Jeep Grand Cherokee Essay Example for Free

Jeep Grand Cherokee Essay Jeep Grand Cherokee is an American car. This kind of cars is survivors favorite things in VALS types. Survivors live narrowly focused lives. They are accustomed to use their familiar things, cant accept new things quickly. Therefore Jeep brand which has more than 70 years history and born for war can satisfy the sense of survivors security. At the same time, survivors are cautious customers. Just in time, the design philosophy of Jeep-safety, comfortable, power, meet their requirements. Jeep brand is their best choice. The price of brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee starts from 39,895 dollars, this price level is medium-high. It’s expensive, but the price is not higher than Mercedes-Benz SUVs and BMW X5. For this reason Jeep Grand Cherokee is not a rich status symbol. However Jeep Grand Cherokee absolutely present a kind of personal character, its a symbol of recalcitrant man. SUVs are trendy because of better vision, more capacious space. On this basis, Jeep Grand Cherokee obtain better fuel economy by using new V6 engine. Increased back space make it more suitable for family, through the change of interior atmosphere let Jeep Grand Cherokee has become home up. Still powerful cross-country performance and improve highway playability let it drive up full of fun. Grand Cherokee try to attract more people to choose as family car. Hence, if you want to have fun with family in weekend, you can’t miss this car.Jeep Grand Cherokee is not offbeat no matter on speed or safety, but it can find balance in both. Jeep Grand Cherokee is a domestic car. It’s more appropriate survivors who like familiar brand and proud of owning American car even products. 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee use headline for: You’ll need to find a different excuse for being late to work. This headline really attract office worker. This press Jeep Grand Cherokee is comfortable and has fun to drive. Comfortable is the other most important reason for choose American car. Grand Cherokee shows this characteristics of the incisively and vividly. The seat not only soft and comfortable, and let any shape people drive this big car can find the most suitable for their own driving posture. Jeep own a pure cross-country blood, this SUV retains its essence and enhance the characteristics of adapting road. This advertising didn’t use celebrity charm and use model. It’s just a  picture about Grand Cherokee run in snow. This picture foil masculine, at the same time correspond subtitle: When you enhance the legendary Jeep brand capability with a Selec-Terrain system, snow doesn’t stand a chance. This advertising posted on Reader magazines whose readers have own-opinion. Overall this advertising conveys adventure emotional approach and express it’s comfortable and has fun with driving. It’s impressive and attractive advertising.

Relationship Between Leadership and Employee Performance

Relationship Between Leadership and Employee Performance The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of leadership on employee performance considering the five factors of leadership development that are coaching, training and development, empowerment, participation and delegation. Therefore these form the independent variables that are affecting employee performance which is the dependent variable. The hypotheses stated in the study are relating leadership to employee performance considering these five different factors. Since this whole study revolves around the importance of leadership development and its impact on employee performance, the relationship between these variables of leadership with the employee performance have been studied and researched upon. Exploratory research is done and a convenience sampling technique is used. Questionnaires were also circulated and SPSS-14 is used for data analysis. Pearson Correlation and Regression analysis is also performed. The study proved a strong positive relationship between leadersh ip development with employee performance. A manager must possess leadership qualities in order to conform to the performance standards set by the company. All the six hypotheses established are accepted and are positively related to employee performance, with training and development the strongest variable of leadership impacting employee performance. Vigoda-Gadot, Eran. 2005-2006. Leadership Style, Organizational Politics and Employees Performance: An Empirical Examination of Two Competing Models. This study aims to investigate the role of organizational performance as a mediating factor between leadership style and the employees performance. Therefore, the independent variable is leadership; the dependent variable is employee performance whereas organizational performance is a mediating variable. Questionnaires were circulated and a survey was taken. A Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire measure was used. Exploratory Factor Analysis and a correlation analysis were also done. The study has six hypotheses. One hypothesis states that transformational and transactional leadership are positively related with in-role performance and OCB (Eran, 2006), another state that transformational leadership will have a stronger relationship with and more influence on formal performance and OCB than transactional leadership (Eran, 2006). Another hypothesis is that perceptions of organizational politics are negatively related to employees in-role performance (Eran, 2006). Also, there is a hypothesis that perceptions of organizational politics mediate the relationship between transactional and transformational leadership, on one hand, and in-role performance and OCB on the other (Eran, 2006). It was also tested whether the relationship between leadership and performance was direct or indirect. A positive relationship was found between transformational leadership and performance; however transactional leadership and performance had a negative relationship. Conclusively, organizational politics has been considered an influential mediator between leadership and performance. According to the study, transformational leadership has a more direct positive effect on employees performance. Hayward. A. Brett. (2005). Relationship between Employee Performance, Leadership and Emotional Intelligence in a South African Parastatal Organization. This study was conducted to examine the relationship between leadership, emotional intelligence and the performance of employees. Thus, the two independent variables are leadership and emotional intelligence whereas the dependent variable is employee performance. A sample of 160 leaders and 800 raters was taken and a statistical analysis was done using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire measure and the Emotional Competency Profiler. A linear regression was run and a correlation analysis was carried out. Four different hypotheses were formed but two of them are important for my study. First, there is no significant positive linear relationship between employee performance and an emotionally intelligent transactional leader (Brett, 2005) and that there is a significant positive linear relationship between employee performance and an emotionally intelligent transactional leader (Brett, 2005). The second hypothesis states that there is no significant positive linear relationship between employee performance and an emotionally intelligent transformational leader (Brett, 2005) and that there is a significant positive linear relationship between employee performance and an emotionally intelligent transformational leader (Brett, 2005). The results show that there is a significant linear relationship between employee performance and an emotionally intelligent, transactional leader. However, a significant linear relationship between employee performance and an emotionally intelligent transformational leader does not exist and also that there is insufficient evidence to indicate that. This whole study and its findings are, however, contradictory to other studies that have been conducted that show a positive relationship between employee performance and a transformational leader. A. Oluseyi, Shadare and Hammed, T. Ayo 2009. Influence of Work Motivation, Leadership Effectiveness and Time Management on Employees Performance in Some Selected Industries in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of the three independent variables; work motivation, leadership effectiveness and time management, on employee performance that is the dependent variable. A total of 300 staff members were selected through stratified random sampling and the data was collected through Work Motivation Behavior Profile, Leadership Behavior Rating Scale and Time Management Behavior Inventory. A multiple regression was run and correlation matrix was used. The study answers the three basic research questions. First, the relationship is identified between each independent variable and employee performance. Also, the composite and relative effect of each of these variables on employee performance is analyzed. The results show that each of the three inde pendent variables have a positive and significant impact on employee performance, with leadership effectiveness showing the strongest correlation, followed by work motivation. Therefore leadership plays a vital role in enhancing the performance of the employees. Sribenjachot, Suteera. 2007. Impact of Leadership Style on Follower Performance in Direct Selling Industry in Thailand. This study inspects the impact that transactional and transformational leadership has on performance. Both leadership styles have different effects on performance. Performance is the dependent variable which is influenced by the leadership style which is the independent variable. Another variable is defined as leader outcome that is influenced by the leadership styles and impacts performance. A survey research design of Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was used. The date was collected through MLQ-5X. Path analysis was performed and a statistical program known as Analysis of Moment Structure was used. Several hypotheses were formed; transformational leadership has no effect on follower performance (Suteera, 2007), transactional leadership has no effect on follower performance (Suteera, 2007), transformational leadership has no effect on leader outcome (Sute era, 2007), transactional leadership has no effect on leader outcome (Suteera, 2007) and leader outcomes have no effect on follower performance (Suteera, 2007). The results show a negative relationship between transactional leadership and performance, and no relationship between transformational leadership and performance. Both leadership styles have a positive impact on leader outcome, and that outcome affects the performance of the followers or the employees. Amran G. Tiena and Kusbramayanti, Putri. 2007. Leadership and Organizational Culture Relationship Analysis on Job Performance and Satisfaction using SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) at Pt. Carita Boat Indonesia. This study aims to examine the direct influence of leadership and organizational culture on job performance and its indirect impact on job satisfaction. Also, it studies the impact of job performance on job satisfaction. Therefore, all these elements of the study form the basic variables. A survey was taken and data was collected through questionnaires. A sample of 100 workers was taken. Structural Equation Modeling was used for the analysis of the data. The study has four hypotheses. The quality of employee job performance is positively influenced by leader-member relations (Tiena and Putri, 2007). The quality of employees job performance is positively influenced by organizational culture (Tiena and Putri, 2007). The quality of working satisfaction is positively influenced by performance (Tiena and Putri, 2007). The results show that leadership has a positive influence on the quality of performance and that in turn has a positive effect on work satisfaction. Leadership also has an impact on work satisfaction and it motivates an employee. The leader-member relationship influences both leadership style and employee job performance. Goh Yuan Sheng Victor, Geoffrey N. Soutar. 2005. The Role of Ethical Behaviors in the Relations between Leadership Styles and Job Performance. This study relates the three elements of leadership styles, ethical behaviors and job performance. The two leadership styles, transformational and transactional, are discussed and their relationship with performance is studied. Ethical behaviors that include deontology and teleological ethics are also examined. This article reviews how the leaders use these ethical values and form judgements. Therefore these ethical values play a mediating role in forming the relationship between leadership (independent variable) and employee performance (dependent variable). The measures used were the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, Role-Based Performance Scale and Analysis of Moment Structure. A path analysis was performed and a variance-covariance matrix was used. The study has six hypotheses. Transformational leadership is positively associated with employees job performance (Soutar and Victor, 2005). Transactional leadership is positively associated with employees job performance (Soutar and Victor, 2005). Transformational leadership is positively associated with Deontological ethical approach (Soutar and Victor, 2005). Transactional leadership is positively associated with Teleological ethical approach (Soutar and Victor, 2005). Deontological ethical approach will mediate the relation between Transformational Leadership and employees job performance (Soutar and Victor, 2005). Teleological ethical approach will mediate the relation between Transactional Leadership and employees job performance (Soutar and Victor, 2005). The results of the study show that ethics are a defining element of leadership. Leaders must be ethically responsible and this ethical behavior is an important mediating factor between leadership styles and performance of the employees. Mahmmod A. Bodla and Hussain , Ghulam. 2010. Need for Leadership: Empirical Evidence from Pakistan. This study was conducted to focus on the moderating role of the need for leadership on the relationship between leadership and the subordinates outcomes or employees performance. Thus leadership and its characteristics are once again the independent variable, with subordinates outcomes and employees performance being the dependent variables. Need for leadership is the moderating variable between the two. The followers need for leadership is determined and based on that a particular leadership style is adopted, which results in required performance by the employees. Various leadership characteristics are defined and their relationship studies. A sample of banking officers was used from 550 different branches of banks and questionnaires were distributed for the collection of data. A statistical analysis was performed using the multiple regression. There was one main hypothesis of the stu dy; need for leadership will moderate the relationship between leadership characteristics and subordinates work outcomes (Bodla and Ghulam, 2010). The results show that need for leadership is important and it must be understood before implementing any leadership practices. On various grounds, the need for leadership has been considered as a substitute of the relationship between leadership and performance. Dr. Mohammed S. Chowdhury and Nurul A. Mohammed. 2000. Relative Importance of Employee Values, Attitudes and Leadership Behaviors in Employee Motivation. An Empirical Investigation. Employee motivation is one factor that influences the performance of the employees. That motivation is derived from various other factors. This study is therefore conducted to look at the importance that those factors such as values, attitudes and leadership behavior have in influencing employee work motivation and performance. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is defined and various styles of leadership are considered. Employee motivation is therefore the dependent variable and the independent variables are employee values, attitudes and leadership behavior. The data was collected through questionnaires constituting a sample of 140 employees. Statistical analysis was performed and a regression was run. Various techniques were used to measure the different variables. The study has four hypotheses. The gr eater the extent to which the key values are perceived to exist in the organization, the greater will be the employees intrinsic motivation (Chowdhury and Mohammed, 2000). The greater the extent to which key job attitudes are perceived to exist in the organizations, the greater will be the employees intrinsic motivation (Chowdhury and Mohammed, 2000). The greater the extent to which positive achievement motivation behavior of the leader is perceived to exist in the organization, the greater the job satisfaction and extrinsic motivation (Chowdhury and Mohammed, 2000).The greater the extent to which arbitrary and punitive behavior is perceived to exist in the organization, the greater the job dissatisfaction and de-motivation of the employees (Chowdhury and Mohammed, 2000). The study concludes that the values and attitudes of employees influence the intrinsic motivation of employees while leadership behavior affects the extrinsic motivation of employees. Cyril H. Ponnu and Tennakoon Girindra. 2009. The Association between Ethical Leadership and Employee Outcomes the Malaysian Case. This research was carried out in order to determine the association between ethical leadership behavior and employee outcomes. It has considered two basic outcomes, that of organizational commitment and trust in leaders. These factors eventually affect the work performance of the employees. The independent variable is the ethical leadership behavior whereas employee organizational commitment and employees trust in leaders are the dependent variables. A sample of 172 managerial employees was taken. The different measures used were the Ethical Leadership Scale, Organizational Commitment Questionnaire and the Trust Scale. A correlation analysis was done and the data was also analyzed using SPSS version 14.0. the study has two hypotheses. There is a significant relationship between ethical leadership behavior and employees organizational commitment (Ponnu and Girindra, 2009). Ethical leadership behavior is positively associated with employees trust in leaders (Ponnu and Girindra, 2009). The first hypothesis was held true. There was a significant and a medium positive relationship between the two variables. The second hypothesis was also held true as the two variables showed a strong positive relationship. Therefore, ethical leadership has a positive effect on both organizational commitment of employees and their trust in leaders. Hence, it can also be concluded that these employees will eventually perform better and work towards achieving the goals of the organization.

The Heart Disease Prediction System Computer Science Essay

The Heart Disease Prediction System Computer Science Essay There are enormous amount of data available from medical industry which could be useful for medical practitioners when it is used for discovering hidden pattern with help of existing data mining techniques. The basic medical records from a patients profile can be useful in identifying hidden pattern with data mining techniques. In this paper, NaÃÆ'Â ¯ve Bayes algorithm to predict heart disease is implemented with basic records of patients like age, sex, heart rate, blood pressure etc., from a sample dataset. The benefits, limitations, and technical details of this implementation will also be discussed in this paper. 1 Introduction Over these years in medical history, many types of medical problems have been identified and many data are available regarding a particular problem. But not all the medical data are same, but there are many patterns hidden inside those data which needs to be identified. Data mining techniques could help identify these hidden patterns by knowledge discovery. In the medical field, patients health issues are predicted by doctors intuition or experience [2] where the knowledge rich data is suppressed which results in high medical expenses and unnecessary medical tests. In recent years, there are many researches being conducted in order to find the hidden pattern from basic medical data [1]. Identifying these hidden pattern would result in a developing an efficient decision making system in medical industry which aide as a tool to support doctors decision making or at least serve as a prediction system for any medical issues. In this paper, we have taken into consideration of heart disease and predict it using the set of data that are already in existence with the help of data mining technique. The algorithm that we have chosen is the NaÃÆ'Â ¯ve Bayes algorithm, this algorithm is ideal for a vast amount of database that may contain hundreds and thousands of rows and columns. The NaÃÆ'Â ¯ve Bayes algorithm provides the intended output faster and more accurate as the number of data in the database increase. 1.1 Problem Scenario There are only few decision support systems available in medical industry whose functionalities are very limited. As mentioned earlier, medical decisions are made with doctors intuition and not from the rich data from the medical database. Wrong treatment due to misdiagnosis causes serious threat in medical field. In order to solve these issues data mining solution was with help of medical databases was introduced. 1.2 Related Work There are many techniques available to discover knowledge from medical database [1]. Researchers at Southern California used data mining technique to discover the success and failure of back surgery in order to improve medical treatment [3]. Shouman et al [4] implemented predictive data mining to diagnose heart disease of patients. Palaniappan et al [2] developed a prototype Intelligent Heart Disease Prediction System (IHDPS), using data mining techniques. 1.3 Objective In this paper, NaÃÆ'Â ¯ve Bayes algorithm to predict heart disease is implemented with basic records of patients like age, sex, heart rate, blood pressure etc., from a sample dataset. Based on the literature survey NaÃÆ'Â ¯ve Bayes algorithm was found to be an effective technique. The probabilistic method helped in finding the converse probability of the conditional relationship. The dependence relation may exist between two attributes of data set which can be determined with this algorithm. 2 Data Preparation In order to implement the algorithm, a medical data was required. The sample dataset used for the purpose of implementation of algorithm was obtained from Cleveland Clinic Foundation. The sample of dataset is shown in the below figure (Figure1.) C:UsersMadan KumarDesktopUntitled2.jpg Figure1. Sample dataset 2.1 Dataset Source The Cleveland institute medical data was downloaded from website of University of California, Irvine. 2.2 Dataset Attributes The dataset consists of 16 attributes. The last attribute of dataset consists of value 0 and 1. The value 0 indicates that the patient does not have heart disease whereas 1 indicates that the patient has a heart disease. The prediction of algorithm can be verified with this value while evaluating the algorithm. The first 15 attributes are shown in the figure2. C:UsersMadan KumarDesktopattri.jpg Figure2. Dataset attributes 3 Program Architecture The program was implemented using JAVA. Apache TOMCAT server and MySQL Database is also used. The NaÃÆ'Â ¯ve Bayes algorithm has three class files: Calculation.java, Prediction.java, and Detection.java. Detection.java reads the data file from the source path and stores the attributes into temporary array list. The mean and standard deviation values calculations are performed and probability calculation is also done in Prediction.java. All the dataset attributes are defined in calculation.java where mean and standard deviation of attributes were calculated. The calculation.java calls the other two classes while executing the program. Figure3 represents the program architecture. C:UsersKirubanidhyDesktopArchitecture.jpg Figure3. Architecture 3.1 Building and running a Demo TOMCAT server is used to present the output in web based form. The output will run in localhost. The MySQL database is used to identify the patient records. At the execution point, the local host is accessed and 15 questions will be displayed which will be obtained from user and algorithm will be called to calculate and predict the disease possibility on that person. A report will be generated at the end of the demo which says if the person is predicted with heart disease or not. In general, 1. Obtains the values from user. 2. Reads the data file. 3. Calls the algorithm and calculates mean, deviation, and probability of attributes. 4. Generates a report displaying the values given with the prediction of disease. 4. Implementation All the attributes of dataset is of a numerical value that has some meaning. The meaning of dataset attributes are as shown in figure2. Example: the attributes sex is denoted with values 1 and 0 where 1 denotes Male and 0 denote Female. Fasting blood sugar values are also denoted using 1 and 0 where 1 denotes >120mg of fasting blood sugar level and 0 denotes These values from the data file are accessed by the NaÃÆ'Â ¯ve Bayes algorithm. The values 0 and 1 are extracted from data file and stored to an array list for each attribute e.g. age array list, sex array list, and chest pain type array list etc., in order to perform calculation. Here, the values are defined on what those values stands for before storing to the array list. The sample of the interface (for obtaining slope value) is shown in figure4. Here the un-sloping, flat, and down- sloping represents the value 1, 2, and 3 respectively. C:UsersMadan KumarDownloadsUntitled.jpg Figure 4. Interface Sample C:UsersMadan KumarDownloadsUntitled2.jpg Figure5. Sample of report format 5. Modules Description Analyzing the Data set The attribute Diagnosis was identified as the predictable attribute with value 1 for patients with heart disease and value 0 for patients with no heart disease. The attribute PatientID was used as the key; the rest are input attributes. It is assumed that problems such as missing data, inconsistent data, and duplicate data have all been resolved. Naives Bayes Implementation in Mining Bayes Theorem finds the probability of an event occurring given the probability of another event that has already occurred. If B represents the dependent event and A represents the prior event, Bayes theorem can be stated as follows. 5.2.1 Bayes Theorem Prob (B given A) = Prob (A and B)/Prob (A) To calculate the probability of B given A, the algorithm counts the number of cases where A and B occur together and divide it by the cases where A occurs alone. Applying NaÃÆ'Â ¯ve Bayes to data with numerical attributes, predict the class using NaÃÆ'Â ¯ve Bayes classification: Figure6 (a) Top Mean (b) Bottom Standard Deviation Figure6 (c) Laplace Transform 6. Evaluation User enters the values for the questionnaire to find out whether the patient has a heart disease or not. By feeding sample data from the dataset and performing the mining operations with the NaÃÆ'Â ¯ve Bayes algorithm, it is found out that the NaÃÆ'Â ¯ve Bayes algorithm gives 95% probability in predicting if patient have heart disease or not. 95% accuracy is quite good to use as a decision support system. The figure shows the accuracy of NaÃÆ'Â ¯ve Bayes algorithm (figure7). The figure shows the highest probability of correct predictions and lowest probability of incorrect predictions. C:UsersMadan KumarDesktopUntitled1.jpg Figure7. Model Results of three algorithms [2] 7. Limitations Apart from the benefits like probabilistic approaches and fast reliable algorithm of NaÃÆ'Â ¯ve Bayes, the serious shortcoming of the algorithm is its ability in handling small datasets. NaÃÆ'Â ¯ve Bayes classifier requires relatively large dataset to obtain best results. Yet, studies showed that Naive Bayes algorithm outperforms other algorithms in accuracy and efficiency. Notable limitation of this paper is the usage of small dataset. This dataset can be used for training or testing purpose only. Also the dataset could include more attributes for a more effective prediction in supporting clinical decisions. 8. Future Work The algorithm is working well with this sample dataset. Implementing the algorithm with large dataset could give better results which can aid as a supporting tool in making medical decisions. In future, other possible algorithms could be implemented where efficiency of all algorithms could be analyzed to decide on best suitable technique in terms of speed, reliability, and accuracy. 9. Conclusion In this paper, NaÃÆ'Â ¯ve Bayes algorithm is the only algorithm used for calculation of attributes and prediction. Efficiency and accuracy of the algorithm in predicting were discussed. Designing effective models are constrained by size of the datasets and noisy, incorrect, missing data values. The prototype developed so far has been generally tested by computer experts and not by the doctors. For effective understanding of the health issues, medical experts have to work collaboratively and test the prototypes in order to implement the system in real life to support medical experts in taking clinical decisions.

America in 1934 Essay -- American History

America in 1934 In the Midwest, farmers were losing their land to mortgage foreclosures. American tourist deaths were attributed to a terrorist attack. A president known for his effective use of the media governed the United States. The U.S. cooperated in a change of government in the Philippines. Parents and churches criticized motion pictures for eroding American morals. And Appalachian State, after setting a new enrollment record, received favorable publicity in a national magazine. Sound familiar? Think again; you're 55 years off. The year was 1934 in the U.S.A. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration, part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, provided relief funds to just under seventeen million Americans to offset "the hardships and suffering caused by unemployment" in the Great Depression. Leading the state relief parade was North Dakota, 34% of whose population received federal funds. In New York just under two million were on the dole (Lyman 71-72). By manipulating gold and silver prices, President Roosevelt hoped to cut Depression inflation. The Gold Reserve Act established a maximum limit of 60% for the gold value of the U.S. dollar. It allowed the President to set the price of gold at $35 per ounce. The Silver Purchase Act directed the Secretary of the Treasury to buy silver until the metal reached 25% of U.S. money reserves or until its price reached $1.29 per ounce (Leuchtenburg 13). On 9 February President Roosevelt ended all government air mail contracts with airlines and ordered the Army to fly the mails. Roosevelt took this measure to deprive commercial airlines of scandalously high financial arrangements, but his plans failed because of the Army Air Corps' inability to handle the job. After the ... ...t Record at A.S.T.C." Watauga Democrat 4 Oct. 1934: 1. "Normal Child." Time 27 Aug. 1934: 50. "North Carolina Builds Shrine to First Colony." New York Times 1 July 1934: 18. Old Gold. Advertisement. (Raleigh) News and Observer 13 June 1934: 14. "Poor White's Art." Time 10 Sept. 1934: 33. Phillips, Cabell. The New York Times Chronicle of American Life: From the Crash to the Blitz 1929-1939. New York: Mac Millan, 1969. "Receive Honorary Degrees." (Raleigh) News and Observer 13 June 1934: 1. Reichler, Joseph L., ed. The Baseball Encyclopedia. 4th ed. New York: Mac Millan, 1979. Shale, Richard, comp. Academy Awards. New York: Ungar, 1978. "Ruth's Record of 700 Home Runs Likely to Stand for All Time in Major Leagues." New York Times 14 July 1934: 8. "Sophisticates Abroad." Time 16 April 1934: 77. Stern Brothers. Advertisement. New York Times 1 July 1934: 10.

Friday :: Germanic Mythology Language Essays

Friday Every Monday at work, I hear people complaining that they wish it would be Friday already. Everyone waits for this last day of the working week with excitement and eagerness. Friday represents the completion of the week, and at the same time, the beginning of the weekend. The origins of the word "Friday" take their roots from Norse mythology, when this day signified rejuvenation, and at the same time loss, death or completion. In various cultures, this day has numerous meanings and is perceived both positively and with anxiety. The meaning of Friday was preserved through centuries, and today we still use the pagan name of Friday as well as pagan names for other days of the week in the English language. Friday has come a long way from the Anglo-Saxon frigedaeg or from the Old High German Freyja, a goddess of love and fertility. In Germanic mythology Freyja was portrayed as the goddess of youth, beauty, and sexual love. She was married to Odur, but he left her to travel around the world. Afterward, Freyja was depicted weeping, and her tears were drops of gold. Freyja's most famous possession was her necklace, Brising ("necklace of the dwarfs"), given to her by the dwarfs in exchange for her having sexual intercourse with them. Often in myths Freyja is accused of having sexual intercourse with many men and gods. Also Freyja is known as a patron of married couples and "is very fond of love ditties, and all lovers would do well to invoke her," according to the Prose Edda (Mercatante 264). However, besides being the patron of marriage and goddess of fertility, Freyja is portrayed as the goddess of battle and death. She claimed half of the dead warriors killed in battles and received them in her realm of Folkvang. Odur, her husband, received the other half of warriors at Valhalla. The fact that Friday was held sacred to this goddess of fertility and death signifies that inhabitants of ancient England perceived this day as the beginning and at the same time as the completion of their weekly activities, or possibly life. Although in various cultures the meaning of Friday differs, there are numerous similarities, which can be traced down to the common source. In Norse mythology, where paganism dominated religious and cultural settings, Friday was considered to be the day of love and a good day to put a beginning to various activities such as farming or a conception of a child.

Essay --

Throughout history, Term limits have been a very controversial issue as well as a powerful reform regarding politics. Term limits can best be defined as a restriction or a limit to a number of times an official may be elected or serve. For years, American politics have been dealing with the movement to limit political terms. Though there are some who disapprove of term limits for Congressmen, there are many Americans who have approved. There is widespread support on Term Limits, which shows us that the public is dissatisfied with what is occurring in Congress presently. In many states, cities and counties across the United States term limits have been established for state and local officials. Congress is currently running on a system of seniority. Individuals who have spent the most time in office gain more power. As a result, these Congressmen focus on how they can stay in office and that plan leaves limited room for fresh new officials to have a chance to make changes. Term l imits should be placed on our Congressmen and women because it would allow for a more efficient Congress. The problem with not having term limits is that one person in Congress exercise too much power. As John Adams said, â€Å"Without [term limits] every man in power becomes a ravenous beast of prey.† (Smith 73). Similarly, Thomas Jefferson once stated, â€Å"To prevent every danger which might arise to American freedom from continuing too long in office, it is earnestly recommended that we set an obligation on the holder of that office to go out after a certain period.† (Smith 73). Our country needs term limits in Congress for several reasons. Presently, in Congress there are members who serve very lengthy terms. Members in the House of Representatives ser... ...rse legislature.† (Epstein 855). Term Limits would make being apart of Congress more possible. Millions more Americans would find it an attractive option for them. To sum it all up, Term limits presently occur all over the country in state legislatures and they are working. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 15 states currently have term limits for legislatures. Term limits increase the likelihood of turnover in state legislatures. Term limits also weaken seniority systems in state legislatures. Term limits help non-traditional candidates such as Hispanic, African American and Asian to run for seats in state legislatures. It is time to change the system so that people who care about the future of our nation and our state can and will compete fairly to represent us. That is what democracy was meant to be, and that is what it can be again.

Church Leadership and Ministry Evaluation Paper Essay

For this paper, I interviewed the pastor of Grace Life Baptist Church in Ruby Michigan, USA. Would you say that your congregation (or the people within your particular department or area of ministry) is â€Å"Living Out the Mind of Christ† (i.e. Unity, Humility, Selflessness) as they interact, serve, and minister to/with each other? How specifically do you as a ministry leader teach, cultivate, and maintain â€Å"The Mind of Christ† in your area of ministry? â€Å"At Grace Life we strive to be like Christ in every decision that is made.† Grace Life has had its difficulties; they started Grace Life from a church that split due to differing beliefs. Since the beginning of Grace Life they have strived to be the picture of Christ. As a body of believers, they have come to recognize that humility and selflessness should be at the core of all believers. â€Å"I put a strong emphasis on unity in our church, and I believe that through teaching about the humility and sel flessness of Christ we will learn to be more inclined to have a mind of Christ.† Would you consider yourself a â€Å"Wounded Healer?† Also, would you please share an example where you have ministered to a person who is/was â€Å"wounded† in the same manner that you once were? (cf. II Corinthians 1:3-5) Being a â€Å"Wounded Healer† is something that all pastors like to believe that they are, however, being a â€Å"Wounded Healer† is much more than most pastors would admit that it is. Healing the wounded is not just showing them Christ; you have to disciple them as well. The pastor of Grace Life used to be in the Army and served with hundreds of lost people. Because of seeing so much in his time in the Army, he had lost his faith. His major wound came when his friend that he served with died in combat. It took him many years to realize that God was still in control and everything happened for a reason. He then started to witness to his friends that had gone through the same thing. How specifically does the Holy Spirit help guide you as you lead/serve in your ministry? Also, can you give a specif ic example of how you were able to clearly recognize that the Holy Spirit was helping/guiding you in dealing with a particular situation and/or decision while in your ministry? What advice would you give me that, if I obeyed, would assure me that I would be  able to be guided by the Holy Spirit in my life and/or ministry? The pastor at Grace Life has made it clear that he believes that the Holy Spirit guides us in every aspect in our lives; the only thing we have to do to get this guidance is to ask for it. Specifically the Holy Spirit guides his words while preaching. The pastor at Grace Life was also the pastor at the church that split leading to the start of Grace Life, the Holy Spirit led him to start a new church and that decision has proved to be one that was given to him by the Holy Spirit. The advice he gave me was simple, follow Christ’s example, always lean on Him, and look to Him when you do not know what to do. Do you have a personal philosophy (i.e. an agreed upon plan of action/policy/understood protocol) of how/when/where you confront sin in the lives of 1) co-ministers/co-leaders in your ministry, and 2) people to whom you minister? If so, what is it? How did you come to this philosophy? If not, do you see a need for such a philosophy? Why or Why not? â€Å"I follow the example set my Christ. Go to that person, and if they won’t listen, take 2-3 witnesses with me, if they still won’t listen it becomes a matter to be decided by the church.† The Bible makes it 100% clear what we as Christians are to do in these situations. Can I perform a little ministry quiz on you? â€Å"Sure† Can you recall for me what you specifically did (i.e. tasks performed, people you talked to, the number of hours of service) on any individual day in your ministry approximately six weeks ago? â€Å"Six weeks ago we were dealing with the sound system, it wasn’t working correctly and I remember somewhere between 6 and 8 hours spend on tracing wires back to there source.† Can you recall any time in the past that you were either so moved by hearing a sermon, reading a bible verse, hearing a testimony of a someone’s salvation that made such an impact upon your life that you still have a vivid recollection of the event today? How long ago did that spiritual event take place? â€Å"Probably around 6 months ago or so, I was reading in Psalms, and came across a verse in chapter 51 ‘Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.’ This verse became one of my favorite v erses because of its powerful phrasing. It has become one of the verses that comes into my head on a daily basis, and I thank God for that!† Could you briefly describe  for me how your daily â€Å"Quiet time with God† or your â€Å"Communion time with God† or â€Å"Your Devotion time with God† usually goes? â€Å"Well, I usually start my day with prayer and my Bible reading. I take time in the morning before my family wakes up, and the distractions of life come into play. God and I time is my favorite time of the day, and when I take the proper amount of time in prayer and reading my day seems to be much smoother and I don’t feel as rushed.† As a minister, are you ever tempted to become competitive with either a fellow minister or a neighboring ministry or covet the â€Å"success† or resources of other ministers and/or ministries? How do you overcome this temptation in your life if/when it ever comes up in your heart? What advice would you give me to make sure I remain content with what God specifically has for me in my own life and/or ministry? â€Å"Being a pastor of a church that God has blessed abundantly has always been a temptation for me to brag about how great I am doing; but it is never me that has the success. It becomes very easy to look at other pastors ministries and compare them to mine. These temptations are only overcome by realizing that God has allowed this church to be successful, it has nothing to do with my abilities. God has given me everything that I need to be a success in Him. It is far too easy to become proud of something that seems to have come from our hands, however, if we acknowledge the fact that God is the one that it came from, it is much easier to stay humble.† Provide a summary of your interview. What stood out to you the most from this interview? The pastor was clearly filled with the Holy Spirit. He had a clear heart for God, and the way he talked about Christ made it clear that he has a strong relationship with God. He has a distinct passion for Christ that can only be seen while talking to him. What did you learn that will help you develop your own philosophy of ministry? I learned that starting the day out with a good amount of time spent with God in prayer and reading His word is crucial to growing closer to Him, and living out my life the way that He would have me to live it. What did you learn about leadership that you feel is important when ministering to others? I learned there is a proper way to deal with sin inside the body of Christ, and that as a leader in a church this knowledge is important because it is specifically addressed in the word of God.