porcupine :: essays research papers

The word porcupine comes from the Latin words â€Å"porcus spina,† meaning â€Å"pig spines†. The porcupine is a slow-moving, peaceful rodent. They are also vegetarians and mostly nocturnal. Their scientific name, Erethizon, means to "irritate with back." The Porcupine is the second largest of all rodents. It has a small head, large, chunky body with a high arching back and short legs. Its head and body are 25 to 40 inches long, with long, thick, muscular tail growing as long as 8 inches. It weighs from 10 to 40 pounds. Long, yellowish hairs cover the front half of its body while up to 30,000 quills are placed among the dark, coarse hairs of the back and tail. These quills are the most distinguishing characteristic of the Porcupine. Actually modified hairs, the black-tipped, yellowish quills are stiff, barbed spines about 3 inches long that can be easily barbs once embedded in another animals' flesh. The Porcupine's feet have 4 toes on the forefeet and 5 on the hind feet all with long, curved claws and small pads on the bottom. The porcupine's undersides are soft and vulnerable. Porcupine babies are called kittens. The porcupine lives in all the North American desert regions, and the entire west, north to Canada. It lives in wooded areas ,in light marshlands and in deserts. Porcupines are vegetarians. In the Spring they feed on leaves, twigs and green plants. In Winter, they chew through the outer bark of fir, hemlock, aspen and pines trees to eat the tender layer of tissue below. Sometimes, they will completely chew threw, and thus kill, trees. They may also gnaw used ax handles, canoe paddles and other items for the salt and oil they contain. The two large, front gnawing teeth continue to grow as long as the Porcupine lives. When threatened, the North American Porcupine places his snout between his forelegs and spins around presenting its rear to the enemy. If attacked, contrary to popular belief, the Porcupine does not throw its quills; instead, it drives its tail against the assailant and dozens of quills detach easily from the skin to remain embedded in the attacker.

Left Behind Book Series :: essays research papers

Feeling left behind? You might be if you have looked in the religion section of a bookstore recently. Since 1995, over fifty million books bearing the banner of the Left Behind series have showed up not only in Protestant bookstores but also in mainstream, secular bookstores. In 1998 the original four books of the series simultaneously occupied the top four slots in the New York Times bestseller list—which does not count sales figures from Protestant bookstores. The tenth volume of the series debuted at number one on the list. The books of the Left Behind series offer a fictionalized account of the end of the world, based on the authors’ understanding of the book of Revelation and other Bible prophecies. But Left Behind is much more than a series of books. It is a multi-media franchise that includes not only the original novels (which should total twelve to fourteen) but also two motion pictures, over twenty children’s books, study guides, dramatized and unabridged audio books, and graphic novels—with more on the way! Also attached to the franchise are a number of non-fiction works in which the authors explain their views of Bible prophecy in a straightforward manner rather than using the form of a novel. Evangelical publishing has never seen a phenomenon like this. It dwarfs even The Late Great Planet Earth, which was the best-selling book of the 1970s. Left Behind leaves many Catholics scratching their heads. They may know that it has something to do with the end of the world. Some Catholics have even had Evangelical friends try to get them to read the books as a subtle (or not so subtle) attempt to evangelize them. But few have a clear idea of what the books are about, who is behind them, and how they relate to the Catholic faith. This is a problem. There is nothing wrong with having a successful publishing franchise, but when that franchise contains anti-Catholic prejudice and bad theology, that is a problem. Matters are worse when the franchise is so profit-driven that it puts making a buck over the spiritual and psychological well-being of children. As we will see, Left Behind does all of that. The Man Behind Left Behind The Left Behind books carry the bylines of two men, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. The latter is a prolific freelance author and ghostwriter who has published several dozen books. He is the actual author of the Left Behind books, but his is the less important role, because he does not generate the ideas for them.

Henri Fayol Principals Essay

Principle 1: Division of work According to Fayol’s principle one of management, division of work, he proposed that â€Å"work can be performed more efficiently if it is divided into smaller elements and assigning specific elements to specific workers† (Rodrigues 2001, p. 880). Contrary to this principle, workers might get bored of doing the same task. For instance in a factory, work is divided into many parts where each of the worker is responsible for a specific task. Eventually these workers will be proficient in their job, where it will become a routine work. However, if they were to continue to perform the same routine task over a very long period of time, they might lose interest or become too complacent. They are not being challenged or made to encounter new or different situations during the job. Thus, this does not create opportunities for them to develop new skills. Employees need to be exposed to job opportunities so that they will be able to pick up new skills, and not just focusing on a specific task. If these employees are given the opportunity to develop new skills, it will give them a sense of importance and belonging in the organisation, and these new knowledge will inspire and motivate them to be more engaged and have a better understanding in their work. Every employees would seize it as an opportunity whenever they face challenges (McGregor & Harpaz, cited in Rodrigues 2011, p. 881). Therefore, organisation should come out with methods and tools that are able to increase the opportunities and challenges of the employees (Schmitt, Zacher & de Lange 2013, p. 516). To support this, employers can provide workshops and trainings for employees to broaden their skills and specializations. This will also open up the employees’ room for professional development. For example, Singapore Workforce Development Agency, WDA encourages employees, professionals, managers and executives to upgrade and build up on their skills through skills-based trainings (Singapore Workforce Development Agency 2012). Opportunities given to employees at work will allow them to learn and gain more skills and knowledge. In addition, this will also boost up their growth and confidence level in their work as they are empowered with multi responsibilities. In the presence of job enrichment, employees are able to deepen their job responsibilities and have control over their work (Dickie & Dickie 2011, p. 71). Job enrichment will benefit the organisation as it will reduce the number of absenteeism, turnover  intentions and social loafing while increase employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment and individual productivity (Davoudi 2013, p. 107). In other words, organisation should encourage and send their employees for skills upgrading to stretch their capabilities. In contrast to Fayol’s understanding that an employee doing one task will increase their efficiency, employee that have more than one skill will benefit the organisation as their knowledge has become greater than before. Another disadvantage to this principle in this 21st century context is the impact of technology whereby machines has taken over some but not all, specialised jobs (Rodrigues 2001, pp. 880-881). Back to the factory example; then people were hired to do manufacturing jobs such as assembling cars. Each worker was given a specific task to assemble a car, but now these tasks are carried out by robots, where they are able to do more than one task (John Markoff 2012). As a result these workers might lose their jobs. Thus this principle, to a certain extent, it may not be relevant today. There are still organisations who practice this principle, but with the fast moving technology and employees who are eager to learn, it might not apply to this day. ? The managers have the power to instruct their employees to perform work that they give. Thus in this principle, managers give their employee rights (authority) and let them be responsible to complete the task (responsibility) that is being delegated to them (Bushardt et al. 2010, p. 9). In this context, it shows that the manager’s role is authoritative, which makes the subordinates have to follow the manager’s instructions (Cheng 2004, p. 91). Managers must stay in mind that they must have a shared understanding with their employees when they assign the task to them (Miles, cited in Evans et al. 2013, p. 24). They must take in consideration not to misuse their authoritative power to the extent that their employees have no choice nor say when their managers delegate the task to them. When the manager and the employee have a common goal, it will open up opportunities for employees to share opinions and make decisions to accomplish the required task. This also allows the managers to understand their employees and get engaged with them. In support of this, managers need to be a good example to their employees so that they will feel inspired and motivated to reach their organisational goals. Hence, managers have to be a transformational leader by moving their team forward to inspire and motivate them (Warrick 2011, p. 12). Whenever someone thinks of a leader, he will associate them with acquiring power, influence and authority (Dickie & Dickie 2011, p. 83). One can have power and authority, but only a few are able to influence, inspire and motivate their employees. Fig 1.1 Leader behaviour continuum (Tannenbaum & Schmidt, cited in Dickie & Dickie 2011, p. 87) The two-dimensional model in fig 1.1 explains that managers’ role of authoritativeness and sub-ordinates empowerment has to be balanced between managers and the employees. Employees are able to participate in the decision making by voicing out their ideas to their managers. Managers can then make a decision based on this shared understanding (Tannenbaum & Schmidt 1973). Hence, employees are given the permission to complete the given task which was based on a clear and discussed understanding with the manager. In contrast of Fayol’s perspective, delegation of work to the employees should be tasked responsibly with a shared understanding. Thus, employees will feel that their role in the organisation is worthy and  trusted. References Davoudi, SMM 2013, ‘Impact: Job Enrichment in Organizational Citizenship Behaviour’, SCMS Journal of Indian Management, p. 107, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 21 November 2013. Dickie, L & Dickie, C 2011, Cornerstones of Management, 2nd edn, Tilde University Press, Australia, p. 71. Rodrigues, CA 2001, ‘Fayol’s 14 principles of management then and now: A framework for managing today’s organizations effectively’, Management Decision, vol. 39, no. 10, pp. 880-889. Schmitt, A, Zacher, H & de Lange, AH 2013, ‘Focus on opportunities as a boundary condition of the relationship between job control and work engagement: A multi-sample, multi-method study’, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, vol. 22, no. 5, p. 516, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 17 December 2013. Singapore Workforce Development Agency 2012, About WDA, Singapore Workforce Development Agency, viewed 12 January 2014, . John Markoff 2012, Skilled Work, Without the Worker, New York Times, viewed 12 January 2014, . ? Principle 2: Authority and responsibility Bushardt, SC, Glascoff, DW, Doty, DH, Frank, M & Burke, F 2010, ‘Delegation, Authority and Responsibility: A reconfiguration of an old paradigm’, Advances in Management, vol. 3, no. 9, p. 9. Cheng, BS, Chou, LF, Wu, TY, Huang, MP & Farh, JL 2004, ‘Paternalistic leadership and subordinate responses: Establishing a leadership model in Chinese organizations’, Asian Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 7, no. 1, p. 91. Dickie, L & Dickie, C 2011, Cornerstones of Management, 2nd edn, Tilde University Press, Australia, p. 83. Dickie, L & Dickie, C 2011, Cornerstones of Management, 2nd edn, Tilde University Press, Australia, p. 87. Evans, WR, Haden, SSP, Clayton, RW & Novicevic, MM 2013, ‘History-of-management thought about social responsibility’, Journal of Management History, vol. 19, no. 1, p. 24. Tannenbaum, R & Schmidt, WH 1973, ‘How to choose a leadership pattern’, Harvard Business Review, vol. 51, no. 3, p. 164. Warrick, DD 2011, â₠¬ËœThe urgent need for skilled transformational leaders: integrating transformational leadership and organization development’, Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics, vol. 8, no. 5, p. 12. ?

Drama and audience Essay

Reverend Hale’s role in the play is to originally cure of find the illness of Betty. But instead he is described as â€Å"stiring the witchcraft cauldron that is brewing in Salem Village†. Arthur Miller uses words and phrases such as; narrowing his eyes, holding up his hands, surprised, quickly, grasping, rising exhilaration, kindly ect. This describes Reverend Hale’s character well, as he is a do-gooder within the village. Miller emphasises his importance, by making his character loud, expressive yet good hearted. He makes sure the audience is aware of Hale’s importance, by making him a figure to look up to, someone that people can see God in, and by making people confess to him he is showing the power he has. Parris’s status within the community should be an example to others, but is slowly withering as the accusations of witchcraft within his village and family drag him down. The farmers Proctor, Putnam and Giles, are all below Parris in society. They are the main male characters in the play and because Parris is higher up in society, he remains the loneliest out of the four; this is significant as he knows he cannot cope with all the stress as a single parent and guardian, and a reverend Salem relies on. As previously written, Hale was confessed to by Tituba. She confessed to seeing Satin towards the end of Act 1. Her confession was dramatic and Miller emphasised this well by using language such as; weeps, sobbing in terror, falls to her knees, frightened, suddenly bursting out, in a fury ect. Influenced by the forgiveness given to Tituba, this is significant as she is setting an example and giving ideas to the girls. Abigail copies calling out accusations, as assumed and for example she shouts; â€Å"I saw Sarah Good with the devil! † ect. Scared and confused girls followed in Abigail’s actions and began calling out accusations as well. The girls soon figure that lying, pretending and accusing others, will take the limelight from them and they will soon be seen as victims and witnesses of Satin. In conclusion, Arthur Miller’s stage directions in the play, The Crucible, create drama and inform the audience about the nature of the society in Salem. He uses them effectively to create instant excitement and effect as well as defining the characters in detail. The characters are however Millers own creation and through his direction they add drama to the story. The language used in the play highlights the lack of communication in its simplicity and distances itself from the twenty first century. The people in Salem lived solely by their religion and were unable to accept anything that may defy their beliefs. It also showed the lies and deceit that people created to protect their own name and standing in society. Arthur Miller has managed to skilfully tell the story according to historic facts whilst adding his own portrayal of characters to attract audiences today.

SALAT

Prayer has always been an integral part of Islamic faith and is accorded a central place in the religious practices. Salat is the ritualized form of prayer laid out and codified in the Quran. Though Islam has formalized many practices in detail, salat has not been codified in detail in the Quran. The practices of Prophet Muhammed served as worthy of emulation and has been carried over into the religious practice in the form of oral reports called hadiths. In the early stages Islam and its rituals were in a state of constant change and hence scholars and jurists spent considerable effort in expounding the religious practices of Muslims. The Quran places great emphasis on prayer and the prayer finds expression in various forms like supplication, remembrance, repentance, glorification, litany and ritual (p. 8054). Salat is the ritual part of the prayer and needs to be understood in this overall context. Keeping up with the schism in early Islam and subsequent formation of Sunni and Shia sects, salat has incorporated the influences of these sects. Prayer is of such a paramount importance to the faith, it is also included in the Islamic jurisprudence and salat is one of the Five Pillars of Islam as defined in Islamic law ‘Shariah’. Salat can either be mandatory or voluntary. It is voluntary when one has reached the age of reason and obligatory when one has reached puberty (p. 8055). There are exact and stringent specifications for conducting salat and Islamic laws describe them in detail. Though men and women performed the prayers together in Muhammad’s time, the later hadiths have excluded or severely limited presence of women in the communal salat performed in the mosques. Islam stresses communal prayer and hence the mosque forms the central locus for salat. It is permitted to conduct salat on the street or elsewhere, if no mosque is available. In the early days of Islam salat was performed three times in a day, but later hadiths took reference to Muhammad’s night journey and increased the number of mandatory salats to five in a day. Muslims are called to prayer by muezzin fifteen minutes before the salat time and the muezzin calls out by glorifying God and his messenger Muhammad. Before the salat begins the followers of the faith should make themselves clean for the ritual by cleansing themselves with water. Shariah specifies both major impurities, which require a complete bath and minor impurities that require ablution at the mosque itself. Apart from the physical purity, one also has to purify himself mentally by declaring the intention to pray. Various schools of thought differ on this aspect i. e. some schools say that intention should be pronounced audibly and some say it should be silent. The very act of performing the salat is pretty simple and brief. According to Shariah â€Å"each salat consists of two or four cycles of bowing, called rak’ah† (p. 8057). It also specifies that at least seventeen cycles should be completed in a day during the five salats. Salat is performed by a series of steps accompanied by specified incantations. For example, salat begins with the incantation â€Å"God is great† followed by certain bodily movements. The Sunnis and Shias have different interpretations here as well. This is then followed by extolling the glory of God and finally the follower performs various other actions like asking for forgiveness or offers petitions to the God. Salat needs to be understood not only as a pure ritual form but also needs to be located in the historical context. Salat has played a fundamental role in forging a Muslim identity. It has also been interpreted as a path to spiritual encounter with God or merely as ritual observance and submission to God’s law (p. 8058). For the followers however salat denotes purification of mind and body and union with the God.

Questions On David Crystal Essay

Questions on David Crystal’s article â€Å"2b or Not 2b?† 1. David Crystal begins his article with some strong â€Å"they say† arguments, quoting writers who argue that text messaging is destroying the English language. At what point in the article do you begin to see that his own perspective is very different from that of such critics? – Crystal’s perspective on texting is displayed many times throughout different paragraphs in the article. In paragraph six Crystal states â€Å"texting has added a new dimension to language use. Although there are some who see texting as a modern tool that is ruining â€Å"proper English†, Crystal sees it as a way for society to enhance thee language skills. 2. Summarize Crystal’s arguments in favor of text messaging. In what ways have the dangers of this phenomenon been vastly overstated, in his opinion? How does he organize his argument? What are his main points, and what kinds of support does he offer? – Most arguments state that text abbreviations have replaced proper English. On the other hand, Crystal states that these abbreviations go back to centuries. For example †IOU goes back to 1618† A book written by Eric Partritch in 1942 called â€Å" Dictionary of Abbreviations† contained sms examples and was published 50 years before texting. 3. Crystal wrote this article for a British newspaper read primarily by adults. What might he have done differently if the piece had been for, say, an audience of middle or high school students? – If Crystal’s audience were middle school students he might have written this article from there point of view . Crystal would most likely include more examples that could relate to them. Also, Crystal could include how texting can help with school and be an asset rather than a distraction. 4. Reread the two text message poems in the article. Which one do you prefer? In what ways do these poems support his argument? – The second poem supports Crystal’s argument, because the author abbreviated words and replaced letters with numbers just as most people who text do. Although the author has written the poem differently the reader is still  able to interpret the poem and the words makes sense.

Food Adultration Essay

Food Adulteration Food adulteration with poisonous chemicals has reached a dangerous proportion posing serious health hazards in the country, said experts and government officials yesterday at a discussion jointly organised by The Daily Star and non-government development organisation RDRS Bangladesh. Basic food items on the market like rice, fish, fruits, vegetables, and sweetmeats are adulterated with hazardous chemicals in an indiscriminate manner, though food-grade preservatives and colours can be safely used in permissible quantities, said the discussants. The discussion on â€Å"Hazards of Food Contamination in National Life: Way Forward† was held at The Daily Star Centre in the capital. Views about the proportion of adulterated food items on the market varied between 70 and 90 percent. RDRS put the proportion at more than 90 percent referring to test results of government laboratories published in newspapers, while the officials and researchers present at the discussion said it is 70 per cent. More than 76 percent food items on the market were found adulterated in a random survey by Public Health Laboratory of Dhaka City Corporation in 2004. There are approximately 150 food items in the country, said SK Roy, a senior scientist at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B). Poisonous residues in food items leave the worst impact on children’s mental and physical growth and women’s fertility, cause cancer, and damage vital human organs like liver, kidney, and heart, the discussants said. Roy in his presentation said formalin is applied on fish for preservation; calcium carbide on fruits to ripen; brick dust in chilli powder; urea to whiten rice and puffed rice; sawdust in loose tea; soap in Ghee; and artificial sweetener, coal tar, and textile dyes in sweetmeats. Formalin applied on fish, fruit, meat, and milk causes throat cancer, blood cancer, childhood asthma, and skin diseases, he said. Poisonous colouring agents like auramine, rhodomine b, malachite green, yellow g, allura red, and Sudan red applied on food items for colouring, brightness, and freshness — damage liver and kidney, and cause stomach cancer, asthma, and bladder cancer, said Roy. Colouring agents chrome, tartzine, and erythrosine are used in spices, sauces, juices, lentils, and oils — causing cancer, allergy, and respiratory problem. Calcium carbide may lead to cancer in kidney, liver, skin, prostate, and lungs. Rye flour used in barley, bread, and wheat flour contribute to convulsion and miscarriage. Hormone used in cauliflower causes infertility of women. Agino moto or monosodium glutamate used in Chinese restaurant food items cause nervous system disorder and depression. Urea put in puffed rice and rice causes nervous system damage and respiratory problem. Sulphuric acid used in milk for condensation causes damage to the cardiac system. Dr Syed Humayun Kabir, director of Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institution, said not just anyone should get trade license to produce food items, and the mass media must check the authenticity of a food product before carrying its advertisement. Application of excessive and unauthorised pesticides also cause contamination of food, he said adding that additives used for making food items attractive can be lethal if those are cancerous. But some permitted preservatives, thickening agents, gelling agents, antioxidants, and stabilisers could be harmless if applied in appropriate quantity, said Kabir. Food grains, veget ables, and fish also get contaminated by industrial pollution of the soil, air, and water, he said. Burnt engine oil is used to fry Jilapi, while artificial fragrance is applied on flowers, said Khalil Ahmed, executive magistrate of Dhaka City Corporation, who operates a mobile court against adulterated foods in the capital. Dr Selima Rahman, executive director of RDRS, said most of the food adulteration occurs in the hands of middlemen in the process of transportation and marketing. Urea is dangerous for kidney, she said adding, â€Å"At present, a total of two crore people are suffering from kidney diseases for various reasons.† Food adulteration has been happening on a massive scale for the past half a decade due to increased investment, expanded market, and high consumer demand, according to Roy. Some items like guava, lemon, and hog-plum [amra] are however still free from chemical aggression, he said. Greed for fast super profit and moral degradation among food traders have led to today’s alarming situation, he added. †The pattern of diseases is changing. In our student life, prevalence of infectious diseases was high. Now the number of patients suffering from cancer, diabetes, and kidney diseases are on the rise due to food adulteration,† said Dr Md Golam Kibria Khan, asso ciate professor of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.