Sexual Abuse and Young Children Essay -- Child Abuse Essays

As reported in Child Maltreatment 2013, out of the estimated 905,000 victims of child abuse and neglect reported in the United States in 2013, 8.8% were victims of sexual abuse. 1 This means that in that year over 79,600 children were sexually abused in the United States. â€Å"There is general agreement among mental health and child protection professionals that child sexual abuse is not uncommon and is a serious problem in the United States.† 2 Sexual abuse has a very broad definition. According to the American Psychological Association, â€Å"a central characteristic†¦is the dominant position of an adult that allows him or her to force or coerce a child into sexual activity.† 3 The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act defines sexual abuse as: A. â€Å"the employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticement, or coercion of any child to engage in, or assist any other person to engage in, any sexually explicit conduct or simulation of such conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct; or B. â€Å"the rape, and in cases of caretaker or inter-familial relationships, statutory rape, molestation, prostitution, or other form of sexual exploitation of children, or incest with children† 4 There are many different types of sexual abuse, some more extreme than others. Sexual abuse falls into two categories: contact and non-contact. 5 Sexual abuse involving contact â€Å"may include fondling a child's genitals, masturbation, oral-genital contact, digital penetration, and vaginal and anal intercourse† and non-contact sexual abuse could include â€Å"exposure, voyeurism, and child pornography.† 6 All sexual abuse, no matter how severe or mild by definition, is damaging to the young child and can affect his/her neurological and psychological development and health, and affect him/her throughout life. Sexual abuse negatively affects a young child’s neurological development. It causes toxic stress, a type of stress which children are unable to manage by themselves. 7 According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, exposure to toxic stress during early childhood can impair and disrupt development of brain circuits, which â€Å"can cause an individual to develop a low threshold for stress, thereby becoming overly reactive to adverse experiences throughout life.†8 High levels of stress hormones can also affect the child’s immune system and cause â€Å"cog... ... Symptoms  · Attempts to touch the genitals of others  · Sexualized play  · Detailed and age-inappropriate knowledge of sexual activity  · Excessive masturbatory behavior  · Reluctance to undress  · Avoidance of touch  · Increased startle response  · Hypervigilance  · Extreme fluctuations in heart rate (above 100 bpm or below 60 bpm)  · Sleep disturbance (bed wetting, nightmares)  · Drastic change in appetite somatic complaints  · Enuresis/encopresis  · Substance use  · Fatigue/exhaustion Emotional Symptoms  · Regression to younger developmental stage  · Lack of affect  · Withdrawal/depression  · Anxiety/irritability/fear  · Phobias  · Excessive guilt  · Feelings of helplessness  · Low self-esteem  · Obsessive ideas  · Self-hate  · Hyperalertness  · Dissociation Behavioral Symptoms  · Abrupt change in behavior or personality  · Aggression  · Excessive crying  · Over compliance  · School adjustment problems/sudden drop in school performance  · Temper tantrums  · Truancy or runaway behavior  · Self-mutilating/suicidal ideation/gestures/attempts  · Flashbacks/Avoidance  · Nightmares  · Lack of trust/social isolation/lack of friendships  · Hyperarousal ChildTrauma.org Sexual Abuse and Young Children Essay -- Child Abuse Essays As reported in Child Maltreatment 2013, out of the estimated 905,000 victims of child abuse and neglect reported in the United States in 2013, 8.8% were victims of sexual abuse. 1 This means that in that year over 79,600 children were sexually abused in the United States. â€Å"There is general agreement among mental health and child protection professionals that child sexual abuse is not uncommon and is a serious problem in the United States.† 2 Sexual abuse has a very broad definition. According to the American Psychological Association, â€Å"a central characteristic†¦is the dominant position of an adult that allows him or her to force or coerce a child into sexual activity.† 3 The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act defines sexual abuse as: A. â€Å"the employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticement, or coercion of any child to engage in, or assist any other person to engage in, any sexually explicit conduct or simulation of such conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct; or B. â€Å"the rape, and in cases of caretaker or inter-familial relationships, statutory rape, molestation, prostitution, or other form of sexual exploitation of children, or incest with children† 4 There are many different types of sexual abuse, some more extreme than others. Sexual abuse falls into two categories: contact and non-contact. 5 Sexual abuse involving contact â€Å"may include fondling a child's genitals, masturbation, oral-genital contact, digital penetration, and vaginal and anal intercourse† and non-contact sexual abuse could include â€Å"exposure, voyeurism, and child pornography.† 6 All sexual abuse, no matter how severe or mild by definition, is damaging to the young child and can affect his/her neurological and psychological development and health, and affect him/her throughout life. Sexual abuse negatively affects a young child’s neurological development. It causes toxic stress, a type of stress which children are unable to manage by themselves. 7 According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, exposure to toxic stress during early childhood can impair and disrupt development of brain circuits, which â€Å"can cause an individual to develop a low threshold for stress, thereby becoming overly reactive to adverse experiences throughout life.†8 High levels of stress hormones can also affect the child’s immune system and cause â€Å"cog... ... Symptoms  · Attempts to touch the genitals of others  · Sexualized play  · Detailed and age-inappropriate knowledge of sexual activity  · Excessive masturbatory behavior  · Reluctance to undress  · Avoidance of touch  · Increased startle response  · Hypervigilance  · Extreme fluctuations in heart rate (above 100 bpm or below 60 bpm)  · Sleep disturbance (bed wetting, nightmares)  · Drastic change in appetite somatic complaints  · Enuresis/encopresis  · Substance use  · Fatigue/exhaustion Emotional Symptoms  · Regression to younger developmental stage  · Lack of affect  · Withdrawal/depression  · Anxiety/irritability/fear  · Phobias  · Excessive guilt  · Feelings of helplessness  · Low self-esteem  · Obsessive ideas  · Self-hate  · Hyperalertness  · Dissociation Behavioral Symptoms  · Abrupt change in behavior or personality  · Aggression  · Excessive crying  · Over compliance  · School adjustment problems/sudden drop in school performance  · Temper tantrums  · Truancy or runaway behavior  · Self-mutilating/suicidal ideation/gestures/attempts  · Flashbacks/Avoidance  · Nightmares  · Lack of trust/social isolation/lack of friendships  · Hyperarousal ChildTrauma.org

Artificial Life :: essays research papers fc

Artificial life (commonly called a-life) is the term applied collectively to attempts being made to develop mathematical models and computer simulations of the ways in which living organisms develop, grow, and evolve. Researchers in this burgeoning field hope to gain deeper insights into the nature of organic life as well as into the further possibilities of COMPUTER science and robotics (see ROBOT). A-life techniques are also being used to explore the origins and chemical processes of metabolism. Some investigators have even proposed that some digital "life" in computers might already be considered a real life form.BackgroundThe term artificial life was coined in the 1980s by Christopher Langdon, a computer scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Santa Fe Institute. Langdon organized the first experimental workshop on the subject at Santa Fe in 1987. Since then other a-life conferences have taken place, drawing increasingly wider attention and a growing number of participants.Theoretical studies of a-life, however, had been in progress long before the 1980s. Most notably, the Hungarian-born U.S. mathematician John VON NEUMANN, one of the pioneers of computer science, had begun to explore the nature of very basic a-life formats called cellular automata (see AUTOMATA, THEORY OF) in the 1950s. Cellular automata are imaginary mathematical "cells"-analogous to checkerboard squares-that can be made to simulate physical processes by subjecting them to certain simple rules called algorithms (see ALGORITHM). Before his death, von Neumann had developed a set of algorithms by which a cellular automaton-a box shape with a very long tail-could "reproduce" itself.Another important predecessor of a-life research was Dutch biologist Aristid Lindenmeyer. Interested in the mathematics of plant growth, Lindenmeyer found in the 1960s that through the use of a few basic algorithms-now called Lindenmeyer systems, or L-systems-he could model biochemical processes as well as tracing the development of complex biological forms such as flowers. Computer-graphics programs now make use of L-systems to yield realistic three-dimensional images of plants.The significance of Lindenmeyer's contribution is evident in the fact that so-called "genetic algorithms" are now basic to research into a-life as well as many other areas of interest. Genetic algorithms, first described by computer scientist John Holland of the University of Michigan in the 1970s, are comparable to L-systems. A computer worker trying to answer some question about a-life sets up a system-an algorithm-by which the computer itself rapidly grades the multiple possible answers that it has produced to the question.

Jehovah’s Witness Study Notes

Jehovah's Witnesses was first started by Charles Taze Russel in Pittsburgh around 1870. What led Charles Russel to first start the denomination was when he tried to convert an atheist to Christianity and ended up being converted instead, not to atheism but to agnosticism. Important Religious Beliefs Witnesses rely on the authority of the Bible when they live their day to day life. They believe that the bible is a gift from God that tells humans about what God is like, how to cope with problems, and how to please God. Jehovah’s Witnesses affirm full inspiration of the bible by God and the preservation if its copies over the centuries. Jehovah’s Witness have a special translation if the Bible called the New World Translation Witness believe in only one God. They stress the fact that God has revealed his personal name to humanity, which is Jehovah. Jehovah, in the book, has a spirit body and lives in heaven, but sees all things. While Christians believe that Jesus was â€Å"fully God, fully man†, Witnesses teach that Jesus was not God, but God’s first official creation. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that that they: Teach the truth about God, provide a model of a perfect life for people to follow, and he sacrificed his life to set humans free from sin and that his crucifixion was not on a cross but a upright stake. Customs and Practices Jehovah’s Witnesses baptize those of age who have made a decision to join the faith. Baptism is done by full entrance in water. After one is Baptized they are to include regular attendance at Kingdom Hall meetings and evangelism. Witnessing and Evangelism is the most know to other religions, it is done door-to-door. Witnesses who are employed full time (and are known as Kingdom publishers) devote 100 hours each month to witnessing. Paid employees of the Watchtower Society who are expected to spend about 150 hours per month on evangelism. Jehovah’s Witnesses hold religions services in buildings called Kingdom Halls (could be rented). There are no crosses displayed inside or outside the Kingdom Hall. Holy Books Jehovah’s Witness have a special translation if the Bible called the New World Translation. The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, there are six volumes between 1950 and 1960. Membership Today Since 1995 the Watchtower society have quickly become less encouraging. Similarities and Differences Both religions believe in only one God and both live lives that are guided by a book, the bible. Differences include that Witnesses must advertise their practice and attend meetings 3 times a weeks, while Catholics are free to live the lives they feel are best suited for them.

Investing Stocks and Bonds Essay

Investing in Stocks and Bonds Stocks and Bonds are different in many ways. A stock is a portion or share of the ownership of a corporation. A share will give the owner of the stock the company’s profits or loses over time. The good thing about stocks is they can be sold at almost any time as long as there is someone willing to buy. A bond, on the other hand, is a fixed interest financial asset issued by governments, companies, banks, and other large entities. Bonds also are called funds. Bonds pay the owner a fixed amount a specific date, or on specified dates depending on the type of bond. If the bond is a discount bond, then there is one pay date at the end. If the bond is a coupon bond, then it pays a fixed amount over a specific time. The time could be by month, or by year. My team was assigned the task of investing 120,000 dollars over ten years. We were to invest 80% of 120,000 dollars in stocks and 20% in bonds. We invested in six different stocks and two bonds. Also, we split the money. Therefore, we each invested 6,000 dollars per year in three stocks and one bond. The first stock I decided to invest in was Nike Inc. Nike Inc. is a strongly advertised and a well-distributed company (Nike). Nike Inc. is known well across the world (Nike). When it comes to shoes, clothes, or sports apparel, everyone has at least one item of Nike. In most cases, people own multiple things of Nike equipment. Nike Inc. spends great amounts of time and money on their products (Nike). Also, Nike Inc. is extremely popular among sports. That is relevant because I am an athlete, and own many Nike products. Almost every pair of shoes I own is Nike, besides dress shoes. This all proceeded to tell me, as an investor, to get involved in a part of the company. I took 2,000 dollars of the 6,000 dollars and invested in Nike Inc. Every year for ten years I bought 2,000 dollars worth of shares. The number of shares each year ranged from 24 shares to 42 shares of Nike Inc. stock. In April of 2007, there was a stock split for Nike Inc. The shares split 2:1. So the number of shares I owned up to that point doubled. I owned roughly 197 shares before the 2:1 split. After the split I accumulated about 395 shares. The total number of shares at the end of ten years was approximately 527 shares. My shares sold for $89. 34 each. The total earned from Nike Inc. was $47,130. 76. Another stock is Buckle Inc. This is another company in the clothing industry; however, Buckle Inc. urprised me with how well they did. Buckle Inc. is a popular clothing store for young adults (Buckle). They have jeans, dress shirts, shoes, and other clothing (Buckle). Their products can get expensive, but they are made well (Buckle). Many young adults shop at Buckle Inc. for the variety of trendy options they offer (Buckle). This is relevant beca use I am a young adult, and have shopped at Buckle before. I also know many friends and family who has shopped in Buckle as well. If someone asks around looking for a nice pair of jeans the answer is, â€Å"Have you tried Buckle? They have a nice selection. Like in Nike Inc. , I took 2,000 dollars to invest in this fine company. In 2001 when I started, the shares were quite low in price. The first year I owned over 100 shares. Unlike Nike Inc. , there was more than one split for Buckle Inc. There were two stock splits within the ten years. One split came in January of 2007, and another split came in October of 2008. Both of the stock splits were 3:2 splits. Prior to the first split I owned around 460 shares. After the split I owned about 690 shares. Before the second split I had approximately 786 shares. Following the second split I owned around 1,180 shares. The total number of shares in the end was about 1362 shares. Each sold for $44. 21 coming to a total of $60,238. 45. The last stock I invested in was in the outrageous oil and gas industry. The oil and gas industry can be a risky investment; therefore, I was not guaranteed to come out on top or, in another words, succeed. If success were the outcome, the profit would be fairly significant. I tried Chevron Corporation because they seemed reliable compared to other oil and gas companies (Chevron). Chevron Corporation has been known to strive beyond expectations, and care for the safety of the workforce and environment (Chevron). Chevron products are recognized for their quality, performance, and technology around the world (Chevron). I decided to be on the safe side and only invest 1,000 dollars in Chevron Corporation because of the risk factor that comes into play with the oil and gas industry. Chevron Corporation actually did well after all. The share prices were high to start with. Chevron Corporation had one stock split within the ten years. In September of 2004, the 2:1 split helped my number of shares go from about 48 shares to around 97 shares total. In the end I owned a total of approximately 180 shares. These shares sold for a big $105. 38 each. This nearly doubled the 10,000 dollars. The total after the ten years in Chevron Corporation was $18,982. 67. The one mutual fund I invested in was with PIMCO. This global investment authority offers many different bonds such as: absolute return bonds, asset allocations, convertibles, municipal bonds, core bonds, etc. (PIMCO). The bond I chose was a core bond. This bond was the PIMCO Total Return Fund. This particular fund focuses on a solid core fixed-income (PIMCO). The fund will typically invest in a diversified portfolio of securities (PIMCO). One thing I noticed when researching PIMCO Total Return Fund was that the worst one year return for this bond was 0. 28% (PIMCO). This made PIMCO a reliable source in my eyes. I selected to invest 1,000 dollars with PIMCO because it is a popular, reliable investment company. The shares for this fund had a low price. Each share was $10. 65 in July of 2001. This investment consisted of many more shares at a much lower price. I owned roughly 90 more shares every year. The total number of shares after ten years was about 1030 shares. Each share sold for $11. 12. This gave me a total of $11,456. 71 in returns. After investing 60,000 dollars over ten years in three stocks and one bond, I accumulated a total of $137,808. 59. Buckle Inc. was my best investment earning $60,238. 45 over ten years. Surprisingly Buckle Inc. was able to triple its profit over the total ten years I invested. Nike Inc. over doubled in the ten years. Nike Inc. did quite well throughout the ten years. Chevron was the least earning stock; however, this investment earned almost double the 10,000 dollars initially spent on the stock. The PIMCO Total Return Fund was what Dr. Duke considers a low risk/low reward investment. The PIMCO Total Return Fund was conservative. The total at the end of ten years in the PIMCO Fund was $11,456. 71. This fund earned a small amount over 14% profit. This was actual a very respectable profit for a mutual fund. Overall the total return from all the investments was a tremendous profit. Going from 60,000 dollars to 137,000 dollars was remarkable. Not everyone succeeds in the market; however, this is a great illustration of how well someone can do in the world of investment when it comes to stocks and bonds. Works Cited â€Å"Buckle Inc. † Buckle. com: Men’s and Women’s On-Trend Fashion Clothing & Designer Jeans

American Indian Hist

The question of what motivates people more when they act – cultural priorities, such as religion or tradition, or the so-called â€Å"rational† motivations, such as economics and politics – has been one long debated on. This debate has been quite fierce, members of both sides providing valid and powerful arguments to support their claims. One of the focal points for this discussion are the people known under the blanket term â€Å"Native Americans†. Where did their motivations stem from? Was it merely pragmatism, a wish to get the most out of any outsiders? Or was culture and tradition vital to decision making?It is doubtless that both of these factors were present, however, the question is, which was the initial factor of influence, dominating thought and action. Scholars have attempted to prove points both ways. I support the side which claims that culture was the primary factor. I shall first provide counter-arguments to the opposing side, then provide supporting arguments for my own claim. First, however, it must be noted that Native Americans is a very catchall term, which is used for lack of a better one. As the website of the Native American research center states, â€Å"It must be emphasized that no one person speaks for Indian People.There are nearly three hundred distinct American Indian Nations in the present United States. Each has its own language and history, its own sacred places and rituals. Each is rooted in and part of the land out of which it grew. â€Å" There are dozens of tribes, including some that are officially considered extinct now, that had quite different customs. If we say that there were Native Americans and they had one kind of culture and, as a consequence, had the same customs, we may just as well say that there are Europeans and they have one culture, completely losing the obvious distinctions between different nations.The cultures of different tribes of Native Americans are very different  œ to deny this would be to unjustly diminish their cultural value – and yet there are cultural tendencies, and there are exceptions. I will attempt to prove that the tendency is to use tradition as a guideline, and the occasions where â€Å"pragmatical† reasons have been primary are the exceptions verifying the rule. First I shall examine the political argument. It seems very difficult to think that â€Å"politics† in the sense that we understand them now had an influence on the Native Americans.When we think of â€Å"politics† we think of diplomatic traditions, of treaties that are made to be broken, of backstabbing. This, however, was not the dominant case with Native Americans. As Dee Brown wrote in his book â€Å"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee†, â€Å"So tractable, so peaceable, are these people,’ Columbus wrote to the King and Queen of Spain [referring to the Tainos on the island of San Salvador, so was named by Columbus], ‘that I swear to your Majesties there is not in the world a better nation.They love their neighbors as themselves, and their discourse is ever sweet and gentle, and accompanied with a smile; and though it is true that they are naked, yet their manners are decorous and praiseworthy. † This was verified a number of times by other observations, Columbus’s report being merely the most famous occasion. Time after time, the settlers used the same tactic. While officially recognizing the natives as owners of the land, they used any tactic possible to get them to sell the land, up to getting the chief of the tribe drunk.Then, once the treaty – which usually went along the lines of â€Å"There are white men on your lands now anyway, but give us a part of your land, and we will not go on your land without your permission. † – was signed, in a few years the expansion continued in the same manner, and new treaties were signed. Despite these circumstances, there have b een virtually no instances of the treaties between the Indians and the Europeans being broken by the Indians – however, Europeans were breaking these treaties constantly, in 99% of the cases!One would think that if politics were the defining factor in the Native American’s way of dealing they would have changed their tactic after the first few times these treaties were broken – they were not fools, and hundreds of years of such tactics would have destroyed even the most saintly naivete. So the conclusion must be that there was something more than mere hope that the white men would see reason standing behind these promises that forced the Native Americans to keep them. The next common choice for primary motivation is economics.However, despite the fact that the Indians had private property and were no strangers to trade, this could hardly be the dominating motivation. First of all, the Indians were completely self-supporting. Even if they did require something es sential they could not produce themselves – which was fairly rare – other Native American tribes generally proved much better business partners, generally being more honest than the Europeans. Consequentially, all the Europeans could offer them were luxuries. This, naturally, should not be underestimated as a lure in any way.However, a trade which truly entails only luxuries is always small by necessity. In any case, trade relationships were not nearly so large-scale as in the Old World. They could not have been the driving motivation Also, we have numerous documents that detail the interaction between Native Americans and European settlers. The initial reply to the abovementioned land-selling treaties was nearly always quite similar. For instance, an excerpt from the 1752 Abenaki Conference between Captain Phineas Stevens and the St.Francis Indians shows the Indian’s attitude to these treaties: â€Å"4 – But we will not cede one single inch of the lands we inhabit beyond what has been decided formerly by our fathers. 5 – You have the sea for your share from the place where you reside; you can trade there; but we expressly forbid you to kill a single Beaver, or to take a single stick of timber on the lands we inhabit; if you want timber we'll sell you some, but you shall not take it without our permission. † And there exists a number of other documents revealing a similar attitude.Could this, in truth, only be showing that the Indians merely wanted a better deal? One could naturally gain a leeway in trade by keeping the land and selling its resources. However, it is a basic law of economics that one wishing to trade must meet the demand. Had this trade in itself been a factor of dire importance to the Indians, they would have put forth an effort to convince the Europeans that trading would prove profitable. However, the attitude that prevails in documents is one of indifference. It seems like the Indians did not care f or the presence of Europeans.If the white men wished a trade, then they would get a trade. If they did not, the Indians seemed perfectly content to let them live without making any more contact than absolutely necessary. Trade was not of importance – it influenced the relationship between the natives and settlers when it was present, but it was by no means the most important factor. On the other hand, tradition and culture was of extreme importance, influencing entire tribe’s behaviors – especially such a part of culture as religion. For Native Americans religion was of utmost importance.Even the Canadian Jesuit missionaries remarked that the Native Americans were highly religious – and not in the â€Å"Sunday Christian† sense, either, but with deep roots and a great influence of every aspect of their lives. This is a characteristic feature of most tribal societies, where little distinction is made between the sacral and the mundane. However, for I ndians religion had special relevance, as it was one of the things that allowed them to cling on to their cultural identity, saving them from assimilation. Yet even before this was a relevant factor, religion permeated nearly every aspect of Native American life.Their religion was (and remains) one of pure personal experience, not leaving any room for dogma. The Native American worldview is mythological. For all practical purposes, this means that religious factors such as hunting rituals and their theoretical results are the perceived as being absolutely as physically real as an arrow fired into an animal, having the same kind of cause-and-effect that a physical event might. A deal with a spirit, for instance, is treated as seriously as a treaty with a human. A spirit’s warning was heeded as much as a human’s would, with absolutely the same kind of discretion.And magical means of solving problems were taken as absolutely valid. One of the most well known incidents was in 1876, before the battle at Little-Big-Horn when the famed Sitting Bull performed a three-day shamanic ritual to decide what to do with the white men, staring at the sun and wounding himself until he fell unconscious. After he came to, he announced that the white men were there for the Indians to take, because he saw white men fall into the Indian’s camp headfirst, losing their hats, meaning they would be the killed by the Indians.Also he announced that â€Å"They had no ears†, i. e. they were deaf to reason, giving the Indians a moral right to attack. This is not the only incidence of religion influencing political activity. The Ghost Dance religion can be cited as another famous example, showing how Native American religion changed with the times, how it adapted to the flow of time and adopted alien cultural notions and yet survived without losing all of its cultural value, keeping the spirit, though changing the form.One might say that this lack of dissemination between regular life and religious life simply brings more factors into the political games. Religious leaders are used as figure heads for power play, and spirits are dealt with in the same manner humans are dealt with – if, indeed, the shamans who contact the spirits even believe in them and not use them as a means of their own power and control! This is, however, hardly the case, as there are numerous arguments against this position in the study of tribal societies as a whole.Firstly, their religion was always very personal. Every single Indian had their own religious experience and, as with any religion that requires its neophytes to work out their own niche – clergy being needed only in extreme cases – it is always very strong. The strength of this experience makes it difficult to give anything that is lower than it is a higher priority. The Native Americans did not believe in their gods watching over them – they knew the gods were there as much as t hey knew that their teepee was still standing.And while white men were considered a temporary nuisance, guests or invaders at best, and were treated that way, the gods were almost like family, and treated with necessary respect and given due priority. Second, as the phenomenon of the Ghost Dance shows, the acts done out of religion were not necessarily the wisest politically – such as the sending out of search parties to look for the Messiah said to be an incarnation of Jesus, and this at the time when men were crucial to survival – so faking divine inspiration for political power is ruled out.So, if the leaders genuinely believed in what they saw, the fate of hundreds and thousands rested within religion – more than enough to define it as one of the crucial influencing factors. It can be seen that politics and trade simply not as much of an influence on life, while religious and cultural activity was always extremely important, guiding the life of every Indian to a certain extent. This was the source of much misunderstanding, since for Europeans politics often took the leading role when religion failed to provide the necessary support and guidance.This made both sides misinterpret the others’ actions, resulting in a long and bloody war that spanned generations. The Native Americans also had also led wars between each other in the past; they were no strangers to military tactics. However, their wars had rules – ones that the settlers naturally broke, thus spelling defeat for the natives. This also shows just how big a role does tradition play in Native American society – had they adapted to the way of war which the Europeans brought to them, they would have survived losing less than they did.In conclusion, it can be said that, as we have seen, purely empirical evidence proves that the Native Americans did not use either politics or economics as the prime guideline for building the relationships either among themselves or between them and Europeans. These factors were not considered firsthand in any crisis situation, and even 370 years of war against the Europeans did not put them very high on the list of priorities. However, ethics and religion made quite an impact on the decisions made by the Native American people, and remain influential factors in their thinking to this day.This was the true motivation of most Native Americans, and remains so up to modern times. Works cited. 1. American Indian Culture Research Center: http://www. bluecloud. org/dakota. html 2. Dee Brown, â€Å"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West†, Henry Holt & Company; Reprint edition (February 1, 1991) 3. Terry L. Anderson, â€Å"Dances with myths – truths about American Indians' environmental ethics†, Reason, February 1997. 4. Ghost Dance Religion: http://www. bgsu. edu/departments/acs/1890s/woundedknee/WKghost. html 5.Cultures of North America: http://www. mnsu. edu/emu seum/cultural/northamerica/index. shtml 6. Cultures of North America: http://www. mnsu. edu/emuseum/cultural/northamerica/index. shtml 7. David Stannard, â€Å"The American Holocaust†, Oxford University Press, 1992. 8. The Massacre at Wounded Knee: http://www. hanksville. org/daniel/lakota/Wounded_Knee. html 9. The Wampum Chronicles: Mohawk Territory on the Internet: http://www. wampumchronicles. com/index. html 10. George E. Tinker, â€Å"Religion†: http://college. hmco. com/history/readerscomp/naind/html/na_032600_religion.htm 11. NativeWeb: http://www. nativeweb. org/ 12. Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler: http://digital. library. okstate. edu/kappler/Vol1/HTML_files/toc. html 13. Abenaki Conference with Phineas Stevens. Documents Related to the Colonial History of the State of New York Vol. X. pg. 252-254. Donated by Jeffery Miller – Administrator of Fort #4. http://www. avcnet. org/ne-do-ba/doc_1752. html 14. The M anataka Oath, Creed and Code of Conduct: http://www. manataka. org/page182. html

Response Paper to “The Invention of Lying”

Response Paper One Joseph Leemon For my analysis of the movie The Invention of Lying as it pertains to our class, I have selected two parts from the IPC book, where I can apply some of what I have learned so far. The first part is the Ethical Systems of Interpersonal Communication table from Chapter 1 and the Stages of the Interpersonal Perception Process from Chapter 2, The Ethical system of interpersonal communication contains five parts. Those parts are categorical imperative, utilitarianism, golden mean, ethic of care, and significant choice.Categorical imperative is an ethical system that suggests that we should act as an example to others. This is demonstrated throughout the movie as the entire population (except Mark when he begins to lie), tells the truth no matter how it might affect the other person. A specific example is when Anna is talking to her mother on the date, and explaining that Mark is unattractive and undesirable, even though he is sitting right across from her. Utilitarianism is the ethical system suggesting that what is ethical will bring the greatest good to the greatest number of people.An example of this would be when Mark tells the lie that he can speak directly to God, and he is confronted with a worldwide audience. He then decides to make up his own version of the Commandments, because he believes that these will help society at large in the best possible way. Golden mean is the ethical system where a person’s moral virtue stands between two vices, with the middle being the foundation for a rational society. This is displayed when Mark uses his lies to get closer to Anna throughout the movie by manipulating other people to get money and fame.The other side of it is when he tells his dying grandmother how wonderful heaven is, so she will be able to die peacefully. Mark also has various other situations like this that keeps him centered and good. The ethic of care is the system that is concerned with the connections among peop le and the moral consequences of decisions. Throughout the movie, Mark tries to get Anna to like him, even though she originally thought of him as ugly and as a loser. They begin to grow closer, until Anna decides to marry Brad, because Brad is of better â€Å"stock† than Mark.Anna does not end up going through with marrying Brad, because she realizes that there are more appealing aspects to Mark, even though he has told her that he has not told the truth. Significant choice is the belief that communication is ethical to the extent that it maximize our ability to exercise free choice. This is brought up in the movie a couple of times. One of the first times Mark uses it is when he runs into Frank, who is contemplating suicide. Mark did not have to tell Frank that he was a good guy, and that he was worth something, but he found it was the ethical thing to do, and exercised his choice in that way.Another time is near the end of the movie where Mark tells Anna that he has not be en telling the truth. He wanted her to like him for himself, and not all the money and fame that he had accumulated by lying, so he made the choice to tell her the truth. The second part is the Stages of the Interpersonal Perception Process from Chapter 2. These include attending and selecting, organizing, interpreting, and retrieving. This is used on Mark and Anna’s second date, when Anna asks Mark about his family.Mark is able to draw her in by telling her of his father and his grandmother. Mark then uses organizing to create the belief that he is good enough for Anna, but Anna still believes that he is ugly and she does not want to have children with him. Because of this, Mark interprets that even though he has more money, Anna will still not be with him romantically. Mark retains this idea that he is not good enough throughout the rest of the movie, until the very end where Anna finally decides that she wants to be with him because of the person he is on the inside.

A Brief History Of E Commerce Information Technology Essay

A Brief History Of E Commerce Information Technology Essay Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is the term used for any type of business or commercial transaction that involves the transfer of products, services and information over electronic systems such as the internet and other computer networks. The trader and customer are not face to face at any point during these transactions, the business being conducted remotely, regardless of location. E-commerce covers a range of different types of businesses, from consumer based retail sites, through auction or music sites, to business exchanges trading goods and services between corporations. It is currently one of the most important aspects of the Internet to emerge. Almost all big retailers have electronic commerce presence on the World Wide Web. Although most electronic commerce involves the transportation of physical items in one way or another, a large percentage of e-commerce is conducted entirely electronically for virtual items, such as access to certain information on a website, purchasin g software or other on-line services. E-business is a superset of e-commerce   [ 1 ]   . Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of the business transactions. E-commerce can be mainly divided into Business-to-Business electronic commerce (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer electronic commerce (B2C). B2B implies that both sellers (suppliers) and buyers are business corporations, while B2C implies that buyers are individual consumers. Business-to-business e-commerce is significantly different from business-to-consumer e-commerce. While B2C merchants sell on a first-come, first-served basis, most B2B commerce is done through negotiated contracts that allow the seller to anticipate and plan for how much the buyer will purchase. In some cases B2B is not so much a matter of generating revenue as it is a matter of making connections with business partners. 1.1.1 . B2B e-commerce B2B e-commerce requires the technological sharing of information among supplies, retailers, distributors, and other interested parties to create electronic relationships. B2B e-commerce does not just comprise the transaction via the Internet, but also the exchange of information before and the service after a transaction. From the purchasing company’s point of view, B2B e-commerce is a medium for facilitating procurement management by reducing the purchase price and the cycle time.   [ 2 ]    The key players usually include selling and buying companies, deliverers, and often some type of electronic intermediaries, or third-party service providers. These associations can take many forms, yet most fall into three models. These models are classified depending on who controls the marketplace: the supplier, the buyer or the intermediary: (a) In a Supplier-Oriented Marketplace: many buyers face few suppliers. (b) In a Buyer-Orientated Marketplace: few buyers fa ce many suppliers. (c) In an Intermediary-Oriented Marketplace: many buyers face many suppliers. A) Supplier-Oriented Marketplace Supplier-Oriented Marketplaces offer a group of customers a wide spectrum of products and services and also support them in their own business. The markets can involve proprietary auctions, bid systems, and exchanges. By using Supplier-Oriented Marketplaces, suppliers are offered new types of market channels in marketing and distribution. Products can be sold directly to the customer without using intermediaries. Most manufacture-driven electronic stores use this form of market place. Successful examples of this business model are e.g. Dell and Cisco.   [ 3 ]   Both Dell and Cisco sold and sell their products via the Internet. However, not only Dell and Cisco use the Supplier-Oriented Marketplace, there are thousands of other companies using this model. Cisco’s main business is providing electronic support using the Internet. The main applicati ons are software downloads, defect tracking and technical advice. Cisco’s business model also includes customer service and finding order status, as well as selling routers, switches and other network interconnect devices.