No god but God

Reza Aslan’s book, ‘No god But God’, is a comprehensive telling of the story and the history of one of the major religions in the world today. Going through the 352 pages of the book, even a person who had no knowledge of Arabia’s pre-Islamic history, no familiarity with Islamic rise, and no previous comprehension of the various teachings and philosophical factors, is a great experience of exploration in the world of Islam and the Muslim way of thought. What makes this book unique is that it connects many of what is going on in the Islamic world with the latest events concerning terrorism and militant Islamic groups in different places of the world. Knowing that Aslan is a Muslim who earned different degrees in Religions and Arts in the United States gives us an idea about the amount of information that each reader can obtain. Throughout the book, the reader is being guided by an insider who is knowledgeable in what concerns all the related elements. And, from the other side, this can be another component in highlighting the fact that the book is written in a way that is easy to understand and that is completely comprehendible. CONTENTS AND THOUGHTS The author of the book begins by explaining the reasons that led him to write the book and to create such a volume about Islam. He explains that the main reason is not to go through the history and present conflicts within the religion, but to attempt to foresee its future and how it will evolve. â€Å"This book is not just a critical reexamination of the origins and evolution of Islam, nor is it merely an account of the current struggle among Muslims to define the future of this magnificent yet misunderstood faith. This book is, above all else, an argument for reform†Ã‚  Ã‚   (Prologue). The book is divided into ten distinct sections; each one goes through a certain stage of the birth and development of the religion. And in many of these chapters, many direct references and explanations are made concerning events that we see today and their origin and impact on the Muslim world of today in relation to a variety of subjects. The first section of the book ‘The clash of monotheisms’, is an introductory part in which the author states the reasons that led him to writing the book. He states that Islam is not, as some claim, a violent religion that cannot co-exist with modern values of democracy and human rights. â€Å"A few well-respected academics carried this argument further by suggesting that the failure of democracy to emerge in the Muslim world was due in large part to Muslim culture, which they claimed was intrinsically incompatible with Enlightenment values such as liberalism, pluralism, individualism, and human rights. It was therefore simply a matter of time before these two great civilizations, which have such conflicting ideologies, clashed with each other in some catastrophic way. And what better example do we need of this inevitability than September 11?† (Prologue). He claims, instead, that certain circumstances were the reason why the Muslim world is so much behind in these fields. In the first chapter of the book, ‘The sanctuary in the desert: pre-Islamic Arabia’, the reader can virtually live through the conditions and events that were taking place in Arabia before the emergence of the religion. Here we find many indications to the fact that, contrary to the reality of today, the Arabian Peninsula was populated by the followers of many religions: Jews, Christians, and others. â€Å"It is here, inside the cramped interior of the sanctuary, that the gods of pre-Islamic Arabia reside: Hubal, the Syrian god of the moon; al-Uzza, the powerful goddess the Egyptians knew as Isis and the Greeks called Aphrodite; al-Kutba, the Nabataean god of writing and divination; Jesus, the incarnate god of the Christians, and his holy mother, Mary† (Aslan 3). And in reference to the Jewish community the author states: â€Å"The Jewish presence in the Arabian Peninsula can, in theory, be traced to the Babylonian Exile a thousand years earlier, though subsequent migrations may have taken place in 70 C.E., after Rome's sacking of the Temple in Jerusalem, and again in 132 C.E., after the messianic uprising of Simon Bar Kochba. For the most part, the Jews were a thriving and highly influential diaspora whose culture and traditions had been thoroughly integrated into the social and religious milieu of pre-Islamic Arabia† (9). The following three chapters, ‘The keeper of the keys: Muhammad in Mecca’, ‘The city of the prophet: the first Muslims’, and ‘Fight in the way of God: the meaning of Jihad’, give the reader an in-depth clarification about how Islam came to life, from the beginning of the story of the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, his life before recognizing the mission that he was set to accomplish and the various events that shaped the era of the beginning of the new religion and how the Muslim believers, including the prophet himself, were treated by the people of their tribe and all the conditions that led the Islamic state to be established in Medina instead of Mecca, the original city of the prophet. What is interesting in this book is that it makes, during the telling of the story, references to many things that we see today in the Muslim world. One of the examples of this is the reference made to the story of the Hijab or the Islamic clothes and head cover of Muslim women, which has became an identifying characteristic of Muslim women today. It is surprising to find out that the whole idea is not even brought by the Quran or the original Islamic teachings: â€Å"Although long seen as the most distinctive emblem of Islam, the veil is, surprisingly, not enjoined upon Muslim women anywhere in the Quran. The tradition of veiling and seclusion (known together as hijab) was introduced into Arabia long before Muhammad, primarily through Arab contacts with Syria and Iran, where the hijab was a sign of social status. After all, only a woman who need not work in the fields could afford to remain secluded and veiled†¦ the veil was neither compulsory, nor for that matter, widely adopted until generations after Muhammad’s death, when a large body of male scriptural and legal scholars began using their religious and political authority to regain the dominance they had lost in society as a result of the Prophet’s egalitarian reforms† (65-66). The next chapter, ‘The rightly guided ones: the successors to Muhammad’, goes through the events that took place after the death of the prophet, and how conflicts appeared on the succession in what concerns the position of Islamic leader of Caliph, or successor. The sixth chapter, ‘This religion is a science: the development of Islamic theology and law’, is the one that contains most of the information about the teachings, the myths, the different philosophical views, and the various rituals that make up the religion. Here, the reader will have an idea about the different schools of thought. The following chapter, ‘In the footsteps of martyrs: from Shi’ism to Khomeinism’, presents the story of how the Shi’ite Muslim sect appeared as a result of the killing of Ali, the fourth Caliph after Muhammad and the political and religious consequences of this appearance that we can see in our world today. It relates the new factors of faith that were introduced into Islam by the Shi’ite sect and how those factors were always being used according to desires and wishes of the leaders, such as Kommeini in what concerns modern Iran. Next, the chapter ‘Stain your prayer rug with wine: the Sufi way’ is a description of another sect of Islam, which is Sufism. It goes through many of the different concepts that Sufis use and believe in which are completely different than those of mainstream Islam and Shi’ite Islam. The ninth chapter, ‘An awakening in the east: the response to colonialism’, talks about the effects of European colonialism on Muslim countries and the way that it was faced: â€Å"the nationalists sought to battle European colonialism through a secular countermovement that would replace the Salafiyyah's aspiration of religious unity with the more pragmatic goal of racial unity: in other words, Pan-Arabism† (Aslan 233) The final chapter, ‘Slouching toward Medina: the Islamic reformation’, discusses the establishment of the Muslim states after the end of colonialism. An interesting idea that the author presents in this chapter is the comparison between the reforms that took place within the Christian history which led Christian societies to move towards democracy, human rights, and pluralism and the conditions that are being shaped today within Islamic societies. And he states that Islamic societies may need to go through violent and extremely shaky conditions before reaching the final desired destination that others in the Western world reached. According to the author, there is an ongoing struggle taking place in the Muslim world between the forces of traditional religious beliefs and those that want to move their societies into the modern foundations of democracy and human right. He states that â€Å"in the developing capitals of the Muslim world – Tehran, Cairo, Damascus, and Jakarta – and in the cosmopolitan capitals of Europe and the United States – New York, London, Paris, and Berlin – where that message is being redefined by scores of first and second generation Muslim immigrants. By merging the Islamic values of their ancestors with the democratic ideals of their new homes, these Muslims have formed†¦ a ‘mobilizing force’ for a Muslim reformation that, after centuries of stony sleep, has finally awoken and is now slouching toward Medina to be born† (Aslan 254). In many parts of the book, there is a mentioning of terrorism and the reasons that led to its creation. Ben Laden is mentioned several times, even though the concepts that the author wants to express are not presented in the level that a reader expects. Aslan states that Ben Laden’s concept of Islam is wrong and that it is not the conception of the majority of Muslims: â€Å"Muslims may share bin Laden's grievances against the Western powers, [but] they do not share his interpretation of Jihad† (87). CONCLUSION The book is a rich source of information about the history of Islam and the about the Muslim societies of today. It gives the reader a full, even though not detailed, description of everything that led the reality of those societies into what is being seen today. The writer tried to show the true face of Islam and to explain to everyone that what extremists stand for today is something that has nothing to do with religion, and that they have their own version and interpretation of the Quran. The author, to a certain extent, succeeded in clearing many points about the religion and to underline the idea that Islam is originally a peaceful religion. The book was certainly worth writing and publishing especially in this time when everyone should know more about the other in order to avoid and prevent further confrontation. Works Cited Aslan, Reza. No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam. New York: Random   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   House, 2005.   

A Leadership Journey

A LEADERSHIP JOURNEY. Created by SHARATH KUMAR Abstract The paper records the evolution of the author’s thinking on leadership through the course of his work involvement. Leadership is viewed as a dynamic process which consists formal and informal roles. The process is introduced as an individual recognizes opportunities and urged to answer back to evolving patterns and pledge action to enable positive change. The dynamics between formal and informal leadership structures and leadership as a state of mind are conferred.The following paper shows a reflection on my personal journey and growing understanding of leadership based on my work experience. As I look back in time, I identify that most of my current interest in leadership and complexity has evolved. This paper archives the development of my view about leadership. Stages in the Journey Over my career I have experienced various milestones that have shaped and inclined my perspectives on leadership. Vitally I have witnessed my role as a leader as one who pronounces and puts into action a vision that inspires others to join in to an extent at least.Along the way, the instability of resistance to that vision that has been the extreme influence on restricting my focus and ideology about leadership, as I’ve fought to overcome obstacles. Now I leadership as a dynamical distributed process among performers. I believe I have inculcated an informal methodology similar to grounded theory, as I take in information on the area concerned, formulate a theory and then test and modify that theory actively. There have been crowning events that have shaped my perspectives about leadership.I evoke the poignant enthusiasm of joining the company. I had been employed as Assistant Chief Information Officer multinational company. My position in the company in my opinion was a dream job – aiding in devising a long-term strategy for the growth of the business unit from a process and technology perspective. I ins tantly noted operational issues and developed suggestions to address them. Although, my dream was shattered as I soon I was made to realize my position and the inclination of the management team to clinch new ideas were not necessary. Organization as OrganismMy first day at work struck by the oppression of meetings absorbed so much time there was no time left to do work. Employees were exasperated because they had no access to their managers for direction. Projects were not being completed in a time due to the perspective experts needed on them were unavailable due to other bookings. Organizational beliefs about alliance needed key employees that were patrons to a project indulge in discussion and decision making. Still, decision making was a tremendously slow process as it lacked clarity as to who had the decision making authority.A group would discuss the issue because one key person was not present (being double booked in another meeting) hence, the decisions were not finalized. Line of meetings being unresolved was common. Although I was brought into a company as a change agent tasked to bring strategic change to the business unit, I realized that it was not truly the case. Interest in change was driven by the instantaneous short term demands of particular clients, executives. At this point I managed to gather a team responsible for coordinating technology linked projects.After extensive talks with my head, the team that reported to me was handed over to someone else, and I was to report to this new head as an independent contributor. This change was an extremely difficult period for me, yet important in shaping my views of leadership. This was a period where deep reflection on my sense of identity, my values, and sense of personal integrity was brought out. I interpreted this change as the system. I will speak more about what I learnt of the change in a later section. A new major acquisition had just been signed and the focus had shifted from long-term st rategy to short term integration.After six months in the position, I moved out of the business unit to work with a larger parent company. My favorite definition of leadership relics Sun Tzu in the Art of War: â€Å"The way [of leadership] means inducing the people to have the same aim as the leadership, so that they will share death and share life, without fear of danger† (Sun Tzu, 2005, p. 43). The definition recognizes the collaborative dynamic that leader and follower share– both share the benefits and risks in its pursuit. Moreover, Senge’s work presented me to systems thinking and understanding the unified wholeness of organizations.This view was reinforced by my study of Neurolinguistic Programming and Neuro-Semantics, understanding human communications and the way in which we learn to construct our mental maps of the area. I saw conscious decisions to be freeing and challenging at the same time. This commitment was a challenging as I began to explore the process of leadership outside the hierarchical power structure that could command action by positional authority. Now as an independent contributor I found myself able to lead freely in a variety of ways, highlighting the need of influence in the contexts that I was called for.I mentally stepped back from the situation and took a look at the business, it’s internal and external stakeholders. I would foresee the recede and flow of people as they enthused about their work, the processes of numerous departments that enabled this organism to be effective. I also realized that minor issues evolved into major problems. I witnessed that an aspect of leadership is to distinguish this ebb and drift of the organization and identify the systemic pain points – soon enough so that adequate time is available to resolve the pain points.Often key issues remain intact solely because the situations have not reached the pain point to seize adequate attention. Partly it appeared to be an issue of prioritization; partly a problem of prevailing beliefs within the culture that impacts what employees attend to. A fundamental belief I have about leadership is that the leader is one who recognizes a potential future and asserts in motion actions that move those involved. Disequilibrium Disequilibrium is a vital situation in the dynamics of an organization, point at which the possibility for self-excelling construction of novel approaches to specific challenges to occur.The pressures associated with disequilibrium is the point when pain thresholds reach a important point that gives an organization to be receptive to emerging possibilities. Although, there are differences in the role that leadership plays in such situations. I was one of the senior employees called to speak to the other employees after the declaration that the company was to be closed. After weeks of discussions of the positive doles of the merger, one hundred and fifty people were told of losing their jobs (a third of them, the very day! I bid everyone to come together, acknowledged that there had been a death in the family and we knew where we all stood. Also, I was able to distribute a booklet to each employee on tackling with consequences of a merger. I had prepared these booklets without awareness of what the outcome of the merger would be. After discussions with the employees post meeting, I got validation for the value of the confab in bringing about a collective sense of acceptance to the veracity we faced. They also agreed that the booklet carried a tangible sense of being cared for in the development.There is a paradoxical dynamic to disequilibrium states. A disequilibrium state can although have the inverse effect occasioning in a resistance to transformation. In my understanding, the test of leadership is the capacity to anticipate and influence change afore the state of disequilibrium becomes serious. My sense of obscurity assisted as a motivator to securing the â€Å"me rger transition† booklets prior to the settlement of the merger (It was intuited that the result may not be as favorable as had formerly been voiced by management).As organizations operate as complex adaptive systems, the dynamics leading to disequilibrium usually exist as symptoms which could be observed and responded before the problem becomes serious. In this context, the process of (proactive) leadership shows self-regulating effect in the organization by permitting the process of self-transcending structure. Leadership as a Process Concluded by my experiences I see leadership as an ongoing process that befalls in human organizations through the interplay of formal and informal relationships. Leadership as a process is personified by actors who respond to a situation.Therefore, the manager should be able to carry more complex thinking to issues that a subordinate may encounter, and bring value to understanding the work. Similarly, the subordinate is responsible for sharing visions about the work with his/her manager who can pass on the developments and insights further up the hierarchy. Whatever skills I may have in endorsing leadership may be totaled by ineffective structure in the system. In fact, I point the lack of an obligatory organizational structure as one if not the major inhibitions to organizational ineffectiveness within my work environment.Leadership as a State of Mind To finish, I have come to see leadership as a state of mind. This lures originally from the work of Robert Quinn (2004), which recommends that there are certain states that act as attractors for the performer to take action that can be viewed as leadership in a particular setting. The Fundamental State of Leadership (FSL) generates the internal context that motivates the performer to respond and is replicated in interrelated attitudes, which Quinn gaps with opposing attitudes reflecting the â€Å"normal state. The FSL serves two functions: mainly by creating an attractor that boosts active behavior that aids the greater betterment of the organization. Second it gives way for the performer to be more aware of his/her perceptions and arrays of behavior. In the year of my tenure with my employer, I was aware of the requirement for a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to be able to serve the organization and needs of its customers efficiently. My suggestions met substantial confrontation with management as an earlier attempt to put in a CRM system had been unsuccessful.I was determined in expressing this requisite – to the point that my manager expressed that if I brought the matter up again I would be left out from management meetings. And then came the day when he wanted a current clients list and found out that our current systems could not yield an accurate list. All of a sudden putting in a new system became a primacy- months after the actual recommendation. In an akin manner, as I transitioned to a role in the parent company, I p iloted a research, which headed me to an awareness of the important of e-business and germaneness for the growth of the company.I became a fervent advocate of e-business and presented several proposals to senior executives. But, my recommendations were not incorporated, mainly because senior executives did not trust that it was a feasible tool within the industry. Atypically, a few months later there is renewed concern in expanding e-business for the company. These situations reinforced for me a primary norm that the process of leadership is introduced as an actor who recognizes a specific need and makes an effort to take action, even in times of obstacles.This shows an alignment with the core defiance described in the FSL. I end with a case study where I intentionally experienced the FSL in exercising leadership. I took part in a voluntary cross-functional team looking to enhance employee work experience. With gas prices on the hike, there was a strong curiosity in developing a str ategy for telecommuting. Numerous solutions were suggested and were instantly shot down by the representative from IT as either being too expensive, too time consuming for the IT staffs, or too risky from a company’s security.I do not terminate the importance and connotation of formal leadership structures, rather I am noting that leadership fundamentally functions as an internal response to attractors that allow self-transcending construction as an answer to a perceived reality. Inside the organizations, the interplay of actors captivating action to lead in formal or informal capabilities is dynamic and complex and outside the scope of this discussion. Note that this portrayal is not intended to reflect deleteriously on the behavior of the IT representative.As an entity caught in the webs of loftier meaning – synchronization of the myriad of service appeals from multiple functional departments with partial resources in staff and dollars can impart a mindset that by a specific technology that had not been discussed. Despite obvious resistance from IT to propose a solution, I decide on doing my own research and found that a technology that had been conversed seemed to offer a sensible compromise on low cost, minimal IT backing, and strong enterprise security. I went back to the board with a bid to pursue this option.This was not a job that was part of my normal work assignment, and also I could have drop the idea. Yet the internal states that fixated on serving the greater good, and sighting the opportunity that this solution could deliver served as an attractor to endure through the resistance and eventually lead to a successful outcome. Had I opted to stay within my comfort zone, the new process and organizational dynamics would not have been developed. I’ve gratified on a number of aspects of the leadership process, which I have garnered through my work experience.In summary, I have emanated to see leadership as a dynamic process that en sues in human organizations as actors identify emerging possibilities and elect to take action. The inclination to do so is sturdily related to the actor’s internal states, and engagement of the Fundamental State of Leadership. Lastly, the efficiency of the actor may be wedged by the actor’s sphere of influence and by the actors’ formal or informal eminence and authority to act, and organizational willingness to embrace the transformation. I aspire to further develop these understandings as I linger my graduate studies.REFERENCES Goldstein, J. A. (2007). A New Model of Emergence and its Leadership Implications. In Complex Systems Leadership Theory, Exploring Organizational Complexity (Vol. 1). Mansfield, MA: ISCE Publishing. Jaques, E. (1989). Requisite Organization: A Total System for Effective Managerial Organization and Managerial Leadership for the 21st Century : Amended (2nd ed. , p. 288). Baltimore: Cason Hall & Co Pub. McGhee, G. , Marland, G. R. , & Atki nson, J. (2007). Grounded theory research: literature reviewing and reflexivity. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 60(3), 334-342. doi: 10. 1111/j. 365- 2648. 2007. 04436. Senge, P. M. , Kleiner, A. , Roberts, C. , Ross, R. , & Smith, B. (1994). The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook (1st ed. , p. 608). New York: Doubleday Business. Senge, P. M. , Kleiner, A. , Roberts, C. , Roth, G. , Ross, R. , & Smith, B. (1999). The Dance of Change: The Challenges to Sustaining Momentum in Learning Organizations (1st ed. , p. 224). New York: Doubleday Business. Tzu, S. (2005). Trans. Cleary, T. The Art of War (p. 224). Boston: Shambhala. Quinn, R. E. (2004). Building the Bridge As You Walk On It: A Guide for Leading Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Targeted Killings: The Case of Anwar al-Awlaki

The killing of al-Awlaki was a violation of U.S. due process procedures. Anwar al-Awlaki had US and Yemen nationality. Since the American Civil War, this has seemed to be the first time the US government has deliberately killed a US citizen as a wartime enemy without trial. The president's power is not examined. This approach raises the question about who the next target during the president's execution will be and whether the authorities will take similar actions in the United States in the future. There may be a situation where no one knows the evidence and then the government tells everyone evidence what they want to tell. Ben Wizner, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, said: â€Å"If the existence of the Constitution is valuable, it certainly means that the President has no power to be unexamined and cannot rashly execute any American citizen who he considers to be a public enemy of the country.† The manslaughter occurred in this killing and violated in International Humanitarian Law. In the process of facing anti-terrorism, misjudgment and missed judgment are problems that cannot be solved in the forecast. The number of people killed in Pakistan due to drone attacks since 2004 has been between 2,500 and 4,000, and most of them have been classified as â€Å"extremists† by the US government. In the years that followed, thousands of innocent people in Pakistan could lead to premature death because of the misjudgment of the drone. â€Å"Anwar Al-Awlaki and Samir Khan were killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen on September 30, 2011. Abdulrahman Al-Awlaki, a 16-year-old boy born in Denver, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen on October 14, 2011, while he was eating dinner at an outdoor restaurant with his teenage cousin.† 90% of the deceased are not the target of the US military, but they are all labeled by the US as â€Å"the enemy that has been killed in action.† Anyone who appears to be near the established attack site is considered â€Å"accomplice† and there is no conclusive evidence that they should be killed. However, when the US military implemented the drone assassination plan, the assassination target was not necessarily a serious threat to the United States. Most of the casualties caused by drone strikes were innocent people, which caused the US government and the Pentagon to be blamed by the outside world. Before the fight against terrorism, the United States did not prove that there were no other non-military ways to choose from. It was more like an after-the-fact retaliation. In the process, the United States over-emphasized its own interests by slogans against terrorism, or the value is imposed on people, and the drone attacking terrorist crimes violates the sovereignty of other countries, making the contradictions even more intensified. Secondly, the U.S. attack on drones does not conform to the principle of proportionality, and it has harmed many innocent civilians while attacking terrorism. The US military still carried out bombing missions while knowing that there were civilian houses in the area where it was attacked. When the target cannot be clearly identified, the US military will call these innocent people â€Å"the enemy of death.† Therefore, the United States' dispatch of drones to the territory of other countries for military strikes against terrorism does not meet the constitutional elements of â€Å"pre-self-defense rights† and cannot be recognized as legitimate. On November 25, 2013, in San Francisco, the demonstrators put on a drone model against Obama's use of drone to counter-terrorism policies. The use of drones had put a lot of pressure on the US government. The use of drones needed to become more rigorous in the future. The US military is trying to improve the technology of this drone. On May 2013, the White House announced a new guide to counter-terrorism operations, placing more restrictions on drone attack plans. In a speech, Obama announced that drone operations will be strictly targeted at those who â€Å"form a sustained and powerful threat to the American people.† Obama also stressed that â€Å"only when the target of the attack poses a threat to US security, the assassination can only be initiated, and it must be ensured that the assassination will not harm civilians.† This incident created a new precedent in how the U.S. propagates its war on terror. The US military is making more efforts on drones to resist terrorism. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, the use of drones to combat individuals has become a frequent means of US counter-terrorism operations. These targeted killings are effective in many ways. Military priority policies are expected to bring greater transparency to drone strikes and better coordinate these actions in accordance with the spirit of certain aspects of international law. Since the beginning of the 21st century, drones have rapidly developed into a new type of air power and have shown an increasingly important role in modern warfare. The United States is the world's number one military power. It is currently at the forefront of military drone technology. However, the US military has never relaxed its exploration and development of drone technology. The research institute headed by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the United States. The industry has jointly launched a series of technical projects involving cognitive electronic countermeasures, precision fire support, coordinated navigation and bee colony-enabled operations, etc., providing technical upgrades for the US military's future military drones. Drones have made great contributions to the US military in the war on terror. UAVs are playing an increasingly important role. Being able to fight 24 hours a day, delivering real-time activity videos to control personnel and pinpointing targets, makes drones indispensable in war. Finally, the use of drones in traditional wars, armed conflicts, or counter-terrorism operations with modern characteristics should be applied to international humanitarian law. From the perspective of international law, it is necessary to incorporate drone attacks into the normative system, giving them clear definitions and reasonable regulations, and prevent some countries from exploiting the loopholes and contradictions of international law to undermine the world order. In international law, whether the acts involving drones against terrorists violate the relevant rules of international humanitarian law. Clearing prohibitions should be made to solve the problem of defining too general and vague. Furthermore, peace and stability in the world situation are of paramount importance. As more and more countries use drones, they can hold international conferences about drone attacks and call on relevant countries to sign international treaties.

Policy and procedure Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Policy and procedure Development - Essay Example One such policy is the massage policy to control fatigue for cancer patients. The following policy and procedure provides a guide for the management of fatigue for cancer patients. Relaxing body massage is a proven non-pharmacological fatigue management therapy for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment (Bower, 2014). Back massage for cancer in-patients undergoing chemotherapy was developed through a randomized clinical trial in a controlled study. The study involved seventy patients who were divided into two groups including the control group and the group undergoing massage therapy (Mazlum, Chaharsoughi, Banihashem, & Vashani, 2013). The massage group received the service for 20 minutes every day 24 hours before chemotherapy and 24 hours after. The results from both control and massaged groups were recorded regarding the indices of vomiting and nausea in the measures of time, length, severity, and incidence. The results were later assessed using a Visual Analogue Scale and also using the BARF scales (Mazlum et al., 2013). The results were later analyzed using chi-square and Mann-Whitney. The analysis indicated that the incidences of nausea among the massaged group had reduced by 25.7 percent, the times, length, and severity had reduced by 0.35 times, 54 minutes, and 20 percent respectively (Mazlum et al., 2013). The research led to the conclusion that back massage on in-patients undergoing chemotherapy was essential. The nausea and vomiting effects were reduced significantly among all cancer patients receiving the massage. The instances of nausea and vomiting among the control group remained unchanged. The study led to the formulation of massage policies for patients receiving chemotherapy (Mazlum et al., 2013). Specialized massages combined with other non-pharmacological practices such as physical exercise have proved useful in the control of body fatigue. Long usage of drugs to stimulate the body overworks the body cells and is detrimental

Audit and Internal Control Issues Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Audit and Internal Control Issues - Coursework Example In the next section, the report identifies the tests of controls to be performed for obtaining sufficient appropriate audit evidence in relation to purchases made during a year. Lastly, the report discusses the substantive procedures, which are to be carried out for the purpose of obtaining reasonable assurance as to the reliability and correctness of the information pertaining to inventory in the financial statements of the company. A. Key Business Risks, Possible Consequences and Risk Mitigating Strategies Since the company is going through a declining phase as far as profitability and sales turnover is concerned, it is pertinent to consider areas which require management’s attention. The increase in the employee turnover rate and the fact that there are few experienced professionals left in the accounts department of the company pose significant risks in relation to the operations of the company and the preparation and presentation of financial statements which are free fro m material misstatements. Apart from this, the increase in competitors of the business also poses a significant threat in future. All these risks can act together to result in a risk related to going concern of the business. From an auditor’s professional skepticism point of view, these risks and developments can have serious implications on the financial reporting and internal controls maintained by the company, since there is a possibility that management may try to manage earnings and overstate the sales revenue and profits of the business. In addition to this, greater employee turnover reflects that there is a continuous inflow of new inexperienced employees who are expected to be less aware of the procedures and practices followed in the company. Moreover, the company’s automated purchase management system is also regarded by the employees as inefficient due to the complexities and lack of user friendliness and hence the transactions are often recorded manually in the system. This manual practice of recording transactions is another area where fraudulent activities may take place and intentional misstatements may be made by the personnel responsible for data entry. Moreover, there are only two persons in the organization who possess skills to operate the system. Lastly, the composition of the board is also an area of concern; there are different affiliations of board members and there is a risk that the members may have some conflict of interest which may promote unethical practices (Rittenberg, Johnstone and Gramling 2011). Keeping in view these risks and their possible consequences, the company can take several steps to mitigate these areas and overcome these loopholes. First of all, there shall be appropriate measures taken to ensure that employee turnover is brought down to a minimal level in order to ensure that experienced and professional staff members are working in the company and therefore the function of financial reporting, in pa rticular, runs smoothly. On the other hand, there should be a resolution passed for the disclosure of director’s interest in Sucre Delights Limited and other companies, so as to identify and counter any conflicts of interest. The automated system shall be made more user friendly so that the users are able to run the system easily and are inclined to use it. Moreover, the fact that there are only two

Interior Design of the Alhambra Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Interior Design of the Alhambra - Essay Example There is an attention to detail and patterns to where intricate forms are made. In addition to the interior aspect, it has a massive interior space but even so, the smallest corner has great significance in the entire presentation of the building. It then has these momentous domes that are loaded with art work and glass that allow light to enter the space making it a different place in different times of the day. I will now present a detailed description of the Alhambra and the meaning of its designs. The "red fortress" or the Alhambra is the only most significant and most conserved Arabian palace. The Alhambra is built by Moorish kings during the 12th and13th centuries and is located in the southern part of Spain. Its chief glory is its exceptional ornamentation. The name also refers to the color of the mountain to where it is built. The palace is an ensemble of exquisite artistic designs that can be attributed to the following inspirations such as religion, nature, music, culture, important personalities, and the foreign influences. It is a genuine expression of the once prosperous Moorish civilization and its architecture in Spain. The interior of the structure is decorated sumptuously with impressive examples of the honeycomb and stalactite-like vaulting1 of roof or dome which are eminent and typical of Islamic style of decoration. The famous beauties of the palace are: The Gate of Justice, The Court of Alberca; The Court of Lions with its alabaster basin peeling diamond drop s; The Hall of Ambassadors; The Tower of Canaries; The Court of Myrtles; The Hall of Justice; and several gardens, fountains, panoramas, chambers, towers, and balconies. Little and beautiful patterns containing vines and Arabic characters are interwoven into a structure of red, black, blue, and gold unspeakable richness. Decoration is simply defined as the act or process of putting ornaments to beautify, adorn, or enrich a place. Once all these concepts are implemented in the interior of a building or a structure, it now becomes interior decoration. In the Alhambra, the embellishment or decoration within the palaces epitomized the vestiges of Moorish dominion within Spain. The seclusion with the rest of the Islam, and the commercial and political relationship with the Christian kingdoms also influenced in the concepts on space; columns, muqarnas and stalactite-looking ceiling decorations, are visible in several chambers, and the interiors of numerous palaces are decorated with arabesques and calligraphy. Muqarnas is an Arabic word that illustrates a traditional element distinctive to Islamic architecture. They are small niche-like components that are combined with each other in successive layers to enclose a space and produce surfaces rich in three-dimensional geometric compositions.2 It is a unique Arabic/Islamic space-enclosing system used for the decoration and ornamentation of domes, minarets and portals. This type of design is often applied to domes, pendentives or devices used allowing the placing of a circular dome, cornices, squinches and the underside of arches and vaults. Indeed, the Alhambra is one of the olden structures to use the muqarnas. At the same time, arabesque is an elaborative application of repeating geometric forms that often resonates the forms of plants and animals. Usually this type of design is found in the walls of mosques. Arabesque designs found in the Alhambra did

Female labor force in Turkey Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Female labor force in Turkey - Research Paper Example 257). However, as time moved on, the number of women in the labor force started increasing rapidly from 1960 s through 1980s before starting to slow down in 1990s. By 1999, women made 60% of the world labor force which was considered as their peak participation in the labor market. However, since 1999, women participation in the labor force has greatly declined. This can be attributed to a number of reasons, which includes; lack of education, poverty, gender biasness in the employment sector and predominance of men in white-collar jobs such as medicine, engineering and law (Vaizey, P. 57). Nonetheless, across the world women participation in the labor force remains at a relative high level especially among women with children, and a good number of women does a full-time job all year round. The high number of women in the job market can also be attributed to the fact that women have increasingly ventured in the field of education, and a good number of them have acquired higher levels of education. Among women aged between 25-64 years of age in the labor force, the number of those who had attained a college degree tripled from the year 1970 to 2012 (Mills, P. 41). In terms of earnings, women’s earnings in relation to the men’s earning have also been growing since the Second World War 2. During 1970s, women’s earnings were 62% of the men’s earning among women who had a full-time job during that time. In 2012, women’s earning was calculated as 81% of the men’s earning for women who had a full-time job at that time. This trend indicates that women’s population continues to increase in the labor force as time goes by. In 2012, 57.7% of women were in the labor force while men labor force percentage which has always been more than that of women was quoted at 70.5% (Vatter, P. 8). Across the world, the women unemployment rate was 7.9 percent while that of men was 8.2 percent. The