The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - 1337 Words

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson For the last and final essay of the semester, I decided to pick a couple themes that are included in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. Themes are a very important part of any story, play, poem, or any writing for that matter. It is important to understand what themes are involved in a story because it helps the reader better understand what is going on throughout it all. This novel has two main characters named Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. In essence, this story is about both of these characters coming together to solve the disappearance of Harriet Vanger that is over forty years in the making. Throughout their journey to solve the mystery, I came across a couple key themes. Regarding The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, there are a few themes I chose to write about including: violence against women, the topic of revenge, and isolation. The first theme that I would like to address regarding The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the violence against women included in it. I think that this is one of the biggest themes because it is very important and also plays a huge part in this story. For example, the author states that â€Å"finally the boy punched her in the face; it split open her lip and made her see stars† (Larsson, p.229). This quote I think is important because not only does it show another example of violence towards women, but it also shows that Lisbeth Salander has been subjected toShow MoreRelatedGirl with the Dragon Tattoo907 Words   |  4 PagesThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo By: Steig Larsson The book that I chose to read was, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In the book we learn about social issues that are not only found in Sweden but from all over the world. Through the book the two main characters solve a murder mystery from 40 years ago. While solving the murder mystery, social issues are brought up time and time again. One of major issues that are brought to the reader’s attention is sexual violence that is used towards womenRead MoreA Review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo1165 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿ There have been few works of popular literature written in the new century which have so accurately captured the conflicted state of feminist identity in todays modern corporate culture that Stieg Larssons 2005 novel The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Written in a searing tone which is representative of the repressed rage exuded by Lisbeth Salander, the enigmatic heroine who suffers atrocious crimes at the hand of powerful men and wields a sadistic sense of vigilante-style vengeance against thoseRead MoreThe Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Analysis1744 Words   |  7 Pages Surname 1 Author: Professor’s name: Course name: Date of Submission: The Portrayal of Women On the surface of the novel, â€Å"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo† is a simple uncomplicated thriller, but at a deeper level, the novel is a complex and in-depth examination and analysis of the violent abuse against women in Sweden, particularly concentrating on the distorted and rather warped philosophies as well as the failure of the government that permit and accentuate such acts. More importantly, theRead MoreGender And Sexuality : The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo854 Words   |  4 Pagespart of the Swedish crime novels since most of their writing has to do about a conflict between two opposite genders. The girl with the dragon tattoo, one of the most famous Swedish crime novel, written by Stieg Larsson addresses these issues. In this particular book, men and women tend to have the equal amount of power. Sallander, in other words, â€Å"the girl with the dragon tattoo† has almost the same amount of power as the Mikel Blomkvist, which is the main character of the no vel and also a male genderRead MoreThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson773 Words   |  4 PagesWhile I was reading the novel Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, I realized that this story not only portrays the theme of violence and sexual abuse, but it was also about the importance of and friendship and relationships. The novel illustrates the real life effects of sexual violence on victims and survivors, emphasizing the importance of getting help and the triumph of mentally surviving the event. Having friends and most importantly relationships, did a big part in the story to helpRead MoreMovie Review : Chinatown And The Girl With The Dragon 875 Words   |  4 Pages â€Å"Chinatown† and â€Å"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo† Noir (noir means black in French) is a style which was frequently seen in 1940-1950s film mostly consisting of crime, sex and fiction. Modern motion pictures use the same genre, but updated visual, theme and content. Neo-noir, Greek term neo means new, making term new black. Noir movies are very popular among the audiences. Chinatown (1974) directed by Roman Polanski, starring Jack Nicholson (Protagonist) as Jake Gittes, FayeRead MoreFemale Protagonists of Detective Narratives938 Words   |  4 PagesThis essay will focus on female protagonists who are the center and driving force behind a detective narrative. I will compare and contrast Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs and Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo to explore two women that are progressive in breaking through traditional gender roles and are successful at portraying a female that goes against the grain. These women portray unique and progressive ideas about sexuality. Clarice and Lisbeth are two empoweredRead MoreGone Girl By David Fincher1268 Words   |  6 Pagesthat their creation is definitive enough to be traced back to its creator. In order to identify these definitive components, an auteur must establish common thematic and formal elements that their texts typically contain. In David Fincher’s film Gone Girl (2014), Amy Dunne suddenly vanishes, seemingly from violent kidnapping, leaving her husband, Nick Dunne, in a media frenzy over his suspected involvement in her disappearance. The film utilizes some of his most common thematic elements: paternal orRead MoreThe Marine Corps Should Have No Restrictions On Tattoos Essay867 Words   |  4 Pagesthat is tattoos. I am here to argue that tattoos can view as freedom of expression, strong Naval tradition, and more importantly no hindrance on job performance. The Marine Corps should have no restrictions on tattoos. Over the past 50 years’ tattoos have continued to grow in popularity, yet the Marine Cor ps wants to place restrictions on their service members; claiming their policy is design to help their service members to maintain a discipline appearance. It would be proven that tattoo is viewedRead MoreThe Evolution of Film-Making Technology1417 Words   |  6 Pagesthe digital transformed directors. Red One is considered to be one of the purest digital alternative to 35mm film. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by David Fincher was crafted in 5 weeks and mostly shot with RED Epic MX and Epic machines. For a total of 483 hours of shot material, 443 were actually used in the workflow. The â€Å"workflow† in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo plays a key role in terms of aesthetics: each single take and frame has been revised so that the visual rhythm could be more

A Species Vulnerability to Population Decline Essay

Policy- and decision-makers claim information about the causes of population declines which driving species on the brink of extinction (). However, it is pointed out that the causes of vulnerability remain unclear to explain the variation to the risk of extinction (). According to Reynolds (2003), vulnerability is determinate by both the decline of species population and the reduction of their geographical range. These two forms of vulnerability are affected by both species’ mortality and habitat loss, which are the causes of intrinsic biological traits, extrinsic human induced effects and stochastic factors that likely determine the population trends (). It is suggested that extinction risk is not distributed by chance between taxa,†¦show more content†¦Strong sexual selection is also considerate important in predispose species to extinction risk, because species with exaggerated traits or sexually dimorphic have high selection reducing their genetic variability (Mor row Pitcher 2003). In addition, densities of migrants and residents species are likely different because is predicted that migratory species could affront more risky in breeding and stopover sites than residents ones, then migratory behaviour should be related with extinction risk (). However, it is clear that intrinsic factors by themselves are not explained the entire extinction phenomenon (). On the other hand, species vulnerability might not be explained only by their internal biological traits because they are interacting with the external environment. Therefore, extrinsic hypotheses have been proposed to elucidate their populations range size and abundance. For instance, human impact is one of the main current causes of habitat loss and mortality of natural populations due to a massive human-population growth (). It is also thought that the biogeographical region occupied by a species has an effect in their risk of becoming extinct such as species living in islands (). Nevert heless, the interactions between intrinsic and extrinsic factors may give more details about the vulnerability to extinction in some species, because some intrinsic

Should Ddt Be Banned Worldwide Essay Example For Students

Should Ddt Be Banned Worldwide? Essay Elliot GriffinEnvironmental Science Final Opinion Paper Should DDT Be Banned Worldwide? First synthesized in 1874, DDTs insecticidal properties were not discovered until 1939. In the second half of World War II, it was used with great effect among both military and civilian populations to control mosquitoes spreading malaria and lice transmitting typhus, resulting in dramatic reductions in the incidence of both diseases. The Swiss chemist Hermann Muller of Geigy Pharmaceutical was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1948 for his discovery of the high efficiency of DDT as a contact poison against several arthropods. After the war, DDT was made available for use as an agricultural insecticide, and soon its production and use skyrocketed. During the 1940’s and 1950’s DDT was extensivly used by the Allied powers to control typhus nearly eliminating the disease in the western parts of Europe. In 1955 the world health organization comercialized a program that was designed to target and destroy the disease malaria, The program relied heavily on the insectisidal properties of DDT. At the beginnings of the program is was sucessful in elimintaing the disease in much of the carribean and the balkans and a large part of northern africa. However resistance soon emerged in many insect populations as a consequence of widespread agricultural use of DDT. In many areas, early victories against malaria were partially or completely reversed, and in some cases rates of transmission even increased. The program was successful in eliminating malaria only in areas with high socio-economic status, well-organized healthcare systems, and relatively less intensive or seasonal malaria transmission. DDT was less effective in tropical regions due to the continuous life cycle of mosquitoes and poor infrastructure. It was not pursued at all in sub-Saharan Africa due to these perceived difficulties, with the result that mortality rates in the area were never reduced to the same dramatic extent, and now constitute the bulk of malarial deaths worldwide, especially following the resurgence of the disease as a result of microbe resistance to drug treatments and the spread of the deadly malarial variant caused by Plasmodium falciparum. The goal of eradication was abandoned in 1969, and attention was focused on controlling and treating the disease. Spraying programs (especially using DDT) were curtailed due to concerns over safety and environmental effects, as well as problems in administrative, managerial and financial implementation, but mostly because mosquitoes were developing resistance to DDT. Efforts were shifted from spraying to the use of bednets impregnated with insecticides and other interventions. DDT has also been a problem for the thinning of birds shells. Rare birds like the bald eagle, peregrine falcon and brown pelecans have been dying out at an accelerated rate due to the DDT de-calcifying the eggs shells making them soft and weak. As with most scientific theories there are skeptics that think the thinning of birdshells is a process of evolution or a change in the birds diet. There is not extensive enough research being done, Blamed on the lack of funding. The United States is among other countries that have banned DDT. Countries like Mexico still spray the deadly pesticide unrestrictedly on their crops. Which wouldn’t pose to much of a problem to the United States except for the food we buy from there. Crops get shipped all over the world and unless there is a worldwide ban on DDT, We will continue to expierence the effects of the chemical.

The Two Tragic Gods With Dual Personality free essay sample

The Two Tragic Gods With Dual Personality—Demeter and Dionysus Unlike other immortal gods, who were little use to human beings, and were always marvelous, Demeter and Dionysus, known as gods of harvest, were undoubtedly humankind’s best friends; however, both of them also shouldered a tragic destiny. Unveiled their miraculous appearance, we could see that the two great gods of Earth were not only gods of reaping but also of suffering. Whenever winter came, the low temperature and the frost would wither the crops and grapes, left only shriveled braches. Suffered more than this, Dionysus would die in a terrible way with the coming of the cold: he was torn into pieces, but was always brought back to life; he died and rose again. On the other hand, Demeter would not die, but she also suffered from the painful separateness of her beloved daughter Persephone. It was well-known that both of the two divinities had another personality. We will write a custom essay sample on The Two Tragic Gods With Dual Personality or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Demeter’s anger was a horrible weapon. Mentioned in the book THE CLASSIC BESTSELLER MYTHOLOGY, Demeter could let nothing grow on Earth and turned it into a barren, leafless land. As men always called her the â€Å"Good Goddess†, she also featured a kind appearance. But among all her personalities, the idea of sorrow was foremost. But then, Dionysus, like wine was good as well as bad, also had two personal identities. He was man’s benefactor and was man’s destroyer. His wine was life-giving, and could heal several illnesses, but it was also fatal whenever you drink too much. Bringing all the good and bad things to humankind, Dionysus also was the tragic god as I mentioned above. He was also the embodiment of the life that is stronger than death, for he would rise every time he died. He was the assurance that death does not end all. Holding good and bad, reaping and suffering features, the two great gods of Earth—Demeter and Dionysus were not only mankind’s best friends but also a tragic fate sufferer.

Comparative Analysis Essay Example

Comparative Analysis Essay Example Comparative Analysis Paper Comparative Analysis Paper 0906 Writing May 30, 2011 Comparative Analysis The poem â€Å"Against Idleness and Mischief† written by Isaac Watts and the poem â€Å"How Doth the Little Crocodile† written by Lewis Carroll are two pieces of work that are always being compared and contrasted. The two poems are written by different poets in different times, however, they are very similar with each other in perspectives like the form, writing style, subject. Comparing to Carroll’s poem, â€Å"Against Idleness and Mischief† is more positive, educational and more suitable for children. There are a lot of similarities between two poems, such as form, structure and writing style. However, the two poems differ from each other in other sides. For instance, the length of two poems and purposes to write two poems are different. Therefore, it is worth analyzing Watts and Carroll’s works together to find what the similarities and differences are. One of the most obvious similarities is the form of two poems. Both of the two poets choose animals as subjects, for Watts chooses bees and Carroll chooses crocodile. They are also short poems and belong to poems that are written for children. Another conspicuous thing that the two poems have in common is that the writing structure. The rhyme scheme using in poems are very similar in Watts and Carroll’s works. For instance, both of two poems using alternate rhymes. In Watts’ poem, like the sentence â€Å"in works of labor or of skill, I would be busy too; for Satan finds some mischief still, for idle hands to do†, words like â€Å"skill† and â€Å"still†, â€Å"too† and â€Å"do† shows the using of alternate rhymes. It is the same in Carroll’s poem. In the sentence â€Å"How cheerfully he seems to grin, how neatly spreads his claws, and welcome the little fish in, with gentle smiling jaws†, â€Å"grin†, â€Å"in†, â€Å"claws† and â€Å"jaws† are groups of words that have same rhyme scheme. Moreover, both of the two poems use some rhetorical devices, like exclamation and personification. In the two poems, there are several exclamatory sentences starting with â€Å"How† to enrich the emotion, like the sentences â€Å"How skillfully she builds her cell! † and â€Å"How doth the little crocodile†. Personification is also discernible in the two poems through the usage of personal pronouns like â€Å"she† and â€Å"his† and some personified behaviors. For example, like the action of the little crocodile, â€Å"welcome the little fish in, with gentle smiling jaws! † vividly describes a personified image in front of readers. However, differences still exist between the two poems. First point is that the two poems are written in different times. Isaac Watts is a hymn writer and was born nearly two hundred years earlier than Lewis Carroll. Therefore, there exists possibility that Lewis Carroll imitates the writing style of Watts’. What’s more, themes of two poems are different. Watts’ poem mainly conveys a clear massage that is against idleness and mischief by praising the labor of those lovely bees. On the contrary, Carroll’s poem emphasizes on greed and the predatory nature by depicting the cunning image of crocodile. What the two poems similar and different causes the different purpose of the two poems. Carroll’s poem offers readers an image of a fierce, cunning image of crocodile. He uses sentences which have an irony sense, which wants to warn readers to be conscious of the predatory nature and against selfishness, but it may be a little harsh for children. Comparing to Carroll, Watts conveys a more positive massage that labor should be praised by praising the busy life of bees. Watts’ poem can play a better role in educating children because the poem is of a kind and soft style, which is easily accepted by children. For example, the gender of bees can improve that. In Watts’ poem, the bees is considered as females, thus they will bring a feeling of softness and kindness and an emotion of love, and that is why this poem is more interesting to children. In a conclusion, both of Watts and Carroll’s poems are very similar in some aspects. However, each of the two poems has points that are unique and different from the other. Watts’ work is more suitable for children and positive comparing to Carroll’s poem and can play an better role in educating children and that’s why it is recommended.

Davis Surname Meaning and Origin

Davis Surname Meaning and Origin Davis is the 8th most common surname in America and one of the 100 most common last names in both England and Wales. Surname Origin: Welsh,  English Alternate Surname Spellings:  Davies (Welsh), David, Davidson, Davison, Daves, Dawson, Dawes, Day, Dakin What Does Davis Mean? Davis is a common patronymic surname with Welsh origins meaning son of David, a given name that means beloved. Fun Facts In the United States, Davis is one of the ten most common surnames. The variant Davies, however, is barely in the top 1,000 most common last names. In Great Britain, this surname popularity is reversed. There, Davies is the 6th most common surname overall, while Davis is the 45th most common surname. Where Do People Named Davis Live? According to WorldNames PublicProfiler, the Davis surname is most commonly found in the United States, especially in the southern states of Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Tennessee. It is also a common surname in Australia, the United Kingdom (especially southern England), New Zealand, and Canada. Forebears ranks Davis as the 320th most common surname in the world, with the highest numbers found in Jamaica, Anguilla, and the Bahamas, followed by the U.S., Liberia, and Australia. Famous People with the Surname Davis Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America.Miles Davis, influential American jazz artist.Angela Davis, political philosopher and black power activist.Captain Howell Davis, Welsh pirate.Sammy Davis Jr., American entertainer.General Benjamin O. Davis,  leader of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.William Morris Davis, father of American geography. Sources Beider, Alexander. A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Galicia. Avotaynu, June 1, 2004. Cottle, Basil. The Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. (Penguin Reference Books), Paperback, 2nd Edition, Puffin, August 7, 1984. Davis Surname Definition. Forebears, 2012. Hanks, Patrick. A Dictionary of Surnames. Flavia Hodges, Oxford University Press, February 23, 1989. Hanks, Patrick. Dictionary of American Family Names. 1st Edition, Oxford University Press, May 8, 2003. Hoffman, William F. Polish Surnames: Origins and Meanings. First Edition, Polish Genealogical Society, June 1, 1993. Menk, Lars. A Dictionary of German Jewish Surnames. Hardcover, Bilingual edition, Avotaynu, May 30, 2005. Rymut, Kazimierz. Nazwiska Polakow. Hardcover, Zaklad Narodowy im. OssoliÅ„skich, 1991. Smith, Elsdon Coles. American Surnames. 1st Edition, Chilton Book Co, June 1, 1969.

Environmental Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Environmental Management - Essay Example The city is mostly built on the hillsides and five of the rivers flow together near the city. Flooding grasped many parts of the city in the year of 2007 when River Don over flowed. The flood had devastating effects on the city which completely paralyzed the normal routine activities of the city. The businesses of the city were also affected because of which they could not operate. Many of the residents suffered from health hazards and electricity problems. Following the flood many of the organizations took part in the rehabilitation of the city. Deaths were also reported after the flood occurred but immediate services from the environmental agencies helped the city to revive its earlier grace. Environmental agencies played a great role in the rehabilitation of the city. But the effects of the flood are still felt in the city. Moreover efforts by these agencies have helped the city to a great extent to carry out the normal activities. This report would further revolve around the floo d that occurred in Sheffield in the summer of 2007 and would provide with different details about the disaster (Smith 207; Environment Agency 2010) The floods which were caused in United Kingdom were basically because of different reported rainfalls in the country. Summers in United Kingdom always witnessed heavy rainfalls but in the summer 2007 these rainfalls were record breaking. Two significant causes for the 2007 flood have been highlighted. Flash flooding is considered one of the basic causes which disturbed the normal level of water in rivers. Flash flooding occurs when heavy rainfall occurs in a very short time such that it raises the level of water in rivers but after some time the level gets normal again. It occurs when the ground does not have enough capability to hold water and urban landscapes usually do not have enough space to hold water. It was June 15th that heavy rainfall started in England which filled the rivers with

Critique of the Literature Review Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Critique of the Literature Review - Assignment Example The study sought to investigate the relationship among leadership styles, demographic factors, and confidence in the delegation of duty by registered nurses in a nursing facility. Results identified lack of a relationship between confidence in delegating duties to â€Å"unregistered assistive personnel† and applied leadership style by registered nurses (Saccomano and Pinto-Zipp, 2011, p. 522). The results also noted that fresh nurses with lower academic qualifications reported lower confidence in delegating duties to the unlicensed personnel than registered nurses. This however changed and after years of experience, the nurses with lower qualifications reported higher confidence than registered nurses did (Saccomano and Pinto-Zipp, 2011). The article identified the study’s problem with clarity. Based on its literature review, registered nurses focus on clinical practice but disregard managerial and leadership roles. Previous studies had also not explored the relationship between leadership among registered nurses and their confidence in delegation despite a belief that leadership is significant to the nurses’ ability to manage unlicensed personnel and this knowledge gap informs the study’s problem. The researchers also identified frameworks for their study through the concept of transformational leadership and through the path-goal theory. They defined a relationship between transformational leadership concept and problem, delegation among nursing leaders, and the relationship between the Path-Goal theory and the delegation problem. The theory, the concept, and their proposed effect on an individual’s ability to empower followers and delegate duties to them make the theory and concept appro priate for the study’s problem (Saccomano and Pinto-Zipp, 2011). Reviewed literature was appropriate for the topic and contributed to knowledge development on the topic’s variables. Selected information from the reviewed literature was relevant to the topic and the scope of the  literature’s contents was consistent with the scope of the article’s aim.  

Acetone - Background of the Study Essay Example for Free

Acetone Background of the Study Essay Familiar household uses of acetone are as the active ingredient in nail polish removers and as paint thinner. Acetone can also be used for medical and cosmetic uses, such as applying acetone with alcohol for acne treatments to peel dry skin. It can also remove residues from glass and porcelain and it can also remove super glue from the skin. Perhaps, acetone is very useful in our everyday lives. Acetone is also known to remove ball pen marks on fabrics and clothings. It has ethyl acetate that is said to remove ball pen stains. Most people accidentally rubs ball pen marks on their clothing on a daily basis. The study was done to find out if acetone is more effective and easier to remove ball pen marks on clothings or fabrics than normal laundry detergent. Statement of the Problem The study aims to answer the following questions: 1. What is a more effective and easier way in removing ball pen stains on fabrics? 2. Is acetone effective in removing ball pen marks? Hypothesis If the ball pen mark is removed and the clothing is cleaner and whiter using acetone then acetone is more effective and easier way to remove ball pen marks on the clothing. Significance of the Study The study was done to find out if acetone is effective in removing ball pen marks. The study will help mostly students and working adults and everyone who uses ball pen. They will benefit because most of the users have their ball pens blotting on a daily basis. Scope and Limitations The amount of bleach and acetone used is 20 ml. The ball pen mark is of the same size. Even the cloths are of the same type. This means that the study is limited to these amounts only. This study is limited to testing which among bleach or acetone can remove a simple ball pen mark effectively. Review of Related Literature According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethyl_acetate#Uses, Ethyl Acetate is the solvent present in acetone that can remove the ball pen marks. It is also stated that ethyl acetate is also present in some hairsprays, alcohol, etc. Recommendation The researchers recommend repeating the testing using different cloths and different amounts of bleach and acetone to test other possibilities. It is also suggested that the researchers use warm water for washing the cloths. References Removing ball pen marks- http://housekeeping.about.com/od/stainremoval/a/inkstains.htm

Coming out of My Heterophobia Closet Essay -- essays research papers

Coming out of â€Å"My Heterophobia† Closet   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Growing up in a heterosexual world as a Lesbian who remained in many closets, has shape my identity and the way I will transact with people for the rest of my life. Upon coming out of closet, or being pushed out (by suspension from parents and friends) at the age of eighteen or nineteen I quickly assumed the bi-sexual title because it meant at least there was hope for me in the future. This proved to be worse for my self-esteem, and may have caused the most damage because even though I was free to come out, I was still afraid (somewhat) of taking the big leap and being totally ostracized by my friends and people I know. So I felt one million times worst trying to be bi-sexual than I ever did being heterosexual, I knew I was betraying myself before, but now it felt like the ultimate betrayal. During the next year or so I finally got the courage to come out as a full blown Lesbian, and life has never been better.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I wanted to shave my head and start over fresh as a new person who has this fresh new identity because I wanted nothing to do with the heterosexual and bi-sexual life I had lived in the past; I was on a mission to prove I could be as gay as anyone else. That meant forsaking all straight clubs and hanging out with the straight friends that I had, cutting my hair and actively searching out other lesbians. I went to gay clubs and events and made new friends with total lesbians; I was ashamed of my straight background and even claimed to have been out of the closet for many years when in fact I had not been, I didn’t want to be a new be. I wanted to show my friends that if they couldn’t deal with me as a true lesbian, none changing, then I didn’t want them around me. I took this class because I wanted to know more about our history and try to put a face to gayness for others, an African American face, an educated face, a female face, but most of a ll a human face.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When I found out that ninety five percent of the class is straight and homophobic for the most part, I was thrilled yet sadden (because I now had the opportunity to look them in the eye and have them call me all the names I would have been called had I possessed the courage to come out sooner) but mostly thrilled because it felt great being around more gay people, e... ...d the trip to Orlando with them, that in order for them to accept me, I would first need to accept them and give them a face for an African American Jewish Lesbian, who is very well educated and from a upper middle class family, who attended the best private schools and has not become a statistic in any way.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I’m happy I took this class, and actually am planning to get a certificate in Gay/Lesbian studies as soon as it is offered by the Women Studies Department. I never thought that people like Chris, Holly, Leah, Horacio and a couple like Suarmis and her boyfriend could change in six weeks what it took me years to build. I am not exempt from ignorance and acts of discrimination, the differences are I am willing to recognize them and make adjustments to my character, so that when I decide to raise children I do so unbiased. I will even try not to take the easy route by having only gay friends I will actually start communicating with the rest of the world, now that I don’t feel they are out to get me. Thank you for a class well taught and I wish you well in retirement. I wish I had the honor of studying under you in another class for another semester.

Somatic Marker Hypothesis

Critically evaluate to what extent the ‘somatic-marker hypothesis’ explains how decisions are made in the face of an uncertain outcome. In mind of Kim Sterelny’s (2007) statement that ‘Human Life is one long decision tree’, it is not surprising that there has been a vast amount of research into the process of how we evaluate the desirability of alternative choices and select a particular option.One area of research, of particular interest here, is Damasio’s Somatic Marker Hypothesis (SMH) (1991) which uses the neuroeconomic approach through its integration of the fields of psychology, neuroscience and economics to invoke an understanding of how one makes a decision (Damasio, Tranel & Damasio, 1998). This Theory supports the RAF hypothesis that significant risky outcomes elicit emotional reactions (Stanfey, Loewenstein, McClue & Cohen, 2006,).The SMH proposes that stochastic decision making is the result of emotion-based biasing signals in the b ody- in particular from the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (VMPFC) (Bechara, Damasio, Tranel & Damasio, 2005). This concept will be discussed in further detail (with reference to it’s origin and experimental support), followed by a critical analysis of the extent to which the SMH successfully explains what it contends to.Since the SMH focuses solely on the role of emotion in decision making, the Rationale Planning Model (1995) will also be examined in comparison to the SMH for it’s explanation of decision making as a purely logical and rational process. The Rational Planning Model by Banfield (1995) proposes that the decision maker consciously undergoes five steps when coming to a decision and so approaches the choice in a very rational manner. Subsequently, an evaluation of the two theories for stochastic decision making will follow to discern how well they account for stochastic decision making.The SMH stemmed from attempts to explain why a patient (E. V. R. ), with an ablation of the VMPFC, often engaged in behaviors that were detrimental to his wellbeing (Damasio, 1996). Emotion was originally believed to be a disruptive force in decision making, but since the VMPFC is in charge of emotional function, it was now speculated to be essential for the ability to make a decision. Further investigation into this phenomenon through neuropsychological examination, found that those patients with damage to their VMPFC evinced a generally flat affect and an inability to respond to emotional situations (Bolla et al. 003). Thus, Damasio extracted that the decision making deficits experienced by these patients was a result of this altered psychophysiological response (Damasio, 1996). His SMH contends that when presented with a decision, the normal brain will use the VMPFC to react emotionally to the situation and generate ‘somatic markers’ in order to come to a decision. A somatic marker is best defined as the brains construction of a physiolog ical change that it apprehends for the selection of a particular strategy. It supposedly guides attention towards the more advantageous option (Dalgleish, 2004).This enables the organism to react quicker to external stimuli as it no longer needs to wait for the activity to emerge in the periphery before it can elicit a reaction (Dalgleish, 2004). Furthermore, the VMPFC is thought to support association learning between complex situations and the somatic changes usually experienced during a particular situation (Jameson, Hinson, & Whitney, 2004). Put simply, once a previous situation that elicited similar somatic markers is identified, the VMPFC can use past experiences to rapidly evaluate possible behavior responses.So when the VMPFC suffers impairment, the somatic marker system can no longer be activated, resulting in an absence of physiological feedback and an inability to predict long term punishments and rewards. This occurrence has been termed ‘Myopia for the futureâ€⠄¢, where a decision may only be formulated by the use of a logical cost-benefit analysis (Dalgleish, 2004). However, if one was presented with an uncertain situation, the result would be marked impairment. The SMH substantiates its argument through the experimental paradigm: the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) (Bechara et al, 1997, cited in Dunn, Dalgleish & Lawrence, 2006).The task measures decision making in patients with VMPFC brain lesions and compares it to those people with a normally functioning VMPFC. The experiment involves selecting a card from a choice of four decks- each of which attributes different levels of reward and punishment in the form of winning or losing pretend money. Two of the decks provide a low reward and a low level of punishment and were labeled the advantageous decks. The remaining two decks provide a high reward and a high level of punishment and were named the disadvantageous decks. Control articipants initially sampled both decks equally but shifted their choice to the advantageous decks after experiencing the high punishment from the disadvantageous one. Conversely, the subjects with damage to their VMPFC were seemingly insensitive to the negative consequences of the disadvantageous decks and would continually choose from these decks on account of their high reward (Dunn et al. 2006). The study concludes that the reason the patients failed to comprehend the advantageous decks as the more profitable option, was due to their inability to generate the somatic markers necessary for such a realization (Dunn et al. 006). Furthermore, Bechara et al. (2005) combined the gambling task with the measurement of skin-conductance response (SCR). It was found that control subjects elicited larger anticipatory SCRs before picking from the disadvantageous decks as oppose to the advantageous decks. The absence of anticipatory SCRs in the VMPFC lesion group confirmed the failure for the VMPFC to activate negative, physiological marking signals based o n previous punishment history which ultimately made them insensitive to the possibility of future punishment from the deck (Schmitt, Brinkley & Newman, 1999).Hence, a positive correlation between successful IGT performance and a healthy participants’ ability to develop somatic marker signals was reported. The extensive validation of the IGT, strengthens the evidence for the role of emotion in decision making. For example, patients with various kinds of frontal lobe damage and patients with lesions to the lateral temporal or occipital cortex have also been tested in the IGT (Best, Williams & Coccaro, 2002). Of these patients, only the ones with damage to their VMPFC appear to be impaired on the task (Bechara, Damasio & Damasio, 2000).Furthermore, Overman (2004) has conducted a study outside of the Iowa laboratory and has replicated Damasio’s findings with the extension of gender differences. Overman’s results showed that adolescent men chose from the decks on the basis of long-term outcome only. Moreover, the predictive validity of the IGT and therefore SMH, has demonstrated an association between the response of OCD patients to pharmacotherapy and performance on the IGT (Cavedini, Bassi, Zozi & Bellodi, 2004).This depicts the behavioral form of the IGT to be a very sensitive measure of decision making as its results are highly applicable to real world decision making (e. g. those with OCD). Although the study does much to support the SMH argument, it has also received a lot of criticism which will be subsequently addressed. It has been contested that the work from the Iowa laboratory provides only superficial support for the SMH, since closer analysis can reveal issues that potentially undermine its argument for decision making in the face of an uncertain outcome.For example, Maia & McClelland (2004) contend that the IGT can be performed through access to conscious, explicit knowledge since the task allows a lengthy time to deliberate over each decision- especially since the outcomes are presented in explicit numerical form. Thus, they refute the claim that task acquisition necessarily requires the generation of non conscious ‘somatic marker’ signals which effectively weakens the extent to which the SMH accurately explains decision making in terms of emotion- for it may not be the result of an implicit neural mechanism (Maia & McClelland, 2004. Another criticism of the IGT (and therefore the SMH) is that the patients with VMPFC damage could have been quite apathetic to the study’s demands and expectations. Barrash, Tranel & Anderson (2000) report that patients with lesions to their VMPFC often experience symptoms of apathy and are actually capable of improving their emotional response to affective images if instructed to look carefully. Therefore, if the patients are in fact competent of generating anticipatory SCRs and successfully completing the task, it can be postulated that enhancing their en gagement levels would raise their results to match the control groups.In terms of the implications this would have for the SMH, it would serve as evidence that emotion does not play that great a role in decision making since they can still obtain the same results with impaired emotional ability. Furthermore, Fellows and Farah (2005) have suggested that the syndrome of apathy may deserve more attention in understanding impaired decision making. Similarly, another symptom of VMPFC damage, which can adversely affect performance in the IGT, is impaired reversal learning (Rolls, Hornak, Wade & McGrath, 1994).The IGT is centred on a response reversal in which involves a shift in preference from the two initially rewarding decks to the other two decks due to subsequent punishment (Rolls et al. 1994). Both Fellows & Farah (2005) and Rolls et al (1994), corroborate that lesions to the VMPFC allow normal acquisition but impaired reversal on simple reversal learning tasks. Therefore, the impai red reversal learning, rather than the inability to generate somatic markers, may well account for why patients find it so difficult to perform correctly in the IGT.Fellows & Farah (2005) devised a study to test this notion by removing the response reversal. It was found that by eliminating the rewards of the two disadvantageous decks in the opening trials, the performance of the VMPFC impaired patients was the same as that of the control volunteers. This research suggests that the IGT may not have been testing the role of emotion in decision making but instead, how capable the subjects were in their response reversal.Therefore, the extent to which the SMH explains how decisions are made is further limited since the evidence that emotions play a direct role is very weak. Additionally, the SMH is arguably only applicable to certain decision making and cannot account for those decisions that need rationality and a thoughtful, conscious planning process. Banfield’s Rational Plan ning Model (1959) (RPM), on the other hand, may serve as a good explanation for decision making in such a situation.Banfield states that a rational decision is made when the decision maker lists all the opportunities for action, recognises all the consequences and selects the action based on the preferred consequence. Additionally, Banfield defines a ‘plan’ as a decision with regard to a course of action, involving a similar process as any rational choice. The RPM consists of four main stages: the analysis of the situation, the end reduction and elaboration (formulating an image of the future had an option been picked), the design of courses of action, and the comparative evaluation of consequences (Banfield, 1995).Banfield’s RPM is the most widely subscribed planning theory to date and although it has experienced criticism, it has been hailed very useful in explaining how we make important decisions. According to Stiftel (2000), important decisions are ones whic h demand explicit conscious planning such as buying a house or taking a new job. These decisions are arguably unlikely to be a result of the emotional hunches or gut instincts that Damasio discusses since they almost always involved a mental list of pros and cons before arriving at a decision.However, this theory fails to explain why some people make irrational and illogical decisions in the face of an uncertain outcome. For example, criminals do not logically plan or weigh up the consequences of an action before undertaking, which highlights that there are multiple explanations for how people make decisions. Banfield recognises that people are generally very opportunistic in their daily decision making as rather than materialising a course of action, people will improvise and meet each crisis as it arises.For instance, large industries rarely look forward more than five to ten years and government planning is even less effective (Stiftel). Since Banfield himself appreciates that th e majority of decisions are the unintended outcome of a ‘social process rather than the conscious product of deliberation and calculation’, there is clearly a cause to investigate the role of social processes in decision making (Banfield, 1995 pp. 13). In conclusion, the extent to which the Somatic Marker Hypothesis explains decision making in the face of an uncertain outcome is limited.As it has been demonstrated, Damasio’s SMH attempts to pin decision making down to emotional biasing signals alone and has received various criticisms for its empirical support. For example, it attempts to validate its theory by testing VMPFC patients who may already be too cognitively impaired to perform the task (Barrash et al, 2000). Additionally, the extent to which the IGT measures an implicit response has also been questioned on the grounds that the task allows a great deal of time for deliberation (Maia & McClelland).Thus, Banfield’s Rational Planning Model was exami ned as an alternative explanation for decision making. The RPM does a lot to discredit the SMH and is essentially a valuable explanation of how we make decisions since it highlights that the majority of important decisions force the individual into a conscious process of planning and analysing. However, like the SMH, the RPM alone cannot explain decision making for there are individuals (criminals) who defy deliberation. This highlights that decisions are most likely the cause of an interplay of factors, depending on both the situation and person.To summarise, the SMH does little to explain the tricky phenomenon of decision making in the face of an uncertain outcome- but it would be too deterministic to deem this process down to just one theory alone. Referencing: Banfield, E. C. (1959), â€Å"Ends and means in planning†, International Social Science Journal, Vol. 11, pp. 361-8. Barrash, J. , Tranel, D. , Anderson, S. W. , (2000). Acquired personality distrubances associated with bilateral damage to the ventromedial prefrontal region. Developmental Neuropsychology 18 (3), 355–381. Bechara, A. , Damasio, H. , Damasio, A. R. , (2000).Emotion, decision making and the orbitofrontal cortex. Cerebral Cortex 10, 295–307 Bechara, A. , Damasio, H. , Tranel, D. , Damasio, A. R. , (2005). The Iowa Gambling Task and the somatic marker hypothesis: some questions and answers. Trends in Cogntive Sciences 9 (4), 159–162. Best, M. , Williams, J. M. , Coccaro, E. F. , (2002). Evidence for a dysfunctional prefrontal circuit in patients with an impulsive aggressive disorder. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 99 (12), 8448–8453. Bolla, K. I. , Eldreth, D. A. , London, E. D. , Kiehl, K. A. , Mouratidis, M. , Contoreggi, C. , et al. (2003). Orbitofrontal cortex dysfunction in abstinent cocaine abusers performing a decision-making task. Neuroimage 19 (3), 1085–1094. Cavedini, P. , Bassi, T. , Zorzi, C. , Bellodi, L. , (2004). The advantages of choosing antiobsessive therapy according to decision-making functioning. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology 24 (6), 628–631. Dalgleish, T. , 2004. The emotional brain. Nature Neuroscience Reviews 5 (7), 583–589. Jameson, T. L. , Hinson, J. M. , Whitney, P. , 2004. Components of working memory and somatic markers in decision making. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 11 (3), 515–520.Damasio, A. R. , 1996. The somatic marker hypothesis and the possible functions of the prefrontal cortex. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London (series B) 351 (1346), 1413–1420. Damasio, A. R. , Tranel, D. , Damasio, H. C. (1998) Somatic markers and the guidance of behaviour. In Jekins, M. J. , Oatley, K & Stein, L. M. (Eds. ), Human Emotion: a reader (pp 122- 125). Oxford: Blackwell. Dunn, D. B. , Dalgleish, T. , Lawrence, A. D. (2006). The Somatic Marker Hypothesis: A critical evaluation. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. 30. , 23 9–271. Fellows, L. K. , Farah, M. J. 2005a. Different underlying impairments in decision-making following ventromedial and dorsolateral frontal lobe damage in humans. Cerebral Cortex 15 (1), 58–63. Jameson, T. L. , Hinson, J. M. , & Whitney, P. (2004). Components of working memory and somatic markers in decision making. Psychological Bulletin & Review, 11, 515–520 Maia, T. V. , McClelland, J. L. , 2004. A reexamination of the evidence for the somatic marker hypothesis: what participants really know in the Iowa gambling task. Proceedings of the National Academy for Science USA 101 (45), 16075–16080. Overman, W. H. , 2004.Sex differences in early childhood, adolescence, and adulthood on cognitive tasks that rely on orbital prefrontal cortex. Brain and Cognition 55 (1), 134–147. Rolls, E. T. , Hornak, J. , Wade, D. , McGrath, J. , 1994. Emotion-related learning in patients with social and emotional changes associated with frontal lobe damage. Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 57 (12), 1518–1524. Schmitt, W. A. , Brinkley, A. C. , Newman, P. J. (1999). Testing Damasio’s Somatic Marker Hypothesis With Psychopathic Individuals: Risk takers or Risk Averse. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 108 (3), 538-543.Sanfey, A. G. , Loewenstein, G. , McClure, S. M. , & Cohen, J. D. (2006). Neuroeconomics: cross-currents in research on decision-making. Trends in Cognitive Science, 10, 108-116. Sterelny, K. (2007). Cognitive Load and Human Decision, or, Three Ways of Rolling the Rock Up Hill. In Carruthers, P. , Laurence, S. , & Stich, S. (Eds. ), The Innate Mind: Volume 2: Culture and Cognition (PP. 148-152). Oxford Scholarship Online. Stiftel, B (2000). â€Å"Plannin theory. II. The national AICP examination preparation course guidebook. Ed Roshi Pajaseyed. Am. Inst. Cert. Planners: Washington DC. Pp. 4-16

John Proctor Essay

The Crucible is an ingeniously written play by Arthur Miller. The story is based on a real life tragedy that arose from trumped up hysteria that gripped Salem, Massachusetts in the seventeenth century. At the same time that this play was being written, a certain American paranoia arose, McCarthyism. This created a perfect parallel between modern day and the story for Arthur Miller.  The second act starts in the Proctor household. This is the first introduction of the two characters together and already Miller has engaged the audience’s attention. Their marriage is very frosty and cold and this chilliness is portrayed to the audience by the way that the couple speak to each other, using short, harsh words to express their feelings, â€Å"Pray now for a fair summer/ Aye.† It is clear to the audience from these brief answers that Elizabeth is trying to avoid talking to her husband and is somewhat dismissive of him. Their tentative conversation is mainly derived from the affair that John and Abigail had had: the audience is well aware of this. The audience is also gripped by the way John is trying to forget the past, shown by his declaration of his only intent, ‘to please’ Elizabeth, whom coldly accepts. Salem is finally mentioned and on that note the tone is set to a standard civilised manner, but Elizabeth’s mention of Abigail later on again stirs up heat, â€Å"†¦the town’s gone wild†¦she speak of Abigail.† This rekindled heat shows the audience how eager Elizabeth is on dwelling on the past, frequently raising issues related to the affair, â€Å"I do not judge you,† the two colliding personas intensify drama in the scene effectively. Elizabeth’s provocation gives perfect cause for John to get angry and also is vital when Hale enters. Luckily for Elizabeth, Mary Warren walks in. John uses her arrival to divert his rage in a successful attempt to reduce apparent tension between his wife and himself. Mary then decides to recite a list of the accused in the trails in Salem, Miller’s endeavor to create even more drama pays off as when Elizabeth’s name is ‘somewhat mentioned’ in the court. At this point John becomes infuriated. Mary tries to calm everyone down and gives Elizabeth a doll that she had made during the proceedings in court. This in turn indirectly creates drama due to the fact that the audience is prefixed on the belief that it is a kind gesture, but it is later used against Elizabeth when she is being condemned, â€Å"‘Tis Hard proof†¦I find here a poppet†¦in the belly†¦a needle’s stuck.† John, after hearing his wife’s mention tells Mary Warren to ‘go to bed’ where she shows the power that she has to the crowd and to John by telling him that she ‘will not be ordered to bed anymore.’ The heated conversation between John and Mary reaches a crux. The conversation’s temper level is suddenly dropped and Mary goes to bed. Miller carves drama from every aspect of this conversation. The audience is obviously familiar with the charge for communicating with the ‘Devil,’ imminent death. In this sense it is obliviously clear that Miller has ventured to create suspense for the audience, what will happen next, how will Elizabeth react, will she die? Elizabeth is then forced to think pessimistically. She then starts to contemplate what will happen to her after this is resolved, indicating the worst possible outcomes. Miller has done this to show the audience what the character must be going through, letting them adopt Elizabeth’s persona, creating drama by indoctrinating their thoughts to fit the pessimistic way in which Elizabeth is thinking, â€Å"†¦the noose is up!† Hale’s entry into the scene is very peculiar. Miller’s intent when writing the stage direction, â€Å"Quite suddenly, as though from the air, a figure appears,† is so the person directing the play can have the entry very mysterious, so as to arouse suspicion about the character of Hale amongst the audience. His mysterious welcome and his reason for coming to the Proctor household, to determine ‘the Christian character of this house’, makes John very hostile towards him. John sees his invasion as a form of provocation and becomes aggressive towards him; â€Å"we are not used to visitors after dark.† Hale proceeds in explaining how the witch-hunt has intensified and that there are a numerous amount of people accused. So far Arthur miller has kept drama in this scene at an extraordinarily high and constant rate, keeping the audience at the edge of their seats, hardly dropping dramatic tension anywhere. Hale appears at a tense moment that startles Mr. and Mrs. Proctor, the audience knows this but Hale does not and so is not aware that he is unwelcome. The scene that follows is very intense and hilly with the dramatic tension constantly pulsing up and down. From the beginning the conversation between Hale and John Proctor is rather heated especially when issues of the church are concerned, â€Å"Powers of the dark.† It is clear to the audience that both Hale and Proctor are sceptical about the goings on Salem but do not want to show it. For example, when they are talking about the accused and Rebecca Nurse’s name gets mentioned Hale’s insecurity is shown when he says, † God forbid such a one be charged.† Miller also shocks the audience over the accusation of Goody Nurse showing them the power the girls have over adults and Salem, also displaying to them how the girls position has been uncontrollably elevated, Mary Warren: â€Å"I’ll not stand whipping any more!†

Constitutional Amendments essays

Constitutional Amendments essays In America today, we live in a very diverse society. We have people from all types of religions, nationalities, and skin-color. Everyone has their own views and opinions on our nation and its government. Some citizens believe the United States is being run poorly, while others say our government is corrupt. Some people despise the way our government is run, and some just want lower taxes. I used to believe our government was not what it should be, but after researching my natural rights as a citizen of the United States and comparing them to other governments I realized how good I have it in America. This country is whatever its voters want it to be. At this point in time, everyone is considered by our government to be equal to one another. Our Bill of Rights ensures us these rights and gives us a foundation on which to build a great nation. The amendments to the constitution have changed our way of life giving every citizen equality and ensuring justice for all. The Bill of Rights' initial purpose was to protect the rights of the citizens of this country. It continues to protect the citizens, but it also opens the door for improvement in our government. The 4th Amendment protects us from unlawful searches and seizures. You may ask, "How does this affect me" or "Why should I care?" This protects law-abiding citizens from being wrongfully searched and prohibits the use of unlawful evidence to indict someone of a crime. This amendment prohibits law enforcement agencies from searching one's property without a warrant or probable cause. What is "reasonable" when searching someone's personal property? Well, the police can't just force their way into your house whenever they feel like it. They have to respect the rights of citizens and follow certain guidelines before searching another person's property. Law enforcement officials must have probable cause and a s ...

5 Facts About Police Killings and Race

5 Facts About Police Killings and Race The absence of any kind of systematic tracking of police killings in the U.S. makes it difficult to see and understand any patterns that might exist among  them,  but fortunately, some researchers  have undertaken efforts to do so. While the data they have collected is limited, it is national in scope and  consistent from place to place, and  thus very  useful for illuminating trends. Lets take a look at what the data collected by Fatal Encounters and by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement show us about police killings and race. Deaths by the Numbers Fatal Encounters is an ever-growing crowd-sourced database of police killings in the US compiled by D. Brian Burghart. To date, Burghart has  amassed a database of 2,808 incidents from across the nation. Though the race of those killed is currently unknown in nearly a third of the incidents, of those in which race is known, nearly a quarter are black, nearly a third are white, about 11 percent are Hispanic or Latino and just 1.45 percent are Asian or Pacific Islander. While there are more white than black people in this data, the percentage of those who are black far out-paces the percentage of those who are black in the general population- 24 percent versus 13 percent. Meanwhile, white people comprise about 78 percent of our national population, but just under 32 percent of those killed. This means that black people are more likely to be killed by police, while white, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, and Native American are less likely. This trend is corroborated by other research. A  study conducted by  Colorlines  and  The Chicago Reporter  in 2007 found that black people were over-represented among those killed by police in every city investigated, but especially in  New York, Las Vegas, and San Diego, where the rate was  at least double their share of the local population. This report also found that the number of Latinos killed by police is rising. Another report by the NAACP focused on Oakland, California found that 82 percent of people shot by police between 2004 and 2008 were black, and none were white. New York Citys 2011 Annual Firearms Discharge Report shows that police shot more black people than white or Hispanic people between 2000 and 2011. All of this amounts to a black person being killed by police, security guards or armed civilians in an extra-judicial manner every 28 hours, based on data for 2012 compiled by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement  (MXGM). The largest proportion  of those people are young black men between the ages of 22 and 31 years old. Most People Killed Are Unarmed Per the MXGM report, the vast majority of those killed during 2012 were unarmed at the time. Forty-four percent had no weapon on them, while 27 percent were allegedly  armed,  but there was no documentation in the police report that  supported the presence of a weapon. Just 27 percent of those killed possessed a weapon or a toy weapon mistaken for a real one, and only 13 percent had been identified as an active or suspected shooter prior to their death. The NAACP report from Oakland similarly found that no weapons were present in 40 percent of cases in which people were shot by police. Suspicious Behavior and Perceived Threats The MXGM study of 313 black people killed by police, security guards and vigilantes in 2012 found that  43 percent of killings  were prompted by vaguely defined suspicious behavior. Equally troubling, about 20 percent of these incidents were precipitated by a family member calling 911 to seek emergency psychiatric care for the deceased. Just a quarter were facilitated by verifiable criminal activity. Per the MXGM report, I felt threatened is the most common reason given for one of these killings, cited in nearly half of all cases. Nearly a quarter were attributed to other allegations, including that the suspect lunged, reached toward waistband, pointed a gun, or drove toward an officer. In just 13 percent of the cases did the person killed actually fire a weapon. Criminal Charges Are Rare Despite the facts stated above, the study by MXGM found that only 3 percent of the 250 officers who killed a black person in 2012 were charged with a crime. Of the 23 people charged with a crime after one of these killings, most of them were vigilantes and security guards.  In most cases, District Attorneys and Grand Juries rule these killings justified.

United Arab Emirates Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

United Arab Emirates - Essay Example United Arab Emirates The principal and the most prosperous of all of the seven states is the capital of the federation, the Abu Dhabi generating nearly sixty percent of the country’s wealth. The most popular city from the federation, Dubai City is located in the Dubai Emirate, the second leading emirate while Sharjah City and Khawr Fakkan are the two main cities in the third biggest state, the Sharjah. The UAE consists of tribal groupings of Arabian Peninsula sheikhdoms found on the tip end of the Persian Gulf and north the Gulf of Oman, the area was involved in several dynastic clashes for centuries just immediately after it was converted to Islam in the seventh century. The main tribal groups of the country’s nationals are the Qawasim and the Bani Yas who emerged as the powerful tribes after the dynastic disputes. The Qawasim were originally traders and inhabit the present day emirates of Ras al Khaymah while the Bani Yas were predominantly agriculturalists and pastoralists and lived in what is today the emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The British mounted expeditions against the inhabitants in an attempt to have control of the maritime routes and a desire to establish supremacy in the area over other interested European powers. However, regular warfare among tribes was still rampant at sea and the sheikhs made several truce agreements with the supervision of British political authorities to whom the warring parties reported any violations of the truce treaty. A perpetual maritime truce was signed by the tribal sheikhs in May 1853 to end any further conflicts at sea between the tribes. The coastal sheikhdoms thereafter remained under British protection practicing their traditional form of Arab monarchial rule while Britain oversaw their defense and foreign relations. In 1952 under the guidance of Britain, the seven sheikdoms established the Trucial Council to advance the implementation of common policies concerning administration of the sheikhdoms with the aim of eventually leading to a federation of emirates. In 1968, Britain decided to end the protection status with the seven sheikhdoms and withdrew United Kingdom armed forces out of the region. Three months thereafter, the seven sheikhdoms formed a Federa tion of Arab Emirates together with Qatar and Bahrain, still under British rule. However, in 1971 the latter two states decided to cede from the federation to establish separate sovereign states. Immediately after in the same year, Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Al Fujayrah, Dubai, Sharjah and Umm al Qaywayn agreed to have a common federal constitution in order to achieve independence under the United Arab Emirates. On December 1, 1971, Britain ended all ties and relationships with the seven sheikhdoms including every one the treaties and declared the federation independent on December 2, 1971. Initially the six emirates formed the federation and the other remaining sheikhdom, Ras al Khayman, joined the United Arab Emirates in February 1972. When independence was declared, Sheikh Zayid of Abu Dhabi assumed the presidency of new UAE until 2004 when he died while Sheikh Rashid Al Maktum of Dubai was entitled the vice president and his son Sheikh Maktum ibn Rashid Al Maktum was named the prime mini ster. Geography

Staphylococcus aureus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Staphylococcus aureus - Essay Example This test also helped in identifying the resistance of staphylococcus against certain antibiotics revealing the mechanisms used in developing the resistance such as enzyme production. Staphylococcus aureus are spherical, gram positive non spore forming with 0.5- 1Â µm long bacteria as viewed under microscope. In 1988, S.aureus was first discovered in Aberdeen by Alexanda Ogston. Determination of Staphylococcus follows an observation in solidified medium such as nutrient agar and selective medium manitolagar. This bacteria is salt tolerant. From the main genus staphylococcus there are 32 species of which 11 are harmful and can be spread causing diseases in human body. The most common of these diseases causing staphylococcus are S.aureus and S.epidermis. Growth rate and survival of Staphylococcus is affected by a number of factors including temperatures, PH, Oxygen and water present (Stewart, 2003). Staphylococcus ureus have been found to posses the ability to live in both aerobic and anaerobic environment. Staphylococcus gain entrance into the body through causing open lesion skin that is mostly red, swollen and painful. When they enter the blood vessel, staphylococcus multiplies and releases toxins that cause life threatening complications such as septic shock and endocarditis complication of heart (Gwendolyn, 1996). Studies on these bacteria have shown that people who suffer from particular diseases including diabetes, people with chronic kidney diseases, people with cancer therapy, skin burns are more susceptible of getting the Staphylococcus aureus infection. Additionally, people with transplanted organs also depict high susceptibility to infections from staphylococcus aureus since they take immune suppressive drugs. Staphylococcus aureus can be found on the noses of up to 25 percent of healthy people , in which case it remain harmless but when it gain entrance into the blood stream it causes diseases such as septic shock and meningitis

Students should go to colleges better than universities from the Essay

Students should go to colleges better than universities from the beginning - Essay Example One of the problems is that most of these students study for the sake of passing their examinations (Fernando, 50). As a result, most of them finish campus with no adequate knowledge required by the employers. This makes most of them jobless for a long time, which is problematic for the generation of these productive individuals. The reason is some individuals may not have gotten the required grade to join their desired course (Nitza, 135). Thus, the university admits the individual for a much lower course than the one the individual yearned for. They will only study for that course for the sake of getting a degree. This is unlike in joining college first since the individual can get the required marks in college and then join university to pursue their desired courses. Most of these individuals joining university are fresh from high school where their parents monitor their every move (Chin, 18). However, with university, most of them even move out to live in campus premises. The joy of being able to live away from the parents finally is a relief for most of them who tend to put it in their heads. They become party animals in campus to an extent of forgetting their studies. There are even cases of students caught cheating during exams due to failure of adequate preparation. It is important for such students to realize that despite how long it takes, it is important to join university for the right reasons- working hard to get a well-paying job in future. This brings us to the next

Key Challenges Faced By The Bpo Industry Management Essay

Key Challenges Faced By The Bpo Industry Management Essay Peter Drucker says innovation is a change that creates a new dimension of performance. In todays business world, competition has become fierce and sophisticated. Companies worldwide are striving hard to operate as efficiently as possible and pass on the savings to the end consumers, in a bid to stay ahead of the competition. In the process, many companies are forced to innovate to come up with ways to reduce costs, increase efficiency and identify differentiators not only for their own organizations but also for their customer organizations. In the midst of this dog eats dog global competition, customers are true beneficiaries by demanding additional value, process innovation and business transformation from suppliers. In todays dynamic world, innovation is the hallmark of a competitive and leading organization. With attrition rates and competition in the BPO and ITES sectors rampant, innovation is the logical solution to stem the rot of this exodus and surge ahead of competition. Innovation, however, is not only about discoveries or new inventions; it is a concerted initiative to implement new ideas and methods of doing business to increase the overall efficacy of results (read topline and bottomline).   Innovation in BPO and ITES sectors is now picking up after companies have woken up to the fact that innovation is indispensable for survival and also in creating a competitive edge. Innovation occurs not randomly or accidentally but when there is a proper system/structure in place to encourage it. Any business is the sum total of its capabilities, which may differ from person to person. Nourishing innovation involves understanding the various capabilities in an organization and harnessing them to the best of its ability. These capabilities include: Differentiating capabilities an organizations primary assets that describes its special nature and the real differentiating factor Core capabilities those that are critical to the organizations survival, but may not necessarily help in differentiation Support capabilities those that support the organizations core capabilities and foster them. This paper aims to analyse innovation in the Indian ITES industry, success thereof and the focus needed to excel in the space. In particular, the organozation I was working for was suffering from all the symptoms mentioned in the report. Key Challenges faced by the BPO industry today and ways to fight it Flight to Scale Galloping Manpower Costs Increasing investments in Infrastructure Customer Retention Customer Acquisition People Retention To face these challenges, BPOs are forced to innovate and differentiate themselves in the market place. There are various types of innovation that a BPO can resort to: Business Model Innovation Services/Markets innovation Operations Innovation Business Model Innovation would mean changing the structure of doing business or even changing the billing model. From an hourly billing rate or transaction based billing organizations are now looking at outcome based financial models and sharing the risk and reward with the customer. Services/Markets Innovation would mean targeting entirely new markets based on new or existing offerings. BPOs can also innovate by coming up with entirely a new range of services. For example, many organizations are now talking about platform Platform BPO is about providing Business Processing services using a domain rich vertical or horizontal application (platform). Good examples for Horizontal application would be FA, CRM etc. There are innumerable vertical platforms. Some examples are Mortgage Processing, Collection Management, Insurance Benefits Administration, Policy Administration, Claims Processing and the list goes on. The purpose of the platform is to give credibility to the BPO providers capability. Operations Innovation aims at providing operational excellence with new offerings. Organizations are increasingly investing in analytics to provide the client insights into the way business is conducted and identifying areas of improvement. In one sense, it is akin to consulting services. Other forms of innovation could be in the areas of employee practices and investments in new technology. This is a significant change, which is true also of what is happening in IT and has a remarkable parallel with the transformation and rise of Japan in the post-war period. The transformation first occurs in transiting from cost advantage (wage arbitrage) to quality. Then comes the stage where quality is taken for granted, like hygiene, and clients start demanding innovation as a matter of course. Indian BPO as also IT is here right now and the ability of Indian players to innovate, in which they are still beginners, will determine their future.   A few examples of innovative players to help employee retention Intelenet Global Services, one of the leading BPO companies in India and rated among top-10 by NASSCOM, offering BPO and technology consulting services to clients in various sectors across the globe, has capitalized on its capabilities through employee innovation practices. To eliminate the boredom of the employees and keep them motivated to give their best for continuous value-addition to their clients, it offers its employees three career paths in the form of vertical growth, horizontal growth, and shift to parent company. While 70% of promotions in the organization are internal, only 30% is external. After 2 years of service, if an employee doesnt want to be a team leader (vertical growth), but desires to get into HR or training or other areas, he is allowed to shift diagonally across functions. Moreover, if someone who has worked for 2 years wants to move from nightshift to dayshift, then he is given first preference, subject to a vacancy in the parent company. Intelenet has spon sored offshore domain specialization training programmes for its employees, besides certification programs such as Train the Trainer. It has sent its employees to participate in seminars and conferences of top management institutes and also got them Customer Operations Performance Centre (COPC) certified. Similarly, Prudential Process Management Services (PPMS), the wholly-owned BPO subsidiary of Prudential UK, also offers vertical and lateral growth for its employees, thus enhancing value for its clients as well as employees through employee innovation. eFunds International, a US-based company providing technology solutions in financial risk management and electronic payments, and consultancy services, is creating continuous value for its clients through employee innovation. Whenever an employee joins the organization, he is given a Magic Score Card, which serves as a training passport. eFunds provides its employees training expertise in domain areas and also focuses on leadership skills. Because of its innovation initiatives, eFunds net revenues increased 11% from $532 million in 2003 to $552 million in 2004. Infowavz, another BPO company, offers a 1-year Management Development Program for fresh employees who join the company after completing their MBAs. It also offers an Accelerated Career Development programme for highly motivated and self-driven employees who look for continuous challenges and opportunities to maximize their potential. It has designed a unique Team Innovation programme for top performers who are associated with new projects at the pilot stage or proof-of-concept stage. Infowavz lucidly communicates its career path to employees at the recruitment stage, defining the Key Result Areas, and conducts an exhaustive Training Needs Analysis programme to identify the deficiencies and build employee competencies. There are quite a few BPOs investing on platform technologies to differentiate themselves from competition and also to improve margins. Wipros experience in the outsourcing industry has led to the development of Base, a technology platform that integrates outsourced services with the customers internal business processes and fulfils the following requirements: Flexibility and continuous improvement Control and transparency Complaince Faster time to benefit Accuracy and Quality What it takes to be an innovator A Partnering Attitude. Whats key here is a strong, long-term relationship between the two organizations. Both organizations must discourage adversarial, us-versus-them attitudes. If the provider fails, the client failsand vice versa. This is not about warm, fuzzy feelings; it is about clarifying synergies between the two organizations during the RFP cycle and ensuring alignment of interest just like in joint ventures. The Right Technology Platform. IT should support innovation. The technology platform provider must be able to make new technologies available quickly through the provider. This requires close collaboration between the BPO provider and the technology vendornot just marketing agreements. Also, buyers should select technology vendors with a demonstrated track record in bringing innovations to market over extended periods of time. BPO is long term; it is an innovation marathon, not a sprint. The Appropriate Governance Mechanisms. Buyers must ingrain innovation in their governance. That includes creation of an innovation and technology council with members from both buyer and supplier who meet regularly to review progress, ensure the technology evolves, and check the benchmarks at regular intervals to identify where performance falls behind. And technology evolution must push innovation efficiently, meaning integration is easy because the platform conforms to standards. Buyers can insure their tech platform does this using proactive oversight and agreed-upon standards. Standardized Process Redesign and Related Technology. Buyers need to limit their customization demands whenever they can. If buyers want innovation, the service delivery economics must work for the supplier. Suppliers that make money can afford to bring in innovation. This often becomes tricky because both buyer and supplier have to clearly understand the cost structure of the service delivery. A provider forced to accept a service delivery model that does not harness economies of scale, process optimization, or access to labour arbitrage is never going to be able to innovate, and customers forcing BPO providers to tweak their offerings may inadvertently kill the very root of the economic advantage suppliers are supposed to bring to the table. Better discussions about standardization pains and gains must happen between the client and the provider organization. Absolute top management commitment. No innovation can happen without top management commitment for both human and capital resources. This is very important because when investing in innovation sometimes results are not immediate. The senior management must have the vision and patience to reap the benefits. Conclusion Innovation in the BPO space continues to be a challenge for the following reasons: BPOs are normally under margin pressures and resource commitments for innovation are difficult to make. The SLAs are very stringent and time bound. Moreover daily performance could affect the commercials in a big way. This is because organizations see this as a window to reach out to their customers and a slip here would directly affect their customer satisfaction. Hence contracts are very tight and normally followed to the dot. This leaves very little room for innovation. Running the operations everyday is a struggle in itself People related issues are much higher when compared to the sister industry Information technology. The work hours are odd and the compensation less. This means a good amount of time being spent of motivational issues and coaching and training. Due to all these reasons, innovation in the BPO space continues to be a challenge. But in future as competition stiffens and the line between IT and ITES fades, there is a good chance that the scene gets better, including the organization I was working for.

Lego Testing - Just Another Education Fantasy :: Teaching Education Essays

Lego Testing - Just Another Education Fantasy After years of hearing how standardized testing cheats minorities and the disadvantaged out of the higher education, educationists have come up with a new bag of tricks - Lego building. Johnny can’t read and Mary can’t compute? Not a problem. If they can build a robot out of Legos in 10 minutes, they’re college material under a pilot program being tested by Colorado College and eight other schools – Beloit, Carleton, Grinnell and Macalester colleges and the University of Michigan, University of Delaware, Rutgers and Penn State. The gist is this: Some children who do poorly on standardized tests have other qualities that counselors believe would make them good candidates for success in college. The Lego test and other exercises – public speaking, conflict resolution and personal interviews – are designed to measure those qualities. The Lego exercise works like this: A group of eight to 10 students is given a box of the colored blocks and shown an assembled Lego robot in another room. Each student views the robot individually. Then the group is given 10 minutes to try to reproduce the robot. Evaluators rate students’ performances, awarding a score between one and four. The robot isn’t the end point, apparently. The process is supposed to reveal which of the students emerges as a leader, one of the markers for projected college success. Other markers are perseverance, drive, motivation, adaptability and the ability to work well within a group. Too many exceedingly bright students have emerged from dismal backgrounds to succeed in college to support the thesis that standardized tests are unfair to the socially disadvantaged. Likewise, too many exceedingly advantaged children perform poorly on standardized tests to convince me that financial security predicts academic success. You either can read or you can’t; you either can do math or you can’t. That’s about as simple as it gets. What more likely is true is that minority children who also come from economically depressed neighborhoods tend to receive inferior educations owing to a plethora of problems, not the least of which is the high turnover rate among teachers exhausted by an incompetent education system.

“Solution” Eurasia International: Total Quality Management in the Shipping Industry

CASE STUDY: â€Å"SOLUTION† EURASIA INTERNATIONAL: TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN THE SHIPPING INDUSTRY SYNOPSIS: This Case gives an account of how a ship management company was able to set itself apart from competitors and from its clients’ own in-house technical and crew-management capabilities by embracing a culture of continuous improvement and by implementing Total Quality Management systems. The shipping industry was not alone in having regulation imposed upon it, but its distinctly international nature made ship managers, as cost-cutting practitioners, particularly open to criticism.A ship management company’s very existence hinged upon its ability to convince ship-owners that it would preserve their valuable assets and maximize revenue-earning potential – demonstrating that its collective skills were superior and more cost-effective. As a result, an effective quality assurance system that continuously improved the organization’s human and busin ess systems could enhance efficiency and also have a significant marketing impact. ANALYSIS: 1. With the changes taking place in the shipping industry, what were the ship-owners’ motivations for outsourcing vessel and crew management to third-party ship managers?With the rise in outsourcing arrangements, management structures have become more explicit. In the highly competitive international shipping industry, ship-owners were continually seeking ways to keep their costs down and their business performance ahead of the competition. As a result, ship-owners were taking a serious look at the option of outsourcing crew and technical management functions as a way of lowering costs and keeping pace with industry best practices.By concentrating on the sales and marketing function, ship-owners could hive off operations activities to more suitable providers who were knowledgeable about the regulatory climate and on the cutting edge of ship management (in terms of infrastructure, expe rtise and organizational capabilities). 2. How was Eurasia able to differentiate itself from the competition? Eurasia can be said to have taken a boutique approach within its industry, and to have upheld a relentless commitment to serving its customers’ interests.Since it was inclined to remain a boutique, Eurasia was cautious about pursuing growth but was still willing to take risks in its company philosophy and business model. As a member of the Schulte Group of companies, it was able to offer the advantages of economies of scale, yet was also able to customize its service delivery to suit different customers’ needs. By contrast, many of its larger competitors had gone through mergers and acquisitions to remain economically viable, and thus risked losing their personal touch with the customer.To offer even closer proximity to its clients, Eurasia embarked on a five-year plan to expand its operations, and established a network of regional offices that could operate in the same region and time zone as the customer. 3. What is Total Quality Management (TQM), and why was it an appropriate organizational change mechanism for Eurasia? The term TQM was widely used to describe a focus on the pursuit of quality within an organization. Early discussions of TQM hinged around the Deming Management Method and statistical process control techniques, particularly in connection with manufacturing environments.The works of later TQM experts such as Philip Crosby have been less statistically and technically oriented and more people-oriented. Regardless, TQM is built on core mandates to continually improve systems and processes, and to focus the people and resources of the organization to delivering customer value – as ultimately, value exists only in the eyes of the customer. Broadly speaking, the TQM philosophy is founded on several conceptual principles: * A definition of â€Å"quality† in terms of meeting the customer’s requirements.Anyon e producing work output may be considered a supplier, while any party receiving work inputs constitutes a customer. The customer relationship is held in esteem and a supplier’s responsibility is to understand and meet the customer’s requirements. * Quality is achieved by undertaking the right action the first and every time. * The organization requires a proactive approach to ensure that quality is achieved, thus a system of prevention must be coupled with a reactive system of inspection. * Quality must be continually measured; a measurement framework can determine whether organizational resources are being deployed optimally.Eurasia’s President, Rajaish Bajpaee, recognized that a changing regulatory climate, the global dispersal of his industry and intensifying competition among ship managers meant a robust quality assurance system was needed to keep his organization focused on customer value. With complicating factors on so many fronts – the global dist ribution of labor, variety in the types of vessels under management, maritime regulations, procurement and logistics, risk and liability – encouraging cross-functional collaboration would increase the flow of information, improve problem-solving capabilities and enhance customer focus.The very process of developing such a framework could offer invaluable insights into the organization’s strengths, weaknesses and position within the industry. Moreover, an efficient quality assurance system could be the ship manager’s best defence against criticism, forced compliance and over-regulation. Most new regulation came about as a reaction to perceived deficiencies; by taking a proactive stance, ship managers could endorse appropriate regulations rather than waiting for legislation to be mandated. 4.How was management’s commitment crucial to the success of Eurasia’s TQM effort? This is a tremendous human resource challenge to ensure that people have a certai n set of values, because it is the values which mould perceptions and perceptions mould attitudes. Attitudes mould behaviour; behaviour moulds actions and actions mould results. So if we want consistency†¦a predictable result, then we have to start from the bottom of the chain – that is the values, and if we can get the values right in each one of our floating factory’s staff, then we can expect a predictable result. Rajaish Bajpaee, President & Group Managing Director, Eurasia International) A lack of management involvement is often cited as one of the leading reasons why TQM efforts fail. Management must do more than simply instruct the rest of the organisation to implement quality control mechanisms. The amount of time a senior manager dedicates to quality issues is readily observed by employees and reflects the organisation’s actual priorities.As Eurasia’s President, Rajaish Bajpaee was tasked with the responsibility of adding value to key co nstituencies, and he held the firm belief that customers ultimately determined the organisation’s fate. In leading Eurasia’s TQM effort, Bajpaee was intimately involved in defining the need for change and developing new visions and the frameworks needed to mobilise commitment. Leadership entails the ability to articulate those visions and oversee the process of evolution through which the organisation learns new ways and methods.

Informative Speech: Fire Safety Imagine waking up in the middle of the night

Informative Speech: Fire Safety Imagine waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of a smoke alarm. What is the first thought that goes through your mind? Every year thousands of people die from House fires. I’m here to give you some statistics and some helpful solutions that may save your life. By the end of my speech I hope you will have a better understanding of Fire Safety and things you can do to prevent one in your home. 1. In 2011 Fire Departments responded to 370,000 House fires (NFPA.Org) Of those 370k Fires A. 2590 People died (Not including FF’s) B. 12,910 People were injured C. 7. 2 billion dollars in direct damage D. On Average 7 people died everyday in the U. S E. Nov-March Fires more likely to occur F. 40 percent of house fires occur in homes with no working smoke alarms. 2. Leading cause’s of House fires A. Cooking 5-8 pm B. Heating equipment- Elderly population C. Arson D. Males account for almost double the total cost in damage and fire injuries over women at 4. 8 billion. E.Main two groups of people that are at most risk for causing and being injured by fires. 3. Children A. Children 4 & under a. Children are curious about fire b. Children account for 35k fires per year c. 8k are in homes. B. How to educate Children a. Teach Children that fire is a tool and not a toy b. Teach them not to hide during a fire c. Teach them to go downstairs and not higher (Heat and smoke travel up) d. Teach them Stop Drop and Roll e. Crawl low in smoke f. Teach them how to sleep with the door closed to their bedroom. 4. ElderlyA. Will account for 21 pct of population by 2050. B. Elderly Most prone to Fire. a. Accounting for 25% of all fire related deaths. b. More likely to misuse electrical appliances (Portable heaters, heating blankets) c. More prone to household accidents involving cooking fires, electrical fires and smoking d. Dementia and Alzheimer’s (forgetting to turn of stove or iron) e. 10 pct of elderly are living in p overty, causing them to use candles, space heaters, or even the oven as a heat or light source increasing fire hazards in the home.