Benefits Of The For Medicare Payment System ( Mips )

MIPS. It sounds like some kind of disease. And for many providers, it will likely cause as much pain. Starting in 2017, physicians will have to deal with the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). MIPS is intended to measure the performance of Medicare Part B providers in four different performance areas (30% by VBM-measured resource use (claims data), 30% by VBM-measured quality (PQRS data), 25% by Meaningful Use (EHR data), and 15% by a newly introduced â€Å"clinical practice improvement† measure). Providers will then be given a score between 0 and 100. These scores will impact practices in a couple of different ways: 1) Negative scores will affect providers’ Medicare reimbursement 2) Scores will be made available to consumers online†¦show more content†¦Beginning next year, 2017, providers will begin to be scored by the new MIPS measurements and that score will directly impact 2019 reimbursements. And, as we mentioned, on top of being financially impacted by MIPS, providers are also looking at reputation ramifications of low MIPS scores, which will be made public online. The sooner practices can ensure their performance in Meaningful Use, PQRS, and the Value-Based Modifier, the better prepared they’ll be for 2019 MIPS implementation. What Can You Do to Get Ready? With a little over 6 months to prepare, there is much physicians can do to get themselves and their practices ready for MIPS implementation and set themselves up for success. Focus You Efforts When you look at the percentages that will make up the MIPS scores, about 85% will go toward PQRS, MU and VBM. In other words, while you may have secretly prayed at night for these incentive programs to go away, they are not going anywhere. These are the areas you’ve got to focus your efforts on right now. Become a master at these and you’ll be way ahead of the game in 2017. Identify the Quality Measures That Will Most Affect You You’ll want to drill down to identify the clinical quality measures in these current programs that will affect your scope of practice the most. Once you identify them, get as familiar as you can with them so you can score well in your sleep! Maximize Efficiency Because you don’t have a plethora of hours in the day to practice

The Question of Gender Equality in the Armed Forces free essay sample

This study draws on qualitative data and secondary research to analyse the themes of gender, militarism, violence and war. Paying particular attention to women’s experiences in the British Military throughout the study, the ideologies of gender within the armed forces are examined with examples from history. The effect of women’s increased integration into militaries is analysed for both ideological and policy changes to the armed forces, and the effects on the women’s own identities. Focusing on the military as a labour market and as a means to citizenship rights allows for discussions of equality for women within militaries, finally leading to theoretical discussion of the ethics and impact of violence and militarism, exploring the subjectivity of knowledge and the possibility of imaging alternative orders. INTRODUCTION Rationale and Literature Review That we have to talk about ‘women and the armed forces,’ shows the deeply gendered nature of our understandings of militaries and war. The fact that it is necessary to specify ‘female combatants’ indicates their historical rarity, and symbolic position as unconventional figures. Traditionally, war has been perceived as a masculine endeavour for which women may serve as victim, spectator, or prize. Perhaps, as Francine DAmico suggests, the abundance of feminist analysis of the subject is precisely a result of women’s positioning within wars, and the silencing of their war stories. 1 Perhaps our scrutiny is a fascination for the unknown. Perhaps we need to reclaim an erased identity, to legitimize our ability to speak within heavily masculine arenas. The question raised by this study is whether we must participate in war to claim that voice? Cynthia Enloe reminds us to question all which seems most natural, inevitable, or traditional to us. Masculinity and femininity are two categories which demand such attention, and the work of feminists and gender theorists have formed increasingly strong cases which reveal these distinctions as having been made through particular decisions, by specific people. 2 By this understanding, the involvement of women in state militaries is never random. 3 Robert W. Connell’s theory of hegemonic masculinity refers to a particular set of masculine norms and practices that have become dominant in specific institutions of social control. To become hegemonic, cultural norms must be supported by institutional power. Hence, hegemonic masculinity is a set of norms and practices associated with men in powerful social institutions. 4 Once a particular set of behaviours has been established as the norm for appropriate conduct within any institution, it becomes difficult to critique, partly because normativity makes certain practices appear ‘natural’. As Annica Kronsell argues in her study of the Swedish Military, in the history of most military institutions, â€Å"masculinity has been normalized and regularized. †5 This study will draw particularly from existing research about the British context. In a relatively short time, the armed forces of the United Kingdom have made significant advances to integrate women within their military, for various organisational, political and social reasons. 6 Reflecting the political trends in global security and developments towards non-traditional military operations (for instance peacekeeping, peace enforcement and humanitarian intervention), the international movement has been towards an extension of military roles for women, and at present women play a more active and visible role in the armed forces than ever before. 7 â€Å"The increase in the proportion of women in the Armed Forces raises practical and policy issues for the decision-makers within the armed forces. It also raises cultural questions about how gender is understood within the Armed Forces; the challenges which the presence of women in increasing numbers bring to military culture8 and how these matters circulate within and beyond the military into the British society and the international arena as whole. The extent to which women are integrated into the armed forces will be discussed in relation to ideological processes generated by security elites. In the process by which elites in any state conceptualize ‘security,’ the decision-makers must compare threats and enemies, and in doing so, some concerns are prioritised, and others ignored. Such ideological procedures inevitably affect the validity of alternative defence strategies, and again, these are ranked according to their ability to maintain the current order. It is the defense and maintenance of the structures of public authority in the face of either domestic or external challenge which will receive most attention. While constructions of masculinity and femininity are always circulating in and around militarism and war, women -and their bodies- are primary considerations for military and state leaders. The ideological processes that shapes a state’s uses of women in the armed forces are determined by the structures distinguishing and reconciling women’s many roles and ‘natural’ characteristics within that society. 9 One of our goals will be to uncover the process by which gender ideologies are modified, contested and renegotiated by war and militaries. How has war shaped what the culture accepts as ‘natural’ or ’true’ about men and women? And how are men and women shaping militaries and the war-system? Does war result in increased sexual equality? By exploring the conditions under which states include women in the militaries, we contribute to the mounting social science literature and theory concerned with women’s military roles cross-culturally and historically. Research into women’s contemporary military roles, and how gender is constructed within the armed forces is of course, not new within the social sciences, nor is the study of the military experience oriented towards understanding construction of gender identities. There is a growing body of work on femininities and the military experience, with Cynthia Enloe’s work regarding the militarisation of women’s lives providing fresh insights for the Post-Cold War years. Nira Yuval-Davis’ examinations of the links between gender, militarism, and national identities; Christopher Dandeker and L. P. Peach’s cross-national comparative work on combat exclusion; Juanita Firestone and Carole Pateman’s studies on occupational segregation and Segal’s exposition of a broader cross-cultural theorization of women’s military roles, have all contributed to broader theories about the social construction of gender, and have provided the discussion about gender and the military experience with much insight and diversity of theory. Philosophers Hannah Arendt and Jean Bethke Elshtain provide great insight into deconstructing violence and militarism with the purpose of exposing the temporal and subjective nature of political Realism, and its excessive focus on war. The subject of women’s relationship with the military has created intense debate amongst many protagonists, reflecting the controversy and the importance of the issues involved. 10 They may be briefly sketched according to their basic orientation on this issue of combat, ranging from those who are strictly opposed to any utilization of women in the armed forces, to those who ardently support complete access for women. Both military traditionalists and the pacifist feminists, for example, are opposed to women in the armed forces in general and in the combat arms in particular, but their reasoning could not be more opposed. The military often portrays women soldiers as disruptive in combat situations, by exposing the military gender system and therefore damaging the efficiency of the masculine war machine. 11 Feminist observers, on the other hand, tend to regard women soldiers role in a wider debate, as either serving or harming women’s interests. 12 As Orna Sasson-Levy points out, the ongoing debate regarding women’s military service tends to view women soldiers as â€Å"pawns in a bigger game. †13 The most dominant question in this debate is whether military service is a venue for equal citizenship for women or a reinforcement of masculine concepts of security and power. Thus, the contemporary debate on women in the military tends to remain on the macro level and ignores the gender experience of women soldiers themselves. I find that the most interesting arenas for studying gender are those where the ideologies of masculinity and femininity are central to the organisation of social activity, and identity. In these more extreme settings, gender becomes a crucial distinction for stratifying society, and deciding how roles and responsibilities should be assigned. The inclusion of women in ultra-masculinised arenas can simultaneously expose the prioritisation of masculinities within cultures, and calls into question the gender identity of the women themselves. As women represent what has been conceptually and physically denied from masculinised institutions, women’s presence in these spheres reveals the shapes and forms of gender power within such organizations. 14 The narratives of the women become integral to the study, as their agency is often disregarded within the debate as a whole. It is also interesting to analyse how institutions that embody these understandings of gender, also play a dominant role in broader cultural meanings of gender. I find the consequences of this, and the processes by which ideologies of gender become naturalised fascinating, and especially seek to locate these debates within international and epistemological contexts. Theoretical Framework The complex nature of women’s location in institutions of hegemonic masculinity presents a challenge to researchers. Feminist standpoint and postmodernist theories support the argument that the individual woman within these institutions can generate important insights about systems of control, and the effects of gendered hierarchies. Meghana Nayak and Jennifer Suchland have shown that by analysing practices carried out in different sites within hegemonic institutions, highly abstract notions of masculinity can become concrete. The narratives of military women reveal the highly complex operations of hegemonic masculinity. 15 Nancy Harstock’s argues that in this respect, that â€Å"one can only know and appropriate the world (change it and be changed by it) through practical activity. †16 Thus, it is not only what women experience as they go through life, but the insight or consciousness they can gain from their activities and interactions in a gendered world, that produces knowledge. This approach is particularly useful when looking at the effects of militarism on women, and Enloe’s extensive work on this subject prioritises their voice, and their knowledge. I would argue, however, that standpoint theory’s focus on ‘women’s knowledge’ and ‘women’s lives’ as a privileged position for making knowledge claims has tended to essentialize and universalize deconstruct the category ‘woman. ’17 The stability of the category ‘woman’ in standpoint theory has been contested at length by theorists such as bell hooks, along lines of class, sexuality and ethnicity. 18 Since all societies are stratified by class, ethnicity, race, access to natural resources as well as gender, hooks and others argue that there are no ‘women’ standing outside these stratifications. As such, I also utilise feminist and postmodern conceptualizations of identity as relational and situational specific, constructed through everyday repetitive practices. 19 Following much of Judith Butler’s theory, gender identities are analyzed as a â€Å"never-ending series of performative practices, which are repetitive imitations of an imagined gender identity. †20 This theory is extremely useful when analysing identity practices within militaries, as it espouses open and changeable notions of gender. The contrast between the approaches of standpoint and postmodern feminism will help to evaluate whether the possibility of mutual or common political interests between women are possible, despite the unstable and shifting the status of the category ‘woman’. They will also enable us to evaluate the subjectivity of knowledge gained from the various sources of this study. Methodology Theorists of Feminism and International Relations Rebecca Grant and Kathleen Newland regard a feminist epistemology a simply meaning that gender is a key element to the theory and practice of research. 21 They argue that â€Å"The lens of gender offers not just an alternative vision of the world, but one that is more whole and more representative of the spectrum of experience out of which international conflict and cooperation arise. It offers the possibility of an escape from one of the major sources of fragmentation and distortion in our discipline. †22 The extent to which a methodology is feminist, however, stretches beyond the theory which underpins the study. Helena Carreiras reminds us of the importance of â€Å"analysis† exclusively based on the ‘subjective’ dimension of women’s perceptions and representations†23 This study focuses on the subjective gender experience of women soldiers in military roles and the meaning of those experiences at both the microlevel of women’s lives and the macrolevel of the military and state â€Å"gender regimes†. 24 The primary qualitative data for this study will be collected by a small sample of semi-structured interviews informed by feminist interview techniques, with women from the British Military, focusing on prioritising the voice of the research participant throughout the study. Semi-structured interviewing is more flexible than standardised methods such as the structured interview or survey, and a feminist interview method encourages a more reflexive approach that aims to neutralise the hierarchical, exploitative power relations that were claimed to be inherent in the more traditional interview structure, which has traditionally marginalised, inadequately represented, and even excluded womens experiences. Contemporary feminist approaches acknowledge gender inequality and seeks to incorporate an awareness of gender relations through a reflexive approach to interviews. Ann Oakley’s methodology addresses these issues, and she argues that, â€Å"In most cases, the goal of finding out about people through interviewing is best achieved when the relationship of interviewer and interviewee is non-hierarchical and when the interviewer is prepared to invest his or her own personal identity in the relationship. †25 The feminist researchers primary motivations are to empower women and to restructure the imbalance of equality in understanding womens experiences, and so feminist research challenges both the knowledge which is produced and the methods of producing knowledge. Through social research, feminist methods go beyond studying women as objects of investigation. Rather they seek to challenge gender inequalities in social research and to motivate emancipatory, political change of womens experiences in society, engaging with them and recognising the role of the researcher and the influence this has upon the study. In their study of feminist methodologies, Judith A. Cook and Mary Margaret Fonow emphasise the need to challenge the norm of objectivity that assumes that the subject and object of research can be separated from one another and that personal and grounded experiences are unscientific. 26 One way in which feminist researchers have addressed this is through treating the interview as co-constructive. Ann Oakley’s feminist paradigm for interviewing aims to minimize objectification of the subject as data by viewing the interview as an â€Å"interactional exchange. †27 Feminist researchers claim that developing a rapport with interviewees is an essential part of establishing trust, respect and maintaining an empathetic position, and gathering knowledge not just ‘for the sake of it’, but for the women who are providing the information too. Oakley advocates that answering the questions of interviewees humanizes the researcher and places the interaction on a more equal footing. 28 This research method rejects the positivistic ideal of producing an impersonal and objective account of experience. Although the interviewer in this technique will have some established general topics for investigation, this method allows for the exploration of emergent themes and ideas rather than relying only on concepts and questions defined in advance of the interview. Cook and Fonow note that a further aspect of feminist methodology requires investigation into professional gate-keeping practices, including the influence of gate-keeping on topic selection and research funding and the formulation and implementation of alternatives to the present gate keeping system. 29 The relatively closed nature of the military can make it difficult for an interested researcher to secure access to this field. As such, interviews will be arranged with individual women from the Royal Navy, the Royal Airforce (RAF) and the Army through personal recommendations. Despite these connections, the concern for ethical implications of the research are central to the study, and correct ethics procedures will be maintained throug hout the study, with participants being reassured of their anonymity, the availability of copies of the final draft, and security that the information provided will only be used for the purpose of this dissertation, without any view for publication. Studies such as Pamela Cotterill’s concerned with the subject of interviewing women have highlighted the problem that ‘public’ and ‘private’ divisions have their equivalent within language. 30 I have been conscious of the language I have used in this study so as to avoid subordinating women through my research. 31 The experience of individual women, does not, unsurprisingly, produce analogous understandings of gender patterns and feminist theories. Therefore, consciousness about any particular experience must be connected to a wider set of gendered power relations that structures those experiences. We must contextualize individual experiences and isolated events and an important role for the feminist academic is to become a ‘mediator’ between knowledge gained through women’s and men’s daily experiences and knowledge of global gender relations gained from ‘outside. ’32 Despite my focus on the British experience, the case studies and secondary readings used in this research project provide rich empirical material from countries and cultures across the globe, with examples selected which combine both variations and similarities which are sufficient to engage in and develop my research. The standpoint and postmodern theories employed in the approach the semi-structured interviews and their analysis will develop my understanding of whether identity practices reflect a human agency capable of negotiation, renewal, and change and the extent to which they are limited and conditioned by the structure of social relations. 33 Thus, focusing on identity practices enables me to comprehend more fully â€Å"the complexities of structural demands versus human agency, without unduly privileging one over the other† 34 Informed by Sasson-Levy’s interview style in her study of Israeli soldiers, I can analyze how subjective meanings are created at different locations within structures of inequality. 35 As such, I address questions at both the macro- and micro-level, focusing both on the interaction between state institutions and identity practices. CHAPTER ONE THE MILITARY AND IDEOLOGIES OF GENDER â€Å"What we do we often do somewhat unthinkingly, repeating inherited patterns, reconstructing familiar identities, re-encoding traditional scripts. †36 Jean Bethke Elshtain In contrast to Clausewitzs description of war as a continuation of politics by other means, philosopher Hannah Arendt questions the historic transformations and practices that have made possible â€Å"a consensus among political theorists from Left to Right to the effect that violence is nothing more than the most flagrant manifestation of power. †37 Revealing the war system and militaries in this light, demands that we pay attention to the conceptions that allow for this current order. War is understood within an international system and state culture that bases its conceptions of political community on the premise that men’s membership in certain kinds of political collectivities, is related to their preparedness to sacrifice their lives for national security or state interest. 38 The pervasiveness of war in history, and our expectation that men will take part in war has profound consequences for our understandings of masculinity and femininity, and in her work Women and War, Jean Bethke Elshtain has argued that women’s social roles can only be understood when the significance of war and militarism within our societies is fully realised. Thus, for both men and women, ‘gender’ and ‘war’ are inescapably bound together in the history of western thought and practice. There is a close connection between state-making and war-making. Max Weber defines the state precisely by its monopoly over the legitimate use of force, which forms the basis of the coercive power from which states rule particular territories and people. 39 Following this, Nira Yuval-Davis notes that establishing a ‘people’s army’ or introducing national draft has historically been one key method of legitimating particular regimes and governments in various cultures and eras. 40 Gendered and feminist analyses reveal that the state is in almost all cases male dominated, and is in many different ways a masculinist construct. Jan Jindy Pettman argues that â€Å"It is simply not possible to explain state power without explaining women’s systematic exclusion from it. †41 Cynthia Enloe articulates that the military is â€Å"not just another patriarchal institution,†42 but is the institution most closely identified with the state and its particular ideologies. In her historical and cross-cultural study of women’s military roles, Mady Wechsler Segal confirms that the armed forces have traditionally been defined as the most prototypically masculine of all social institutions. 43 It follows that for women to participate in this manly endeavour, either the perception of the armed forces must have changed to make it more amenable to women and femininity, or women have to be perceived as changing in ways that make them more compatible for military service. Segal notes a third option, that the security situation could be so extreme that the ideological concerns are less of a priority than that of national defense. 44 Analysis of the various interrelational factors influencing women’s relationship to, and conceptions of, the armed forces will bring us closer to understanding whether a state’s greater emphasis on ascription by gender limits womens military role. The apparent malleable nature of women’s involvement in the military indicates that conceptions and ideologies are not objective, but socially constructed, and require constant redefinition over time, as the priorities and demands of the armed forces change, and as other structural influences also evolve. Women’s experiences of war, therefore, whether they are treated as actors or subjects, are susceptible to the construction of gender, but also race, class national and political structures operating in and around their lives. Cultural norms about gender have a profound impact on how women are regarded in relation to war, what is expected of them in times of national crisis, and the strength of the repercussions suffered for acting outside the accepted gender boundaries. 45 Developing Segal’s arguments, Darlene Iskra et al. argue that social values about force, power and domination particularly determine how the military is perceived in the society and how the society is able to imagine conflict, and conceive of its resolution. 46 The further into the study of gender relations we explore, particularly with regard to military policies and ideologies, the more apparent it seems that we should not concern ourselves with any objectively ‘true’ or ‘neutral’ knowledge. Rather, this study begins only with the understanding that the discourse of gender and importantly, gender differences, have presently in most societies, great importance attached to them. This has resulted in profound consequences for women and men’s lives. I look to analyse how the interpretation of these ideologies is contextual and changeable, and the effects of these processes are made visible in sites of contention, such as the military. Which particular ideologies of gender have allowed for war to be elevated to its current position within our realist international security agenda? And how are women’s experiences of military life affected by preconceptions of gender roles capabilities? Examining the extent to which wars depend on ideologies of gender and gendered power relations in order to function and evaluating the effect of social, national and political influences on women’s integration into the military will help us to theorise about the constructions of gender implicit to these policy debates, and what this will mean for women’s future military participation. Social Construction and Prevailing Notions of Gender The meanings of sex and gender are socially and historically contingent, and as such, not concepts that are easily definable. Feminists and gender theorists interrogate the essentialist categories of man and woman; male and female, that we use to understand both sex and gender. 47 Even the distinction of ‘sex’ as a purely biological classification, and ‘gender’ as a socially constructed phenomenon is problematic, and excludes those people who identify themselves as asexual, intersexual, transsexual and hermaphroditic. We must also interrogate the dominance of gender as mode of identity formation. Postmodern feminist theory has challenged the universal application of gender, and the perpetuation of its discursive effects, focussing on the category of ‘woman’ in its ability to represent and initiate feminist interests and goals within the discourse. Judith Butler explores the concept of representation as a normative function of a language which is said to â€Å"reveal or to distort what is assumed to be true about the category of women,†48 primarily as this approach pre-empts who is included, and importantly, who is misrepresented or entirely excluded from that category. This undermines the stability of the term ‘women’ and following this argument, the subjects of feminism are themselves regulated, defined and reproduced by the discursive structures which determine them to be ‘women’ in the first place. Whilst the collapse of the category of ‘woman’ would indeed signify a real change to the present gender order, the primacy of gender roles in war and militaries must be attended to if social change and equality are to be realised. It is useful to consider the dynamic construction of sex and gender by theorising about masculinities and femininities broadly, conceptions which Laura Sjoberg describes as â€Å"stereotypes, behavioural norms and rules assigned to people based on their perceived membership in sex categories. †49 I support the approach that gender is not static, but a contingent and changing social process. Connell’s interpretation of gender as a set of discourses which represent and construct and have the power to alter meaning and power within our cultures shows the importance of gender as an analytical concept. 50 This approach enables us to understand the diverse, and sometimes conflicting nature of gender representations, whilst also acknowledging the prevalence of gendered discourses in both international politics and interpersonal identity formation. Following Connell’s approach, social structures such as labour and power are all implicated in any society’s ideas of ‘masculinity’ and ‘femininity’. These structures ideologically construct ‘women’ and ‘men’ in terms of certain characteristics. Zarina Maharaj notes that a certain type of sexuality and a certain possession or lack of authoritative, decision making capacity are regarded as gender identity markers in this way. 51 The extent to which particular roles and norms are seen as appropriate to each gender is therefore socially determined,52 and the division of social activities, responsibilities and capabilities are made along the lines of ‘male’ and ‘female. ’ The degree to which a society exaggerates or minimises the importance of sex differences is reflected in the fabric of its institutions, the history of its traditions and cultures, and the perceptions of its citizens. Therefore, it is my belief that the social roles of men and women, the extent to which deviations to these roles are tolerated, and the boundaries which confine our understandings of gender and sex, are regulated by states and elites in decision-making positions. It follows then, that these definitions are subject to change and due to the activities and knowledge produced by the women’s movement of the past decades, gender roles have indeed been widely discussed in society at large and, have resulted in the establishment of different, non-traditional role models for women. The feminist actions of women themselves are not, however, the only source of change where ideologies of gender are concerned, and in Segal’s model for theorising the women’s involvement in militaries, she argues that political, international, social, cultural and military pressures all influence the level of integration in a state’s armed forces,53 and furthermore, the causal links between these influences and the structure of a society are not always clear, but operate in a interrelational fashion. It is important to understand that the military plays a significant role in determining the degree to which women have become integrated within the armed forces, and economic, political and technological changes have all affected the physical and ideological positioning on women in regard to the military, and in response to its particular requirements. The Status of War Anthropologist Walter Goldschmidt concludes that with war, as with â€Å"all matters cultural, the society shapes natural human capacities and potentialities to it’s accepted purposes, reinforcing some and suppressing others†¦by systematically rewarding and punishing, by indoctrinating youth, creating role models to be emulated, and honouring those who perform well. †54 Behind any war is a system of beliefs that permits them to occur. Standing militaries, training and defence funding take up large proportions of almost every state budget, directly impacting on society, its institutions and its culture. This reflects the global â€Å"predisposition to resort to violence†55 to resolve conflict or pursue interests. This constructivist argument frames war as a human activity and there is much space within it for imagining alternatives to the war system we know. The same capabilities could be applied in a different culture, into non-warlike practices. However, in his study of war and gender, Joshua Goldstein maintains that the connection between the two is â€Å"more stable, across cultures and through time, than are either gender roles outside of war or the forms and frequency of war itself. †56 This can be explained by taking the approach that war is not a natural endeavour for neither man or woman, but in an effort to convince men to lay their lives down for national causes, state ideologies have connected the most highly regarded forms of masculinity with soldiering and war. Goldstein contends that the war system as we recognise it has been shaped and adjusted but that the selection of men as combatants and women as supporters has been consistent across cultures and through time. 57 This tradition is evident in classical social contract theories, where the legitimation of violence, and the accordant citizenship rights attached to this, are exclusive masculine privileges, and this responsibility been utilised by states to divide its citizenry into active and passive halves. 58 This structure is not limited to the national context, and in the anarchical international system which dominant political realists imagine, Tickner confirms that power, autonomy, self-reliance, and rationality are all necessary characteristics of state behaviour, and all of these attributes are ones we associate with a socially constructed ‘ideal-type’ masculinity. 59 In the same way that men within societies have traditionally born the physical duty of defending their nati

The Life and Music of John Coltrane free essay sample

Quintet, which included Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones. He came to national prominence as a member. Coloration moved to New York in 1956. New York was the home of not only many Jazz musicians including Miles Davis, but also record companies and recording studios. But disaster struck, Coloration was kicked out by Miles because of heroin addiction. Coloration was crushed and returned to Philadelphia once more in the spring of 1957 to kick his heroin habit and his alcoholism. With the support of his wife and his mother, he spent an entire week in solitude, eating nothing and drinking only water.He later described being ? Touched? By God during the time, and dedicated his next recording, ? A Love Supreme? , to his Lord. My goal, Coloration said as if (arising from the ashes) like a phoenix to preach his ? Revelation? , is to live the truly religious life, and express it through my music. We will write a custom essay sample on The Life and Music of John Coltrane or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page If you live it, when you play theres no problem because the music is part of the whole thing. To be a musician is really something. It goes very very deep. My music is the spiritual expression of what I am, my faith, my knowledge, my being. He would get rid of his addictions and rejoin the scene with Theologies Monk at New York? S Five Spot, which is know to many Jazz historians as a ? Legendary gig?. He eventually rejoined Miles, by January 958. From this point on, his tenor work displayed amazing fire and invention. His music used basic Jazz as a starting point, incorporated Eastern ideas and free-Jazz tendencies which included multiple or lengthy soloing with boundless energy. With Miles Davis, Chlorates big tone would help make that group one of the greatest Jazz Peg. Ensembles ever assembled. While with Miles he participated in such classic Davis sessions as Milestones and Kind Of Blue. In 1959, Coloration released Giant Steps, a groundbreaking album that firmly established him as a tenor master. His classic Giant Steps album contained the mighty tunes Giant Steps and Countdown?. In 1960, Coloration formed his own group. This group included McCoy Tuner, Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison. This group has be acknowledged as one of the greatest and most celebrated groups in the history of Jazz.They recorded and released a series of great albums including My Favorite Things, A Love Supreme, Coloration Live at Birdman, Transition, and others. Coloration later formed another innovative group, irking with his pianist wife, Alice. Together they went ahead with an extremely free and continuous improvising style. Coloration sought to lead a more healthy life, but unfortunately the excesses of his youth resulted in his early death at the age of 41 of liver disease on July 17, 1967. . It is impossible to grasp the truth behind John Coloration through a slue of facts and dates.All the facts about his short life, all the memories of his friends and fellow musicians, and all the analysis of his playing style tell us hardly anything about the man Coloration himself. Coloration? S belief was that Jazz relies heavily on improvisation. He was known to solo for forty five minutes at a time. One of the interesting things is the same piece might Coloration is to listen to his music. Coloration broke the Jazz sound barrier with his restless experimentation and improvisations, his flamboyant free style of playing drove many listeners away. Joel Odor describes in The Last Giant: The John Coloration Anthology; ? Lets hard to realize, if you werent there, the size of the controversy that whirled around John Coloration and his music in the late ass and early ass. You either dug Trance or you didnt. They tacked that same shadow on Monk. But it was Trance ho really stirred me up. Trances music drove critics, fans, even musicians into violently pro- or con-Coloration camps. I remember seeing guys coming to blows over his music.The fact that he was not even remotely involved in the controversy, Just the music, increased its intensity. ? Other examples of Collocates demeanor and style could be summed here by Mike Sherwin; ? He (Coloration) disliked being restricted by any sort of rules whatsoever. He told Wayne Shorter that he was trying to learn how to start in the middle of a sentence and move in both directions at the same time. About Schoenberg 12-note yester, he said: Damn the rules. Its the feeling that counts. You play all 12 notes anyway. A quote that I personally feel that exemplifies Coloration? S music and style would have to be one by Dawn Severest; ? The frequently mentioned dichotomy between Trances fiery, explosive musicianship and his quiet, gentle demeanor existed in the midst of this multiplicity, surrounded by the controversies among the critics, whose portraits of Trance ranged from that of a blasphemous perpetrator of anti-Jazz to that of a musician whose career as saxophone soloist, bandleader, and composer defined (and pedaled redefined) the style of music known as Jazz.? I think, Coloration shared once, the main thing a musician would like to do is to give a picture to the listener of the many wonderful things he knows and senses in the universe. Thats what music is to meits Just another way of saying this is a big, beautiful universe we live in, thats been given to us, and heres an example of Just how magnificent and encompassing it is. Thats what I would like to do. I think thats one of the greatest things you can do in life, and we all try to do it in some way. The Caucasians is through his music. John Coloration could? T have said it better, and his universe as perceived through his music is indeed beautiful and fast paced, but at the same time can be slow and methodical. He had an incredible talent, but it is the type of person he was that makes his music so memorable. Listening to him one could come to believe he doses? T even know your there he Just plays his feelings, his thoughts, his memories, and we are given a picture a window so to speak into his world of religious devotion and his aspirations. For that many listeners and even Caucasians were turned away feeling like he was a rebel who was producing nothing feels deep inside. Another way of putting that would be to say he was attacked because he chose not to bend his concepts of music in order to accommodate the pre-determinations and limitations of the audiences ear. But for the same reasons others were drawn to that unique style of music. His music was non political for the most part except for Alabama, his eulogy for four young black girls killed in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.

Constitionality of Zoning Ordinances essays

Constitionality of Zoning Ordinances essays Testing the Constitutionality of Zoning and Character Ordinances for Nude Dancing The art of dance has been an avenue of free expression in cultures worldwide since human kind first set foot upon the earth, and the culture of the United States is no exception. However, when the clothes come off and the dancing takes on an exotic nature, the constitutional protection of the art form is often called into question. In Santa Barbara, a two-part ordinance involving the location and character of such establishments has brought to the forefront a fierce new first amendment debate. John Meinzer, owner of The Pink Flamingo nude dancing parlor, has brought before this court an objection to this ordinance, claiming that it discriminates against the content of the message he and his dancers are trying to convey. After reviewing the facts, precedent, and all other evidence, I argue that both parts of this ordinance fall under the rights of the city under first amendment review to perform its duty in protecting the welfare of its community. Under this new ordinance, adult entertainment would be permitted, but only in areas zoned for commercial and industrial uses. No adult entertainment businesses could be allowed within 500 feet of any residential area. They could be no closer than 700 feet from any house of worship, school, park or beach, and would have to be at least 1000 feet from each other. In this case, the amount of distances being specified are not the significant concern. Rather, the very existence of a restriction comes into question. In Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc. (1986), The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a similar ordinance, which stated that no adult motion picture theatre could be located within 1,000 feet of any residential zone, single or multiple family dwelling, church, park or school. Because the ordinance does not ban the content of adult entertainment, it is properly recognized as a "...

Brand Identity Development and the Role of Social Media Essay

Brand Identity Development and the Role of Social Media - Essay Example The study "Brand Identity Development and the Role of Social Media" can be suitably used for understanding the contribution of social media platform for enhancing a brands image, in the UK fashion industry. The findings of the study can be suitably be used by a number of firms to enhance the efficiency with which they develop brand identity development strategies. Management students can also make use of the present study so that they can utilize the knowledge gained for better impacting consumer purchasing intentions. The current study aims to understand how consumers of the UK fashion industry are impacted by the social media to form perceptions regarding various brands. The study also suitably lays light upon how firms operating in the fashion industry utilizes the social media platform to create a positive brand image so as to increase purchasing intentions amongst consumers. Kim and Ko, (2012) described social media as websites that facilitates its users to share media, content and so on. Some common examples of social media website are renowned social networking websites such as facebook, twitter, you tube and to name a few. As indicated by Hines and Bruce, (2007), social media plays a great role in marketing. Social media marketing is the technique of gaining consumer traffic or attention by social media sites. Kim and Ko, (2012) discussed that social media marketing initiatives generally focuses on efforts to generate content that gains attention of the online communities.

Experiment on the bacterium Escherichia coli Coursework

Experiment on the bacterium Escherichia coli - Coursework Example Escherichia coli (E.coli) are gram negative, non-spore forming strains of bacterium that usually inhabit the intestinal tracts of humans and other warm-blooded animals. They are facultative anaerobes that ferment simple sugars like glucose into lactic, acetic and formic acids (HITM, 2006). Most E coli strains are harmless and even are beneficial in the sense that they assist the host by destroying other harmful strains of bacterium and by synthesising sizeable amounts of vitamins (HITM, 2006). Nevertheless, there are certain strains of E coli that prove harmful to humans and other hosts. These are categorised into four major groups - enteropathogenic E coli, enetroinvasive E coli and enterohemorrhagic E coli (HITM, 2006). These four harmful categories earn the E coli strain significant ill-repute as one of the most significant foodborne pathogens. In recent years great attention is being placed on successfully combating their pathogenic influence on humans. An estimate of this harmfu l influence can be derived from the fact that approximately 73,000 cases of human illnesses, inclusive of 63 deaths per year, in the United States were caused by the bacterium O157:H7 (Mead et al., 1999), a viciously enterohemorrhagic E coli strain. It is notable that this is one of the many harmful strains that are pathologically sensitive to humans. All organisms require a benign environment to exist and propagate themselves. Thus, they seek out such environments where they have sufficient food for sourcing their energy needs for the metabolic and biosynthetic tasks. There are several factors that influence the benign environment in which E coli strains, including and especially the harmful ones, can successfully thrive. Since humans are plagued by these harmful strains it is logical that they continuously seek out ways and means by which they can alter these favourable environmental conditions and disallow these bacteria to survive and propagate. This research study is one such wherein two environmental conditions - temperature and Bacteria can be grown in the laboratory in culture media that are designed to provide all the essential nutrients in solution for bacterial growth. In this investigation the media types Luria Bertani (LB) broths and Nutrient broths will be utilised to investigate thermal conditions under which two strains of E coli - (a common experimental strain) and CU1 - thrive. The two E.coli strains will be grown in

Sampling Probability Essay Example for Free

Sampling Probability Essay Probability And Non Probability Sampling Cultural Studies Essay A probability sampling method is any method of sampling that utilizes some form of random selection. In order to have a random selection method, you must set up some process or procedure that assures that the different units in your population have equal probabilities of being chosen. Humans have long practiced various forms of random selection, such as picking a name out of a hat, or choosing the short straw. These days, we tend to use computers as the mechanism for generating random numbers as the basis for random selection. Probability sampling methods are those in which every item in the universe has a known chance, or probability of being chosen for sample. This implies that the selection of the sample items is independent of the person making the study that is the sampling operation is controlled so objectively that the items will be chosen strictly at random. Types of probability sampling Simple Random Sampling: The simplest form of random sampling is called simple random sampling. Neither of these mechanical procedures is very feasible and, with the development of inexpensive computers there is a much easier way. Simple random sampling is simple to accomplish and is easy to explain to others. Because simple random sampling is a fair way to select a sample, it is reasonable to generalize the results from the sample back to the population. Simple random sampling is not the most statistically efficient method of sampling and you may, just because of the luck of the draw, not get good representation of subgroups in a population. To deal with these issues, we have to turn to other sampling methods. Systematic Sampling: Stratified Random Sampling, also sometimes called proportional or quota random sampling, involves dividing your population into homogeneous subgroups and then taking a simple random sample in each subgroup. There are several major reasons why you might pref er stratified sampling over simple random sampling. First, it assures that you will be able to represent not only the overall population, but also key subgroups of the population, especially small minority groups. If you want to be able to talk about subgroups, this may be the only way to effectively assure youll be able to. If the subgroup is extremely small, you can use different sampling fractions within the different strata to randomly over-sample the small group. When we  use the same sampling fraction within strata we are conducting proportionate stratified random sampling. When we use different sampling fractions in the strata, we call this disproportionate stratified random sampling. Second, stratified random sampling will generally have more statistical precision than simple random sampling. This will only be true if the strata or groups are homogeneous. If they are, we expect that the variability within-groups are lower than the variability for the population as a whole. Stratified sampling capitalizes on that fact. Strati fied Sampling: For this to work it is essential that the units in the population are randomly ordered, at least with respect to the characteristics you are measuring. For one thing, it is fairly easy to do. You only have to select a single random number to start things off. It may also be more precise than simple random sampling. Finally, in some situations there is simply no easier way to do random sampling. For instance, I once had to do a study that involved sampling from all the books in a library. Once selected, I would have to go to the shelf, locate the book, and record when it last circulated. I knew that I had a fairly good sampling frame in the form of the shelf list (which is a card catalogue where the entries are arranged in the order they occur on the shelf). To do a simple random sample, I could have estimated the total number of books and generated random numbers to draw the sample. Cluster Sampling: The problem with random sampling methods when we have to sample a population thats disbursed across a wide geographic region is that you will have to cover a lot of ground geographically in order to get to each of the units you sampled. Imagine taking a simple random sample of all the residents of New York State in order to conduct personal interviews. By the luck of the draw you will wind up with respondents who come from all over the state. Your interviewers are going to have a lot of travelling to do. It is for precisely this problem that cluster or area random sampling was invented. In cluster sampling, we follow these steps: divide population into clusters (usually along geographic boundaries), randomly sample clusters, and measure all units within sampled clusters. Multi Stage Sampling: The four methods weve covered so far simple, stratified, and systematic and cluster are the simplest random sampling strategies. In most real applied social research, we would use sampling methods that are considerably more complex than these simple variations. The most important principle here is  that we can combine the simple methods described earlier in a variety of useful ways that help us address our sampling needs in the most efficient and effective manner possible. When we combine sampling methods, we call this multi-stage sampling. Non probability Sampling Non probability sampling methods are those, which do not provide every item in the universe with a known chance of being included in the sample. The selection process is to some extent The difference between non probability and probability sampling is that non probability sampling does not involve random selection and probability sampling does. Does that mean that non probability samples arent representative of the population? Not necessarily. But it does mean that non probability samples cannot depend upon the rationale of probability theory. At least with a probabilistic sample, we know the odds or probability that we have represented the population well. We are able to estimate confidence intervals for the statistic. With non probability samples, we may or may not represent the population well, and it will often be hard for us to know how well weve done so. In general, researchers prefer probabilistic or random sampling methods over non probabilistic ones, and consider them to be more accurate and rigorous. However, in applied social research there may be circumstances where it is not feasible, practical or theoretically sensible to do random sampling. Here, we consider a wide range of non probabilistic alternatives. We can divide non probability sampling methods into two broad types: accidental or purposive. Most sampling methods are purposive in nature because we usually approach the sampling problem with a specific plan in mind. The most important distinctions among these types of sampling methods are the ones between the different types of purposive sampling approaches. Types of non probability sampling Accidental, Haphazard or Convenience Sampling: One of the most common methods of sampling goes under the various titles listed here. I would include in this category the traditional man on the street (of course, now its probably the person on the street) interviews conducted frequently by television news programs to get a quick (although non representative) reading of public opinion. I would also argue that the typical use of  college students in much psychological research is primarily a matter of convenience. In clinical practice, we might use clients who are available to us as our sample. In many research contexts, we sample simply by asking for volunteers. Clearly, the problem with all of these types of samples is that we have no evidence that they are representative of the populations were interested in generalizing to and in many cases we would clearly suspect that they are not. Purposive Sampling: In purposive sampling, we sample with a purpose in mind. We usually would have one or more specific predefined groups we are seeking. They size up the people passing by and anyone who looks to be in that category they stop to ask if they will participate. One of the first things theyre likely to do is verify that the respondent does in fact meet the criteria for being in the sample. Purposive sampling can be very useful for situations where you need to reach a targeted sample quickly and where sampling for proportionality is not the primary concern. With a purposive sample, you are likely to get the opinions of your target population, but you are also likely to overweight subgroups in your population that are more readily accessible. For each type of sampling give the advantages and disadvantages. Advantages and Disadvantages of Probability sampling Simple Random Sampling: Advantages: It is easy to implement It requires a listing of population element. Since selection of its items in the sample depends on change there is no possibility of personal bias affecting the result. As compared to judgment sampling a random sample represents the universe in a better way. As the size of the sample increases, it becomes increasingly representative of the population. The analyst can easily assess the accuracy of the estimates because sampling errors follows the principle of chance. The theory of random sampling is further developed than that of any type of sampling, which enables the researcher to provide the most reliable information at least cost. Disadvantages The use of simple random sampling necessitates a completely catalogued  universe from which to draw the sample. That is it uses large sample size. The size of the sample requires ensuring the statistical reliability is usually under random sampling rather than stratified. From the point of view of field survey it has been claimed that the cases selected by random sampling tend to be too widely dispersed geographically and that the time and the cost of collecting data becomes very large. It produces large errors. Random sampling may produce the most non random looking results. Systematic Sampling Advantages It is simple to design and convenient to adopt. It is easier to use than simple random sampling It is easy to determine sampling distribution Less expensive than random sampling. The time and work involved in sampling by this method are relatively less. The result obtained are found to be generally satisfactory provided care is taken to see that there are no periodic features associated with the sampling intervals. If the population are sufficiently large, systematic sampling can often be expected to yield results similar to those obtained by proportional stratified sampling. Disadvantages Using intervals may squeeze the sample and the result. If the population list has a monotonic trend a bias estimate will result from the starting point. The main issue is that it becomes fewer representatives if the analyst is dealing with populations having hidden periodic that is not all the elements are known. Stratified Sampling Advantages The researcher control the sample size in each group Increase efficiency It is more representative as population is first divided into various strata and then sample is drawn from each stratum. Thus there is little chance that any essential group of the population is being completely excluded. There is greater accuracy as each stratum will consist of uniform or homogenous items. Disadvantages Provide data to represent and analyse sub groups. Increase error in reason if sub group are selected at different rate. It is expensive because it is widely distributed geographically and the sample costs per observation are high. If the sample is not homogeneous the result may not be reliable. It requires assistance of skilled sampling supervisors. Cluster Sampling Advantages It provides a unilateral estimate of population. It is more efficient It is easy to do without population unit. It enables each sub division of the population to be used at various stages and permits the fieldwork to be more concentrated. It is valuable in surveys of underdeveloped areas. Can be cheaper than other methods e.g. fewer travel expenses, administration costs Disadvantages It is more error prone. Higher sampling error, which can be expressed in the so-called design effect, the ratio between the number of subjects in the cluster study and the number of subjects in an equally reliable, randomly sampled unclustered study. Multi Stage Sampling Advantages The main purpose of the creation and present-day use of multi-stage sampling is ti avoid the problems of randomly sampling from a population that is larger than the researchers resources can handle. Multi-stage sampling gives researchers with limited funds and time a method to sample from such populations. This sampling procedure in essence is a way to reduce the population by cutting it up into smaller groups, which then can be the subject of random sampling. As long as the groups have low between-group variance, this form of sampling is a legitimate way to simplify the population. The multi-stage form of sampling is flexible in many senses. First, it allows researchers to employ random sampling or cluster sampling after the determination of groups. Second, researchers can employ  multi-stage sampling indefinitely to break down groups and subgroups into smaller groups until the researcher reaches the desired type or size of groups. Last, there are no restrictions on how researcher s divide the population into groups/ This allows a large number of possibilities for methods of convenience, the maximization or minimization of variance or interpretability. Disadvantages The flexibility of multi-stage sampling is a double-edged sword. Because of the lack of restrictions on the decision processes involved in choosing groups, multi-stage sampling has a level of subjectivity. Thus, there will always be questions as to whether the chosen groups were optimal. Researchers must find a way to justify their choices when presenting the studys findings. Due to the fact that multi-stage sampling cuts out portions of the population from the study, the studys findings can never be 100% representative of the population. Even though the theory of multi-stage sampling is to focus on the within-group variance and de-emphasize the between-group variance (which should be minimized), there is no way to know if the demographics cut from the study could have provided any useful information to the researchers. (http://www.ehow.com/info_8544049_advantages-disadvantages-multistage-sampling.html#ixzz27Sqmq8C8) Advantages and Disadvantages of Non probability sampling (Non Rando m Sampling) Convenience Sampling Advantages Convenience samples are cheap. Convenience samples can be used to intervene to satisfy dissatisfied customers. A key, often forgotten aspect of probability sampling is its dependence on external selection: inviting and then repeatedly reminding people to take a survey, which helps ensure representativeness. Putting a survey postcard with every bill presented at a restaurant is a convenience sample, since there is no follow-up and encouragement to take the survey: no true external selection. And in such cases dissatisfied customers are often more likely to complete such surveys – the survey does provide an opportunity to hear from such customers and ask them for contact information in order to take action to improve their satisfaction. Convenience samples  can provide rich qualitative information. When illustrative quotes are important, surveys to convenience samples can be a great source of rich verbatim comments on specific topics. The survey can also provide detailed demographic profiles to shed further light on the comments. Convenience samples may provide accurate correlations. Some argue that correlation research is accurate enough with convenience samples, since the study is not of proportions of the target audience but of the relationship between variables. Disadvantages Convenience samples do not produce representative results. If you need to extrapolate to the target population, convenience samples aren’t going to get you there. The natural tendency is to extrapolate from convenience samples. The tendency when using convenience samples is to treat the results as representative, even though they are not. Many people do not understand the theoretical underpinnings of probability sampling and treat any survey results as accurate representations of the target audience. While mainstream media outlets often will not publicize the results of surveys that used convenience samples, small media organizations often will, without describing the methodology as a convenience sample. The results of convenience samples are hard to replicate. If you analyze the results of a convenience survey by list source, you will often find dramatic differences in the answers from the different lists, often in ways that confound easy explanation Quota Sampling Quota sampling is particularly useful when you are unable to obtain a probability sample, but you are still trying to create a sample that is as representative as possible of the population being studied. In this respect, it is the non-probability based equivalent of the stratified random sample. Unlike probability sampling techniques, especially stratified random sampling, quota sampling is much quicker and easier to carry out because it does not require a sampling frame and the strict use of random sampling techniques (i.e. probability sampling techniques). This makes quota sampling popular in undergraduate and master’s level dissertations where there is a need to divide the population being studied into strata (groups). The quota sample improves the representation of particular strata (groups) within the  population, as well as ensuring that these strata are not over-represented. For example, it would ensure that we have sufficient male students taking part in the research (60% of our sample size of 100; hence, 60 male students). It would also make sure we did not have more than 60 male students, which would result in an over-representation of male students in our research. The use of a quota sample, which leads to the stratification of a sample (e.g. male and female students), allows us to more easily compare these groups (strata). Disadvantages of quota sampling In quota sampling, the sample has not been chosen using random selection, which makes it impossible to determine the possible sampling error. Indeed, it is possible that the selection of units to be included in the sample will be based on ease of access and cost considerations, resulting in sampling bias. It also means that it is not possible to make generalisations (i.e. statistical inferences) from the sample to the population. This can lead to problems of external validity. Also, with quota sampling it must be possible to clearly divide the population into strata; that is, each unit from the population must only belong to one stratum. In our example, this would be fairly simple, since our strata are male and female students. Clearly, a student could only be classified as either male or female. No student could fit into both categories (ignoring transgender issues). Furthermore, imagine extending the sampling requirements such that we were also interested in how career goals changed depending on whether a student was an undergraduate or postgraduate. Since the strata must be mutually exclusive, this means that we would need to sample four strata from the population: undergraduate males, undergraduate females, postgraduate males, and postgraduate females. This will increase overall sample size required for the research, which can increase costs and time to carry out the research Purposive or Judgemental Sampling The advantages of Judgment sampling are: Lower cost of sampling Lesser time involved in the process A select number of people who are known to be related to the topic are part of the study which means that there are lesser chances of having people who  will distort the data Good method for pretesting instruments like questionnaires. Some disadvantages are: It can be subject to experimenter’s bias and stereotypes that may distort the results. The group selected may not represent all the population It might not be possible to accurately identify the sample using this method in case the population is very large.