporations.The aim of this dissertation will be to determine whether the current leadership and culture in this fast changing social and economical environment will have an impact on sustainable growth of the pathology sector and whether current organisational structures will be able to address the internal and external impacts of a fast changing environment. In order to determine the impact of leadership and culture influence the researcher will concentrate on the four dimensions of organizational structures: Specialization – people with the necessary skills and knowledge that can contribute towards sustainable growth †¢ Standardization – technological development and advancements in the industry and their impact on private pathology industry sustainable growth †¢ Formalization – the way how current leadership formalizes rules, regulations and instructions and the impact current internal and external leadership and culture have on sustainable growth †¢ Centralization – the effectiveness of communication and the perception people develop around the centralization of certain core and supplemental servicesMany researchers have studied leadership impact and cultural differences in a fast changing environment. Hofstede’s four dimensions of organization culture such as individualism / collectiveness, power distanc e, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity / femininity within the four dimensions of organizational structure will play a significant role in the interpretation of the results.In answering these questions the researcher aims to deliver a dissertation paper which would concentrate on finding answers to the challenges leaders face in developing an organizational culture based on enhancing innovation, enhance competitive advantage, motivate staff, and increase quality and customer value. The Nadler and Tushman’s Congruence Model of change (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin 2009, pp. 126-128) will form the basis around which leadership dynamics will be developed in aligning private pathology practise (services) within the current South African context (regulations, technology, culture) of change.We all desire to feel self-worth and make contributions and be recognized for them. It is through this investigation that the research might develop a deeper understanding of the dynamics of change within private pathology practises. Challenging the status quo through the formulation of a strategy that would address the current inequalities (culture and knowledge) might result in an organizational culture that all can associate with. Organizational culture is a complex set of values, believes, assumptions, and symbols that defines the way an organization defines it business.The Nadler and Tushman’s congruence model will assist the researcher in conceptualized the dynamics of leadership and culture within private pathology. 2. Methodology: Centralization and standardization received high priority and specialization and formalization were exclusively the responsibility of power distance unequal distribution of power from top management. Culture, in organizational context, may be broadly defined as the sum of groups, or nation way of thinking, believing, feeling and acting and will inadvertently play a significant role in the restructuring process of any organization.Give n the nature and complexity of the issues to be examined, the research approach would be to conduct a multi-step study incorporating both quantitative and qualitative methods. Literature research for the dissertation will concentrate on the sense-making process of change and the leadership images involved in change processes within the private medical practice industry within South Africa (Kally, Wale, Soudien and Steyn, 2007). Change in private pathology within South Africa is technology and politically driven. The pressure current government places on private sector to comply have in recent years been intensified.Private industry in general had to comply with employment equity regulation or face strict penalties that will economically impact on the organization. The aim of this research will be to determine whether leadership could keep up to these fast changing environments and to what extent culture difference has an impact on the organizational culture. The research hypothesis relies on factual data in proving current hierarchy structure and current change leadership as well as the cultures characteristics, create a ‘tipping point’, where current sustainable growth will not be attainable.Quantitative research The researcher will collect factual data from Human Resources (HR) about employee turnover the past three to five years. This data will then be sorted according to employee turnover, training, disciplines within the different designted groups (Africans, Coloureds, Indians and Whites) and at the different professional levels throughout the organization. The aim of this process will be to identify areas of concerns and will guide the researcher to develop an initial impression of the general culture within the company.The researcher will be guided by literature on the subject of leadership, culture and the sense-making process of change in such a diverse working environment. Internal data or the triangulation ‘within-methods’ of information from the company with regards to employment, lay-off disciplinary actions, training and social activities will be collected from Human Resources (HR) in a process to understand the current organizational culture and develop an idea or hypothesis around these facets and the impact of current culture diversities within the company (Maxwell & Rijamampianina, 2002) will have on future sustainable growth.Qualitative research The research approach throughout this dissertation will rest on factual literature, observation and and non-random (non-probability) sampling of survey data. Purpositive sampling (White, 2000: 63) which will indicate why change transformation in the private pathology practice is important for future if sustainable growth is to be maintained. Managing such a diverse workforce is challenging but economically imperative. Thus asking question around perception and expectation will form the basis of interviews and questions.The researcher through these ques tion aims to understand the behaviour actions and perception people have developed which may have led to the current organizational culture: †¢ Are we moving towards a workforce that will be operationally focused and rely on technology advancement made in first world countries in maintaining sustainable growth? †¢ Has the focus of management shifted towards advancement made in technology and not on employment of a workforce with the necessary skills and knowledge? Is the vast amount of internal knowledge and skills residing within employees being utilized and are employees empowered to contribute towards sustainable growth? †¢ Did employment equity requirements to any extend result in the organization developing a strategy that would be less reliance on knowledge but on automation of routine analysis which as though would address the compliance issue towards current pressure to change? †¢ Will the current leadership and culture dynamics within private pathology l ead to sustainable growth?The challenge of the qualitative research will be to find answers relating to questions above through asking questions relating to knowledge management, job satisfaction, employee benefits and general relationship within the workplace. A combination of interviews and survey question will be designed around these issues. Holistic realistic sense-making process throughout the research will play a significant role in the recommendation of a change model that would incorporate the data from surveys, interviews and literature.Sense – making refers to implementation of change processes that would not place unnecessary strain on the existing infrastructure and profit margins of the organization. Greenhalgh & Todd (1989) observed that survivor sense making and the reaction to organization decline may be due to job insecurity as an attitudinal variable and will definitely influence the sustainability of private pathology on the long run. Whether current organ izational culture and the impact of fast changing external environments and work relationships will have an impact on sustainable growth needs to be confirmed.The researcher also realizes that true qualitative and quantitative data observation may revert back to sense – making process and literature justification too support any generalization of results and that this approach may be unique to the private pathology industry in South Africa. 3. Feasibility and Required Resources: The proposed research project will require certain data that might be sensitive to the organization. For the purpose of confidentiality, company names and places will not be mentioned.As highlighted in the method above literature research will mainly concentrate on publications generated in South Africa. Additional supportive literature with regards to leadership and cultural will be sourced in support of the information obtained through the method as described above. When required or necessarily, sup portive and additional information will be sourced from international literature in support of the findings.The initial data will be soured from HR and analysed as discussed in method. Qualitative and quantitative interviews and survey will be compiled in order to get a deeper understanding and feeling about the current organisational culture and leadership dynamics. 4. Relationship to Existing Published Work: The power of servant leadership to transform health care organizations in the 21st century has been a point of discussion as well as a point of concern for many leaders within these organizations.Despite the fast changing market environment of health care services organization still practise an outmoded transactional style of leadership based on organizational hierarchies that are inherently stagnant (Schwartz & Tumblin, 2002). Leadership styles are not novel concepts but few physicians (leaders) have been introduced to transformational, situational and servant leadership styl es or combination thereof with the goal of creating an environment of learning that will be beneficial to the organization and the economy it serves.The article by Swartz and Tumblin (2002) managed to address the importance of change leadership and transformation as well as the influence that emotional intelligence and ethical behaviour has on the fast changing internal and external forces within the medical environment. Holistic sense-making process will be applied throughout this project. Introducing a generic conceptual and methodological process for the fast emerging social and intellectual patterns currently seen in the private pathology field and the impact leadership sense-making process will have on sustainable growth.Making-sense of our own reality and applying the knowledge gained through a process of sense making in understanding current situation within the private pathology practices is the initial approach the researcher has in mind. In the article ‘Making sense of executive sense-making’ by Parry (2003) the author has identified seven characteristics of sense-making that might be applicable and might form the basis of change strategies when addressing the leadership images appropriate in private pathology practises. Parry (2003) introduced the researcher to the possible epistemological problems that might be encountered throughout the studies.Throughout the analysis process of the article by Parry (2003) the researcher realized that sense-making process might be restricted to literature referencing as any deductions made from the literature will be qualitative. The new political dispensation in South Africa paved the way towards multicultural organizations changes. Together with current changes of global markets private pathology have been effected in ways were new cultures have changed and impacted on current values and behaviours of people within the organization.Rijamampianina and Maxwell (2002) believe that managing multicultura l organizations will be challenging and will call for a leadership style that recognizes cultural diversity and a willingness to share success, share mental models, share vision and share competence to the extend that people feel empower prior to changing or adapting to any dominant organization culture. Rijamampianina and Maxwell (2002) proposed a model of change, which focused on the creation of an environment of learning and interaction as the basis of accommodating a diverse culture.Making business decisions around leadership dynamics culture impact and change strategies is a crucial job and most properly one of the riskiest especially when external environments of change place significant pressure on private business to change. Bad decisions can ruin your company and are normally the result of distortion of biases, mental flaws and the sabotage of reasoning the psychological traps of the unconscious. Addressing the status quo in an environment was external and internal pressure s dictated the rationality and objectivity of decisions and the biases that influence the choices we make.Very often decision makers (leaders) display a strong bias towards alternatives that would perpetuate the status quo (Hammond, Keeney, & Raiffa, 1998). Then again, private pathology status quo may indeed be the best choice as they in general have developed dependence around service from developers of technology and analysis techniques. Hammond, Keeney, and Raiffa focused on decision making and the trade-off as well as the difficulties associated with flawed thinking as described in â€Å"The hidden traps of decision making. Over the years a number of publication that have addressed the concerns of culture and leadership in South Africa (e. g. Rensburg, 1993; Booysen, 2007; Coldwell & Moerdyk, 1981; Schwartz & Tumblin, 2002; Finestone & Snyman, 2006) all have studies certain relationships that resulted from the new democratic dispensation. Even if we find a solution to the diver sity within private pathology a realization that maintaining quality across the network of pathology services will be a priority through the project.The purposed model of change should stand the sense-making of transformational leadership and the following publications touched on the subject (e. g. Leonard & Grobler, 2006; Parry, 2003; Greehalgh & Todd, 1989; Labiance, Gray & Brass, 2000). Dombai & Verwey (1999) focussed on the impact of organizational culture as context of interpersonal meaning on the management of organizational diversity. The authors have demonstrated that affirmative action employment may develop perception among individuals or groups that previously disadvantage groups will be appointed without the necessary credentials, knowledge or skills.The authors empirical research managed to prove that individuals experience of organizational culture as a context for the construction of meaning, are more important to diversity management than individual value differences as result of diversity in term of age, gender or race. In conclusion, the researcher knows that literature survey will from the basis of the dissertation with the understanding to develop a model of change that could address current leadership and culture diversities in private pathology.The researcher almost through the evaluation of the article became aware of the vast literature available on this subject. The challenge however will be find relevant information, which will support and be supplemental to the research. 5. Why You Are Doing This Topic: Current political situation and the fast changing global environments as well as the current technology advancement made in the medical pathology practice and the effect these factors have on the sustainability of private pathology are but some of the reason of doing this project.

High School Experience Essay

High school is always a terrifying experience for a lot of kids. It’s the point in their life when they become adults and realize who they want to be. It also indicates where they will be heading in life and what they will be doing in the future. Most high schools have the common social groups such as the jocks, the preps, the popular kids, and the norms, and people often find themselves making drastic changes to their personality or appearance to be accepted into at least one of these groups. School has always been difficult for me as far as fitting in with the crowd, so in high school, it was important to me to figure out which group I felt the most comfortable with and could be myself in without being judged or rejected. Every once in a while, different groups become intertwined with each other and get along quite well. Whether it’s the jocks and the popular kids, or the norms and the nerds, they all find a way to connect and make sure everyone feels at home. In my high school experience, that is exactly what happened. As one jock, named Allison went through her days living her dreams as a cheerleader, a prep named Madison went through hers imagining she owned the school. These two girls who had joined completely different groups, found a connection and became close friends with one of the popular kids, named Lauren, who never seemed to have a hard time making friends, and myself, who never cared too much about anything besides getting through each day with the best education possible, a common norm trait. As the years went on, so did our high school experience, and our bond became stronger and stronger until the day came we all had to go our separate ways. On May 23, 2014, I had one of the most memorable experiences with these three girls. As we closed one chapter in our lives and opened up for a new one to begin, we placed our caps on our heads and took our diplomas in our hands. Taking our last glance at an old place, and saying goodbye to old friends, we embrace our last moments and prepare for the first moments at a new place with new friends.

Free Essays on History Of Guitar Outline

The guitar’s history can be traced back in time through monuments, pictures, poems and sculptors. The name of the guitar can be derived from a modification of the Greek word cithara. It is a musical instrument strung with gut or nylon strings played by the fingers having a body with flat back and slight curves. Its history can be traced back over 4000 years. The oldest evidence of the existence of the guitar dates back to 1900-1800 B.C. It was found in Babylonia on clay plaques, which portray nude figures playing instruments that bear a general resemblance to the guitar. There are many cultures that take claim to inventing the guitar, but many accounts report the Egyptians had a fine example of the guitar with ribs and incurvations and a long neck identified on a monument in Cappadocia, Syria in 1000 B.C. There still seems to be great disagreement in those who claim the guitar originated in Europe or those who state it came from the Arabs. The guitar originally had two courses of strings, two double, the top course single, that ran from a violin-like peg box to a tension bridge glued to the soundboard, or belly; the bridge thus sustained the direct pull of the strings. In the belly was a circular sound hole, often ornamented with a carved wooden rose. In past decades the guitars were made from a solid piece of oak because of the availability of the wood. With many guitar makers experimenting in the renaissance they found that cedar was an easier during the construction and also better for sound quality. Previous the guitars had no soundboard because they were constructed out of a solid piece of wood. Constructors found that with the sound of the hollow guitar did not have the sound quality they wanted. They experimented with pieces of wood inside, and found that making the inside out of pine would increase the overall sound quality of the instrument. The first of the guitars was represented in Western Europe in 1180 A.D. but... Free Essays on History Of Guitar Outline Free Essays on History Of Guitar Outline The guitar’s history can be traced back in time through monuments, pictures, poems and sculptors. The name of the guitar can be derived from a modification of the Greek word cithara. It is a musical instrument strung with gut or nylon strings played by the fingers having a body with flat back and slight curves. Its history can be traced back over 4000 years. The oldest evidence of the existence of the guitar dates back to 1900-1800 B.C. It was found in Babylonia on clay plaques, which portray nude figures playing instruments that bear a general resemblance to the guitar. There are many cultures that take claim to inventing the guitar, but many accounts report the Egyptians had a fine example of the guitar with ribs and incurvations and a long neck identified on a monument in Cappadocia, Syria in 1000 B.C. There still seems to be great disagreement in those who claim the guitar originated in Europe or those who state it came from the Arabs. The guitar originally had two courses of strings, two double, the top course single, that ran from a violin-like peg box to a tension bridge glued to the soundboard, or belly; the bridge thus sustained the direct pull of the strings. In the belly was a circular sound hole, often ornamented with a carved wooden rose. In past decades the guitars were made from a solid piece of oak because of the availability of the wood. With many guitar makers experimenting in the renaissance they found that cedar was an easier during the construction and also better for sound quality. Previous the guitars had no soundboard because they were constructed out of a solid piece of wood. Constructors found that with the sound of the hollow guitar did not have the sound quality they wanted. They experimented with pieces of wood inside, and found that making the inside out of pine would increase the overall sound quality of the instrument. The first of the guitars was represented in Western Europe in 1180 A.D. but...

Why Marijuana should be illegal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Why Marijuana should be illegal - Essay Example Many studies have consistently demonstrated a correlation between risky sexual behavior and marijuana use by the same students. Marijuana users are more inclined to take risks than do students that do not use it and other drugs. This may be an obvious statement but a propensity to take risks with their health combined with a loss of inhibitions while on drugs and the need of all teenagers to be accepted by their peers leads to an increased level of sexual activity. This problematic scenario also increases the likelihood of students having sex at an earlier age, having multiple sexual partners and decreases the chances that they will use contraception than those that do not use drugs. â€Å"Teens who have used marijuana are four times more likely to have been pregnant or to have gotten someone pregnant than teens who have never smoked pot† (The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 1997). Ironically, schools are havens for marijuana available for the asking. Parents and teachers seem oblivious and are evidently powerless to control this disturbing situation. No one can deny that using marijuana can cause adverse effects to the user of any age but the effects to the teenager are especially damaging. Teenagers are in a much more vulnerable situation than are adults as they are still developing in every aspect of life. Unfortunately, it remains this group that has the most access to drugs as schools have become prolific drug outlets. The vast majority of 10th graders in the U.S., for example, claim they can easily purchase marijuana (78 per cent). Teenagers quickly learn that they can readily obtain marijuana in addition to other more exotic drugs to a somewhat lesser extent. Marijuana use often leads to other drugs. Drug abuse is costly to teenagers in many physical, mental and emotional ways. (Ault, 2001). Teenagers experience more emotional fluctuations

Money Laundering and Corruption Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Money Laundering and Corruption - Essay Example The government and various financial institutions have made significant efforts of preventing and detecting and fraud issues. This is  when making transactions issues that involve dirty money. Corruption is a moral impunity that involves embezzlement of funds and bribery issues. The government employs operational issues such as use of the FATF for investing corruption and conducting money laundering as well as asset tracing investigations. The Risks Posed By Money Laundering and Corruption to the Global Financial System and International Business Money laundry and corruption pose varied risks towards global financial system and international business. Laundering of money and corruption are interrelated because they both pose risks to customers  and their  products or transaction made and also impose risk to geographical risk factors in varied ways. There are many highlighted cases that have posed risks to many economies across the globe. Therefore, FATF has made considerable ef forts of preventing money laundering and corruption. Therefore, their independent organization have implemented anti monetary laundry and combating terrorist financing activities in order to reduce the risks that may arise from these threats. Understanding risk posed by these threats is significant. This is because it enables the government to provide recommendation for a  reporting entity  to implement  the risk  management systems and assess the level of enhanced due diligence (EDD) in order to reduce risks. Customer Risk Factors Money laundry and corruption issues expose political people and other public official to risks. The measures employed in money laundry are intended to encourage entities to report risk sensitive issues existing in the entity or exposing politically persons to high-risk to customers. The politically exposed persons (PEPs) status does not reveal that a person is corrupt or incriminated for being corrupt, but it reveals the potential risks money laun dering contribute to customers and their transaction process. The risk that corrupt PEP poses to the financial system is seen as one way of putting customers under risk especially when they are making transactions (Karsten 2003, p.15). Business relationships with PEPs contribute to increased customer risks because of increased possibility that an individual is holding. For instance, politicians may misuse authority by influencing their personal gain with an aim of achieving their own advantage. Moreover, the nature of the position may lead to customer risk factors. Someone holding a position in a certain office may have a substantial opportunity and authority of assessing the funds or assets of the state. He or she can take control over the government resources including setting money for combating terrorism issues and other activities; thus exposing customers to greater risks. For instance, the court case of Nicolau Dos Santos Neto, the ex-president of Brazil is one of the incidenc es that reveal the corruption nature of PEPs (FATF Report 2012, p.14). The actual corruption vulnerability may vary depending  upon the extent to which they exercise authority in the hierarchy. It is significant to recognize that not all PEPs cause risks to customers.