Sunday, August 18, 2019

The Psychological Effects of Dormitory Architecture and Layout on Resid

The Psychological Effects of Dormitory Architecture and Layout on Residents For many students, part of the experience of going to college is living in university housing. With so many young people living in such facilities, it is certainly worth investigating how they affect their denizens from a psychological perspective. It is established that one's environment is a major determinant in one's emotional and mental state. This paper will focus on architectural elements, such as floorspace, room layout, and occupancy levels of University residence halls, and how said design elements enhance or impede human interaction and individual moods. In addition to a general overview of the principles of environmental psychology and how they are routinely ignored by Florida State University in their dormitory architecture, several residence halls will be considered and detailed separately. Of primary importance in dormitory design is the issue of privacy. In Designing Places for People, author C.M. Deasy states: Privacy is as important to dorm residents as it is to anyone else, but it is usually much harder to obtain. Dormitory or barracks living implies being surrounded by people. Being alone or sharing private time with someone else is normally not considered to be an option. If privacy is needed, it must be sought somewhere else. In this regard dormitories fail to provide for an important human need. (58) Unfortunately, few steps are being taken to improve upon this. It often falls to individual residents to develop a system by which they can each receive the necessary privacy. Even with the creation by those living in a residence unit of a system by which each individual can achieve privacy, it is hardly assure... ...it would not prevent all instances of incompatible room or suitemates, it would weed out obvious mismatches, and probably raise the overall satisfaction levels of residents considerably. In the future, when constructing dorms, Florida State should most definitely use the suite configuration. It provides additional privacy in the form of semi-private bathrooms, and promotes socialization. As stated above, though, all residents of a suite must be able to tolerate one another, so careful screening in room assignment is critical. If any new dorms are constructed they should have at minimum 125 square feet. More, between 150 and 200 would be preferable. All of the information in this paper is only useful so long as someone uses it. It is the sincere hope of the author that the research and conclusions be put to good use by students and faculty alike.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Relationship between Satyagraha and Swaraj for Gandhi Essay

The word ‘Satya’ means ‘Truth’ and ‘Graha’ means ‘Force’, Satyagraha therefore means ‘Truth force’ or the force obtained by the practice of truth. The term Satyagraha is largely associated with non-violence. Gandhi advocated Satyagraha as a means to attain ‘Swaraj’ or ‘self-governance’. Satyagraha is a political philosophy propagated and practiced by Gandhi and his followers. The practitioners of this philosophy are called ‘satyagrahis’. The satyagrahis are guided by the principles advocated by Gandhi based on Yoga Sutra; non-violence, truth, non-stealing, chastity, non-possession and fearlessness. The essential elements of Satyagraha are civil-disobedience and non-cooperation as a means to attain freedom. Civil-disobedience entailed breaking a law which is found as unjust and courting arrest. Non-co-operation meant â€Å"refusing to co-operate with the opponent, refusing to submit to the injustice being fought† (What is Satyagraha? ). â€Å"Gandhiji felt that laws which were totally against the welfare of the people could be fought peacefully by organizing mass-protests in a civil way’ (Jyotsna Kamat) The basic principles of Satyagraha are essentially based on non-violence. It is observed as a basic fact that violence brings more violence. Violence causes destruction, damage to people and property and any violent protest, even for a right cause, invariably leaves a negative mark on the society. Non-violence on the contrary is free from the negative aspects of violence, yet non-violent protests send a very strong message and are successful. Gandhi believed that by demonstrating protests in a non-violent manner it is possible to completely transform the antagonist and effect a positive change. He believed that transformation in the antagonist mindset can only be brought about by non-violent means. He worked to ‘convert’ the antagonist, to truly transform him from within which forms the core values of Satyagraha. Thus the political philosophy of Satyagraha with non-violence as its essence is an ideology that came to be widely accepted and practiced. It is a concept that has been instrumental to the independence of India. The concept of ‘civilized’ protests with no damage to public property and protesting without resorting to violence of any sort is commendable. Gandhi’s idea of civil disobedience and civil non-cooperation emphasizes a respect for the general rule of the law and is focused on protesting only against any law that is felt as unjust. â€Å"Swaraj lays stress on governance not by a hierarchical government, but self governance through individuals and community building. The focus is on political decentralization† (Wikipedia). The basic idea of Swaraj was to evolve a political system where the power ultimately lies in the hands of the people, building a government ‘for the people and by the people’. â€Å"The real goal of the freedom struggle was not only to secure political azadi (independence) from Britain, but rather to gain true swaraj (liberation and self-rule)† (What is Swaraj?) as Gandhi explains â€Å"It is Swaraj when we learn to rule ourselves†. Swaraj is Gandhi’s endeavor to build a political system where the common man is empowered and he had a spiritual outlook towards his political philosophy which is reflected in the principles of Swaraj. According to Gandhi, â€Å"at the individual level Swaraj is vitally connected with the capacity for dispassionate self-assessment, ceaseless self-purification and growing self-reliance†. He believed that it is important for people to rule themselves properly and never be a disturbance to the society. Swaraj is when everyone is his own ruler and the government facilitates this individual and community development. Works Cited Jyotsna Kamat. 14 April 2005. Mahatma Gandhi: Story of Satyagraha.  © 1996-2009 Kamat’s Potpourri. http://www. kamat. com/mmgandhi/satyagraha. htm. 18 July 2009 Satyagraha. Wikipedia Foundation Inc. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Satyagraha. 18 July 2009 What is Satyagraha?. Gandhi Research Foundation. www. gandhifoundation. net. 18 July 2009 What is Swaraj?. The Swaraj Foundation. www. swaraj. org . 18 July 2009

Friday, August 16, 2019

Formal and Non Formal Education

CHAPTER 2 Page 28 4. |City |Frequency |Relative |Or Relative Frequency | | | |Frequency |(%) | |Indianapolis |100 |0. 050 |5. 0 | |St. Louis |450 |0. 225 |22. 5 | |Chicago |1300 |0. 650 |65. 0 | |Milwaukee |150 |0. 075 |7. 5 | |Total |2000 |1. 000 |100. | 5. a. A frequency table. b. [pic] c. |Â   |Frequencies |Relative Frequencies (%) | |White |130 |10. 0 | |Black |104 |8. 0 | |Lime |325 |25. 0 | |Orange |455 |35. 0 | |Red |296 |22. 0 | |Total |1300 |Â  100. | [pic] d. 350,000 orange; 250,000 lime; 220,000 red; 100,000 white, and 80,000 black, found by multiplying relative frequency by 1,000,000 production. Page 35 10. a. 25 = 32, 26 = 64 > 53 suggests 6 classes. b. [pic]Use interval of 15 and start first class at 40. 12. a. 24 = 16, 25 = 32 > n = 20, suggest 5 classes b. [pic]Use interval of 10. c. 50 d. fRelative frequency 50 up to 6040. 20 60 up to 7050. 25 70 up to 8060. 30 80 up to 9020. 10 90 up to 10030. 15 Total201. 00 e. The fewest number is about 50, the highest about 100 .The greatest concentration is in classes 60 up to 70 and 70 up to 80. Page 41 15. The following table is for 7th edition part (b) only |Class |Mid Points x |Frequency |cum. Freq |Relative |fx | | | | | |Frequencies | | |0 – 5 |2. 5 |5 |5 |0. 05 |12. 5 | |5-10 |7. 5 |13 |18 |0. 13 |97. | |10-15 |12. 5 |28 |46 |0. 28 |350. 0 | |15-20 |17. 5 |23 |69 |0. 23 |402. 5 | | 20-25 |22. 5 |18 |87 |0. 18 |405. 0 | |25-30 |27. 5 |10 |97 |0. 1 |275. 0 | |30-35 |32. 5 |3 |100 |0. 3 |97. 5 | |Â   |Total |100 |Â   |1. 00 |1640. 0 | a. Histogram b. 100 (8th edition) c. 5 d. 28 e. 0. 28 f. 12. 5 g. 13 16. a. 3 b. about 26 or 27 c. 2 d. frequency polygon 17. a. 50 b. 1. 5 thousands of miles c. d. X = 1. 5, Y = 5 e. [pic] f. For the 50 employees about half earn between 6 and 9 thousand frequent flier miles. Five earn less than 3 thousand frequent flier miles, and two earn more than 12 thousand frequent flier miles. Page 45 20. a. 200 b. b. about 50 or $50,000 . c. about $180,000 d. about $240, 000 e. about = 110 – 50 or 60 homes f. about 130 homes 22. a. Les than 10 days = 6 + 7 = 13 Less than 15 days = 6 + 7 + 12 = 25 b. Lead TimefCF 0 up to 566 5 up to 10713 10 up to 151225 15 up to 20833 20 up to 25740 c. d. 14 CHAPTER EXERCISES Page 46 26. a. The scale is ordinal and the variable is qualitative. b. |Performance |Frequency | |Early |22 | |On-time |67 | |Late |9 | |Lost |2 | . |Performance |Relative Frequency | |Early |. 22 | |On-time |. 67 | |Late |. 09 | |Lost |. 02 | d. [pic] e. [pic] f. 89% of the packages are either early or on-time and 2% of the packages are lost. So they are missing both of their objectives. They must eliminate all lost packages and reduce the late percentage to below 1%. ———————– [pic]

Ms hall

I have read your summary regarding your current challenge with changing marketing trends and the upcoming renewal of your 5 year contract with a large quick service restaurant. You have had a long and profitable relationship with this international fast food company and this relationship has been an Important part of your firm's growth. While you do face some obstacles, there are solutions to overcome these. First hand and most Importantly lets point out and discuss the problems you face.First the market trend issue: The marketing trend challenge you currently face is a decline in the sale of kid meals. With technology advancing kids no longer value the toys you market. In addition, child obesity and health problems are receiving greater attention in the media and the threat of advertising regulations is increasing, these regulations are already in place in Europe. Your manufacturing costs in China have gone up 40% due to an increase in raw material costs and export tariffs. And to t op it off the overall time to market these toys is lengthy.Last and most important your team has been ineffective in addressing these market trends, and working collectively to resolve these Issues. Renewing this contract and maintaining relationship Is important to your firm. Are you assuming the USSR wants to renew the contract and do they want toys? Is your firm prepared to take on this large account at this time? These are 3 recommendations to help you. Restructure of your organization this should be done prior to renewing the contract, ask the USSR for extension of contract renewal.Re evaluate and define your mission and goals. Establishing an innovation team or a R and D department. Teams and managers should have regular meetings with an agenda to implement your business strategy, improve communication and use critical thinking as a method to problem solving. Ineffective teams and quality assurance and Improvement should be monitored regularly to address future problems. A fac ilitator may be helpful to gulled the team's decision making process during meetings.You may have employee resistance and cost and there will be cost and time to train and recruit managers, but this must be done to endure success in your firm. Establish a technology based company relationship to market new products/incentives and incorporate into your marketing. Examples Tunes, Apple APS, Play station, Mineshaft, Game Stop, are a few technology ideas you can work with to offer new products or incentives in your marketing. The incentives should be correlated with some type of healthy choice the USSR offers. An example of this would be vegetables or fruit as part of the happy meal.Incorporating the product into a healthy choice will also improve the public and media perception of your organization and demonstrates your flexibility for new innovative ideas that adjust to market trends moving towards health and wellness. Move manufacturing to domestic location- you can respond to the ma rket quicker, avoid Import and export tariffs, and Increase positive media volleyball by supplying more Jobs In the U. S. You an contract or set up your own manufacturing plant to supply your other accounts that use toys and incorporate your new products into production.With and provide Jobs to low income workers and or migrant workers. You can publicize these new opportunities for Jobs and community growth to improve media visibility. One drawback to this would be time. You will have to establish resources and connections to build or contract a manufacturing plant. In conclusion I think you will find these solutions effective with some drawbacks but in the long run will help your organization thrive and adjust to the demanding changes of the future.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

History of Tattoos Essay

In today’s world, it is not uncommon to see people covered in all types of body art, such as tattoos. Arms, legs, sometimes even faces, all painted with permanent ink. For what reason, some people ask. What’s the point having words, designs, or pictures permanently drawn onto your skin? I personally love tattoos; they’re an artistic way for people to express who they are and their originality. Tattoos are a way for people to showcase their inner differences. But the question is, where did tattooing start, and why? The word tattoo originates from the Tahitian word tattau, which means, â€Å"to mark.† An explorer James Cook, in his records from his 1769 expedition to the South Pacific, first mentioned this word. However, many scientists believe that the earliest known evidence of tattooing dates back 3300 B.C. due to 59 markings found on the skin of a mummified human body known as The Iceman (Demand Media Inc.). In 2160 B.C., tattooing became prevalent in Egypt. Several mummies displaying lines and dots tattooed all over their bodies have been recovered that date to as early as the XI Dynasty. Though these people had been mummified for thousands of years, the tattoo markings were still completely visible (Hemingson). The main reasons for these Egyptian tattoos are to connect with the Divine (like god, or God); as a tribute or act of sacrifice to a deity; as a talisman, a permanent amulet that cannot be los; or to provide magical or medical protection (Hemingson). Around 700 B.C. Ancient Greeks and Romans began tattooing, but for an entirely different reason. The use of tattoos, or â€Å"stigmata† (marks upon the body, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ), were mainly used to mark someone as â€Å"belonging† either as a slave to an owner or to a religious sect or sometimes even as a disciplinary measure to mark people as criminals (Designboom). When the dynasty of Macedonian Greek monarchs ruled Egypt, the pharaoh Ptolemy IV was said to have had ivy leaves tattooed on himself. These leaves symbolized his devotion to the Greek god of wine, Dionysus. This fashion was also adopted by Roman soldiers, which then spread across the Roman Empire (Famento). During the rise of Christianity in 600 B.C., there was a widespread temporary standstill to tattooing in the Middle East and Europe. Saint Basil the Great, one of the most notable doctors of the Christian Church, warned: â€Å"No man shall let his hair grow long or tattoo himself as do the heathen, those apostles of Satan who make themselves despicable by indulging in lewd and lascivious thoughts. Do not associate with those who mark themselves with thorns and needles so that their blood flows to the earth† (Hemingson). During the gradual process of Christianization in Europe, tattoos were often considered remaining elements of paganism and generally legally prohibited. In the years 306-373, the Christian emperor Constantine completely banned tattoos. He felt that tattoos disfigured what was made in God’s image (Hemingson). Though this ban of tattoos was very powerful, it couldn’t completely eliminate tattooing from Europe or the Middle East. Tattooing worked its way back into these two religions between 500-1500 by holy pilgrims. During the Middle Ages, people would go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and the only proof that they had actually been there would be the tattoos they received from the Coptic priests. The basic tattoo the pilgrims usually returned with was a simple cross, but the more outgoing people returned with portraits of historical events from the bible inked into their skin (Hemingson). The earliest reference to British royalty being tattooed was King Harold II sometime between 1022 and1066. After King Harold II was killed in the Battle of Hastings, the only way his sister Edith could pick out which body was his was from the words ‘Edith’ and ‘England’ that were tattooed upon his chest (History of Tattooing). Tattooing started evolving into a form of art in the 1600’s. The Japanese word irezumi refers to the insertion of ink to the skin leaving a permanent, decorative mark, which in other words, means tattooing in how we see it today. Tattooed marks were still used as a punishment during this time, but there were fads of decorative tattoos coming and going throughout the years. The release of the popular Chinese novel Suikoden, a story of bravery illustrated with extravagant woodblock prints demonstrating heroic men with their bodies permanently painted with mythical creatures, flowers, and other images, inspired many people to get tattoos similar to what they had seen. Woodblock artists began tattooing their designs onto human flesh just the same as they would create their woodblock prints, using chisels, gouges, and ink known as Nara ink. This ink turns blue-green underneath the skin (Irezumi). Between 1766 and 1779, Captain James Cook voyaged out into the South Pacific three times After these voyages to Polynesia, Cook and his crew told stories of people covered in tattoos that they had seen, referring to them as â€Å"tattooed savages†. Cook’s Science Officer, Sr. Joseph Banks, returned to England with a tattoo. Many of Cook’s ordinary men came back with tattoos, a tradition that soon became associated with men of the sea. These sailors and seamen re-introduced Europe to tattooing (History of Tattooing). As soldiers and sailors began returning home from conquest and trade wearing tattoos in various places on their bodies in the early 1800’s, tattooing starting to become very popular among Western societies. These men had imitated the tattooing practices they had witnessed from the people of Asia, Africa, and the South Pacific. Ordinary working class men wore tattoos on their body to symbolize their pride (Hemingson). Also in the early 1800’s, doctors and others in the medical field began voicing their concerns of tattooing. Many doctors felt that tattoos could cause many complications to ones well-being. A leading doctor wrote about a woman who had died from an infection caused by a tattoo in 1837. In 1853 a physician reported the first case in which syphilis was transmitted by tattooing. Back in these days, tattoo artists had no knowledge that using the same needles for multiple customers without cleaning them spreads diseases. It wasn’t uncommon to clean off a fresh tattoo with saliva, tobacco juice, or even urine (Hemingson). Several tattoo artists found jobs in Washington DC during the Civil War. A man who was German born, Martin Hildebrandt, started his tattooing career in 1846 and was considered the best tattoo artist at that time. He tattooed military members from both Union and Confederate camps. In 1870, the first American tattoo studio was opened by Hildebrandt (Hemingson). Samuel O’Reily opened tattoo studio in 1875. During this time, tattoos were done by hand, using needles attached to a wooden handle. The tattoo artist would dip the needles in ink and move their hand up and down, puncturing the skin with 2-3 needles per second. Tattooing by hand was a very slow process, and required good manual skill. Since O’Reily was not only a great tattoo artist, but also a mechanic and technician, he began to work on a machine that could help speed up the tattooing process. O’Reily created a hand-held machine where the needles could move up and down automatically. This invention made tattooing as fluent as drawing. In 1981 O’Reily patented his invention and offered it for sale. Tattooing in the US was revolutionized over night. Sailors lined up to be tattooed by O’Reily and his apprentice Charles Wagner. At this point in time, over 80% of the US Navy was tattooed (Hemginson). During the Holocaust in 1939, concentration camp prisoners received tattoos at the Auschwitz concentration camp complex. Over 400,000 prisoners were assigned a serial number and branded, or tattooed, with that number (History of Tattooing). In 1961, New York City banned tattoos and tattoo parlors due to a hepatitis outbreak. This ban wasn’t lifted until 1997. Recently, many towns in New Jersey have removed the bans to avoid legal challenges and have applied rules to regulate tattooing (James). Starting in the 1990’s, tattoos had started being linked to the American fine art world. The number of academy trained artists entering the tattooing profession seemed to be growing each year, doubling since the 1980’s. Art schools and programs started turning out more trained artists than the mainstream art world could absorb, so many art school graduates migrated towards the tattooing industry (Hemingson). It is apparent that tattooing has been widely practiced in all parts of the globe, dating back to ancient times. Throughout history, tattooing, as well as other types of body art, has been related to religion, emotions, inner expression, and even punishment. Tattooing has occurred and still occurs in cultures everywhere and is widely popular in todays American society.

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Ethnicity and language Essay

1. Ethnicity Ethnicity is not a clear-cut term. It usually describes someone’s racial or cultural background but has a whole host of other connotations connected with appearance, dress, food, lifestyle etc. The ethnic majority in a particular place are, not necessarily those with the largest numbers, but those with social and political power. It is also the case that often terms describing race are fairly meaningless. People from the ‘British race’ for example originate from many other cultures and countries, depending on how far back you trace their family trees. 2. Prejudiced language Language can be used to make certain ethnic groups appear to be outsiders, or different from the ethnic majority. Markedness It is often assumed that immigrants, and people from ethnic minorities, must fit in with the ways and traditions of the ethnic majority. When this happens, the ethnic identity of the majority begins to appear normal and invisible, whilst that of the minority appears, strange, worthy of mention and marked. We often find in the media that people’ ethnicity is only mentioned when they are not white. So, we hear things like â€Å"the murdered black teenager Steven Lawrence† even in instances where the description of ethnicity is irrelevant. Negative labelling People are often labelled according to their colour, race or ethnicity. The problem with such labels is firstly that they may stop us seeing other aspects of the person as we are focussed on the attribute that the label describes. The second problem is that very often these labels are associated with negative stereotypes. We often find that the most marginalized groups in our society have the largest numbers of offensive terms to describe them. In addition, the media runs relatively few stories about those from ethnic minorities, and those that are included tend to reinforce the negative stereotypes by being about crime or disorder. 3. Marking Ethnic Identity Language can also be used as a powerful marker of ethnic identity. The language that we speak, and how we speak it, shows the ethnic group to which we believe we belong and claim solidarity with. British Black English People of West Indian and African Caribbean origin in England use many different varieties depending on where about they live and how long their families have been in Britain. Those born in Britain usually speak a variety of English and also a variety of Jamaican Creole, known as Patois. Linguistic features of Patois ?Lexical items (lick (hit), kenge (weak), bex (angry) ?Use of [? ] and [? ] in place of [? ] and [? ] e. g. [t? n] for [ n] ?Plural forms without /s/ suffix (e. g. many cow) ?Verbs not marked for tense (walk in place of walked) ?Simplified pronouns ([mi] for I, me, my and [dem] for they, them and their) ?Use of ‘fi’ in place of ‘to’ before infinitives. African American Vernacular English In the USA, the distinct languages of people of African American origin disappeared centuries ago. Nevertheless, a distinct variety of English, called African American Vernacular English (AAVE), has developed which acts as a symbol of ethnicity. AAVE is most often heard in cities in the North of the states. Linguistic features of AAVE ?Absence of standard copula be (e. g. ‘she very nice’, ‘that my book’) ?Use of copula be to signal recurring actions (‘she be at school on weekdays’) ?Multiple negation (‘I don’t want none’)? Consonant cluster simplification (‘aks in place of asks’) ?Existential it (where standard English has ‘there’, ‘it’s a boy’ for ‘there’s a boy’) Maori English In New Zealand, it is not clear if a Maori dialect of English actually exists. What is certain is that the features listed below occur more often in the speech of Maoris than Pakeha (non-Polynesian New Zealanders, usually of European origin) Linguistic features of Maori English ?Use of [? ] and [? ] in place of [? ] and [? ] e. g. [t? n] for [ n] ?Use of vocabulary items such as kia ora (greeting) and kuia (old woman)? Vernacular verb forms (walk for walked) ?Present tense forms with /s/ ‘I sees you’, ‘we gets home’) 4. Social Networks Social networks can help us understand speech patterns as the language and variety we use is influenced by the people we spend time with. You can draw a simple social network by considering the four or five people you speak to most often and drawing lines from their names to yours on a map. If any of those people know each other independently of you, connect them with lines (preferably of a different colour) too. Then add their two or three best friends, and so on.e. g. Tom Richard Bob Barbara Sandy Dave Features of social networks Density Density refers to whether members of a person’s network are in touch with each other separately. In the example above, only Richard and Bob know each other independently of Tom so his network is not a dense one. Plexity Plexity refers to the type of transactions that we are involved in with other people. If, for example, Tom only ever plays squash with Barbara, the relationship would be considered a uniplex one. If however, Tom and Barbara lived, worked and socialised together it would be a multiplex one. Language and Networks The language or variety we use is influenced by the people we talk to and what we talk to them about. We may change the language or variety we are using depending on which part of our network we are currently interacting with. For example, we may be more formal at work than at home. This type of language/variety shift is probably more likely if our social network is not very dense and our relations tend to be uniplex. If our networks are dense and multiplex, the whole network is more likely to use the use the same language or variety.

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Diabetes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Diabetes - Essay Example Type II diabetes, also known as non-insulin dependent diabetes or adult-onset diabetes is the most common form. Diabetes is an internal disease, which is caused due to the build up of glucose in the blood and insufficient glucose provided to the cells in the body. Living organisms need energy to survive and for this they intake food. The food that they eat goes through a lot of internal processes to be converted into energy. The hormone that plays the main role in this conversion is insulin, which is secreted by pancreas. It takes glucose from the blood and provides to all the body cells and this is how it is turned into energy. A person suffers from diabetes because his pancreas either fails to secrete sufficient amount of insulin or because the body does not utilize the already secreted hormone accordingly. He or she is seen to have high blood sugar levels or hyperglycemia. Causes of Type II Diabetes: Type II diabetes is mainly seen in people who have crossed 45 years. But with the modern lifestyle and the way the world works nowadays, even children and youngsters have started being affected by it. The percentage of youth suffering from diabetes is increasing steadily. To be safe from this disease, one needs to know the different factors that lead to it. Research has shown that â€Å"genetic susceptibility† (Causes of Diabetes para 9) and â€Å"environmental factors† (Causes of Diabetes para 12) such as obesity, lack of physical activity, metabolic syndrome, beta cell dysfunction etc, are the main reasons behind type II diabetes Often at times, genes play a very important role in placing a person under high risk or low risk of being prone to diabetes. This means that a person, whose parents and siblings suffered from this disease, stands a greater chance of falling prey to it. Inheriting such genes, especially â€Å"variants of the TCF7L2 gene† (Causes of Diabetes para 24) leads to restriction in the amount of insulin that is produced, wh ich causes the blood sugar levels to rise abnormally. Ethnicity also accounts as a factor and mostly â€Å"African Americans, Alaska Natives, American Indians etc† (Causes of Diabetes para 22) are seen to have diabetes. Certain genes also bring about the tendency in people to become obese. Obesity, mainly the one where the individual has excessive belly fat, along with absence of exercise cause a lot of cardio vascular problems and ultimately lead to diabetes. Metabolic syndrome is seen in people who have insulin resistance, due to which the cells of the body become unable to absorb the glucose present in the blood. Beta cell dysfunction causes substantial difference in the amount of insulin that is secreted. When glucose is produced in huge amounts, a condition called glucose toxicity occurs in which the beta cells are vitiated. Other factors include over secretion of glucose by liver, hindrances in communication among cells etc. Complications of Type II Diabetes: Type II di abetes is a very serious disease since one of the main hormones, insulin, which controls the blood sugar levels as well as the major activity of the body, that is converting glucose into energy, is tampered with. Diabetes itself is caused by factors that are quite harmful for the body, and when these factors along with diabetes together are present, the person suffering definitely runs the risk of being affected by other diseases. Type II diabetes is thus, associated to certain other diseases which prove to