Research portfolio Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Portfolio - Research Paper Example Moreover, in recent decades, research evidence has demonstrated a significant association between declining levels of physical activity in children, overall increases in children's body weights, and the incidence of obesity (Goran et al., 1999). The most widely accepted hypothesis for this association is that over time cultural changes and technological advances have resulted in less physical activity and promoted a gradually more sedentary lifestyle (Goran et al. 1999; Luepker, 1999). This mirrors what is occurring in the adult population and highlights the influence that parental physical activity behaviours have on the behaviours of children (Goran et al., 1999). Clearly, physical activity plays a critical role in the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity, leading some experts to suggest that if physical activity levels were increased that the epidemic of childhood obesity would diminish or even disappear (Luepker, 1999). Research has suggests the need for family-based int erventions since families share genetic disposition as well as environments (Hill & Trowbridge, 1998). Accomplishing the task of combating childhood obesity will require that every family become committed to improving their children's physical activity habits. ... Moreover, children learn lifestyle behaviours from an early age and may be more flexible in their ability to change behaviours than adults. Many parents, however, lack knowledge about healthy lifestyle practices and/or fail to encourage or model these healthy behaviours for their children. Parents of overweight children also may tend to underestimate their child's weight and may not be as concerned about their child's physical inactivity. It is important to understand whether this lack of knowledge and/or modelling of healthy behaviours on the part of the parents are related to unhealthy practices among their children. According to Nicklas and Johnson (2004), health promotion interventions should be implemented at an age when a child is still impartial to change, which is typically prior to entrance into sixth grade. The role of the home environment is critical to prevent childhood obesity. Parents must provide a physically active environment for their children, and limit the amount of time spent in sedentary behaviours. Parental controls of television viewing can have many benefits. Research Questions The specific research question of this study is: What are the parental controls and restrictions regarding television viewing among students? Sub-questions for the study were: (a) Does the parental controls and restrictions that are being used by parents correlate with children's BMI; (b) Do parental controls differ according to the child's age? Literature Review Family Environment and Childhood Obesity The best way to significantly affect the prevalence of childhood obesity is to prevent it. Therefore, the issue of childhood obesity becomes a family affair. Families provide the primary

Percussion Ensemble Concert Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Percussion Ensemble Concert - Essay Example While the same group of musicians performed all the specific percussion tracks, there was considerable variety within these performances. The first performance was of Christopher Rouse’s Ku-Ka-Ilimoku. Even as there was a large amount of musicians, the majority of the musicians in this piece or participated in minimal ways. Instead the main focus was on a group of 7-8 musicians. These musicians implemented snares, timpani drums, and a variety of wood percussion instruments. The sound was clearly influenced by Polynesian tribal songs. In this way the rhythm advanced through an upbeat pace, as if the ensemble was performing tribal rituals for a war hunt. The pulsating and upbeat rhythm remained consistent throughout the song. In large part the melody and thematic undercurrents were established through juxtapositions between the specific percussion players. For instance, numerous times the snare and timpani would stop playing and the only thing that would be heard were the log dr ums and mallets. Still, in these instances the song’s high tempo was maintained. ... While the previous song had a robust and rough around the edges feel, this song was considerably more fragile. Indeed, I considered that the disparity of these songs was so great that outside of a concert hall they would never be performed in the same setting. Even though this song was fragile and minimal, the use of the xylophone allowed the percussion ensemble to produce more intricate and enjoyable melodies. David Skidmore’s Ritual Music followed this song. This percussion track primarily implemented the xylophone and timpani drums. One of the most notable aspects of this track was the minimalist beginning. In these regards, the only thing the audience could hear was the clinging of the xylophone. After a few beats the rest of the ensemble joined in the track. To a large part this track was the most experimental track that was performed throughout the night. The rhythm greatly varied from low tempo to upbeat and frantic. There additionally was not a regular melody to follow , as the musicians instead focused on texturing the soundscape through innovative percussive techniques. Edgar Varese’s Ionisation and Christopher Deane’s Parallel Isometry followed this tracks. Ionisation used the most traditional percussion arrangement, including snare drums, mallets, cymbals, timpani, and wood block. The song started off with a dampened sound, as if people were wandering around in the dark. In large part this was interesting for the contrast of instrumentation in creating the unique rhythmic progressions. This muffle sound ultimately gave way to a cacophony of noise. The final track was Parallel Isometry. While Ionisation used a rough and chaotic sound, this track began with a

A critical analysis of Goodbye Lenin!

A critical analysis of Goodbye Lenin! The Relationship between History and Memory: The post-war period ends in Germany in 1989 by demolishing of the Berlin wall. The unification process brought a lot of problems in all sections of the society. It has also brought problems to Germany’s future role as economic and political powers and directs the attention again to the challenging bequests of the past and tries to change the meanings of the national culture as a united Europe to sharp and clear the economic, social and ethnical differences. After 17 year of CDU rule, in 1998, the new SPD was led by Chancellor Gerhard Schroder and it made its way into recruit social and economic reforms to make the country more flexible on immigration, employment problems and more competitive in the global market. However, this move made a lot of concerns about the pulling down of the social welfare state, the crosion of a German Leitkultur and the problems in the New States as there were still racial violence and employment issues. When the government moved into Berlin, the st ructures of Reichstag and Potsdamer Platz, made the public think about the changes in the nation and identity. All of these events had an impact on the German cinema but they were less traceable in the few feature films that had a direct theme about the unification than in the unpredicted revival of popular cinema, based on a critical examination by some film scholars (Rentschler 2000). Film-makers returned to the post-war period genre to address special unification problems as a method of retrieving the stabilising purpose of classical narrative and of applying these effects. This process found an expression in the new generation’s disagreement to film movement with the social and political including New German Cinema. The young film-makers from producers to directors did not accept its philosophy of the authorship and individualism for a more practical, cooperation and between creative and marketable interests. Considering entertainment as a primary essential in cinema and films, they organized themselves with international trends in film-financing and marketing that had made the 1990s an bland decade for films, conquered by the blockbuster films. However, replying to some domestic worries, film-makers registered the consistent effects of genre in the modifying of the German past and the remapping of the German present inside the cultural and geopolitical of post-wall Europe, and trying to approach themselves openly to German audiences, the films of the 1990s required to house the audience’s conflicting desire of both creating the narratives of the Germannerss less complex and give more room for optimistic images of a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural culture. It is also considered that the wider the effect of continuing reconsideration for modern filmic performs and the writing of film history. Film scholars have started to check the main serious models and give extra care to the connections between German popular cinema and its purpose. In Goodbye Lenin! (Dir.: Wolfgang Becker, 2003), it reveals the change of viewpoint on the sense of East-West unity in post-wall Germany. Becker approaches to unification in his film Goodbye Lenin! By exanimating the images of separation and connection that he created. He also approaches unification between the East and the West as something unwelcome. The conception of merging two parts together becomes the idea of one part is overwhelming the other and the other is fighting this engagement. The resistance rest on viewing the German Democratic Republic which is known as East Germany as a unified individual part. As the rest of the film focus on keeping the impression of GDR unity in the unification’s strength to erase that impression. The beginning scenes of Alex’s childhood express the separation of Germany in this film as a represented by the family. It seems to allow for more pleasant relationships for Alex’s disappointment to his father who travels to the we st and Alex’s mother and sister remains in the East. The separation is not about the division of the two parts but rather about the discharge of disruptive elements from the controlled unity of the GDR. The separation leads to more tightly enforced impression of the unity as a clue in the mother’s efforts to express any need for going back with the father. However, instead of trying to bring the father back to her world, she creates a new world where the father has no role in it. She merges the family without him in her alleged fight to assistance the GDR achieve its socialistic values. Therefore there is no desire to overcome the separation between the East and the West. The film represents the unity of the GDR through many home movies and flashbacks to Alex’s childhood which makes the family overcomes the difficulty of the fact that the father left the home and the mother’s breakdown to develop as loyal supporters of the GDR socialism. Later on, Alex jo ins in protests for freedom to travel out the GDR. At this moment, the mother sees Alex in the protest and she faint because of her son’s challenge for his dream, she represents diverts him from his hard work to rebel. Christiane goes into an eight months coma. As Christiane wakes from her coma, Alex fears that if she knew about the GDR after the fall of Berlin wall, the shock will give her another heart attack after the first heart attack in 1989 and it will result in her death as her doctor advised Alex. As he is faced with the loss of both of his mother and the state with which she recognized, the memory of his childhood and the vanishing GDR starts to take on parallel potentials to his imaginations of space. The historical distance of his East German childhood, offers Alex a wish of a resting place away from experience of time that would separate him quickly from his mother and his past. All of these losses to Alex share a desire for a division, a slow flow of time. As Svetlana Boym says of nostalgia: â€Å"At first glance, nostalgia is a longing for a place, but actually it is a yearning for a different time- the time of our childhood, the slower rhythm of our dreams. In a broader sense, nostalgia is a rebellion against the modern ide a of time, the time of history and progress.† [1] The film represents the adult’s relationship to the memory of childhood through Alex’s attempts to retain a link to his personal past with all of these changes that happens in his world that surround him, hoping that he can extend his mother’s life. Alex hides the breakdown of the East German state by recreating his mother’s bedroom with the outmoded GDR furnishings that he and his older sister threw after the breakdown. Alex also create the childhood â€Å"heaven† that he never had before and his dream of that perfect place battle both of communism and capitalism’s large-scale difficulties of endless progress, Alex turns his perfect place desire hidden, looking for asylum in the expectedness of everyday life and in the national spaces of personal childhood. Andreas Huyssen proposes that this â€Å"memory boom†¦ is a potentially healthy sign of contestation† in our fast-paced world, â€Å"recover[ing] a mode of contemplation outs ide the universe of simulation and fast-speed information and cable networks† as well as stating â€Å"the basic human need to live in extended structures of temporality.†[2] However, Alex’s preservation act carries a positive potential in the context of the unification and the resulting disagreements of both the social and political structures of East German. He risks delaying a method of observation that would result to his mother’s death, covering himself instead in the comfort of a timeless present. Christiane’s bedroom becomes a shelter, where the desperate hurry to unification and the similarly swift closure of the GDR have slowed down. In reconstructing the physical environment linked with his childhood, Alex offers himself a historical space to renegotiate his connection to his past in the way of the incoming loss. As modern institutions to everyday life in the GDR favour to concentrate on house entities rather than the political leftovers, Alex’s plan steps out of the current of historical disorder and harsh change, lasting in the slower pulses of his private life. The level of protection about the objects that relates to his mother’s extended survival, Alex’s museum space offers him time to imitate on the chance of his mother’s death, by the help of artefacts that created a memory aid link to the disappearing GDR. In a argument on the changing meanings of museums in the modern culture, Andreas Huyssen proposes that modern museums support us â€Å"to negotiate and to articulate a relationship to the past that is always also a relationship to the transitory and to death, our own included;† we may therefore see the museum as â€Å"a life-enhancing rather than mummifying institution in an age bent on the destructive denial of death†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . [3]Alex’s museum space offers him the chance to get to the loss on his own agenda, to show sorrow if his mother died without a limit, surrounded by entities that reminds him of the childhood in an atmosphere of quiet echo. Regardless of the positive Alex’s protection of culture entities to protect against the comprehensive removal of the East and to heal his approval of his personal loss, the trick is triggered in his rebuilding that will eventually prevents from a positive relationship to the past, present, or future. To defend his mother from the shock he worries that he will kill her, Alex must retain the impression that the radical changes of the Wende did not happen. Rather than easily simplifying things his mother, and himself, into the present, Alex works progressively to duplicate a frame in the past, pouring Western foods into East German jars and bottles collected from the trash, filming fake East German news and even forcing friends and guests to wear old East German clothes. Unlike a museum, where the physical and historical distance between viewer and entity inspires a serious echo, Alexâ€℠¢s complete rebuilding a time-sphere to put his mother in the impression of a timeless present, where artefacts of the past may not show any symbols of age. Boym distinguishes between two types of nostalgia: restorative nostalgia, which search for to reconstruct the missing home and reflective nostalgia, which lingers lovingly on ruins. As Boym express that, â€Å"Restoration signifies a return to the original stasis, to the prelapsarian moment. The past for the restorative nostalgic is a value for the present; the past is not a duration but a perfect snapshot. Moreover, the past is not supposed to reveal any signs of decay; it has to be freshly painted in its â€Å"original image† and remain eternally young. Reflective nostalgia is more concerned with historical and individual time, with the irrevocability of the past and human finitude. Reflection suggests new flexibility, not the reestablishment of stasis. The focus here is not on recovery of what is perceived to be an absolute truth but on the meditation on history and the passage of time†.[4] Both the ordinary route of time and the historical disorders of 1989-1990 have distorted Alex’s childhood desire to travel and the physical distance to outer space into a desire for the historical distance of his East German childhood, by exaggeratedly breaking up the historical distance of his East German childhood. However, he fights his thinking on the route of time, and as a result, he fails to arise to a conclusion of loss. Though his mother’s bedroom protects him from the leap of life in the real world, Alex dodges fronting the option of death by constructing a zone where time is reach a stationary point. Also, since he cannot settle the joy of unification and trying to protect of the past at the same time, Alex’s inner and external worlds develop ever more separation. Throughout the film, the West German football team’s victory in the 1990 World Cup aids as an icon of internal unity in Germany, motivating the approaches of unity and shared celebrati on. Good Bye, Lenin! Ends with the collocation of the depressing, broken-down streets of the GDR and the bright colours of the Super-8 films that had represented happy moments in Alex’s childhood in the beginning of the film. Once the Berlin Wall falls, Alex’s desire for the slower pace of life was paid by the distance of space as well as his East German childhood is an answer to his requirement to sorrow the loss of his mother in a historical time-space isolated from that which so quickly and unsentimentally thrown out the GDR. Though he briefly falls as a victim to a returning nostalgia that would prevent him from carrying on into the future, Alex on the other hand reveals how the protection of East German popular and culture’s entities in unified Germany can aid the GDR citizens to keep a connection to the his past, simplifying the echo on the route of time and recognising the loss that relates to the unstable cultural significance of East German entities. Alex in the end sends his mother’s ashes into the air on a firecracker that had the same identity and was almost a replica to the tiny rocket of his childhood. As he is looking up at the fireworks in the sky, he imagines that his mother is looking down on them from space. The meaning of his relationship to space has now upturned from the diversion of his childhood to accept the death fact in adulthood. For Alex, GDR childhood breaks and fails as being a â€Å"haven† to him, where he can delay sadness forever, and he develops a collection of cultural markers and personal memories that open up a dialogue between the real and imagined spaces of past, present, and future. Alex’s desire for a different knowledge of time eventually will accomplishes its positive prospective to recuperate a missing connection to the slower rhythms of East German childhood, standing in front of fast and confusing historical disorder. In Pierre Nora article ‘Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Memorie’, he claimed that many section of memory exists because people do not have impulsively arising memory, instead, the people depend on history to fill in the gaps of their memory. He also claims that the leftovers of an experience have been â€Å" ‘moved under the heaviness of a essentially historical sensibility’ with haunting images of the â€Å"push and pull† result of historical moments that are being separated from the movement of history and then re-joint, ‘like shells on the shore when the sea of living memory has receded.† [5]Nora proposes that the existing desire for archives files aids his philosophy in that nations are trying to record everything based on the philosophy â€Å"record as much as you can, something will remain.† Nora appears to understand the government’s history storing because the culture’s quantity has crushed the real m emory. Bibliography: Anton, Christine, Pilipp Frank, Beyond Political Correctness. Remapping German Sensibilities in the 21st Century (Germany: Rodopi, 2010), pp: 218-220 Clarke, David, German Cinema since Unification (London: Continuum, 2006), pp: Hake, Sabine, German National Cinema (London: Routledge, 2001), 179-180 Nora, Pierre, ‘Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mà ©moire’ in Representations, No. 26, Special Issue: Memory and Counter-Memory, (spring, 1989), pp. 7-24. [1] Clarke, David, German Cinema since Unification (London: Continuum, 2006), pp: 26 [2] Clarke, David, German Cinema since Unification (London: Continuum, 2006), pp: 27 [3] Clarke, David, German Cinema since Unification (London: Continuum, 2006), pp: 27 [4] Clarke, David, German Cinema since Unification (London: Continuum, 2006), pp: 32 [5] Nora, Pierre, ‘Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mà ©moire’ in Representations, No. 26, Special Issue: Memory and Counter-Memory, (spring, 1989), pp. 7-12.

Utility of Service :: essays research papers

Utility of Service Property and casualty insurance, more specifically auto insurance, is an intangible product and is a service purchased by consumers that they hope they never have to use. This is contrary to most any other good or service. You would not buy a car to never use or go to a doctor and pay for treatment you do not expect to receive. The consumer pays for a promise that they hope to never collect on. As a result the service is viewed rather negatively by the pubic and becomes an item that must be purchased out of fear of loss and by order of state statutes. Consumers have several needs that drive the purchase of auto insurance policies. The first requirements being state statutes that mandate certain coverage before registering and tagging a vehicle, maintaining a valid drivers license, and satisfying the demands of financing companies for purchased automobiles. The second reason for obtaining auto insurance policies is to protect the current assets and potential future earnings from loss. These loses may occur from damage resulting from acts of nature, collisions or from liability claims award to injured third parties. The purchase of insurance protects the consumer from financial losses up to the limits of the policy. This provides peace of mind for the consumer and for financing companies by ensuring that monies are available to cover losses so the life and economic status of the purchaser is not impacted. Comparative or Substitute services Insurance is insurance. There is not a substitute unless that is a well-padded bank account. Realistically that is not even a substitute as losing $100,000 of an individuals hard earned dollars to one claim is far more impactive than that same person having paid premiums of $1000 per year for ten years before making that claim. The insurance company would then pay on that person’s behalf, therefore resulting in an overall outlay of $10,000 from the consumer that is far more palatable by any account. Price Elasticity The insurance industry is generally price elastic in the state of Florida. This is due to the regulations requiring drivers to carry at least two types of coverage. This requirement changes to three forms if the driver is involved in an accident causing injury to another party. The price may change for the product due to the individuals driving or claims history or the rating structure from company to company.

Al-Fatihah

It is named Al-Fatihah, the Opening – because it opens the Book and the recitation in prayer commences by it. It is also named Umm al-Qur'an, the Mother of the Qur'an, and Umm al-Kitab, the Mother of the Book because the meaning of the entire Qur'an is summarised therein. It is also named Sab'ulMathani, (the Seven Often Repeated Verses), Al-Hamd, (the Praise), Al-Shifa (The Cure) and ArRuqya, the Spiritual Cure. Its recitation is a condition for the effectiveness of the prayer. It is the Mecci Surah of the Holy Quran. It was initially the 5th chapter to be disclosed but after Furqan e Hameed was assembled together, it was put at the beginning. Al-Fatiha itself means â€Å"The Opening† as this chapter comes right at the start of the Holy Book and serves as a Gateway to read Quran Majeed further. It also has the honor of being the very first Surah that is made known completely. Although it consists of 7 Ayats only, but it still explains the Almighty's reverence in a very comprehensive fashion and is a great means of asking Allah for keeping one on the right path.Virtues of Surah Fatiha There are many virtues associated with this Surah. Hazrat Abu Saeed al-Khudri narrates: â€Å"While on a journey we halted at a place. A girl came to us and said: â€Å"The chief of this tribe has been stung by a scorpion and our men are not present, is there anybody amongst you who can recite something upon him to treat him?† Then, one of our men went along with her although we did not think that he knew any such treatment. However, our friend went to the chief and recited something upon him and the chief was cured. Thereupon, the chief gave him thirty sheep and gave us all milk to drink. When he returned, we asked our friend: â€Å"Did you know anything to recite upon him to cure him?† He said: â€Å"No, I only recited Umm al-Kitab upon him.† We said that do not do anything until we reach Madinah and ask the Prophet regarding this (practice and reward whether the sheep were lawful or not for us). Upon reaching Madinah, we narrated this to the Prophet (PBUH), whereupon he remarked: â€Å"How did he come to know that Al-Fatiha can be used as a cure? (PBUH) Distribute your reward amongst yourselves and a lot a share for me as well†Theme of Surah Fatiha Allah has taught in this Surah to mankind to offer prayer to Him, who is the Lord of this universe before seeking guidance and Who alone can grant it. The reader should have a firm belief that the Creator of the universe is the source of all knowledge and the study of Quran can provide him guidance. Islam requires a man to commence everything with the name of Allah. By doing this he will keep himself away from evil and wrong deeds. Then there is prayer of Allah Who is Master, Owner, Sustainer, Provider, Guardian, Sovereign, Ruler, Administrator and Organizer. Then it is added that He is the Master of the Day of Judgment, thus, everyone is accountable for his deeds. Mankind is only worshiper of the Lord and for this reason, mankind is requesting for guidance in every walk of life. The guidance which make mankind favorable is required. The one who will be astray will suffer the wrath of Allah (SWT). Brief Tafseer of Surah FatihaIn the name of Allah The first ayah of Surah Fatiha is: In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Most Merciful. (Al-Fatiha: 1) This phrase is known as the bismillah. It is good to recite it before doing any action.The Meaning of the letter Baa The Baa in the Arabic language can have three different meanings:With – With / In the name of AllahSeeking help – Seeking help of the name of AllahSeeking blessing – Seeking blessing with the name of AllahThe Meaning of al-Rahman and al-RaheemBoth these names are derived from the same root letters: raa, haa, meem; which means to have mercy.They are thus similar in meaning and both are connected to Allah's (SWT) Mercy. The fact that Allah (SWT) mentions two of His Names which have to do with Mercy, rather than Might and Power or so on, shows just how important this Attribute is.The difference between al-Rahman and al-Raheem is that al-Rahman refers to Allah's (SWT) Mercy to all of creation. It is His Mercy which is extended to both believers and disbelievers; animals, and everything that exists. He says in the Qur'an:My Mercy encompasses all things. (Al-A'raf: 156)Al-Rahman therefore indicates the extreme vastness of Allah's (SWT) Mercy. It is mentioned in a hadith that Allah (SWT) divided Mercy into 100 parts and sent down only one part to this dunya. It is from this one part of His Mercy that animals show mercy to their offspring (Sahih Muslim). Al-Raheem refers to Allah's (SWT) Mercy which is specific for the believers. He says in the Qur'an:All Praise is due to AllahThe second ayah is: All praise be to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. (Al-Fatiha: 2)The Meaning of Hamd and the Difference between Hamd and ShukrHamd means praise and thankfulness. The scholars differed as to the relation between the words hamd and shukr. Some said that they both have the same meaning. So, the meaning of hamd, in their view, is the same as shukr (gratitude). Hamd is something which must be done with love and reverence, but shukr does not need this. Shukr is done in response to a favour which is done to a person but hamd is done simply because the one being praised and thanked is worthy of that.The Meaning of ‘AalameenSome of the differing views about it are that it refers to:Everything which exists other than Allah ta'aalaaMankind and the jinnThose things which have an intellect, and they are four: mankind, jinn, angels, and devilsThose things which have soulsThe best view is the first one, the proof being ayah 23 and 24 of Surah Shu'ara. (23)Said Pharaoh, â€Å"And what is the Lord of the worlds?†(24) [Moses] said, â€Å"The Lord of the heavens and earth and that between them, if you should be convinced.The Beneficent, The Most MercifulThe third ayah is:The Beneficent, The Most Merciful. (Al-Fatiha: 3)There is repetition of these two names to emphasi ze the importance of the quality of mercy. Also, when something is repeated in the Qur'an, then you should look at the ayah before it and after it, to see how they are related. In this case, the previous ayah mentioned that Allah (SWT) is the Rabb of all the worlds. So, He repeating the words, al-Rahman al-Raheem after that, shows us that His being the Rabb – His taking of and sustaining and providing for us – is all part of His Mercy towards us. Master of the Day of RewardThe fourth ayah is:The Only Owner of the Day of Recompense. (Al-Fatiha: 3)The Meaning of MaalikThe first word of this ayah can be recited in two ways: either as â€Å"Maalik† (with a madd after the meem) or as â€Å"Malik† (without the madd). Maalik means master, and it refers to â€Å"milk† – the ownership of something. Malik means king, and it refers to â€Å"mulk† – the dominion of a person.God is the Lord of the Day when all generations of mankind gather together on order to render an account of their conduct, and when each person will be finally rewarded or punished for his deeds. The description of God as Lord of the Day of Judgement following the mention of his benevolence and compassion indicates that we ought to remember another aspect of God as well-namely, that He will judge us all, Hence, we ought not only to love Him for nourishing and sustaining us and for His compassion and mercy towards us, but also hold Him in awe because of His justice. You (Alone) We WorshipThe fifth ayah is:You (alone) we worship and You (alone) we ask for help. (Al-Fatiha: 5)At this point, there is a shift in the Surah from informing us about Allah (SWT) and praising Him, to addressing Him.†We worship† means we obey. Worship is obedience and self-abasement. It means to humble yourself before Allah (SWT) and to submit to His Will. The ayah affirms the Lordship of Allah.†Iyyaaka nasta'een† means we seek help and success. Usually, in most sentences the verb comes first and then the object; but in this ayah the object of the verb is mentioned first and then the verb to attach importance to it, to Allah (SWT). It also refers the status of the slave and his worship which is lower so it will come after mentioning the Lord, Allah (SWT).Guide us on the Straight PathThe sixth ayah is:Guide us on the Straight Path. (Al-Fatiha: 5)This ayah is a dua which we make to Allah (SWT). We ask Him to show us the Straight Path and to guide us on it, so that we will get His Guidance which draws us closer and nearer to Him. We need to struggle towards Allah (SWT) by doing good deeds and by staying away from all bad deeds which will distance us from Him. The Meaning of MustaqeemMustaqeem is derived from istaqaama, which means to be upright and correct. We already said that for a road to be a sirat it must be straight, so this adjective of mustaqeem again emphasizes the straight path. Another meaning of mustaqeem is to remain firm without tilting. For example, a tree that is firmly grounded when the wind blows it is not affected by it. So, the Straight Path is a path on which people are firmly grounded. The Path of Those†¦The seventh and final ayah is:The path of those you have blessed, not of those with anger on them, nor of those who are astray. (Al-Fatiha: 7)This ayah is for the people Allah has blessed and his guidance. This is explained by Allah (SWT) in another ayah where He says: Whosoever obeys Allah and the Messenger, they are with those whom Allah has favored, the Prophets, the sincere, the martyrs and the righteous, and these are the best company. (Al-Nisa': 69)So, the favored and blessed people are the Prophets, the righteous, the martyrs and the pious. And who are the people with anger on them and those who are astray? This is explained by the Prophet. ‘Adi ibn Hatim (RA) asked him about those with anger on them and he replied that it refers to the Jews. He then asked him about those who are astray and he replied that it refers to the Christians. Impact of Surah Al-Fatiha on the life of a Muslim as servant of Allah.The recitation of Surat Al-Fatiha in every Salat cause us to reflect deeply on our relationship with Rabb Al-‘Alameen; it drive us to ensure that we are sincere to the meaning of the words we utter when we say You alone we worship, and in You alone we seek help. Reciting these words cause us to shape our lives according to His commands and prohibitions, in preparation for meeting the Owner/King of the Day of Judgement. And above all else, it informs us and reminds us that all praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. The hamd or praise over, the Surah draws attention to the all-encompassing providence of God, His mercy, and His justice; and thus gives a comprehensive picture of divine attributes which operate to provide man with all that he needs to sustain and develop the humanity in him and prevent him from going down in the scale of life.

Ethics of Autonomous Drones in the Military

Jared May Professor Elfstrom February 25, 2013 Intro to Ethics A Soldier, Taking Orders From Its Ethical Judgment Center In this article the author Cornelia Dean has three major points that are supported by arguments made by others. The first major important point is the hopeful idea that autonomous robots can perform more ethically in combat situations than any soldier in the same scenario.She states that even the best and most trained soldiers that are in the midst of battle may not always be able to act accordingly with the battlefield rules of engagement that were stated by the Geneva Convention because of possible lashing out from normal human emotions such as anger, fear, resent, and vengefulness. The second major point Dean wants to show, by the views and studies of others, in her article is that with this possible step in our evolution of military technology we do not want to let this idea fade away.Another major point is if we do develop this technology how would we do so, a nd if not, would we regret not advancing in this field further many years from now. With all of this information Dean uses to present her ideas there are still major flaws such as, the majority of these ideas and beliefs are theoretical, they still have not been fully tested, there is error in all technologies, and where else would the technological advancements lead artificial intelligence.The first argument providing support for Dean’s major point comes from the research hypothesis and thoughts of a computer scientist at Georgia Institute of Technology named Ronald Arkin. Arkin is currently under contract by the United States Army to design software programs for possible battlefield and current battlefield robots. The research hypothesis of Arkin is that he believes that intelligent autonomous robots can perform much more ethically in the heat of the battlefield than humans currently can.Yet this is just a hypothesis and while there is much research done towards this hypoth esis there are still no absolutely positive research information that states an autonomous robot drone can in fact perform better than any soldier on the ground or up in a plane could do. In Arkins hypothesis, he stated that these robots could be designed with no sense of self-preservation. This means that without one of the strongest fears for humans, the fear of death, these robots would be able to understand, compute, and react to situations with out outside extraneous emotions.Although the men and women designing these robot programs may be able to eliminate this psychological problem of scenario fulfillment, which will cause soldiers to retain information that is playing out easier with a bias to pre-existing ideas, it is not always the case that this happens to soldiers. You have to realize that from the second a soldier begins his training he is trained and taught to eliminate the sense of self-preservation. There are isolated incidents with soldier error, but they are and wi ll be corrected by superior officers or their fellow soldiers.Another factor that affects Cornelia Dean’s arguments is that there are errors in all things including technology. Throughout history there have been new uses of technology in warfare but with these come problems and error flaws that have cause and can cause more casualties than needed. With the use of an Automated drone the belief by Dean is that it will be able to decide whether or not to launch an attack on a high priority target whether or not if the target is in a public are and will decide if the civilian casualties would be worth it.But what happens if that drone is only identifying the target and the number of civilians surrounding it? It will not be able to factor in what type of people would be around him such as men, women, or children and any variance of them. The error in this situation would be the drone saying the target is high enough priority and a missile is launched and the civilians were women a nd children around while a school bus was driving by.The casualties would then instantly out weigh the priority to eliminate a specific target and a human pilot would much easier abort a mission than a predetermined response of an autonomous robot. Although Ronald Arkin believes there are situations that could arise when there may not be time for a robotic device to relay back what is happening to a human operator and wait for how to respond in the situation that could complete a mission, it may be that second of time delay between the robot and human operator that the ethical judgment is made.Also the realization that many robots in which are operated by humans are widely used to detect mines, dispose of or collects bombs, and clear out buildings to help ensure extra safety of our soldiers is a way that robots are already used today as battlefield assistants supports Dean. But all of these machines in the field have moments of failure or error. When the machines do fail it takes a soldier who has trained for that experience to fix and then use it again. If an autonomous drone fails while on a mission it is completely by its self and no human operator to fix it.Then can arise the problem of enemies realizing they were even being monitored and they could gain access to our military technology and can eventually use it against us. Another major point that Cornelia Dean discusses upon is with this possible step in our evolution of military technology we do not want to let this idea fade away. A large part of that is if we do develop this technology how would we do so, and if not, how much would we regret or how much would it affect us for not advancing in this field further many years from now.The argument that if other countries advance upon this faster and better than the United States military we could become less of a world power and be more at risk of attack and war with greater human fatalities is not necessarily true. This situation is important in the sen se of keeping up with the other world powers but I believe that the risk for reward is not worth the amount of damage and civilian casualties that could happen from any number of robotic drones and their possible errors.There is a possibility as the technology develops and robots become more and more aware to the point were, Arkin believes that, they can make decisions at a higher level of technological development. Yet if these autonomous robots truly can think for themselves and make decisions brings a whole new possibility of problems of what if the robot can decide something differently than what the developers originally had programmed. Also comes the actual use problem of can the government ethically accept that in early stages of use, even after extraneous testing, there may be accidental casualties.If a robot has any error of making decisions because of how new and un-tested they are any of the possibly terrible results would not be the responsibility of the robot but of the country and government that designed it. The supporting evidence of this article strongly shows that Cornelia Dean will hope that use of these ethically superior autonomous robots will be apart of our military in the near future before the United States fall behind to other super powers in the world.Yet with all of this information Dean uses to present her ideas there are still major flaws such as, the majority of these ideas and beliefs are theoretical, they still have not been fully tested, and that there is error in all technologies. With these major points being enforced with plenty of evidence throughout the article, and with all of the possible negative sides and errors of this argument, it is safe to say that this will be and is a controversial topic of discussion by many governments and all parties involved with this technological advancement.