Misrepresentation of african american women Essay

African American women have historically been viewed as hyper-sexual creatures, due to unique anatomical features not often seen in other races. This hyper-sexualized view of Black women dates back as early as the days of slavery when European imperialists traveled to Africa and were excessively intrigued by (and abashedly attracted to) the women in the tribes. Europeans were in awe of the physique of African women, comparable to none, as well as their dancing and traditional garments. Europeans unfamiliarity with a body type that is not unusual amongst African women resulted in a projection of hyper-sexuality onto Black women that did not truly exist and has been hard for Black women around the world to rid themselves of. Saartjie [Sara] Baartman, also known as the â€Å"Hottentot Venus,† became the blueprint for degrading and humiliating the Black woman on a worldwide level. Saartjie Baartman was a South African born woman who was enslaved by a Dutch farmer near the city of Cape Town. Her master was approached by traveling Europeans to travel to Europe to have her body examined and put on display. In 1810, Saartjie’s master informed her that she would be free and assume fortune and fame in order to persuade her to leave his plantation for the sideshow act she would unknowingly become in. It was this promise that led to Saartjie’s willingness to travel to Europe. Saartjie traveled to England and upon her arrival, she was placed on public display, often times in a cage, so her large buttocks and breast could be observed by hundreds of curious Englishman. These invasive spectators were recorded as laughing at her, calling her names, and throwing items at her. Saartjie’s body was so spectacular and strange to Europeans that medical students were able to use her for scientific research. She was again sold from England to a French circus to dance in the nude as entertainment and was one the main attractions. Saartjie never enjoyed the freedom she was promised and turned to alcohol to cope with her humiliation and entered prostitution to support her when she was no longer necessary as a side show attraction. She died in 1815, only five years after her arrival to Europe. Saartjie’s humiliation did not end with her death. She died of unidentified disease in France and her body was turned over to a museum. Her brain, vagina, and her skeleton were removed from her body, preserved and put on display. Her frameless body was then preserved in such a way that she stood erect as well. Her body was eventually buried in France but the parts removed from her body remained on display in a French museum until 1974. The displays were removed that year and replaced with casts of Saartjie’s confiscated body parts. Saartjie Baartman’s humiliating enslavement marks the beginning of the Black woman’s degradation. She could be considered the first â€Å"video-vixen model. † However, culture has changed such that women willingly dance erotically while scantily clad or totally nude, whereas Saartjie was forced. This willingness has transformed the way the Black woman is viewed and the way the Black woman views herself. The manner in which Saartjie Baartman was treated is indicative of European attitudes about Black women and African standards of beauty. Saartjie was renowned for her physique, which Europeans responded to Saartjie as an object with disgust, intrigue, sexual attraction, and condescension. The removal of her organs indicates a perverse obsession with the body of the African woman. This attitude about the Black woman’s body has persisted, taking on new faces as culture changes and pop culture emerged. Media images of Black women have long been degrading, unflattering, and/or extreme. Black women have specific functional roles in the media: typically and most often as Jezebel, Mammie, and the welfare mom. The Jezebel stereotype of the hyper-sexual, manipulative Black woman is more prevalent and more widely seen in the media from television, movies, magazines, and music videos. It is the Jezebel who is the African American woman who is not ashamed to take off her clothes in exchange for things she may need. The music industry especially popularizes strippers and video models as an acceptable and desirable occupation for a Black woman. Not only do majority of hip-hop lyrics degrade women to the lowest level that a woman can be degraded, but the music videos take special care to degrade the black woman even more. Rap music videos depict a false image of what a real woman looks like in reality: â€Å"music videos have gotten so raunchy they might as well be pornography, presenting a hyper-sexual depiction of women that distorts and demeans the image of black women in particular. Even in the tamer videos, women might as well be prostitutes. They are objects, part of the bling-bling, like the platinum chains and diamonds sported by rappers† (Daily Review 7/4/04). It is just in this way that Saartjie Baartman was displayed and responded to and it is in the way Black women have been consistently considered: as objects of sexual exploitation. Hip hop music has become explosively popular in the US and much of the rest of the world in the last twenty years. Hip hop music influences larger society in powerful ways and has become a subculture that has transcended race, socioeconomics, and gender. Its popularity and ability to transcend across many social lines that are usually impenetrable is the biggest threat to the perception of Black women by others and by themselves. When leaders like President Barack Obama and other prominent politicians reference lines from popular rap songs, they are often received with admiration and excitement by the media and larger public. Such a response from a pop culture reference reveals hip hop music’s ability to influence culture on a magnanimous level. Hip hop music is an industry run by men, with overwhelmingly male artists who provide entertainment for other men. In this understanding of the industry, the images of women presented through this massively popular music are exclusively chosen by men. Additionally, hip hop music tends to sell a lifestyle and not just a song or beats. As was previously discussed in the quote from Daily Review, expensive material things and several beautiful and naked women are things to achieve and obtain. An object is for use of some kind and the hip hop music industry has single handedly crystallized the developing notion that women in general are objects for sexual pleasure exclusively. This idea is particularly harmful for Black women and girls in the face of a media that has very few other images of Black women. White women are of course objectified and hyper-sexualized in the same manner, but the damage of such objectification is buffered by other images of a range of professional White women, heroines in film and television, prominent White actresses, politicians, businesswomen, journalists, etc â€Å"Historically, white women, as a category, were portrayed as models of self-respect, self-control, and modesty – even sexual purity, but black women were often portrayed as innately promiscuous, even predatory. This depiction of black women is signified by the name Jezebel† (Pilgram, 2002). Black women and girls have very few other images to measure themselves against or look to for motivation or encouragement. These pervasive images of the Black woman as a promiscuous and manipulative Jezebel juxtaposed with the lack of other, more positive images, is extremely damaging to the Black woman’s self-esteem. These images also inform others of how to perceive and ultimately treat Black women, which is further corrosive to the Black woman’s self-esteem. As if the power that images tend to have on the human psyche were not enough, hip hop music also incorporates lyrics that correspond to the tone of disrespect for Black women. Negative epithets that refer to a woman’s sexual and social behavior like â€Å"ho† and â€Å"bitch† are common, frequent, and acceptable in hip hop lyrics and serve to further denigrate Black women. Often, rappers and fans alike make excuses for the disturbing images and lyrics featured in songs and videos, expressing that the women featured in the videos are working of their own volition and are not being objectified. While the women of these videos are participating of their own volition, the degrading lyrics and the degrading images are not negated just because the women are choosing to participate. The message being sent is still clear and ubiquitous: Black women are objects of sexual gratification that do not have to be spoken to or spoken of as human beings. Viewers are influenced by these images and lyrics and are encouraged to develop erroneous ideas about and monolithic perception of Black women. Additionally, because other, more positive images of Black women are missing in the media, viewers are left with little real information about the Black woman’s experience, life, and character. Hip hop music has also set the standard of presentation for female rappers as well. Female rappers who have debuted in the last 20 years invoke the power the same sexual images and presentations as the male rappers do. More recent female rap artists like Nikki Minaj have amplified the hyper-sexual stereotype about Black women with her sexually charged lyrics, provocative style of dress, and various implants to enlarge her breasts and buttocks, looking not unlike Saartjie Baartman and the many beautiful women of Africa. Artists who pre-date Nikki Minaj, like Lil’ Kim and Foxy Brown, debuted in a similar fashion, using their sexuality through lyrics and risque media poses in which they were almost always scantily clad, to propel their careers. These female rappers only serve to further push the music industry’s agenda to denigrate women, Black women in particular, by buying into and proudly displaying the very stereotypical behaviors that function to keep hyper-sexualized images of Black women in the minds of viewers. Female rappers serve the same purpose as those women dancing in hip hop videos: to push the sexual agenda of a sexist music industry. However, the message delivered through female rappers is pronounced solely due to the fact that the artist is a female who is promoting a hegemonic patriarchal message. The sexual nature of hip hop in general is made more acceptable if the objects of sexual exploitation, women, also become hip hop stars. Lastly, the current female hip hop stars are adopting images of beauty from childhood icons such as Barbie, as is the case with Nikki Minaj. The adaptation of Barbie for the purpose of hip hop is a clear indication that there is an agenda to capture all viewers’ minds to believe the images they are presented with about Black women. The most effectual approach to challenging the erroneous and negative images of Black women in the media is for those who are aware and knowledgeable to expose the falsehoods of the pervasive stereotypes and ideas about Black women. Bibliography Frith, Susan. â€Å"Searching for Sara Baartman. † Johns Hopkins Magazine, June 2009. http://www. jhu. edu/jhumag/0609web/sara. html (accessed April 20, 2013). â€Å"The Hottentot Venus. † Accessed April 22, 2013. http://whgbetc. com/mind/hottentot_venus_emory. html. Payton, Brenda. â€Å"Sorority Sisters Combat Explotiative Rap Images. † Daily Review (Hayward, CA). 4 July 2004. Pilgrim , David. â€Å"Jezebel. † Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. . http://www. ferris. edu/jimcrow/jezebel. htm (accessed April 23, 2013). Clemlyn-Ann , Pollydore, and Jennifer A. Richeson. â€Å"Affective Reactions of African-American Students to Stereotypical and Counterstereotypical Images of Blacks in the Media.. † Journal of Black Psychology. no. 3 (2002): 261-275. Simmonds, Felly Nkweto. â€Å"’She’s Gotta Have It’: The Representation of Black Female Sexuality on Film. † Feminist Review. (1988): 10-22. http://www. jstor. org/discover/10. 2307/1395143? uid=3739936&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21102132644181 (accessed April 22, 2013).

Evolving Nursing Roles Essay

The Institute of Medicine released a report in October 2010 that set out to answer the question, â€Å"what roles can nursing assume to address the increasing demand for safe, high-quality, and effective health care services?† . Three ways that the report suggests to do this are to utilize nurses to their full extent of education and training, a higher level of education for nurses and a stronger leadership role. . Nurses make up the largest segment of the health care workforce and have the capacity to positively impact healthcare in the future, especially with the changes coming from the Affordable Care Act. Nursing is one of the few professions that has several educational pathways to licensure. In order to qualify to take the NCLEX-RN exam, one can obtain an associate’s degree in nursing (ADN), a bachelor’s of science in nursing (BSN) or can complete a diploma program. â€Å"The primary goals of nursing education remain the same: nurses must be prepared to meet diverse patients’ needs; function as leaders; and advance science that benefits patients and the capacity of health professionals to deliver safe, quality patient care†. . While these goals are ideal, the educational road to get there can be streamlined to be less confusing and â€Å"to prepare nursing graduates to work collaboratively and effectively with other health professionals in a complex and evolving health care system in a variety of settings†. . New RNs are not always prepared for the job and there is a high turnover rate for â€Å"new grads†. Hospitals can help the transition by offering â€Å"new grad† or residency programs and longer orientation periods. RNs not only have to become efficient at the tasks of the job, but also be able to critically think a situation, delegate tasks to CNAs and LVNs, effectively manage time and become comfortable with communicating with doctors and other healthcare team members. The key is to better educate nurses both before and after licensure. . The Institute of Medicine’s report states that nurses are being underutilized. The changing healthcare system in the United States requires that â€Å"the system undergo a fundamental shift to provide patient-centered care; deliver more primary as opposed to specialty care; deliver more care in the community rather than  the acute care setting; provide seamless care†.. Gone are the days of just treating a patient in a hospital once he or she has become ill. Patients are being educated about disease prevention and health promotion in their communities, there is improved access to care for the poor and those in rural areas and there is hospice care available. Nurses are at the core of this shift and help to provide a high quality of care more safely and with fewer errors. With the shortage of healthcare providers, advanced practice registered nurses should be given more responsibilities and a broader scope of practice. Some hospitals and healthcare facilities are already making changes and are seeing positive results. The impact of employing nurses in a substantial way will continue to improve patient care and promote health and wellness; however there are some issues that will need to be addressed. It is true that nurses are capable of doing more with their experience, skills and education, but nurse to patient ratios is a major factor in why nurses aren’t doing more. It would be ideal if the nurse could provide care to a patient in the hospital, provide thorough education about the disease process and prevention, address any spiritual and social services needs and coordinate any home health or therapy requirements. However, with a nurse to patient ratio of 1:4 or 1:5 and several discharges and new admits every day, this is unlikely in the acute care setting. I strive to provide seamless care for my patients and give as much of myself and my time as I can, but I also have no choice but to rely on other sources, such as social services and case management. Unfortunately, many patients who need these services and who could benefit from more education do not get it because of time constraints. It is my hope that as this shift occurs, there will be fewer patients who need to be admitted to the hospital and there will be more time to provide patients with the care and information that they need. â€Å"Strong leadership is critical if the vision of a transformed health care system is to be realized†. . Nurses may not have originally thought they would be leaders when they entered the profession. Most likely they just wanted to help people. However, now more than ever, nurses have to become partners with other healthcare team members and help lead the way to reformed healthcare in the country. According to the IOM report, â€Å"being a full partner involves taking responsibility for identifying problems and areas of waste, devising and implementing a plan for improvement, tracking  improvement over time, and making necessary adjustments to realize established goals.† Nurses must use their leadership skills to work with others and advocate for their patients to make these improvements. Obtaining a higher level of education will assist students or RNs to develop leadership competencies and help them gain the confidence needed to work on these projects. References Creasia, J. L., & Friberg, E. (2011). Conceptual Foundations: The Bridge to Professional Nursing Practice (5th ed). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier. The Institute of Medicine. (2010). The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

The Church, Synagogue, Mosque or Temple Next Door Essay

The Church, Synagogue, Mosque or Temple Next Door - Essay Example The Gothic style has strong vertical features and sharply pointed arches (Passikoff 85). The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception follows a neo-Byzantine style because of its dome that is the main exterior feature (Figure 1), and because of large open spaces (Figure 2) and lavish mosaics inside (Figure 3). The Mount St. Sepulchre Franciscan Monastery has a neo-Romanesque style because of its round arches (Figure 4) and pointed roofs (Figure 4), as well as barrel vaults (Figure 5). The Washington National Cathedral has Gothic style with its vertical emphasis (Figure 6) and interior columns and narrow windows (Figure 7). One of the oldest and nearest house of worship where I live is the Mount St. Sepulchre Franciscan Monastery. Architect Aristide Leonori designed this church. The building started in 1898 and finished in 1899. The Mount St. Sepulchre Franciscan Monastery has both Byzantine and Romanesque influences. It has a neo-Romanesque style because of its round arches and pointed roofs (Figure 1), as well as barrel vaults (Figure 2). There are also round arches outside and as part of the entrance of the church. These round arches are also designed with Christian word and sculptures (Figure 1). It also has several pointed roofs and heavy stonework (Figure 1). The outside facade of the church looks simple and dominated with horizontal lines. Aside from the Romanesque style, the church also has Byzantine influences because of its colorful mosaics and lavish decorations, aside from having large interior open spaces (Figure 2). Figure 3 shows colorful mosaic lavish decorations of the Portico. The arches and ceilings also have numerous colorful designs (Figure 2). Even the altar has a form of tall and ornamental structure around it which shows mixtures of Byzantine and Romanesque influences through having a

Foster Care kids Need an education too Research Paper - 1

Foster Care kids Need an education too - Research Paper Example It is estimated that about 542,000 children live temporarily in Foster care as their parents or relatives struggle with drug addiction, alcohol, financial hardship, and illnesses among other difficulties (Anon, 2014). American society has partially failed to some extent especially in providing foster kids with the most fundamental necessities like quality education. Moreover, some of the children in those care units become aged out or ‘emancipated’ thus put into the outside world without any financial, emotional support or a shelter. In 2012 alone, more than 23,439 kids in foster kids were aged out thus ended up being released to the hostile outside world without financial, shelter and emotional support (Soronen, 2014). However, most foster care homes try their level best so as to provide the kids with the most basic necessities including emotional and social support as well as foster their development with regard to providing them with basic education. Such attention is very crucial for them since most of these kids have dealt with mistreatment like neglect and abuse in the past, a factor that affects their development and mental health in a great way (Soronen, 2014). Social and emotional upheavals are among the major factors that affect the quality of education that foster care children get. A significant number of them suffer emotionally and psychologically, a factor that dramatically affects their concentration in school. Studies have shown that kids in foster care experience extraordinary challenges with a significant percentage of them suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder even more than the veterans who come back from war. Related studies have also shown that about half of the children in these homes brawl with mental fitness challenges resulting from the trauma they have endured (Newton, Litrownik & Landsverk, 2000). This means that schoolteachers and the society in general have a

Business Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Business Strategy - Essay Example ey company comments on ours pricing policies, levels of production, methods of marketing, inventories, the measure taken to develop products, sales situations and goals, non public market surveys and other archives or confidential information (Hill, & Jones, 2009).   Sharpe should ensure economic knowledge about the Barkley. However, Sharpe seeks to maintain business ethics in our communication. Sharp seeks to maintain a steady relationship with the Barley in a way that they will not exchange their trade secrets, the lists of customers that Sharpe is targeting, and information about the resources available at Sharpe, technological developments or operations. Sharpe should also be careful to avoid hiring staff that worked with Barkley. Sharpe should also avoid dealing with suppliers that have supplied for Barkley to avoid leaking of confidential information; Sharpe will not hire or buy staffs from Barkley to extract information about the Barkley Company. Sharply plans to remove barriers to entry in the market or directly alleviating monopoly rents. The company can also venture in facilitating mergers and acquisition (Baye, 2010).   Sharpe also seeks to set up strategies that will enable the company enjoy the economies of scale, the economies of scope, and cost complementarities of price and output this way the company enjoys low costs and increases profitability. The company is planning to implements strategies that encourage innovation to ensure high profitability and low costs (Hill, & Jones, 2009).   Competition laws seek to grow with the mixed laws such as trademarks, copyrights, patents, industrial design rights and in some instances trade secrets. Companies that wish to increasingly raise prices needs to familiarize with the laws that govern such activities lest their contracts be terminated. Contrary a growing notion feels that promotion of novelty through adhering to the ‘intellectual property rights’ encourages competitiveness, whilst the

Legal feminist theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Legal feminist theory - Essay Example It follows, therefore, that the key issue identified and addressed by feminists can be viewed broadly as the bill of rights for women. This paper is in support of legal feminist theory and will offer reasons for the choice. The women’s suffrage may have had voting rights as its driving ambition, but in the contemporary world women need more liberties, albeit simply by virtue of being female. The feminist viewpoint of law identifies how patriarchy invasively influences legal structures, demonstrating how the material condition of women is adversely affected. For example, the landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S. Ct. 705, 35 L. Ed. 2d 147 (1973), showed that women reserve the right of abortion as a basic constitutional right (Levit & Verchick 89). Essentially, the ruling supported that reproductive rights should be borne by women, even though with certain limitations. This is in direct support of legal feminist theory because it promotes interdisciplinary examinations into how practices, policies and expectations relating to gender are influenced by the interaction of culture and law. It operates from the liberal legal prototype and focuses on an approach to law based on rights to en sure that women also enjoy genuine equality (Sunder 93). Legal feminist theory develops reforms designed to correct gender restriction, exploitation and injustice (Sunder 104). Therefore, through the perspective of feminist epistemology, political theory and relational metaphysics, legal feminist theory applies insights into feminist philosophy which help in understanding and changing the way overriding masculinist standards are enforced by legal institutions (Threedy 745). For instance, one would easily answer in the negative when asked whether judges can and should be allowed to be feminists, simply because judges are expected to do their job and not be activists who promote personal political agendas. However, judges

Theories in Information Systems Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Theories in Information Systems - Coursework Example The behavior of actors like a particular individual or a whole organization upholds these institutions. One cognitive view advocates that a socialization process encodes a particular institution into a given actor. When the actor internalizes it, this transforms into a patterned behavior (script). Then the institution is reflected in this patterned behavior of the actor. This leads to the continuous reproduction of the institutions. When these institutions are enacted through the behavior of the actors, then other actors are able to witness this. This is the external manifestation of the institution which gives rise to a new process of socialization. However, after the passage of time, this externalization of the institutions through the behavior of its actors becomes an accepted fact. Then, the actors sometimes fail to realize their own behavior is actually reflective of an institution. Persons sharing the institution view it as perfectly logical for the behavior of the actors to be influenced by the institution.Organizational Learning Theory: This theory states that â€Å"in order to be competitive in a changing environment, organizations must change their goals and actions to reach those goals.† There are certain actions that the firm must consciously undertake to foster learning. When circumstances around it change, the firm must change its actions and it needs to be aware of the outcomes of its actions. The firm should be able to link its actions to their respective outcomes.... cultural explanations and an interest in properties of supra-individual units of analysis that cannot be reduced to aggregations or direct consequences of individuals’ attributes or motives.† The behavior of actors like a particular individual or a whole organization upholds these institutions. One cognitive view advocates that a socialization process encodes a particular institution into a given actor. When the actor internalizes it, this transforms into a patterned behavior (script). Then the institution is reflected through this patterned behavior of the actor. This leads to the continuous reproduction of the institutions. When these institutions are enacted through the behavior of the actors, then other actors are able to witness this. This is the external manifestation of the institution which gives rise to a new process of socialization. However, after the passage of time, this externalization of the institutions through the behavior of its actors becomes an accept ed fact. Then, the actors sometimes fail to realize their own behavior is actually reflective of an institution. Persons sharing the institution view it as perfectly logical for the behavior of the actors to be influenced by the institution. (York University 2010) Organizational Learning Theory: This theory states that â€Å"in order to be competitive in a changing environment, organizations must change their goals and actions to reach those goals.† There are certain actions that the firm must consciously undertake to foster learning. When circumstances around it change, the firm must change its actions and it needs to be aware of the outcomes of its actions. The firm should be able to link its actions to their respective outcomes. Under this theory, first the individuals participate in the initial

Assess the importance of Ghandi to Indian nationalism Essay

Assess the importance of Ghandi to Indian nationalism - Essay Example Ghandi was born in October 1869 in a Hindu Modh family in Porbandar, Gujarat in India, and was given the name Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi by his parents. The father named Karamchand Gandhi was a chief minister at the city of Porbandar; meaning mahatma Ghandi had a strong upbringing background around leadership, politics, and guided by the Hindu principles (Shelokhonov, 2013). The principles he learned early in life made him a mature and determined man early in age, considering that he had the chance to experience and observe the discrimination the colonialist and their associates conducted on the native people. He became motivated in his law study and understanding of varying principles of different religions he encountered with in different lands. According to Barua, â€Å"his combined brilliance, humanism, and courage with indomitable will brought a revolutionary change in the East Indian Community in South Africa and India† (n.d, p. 2). Borrowing from numerous teaching of th e different religions, and inspirations from wise political ideologies such as those of Gopal Krishna, David Thoreau, and Leo Tolstoy, he was able to organize non-violent movements, which would paralyze the then imperial governments to have their demands heeded. As a key reformist, he was named Bapu Ghandi and is today known to be the father of the Indian nation, after his successful organization and support for the non violent movements of struggle for freedom in India. Characters of Mahatma Ghandi: The persona of Ghandi is still held debatable by many, depending on religion and way of life. However, it must be admitted that he had acquired certain substantial and enabling virtues from his way of life in different environments across the world. Even though being a faithful Hindu, he drew some of his principles from the Bible, the Islamic religion, among others to shape his characters and belief for the common good of existence in the general society. His persona brought him close t o the society, especially the women whom characters and sufferings he understood in broad point of view. Effectively, he was very attracted to the virtues of different societies (Western, African, and Indian), cultures, and different genders, and hoped to unite the people together for their common good. He was a man described to be courageous and stubborn in confronting the British governments, yet humble, patient, and compassionate to others, regardless of their religion, race, and gender. The virtues of non-violence (Ahimsa) and compassion he believed in, was an acceptance of the women qualities, who had been kept out of power and dominion in political and social aspects because of their simple virtues of patience, compassion, and tenderness that was viewed as a contradiction to the roles (Anand, 2006). With such a trusted persona, Ghandi was able to pull people closer, the strong and the weak and from it, women had the opportunity to come out of their locked areas and confidently support him in Indian liberation. Anand further mentions that the very nature of his virtues (ahimsa and truth among others) made the people liberation movement open to all; his plans and politics also comprised most trusted feminine virtues, allowing men and women to take part in the non-violent wars (2006). Ghandi’

Health and Safety in the Health and Social Care Workplace Essay

Health and Safety in the Health and Social Care Workplace - Essay Example Dilemmas encountered in implementation systems and policies 3.4. Effects of non compliance of legislation 4. Health and Safety policies 4.1. Effects of non compliance of legislation 4.2. Effectiveness of policies that promote a positive health and safety culture 4.3. Evaluation of own contribution 5. Conclusion Health and Safety in the Health and Social Care Workplace 1. Introduction Health and safety of the worker should be guaranteed when they are at work. This paper will talk about how health and safety legislation is implemented at work. It will identify requirements and impacts of policies of health and safety. It will discuss monitoring and review of the health and safety in the hospital workplace. 2. Health and Safety legislation implementation at the work place 2.1. Systems, policies and procedures for communication Neal and Wright (1993, p. 106) note that communication in the work place is virtue in ensuring the goals of the organization are met. This is achieved by using wr itten, verbal and graphic methods of communication. Verbal information is crucial for training, is simple and transfers information fast. Written information is usually in the form of memo, email, posters and reports which are clearly written. Written information is placed on notice board to communicate an important message. Graphics such as drawings, photos and videos are effective massagers of information. The use of safety sign posts is championed by the 1996 Health and Safety regulation. This regulation ensures that signs used are uniform in the entire hospital. The bottom line for such signs is for them to have an effect of illumination and us simple acoustic symbols or hand signals. Visible signs identifying designated rooms and restricted areas are placed in the entire hospital. The names of those in charge of first aid, supervisor on duty and fire assembly point are placed on the notice board for all employees to be aware. Whenever new employees are inducted, they are given information on possible dangers that may arise and how to report the cases. In addition, general safety precaution measures are written and given to employee regularly. This is done after the organization does an assessment risk for the work place. 2.2. Responsibilities in relation to the organization structure The management of the hospital is responsible for ensuring that the working environment is safe in line with the legislation such as RIDOR (Reporting of Incidents Disease and Dangerous Occurrences). According to Hughes and Ferrett (2011, p. 58) the health and safety commission, executive, management and employees have designated duties. The commission comes up with the legislation that the health care institution follows. The facility reports death incidents immediately for the authorities to investigate. The management is mandated with the responsibility of ensuring that the law is followed by the employees by facilitated a good working environment. They take liability insur ance for the organization. They ensure that the facilities are safe for employees and customers. They support practical, safe and healthy work activities. Safety of working equipment and physical premise is also warranted. Moreover, a risk assessment, safety policy and communication of the same are communicated by the management to employees and others using the hospital facilities. A written policy statement on safety is provided. This policy statement assigns diverse

Understanding Management Essay Example for Free

Understanding Management Essay 1. How can you prepare yourself to become an effective manager in an increasingly uncertain and global business environment? 2. Would the task environment for a cellular phone company contain the same elements as that for a government welfare agency? Discuss. 3. What do you think are the most important forces in the external environment creating uncertainty for organizations today? Do the forces you identified typically arise in the task environment or the general environment? 4. Contemporary best-selling management books often argue that customers are the most important element in the external environment. Do you agree? In what company situations might this statement be untrue? 5. Why do you think many managers are surprised by environmental changes and hence are less able to help their organizations adapt? 6. Why are interorganizational partnerships so important for today’s companies? What elements in the current environment might contribute to either an increase or decrease in interorganizational collaboration? Discuss. 7. Many companies are â€Å"going green† or adopting environmentally friendly business strategies. Clorox, for example, now offers an eco-friendly household cleaner called Green Works. How do companies benefit from going green? 8. Cultural symbols are usually noticed through sight, sound, touch, and smell. For example, Abercrombie retail stores use music, attractive models, and fragrance to communicate elements of its retail store culture. Why are symbols important to a corporate culture? 9. Both China and India are rising economic powers. How might your approach to doing business with Communist China be different from your approach to doing business with India, the world’s most populous democracy? In which country would you expect to encounter the most rules? The most bureaucracy? 10. General Electric is famous for firing the lowest-performing 10 percent of its managers each year. With its strict no-layoff policy, Valero Energy believes people need to feel secure in their jobs to perform their best. Yet both are high-performing companies. How do you account for the success of such opposite philosophies?

Validity of Brain Scanning Images to Study Human Behaviour

Validity of Brain Scanning Images to Study Human Behaviour The study of psychological phenomenon has shifted to focus more on brain activity. Critically evaluate the validity of using brain scanning images to study human behaviour Behavioural neuroscience is a term primarily developed in the early twentieth century and refers to the brain processes and physiological functions that produce human behaviour (Robinson et al, 2005). Pioneers of physiological psychology such as Karl Lashley (1950) surgically produced brain lesions in rats to observe learning and memory alterations, which resulted in many other psychologists mapping the parts of the brain involved, and relating it to human behaviour. This human behaviour, defined as the actions and responses humans portray (Holt et al, 2012), is extensively observed in human brain activity today, and can be monitored using brain scanning images. Some scanning images work by monitoring the electrical conduction of axons to different regions of the brain, glucose and oxygen levels in the brain and blood flow, whilst others visualize the brain structure using tissue density, and all can be used to pinpoint specific behavioural responses (Jezzard, Matthews Smith, 2001). These imaging techniques present processes that cannot be witnessed by the human eye and can distinguish what parts of the brain are at their most active during different stimulations (bremner, 2005). The increase of brain scanning images makes it one of the most popularly used neuropsychological tools in the field of biological psychology, and has also enthused the creation and promotion of new areas of psychology such as cognitive neuroscience. Yet there is still debate as to how successful brain scanning images are at locating and determining different human behaviours. This essay will depict different types of brain scanning images, their uses in relation to human behaviour, debate how successful or unsuccessful these uses are and hopefully establish a direction to the future of these neuropsychological tools. The brain is a very complex and active organ, using around 25% of the human body oxygen and 70% of its obtained glucose (Simon, 2007). Due to this complexity and high metabolic rate neuropsychologists want to establish why the brain uses so much energy and where it is consumed during different behavioural events. Originally, single-cell recordings were the most popularly used type of brain scanning images, pinpointing specific neuronal networks used when processing stimuli in relation to behaviour (Holt et al, 2012). For example Electroencephalograph (EEG) can help distinguish whether an ADHD sufferer has an inattentive or hyperactive subtype by monitoring different brain wavelengths (Pedersen, 2013). Clark, Barry, McCarthy and Selikowitz (1998) monitored children in various settings. They were aged 8-12 years and suffered with ADHD. Using EEG measures, the researchers found that the children had substantially higher levels of theta waves compared to the control group. In addition, t he children with an inattentive type of ADHD brain waves were closer related to the control group then that of the hyperactive subtype. This demonstrates how EEG measures are a successful non-invasive brain scanning technique, that can be used in many environments and reveals how simple brain scanning images can be used to determine different human behaviours. However EEG measures can be somewhat non-specific and need complex data analysis to help decipher the readings. Furthermore, establishing the amount of brain states an EEG reading can identify would increase the techniques validity (Schlà ¶gl, Slater Pfurtscheller, 2002). SOMETHING TO LINK Static imaging techniques such as Computed tomography (CT) or Computerized axial tomography (CAT) are used to present a visual structure of the brain and can be useful in detecting deterioration or injury of the brain (Demitri, 2007). They work by using X-ray technology to take pictures of sections of the brain, layering the brains interior from multiple angles. They are 100 times more accurate than normal X-rays and can be used on other bodily organs (CT scan, 2013). This non-invasive method can be used to identify brain abnormalities in abnormal human behaviour such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Pearlson, Garbacz, Moberg, Ahn, and Depaulo (1985) used CAT scans in order to establish a significant lateral ventricular enlargement in patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder compared to a control group. Additionally, Bigler, Hubler, Cullum, and Turkheimer (1985) used CAT scans to observe changes in the brain structure of those patients with alzheimers disease and those w ithout. Results portrayed an intellectual decline and memory impairment for Alzheimer disease sufferers. Using these kinds of static brain imaging techniques can help establish a physical determent for human behaviour in relation to brain activity and can also give clinical validity to the technique because it is used not only on the brain but also on other organs (Quiroz et al, 2005). Wedding and Gudeman (1980) even suggest that CT scanning will be an ‘invaluable’ tool in the mapping of the functionality of the brain. However there are disadvantages with using static brain imaging, such as the cost of procedure, the risk of radiation exposure and the relatively poor detail the scan produces (Gould, Cummings, Rabuzzi, Reed Chung, 1977). In terms of identifying human behaviour, static brain images can only give a physical view of brain abnormalities so it is not always clear what is actually responsible for behaviour. Instead, dynamic brain scanning images can be used to investigate what is going on internally in the brain when humans experience behaviour. Positron-emission tomography (PET) scans use invasive techniques to measure brain activity such as metabolism, blood flow and neurotransmitter activity (Holt et al, 2012). A radioactive component is inserted into the blood and due to the decaying nature of this component; it is possible to use a detector to observe where the brain is using the most energy (Brain scanning images, 2014). For example Mayberg et al (1999) used PET scans to monitor stimulated feelings of sadness in depressed patients compared to recovered patients. They found that one specific area of the brain had increased blood flow in depressed patients compared to another area that had increased blood flow with the recovered patients. They go on to suggest these types of findings are significant for the use of medical treatments for such disorders, because the PET scan could ide ntify a specific brain region ‘responsible’ for the sadness felt in depression. Furthermore, Jones (2010) describes the work carried out by Dr Ned.H Kalin using PET scans on Anxious Temperament (AT) rhesus monkeys. The central nucleus region of the amygdala portrayed increased blood flow, suggesting an increase in emotion and fear of these types of monkeys. PET scans can be very useful in identifying whereabouts in the brain the most energy is being used when displaying certain behaviours. However, Lubezky et al (2007) also found that PET scanning can have interference when used on patients also having treatment for chemotherapy, which suggests PET scans are not always a successful tool in clinical research. This type of scanning can be very time consuming and the resolution of the brain structure is not as high compared to other brain scanning techniques, which means the functional information retrieved from these scans cannot always be accessed (Positron Emission Tomo graphy, 2013). This means establishing a cause for human behaviour is more difficult and not as concise, so PET scans may not be the most successful choice when researching human behaviour. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to create clear detailed pictures of the brain structure, a lot like CT and CAT scans. Sometimes a dye is injected into the vein to help contrast the picture and images are around 1/10 the size of a CT scan (Rosen, 2007). However, in recent years MRI advancing has resulted in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) that can produce dynamic pictures of blood flow in the brain instantly (Holt et al, 2014). This has made a huge impact in the neuropsychological field of establishing what parts of the brain react to different behaviours as it has allowed researchers to present stimuli and observe the results from the stimuli within seconds of it occurring (Jezzard, Matthews Smith, 2001). A wealth of research has been carried out to investigate this, for example Eisenberger, Lieberman and Williams (2003) used fMRI scans to investigate whether participants reacted to psychological pain in the same way as physical pain. Using a social exclusion task they found a significant relationship between parts of the brain activated during physical pain, in relation to emotional pain. Mastena, Morellib and Eisenbergerb (2011) investigated the effects on brain activity of participants feeling empathy towards an excluded victim, and found that participants with more empathetic personality traits had higher levels of activation in metalizing regions and social pain-related regions of their brain. This in turn led them to carry out more pro-social behaviour towards the victim of exclusion. Horn, Dolan, Elliott, Deakin and Woodruff (2003) also explored impulsivity in relation to aggression, suicide and violent behaviour. Using fMRI scans they found that participants who had greater scores on impulsivity scales had higher activation of paralimbic areas in the brain during response inhibition. Participants with lower scores on impulsivity therefore had lower activation levels in this particular part of the brain. It is clear to see how suc cessful fMRI scans can be at determining what parts of the brain are affected by different human behaviours due to the quick and detailed resolution of the scan. They are also non-invasive with the absence of radiation, making this method a more suitable and reusable option for patients (Devlin, 2007). However, in terms of studying human behaviour, there are statistical pitfalls when using fMRI scans, for example inappropriate interpretations and misunderstandings (Hughes, 2014). For example Watson (2008) describes Marco Iacoboni study investigating swing voters. They were shown political words that they didn’t agree with, such as ‘democratic’, and the amygdala was activated, indicating feelings of anxiety and disgust. However other areas of the brain also became stimulated, in association with reward, desire and connectedness, which presents an opposite interaction of what the participants are feeling, which questions the validity of the fMRI scan all together. Nevertheless, fMRI scans are currently being used in more advancing fields than ever before. The reliability of the scans has even been tested to find out whether they should be used in court as evidence of past memories (Harmon-Courage, 2010). On the other hand, many researchers would suggest it would be more beneficial in terms of research in human behaviour to instead focus on the behavioural and social techniques that could be used to understand behaviour, rather than biological observations. For example Watson (1913) described all behaviour as observable, and any unobservable phenomenon was not proper learnt experiences, and so could therefore not be measured. Yet due to the advancing field of brain scanning techniques, new areas such as cognitive neuroscience have become apparent, and use brain scanning images as a forefront for their research. Cabeza and Nyberg (2000) Analysed regional activations across cognitive domains and found that several brain regions, including the ce rebellum, are engaged by a variety of cognitive challenges, which again supports the use of brain scanning techniques in new fields to establish and understanding of human behaviour. Overall, brain scanning techniques are clearly confidently used in human behaviour research. There are many options as to which type of brain scanning technique to use so researchers can choose the method best suited to them, whether it is observing brain structure, or researching the dynamic function of the brain. That is not to say that there are not drawbacks with using brain scanning techniques. There are practical issues like the cost, and with some types of brain scanning techniques, the exposure to radiation that the participant must experience limits the amount of times a scan can be taken. Also, as explained above, it can also be quite difficult to interpret the scanning image itself and researchers cannot be completely confident that a certain part of the brain is responsible for a certain behaviour. However, the valid use of brain scanning images continues to increase, with new areas of neuropsychology producing new research outcomes, and the increased usage of them in cli nical fields. Finally, brain scanning techniques in relation to human behaviour can be said to be relatively valid because of the abundance of rich and detailed findings that they gather.

Growing Up :: Personal Narrative, Autobiographical Essay

I stumbled out into the yard, my flimsy tennis shoes wrapped in plastic bags and secured with tape. The Great Blizzard of Chattanooga had almost subsided, but snow still lay thick on the ground. The cold air invaded my lungs and stung every inch of exposed skin. My parents were trapped out of town at the state basketball tournament, and my three sisters and I had a baby-sitter that was staying with us. She went to our church, and had known my parents for years. We had enough food to last a while, and our family owned enough sleeping bags and blankets to ensure that we didn't freeze. We also had a fireplace in the den, but no wood. Tracy, our baby-sitter, approached me one day while I was reading a book by the window. "Jeff," she said, "Do you know how to chop wood?" The correct answer to the question was no, for I had only handed logs to my father and watched him smite them in two with a vicious swing. I tried once, but I could not swing the heavy maul hard enough to snap a splinter. "Sure," I answered. "How much do you need?" I knew full well that it would be extremely unmanly to confess that I could not break a log in two, and the realization that she probably could have done it never hit me. I trudged back into my room with a sense of sorrowful duty, like a soldier going on a suicide mission to save his brothers. I allowed my baby-sitter to tie the bags on my feet, imagining her as my page readying my trusty sword before battle. "Just yell if you need any help, you hear?" she told me as I headed for the door. I brushed this off as senseless babble, for everyone knew that only men could chop wood. I trekked across the yard with my head down, snowflakes blowing into my eyes and the cold wind biting at my nose. The large logs were stored under the deck, and the planks were very high up, allowing me to chop the wood without having to stand in the snow. I rolled a log into position, not without a good deal of difficulty, but I reasoned that the log would not be quite so ornery once I had broken it into little pieces.

Chivalry :: Medieval Traditions Romance Essays

Chivalry Chivalry according to medieval examples involves some definitions of playing other than to wave arms and says such things like striving for, or what is all about. Such definition is seem and elusive to understand according to its form of emotional than intellectual. Well, according to this information, I feel that Chivalry is a romantic issue. I do not trying to say is the usual romantic as we known on the movies when a man loves a woman and so on. By romantic, I mean an ethic where we can feel the hard of the ideal, and the sweet of the ideal, and it is so special or perfect to failure in the real word. Some examples are that some histories are no as real as we think, for instance; Don Quixote is no more than a glamorous fool who believe in defeating some warriors, but in reality those warriors did not never exited. The mean problem in discussing chivalry within the society is that chivalry is a word with many different meanings. If we try to discuss its meaning, we must need t o pay attention before we start using the lies at the heart of this game that we play. The game starts with different steps to follow. First, these steps are the authentic medieval uses, which range from the early, deem boys on da horses, and so on. The behavior of the boys on the horses, to the late period was to idealize conduct of the knights. The game plays an important roll in the genoricity of its authenticity. But I feel that no one of this have to deal with the used of the word within the society. The romance that is involved in Chivalry is so powerful and cannot be denied. The society should be an enactment of medieval romance as much as a medieval re-enactment. In the ideal, Chivalry has never stood still; that is the great reason that it is so elusive, and continues to have such power. Romance, the striving for the romantic ethic, had a powerful role in the Middle Ages. The men and woman within a certain class threw themselves at an ideal in way rarely seen in history. I call that ideal â€Å"chivalry† and hold it distinct from what was performed in the face of reality. For

Gillian Armstrong :: essays research papers

The first reason I chose Gillian Armstrong for my research paper is because I admire her dedication and ambition to become a director even though it was a male-dominated job at the time. She is an extremely ambitious and independent woman that didn’t let anything get in her way of pursuing her goal to become a director. The second reason I picked Gillian Armstrong is because she is the director of Little Women, which has been an all-time favorite film of mine since I was little.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Armstrong has explored several genres, including gangster, musical, and most frequently, period drama. The three films I am going to explore are My Brilliant Career, Mrs. Soffel and Little Women. These are all period drama films that evolve female characteristics and feature women in lead roles. These films demonstrate the stylistic pattern of story telling, (Carter, 2002).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gillian Armstrong produced My Brilliant Career in 1979. This film was the highlight of the period drama, which was popular in Australia at that time. Armstrong became the first woman to direct a feature length drama in Australia in 46 years, (Carter, 2002). The film is about Sybylla Melvyn, a sensitive, passionate young woman with high hopes for a writing career. When offered the opportunity to escape her outback station home to stay with relatives in New South Wales, she accepts willingly. In New South Wales, her cultural openness and writing career is encouraged. She eventually meets Harry Beecham who is wealthy and handsome. Sybylla struggles with the tough decisions between ambition and independence, and between love and marriage. She eventually sacrifices romance with Harry and takes a job as a governess in the McScwatt household while still pursuing her goal as becoming a writer. Sybylla eventually finds success as a writer and also as an independent woman.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mrs. Soffel was produced by Armstrong in 1984. This film was directed in Pittsburgh, and was her first American film, (Carter, 2002). This film is about a woman named Kate Soffel who is the wife of the warden of the Allegheny County jail. Her job is to distribute Bibles and read the scriptures to the prisoners. Kate is unhappy and unsatisfied with her lifestyle. She is tired of her husband constantly controlling what she can and cannot do. Kate eventually falls in love with Ed Biddle, who is a prisoner being wrongly sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of a grocer during a robbery.

Matthew Arnold’s “Culture and Anarchy”

A lot of introductions to literary studies, including the one provided by Nà ¼nning , concentrate on what Collini (2000)2 calls the †Holy Trinityâ€Å" of literary studies: poem, drama and novel. According to Collini, this view dominated the Anglo-American literary study from the 1930’s to at least the early 1970’s. He states †Under this regime, the recalcitrant mixed-mode texts of the Victorian essayist and moralists did not fare well.â€Å".Nevertheless, non-fictional types of texts are the most common in everyday life. Were would humanity be without newspapers, manuals, hypertexts, and all the other pieces of †non-fictional proseâ€Å" which are, according to Collini †a nearly limitless categoryâ€Å"?It is the the most red category, and the category most written in. Writers are mostly engaged in non-fictional prose. There are millions of journalists and scientists today; not to speak of all the bureaucrats in the administrations of nearl y every enterprise or government, who write trillions of letters, reports and presentations every day. Non-fictional prose is worth more attention.This paper is concerned with a piece of non-fictional prose. Culture and Anarchy by Matthew Arnold. In order to deliver a sufficient analysis, there will be a chapter on the author first, to get an impression of how to understand the utterances. This includes a brief summary of the most important texts that were published by Matthew Arnold before Culture and Anarchy. Afterwards, there will be a chapter on text types, to clarify which category of text the work belongs to. At last, there will be the analysis of, as an application of the theory from the chapter before, with respect to the current scientific state of interpretation of Culture and Anarchy.1. Matthew Arnold: BenchmarksMatthew Arnold lived from 1822 to 1888. He was an elementary-school-inspector from 1851-86. He wrote poems until he was thirty3 . The most popular one is Dover  Nà ¼nning, Vera. An introduction to the study of English and American literature. Barcelona [et al.]: Klett, 2007  Collini, Stefan. â€Å"From ’Non-Fiction Prose’ to ’Cultural Criticism’: Genre and Disciplinarity in Victorian Studies†. pp. 13-28. John, Juliet (ed. and introd.); Jenkins, Alice (ed. and introd.) and Sutherland, John (foreword) Rethinking Victorian Culture. Basingstoke, England: Macmillan, 2000. xvi, 244 pp Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, p 488Beach, where he pictured the struggling of his generation with religion and progress and finds a relief in love as a reliable fix-point in life. His poems became so popular, that he was elected the (foremost honorary) post of Professor of Poetry at Oxford University, where he was obliged to hold public lectures three times a year. He was the first unordained holder of the post and spoke English instead of Latin.In 1861 he held a lecture on translating homer, that was published as a book later. E.K. Brown (258) detects a dogmatic element in that essay, when Arnold asserts, that Homer is â€Å"the most important poetical monument existing† and prophesies that he will be read more and more in the future. In the same year, 1861, Arnold published The Popular Education in France, on his own expense. In the Introduction he makes an ominous statement about society as a whole, that was later republished under the title Democracy.The next publication in book-form was Essays on Criticism5 , where he developed a method called â€Å"disinterestedness† (dis- = not, inter- = between, esse= to be). It was not considered to be very helpful by scientists. Chhibbar6 states that it was â€Å"†¦ fragmented, chaotic, and uncentered.† (164), but Caufield7 suggests, that the lack of consistency was compensated by â€Å"a habit of keeping in touch with the concrete† and a â€Å"gift for implicit definition†.Arnold described himself as a â€Å"à ¢â‚¬ ¦ mere solitary wanderer in search of the light†, who speaks an â€Å"artless, unstudied, every-day, familiar language.† (ibid., footnote 2). Having said this, his method can as well be called empirical and inductive. Arnold also pleaded that the mere â€Å"application of principles† was tautological, could not provide a â€Å"sense of creative activity.† (38) and that it would sincerely take a lot of logic to build a machine but the idea to build a machine came from intuition (ix).The subsequent book, Culture and Anarchy, was continuing in the tradition of Essays in Criticism, insofar as it was primarily a collection of essays published in a magazine before. According to Collini (1993, 276), Arnold was involved in an almost continuous series of overlapping Brown, A.K. †The Strategy of â€Å"Disinterestedness†Ã¢â‚¬ . pp 251-262. Weber, Horst (ed.) Der Englische Essay. Darmstadt, 1975.  Arnold, Matthew Essays on Criticism.Chhibbar, Sude rshan. Victorian perspectives on democracy : a study of selected literary documents 1832 – 1867, Dissertation, 1980  Caufield, James W. â€Å"Most Free from Personality: Arnold’s Touchstones of Ethics†, Cambridge Quarterly (2009) 38 (4): 307-327. Collini, Stefan. â€Å"Arnold†. pp. 195-326.Thomas, Keith (ed.) Victorian Thinkers. Past Masters. Oxford, 1993. vii, 428 pp.  controversies, which started around the time of Democracy.  Arnold retrieved from social criticism, when three of his children died in a short sequence of time. He started to focus on religion and got a lot of appreciation for that. Later, he declined becoming professor at Oxford again, as well as becoming Director of a University.According to the Oxford Companion of English Literature Arnold was â€Å"the leading critic of his time†. His contemporaries must have had a different view. According to Caufield , Arnold had been a â€Å"cast out† until the end  of the 2nd world war. He was seen as a †frivolous dandyâ€Å", †logical light-weightâ€Å", †stupid weaklingâ€Å", â€Å"incoherent chatter† or â€Å"intellectual dandy† (237), whose â€Å"airy dogmatism† was â€Å"ambitious, vague and perverse† (244), and could only serve to impress â€Å"young ladies or old women† (243).His style was deemed as â€Å"an almost feminine concreteness of mind that rarely rose above the simplistic level of anecdotal narrative† (242). According to Caufield, Arnold reproduced the Utilitarian versus Romantic polarity and concludes that â€Å"Arnold appears to be figure of late Romanticism†, whose contemporaries claimed that his arguments lacked â€Å"the logical and moral toughness demanded by the disciplines of political economy and ’felicific calculus’ (cf. Bentham).† . The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography confirms that †In much of Arnold’s poetry one se es the disconsolate Romantic trying to turn himself into the resolute stoic.â€Å" (489).2. How to Analyse an Essay2.2 Patterns of OrganisationMiller distinguishes 6 patterns of organisation for the information in an essay; illustration, comparison & contrast, definition, division and classification, process, and causal analysis. Illustration means giving examples. Comparisons and contrasts are used to make things clearer, show the positive side of something or to find a general principle. A definition is the explanation of vague and ambiguous words.A formal definition puts the term in a general class and then differentiates it from the other members of that class. An extended definition is used to explain an uncommon term which is new or abstract. A Differentiation is showing what is not part of the definition. A division is the separation into groups, and a classification is the placement of units into these groups. A process is â€Å"a sequence of actions and operations†, which has no focus on the story. A causal analysis consist of necessary, contributory and sufficient causes.2.3 Diï ¬â‚¬erent Types of EssaysThere are different kinds of distinctions possible to differentiate between certain types of essays. On the level of topic, the author can use the a narration, description, exposition or argumentation. On the level of style, there are more or less formal essays to distinguish.2.3.1 Narration, Description, Exposition, ArgumentationMiller (168 n.) explains that the narration has a clear time sequence, can use dialogues and a varying point of view, whereas a description is a â€Å"sensory diction† (ibid.). It can ether stay detached from the narration, be (objective/factual) or include personal feelings and opinions of the narrator (subjective/personal). An exposition is the explain  Svaglic, Martin J. â€Å"Classical Rhetoric and Victorian Prose†. pp 230-250. Weber, Horst (ed.) Der Englische Essay, Darmstadt, 1975. Nation of inf ormations and/or ideas, and an argumentation â€Å"proposes† (366) of a point of view.  In this view Culture and Anarchy clearly is an argumentation.2.3.2 The Informal, Formal and Periodical EssayFreiburg15 distinguishes three types (â€Å"Muster†) of essays which developed successively in history; the informal essay, the formal essay and the periodical essay. The archetype of essay was ’invented’ by Michel de Montaigne. He thought that the writer had to be able to unfold his thoughts without constrains. Form, topic and stylistic devices were kept open. Thematically, reading often was the starting point of de Montaigne’s thoughts, which were explicated, quasi ’live’, in his essays. So they have hardly a structure, are rhetorical and associative.According to Mace-Tessler Bacon called himself an â€Å"imitator of de Montaigne†(15), but he shifted the focus from â€Å"personal inquiry† (ibid.) to social and philosophical topics. According to Freiburg, the essays of Bacon had a clear intention and target group, and were written in tradition of the ’Speculum Magistratis’. Therefore, the tone was kept rational and Bacon underlined his educatedness or cited other authorities to be accepted as an advisor.The rational tone was achieved by the use of definitions and a dialectical logic. The stylistic devices used were comparisons, parables and metaphors. They served for illustration. To easy the memorisation of the  conclusions, aphorisms and maxims were employed.The aim of the formal essay is the transmission of lessons. The periodical essay was ’invented’ by people like Daniel Defoe in the beginning of the newspaper. It was dominant in the Victorian and fin-de-sià ¨cle period. There was an increasing readership, achieved by the cheapness of periodicals and there was a growth in reading public because of elementary education and the overall growth of the middle-class.Mace-Te ssler adds, that the periodical essay is considered as one aspect in the development of journalism. Freiburg describes it as a mixed form of informal and formal essay. The essays where published in magazines and journals. Topics were taken from everyday life in the newly established middle class. They were read silently at the breakfast table, or aloud at the coffee-house. There was a high variety of generic  devices: letters, reports, poems and even fictional narrations are being subsumed under this category. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins is one example. It was published in â€Å"All the year round†, a periodical owned by Charles Dickens.The focus of the periodical essay lied less on what was said, than on how it was said. There was a shift away from subject-matter, towards an examination of the author’s attitude towards a subject. The result was an â€Å"almost conspirational† and â€Å"familiarly† (cf. Mace-Tessler) tone. The periodical essay had t o have a certain predictability because the journal or magazine had to be sold. However, a variety of structures, styles and essay types were needed to sustain the readers’ interest and attention.This variety had to follow some predictable patterns. In general, there was a tendency to  imitate what has been before which formed the style of the periodical essay (Mace-Tessler, 11). Drescher (228 n.) makes an over-all distinction between free essay, formal essay and mix-form essay.This coincides with to Freiburg’s informal, formal and periodical distinction. Drescher states, like suggested by Mace-Tessler, that the style of the periodical essay was foremost coined by the magazine which published it.He analysed 221 periodical essays in two Irish fin-de-sià ¨cle-magazines (The Mirror and The Lounger) and he omitted the use of a categorization by topic, tone or style in favour of four basic structures.The additive, linear, discursive and integral structure. The additive s tructure is characterised by the fact that the parts of the text are not interrelated. They don’t depend on each other and have different topics. In the linear structure, each part of the essay relates directly to the other, as well as to the topic, but there is no interrelation between the texts. The discursive structure has a progressive arrangement of the single texts.The episodes have a causal relation, each text leads to the other and each unit references to the topic. In an integral structure, the parts of the particular essay develop their own structure, and the sense-level stays directly connected to the topic. Mace-Tessler distinguishes rhetorical, simple, unified, associated, unrelated and incomplete essays in his analysis of the periodicals The Tatler and The Spectator.3. Analysis3.1 Type of EssayCulture and Anarchy was written as a rhetorical essay, published first in the periodical Cornhill Magazine over a period of almost a year. The Introduction was written at last and the particular chapters argument on a different basis of information because they were written in different periods. According to Chhibbar, there had been â€Å"profound changes and tensions† (197) at the time of the accruement of Culture and Anarchy. According to Altick17 , all but the first part, Sweetness and Light, were written as reaction to the critiques. The structure of the whole text must be called linear, in the terminology of Drescher.3.2 Diegetic LevelAs seen above, Arnold was publishing from different perspectives. Campbell18 states that the movement between the roles of school inspector, government official (as an expert), Oxford Professor of Poetry, critic and â€Å"polemical journalist† required the adjustment in the style and content. This shifting between different voices was especially present in the critical writing that used irony, imitation and parody to undermine the views of â€Å"formed personages†. He sometimes even used a fore igners point of view to criticize his countrymen. Campbell suggests to read his criticism more like fiction.3.3 Rhetorical ModeBecause periodical essays were read aloud in the coffee houses authors often made use of rhetorical elements. According to Svaglic (234), the Rhetoric by Aristotle had long been a basic text of the â€Å"litterae humaniores program† at Oxford. Thus it must have been known by Matthew Arnold. Brown even calls him a â€Å"practised rhetorician† (259). Svaglic describes the three modes of rhetoric by Aristotle, who distinguished between the deliberative/hortatory, the forensic/judicial mode, and the epideictic/ceremonial mode.The deliberative/hortatory mode is the persuasion of view-points, the forensic/judicial mode is concerned with guilt and innocence, and the epideictic/ceremonial mode is used for the praise of great men and deeds. Brown states that all great Victorian prose writers were practising every mode of rhetoric at one time or another, but the most popular was the deliberative/hortatory mode (233).Arnold announces that he is a â€Å"man without a philosophy† (94) and speaks of a â€Å"simple unsystematic way† which â€Å"best suits both my taste and my powers† (5), and continuous â€Å"We †¦ having no coherent philosophy, must not let ourselves philosophise.† (Arnold, Culture and Anarchy, 201). This â€Å"plain-dealing† (Altick, 82) enables him to anatomise the failures of the middle class by being a â€Å"representative man† (ibid.) of it.3.4 Use of IronyAccording to Altick, the irony of Culture and Anarchy often lies in the fact that the professed respect is proforma and misdirected, or, what starts as epideictic rhetoric is negated by â€Å"deflationary techniques† (128). Due to the fact that Culture and Anarchy was written in pieces (linear structure), the use of â€Å"beautiful† is ambiguous. Wilhem von Humboldt is described as â€Å"one of the mo st beautiful and perfect souls† (140), which is supposed to be actually meant that way, for example. But on the other hand, there is, what Altick (132) calls â€Å"ironic praise†; the â€Å"touching and beautiful words† (61) of the fanatical anti-Catholic Mr. Murphy saying â€Å"I will carry out my lectures if they walk over my body as a dead corpse†, which is definitely neither touching nor beautiful.â€Å"Interesting† is one of the most equivocal words in Arnold’s argumentative vocabulary. For example, the â€Å"interesting speakers† (74), he heard during the Reform Debates in the House of Commons. One is later described as â€Å"perfection†, the other as â€Å"excess†. Excess is not interesting. Another example is â€Å"this very interesting operation† (223), for the attempt to legalise the marriage of a man with his deceased wife’s sister. It was illegal in Britain, but how often does such a case happen? There were much more important problems to be solved at that time – at least from Arnold’s point of view. The absurdity of this â€Å"interesting operation† is emphasised in the aftermath of the text by repetition.3.5 Use of RepetitionsThe phrase â€Å"deceased wife’s sister† gets repeated nine times in Culture and Anarchy. This rhetorical method of Arnold attempts to humiliate the opponent. This is also acknowledged by Collini, who states: â€Å"†¦ by mercilessly repeating the least happy phrases  over and over again, he drowns his opponent in a sea of comic associations.† (216).Sometimes repetition only serves in substitution for a sufficient vocabulary, like in â€Å"†¦ real thought, real beautiy; real sweetness and real light.† (49); or to show similarities like the â€Å"half-sized, half-fed half-clothed† children â€Å"without health, without home, without hope† (245). This similarities all hint to one point: the lack of a sufficient policy. As a â€Å"polemical journalist† (vid. infr. Campbell), Arnold tries to persuade (deliberative rhetoric). One big part of this early type of propaganda is the attempt for coinage by excessive repetition of newly defined terms.3.6 Deï ¬ nitions, Comparisons and ContrastsCulture is â€Å"the best which has been thought and said in the world† (ix). This is thereby nearly equal to religion. â€Å"Religion says: The kingdom of God is within you; and culture, in a like manner places human perfection in an internal condition, †¦ distinguished from animality.† (13). An attribute of culture is â€Å"right reason† as well as â€Å"best self †. The â€Å"really blessed thing is to like what right reason ordains† (68).â€Å"But for us,— who believe in right reason, in the duty and possibility of extricating and elevating our best self, in the progress of humanity towards perfection, †¦ we â₠¬ ¦ support them in repressing anarchy and disorder; because without order there can be no society, and without society there can be no human perfection.†The chasm of â€Å"without† and â€Å"society† serves the rhetorical effect. Anarchy is more or less defined as â€Å"doing as one likes†. The natural instinct of the ordinary man towards liberty is thereby degenerated into an â€Å"anarchical tendency† (59), caused by liberty. This â€Å"doing as one likes† is juxtaposed with â€Å"sweetness and light† (differentiation).According to the Oxford English Dictionary19 â€Å"Sweetness and Light† is a quotation from Jonathan Swift and means the noblest characteristics of humanity. His definition of â€Å"sweetness and light† is juxtaposed with â€Å"fire and strength†, his own coinage, repeated twelve times. Sweetness and light are â€Å"right reason†, â€Å"best self † and â€Å"culture†; but some times this must be protected by the forces of â€Å"fire and strength†. â€Å"State† is defined as â€Å"the nation in its  collective and corporate character†(66). This is based on the â€Å"best self † and becomes the â€Å"national right reason† (93). Culture and Anarchy is full of juxtapositions.According to Miller, Signalling words for comparisons and contrast are are ’in contrast’ (1 time), ’on the other hand’(14 times),  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢on the contrary’ (3 times) and ’however’(28 times); or transition words like ’likewise’ (3 times), ’similarly’ (2 times ’similar’) and ’in a like manner’ (’manner’: 21 times). On the level of content, the most obvious contrasts are between the ’bad examples’ like the liberals Roebuck and Bright, the Alderman of London and Mr. Murphy as well as the writers of the Times, the Saturday Review and the Daily Telegraph, who are compared with the with the good examples of Bishop Wilson, Duke Wellington and St. Augustine.3.7 DialoguesAs mentioned above by Freiburg, its not uncommon to use a dialogue in an essay. The following one can be found in the introduction to Culture and Anarchy where Arnold reports his conversation with a Nonconformist â€Å"†¦ I said, that seemed a pity. ’A pity?’ cried he; ’not at all! †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (xxxiv)3.8 MetaphorsOne can always find thousands of metaphors in every text. But the poetic language of the late Romanticist Arnold, used on a nearly Utilitarian topic makes a very picturesque use of metaphors. Arnold describes himself as â€Å"delivered from the Bondage of Bentham† (46), to implicates that he has liberated himself from a philosophy which holds the enemies of culture captive. (Altick, 124).4. ConclusionThis paper has shown that non-fictional prose needs to be investigated by literary studies. It has shown the importance of the essay in the Victorian and fin-de-sià ¨cle period in his parallelism to the development of the periodicals and – with it – the journalism. This might give a hint for the future, on how to analyse hypertexts like bloggs, which can also be read as more or less formal essays.Culture and Anarchy is an example of polemical rhetoric. It was written by a poet of late Romanticism and is thus not well-structured, but very effective. In the words of Caufield (325) â€Å"Arnold the poet knows that stained glass and plainsong will sooner quicken hearts than scholastic disquisitions and cosmological proofs.†

Jason and the Argonauts

JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS The Early Years Jason was the son of the lawful king of Iolcus, but his uncle Pelias had usurped the throne. Pelias lived in constant fear of losing what he had taken so unjustly. He kept Jason's father a prisoner and would certainly have murdered Jason at birth. But Jason's mother deceived Pelias by mourning as if Jason had died. Meanwhile the infant was bundled off to the wilderness cave of Chiron the Centaur. Chiron tutored Jason in the lore of plants, the hunt and the civilized arts.When he had come of age, Jason set out like a proper hero to claim his rightful throne. The First Test Unknowingly, Jason was to play his part in a plan hatched on lofty Mount Olympus. Hera, wife of almighty Zeus himself, nursed a rage against King Pelias. For Jason's uncle, the usurper king, had honored all the gods but Hera. Rashly had he begrudged the Queen of Heaven her due. Hera's plan was fraught with danger; it would require a true hero. To test Jason's mettle, she contr ived it that he came to a raging torrent on his way to Iolcus. And on the bank was a withered old woman.Would Jason go about his business impatiently, or would he give way to her request to be ferried across the stream? The Oracle's Warning Jason did not think twice. Taking the crone on his back, he set off into the current. And halfway across he began to stagger under her unexpected weight. For the old woman was none other than Hera in disguise. Some say that she revealed herself to Jason on the far shore; others claim that he never learned of the divine service he'd performed. Jason had lost a sandal in the swift-moving stream, and this would prove significant.For an oracle had warned King Pelias, â€Å"Beware a stranger who wears but a single sandal. † When Jason arrived in Iolcus, he asserted his claim to the throne. But his uncle Pelias had no intention of giving it up, particularly to a one-shoed stranger. The Challenge Under the guise of hospitality, he invited Jason t o a banquet. And during the course of the meal, he engaged him in conversation. â€Å"You say you've got what it takes to rule a kingdom,† said Pelias. â€Å"May I take it that you're fit to deal with any thorny problems that arise?For example, how would you go about getting rid of someone who was giving you difficulties? † Jason considered for a moment, eager to show a kingly knack for problem solving. â€Å"Send him after the Golden Fleece? † he suggested. â€Å"Not a bad idea,† responded Pelias. â€Å"It's just the sort of quest that any hero worth his salt would leap at. Why, if he succeeded he'd be remembered down through the ages. Tell you what, why don't you go? † The Argonauts And so it came to pass that word went out the length and breadth of Greece that Jason was looking for shipmates to embark upon a perilous but glamorous adventure.And in spite of the miniscule chances of anyone surviving to lay eyes upon the Fleece let alone get past t he guarding dragon and return with the prize, large numbers of heroes were ready to run the risk. These were known as the Argonauts, after their ship, the Argo. Among them were Hercules (or Heracles, to give him his proper Greek name) and the heroine Atalanta. Jason had the vessel constructed by the worthy shipwright Argus, who in a fit of vanity named her more or less after himself. The Adventure BeginsArgus had divine sponsorship in his task, Hera having enlisted the aid of her fellow goddess Athena. This patroness of crafts secured a prow for the vessel from timber hewn at the sacred grove of Zeus at Dodona. This prow had the magical property of speaking – and prophesying – in a human voice. And so one bright autumn morning the Argo set out to sea, her benches crewed by lusty ranks of heroic rowers. And true to Pelias's fondest aspirations, it wasn't long before big troubles assailed the company.After stopping for better than a fortnight on an island populated exclu sively by women, they put in at Salmydessus. The Harpies The king welcomed them but was in no mood for festive entertainment. Because he'd offended the gods, he'd been set upon by woman-headed, bird-bodied, razor-clawed scourges known as Harpies. These Harpies were possessed of reprehensible table manners. Every evening at dinnertime, they dropped by to defecate upon the king's repast and hung around making such a racket that he wouldn't have been able to eat had he the stomach for it.As a result, King Phineus grew thinner by the hour. Fortunately two of Jason's crew were direct descendants of the North Wind, which gave them the power to fly. And they kindly chased the Harpies so far away that the king was never bothered again. The Clashing Rocks In thanks, Phineus informed the Argonauts of a danger just ahead on the route to the Golden Fleece – two rocks called the Symplegades, which crashed together upon any ship passing between them. The king even suggested a mechanism by which one might avoid the effects of these Clashing Rocks.If a bird could be induced to pass between the crags first, causing them to clash together, the Argo could follow quickly behind, passing through safely before they were ready to snap shut again. By means of this device, Jason caused the rocks to spring together prematurely, nipping only the tail feathers of the bird. The Argo was able to pass between them relatively unscathed. Only her very stern was splintered. The Flying Ram Once arrived in Colchis, Jason had to face a series of challenges meted out by King Aeetes, ruler of this barbarian kingdom on the far edge of the heroic world.He and his people were not kindly disposed toward strangers, although on an earlier occasion he had extended hospitality to a visitor from Jason's home town. This may have been due to the newcomer's unorthodox mode of transportation. For he arrived on the back of a golden-fleeced flying ram. The stranger's name was Phrixus, and he had been on th e point of being sacrificed when the ram carried him off. Having arrived safely in Colchis, he sacrificed the ram to the gods and hung its fleece in a grove. Aeetes gave him the hand of one of his daughters in marriage.Medea King Aeetes had taken a disliking to Jason on sight. He had no particular fondness for handsome young strangers who came traipsing into his kingdom on glorious quests featuring the trampling of his sacred grove and the carrying off of his personal property. For King Aeetes considered the Golden Fleece to be his own, and he was in the midst of telling Jason just what he could do with his precious quest when he was reminded of the obligations of hospitality by another of his daughters named Medea. Medea was motivated by more than good manners.For Hera had been looking out for Jason's interests, and she had succeeded in persuading her fellow goddess Aphrodite to intervene on Jason's behalf. A Farmyard Chore It was no problem at all for the Goddess of Love to arrang e that Medea be stricken with passion for Jason the moment she first saw him. And it was a good thing for Jason that this was so. For not only was he spared a kingly tongue-lashing and a quick trip to the frontier, but Medea quietly offered to help him in his latest predicament. For once her father had calmed down, he had waxed suspiciously reasonable.Of course Jason could have the Fleece and anything else he required in furtherance of his quest – Aeetes couldn't imagine what had possessed him to be so uncooperative. All he required of Jason as a simple token of good faith was the merest of farmyard chores. The Fire-Breathing Bulls There were two bulls standing in the adjacent pasture. If Jason would be so kind as to harness them, plow the field, sow it and reap the harvest in a single day, King Aeetes would be much obliged – and only too happy to turn over the Golden Fleece. Oh, and there was one trifling detail of which Jason should be aware.These bulls were a bit un usual in that their feet were made of brass sharp enough to rip open a man from gullet to gizzard. And then of course there was the matter of their bad breath. In point of fact, they breathed flames. Along about this juncture Jason thought he heard his mommy, Queen Polymede, calling. But then, as noted, Medea took him gently aside and suggested that she might be of aid. Plowing and Sowing Quite conveniently for Jason, Medea was a famous sorceress, magic potions being her stock in trade. She slipped Jason a salve which, when smeared on his body, made him proof against fire and brazen hooves.And so it was that Jason boldly approached the bulls and brooked no bullish insolence. Disregarding the flames that played merrily about his shoulders and steering clear of the hooves, he forced the creatures into harness and set about plowing the field. Nor was the subsequent sowing any great chore for the now-heartened hero. Gaily strewing seed about like a nymph flinging flowers in springtime, he did not stop to note the unusual nature of the seed. The Dragon's Teeth Aeetes, it turns out, had got his hands on some dragon's teeth with unique agricultural properties.As soon as these hit the soil they began to sprout, which was good from the point of view of Jason accomplishing his task by nightfall, but bad in terms of the harvest. For each seed germinated into a fully-armed warrior, who popped up from the ground and joined the throng now menacing poor Jason. Aeetes, meanwhile, was standing off to the side of the field chuckling quietly to himself. It irked the king somewhat to see his daughter slink across the furrows to Jason's side, but he didn't think too much of it at the time. Having proven herself polite to a fault, maybe Medea was just saying a brief and proper farewell.Conquest of the Seed Men In actuality, she was once more engaged in saving the young hero's posterior. This time there was no traffic in magic embrocations. Medea merely gave Jason a tip in basic psy chology. Jason, who it was quite clear by now lacked the heroic wherewithal to make the grade on his own, at least had the sense to recognize good advice. Employing the simple device suggested by Medea, he brought the harvest in on deadline with a minimum of personal effort. He simply threw a stone at one of the men. The man, in turn, thought his neighbor had done it.And in short order all the seed men had turned on one another with their swords until not one was left standing. The Golden Fleece Aeetes had no choice but to make as though he'd give the Fleece to Jason, but he still had no intention of doing so. He now committed the tactical error of divulging this fact to his daughter. And Medea, still entranced by the Goddess of Love, confided in turn in Jason. Furthermore, she offered to lead him under cover of darkness to the temple grove where the Fleece was displayed, nailed to a tree and guarded by a dragon. And so at midnight they crept into the sacred precinct of Ares, god of war.Jason, ever the hothead, whipped out his sword, but Medea wisely restrained his impetuosity. The Aftermath Instead, she used a sleeping potion to subvert the monster's vigilance. Together they made off with the Fleece and escaped to the Argo. Setting sail at once, they eluded pursuit. Thus Jason succeeded in his heroic challenge. And once returned to Greece, he abandoned Medea for another princess. For though Jason had sworn to love and honor Medea for the service she had done him, he proved as fickle in this regard as he'd been unfit for single-handed questing

How I Believe America has changed since 9/11

The 9/11 incident is a unique one being considered as one of the worst catastrophes not only in America but all over the world. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and of the Soviet Union in 1991 a period of extreme optimism opened, with markets triumphant and globalization as the universal panacea (Evans, 2003, para.3). Such nations who experienced failure in one way or another have shifted and depended on their sanguinity for success and advancement through the United States of America.However, after the 9/11 terrorist attack, the world was in shock that even the world’s greatest superpower has met some vulnerable moments against an uncertain force. The evidence we have gathered all points to a collection of loosely affiliated terrorist organizations known as al Qaeda (Bush, 2001, para. 13).Following the 9/11 disaster, one aspect of change which should be analyzed is how Americans perceive freedom now after this event. U.S. President George W. Bush has applied an aggres sive and one-sided approach in dealing with the terrorist issue.The Bush administration is presently the prime mover of the long running â€Å"war on terrorism.† Everything has changed in the sense that the war on terrorism has given U.S. foreign policy a focus not seen since the height of the Cold War (Garrett, 2002, para. 1). The invasion and occupation of Iraq is a result (politically, of course, not logically)†¦(â€Å"What has changed since 9/11?,† 2006, para.2). Undaunted and unapologetic, the Bush administration continues to argue the virtues of staying the present course (Connetta, 2006, para. 6). Can the Americans live in the real essence of freedom with this road the Bush leadership is taking?Will the Bush Administration sacrifice civil liberty for the sake of national security? America has always takes pride of being a free nation embedded with dignity and glory. But after 9/11, the Americans have lived in fear, ambiguity and doubt.ReferencesBush, G.W. ( 2001). Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People. Retrieved July 28, 2007, from http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.htmlConnetta, C. (2006). Pyrrhus on the Potomac: How America's post-9/11 wars have undermined US national security. Retrieved July 28, 2007, from http://www.comw.org/pda/0609br18.htmlEvans, L. (2003). America and the World: What Has Changed Since 9/11? Retrieved July 28, 2007, from http://www.international.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=3552Garrett, G. (2002). One year after 9/11: What Has Really Changed? Retrieved July 28, 2007, from http://www.international.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=2617â€Å"What has changed since 9/11?† (2006). Retrieved July 28, 2007, from http://ask.metafilter.com/41748/What-has-changed-since-911  

Cause of the Civil War 2 Essay

Slavery was the primary flashpoint and main cause for the conduct of the American Civil War (1861-1865). The 11 states that comprised the secessionist Confederacy were dependent on the labor of their slaves for the continued operation of their economy. In the Northern states that comprised the Union in the conflict, the practice of slavery was considered as an illegal act. In the South, the work of the slaves was vital to the cotton and tobacco production of the estates in that part of the country. But the main issue prior to the war concerned whether the practice of slavery would be allowed in the new territories in the West gained from Mexico after the latter’s defeat in the Mexican War (1846-1848) (MSN Encarta, 2008). As the years passed on, the Northern and Southern regions of the United States grew and developed into distinct regional aggregations. This was further exacerbated by the social, political and economic views that each region has grown to take onto itself. Both of these regions tried to influence the political thinking of the country as a whole. With the subsequent victory of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, the threat of the end of slavery was even more pronounced and led to the conflict (Encarta, 2008). Slavery played a central role in the chronicles of the United States. It should be noted that of the first 12 Presidents of the United States, 75 percent of them were practicing slave owners. The climax of the debates about the issue of slavery was when the Southern states finally seceded from the Union over the continued practice of slavery, leading to the South’s defeat in the Civil War. The war also bought the practice of slavery to a halt, freeing an estimated 4 million slaves, costing approximately $ 5 billion in wrecked properties and claiming more than 600,000 lives in the process (Encarta, 2008). Reference MSN Encarta. (2008). American Civil War. Retrieved December 11, 2008, from http://encarta. msn. com/encyclopedia_761567354_1____28/Civil_War. html#s28

AMPACK Computer Company Computer Platform Upgrade Essay

AMPACK Computer Company Computer Platform Upgrade - Essay Example This will help in the transmission and processing of different computerized jobs at hand. To accomplish this, a server that will serve for internet connection provider and a file server need allocation in the office setup. All computer units must have LAN cards installed and a server router or network switch provided to mediate the connection. Once you know what type of computer hardware and software you will need, it is time for you to decide whether you want to purchase for a desktop or laptop computer. To help you decide, we will list the major advantages and disadvantages of both types of computers. The type of computer you choose will depend on how you intend to use it. A portable desktop computer platform is used on a typical office setup, which can be adopted in the company's system. However, laptops are also applicable in some departments preferably the managerial branch to have it transferable if corporate meeting presentation is needed or other similar cases. Portability is more important than performance, because you need to move the computer routinely, choose a laptop. If you will be moving the system very frequently, consider a smaller-sized laptop. Choosing the right Operating System for AMPACK office infrastructure is easily managed since there are current systems involved. Installing Windows XP for the workstation platform and windows 2003 for the server could minimize the current software needs of employees for production jobs. Most computer software needed to do the task involved in production, accounting, and managerial are mostly based on windows environment. Preferring to use this operating system would minimize cost for an over-all adjustment if a new operating system will be used. Not only minimizing the cost for software adjustment but also minimizes the cost for future technical training to staffs who physically involves with the workstations on their daily task. In relation to that, our server will be under the Windows 2003 Server system. The concern for this is the reliability, security and robustness compared to other operating system. Windows 2003 Server edition offers a complete solution for a typical server. T his comprises the file server, internet, printer, email, DNS and database server. If we will consider using Linux and other operating system, the employees will have to adjust to the environment, which they currently are familiar. Software adjustment will be costly if we will use other operating system. Some may say that other software is free or is cheaper than windows but the software and hardware compatibility is limited. The software needed in the company's daily task may not be compatible to other operating system. Thus, windows based systems are encouraged to install because of its wide-range of compatibility that meets the company's requirements. Other than windows and Linux, Macintosh would be an expensive option. Many people are unaware of how easy and inexpensive it is to interconnect existing computers to form a small Local Area Network (LAN). If you are using Windows 2000/XP, no additional software is required to benefit from basic network functions such as shared use of directories, drives, or printers and the hardware costs are minimal. A network can substantially simplify internet access for two or more people. Of course, another reason for setting