Thursday, October 17, 2019

Accounting assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Accounting - Assignment Example any can achieve this strategy by charging Priority, Team, and Shop different prices and at the same time, these respective customers selling to different purchasers. A business that sells to different places with different cost differentiating their products from their competitors through use of trademarks or advertising. This will allow customers to be associate of distribution in different packaging is capable to monopolize the market. This promotes brand loyalty among your customers. Brand loyalty is a significant asset as it upholds a company against the threat of competitors. Price differentiation will also encourages innovation, it is very important for Duncan Shirt Company to set itself apart from the rivals through a transformational innovation to explore the market further and come up with a new product. This will also focuses on improving the existing products. Innovation gives benefits to both stakeholders and customers by reinvigorating goods, improving fabrication processes will offer promising economies of scale. Differentiation will create a barrier to entry for new investors in the market because the customers will have associated the existing product. A company who also offer a distinct product would be doing advertising to make it popular in the public eye, thus making it very difficult for new entries companies by restricting them since they lack capital to advertise effectively. However, this cost should be reflected on the products through charging high profit margins. Moreover tastes of customers do change with time and competitors are o ut to copy and imitate flourishing differentiators. For this reason, product differentiation should offer something which the customer value for long term sustainment. Generally, an extreme usage of materials is the main cause of unfavorable direct materials quantity variance. Form the data give positive (annex) which is very favorable to the company. This may be due to substandard quality of materials,  or

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

U.S. Veterans are taken care of in the United States Research Paper

U.S. Veterans are taken care of in the United States - Research Paper Example with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of earlier wars are appreciated by our nation† (Korb 79). The treatment provided helps in encouraging people who volunteer to defend their country is that there is still a good life after combat and the government cares and appreciates them all. But the government has to still try proving this to the people through actions. Appreciation and care given should be all round, that is; it should include support physically, emotionally and mentally not forgetting socially. The wounds suffered during the war should be taken care of, the mental trauma and stress suffered due to the combat and loss of colleagues and helping them fit in back to their lives and society. The government of the united state does provide care for the veterans in different ways but not enough for them. To start with is the veteran medical care that was first made available to the disabled veterans and soldiers in the established soldiers’ home, the naval home and the National Homes for disabled volunteer soldiers’ institutions. In World War I, public health service hospitals under a contract with the bureau of war risk insurance took care of the injured veterans. By 1920 the government had fifty government hospitals for the war soldiers. In 1921 the veterans’ bureau took over from the public health service and in 1930 the veterans’ administration replaced the veteran bureau and introduced the national Home and Bureau of Pensions. Since then the Veteran administration has grown to operate 172 hospitals, 104 nursing homes and domiciliary and 220 outpatient clinics. The wars in Korea or Vietnam led to soldiers who served more than two tours involuntarily. A soldier who survived the first tour and went back for a second tour was given at least two years to spend at home before going for another combat. This provided time for recuperation from

Accounting assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Accounting - Assignment Example any can achieve this strategy by charging Priority, Team, and Shop different prices and at the same time, these respective customers selling to different purchasers. A business that sells to different places with different cost differentiating their products from their competitors through use of trademarks or advertising. This will allow customers to be associate of distribution in different packaging is capable to monopolize the market. This promotes brand loyalty among your customers. Brand loyalty is a significant asset as it upholds a company against the threat of competitors. Price differentiation will also encourages innovation, it is very important for Duncan Shirt Company to set itself apart from the rivals through a transformational innovation to explore the market further and come up with a new product. This will also focuses on improving the existing products. Innovation gives benefits to both stakeholders and customers by reinvigorating goods, improving fabrication processes will offer promising economies of scale. Differentiation will create a barrier to entry for new investors in the market because the customers will have associated the existing product. A company who also offer a distinct product would be doing advertising to make it popular in the public eye, thus making it very difficult for new entries companies by restricting them since they lack capital to advertise effectively. However, this cost should be reflected on the products through charging high profit margins. Moreover tastes of customers do change with time and competitors are o ut to copy and imitate flourishing differentiators. For this reason, product differentiation should offer something which the customer value for long term sustainment. Generally, an extreme usage of materials is the main cause of unfavorable direct materials quantity variance. Form the data give positive (annex) which is very favorable to the company. This may be due to substandard quality of materials,  or

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Dropping Out of One’s Future Essay Example for Free

Dropping Out of One’s Future Essay We need another series of milk cartons: one that shows the faces of students who drop out of school. After all, isn’t a kid who has dropped out of school a bit like a kid who has been kidnapped? The circumstances have more in common than one might imagine: there is a moment that finally comes during which one’s life is inexorably altered, and if that moment comes and no one is around to help, the consequences are life-long and most likely devastating. Whether one is taken by force and tossed into a van or one is removed by a force from the basic educational system of society, the result is still a kid whose life will never be the same. There are as many reasons for a student’s dropping out of school as there are for a criminal’s behavior, but ultimately, the reason a kid drops out comes down to one of three things: a lack of support, a lack of success, or a lack of money (â€Å"Youth Who Drop Out†). Educational success or failure is often a result of a support system or lack thereof, and no race, gender, or socio-economic group is immune; however, there is a common factor when it comes to evaluating the reasons behind students’ dropping out: â€Å"No one at home, at school or in the community had established relationships with [those who dropped out], set high academic expectations [or] given them the tools to achieve them† (â€Å"Youth Who Drop Out,† Sacchetti). It appears that those who lack a reliable support system are unable to stick with the rigors of school—rigors that are complicated by the mere act of growing from child to adolescent to adult. Trying and failing is no fun for anyone, and the constant pressure on students to perform based not a personal scale but a fixed one can be overwhelming. â€Å"Recent research suggests that, even for students who have difficult home lives, dropping out has much to do with [both] how schools operate and the educational experiences students have within them (Jerald 3). The relationship between a student’s success and his willingness to continue seems profound, and while there is no doubt that school is supposed to be challenging, the challenge is too great for some. This is a cyclical event: the student who does not understand something on Monday does not wake up on Tuesday understanding it; however, Tuesday comes, and so does more information built upon the prior day’s lesson. Now, the student who was behind one lesson is behind two (Jerald 5). There is a reason most students have a favorite subject along with one or more that they hate, and the reason is generally success-based. Money is perhaps the greatest threat to the continuation of an education, but ironically, it is also the biggest burden over the long-haul. Consider the student who lives at home, pays no rent, is responsible for no bills, and who suddenly gets a job. Even a minimum wage salary creates a false sense of financial security for that individual, and there are plenty of high school students who find work that pays a better wage. Suddenly, the new wage-earner considers just how much more he’d make working full time instead of part time, and because he has not had to budget realistically, it seems clear that the time he sits in a classroom is time wasted as he could be earning more money. Education professor Russell Rumberger of UC Santa Barbara found that, â€Å"A dropout earns an average of $18,826 a year, far less than the $27,280 a high-school graduate makes [. . . and] dropouts pay less in taxes and are more at risk of going on welfare, experiencing health problems or getting into trouble† (qtd. in Sacchetti). Students who lack a support system and who are not successful in school can easily become enthralled by the potential to make an amount of money that seems substantial at the age of sixteen. These students are not likely to consider the dead end they face later when the earning potential they have acquired isn’t sufficient, and lacking a support system, they are certainly unlikely to receive alternate advice. No one blames a kidnapping victim for behavior that might have resulted in the accosting; however, society is quick to judge those who drop out without taking the time necessary to evaluate whether or not the drop out simply didn’t get what she needed in terms of the life education—a type of learning that can’t always be taught in school. Works Cited Jerald, Craig D. â€Å"Identifying Potential Dropouts: Key Lessons for Building an Early Warning Data System: A Dual Agenda of High Standards and High Graduation Rates.† Achieve, Inc. June 2006. Carnegie Corporation of New York. 30 Sept. 2006. http://www. achieve. org/files/dropouts. pdf. Sacchetti, Maria. â€Å"Why Do Students Drop Out of School? † The Orange County Register. 31 Oct. 2004. 29 Sept. 2006. http://www. ocregister. com/ocr/2004/10/31/sections/news/ news/article_294717. php. â€Å"Youth Who Drop Out. † Focus Adolescent Services. 2000. 29 Sept. 2006. http://www. focusas. com/Dropouts. html.

Monday, October 14, 2019

The American Way of War

The American Way of War Thesis: The United States has developed distinct American way of war. Since 1941, the United States of America had developed an American way of war based on technology, precise usage of power from distance and employment of Special Operation Forces (SOF) in order to find, fix and mark adversary forces and expose them to precise air and ground fire. Additionally, outstanding use of the Combined Arms Maneuver and incorporation of all available enablers distinguish the American way of war from other nations. The term American Way of War[1] was mentioned for a first time in early 1970s with the publication of The American Way of War written by Russel Weigley who examined the key political and military figures from George Washington to Robert McNamara and their approaches to the war. He wrote that The American Way of War seeks on the pursuit of a crushing military victory against opposing army, using a strategy of an attrition or annihilation. According to Weigley, the United States military and political leaders seek to destroy adversarys military capabilities and to conquer their capital city in order to force them to stop the war and to start postwar negotiations under already established United states terms and conditions.[2] Additionally, he made clear distinction between the United States Army and most of the European armies, meaning that the United States usually will capitalize their military victory achieving strategic success after war in order to keep or extend the influence by politics and diplomacy. Some writers argued that the United States did not develop The American Way of War and instead of the term mentioned above, they were arguing that the United States has developed The American Way of Battle[3], because the most of the western armies along with the US Army were studied Napoleon, Clausewitz, Moltke, and developed tactics, procedures and doctrines according to their way of warfare. Anyway, the one thing that distinguish the US Army from other western armies (British, German, French) especially after WW 2 was the US Army ability to bring to war more than some countries and armies could even imagine. During the WW 2, the United States Army destroyed most of the German and Japanese cities using strategic bombing on a daily base and making them incapable of conducting offensive operations and to sustain fighting for a long period of time. According to Max Boot, and his article The New American Way of War, he wrote that: the Civil War, World War I, and World War II were won not by tactical or strategic brilliance but by the sheer weight of numbers the awesome destructive power that only a fully mobilized and highly industrialized democracy can bring to bear.[4] The United States brought to the WW 2 more than many other country, and even more important, the United States were able to sustain that battle rhythm and to finish the WW 2, along with their allies as victorious. From the other side, conflicts in Korea and Vietnam shoved that the awesome destructive power[5] was not enough to achieve success, so after those two conflicts the United States Army started with the process of re building the broken army[6] examining the reasons of failure in those two conflicts and drawing lessons learned from them in order to improve negative sides and to sustain those good sides. After those two conflicts the morale, discipline and reediness of the US Army were lower and even worse than at any time in 20th Century and probably in the history of the United States Army. The Army leadership started with training and doctrinal reform and finally the adaptation of Field Manual 100-5 Operations, during 1976 was some kind of wake-up call for the Army. Even though the FM was widely criticized it brought the fundamental change in the way how army should see itself in a fight, in addition, the FM was a transition step that opened an intellectual dialogue across the Army.[7] Later on this FM was revised in 1982 and 1986 introducing and refining the Air Land Battle and soon after this concept will be proven during the Desert Storm campaign. Operation Desert Storm was turning moment and can be used as a first example how the United States developed an American way of war based on technology, an air power, usage of precisely guided ammunition (PGA), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), SOF and combined arms maneuver along with other enablers in order to defeat adversary forces for a short period of time and to achieve decisive victory. This operation was pure combination of combined arms maneuver supported by an air, maritime, and ground fire power, and can be connected to the traditional, firepower-intensive mode widely used during WW 2. The ground operation started with massive armored assault, after more than five weeks of precise bombing from air, land and sea guided by Special Operations Forces. During this operation the US Army adopted and proved the American Way of War, seeking a victory while having minimal casualties. The characteristics of new way of war were: speed, maneuver, flexibility, and surprise, supported by precision firepower, SOF, and psychological operations. The integration of air, ground and naval power into one synchronized matrix was more successful than the most optimistic predictions.[8] Operation Enduring Freedom is second example to explain the United States, or American way of war, based and highly dependent on technology, an air power, PGA, UAV, SOF, combined arms maneuver, and other critical enablers such as sustainment which is required for successful conduct of war. Also this operation showed ability to conduct the combined arms maneuver and to sustain operations in hostile environment such us terrain, extreme temperatures and poor infrastructure. Carefully examining terrain and the experience of the USSR during invasion of Afghanistan, the US Army did not fail into the same trap pouring ground forces into the country, and instead of making the same mistake, the US Army decided to fight with the Special Operation Forces and massive usage of precision guided-ammunition. Additionally, the SOF established connection with the Northern Alliance and provided support to fight Taliban regime. After two months of fighting Taliban regime collapsed and operation Enduring Freedom succeed. From the other side, small amount of ground forces at the beginning of operation could not cover escape routes from Afghanistan, and Osama bin Laden escaped Afghanistan with other top terrorists.[9] The operation Iraqi Freedom was even more successful compering with war in Afghanistan, and during this operation the United States Army, together with coalition forces, conducted truly combined-arms operation. Compering the numbers, Coalition forces deployed less than half size of units deployed during operation Desert Storm, anyway, it did not stop them to conquer al entire Iraq for a very short period of time with one-third of casualties and one-fourth the cost compering with the first operation. One more time the United States Army demonstrated ability to incorporate an air, sea and ground fire-power with combination of surgical strikes guided and conducted by Special Operation Forces in order to shape the battlefield for major operation. The Iraqi Forces deployed more than 450,000 troops in order to defend Iraq, it was not enough not only to slow down, but also to stop advance of Coalition Forces led by the United States Army. Doctrinally, the attacking forces must have 3 to 1 f orce ratio to be successful, and if operation is conducted in difficult terrain or urban areas, the ratio goes up to 6 to 1force ratio. In this case the Coalition forces had more than 3 to 1 disadvantage in numbers, anyway it did not stop them to achieve remarkable victory in a very short period of time. One more time the United States Army proved that the combined arms maneuver, supported with all the available enablers, is if not the only way, than definitely one among few possible ways how to conduct future military operations regardless the scale of operations, units and enablers.[10] Conclusion: After WW 2, the United States of America conducted several military operations and limited wars from Korea to Afghanistan and Iraq, and over the time has developed distinguished way of war based and highly dependent on technology and other enablers such us: air, naval and ground support discussed in this essay. Additionally, the United States Army uses every opportunity to analyze and conduct an after action reviews in order to derive lessons learned and to improve conduct of military operations. Also, ability to sustain military operations, regardless of time, differentiate an American way of war from other nations and their armed forces. So what: As LtC Steed described definition of winning as: winning is enhancing or improving interests and influence.[11] The only thing, or Big So What from this essay that I will take away is: The United States Army in case of war can bring to bear more than other countries can dream about. I would argue that having the United States of America as a true partner and friend can be really beneficial, especially for smaller countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina. We already gained a lot benefits having The United States as friend and partner and hope to improve and strengthen our relationship in the near future. At the end I would like to mention that the World would be different without presence of The United States as leader in a free democratic world. References: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2003-07-01/new-american-way-war 2 Ibid 3 H307 Rebuilding a Broken army, reading H307RA, The Collapse of the Armed Forces, by Robert D. Heinl Jr. 4 H307 Rebuilding a Broken army, reading H307RB, The Post-Vietnam Army, by Robert H. Scales 5 https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2003-07-01/new-american-way-war 6 Ibid 7 H307 Rebuilding a Broken army, reading H307RA, The Collapse of the Armed Forces, by Robert D. Heinl Jr. 8 H307 Rebuilding a Broken army, reading H307RB, The Post-Vietnam Army, by Robert H. Scales 9 https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2003-07-01/new-american-way-war 10 https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2003-07-01/new-american-way-war 11LtC Steed, H308 The past and prologue, March 14, 2017 [1] AN AMERICAN WAY OF WAR OR WAY OF BATTLE? Compiled by LTC Antulio J. Echevarria II, page 1 [2] Toward an American Way of War, Antulio J. Echevarria II, page 9 (PDF file) [3] Ibid, page 10 [4] https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2003-07-01/new-american-way-war [5] Ibid [6] H307 Rebuilding a Broken army, reading H307RA, The Collapse of the Armed Forces, by Robert D. Heinl Jr. [7] H307 Rebuilding a Broken army, reading H307RB, The Post-Vietnam Army, by Robert H. Scales [8] https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2003-07-01/new-american-way-war [9] https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2003-07-01/new-american-way-war [10] https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2003-07-01/new-american-way-war [11] LtC Steed, H308 The past and prologue, March 14, 2017

Sunday, October 13, 2019

What Makes Them Tic? :: essays papers

What Makes Them Tic? Tourette's syndrome is a neurological disorder, which involves involuntary body movements or Tics. There are two types of Tics, motor/physical and vocal. This paper will cover many aspects of Tourette's syndrome; including the history of the disease, the discovered of the disease, the genetics involved with the disorder, the diagnosis of the disease, and the effects of the disease on families. George Gils de la Tourette's a French doctor and biologist discovered Tourette's syndrome in 1885 (Landau 21). He was observing patients with unexplained repetitive movements and could not find any preexisting condition that would cause these symptoms. After extensive research he concluded that this disorder had not been documented before, so he named it Tourette's syndrome, after himself. Tourette’s syndrome is a neurological disorder; it is inherited from a parent’s dominant gene, causing different symptoms among different family members. It is not known on which chromosome the disease is located. There is a 50% chance that one will pass this trait on to his/her offspring with each pregnancy (Shimberg 64). There is no prenatal testing that can be done before a child is born to determine if the child has the disease. Unlike other genetic disorders or disease Tourette's is not in the blood. Therefore testing will not give any indication of whether or not a child will develop Tourette's. Cases of the disease show males are burden with the disease three to four times more often then females. There is a 15% chance that the disorder will evolve during childhood. Both motor and vocal tics become less frequent with age but unfortunately will never disappear. The U.S. Medical Survey estimates that 100,000 people have full blown Tourette's syndrome, and there ar e up to 300,0000 have minor undiagnosed cases. Tourette's Syndrome causes an individual to lose control of body movement resulting in repetitive actions and verbalizations. These involuntary movements are called tics. There are two kinds of tics, motor/physical and vocal. Motor tics can be simple or complex in appearance. Simple motor tics are abrupt, sudden, and brief movements, occurring in a single or isolated manner. Examples of simple motor tics include eye blinking, head jerking, shoulder shrugging and facial grimacing. Complex tics are distinct, coordinated patterns of sequential movements. Examples of complex tics include such acts as touching the nose, touching other people, smelling objects, jumping, copropraxia (obscene gestures), and echopraxia (mimicking movements preformed by others), head shaking associated with shoulder shrugging, and repetitive kicking of the legs (Shimber 25).

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Hinduism Essay -- Hindu Religion

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions in existence (Srinivasan 66). It ranks as the third largest religion. Today there are about fifty million Hindus worldwide, majority of them living in India (Wangu 6). In order to understand the followers of the religion, you must first realize that Hinduism is more of a way of life than a religion (Srinivasan 66). Hinduism holds together diversity and not only for its own spiritual tradition, but for the entire subcontinent of India (Berry 3). All traditions within India are somehow associated with Hinduism. â€Å"The diversity which marks Hinduism begins with the notion of deity† (Boraks 14). â€Å"There is a strange kind of unity in the vast multiplicity of the Hindu pantheon† (14). â€Å"One never really is certain whether the Hindu religion is polytheistic or dualistic or even monotheistic: there are indications that are all of these and none of these† (14)!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Hindus define sacredness as Brahman (Boraks 14). To Hindus, Brahman is external, is changeless, has no equal, and is infinite (14). Brahman expresses itself through creation, brought itself existence by Brahma, the creator (14). Brahma is the â€Å"sacred one† and is credited with creation, but Brahma creates and then abandons his creation to lesser gods (14).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hinduism was not founded by one individual, and it was not always the complex religion it is today (Wangu 14). â€Å"Indians call it Sanatana Dharma - the faith with no beginning and no end† (Srinivasan 66). â€Å"It developed gradually, as a merging of beliefs and practices of two main groups - the people of the Indus Valley in India and the Aryans of Persia† (Wangu 14).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Like other religions, the Hindu religion has its own sacred literature. Hindu literature is not considered sacred because it has a Sacred Author, like in some western religions, but because they have sacred subject matter (Boraks 15).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"There are two main categories of Hindu Scripture - shruti, ‘that which is heard’ and smriti, ‘tradition’ or ‘that which is to be remembered’† (Wangu 9). The Vedas and the Upanishads are shruti texts (9). â€Å"These sacred writings are considered to be inspired by God and to have been revealed to human kind by ancient sages called rishis† (9).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Each of the shruti texts provides a foundation for Hinduism. â€Å"The four Vedas are the oldest of the texts and are primary script... ...elp the deceased reach the homes of the ancestor safely† (115). â€Å"The prenatal, childhood, marriage, and death rituals are also performed for women belonging to the twice- born castes† (115). â€Å"During these times, Vedic formulas are not recited, since women are not allowed to read or hear the Vedas† (115).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hinduism is made up of several practices and rites. Hindus have the ability to choose their path because of the diversity of Hinduism. Hinduism has many faces (Boraks 14). It is like â€Å"an umbrella which shelters beneath its cover a whole panoply of religions ideas and expressions† (14). Hinduism may have originated in India, but its practices have spread throughout the world and it has had a profound influence on many other world religions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Work Cited Berry, Thomas. Religions of India. New York: Bruce Publishing Company, 1971. Boraks, Lucius. Religions of the East. Kansas City, MO: Sheed & Ward, 1988. Srinivasan, Radhika. Cultures of the World - India. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1993. Wangu, Madhu Bazaz. Hinduism: World Religions. New York: Facts on File Incorporated, 1991. Hinduism Essay -- Hindu Religion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions in existence (Srinivasan 66). It ranks as the third largest religion. Today there are about fifty million Hindus worldwide, majority of them living in India (Wangu 6). In order to understand the followers of the religion, you must first realize that Hinduism is more of a way of life than a religion (Srinivasan 66). Hinduism holds together diversity and not only for its own spiritual tradition, but for the entire subcontinent of India (Berry 3). All traditions within India are somehow associated with Hinduism. â€Å"The diversity which marks Hinduism begins with the notion of deity† (Boraks 14). â€Å"There is a strange kind of unity in the vast multiplicity of the Hindu pantheon† (14). â€Å"One never really is certain whether the Hindu religion is polytheistic or dualistic or even monotheistic: there are indications that are all of these and none of these† (14)!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Hindus define sacredness as Brahman (Boraks 14). To Hindus, Brahman is external, is changeless, has no equal, and is infinite (14). Brahman expresses itself through creation, brought itself existence by Brahma, the creator (14). Brahma is the â€Å"sacred one† and is credited with creation, but Brahma creates and then abandons his creation to lesser gods (14).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hinduism was not founded by one individual, and it was not always the complex religion it is today (Wangu 14). â€Å"Indians call it Sanatana Dharma - the faith with no beginning and no end† (Srinivasan 66). â€Å"It developed gradually, as a merging of beliefs and practices of two main groups - the people of the Indus Valley in India and the Aryans of Persia† (Wangu 14).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Like other religions, the Hindu religion has its own sacred literature. Hindu literature is not considered sacred because it has a Sacred Author, like in some western religions, but because they have sacred subject matter (Boraks 15).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"There are two main categories of Hindu Scripture - shruti, ‘that which is heard’ and smriti, ‘tradition’ or ‘that which is to be remembered’† (Wangu 9). The Vedas and the Upanishads are shruti texts (9). â€Å"These sacred writings are considered to be inspired by God and to have been revealed to human kind by ancient sages called rishis† (9).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Each of the shruti texts provides a foundation for Hinduism. â€Å"The four Vedas are the oldest of the texts and are primary script... ...elp the deceased reach the homes of the ancestor safely† (115). â€Å"The prenatal, childhood, marriage, and death rituals are also performed for women belonging to the twice- born castes† (115). â€Å"During these times, Vedic formulas are not recited, since women are not allowed to read or hear the Vedas† (115).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hinduism is made up of several practices and rites. Hindus have the ability to choose their path because of the diversity of Hinduism. Hinduism has many faces (Boraks 14). It is like â€Å"an umbrella which shelters beneath its cover a whole panoply of religions ideas and expressions† (14). Hinduism may have originated in India, but its practices have spread throughout the world and it has had a profound influence on many other world religions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Work Cited Berry, Thomas. Religions of India. New York: Bruce Publishing Company, 1971. Boraks, Lucius. Religions of the East. Kansas City, MO: Sheed & Ward, 1988. Srinivasan, Radhika. Cultures of the World - India. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1993. Wangu, Madhu Bazaz. Hinduism: World Religions. New York: Facts on File Incorporated, 1991.