Living With Other Gods

In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay\u27s first paragraph. America the melting pot,” how many times have we heard this remark, yet it is so true. It is a diverse melting pot of many people, cultures, and religions. Diversity can lead either to intolerance or to acceptance. It is up to us, as Homo sapiens, or wise humans to accept the latter. This however comes with a challenge, for we are compelled to defend ourselves in the face or ignorance and cruelty. We live in a very complex country and time, yet we face the same problems that humans all over the world and different eras have. Even though we are all humans, it is hard to accept another person at a same level as us, and it is hard to comprehend that those who are different from us, share the same emotions and feelings as ourselves. We are also sometimes afraid to share our life with those who have other gods or a different God. Religion plays an important part in human life and affects millions of people worldwide. This great worldwide variety of religious devotion indicates that for thousands of years, humanity has had a spiritual need and yearning. Man has lived with his trials and burdens, his doubts and questions, including the enigma of death. Religious feelings have been expressed in many different ways as people have turned towards God or their gods, seeking blessings and solace. With the wide diversity of religious expression that has developed around the world over the past 6,000 years, it is at least educational and mind broadening to understand what others believe and how their beliefs originated. After all, all religions try to answer the same questions raised by humankind: Why are we here? How should we live? Where do we go after we die? In many countries now, owing to immigration and population movement, people of different religions share the same neighborhood. Therefore understanding one another’s viewpoint can lead to more meaningful communications and conversations between people of different faiths. It may also decrease some of the hatred in this world based on religious differences. People may strongly disagree about their religious beliefs, but there is no basis for hating a person just because he or she holds a different viewpoint. The ancient Jewish law stated, ‘You shall not hate your kinfolks in your heart. Reprove your relative but incur no guilt because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love you fellows as yourself: I am Lord” (Leviticus 19:17-18 Ta). In addition, the founder of Christianity stated, “But I say to you who are listening, Continue to love your enemies, to do good to those who are hurting you…your reward will be great…” (Luke 6:27). The Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, also states a similar principle. “It may be that Allah will bring about friendship between you and those whom you hold as enemies…and Allah is powerful, forgiving, and most merciful” (Surah 60:7). When it comes to worship, God himself should not determine what is and is not acceptable

Eroticism and Mysteries of Cross-Dressing: Increasing Trends of Male to Female Cross-Dressing in Pakistani Society

Human beings are born with certain gender identities: male, female, or intersex variations. These identities have their peculiar attributes, affiliations, and psychological needs. Our social norms impose strict rules on female and male, but the protesters are always present in every society. In third-world Pakistan, with long-upheld standard Islamic and established historical social values, people have concrete models in their minds about gender roles. This article specifically deals with males who rebel against the social construct of gender roles. The research encompasses male-to-female (MTF) cross-dressing in the Sufism order within the subcontinent. It encodes the life of Sufi mystic poets of the subcontinent like Ameer Khusro, Khawaja Nzaam ud Din, Bulleh Shah, and Shah Anayat as well as today’s Pakistani cross-dressers. The male tendency for adopting female attributes is called autogynephilia—it leads a man to cross-dress as a female. This article is particularly dealing with MTF (male to female). The paper discusses evidence of MTF cross-dressing in literature, drama, and theatre. It intends to value the theories of psychologists about male tendencies of cross-dressing. It evaluates the experience of real life cross-dressers in the Pakistani and western societies. The research discusses the eroticism of this transvestitism. This fetish transvestitism also has its erotic impact on both viewers and the cross-dresser

Use of a Utility-Scale Solar Energy Facility by Avian Populations in Central California

With an ever-increasing demand for renewable energy in response to climate change, utility-scale solar energy (USSE) is on the rise, particularly in California. Although solar energy is viewed as an essential resource for transitioning from a fossil fuel economy, USSE installations can cover thousands of acres of habitat used by avian species. Little is known about the effects of USSE on avian populations, although some evidence suggests that USSE facilities may be leading to bird mortality. The lake-effect hypothesis suggests that birds may mistake solar arrays for large bodies of water resulting in injury or mortality. Though several studies describe the direct impacts of USSE on birds, far fewer evaluate indirect effects of USSE on birds. This study used point counts to contrast bird abundance, species richness, bird behavior and human disturbance at the Wright Solar Park (WSP), adjacent grasslands, and agricultural land. The USSE facility had lower bird abundances, species richness, and percent of birds foraging compared to both the grassland and the agricultural sites. These results indicate that USSE facilities should be placed in previously transformed locations especially urban settings that have little to no wildlife value

Effectiveness of Orientation Programmes Offered for the Employees of Public Sector Universities of Punjab, Pakistan

The study was designed to assess the effectiveness of orientation programmes offered by the educational management at higher level for the faculty members in understanding the work roles. The objectives of the study were; to assess the effectiveness of orientation programmes for developing work role clarity; to explore the difference between male and female employees in provision of orientation programme; to explore the difference between male and female employees in work role clarity and to explore the difference between different universities in orientation programmes offered to its employees. The population of the research was based on all the faculty members serving in the public sector universities of Punjab. There were 21 Higher Education Commission recognized universities located in Punjab and 6829 faculty members were serving in these 21 universities. Random sampling technique was used to select the sample for the research. 350 faculty members were selected randomly from seven universities located in different cities of Punjab. The data was collected with the help of a questionnaire based on three sections (Demographic, Orientation and Work Role Clarity). The collected data were analyzed with the help of SPSS 21 Edition. The results showed that the orientation programmes offered to the employees of the universities were not effective for developing work role clarity. There was no significant difference between the responses of male and female respondents with respect to the receiving of orientation programmes and work role clarity. However there was significant difference between the universities of Punjab in the use of orientation programmes and employee’s work role clarity. Keywords: Orientation and Work Role Clarity

A study of word frequency in written Urdu

Performance on word processing tasks is known to be influenced by the frequency with which words occur in a language. Large and robust effects of word frequency occur across languages and the processes thought to be sensitive to word frequency are considered fundamentally important characteristics of the mental lexicon (Monsell, 1991). A major role of these frequency sensitive processes is embedded in most models of word recognition. Indeed the adequacy of models of word recognition hinges upon their ability to explain this pervasive effect. Thus, it is imperative to understand the effects of frequency in the processing of any language under study and it is crucial that this ubiquitous effect be controlled when examining less robust and influential effects. To my knowledge, no frequency data exists for Urdu, a South Asian language of Perso-Arabic origin. My ultimate goal is to study language processing in native and bilingual speakers of Urdu, and before I embark on this endeavour, it is essential to provide a word frequency database for the language. I have thus constructed a word frequency database for written Urdu. The frequency counts from this database will help psycholinguists and cognitive psychologists conduct and control future studies on the mental lexicon using Urdu. The credibility of this database has been demonstrated by conducting a lexical decision task using words from this database. A frequency effect was obtained which not only indicated that this database is a valid research tool, but also replicated the robust word frequency effect for Urdu.Dept. of Psychology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2006 .K43. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-01, page: 0485. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2006

Sporadic cjd and retinitis punctata albescansa case report and literature review

Introduction Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) is the most common form of CJD causing 85% of all cases. Various phenotypes of sCJD have been identified including Heidenhain variant which has early and predominant visual symptoms with most pronounced neuropathological changes in occipital lobe. Methodology. We are reporting a case of sCJD with Retinitis Punctata Albescens (RPA), a variant of Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), which to our knowledge has not been reported before. A 51 year old, married, right handed, Pakistani woman presented with dementia and gait problems for 3 months and visual hallucinations for 2 months. Ophthalmological examination 3 years prior to current presentation scattered white dots on the retina in both eyes centrally and peripherally and a diagnosis of retinitis punctata albescens (RPA) was made. MRI brain showed T2 hyperintensities and restricted diffusion on DWI in frontal, parietal and temporal cortices as well as caudate and putamen bilaterally. EEG showed slow posterior background activity and poorly formed tri-phasic waves. We diagnosed probable sCJD using the 1998 WHO criteria. Patient also met UCSF sCJD criteria. Discussion. Visual symptoms in sCJD are more commonly associated with posterior cortical pathology and less commonly with retinal pathology. However this is an isolated case report and warrants validation

Triple valve endocarditis by mycobacterium tuberculosis: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Granulomas caused by Mycobacterium Tuberculosis have been observed at autopsy in the heart, pre-dominantly in the myocardium and endocardium, but rarely involving the coronary vessels and valvular structures. Mycobacterium tuberculosis valvular endocarditis is extremely rare, with most reports coming from autopsy series. CASE PRESENTATION: We report the case of a 17 year old immunocompetent girl who presented with history of fever, malaise, foot gangrene and a left sided hemiparesis. On investigation she was found to have infective endocarditis involving the aortic, mitral and tricuspid valves. She had developed a right middle cerebral artery stroke. She underwent dual valve replacement and tricuspid repair. The vegetations showed granulomatous inflammation but blood cultures and other biological specimen cultures were negative for any organisms. She was started on antituberculous treatment and anticoagulation. CONCLUSION: This is the first reported case of triple valve endocarditis by Mycobacterium Tuberculosis in an immunocompetent host. Especially important is the fact that the right heart is involved which has been historically described in the setting of intravenous drug abuse.This implies that Tuberculosis should be considered in cases of culture negative endocarditis in endemic areas like Pakistan even in immunocompetent hosts