Trainspotting: Addiction and Familiar Environment

I chose not to choose life; I chose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin? Mark ‘Rent Boy' Renton is a young Scot that suffers from heroin addiction and is on a downward spiral of drugs and crime. He repeatedly wants to quit and tries to do so, but always seems to succumb to just one more hit in order to cope with his life. With his friends, he is trapped in a seedy urban underworld in spite of the efforts of his family to get him clean.However, Mark has a secret desire to make more of his life, and finds himself facing a choice; staying with his friends in his familiar environment or starting his life over. ‘Trainspotting’ is a very controversial film, which touches upon quite a bit of themes, though drug abuse is certainly the main issue dealt with; Mark and his friends are all addicted to heroin and the film explores the causes of drug abuse and its dangerous aftermath – which in this particular ca se is death; Mark’s friend, Tommy, dies from an overdose and even a little baby girl dies, presumably from living in the intoxicating atmosphere of 4 drug addicts’ flat.Beyond drug abuse, another concurrent theme in the film is redemption – and how unattainable it is; we follow Mark making his way out of drugs, on his journey to redeem himself. He struggles to break out of the vicious circle he is stuck in but lastly succeeds, finds redemption and forgives himself. Trainspotting’ deals with national identity as well, in this case the lack of a true Scottish identity; Mark sees Scotland as nation ‘colonized by wankers’ and feels as though the stereotypical Scottish identity (with connotations of valour and honour) is false heritage. He escapes from Scotland hence his Scottish identity when he moves to London and isolates himself, though he can’t abandon his ‘Scottishness’ completely.

An integrated critique of kozols and dawkins Essay

AN INTEGRATED CRITIQUE OF KOZOL’S AND DAWKIN INTRODUCTION Richard Dawkins was born on March 26, in 1941. He is an ethnologist, an evolutionarily biologists and a popular writer in science. He also holds the Simonyi Chair, which is designed to promote the understanding of science to public at Oxford University. The first time Dawkins come into the limelight and became popular was after writing his book ‘The Selfish Gene’ in 1976. This book introduced the term ‘meme’ and consequently helped discover memetics fields. It also made ‘gene-centered view of evolution’ popular. Around 1982, he made significant contributions toward evolution science. THE SELFISH GENE BY RICHARD DAWKINS Richard Dawkin’s ‘The selfish Gene’ was a very popular reading and to some extent controversial on evolution. The book elaborates and goes deeper to discuss more about the theory of William’s first ever book to write ‘Adaptation and Natural Selection’. The theory discussed on this book is principal to William’s book. Richard introduced, ‘Selfish Gene’ to provoke and express his views on gene’s evolution. This view states that evolution acts on genes and when we select some organisms or a population, this selection is normally based on the type of genes. According to his book, an organism must evolve since it is the only way of maximizing its ‘inclusive fitness’, which refers to the total number of the genes which are transmitted globally, rather than the genes passed on by a particular individual. Consequently, a population tends to learn towards ‘Evolutionarily Stable Strategy’. (Richard, 1990) This ‘selfish gene’ came up with the term ‘meme’. ‘Meme refers to a single unit of human’s culture evolution which is analogous to genes. It suggests that this is a ‘selfish’ replication of human genes, and it can affect the culture of human in a totally difference sense. There is no doubt that ‘memetics’ evoked a discussion of meme since he published his book. ‘Meme’ is cultural information units, which can be transferred from one mind to another. Examples of memes are tunes, clothes fashion, catch phrases, pot making or building arches. â€Å"Meme’ is properly defined in the theory of memetic, which is comprised of information on culture in a unit theory; how evolution of culture or diffusion is blocked, how it propagates form mind to mind and the way a gene propagates from one person or from an organism to an organism. Where memes are multiple, they propagate as â€Å"memeplexes’. Meme complexes act as cooperative groups. (Richard, 1990) A ‘gene’ on the other hand, is a region that can be located and has a sequence called ‘genomic sequence. This corresponds to an inheritance unit that is closely associated with regions that play a regulatory function, the regions, which are transcribed, and other regions with functional sequence. The phenotype and physical development of organisms is believed to be productivity of genes, which interact among themselves and with their environment. Genes are generally inheritance units. A gene generally defines human or organism’s characteristic and the functionality of potential products. Genes do not define products but rather they contain regions. Eukaryotic organisms contain regions, which do not have coding regions and are called introns. These are taken away from RNA, which acts as the messenger in a process referred to as ‘splicing’. Exons are regions, which encode the products of gene. A total number of genes, which make a set, is called ‘genome’. The genome size of an organism is usually low in prokaryotes, which come in base pairs and the gene’s numbers. The theorists of meme state that meme evolve through natural selection, this is similar to biological evolution of Darwin through competition, inheritance, variation and mutation. THE ROLE OF CULTURAL EVOLUTION Cultural evolution and socio-evolution fall under the umbrella called ‘socio-cultural evolution’. It describes how societies and cultures have come into being over time. Cultural theories provide us with models to enhance our understanding on the relationship between our social structure, technologies and society values; and give reasons why and how they change gradually. They change to a degree to which specific mechanisms of social change are described. (Richard 1990) Around 20th and 19th century, there were approaches, which were aimed to give models for humankind evolution. The argument is that the social development of different societies is not in the same stage. The recent approaches of the 20th century emphasize on changes, which are specific to a society as an individual and turn down social progress and directional change. Archeologists and anthropologists use modern theories as the framework of socio-cultural evolution. Sociobiology and neo-evolutionism are some of modern approaches employed to cultural evolution. Richard Dawkins, the ethnologist discovered ‘meme’. According to his book, â€Å"TheSelfish Gene’ 1976, likened human’s cultural evolution unit to a gene. His argument was that replication happens in the culture, through in a different sense. Dawkins contends that meme, which resides in the brain represents units of information and it is the replicator that controls mutation in cultural evolution of humans. This forms a pattern, which has the power to influence surroundings, that is, it can propagate and possesses causal agency. However, his theory caused a heated debate among biologists, sociologists and scientists from other disciplines. Dawkins failed to given adequate explanation about the information units replicates, in organism’s brain, how it can control the behaviour of a human being and finally culture. It is apparent that it was not Dawkins intention to give the theory of memetics. Comprehensively in the selfish gene, he coined the word meme in a kind of speculative spirit. In the same sense, ‘unit of information was given different definitions by different scientists. (Richard 1990). MEME AND EDUCATION It is not entirely impossible though it is hard to debate the subject matter of the functions of emotions in education system if we are lacking the right words to sufficiently discuss the topic. This is the scenario when we reach a point of discussing the functional role of ‘emotional intelligence’ because it has got to do with the needs of our younger brothers and sisters as well as great grandchildren and become stochastically and mathematically proficient so as they can exist and fit in the competition which is characterized by technological advancement. Many educators are failing because they lack words such as ‘eipiphiny’ and ‘mehme’ and hence do not have words, which play an important role of ‘emotional intelligence,’ and how it relates to stochastic and mathematical literacy sufficiently and appropriately address attempts that can be made. The outcome is a system of education that is believed to be failing. If the kids can experience and feel eipiphinies and MEHMES, kids will definitely love maths, and see its relevance to their lives daily. It also contributes a feeling of self-confident. The key here is to create the terms mehme and eipiphiny. Introduction of mehme and eipiphiny may have a positive effect if incorporated in the meme selection process.

Is there such thing as a normal sexual orientation Essay

Is there such thing as a normal sexual orientation - Essay Example Traditional perception of sexuality takes it origins from the ancient times. Ruse (1988) implies that Ancient Greeks and Jews were the groups who were primarily influential on the morality of modern civilization. However, over the matter of sexual orientation, Greek and Jewish thoughts enter the conflict, and it is often the Jewish tradition that proves triumphant. As a result, people’s perception that the â€Å"normal† sexual orientation is heterosexuality has long since become tradition. This essay will argue that in spite of traditional views against homosexuality and bisexuality, there is no such thing as a normal sexual orientation. It will further conclude that heterosexuality as a sexual orientation is a socially constructed view. On the one side, there are several factors that prove the existence of the concept of normal sexual orientation. Firstly, the religious way of looking at sexuality forbids any homosexual acts. For example, Magonet (1995) notes that Juda ism, as one of the oldest monotheistic religions, considers homosexual acts as a â€Å"halakha† (which means a violation of traditional Jewish law). In addition, Hertzberg (1991) implied that The Torah forbids the act of homosexuality, which is known as mishkav zakhar, and considers a homosexual act between two men to be an abhorrent thing (which is known as to’evah), and is punishable by death—a strong prohibition. Likewise, Islam regards homosexuality as a sin and a vast deviation from the norm: "We also sent Lut: He said to his people: ‘Do ye commit lewdness such as no people in creation (ever) committed before you? For ye practice your lusts on men in preference to women: ye are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds. Quran 7:80-81)’†. Moreover, according to a pamphlet produced by Al-Fatiha, there is a consensus among Islamic scholars that all humans are naturally heterosexual. All Islamic schools of thought and jurisprudence consider gay acts to be unlawful and sinful (Habib, 2010). Like Judaism and Islam, Christianity also does not accept homosexuality, and considers it is an illicit lust that is forbidden by God. He said to His people of Israel, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination (Leviticus 18:22).† "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them (Leviticus 20:13).† In these passages from The Old Testament of the Bible, homosexuality is condemned and shown as a prime example of a sin, a sexual perversion. A Christian can neither alter God's viewpoint nor depart from it (Boswell, 1980). They may believe otherwise, but this does not change how Christianity as a whole views homosexuality. From the scientific perspective, sex is made for reproduction and a male and female’s genitals are designed to mate with one another. Arguments from biol ogy have proven to be very powerful in maintaining heterosexual relations. The anatomical construction of genitalia is a great necessity for heterosexual relations. It is not possible to create future generations without heterosexual relations between genders not only for human being, but also for animal species. For example, Kant, in his Lectures of Ethics, argues that homosexuality is unnatural in that it "degrades mankind below the level of animals, for no animal turns in this way from its own

Marks and Spencer Group PLC Performance Review Case Study

Marks and Spencer Group PLC Performance Review - Case Study Example The stock of the company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is one of the FTSE 100 Index. Over the last thirty years, Marks & Spencer Group PLC has been the leading clothing company in the United Kingdom. The company operates more than 300 stores. The range and quality of its fashionable and functional clothes combined with better customer service has been attributed to the company’s success. In the past, the position of the company was strong in the United Kingdom market that it refused to make payments using credit cards from their clients (Markets.investorschronicle.co.uk, 2014). The company also felt no reason of conducting advertisements. Weight of Debt Financing The funding Strategy of Mark and Spencer Group is to make sure that the mix of financing sources offers a cost effectiveness and flexibility to match the company’s requirements. Operating subsidiaries of the company are financed through bank borrowing, finance leases, medium term notes, and facilities of committed bank. The objective is to make sure that the company has appropriate income in managing the financial obligations and to achieve the objective of the business. Additionally, its objective is to ensure that the company has a reasonable amount of source based on the maturity and the investors. The company has a committed syndicated revolving debt of 1.325 billion pounds that is meant to mature in 2017. The company has a single financial covenant which is the ration of the depreciation, earnings before interest and tax, rent payable, and the amortization plus the payable rent.

International HRM Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

International HRM - Term Paper Example Consequently, it also enhanced its sustainability and competitive advantages among other apparent competitors in the market substantially assisting the organization to retain its market share and brand fidelity. Under the leadership and control of Adelia Adolfo, the productivity and profitability level in Calidad was enhanced to a significant extent, making headlines in a leading tourism industry publication of Yucatan's in the year 2010. Calidad became successful in the attainment of 14 new car-rental sites, which facilitated the enlargement of its brand image and its uniqueness in the market among other competing firms. In addition, acquisition of new rental sites also enhanced the efficiency and profit margin of Calidad, thereby amplifying its sustainability in the long run. Moreover, the management also decided to operate internationally, by purchasing the Belizean Auto Rentals (BAR), situated in the neighboring country of Belize. Therefore, to maintain the varied sites of BAR in an efficient and effective way, employing numerous skilled site-managers has become quite essential for Calidad. By employing skilled site-managers, the company intends to facilitate Calidad in broadening its market value and supremacy among other organizational players of the specific region. Due to this fact, the management of Calidad has made an attempt to recruit 10 site-managers, who will be responsible for supplementing the site operations, leading towards the improvement of its corporate image and revenue as it is extremely essential for Calidad to execute its operations in an effective way. The job responsibilities offered for the position of a site-manager will encompass the decision-making as well as strategic designing aimed at facilitating the company’s expansion and thereby will require highly skilled and experienced professionals. It will be a permanent job with 10 vacancies, comprising the liability of handling diverse types of site-related issues and client l iaisons. It is an urgent vacancy and the interested candidates should possess the below mentioned Knowledge Skills and Abilities (KSAs) along with other personal and desired abilities to fulfill the assigned Tasks, Duties and Responsibilities (TDRs). Tasks, Duties and Responsibilities (TDRs) Management and supervision of the day to day actions of a particular site Controlling labor related issues in that particular site Maintaining vigilance over the number of cars, hired by the tourists Maintaining a record of all the tourists, hiring vehicles from the site of Belizean Auto Rentals (BAR) Providing the customer with every piece of requisite information as per their desires and requirements Maintaining both hard and soft copy of the charges of all cars, hired by tourists Preparation of balance sheets and profit and loss statements at the end of each month Knowledge Skills and Abilities (KSAs) Must possess excellent communication skills in English and Spanish An engineering degree in any discipline is mandatory Additional degree such as MBA or any other professional course will be preferred The candidate must have a minimum of 5-10 years experience in a similar field The candidate must have adequate local knowledge regarding the hiring rates of the rented vehicles Desirable Skills Excellent mastery of Microsoft Word and Excel along with other

Gulf Coast Medical Center Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Gulf Coast Medical Center - Essay Example On the other hand, the presence of radiologists and the hospital administrators will ensure understanding of the issues with delay in scheduling procedures with the facility. Therefore, while physicians would be able to more easily identify the likely problems causing the unusually long time each procedure takes, the administrators and managed care companies might be better able to identify issues related with time it takes physicians to schedule a slot at the facility. The Shewhart Cycle proposes a four-step process of continuous quality improvement which includes: Act, Plan, Check and Do (Shewhart, 1980). Creating a work group to identify the relevant issues with the facility is obviously the first step, i.e. 'Acting'. The outcome of deliberations of the work group which will identify the relevant issues and propose steps towards resolving these issues is the Planning stage. The outcome of the work group will be critically appraised in the light of activities and practices of competitors and what is obtainable in evidence based practice, for viability; which is the 'check' process. Lastly, once the feasibility of these recommendations has been ascertained, implementation will follow. Reduction in the time and processes required for physicians to get a procedure slot in the facility by 40% after six months and keeping up with what is obtainable from competitors within th... Improving customer perception of the facility through better cleanliness, reduced charges and increased follow up screens. d: Measuring the Success of the Work Group The success of these measures would be measured by Reduction in the time per case from 1.5 hours per case to 55mins per case in the first six months and down to the national average of 50mins per case after 12months. Reduction in the time and processes required for physicians to get a procedure slot in the facility by 40% after six months and keeping up with what is obtainable from competitors within the next 18months. Better customer perception of the facility as measured by increased return rates for follow up screens and better customer satisfaction feedbacks. 2. Dealing with Physician Perforation Rates The medical profession being a human endeavor is prone to errors, miscalculations and other human errors, and the endoscopy services is not an exception. Several government documents have acknowledged the fact that medical error is a human fact (Linda, et al., 1999). Therefore, perforation after colonoscopy is no an unusual thing, however, the rates should not be too high. Thus to deal with the high physician perforation rates in the Gulf Coast Endoscopy Facility, the first step would be to get better commitment from physicians. The facility should be able to ensure that physicians get a procedure slot without having to go through so much time wasting processes and requirements. Furthermore, the facility should be placed in a better competitive position, through cleaner and tidier environment, better facilities, so that the improve customer levels will encourage the physicians to do better jobs (Wennberg, 2005, Kaiser Family Foundation, 2004). However, besides the

Go to a Web site for a company selling business-to-business products Essay

Go to a Web site for a company selling business-to-business products or services. Compare this Web site to one selling consumer - Essay Example Their target group is medium to large scale tour operators who offer online reservation facilities. Travelocity, http://www.travelocity.com  is a large travel agency which targets anyone interested in traveling. Their target group is heterogeneous. It included regular travelers, people on vacations, business personnel as well as diplomats representing all the social classes. Although it is operated in the US it provides many local sites for the outsiders. If the home pages and the contents are compared Pegasus infoCorp has used much professional way to publicize their information. Their service and current clients are listed and they have used an animation (a globe and several annotations) to give an overall idea of their service. The home page of the Travelocity is much customized to it target audience, the travelers around the world. It directly provides booking facilities and other information required for travelling such as maps, hotels, car hires, activities. Non like the Pega sus infoCorp, Travelocity provides details on special discounts and package rates and have used inspiring annotations making it more competitive. They continually play a slideshow of those packages at the top the site.