Saturday, August 31, 2019

Great Filipino Music Artists (80’s †Present) Essay

Basil Valdez Like many Filipino singers in the 1970s, Valdez started solo on his career as a folk singer. In 1972, he joined the Circus Band and after it was disbanded, he released Ngayon at Kailanman, his first solo album. In the Circus Band, he met Ryan Cayabyab, who was then part of other band. When Valdez was preparing his album Ngayon at Kailanman, he asked Cayabyab to give a few songs, he did. Cayabyab stands as Valdez’s musical director for 27 years. In the 80’s, Valdez republished himself as a singer of movie theme songs; some of them are â€Å"Paano Ba Ang Mangarap,† â€Å"Muling Buksan Ang Puso† and â€Å"Paraisong Parisukat.† A circumstance which sidelined his singing career occurred in 1990, when he found himself as a â€Å"healer†. Valdez then sought the guidance of his Jesuit friends. They explained to him that he has gift of healing. Ryan Cayabyab A great Filipino music artist known as the Executive and Artistic Director of the defunct San Miguel Foundation for the Performing Arts. He was also a resident judge for the solo season of Philippine Idol in 2006. A versatile artist with his works ranging from commissioned full-length ballets, theater musicals, choral pieces, a Mass set to unaccompanied chorus/congregation, and orchestral pieces, to commercial recordings of popular music, film scores and television specials. Cayayab’s current project includes the Ryan Cayabyab Singers (RCS), a group of seven young adult singers comparable like his group Smokey Mountain in the early ’90s. After FreemantleMedia decided not to renew the Philippine Idol franchise, Cayabyab decided to transfer to rival show Pinoy Dream Academy (Season 2), replacing Jim Paredes as the show’s headmaster. PDA 2 started on June 14, 2008. Nonoy Zuà ±iga Nonoy Z’s singing career spans more than 3 decades; as a folksinger from 1971 to 1975 and then as one of the lead singers of the Family Birth Control Band  which performed in the best nightspots and hotels like Philippine Plaza, Holiday Inn and the Manila Hotel from 1975-1980. To hone his skill, he took special voice training from the late Aurelio Estanislao, a well-known tenor singer and music-voice professor at the University of the Philippines. With his clear baritone voice he started to attract the attention of music buffs. His style and rendition of different songs especially love songs made him acquire a number of distinct awards, Bayang Barrios Lumad origin, born on June 12, 1986. A Filipino musician who hails from Bunawan, Agusan del Sur, and is known for her use of indigenous instruments and styles. In 2005, Barrios’ song Isipin Mo Na Lang was used in end credits of the indie Filipino film Ang Pagdadalaga Ni Maximo Oliveros (The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros). In September 2008, she launched her fourth album entitled â€Å"Biyaya†. Ramon Jacinto Jacinto has always tried to put music and business together. He started to enter the world of entrepreneurship at the young age of 15. He built up his first enterprise called RJ Enterprises, a company which dealt with producing and release records. RJ Enterprises pioneered multi-track recording in the country and eventually became the primary studio choice for many artists and advertising agencies at that time. Two years later, Jacinto ventured to establish what would become a legendary radio station in the Philippine broadcasting industry – DZRJ. It served as a venue for on-air experiments of radio concepts which were never heard before in Philippine entertainment history. Manned by students, mostly coming from Jacinto’s high school class, the radio station introduced alternative music to the Filipino youth. It was the first station to play songs from rock legends such as the Beatles, the Ventures and the Beachboys. The radio station also gave emphasis on playing the music of local talent. Apart from DZRJ, Jacinto also established the now defunct, DZUW. Pepe Smith a Filipino singer-songwriter, drummer, and guitarist. More commonly known alternately as Joey Smith and Pepe Smith, he is an icon of original Filipino rock music or â€Å"Pinoy Rock†. Gary Valenciano Born 6 August 1964, better known as Gary Valenciano or Gary V., is a Filipino musician. Also known as Mr. Pure Energy, Valenciano has released 26 albums, and won the Awit Awards for â€Å"Best Male Performer† eleven times. In 1998, he became UNICEF Philippines first National Ambassador. His most notable songs include â€Å"Di Bale Na Lang† (â€Å"Never mind†), â€Å"Eto Na Naman† (â€Å"Here we go again†), â€Å"Sana Maulit Muli† (â€Å"Hope it repeats again†), â€Å"Natutulog Ba Ang Diyos?† (â€Å"Does God sleep†), â€Å"Gaya ng Dati† (â€Å"Just like before†), â€Å"Pasko Na, Sinta Ko† (â€Å"It’s Christmas already, my love†), and â€Å"Narito† (â€Å"Here†). He is currently part of ABS-CBN contract actors, and is frequently tapped to sing theme songs for the network’s soap operas and films. Fr. Eduardo Hontiveros Fr. Honti, as he is fondly known, was educated at the Capiz Elementary School and the pre-war Ateneo de Manila in Padre Faura, graduating from high school in 1939. From 1939 to 1945 he was at San Jose Seminary. He entered the Society of Jesus after the war in 1945, pronouncing first vows at Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches in June 1947. He finished his studies of philosophy there and then proceeded to Ateneo de Zamboanga for his three-year regency, teaching religion, Latin, and English, and moderating the Choir String Band. In 1951, he traveled to the United States to study theology, and was ordained in 1954 by Francis Cardinal Spellman. After earning a doctorate in theology from the Gregorian University in Rome, he returned to teach in the Philippines in 1958. He pronounced final vows in the Society of Jesus in 1960. Fr. Honti’s initiatives have been recognized with the Ateneo de Manila University’s Tanglaw ng Lahi Award (1976), the Asian Catholic Publishers’ â€Å"Outstanding Catholic Author† (1992), and the Papal award Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (2000), among many other awards and citations. He suffered another major stroke in early January 2008, and died  on January 15th. At his funeral Mass at the Ateneo’s Church of the Gesu, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was present to honor him with the Presidential Medal of Merit (awarded posthumously). Fr. Manoling Francisco Fr. Manoling Francisco SJ entered the Society of Jesus after second year in college in 1985. As a child he had aspired to be a concert pianist; nevertheless he decided to discontinue his classical piano training at the age of 14 to devote his time to school and socio-civic activities. It was in his First Year High that he composed Hindi Kita Malilimutan. has been popularized by Mr. Basil Valdez. During the past 17 years he has composed more than a hundred and fifty songs such as Tanging Yaman, Sa ‘Yo Lamang are being sung all over the country – indeed, whatever there are Filipinos gathered together in prayer and liturgical celebration. Today, he is easily one of the most gifted musicians in the country.

Friday, August 30, 2019

How Did Alexander Iii Reverse the Reforms of Alexander Ii?

Improvements in green To what extent did Alexander III reverse the reforms of his predecessor Alexander II? In many respects, there is no doubt that Alexander III was the most effective Tsar in such the short reign that he had. He was referred to as a reactionary, unlike his father Alexander II who was known as a reformer. He managed to please the people with his Russian figure and attitude, he changed their attitude and he made tsarism look all the better, all in a short period of time.Despite their different policies, they had the same goals/ambitions inside their head in the long run, and that was to strengthen Autocracy in the Russian empire but Alexander III did this by reversing what his father had done as he felt he knew better ways of dealing with the situation and strengthening the Tsarist position. The first thing that Alexander III did when he came into power to contradict his fathers reforms was to recall the decision of creating the constitution.Alexander III was a firm believer of the absolute power and judgment that autocracy and Russian history owned, he felt that Russia should stick to their traditional rules and the way things were run. Alexander put thins in to change this but Alexander III would not allow this and so reversed some of what he had done to make sure the Russian tradition stayed in place. He felt that a democratic Parliament was such a western way to think, NOT Russian. He preferred the principles of personal rule and he was so firm on this, he distrusted the bureaucracy.This lead to him wanting to be around conservative ministers such a Pobodenostev because he knew that if he was surrounded by the right people with the same mind has him, they too would want to reverse the reforms of Alexander II unlike the ones that he usually were with which was a mix of conservative and Liberal ministers that were influencing the changes in the first place. For many the many years that Alexander II tried to boost the tolerance of other religi ons, Alexander III abolished this straight away by demanding that Orthodox was the correct and Russian way to be thinking.This was probably due to the really strict views that his top advisor, Pobedonostev had. Pobedonostev managed to get all the primary schools under church rule and he also made sure that peasants and workers children would not be allowed into secondary school. This was to prevent any people knowing too much and finding out that maybe they way they are being governed isn’t the right way to go about. This totally goes against the Elementary School Statute of 1864 and it meant that the local zemstva weren’t in charge of funding them anymore as they were on the brink of knowing too much.Talking about education, Alexander III and Pobedonostev went against the 1863 University Statute that Alexander II welcomed which allowed universities to govern themselves and have their own sense of governing for the faculty and students. This is because conservative min isters that were around the Tsar felt that giving the people too much education was very dangerous as they’d learn to fight for themselves and find out about things that they probably would prefer they didn’t. This was reversed because Alexander III felt that Alexander II only did this to please the people and Liberal ministers that were influencing him.In 1870 zemstva reform was introduced for the people. This was for the people and they were allowed to be in control of education and road building in their local areas. This idea became very successful and even with the little power it had, it spread amongst much of Russia. This meant that it was a wider spread issue for Alexander III to deal with. Alexander III didn’t like this because he knew that the zemvsta were education people rather generously and this was dangerous as be believe that there should be the lower class of people so Tsarism could swarm and reign effectively.The Tsar couldn’t reign prop erly though with them in play because they were there for the local people and so the local people would only deal with the Zemstva and not higher up figures. When he came into power (Probably also with the help and guidance of Pobedonostev) he got rid of and restricted a lot of power that the zemstva had. He kept them so it made the people think that they had some form of power and influence but they didn’t really have that influence they thought they had. He knew that this was kind of working because the people didn’t coplain as much, they knew that they had the pportunity to do something about it and so decided that they were happy with what they had as it was a giant leap up from nothing anyway. He made Land Captains (as they were known) the most important members of each zemstva area and these people had the most power and say as they reported directly to the minister of the interior. They made sure that nothing went over the top or in any way threatened the Tsar. This is proof that the Zemstva lost power to what Alexander II had gave them so that the Tsar was stronger all due to Alexander III reversing the reform, to a reasonable extent.In 1870, Alexander made the reform of having trials that weren’t that bias and allowed Trail by Jury. This made the system fairer and meant that the people wouldn’t complain as much because the jurys consisted or your ‘ordinary’’ Russians. This meant that every trial was fair and easier to make a judgment on because you didn’t have conservative people making the judgment or people that were bias towards the tsar. This was to please the people however Alexander II didn’t realise that this was dangerous because he had put the public in the position yet the public don’t actually like the Tsar.Alexander III realised this because he spotted a case that was clearly one sided as the ‘ordinary Russians’ didn’t like the Tsarist reign much and so in a case where a radical extremist, Vera Zasulich was being trialed for shooting a police chief, was excused. To prevent any more ‘wrong’ verdicts from 1890 the government exercised the right to choose juries. Then there was the Statute of State Security in which courts had the right to detain and try political opposition members without the use of a jury as sympathy would be in play and this wasn’t the Tsarist way of dealing with things.Alexander III reversed the whole way that the court and opposition was dealt with and make it completely different to what Alexander II did. Alexander III didn’t reverse everything that his father put in place, infact, some things he rather embraced. He love how his father brought in the The Universal Military Training act of 1874. He felt that a strong military was a really good way of dealing with problems in Russia. It made them look really strong and an empire that shouldn’t be looked lightly upon and weak. This was a crutial re enforced reform because the Russian people and army ad lost moral due to the loss of the Crimean war to the British. They knew that they were such a large country yet they failed to win a war that was theirs for the taking. It was humiliating to them. He also didn’t reverse the reforms of Alexander II Russification programme. He felt that Russification was a really good way to be able to make the whole of the Russian empire, RUSSIAN in full. Have the same attitudes and everything. But one thing that he added was the Jewish Programmes. He made sure that the population was educated into believing that Jews were wrong and shouldn’t play a part in Russian society as they only caused problems.This made the whole picture of Russia much stronger for Alexander III and this is due to the re enforcement of Russification so in this case, he did not reverse the reform atall. Overall, I think that Alexander III did reverse many things that his father did becau se he felt he could make a stronger Russia based upon tradition and brute Russian attitude. I think however that due to him being so un prepared for such a powerful role in such a difficult time was the reason to why he made such irrational decisions.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

American Express Swot Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

American Express Swot Analysis - Essay Example From there on the company focused on global expansion and gradually became popular for its financial products like the charge card. (â€Å"Our History†, 2009). In the present era American Express is one of the payments company with world wide presence and is also a well known brand in the financial world. The brand is built on the values such as trust, quality, security, integrity and superior customer services. (â€Å"Our History†, 2009). Since the year 1850 American Express as a company has followed and conducted their business operation based on several guidelines and value propositions. The company’s core value is customer commitment. The company focuses on gaining customer confidence through extensive relationship making programs. The primary and the main strength of the organization is their ability to diversify their operations also side by side generating revenues. As we look into the history of the firm we could observe that the company has strategically adapted several diversification policies which had made it possible for them to sustain in the market. The company started its operation as an express company is now among the top players in the financial market scenario. Product innovation wise also the company claims its advantage. The company launched its new holiday gift card which is unique in its name and design qualities celebrating Hispanic culture and providing gifts for Christmas Eve and the day itself, the New Years and also the three King’s Day. (â€Å"Celebrating Hispanic Culture with the Felicidades Holiday Gift Card†, 2009). This example does not only show the product variety and range that the company offers, but it also reveals the company’s focus on the large custome r base that it usually caters to. Time to time the company successfully delivers diversified products and services and expands its range with much authority in the global market.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Scorecard Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Scorecard - Essay Example Promising results have been reported in the for-profit and governmental organizations already supporting the use of the balanced scorecard and its applicability. Keywords: Balanced Scorecard (BSC), Ministry of Education (MOE), National Center for Education Development (NCED), The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TMISS), and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) Applying a Balanced Scorecard to the Kuwaiti Government Education System: An Initial Approach for Reforming Education Introduction In the past few decades, there have been numerous calls and demands for reforming the educational system in Kuwait. Many decision makers in the education were under the belief that if they just tweak and implement new ideas in the system, then it would work. Unfortunately, the number of fragmented solutions toward reforming education did not help the situation in the least. The solutions and ideas presented were limitless and included such concepts as flash drives, new textbooks, special programs, new curriculum, bribing students to learn, more extensive examinations, and list goes on an on. Each new idea was initially supported and tossed around various academic circles, then quickly forgotten as a new and better idea for reform was presented, with more empty promises that this new strategy would really work this time around. The Kuwaiti educational system is sick, and the intention or pretense to improve is not enough. To achieve these lofty goals for reform, professionals in the field of education need to seriously regard what exactly needs improving, and then developing sound strategies about such improvement will be measured moving forward. The elements of reform within various levels of the educational system should be seen as a complete picture. This involves having a core target that must be focused and at the center of the system. Successful efforts at improving the education system should be measured by a clear set of goals t hat are linked to the needs of both parents and students (Stone & Dahir, 2006; Gysbers & Henderson, 2000). This drive for educational reform has focused attention on the measurement of student performance by various organizations existent in the system. This paper will focus, to a large degree, on the current discussion by researchers regarding the adaption of a new methodology aimed at reforming the education system in Kuwait. This is most commonly referred to as the Balanced Scorecard. This paper is further aimed to stimulate and provide an informative discussion about the reforms needed based on the conceptual framework of the balanced scorecard. It also outlines a vision for the future of education in the region and gives an overview of key challenges, and makes recommendations for future action. Literature Review Kuwaiti Educational System Kuwait has invested considerable amounts of its oil wealth into developing a comprehensive public education system. The system ranges from p reschool, starting at the age of four, to five years of primary, four years of intermediate level education, and three years of secondary schooling. The academic system in Kuwait is highly centralized. The Ministry of Education manages and regulates districts and their schools. It is also responsible for developing and providing curriculum, textbooks, and the hiring of teachers. The evaluation for student achievement in Kuwait, for

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Nursing Management in Australia Research Proposal

Nursing Management in Australia - Research Proposal Example Caldwell Checklist is grouped according to the health team’s work pattern, preparation before going to the bedside, patient consultation, relevant bedside charts, ceiling of care, discharge planning, planning, documentation, summing up, and any conversation with relatives and in which yellow-colored areas represent essential check domains and while those white areas represent domains applicable only to some patients such as blood glucose chart (see Fig. 1) (Herring, Desai, and Caldwell, 2011, p. 21). The use of Caldwell checklist in a ward round may improve the standards of care because of its simplicity that takes up only one side of the A4 paper, ease of adaption in the clinical context, and recording of matter that has been considered and decided if needed. Upon establishment of the proposed changes and the checklist that would be adapted, the next step is to integrate the proposed changes and the checklist into the institution’s operation. This could be done by creating a medical group forward rounds that include medical staff, chief nurse or nurse managers, consultant, and other professional observers. One of the members of the medical staff will act as a leader and each nurse will do their routines in assessing, monitoring, evaluating, and documenting the client’s concerns and conditions. The leader will assign a checker (either the chief nurse or nurse manager) that will observe nurses’ documentation of ward rounds, ensure everything to be covered, and report and correct any omissions or errors. Yellow domains that are not covered may be marked with a circle while white domains can simply be left blank. Omissions or errors that are corrected can be a tick off and be considered in the documentation process. The f inal review of the filled-up checklist will be on the hands of the medical staff and other professional observers but only the members of the medical staff are allowed to get all of the items on the list addressed.

Monday, August 26, 2019

Is Deterrence Still a Useful Concept in the Post-Cold War World Research Paper

Is Deterrence Still a Useful Concept in the Post-Cold War World - Research Paper Example In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, international policymakers became increasingly preoccupied with the potential ramifications of nuclear warfare in creating an imbalance within the world political order. After the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Stalin asserted that â€Å"A single demand for your comrades†¦ Provide us with atomic weapons in the shortest possible time. You know that Hiroshima has shaken the whole world. The balance has been destroyed. Provide the bomb – it will remove a great danger from us1†. From a historical perspective, the Cold War phase following the Second World War led to what has been termed the â€Å"First Nuclear Age†2. This phase highlights how nuclear weapons’ programmes were rooted in the need of both superpowers to assert power in the arms race3. Moreover, Walton & Gray submit that the demise of this superpower rivalry has re-ignited the nuclear proliferation question in arms control measures within the world political framework4. This in itself highlights that the stability of international relations and the political balance at the international level is inherently dependent on the axis of nuclear control. Therefore, whilst the deterrence theory undoubtedly plays a central role in the relationship between nuclear war programmes and international relations, the inherent weakness of the theory is the failure to account for the changing global political climate, whereby nuclear strategy and proliferation is shaped by a correlation of complex, mu ltifarious.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Analysis of the Number of Explanations for the Significant Growth in Research Paper

Analysis of the Number of Explanations for the Significant Growth in Female Imprisonment - Research Paper Example Crime has forever been a major problem for society at large. It has presented itself as a challenge to every authority and government in the world. Since historical times, sociologists and criminologists have been the principal contributors to crime research, which has led to an extensive research literature on the general topic of the role of incentives in the determination of criminal behavior. In this regard, a notable feature is an increase in crime among women. With approximately 52% of the population of UK being formed by women (in 2005 there were 30.7 million females compared with 29.5 million males in the UK population), male offenders outnumbered female offenders by more than four to one in 2006. Despite this fact, the irony is that today more women are locked up in England and Wales than in any EEA nation other than Ukraine and Spain. The number of women serving custodial sentences has increased substantially. Recent statistics indicate an increase of 30% in the female pris on population during 2001. Furthermore, various studies demonstrate a 15% increment in the number of women incarcerated between 2001 and 2002, compared to an increase of 6% for men3. This might lead one to believe that women are becoming more prone to committing crimes or according to Box (1983);4 there is a serious problem with the system that was so far seen to be lenient in prosecuting women offenders. Crime in Switzerland is also becoming a cause of major concern with a 27% climb in the rate of female crime, in the past five years5. With the support of well-documented theoretical explanations for women’s crime as well as accounts of early contributions portraying women as sexual beings the focus on women has been in the context of their supposed inferiority to men. This has, in turn, led to explanations that revolve around the sex role socialization, as well as the emergence of the women’s movement.  Ã‚  

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Pollution and Lake Erie Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Pollution and Lake Erie - Term Paper Example With increase in population a lot of things changed for this lake. This increase gave rise to pollution in the form of human waste, sawdust, agriculture chaff, oil etc. The forests around this lake were cut down in order to get wood for construction purposes. Around 1960s the whole outlook of the lake changed due to this pollution caused mainly by industrial waste and untreated sewage. Rivers that flowed into this lake were also much polluted. This problem became so serious that warnings were given to the residents against the contact with the water. All of this made life in this water impossible; hence, this lake was declared ‘dead’. Lake Erie is considered dead, as a consequence of eutrophication (Gilpin 1995). Lake Erie is one of the lakes in the world which has a very large dead zone. The area which lacks oxygen is called a dead zone. According to scientific researches done by scientists dead zone works in two distinct layers. There are two separate layers of water i n the lake; one is on the top and the other at the bottom. Temperatures in these two layers are mostly different except in the springtime where the temperature in both layers is the same. In summers, the water in the upper layer warms up and the bottom layer remains the same. This results in a significantly colder layer of water at the bottom of the lake. This difference in temperature between two layers is called thermocline. All the activities in the water takes place in the upper layer as all the sunlight and nutrients are present here. When the algae and animals present in the upper body die, they fall at the bottom and decomposition takes place. The process of decomposition uses up all the oxygen in these areas, hence, giving rise to dead zones. This problem is really bad in Lake Erie because the water here is not very deep and there is less oxygen in it so the oxygen is depleted very quickly. Scientists are making efforts to reduce this problem of oxygen depletion in Lake Erie . There are a lot of nutrients present in this lake and the sources of these nutrients are divided into two categories. These categories are called point sources and non point sources. Point sources are the sources through which the nutrients that are released into the water can be measured like wastewater treatment plants. On the other hand non point sources are the ones which cannot be measured for example agricultural runoff and the amount of fertilizers cannot be calculated accurately. It is still not possible to completely evaluate whether the dead zone is expanding or is recovering. It varies from year to year, according to the temperature. The great lakes national program office of USEPA is playing a vital role in repairing the Lake Erie. Surveys are conducted annually by these people to check the level, degree and occurrence of oxygen depletion in the lake basin. They also track the trend in which this occurs. These also check the phosphorus level in the water so that it doe s not exceed its level. Phosphorus changes water chemistry and can lead to changes in water oxygen levels that eventually impact aquatic plants and animals that feed off them (Davies & Mazurek 1998). The information gathered cannot be same for every year as weather is variable that changes every year so the level of oxygen and phosphorus varies each year. To do all this data is collected and EPA research is used. Side by side biological and geological surveys are also taken into consideration.

The Role of a Mentor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Role of a Mentor - Essay Example As the essay stresses the learning opportunities provided by the mentor to the students are immense .In order for mentors to develop and evaluate the quality of the learning environment they need to develop trusting relationships with the students. At the start of the placement they should give the students an orientation pack or welcome pack. This is required by the students for the purpose of gaining information which will help in facilitating the learning and will help the experience of practice placement. A mentor who has developed a good working relationship with a student is in a better position to obtain honest feedback on their placement experience. This paper declares that from the NMC guidelines, the practice areas will be using evaluation results in developing the practice learning opportunities in their respective areas. Student feedback on an individual basis and overall evaluation, guides the mentor in gauging their mentoring performance as well as identifying changes that could be implemented in the practice area for the improvement of the learning experience of the students. The evaluation results will also be reviewed within the learning area. The students are required to conduct a formal evaluation at the end of placement. This will help in providing evidence of the experience the pre and post registration nurse have had in their placement education. An alternative method of evaluation is that of informal feedback. Both these methods provide evidence of both positive areas which as well as highlight the difficult areas and areas which prevented skill generation (Pinfield et al, 2011). The NMC guidelines and standards s tate that the students are required on a formal basis, to evaluate their practice and learning opportunities. This is sometimes done through online survey at time they return to the university however the disadvantage is that the ward/unit may not always get that evaluation feedback. The students are asked to respond to a series of questions associated with the practice