How does Confucianism and Daoism view women?

To begin with, Confucianism is a religion that is named after the philosopher, Confucius. He was an almost deified and impossibly wise man. He believed that to regain social order, people must act the role that society gave them. The father was to act the father, the son was to act the son, etc. The process of becoming that of which one is supposed to be is called â€Å"Rectification of Names. † The society should be founded on five relationships: 1) The ruler and subject; 2) The father and son; 3) The husband and wife; 4) The elder and younger brother; 5) The friend and friend. This proper behavior was required to create a calm, enduring, and beneficial society. In terms of the third relationship, husband and wife, the concept of the Yang and Yin come into play. The Yang is the male, dominating, structures. The Yin is the female, calm, passive structures. This balance, if maintained, is supposed to keep everything in perfect accordance. This concept, in my opinion, is what gave women the submissive role in the Confucius society. Unlike the women in Daoism, under Confucian ideals women were to play their roles in society by being submissive to men and were limited in their participation in society, but were respected and necessary. Their lives were centered in the family as â€Å"inside members† which meant that they were to stay indoors and not associate with the â€Å"outside† more than necessary. Actually, in upper-class homes, inside chambers were built for the women while the men had their own chamber outside. Women were also supposed to remain under the dominion of men and follow the â€Å"three obedience†: Woman follows man, youth follows father or eldest brother, after marriage, wife follows husband, and if her husband dies, she is to follow her eldest son. As children, young girls were not apart of the ancestral line. After marriage they gained their husband's line and became apart of a family making this the single most important event in a young girl's life. However, many girls never made it to marriage because their mothers killed them after they were born. Giving birth to a baby girl was not at all joyous. For those that did make it, their objective was to become a wife. A wife was the lowest link in the social hierarchy and was there to serve the mother-in-law. Once married, both the husband and wife's main focus was to take care of the husband's parents. Women were expected to be completely devoted to their husbands and would often choose to commit suicide than violate their womanly virtues. Mothers with lost of sons were much higher up socially than those with fewer. Women who did not marry were not accepted in the Confucian society. Divorce was also not accepted and was allowed only under strict circumstances by the husband. These circumstances include incurable sickness, no male heir, talking too much, stealing, disobedience, promiscuity, and jealousy. The husband could have several concubines of which the wife was supposed to be kind and courteous to. On the same level, women could talk to other women about their husbands if they drank too much alcohol, neglected their duties as a husband, or became abusive. The other women would then tell their husbands who would act accordingly. This all seems rather harsh, but the fact that women are the only ones that could give life; they were respected and considered necessary. On the contrary, women in the Daoist society were treated a whole lot better. Daoism puts an emphasis on nature and the feminine qualities of nature. Seeing as how women create life and Daoism is† that which creativity flows from,† women hold the up most respect. As a matter of fact, Dao means â€Å"Great Mother. † Unlike in Confucianism, the role of women being passive and flexible comes natural and unforced. Because of this natural passiveness, women are naturally good Daoists; simply because of this â€Å"naturalness. † In the Daoist Society women are reared as especially receptive to divine inspiration which provides a spiritual outlet for them. Women are also allowed to participate in all levels of Daoism and were thought to be the only ones who could reach the highest levels of Dao lineage, all except that of the Divine Lord. However, this did not move women out of their subordinate roles nor did it raise their social status, and the sexual practices in Daoism for prolonged life may have led to the exploitation of women. Another tradition performed by the Chinese women in the Confucian society was foot-binding. Originally it was done as a kind of ballet toe dancing performed for royalty. It eventually worked its way down the entire social strata and became a tradition linked to marriage. It was performed on young girls from the ages of five to seven, as early as two and as late as thirteen. The foot was to be shaped into what looked like the Golden Lotus bud. The perfect shaped foot was three inches long looked like it naturally extended form the foot, not like the 90* angle normal feet make. The foot was bound to break the arch and toes. The toes were broken to curl under the foot. The big toe was left to look like the point of the bud. Girls were told to walk on pieces of sharp metal and broken glass to cut the bottom of the foot so that when it healed, the toes would fuse to the foot. Every so often the feet were unbound to clean and tighten. This was an extremely painful process that took more than two years to complete. The binding shoes were worn the rest of the girl's life. Perfectly bound feet meant that the girl was marriageable, she was obedient, submissive, and could endure great amounts of pain. This also controlled her sexuality because it was hard for the girl to â€Å"get around. † The tiny feet also became an erotic fetish for some men. The girl's shoes were sent to her mother-in-law-to-be for inspection. The Girls' new mother would inspect for size, shape, and craftsmanship. Since the girl made the shoes herself, the explicit details gave a clue to what type of worker she was. This creativity was often the only creative outlet for the young girls. So to conclude, there are many differences in the ways women were dealt with in Confucianism and Daoism. In both religions, however, women were not very high up on the social scales, they were supposed to be the calm, passive and obedient counterpart of men, and were ultimately inferior beings. Foot binding became a Confucian tradition in marriage, while in Daoism, women held nearly the heights levels I the religion. I am just glad to say that I am a woman living in America today, and not in the classical Confucian society of China.

Ecotourism in Malaysia

G. DEVELOPMENT OF ECOTOURISM IN MALAYSIA -Mohd Director, Nawayai Zoo Park Yasak Melaka Malaysia Department of Wildlife and National 1. Historical Background Until the 1970s, tourism was not regarded as an important economic activity in Malaysia. The Tourism Development Corporation of Malaysia (TDC) was set up in 1972, with the responsibility to act as a development authority, but the sector was given a low priority. Dut partly to limited financial allocations, TDC faced constraints in the effective performance of its catalytic role. As a result, Malaysia remained a relatively unknown destination, while other countries in the region such asSingapore, Thailand and Indonesia built on their established reputations as mass tourism destinations. During the 1980s, tourism became an increasingly important industry worldwide. Investment in new facilities and capital equipment reached around $US 350 million per year, representing 7. 3 per cent of total worldwide capital investments. Almost 6. 5 per cent of the world's workforce were employed by the industry. Among the main reasons for this growth were increased personal income and leisure time, improvement in international transportation systems and greater public awareness of other parts of the world due to improved communications. These developments were felt by Malaysia as well as other countries. Recognizing that tourism can playa role in economic and social development, as well as in fostering national integration and unity, the Malaysian government undertook a series of positive initiatives to stimulate the development of the tourism sector. These included the following: (a) The government established the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (which became the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism in 1990). This provided an institutional framework for the planning, coordination, and regulation of tourism, and for the first time tourism was accounted for within the framework of recognized economic activities; By virtue of the Tourism Industry Act of 1992 and the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board Act of 1992, the new Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism took over from TOC the function of formulation and implementation of policies, licensing and enforcement aspects of the tourism industry. TOC thereafter became known as the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (or Tourism Malaysia for short), with a role concentrated on marketing and promotion; The Investment Incentives Act was revised in 1986 to include the tourism sector, thereby giving additional stimulus to tourism investment, such as the Pioneer Status Investment Tax Allowance, Industrial Building Allowances, and tax exemption for large foreign group tours; In 1990, the federal government set up a Ringgit Malaysia (RM) 120 million special fund for tourism to stimulate its development, including small and medium scale enterprise. b) (c) (d) During the Fourth and Fifth Malaysia Plans (1981-1985 and 1986-1990) significant attention was given to the tourism sector, with increased public allocations for marketing and promotional activities, infrastructure and product development. Expenditure was RM 125. 5 million under the Fourth Plan and RM 132. 1 million under Fifth Plan. The Fifth Plan period culminated in Visit Malaysi a Year 1990, which generated a high international profile for Malaysia and attracted 7. 4 million tourists as well as revenues of RM 4. 5 billion. Under the Sixth Malaysia Plan (1991-1995), the government therefore increased the public allocation for tourism development to RM 533. 9 million. This allocation has been used to provide and expand the physical and social infrastructure, facilities and services required to support the future growth of the tourism sector. (See Table 1. ) Visitors have come to Malaysia for many years to see wildlife, scenery, forests and beaches. The numbers are very difficult to assess, except at a few sites such as Taman Negara and Kinabalu Park. There, the numbers have climbed steadily over the past 30 years. The well-known sites are mainly large with multiple attractions, but they also include one or two places with a single major attraction, notably Rantan Abang in Terengganu with its turtles, or Rafflesia sites in Sabah. Some smaller sites have attracted fewer visitors, but are known internationally among a sector of the potential market. Examples include Fraser's Hill and Kuala Selangor, both of which are of particular interest for birdwatchers and are now on the regular itineraries of some specialist and general tour companies. 84 1. Development allocation for tourism under the Fifth and Sixth Malaysia Plans (AM million. ) Fifth Plan (1986-1990) Sixth Plan (1991-1995) Allocation Preservation Beautification of national/historical and environmental heritage protection Tourist accommodation Cultural product development Facilities and infrastructure OtherTotal 1. 5 2. 0 2. 5 2. 5 79. 2 52. 8140. 5 0. 7 0. 0 2. 5 2. 5 76. 7 49. 7 132. 1 *$US = AM 2. 5 4. 1 171. 7 43. 6 112. 9 157. 4 7. 2 533. 9 The market in specialist adventure activities (four-wheel drive, microlight, whitewater rafting, etc. is more recent but is rapidly expanding. Most of these activities only marginally qualify as ecotourism when practiced in parucularly careful ways, and some are harmful to the environment. They are indicative of the conflicts that can arise between adventure tourism, nature-based tourism and ecotourism, both in objectives and practice. Despite the fact that some tourists have pursued activities that could be defined as ecotouri sm for manyyears, attention to this market component from the tourism sector itself has been slight. Only a few tour operators have long and consistent records in ecotourism. Many others have sporadically explored this sector with varyingsuccess, low investment, and low expertise. Various reasons could be cited for their lack of success. Among the tour operators leading groups to Taman Negara are several very big companies, but as this is only a tiny part of theirtotal business and income, client dissatisfaction may have little influence upon the companies. Many ecotourism businesses remain small, or face difficulties in obtaining clientele and close down. The sit~ation for ecotourism in Malaysia is, therefore, very similar to the experience in many other countries. One difficulty in assessing progress in ecotourism is the shortage of reliable data. Tourist numbers as a whole are not easy to analyse and not much effort has yet been made to look at the ecotourism or nature-based tourism sector in particular. In 1994/95, for the first time Tourism Malaysia questionnaires included questions about whether tourist had visited Taman Negara, Bako National Park, Gunung Mulu National Park, the Niah Caves r Kinabalu Park. No statistics exist on how many visitors like to go fishing, mountain climbing or walking in the forest, nor are there detailed visitor profiles of different nationalities in relation to nature. Nevertheless, the number of tour operators interested in ecotourism or nature tourism and the number of individuals hoping to be ecotour or nature tour guides are increasing. Interest is also expressed through a number of workshop and s eminars relating to ecotourism. Recent examples are the Institute for Development Studies (Sabah) Seminar on Nature Tourism as a Tool for Development and Conservation (Sabah, Malaysia, March 1994), the Seventh PATA Adventure Travel and Ecotourism Conference (Balikpapan, Indonesia, January 1995) the ESCAP Expert Group Meeting on Ecotourism and Development in Asia and the Pacific (Bali, Indonesia, March 1995) and the PATA Heritage Conference on Tourism: A Force for Conservation of Nature and Culture (Phuket, Thailand, September 1995). Two public exhibitions on nature-based and adventure tourism have been held in Kuala Lumpur. A pilot training course for nature guides has been established, and the Malaysian Tourist Guides Council has arranged a tour guide refresher course with components on ecotourism and agrotourism. If as has been suggested, 7 per cent of travel worldwide is nature-related, then in 1994 Malaysia probably attracted 505,000 ecotourists from overseas. If, however, half of all non-ASEAN visitors to Sabah and Sarawak carry out some nature- or culture-related activity, there may have been as many as 571,000 ecotourist visiting Malaysia in 1994. Revenue would have been about RM 655 million. Current Situation The main thrust of governmental policy on tourism is contained in the Tourism Policy Study by Peat Marwick(1992), together with materials in the Sixth Malaysia Plan, Mid-Term Review and the forthcoming Seventh MalaysiaPlan. Sarawak has a Second State Tourism Master Plan (1993) and the Sabah State Tourism Master Plan was completed in early 1996. 85 2. Expenditure Allocation Programme Table There are about 2,000 registered tour and travel agencies in Malaysia, and it is estimated that about 800 take bookings for travel to nature-related destinations. However, many of these act only as intermediaries and pass on these bookings to a relatively small number of companies which deal with particular destinations. There are thought to be about 30 companies specialising in nature and ecotourism. There are about 3,500 registered tour guides, of whom the majority have full (general) guiding licences. A smaller number are specialized in specific skills. There is no detailed breakdown of the number of guides with guiding skills for each ecotourism activity, but a basic pool of resources is available in most fields. Some Malaysian specialist guides are of international repute. Participation by non-government organisations in ecotourism is limited but increasing. There are a number of state, regional and national trade organisations and tourist guides' associations which are beginning to investigate ecotourism and to provide training. So far, training courses have not been formalised. About 20 sites in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak account for the vast majority of ecotourism by overseas tourists. The same sites are visited by many Malaysian tourists. Recreation by Malaysians in Peninsular Malaysia takes place in a network of Recreational (Amenity) Forests and a number of sites elsewhere in the forests. It is estimated that about 7 to 10 per cent of all overseas tourists are involved in ecotourism activities, while up to 14 per cent express an interest in walking, hiking and trekking. This amounts to about 512,000 to 1,024,000 overseas tourists per year. The number of Malaysians visiting the same sites is close to or exceeds the number of overseas tourists. The involvement of individuals from local communities is uneven. At some sites (for example, Kinabalu Park) local residents are closely involved in guiding, staffing and gaining financial benefits from the park's operation. Sites exist in which the local community forms a passive component of the tourism product. Sites also exist in which the local community has, in effect, been excluded from tourism development, but these are none of ecotourism developments. Where local residents are involved in ecotourism, there tends to be a shortage of training and management opportunities for them. National Ecotourism Policy The National Ecotourism Plan was developed to provide a more integrated approach to achieve specific national objectives, such as those contained in the Five Year Plans and other documents, within the field of ecotourism. It should contribute towards producing a more distinctive Malaysian tourism image and identity and contribute towards direct involvement of local populations, enhanced training, interagency and inter-sectoral cooperationand, most importantly, fostering environmental protection and preservation. This plan is in the process of adoption by the federal government. The National Ecotourism Plan will include the following elements of implementation: (a) adopt and promote a clear definition of ecotourism; (b) adopt and promote a clear policy on developing ecotourism; (c) strengthen the Ecoand Agro-Tourism Implementation Committee; (d) implement legal changes to support implementation of the Plan; and (e) establish a monitoring and evaluation programme. The National Ecotourism Plan will include site planning and management. This includes actions to: (a) (b) (c) Establish Establish planning procedures application for ecotourism developments; development; system of ecotourism areas; areas; rocedures management for ecotourism Expand and improve Elaborate Implement Establish Establish Establish of a nationwide (d) (e) (f) (9) (h) (i) development guidelines and management for ecotourism; plans for ecotourism a series of pilot ecotourism additional ecotourism projects; products at Taman Negara and other sites; and promote a consistent marketing strategy; and ecotourism. Identify and promote fiscal measures to encourage Actions to strengthen institutions and build capacity under the National Ecotourism Plan include: (a) (b) Establish a Human Resources Development Plan; Ensure local community participation in ecotourism; 6 3. (c) (d) (e) (f) Investigate Establish the feasibility of an accreditation scheme for ecotourism; and promote ecotourism product development; for ecotourism guides; and Establish training and promote certification Upgrade standards of tourist literature. REFERENCES Economic Planning Unit for the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Sustainable Development, 1993. Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism of Malaysia. Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism of Malaysia. Malaysian Malaysian National ConselVation Strategy: Towards Tourism Policy Study; 1991. Plan, Malaysia, 1996. National Ecotourism 87

Vampire Academy Chapter 9

NINE I SNAPPED INTO HER MIND, once again seeing and directly experiencing what went on around her. She was sneaking into the chapel's attic again, confirming my worst fears. Like last time, she met no resistance. Good God, I thought, could that priest be any worse about securing his own chapel? Sunrise lit up the stained-glass window, and Christian's silhouette was framed against it: he was sitting in the window seat. â€Å"You're late,† he told her. â€Å"Been waiting a while.† Lissa pulled up one of the rickety chairs, brushing dust off it. â€Å"I figured you'd be tied up with Headmistress Kirova.† He shook his head. â€Å"Not much to it. They suspended me for a week, that's all. Not like it's hard to sneak out.† He waved his hands around. â€Å"As you can see.† â€Å"I'm surprised you didn't get more time.† A patch of sunlight lit up his crystal-blue eyes. â€Å"Disappointed?† She looked shocked. â€Å"You set someone on fire!† â€Å"No, I didn't. Did you see any burns on him?† â€Å"He was covered in flames.† â€Å"I had them under control. I kept them off of him.† She sighed. â€Å"You shouldn't have done that.† Straightening out of his lounging position, he sat up and leaned toward her. â€Å"I did it for you.† â€Å"You attacked someone for me?† â€Å"Sure. He was giving you and Rose a hard time. She was doing an okay job against him, I guess, but I figured she could use the backup. Besides, this'll shut anyone else up about the whole fox thing, too.† â€Å"You shouldn't have done that,† she repeated, looking away. She didn't know how to feel about this â€Å"generosity.† â€Å"And don't act like it was all for me. You liked doing it. Part of you wanted to – just because.† Christian's smug expression dropped, replaced by one of uncharacteristic surprise. Lissa might not be psychic, but she had a startling ability to read people. Seeing him off guard, she continued. â€Å"Attacking someone else with magic is forbidden – and that's exactly why you wanted to do it. You got a thrill out of it.† â€Å"Those rules are stupid. If we used magic as a weapon instead of just for warm and fuzzy shit, Strigoi wouldn't keep killing so many of us.† â€Å"It's wrong,† she said firmly. â€Å"Magic is a gift. It's peaceful.† â€Å"Only because they say it is. You're repeating the party line we've been fed our whole lives.† He stood up and paced the small space of the attic. â€Å"It wasn't always that way, you know. We used to fight, right along with the guardians – centuries ago. Then people started getting scared and stopped. Figured it was safer to just hide. They forgot the attack spells.† â€Å"Then how did you know that one?† He crooked her a smile. â€Å"Not everyone forgot.† â€Å"Like your family? Like your parents?† The smile disappeared. â€Å"You don't know anything about my parents.† His face darkened, his eyes grew hard. To most people, he might have appeared scary and intimidating, but as Lissa studied and admired his features, he suddenly seemed very, very vulnerable. â€Å"You're right,† she admitted softly, after a moment. â€Å"I don't. I'm sorry.† For the second time in this meeting, Christian looked astonished. Probably no one apologized to him that often. Hell, no one even talked to him that often. Certainly no one ever listened. Like usual, he quickly turned into his cocky self. â€Å"Forget it.† Abruptly, he stopped pacing and knelt in front of her so they could look each other in the eye. Feeling him so close made her hold her breath. A dangerous smile curled his lips. â€Å"And really, I don't get why you of all people should act so outraged that I used ? ®forbidden' magic.† â€Å"Me ? ®of all people'? What's that supposed to mean?† â€Å"You can play all innocent if you want – and you do a pretty good job – but I know the truth.† â€Å"What truth is that?† She couldn't hide her uneasiness from me or Christian. He leaned even closer. â€Å"That you use compulsion. All the time.† â€Å"No, I don't,† she said immediately. â€Å"Of course you do. I've been lying awake at night, trying to figure out how in the world you two were able to rent out a place and go to high school without anyone ever wanting to meet your parents. Then I figured it out. You had to be using compulsion. That's probably how you broke out of here in the first place.† â€Å"I see. You just figured it out. Without any proof.† â€Å"I've got all the proof I need, just from watching you.† â€Å"You've been watching me – spying on me – to prove I'm using compulsion?† He shrugged. â€Å"No. Actually, I've been watching you just because I like it. The compulsion thing was a bonus. I saw you use it the other day to get an extension on that math assignment. And you used it on Ms. Carmack when she wanted to make you go through more testing.† â€Å"So you assume it's compulsion? Maybe I'm just really good at convincing people.† There was a defiant note in her voice: understandable, considering her fear and anger. Only she delivered it with a toss of her hair which – if I didn't know any better – might have been considered flirtatious. And I did know better? ­right? Suddenly, I wasn't sure. He went on, but something in his eyes told me he'd noticed the hair, that he always noticed everything about her. â€Å"People get these goofy looks on their faces when you talk to them. And not just any people – you're able to do it to Moroi. Probably dhampirs, too. Now that's crazy. I didn't even know that was possible. You're some kind of superstar. Some kind of evil, compulsion-abusing superstar.† It was an accusation, but his tone and presence radiated the same flirtatiousness she had. Lissa didn't know what to say. He was right. Everything he'd said was right. Her compulsion was what had allowed us to dodge authority and get along in the world without adult help. It was what had allowed us to convince the bank to let her tap into her inheritance. And it was considered every bit as wrong as using magic as a weapon. Why not? It was a weapon. A powerful one, one that could be abused very easily. Moroi children had it drilled into them from an early age that compulsion was very, very wrong. No one was taught to use it, though every Moroi technically had the ability. Lissa had just sort of stumbled into it – deeply – and, as Christian had pointed out, she could wield it over Moroi, as well as humans and dhampirs. â€Å"What are you going to do then?† she asked. â€Å"You going to turn me in?† He shook his head and smiled. â€Å"No. I think it's hot.† She stared, eyes widening and heart racing. Something about the shape of his lips intrigued her. â€Å"Rose thinks you're dangerous,† she blurted out nervously. â€Å"She thinks you might have killed the fox.† I didn't know how I felt about being dragged into this bizarre conversation. Some people were scared of me. Maybe he was too. Judging from the amusement in his voice when he spoke, it appeared he wasn't. â€Å"People think I'm unstable, but I tell you, Rose is ten times worse. Of course, that makes it harder for people to fuck with you, so I'm all for it.† Leaning back on his heels, he finally broke the intimate space between them. â€Å"And I sure as hell didn't do that. Find out who did, though? ­and what I did to Ralf won't seem like anything.† His gallant offer of creepy vengeance didn't exactly reassure Lissa? ­but it did thrill her a little. â€Å"I don't want you doing anything like that. And I still don't know who did it.† He leaned back toward her and caught her wrists in his hands. He started to say something, then stopped and looked down in surprise, running his thumbs over faint, barely there scars. Looking back up at her, he had a strange – for him – kindness in his face. â€Å"You might not know who did it. But you know something. Something you aren't talking about.† She stared at him, a swirl of emotions playing in her chest. â€Å"You can't know all my secrets,† she murmured. He glanced back down at her wrists and then released them, that dry smile of his back on his face. â€Å"No. I guess not.† A feeling of peace settled over her, a feeling I thought only I could bring. Returning to my own head and my room, I sat on the floor staring at my math book. Then, for reasons I didn't really get, I slammed it shut and threw it against the wall. I spent the rest of the night brooding until the time I was supposed to meet Jesse came around. Slipping downstairs, I went into the kitchen – a place I could visit so long as I kept things brief – and caught his eye when I cut through the main visiting area. Moving past him, I paused and whispered, â€Å"There's a lounge on the fourth floor that nobody uses. Take the stairs on the other side of the bathrooms and meet me there in five minutes. The lock on the door is broken.† He complied to the second, and we found the lounge dark, dusty, and deserted. The drop in guardian numbers over the years meant a lot of the dorm stayed empty, a sad sign for Moroi society but terribly convenient right now. He sat down on the couch, and I lay back on it, putting my feet in his lap. I was still annoyed after Lissa and Christian's bizarre attic romance and wanted nothing more than to forget about it for a while. â€Å"You really here to study, or was it just an excuse?† I asked. â€Å"No. It was real. Had to do an assignment with Meredith.† The tone in his voice indicated he wasn't happy about that. â€Å"Oooh,† I teased. â€Å"Is working with a dhampir beneath your royal blood? Should I be offended?† He smiled, showing a mouth full of perfect white teeth and fangs. â€Å"You're a lot hotter than she is.† â€Å"Glad I make the cut.† There was a sort of a heat in his eyes that was turning me on, as was his hand sliding up my leg. But I needed to do something first. It was time for some vengeance. â€Å"Mia must too, since you guys let her hang out with you. She's not royal.† His finger playfully poked me in the calf. â€Å"She's with Aaron. And I've got lots of friends who aren't royal. And friends who are dhamps. I'm not a total asshole.† â€Å"Yeah, but did you know her parents are practically custodians for the Drozdovs?† The hand on my leg stopped. I'd exaggerated, but he was a sucker for gossip – and he was notorious for spreading it. â€Å"Seriously?† â€Å"Yeah. Scrubbing floors and stuff like that.† â€Å"Huh.† I could see the wheels turning in his dark blue eyes and had to hide a smile. The seed was planted. Sitting up, I moved closer to him and draped a leg over his lap. I wrapped my arms around him, and without further delay, thoughts of Mia disappeared as his testosterone kicked in. He kissed me eagerly – sloppily, even – pushing me against the back of the couch, and I relaxed into what had to be the first enjoyable physical activity I'd had in weeks. We kissed like that for a long time, and I didn't stop him when he pulled off my shirt. â€Å"I'm not having sex,† I warned between kisses. I had no intention of losing my virginity on a couch in a lounge. He paused, thinking about this, and finally decided not to push it. â€Å"Okay.† But he pushed me onto the couch, lying over me, still kissing with that same fierceness. His lips traveled down to my neck, and when the sharp points of his fangs brushed against my skin, I couldn't help an excited gasp. He raised himself up, looking into my face with open surprise. For a moment, I could barely breathe, recalling that rush of pleasure that a vampire bite could fill me with, wondering what it'd be like to feel that while making out. Then the old taboos kicked in. Even if we didn't have sex, giving blood while we did this was still wrong, still dirty. â€Å"Don't,† I warned. â€Å"You want to.† His voice held excited wonder. â€Å"I can tell.† â€Å"No, I don't.† His eyes lit up. â€Å"You do. How – hey, have you done it before?† â€Å"No,† I scoffed. â€Å"Of course not.† Those gorgeous blue eyes watched me, and I could see the wheels spinning behind them. Jesse might flirt a lot and have a big mouth, but he wasn't stupid. â€Å"You act like you have. You got excited when I was by your neck.† â€Å"You're a good kisser,† I countered, though it wasn't entirely true. He drooled a little more than I would have preferred. â€Å"Don't you think everyone would know if I was giving blood?† The realization seized him. â€Å"Unless you weren't doing it before you left. You did it while you were gone, didn't you? You fed Lissa.† â€Å"Of course not,† I repeated. But he was on to something, and he knew it. â€Å"It was the only way. You didn't have feeders. Oh, man.† â€Å"She found some,† I lied. It was the same line we'd fed Natalie, the one she'd spread around and that no one – except Christian – had ever questioned. â€Å"Plenty of humans are into it.† â€Å"Sure,† he said with a smile. He leaned his mouth back to my neck. â€Å"I'm not a blood whore,† I snapped, pulling away from him. â€Å"But you want to. You like it. All you dhamp girls do.† His teeth were on my skin again. Sharp. Wonderful. I had a feeling hostility would only make things worse, so I defused the situation with teasing. â€Å"Stop it,† I said gently, running a fingertip over his lips. â€Å"I told you, I'm not like that. But if you want something to do with your mouth, I can give you some ideas.† That peaked his interest. â€Å"Yeah? Like wha – ?† And that was when the door opened. We sprang apart. I was ready to handle a fellow student or even possibly the matron. What I was not ready for was Dimitri. He burst in the door like he'd expected to find us, and in that horrible moment, with him raging like a storm, I knew why Mason had called him a god. In the blink of an eye, he crossed the room and jerked Jesse up by his shirt, nearly holding the Moroi off the ground. â€Å"What's your name?† barked Dimitri. â€Å"J-Jesse, sir. Jesse Zeklos, sir.† â€Å"Mr. Zeklos, do you have permission to be in this part of the dorm?† â€Å"No, sir.† â€Å"Do you know the rules about male and female interactions around here?† â€Å"Yes, sir.† â€Å"Then I suggest you get out of here as fast as you can before I turn you over to someone who will punish you accordingly. If I ever see you like this again† – Dimitri pointed to where I cowered, half-dressed, on the couch – â€Å"I will be the one to punish you. And it will hurt. A lot. Do you understand?† Jesse swallowed, eyes wide. None of the bravado he usually showed was there. I guess there was â€Å"usually† and then there was being held in the grip of a really ripped, really tall, and really pissed-off Russian guy â€Å"Yes, sir!† â€Å"Then go.† Dimitri released him, and, if possible, Jesse got out of there faster than Dimitri had burst in. My mentor then turned to me, a dangerous glint in his eyes. He didn't say anything, but the angry, disapproving message came through loud and clear. And then it shifted. It was almost like he'd been taken by surprise, like he'd never noticed me before. Had it been any other guy, I would have said he was checking me out. As it was, he was definitely studying me. Studying my face, my body. And I suddenly realized I was only in jeans and a bra – a black bra at that. I knew perfectly well that there weren't a lot of girls at this school who looked as good in a bra as I did. Even a guy like Dimitri, one who seemed so focused on duty and training and all of that, had to appreciate that. And, finally, I noticed that a hot flush was spreading over me, and that the look in his eyes was doing more to me than Jesse's kisses had. Dimitri was quiet and distant sometimes, but he also had a dedication and an intensity that I'd never seen in any other person. I wondered how that kind of power and strength translated into? ­well, sex. I wondered what it'd be like for him to touch me and – shit! What was I thinking? Was I out of my mind? Embarrassed, I covered my feelings with attitude. â€Å"You see something you like?† I asked. â€Å"Get dressed.† The set of his mouth hardened, and whatever he'd just felt was gone. That fierceness sobered me up and made me forget about my own troubling reaction. I immediately pulled my shirt back on, uneasy at seeing his badass side. â€Å"How'd you find me? You following me to make sure I don't run away?† â€Å"Be quiet,† he snapped, leaning down so that we were at eye level. â€Å"A janitor saw you and reported it. Do you have any idea how stupid this was?† â€Å"I know, I know, the whole probation thing, right?† â€Å"Not just that. I'm talking about the stupidity of getting in that kind of situation in the first place.† â€Å"I get in that kind of situation all the time, Comrade. It's not a big deal.† Anger replaced my fear. I didn't like being treated like a child. â€Å"Stop calling me that. You don't know even know what you're talking about.† â€Å"Sure I do. I had to do a report on Russia and the R.S.S.R. last year.† â€Å"U.S.S.R. And it is a big deal for a Moroi to be with a dhampir girl. They like to brag.† â€Å"So?† â€Å"So?† he looked disgusted. â€Å"So don't you have any respect? Think about Lissa. You make yourself look cheap. You live up to what a lot of people already think about dhampir girls, and it reflects back on her. And me.† â€Å"Oh, I see. Is that what this is about? Am I hurting your big, bad male pride? Are you afraid I'll ruin your reputation?† â€Å"My reputation is already made, Rose. I set my standards and lived up to them long ago. What you do with yours remains to be seen.† His voice hardened again. â€Å"Now get back to your room – if you can manage it without throwing yourself at someone else.† â€Å"Is that your subtle way of calling me a slut?† â€Å"I hear the stories you guys tell. I've heard stories about you.† Ouch. I wanted to yell back that it was none of his business what I did with my body, but something about the anger and disappointment on his face made me falter. I didn't know what it was. â€Å"Disappointing† someone like Kirova was a non-event, but Dimitri ­I remembered how proud I'd felt when he praised me the last few times in our practices. Seeing that disappear from him? ­well, it suddenly made me feel as cheap as he'd implied I was. Something broke inside of me. Blinking back tears, I said, â€Å"Why is it wrong to? ­I don't know, have fun? I'm seventeen, you know. I should be able to enjoy it.† â€Å"You're seventeen, and in less than a year, someone's life and death will be in your hands.† His voice still sounded firm, but there was a gentleness there too. â€Å"If you were human or Moroi, you could have fun. You could do things other girls could.† â€Å"But you're saying I can't.† He glanced away, and his dark eyes went unfocused. He was thinking about something far away from here. â€Å"When I was seventeen, I met Ivan Zeklos. We weren't like you and Lissa, but we became friends, and he requested me as his guardian when I graduated. I was the top student in my school. I paid attention to everything in my classes, but in the end, it wasn't enough. That's how it is in this life. One slip, one distraction? ­Ã¢â‚¬  He sighed. â€Å"And it's too late.† A lump formed in my throat as I thought about one slip or one distraction costing Lissa her life. â€Å"Jesse's a Zeklos,† I said, suddenly realizing Dimitri had just thrown around a relative of his former friend and charge. â€Å"I know.† â€Å"Does it bother you? Does he remind you of Ivan?† â€Å"It doesn't matter how I feel. It doesn't matter how any of us feel.† â€Å"But it does bother you.† It suddenly became very obvious to me. I could read his pain, though he clearly worked hard to hide it. â€Å"You hurt. Every day. Don't you? You miss him.† Dimitri looked surprised, like he didn't want me to know that, like I'd uncovered some secret part of him. I'd been thinking he was some aloof, antisocial tough guy, but maybe he kept himself apart from other people so he wouldn't get hurt if he lost them. Ivan's death had clearly left a permanent mark. I wondered if Dimitri was lonely. The surprised look vanished, and his standard serious one returned. â€Å"It doesn't matter how I feel. They come first. Protecting them.† I thought about Lissa again. â€Å"Yeah. They do.† A long silence fell before he spoke again. â€Å"You told me you want to fight, to really fight. Is that still true?† â€Å"Yes. Absolutely.† â€Å"Rose? ­I can teach you, but I have to believe you're dedicated. Really dedicated. I can't have you distracted by things like this.† He gestured around the lounge. â€Å"Can I trust you?† Again, I felt like crying under that gaze, under the seriousness of what he asked. I didn't get how he could have such a powerful effect on me. I'd never cared so much about what one person thought. â€Å"Yes. I promise.† â€Å"All right. I'll teach you, but I need you strong. I know you hate the running, but it really is necessary. You have no idea what Strigoi are like. The school tries to prepare you, but until you've seen how strong they are and how fast? ­well, you can't even imagine. So I can't stop the running and the conditioning. If you want to learn more about fighting, we need to add more trainings. It'll take up more of your time. You won't have much left for your homework or anything else. You'll be tired. A lot.† I thought about it, about him, and about Lissa. â€Å"It doesn't matter. If you tell me to do it, I'll do it.† He studied me hard, like he was still trying to decide if he could believe me. Finally satisfied, he gave me a sharp nod. â€Å"We'll start tomorrow.†

For organizational management course Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

For organizational management course - Article Example On the other hand, Wal-Mart is in conflict with any collective action form. This conflict is viewed even when their employees are not looking for unionization but looking for respect (Sethi, 2013). In foreign parts, Wal-Mart has been involved in different types of scandals, as well as multiple bribery cases. In April 2012, a tory was published by The New York Times that revealed hundreds of suspicious payments done to the Mexican officials. These payments totaled to above than $24 million (Sethi, 2013). As stated by the Times, Wal-Mart attained hundreds of fraud and bribery internal reports yearly. In the past 18 months, in Asia, there were 90 bribery reports. In conclusion, Wal-Mart has been seen to spend more than $35 million by hiring more than thirty five lawyers, investigators and accountants in dealing and investigating the bribery issues. Wal-Mart has been seen to be associated with the injuries and deaths of many workers in their places of work, particularly in Bangladesh and other nations where low-wage, low skill manufacturing

Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 15

Art - Essay Example This statue was curved for the purposes of Pharaoh Khafre’s remembrance. Initially, the statue was kept in the Pharaoh’s valley temple near the Great Sphinx. The statue was presented as part of necropolis funeral city used in most important funeral rituals. This research paper explains the Khafre Enthroned funerary statue, from Gizeh, Egypt. The Khafre old kingdom artistic statue was designed putting into considerations a lot of symbolism in it. Firstly, the statue had an important function in Egyptian tombs. This statue overly acts as a sub-statue abode for the Pharaoh’s Ka. Ka in Egyptian cultural beliefs is the life that accompanies the righteous persons with a kind of other self. After death, the Ka leaves the individual body and soul into the afterlife (Gardner et al. 111). The statue embodiment therefore remains contemporarily to show a peace to rest; to the dead souls. The Khafre enthroned sculpture was designed in spiral form. This statue shows his majesty Khafre seated. This was one of the famous statue designs with a basic formulaic types used in the old kingdoms to show the human figure. Art speaks and through Khafre Enthroned statue, his figure in the seat is greatly shown. This artistic work if was to go by; would easily explain the kind of a ruler king Khafre was. This Egyptian statue design was inf luenced by mummification in Egypt (Gardners Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective 121). Mummification played a major role in the Egyptian culture in the ancient civilization era. This process involved a 70-day purification of pharaoh’s body to ensure immortality for Pharaoh. Beginning in the third millennium BCE, mummification became impossible in Egypt. This process was hectic and cumbersome hence there was need for finding a better way to remember the Pharaoh’s of Egypt. If the Pharaoh’s mummy was damaged, ART Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5 ART - Essay Example he High Renaissance meant paint that was created by mixing pigment with egg yolk to create a thick colored liquid that could then be applied with brushes to any surface. The egg yolk was the binding agent and artists would often also mix in other liquids such as honey, water or milk to vary the consistency or increase opacity. One of the main properties of this type of paint is that it dries quickly, which is beneficial when one wishes to paint over specific areas but can be problematic when one is trying to blend shades together on the canvas. This type of paint can’t be applied in heavy layers, though, and is generally not as bright or saturated as other forms of paint. What perhaps wasn’t known by the artists of the Renaissance, though, is that tempura maintains its original colors over time rather than darkening as many oil paints tend to do. Frescoes are somewhat different from tempera paints or oils in that they utilize the material of the receiving surface as the binding agent for the pigments rather than an internal ingredient. In fresco painting, painters would mix pigment with water and then apply these colors to the still wet plaster wall where the painting was to be. The water would absorb into the wall and evaporate, leaving the pigment trapped within the plaster itself. Preparation of the wall had to take place at least a week in advance to allow the underlayer of plaster to dry first. Then only enough top layer of plaster was applied that the artist could reasonably paint in a given day, meaning about eight or nine hours of work, before the plaster hardened to the point where no more paint would be absorbed. This painting in segments makes it possible to still trace what the artist did from one day to the next. Another problem with frescoes was that there could be no mistakes or the entire segment would have t o be removed and started from the beginning. Oil painting eventually emerged as the most preferred form of paint because of its

Racial Profiling Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Racial Profiling - Research Paper Example This kind of behavior originates from fear of apprehension in response to minute crimes as expatriates belonging to above-mentioned nations, are well aware of the fact that they will be interrogated first with relation to any legal disturbance (Dauglas, Ressler and Burgess 421). In short, expatriates are much more fearful and careful in following the laws in order to invade the possibility of an arrest and prostitution. Based on the above argument, the enforcement agencies are suggested to follow evidence to win a conviction rather than considering racial profiling as the only beacon. The existing literature will be analyzed in the coming section. Literature Review Racial Profiling is a concept that is based on categorizing several ethnic groups against their ability and tendency to commit a certain type of crime for instance the whites are considered as top candidates of white collar crimes such as money laundering (Weitzer and Tuch 435). But, forensic investigators are motivated to follow evidence instead of profiling because; classifying races with respect to their ability to involve in a crime is self-alluding at times. Therefore, evidence is the only mean that could partially counteract the biasness caused by profiling. Furthermore, profiling causes law enforcers to suffer from tunnel vision, which pushes them to identify an innocent person as a suspect in a murder investigation, based on the fact that he or she belongs to a race that is famous for killing people. However, this kind of investigations and interrogations can lead to legal disasters. Profiling on the other hand, could be used as a mechanism of narrowing down the suspect list but, evidence based thinking must be supported in Police, so that innocent people could be protected from false conviction and imprisonment. It is also worth mentioning that long term profiling is identified as breach of privacy but, it can be practiced to foster national security and it is sanctioned by Patriot Act that explicitly allow law enforcement agencies to take any person (who can pose a threat to national security) under surveillance. In case of local crimes, the Police department must follow the triangle made up of motive, ability and opportunity as a mean of apprehending criminals. Moreover, the nature of local crimes differs from those of international ones because, in the case of former type, few radical groups are found to be engaged in certain criminal activities. But, in case of international crimes, global terrorist organizations are notorious for using new faces to achieve their goals. In the light of above argument, profiling could be applied in solving local crimes because, the people belonging to various criminal groups, could be sorted out, with respect to their ability to commit a certain type of crime, while prior convictions and allegations also help in this regard. Nevertheless, the application of profiling becomes limited in counteracting threat to national security there fore; more intensive and detailed investigational methods should be used when fighting international crimes. The agencies that are working against international terrorism, must keep a close watch on people with violent attitudes and thoughts, whereas they are also suggested to conduct detailed interrogations of people with

Geothermal Energy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Geothermal Energy - Essay Example Unlike the conventional method of burning fuels to produce the heat required, optimizing earth's energy from deep within the ground is by nature sustainable and would not take additional chemical process to be transformed to a useful form. Moreover, geothermal energy is never likely to contribute to greenhouse effect as fossil fuels are and once put up, the power plant would be self-sustaining or not necessitating external energies aside from the power it yields. Roughly 33,000 feet beneath the earth's surface lies heat that contains about fifty thousand times more energy compared to the combined presence of natural gas and oil currently processed by men. This inevitably fluid heat experiences high temperatures in various zones where layers upon layers of molten rock commonly known as 'magma' are continuously formed as a consequence of naturally occurring radioactive elements that undergo intense decomposition on a subatomic level for several years. Because magma is less dense than t he rocks surrounding it, it rises to the surface. Sometimes magma escapes through cracks in the Earth's crust, erupting out of volcanoes as part of lava. But most of the time magma stays beneath the surface, heating surrounding rocks and the water that has become trapped within those rocks. Sometimes that water escapes through cracks in the Earth to form pools of hot water (hot springs) or bursts of hot water and steam (geysers). The rest of the heated water remains in pools under the Earth's surface, called geothermal reservoirs. By the Earth’s crust shifting and allowing water to mix into natural hot-spots water is superheated and then vented through holes in the Earth’s surface with tremendous power. The superheated water generated at these locations can naturally reach temperatures of up to 200Â °C (430Â °F). Earth's core is nearly 6000Â °C - hot enough to melt a rock. Even a few kilometers down, the temperature can be over 250 Â °C given that the Earth's crust is thin. Temperature generally rises a degree Celsius for every 30 - 50 meters you go down, but this alters with respect to location. Among the hotspots from which geothermal energy may be obtained are certain states of America as Oregon, California, Alaska, and Nevada which possesses a significant number of volcanoes comprising the Pacific Rim or the Pacific 'Ring of Fire'. Hotspots are typically close to fault lines or young volcanoes were the Earth’s crust is thin enough to allow internal heat to escape and be accessed by as little drilling is possible. It may be a surprising fact to discover that besides these seismically active regions, any other location on earth ranging from a depth of 10 to a few hundred feet through the crust is capable of heating objects even at lower degrees. The capacity to generate electricity by extracting heat out of these places would of course depend on the quantity of drawn heat which can be converted to electrical energy. Landrello, in Ita ly is the first to own a geothermal power station, followed by Wairekei in New Zealand and a few others were built in Iceland, Japan, Indonesia,

Reporting Results Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Reporting Results - Essay Example They represent loans received. The security holder is entitled to repayment of principal and receiving of interest payments. Equity securities reflect ownership of interest and trading securities get a fair value report (Finkler, 2010). For the available for sale securities, they are reported at fair value. Their income excludes the unrealized losses and gains. They are reported as separate equity part that has no effect on the year’s net income. On the hand, not-for-profit health care organizations have all debts and equity reported at fair value (Finkler, 2010). A change in the net assets includes losses and gains. These gains and losses are reflected in the unrestricted net assets unless a donor or law prohibits it. An important feature is that all debt securities are depicted at fair value inclusive of those considered held to maturity by the former group. In this category, focus is not on net income; however, importance is vested on the total available resources. This makes the inclusion of gains or losses in the net income to be

Research a civil society organistain and detail its main tactics and Assignment

Research a civil society organistain and detail its main tactics and approached in regards to business - Assignment Example CSOs are the legally constituted corporations created by natural or legal people for the purpose of societal welfare (Craig, Taylor and Parkes, 2004). However, these establishments work independently from the government. One of the major characteristics of CSOs or NGOs is that these forms of establishments are non profitable organizations. Hence, their principal aim is not to make profits but to look after the welfare of people (Fine, 2006). This report aims at illustrating the main tactics and approaches used by a CSO in its relationship with business. In addition, the report also aims to summarise if and to what extent its tactics have evolved over time and will elucidate the discernible changes in the tactics. Lastly the study will evaluate the strategies used by the CSO and on the basis of that recommendation will be provided to the CSO in terms of improving or strengthening its activities (Barratt, 2009; Child and Gronbjerg, 2007). The civil society organizations or the non-gove rnmental organization chosen for this study is Mercy Corps. Therefore for better understanding, the study will at first present a brief overview of the chosen CSO. Mercy Corps: A Brief Overview Mercy Corps is an international aid agency which works towards the betterment of transitional environments that has gone through certain kinds of jolts such as natural disaster, economic collapse, or conflicts. The principal intention of this CSO is to assist people who have been a victim of the environmental collapse. It was founded in the year 1979 by humanitarian Ellsworth Culver and Dan O'Neill (Bonn and Baker, 2000). The establishment is currently headquartered in Portland, Oregon and is currently headed by Neal Keny-Guyer, who is the present CEO of the company. It has around 3700 employees and operates in 40 countries around the world (mercycorps, 2013a). The employees of the company attempt to aid victimised people on an urgent basis. For instance, the employees try to bring in food an d supplies as early as possible in order to enable the people restore their previous situation. This is achieved by various kinds of market-led and community-driven programs. The activities of the employees clearly reflect the enthusiasm of the organization towards the welfare of the society. Mercy Corps mostly recruits local people. As per reports, the company has 93% local employees as they believe local employees will be beneficial for their local knowledge. The CSO works for the betterment of failing states, conflict zones and nations that endured natural disasters. It remains active in places such as Zimbabwe, Somalia, Congo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Haiti and Indonesia among others (Bichsel, 2008). In these countries, women education is usually ignored, livelihood of a family is a matter of doubt and a child’s health is always a cause of concern. Hence, to get rid of these issues, the CSO works proactively and responds immediately. Mercy Corps prioritizes its activi ties on the basis of the urgency of the situation and also listens to the local inhabitants (Migdalovitz, 2010). Interestingly, Mercy Corps caters an area or locality for extended time periods in order to foster local entrepreneurship opportunities, inspire marketplaces through "cash for work" programs and a range of lending models for rebuilding social capital. Mercy Corps initiates several programs which allow them to gain market reputation and simultaneously

English literature Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

English literature - Term Paper Example In the 18th century American literature, the autobiography as a literary genre has attained immense popularity which is illustrated by the notable 18th-century autobiographies in English such as Edward Gibbon’s autobiography and Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography. During this period, a more intimate form of autobiography which explores the subject’s emotions came to being, due mainly to the influence of Romanticism, which greatly emphasized the role and the nature of the individual, and Rousseau’s Confessions. From the writer’s perspective, an autobiography is the best means to express one’s individuality in all its components and it helps one in establishing one’s ideas and concepts explicitly to the readers without any mediocrity. The â€Å"self-life-writing† qualifies of an autobiography offer great scope for the writer’s role in literary activity and these qualifies also bring out the advantages and disadvantages of th e autobiography genre. Thus, from the writer’s perspective, autobiographies offer the writer the scope to include anything from human geography to reproach, leave out anything they wish, etc and they can turn their books into a litany, a confession, an apology, a cathartic act, an anthology of anecdotes or gossip, or a space to wash polluted laundry. From the reader’s perspective, the autobiography is an important literary genre which offers the possibility of realizing the inner aspects of a writer without confusion and it helps the readers understand the concepts and ideas that the author emphasizes in his writing. Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography offers one of the best illustrations of the meaning, characteristics, purpose, advantages and disadvantages of the autobiography as a literary genre and this paper makes a reflective analysis of the autobiography. Autobiography as a literary genre has been a popular means to express one’s emotions and

Health Care Reform Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Health Care Reform - Essay Example The subsidies will enable the low earners to purchase private health cover. The legal provision also creates room for the development of exchanges for individuals that will be willing to buy cover. The bill also expands accessibility to health insurance by prohibiting insurance firms from denying cover to anyone based on pre-existent conditions (Andrews, 2012). The bill also makes provisions for the creation of an experts’ panel to limit reimbursements to only effective treatments and offer incentives to providers as a way to persuade them to â€Å"bundle† their services instead of charging by singled out procedures (Andrews, 2012). The reform redefines the way Americans purchase health cover by requiring all Americans without employee cover to buy privately provided health insurance cover or pay a tax percentage of 1%-2.5% (Andrews, 2012). Americans that cannot afford cover and do not have one from employers will either go into Medicaid/Medicare or receive tax credits to make the private purchases. Financing of the Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care act will be funded through government funding, taxes and budget cuts. The taxes will include 9% from Medicare and unearned income tax on earnings above $250 000. The taxes will be levied on a sliding scale. Therefore, the more one earns, the higher the taxation. Insurance companies and employers with over 50 fulltime employees will be taxed to fund the plan. Taxes will also be implemented for medical supply companies and pharmaceuticals. Modest estimates by the non-partisan congressional budget office from 2010 showed that health insurance companies would pay $2 billion, medical suppliers would pay $2.3 billion, and pharmaceuticals would pay $2 billion by 2011, and this amount was expected to go up to $10 billion by 2017. Reduction on wasteful spending is also expected to contribute to the budget. The taxes designated. The efficiency that the bill introduces is also expected to cut costs and incr ease efficiency, and therefore; contribute to the offset of the costs incurred. Influence in Legislation and Policy Making The policies relating to Federal changes on pre-existent conditions’ coverage in insurance made a significant part of the overarching initiative, which led to the legislation of the act. Generally, Democrats, liberals and physicians were supportive and still persist in supporting health reforms related to this major reform (Harrison & Gerard, 2010). On the other hand, insurance companies, Republicans and conservatives were opposed to the reform proposal, and they have been actively seeking to repeal on the act that contains the reform details. The opposing forces are still actively attempting to change the main elements of the act. In the initial stages of the proposed reforms, the public was overwhelmingly supportive based on statistics from public opinion polls. However, currently the public is fairly split on the issues surrounding the reform process ( Harrison & Gerard, 2010). Notably, there were also various advocacy organizations that supported the legislation of the act. These included the â€Å"American Association of Retired Persons† (AARP) (Roy, 2012). The Potential Effects of the Affordable Care Act on the Economy The act presents a number of welcome economic effects as well as some unwelcome economic e

Performing arts Essay Example for Free

Performing arts Essay Art, culture, and society; these three elements are closely linked. These three elements affect one another in one way or another. There is often a conflict of interest between the artist, the audience, and the government body. The artist’s aim is to express art freely. The audience’s aim is to view art in forms that are not offensive to them. The government’s aim is to mitigate the conflict of interest between the two parties by implementing policies and restrictions to art pieces that are produced and viewed. Controversy is an issue to take into consideration by the government when funding art and censoring art. This is due to art pieces being widely reached through the advances of technology. Audiences of art are thus easily accessible to art that could influence or offend. However, art is innately challenging and often provocative. Creativity would be stifled if the government funded only art so bland that it offended no one. Creativity would also be stifled if the government creates censorship to limit art that challenges the strongly held beliefs of the society. These concerns raise a few questions to Art in the society. Firstly, how much restriction should the government restrict the type of art forms that could have an adverse effect on the society? Or rather what limitations on censorship and funding should be made for the sake of artist value, or more broadly freedom of expression? Secondly, should it be the responsibility for the artist to take into consideration the effect on the viewer when creating art pieces that may seem controversial to others? In Singapore, Art is increasingly promoted. The promotion of Art in Singapore can be seen from the provision of arts institution that provides full time programmes for the performing arts, the implementation of the yearly Singapore Art Festival which provides a platform for artist to express their talent and for the community to appreciate and to understand Art better, and the funding from the government to arts companies, the opening of the Art Science Museum in February 2012, etc. Although Art is increasingly promoted in Singapore, artistic freedom is being under assaulted. Freedom is threatened by pressures from the government. The society only accepts art that is socially acceptable; one that does not break the law and does not offend any individual. The recent works of a student of an art institution in Singapore is one example that provides evidence for freedom of artistic expression being restricted. The artist printed stickers with captions and pasted them on a pavement and on road traffic signs an act of a guerrilla art scene. She also painted â€Å"My Grandfather Road. † along certain roads in Singapore. While her works portrays certain value of the Singaporean Culture, where singlish and certain forms of lingos are being used in her stickers and paintings, they are then being deemed by the law as vandalism. This specific act of art creation has roared a debate among netizens in Singapore, with many fighting for freedom for creative expression, while the others stating that what she did was merely seeking attention, vandalism, or creating art of no value. In 1994, a performing artist was fined for committing an obscene act. In his performance, he snipped his pubic hair before a small audience as a symbolic protest against police entrapment of gays, punishment by flogging, jail sentences for victimless crimes, and news media exposure of those convicted. He was also prohibited from future public performances. While the artist did this for the love of art and in the interest of expanding the general outlook of art in Singapore, The National Arts Council branded the acts vulgar and extremely distasteful. If the government funds and allows only art that is has no controversial value, then wouldn’t creativity be buried in our society? Also, if art works is created to conform to the norm of the society, is art still art? Art is a form of freedom, expression, creativity, and life. However, from the above two examples, it can be seen that there is a constraint place on freedom of artistic expression and the value of art. Artists can express art only with lawful restrictions. Artists who are daring enough to oppose to such norms are either being punish, or their art works are being restricted from the audience. The rest restricts their work to those that conforms to the societal norms. With these restrictions, art can never be expressed in its original form; audience can never be exposed to some brilliant art works which may be vulgar to some but artistic to others. By total restriction of art works that lack redeeming social values, we will be exposed to only art that conforms. This would cause depreciation in the value of art in our society. Despite the fact that art should be freely expressed to preserve its value of creativity, it is important to take into consideration what effect some art works may have on our society. It can be seen that the two artists go against cultural norms to showcase art works that breaks away from the norm and set themselves different from others. By breaking away from the cultural norm, viewers with his or her set of cultural values may be offended. However, by silencing art pieces that the majority considers offensive, we may be oppressing the minority and preventing the society from learning the message that the artist conveys. Thus it is important for an artist to recognize how far he or she should go in order to create art works that do not offend some individuals. It is widely believed that Singapore, being a Cosmopolitan city, has to be very careful when expressing our thoughts on sensitive issues. In our society, censorship is necessary to protect its community from artistic content that lack redeeming social values. It can be argued that artistic content that oppose social values should be restricted. It is stated by our minister that artists can express themselves through many other areas without crossing any red tape. This shows that total freedom of artistic expression is indeed not present in our society. In conclusion, while artists should be able freely express as much as possible, it is only fair for them to consider whether their work would cause harms to others. In both examples, from the artists’ point of view, they are merely creating art freely and creatively. Yet their works did not take into consideration the effects it has on the environment, community, and individuals. Also, although the government has the responsibility and the right to protect its community from inappropriate message and content, individuals should be given certain rights to choose what they deemed suitable for themselves. The definition of obscenity differs among different individuals. What seems obscene to one may not be obscene to others. Thus it is important to have a clear line on what the rights does the government has on implementing policies and guidelines to restrict art works from the audience.

Post Op Protection Helmet Project Health And Social Care Essay

Post Op Protection Helmet Project Health And Social Care Essay Introduction Most of the patients who had undergone any major head surgery will require an effective protection of their wound. After surgery, some patients especially post-traumatic injury have a high risk of falling due to neurological impairments, weakness, post-op seizures and agitation or confusion and re-injure their head. This is more important if part of the patients skull is removed (craniectomy). Appropriate protective headwear during the acute period post-op can be worn and reduce the chance of injury. While effective protection for the head and face is a priority for these individuals, headwear should also provide unobstructed vision and adequate ventilation, lightweight, cosmetically acceptable and reasonably priced. Providing effective headwear is a problem for many orthotists and the rehabilitation team taking care of individuals who have a high risk of head injury following a fall. Parents, caregivers and clinicians usually opt to use commercial sports helmets or other types of ad justable off-the-shelf headwear. Although commercial helmets are adaptable and relatively inexpensive, a number of features make them generally unsuitable for the disabled population post-operation. The main idea for this protection helmet is to provide a comfortable wear for the patient and reduce risk of injuring the head and wound during inpatient period. In other way, the design should be able to minimize the impact to the head if a fall or knock occurs. Chapter 2: LITERITURE RIVIEW Human brain can withstand 300 to 400 G of impact without either concussion or skull fracture, provided that there is no local deformation of the skull to inflict direct injury. Patients sometimes ha head surgery that needed to remove some part of their skull. This will make impact that brain can withstand lower than original. Thus, the helmet protection for post operative will be needed. 2.1 Review Journal According to Understanding Head Neck Trauma by Tony Pan Sanfelipo, the impact that head can withstand is vary from the location that the forces is being exerted. The frontal bone (forehead) can withstand on average, 1,000 to 1,600 pounds of force. The temporo-parietal (sides of head) bones can tolerate around 700 to 1,900 pounds of force. The back of the skull can handle around 1,440 pounds of force. The bones of the face and cheek are less tolerant, standing forces of only 280 to 520 pounds. From this, we can see that the impact that head can withstand is differ from the impact that brain can withstand. Skull is a very strong bone in our skeletal system. But, caution step also needed to be done especially after the head operation. According to the Journal of Prosthetic and Orthotic entitled The Use of Postoperative Cranial Orthoses in the Management of Craniosynostosis by William J. Barringer, head helmet or cranial orthoses was being widely used in child rehabilitation after having a head surgery of the problem craniosynostosis that is a condition for cranial deformity that can be directly related to the premature closure of cranial sutures. According to the writer, the cause of the problem is still unknown. While in the other Journal of Prosthetic and Orthotic entitled An Overview of Positional Plagiocephaly and Cranial Remolding Orthoses by Deanna Fish and Dulcey Lima, said that plagiocephaly is a condition of abnormalities of baby head due to pre-natal and post-natal forces exerted to the head of the baby makes the baby head look weird. The causes of these problem are varied like the head could be shape like that before birth (that is still in the womb), the position of the baby during sleep that make some deformation force, the premature birth of the baby and maybe the supine position of the baby during daytime also can cause this problem. Both of these problems involve head remodification. For plagioencephaly, the method to remodel back the head is by using a head helmet or cranial remolding orthoses. It was being called Cranial remolding techniques. This technique was being applied by cover all the areas that need to be curb by a material and allows space in areas where growth is to be encouraged to promote the desired head shape. The material being used to cover the head is often built like head helmet but not as thick as the normal helmet. The example of the material is polypropylene. While craniosynostotis involved head surgery to shape back their head. Often also used as a treatment after the surgery is the head orthoses. According to William J. Barringer, the patient that used the orthoses after the surgery more likely to have the shape of the head almost regained normal. According to the author, based on the survey that he had made, he concluded that many advantages that the patient can get by putting on these ortoses after head surgey for craniosnostotis patients like it appears that orthoses can be used to extend the correction gained in surgery or to protect against regression to the presurgical deformit. It is also apparent that age, severity of deformity, type of deformity, surgical procedure, physician preference, and bone healing play important roles in determining the overall outcome and decision-making. According to the author also, there are many ways, material and shape of the head orthoses can be made. An example is a head orthoses that using bends materials that attach the part together. While the authors for the An Overview of Positional Plagiocephaly and Cranial Remolding Orthoses article said that many different orthotic designs have been developed during the last 20 years to effectively address this patient population. Whether the design is active or passive in nature, rigid or flexible, hinged or circumferential, the basic principle of all cranial remolding orthoses is to create a pathway for symmetrical growth to occur. The authors also quoted that there are several ways to make the cranial orthoses. A cast or three-dimensional image of the infants head is acquired. The model is modified to full or partial symmetry, depending upon the severity of the condition, design of the orthoses, and protocols of the treating orthotist. Mild and moderate asymmetries may be modified to full symmetry while severe deformations may require progressive adjustments to the inner surface of the orthoses to obtain full symmetry throughout the course of the treatment program. Orthot ic designs including chinstraps are likely to be less intimate at the initial fitting, allowing for normal growth to follow the internal contours of the orthoses. To date, there is no evidence that any one orthotic design provides better outcomes than another. Symmetrical growth is achieved by consistent evaluation and adjustments to the orthoses based upon the childs head shape and growth patterns. Translational movements of the cranial bones are to be expected and frequent evaluation will ensure total contact over prominent areas and provide areas of relief over depressed areas. Circumferential growth is accommodated by the removal or recontouring of material and additional material may be strategically added to provide total contact and to stabilize the orthoses on the infants head. It is extremely important for the orthoses to be thoroughly cleaned each day to prevent bacterial build-up and problems with scalp rashes. Air holes are commonly added to help dissipate heat as well a s to assist in the evaluation of the fit of the cranium to the inner surface of the orthoses. Due to its functional as regain head shape, the cranial orthoses model had to be some sort of medical device that should not affect the patient in bad ways. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has certain aspect that cranial remodeling orthoses and other medical device manufacturer had to pass before patients can used their model in United State of America. To obtain clearance, manufacturers are required to explain the design of the product(s), how they are intended to work, and how they are manufactured. They are also required to describe the treatment protocols, provide appropriate labeling, and market the devices for only approved uses. All manufacturers must undergo regular FDA audits of their facilities and must comply with the Medical Device Reporting requirements to report any device failure that could lead to serious injury or death. This is being taken from Journal of Prosthetic and Orthotic entitled FDA Regulation of Cranial Remodeling Devices by Timothy R. Littlefi eld. 2.2 Disadvantages of The Older Design While cranial remolding orthoses is for children, others research had been done to make cranial orthoses for needed patient after head surgery whether the patients is children or adults. The design should be lightweight, effective and protect the head better. According to Journal of Prosthetic and Orthotic entitled Development of a Modular Design, Custom-Fitted Protective Helmet by Steve Ryan,Greg Belbin, Mendal Slack, Stephen Naumann and Rod Moran, stated that the new design by them trough this project should be assign because there are many disadvantages of the already have design like: Commercial helmets protect the cranium but leave the facial area, particularly the chin and oral structure, vulnerable. Commercial face shields could provide the extra protection, but they may impede vision and add to a caged in feeling. In addition, because of a face shields remote placement, it could contribute to neck injury if caught on a stationary object during a fall. Usually commercial helmets are designed with ventilation slots and liner cooling paths, which are conduits for forced air movement through the helmet. Cooling occurs as the wearer moves. This form of ventilation is inefficient for the disabled population since, for the most part, they move at or below normal walking speed. Suspension in commercial headwear is provided primarily by a chin cup attached to the helmet by straps, which are tightened to prevent helmet movement. Constant pressure applied to the chin could lead to orthodontic problems, particularly in the growing child. Because of these, they proposed new design for the cranial orthoses. Their design is mainly focused of three parts of the head that are anterior section, posterior section and chin protector. Each part are fabricated from polyethylene foam with the exterior is hard polyethylene while the anterior is low-density polyethylene foam. They fabricate the orthoses and made a survey of it. The result from the survey is the research helmet was found to be an orthotic device that could be readily dispensed in a clinical setting in one appointment. On average, it required two hours to measure, evaluate and fit a subject. The project orthotists felt that, with experience, the helmet could be fitted in less than two hours except in cases where special modifications were required. The orthotists remarked on the ease with which they could dispense the helmet using the specially designed jigs and fixtures provided. No major technical problems or mechanical failures were identified during the helmets post-trial evaluation. This is being sited on their article. 2.3 Summary Last but not least, we proposed the title of our clinical project Post-OP Protection Helmet to help patients head after surgery minimize the risk of reinjuring their head due to possible fall during acute period. Several factors like Post-traumatic, seizure, confusion, agitation and imbalance can lead to knocking their head accidently at the skull defect site. With this device, patient can protect their head especially. For our design, we applied the basic concepts of engineering like the concepts of energy absorption and load distribution and also biomechanics application. Chapter 3: Methodology 3.1 Technique used There are two ways of technique we performed our task. Firstly, we used AutoCAD Engineering software to design the shape of the helmet. We used this software because it can perform the shape clearly and make the 3D dimension. We have to consider the convenience and the cosmetically acceptable criteria during the design process. Next, we do the research on the materials for protection helmet which will be manufacture. We had referred to the journals and related reference books. The material must satisfy the ASTM standard, such as tensile strength, abrasive resistance, young modulus and others. In addition, the material should easily fabricate and lower cost. The method we use to build the outer shell is plastic injection molding, this method is use the plastic from pellets or granules and heat it until melt. Then we push the melt into a split-die mold where can cool it at the shape design. Finally we open the mold and take out the part, the cycle is repeating. The wall thickness is a important key to use under this method, because the thick wall will take more time to cool and it will have greater the shrinking , but if the wall is thin so it will cool faster, the less shrinking. And we will use a drilling machine to make some hole to let the air can float out from the protective helmet. For the data collection, we compare mechanical properties, physical properties, thermal properties and chemical resistance between several polymers. From the comparing, we had chosen the polycarbonate as the outer surface of the POST-OP Protection Helmet because they are easily worked, moulded, thermoformed and good in mechanical properties. However, for the inner padding, we choose EVA (Ethylene vinyl acetate) because light weight, easy to mould, odorless, glossy finish, and cheaper compared to natural rubber. It is good for deceleration impact energy. 3.2 Properties of the Material Properties of the outer shell Density 0.0397-0.0484 lb/in3 Water Absorption 0.05-0.7 % Hardness, Rockwell R 108-122 Tensile Strength, Ultimate 5800-12500 psi Charpy Impact 20.5-37.6 ft-lb/in2 Oxygen Index 21-34% Processing Temperature 473-585 °F Table 3.1 Properties of the inner padding Specific Density 0.93 TENSILE STRENGTH (psi) 2000 COMPRESSION STRENGTH (psi) 1450 IMPACT (IZOD ft. lbs/in) NB HARDNESS R40 Table 3.2 Figure 3.1 Plastic injection molding machine The material we choose to use for the outer shell is Polycarbonate Resin Thermoplastic 3414(40%GF). The properties of the material below this table: Youngs modulus, psi Shear modulus, psi Mass density,lb/in3 Thermal exp coef, 1in/in/F Ultimate tensile,psi 1400000 319000 0.05495 9.30E-06 27000 Ultimate compressive, psi Ultimate shear,psi Thermal conductivity, Btuin/hrft2F Specific heat,Btu/lb/F 21000 11000 1.53 0.25 Table 3.3 This material has good conductivity compare to other material like Polycarbonate Resin Thermoplastic 3413 (30%GF). So we choose this material. 3.3 The Design of the Protection Helmet Figure 3.2: Top view sutures Figure 3.3: Side view sutures From the picture above, that was several type of wound, the design of the protective helmet should not contact with the wound part and provide ventilation for air circulation to faster the wound healing. The special of our design is the professionals working with patients needing head coverage after surgery can place positioning pads around the inside of the clear shell. In an area of recent surgery example, pads would be place around a wound or surgical site to keep helmet shell elevated and away from the affected area. Clear polycarbonate shell, edged with soft foam is then lined with self adhesive foam pads in various thicknesses, and ventilation holes are added. Suggestions for placement of the pads are included with the helmet. The helmet is made from thermoplastics polymer material that lightweight, lower cost, and has many high mechanical properties. The benefit of the transparent outer shell design is allows better supervision of the underlying wound and skull defect. The mat erial is crucial factor to this helmet because patient with head surgery need something that can feel very comfortable to their head. Material with least dense with be an awesome choice for them. The helmet also needs to have good mechanical properties to increase wear resistance. The helmet should be not has low strength and low hardness. The needed for these higher mechanical properties is to give protection of the head of the patients in abrasive environment. We should know that patients can be very stressful and lost control after a major head surgery. This is especially true in traumatic brain injury patients. They can bang their head to walls and the helmet should resist the forces from the banging in order to protect the head. So, in overall, the both material for inner and outer parts of the helmet were made from a very good mechanical properties polymers. Chapter 4: Result 4.1 Physical Architecture The design and chosen material was refer to functional, reliable, safety and costly. As we approached the data technique given by the ASTM standard this outcomes design would give very important benefits to us. Besides that, this most suitable material is to reduce the percentage of injury by the patient. The design we come out also very important, the outer surface material is hard, and the inner is comfortable and can absorb the high impact. The outer surface of the protection helmet using clear polycarbonate shell is easily to fabricate by the engineers. This outer surface gives the superior safety effectiveness to the patient. Figure 4.1 : Feature of Post-OP Protection Helmet Design 4.2 Logical Architecture From this post-Op helmet, the patient should refer by their doctor what kind of shape or where to put the EVA (Ethylene vinyl acetate) for inner surface on helmet as not to contact with the wound. The inner surface had a hollow part to avoid contact to the wound. The ventilations on the outer helmet help the air going in to contact the surface wound. This would help the wound healing more fasters. This also makes the patient head not feel hot and trapped with unwanted air thus make the heads skin get irritated. On the other hand, this helmet will give the amazing comfort, rugged durability, lightweight safety and stay-put in custom fit. The helmet would work great for patients post-surgery and the compliance is would be wonderful. CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION Our design has many benefits to post-surgery patient throughout the world based on the advantages like: The helmet is made from thermoplastics polymer material that lightweight, lower cost, and has many high mechanical properties. The material is crucial factor to this helmet because patient with head surgery need something that can feel very comfortable to their head. Material with least dense with be an awesome choice for them. The helmet also needs to have good mechanical properties to increase wear resistance. The helmet should be not has low strength and low hardness. The needed for these higher mechanical properties is to give protection of the head of the patients in abrasive environmentWe should know that patients can be very stressful and lost control after a major head surgery. This is especially true in traumatic brain injury patients. They can bang their head to walls and the helmet should resist the forces from the banging in order to protect the head. So, in overall, the both material for inner and outer parts of the helmet were made from a very good mechanical properties polymers. The design of the helmet also makes a very good properties and advantage for the patient. The design of the helmet is ventilation, cosmetic acceptable and functional. It views same shape as our human head shape. So that, the patient can proceeds their normal life without . Strap was adjustable, in case of emergency, the strap can be easily remove and unlock. At the ear part, the part was uncover, so it was convenience to hearing and very comfortable. CHAPTER 6: Discussion The Post -op protection helmet is use to protect the patient from head injury after head surgery. Some of these have a high risk of falling due to multiple medical complication post op. Re-bleeding is the major complication and can cause further neurological deterioration. When the helmet collide something, inside the protective helmet have EVA (Ethylene vinyl acetate), it will absorb the energy produce from the collision and the EVA can increase the time between head and the outer shell collision, so the energy will hit the helmet will decrease and can protect the head from the injury. And the outer shell will have some holes so inside the protective helmet will ventilate and the patient will feel more fresh and comfortable. The outer shell is colour less is because like can let other people easily to know the head condition, so can confirm inside the protective helmet is safe. CHAPTER 7 : BIBILOGRAPHY: Barringer, William J. (2004). The Use of Postoperative Cranial Orthoses in the Management of Craniosynostosis. Journal of Prosthetic and Orthotic, 4S(16), 56-58. Retrieved September 9, 2009 from http://www.oandp.org/jpo/library/2004_04S_056.asp Fish, D. Lima, D. (2003). An Overview of Positional Plagiocephaly and Cranial Remolding Orthoses. Journal of Prosthetic and Orthotic, 2(15), 37-47. Retrieved September 9, 2009 from http:// www. oandp.org/jpo/library/2003_02_037.asp Ryan, S., Belbin,G., Slack,M., Naumann, S., Moran, D. (1992). Development of a Modular Design, Custom-Fitted Protective Helmet. Journal of Prosthetic and Orthotic, 4(4), 213-218. Retrieved September 9, 2009 from http://www.oandp.org/ jpo/library/1992_04_213.asp CHAPTER 8: Rehabilitation Medicine Unit 8.1 History The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine started as a section of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in 1965 under the headship of Professor Dr. J.F. Silva. Services provided were general physiotherapy, general occupational therapy and orthopaedic appliances service. The return of UMs pioneer Rehabilitation Physician from University of London in 1984, Dr. Zaliha Omar became a starting point for the development of rehabilitation services in the UMMC as well as in Malaysia. The first service to be introduced was the Rehabilitation Medicine consultation service which provided expert consultations in the fields of general rehabilitation. In addition, Rehabilitation Medicine was introduced as a subject in the undergraduate medical curriculum in 1984. In May 1995, the need to start Masters in Rehabilitation Medicine and Masters in Sports and Rehabilitation Medicine necessitated the shift of the rehabilitation section, from the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery to the Department of Allied Health Sciences and known as the Rehabilitation Sciences Unit. The Department of Allied Health Sciences then comprised of 2 units ie the Biomedical Science Unit and the Nursing Sciences Unit. By then, the scope of rehabilitation services along with the advancement in technology and increasing patient demand; saw a paradigm shift from being a general rehabilitation service provider to a specialized rehabilitation medicine service provider which emphasized on a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary team approach. The first such service to be introduced was the Neuromedical Rehabilitation Service in 1991. This was followed by Spinal Rehabilitation (1992), Upper Limb and Hand Rehabilitation (1992) and Burns Rehabilitation (1992). The unit then went on to develop other specialised services and continue to upgrade existing services. These include Paediatric Neurodevelopmental Rehabilitation (1995), Prosthetic Orthotic Management Service, Wheelchair Management Service (1995), Amputee Rehabilitation (1996), Sports Rehabilitation (1998), Work Rehabilitation (1998), Wound Management and Diabetic Footcare (1998), Geriatric Rehabilitation (1999), Alternative Approaches to Rehabilitation Medicine (Acupuncture Service) in 1999, Neurosurgical Rehabilitation (2002), Womens Health (2002), Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation (2003) and Cardiac Rehabilitation (2006). The Rehabilitation Sciences Unit of the Department of Allied Health Sciences under the headship of Assoc Prof Dr. Zaliha Omar initiated 2 very important academic programmes in the country namely the Master of Sport Medicine and Rehabilitation in 1996 and Master of Rehabilitation Medicine in 1997. The early days of conducting 2 new programmes in relatively unknown fields posed numerous challenges but the unit received excellent support from various parties; other departments within the faculty as well as from the international arena.   One of the valuable contributions was from Professor Balasubramaniam from the National University of Singapore who was previously Head of Orthopaedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya from 1979 1982. Professor Bala was appointed Visiting Professor to the unit from 1997 to 2000 and as Chair for Tun Siti Hasmahs Chair for Rehabilitation and Sport Medicine from 2000 until 2003. The Rehabilitation Medicine Unit was also very fortunate to have collaboration with the University of Melbourne and 13 of its trainees underwent elective training of 6 to 12 months in Melbourne, Australia in various fields in rehabilitation medicine as part of the 4 year masters programme. The Rehabilitation Sciences Unit produced its first graduates in 2001, and to date have produced 17 rehabilitation physicians in Malaysia. The unit has also grown, from a one-man show ie Assoc Prof Dr. Zaliha Omar in the 80s and later in 1994 joined by Dr. Tunku Nor Taayah Tunku Zubir who left in 2001, it now has 6 academic staff and 1 trainee lecturer. The year 2005 saw the retirement of UMs as well as Malaysias rehabilitation medicine icon, Assoc Prof Dato Dr. Zaliha Omar from the academic arena. However she still generously contributes her time to teaching and clinical work in UMMC as a visiting consultant. Current and Future Developments With the progress and expansion of the unit in both the academic and clinical fields, the Rehabilitation Sciences Unit put up a proposal in 2006 for the formation of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, a clinical department which is involved in teaching, clinical service and research. With the formation of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and the formalization of the merger of its academic (FOM) and clinical services (UMMC) it is hoped that the field of Rehabilitation Medicine and its multidisciplinary components is better understood and its image and function more prominent. Apart from strengthening and optimizing current clinical services, the department also plans to introduce new services as well as collaborate with other departments in the areas of vestibular rehabilitation, pulmonary rehabilitation, chronic pain management, rheumatological rehabilitation, lymphoedema management service and others. As rehabilitation medicine is a multidisciplinary discipline, the department has put in its long-term planning, academic programmes in the areas of Prosthetics and Orthotics (in collaboration with Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya), Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and other related fields. The department currently has 20 trainees in rehabilitation medicine who go through a 4 year clinical master programme which also incorporates a research component. With the expansion of clinical services and the increasing number of trainees in the Master of Rehabilitation Medicine programme, the department is constantly reinforcing its faculty and other staff members. The department is also very fortunate to be identified for further development in the form of a one-stop comprehensive rehabilitation medicine complex in the 9th Malaysia Plan. 8.2 Introduction of Department of Rehabilitation Medicine The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine was formed as part of the overall development of Faculty of Medicine and University of Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur for the purpose of providing clinical services in rehabilitation medicine and to provide training in the various fields of rehabilitation medicine. Apart from providing a comprehensive rehabilitation medicine service involving Rehabilitation Physicians, Medical Trainees in Rehabilitation Medicine, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Nurses and Medical Social Workers, the department is actively involved in the education of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Medical Trainees, Undergraduate Nursing Students, Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy Students from the Ministry of Health, MARA University of Technology as well as private academic institutions. Continuing Professional Development of our multidisciplinary team members is a regular activity of the department. Updates in Medical Rehabilitation are organised regularly for our staff as well as relevant parties from outside the UMMC. All categories of staff have ample opportunity to participate in their respective professional development through conferences as well as courses locally and internationally. 8.4 Vision The vision of the department is to become the centre of excellence in activities for the provision of services, education, training and research in rehabilitation medicine and in all associated specialities. 8.5 Mission The Rehabilitation Medicine Unit practices multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary team approach for patient management and demand a comprehensive and a holistic care based on the individual needs of a patient. The department also considers its mission to be the centre for continuing education, training and maintenance of professional standards for Doctors and Health Professionals of various specialities associated with rehabilitation medicine. To play a catalystic role in research and development of rehabilitation medicine in University of Malaya and the country. 8.6 Services 8.61 Clinical Services There includes: General Services, Rehabilitation Medicine Consultation, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Wheelchair Management Service 8.62 Specialized Services There includes: Specialty Clinics Rehabilitation Medicine Consultation Neuro-surgical Rehabilitation Neuro-medical Rehabilitation Diabetic Footcare and Wound Management Consultation Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Amputee Rehabilitation Paediatric Neurodevelopmental Rehabilitation Geriatric Rehabilitation Sports Rehabilitation Upper Limb and Hand Rehabilitation Burns Rehabilitation Diabetic Footcare and Wound Management Orthotics and Prosthetics Pre-Driving Assessment Work Resettlement Psychosocial Rehabilitation Swallowing Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation Scoliosis Womens Health Cardiac Rehabilitation Wheelchair Seating Clinic Vestibular Rehabilitation 8.7 Support Group Activities Apart from providing the core rehabilitation services, the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine is also involved in co-ordinating various activities such as the following