Definition Argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Definition Argument - Essay Example She has been able to establish much following due to her popular music. Through various platforms such as facebook and tweeter, Taylor Swift interacts actively with her fans in a system that appears to be a family. Her fan community comprises of fans that are characterized by a feeling of camaraderie and empathy with others who share a common interest. In this case, the fan community is interested even in minor details of the celebrity of their fandom and hence spend a significant amount of energy and time involving with their interest in most cases as a part of a social network. Accordingly, the article will explain the six characteristics of a discourse community as described by Professor John Swales. Taylor Swift’s fun base has demonstrated each of the six characteristics and hence can be classified as a discourse community. A fan community demonstrates a commonness of goals and objectives. According the Professor John Swales, â€Å"discourse community is characterized by the commonness of goal and objectives†(Swales 471). Taylor’s fans are engaged in each and every activity that she engages in. He declares that the community has set and agreed upon a set of common objectives that keeps the community aligned together. The fan community shares the experience the Taylor awesome talent in music. The fan are engaged on a fan page, though having minimal numbers of fans gives the platform to those who have joined share more about Taylor. There are updates on Taylor too such as latest events that Taylor is attending or planning to attend, her trends in fashion through a gallery of photos and some of her music that have remained in the global billboard making her one of the youngest musician to top for close to four years consecutively. In terms of a common goal, Taylor’s fans are mostly up coming musicians and other lover of Americans music. They engage each others on various platforms where they share opinions regarding various singles and albums

The Dragon Rider Essay Example for Free

The Dragon Rider Essay The Dragon Rider is an adventure fantasy novel by Cornelia Funke. The Thief Lord and Inkheart, two other novels by this author, became bestsellers and now Funke’s admirers can enjoy her next work by her. The Dragon Rider is a classical fiction novel. Simple linear narration makes the reading easy, while lively characters and twisted plot make it interesting. In the beginning of narration the novel is set in peaceful Scottish valley. Dragons, who live there are threatened by the invasion of men. Firedrake, a young silver dragon is the main character of the novel. He starts his journey to find legendary Rim of Heaven, a place where dragons can live in peace. Orphan Ban, brownie Sorrel and homunculus Twigleg accompany him in his long and dangerous journey. They make a long way crossing Europe and passing Middle East in order to reach India. Together friends experience a lot of exiting adventures. They have to fight terrible artificial dragon Nettlebrand, who wants to destroy all dragons and reach magical Rim of Heaven. Confrontation between Firedrake and Nettlebrand make the main external conflict of the story. Firedrake and his friends have also to fight giant eagles, wicked dwarfs and little elves. All bad characters of the novel are dark and evil and threaten Firedrake and his friends. Luckily, there are creatures, who are ready to help friends. Gain serpent, djinn and Professor Greenbloom help them to escape their enemies. All characters of the novel are interesting and unique. Each of them has something, which makes the readers care about his or her further fate. Wit dialogues makes the reading easy and interesting. Despite the book is pretty long it is read quickly. Simple narration style makes this novel a page-turner and a very enjoyable read. The book is notable by the big number of characters and succession of episodes, where main characters meet different obstacles on their way to the goal. Fantastic places and events described by the author place the reader into wonderful imaginary world, where everything is possible and mysterious creatures live next to ordinary people. The story is not only a description of Firedrake’s adventures. It is also a story of real friendship, self-sacrifice and achieving goals. Despite characters of the novel are imaginary creatures, they behave like humans and have same problems as people do. They suffer and laugh, doubt and look for important answers. The journey helps the main characters to discover inner strength and power. They learn to achieve their goals and care about the feelings of others. Orphan Ban finds friends he did not manage to meet among people. Little dragon Firedrake destroys myth about evil dragons and proves that they can be kind and caring creatures, who hurt nobody. Even Sorrel, who makes fun of everything and everybody turns to be kind-hearted and caring creature. The value of friendship is one of the main themes of the novel. The author wants to readers to understand that all creatures can exist peacefully in the Universe. People and dragons, serpents and brownies, they all can coexist peacefully. Our planet is diverse and there is enough space for everybody here. The value of human life and all creatures, which live on our planet, is another important message of the book. The main characters come to this realization by the end of the novel. In addition, they visit a lot of interesting places and discover a lot of important things about themselves. Corneila Funke wants her readers to know that any goal can be achieved if you have enough courage in your heart and true friends ready to help you. Sources Funke, Cornelia. , Dragon Rider, Published by Chicken House, 2004.

Knowledge management and policy working document celltech

Knowledge management and policy working document celltech This report discusses a number of knowledge management frameworks and techniques which are more relevant for CellTechs business and operations. We begin with analyzing the knowledge environment in CellTech case study over various stages of the organizational change and mapping that knowledge toward the KM models and frameworks to understand the practical use of the techniques in real time. The famous techniques or frameworks which are discussed in this report are Exploration and exploitation, cultural web, SECI, Garvins 5 block of learning organization, I-Space and emotional intelligence. Using these techniques or framework we will understand the potential contribution and importance of knowledge management in organizational growth. Finally the review will evaluate the possible issues surrounding the creation and transfer of knowledge in CellTechs knowledge management policy. Understanding of CellTech case study Celltech Europes one of the oldest biotechnology organization into Biologics and Therapeutics development of drugs. The firm had different management approach from 1980 1996 with its conversional business of contract manufacturing and biologics research to creation of innovative drugs and then toward the collaboration with leading large pharmaceutical companies. From the understanding of the case study I classified the CellTech to three periods, During 1980s Two business, contract manufacturing and in-research. Contract manufacturing is the prime revenue generating business and the costs involved in researches are cover by the contract manufacturing. More number of employee were working on biologics research and contract manufacturing Therapeutics research was done in-house and Biologics was with contractors. Shareholders were not happy with CellTech revenue and cash burn for 2 years seems to be an overall concern. Early 1990s New CEO was appointed to bring new ideas to change CellTechs progress (Dr. Peter Fellner). Want to focus on new drug development and seen the potential of innovative drugs manufacturing (Therapeutic). Flat organization structure was created and business was divided into two divisions (Biologic and therapeutic), and Fellners vision to expand therapeutic division RD. Interdisciplinary teams were formed in research to build new capabilities among scientists. Market penetration through clinical trials Bayer collaboration and gain marketing knowledge. To change the cash burn situation through Bayers collaboration Milestone payment. New skills on therapeutics were required so scientists were recruited to replace the clubs of old. Late 1990s Biologics division of the company was sold since profit margin was going down. Change in focus to develop new innovative drugs to advance the human health. CellTech created strong partnership with world leading pharmaceutical companies for the therapeutic drugs discovery and development. Senior management gained experience in both pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector. To monitor the progress on various functions different review systems were setup. By the end of 1996 CellTech had a good market position in UK biotech sector. Balancing between Exploitation and Exploration CellTech Exploitation is defined as the use of already exiting things like exiting product information, organization structure or other word its the firms core competencies. Exploration means pursue of new things which might come to be known otherwise exploring opportunities for building something new (Levinthal and March, 1993). Exploitation and exploration mainly focus and revolve on the Core competency of the organization i.e. exploitation is the use currently known core competency and exploration is to pursue new core competency. Core competences are ability by which organization deploy resources for their activities and process to get competitive advantage over the others so that it cant be imitate or obtained. According to Cohen and levinthal (1990), for the success a firm has to maintain balance between exploitation and exploration and March (1991) believe that the primary factor for the survival and success in long run would be balance between these two. In the case of CellTech, they wanted move out of cash burn and to be a financial successful organization through exploration such as collaboration. CellTech core competences during 1980 were contract manufacturing and they developed world class antibodies with contract companies. This can be viewed as the Levinthal and Marchs (1993) exploitation the use of development of things already known. Exploration Dilemma When the organization wanted for new management, to bring new thoughts and culture through appointment Dr. Fellner as CEO and when Fellner came into the organization, he brought new idea to change the current organization style. Following are the some changes came through new CEO and this give the view of Levinthal and Marchs (1993) exploration, Restructuring the organization with more flat structure (two division Biologic and therapeutic to have control and monitoring). Investment on Therapeutics new drugs development and also to bring more interdisciplinary team approach to build multi-skilled scientist. Recruitment of new scientists in Therapeutic to bring new skills on the drug development. Collaboration with Bayer on the clinical trials The First balancing factors from the CellTech was, When Dr.Fellner seen more business opportunities in therapeutic RD, he divided the organization with exiting competency (Biologic, exploitation) and new competency (Therapeutic, exploration). In the initial stage therapeutic business was like a cost centre, more depending on the revenue from contract manufacturing and later emerged as profit centre new employees were recruited on therapeutic side while club of old from biologic moved out. In the late 1990s when the Therapeutic side was doing well with more clinical trial on pipe line and new collaborations with market leading and selling out the Biologic company see to be the second balancing factor. CellTech initial collaboration with Bayer helped them to establish better relationship with other later. The Bayer collaboration actually bailed them out from cash burn and to invest on therapeutic research. According to March (1991), balancing factor between exploitation and exploration is difficult and complicated, learning can contribute to imbalance. Levinthal and March (1991) believes competency trap will be the outcome of inappropriate learning i.e. excess exploitation or exploration can lead to imbalance. I do agree that imbalance can rise but in this case study the application toward balancing the horses (Exploitation and Exploration) were well managed like bringing interdisciplinary team, flat organizational structure, slow increase of employee in therapeutic research and utilizing the learns learned from Bayer collaboration to other collaborations. Culture Knowledge Sharing in Organization Culture can described as how thing are done and it is the combination of values, behavior, belief and paradigm (taken for granted assumptions). Organizational culture is the value and beliefs which forms an integral part of organization what is chosen to see and absorb (Davenport Prusak 2000). It includes opinion on the shared reality, regarding how things are acting now and how it should be in future. In a growing organization, knowledge and knowledge sharing are the inseparable culture. Following are three levels of culture which exist in an organization (Schein 1992), Artifacts mean the visible elements in the organization such as processes, organization structure, and fixed assets. These elements can only understood inside the organization and from the outside it not understood why things are done in such ways. Espoused values are beneath the artifacts to support the organizations functions such as strategies and goals. These values are created by the leaders or the management in the organization and if these values are not framed correctly then the management is in big trouble. Assumptions are the actual core value of the culture which largely present at unconscious level of the organizations human resource like thought and feelings. Davenport Prusak (2000) believes that knowledge sharing culture plays an important role to enable the transfer and creation of knowledge within the organization. In order to make knowledge management as practice, the employees of the organization much cooperate to share their knowledge with others (Interdisciplinary learning). The leader of the organization also should understand the culture from the overall organization and community level to share knowledge. New CEOs approach towards organizational culture change The first change Dr. Fellner brought to the organization is to separate the company into two divisions and to bring more focus on the therapeutic in-house research. Then he changed the organization to a flat structure with more focus towards new drug development. Interdisciplinary teams to focus on cross sectional learning within the organization to develop multi skilled scientists. The collaboration with Bayer was the major milestone for the CellTech from the financial side but when we see the knowledge perspective it was the clinical trial phase II knowledge transmission to Bayer. Mapping to Cultural Web Johnson and Scholes (2002) explains cultural web as the indentifying factor to describe various factors influencing organizational cultural both for current and future. The below figure 1 shows the culture web mapping towards the CellTech(after Dr. Fellners change), Figure 1: Cultural Web Paradigm: The assumptions set by the organization on the whole for the long run. Rituals and Routines: These represent the way the things are do around here. The ways that organizations member behave each others. Stories and myths: The different stakeholders of the organization pass on common beliefs of the past events and reinforcing the peoples behavior by telling the importance of the organization. Symbols: The elements of the organizations, including titles, language and dress codes. Control Systems: The various review set by the organization to measure the outcome of polices and to reward people based on the performance. Organizational Structures: It is the formal structure of the firm, how the chain of command flows from the top to bottom. Power structures: It is the key element tells about how the power is distributed in the organization, the paradigm is more shaped by the people or the group has more power. The knowledge sharing for CellTech is considered more important since the companys focus not only on the drug development but also on the collaboration. For instance we take the Bayer initial collaboration where CellTech was responsible for developing the drug up to phase II and then pass it on to Bayer for further development. Here passing it to Bayer means a huge amount of knowledge in terms of test results and the experiences of the scientists at various stages are documented and shared. As mentioned by Dr.Bloxham lessons were learned which were applied to the late, post 1992 collaboration, here knowledge is not only shared but being gained. CellTech not only wanted to share knowledge with other competitor as collaborator but also wanted the own scientists to share knowledge by having an interdisciplinary team approach in the drug development team. Building Biochemist would be a good example of CellTechs initiative on the interdisciplinary skill development on it scientists. According to Knight and Howes (2003) there are behaviors which are heavily inbuilt in each and every workplace to restrict the effectiveness of the knowledge sharing. To initiate knowledge management it is important to know which of the behaviors can and cannot be changed and Cultural Web model categorize the influencing factors on the peoples behavior. Knight and Howes (2003) believes cultural web can be used an auditing tool to analysis what is currently valued in the organization and to define the how best future culture is required for the organization. To keep competitive advantage in the market to changing circumstances, culture and structures have to be altered by increasing the efficiency and effectiveness (Bali, Wickramasinghe, Lehaney (2009). The cultural changes are required when a new strategy is to be implemented and in this changing world its going to be a cyclic process. Knowledge generation and transfer SECI Social interaction is the means by which the Knowledge generation and transfer happens and it is the generation and transfer of tacit and explicit knowledge between individual and group. Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) come up with a model called SECI to understand process involved in the nature of knowledge creation and effective management of knowledge in the dynamic environment. The idea of the model to highlight importances of the knowledge possessed by individual is shared with other individual or group. Explicit Knowledge CellTech Explicit knowledge is the knowledge which can be expressed in a systematic formal language and shared in form of specifications, policies and form of data. The knowledge here is captured and documented in a physical form and it is very direct to understand and easy source to be obtained through papers (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). ). From CellTech case study we can see explicit knowledge right from the begin and following are some of them, Financial status of the CellTech especially the cash burn was known by everyone in the organization and should have been know by the balance sheet report. Restructuring the organization to a flat structure Contract manufacturing to research and development redefining the focus of the company by new CEO The trail phases handed over to collaboration companies here the CellTech transfers the intellectual knowledge to other company to further development and it should have been done with more documentation and knowledge transfer sessions. All the review systems setup to monitor the progress of the organization Tacit knowledge CellTech Tacit knowledge is the knowledge which is very hard to formalize or documented and it is more deeply rooted on the action and emotion. The most part of the tacit knowledge is acquired by previous experience and more internal and this knowledge can be transferred in a verbal formal to another (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). From CellTech case study we can see tacit knowledge right from the begin and following are some of them, Scientists gaining knowledge in the Biologic and therapeutic research Interdisciplinary leaning from scientists in therapeutic research The skills of the new employees in therapeutic research The lessons learnt from the Bayer collaboration for the management to explore more collaboration later with other pharmaceutical companies SECI Spiral According to Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995), creation of knowledge is a spiral process involving explicit and tacit knowledge interactions and this will lead to new knowledge creation. The explicit and tacit knowledge combination in SECI model is been conceptualized into four stages and the figure 2 shows the four stages, Figure 2: SECI Knowledge Spiral Socialization in SECI believes that knowledge creation begins with the tacit acquisition of knowledge by people i.e. from people who know to people who dont know (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995: 62-4). From CellTech point of view it can be the new skills from the new scientists to the clubs of old and from the clubs of old the organizational process like research and development focus can be shared to the new employee. CellTech also created opportunity for the employee to socialize by having breakout area near the drug development labs. Externalization is the second stage in knowledge conversion where tacit knowledge is converted to explicit. Here individual tacit knowledge comes out and become explicit group knowledge (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995: 66). From the CellTech point of view the interdisciplinary learning will give opportunity to the team to learn the skills which they dont possess like chemist helping biologist team. Combination is the next stage where the knowledge is systematized and it happened when group of people synthesis various explicit source of knowledge into plans, documents or reports (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995: 67). From the CellTech point of all the review systems setup to monitor all the functions of the organizations will be the systemizing process for the knowledge management. Internalization is the fourth stage in the SECI and described as a process of personifying the explicit to tacit knowledge. Internalization can also be mention as learning explicit knowledge and doing thing through tacit knowledge (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995: 69). In CellTech case study we can see internalization when clinical trials move from one phase to another scientist pass on the experience drugs development and when CellTech used the Bayer collaboration experience to make more successful future collaboration also can be considered internalization. The knowledge conversion is considered to be a social process where from individual to group at different organizational levels the knowledge is amplified and crystallized as part of the organization knowledge network (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995: 73). This model assists the organization to manage the knowledge creation at various levels. The understanding of tacit and explicit knowledge in an organization is important before considering the knowledge capturing and creation and good understanding of both will help to identify what part of knowledge is important and to be shared. The controlled way of managing knowledge will help the organization to achieve the strategic goal easily. Coming to CellTech like organization where there is plenty of tacit knowledge, has to be formalized to a process to make it explicit. Hereby make it explicit help the organization to develop and create awareness of the knowledge i.e. clinical drug development experience from individual can be formally docum ents from the individual team and circulated to the other development teams so everyone will be aware of the particular situation or incident. Other Frameworks Learning Organization Garvins 5 Blocks As commonly said, to be ahead of competition, organization constantly must enhance the way the business is done. To enhance the business, organization must learn things much faster than their competitors. But more such enhancements in business fail because many mangers do not realize the importance of learning (Garvin, 1993). Garvin (1993) say if an organization wants to become a learning organization then it is recommended to master these five activities, Systematic problem solving Dont solve problem on gut instinct but rather used data. Experimentation with new approaches Bring small experiments to existing process and gain knowledge. Learning from their own experience and past history Review and use of learns learnt from the past Learning from the experiences and best practices of others Use of knowledge from the macro environment like competitor. Transferring knowledge effectively throughout the organization Initiating interdisciplinary and cross disciplinary learning environment to exchange and share knowledge. Social Learning I Space I-Space is a social learning conceptual model that relates to data structuring to data sharing within the organization (Boisot, 1995). This framework helps to analysis the dynamic flow of knowledge in two aspects i.e. structure and sharing of information, more you structure information more faster and extensively used. I-Space is otherwise represented as three dimensional model (figure 3) codification, abstraction and diffusion. Structuring of information will be presented by the codification and abstraction dimension and sharing of information will diffusion dimension (Boisot, 1995). Dalkir (2007) feels Boisot model is the integration of theoretical foundation of social learning and provides the link between information and knowledge management in a best way. He also suggest through this I-Space social cycle organization can manage their knowledge assets well we compare to other KM models. Figure 3: The Social Learning Cycle [Boisot 1998:60] Emotional Intelligence and Knowledge Transfer Emotional intelligence is being well aware of own feelings and of others in an organization, managing emotions well within our self and in others relationship (Mortiboys, 2005:7). According to McKenna (2006) it is more concerned with emotional action and social skill of individual. Nonaka (1994) belief the success and failure of knowledge management in an organization depends how the individual employee create and transfer knowledge with others so employee is the ultimate responsible person deciding the success. Higgs and Dulewicz (2002) discuss about seven elements like self awareness, emotional motivation and management, managing relationship with others will help individual more intelligent on any situation and also contribute towards team working. Knowledge Management potential issues and overcome CellTech Excess of exploitation or exploration competency trap During the 1980s CellTech was more comfortable in doing contract manufacturing and this period refers to Exploitation. When new CEO shifted the focus of the company to product development through RD collaboration and this period can be referred exploration. So as of the case study CellTech seems to have managed a balance between exploitation and exploration but considering the period of 10 years in contract manufacturing with very little focus on exploration gives a picture that CellTech prefers to stay on the comfort zone with exploration. When CellTech got into the cash burn and lost the support of share holders, then only realized to do something different from the usual. According to March (1991) organization prefer to stay either on exploitation or exploration in long run so this competency trap lead the organization for an inappropriate learning. To avoid competency trap CellTech should constantly create core competencies in its business to stay ahead of the competition and since core competencies are the ones which are not easily copied by other competitor. Change Management During the organizational change culture regularly becomes the focus of attention. Culture has vast impact on output and working environment of an organization (Boonstra, 2004). In the CellTech case study when the organizational change was going on after the appointment of new CEO, organizational cultural elements were not be considered for the change but instead top management were pushed to talk short term improvement decision to change current situations. Davenport Prusak (2000) believes the leader of the organization should understand the culture from the overall organization and community level to share knowledge. The change management will bring changes in the working culture of the individual and can impact the social learning cycle. Johnson and Scholes (2002) cultural web will help the organization to identify the cultural impact using the paradigm. CellTech should definitely use Culture web when going for any change management to audit the current cultural element and define the future culture based on the paradigm. This will help to re-mould value and behavior of the individuals and make then to feel better place to work and share knowledge. Classification of Knowledge Goh (2002) says Effectiveness of knowledge transfer depends on Type of knowledge that s being shared so CellTech should always recognize the different type of knowledge available and created in the organization i.e. the tacit and explicit knowledge. CellTech should use SECI model to develop supportive structure that encourage the transfer of knowledge between tacit and explicit. This framework will help CellTech to bring the tacit individual knowledge out to the group and final make other individual to internalize it. Since the focus of CellTech is in RD, there will be more tacit knowledge created at the end of each new development like personal experience of certain drug symptoms during the research. Relationship between source and recipient For the knowledge transfer to be effective the recipient and source should be in an intention to share and receive knowledge and if the recipient lack interest to absorb and retain the knowledge then it become a barrier to the knowledge transfer (Szulanski, 1996). The Clubs of old versus new scientist would be the best instance to take from CellTech, creating emotion intelligence among individuals and teams to make them aware of organization value of sharing and transferring knowledge. By increasing the value through emotional intelligence will create awareness subconsciously to drive everyone to share knowledge without drawing any boundaries. Creating breakout areas near lab will help certain extend to socialize people but creating awareness emotional will drive them to create opportunities by themselves. This would be the more share of tacit to tacit knowledge. Conclusion From the CellTech we can see the knowledge evolution and existence during different growth stages and it draws the organization to manage the knowledge effectively. By see the end part of the case study, it is clear that CellTech wanted to learn and monitor the organization by setting-up various review systems. This working document also have reviewed few potential issues in implementing knowledge management policy and the workaround solution to overcome using frameworks also have been suggested to understand knowledge cycle. Gavins (2002) say that Learning organizations are not build overnight and it has to be cultivated, processed steadily over time. In this report we have discussed various models and frameworks as part of knowledge management which can bring CellTech a great advantage in managing its business and stay competitive in the market. To form a learning organization it is highly reliant on exchange of experience and knowledge with others and as a result implementation of knowledge management will lead to increase in competitiveness.

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein :: essays research papers

The Hobbit Title: The Hobbit Author: J.R.R. Tolkien Setting: The setting of the story takes place in the lands of Wilderland. It is through Wilderland that the hobbit and the dwarves travel to retrieve their lost treasure. As they move on through Wilderland, they encounter different people and different problems, making it more of an adventure. Characters: protagonists: Bilbo Baggins- he is the main character of story. The tiny hobbit is convinced by the great wizard Gandalf to undertake a long journey with thirteen dwarves to help them retrieve their lost treasure. Bilbo, at first, seems to be of no use to the dwarfs, almost getting them killed by the giant trolls. Eventually he shows his value to dwarves by saving them numerous times from death and imprisonment. Thorin- He is the most important dwarf. His father was the king under the mountain of Lonely Mountain. After the fall of his kingdom, the treasure that belonged to his father was lost to the evil dragon Smaug. He leads the other twelve dwarfs in hopes of regaining the treasure and his kingdom. Gandalf- He is the great wizard who helped organize the adventure. At first he travels with the dwarves and the hobbit but leaves them because he has other business to attend to. Beorn- is a large man who can change shapes into other animals. He lives by himself in large house with animals who he can speak to. He helps the dwarves and the hobbit after they have escaped from the goblins. He later joins them in the Battle of the Five Armies to help defeat the goblins and and the wargs. Bard- He is the man who slays Smaug and becomes the new master of the town where the men dwell on Long Lake. antagonists: the trolls (Bert, Tom, Bill)- they capture the dwarves and Bilbo with the intention of eating them. They are saved when Gandalf creates confusion between them (the trolls) allowing the adventurers to escape. Goblins- they also capture the adventurers but not before Thorin could kill the Great Goblin and then escape. This caused them to pursue the group and their anger towards them led to the cause the Battle of the Five Armies. Smaug- He is the evil dragon who takes over Lonely Mountain and all its gold within it. He is stirred from his sleep by Bilbo and while trying to destroy the town on the river, he is killed by Bard. Exposition: The general situation is revealed by the narrator who tells the story in the third person. The narrator makes direct comments usually explaining parts of the story that won't be made clear until later in the novel.

Cultural Diversity – All Clients Who Seek Health Care Services

INTRODUCTION Crime is an act or omission prohibited and punished by law (The Collins Concise Dictionary Plus, Collins London and Glasgow 1990). Crime can be committed against a person, place or company. In this essay 4 types of crimes will be explained, defined and measured, along with prevalence and offender/victim characteristics. How do we define property crimes, violent crimes, white-collar crimes and Internet crimes? †¢ Property crimes are defined and categorised as household and vehicle theft, burglary, arson, theft including shoplifting, pick pocketing, bag snatching, graffiti and vandalism Violent crimes, being homicide, kidnapping/abduction, assault, sexual assault, stalking, domestic violence and child abuse against a person †¢ White-collar crimes defined as crimes or activities that include theft, fraud, deception, embezzlement harmful behaviours, environmental or health and safety hazards †¢ Internet crimes consisting of cyber-crimes, piracy, frauds, identi ty theft, cyber-stalking, computer hacking and hate/harmful speech and obscene imagery. Also read: Essay Snatch TheftWhat are property crimes, violent crimes, white-collar crimes and Internet crimes? Example of property crimes is breaking into a car and the stealing of a mobile phone, trespassing into a property to commit an offence or the setting of fire to property. Unlike Property crimes, violent crimes are committed against a person and as such explained as the indecent assault of a person/s against their will, taking a life with or without intent to kill, taking of a person against their will or threats, force or violence against person. In general there is no agreed definition for white-collar crime. Rather, the term covers a range of criminal activities or breach of regulatory activities undertaken by highly regarded professionals/educated professional in positions of trust such as employer provides inadequate working conditions causing serious personal injury to employees or company director misleads shareholders about its financials and continues to operate reg ardless of its inability to pay debt.Internet crime is explained as the unauthorised access of and taking of financial records or sabotage of a persons computer, illegal downloading of movies or songs and bogus websites set up to entice the unsuspecting person to give access to their personal details and accounts. How do we measure property crimes, violent crimes, white-collar crimes and Internet crimes? We can measure detected and reported property crime via administrative data.Administrative data gives a high level of property crime reporting, mainly because there is less fear or shame from reporting of property crimes and also police reports are often required for insurance reporting requirements. Its limitation is it does not encompass undetected and unreported crime known as the ‘dark figure’ of crime (Coleman & Moynihan, 1996). Detected and reported violent crime can be measured using administrative data. Violent crime can also be measured by victimization and res earcher surveys where victims do not report crime for various reasons such as victims often knowing the offender and/or fear of reprisal.The Australian Bureau of Statistics Administrative data on crime victimisation can be derived from a number of sources including police, hospitals and community service agencies. Internet crimes have considerable lower reporting under administrative data due to the non detection or victims unaware they have been a victim of internet crime. We can measure internet crime by surveys such as victimization surveys or measurement against the ongoing extent of the crime.White-collar crime with the exception of fraud under criminal law is extremely difficult to measure due to the complexity of each crime/activity, some activities are regarded as regulatory and not criminal and the interpretations of a crime/activity can be perceived differently among victims. This type of crime/activity is generally picked up through regulatory audits, routine checks and i nvestigation units such as specialized crime departments, police fraud or relevant regulators. Regardless of the different types of data and surveys available, no one reporting measure gives a true indicative picture of crime.How do we gather data on property crimes, violent crimes, white-collar crimes and Internet crimes? Reported property crime and violent crime data can be gathered by using official crime statistics, police reports, corrective service reports, higher, magistrates’ and children’s courts of Australia, reports and insurance reports. Undetected and unreported data for violent crime data can be gathered via qualitative methods and quantitative surveys. Some examples of such are The National Youth Survey, The Rand Tri-State Inmate Survey, The Liverpool Desistance Study, Snowball sampling, organizational and observational data.Researchers also gather data from past, present and/or incarcerated offenders as well as the general public which provide informati on not only about the prevalence of undetected and unreported crime but why people commit crimes. Gathering data on internet crime is difficult. Surveys such as the 2005 Australian computer crimes and security survey, conducted by AusCERT, Australian High Tech Crime Centre and various state, territory and federal police agencies provide an indicative sample.Researchers gather data from white-collar crimes through administrative data such as criminal fraud reports, victimization surveys, state and territory police agencies as well as the Australian Payments Clearing Association. Apart from fraud, gathering data on white-collar crime is extremely difficult as most victims don’t report. What crime/activities have occurred is gathered via reports from police and security agencies and government reports. Some activities are written off by the victim in the hope that the behaviour/incident is not repeated.What do we know about the typical offenders and victims of property crime, vi olent crime, white-collar crime and Internet crime? There appears to be overwhelming evidence from research that supports the conclusion that age is a factor within property crime characteristics. There is a significantly higher representation that occurs in middle to late adolescence and subsides in early adulthood for property crime. This is thought to be associated with â€Å"adolescent rebelliousness†. An overlooked characteristic of youth is that they are also more likely, statistically, to be victims of crime.The majority of crime victims are male under the age of 25. This is different to the popular belief that would suggest otherwise. It is often perceived that older people have a greater risk however, surveys have identified that older people, and in particular women appear to be more fearful of crime not victims of crime. Violent crime has a gender differentiated nature. Data suggests that approximately 80% of crimes are committed by males and 90% of violent crimes are committed by males. This is supported by convictions and prison populations. To understand the victims, it needs to be broken down to more specific categories of violent crimes.For example, males tend to be victims of murder or attempted murder and assault, female are disproportionately represented as victims of sexual assault, kidnapping/abduction. Although males appear to be highly represented in both offenders and victim categories of violent crime, this does not appear to be the case within categories of white-collar crime such as fraud. The ratio of female offenders to male offenders is higher than that of any other category with ratio of two thirds male to one third female. There also appears to be an unusual relationship between repeat offenders and repeat victims.Many victims are victimised repeatedly. It is suggested that residencies with low occupation rates are often the target of repeat burglaries. Prison populations also suggest a disproportionately higher populatio n of repeat offenders. There appears to be little data that describes the victims or offenders in relation to internet crime. However, it could be hypothesized that a great proportion of male offenders would also be represented within this category. How much property crime, violent crime, white-collar crime and Internet crime is there in our community?Crime statistics for our local community has been drawn from Victorian Police region 4 statistics. Statistics for postcode 3129, within this region for 2008 and 2009 using per 100,000 population suggests property damage, theft of and from motor vehicles and residential burglary had reduced substantially but violent crimes including crimes against the person and assault had increased. Internet crimes and white-collar crimes were not available. Statistics for the state of Victoria indicated property crime such as robbery, burglary and theft or and from motor vehicles was down where as violent crimes such as assault had increased.Is prope rty crime, violent crime, white-collar crime and Internet crime on the rise, is it stable or is it declining? Allowing for variations within reporting methods and survey results, there appears to be stable evidence that recorded crime statistics show property crime declining for recorded break and enter or burglary and other theft including pick pocketing, bag snatching, shoplifting and bicycle theft. There also appears to be an increase in motor vehicle theft between 1996 and 2001 followed by a decline from 2001-2008.Recording rates for other theft in 2008 as with previous years suggests that it remains the most commonly reported property crime. Violent crime statistics indicate assaults as the most recorded since 1996, kidnapping statistics fluctuated from 1996 – 2008, homicide statistics also fluctuated but continued to be the 2nd lowest recorded and although the least recorded, there has been an overall increase on sexual assault since 1996. CONCLUSION There appears to be no uniform measurement system for measuring crime. This leads to inconsistencies within the gathered data and the inability to compare between categories, regions and states.Notwithstanding the inaccuracies within the measurement system, property crime is largest represented category and at this stage internet crime has little representation within the data. Whilst we would love to agree with the typical media characterization of an offender, we cannot due to large variations within the data. However, we can suggest the most likely offender would be a young male adolescent committing a property crime. References Collins London and Glasgow (1990) The Collins Concise Dictionary Plus p. 299 Victoria Police News. My Police Crime Statistics for Your Area. Retrieved from http://www. icpolicenews. com. au/index. php? option=com_statistics&task=search Hennessey Hayes and Tim Prenzler (2009) An Introduction to Crime and Criminology 2nd Edition Pearson Education Australia Australian Institut e of Criminology. Selected Crime Profiles. Retrieved from http://www. aic. gov. au/en/publications/current%20series/facts/1-20/2009/2%20selected%20crime%20profiles. aspx Last modified 18 August 2009 Australian Institute of Criminology. Recorded Crime. Retrieved from http://www. aic. gov. au/publications/current%20series/facts/1-20/2009/1%20recorded%20crime. aspx. Last modified 17 March 2010

Teachings of the Buddha

Buddhism is has always been considered a religion and a philosophy by its followers and believers. Its origin and widespread practice in Asia notwithstanding, Buddhism has been quite adaptive to many cultures that it has encountered. For centuries Buddhism practices had only been restricted to the Asian countries and although it exhibit variations in various Asian countries, there are still some common features witnessed across these cultures. Coming to the west, Buddhism and its believers have faced many challenges to incorporate their practices into the cultural norms of the west.However, whether Buddhism can adapt to the attitudes and values of the western countries and still maintain its unique philosophy is the ongoing question among religious scholars. This paper will examine the background of Buddhism and its importance to the current adherents in the United States where there are many diverse cultures. I had a chance to attend a Buddhist pre-wedding ceremony – well, it looked like one. I am told Buddhism is all about simplicity and all its practices and rituals reflect the same. Unlike other religious wedding ceremonies, the Buddhist wedding is nothing but simple and has no pomp and color.It comprises virtually no rituals as we would expect of a wedding ceremony. Their marriages are focused more on the faith and belief between consenting individuals than any other thing. Buddhists are more inclined on ensuring a lasting and harmonious relationship is created between couples seeking each in marriage. I was also told that Buddhists do not compel their followers to undergo some compulsory rituals before marriage and that the decision as to whether to go the courts for marriage or to the few registered temples solely lies with the couple.Nevertheless, a Buddhist wedding would involve two parts; the first part involves engaging in hearty prayers accompanied by offering gifts to the monks and the almighty. And it is during this process that couples are expected to make vows of understanding and faithfulness. The second part which is regarded as a non-Buddhist component consists of all traditional practices which are followed by the specific families of the couple and may involve attending the spirit house for prayers, a feast or gift exchange. Back to the pre-wedding I attended.The ceremony as you make call it, took place at the groom’s family home. I was shocked that the marriage ceremony was very simple unlike any other wedding ceremony I had attended before. There are no strict religious rules or regulations and unlike other religions where such ceremonies are regarded as religious affairs, Buddhists’ ceremony is purely a social affair. There was a small feast organized by the groom’s families over which gifts were exchanged and people chatted freely and without any formal procedures in the entire duration of the ceremony.After the pre-wedding ceremony the couple was declared wife and husband by a friend o f the groom’s family and the congregation dispersed thereafter. The couple was told to decide whether to visit a temple or go to court the following day to secure a marriage certificate. When the ceremony was almost over, I secure a moment a friend of the groom and asked him a few questions regarding Buddhism and here is the excerpt of our talk. 1. Is your religion an actual way of life for you? How integral is it to your daily life? Shimano Roshi: Very important to me.One of the fulfilling aspects of my religion is that it helps me to understand the true nature of life and the universe. Again, it does not only teach me to respect others but also to be tolerant of other people’s way of life. 2. What are some of the main practices, or daily components of your religion? Shimano Roshi: Normally Buddhist prayers in the temples would involve monks reciting the suttas and preach as well. However, there are variations across Buddhists traditions. Personally, I do pay homage t o our spiritual leader the Buddha and chant (recite the suttas) every morning and before going to bed.3. What are some restrictions in your religion, if any, such as dietary, dress code, etc? Shimano Roshi: I don’t know about other religion but I know that Buddhism is one of the most accommodating religions in the world. Buddhism lays emphasis on peace and being harmless. While a dietician may tell you what to eat and a Muslim how to dress up, a Buddhist will tell you that you are what you think. we are define by our inner thoughts and not what we wear or eat. 4. What is the favorite aspect of your religion? Why?Shimano Roshi: To me there is no single aspect I may consider as my favorite because my religion is simply all embracing. 5. Do you feel that you are supported in your town, or in this country, practicing your religion, or do you feel any discrimination? Shimano Roshi: American had had problems earlier accepting us and our way of life but things have changed these day s. It is quite common to see a black Buddhist in the temple, and people of different races are converting every day. I feel Buddhism has been embraced well by the Americans. 6. What is the most misunderstood element of your religion?Shimano Roshi: I don’t know, but if there is any then I think that is there own problem. What I believe is quite important to me to think of how others think about me. 7. Is it important to you that your family/children continue your religious practices/tradition? Shimano Roshi: Absolutely! Buddhism offers a good and stronger foundation for a healthy living both spiritually and physically with others and I would love to impart such teachings on my children. 8. Do you have any holy places or countries that are important to your religion and that you have been to?Why are they considered holy? Shimano Roshi: I have been to the Gangetic plains in northern India and an area in southern Nepal. Buddhist visit this place because Gautama Buddha, our spirit ual leader lived and taught there and therefore we believe the place is much connected with his life. 9. What do you think is most unique about your religion in relation to other religious traditions? Or do you feel there are more similarities? Shimano Roshi: Just like Christian religion, Buddhism has got sects, traditions, lineages, schools and many other smaller groups.It has evolved over the centuries and some even more reformed than others. However, one unique thing in Buddhism is the Enlightenment process. 10. If there were only one thing about your religion that you could share with the world, what would it be? Shimano Roshi: Simplicity! We relate with one another and approach the daily living with utmost simplicity while we are still devoted to our almighty Overview Buddhism its unique combination of religious and philosophical teachings encompasses a number of beliefs, traditions and practices derived from the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama or Buddha ‘the awakened one †.According Buddhist, Buddha lived in northeastern part of India between 6th and 4th centuries BCE. His followers recognized him as an awakened one who used his knowledge to assist the sentient beings avoid suffering (dukkha), attain nirvana and finally escape the cycle of suffering and rebirth (Robinson & Willard, 1970). The religion has two main braches namely; the Theravada – the school of the elders and the Mahayana – the great vehicle.Theravada is considered the oldest surviving branch and enjoys a wide following in Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka. The Mahayana on the other hand has a heavy presence in East part of Asia and involves the traditions of Zen, Tibetan Buddhism, Pure Land, Shigon, Nichiren Buddhism, Tendai and Shinnyo-en (Fisher, 1997). Vajrayana which is a branch of Mahayana is sometimes categorized as the third branch of Buddhism. While it has always been considered a religion of the Asian countries, Buddhism is today found in every part of the wor ld.According to the recent estimates, the Buddhists in the world are numbering about 230 million to 500 million which the religion the fourth largest in the world. Different schools of Buddhists have different interpretation of the path to freedom, the importance and understanding of the scriptures and teachings, as well as different practices. However, the foundation of Buddhist practices and traditions are primarily based on the Three Jewels; the Buddha, the Dharma (also known as the teachings), and the Sangha (also known as the community) (Fisher, 1997).Adhering to the three jewels is considered a declaration as well as commitment to the ways of the Buddha and generally distinguishes a follower from a non-Buddhist. Other rituals would depend on a particular branch of Buddhism and include practices like ethical precepts, meditation, monastic communal support, renunciation of conventional living and becoming a monastic, cultivation of spiritual wisdom and discernment, devotional pr actices, studying of scriptures and invocation of Buddha and bodhisattvas common among the Mahayana followers (Keown & Prebish, 2004).Conclusion Buddhism will continue penetrate other cultures because of philosophical and religious nature. The three Jewels of Buddhism are all-encompassing and answers most of our problems. The Buddha provides us with the spiritual nourishment; the dharma provides ideas for our most controversial issues like abortion and bioethics while sangha provides understanding of our social life and world.Buddhism is not only the way of life a few Asian population but would continue to spread due to its more embracing and simplistic nature. References Fisher, M. P. (1997). Living Religions: An Encyclopedia of the World's Faiths. I. B. Tauris: New York. Keown, D. & Prebish, C. S. (eds. ) (2004). Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Routledge: London Robinson, R. H. & Willard L. J. (1970; 3rd ed. , 1982). The Buddhist Religion: A Historical Introduction Wadsworth Publishing: Belmont, CA (Shimano Roshi, personal communication, July 25, 2010)