Thursday, October 31, 2019

Rituals of Islam Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Rituals of Islam - Assignment Example Prayer serves myriad purposes such as teaching self-discipline that is required to perform prayer regularly and at proper times, to perform ablution that precedes prayer. Prayer is the central point of the life of a Muslim, which enables him to maintain a strong link with their Lord or continue his inner struggle against temptation. These aspects remind a Muslims of the limited and temporary nature of this worldly life and the certainty of death and life to come. Thus, it enables a Muslim to maintain a balance between the needs and claims of this life and the Hereafter (Brockopp 156). Similarly, Jews also perform prayer (Tefilah) three times a day: morning, afternoon and evening. Like Muslims, they believe that prayer should be performed with utmost concentration as it reminds them of God’s presence and countless blessings. Primarily, Jewish prayers are recited in Hebrew like Muslim prayers are recited in Arabic. However, Jewish prayers can be offered in any vernacular language, as Jews believe that God can understand them regardless of the language used. Jewish prayer is usually performed in a group of at least ten people called ‘minyan’. In contrast, though congregational prayers are considered more meritorious for Muslims; however, there is no barrier to praying singly. Similarly, like Islamic prayers, concentration (kavanah), and mindset that one is conversing with God is a pre-requisite for Jewish prayers. Jews believe that daily prayers direct their soul, heart, and mind away from everyday matters towards God. It reminds them of their co re beliefs and intensifies their bond with God. Thus, the fundamental purposes and significance of prayers in Islam and Judaism is the

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Romeo and Juliet Movie Analysis Essay Example for Free

Romeo and Juliet Movie Analysis Essay Romeo and Juliet is a beautiful and romantic famous love story known through almost all over the world. Many producers have remade this dramatic story ad producers will get many ideas from this story to help them create their own. There was a movie made in 1996 and in 1968. These two movies are very unique in their own way. Many people like the original 1968 version, but others like the newer 1996 version better. Personally, I believe that the 1968 version was better story wise because it followed the ‘reality’ of the story better. In the 1996 version, they have more of a ‘today’ like scenes with cars, beaches, guns, and helicopters. However, in the 1968 version, it was more†¦ Romeo and Juliet like than the other version. This version had more of an olden day theme that I feel personally fit the story better. They had swords, older clothing, no cars, helicopters or beaches, everything was more in the time era that the famous love story took place. When and after watching this movie there was a lot that stood out to me when thinking about the love story that everyone knows or has at least heard of before. The things that stood out to me were on how well and closely related this movie was to the story I heard and imagined in my mind when I first heard it from my family. Another thing is that because of how the movie was made, really gave off a good intention that this was how the story went, and that many people would be able to think of this version first not only cause of how old this version is, but because of the realizations that the movie had towards the original story. Even though these two movies are about the same story, and have the same concept, there are many different things that contrast between them. In one version of the movie the music gives off a more energetic, suspenseful, action sound; while the other gives off a more mellow, sweet, calming, loving sound. In one version of the movie the characters play fairly different personalities than in the other. For example, in the 1996 version, Mercutio is a wild, crazy, histarical character who will do the weirdest things that draw you to fall in love with him before he dies. However, in the 1968 version, Mercutio is still a wild and histarical character and maybe a little bit crazy but he doesn’t have the effect on you to fall in love with him before he dies. In the 1996 version, Mercutio gives you a almost ‘welcoming’ atmosphere, while the 1968 version, Mercutio doesn’t give you that feeling. Many people will have their opinions on which movie version they liked better, which movie told the better story, which movie had the better plot, but Romeo and Juliet, the original 1968 version not only follows the plot and theme, but also gives you the way many people would’ve imagined it before they saw the new 1996 version. But if you are to see any Romeo and Juliet version first, I’d suggest the 1968 version so that you can understand better how things were back when Romeo and Juliet were star cross lovers, and where the story line fits the love story better for that more original taste.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Importance of Stretching and Warming Up

Importance of Stretching and Warming Up Stretching Fitness. The Importance of Warming up. Why do Gym teachers at school or college, personal trainers or sports coaches, have you warm up your body and do stretching techniques before exercising? It is for exactly the same reason that career athletes and sports professionals take their time to stretch and warm up before a practice or a match. The stretching will help greatly to prepare your body for the exercise that it is about to experience. However, before one stretches, it is usually vital, or at the least preferable, that you warm up first. Warming up does imply that you are preparing to exercise, just like getting ready. For example, in cold weather a car needs to be started and warmed up, before you move off in the car down the road. Manufacturers advise us to do this because starting up and immediately driving off is potentially damaging to the engine – the same logic applies to your body. Warming up will help to increase the temperature of your body to an optimum state while also preparing your muscles to be ready for exercise. Thus, warming up will actively help to prevent injuries to muscles, which may otherwise occur if you just start from cold and exercise. Warming up properly will also increase your heart rate, this will deliver more blood and therefore oxygen to your muscles while readying the body to burn more energy. Ideally five to ten minutes of warming up should be sufficient. You can warm up while doing the same movements that you will be doing for exercise, but just at a slower pace, like slow-motion. If you are going to run, then simply jog for those minutes to warm up, before building to your maximum and sustained effort. Preferably for all sports activities, after your body has warmed up, it is time to stretch. It is important to get into this habit because if you stretch cold muscles it will lead to injury, even a debilitating injury. But if you have prepared your muscles and they are warm, stretching correctly will reduce injuries and long term stress while also delivering to you improved flexibility, a greater range of motion, of posture and of coordination. The benefits are important and long term for you overall musculature. What is happening when you stretch the muscles? What does stretching actually do, and why can it sometimes hurt? What should stretching actually be making you feel? You do know that it is important to stretch, and that you feel the benefit after having stretched, but why is this, what happens to your muscles (and overall to your body) after a stretch session? It is all to do with flexibility. Your inherent ability to flex will come from many factors, i.e. the joints, the ligaments, your tendons and the muscles of your body. Some people, are simply born with loose ligaments and with more mobile bone joints. This is not something which you need to work on altering, for the ligaments connect the bones and are vital for the overall stability of the body. If you try to lengthen the ligaments, you will certainly face problems. Your attention in stretching is actually on the muscles, and equally on where the tendons and the muscles meet (the tendons connect the muscle to your bones). The tendons and the muscles are the important main physical structures for your flexibility efforts. It is that interface which you are concentrating upon. As well as the bone joints and the ligament structures, the muscle mass (i.e., what strength you have) will affect how supple you are and how far you can stretch. Training and conditioning affects greatly your flexibility. Focus on your muscles. How do they Work? Muscles vary greatly in their shape and their size, and they serve many different functions. Most of the larger muscles, such as the hamstrings and the quadriceps, control your motion. The other muscles, such as the heart, and muscles of your inner ear, perform different functions. However, at the microscopic level, all of the muscles of the body do share an intrinsic basic structure. At their highest level, the (whole) muscle is made up of so many strands of tissue known as fascicles. You see these strands of muscle when red meat or poultry is cut. Each fascicle is made up of fasciculi, these are bundles of muscle fibres. These muscle fibres are in turn made of several tens of thousand of thread like myofybrils, these contract, relax, or elongate. The myofybrils are also made up of several millions of bands laid end to end and known as sarcomeres. Each individual sarcomere is composed of overlapping thin and thick filaments known as myofilaments. The thin and thick myofilaments are in turn composed of contractile proteins, which are primarily actin and myosin. Your nerves connect your spinal column to the muscle. The point where the nerve and muscle connect is known as the neuromuscular junction. When electrical signals cross the neuromuscular junction, this is then transmitted deep inside your muscle fibres. Subsequently and inside your muscle fibres, the electrical signal stimulates a flow of calcium which then causes the thin and thick myofilaments to slide across each other. When this happens, it signals the sarcomere to shorten, and this generates force. Therefore when the billions of sarcomeres of the muscle shorten simultaneously, then it results in a contraction of the whole muscle fibre. If a muscle fibre contracts, it completely contracts. There is no event known as a partially contracted muscle fibre. The muscle fibres are not capable of varying in intensity during their contraction, relative to the load against which you are imposing. How then does the force of a muscle contraction result in a variance of strength from weak to strong? What occurs is that the more of the muscle fibres that are recruited, as and when required to perform the work requested of them, then the more those muscle fibres that are recruited by your central nervous system, the stronger is the force being generated by the muscular contraction. Fixator Muscles This may be a little technical and term heavy, but it will give you a better idea as to the complexity of what is actually happening in your body when movement of the body is under way. Fixators, are the muscles that provide you the necessary support that assist in holding the rest of your body in place, while movement happens. Fixators are sometimes also called stabilizer muscles. When you flex a knee, your hamstring will contract, and also, to some extent, your calf (gastrocnemius) and your lower buttocks. Meanwhile, your quadriceps are being inhibited (somewhat lengthened and relaxed) in order not to retard the flexion. In this example, the hamstring serves you as the agonist, or the prime mover and the quadricep serves you as the antagonist. The calf and lower buttocks serve you as the synergists. The agonists and the antagonists are generally found on opposite sides of the affected joint (such as your hamstrings and your quadriceps, or your triceps and your biceps), The synergists are generally located at the same side on the joint and near the agonists. Larger muscles will regularly call upon their smaller neighbours to function as synergists. The muscles are by nature extremely pliant, and they can stretch up to one and a half times their own length, whereas your tendons may be damaged permanently if they are stretched by just four percent beyond their natural length. When you are stretching a muscle, this means that it stretches out from the centre of the muscle belly, out to the point where the muscle and tendon meet. Overstretching means tissue damage. A gentle stretch will relax your muscles, allowing them to release and grow longer, yet too intensive a stretch can actually produce an inflammatory response. This means that your body is trying to repair some damage. Any time you cause yourself pain, then you are actually causing tissue damage. You do not want to create any form of pain or discomfort when you are trying to become increase your mobility while also enhancing your flexibility. Let your mind and body relax. In order for a stretch to reach the complete length of a muscle and reach deep into the muscle-tendon connections, then it is preferred that you hold each stretch for about one minute.. but don’t push it, work up to this optimum. Your stretches should be gentle. Try not to bounce when stretching, as this can damage your muscles. Stretching must never hurt you, so be sure to stop if you start to feel pain. Holding a stretch for 10-30 seconds will help your muscles lengthen. Your flexibility work, if done correctly, will produce a calming effect and even stretching before bed will help your mind and body relax, and produce a better sleep too equally your gentle stretching, will aid the body to recover and regenerate. Do not stretch if you have any injuries. Keep breathing during your stretches. Correct breathing ensures that your muscles get the oxygen required during stretching. Ensure that both sides of your body are equally stretched. It might feel natural to you to focus on a dominant side, yet one’s focus should be to stretch all muscles equally. Some propose that water is important to drink regarding your flexibility as an increased water intake is thought to contribute to better mobility, as well as enhanced total body relaxation. Stretching your neck. Tilt your head forward, but don’t rock it from side to side as this may be dangerous. Alternatively, stretch your neck to the left, then the right, go forward and backward, and return to centre. Angle your head with the ear towards a shoulder, then tilt your head backwards and roll it from left to right, then the right to the left in a 30 degree motion. Ensure that when the head is tilted backwards, you keep the jaw relaxed and even let your mouth fall open a little. Stretch the shoulder. Put an arm on the chest. Grasp your forearm with the other arm. Pull the arm until you feel your shoulder is stretching. Push the arm that you are stretching the opposite way so to contract the muscle if you notice that the chest is stretching instead of the shoulder. STATIC STRETCHING Static stretching is a traditional type of stretching that most people are more familiar with. For example, bending over and touching your toes is a great static stretch for your hamstrings and your lower back. With static stretching you will want to go to just at the point of discomfort and then hold this stretch if possible for 30-60 seconds. Go slowly at first, do not push yourself to the point of excruciating pain and so risk pulling or tearing any muscles. As you become more habituated to stretching, your pain threshold will increase and you will be able to maintain any stretches for longer and then to stretch deeper. Here are some static stretches that you can do easily. Chest. Shoulders and Biceps. Extend an arm and grasp a pole or other sturdy stationary object with one hand. Then slowly rotate the body away while keeping your posture upright. Keep going until you feel a good stretch in the chest, shoulders, and biceps. Hold this and then repeat it with the other arm. Try to do this stretch at least twice for each side. UPPER BODY STRETCH This stretch is quite easy, grasp a chin up bar and hang from it for as long as your strength will hold. You will probably feel the stretch throughout your entire upper torso. This can be repeated several times with different grips (e.g. wide, underhand, narrow, overhand). LATS/CHEST STRETCH Grab a bar or machine handle that is about waist high. Simply extend back as shown in the picture until you feel a good stretch in the lats and chest. Hold this for 30-60 seconds, take a quick rest and then repeat again. QUADS STRETCH Using a leg extension or seated leg curl machine, set the foot roller pad so that it is just lower then the height of your butt. Put the pin in the full weight stack so that the pad doesnt move. Then hook your foot over the pad as shown in the picture. And lean back and down until you feel the stretch throughout the quads. Hold this for 30-60 seconds and then repeat with the other leg. Do this stretch at least twice for each side. HAMSTRINGS STRETCH Extend your leg on a weight machine, rack, or some other object that is a bit higher then waist height. Straighten your leg and lean forward until you feel the stretch in the hamstrings. Try to grab your toes if you flexible enough, if not then just reach out as far as you can. Hold this for 30-60 seconds and then repeat with the other leg. Do this stretch at least twice for each side. LOWER BACK/HAMSTRINGS STRETCH This is pretty straight forward, just bend over with your legs straight and touch your toes. Hold this for 30-60 seconds, take a quick rest and then repeat again.

Friday, October 25, 2019

The Downside of Facebook :: Social Networking, Social Network

While social media has made connecting and communicating with anyone at any time as easy as pie, it also has altered teen’s social skills and behaviors. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have proven to be great tools to expedite the development of empathy, encourage task-switching or even bring somewhat shy individuals a little more out of their shells. However, social media sites have also fostered a host of psychological and behavioral problems. â€Å"Cognitive development is still maturing during the teen years and the introduction of these types of online outlets can act as a platform for teenagers to speak their minds without facing peers directly,† said Amy Grosso, PhD, a counselor. â€Å"This can result in negative consequences, such as bullying, narcissism, depression, distractibility and anxiety.† Teens also may struggle with real-life social interactions if most of their communication has been conducted through a screen rather than in person, Grosso said. She suggests parents take the following steps to reduce the risk of teens experiencing the negative effects of social media:

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Leadership Theories Essay

There are many leadership theories that have oriented and contributed for the leaders in management. One of them is the â€Å"Situational Approach† theory, which was found by Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard (1979). In this task, we will evaluate the usefulness of the leadership styles mentioned in the theory, then compare and contrast with some of the other styles. 1. Evaluate Four leadership styles include: Directing, Coaching, Supporting and Delegating. According to Seth Godin (2012, Situational Leadership by Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey), when Style 1 (Directing) said that leaders closely supervise followers and give the recommendation and decisions themselves; Style 2 (Coaching) showed that the leaders still take responsibility in supporting and making decision but there is more two-way communication between them and the employees. Supporting Style (S3) indicated that the followers now do not need too much motivations and support and they can equally make decisions with the leaders, whereas for Delegating Style, the followers control and fully take responsibilities of their work without the leaders’ help. From our perspective, these leadership styles are very helpful for the managers. They are easy to follow and help the manager to figure out which one is mostly appropriate to apply for their employees in every specific situation. For example, Directing Style is applied for â€Å"people who lack competence but are enthusiastic and committed† (Godin, 2012) while Delegating Style is suitable for employees who are highly-skilled and also, can independently do their jobs without others’ support. By selecting correct leadership styles for each worker, the managers may easily divide them into every working development level and give them their best suitable jobs. Once the employees are able to do their appropriate work, they can give their best performance and improve their own abilities more. 2.  Compare and contrast with some of the other style The theory of Hersey and Blanchard (1969) concentrate on leadership in situation and followers. It is said that the manager evaluates the competence and commitment of his subordinates to choose the best management style. For example, in a handicraft company, a superior usually focus on his employees to rate them by two criteria: capacity and commitment. Then, he finds the suitable style to direct and support them in work. He doesn’t pay attention to the desired outcome when he applies this theory in his leadership. Therefore, the theory has a drawback when it does not concern to the task/production. Meanwhile, Blake and Mouton’s managerial Grid(1964) talks about the relationship between task and people. This theory said that when a manager has a high rate in both â€Å"concern for people† and â€Å"concern for production†, the organization will achieve a high performance (BPP, p. 177). Apparently, it is useful to appraise the manager’s performance but did not point out how the manager direct or support his workers. On the other hand, the leadership styles of Goleman (2000) seems to have the most comprehensive overview and covers most of factors which have influence on leadership: leaders, contingent, followers and desired outcome. It has 6 distinctive styles applied in each specific situation with specific types of employees and detail desired outcomes. The newest style can be the best choice to put into the reality and help leader improve not only the organization’s performance but his performance as well. When the organization creates a change, there are some people who agree or disagree with the change.  In the respect of people disagreeing, six solutions were made by Kotter and Schlesinger in 1979 in order to help the leaders to persuade the staffs disagreeing. In the scope of the assignment, we will mention three techniques: education and commitment, facilitation and support, participation and involvement. To begin with education and commitment, the leader will announce the change to the staffs before operation and explain the employees to understand the benefit of the change. The solution is used when the workers misunderstand information or their information is imprecise. For example, if the company has a plan moving worker A from Marketing department to Administration department, they will give the advantage of the moving such as an easier work or higher bonus and convince the staff A before giving the announcement. This will bring the pleasure to help the staffs accept the change but the leader will lose time to explain with the workers Moreover, facilitation and support is known that the manager will assist the people suffering the adversity of change about the feeling and matter. The technique is referred when there are too many complaints from the workers about the change. For instance, when the company moves the place from the center of the city to the suburb, the workers will complain about the long road they must go to work and they will spend too much time to go to work. In the situation, the manager will support the transportation or increase salaries for the workers. Although the company lose the expenditure, they will keep the satisfied of staffs and create the comfort for the employees in order that the workers will accept the change and concentrate on working better. On the other hand, â€Å"participation and involvement† gives people chance to help design and execute the changes. The advantages are that it can add information to change planning and builds commitment to change. However, if a company do not make right plan to overcoming resistance, they will take risk with their employees. If someone has important information and/or power to resist, the organization have to make a clearly strategy so that they can select the right person who they need. If they got mistake in their plan, the wrong person will get the wrong participation and it will give nothing to the company and make that person feel uncomfortable. They will be disappointed and depressed; lead to it is their performance will down.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

5 ways to overcome Millennial stereotypes

5 ways to overcome Millennial stereotypes In the workplace, Millennials are often plagued by the stereotypes of being lazy and entitled know-it-alls. Many employers often complain of being unable to motivate Millennials to get the job done. Like all generalizations, this can be harmful to the truly diligent and ambitious workers out there. If you’re a millennial trying to prove your worth at the office, here are some tips for making your professional life a bit easier. Be humbleA little humility can go a long way as you ease into your new position. Or even as you try to reinvent yourself at your current position. Constantly displaying a willingness to learn, accept constructive criticism, and be a team player can change the way you are viewed. You might even find your coworkers and senior staff more willing to assist you and give you more responsibility. Don’t assume you know anything. Listen and observe keenly and always be willing to seek additional guidance if anything is unclear.Nobody likes a know-it-all, especially when they don’t know it all.Don’t expect overnight successThis goes hand-in-hand with being humble. Recognize that reaching big milestones often requires extended periods of focused work. Don’t expect your first project to be perfect with minimal effort. Don’t expect a promotion or pay raise after just a few months on the job. Even if you are incredibly talented, it may take time for those around you to recognize your skills. It may take even longer for you to earn their trust. Just do the work and trust the process.Refine your communication skillsThe way we communicate is one of the first things people notice. And Millennials have a reputation for preferring emojis over real words and using modern slang in place of business language. Take care to refine your written and verbal communications so you can present the most polished version of yourself. For written communications, this can mean diligently proofreading your emails for grammar and cl arity. If it’s allowed, you could even download an app like Grammarly to help you catch mistakes. Aim to make your verbal communications concise, free from verbal tics and slang.Ask good questionsBuilding on the previous topic, learning how to ask good questions can make all the difference for your work experience. Asking thoughtful and relevant questions can help you better gather the information you need to get your job done well and set you apart from your peers. But remember, asking good questions starts with paying attention and listening. Be present. Be observant.Be self-awareSelf-awareness is a crucial aspect of success in life in general, not just for Millennials. Knowing who you are, what you want, and your flaws will go a long way in optimizing your self-regulation. Don’t be afraid the spend time alone, writing down your feelings and aspirations and examining the potential obstacles to achieving your goals. Consistent reflection can help you to learn more fro m each experience.About the Author:Jordan Perez is a human resource expert at ResumePundits.com with over 10 years experience helping HR managers and employees create better work relations. She’s also an avid freelance writer who has been published in online magazines and corporate websites. When she’s not engaged in HR developments, she loves hitting the road to see new places and spending time with her two daughters.