Kite Runner Essay Essay

Do you know that Afghanis play a game where they fight with kites? The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini describes kite fights between local Afghani kids, regardless of their social status. The main characters in this story that come from a higher socioeconomic level are Baba, a lawyer from the Pashtun tribe, and his son Amir. The main characters in this story that come from the lower socioeconomic level are Ali, a servant from the Hazara tribe, and his son Hassan who are servants to Baba and his family. The Kite Runner explores how different classes of people worked together to run things in Afghanistan. In the Kite Runner discrimination in Afghanistan is demonstrated by the relationship between the Pashutns and Hazaras. The Hazaras were often demeaned and persecuted (www. Sparknotes. com). Baba, however, taught his family to be kind to the Hazaras. Baba learned this from his father, who was a highly regarded judge in Kabul (Hosseini 24). The story describes a day when the grandfather sentenced two young Pashtun men into the military for killing almost an entire Hazaran family. The grandfather was very dismayed that the five year old boy who survived the incident would be left an orphan. Amir remembered â€Å"As for the orphan, my grandfather adopted him into his own household, and told the other servants to tutor him, but to be kind to him† (Hosseini 24-25). The young survivor was named Ali. Quite a few years later, Baba took in Ali’s son Hassan to be a servant for his son Amir. While Baba’s house was a fair and kind place to live there was still a social barrier (www. Sparknotes. com). For example even though Baba called Ali his â€Å"family†, Ali still lived in a hut and slept on the floor (www. shmoop. com). Although Hassan was believed to be Ali’s son he was actually Baba’s out of wedlock son (Hosseini 224-225). Baba and Ali never told Amir or Hassan that they were brothers because it was shameful that Baba had a relationship with Hassan’s mother, who was in a lower socioeconomic level. Baba would never be respected again if that ever got out. Later on in Hassan’s life, he had difficulty with becoming anything but a servant. Hassan had a very strong identity as a servant, and because of this he had no sense of entitlement when he grew up. Hassan took care of Baba’s house, even after Baba left (Hosseini 218). In a scene in the book Hassan tries to protect Baba’s old house from Taliban invasion, and gets killed (Hosseini 219). Through his dying day Hassan never felt a sense of entitlement and continued to serve Baba as his owner rather than as his father. At the time of Hassan’s death he was no longer Baba’s servant. The Taliban, warriors taking over tribesman under the guise of uniting their country, made Afghanistan a very dangerous place. The Taliban were very discriminating and typically tortured, beat, and executed people of a lower socioeconomic level. During childhood, Assef bullied Hassan and Amir. Assef came from a higher socioeconomic class than Hassan. Assef is now presented in the book as a Taliban militant. The Taliban banned music in Afghanistan (Hosseini 280). Hassan’s son, Sohrab, was forced to dance to music by Assef. The Taliban continued to flex its muscles to get other people to conform to their rules. Amir thought â€Å"I guessed music wasn’t sinful as long as it played to Taliban ears’† (Hosseini 280). Amir was very critical about the Taliban and stupidly admitted to Assef â€Å"I had read about the Hazara massacre in Mazar-i-Sharif in the papers† (Hosseini 277). Amir’s point was that the Taliban killed the Hazaras anywhere they could find them even though they didn’t do anything wrong. Clearly the Taliban did not value the lives of the Hazaras (www. Sparknotes. com). Assef was one of the cruelest of all the Taliban. He told Amir this â€Å"Afghanistan is like a beautiful mansion littered with garbage, and someone has to take out the garbage† (Hosseini 284). Taliban influence in Afghanistan heightened discrimination and did not unite the country. The Kite Runner clearly demonstrated how different classes of people who are able to live peacefully together although keeping within the bound of their social class. The Taliban did not tolerate people from the lower socioeconomic classes and without conscious killed and destroyed their lives. Hassan and Amir, technically brother, grew up together but were never treated as equals (Hosseini 25). However they were able to coexist without hating each other (Hosseini 25). Amir never truly considered himself as a friend to Hassan (Hosseini 25). Hassan always considered himself a servant to Baba even at his death, in chapter 16. In my opinion the Afghan culture before the Taliban was one of working together and living peacefully but after the Taliban invaded the culture changed by forcing discrimination among the socioeconomic classes. Works Cited Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead, 2003. Print. â€Å"The Kite Runner Chapter 4 Summary. † Shmoop. N. p. , n. d. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. . â€Å"The Kite Runner. † SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n. d. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. .

Breakfast Eating Habit: A Statisical Research Project Essay

Every day millions of people around the globe turn off their alarm clocks and start their day. Some will jump out of bed and hit the door running full tilt because they are already 10 minutes late. Others are up hours before they are required to be anywhere, soak in the sunrise and settle into a predefined routine, of which breakfast may or may not be a part of. But who eats breakfast? Are there any significant factors that predispose certain people to eat breakfast or not eat breakfast? One approach to determining dependency of environmental variables and eating habits is to class individuals according to one of many possible variables. The topic for discussion in this paper is breakfast eating habits among women and the variability of children, specifically, whether women with pre teen children living at home eat breakfast more frequently than women without pre teen children. In theory, a person might assume that that women with pre teen children will tend to eat breakfast more so than women without pre teen children due in part to the responsibility they have to wake up early and prepare their children for the days events including school and sports. Different factors of each home can vary results in either direction but our research attempts to determine the dependency that pre teen may have on their mothers own breakfast eating habits. There is a tremendous amount of research done on the benefits of eating a health breakfast not only for adults, but children as well. Researchers have found that when healthy, lean women skipped their morning meal, it raised their cholesterol levels and diminished their bodies’ sensitivity to insulin, a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar levels. In addition, the women tended to eat more calories on breakfast-free days, suggesting that over time, skipping breakfast could spur weight gain. Past studies have also suggested that women who eat breakfast, particularly whole-grain cereals, have lower cholesterol and insulin levels. Along with past evidence, new findings suggest that making time for breakfast is likely to have long-term health benefits. Whether one of those benefits results in a smaller waistline remains unclear. Some research has found a direct correlation between eating breakfast, particularly whole-grain foods, and lower body weight. Conversely, other studies have found no such relationship exists. What is clear is that researchers have found evidence that Mom was right: breakfast may really be the most important meal of the day, especially for growing children. It is essential for children to regularly consume a balanced breakfast. Data supports that the more often adolescents eat breakfast, the less likely they tend to be overweight. Additional studies have shown children are more focused in school and do better academically than those who skip breakfast. Children show the tendency to have more energy throughout the day and are more likely to participate in school activities and sports. Psychologists have determined children mostly observe their parents and follow their actions. A healthy habit of eating breakfast would tend to be a learned trait by following generations and influence the children to continue eating breakfast into adulthood. Experts also surmise that if breakfast is regularly consumed as a family meal, it may reduce the likelihood of drug use as children mature into adults. The feeling of family  closeness and nurturing support is a significant factor in reduced propensity of crime related activities with children. In order to help determine whether or not any dependency exists between breakfast eating habits and having pre teen children, our team created a survey that asked very basic questions relating to age, pregnancy, children, and how many times those women ate a breakfast that consisted of more than water or coffee. Our research chose to exclude women that where pregnant with their first child in order to rule out any difference in opinion of whether or not those women had a child at all. Our research also specifically excluded women under the age of 18 due to a litany of factors that we will not discuss in this paper. The breakfast quantities were lumped into three groups: 0-2 times per week, 3-5 times per week, and 6-7 times per week. We then randomly distributed our survey via the internet in order to capture a diverse group of woman and collated the responses. Since our research focused on determining dependency between pre teen children and eating breakfast, our null and alternative statements were simple: Null Statement – There is no difference in breakfast eating habits of women in relation to having pre teen children or having no pre teen children living in the house. Alternative Statement – Women with pre teen children living in the house eat breakfast more frequently then women who do not have pre teen children living in the house. Failing to reject the null statement would be an indication that no dependency lies between having children and eating breakfast. Conversely and what we expected to see was that a dependency did exist between the two. Our survey yielded 39 respondents, of which the category breakdown is as follows: Breakfast 0-2 Breakfast 3-5 Breakfast 6-7 With Preteen Children 1 7 6 Without Preteen Children 4 4 17 While the data may indicate a correlation between having children and breakfast eating habits exist, performing a Chi Squared Test for Independence revealed that we are 95% confident that no such relationship exists as shown by the graph on the following page: Our research dictates that we need to fail to reject the null hypothesis thus determining that with 95% certainty, no relationship exists. In conclusion, while having pre teen children in the home has no bearing on whether or not women age 18 and higher eat breakfast more often, there may be other factors that would lend itself to a dependency. Actively working, reporting time, time of year, and perhaps a survey on men might be other explored variable in an effort to determine any dependency relating to breakfast eating habits. It was interesting to note that respondents that did not have children ate breakfast in the 6-7 times a week range disproportionately higher than the other two categories. Further research is needed to ferret out any identifiable variable that would support this evidence. It is important to note for further discussion that the test statistic calculated high enough to the critical value that based on a larger sample size, a possibility may still exist that a dependent relationship is real, but not within our sample. Eating breakfast has been determined beneficial for adults and children alike, if research could identify correlations, education could be tailored to specific at risk groups and encourage those within the preferred band of dependency.

Semestral Project- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Essay

Semestral Project- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Essay Example Idealy as a woman Smith thought of encouraging the society through her novel. The theme of idealism and pragmatism has been the central themes in this book. Incidences of poverty, alcoholism, and lying are some of the challenges that most women face in marriage and in the society. Women are the light of the society and they play a big role in educating the next generation. For this reason, Betty states that women must start in believing in things that are not of this world. Betty means that things sometimes get ugly in the society and therefore women should adapt to these challenges. Betty mentions children who represents the next generation. That is why Betty suggest that it is only by having the courage to go beyond these challenges will the children survive to the next generation. Smith belives in education and emphasizes on books. She reminds the society that reading textbooks, bible, and works from Shakespere have a role in shaping and changing the children in the society as a w ay of enlightenment. The three generations reminds us about the gender roles in the society. Betty has been able to make a revision about the traditional gender roles about women in the society. She has not forgotten to explain how poverty changes the roles and traditions of the gender in the society. The tree manages to grow in Brooklyn because of the women. These women in this book have changed their roles and have turned into the breadwinners signifying the change of gender roles. These women have struggled with poverty and are providing their children with education enabling them to be better important in the society. Ironically, Katie’s hands is growing rough every day a she engages in a lot f physical activities while Johnny’s hand are becoming more smooth and he is wearing expensive clothing. This is the painful reality that Betty reminds all the women in the society to accept. She enlightens the women in the society to accept the fact that the world is always u nfair and those who work harder become poorer while those who work less earn more. Immigrant children are most disadvantaged by poverty; recent studies show that for children whose parents are undocumented, their performance in school is poor due to their economic situation. This is because, the parents earn low wages since they have low education levels and thus can only manage low-paying, dangerous and heavy jobs, their children have no medical insurance and are unable to get the basic amenities required for good education, for example textbooks, thus are forced to work with what they have (Betty Smith). Many immigrants are usually forced to leave school and work to help their family, Francie is no exception and after graduating from grad school, they look for work. Being wise Francie is able to save up some of her earnings and decides to send her brother back to school. This is a big sacrifice she has made believes that she will go to school when she saves more. After working a n umber of jobs Francie takes a summer College school, Katie remarries, this time to a wealthy businessman and politician, luck is changing for the family and Francie’s dreams are coming true, she later quits her teletyping job to start classes at the University of Michigan. When Francie visits her

Personality in Computer Games Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Personality in Computer Games - Article Example Reality in a game can be described by the simulation of real things into a computer machines. Previously the games developed were artistically simplified representation of the simulation while the simulation was an attempt to represent as closely a real phenomenon in a serious form. Now the games have adapted the simulation and built games like the Flight Simulator to give a realistic experience to the gamers. Such games gives a gamer such feelings that most of them would never ever get to feel and experience in real life. It changes the personality of the user that makes the user feel that he/she is that character in the plane hence being directly involved in the game. (Crawford, 1998) Games that don't have an inbuilt mechanism of simulating the reality by putting the gamer in first person as in games like Doom, Quake etc. build upon the character which the user plays. Usually a powerful story creates a strong character that has its own personality, moods and emotions. A game like Max Payne has a cinematic story that revolves around a main character and many different opponents. The personality is so strong in the game that the gamer feels the power of the moment in the game. The audio, video, graphics and interaction between players make the situation of the agent more realistic and believable. Another such popular game, Hitman, has a very strong character personality that is an emotionless killing machine targeting specific targets. These character agents show realistic emotions, situation based reactions, language and tone of voice etc, to make the gamer believe in the game setting. Building this factor into the game is extremely important as this is what the g amer looks for in every game. Creating a main character is one thing, creating a non-playing character is a totally another. Today's computer games have such a high level of detail, high end graphics and realistic environments and characters that gamers can be led to believe that games are set within realistic settings while in the game. But according to Trinity College Dublin, the realistic illusion of the gamers is most often led into disappointment as soon as the gamer begins to interact with a computer controlled non-playing character either though conversation or attitude (Namee & Cunningham, 2003). Although the non-players look real and act real, but due to their lack of controlling intelligence, these characters lack the reality when the player to player interaction takes place. With the use of artificial intelligence and applying artificial neural networks in these characters, the TCD Game AI Project at the Trinity College to capture and add personalities, moods and relationships. (Namee & Cunningham, 200 3) The '-SIC' system is designed specifically for the development of non-player characters uses personality, mood and relationship models. A personality model uses the Eysenck's classification model which "plots personality across two orthogonal axes, introversion-extroversion and neuroticism-stability, allowing the creation of characters with personality types, such as aggressive, sociable and moody" (Namee & Cunningham, 2003). The mood model from Lang is used to measure agents' positive/negative moods and its intensity. The relationship model based on Wish's work plots the relationship of a character with respect to the "amount that a particular character likes another character, physical attraction,

Making Decisions in a Legal Context Research Paper

Making Decisions in a Legal Context - Research Paper Example Answer: Not all of the employees of a registered BAS agent need be registered with the Board. However, any parties (including individuals or groups) contracted for BAS related work need to be registered with the Board to ensure compliance with relevant legal provisions. Typically, it is common for a BAS service to register some of its employees with the Board in order to meet a â€Å"minimum numbers† requirement and to demonstrate the competence of the BAS agent (TPB, 2012a). In order to manage the personal information of employees, Sophie Tiller will store information in personal records. A similar approach will be used for contracted BAS agents. Access to these records would be restricted except for Sophie Tiller or relevant authorities for auditing and compliance checks. Q2. Describe the process for managing the personal information, particularly the police checks and other personal information including Tax File Numbers, Bank Account details, personal and contact information. Answer: At the time of induction, both employees and contractors would be required to provide or sign a consent form for criminal history record check. For most general purposes, this form is the NAT 16358 that is available at the Australian Taxation Office website (ATO, 2012a). This form will then be attached to the particulars of the employee or contractor and sent to the local police authorities for verification. Once verified character certificates are received from the police, the employee or contractor would be cleared for work. In a similar manner, employees and contractors would be required to provide details pertaining to their bank accounts, personal taxation details etc. voluntarily. These details will be verified by correspondence with the relevant authorities, for example, bankers, tax authorities etc. Once replies regarding the clearances are received, these will be entered in personal record files. The records will be updated with the frequency of one year in order to ensure that they are current. Moreover, records will be kept in personal files for a period of five years before they are removed as being obsolete. Q3. Legislation guiding the business: Describe the legislation guiding this particular case study business – Sophie Tiller Bookkeeping Services. Answer: The BAS service was not required to be registered before March 2010, but new legislation has made it mandatory for BAS and tax practitioners to register themselves. The Tax Agent Services Act of 2009 (TASA) covers the area of BAS service or agent registration (ATO, 2012b). Previously, BAS agents or services did not have any defined prerequisites or other registration requirements. However, since the adoption of this new piece of legislation, BAS agents need to be furnished with minimum education requirements of either a Cert IV in Bookkeeping or a Cert IV in Accounting. Since Sophie Tiller is experienced but does not meet the minimum educational requirements, she must upgrade her educational qualifications in order to proceed with a new BAS business service. Moreover, new BAS agents are required to demonstrate a minimum of 1,400 hours of work experience while older BAS agents working under the umbrella of certified accounting and bookkeeping regulators such as ACCA are required to display around 1,000 hours of work experience. Sophie Tiller can gain an advantage since she has over 3 years of experience in the BAS service industry under this piece of legislation (ICB, 2012a). Q4. Consumer protection: How the business ensures that it does not engage in any conduct that is misleading or deceptive. Answer: Previously there were little restrictions on who could act as a BAS agent, but this has recently been changed under legislative changes. BAS agents must be registered

Project management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Project management - Essay Example Therefore, a demand management will be appropriate in this case so that the changes do not affect the efficiency of the hospital. With the current designed capacity of the hospital being at 4,500 beds and the current effective capacity at 4275 beds, the hospital management can ensure the number of patients admitted do not exceed its bed space (Christopher, 2008). With demand management, accurate forecasting of the level of customers’ demand is essential. For this reason, demand management will part of the resource management of the firm and as that can help in keeping the operation costs of the hospital at manageable and conducive levels (Mangan & Butcher, 2008). If Guys hospital takes into consideration its current efficiency, which is at 78.95% and the current utilization rate which is at 75%, then it is evident that it can be able to achieve more, and in terms of demand management provided it utilizes the resources efficiently. In this case, the demand management technique to be adopted by this hospital should focus on applying planning and forecasting skills in ensuring that patients are accorded the most appropriate care and in the right setting. By Guys hospital management concentrating on the outcomes of such actions such as lack of enough bed space, and making certain that the patients obtain the precise care in the correct setting, its consistency of controlling such similar conditions will increase. This will help reduce variations which might have been leading to delays. i. Reduction of the number of unplanned and inappropriate hospital admissions as this will enable all the hospital services to operate at optimum efficiency and ensure that all patients benefit from the services (Panneerselvam, 2012). Among such services will be providing monitored home-based health care via tele-monitoring and telemedicine. ii. Predicting the source and type of the demand through the use of analytical

Human Resource Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Human Resource Management - Assignment Example Here was nirvana for organizational success- the magic formula one could replicate and make its own and hopefully rise to the top amid the competition. Thus the idea of high commitment HR theory and practice was born. We all know that quality is never an accident- it is almost always the result of painstaking and committed effort (Aquayo, 1991). We see this effort in Japan’s adoption of Edward Deming’s Total Quality Management principles, Motorola’s Six Sigma Manufacturing, Philip Crosby’s The Eternally Successful Organization and even Peter Senge’s The Learning Organization. Like any living creature with a body and soul, an organization too has strengths and weaknesses. The organization and its management must also continually learn from and adapt to changes in its internal and external environment, without which it would be hard to survive and prosper. This is what strategic management is all about. From a reading of the case, it is clear that the Container Store has been quite successful in creating and maintaining its niche market in the Storage and Organization retail segment of the home furnishing and house ware retail industry. From humble beginnings in 1978, the company managed to carve out and maintain an enviable position for itself as market leader in an expanding niche market. The Container Store management however realises that competition is fierce and to meet this challenge they have embarked on a high commitment HR strategy that treats the employee as a centre point for sales, work productivity and an attitude of service with a smile. As Vice President Sharon Tindell has observed, the company needs highly trained and committed people to sell its specialised products. Its niche is to sell the hard stuff. However, keeping staff motivated and satisfied is not without its challenges and as we shall see, the HR manager of the enterprise would be hard pressed to create a performance appraisal system that is adequate for its employees, yet equitable and justifiable so that it is appreciated by all. Mission and Guiding Principles of the Container Store As we can see, the foundations of success of the Container Store are very much ensconced in its mission and guiding principles. The mission of the Container Store is the words of its chairman Boone, ‘to better the lives of consumers by giving them more time and space.’ To this end, it has connected employee and customer satisfaction, for it believes that there is no better way to satisfy a customer than by putting him in contact with a highly satisfied, well trained and fully committed employee. The company is convinced that eminently satisfied employees display a service and work attitude that is enviable and that results in better sales, more customer satisfaction and a WOW experience every time. Furthermore, the hours of dedicated and specialised training that is invested in employees whether full time or part time also make one wan t to produce more sales and satisfaction for the company. In fact the company has consistently been rated as one of the best, if not the best, in customer service and employee satisfaction for a number of years running in the industry. The company has a stringent employee selection and recruitment process that consists of a telephonic interview, a group interview and

Information Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Information Systems - Essay Example System Interface is a candidate for extreme programming while databases and database integration is a candidate for agile modeling and agile data methodologies. Using extreme programming in the case of developing an application that will allow patients to easily enter electronic data for safe uploading is convenient and relevant. Given that the practice serves a wide variety of clientele with different needs and capabilities to operate the devices they use to enter data, continuous and rapid releases experimented on users will allow refinement of the product to the desired levels of functionality and usability. Varied groups of users have varying levels of needs in terms of a user-friendly interface (either computer or mobile). Coupled with disabilities such as vision and level of comprehension, a fit-all product developed using traditional SDLC cannot be usable. The continuous integration and test-driven model acquired by combining extreme programming and agile methodologies would e nsure that the final product is both usable but and friendly. Agile data is applied on the data aspects of the application. Since the functional requirements of the system require the entering and uploading of patient information in a secure manner, agile data techniques are applied on the data aspects of the software system. Agile database development processes and integration include database refactoring, DB regression testing, agile data modeling and continuous database integration (Scott W. Ambler).

Developing a Shared Vision Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Developing a Shared Vision - Essay Example g the healthcare industry, healthcare leaders are changing and adjusting to new measures to enable them lead the healthcare organizations they are leading. Healthcare leaders in the modern healthcare industry face a vast array of challenges, from layoffs because of reducing revenues, staff shortages, re - organization in response to merging of consolidation services, poor job satisfaction rates resulting in Turnover to poor performance outcomes leading to a reduction in Medicare Reimbursement Dollars. In the past, healthcare leaders have not faced so many issues as now. Due to these issues, healthcare leaders have resulted to certain skills, individual features and leadership features to enable them mitigate the challenges faced. As the manger of an ancillary service department at a large, 500 + bed hospital, several challenges have affected the ancillary service department. These challenges include staff shortage and layoffs due to declining revenues. This paper describes a proposal directed to staff to address the two issues. Staffs are a vital component of a healthcare’s system unit. Hence, it is important to keep them informed regarding issues that are affecting the hospital so that they are not caught off guard on mitigation measures put in place by the hospital’s management to solve the challenges. Informing staff makes them feel part of the hospital. It boosts their morale in spite of the challenges. The hospital faces two challenges that are staff shortage and layoffs due to reducing revenues. These challenges are not a call to panic or give up. However, they are a call to unity, cohesiveness and adaptation in order to overcome them as valuable contributors to the day-to-day running of the hospital and healthcare in the country. As you all know, both of these challenges are not unique to the hospital. They are nationwide issues. However, as a hospital, the management would like to take its own initiative to mitigate these issues. Staff shortage in