Literacy is a progressive concept that involves, at its basic stages, the decoding of visual, aural, and phonetic information to derive meaning from symbols (Reutzel & Cooter, 2005). However, it continues beyond the realm of understanding straightforward text to inferring meaning from symbolic literature. It also includes the ability to identify important data within a mass of information, and to arrange that data in a coherent manner (Vacca & Vacca, 2004). Content area reading is an important part of the literacy regimen because students need to learn the techniques that enable them to comprehend texts of different genres (Daniels & Zemelman, 2005; Vacca & Vacca, 2004). Literature comes in a wide variety of forms, and its significance cannot always be sought in the same way. In learning a foreign language such as Italian, organizational skills become an essential part of literacy, without which a student has little hope of understanding the several branches that constitute the language. The use of graphic organizers to teach literacy in this content area represents an effective method of passing on enduring literacy skills to students (Daniels & Zemelman, 2005). more “Content area Italian”
Writing Techniques
Writing Techniques
Dialogue Journal- A dialogue journal is a notebook in which students communicate with the teacher by writing entries on topics of the student’s choice. The student may write at his level of proficiency, and the teacher responds the each entry according to the student’s language proficiency level. Dialogue journals are usually kept over the course of the full school year.
Learning Log- A learning log is a student’s response to literature, a lesson, activity, event, or experiment. The left side of the learning log may contain text, questions, or notes, while the right side of the log the student’s response to the entry on the left side.
Double-Entry Journal- A double-entry journal is a table with two sides (or two facing pages in a notebook) that allows students to record their response to a text as they read. The student records the parts of the text that are of interest on the left side of the journal, and they react to the text on the right side.
Writing Techniques Comparison Chart
Characteristics
Dialogue Journal
Learning Log
Double Entry Journal
Allows student interaction with teacher
x
Allows student to respond to text
x
x
Allows student to identify areas in which he has learned and areas that need improvement
x
x
x
Strategies to Help Struggling Students
1. Word Webs- Students create a graphic web that illustrates the interrelationship between vocabulary words and familiar words and concepts. This strategy helps students in drawing connections between words with which they are already familiar and new vocabulary.
2. Visual Cues- The teacher presents a picture that corresponds to vocabulary words as they are introduced. Students may also create charts, pictures, and graphs to facilitate learning.
3. Flash cards- Students should create flash cards of new words, and the teacher should allow instruction time during which the students may use the flash cards. This allows students to learn to recognize the vocabulary word by seeing the word itself, and it also allows students to recognize the word by its definition.
4. Incorporate Outside Sources- The teacher may require that students observe outside sources, such as newspapers, magazines, and television news reports, and create a summary. This allows students to improve English comprehension and writing skills.
5. Partner Activities- The teacher may partner students who struggle with English with those who have stronger English skills and require the pairs to illustrate various idioms and commonly used English phrases. This allows students who may commonly be confused by idioms, colloquialisms, and slang phrases to practice with students who are more comfortable with these phrases.
Content-Driven Summary
Content-Driven Summary
For some people, when everything seems to be lost, hope is the only thing that keeps them alive. This is seen in the chosen essays from ThisIBelieve.org, which is a website that allows people to share the things that steer them to the path that they are taking in their lives at this time. The first essay is from a contributor in California who relates her daughter’s story who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at four months old. She states that even with her daughter having this condition she feels lucky because her daughter is “alive and beautiful and [the baby’s] giggle instantly turns [her] worry to delight” (“The Whims of Fortune”). The second essay is from an male individual in Vermont. He presents a conversation that he had with his father before his father died.
They were talking about aging and growing old because the son had some fears about it. His father simply stated that growing old is “hardly noticeable – you slowly let go of everything except memories” (“Two Hearts”). The third essay involves a man from California who states that “hope was at the root of all [his] decisions and thoughts” (Hopefully I Believe in Hope”). The fourth essay is from a female missionary in Delaware who relates an experience he had with Russian children. She states that “these children in Russia have no sense of hope or relief. Hearing their stories motivates me to give them the hope that I found through my own trials and tribulations” (“I Believe in the Power of Hope”). The fifth essay is from a parent in California who believes in teaching his children to have self-respect. He believes in others raising their own children “to hope, to try and to respect” (“Respect Yourself”). The last essay is from Kentucky who holds a prayer vigil every Thursday of the week. Although some people do not believe that their group does nothing to change the world, she thinks that “standing together reminds us of that larger community and renews our strength” (“This I Believe”).
From these essays, it is seen how much hope can do and offer to people. It changes their lives and how they see things. Even a little spark of hope can affect people’s lives, giving them the boost that they need to go on living.
Works Cited
“Hopefully I Believe in Hope.” This I Believe. Natl. Public Radio. 11 May 2009 <http://www.thisibelieve.org/dsp_ShowEssay.php?uid=13658&themelist=addiction&yval=0&start=20>
“I Believe in the Power of Hope.” This I Believe. Natl. Public Radio. 11 May 2009 <http://thisibelieve.org/dsp_ShowEssay.php?uid=43840&themelist=hope&yval=0&start=1375>
“Respect Yourself.” I Believe. Natl. Public Radio. 11 May 2009 <http://thisibelieve.org/dsp_ShowEssay.php?uid=1949&themelist=hope&yval=0&start=0>
“The Whims of Fortune.” This I Believe. Natl. Public Radio. 11 May 2009 <http://thisibelieve.org/dsp_ShowEssay.php?uid=11575&themelist=love&yval=0&start=0>
“This I Believe.” This I Believe. Natl. Public Radio. 11 May 2009 <http://thisibelieve.org/dsp_ShowEssay.php?uid=2696&themelist=hope&yval=0&start=0>
“Two Hearts.” This I Believe. Natl. Public Radio. 11 May 2009 <http://thisibelieve.org/dsp_ShowEssay.php?uid=308&themelist=hope&yval=0&start=0>
Content paper
Addressing the needs for a better facilitation of services to tackle the challenges of the changing times is the strategic change initiative presented and elaborated on the case of Victoria Hospital. Realizing the existing problem that needs changes, Victoria Hospital underwent an important makeover that proved to be beneficial for its future. The careful analysis of the content area is vital in determining the feasibility and capability of the strategic change initiative to foster effective and efficient transformations. Thus, the application of the content area continues to be important guidelines for practitioners in seeking the possible alternatives that can assist or pave the way for strategic change initiative.
The Victoria Hospital Case was an example of how the content area was applied to justify the strategic change initiative presented by Dr. Frelick. It was presented in the case how the Victoria Hospital has been constantly undergoing several changes due to state funding reasons. “After many years of expanding their services before 1990, hospitals were facing funding declines which resulted in many years of cost cutting strategies.” (IVEY, 1996, p.40)
In response to the cost-cutting mechanisms that were in place every year, the Hospital had to undergo changes in its present system to fully address both cost-cutting mechanisms and efficiently and effectively serve patients this time. This paved the way for adopting several measures that revitalized Victoria Hospital’s strategy. “This new version was to provide a positive environment with effective results for patients who would move through various phases of care (prevention in the community, pre-admission, ambulatory, in-patient, etc.) in a seamless efficient fashion.” (IVEY, 1996, p.44) Understanding the need for linking service to patients and at the same time gaining profits from it was the challenge for the hospital. Due to this, Dr. Frelick suggested several strategies on how to effectively promote the new version of Victoria Hospital’s overall strategy for change.
Strategy
The idea of strategizing important alternatives that can help facilitate the way business compete and act also has been presented in the Victoria Hospital case. Foreseeing the likely events to happen, people under the Victoria Hospital underwent continuous planning and creating mechanisms that will continuously address the changes brought about by state cost-cutting and budget cuts. “The Hospital was working toward a long standing objective to consolidate on the Westminster campus in order to reduce operating costs, enhance co-ordination of service delivery and improve the morale of the care practitioners. With efficient creation of practices and mechanisms, Victoria Hospital was able to pursue its relative objectives and at the same time operating under a tight-belt budget.
Resources
It has been studied that resources seek to focus on organizational resources (human, etc.) and how it attends to needs of its customers. Seeing this, resources have been present in the Victoria Hospital case that seeks to overall address the satisfaction of its patients. One application can be seen in its organizational structure. The realigning of its human resources is indeed vital in serving catering more to the needs of the patients. “However, in the current rapidly changing health care field, Victoria Hospital’s clinical services had to be more flexible and adaptable to evolving patient needs and reduced resources.” (IVEY, 1996, p.41) There were also other initiatives that were given to meet the needs of patients. “One change in the delivery of health service was the movement toward following Patient Care Guidelines and Pathways, a series of research-based recommendations for the delivery of care to patients diagnosed with similar medical conditions.” (IVEY, 1996, p.43) These are some applications of how resources in Victoria Hospital are applied to serve the needs and objectives of patients.
Support
The idea of this concept is to apply a specific company’s objectives to an incident and at the same time pave the way for the decision-making process of an organization possible. Applying this to the Victoria Hospital Case, there had been several mechanisms again practiced by the company to facilitate its support capabilities. One is creating the system where its medical professionals can efficiently and effectively address the needs of its patients. “Under this system, groups of health professionals delivered care to patients with similar needs within designated areas of the hospital called clinical units.” (IVEY, 1996, p. 41) Another support procedure present in the Victoria Hospital is its information technology gateway. “The use of on-line clinical information could result in reaching informed clinical decisions for both groups of patients and for individual patients.” (IVEY, 1996, p.43)
Culture
Lastly, this dimension looks into how these objectives are met with a carefully planned strategy and initiatives. In the Victoria Hospital Case, there were different strategies that the hospital used in addressing the issue. “The first strategy included bringing the organization structure into line with the way hospital cared for patients.” (IVEY, 1996 p.44) This initiative can help address the initiatives and demands brought about by patients. “The second strategy involved the redesign of the ‘system production’ to bring work processes into line with current technology, expected patient outcomes, patient needs and resource constraints.” (IVEY, 1996, p.45) The last strategy given by Dr. Frelick focused on achieving a funding procedure that can support such feat. “Opportunities for significant revenue generation through the provision of services that were no longer covered by provincial health insurance, through services which could be marketed abroad, and services for physicians and other health care practitioners affiliated with the hospital, must be devised.” (IVEY, 1996, p.45)
Upon carefully listing down and elaborating on the initiatives made by Victoria Hospital case in addressing strategic change initiative, I came to find out that advocating such process is a cumbersome and difficult process. One must understand that this is a very difficult process that one should undergo. Careful consideration of issues as well as studying the four dimensions of change must be done in order for such endeavor to be feasible. Also, if you are trying to apply strategic change initiative, be ready to accept opposition. Even if the proposition for change is for the betterment of the whole, the application of the status quo, for others, remains to be the determinant for current practices and procedures. Another important observation that I had made in the study is that every process of change undergoes a certain level wherein a specific objective must be made in order to move to the next phase. Thus, collaboration and cooperation among members of the group/organization is vital in every process.
To conclude, it is important for managers to efficiently apply the concepts of strategic change initiative in promoting improvements. By being equipped with the proper knowledge and techniques in addressing these changes, managers can actively participate in the overall process of improving the system. Thus, it is important for every manager to learn this concept for it shall be vital in his/her endeavors in adopting or promoting changes within a system.
References
IVEY (1996) Case 1-1: Victoria Hospital Redesign Initiative. Retrieved November 15, 2007
from http://classroom.follettebooks.com/shelf/servlet/Control/11?1099199273230978204&div…
Science Content Questions
Content Questions
a. Why is the North Star called the North Star? Include where in the sky it is when viewed from the North Pole, your location, and the Equator. Also include what is meant by circumpolar stars.
The title “North Star” is a name given to any star that is best suited for navigation. This means that as the earth continues to revolve around the sun, the star that is given the title also changes. The location of the star should be at least at a circumpolar origination from that of the north celestial pole. This means that the said star is visible to the naked eye on earth for it to be effectively utilized through navigation. The North Star is naturally a source of information for the navigators as to where or what latitude on earth are they already in during travel. The visual magnitude that the North Star provides the travelers usually determine the way by which their journey should trod.
b. Explain what causes a lunar eclipse. Explain what causes a solar eclipse. Why do eclipses not occur every month?
The eclipse is the phenomenon wherein an astronomically body blocks the side of a planet facing the sun and be aligned with a certain heavenly body. This naturally occurs as each planet revolves in their own orbits which are all centered around the sun. Eclipse is differentiated into two depending on the characteristic of their alignment and the body that is involved namely the lunar and solar eclipse. In the earth’s perspective, the lunar eclipse occurs on the occasion where the earth, moon and the sun are perfectly aligned wherein the earth is in the center. On the other hand, the solar eclipse occurs when the three bodies are perfectly aligned wherein the moon is in the center thus, blocking off the light from the sun. Eclipses only occur once during long periods of time because a perfect alignment is necessary yet the three bodies have varying dimensions and sizes in terms of their orbit.
c. Describe the phase changes of the Earth that one would see if viewed from the Moon.
The phases of the moon change because of the amount of the illumination that it particularly receives from the sun . These particular phases are then made visible on earth. All in al, there are at least eight phases of the moon. However, only four of them are considered major changes within the moon’s physical appearance on earth. The changes particularly happen depending on the relation of the revolving of the moon around the earth while the earth in turn revolves around the sun. This interchanging process of revolving and the speed adjustments that happen between the three major heavenly bodies affect the ways by which the moon and the sun rises and sets which are made visible to humans on earth as the light of both bodies intend to illuminate each other.
d. How do you explain planet retrograde motion by the Earth-center hypothesis? By the Sun-center hypothesis?
The earth-center hypotheses tries to point out that the earth’s gravity has a strong impact on the explanation of the ways by which planets roam or revolve around the sun. Whereas the pulling power of each planet that is interchangeable between each of them serves as a pattern that each planet ought to follow within the process. Whereas, the sun-center hypotheses points out that the heat of the sun [solar energy] tries to pull in the planets in different rates of force because of the distance that they particularly have from it. Thus the arrangement by which they revolve around it is controlled by this particular factor.
e. How did Galileo’s observations show that the Earth-center theory (Ptolemaic) was wrong?
The observation of Galileo Galilee established the discrepancies in the Earth-center theory thus, discrediting its substantiality and accuracy. Galileo’s observation was denounced to be exceptional during his period making as he was the first to view the movement of the solar system through the astronomical perspective or view outside the planet. He was able to perform this through his invention of the telescope making him able to the neighboring planets and observe their movements. With this observation, Galileo saw that the Earth was not the center of the solar system and that they all revolve around something else namely the sun. With this observation, Galileo developed the sun-centered theory which was later on proven to be accurate and correct.
f. People say that Newton unified Earth and the universe. Explain.
With the discovery of the scientific principles of gravity, Newton further promoted the scientific knowledge towards the natural events and characteristics of the planet Earth and the universe. In this aspect, the discovery of the gravitational principle established the relationship of the planet and the entire universe with all the astronomic figures in it. Newton stated the each and every astronomical body inside the universe including the planet Earth are connected and interrelated in maintaining the balance and harmony with their gravitational field. Because of this, the entire universe was developed into one unified astronomical community wherein parts are significant to each other and the whole.
g. Describe how an object is put into orbit, such as in an orbit about the Earth.
The concept of orbit is defined in the field of astronomy as the circular behavior of motion of each heavenly body in the universe as developed through the gravitational connection in each entity. As each astronomical body attracts and pulls each other with their gravity, an orbital behavior forms which the body must follow. This orbit signifies the stability in their gravitational relationship with the other body. Consider the planet Earth in particular, the orbit of this planet is formed with the gravitational attraction between different astronomical bodies namely the sun, the moon and neighboring planets wherein each object plays a significant role in the attainment of stability. As each body pulls their neighboring planet or astronomical object, a centripetal force is generated thus, maintaining the planet within its orbit
h. Explain what causes weightlessness.
The space is mainly defined with its famed characteristic of weightlessness. This state is mainly defined by an absence of gravity thus, each astronomical body appears to be floating in nothing. Because of the absence of gravity, each object in space appears to have no material body and weight though possessing of volume. Because weight is mainly produce by the gravitational pull of the heavenly body, this state is only limited in the magnetic field of the object. Outside the magnetic field, gravitational pull is significantly less or absent and this commonly appears in the space between each astronomical body hence producing the state of weightlessness.
i. Explain rotation. Explain the effects we see in the sky when the Earth rotates.
Rotation is mainly the behavioral movement within one’s axis. This is the planet or the astronomical body’s circular movement without changing its position thus making it as a non-locomotive movement. In a scientific explanation, this is the objects movement within its own gravitational field hence it has shorter time span. In particular, the planet earth’s rotation causes the daytime and nighttime which all the living things in the planet observe. As the planet rotates in its axis, the side of the planet that faces the sun experience daytime while the side facing the other way experience the nighttime. A complete rotation of the planet takes about 24 hours forming the daily cycle of the planet.
j. Explain the motion of revolution. Explain the effects of Earth revolution.
Revolution is the behavioral movement of one material object in its own orbit. In astronomy, this is the circular movement of each heavenly body as it follows its own orbit. The orbit of each heavenly object differs according to its place and its gravitational attraction against other objects wherein some planet’s takes a wider orbit while some takes only narrower paths. The planet Earth in particular has its own revolutionary orbit which takes the planet approximately 365 days to complete. This in turn, causes the seasonal cycle in the planet’s environment depending on the position of the planet Earth in its own orbit.
Content Reading
Content Reading
Abstract
Reading comprehension and drawing meaning of the text read is vital to the understanding of text in any given subject area whether it is math’s, art, social studies or even music. Content reading is therefore a vital element for learners whose academic abilities are low and those with backgrounds that are socio-economically deprived neighborhoods. Learners who are exposed to content reading classes are able to know the objectives of reading, activate prior reading knowledge, use their knowledge of text organization, ask themselves questions while reading, evaluate the meaning of what they read, test their deductions, and they also give attention to ideas they read.
The main essence behind content reading is to help learners read and fully understand expository tests which are characterized by their factual information and multi-syllabic technical words. Another common feature of expository is that they are normally structured in a unique manner that may involve compare-contrast, cause/effect or sequencing. [Research based content area reading instructions, 2008]
Content reading helps learners to fully interact with the reading material (text) before, during and after the real reading, before reading learners they put into use their prior reading knowledge, set a purpose and by doing so they anticipate questions they may come across during the real reading. During reading, they make use of word recognition approaches such as structural analysis, syllabication to deduce unfamiliar multi-syllabic words and contextual clues to create a meaning of mechanical words. While in after reading, they reflect, synthesize ideas across sources, and therefore they build insightful interpretations. [Literacy matters, 2008]
The abilities of the learners affect a great deal on how they get along the process of content learning, three levels of reading are advocated, they include; literal level which involves the understanding of the factual message in the text, the second level, inferential reading involves the reading between the lines in order to create a sensible connection between materials learned previously , while third level, evaluation involves the making of conclusions and creation of perspectives based on a complete analysis of the text read. Therefore it is wise to conclude that the richer the prior knowledge base a learner has the more the chances of him or her of successfully reading and understanding a text and vice versa is also true. Poor readers and learners from deprived socio-economic backgrounds need to be subjected to content reading in order to develop a worthwhile reading culture. [Reading for 21st century, 2008]
Far many teachers believe that they learners already know how to go about reading well, comprehend what the text is talking about, and maybe interpret the read concept in their own words, but this is not always the case as some learners are yet to master the reading techniques and hence can not in any way comprehend content area. Therefore there is the need for content area teachers to assist the learners in developing fully reading and understanding techniques. This paper will review content reading for poor readers and learners from deprived socio-economic backgrounds in the content areas of math, art, music, health, social studies, and history.
How to assist learners to become good readers in content areas
As indicated above in the abstract part, the background and the ability of a given learner plays a core role in determining his or her specific reading and understanding needs in any given content area. The poor the background the higher the need for reading in content areas and vice versa, this paper will focus its attention on the learners from deprived backgrounds. The procedure of carrying out content are reading is characterized by the use of reading strategies that helps the learners develop considerable achievements in reading comprehension. These strategies draw their credibility from their ability to incorporate various reading approaches that are known to be used by good readers in reading actual texts while in classroom environments. Some of the strategies includes; making connections, questioning, inferring, determining importance, visualizing, synthesizing, and monitoring for meaning. In order for the students to develop reading prowess teachers may sculpt these strategies, train the students, provide prompts, offer encouragements, and also proffer feedbacks and reinforcements in the right time.
Each content area has its own elements used in teaching reading, however, there are universal elements that cut across all the content areas which may include; expository text, which is centered on casual relationships and response relationships; considerate text, which refers to those parts of the text that help readers in identifying crucial parts of the text. They include typographic clues such as underlining, italics, boldface, and headings that portray the important words or concepts. Pointer words and phrases such as “as such therefore, in conclusion” are equally important in stressing crucial parts of a text; reading between the lines, which helps the learners to create meaning of texts by elaborating further through drawing of pictures, tables or graphs to illustrate processes; balanced literary program, which helps learners to gain new skills and knowledge to become good and independent readers through the employment of practices such as reading aloud, guided reading, independent reading, and shared reading; guided reading, it involves the grouping of learners in same ability groups under the guidance of a teacher who selects a text that best suits the groups needs. [Staff Development in Content reading, 2008]
Strategies that cut across many disciplines [Strategies used in reading, 2008]
Vocabulary building: Concept Cards
Concept cards are handy in content reading as they help learners to gain an insight of hard and technical vocabulary; the front side of the card is written the difficult word and then on the back of the card is the definition, features of the word, examples of other similar words, and a sentence made using the word. (Nist & Simpson, 1997)
Photographed Vocabulary
The human brain tends to remember things that it has experienced or visualized, therefore a little drama can be combined with the development of vocabulary. E.g. a learner may choose a word from a card and then goes ahead to pose an action that depicts the word. (Stanley, 1971)
Previewing words in context
The teacher models and demonstrates how word meaning can be inferred from the context; this is accomplished by reading the context severally and then explaining the difficult words. The teacher then may demonstrate the meaning of the words by breaking them or comparing them with other close words.
Semantic Feature Analysis
This involves the use of a grid which is divided into two axes, with one axis listed with the vocabulary words and the other with main features. Learners consider the words and match them with the features, if the feature match the word the box is marked with a + sign and if no it is left blank. This method helps learners to learn features that are shared by more than one word. This strategy is recommended for subjects such as math, art, social studies or even music.
Using the dictionary
Students are taught how to look up words correctly in the dictionary, as dictionaries have got more than one meaning for a word and therefore they should be taught how to choose the most appropriate definition for the word guided by the context in which it was used. The secret to this is by knowing the words exact position of the speech as used in the context. This method can be used in almost all the disciplines.
Word Sorts Using Concept Cards
Word sorts maybe either closed or open depending on teachers preference or the content area. A history teacher may use closed word sort that arranges words according to predetermined sort to words associated with democracy or an authoritarian government. Open sorts on the other hand require learners to develop their own categories of sorting, this sorting is very appropriate for cooperative learning to provoke the spirit of discussion among the learners. (Gille & Kita, 1979)
Procedure of carrying out content reading
“Before reading”
This virtually the most crucial phase of the reading process, it consists of two sections, revisiting and rehearsing. In revisiting part of a content area class the learners are allowed to bring to class text they may have read previously and that have got a correlation with the lesson topic e.g. learners may bring news paper cuttings showing pictures of presidents of various countries in a history class. During the rehearsing part the pupils under the guidance of the teacher previews the lesson’s text, the teacher acting on the anticipated reactions of the students puts into use strategies that stimulate the learners’ prior knowledge of the lesson’s text.
Before reading the teacher should prepare some short notes on the text to be learned, the learners then are given the short noted information and allowed to make a connection to what is to be read, so that when they read they support it or even discount it. This can be done through the previewing of the text using subtitles or headings and then the learners are asked to predict what the text will be about. The teacher can also use a simple flow chart to indicate and summarize the text content in a diagrammatic manner; this method can be very useful in text that includes processes. [Strategies for before, during, and after reading, 2008]
Further the teacher may identify the broad idea of the text and leads the learners into brainstorming group related words that support the main idea; this will help them to easily understand the text better after the reading. The teacher may also take the learners through identifying and listing captions, side bars, dialogue, or highlighted words that form the main idea of the text, after reading the learners will be called upon to focus their attention on those features and hence stimulate their comprehension.
The students may also use a story map to make meaning of the story to be read after which they can be requested to put down small notes on the knowledge they have gathered about the text and even put down questions they would like to be answered in the event of reading the text.
“During reading”
The real reading stage may require the learners to read as individuals or even as groups or both depending the content area of the text, here the teacher acts as a supervisor to monitor the progress of the learners who are expected to put into use appropriate interpretation strategies that will see them read and comprehend the text. Learners are required use “double entry logs” i.e. fold their notebooks vertically and fill on the left side with key ideas and on the right side examples of the main ideas put into real life practice to bring in more meaning to the learner. The students are required to partake a final reading silently if they had initially done it as a group in order to get the answers for the questions they had posed in the “before reading phase”, the found answer may be shared aloud for more mastery.
The learners note books should be used to record what they learn through the reading, discussions, or even through the teacher lecture. The teacher may also take the learners through a “List, Inquire, Note, Know, (LINK)” by listing several concepts to be encountered in the reading text; the learners are then given a link sheet to list those concepts which they have a prior knowledge on. Learners may also be allowed to consult one another about their knowledge in order to gain a longer list. The learners are then taken through a comprehension stimulating activity that involves an interactive dialogue which is initiated by the teacher withy the learners taking over gradually. The students are then given a chance to silently read the text and then are given a chance to say something to their partners or those seated next to them, the said thing may be a short summary, or an episode from the text. [Before, during, and after reading strategies, 2008]
“After reading”
The main essence of this phase is to reflect and respond in some way on what has been read from the text, this can be through the asking of comprehension questions or a mini-language lesson may be conducted in a reading lesson to invoke interpretation and evaluation of the text. Students may also be given a short time to list down questions on the text that cuts across all the levels of comprehension i.e. recall, analysis, compare/contrast, inference, and evaluation.
The learners are then guided in the writing of a summary that involves the deleting of unimportant information, classifying information, creating of key ideas, and synthesizing the key ideas. To synthesize ideas involves a multiple perspectives depending on the sources of the ideas e.g. ideas got from classmates, the text, the teacher or even prior knowledge. When all the perspectives have been revisited the learners are required to synthesize them under the guidance of the teacher. [Mc Alexander & Burrell, 1996] Lastly the learners may review the text information chapter by chapter using the synthesized information by using compare and contrast systems.
Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR)
CSR is a designed exhaustive tool that can be used by learners in any content area they are tackling. It has been tested in areas such as newspapers and magazines with satisfying success. It may be a bit hard for first time users so it is recommended that learners be given texts that they have interests in and that has a rich context base for vocabularies used. The learners need to perform enough practices in reading assigned classroom texts for authentic and transfer purposes.
The teacher may use think-aloud method for providing more practice which begins as independent and goes on to groupings of mixed abilities. Through interaction strategies learners are taught specific roles one at a time. Mixed ability groups provide for learner to learner assistance and hence those with difficulties may get help from those who are highly talented. [Cooperative learning, 2008]Before the real reading the learners conduct a preview of the text and may note or list down ideas they consider important, after reading they compare their prior listing with the important ideas they have found important in the text, this facilitates a deeper understanding of the text. (CSR, 2008)
Conclusion
The articles which were reviewed in this paper provide different methods on the approach to content reading in various subjects (content areas). However the core message that is indicated across all the articles is almost parallel. Content reading in music and content reading in math involves almost the same strategies and tactics with a slight change in order to fit the specific content requirements. [Reading across the curriculum, 2008] The main essence behind content reading is to teach learners how to read and understand what they have read,
References:
· Nist & Simpson, Developing vocabulary concepts for college thinking 2nd edition, 1997, accessed on November 24, 2008
· Mc Alexander & Burrell, helping students “get it together” with synthesis journals, 1996, accessed on November 24, 2008
· Stanley, Ralph Stanley and the clinch Mountain boys, 1971, accessed on November 24, 2008
Gille & Kita, Word sorts using concept cards, 1979, accessed on November 24, 2008
· Staff Development in Content reading, a case study for social studies, available at;
http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=EJ226946, accessed on November 24, 2008
· Literacy matters, available at;
http://www.literacymatters.org/content/readandwrite/reading.htm, accessed on November 24, 2008
· Reading across the curriculum, available at;
http://www.pgcps.pg.k12.md.us/~elc/readingacross.html, accessed on November 24, 2008
· Reading for 21st century, available at;
http://www.all4ed.org/sitemap.html#Literacy, accessed on November 24, 2008
· Reading strategies that assist content area reading, available at;
http://www.sarasota.k12.fl.us/sarasota/interdiscrdg.htm, accessed on November 24, 2008
· Before, during, and after reading strategies, available at;
www.howard.k12.md.us/langarts/Curriculum/
strategies.htm#SUBJECT%20AREA, accessed on November 24, 2008
· Literacy and content area reading, available at;
http://www.edteck.com/read/index.htm, accessed on November 24, 2008
· Cooperative learning; available at;
www.sedl.org/cgi- bin/mysql/buildingreading.cgi?showrecord=15&l=instruction, accessed on November 24, 2008
· Strategies used in content reading, available at;
www.state.tn.us/education/ci/cistandards2001/
la/cilarstratteachread.htm, accessed on November 24, 2008
· Strategies for “before, during, and after reading”, available at;
www.tea.state.tx.us/reading/practices/redbk4.pdf, accessed on November 24, 2008
· Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR), available at;
http://www.sedl. Org/, accessed on November 24, 2008
Content web dev magazine
I give the 2008 Hyundai Tucson 8.5 out of ten stars because it provides a high level of convenience and the ability to handle relatively well the most hostile roads. It is also available for a very reasonable price. The vehicle is actually quite responsive, and even though I bought it slightly used, it has never been any trouble. I’ve only had it for a couple months, but to me it has been worth the money. The best part about this model is the improved interior, which is now much less minimalist than older models of mid-sized SUV and much more comfortable. The downside of this car seems to be that the competition outstrips it a great deal. Models like the Toyota RAV4 and the Honda CR-V come far more equipped with power features and comfort features. Yet it holds its own where price (value) and safety are concerned. Plus I personally like the fact that it gives great four-wheel drive performance yet without the extra weight and girth of the larger SUV’s. You get to be a bit more elevated than the regular sedan, but without feeling overpowered by a massive vehicle.
The Black and Decker EHC650 Food Processor is one that combines chopping ability with easy and convenient cleaning and storing capabilities. The large blades are a feature that stands out from the competition. This item delivers when it comes to processing power. The appliance produces shaved ice from cubes and minced onions in just seconds. It’s indispensable for making smoothies or actually for any form of entertainment or event that involves cooking—even regular daily meals made at home. It makes food preparation so much easier and faster. And even though I had some trouble with the blade, the customer service was great and sent me replacement parts promptly. The removable bottom that can also be used as a lid was a great innovation by the Black and Decker team, as it helps when you want to put your chopping in the refrigerator.
I appreciate the RAV4 highly because I am a camper and it offers me an amenity that I use a great deal bundled with the handling capacity that will help get me where I love to go. The luggage rack provides me a means of transporting any of my camping equipment that I don’t feel comfortable carrying in the back. In addition to that, the RAV4 has a ton of space in the back, as the third row seat folds down to create a larger rear carrying capacity or stay unfolded to create more seating room. Its versatility is what made it such a hit for me because I can carpool and go camping in the same vehicle without sacrificing any style. Plus the safety features such as LSD and the comfort of the interior means I also don’t lose much by not having chosen a minivan for transporting the kids. But for my kind of lifestyle, having the amazing off-road features in such a compact yet large-capacity vehicle is indispensable, because it translates to a great value for the money I spent. I’ve had the SUV for a little over two years and I am still pleased with it.
HP Pavillion 9700 boasts a 17” LCD screen that I absolutely love because of the space it grants me for multitasking. Plus comes with the Intel Core2Duo processor that provides me not just with the speed I need, but with the power to process many more programs than can simultaneously fit onto the huge screen. Plus, the 9700 of my choice comes with 2GB of memory that acts as a support to the processing power that the machine is capable of exuding. Windows Vista (which I’ve heard people complain about) works well for me on this machine, and I suppose this product provides just the right amount of processor to handle the hefty new operating system put out by Microsoft. One problem I’ve had with this computer is the fact that the keys seem shallow enough so that when they depress they go below the level of base of other keys. Therefore your fingers have the ability to slip under the other keys and pry at them—perhaps eventually lifting them off and ruining the keyboard. That doesn’t happen very often though.
The laptops in the Toshiba Satellite A200 series are a great investment, although it is probably best to stay away from the models that come with HD-DVD Burners (because HD-DVD is on its way to being obsolete soon). Some models come with even 250GB of hard drive storage, which is what I most appreciate for my movie collection. The dimensions of the computer are very manageable and it’s difficult to feel as though you’re carrying around a desktop replacement even while it does its job so beautifully. The graphics card that comes with this computer is quite competent and produces problems with only the most demanding games. So this could conceivably be referred to as a gaming laptop—if such a thing could ever be said to exist. However, one of the down sides of going with Toshiba is that all their hard drives that provide over 200G of storage spin at only 4200rpm, when the industry standard is now 5400 rpm. Also, the viewing angle for the screen is quite poor, although in all other areas the screen works great. Still, overall, this is a very good product and it gets 8/10 stars.
Samsung LNT4671F delivers 46 inches of 1080 pixel picture quality that I have found to shine brilliantly compared to the plasma television I owned previously. The picture quality is great, and I love the fact that the screen swivels on its base to allow for easier access to the connections at the rear. I also love the radio tuners that come with the set, as I am able to use the television as a means of accessing far-away communication. However, the Automotion Plus feature has been acting up (it seems) in most of these sets. Instead of making images sharper, it leaves them spottier. I seemed to have been having some dead pixels lately too, and the customer service at Samsung tries to get out of having to replace these—so beware! You may need to have a certain number of pixels before they’ll consider a replacement. I read somewhere that I might have trouble with light getting out through the edges of the screen, but I never had any problems like that. I also haven’t seen any dead pixels yet, but I’m on the lookout.
The Toshiba REGZA is a 42 inch competitor of the Samsung LNT4671F that comes in at a little over half the price. For the money, it’s a great buy, although it still has some flaws that need to be considered before purchasing the unit. The look of the set is brilliant and the picture quality it delivers is some of the richest that can be found in any LCD high-definition set. However, be aware that the high picture quality is only apparent when viewing high-definition programming. But when equipped with the right programming, the colors are so rich they appear to bleed upon the screen so it becomes one with the actual image (almost eliminating the mediating screen from between the viewer and the spectacle being viewed). Plus Toshiba uses Cinespeed, which is a technology that allows the set to refresh its images every 8 milliseconds. For sports or action movies this is an awesome feature that is alone worth the price paid for the set.
Motorola L7i provides standard features as well as more sophisticated ones. It comes in a sleek candy-bar type body that has all the convenience yet none of the cliché-like or overdone style of today’s standard flip or slider phones. Yet, the classic exterior masks and interior packed with features that I found very helpful. I put Motorola Phone Tools to good use to synchronize all my phone files with my computer files. Plus the Bluetooth capability helps this tremendously by connecting with my laptop and giving me hands-free usage whenever I’m driving or carrying heavy material. I also like the digital camera/camcorder that the phone boasts, though phone technology has advanced a bit past the 1.3 megapixel range. One thing I haven’t been able to figure out is how to make videos record for more than 20 seconds at a time without sacrificing quality. Also, the battery life is at once good and worse than I had expected. However, it lasts for about 3-5 days when the phone is used only minimally (though making videos etc. drain the power). Still, it is a very good and durable mobile phone that I would recommend.
The Coby MPC858 MP3 Player is not actually a very good buy. In fact, it turned out to be 50% a waste of money. The player looks sleek and even worked well for a few months, but after a while it started giving me a lot of trouble. First of all, the headphones were half dead a few days after I got them—but that is almost to be expected with any headphones that come with such players, so it was not a big problem for me. What was a big problem was the fact that I would start having trouble turning the thing on at odd times, despite the fact that the batteries were new. For a while, changing the batteries to completely different new batteries seemed to help, though I’m not sure why. However, a few weeks after this problem started to occur, the player just stopped turning on entirely. Since it was a few weeks past the 3 month warranty, there was no help to be got from Coby. The strange thing is I found out later the same thing happened to two other persons I know who bought this player. Now the only thing mine is good for is storing and transferring files like a thumb drive. I do not recommend this product.
The newly renovated Holiday Inn Express in Tulsa, Oklahoma is a two-star hotel that loses star points only because of the lack of an all-inclusive resort feel. The hotel itself is in excellent condition and the amenities that it does offer work well for short business trips. It is also in a good location, as it is situated right across the street from Tulsa’s Woodland Hills Mall and a number of other places for shopping and eating. The rooms are of a good size and are very clean and well kept. The down pillows and comforters are a nice touch that makes for comfortable sleeping. The broadband access was great but wireless would have been even better. Free coffee anytime was a good thing to offer and the continental breakfast was also very nice. The staff was also very kind, friendly and helpful when I had questions about the location of things inside and outside the hotel. My stay here was very good and I will use this facility the next time I am in Tulsa.
Content writers
Once the content for any of our sites is written, the responsible person (Sveta) places an order to proofread it. It must be done the same day or the latest – the next day. If the project is really large and suggests a lot of text, proofreading may be done by parts.
The duties of the responsible person:
” Find the best suitable editor to work on the order (seek support opinion);
” Resolve any problems connected with the order;
” Timely respond to editor’s questions. (If the responsible person is not available (weekend, ill, etc), she has to delegate this duty to someone from the support department.)
” Provide feedback on the editor’s work (optional).
Once the order is completed, the responsible person is to ensure the proofread content is added to the site.
The proofreading procedure for the content of the existing sites is pretty much the same.
The results should be reported by the responsible person at ServersharedMarketingproofreading
Who writes the drafts – our writers – (as of 27/02/2007 – Sveta and Dasha)
Writers who have already worked on proofreading orders:
Heather Pohlabel
Resumesplanet.com – Quite ok
Wisetranslations.com -overall ok but some grammar slips like can to meet???
Connet Marie Ben
Bestessays.com – spelling mistakes ( typos)
Anthony Petricaro
Killer-Content.com – NEVER ASK HIM TO EDIT OUR AND CLINETS’ TEXTS (careless mistakes like copy editing service will provides)
Cynthia Murphy
Killer-Content.com
Steven Swenson
Killer-Content.com – offline promotion related pages – GOOD. However he seems to be very unreliable and has violated several deadlines, also is irresponsive to messages and support’s calls. Though he does practically a good job, but it is difficult to make him do some.
Emily McCaffety – good writer, positive feedbacks from the clients, wrote content for the websites
Content writing
(Note: “ABC” is used in lieu of the site/company name).
Home page
Whether the entrepreneur’s exceptional business idea is just in the planning stage or has already developed into full-blown enterprise, investors can sometimes be hard to find.
On the other side of the coin, every serious investor dreams of finding the next Bill Gates and investing into what would ultimately be a billion-dollar company, but does not always get the opportunity do so.
The “million dollar question” (literally) for entrepreneurs and investors alike is how sort through various funding networks, venture capital firms, and small business funding systems to find what they are looking for.
To address this need, ABC provides a wide range of services to both entrepreneurs and investors, free of charge. This includes a large database that will help entrepreneurs and investors find their prefect match.
Here at ABC, “We help investors and entrepreneurs meet each other”.
For Entrepreneurs
This site houses one of the largest databases of investors regularly looking for various investment opportunities at various stages of growth. From business proposals to start ups to small business, even to established companies looking for capital, whether you are looking for an angel investor or a venture capital firm to finance your business, we will help you find an investor.
Finding investors isn’t easy. Emailing every investor on lists you find on the Internet may not be the best way to go; in this numbers game, the odds are stacked against you. With ABC’s service, you are one step closer to finding that perfect investor. Not only will you be able to look for investors in your particular area/region, you can also narrow down your search to those who are interested in your industry and are willing to invest the exact amount you need!
Register now! Submit your business proposal and it will gain a good deal of exposure with our huge network of potential investors and venture capitalists registered here.
For Investors
It’s not easy finding investment opportunities where there is minimum risk and profit is almost a guarantee; finding reliable investments too, can be a daunting task.
Here at ABC, we have created a service that will help you search for good, quality investments and be on top of the latest and most current business proposals. You’ll get access to one of the largest databases of business proposals from entrepreneurs—from the grizzled entrepreneur to the neophyte visionary. You’ll find a myriad of investment opportunities, from starting capital for leading edge start-ups to growth capital for established businesses—the possibilities are endless.
You can sift through and scrutinize business proposals without having to meet up with or initiate direct contact with entrepreneurs. Not only can you look for investments in your particular area/region, you can also narrow down your search and contact only those whose business proposals you are really interested in.
With ABC’s matching service, you are one step closer to finding that perfect investment and financing opportunity.
Entrepreneurs page
As a member, the following services will be available to you:
BUSINESS PROPOSALS. You can post your business proposal for consideration by hundreds of potential investors who will contact you if interested.
INVESTOR DATABASE. Search for investors according to different criteria such as business sphere, business location, the investment amount you need, or the type of financing you want.
PERSONAL INVESTOR BOOKMARKS. Keep a list of investors you may be interested in, and get messages about new subscribers.
BUSINESS PLAN AND PROPOSAL WRITING TIPS. Make sure your business plan or proposal is written in tip-top shape.
MULTIMEDIA. You can upload files such as documents, presentations, and video and audio pitches to get investors interested.
FINANCIAL AND LEGAL ADVISORS. You get access to a database of solicitors, accountants, financiers, etc.
Investors page
As a member, the following services will be available to you:
INFORMATION EXPOSURE. You can post your information to the investor’s database for consideration by hundreds of potential entrepreneurs in the sphere of business you’re interested in.
ENTREPRENEUR DATABASE. Search for entrepreneurs according to different criteria. You can choose the business proposals that best match your requirements and filter out those proposals you are not interested in.
PERSONAL ENTREPRENEUR BOOKMARKS. Keep a list of entrepreneurs you may be interested in, and personally monitor updates to their business plans.
NEW SUBSCRIBER ALERTS. Get messages and notifications about new entrepreneur subscribers.
FINANCIAL AND LEGAL ADVISORS. You get access to a database of solicitors, accountants, financiers, etc.
About us page
ABC utilizes one application, one extensive network, serving the needs of three unique types of users, under one international community of finance professionals.
ABC is a premiere, international web-based portal and matching service for entrepreneurs looking for seed or growth capital, as well as investors looking for investment opportunities. Our services are non-profit in nature, and were created to serve the finance needs of new and emerging businesses, as well as cater to the investors’ demand for reliable and profitable business ventures.
With the scope and breath of the current financial landscape, there has been a growing need for services that would bridge the gap between entrepreneurs and investors. Our service aims to leverage our extensive network and help entrepreneurs and investors meet heir perfect match. The site allows you to connect with people who can help you reach your goal.
At ABC, “We help investors and entrepreneurs meet each other”.
Our extensive capital network consists industry leaders, executives, consultants, business owners, entrepreneurs, investors, and other finance professionals, grouped under the following three user categories:
1) Entrepreneurs Looking for Capital
Individuals and businesses looking for investors comprise this group. Our extensive database contains a wide range of entities that include start-ups in need of seed capital, emerging companies, middle-sized ventures seeking additional equity funding, and mature, established businesses looking to finance their growth.
2) Investors Looking for Investment Opportunities
This group is made up of investors currently seeking investments in various stages of growth. Our extensive database currently contains individual investors and various private equity firms, including buyout firms and venture capital firms making investments in all stages of a business’s development.
3) Financial and Legal Service Advisors
This group includes solicitors, accountants, financiers, management teams, finance professionals and advisors, who can post free ads on our site. Other subscribers may contact this group and make use of their services.
FAQs page
What is ABC?
ABC is a premiere, international web-based portal and matching service for entrepreneurs looking for seed or growth capital, as well as investors looking for investment opportunities. Our services are non-profit in nature, and were created to serve the finance needs of new and emerging businesses, as well as cater to the investors’ demand for reliable and profitable business ventures.
With the scope and breath of the current financial landscape, there has been a growing need for services that would bridge the gap between entrepreneurs and investors. Our service aims to leverage our extensive network and help entrepreneurs and investors meet heir perfect match. The site allows you to connect with people who can help you reach your goal.
How does the service work?
Subscribing to ABC is quick and easy. First, you need to complete this (link) registration form, and then upload your business proposal. Once you finish all registration steps, you may start searching our database of entrepreneurs and investors for your perfect match. With our service, you can connect to thousands of like-minded individuals who will suit your needs and goals.
Will you give away my information?
We value your privacy. Your information will never be given away to any third party for any reason. One of the foundations to our success is keeping where your personal information should be; the information you give us only stays within our website. For this purpose we use only secure management tools and data servers to ensure that no one can cat get hold of your information. You can give away further information to investors whenever you see fit, but this will only be done through your discretion.
Why should I choose your company?
There may other website that offer the same services, however, we stand out from the competition for the following reasons:
§ We are an international service that connects entrepreneurs with investors all over the world;
§ Unlike other services, we do not “pre-screen” deals. The investors themselves decide where they would want to invest in.
§ The service operates in a “real-time” basis. We understand that like any entrepreneur, you need your investment capital yesterday. The system allows for fast and efficient investor prospecting to suit your needs.
Your can create your own personal list of entrepreneurs/investors you may be interested in, and monitor updates.
Get good advice from various finance experts.
You should join ABC because we not only give you an opportunity to find what you need, you can also create new opportunities for others by being part of the network
What is the difference between Investment and a Venture Capital Funding?
Investors (particularly, angel investors) do not typically invest in deals exceeding £1 million; venture capital firms only invest in ventures exceeding that amount
Angel investors are individuals making their own decisions; venture capital firms are composed of groups of people making decisions and professionally managing the pooled money of others.
Angel investors tend to be more involved in the businesses that they invest in and provide assistance in ways that venture capital firms do not. In a venture capital firm, investors know little of the company they are investing in and let a network of experts determine the risk-reward level.
Angel investors typically do not own as large a stake in the company as a venture capital firm would.
6. I’m an entrepreneur. What is an Angel Investor?
Angel investors are often wealthy, retired business owners or executives, who may be interested in angel investing for other reasons in addition to pure monetary return. Angels investments are considered to be high-risk, thus Angels can be extremely picky when it comes to businesses proposals. Angel investments fill the gap between the times where the entrepreneur’s “love capital” (capital from relatives and friends) has been exhausted, but before the firm has reached a stage at which it will be eligible for venture capital investment. Angels are much more willing to take a risk on what they believe is a good idea than banks or other financial institutions.
I’m an investor. Who are the Entrepreneurs?
Our database contains hundreds of business proposals from entrepreneurs, from the grizzled entrepreneur to the neophyte visionary. You’ll find a myriad of investment opportunities, from starting capital for leading edge start-ups to growth capital for established businesses—the possibilities are endless. Entrepreneurs are usually very passionate about their project and are proficient in their respective fields, but many are not proficient in the way of finance so they may need extra help and understanding from you.
8. Why should I register to receive investment proposal summaries?
Angel investors are the logical source of capital for many small and medium-sized businesses. The “million dollar question” (literally) for entrepreneurs and investors alike is how to sift through all the various funding networks, venture capital firms, and small business funding systems to find quality deals. For this, ABC allows an investor to view as many investment opportunities as possible so the perfect match would come to light.
Content based ESL
English as a Second Language (ESL) Instruction was established in order to provide non-native English speakers the opportunity to learn the mechanics of the English language and use it in order to cope with the ever-changing world. The goals and objectives of ESL instruction are diverse. These goals and objectives include self-improvement as one is able to acquire a new language which enhance one’s skills in language communication, the improvement of cognitive processes due to the learning methods and techniques that individuals learn from the instruction, gaining knowledge and appreciation of one’s native language by learning another language, understanding of other culture, a tool for communicating with other people who are only equipped with skills in the English language communication, and to promote unity and solidarity through oneness of language. (Cummins & Davison, 2007) more “Content based ESL”
Weakness and Strength of the Book
Introduction
This volume is in a form of the handbook designed for both the students and the specialists interested in this period. It has a whole catalog of the tombs ranging from built tombs to rock cut tombs and the tombs of mixed construction and they all are illustrated and discussed chronologically. The tombs covered in the book extend from Afghanistan to Italy and the time frame from fourth century BCE to the second century CE.
Fedak felt that the monumental tombs in fourth century have their importance in the Hellenized[i] Asia Minor, but only as models. He used the term Hellenistic rather than calling it nothing.[ii] The major concentration of work is on the development and origin of the tombs in Western Asia Minor. The work has lovely 230 pages of illustration which are either black and white photograph or line diagrams and text of 237 pages.
Analysis of the Book
The opening chapter deals with the typology of the monumental tombs and terminology. These tombs show the self-image and the uniqueness of the dynast and persons of authority. This is evident that the individuality of expression is possible in funerary architecture, rather than going in for simple building. Lycia was the home to greatest collection of monumental graves and so Fedak review tom typologies here. Later, he classified them into four main types (built tombs, rock-cut tombs, tombs of mixed construction, and tumuli), there is further subdivision into (57) groups and sub groups. He gave definitions for Greek and Latin terms to do with funerary architecture and discusses them briefly.
The second chapter deals with monumental tomb before the fourth century B.C. the chapter starts with Persian, especially Cyprus tomb at Pasargadae, this was made by craftmen from Ionia. It has stepped platform and pyramid on top. This could be the oldestfor the Mausoleum at Haliarnassos. He did some guessing game by reconstructing ‘Tomb of Apollo’ at Amykisi, ‘Tomb of porsenna’ at Clusium. He also discuss Lycian and Lydian tombs. Then comes Asia Minor of fifth century B.C. with structures like Heroon G at Xanthos and the new Pactolus pediment from Serdia. Under the section on rock –cut tombs he briefly discusses Phrygian, Urartian, and Persian monuments. He seem to disagree with the date and suggests a date before the mid sixth century B.C. . then the unusual tomb like object near ancient Phokaia, that have been dated between eighth to fourth century B.C. . some stress and parallelism was made between the strange rock cut façade tombs of Paphlagonia and Cyrene, he also suggests some tentative dates. But those dates seems to be baseless because no argument was given for the support of the same. Then comes the Great tumuli (‘Tomb of Midas’) at Gordion and the ‘Tomb of Alyattes’ at Sardia, under the category of tumuli and underground tombs.
Fadek talk about the known ‘Tomb of Tantalos’ near old Smyrnawhich dates back to seventh century B.C., 30m wide across with corbelvaulted burial chambers. There is mention of some other tombs which are omitted in later section and well built Hellenistic tumulus tombs some 18 m across excavated by Orlandos near Stymphalos. He concluded the chapter with ‘Royal Tomb’ at Tamassos in Cyprus, which is an underground tomb built in early sixth century B.C. with architectural façades and wooden frames that have been replaced in stone.
The core of the book deals with development of tombs in Asia Minor and offshore islands from Mereid. P. Demargue and N. Childe[iii] would like to attributed the tombs to the local dynast Arbinas, and the British Museum has recently restored that Xanthiun monument which is the remains of the most remarkable of Lycian tombs. Just two pages to tell about this is not fair thing to do on Fadek’s part. Anyways, it shows the importance in the light of local and Athenian elements in the early fourth century B.C. other tombs of similar dates were excavated 25 years ago on the acropolis of Limyre like the tomb of Perikies, a local dynast, which has living quarters above the hill behind the tomb. Some three pages were dedicated for Mausoleum at Halikarnassos, which is partially restored in British Museum in mid ninetieth century by Newton; Danish further studied it in 1960;s and 1970’s. these were non Greek creations and they influenced Greek work of Alexander’s age; the possible sites being that of Terchiusse. Other Hekatomnid site, Labraunda, a possibly mid-fourth-century B.C. Doric tomb also has valuted chamber, it is 15m long including courtyard in the front of these chambers. The British Meuseum also restored recumbent lion at knidos from a pyramid – capped Doric monument of early Hellenistic time (suggested 394 B.C.). a tomb 30 m square has Doric below and Corinthiun above located at Belevi near Ephesos was second in grandeur of Mausoleums. The date and builders were still uncertain and believe to be within early third and second century B.C.. They are made in two separate phases, which is evident from their style. The next set of tombsdiscussed was from Kos and Rhodes, again there is uncertainity of dates. Lindian Chronicle suggest the date of the Archhokrateion at Lindos to be late third century. The great tomb at Rhodian was between firth and first century, having 100-foot façade. Fared was a little rash to attribute it to the third century admiral Theophiliskos just because he was the major figure in that century. The reason for incorrect dates were robberies that took place before controlled excavation. This chapter was concluded by variety of simple façade tombs in Lycia, Phrygia, and Cappadocia.
Chapter four is the longest on Asia Minor mostly on Greece, Iilyria, Italy, North Africa and Near East; and he round it up with monumental tombs. He talked about unpublished tomb from Kallithea and then quickly he flips from Arakadia and something on Alipheira and a brief mention on the tumuli of Thessaly; he agree with the early date to the valt of Tomb II at Vergina were as he give in notes other theories too. It was very awkward that he gave his own ideas in footnotes. Albania, Italy, Sicily were other places he touched upon. He has not included the pyramidal tombs of Sestius, although he cites that of Eurysaces the baker. He also extends to Roman times with famous rock cut tombs in Petra.
The fifth concluding chapter and two appendices come at the end. In one appendice he talked about the roof construction of tumulus tombs and the other is on relationship of monumental tombs to monumental sarcophagi, tholoi, and choragic monuments.
Synopsis
This is a very lavish and illustrated monograph, which brings together previous information about Hellenistic funerary monuments and Fadek’s research on exterior architecture in Mediterranean region. The author give the topology of the basic tombs and then move to the predecessors of the Hellenistic tombs he keeps exploring the various form due to climate, building material and religious and social customs. Basically they adhere to the local form but new idea was also welcome in Hellenistic World. This wide approach makes this work good enough for specialists in Greek architecture, archeologists, students of classical studies and historians of art and religion.
Weakness of the book
ü The basic drawback was he did not discuss the spatial properties of each tom site. He did not tell how to reach them threw road – the routes were not given and approach not clear.
ü Another drawback was he fails to demonstrate the visibility of a monument nor the importance attached to it
ü He fails to discuss the sculptural program of the monuments (except for their architectural ornament)
ü He does not treat either the cult attendants upon the monuments or the belief system that endangered them.
Strength Of the book
ü Fully illustrated 230 pages.
ü Discusses Latin and Greek definitions of funerary architecture
ü Fedak was serviceable and sensible in creating different typologies.
ü A very good handbook
Bibliography
`Monumental Tombs of the Hellenistic Age: A Study of Selected Tombs from the Pre-Classical to the Early Imperial Era` (Toronto, University of Toronto Press) Fedak, Janos 1990.
P. Demargue and W. Childe, Le monument des Nereides: le Décor sculpte ( Paris 1989)
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
GreekLandscapes.com
Journal of Biblical literature
Notes
[i] The term Hellenistic (derived from ????? Héll?n, the Greeks’ traditional self-described ethnic name) According to Droysen, the Hellenistic civilization was a fusion of Greek and Middle-Eastern cultures. It spread from Greece to Tergamon, Rhodes, Antioch, and Alexandria. The modern historian states the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. as the beginning of this period; and it ends with the battle of Actio.
[ii] The science of Archeology deals with different civilizations and period of time. So we can briefly classify them into.
Classical Archeology (Greek And Roman Civilization)
Pre-Classical Archeology of Mediterranian and Aegean Islands
Near east and Asia Minor (Anatolia)
Eygpt
Western Europe
Asia
Pacific
America
[iii] P. Demargue and W. Childe, Le monument des Nereides: le Décor sculpte ( Paris 1989)
;
Contestatory Democracy
I. What is contestability in democratic practice? – The idea of the contestability in a democratic practice, according to Philip Pettit, is simply the idea that the decisions that would govern the lives of the people under this particular kind of democracy are decisions that are crafted after every institution and group in the society put forward whatever form of contesting they deem relevant before a decision is made on a particular issue, and more importantly, the designing of the process of decision making inside a community/society/country wherein such practice is given room to be observed and exercised. more “Contestatory Democracy”
Contested Borderland: The Civil War
Review
McKnight, Brian. Contested Borderland: The Civil War in Appalachian Kentucky and Virginia. University of Kentucky Press, 2006
Brian McKnight’s new book Contested Borderland thoroughly examines the conflict between Unionist Kentucky and Confederate Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains, most notably the region between Cumberland and Pound gaps that divides Kentucky and southwestern Virginia. Using a combination of military history and social commentary, he tries to create a realistic picture that would transport the reader to the time and place of the battle. His research is solid and he manages to capture some of the local flavor. For example, he writes about the flood of refugees streaming into the area from Eastern Tennessee and snippets of individuals that were a part of this, “William James passed through Abingdon after fighting resulted in his home in Blountville being burned. He carried his family, along with all his worldly possessions, ‘on one little two horse wagon”(171). Changing his focus from the individual to the two forces consuming the area, his narrative style vacillates from the engaging to the dry. Those who are especially interested in Appalachian History and the Civil War would enjoy this book.
From 1861 to 1865, the border separating eastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia signified a rigid demarcation between the Confederacy and the United States. The state line was transformed into an international border almost overnight, and there were many people caught in the middle. Some wanted secession, others wanted to stay in the Union, and others were neutral. McKnight discusses how religious, personal, and political ideologies contributed to the choice of loyalties—a very awkward situation indeed. While the mountains were difficult to traverse even in the best of times, the gaps between them became optimal military targets. Those that dwelled in the borderlands often lacked the solidarity of communities that were firmly entrenched on either side. As a result, there were many ideological conflicts, raids, and vicious guerilla attacks. McKnight sought to capture the social climate on both sides of the divide, but he writes a great deal more about the Kentucky side. “Because of the unfriendly nature of the terrain, life in the Appalachian Mountains has always presented inhabitants with great challenges”(71).
Indeed, one of the greatest challenges in the history of Appalachia was the Civil War. The majority of citizens in the eastern Kentucky Mountains supported the Union, but there were a few cells sympathetic to the Confederate cause. In such a tumultuous situation, divided loyalties, guerilla warfare, and ideological disagreements left scars that remained long after the last shot was fired. Even so, there were many who were not committed to either side, thus remained neutral or vacillated in their support. Because the region was ideal for a military outpost and contained many natural resources, both sides fought in earnest to secure the area.
As a result, scholars like McKnight are looking more into this region’s history; after all, it never garnered the notoriety of other battles such as Gettysburg and Manassas. During the first half of the war, McKnight focuses on the exploits of General Humphrey Marshall. He was not usually given much attention in other accounts of the war. Maybe this was the case because he was better known as a political nag than for any heroics. “Confederate president Jefferson Davis made a fateful decision by appointing Humphrey Marshall as brigadier general. For the duration of the war, Marshall would hound Davis relentlessly about everything from the nature of his appointment to issues of national policy”(47). Still, for the most part, Marshall was treated fairly.
Accounts of military engagements were thorough, yet shallow, which was understandable since the work was short and the events that transpired were many. Among these include: army incursions against civilians, the crucial importance of the mountain gaps in facilitating communication and moving both soldiers and supplies between the states. While this was necessary knowledge for putting events into context, it was not exactly the most riveting section of the story.
Instead, he engages readers by showing them an accurate portrait of life and social issues during the 1860s. For example, he mentions Appalachian citizens have contributed to all of America’s war efforts, such as the two World Wars, Viet Nam, and Korea. Interestingly enough, many on the Northern side bowed out of the Civil War because they did not want to fight their brethren. People on both sides of the divide embraced the Primitive Baptist sect of Christianity. Unlike most other Baptist churches, the Primitive Baptists believed in predestination, which is why they were more generous with their lives than those believing in free will (148). Most adherents were sympathetic to the South, and genuinely believed that this was God’s plan for the country. As their northern neighbors did not want to fight against their own people, they did not contribute much to the Northern war effort. Family and community dynamics were much different in nineteenth century Appalachia. Also, extend families were the norm at the time. Parents, children, aunts, uncles, and grandparents lived in close proximity more often than not. Both communities and families were quite close-knit which was why they were more difficult to divide than others.
There are but a few minor issues in the text. The map of Kentucky and Virginia was not detailed enough to inform a reader unfamiliar with the region and the text was rather dry in some places. Nevertheless, it is admirable that he had spun a 300+ page novel out of a little known and often ignored location in American History, while still preserving all the drama of the Civil War. In sum, it was a very interesting and thoroughly researched account of the military, social, and political battles that raged in these highly “contested borderlands.”
The Veil in the contemporary arts
The Veil in Contemporary Arts
Introduction
In the last two decades, revisionist exhibition have to a great extent, highlighted the interstices that exist between visual culture together with the processes upon which cultural boundaries of inclusion are created. The vital works have decided to interrupt the conservative narratives about the cultural signs and symbols. Through investigating the visual realm, such projects explore the various ways in which the visual forms operate within their version of cultural divergence. Veil contributes to the larger narrative through examining the cultural politics at work in the image of one of the highly well-worn symbols of difference, that is, the Muslim and Islamist veil. The sphere of contemporary processes of art project is equally prevalent for consumption and can as well lead to rarified conceptions and understanding (Hearle & Nelly 2005). The authors of different articles highlight the multi-vocality of the representation of the veil within a wider contemporary cultural as well as social context. Veil represents a scheme of cultural intervention and is ambitious and wide ranging in scope. It is a platform upon which international artists, both from non-Muslim and Muslim backgrounds try to respond to the thorny accepted paradigms of interpretation that reduce the veil as a sign of irrefutable differences in culture.
Methodology
This involves the various techniques that were employed during the collection of the information about veil in contemporary arts. Literature review was one of the methods used to collect data. It basically entails the use of published sources, especially articles in the referred journals. The reason for the choice of the method is that there has already been some kind of quality control applied. The researcher also used interview as a way of assembling information. This is a data collection method that involves asking questions and receiving immediate responses from the respondents. The researcher went out on the streets of Washington DC asked different kinds of people, both Muslims as well as non-Muslims, about their views concerning the use of the veil.
Literature Review
Definition of the Veil in the Muslim Society
According to the Muslim society, veil is also referred to as Hijab, meaning “partition” or “separation”. The common, connotation of veil today is the Hijab in the dressing for women. It means a certain standard of humble dress for women. Basing on the legal system, it does not require covering everything apart from the face and the hands in public. It is a practice which came from the Middle East. While the word Hijab means “cover” or partition, Khamar refers to a veil that covers the head and word Niqab means a veil that covers the lower face up to the eyes. Within the current d world, the most accepted term Hijab refers to covering of the face by women. In contemporary normative language of the Islam of Egypt as well as other regions of the world, the veil donates more to “culture” rather than a fixed domestic seclusion (Kurzman 2002). In Egypt and America, it donated the fundamental head covering worn by Islamist women as part of their dress (zayy shar’i). It conceals the hair as well as the neck of the person wearing it. Basing on the Qur’an, women are advised to cover up their adornments from other people outside the family. In contemporary Arab and conventional societies, women dress in a different way at home when compared to what they put on on the streets. In the Qur’an it refers to the tradition of the new communal modesty other than just veiling the face. Muslim women do not veil themselves out of disgrace but it is all about privacy and modesty (Vertigans 2003).
It is empowering to be able see without being seen. Most Westerners always feel a loss of a level of control when they are not able to see the women behind their veils. If people would let go their fixed view about the veil, it would stop being the unknown and come to be fully understood as part of the dress as well as an expression of identity (Anthonie 1985).
The Symbolism of Veiling
In contemporary history, hijab has generated quite a number of forms from the symbols of the ideology of post-Revolutionary Iran, the complex object of social mobility then to the signifier of sexual diffidence as well as religious piety. Genealogies of the veil embrace the cultural and stylistic variegation which donate the particular performance of the veil together with traditional specificity. For instance, in Iran, due to the implementation of the Republic of the Islamism’s new legal authority, the black, ankle length chadors were slowly graduated into the society following the laws that were passed in 1979 and 1980.
In reference to non-specificity or specificity about veil, present-day theory and practice on the hijab or veiling bring about interesting queries for further thought. Outside the community of Muslim, the veil is acknowledged as a symbol of Islam imbued with religious iconicity as well as sustaining some specific makers of in “difference” that are associated mainly along the lines of race together with economic privileges. Within contemporary Muslim communities, the veil holds the rank of a religious emblem that is imbued with conceptual cultural iconicity which sustains a multiplicity of the makers who are connected with feminine otherness and also conservative values.
None of the relations are static or true in all the situations, but they may identify a varied quantitative distinction in the way the perception of the hijab and the veil. The veil is identified both within and outside of the Muslim communities dialectically within its practical and as well as symbolic magnitude as something which is constraining and at the same time liberating. Every categorical meaning that is ascribed to veiling embraces the dialect. For instance, the veil is likely to be understood as indicative of the male patriarchy and the domination of women hence constraining. Nonetheless, for many women who put on the veil, it is always perceived as a choice of freedom from the constraints of being fetishized or identified only by physical beauty, therefore the veil is a form of liberation. The uncertainty that is inherent within the dialectical role of the veil embodied in the practical as well as symbolic ways ensures the dominance as a symbol. The symbol of the veil and whether the symbolic implication can be described as iconic and remains to be seen.
What also grows from the superficial study of ‘the gaze’ is the cultural product or the symbol. On images and Islam, Hodgson (2005) says that the use of symbols springs from within human condition, from the opinion of essential and cosmic correspondences that was possibly at its most seminal in archaic mankind. Like many of his generation, Hodgson manages to describe the spectrum of examples of various Islamic symbolisms as bare. In relation to feasible symbolism within Islam, he refers to the examples from Medieval Islamic societies.
If an icon can be described as a representation then it is a sign or the likeness that represents an object through signifying or representing it, or though equivalence, as in semiotics; by extension, an icon is used mainly in modern culture, within the general sense of a symbol. Mitchell argues that images are not stable or everlasting in any metaphysical intellect; they are not perceived the same way by viewers and they are not exclusively visual within any essential way but involve various apprehension as well as interpretation. To add on what Mitchell about the definition of an image, one is able to attempt to fashion a contemporary relationship of the hijab as an icon in the sense that it really justifies the definition of icon and due to the fact that it is a representative of an interpretative thought. The ideology itself is likely to be transitive, nonetheless. Therefore it is the nature of the visual culture as well as the icons across time. Moreover, incase Islam does not have a custom of imagery which channels the requirement for symbolism in a distinct and corollary form from the other forms of confessional religion, the image of the veil is able to fulfill the performative, utilitarian and ritual as well as the symbolic function of the ulterior emphasis.
Veiling provides a historical perception and a course of subjective transformation which is tied within a larger process of the social change. The veil has been used as a foundation of resisting colonialism. As an Icon, it serves a means of resistance. Women in Algeria wore the hijab as a way of resisting an occupier which was working with an aim of unveiling Algeria. May be these are not the customs of associations any one can be able to think of when relating to an icon. But certainly the veil has been used to symbolize the various discourses over a variety of issues concerning art, literature, visual culture and religious reformism. If there was a modern iconic image for the Islamic group then the veil could be the contender.
The history of veil
The first instance of the veiling of a woman is evidenced in an Assyrian lawful text from 13th Century BCE. It restricted its use to the dignified women and also forbade the prostitutes as well as common women from adopting it. The Greek writings have also mention about the veiling and isolation of the women being skillful amongst the Persian elites. Various statues from the Persepolis show women both veiled and also veiled. It seems to be regarded like a quality of the higher position.
The Classical Greek together with the Hellenistic statues in some instances depicts the Greek female with their heads together with faces covered by the use of veil. Galt and Lloyd (2000) have argued basing on the representation as well as literal references that it was a common place for women, especially those of the higher status) in ancient Greece to cover their faces and hair in public.
For many centuries, up to around 1175, the Anglo-Saxon together with Anglo-Norman women with the only exception of the young and unmarried girls had to put on veils which totally covered their hair and mostly their necks and chins. It was only in the Tudor period, around 1485 that the hoods ultimately became gradually more popular. The veils of this nature became les widespread.
For centuries, the females have put on sheer veils, though only below circumstances. In most cases, a veil of this nature was draped over and also pinned to the boater or hat of women in the mourning, mainly during the funeral as well as subsequent periods of “high morning”. They could also used as alternative to a mask, as a straightforward way of hiding the identity of a woman traveling to see or to meet a lover, or simply doing anything which she did not want the rest of the people to know about. More reasonably, veils were also worn to protect the complexion from sun and wind damage, especially when the tanned skin was trendy, or to keep dust out of the face of a woman, the way keffiyeh is used today (Bassiri 1997).
The history of the revival of the veil that used to be vied as an archaic, rural dress lies strongly with Islamic revivalism. The idea of Muhammad Abduh, provided a disenchanted Muslims an alternative to the Western civilization, at the same time recognizing the inevitability as well as the significance of modernity. Though Islam has always emphasized great vitality on the liberation of women from the participation in the society, the culture of the Western people provided the Muslim women with the space; nonetheless, the radical sexual liberation of the sixties seemed to be at odds with the religion and as well as the culture of quite a number of Muslim women. It was at this point that the veil was seen to be an essential tool, but some took it as a way to alienate women from the society. A number of people have used it to enable them to completely participate within the public sphere much more comfortably. The veil afforded the women with great dignity, to rise up from just being the substance within a misogynistic society.
Initially, both the West and the Westernized Muslim elites viewed the veil as being abhorrence to the contemporary world, and therefore were seen with high suspicions and contempt (Bassiri 1997). Nonetheless, though opening the veil has been viewed as signs of liberty within the religious regimes of Afghanistan and Iran, the veil has currently adapted to the society as a whole within other secular Islamic states, whereby even the upper-classes have now adopted the use of the veil in a number of variations. The veil is now an important part of the modern identity of the Islamic community. In the Western countries, for instance Britain as well as the U.S., the usage of the veil is now readily tolerated.
The root course of the French Revolution, whereby the common people together with the bourgeoisie managed to revolt against the twin powers of the Catholic community and the monarchy, has resulted into rigid adoption of secularism, seen as the pride of the state. Though religion is not outlawed the way it was in the atheistic communist states, it is being enforced to entirely invisibly within the public specialty. France has to learn how to come to terms with the largest minority who are the Muslims and view with utmost respect. Muslin do not query the secular nature of the Republic of France, identifying themselves with the minority. However, the French Republic has to respect the religious beliefs of the citizens.
The concept of veil
The concept of veil, expressed in The Souls of the Black by Du Bois (1903), has highly nuanced and dominant theory of race and racism. The plan that was presented by Du Bois (1903) as concepts of a veil operates at the level of personal or intrapsychic. It also operates at the institutional and structural levels of social interaction. It expresses both the conflict of seclusion and alienation within the dynamics of race and interdependence. The concept the veil is presented through the idea of double realization or tribal dualism. Double consciousness afflicts and also transfigures the black soul; dividing the experience of self awareness, interjecting racism into the racially exploited self. The veil does not just divide the individual self but it also fissures the community, the nation and the society at large. The antagonism of the veil, nevertheless, are also thoroughgoing the concepts of interrelationships, so that it does not only splits the self and the world along a straight line, but at the same time finds the self and produces the social world.
The veil is a multifaceted symbol for the dynamics of race. It represents the barriers and connections that that exist between the white and the black. American in particular came to understand the injustices of the factors of racism.
Islamic Concept of Veil
The Quran concisely and candidly deals with the primary concept of veil in Islam. In Sura An-Nur, which means ‘The light’ the Quran says “Tell all the believing women to lower their gazes and be modest and display of their adornments which is apparent, and also draw their veils over their bosoms.” (24:31).
The verse clearly mentions that the sex parts must not be exposed but be securely covered. The adornment that is evident alludes to the common parts of the body between the males and the female. The hands face and also the feet are common parts and are exposed without any form of indecency or immodesty.
The early Arab history reveals the fact that the immodest and also the immoral female used to expose their bodies and walk around the market without the veil. They were like goods that were offered for sale. They did not put on the hijab or the scarf. The fraudulent people could decipher and unravel about their form of character or occupation. They were prostitutes and therefore the Quran announces that pious ladies should be properly and humbly dressed so that when they go out of there houses, they should be identified as domestic chaste, pious ladies and they should not be teased or sent away.
The concept
Different interpreters and jurists have different interpretation of the Quran about the Veil. Moududi (2004) considers the covering of the face an obligatory issue for the Muslim woman. Shaheed (2003), on the other hand, does not consider covering the face obligatory. However, both scholars of eminence have a belief that Muslim women have to wear a scarf and cover their head for identification and sobriety. They discuss in detail about the covering of the head. They provide examples that only immodest as well as indecent ladies use to expose their bodies (Vertigans 2003). Dating ladies who expose their bodies in the name of civilization and modernity represent the ladies of the earlier times who were considered to be ladies of the market who had no value and culture.
In the name of liberating ourselves we are exploiting and at the same time insulting the women folk. A woman has been bowed into a form of commodity. It is a happy omen that the Muslim society believes in covering of the female though it is divided within the concept and practice. The Islamic world is divided in three groups; those who claim to be modern put on dress. They do not care about the injunctions of the Holy Quran. They perform the duty of paying lip service to the Islam. Some put on miniskirts and in Muslim countries like Turkey and Lebanon.
European approach to veil
There are few Muslim women who dress in full face-veil in Europe and almost none have been responsible for any form of violence incidences. In real sense, the veil is a mere pretext for something which goes much deeper, growing European bigotry against Islam coming from government that is dangerously penetrating down to the level of the street.
The problem is actually the government actions that are having the contrary effect of what is intended. In various European countries, Britain included, Muslims feel under siege. For instance, due to the subsequent proclamation made by the former British Foreign secretary, Jack Straw when he said he would favor the guests of the Muslim origin to his community office not to put on the veil. Because of this youthful Muslim women started adopting the garment as a sign of protest. Consequently, the attacks on Muslims and mosques were stepped up. What it really means is that “them and us” kind of situation is being created where previously they never existed. In particular, Holland was always famously liberal of ethnic as well as religious minorities. It is a pity that the attitudes geared towards the Muslims are changing drastically on the negative side. The same Britain once prided itself on its multicultural prosperity as well as the tolerance in all faiths. One wonders what really went wrong to the innate sense of fair play.
The former U.K. prime minister, Tony Blair has to take a larger part of the blame due to some of his frequent references to the evil ideology aimed at covering up his terrible foreign policy miscalculations and terrible blunders in concert with George W. Bush which led to increased levels of devastation followed by bloodshed throughout the Muslim world (Dannin & Stahl 2005)
Since the military rulers imposed a ban on the wearing of veils, by the female students and teachers in state schools and the Universities in 1982, the place of veils, meaning and propriety and meaning have been the subject of heated debate all over Europe. The veil has diverse meaning in different countries, the policy and other forms of customs concerning the veil vary from one country to the other (Ali & Leaman 2007).
The Islamic veil has stood for a long time as a sign of oppression according to the Western observer. The accepted practice of veiling amongst the Muslim women, especially those living in countries which do not forcibly compel the practice has become a source of intrigue and confusion.
European Theory of the veil as a fashion statement
There is a veil revolution. After many decades of having been chosen as an outer attire of the Muslim women with religious implications firmly attached to it, veil has now become a fashion statement in some of the European cities. From plain and unrelenting black, the hijab is now multicolored, embellished and plain stylish.
May be it is an association with the female rulers of the erstwhile of the Bhopal which offers the veil the needed tolerability which is not necessarily associated with the issue of obscurantism. Part of the cultural politics of the ethnic groups entails the veiling of the female. This may be a sign of Islamification or a simple of oppression. (Young 1995), however calls it a fluid and ambivalent garment, one that the Islamic women living in Europe, in countries such as pain and France want to wear passionately. Hindu together with Sikh women who belong to the Indian Upper class in most occasions wear the hijab (veil) instead of an evening dress to make a fashion statement.
The veil also has different meaning when wear it. It becomes the mask of Zorro, the one that depicts the ultimate romantic masculine symbol of the outlaw. It is a means of hiding identity as well as protection from the authority in existence. What remains unanswered question is the reason as to why the veil is considered to be a symbol of oppression for women but macho when it is worn by men (Bassiri 1997).
Interview Results
From the Muslim point of analysis, a veil is a form of an icon, a symbol with various meaning that are attached to it. It is a covering for some parts of the body. A veil, according to the Muslims is part of the religious upbringing. To most Muslims, it is an obvious way of expressing ones ideology, though mostly an inherited ideology. It is also a hijab and a harness, that is, a harness of obligatory male authority on women, on the feminine. The veil harnesses the feminine foundation of novelty and imagination in the society. It is meant to cover ones beauty which is an important thing in a society.
According to the Muslim, the veil refers to a different thing in the European countries. It is a way of segregating oneself from the rest of the society. It is also a way to showing internal feeling of being segregated. Different communities of people in Europe and various forms of segregation for instance, in terms of race and religious affiliations and practices involved.
From the European point of view
From the results of the interview, most Europeans consider the use of the veil as a sign of separation and make other people from other community to feel uncomfortable. The general view is that women should not wear full faced veil, a crown that only has a thin nick for the eyes. In one way or another, it is seen as a hindrance to efficient communication.
According to the European point of view, there is no reason why women should hide themselves behind the veils and that there is great importance in one being seen in the society. It is argued out that people want know something about the Muslim community but all the minority communities have the balance right between integration as well as multi-culturalism. There is need for the nature of the environment to be given consideration.
Discussions
From the interviews, it fair to say that a veil is an Islamic symbol. Symbols are demonstration of thoughts and abstractions. The investigation about the cultural, religious as well as political mark of the hijab that is practiced in a given community gives insights to the human interaction with the icons, images and art.
The perception of the use of veil among the Muslim community and the European community is varied. There is a conflicting understanding about the implication of the veil and the way it should be used. For there to be a united community, there is need for a compromise on the part of the users and the non-users especially basing on the environment. An agreement has to be reached without affecting any side so that there is a form of acceptance on both sides.
Conclusion
To clearly bring out the meaning and the significance of the veil still remains unresolved issue. The endeavor to try and find some other forms of writing about the subject is necessary. The research drives the concept of what the veil is within both the Islamic and the Western communities but leaves a room for an extended revelation. Our understanding about the art, culture, symbolism and religion of other people in our midst is essential. An appreciation of other people’s culture and practices promotes cohesion. We can always see beyond the veil.
Bibliography
Ali, K Leaman, O 2007, Islam: Primary Concepts, Routledge Publishers, New Jersey.
Anthonie, C 1985, The Lifestyles of Islam: Recourse to Classicism, Need of Realism
BRILL Publishers.
Bassiri, KG 1997, Challenging Visions of Islam in U. S, Greenwood Publishing Group, United Kingdom.
Dannin, R & Stahl, J 2005, Islam Black Pilgrimage, Oxford University Press, New York.
Hearle, A J & Nelly, L 2005, Islam within the World Politics, Routledge, New Jersey.
Kurzman, C 2002, Modernist Islam: A Sourcebook, Oxford University Press New York.
Moaddel, M & Talattof, K 2000, Current Debates in Islam: A compilation of
St. Martin’s Press, New York.
Vertigans, S 2003, Roots and Rebirth in Turkey: Explaining to the Muslim. Greenwood Publishing Group, United Kingdom.
Case Study in Contextual Features: Applying the Mental Health Maze of John Iglehart
Case Study in Contextual Features: Applying the Mental Health Maze of John Iglehart (2004)
The term ‘contextual features’ in the area of health care refers to “the social, legal, economic, and institutional circumstances in which a particular case of patient care occurs” (Jonsen, Siegler, & Winslade, 2006, p.159). In the case written by John Iglehart (2004), for example, the article revolves around the goal of George W. Bush to “recommend improvements to enable adults with serious mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbances to live, work, learn, and participate fully in their communities” (Iglehart, 2004, p.507). This, however, would all have to depend on the contextual features.
From my experience, loyalty and fairness is largely influenced by principles that are centered on family issues, financial factors, cultural factors, the limits of confidentiality, and the law. The cure of patients with emotional disturbances mainly depends on the family’s eagerness, as well as the support and aid that they give. Yet, even if the family is enthusiastic about it, if they are financially incapable of aiding the patient, then it will be harder to improve the case. Also, cultural factors affect the context of the case, since there are certain cultures that push the acceptance of such cases, rendering that they somehow deserve it, and that it is actually a punishment given to them because of a serious offense done long ago. There are others, nevertheless, who believe that mental illnesses are caused by biological and neurological factors that affect the processing in the brain. Culture also affects the level of confidentiality between those that are more broadminded and open about everything, while others tend to draw more on the privacy of their personal lives. Lastly, even if the patient’s family reflects positive characteristics on family issues, financial factors, cultural factors, and the limits of confidentiality, the law would always affect the final decision making in the ability to improve patients with mental and emotional illnesses.
Contextual features affect the decision making between the physician and the patient. Yet, for me, there is just one question to ask: Does the patient need it as badly as the others?
References
Iglehart, J.K. (2004). The mental health maze and the call for transformation. The New England Journal of Medicine, 350, 5, 507-514.
Jonsen, A.R., Siegler, M., & Winslade, W.J. (2006). Clinical ethics: a practical approach to ethical decisions in clinical medicine. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Medical Publishing Division.
Contextual Theories and Change Management
Introduction
Processual/Contextual theories can be defined as a perception which claims that it is essential to understand how the substance, context and process of organizational change interrelate to generate the observed outcomes. The contextual/processual perspective was developed by Patrick Dawson whose approach was based on an assumption that organizations continuously move to and from different states during organizational change initiatives (Dawson, 1996).
Theoretically, the process of change in an organization begins with an awareness of the requirement for change. Organizational structural change is an economic process that involves changes in the functions or operations of an industry (Armstrong, 2006). Armstrong (2006) says that it is the process of ensuring that an organization can develop and implement major change programmes that will ensure that it responds strategically to new demands and continues to function effectively in the dynamic environment in which it operates. Structural transformation activities may involve radical changes to the organization’s structure, culture and processes. This may be in response to competitive pressures, mergers, acquisitions, investments, disinvestments, changes in technology, product lines, markets, cost reduction exercises and decisions to downsize or outsource work. Structural changes may be forced on an organization by investors or government decisions. It may be initiated by a new chief executive and top management team with a purpose to turn around the business.
Structural change means that significant and far-reaching developments are planned and implemented in corporate structures and organization-wide processes (Pascale, 1990). The change is neither incremental (bit by bit) nor transactional (concerned solely with systems and procedures). Transactional change, according to Pascale (1990), is merely concerned with the alteration of ways in which the organization does business and people interact with one another on a day-to-day basis.
Bolman and Deal (2003) argue that it is impossible to really understand an entire organization without using a multi-framing perspective. Leaders are able to avoid and solve unforeseen problems by taking into consideration the structural, human resources, political and symbolic frames of an organization. Bolman and Deal (2003) explain that the political framework sees organizations as a place where alliances are formed, battles are waged, negotiations are underway and power is key. These sorts of interactions take place everywhere—from the Oval Office to a small non-profit agency, to a suburban high school.
Bolman and Deal (2003) suggested that structural frames stresses on the organization’s goals, the roles, formal relationships in the organization and also the rational side of the group. A human resource frame on the other hand highlights the needs, the attitudes of the organization, skills, and the human side of the group. Lastly, a symbolic frame emphasizes on how the organization can create meaning belief through symbols which encompass rituals, myths and ceremonies.
The prerequisite for a successful programme is the presence of a transformational leader who, as defined by Burns (1978), motivates others to strive for higher-order goals rather than merely short-term interest. Transformational leaders go beyond dealing with day-to-day management problems; they commit people to action and focus on the development of new levels of awareness of where the future lies, and commitment to achieving that future. Burns (1978) contrasts transformational leaders with transactional leaders who operate by building up a network of interpersonal transactions in a stable situation and who enlist compliance rather than commitment through the reward system and the exercise of authority and power. Transactional leaders may be good at dealing with here-and-now problems but they will not provide the vision required to transform the future (Burns, 1978).
In order to manage change effectively, the following crucial factors have to be considered in the implementation of the transformation; 1) Recognizing the need for change – this happens after scanning the organizations environment (internal and external); 2) Motivating the change – creating readiness for change by preparing people for the change and overcoming resistance to change; 3) Creating a vision – the ability to visualize and communicate the desired future state; 4) Developing political support – for change to be successful, leaders of change much identify key stakeholders and then develop support within the key political groups. Once the key leaders are brought on board, they can , in turn, generate energy in support of a change; 5) Managing the transition –i. Activity planning-design the road map and noting specific events and activities that must be timed and integrated to produce change, ii. Commitment to planning-starts with identifying key political powers in the organization, iii. Management structure; 6) Managers can play a big role in maintaining the drive for change through provision of resources, and development of new competencies and skills (Armstrong, 2006).
Why people resist to change
Change is seen as a risk to normal patterns of behavior and status of people. Woodward (1968) suggested the following as the main reasons for resisting change;
The shock of the new – Individuals always are tempted to suspect any change that they perceive will disturb their daily routine, working methods and even working conditions. Economic fears – loss of money and threats to job security. Inconvenience – the change will make life more difficult. Uncertainty – change can be worrying because of uncertainty about its likely impact. Symbolic fears – a small change that may affect some treasured symbol, such as a separate office or a reserved parking space, may symbolize big ones, especially when employees are uncertain about how extensive the programme of change will be. Threat to interpersonal relationships – people will resist any change that they perceive will disrupt their customary social relationship and standards of the organization. Threat to status or skill – the change is perceived as reducing the status of individuals or as de-skilling them. Competitive fears – concern about the ability to cope with new demands or to acquire new skills.
Overcoming resistance
Resistance to change can be difficult to overcome even when it is not detrimental to those concerned (Armstrong, 2006). The first step is to analyze the potential impact of change but considering how it will affect people in their jobs. The potentially hostile or negative reactions of people should be identified, taking into account all possible reasons for resisting change. Armstrong (2006) further says that it is necessary to try to understand the likely feelings and fears of those affected so that unnecessary worries can be relieved. In making the analysis, the change agent should recognize that new ideas are likely to be suspect and should make ample provision for the discussion of reactions to proposals to ensure complete understanding of them. When people get involved in the change process, they get a chance to make suggestions about the form of the change and how it should be introduced. The aim is to get “ownership” – a feeling amongst people that the change is something that they are happy to live with because they have been involved in its planning and introduction. Communications about the proposed change should be carefully prepared and worded so that unnecessary fears are allayed. All the available channels should be used, but most importantly, managers should emphasize on face to face communication with their employees.
One of the best change theories is that developed by Lewin (1951). The basic mechanisms for managing change, according to Lewin (1951), are as follows; Unfreezing – altering the present stable equilibrium which supports existing behaviors and attitudes. This process must take account of the inherent threats that change presents to people and the need to motivate those affected to attain the natural state of equilibrium by accepting change.; Changing – developing new responses based on new information; Refreezing – stabilize the change by introducing the new responses into the personalities of those concerned. Lewin also suggested a methodology for analyzing change which he called ‘filed force analysis’. This involves: analyzing the restraining or driving forces that will affect the transition to the future state; assessing which of the driving or restraining forces are critical and; taking steps both to increase the critical driving forces and to decrease the critical restraining forces.
Considering the case of Enron which was the largest US gas pipeline company when Kenneth Lay took over as the CEO in 1985. The company was faced with deregulation, thereby creating both threats & opportunities. Lay looked for ways to grow the business & boost the share price. Enron’s market grew from $2 billions in 1985 to $70 billions in mid 2001. This was in a span of 15 years. Enron expanded into other diverse areas whose financial maneuvers inflated revenue.
Conclusion
Change in organizations can be very stressful. Bolman and Deal (2003) point out that managers need to think multi-dimensionally if they are to be cognizant of the many elements that are part of the change process. Their framework helps provide managers with a guide for how to look at complex operations. This framework can be helpful to institutions in planning and evaluating change. By looking at the process from a variety of perspectives, managers are more likely to recognize multiple opportunities for advancing an agenda while keeping watch for problems and concerns that may arise during the change process. Often managers concentrate on one or two aspects of an organization, missing subtle parts of the process. Successful change requires an ability to frame issues, build coalitions, and establish arenas
References
Armstrong, M (2006) A handbook of Human Resource Management Practice,
10th edition, Kogan Page, London
Beckhard, R (1989) A Model for the Executive Management of Transformational
Change in G Salaman, (ed) Human Resource Strategies, Sage, London
Bolman, Lee G. and Deal, Terrence E. 2003. Reframing Organizations. Third
Edition.
Burns, J M (1978) Leadership, Harper & Row, New York
Dawson, P. (1996). Beyond conventional change models: A processual
approach. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 34(2), 57-70.
Lewin, K (1951) Field Theory in Social Science, Harper & Row, New York
Pascale, R (1990) Managing on the Edge, Viking, London
Woodward, J. (1968) Resistance to Change, management International Review.
Oxford University Press, Oxford
Continental Philosophy
Continental Philosophy: The Sprouting of Existentialism and Phenomenology
Out Of the Roots of Hegelian Idealism
Continental Philosophy: The Sprouting of Existentialism and Phenomenology
Out Of the Roots of Hegelian Idealism
Hegelianism sprouted from the roots of Plato to come up with philosophical movements as Pragmatism, Existentialism and Phenomenology, and Marxism. It came from the understanding that, in what Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel called ‘the absolute knowledge’, contradictions and negations exist in all points of reality like in “consciousness, history, philosophy, art, nature, and society” (Wikipedia, 2007, par.9).[1] All these have to develop into a rational unity in the four corners of the mind, converging into a ‘self-conscious, rational thought’ that becomes a ‘whole’ in the mind and spirit (geist in German). All these take place in a ‘dialectic’ fashion, proceeding with the conception of knowledge that extinguishes the mind from external beings, forming the notion of identity and difference that distinguish beings from other people in the society. This proposition of Hegel greatly influenced other Western philosophers of the 19th century, some of which are Husserl, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, Feuerbach, Marx, and Engels (Wikipedia, 2007, par.13). From here sprouted philosophical movements, two of which are existentialism and phenomenology.
Main Body
Existentialism
Existentialism can be defined as “a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one’s acts” (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 1992).[2] Existentialism stresses that people are totally free to do what they desire most, and for that there is nobody to blame for unwanted circumstances that evolve… but themselves.
According to the World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia (2001), existentialism was a revolt against traditional European philosophy that, in the early 1800s—and through philosophers such as Kant and Hegel—stated that philosophy is a science that followed an objective, certain path. Thus, philosopher such as Jean-Paul Sarte and Viktor Frankl rejected this, pointing out that people have certain ‘choices’ to make, and for this they have the freedom and the free will to choose what they really hope and desire. Unlike the traditional European philosophy, existentialism—which boomed in the mid-1900s—states that the future is not laid distinctively beforehand. It is the outcome of actions that were made as fruits of decisions. Thus, for anyone who wants to change his/her future, this theory states that that person has the ability to change the future, as he or she truly desires it. By this, philosophers were trying to calm down the destruction and depression brought by the severe World War II. Traditional values are not true. For someone who wants to create his/her future self, only one significant thing exists… the need to find the authentic self.[3]
Phenomenology
Phenomenology, on the other hand, carries with it various meanings from the start of the 19th century until mid-20th century. In 1807, Hegel proposed that phenomenology is a philosophical approach that starts with the exploration of the phenomena—a term that denotes things that are presented to us in ‘conscious’ experience (Wikipedia, 2007, “Phenomenology”).[4] Being able to grasp ‘the absolute and logical Spirit’ that is behind the phenomena, we come to the dialectic phenomena of the absolute reality. This is called ‘absolute idealism’ or sometimes the British or Hegelian idealism.
By 1920, Edmund Husserl extracted thoughts from Hegel’s absolute idealism, to come up with the descriptive ‘transcendental phenomenology’, which states that the essence of what we experience in the phenomena is brought about by ‘intentionality’, which states that “the notion that the main characteristic of consciousness is that it is always intentional” (Wikipedia, 2007, “Phenomenology”). Just like existentialism, transcendental phenomenology states that what brings about in the absolute reality are results of the decisions made by people. It proposes that we have choices to make, so that what takes place around us are results of these decision and choices that we have previously made. What we desire, on the other hand, are proofs of the mental or psychical phenomena that is mainly responsible for the building or creation of intentionality. Seven years after the proposal made by Husserl, Martin Heidegger made a proposition that there is a “Being behind all beings” (Wikipedia, 2007, “Phenomenology”). This is an introduction to ontology, and was stated as the start of ‘existential phenomenology’ that rejects the existence of the transcendental ego.
Conclusion
Contemporary continental philosophy is mainly influenced by the European philosophers of the 19th and 20th century, such as Hegel, Husserl and Heidegger. These philosophers reject scientism[5] plainly because the late 1800 up to the 1920s are a time of war and chaos—principally with Hitler—and people are in search of the true meaning of freedom and democracy in a hostile milieu, the right to live and make decisions, the true existence of a Being above all beings, and the strength brought by the willingness to survive and exist. In times of severe economic and political chaos, the society longs for nothing more than ideology… and this reflects the basic events and origin of existentialism and phenomenology.
“Alien to myself, I know it… I can only follow my own path. For I’m a man… and each man must find his own way.” –Sartre, The Flies (Golomb 2)
Bibliography:
Book:
“Existentialism.” (1992). American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 3rd ed. (ISBN-10: 0395448956, ISBN-13: 978-03954489531992). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Golomb, J. (1995). In search of authenticity: from Kierkegaard to Camus. New York: Routledge.
Online encyclopedia:
Wikipedia Encyclopedia. (2007). Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Retrieved April 5, 2007, from the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. database: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegel.
Wikipedia Encyclopedia. (2007). Phenomenology. Retrieved April 5, 2007, from the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. database: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenology.
[1] Wikipedia Encyclopedia. (2007). Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Retrieved April 5, 2007, from the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. database: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegel.
[2] “Existentialism.” (1992). American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 3rd ed. (ISBN-10: 0395448956, ISBN-13: 978-03954489531992). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
[3] Authentic self is a negative meaning that becomes visible when something we desire become visible. Knowing what we do not have, authenticity emerges, giving us a better view of ourselves with all the unnecessary factors shredded off (Golomb 7).
[4] Wikipedia Encyclopedia. (2007). Phenomenology. Retrieved April 5, 2007, from the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. database: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenology.
[5] Scientism is “the view that the natural sciences are the best or most accurate way of understanding all phenomena” (Wikipedia, par.3).
Existentialism and Phenomenology in Continental Philosophy
Existentialism and Phenomenology in Continental Philosophy.
Continental Philosophy is an idiom which started from philosophers to describe an assortment of beliefs that were heavily inclined to particular philosophers in mainland Europe during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Crtchle, Shroder 1998). The beliefs under continental philosophy are German Ideology, Existentialism, Phenomenology, hermeneutics, Structuralism, French Feminism and some branches of Marxism from the west. Continental Philosophy has a very vague definition. It has implications of close to identical similarities among contrasting philosophical standpoints. Intellectuals are convinced that the term is closer to analytical rather than illustrative. However, there are some believers that there are premises generic to Continental Philosophy (Russell, 1945). more “Existentialism and Phenomenology in Continental Philosophy”
Continental philosophy
Continental philosophy essay
By the middle of the seventeenth century, the English word continent had taken on its current geographical sense of a vast landmass not broken by seas. But when preceded by a definite article (and often written with a capital ‘C’) it had also developed a specific British use as the name for ‘the mainland of Europe, as distinguished from the British Isles’ (Oxford English Dictionary). The Continent, in this sense, is ‘over there’. So, as the name of a place, its origins are ‘over here’. It is from this specific, and specifically British, use of the term ‘continent’ that the category of ‘Continental philosophy’ takes its title. As we shall see, it develops its modern evaluative accent during the middle of the twentieth century when British academic philosophers, especially those working at the older English universities, sustained a vigorous attack on what they conceived as dangerous and disreputable ‘foreign’ ideas. more “Continental philosophy”
Contingency Exercises and Normal Operations Disruption
Abstract
Preparedness for emergency situations is essential for the effectiveness of an organization. It reduces the negative impact by dealing with threats before they even happen. However, contingency measures should be done is such a way as to minimize its interference with normal organizational operations. Although the development and execution of contingency plans are important, the uninterrupted execution of an organization’s objectives still remains the first priority.
Contingency Planning By Definition
The contingency planning guide defined contingency planning as “interim measures to recover IT services following an emergency or system disruption. Contingency planning and its simulations aims to reduce the impact of emergent situations to organizational productivity. By allowing a contingency exercise to interfere with normal operations, then such an exercise would be in itself a disruption, and would be tantamount to saying that contingency planning has betrayed its aim in the first place. The formulation of effective contingency plans without compromising normal organizational operations is possible, and may therefore be related to the coordinator’s competence.
Exercises Should Mimic Reality
Normal operations should never be disrupted during the exercise so that the recovery staff would be able to assess the effectiveness of such a procedure on actual events. Simulations are aimed to be as close to reality as possible. In an exercise, the participants are most likely aware of the simulation, and thus mentally prepared. Allowing normal operations to be disrupted during exercises would then further reduce their nearness to reality, where the participants are less likely to be prepared.
Small-Scale vs. Large-Scale Tests
Performing tests on various elements in the recovery is valuable. However, testing the simulation on a full-scale is equally important. Small scale tests would be helpful in identifying and addressing flaws in individual recovery procedures, but with little information regarding its coordination with other organizational contingency processes. Moreover, the guide requires mastery in the execution of recovery procedures by the personnel, and attrition makes small-scale tests unreliable. With full-scale simulations, the contingency testers would be able to assess and evaluate all the six areas of the contingency test, especially the coordination of the different sections of the recovery staff.
References
National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2002, June). Contingency Planning Guide for Information Technology Systems. Retrieved July 28, 2009, from
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-34/sp800-34.pdf