Not Enough Supporting Research for Addiction in Free...

So what? After reading Bruce Alexander’s and Stefa Shaler’s essay â€Å"Addiction in Free Markets†, this would be the first reaction of many readers, as it was my reaction upon completion of the essay. Although Alexander and Shaler discussed a very important issue concerning ‘Addiction in Free Markets’, they do not provide sufficient resources or correlative research to prove their argument. Firstly, their thesis statement does not agree with many of the facts and statements that are being presented throughout the essay. Moreover, the essay sidetracks from what it is trying to prove to other aspects in life that are not related with the topic, and the transition of paragraphs is also not smooth. Also, the centuries of English and Native†¦show more content†¦The â€Å"we† in this statement is ambiguous, and does not clearly define what vast majority group they are referring to. Although a historical context can prove to be useful in ma ny cases while reading a piece of literature, in some cases it can prove to be quite wordy and unnecessary. Moreover, I believe there are instances where phrases, such as â€Å"... must not be ‘distorted’ by personal loyalties, village or neighbourhood responsibilities, guild or union rights, charity, family obligations, ethnic tastes and aversions, social rules, or religious values...† (229) are just put in there for the sake of saying something. That statement, as others in the opening paragraphs, does not have anything to do with what the authors are trying to get across to the national body. Moving onwards, there is a disassociation between the thesis and the arguments that support the thesis. While the thesis is stating that an individual must â€Å"...find that they develop ‘substitute’ lifestyles in order to endure† (230), and then further along stating that Canadian natives have the racial inability to control alcohol (231); it almost seems that their issue is contradicting that statement. How can it be that an inability to control alcohol is the same as developing a ‘substitute’ lifestyle? On a similar note, Alexander and Shaler state that â€Å"the key to controlling addiction is maintaining a society in which every member is included in a largerShow MoreRelatedThe Harmuful Effects of Marijuana787 Words   |  3 Pages In 2006, A Drug Free Worlds The Harmful Effects of Marijuana† emerged in the media. ADFW reasons that marijuana is harmful in numerous ways, including cerebral damage and debilitation to the immune system. Throughout the article, they also try to persuade the reader that cannabis is a gateway drug that undoubtedly leads the users into much harder drugs. When reading this article, one must consider that research to support anything can be found if one searches hard enough, but without a doubtRead MoreEthical Controversy Of E Cigarettes1148 Words   |  5 Pagesmarketed to the consumer for therapeutic purposes are regulated by the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Without regulations, consumers do not know what the potential risks are or how much nicotine and other chemicals are inhaled and if there are any benefits from inhaling the vapors. Since there is no smoke released manufacturers encourage consumers to use the product in smoke-free environments. Oxford Dictionary named â€Å"vape† the word of the year in 2014. Farmer 2 AdvertisementsRead MoreFailure Is A Compromising And Alarming Idea. When Thinking1575 Words   |  7 PagesLatin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy [LACDD], 38). The belief that all illicit drug use can be eradicated is a naà ¯ve and unproductive view. 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Rape as a Weapon of War Free Essays

In recent years, global organizations have fought successfully to protect women’s rights and gender equality, and Gabon is determined to play its role in maintaining this trend. Gabon is against all forms of violence against women, and recognizes rape as a serious violation of women’s rights. Gabon also recognizes that sexual violence is perpetuated by War . We will write a custom essay sample on Rape as a Weapon of War or any similar topic only for you Order Now Currently, armed conflicts across Africa are forcing many women and children to migrate to unsafe territory, and increasing their vulnerability to poverty, abduction and human trafficking . These conditions directly expose them to rape and forced prostitution . Prisoners of war are trafficked into Gabon from Benin, Nigeria, Togo and Mali for prostitution, while others are brought as housemaids and eventually forced to become prostitutes . Human trafficking forces many innocent women and children to live in fear of being exploited. However, Gabon is committed to policies which will bring an end to sexual violence, as well as the conflicts which cause them . In 2001, Gabon enacted strict laws for the prosecution of child traffickers. Gabon has also established a national commission to fight child trafficking, chaired by the nation’s vice president . The Gabonese government also set up a free hotline to fight human trafficking and sexual violence in April 2003, in collaboration with UNICEF. This was the first initiative of its kind in Africa. Gabon recognizes that raising awareness of sexual violence against women is crucial to ending it. The government of Gabon is also confident that a centre to provide protection and assistance to the victims of human trafficking established with the assistance of the European Union in March 2002 will help to rehabilitate the lives of many war-ravaged and sexually abused victims . In January 2002, Gabon joined the the First Specialized Meeting on Child Trafficking and Exploitation in West and Central Africa, in Cote d’Ivoire along with representatives of African countries and UN agencies. Following this meeting, the Yamassoukro Declaration was adopted, upon which Gabon committed to collaborate with other African countries in campaigns against human trafficking . Gabon recognizes the Declaration as a crucial step in uniting womens’ vulnerability to rape across the region. As stated by former Prime Minister Jean- Francois Ntoutoume Emane, the ‘empowerment of women’ has been a major priority for Gabon. Gabon recognizes that women must be empowered to fight sexual violence, for the battle must be fought with them ang not for them. Country Report lt; http://www. protectionproject. org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/gabon. docgt; Ibid Ibid Policy Paper No. 14. 2(E) Human trafficking in Nigeria: Root Causes and Recommendations Country Report lt; http://www. protectionproject. rg/human_rights_reports/report_documents/gabon. docgt; Ibid Troubnikoff, Anna. Trafficking in Women and Children: Current Issues and Developments. Nova Publishers, 2003 Country Report lt; http://www. protectionproject. org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/gabon. docgt; Press Release No: UNIS/GA/1655. General Assembly Special Session Continues, as Heads of State, High-level Ministers Discuss Initiatives for Social Development. lt; http://www. unis. unvienna. org/unis/pressrels/2000/ga1655. html gt; How to cite Rape as a Weapon of War, Papers

Cnit 176 Final Exam free essay sample

Multiple Choice (1 point each) 1. Which of the following is the technological advancement(s) that allowed the 4th generation of computing to begin? a. Vacuum Tubes Alternating Current Power Systems b. Transistors Alternating Current Power Systems c. Transistors Direct Current Power Systems d. Integrated Circuits VLSI e. None of the Above 2. In the model of modern computing systems, applications that end uses directly interact with are located at which level? a. Level 0 – Digital Logic b. Level 1 – Control . Level 3 – System Software d. Level 5 – High-Level Language e. Level 6 – User 3. In the model of modern computing systems, the physical circuits and gates that actually perform the basic operations the computer are located at which level? a. Level 0 – Digital Logic b. Level 1 – Control c. Level 3 – System Software d. Level 5 – High-Level Language e. Level 6 – User 4. Which of the following components of the c entral processing unit is responsible for retrieving instructions and then translating those instructions into executable operation codes and operands? a. We will write a custom essay sample on Cnit 176 Final Exam or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Arithmetic Logic Unit b. Control Unit c. Registers d. Program Counter e. None of the Above 5. Which of the following is currently the most popular format for representing signed numbers in computing systems? a. Signed Magnitude b. One’s Complement c. Two’s Complement d. Nine’s Complement e. None of the Above 6. The unsigned 8-bit binary value of 10410 is: a. 1101000 b. 01101000 c. 11010000 d. 10010111 e. None of the above 7. The signed magnitude 8-bit binary value of 10410 is: a. 1101000 b. 01101000 c. 11010000 d. 10010111 e. None of the above 8. What is the value of the two’s complement binary number 10011001? . 153 b. -153 c. -102 d. 103 e. None of the Above 9. Which of the following character codes is the international standard for representing data? a. EBCDIC b. ASCII c. BCD d. Unicode e. All of the Above Inputs x y 00 01 10 11 Output f() 0 0 0 1 Figure 1 Boolean Logic Truth Table 10. Which of the following Boolean operators defines the truth table described in Figure 1? a. O R b. AND c. NAND d. XNOR e. XOR Inputs x y 00 01 10 11 Output f() 0 1 1 0 Figure 2 Boolean Logic Truth Table 11. Which of the following Boolean operators defines the truth table described in Figure 2? a. OR . AND c. NAND d. XNOR e. XOR Inputs x y 00 01 10 11 Output f() 1 1 1 0 Figure 3 Boolean Logic Truth Table 12. Which of the following Boolean operators defines the truth table described in Figure 3? a. OR b. AND c. NAND d. XNOR e. XOR x A y B C D Figure 4 Digital Decoder Circuit 13. Using Figure 4, which output will be set to a logical 1 when the inputs are x=1 and y=1. a. A b. B c. C d. D e. All of the Above 14. Which of the following is a CPU Instruction Type? a. Data Movement b. Arithmetic Operation c. I/O Instruction d. Boolean Logic Instruction e. All of the Above 15. Which of the following is an enhancement to the von Neumann architecture to increase the apparent speed of a CPU? a. Resource Conflicts b. Structure Hazards c. Data Dependencies d. Pipelining e. None of the Above 16. Which of the following CPU components is responsible for altering the normal flow of process execution? a. Accumulator b. General Purpose Registers c. ALU d. Control Unit e. None of the Above 17. Which of the following describes the process by which the least significant bits of the address determine which memory bank the data will be stored? a. Low-Order Interleaving b. High-Order Interleaving . Byte Interleaving d. Word Interleaving e. Nibble Interleaving 18. Which of the following is typically implemented using capacitors for storage of bits? a. RAM b. DRAM c. SRAM d. ROM e. All of the above 19. Which of the following is typically implemented using D flip-flops for storage of bits? a. RAM b. DRAM c. SRAM d. ROM e. All of the above 20. Which of the following types of m emory is highest in the memory hierarchy discussed in class? a. Main Memory b. L1 Cache c. L2 Cache d. SSD e. None of the Above 21. Which of the following types of memory is highest in the memory hierarchy discussed in class? . Main Memory b. L3 Cache c. L2 Cache d. Registers e. None of the Above 22. A CPU will always check which of the following memory locations first to find data not currently present in registers? a. L1 Cache b. Main Memory c. Secondary Storage d. The CPU randomly chooses which memory location to check first e. None of the Above 23. When a requested data item is available in a given level of the memory hierarchy when the CPU searches for it, it is called a: a. Hit b. Strike c. Miss d. Page Fault e. None of the Above 24. A Direct Mapped Cache system that has 16 blocks of main memory and 4 blocks of cache. If memory block 13 is in residence in cache, which of the following memory blocks will also be in cache? a. 9 b. 10 c. 3 d. 15 e. All of the Above 25. Which of the following attempts to be the most efficient use of limited cache resources? a. Direct Mapped b. Fully Associative Mapped c. Set Associative Mapped d. Indirect Mapped e. None of the Above 26. When a block of memory needs to be removed from the current level of memory hierarchy it is referred to as the: a. Dirty Block b. Block to be Removed c. Expendable Block d. Victim Block e. None of the Above 27. When a block of data is written to in Level 1 Cache and simultaneously rites the update to Level 2 Cache, it is called: a. Write-Back b. Write-Through c. Write-Around d. Copyback e. None of the Above 28. A hard disk is typically accessed using which of the following? a. DMA Character I/O b. DMA Block I/O c. Channel Character I/O d. Interrupt Block I/O e. None of the Above 29. What is the smallest unit of data that can be ret rieved from a hard disk and sent to main memory? a. Zone b. Byte c. Track d. Block e. All of the Above 30. The RAID process by which consecutive blocks of data are written across different physical disks is called: a. Mirroring b. Parity c. Slotting d. Striping e. None of the Above 31. The RAID process by which exact copies of blocks of data are written across different physical disks is called: a. Mirroring b. Parity c. Slotting d. Striping e. None of the Above 32. What is the term that describes when the CPU stops executing one process before all required instructions are complete and then begin executing another process? a. Timesharing b. SPOOLing c. Batch Processing d. Context Switch e. None of the Above 33. Another term for multiprogramming is: a. Multispooled b. Multiprocessor c. Complex State Transitioning d. Multithreaded e. None of the Above 34. Which of the following is responsible for providing the foundational interaction with the system devices for input and output? a. CMOS b. DOS c. BIOS d. CPU e. None of the Above 35. The special, reserved sector on a hard drive that stores the information to bootstrap the operating system is called the _______? a. CMOS b. DOS c. Master Boot Record d. BIOS e. None of the Above 36. Which of the following programming languages requires the largest number of CPU instructions to execute a single program command? a. 1st Generation Languages b. 2nd Generation Languages c. 3rd Generation Languages . 4th Generation Languages e. 5th Generation Languages 37. An operating system is the most popular type of: a. GUI b. Kernel c. System Software d. Tightly Coupled Multiprocessor e. None of the Above 38. Which of the following OS components is directly responsible for interaction with the system hardware? a. Command Line b. Applications c. Service Layer d. Kernel e. None of the Above 39. Which of the following OS components is directly responsible for processing and responding to text-based input from a user? a. Command Layer b. Applications c. Service Layer d. Kernel e. None of the Above 40. What is the technology that largely replaced text-driven, command-based interaction with the operating system? a. BIOS b. DOS c. GUI d. System Software e. None of the Above 41. Which of the following describes the average results that also consider the expected frequency of occurrence of possible outcomes? a. Arithmetic Mean b. Weighted Arithmetic Mean c. Central Tendency Theorem d. Trigonometric Mean e. None of the Above 42. Which of the following is the most common network architecture today? a. Ring b. Star c. Bus d. Mesh e. None of the Above 43. The network used today that is the combination of DARPANet and NSFNet is called: a. Supernet b. Internet c. CombiNet d. SkyNet e. None of the Above 44. Which of the following models is the de facto standard for current network communications? a. OSI b. SNA c. TCP/IP d. DEC e. None of the Above 45. What is the most widely used internetwork layer addressing protocol on the Internet? a. IPv4 b. IPv6 c. TCPv4 d. TCPv6 e. None of the Above 46. Which of the following network devices segments a single network into multiple parts (4 or more) and uses Layer 2 (Data Link Layer) addresses to determine if a frame should be forwarded to another segment? a. Repeater b. Hub c. Bridge d. Switch e. Router 47. Which of the following groups is responsible for drafting and approving updates to TCP/IP protocols? a. W3C – World Wide Web Consortium b. IEEE – Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers c. IETF – Internet Engineering Task Force d. ACM – Association of Computer Machinery e. ISO – International Standards Organization 48. Which of the following groups is responsible for drafting and approving Ethernet standards? a. W3C – World Wide Web Consortium b. IEEE – Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers c. IETF – Internet Engineering Task Force . ACM – Association of Computer Machinery e. ISO – International Standards Organization 49. Which of the following transmission media are nearly invulnerable to electromagnetic and radio frequency interference? a. Coaxial Cable b. Unshielded Twisted Pair Cable c. Radio Frequencies d. Fiber Optics e. All of the Above 50. An IP address a nd TCP port number form a(n) ________. a. URL b. Socket c. Connection Identifier d. All of the Above e. None of the Above 51. A(n) _____ contains a protocol, Internet host, port, and resource path? a. Uniform Resource Address b. Uniform Resource List c. Uniform Resource Allocation d. Uniform Resource Location e. All of the Above 52. When multiple elements are part of a single logical grouping, it’s appropriate to use the ____ selector to target them for formatting. a. Class b. ID c. Child d. Type e. None of the Above 53. An element is made up of ____________? a. Opening and Closing Tags b. Attributes c. Opening Tag, Closing Tag, and Attributes d. Opening Tag, Closing Tag, and Optional Content e. None of the Above 54. When using the CSS box model, content is configured with the following CSS declaration block. How wide, in pixels, is the resulting box? idth:250px; padding:10px; border:5px solid black; margin:5px; a. 250 b. 280 c. 290 d. 300 e. None of the Above 55. Referencing an external CSS file uses the ____ element. a. href b. link c. rel d. type e. None of the Above 56. Style follows a strict order of precedence to resolve conflicts. The order of precedence, from highest priority to lowest priority is ____. a. Internal, I nline, External, Browser Default b. Inline, External, Internal, Browser Default c. Inline, Internal, External, Browser Default d. Browser Default, External, Internal, Inline e. None of the Above 57. In HTML, which character is used to indicate a closing tag? a. * b. % c. \ d. / e. None of the Above 58. The tag is similar in formatting to ____. a. Italic b. Bold c. Underline d. Heading 1 e. None of the Above 59. The tag is similar in formatting to ____. a. Italic b. Bold c. Underline d. Heading 1 e. None of the Above 60. Which of the following is NOT valid XHTML? a. b. c. d. e. All of the Above are valid XHTML 61. What level of XHTML validation eliminates support for the element? a. XHTML 1. 0 Introductory b. XHTML 1. 0 Frameset c. XHTML 1. 0 Transitional d. XHTML 1. 0 Strict . None of the Above 62. The model that is dynamically built by the browser every time a webpage is loaded that defines the structure of each element and object on the page is called _________ a. SEM Structure of Elements Model b. EOM – Element Object Model c. PSM – Page Structure Model d. DOM – Document Object Model e. None of the Above 63. An XML document MUST begin with which of the f ollowing? a. b. c. b {color:green} What color is this text? a. Red b. Blue c. Green d. Browser Default e. None of the Above 69. Using the following markup, what color will the word â€Å"color† be? ,b {color:blue} What color is this text? a. Red b. Blue c. Green d. Browser Default e. None of the Above 70. Which of the following is the preferred method of formatting and displaying XML content as a webpage? a. A browser will render XML by default b. CSS c. XSLT d. XML modifiers e. None of the Above Matching (1 point each) 71. Can be embedded or external a. HTML 72. Requires the use of a either strict, transitional, or frameset DTD 73. Provides the structure of a web document 74. Enables data portability b. XHTML c. CSS d. XML e. XSLT 75. Translates XML into HTML or other usable output

The World We Dont Live In Essays - Teen Dramas, Dawsons Creek

The World We Don't Live In Steve Lippo Final TV Essay 10/26/00 The World We Don't Live In Television is not real life. It's not even close. From Friends to Frasier, people's lives do not resemble TV show plots by any means. Television's number one goal is to portray what viewers would want their lives to be like. Dawson's Creek is no different. The world does not revolve around a small group of high school students, yet in this show it seems to. Dawson's Creek chronicles the wry humor the undeniably intense period of awakening known as teenage years. Set in the Boston suburb of Capeside, this series explores the blooming self-awareness and growing pains that go hand-in-hand with the triumphs of growing up. Dawson's Creek's fantasy lifestyle and unrealistic dialogue create a world where consumerism rules over conflicting relationships and the search for true love. Wisely intelligent and yet naively open, four teens are at the heart of this drama as they unknowingly embark on the road less traveled, going against the norm in the paths they choose. Together in this passage from adolescence to young adulthood, the series stars Dawson Leary, Joey Potter, Pacey Witter, and Jen Lindley. Dawson is a 17-year-old Steven Spielberg fanatic who is charmingly obsessive and passionate about his love of movies. Dawson's longtime best friend Joey is the tomboy and emerging beauty who lives a less functional home life down the creek. Pacey's gift for sarcasm is topped only by an over-confident knack for stumbling awkwardly and unprepared into adult situations. Rounding out the inseparable foursome, Jen may appear to be the girl next door, but she has an air of mystery surrounding her as she harbors a dark secret from her past. Together, they learn that growing up is never as easy as it seems in the movies. Blindly testing the waters towards young adulthood, th ese four astute teens shed their childlike innocence and endure the compromise of morality that accompanies so-called maturity. Exploring the passions that lie beneath the surface of Dawson's Creek, they deal with friendship, jealousy, family, school and love in their struggle to attain adulthood. The opening of Dawson's Creek features these lyrics sung by Paula Cole: ?I don't want to wait for our lives to be over. I want to know right now what it will be. I don't want to wait for our lives to be over. Will it be yes or will it be?sorry.? Each episode begins with this song as clips of the group sitting around and laughing with each other are flashed by the viewer's eyes. The opening resembles one of the music videos commonly seen on MTV. This is significant because Dawson's Creek and MTV try to obtain the same teenage viewer demographics. By using this strategy for the opening package, the show relates to the pop culture side of their audience. It is that MTV lifestyle, that livelihood, which the show tries to focus on. The obvious consumeristic success of MTV is a desirable trait to networks. Teenagers today are savvy consumers, and this is becoming more and more evident to networks. If you tap into the consumer side of teens, you have opened up a whole new world of ratings n ever seen before. The lyrics themselves also relate a message about the show. As in real life, the characters in the show grow up way too fast at this stage in life. Our society, along with our parents and authority figures, places such an emphasis on ?adult-like? behavior in teenagers that Dawson's Creek epitomizes the socially acceptable way to behave. Teens in real life along with the characters in the show are being pressured to grow up too fast. They're ready to go out and experience what life has to offer, and that's what this show is all about. The fact that this show takes place in Capeside, Massachusetts, a Boston suburb, tells us that we should be prepared for anything. Arthur Berger states that ?Boston has an identity due, in part, to it's being on the east coast?The fact that this takes place in Boston prepares us for all kinds of characters? (236). There are noticeable differences between the large urban empire of Boston and the small

American Civil War Battles

American Civil War Battles The battles of the Civil War were fought across the United States from the East Coast to as far west as New Mexico. Beginning in 1861, these battles made a permanent mark upon the landscape and elevated to prominence small towns that had previously been peaceful villages. As a result, names such as Manassas, Sharpsburg, Gettysburg, and Vicksburg became eternally entwined with images of sacrifice, bloodshed, and heroism. It is estimated that over 10,000 battles of various sizes were fought during the Civil War as Union forces marched towards victory. The battles of the Civil War are largely divided into the Eastern, Western, and Trans-Mississippi Theaters, with the bulk of the fighting taking place in the first two. During the Civil War, over 200,000 Americans were killed in battle as each side fought for their chosen cause. The battles below are arranged by year, theater, and state. 1861 Eastern Theater April 12-14: Battle of Fort Sumter, South CarolinaJune 3: Battle of Philippi, VirginiaJune 10: Battle of Big Bethel, VirginiaJuly 21: First Battle of Bull Run, VirginiaOctober 21: Battle of Balls Bluff, Virginia Western Theater August 10: Battle of Wilsons Creek, MissouriNovember 7: Battle of Belmont, Missouri At Sea November 8: The  Trent  Affair, at Sea 1862 Eastern Theater March 8-9: Battle of Hampton Roads, VirginiaMarch 23: First Battle of Kernstown, VirginiaApril 5: Siege of Yorktown, VirginiaApril 10-11: Battle of Fort Pulaski, GeorgiaMay 5: Battle of Williamsburg, VirginiaMay 8: Battle of McDowell, VirginiaMay 25: First Battle of Winchester, VirginiaMay 31: Battle of Seven Pines, VirginiaJune 8: Battle of Cross Keys, VirginiaJune 9: Battle of Port Republic, VirginiaJune 25: Battle of Oak Grove, VirginiaJune 26: Battle of Beaver Dam Creek (Mechanicsville), VirginiaJune 27: Battle of Gaines Mill, VirginiaJune 29: Battle of Savages Station, VirginiaJune 30: Battle of Glendale (Fraysers Farm), VirginiaJuly 1: Battle of Malvern Hill, VirginiaAugust 9: Battle of Cedar Mountain, VirginiaAugust 28-30: Second Battle of Manassas, VirginiaSeptember 1: Battle of Chantilly, VirginiaSeptember 12-15: Battle of Harpers Ferry, VirginiaSeptember 14: Battle of South Mountain, MarylandSeptember 17: Battle of Antietam, MarylandDecember 13: Battle of Fredericksburg, Vi rginia Trans-Mississippi Theater February 21: Battle of Valverde, New MexicoMarch 7-8: Battle of Pea Ridge, ArkansasMarch 26-28: Battle of Glorieta Pass, New MexicoDecember 7: Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas Western Theater January 19: Battle of Mill Springs, KentuckyFebruary 6: Battle of Fort Henry, TennesseeFebruary 11-16: Battle of Fort Donelson, TennesseeApril 6-7: Battle of Shiloh, TennesseeApril 12: Great Locomotive Chase, GeorgiaApril 24/25: Capture of New Orleans, LouisianaJune 6: Battle of Memphis, TennesseeSeptember 19: Battle of Iuka, MississippiOctober 3-4: Second Battle of Corinth, MississippiOctober 8: Battle of Perryville, KentuckyDecember 26-29: Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, MississippiDecember 31-January 2, 1863: Battle of Stones River, Tennessee 1863 Eastern Theater May 1-6: Battle of Chancellorsville, VirginiaJune 9: Battle of Brandy Station, VirginiaJuly 1-3: Battle of Gettysburg, PennsylvaniaJuly 3: Battle of Gettysburg: Picketts Charge, PennsylvaniaJuly 11 18: Battles of Fort Wagner, South CarolinaOctober 13-November 7: Bristoe Campaign, VirginiaNovember 26-December 2: Mine Run Campaign, Virginia Trans-Mississippi Theater January 9-11: Battle of Arkansas Post, Arkansas Western Theater Fall 1862-July 4: Vicksburg Campaign, MississippiMay 12: Battle of Raymond, MississippiMay 16: Battle of Champion Hill, MississippiMay 17: Battle of Big Black River Bridge, MississippiMay 18-July 4: Siege of Vicksburg, MississippiMay 21-July 9: Siege of Port Hudson, LouisianaJune 11-July 26: Morgans Raid, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, OhioSeptember 18-20: Battle of Chickamauga, GeorgiaOctober 28-29: Battle of Wauhatchie, TennesseeNovember-December: Knoxville Campaign, TennesseeNovember 23-25: Battle of Chattanooga, Tennessee 1864 Eastern Theater February 16: Submarine  H.L. Hunley  Sinks USS  Housatonic, South CarolinaFebruary 20: Battle of Olustee, FloridaMay 5-7: Battle of the Wilderness, VirginiaMay 8-21: Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, VirginiaMay 11: Battle of Yellow Tavern, VirginiaMay 16: Battle of New Market, VirginiaMay 23-26: Battle of North Anna, VirginiaMay 31-June 12: Battle of Cold Harbor, VirginiaJune 5: Battle of Piedmont, VirginiaJune 9, 1864-April 2, 1865: Siege of Petersburg, VirginiaJune 11-12: Battle of Trevilian Station, VirginiaJune 21-23: Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road, VirginiaJuly 9: Battle of Monocacy, MarylandJuly 24: Second Battle of Kernstown, VirginiaJuly 30: Battle of the Crater, VirginiaAugust 18-21: Battle of Globe Tavern, VirginiaSeptember 19: Third Battle of Winchester (Opequon), VirginiaSeptember 21-22: Battle of Fishers Hill, VirginiaOctober 2: Battle of Peebles Farm, VirginiaOctober 19: Battle of Cedar Creek, VirginiaOctober 27-28: Battle of Boydton Plank Road, Virginia Trans-Mississippi River April 8: Battle of Mansfield, LouisianaOctober 23: Battle of Westport, Missouri Western Theater May 13-15: Battle of Resaca, GeorgiaJune 10: Battle of Brices Cross Roads, MississippiJune 27: Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, GeorgiaJuly 20: Battle of Peachtree Creek, GeorgiaJuly 22: Battle of Atlanta, GeorgiaJuly 28: Battle of Ezra Church, GeorgiaAugust 5: Battle of Mobile Bay, AlabamaAugust 31-September 1: Battle of Jonesboro (Jonesborough), GeorgiaNovember 15-December 22: Shermans March to the Sea, GeorgiaNovember 29: Battle of Spring Hill, TennesseeNovember 30: Battle of Franklin, TennesseeDecember 15-16: Battle of Nashville, Tennessee 1865 Eastern Theater January 13-15: Second Battle of Fort Fisher, North CarolinaFebruary 5-7: Battle of Hatchers Run, VirginiaMarch 25: Battle of Fort Stedman, VirginiaApril 1: Battle of Five Forks, VirginiaApril 6: Battle of Saylers Creek (Sailors Creek), VirginiaApril 9: Surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia Western Theater March 16: Battle of Averasborough, North CarolinaMarch 19-21: Battle of Bentonville, North CarolinaApril 2: Battle of Selma, Alabama

An Act of Kindness in Langston Hughes’ Short Story, Thank You MaAm

An Act of Kindness in Langston Hughes’ Short Story, Thank You Ma'Am Storyteller Aesop once quipped, â€Å"Any act of kindness, no matter how small, is never wasted.† This truth is illuminated in Langston Hughes’ short story, â€Å"Thank You Ma’am,† when a woman helps a boy from the wrong side of the tracks get back on the right path, even though he has wronged her. The woman’s merciful yet firm stance enlightens the mischievous boy about the error of his ways. Ultimately, a little generosity and kindness will go a long way. As the story begins to take shape, Roger is a misguided young man, as yet untouched by the woman’s kindness. He fails in his attempt to steal a purse from Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, and is already paying the price. Says the author, â€Å"The large woman simply turned around and kicked him right square in his blue-jeaned sitter. Then she reached down, picked the boy up by his shirt front, and shook him until his teeth rattled† (Hughes 1). Evidently, Mrs. Jones is taking matters into her own hands to discipline the wayward boy, rather than leaving it up to the police. She punishes him for his wrongdoing with the sole intent of discouraging him from making similar mistakes in the future. In this way, it is her concern for his welfare and future that makes her take such stern action. Another instance of Mrs. Jones compassionate, nearly maternal, attitude towards Roger plays out when she confronts him verbally. She remarks, â€Å"You ought to be my son. I would teach you right from wrong. Least I can do right now is to wash your face. Are you hungry?† (Hughes 2). Whereas most people would resent their attackers, Mrs. Jones wanted to care for Roger and even take him under her wing. It is a telling fact indeed that her priority was to tend to the boy, not report him to the authorities. Conclusively, Mrs. Jones exhibited tremendous generosity toward Roger, and it has made all the difference. Later, Mrs. Jones continues her motherly role towards Roger, even softening up a bit. She â€Å"did not ask the boy anything about where he lived, or his folks, or anything else that would embarrass him. Instead, as they ate, she told him about her job† (Hughes 4). Noticeably, Mrs. Jones was considerate of the boy by speaking to him in a friendly manner, discussing a carefree topic with him to ease his mind and establish a caring relationship with him, as though he were her son. In another example of her hospitality towards Roger, she says, â€Å"Now here, take this ten dollars and buy yourself some blue suede shoes†¦ The boy wanted to say something other than ‘Thank you, ma’am’†¦but although his lips moved, he couldn’t† (Hughes 4). Astoundingly, Mrs. Jones gave the boy the money he had tried to steal from her in the first place—along with a valuable lesson. As for Roger, he was clearly moved by her charity and dumbstruck to s ee that anyone could be so forgiving; he had obviously learned his lesson. All in all, Mrs. Jones showed great mercy towards Roger and was rewarded with the satisfaction of knowing that she had positively impacted his life. As Aesop brilliantly remarked, â€Å"Any act of kindness, no matter how small, is never wasted.† Langston Hughes shines the light on this reality in his short story, â€Å"Thank You Ma’am.† Roger is surprised to receive compassion and mercy from a woman he had wronged. He comes to see the error in his ways thanks to Mrs. Jones’ profoundly caring nature towards him. Conclusively, even a little kindness and hospitality can change a person’s life.

Should investors in equity markets be worried about the timing of Essay

Should investors in equity markets be worried about the timing of their investment - Essay Example The modern thinking in Financial Management today is that financial managers do not perform the role of goal keepers of financial data and information, and arranging funds, whenever directed to do so. Rather, financial managers occupy a key role in top management areas by solving complex management problems. Today, the financial managers are responsible for shaping the fortunes of the enterprise and are involved in the most vital management decision of allocation of capital. Finance managers are responsible for the procurement of funds and effective utilization of funds to achieve the business objectives. Finance manager is required to make decision on investment, financing and dividend keeping in view the objectives of the company. While making investment, it is necessary to give stress for the time value of money. It means that the worth of money received today is different from that it should be received in future. There are number of reasons related with the time value of money, such as- "Investment Analysis generates equivalent current year values allowing comparisons between different investments and identifies investment performance spikes or dips providing a tool to maximize overall return" (Investment Analysis Software. 2007). In addition to this, time value of money is very important, because it helps in arriving the comparable value of the different amount arising at different points of time in to equivalent values of a particular point of time either in present or in future. The cash flows arising at different periods of time can be made comparable by using any of the two ways- i.e. by compounding the present money to a future date, (for finding out the value of the present money.); or by discounting the future money to present date, (for finding out the present value of future money.) Under techniques of compounding, future value of a single cash flow is- FV= PV (1+r) ; Where, FV= Future Value n years; PV= Present value of cash flow today; r = Rate of interest per year; n = Number of years for which the compounding is done; Similarly, under discounting techniques, the present value of a single cash flow is- PV = FVn (1/1+r) ; Where, FVn = Future value n years; r = Rate of interest per year; n = Number of years foe which the discounting is done; Both investment and financing of funds are two crucial functions of finance manager. The investment of funds requires a number of decisions to be taken in a situation in which funds are invested and benefits are expected over a long period. Funds procured from different sources have to be invested in various kinds of assets. Long term funds are used in a project for various fixed assets and also for current assets. Investment of funds has to be made after careful assessment of the various projects through capital budgeting. Asset management policies are also laid down regarding various items of current assets. Investment in equity shares is a complex procedure; this is because unlike debt and preference shares

Robert Mapplethorpe Biography and his association to Photography Research Paper

Robert Mapplethorpe Biography and his association to Photography - Research Paper Example In 1973, the Light Gallery in New York City mounted his first solo gallery exhibition, "Polaroids." Later, he acquired a Hasselblad 2 ? inch medium-format camera which he used to shoot his circle of friends and acquaintances including artists, musicians, socialites, pornographic film stars, and members of the S & M underground movements he was associated with (Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, par.3). To produce sleeky, ravishing effects and gleaming surfaces, Mapplethorpe used traditional techniques of direct lightning and sharp focus. During the early seventies, Mapplethorpe’s desire to expand the technical and aesthetic boundaries of traditional photography made him use different printing materials and surfaces and unconventional forms of matting, framing, and glazing. He would also attempt to manipulate the photographic reproduction process in his Model Parade. â€Å"In this work, Mapplethorpe applied a synthetic emulsion to two pages from a male physique magazine in order to lift the image and its color. He then transferred the dried emulsion onto the canvas, adding color and stretching and distorting the image as he arranged it† (Marshall, par.3). In 1987, in his series of platinum prints on linen, he would use this process again in making a painting on canvas from a printed photograph. Mapplethorpe became controversial when he documented in his work New York's gay community in the late 1970s. His photographs explicitly depicted sexual organs and bondage equipment. His subjects also included homoerotic and sadomasochistic images which are often glamorized and disturbing. However according to Levinson, â€Å"Mapplethorpe's art always revealed the humanity and emotions of his subjects behind their leather, spikes, and chains† (Levinson, par.4). Some sectors of society viewed his works as pornographic. Likewise, Morrisoe, who was able to interview Mapplethorpe several times, even one month prior to his death, said that â€Å"Mapplethorpe painted himself as a creature of the night – ‘a sex demon’ – who had no control over his voracious appetite† (Morrisoe, xv). In the 80s, Mapplethorpe produced several images that either challenge or adhere to classical aesthetic standards. He photographed stylized compositions of male and female nudes, flower still lifes, and studio portraits of artists and celebrities. He introduced and refined different techniques and formats, including color 20" x 24" Polaroids, photogravures, platinum prints on paper and linen, Cibachrome and dye transfer color prints (Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, par.5). . Calla lilies and orchids are the favorite flower subjects of Mapplethorpe. His flowers are as carefully positioned to display a raw sexuality even more powerful than that of his nudes (Mapplethorne and Ashbery, 1996). â€Å"His treatment of the male and female aspects of the calla lily is most striking, one photograph emphasizing the flower's phallic stame n, another emphasizing its feminine curves† (Levinson, par.15). Even the size and vibrant colors of the prints of his flower photographs exudes sensuality. One of his favorite human subjects was Patti Smith, a poet and a singer and a close friend with whom she lived with from 1967 to 1974. His portraits of Smith captured her loneliness, independence, sensitivity and wildness (Levinson, par.20). In addition, it was revealed that Mapplethorpe’s earliest and most frequent subject was himself â€Å"

The Discovery Telomerase Essay Example for Free

The Discovery Telomerase Essay The linear chromosomes of eukaryotes are more complex than the circular chromosomes of the bacteria. Due to the biochemical properties of DNA polymerases, the replication of the eukaryotic chromosomes poses a special problem: the maintenance of the length of the linear chromosomes. However, it was discovered that a unique enzyme complex appears to play a crucial in maintaining the length of eukaryotic chromosomes. This enzyme is known as the telomerase. Its regulative action on the eukaryotic cell implies that it may also be involved in the process of aging and in the development of cancer cells. In this paper, the telomerase becomes the focus of study. The discovery, properties, and functions of the telomerase inside the eukaryotic cells will be described, based on the recent scientific studies that have been conducted about them. And finally, current and potential applications that involve this enzyme, in the field of biotechnology, will be presented. The Discovery of Telomerase When the telomerase was first discovered by Carol Greider in 1984, many geneticists and molecular biologists like her have already been puzzling over the observation that the tips of chromosomes are stabilised by telomeres. Telomeres are mere regions in the DNA in which sections of them are no longer copied during the process of cell division and chromosome replication (Vermolen 2005). But the fact that a small section of a telomere is not copied should result in shorter telomeres in the daughter cells. Strangely, this does not occur and scientists can only surmise that something maintains the length of the telomere and it could be an enzyme that is yet unknown. Then, on that fateful Christmas Day in 1984, Greider found the elusive enzyme through the use of autoradiography (Skloot 2001). The telomerase is the enzyme that is responsible for maintaining the genetic material found at the tips of the chromosomes. The Properties of Telomerase The telomerase is an enzyme and this brings to mind two basic characteristics. First, any enzyme is composed of a protein. In the case of telomerase, the protein is the RNA and it can be considered as a ribozyme (Brown 2005). And second, any enzyme is a natural catalyst of all chemical reactions within the body of an organism. This means that the telomerase facilitates a vital biochemical reaction. But the exact mechanism that the telomerase executes to maintain the length of the telomere during chromosomal replication can only be determined if the properties of it are known. And the properties can be known if the specific nature of the structure of the RNA is established. The telomerase is composed of two components, the essential RNA and the TERT. The latter, which stands for telomerase reverse transcriptase, is the catalytic protein. It â€Å"contains sequence motifs homologous to those in the catalytic domain of reverse transcriptase enzymes† (Chen Greider 2004, p. 14683). This is concluded because the TERT is remains the same in all eukaryotes. The structure of the RNA component, however, is more challenging to characterise. This is because the telomerase RNA varies in terms of size and sequence. Fortunately, the overall structure of the telomerase RNA in many ciliates and vertebrates was eventually established (Chen, Blasco Greider 2000). The common process utilized was the phylogenetic analysis (Tzfati 2003). However, the characterization of telomerase RNA did not reveal similarities. There are large differences among the telomerase RNA structures of different organisms. For example, the RNA of ciliates has a conserved sequence motif found in helix I (Lai 2002), where as the RNA of yeasts seeks several helical regions as the binding sites for the telomerase’s Est1 protein (Peterson et al 2001). Thus, there was a need to ascertain a core structure. This core structure is also referred to as the secondary Blackburn (2004) and her colleagues, by using telomerase RNAs of yeasts, proposed a core structure out of the process of delineating nucleotides and base pairings. They showed that a pseudoknot structure is an essential component of the telomerase RNA because it plays an important role during the binding process. Figure 1: The TERT binding and the pseudoknot The Functions of Telomerase The most obvious function of the telomerase, as stated before, is the maintenance of the length of the linear chromosomes of eukaryotes. This is carried out through a process known as reverse transcription. But, among scientists, this general statement is insufficient, especially before the advancing knowledge in biochemistry. And now that the structure of the telomerase is established, the next question to be answered is how the telomerase actually and specifically works. There is no consensus so far, but the results of various studies can be combined to form a better picture of the function of telomerase. Here are three of the most significant ones. First, it was firmly established by several studies that there is a long-range base-pairing that occurs at the Est2 binding site (Chappell Lundblad 2004; Dandjinou et al 2004; Lin et al 2004; Zapulla Cech 2004). Second, the pseudoknot performs various functions: binding at Est2 among yeasts and other replication-related activities among vertebrates (Livengood et al 2002). And third, the TERT proteins of the telomerase locate specific domains and these domains are referred to as motif T. This motif T is vital for RNA binding (Friedman Cech 1999; Kelleher et al 2002). The specific actions of the two components of the telomerase are vital towards the determining its applications. Current and Potential Applications of Telomerase There have been several misunderstandings about the application of telomerase in the field of biotechnology. The most popular false notion about telomerase is that it is the fountain of youth. Telomerase does not make a person stay young forever. What the telomerase can do is to support the replication of the chromosome and then, after many years, allow the state of senescence. It must be remembered that the telomerase only act upon the tips of the chromosomes and not on the lifestyle of a person. This implies that if a person decides to live a dangerous or unhealthy lifestyle, neither his telomerase nor any modification on this enzyme will ever prevent his early death. The telomerase does not immortalize any organism. But this does not mean that the telomerase has no significant application. One of the most significant applications of telomerase is in the field of oncology. That is, the telomerase has been found to act abnormally during the replication of cancer cells. In normal cells, the action of telomerase ceases right after the chromosomal replication. But in cancer cells, the telomerase remains active. Scientists assume that there must be some structural difference between the telomerase of normal cells and that of cancer cells. If the structural difference is found, it might be possible for molecular biologists to seek out cancerous cells by seeking the telomerase only. Then, a person who has cancer at the early stages can be diagnosed immediately and can utilize cancer therapeutic treatments that involve the inhibition of the abnormal telomerase (Shay et al 2001). Conclusion The discovery of the telomerase is one of the most significant events in science history. It can be considered as vital as the discovery of the double helix structure of the DNA. This is because this enzyme allows the accurate and regulated replication of the linear chromosomes of eukaryotes. But, just as the discovery of the enzyme was challenging, the establishment of its properties and functions are equally difficult to carry out. Yet, molecular biologists persevere and came up with interesting possible applications of telomerase. Bibliography Blackburn, EH, Lin, J, Ly, H, Hussain, A, Abraham, M, Pearl, S, Tzfati, Y, Parslow, TG 2004, ‘A universal telomerase RNA core structure includes structured motifs required for binding the telomerase reverse transcriptase protein’ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 101, no. 41, October, pp. 14713-14718, National Academy of Sciences pnas. 0405879101 viewed 10 September 2007, http://www. pnas. org/cgi/content/abstract/101/41/14713. Brown, J 2005, ‘What the Heck is an Enzyme’ Bugs in the News, viewed 10 September 2007, http://people. ku. edu/~jbrown/whatheck. html. Chappell, AS, Lundblad, V 2004, ‘Structural Elements Required for Association of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Telomerase RNA with the Est2 Reverse Transcriptase’ Molecular Cell Biology, 24: 7720-7736. Chen, JL, Blasco, MA, Greider, CW 2000, ‘Secondary structure of vertebrate telomerase RNA’ Cell, 100: 503-514. Chen, JL, Greider, CW 2004, ‘An emerging consensus for telomerase RNA structure’ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 101, no. 41, October, pp. 14683-14684, National Academy of Sciences pnas. 0406204101 viewed 10 September 2007, http://www. pnas. org/cgi/content/full/101/41/14683. Dandjinou, At, Levesque, N, Larose, S, Lucier, JF, Abou-Elela, S, Wellinger RJ 2004, ‘A phylogenetically based secondary structure for the yeast telomerase RNA’ Current Biology, 14: 1148-1158. Friedman, KL, Cech, TR 1999, ‘Essential functions of amino-terminal domains in the yeast telomerase catalytic subunit revealed by selection for viable mutants’ Genes Dev. 13: 2863–2874. Kelleher, C, Teixeira, MT, Forstemann, K, Lingner, J 2002, ‘Telomerase: biochemical considerations for enzyme and substrate’ Trends Biochem. Sci. 27: 572–579. Lai, CK, Miller, MC, Collins, K 2002, ‘Template boundary definition in Tetrahymena telomerase’ Genes Development, 16: 415–420. Lin, J, Ly, H, Hussain, A, Abraham, M, Pearl, S, Tzfati, Y, Parslow, TG, Blackburn, EH 2004, A universal telomerase RNA core structure includes structured motifs required for binding the telomerase reverse transcriptase protein’ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 101, no. 41, October, pp. 14713-14718 Livengood, AJ, Zaug, AJ, Cech, TR 2002, ‘Essential Regions of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Telomerase RNA: Separate Elements for Est1p and Est2p Interaction’ Mol. Cell. Biol. 22: 2366–2374 Peterson, SE, Stellwagen, AE, Diede, SJ, Singer, MS, Haimberger, ZW, Johnson, CO, Tzoneva, M. Gottschling, DE 2001, ‘The function of a stem-loop in telomerase RNA is linked to the DNA repair protein Ku’ Nat. Genet. 27: 64–67. Shay, J, Zou, Y, Hiyama, E, Woodring, EW 2001, ‘Telomerase and cancer’ Human Molecular Genetics, vol. 10, no. 7, pp. 677-685. Skloot, R 2001, ‘The Marvels of Telomerase’ Hopkins Medical News, winter 2001, viewed 10 September 2007, http://www. hopkinsmedicine. org/hmn/W01/top. html. Tzfati, Y, Knight, Z, Roy, J, Blackburn, E H 2003, A novel pseudoknot element is essential for the action of a yeast telomerase, Genes Development 17: 1779–1788. Vermolen, BJ, Garini, Y, Mai, S, Mougey, V, Fest, T, Chuang, TCY, Chuang, AYC, Wark, L, Young, IT 2005, ‘Characterizing the Three-Dimensional Organization of Telomeres’ Cytometry, 67A: 144-150. Zapulla, DC, Cech, TR 2004, ‘Yeast telomerase RNA: A flexible scaffold for protein subunits’ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol.

Analyzing John Mayer :: essays research papers

Often, lyrics are created for people to relate to them. It is common for many individuals to feel as though they found a â€Å"common ground† with the artist who wrote the lyrics. In John Mayer’s song. â€Å"Split Screen Sadness†, it is very easy to relate to. The music to the song is very influential in setting the mood for the lyrics. Violins and other string instruments add to the sad tone of the song. The theme of this song is that the speaker is explaining how he broke up with his girlfriend (â€Å"And I know well it’s me who called it over...†), but now he regrets it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The speaker of the lyrics could either be a man or a woman, who is in love with somebody who lives far away from them. Mayer uses colloquial language to set the â€Å"common† tone of the song. John Mayer uses quotes from other songs (â€Å"’All you need is love†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬ ) to express how other songs express how the speaker is feeling. Inside, he wishes that his significant other would have fought for him to not end it and not let him get away. The speaker can not figure out why he isn’t the way he was when deep down inside, he knows it’s because he doesn’t have the person he depended on most.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the lines, â€Å"I called†¦because†¦I just†¦need to feel you on the line†, the speaker is expressing how he takes comfort in hearing her voice. She was most likely the stability in his life and now he doesn’t have that anymore. The speaker is sick of fighting the feeling of longing he has for her and wishes that they were still together since their love was so strong. Mayer uses the repetition of certain lines to form a general refrain (â€Å"Two wrongs make it all alright tonight†).

Theory of Justice

According to the legal dictionary (2010) the definition is fairness, moral eighteens, a system of law in which every person receives their due from the system including all rights. † Justice is comprised of our needs, fair share, fair play, standing and trust. Cicero once SAA â€Å"the Foundation of Justice is good faith† The main theory of justice Is that It is designed to be fair and an Impartial point of view that has been adopted Into our reasoning. Basically, the theory of justice guides us to look and study the writings from philosophers like Rails, Locke, and Hobbes.Locker's view on justice was based on the social contract theory. This belief is that free people need to Greer on some ground rules in order to live together. There are also specific theories dependent on the type of Justice. There is the principle that pertains to a distributive style of Justice which basically determines Justice as to what is the fair share. Then there Is restorative Justice. Restor ative Justice Is how we react to an activity that violates what society deems fair play. The principles of Justice need to be fair to those involved and need to be consistent.This of course is barring any extenuating circumstances and if these circumstances exist there needs to be a vital difference so o other solution can be applied. â€Å"Perfect wisdom has four parts, biz. , wisdom, the principle of doing things aright; Justice, the principle of doing things equally in public and private; fortitude, the principle of not flying danger, but meeting it; and temperance, the principle of subduing desires and living moderately (Plato). † Utilitarianism In order to understand how the principles of justice and how they differ from utilitarianism we need to know what utilitarianism is.Utilitarianism is the belief that the morally right choice is the only way to cause the most good. The utilitarianism belief may produce good but it also may trample the rights of the individuals. So the saying goes the good of the many outweigh the few or the one. So I would have to say that the mall difference between justice and utilitarianism as we know It would be society has laws that pertain to everyone equally. Utilitarianism has two forms also. Act utilitarianism is defined as a person doing something that will benefit many but they do it without regards to their personal feelings or laws that society has made.Rule Utilitarianism is solely based on the idea hat provides the best outcome. According to Banks (2009) â€Å"a utilitarian approach to public policy would require that government officials base their actions and programs on ten most accurate Ana telltale International AT particular classmates and of the likely results of the alternatives and options available to them† (Banks 2009). Justice Defined As stated above the definition of Justice would be a system of law in which every person receives their due from the system including all rights.However if you asked someone in a criminal Justice agency they most likely would say that it is a system hat consists of the police, the courts and the correctional facilities. They would also say that Justice is what is received for committing a wrong. Today people see Justice as the item that is given out for breaking the law. Security I would have to say the difference between Justice and security is Justice is the system and security is a tool. Security is defined as the freedom from danger or risk. I view security as part of the system. This is because security is becoming more a part of the criminal Justice system.

Dickens’ and Bronte’s Definition of Class Essay

People of the lower classes in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist and Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre have no way of achieving higher status unless they come across a miracle, such as receiving a previously unknown inheritance. This is shown in both the novels of Jane Eyre and Oliver Twist. Both of the main characters grow up in similar situations; they are both orphans and because of that fact they are treated like they were criminals from birth. Although Jane is better off than Oliver in the places that she lives, they both go through some of the same emotions throughout the novels. Both Dickens and Bronte lived in the same time period and their novels were published within ten years of each other. In their novels they show the England they perceived as one that is overly obsessed with class. Neither of the authors agreed with this obsession and criticized it in their own ways. Dickens showed this by using sarcastic remarks when describing the rich, and (as well as Bronte) characterized almost all of the upper class as being immoral in one way or another. They put the point across that just because a person is born poor doesn’t make them any less intelligent, polite, or morally inapt. In the novel of Oliver Twist, Dickens describes that poor people are just as intelligent and good as the rich, it’s the way the rich treat them that forces the poor to steal. Through out the novel he sets examples of how intelligent and good Oliver Twist is treated like an animal just because he is an orphan. One of many examples of this is Mrs. Sowerberry’s reaction when her husband gets Oliver to come over to help with the undertaking business and to live with them. She talks about Oliver as though he is an animal, â€Å"I see no saving in parish children, not I; for they always cost more to keep than they are worth.† (p30) This theme is similar in Jane Eyre. Bronte shows that orphans, unless they have money, are viewed as the lowest class of a house hold. Jane encounters this throughout her childhood, it was first brought to her attention by Mrs. Reed who says, â€Å"†¦you are less than a servant, for you do nothing for your keep.† (p69) Like Oliver, Jane does nothing to deserve such a harsh classification, except for being born. They both try their best to follow the rules and to be good people. Poor people basically have two choices to live in 19th century England as shown in Oliver Twist they could live on the streets by begging and/or stealing, eventually being put into jail or to death because of the anti begging laws and harsh penalties for stealing. The other choice the poor have is to work in the workhouses for no money, scarce food, and poor treatment. Upper class England created these workhouses to better the lower class by teaching them to be humble, have discipline and good morals. Ironically the workhouses created just the same thing they intended to get rid of, criminals. The food was so scarce that it forced them to steal and fight, and the treatment of the children were so bad it made them alienated from normal society. Bronte describes the same attitude of the upper class while Jane is at Lowood, though it is not as extreme as the workhouses Dickens talks of. The girls of Lowood were all orphans and because of that they obviously had to be corrected for they were naturally going to turn into bad people. So Mr. Brockelhurst thought that good morals come from no food, plainness, lack of necessities and constant humiliation. This produced an â€Å"every man for themselves† society among the girls when the faculty was gone. The older girls got to be the closest to the fire when it was cold, and when ever they had a chance they would take food from the younger, weaker girls. â€Å"From this deficiency of nourishment resulted an abuse, which pressed hardly on the younger pupils: when ever the famished great girls had an opportunity, they would coax or menace the little ones out of their portion.† (JE BV p122) If things had not changed for the better in that school Jane may have become a very different person than she turned out to be. Though both Jane and Oliver are supposed to be immoral and no good orphans in 19th century England’s eyes, they have the highest set of morals than any other person in their stories. Oliver never wants to steal from anybody and never starts a fight unless his family is concerned. Even though all of the people he hung out with were thieves he just couldn’t do it, stealing horrified him and he wanted no part in it. Jane refuses to marry Rochester because she believes it to be wrong to stoop herself down to a mistress. She also thinks it is wrong to marry for money and not love. Jane displays this  by turning down St James although he has a high standing in society, she feels he is a wicked man and would not be happy if she were to marry such a man. The immoral people in both novels, are the upper class who believe themselves to be better than the main characters. Mr. Bumble, for example, marries Mrs. Corney because of her wealth and nothing to do with her as a person. When he came to flirt with her he checked around her apartment for expensive things that would distinguish her as wealthy. â€Å"He opened the closet, counted the tea-spoons, weighed the sugar-tongs, closely inspected a silver milk-pot to ascertain that it was of the genuine metal†¦and spreading himself before the fire with his back towards it, seemed to be mentally engaged in taking an exact inventory of the furniture† (p185) To make the situation even more ironic, Mrs. Corney is only wealthy because she stole the money for the poor people’s food and clothing and kept it for herself. She jokes about how the cats have a better life than those of the people she looks after. By the end of the story the couple is described as miserable. In the novel of Jane Eyre, Mr. Brockelhurst is supposed to be a religious and moral man, but he deprives the children of food and clothing to benefit his own pocket. He is a hypocrite also for example, he tells a girl with curly hair to get it cut off, when his own daughter has the same kind of curly hair. His attitude and the attitudes of other middle upper class people are all the same of that time. They think that they deserve to have the curly hair and the extra money at the expense of the poor, because they are physically and divinely better than them. Though all of this injustice is happening to the poor, they have no way to fight back. They don’t even have rights in court houses. When Oliver is brought to trial for pick pocketing, the judge, Mr. Fang, sentences Oliver even though there is no hard evidence and a testimony saying he is innocent. Oliver can not even talk in his own defense, partly because he is so tired and hungry and party because the magistrate wouldn’t give him the chance to. If the book keeper had not demanded to speak in Oliver’s defense, Oliver would have surely died. When Jane was living with her aunt she had no say at all in what was done with her. She could be beat by John Reed and tormented  by her aunt Reed and she would had to take it. Marriage and class is a subject that both Bronte and Dickens speak of. They both believe that the English tradition of marrying for money and status were absurd and that marrying for love was the true way to happieness. This is exhibited in many examples in Oliver Twist. For one, Oliver is born out of true love and he turns out to be a good boy and always makes moral decisions. Oliver’s half brother, Monks was born of a fixed, loveless, financial marriage, and he turned out to be evil and mischievous his whole life. Dickens also describes the love between Rose and Harry. The people of England were so critical on who one married, that Rose didn’t want to marry Harry because she felt that people would think that she slept with him before marriage just to get his money and that Harry would be shunned by his peers for marrying her. When they finally did marry, they were very happy with each other. As opposed to Bumble’s marriage which turned out to be miserable for him and his wife. Jane ends up marrying Rochester out of love rather than St James for money and status. But she was more comfortable in marrying him when that she got her money because she felt like an equal to him, rather than a servant. Dickens and Bronte touch on the same subjects through out their novels and have a lot of the same view points. The time that they wrote was one of extreme pettiness and cruelty. It would be safe to say that both authors wrote for different reasons than just to entertain. Points were made about the absurdity of marriage, of being â€Å"born† into divine upper or lower class, and of horrible ways humans treated each other just because they thought they were better. Both novels had the few good people that helped out Oliver and Jane so that they could get by in life long enough to receive their long lost inheritance. These books show that poor people are equal to the rich ones in intelligence, moral values, and politeness. They also made evident that the way society was running in those days was hurting way too many good people of England.

Biography of Elvis Presley, the King of Rock n Roll

Biography of Elvis Presley, the King of Rock 'n' Roll Elvis Presley (Jan. 8, 1935–Aug 16, 1977) was a singer, actor, and cultural icon of the 20th century. Presley sold more than 1 billion records and made 33 movies, but his cultural impact far exceeds even those numbers. Fast Facts: Elvis Presley Known For: A rock n roll iconAlso Known As: The King of Rock n RollBorn: Jan. 8, 1935 in Tupelo, MississippiParents: Gladys and Vernon PresleyDied: Aug 16, 1977 in Memphis, TennesseeSongs: Love Me Tender, Hound Dog, Heartbreak Hotel, Jailhouse Rock, Can’t Help Falling in LoveMovies: Kid Galahad, Blue Hawaii, Jailhouse Rock, King CreoleSpouse: Priscilla Beaulieu PresleyChildren: Lisa Marie PresleyNotable Quote: Rock n roll music, if you like it, if you feel it, you cant help but move to it. Thats what happens to me. I cant help it. Early Life Elvis Presley was born to Gladys and Vernon Presley in the couples two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, following a difficult delivery. Presleys twin brother, Jessie Garon, was stillborn, and Gladys was so ill from the birth that she was taken to the hospital. She wasnt able to have more children. Gladys Presley doted on her sandy-haired, blue-eyed son and worked hard to keep her family together. She struggled when her husband was sentenced to three years in the Mississippi state penitentiary, also known as Parchman Farm, for forgery after changing the amount on a check. With him in prison, Gladys couldnt earn enough to keep the house, so she and her 3-year-old moved in with relatives, the first of many moves for the family. Learning Music Since they moved often, only two things were consistent in Presleys childhood: his parents and music. With his parents usually at work, Presley found music wherever he could. He listened to music in church and taught himself to play the church piano. When Presley was 8, he often hung out at the local radio station. For his 11th birthday, his parents gave him a guitar. By high school, his family had moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Although Presley joined R.O.T.C., played football, and worked as an usher at a movie theater, his activities didnt stop other students from picking on him. Presley was different. He dyed his hair black and wore it in a style that made him look more like a comic book character than other kids in his school. So he surrounded himself with music, listening to the radio and buying records. After the family moved to Lauderdale Courts, an apartment complex, he often played with other aspiring musicians who lived there. Although segregation was still a fact in the south, Presley crossed the color line and listened to African-American artists such as B.B. King. He often visited Beale Street in the African-American section of town to watch black musicians play. Big Break By the time Presley graduated from high school, he could sing in various styles, from hillbilly to gospel. He also had a style of singing and moving that was all his own. He had combined what he saw and heard into a unique new sound. The first to realize this was Sam Phillips at Sun Records. After spending the year after high school working a day job and playing at small clubs at night, Presley received a call from Sun Records on June 6, 1954. Phillips wanted Presley to sing a new song. When that didnt work out, he set Presley up with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black. After a month of practicing, they recorded Thats All Right (Mama). Phillips convinced a friend to play it on the radio, and it was an instant hit. Moore, Black, and drummer D.J. Fontana continued to back Presley on dozens of legendary rock n roll songs over the next decade. Presley quickly built an audience. On Aug. 15, 1954, he signed with Sun Records for four albums. He then began making appearances on popular radio shows such as Grand Ole Opry and Louisiana Hayride. Presley was so successful on Hayride that he was hired to perform every Saturday for a year. He quit his job and toured the south during the week, playing anywhere there was a paying audience, then returned to Shreveport, Louisiana, every Saturday for Hayride. High school and college students went wild for Presley, screaming and cheering and mobbing him backstage. He put his soul into every performance and moved his body- a lot. Presley gyrated his hips, jiggled his legs, and fell to his knees on the floor. Adults thought he was lewd and suggestive; teenagers loved him. As Presleys popularity soared, he hired Colonel Tom Parker as his manager. In some ways, Parker took advantage of Presley, including taking a generous cut of his proceeds, but he steered Presley to mega-stardom. Stardom Presleys popularity soon became more than Sun Records could handle, so Phillips sold Presleys contract to RCA Victor for $35,000, more than any record company had ever paid for a singer. To further boost Presleys popularity, Parker put him on television. On Jan. 28, 1956, Presley made his first television appearance on Stage Show, followed by appearances on The Milton Berle Show, The Steve Allen Show, and The Ed Sullivan Show. In March 1956, Parker arranged an audition with Presley at Paramount studios. Studio executives liked Presley so much that they signed him to do his first movie, Love Me Tender (1956), with an option for six more. Two weeks after his audition, Presley received his first gold record for Heartbreak Hotel, which had sold 1 million copies. Presleys popularity was skyrocketing and money was flowing. He bought his mother the house he had promised her and in March 1957, he purchased Graceland- a mansion with 13 acres of land- for $102,500. He then had the entire mansion remodeled to his tastes. Army Just as it seemed like everything Presley touched turned to gold, on Dec. 20, 1957, he received a draft notice. Presley could have been excused from military service, but he chose to enter the Army as a regular soldier. He was stationed in Germany. With a nearly two-year hiatus from his career, many people, including Presley, wondered if the world would forget him. But Parker worked hard to keep Presleys name and image before the public, succeeding so well that some said Presley was as popular after his military experience as before it. While Presley was in the Army, two major personal events occurred. The first was the death of his mother, which devastated him. The second was meeting and dating 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, whose father was also stationed in Germany. They married eight years later, on May 1, 1967, and had one child, a daughter named Lisa Marie Presley, on Feb. 1, 1968. Movies Following Presleys discharge in 1960, he launched into recording songs and making movies. It had become obvious to Parker and others that anything bearing Presleys name would make money, so Presley was pushed to make movies in quantity rather than quality. His most successful movie,  Blue Hawaii (1961), became a template for many that followed. He grew increasingly upset about the poor quality of his movies and songs. From 1960 until 1968, Presley made few public appearances, focusing on making movies. In all, he made 33 movies. Comeback While Presley was busy making movies, other musicians took the stage, some of whom, including the  Beatles, sold lots of records and threatened to make Presley share his title of King of Rock n Roll,- if not steal it. Presley had to do something to keep his crown. In December 1968, he dressed in black leather and made an hour-long television special titled  Elvis. Calm, sexy, and humorous, he wowed the crowd. The comeback special energized Presley. He returned to recording songs and doing live performances. In July 1969, Parker booked Presley at the largest venue in Las Vegas, the new International Hotel. His shows were huge successes and the hotel booked Presley for four weeks a year through 1974. The rest of the year he toured. Health Since he became popular, Presley had worked at breakneck speed, recording songs, making movies, and giving concerts with little to no rest. To maintain that pace, he started taking prescription drugs. By the early 1970s, continued drug use had begun to cause problems. Presley started having severe mood swings with aggressive and erratic behavior, and he gained a lot of weight. Presley and Priscilla had grown apart, and in January 1973, they divorced. His drug addiction became worse; he was hospitalized several times for overdoses and other health problems. His performances began to suffer; on many occasions, he mumbled through songs. Death On Aug. 16, 1977, Presleys girlfriend Ginger Alden found  him  on the bathroom floor at Graceland. He wasnt breathing. He was taken to the hospital, but doctors were unable to resuscitate him and he was pronounced dead at 42. His death initially was attributed to cardiac arrhythmia, but the cause later was changed to a lethal mix of prescription drugs.   Legacy Elvis Presley was one of the few artists to become known worldwide by just his first name and whose talent and accomplishments made him pop culture royalty. His fame has endured. Twenty-five years after his death, RCA released an album of his No.1 records, titled  ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits. The album debuted at No. 1 on the charts, selling half a million copies in its first week. Having an album debut atop the U.S. charts was something Presley hadnt accomplished while he was alive. It opened at No. 1 in 16 other countries, including Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Argentina, and the United Arab Emirates. Sources Forever Elvis. Legacy.com.The Legacy of Elvis Presley. HowStuffWorks.Kreps, Daniel. â€Å"Scotty Moore, Elvis Presley Guitarist, Dead at 84.† Rolling Stone, 25 June 2018.

Current Events and U.S. Diplomacy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Current Events and U.S. Diplomacy - Assignment Example Though most of these relationships are positive and peaceful ones, there are some relations that are not so good. This is especially apparent with US relations with many Arab countries in the Middle East. This relationship culminated with the twin tower attacks on 9th September 2011 by Arabic terrorists, and the US response to the attacks by invading Afghanistan, and later on Iraq, in order to quash any terrorist groups intent on attacking the USA. One country whose diplomatic ties have seen developments since the cold war ended with the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 is Germany. During the cold war, the Berlin Wall separated east and West Germany, and by extension separating Eastern and Western Europe. Therefore, Germany was in the midst of all the chaos that marked the cold war decades. The two separate parties had completely different ideologies, and this difference split Europe between those two camps, hence a physical separation in form of a wall was built to separate them. Aft er the fall of the Berlin war, most countries changed their political ideologies to those of Western Europe. Germany, which had been split into two, had difficulties settling into being one large country with Western Europe ideologies, especially concerning democratic rule. The reason for this was due to the fact that the elements that advocated for socialist and communist rule were still resisting the inevitable change that was prevailing in the country. However, in the end, the western ideologies and democracy prevailed (Stiftung, 2003). Germany’s cold relations date back to the Second World War when the two countries were indifferent camps. USA allied with Britain and other countries to end the Nazi rule in Germany and brought the Second World War to an end. After the fall of the Berlin wall, the USA was a very significant force in ensuring that peace was brokered between the two former camps of eastern and western Germany. Furthermore, the US retained a large number of it s military personnel in Germany after the end of the cold war to protect its trade, educational and other institutional interests in the country. This was, however, a friendly agreement between the two countries. When the USA invaded Afghanistan after the September 2001 attacks, Germany sent troops to back up the NATO forces in bringing down the middle eastern country, which was seen as protecting the terrorist attacks mastermind Osama bin Laden and other terrorists operating under the A Qaeda emblem. However, the relations between USA and Germany turned sour when the then German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder refused to back the USA in invading Iraq, opting for more diplomatic and peaceful solutions to the problem. This problem was neutralized when the US-backed Angela Merkel became chancellor. Recently, the relations between the USA and Germany have had tensions again after a series of secret documents from the US embassy in Germany were leaked to the public by Wiki leaks. In these documents, information passed between the US embassy in Berlin and the USA painted a bad picture of the leadership in Germany, especially of the current chancellor, labelling her names. Furthermore, the leaked information criticized nearly the whole German cabinet and leadership, with very few pro-American members left untainted (Norton, et al., 2011).

Virtual Reality Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Virtual Reality - Research Paper Example These applications range from educational to health systems. However, the technology also has harbored some disadvantages due to its application. This paper delves into the topic of Virtual Reality. It examines some of its uses, its disadvantages as well as challenges that hinder its effective application. Introduction Virtual reality is a three-dimensional environment. One can only view it on a computer screen or through special goggles. Besides, one can relate with the virtual world as if one is part of it using specially designed equipment (Owens, 2010). According to Isdale (1993), virtual reality is a means for individuals to manipulate, interact and visualize with extremely complex data and computers. In this case, visualization part talks about the computer producing auditory, visual or other sensual outputs to a human being within the computer. This world could be a scientific simulation, a view into a database, or a CAD model. Conversely, the user can relate with the world an d directly and control objects within the world. In addition, other processes like simple animation scripts or physical simulations animate some worlds. With virtual reality, there is a likelihood of custom-designed while the three-dimensional environments permit instinctive â€Å"transparent† boundaries such that the computer interface is imperceptible to the user. In addition, virtual reality allows for considerably improved three-dimensional perception and interaction over conventional three-dimensional computer graphics because of its interaction capabilities and three-dimensional display (Bryson, 1996). On the other hand, VR can also be useful in an advanced user interface to three-dimensional simulation models in simulation terms (Barnes, 1996). Moreover, there are various fields in which VR applications have significant potential including medicine, industry, education and training, commerce, entertainment industry, scientific research and the space. On the other hand, to make innovations that use VR technology effective, there should be a thorough exploration. However, VR is still immature both as a technology and as a field of research. As a result, there should be considerable research to be done to realize the full potential of VR (Barrett, 2004). This is the reason the electronic and computer engineers are pursuing new ways of improving the virtual reality experience. Presently, computer and electronic scientists and engineers are developing a system that will incorporate the sense of taste (Lee, 2011). Applications and equipment for Virtual Reality Several technologies are requisite for the creation of a virtual world each of which, have advanced technologically and independently. The heart of virtual reality is a combination of software, hardware and electronics. These three computers related technologies merge to make virtual reality work. In addition, three imperatives are essential to help virtual reality work including special software , the individual user and a computer. Moreover, there are several input devices to improve the virtual reality experience and enable it to work. These input devices help in recording, measuring electronic signals, and converting them into a physical world. On the other hand, the output devices allow the user's brain to process the computer-generated physical world created. However, the reality engine is the main power of a virtual reality system. This engine helps create the virtual world and process information. It comprises either a group of computers or one powerful computer because the reality engine is supposed to create complex graphics (Lee, 2011). However, the virtual reali

Social Capital on Facebook Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Social Capital on Facebook - Essay Example The book, Democracy in America, was written by Alexis de Tocqueville and had played significant role in the modern society of America. Tocqueville, a social scientist, had educated American audience to discern systematic studies of the relationship of democracy and civil society. The freedom enclosed in the concept of democracy extends up to the privilege of expression of the individuals. Freedom of expression is now being played up and exploited being the selling point of the social networking sites. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, two of the most famous social network, allowed their users to express and document every thoughts and activities of one’s own account. This privilege suddenly made Facebook a non-virtual consort place and pool of information, and sometimes of misinterpretation. With this fact in mind, it’s a marvel with what advantages and downsides that awaits in the society that social networking had brought in. Social Capital. Robert Putnam, author of the book Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy (1993) was able to expound the connection of social network to social capital. During an interview with Putnam, he had stated that â€Å"the quality of public life and the performance of social institutions are indeed powerfully influenced by norms and networks of civic engagement.†... This was primarily designed to be used in Harvard University, to know each other better. (Carlson 2011) In 2007, a study of The Benefits of Facebook "Friends:" Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network Sites had cited Putnam’s distinction between bridging and bonding social capital. An excerpt of the study to purposely explain is below: The former is linked to what network researchers refer to as "weak ties," which are loose connections between individuals who may provide useful information or new perspectives for one another but typically not emotional support (Granovetter, 1982). Alternatively, bonding social capital is found between individuals in tightly-knit, emotionally close relationships, such as family and close friends. After briefly describing the extant literature on these two forms of social capital and the Internet, we introduce an additional dimension of social capital that speaks to the ability to maintain valuable connections as one pro gresses through life changes. This concept, "maintained social capital," permits us to explore whether online network tools enable individuals to keep in touch with a social network after physically disconnecting from it. True to its film counterpart, The Social Network (2010), Facebook’s surprising fame seems to imply a persistent and startling necessity for even the closest â€Å"connection† in the broad network many times less socialized, linked and shared than the one in which our parents and grandparents grew up. However, universality is not much of an index, especially when the product at hand is absolutely free. (Atkinson 2011) Influence. Putnam had explained â€Å"that social connections and civic engagement pervasively influence our public

Gun Control Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Gun Control - Essay Example Advocates argue that pro-gun control laws such as implementing a complete ban on possession of assault weapons can play a key role in limiting and/or restricting access to such weapons and hence ultimately result in reduction of violent crimes and attacks (Moorhouse and Wanner, 2003; Hemenway, 2006). Critics, however, disagree stating that no amount of pro gun-control laws can prohibit violent attacks and crimes involving assault weapons and that there is lack of literature substantiating the relationship between gun prevalence and violence (Carter, 2006). Regardless of the immense and widespread debates and controversies centered on the policy of gun control and the hysteria, panic, and terror accompanying the same generating varied emotions across diverse sections of the society, the fact that it still remains one of the most pressing issues in modern day America cannot be denied. This essay aims to discuss, analyze, examine and understand the issue of gun control against the vario us arguments in favor of as well as against it. The essay essentially argues in favor of passing of legislation that outlaws assault weapons. Gun culture in the U.S.: Overview and implications Firearms have off late risen to an elevated status commanding a central position as a critical public policy issue. The long-running debates and controversies related to firearms and it’s impact and implications on the American way of life demand a permanent and effective solution in order to end the chaos and restore the instability and dent caused in the social structure. However the solutions offered so far appear bleak at best, largely because the issue of gun control is difficult to deal with given that the gun-culture is an inherent part of the American society. The politics of guns: The proponents of gun control have persistently and vehemently defended the right to bear firearms citing their democratic rights to do so, granted by the U.S. constitution. Ownership of gun has come to be the fundamental democratic right of citizens in the U.S over the years (Burbick, 2006). The National Rifle Association who are the staunch supporters and defenders of the possession of firearms have consistently defended the right to bear firearms and continues to do. In a recent move by the NRA, the association once again launched full-fledged efforts to counter President Obama's bold gun control plans (The Guardian, 2013). Various new laws have been passed over the years granting the citizens an exclusive right to hold concealed firearms as a response to cater to the epidemic-level fears and anxiety among the citizens concerning their safety. Such favorable laws have escalated the access to firearms to the common public which in turn paved way for the development of a lucrative firearms manufacturing market that are now found to strongly lobby against any policies aimed at restricting or banning the possession of firearms. Such efforts on the part of the pro-firearms and ant i-gun control lobbyists have essentially blunted the political efforts bringing the political momentum to a temporary halt (Squires, 2012). The gun control policy is perceived by the opponents as a conflict between the rural hunters and shooters of NRA and other pro-gun organizations versus the government and law enforcement officials (Bruce and Wilcox, 1998). Critics argue that the consistent efforts by such pro-gun organizations have made access to firearms easier, particularly among the children, youth and the mentally unstable sections

Organizational Culture And Leadership Styles Education Essay

Organizational Culture And Leadership Styles Education Essay Human learning in the 21st century will be as different from human learning in the 20th century as the micro-chip and neural networks are from the valve. (Lepani,1994, p. 3). In this century the scope and pace of change seem to be accelerating in all areas of human existence. We have to move with it or ahead of it if we are not to be left behind. Academic institutions are feeling this tidal wave of change in ways that have left many educators consciously or otherwise confused, exhausted and disillusioned. (Deal, 1990, p.131) Change can be seen as evolutionary and dynamic with an emphasis on continuous learning and adaptation (Dixon, 1994; Fullan, 1991; Fullan and Miles, 1992). The challenge for academic institutions is to adopt change strategies that provide internal stability while moving ahead. This challenge may be able to be met in education and elsewhere by focusing on a change strategy where learning comes to be seen as the single most important resource for organizational re newal in the postmodern age (Hargreaves, 1995). The nations that lead the world into the next century will be those who can shift from being knowledge transformational bodies to those that will have the capacity to possess, renew and utilize knowledge successfully. The major issue that confronts educators is whether or not we can transform education and create academic institutions that can successfully prepare our nations students for life. This process calls for leadership at all levels, a good school culture and personal commitment of those who are responsible for these institutions. They must take the time to seriously consider the kinds of changes that are needed. They have to address the needs of students and teachers and then a fundamental transformation of education could happen. There are many routes for organizational development through change, which can be used to improve an organizations quality. Learning organization models provide one administrative method that can be used to provide direction for organizational achievement for both public and private organizations (Makasarnont, 1997). As Hoy and Miskel (2001) state, academic institutions are service organizations that are committed to teaching and learning. The academic institutions functions as a learning organization in order to continue to improve performance and build capacity to manage change (Corcoran and Goertz, 1995) in an environment where academic institutions are becoming increasingly borderless. Conceptualizing academic institutions as learning organizations is appropriate, given the new challenges of a fast-changing world. To be relevant in a knowledge society, new skills, capabilities and knowledge are required. The focus of each academic institution should therefore fall on the enhancement of individual commitments to continuous learning by creation of an enabling enterpreutionial culture and transformational leaders for the development and growth of academic institutions as Learning Organizations. Teachers have to be awake to these changes and must try to improve their skills all the time. They cannot stop their learning simply because they have graduated from school or the university and have been employed; if they would like to be successful, they must grow. They have to keep on learning from their experiences, environment, or their organization. As Lassey (1998) shows successful people are people who learn. Without learning, there is no improvement; and without improv ement the institutions stagnate. The institutions should be places where participants continually expand their capacities to create and to achieve. If academic institutions are to be effective learning organizations, they must find ways to create structures that continuously support teaching and learning and enhance organizational adaptation. Therefore the learning organization is the important thing that an administrator has to create in her/his school in order to give leaders, teachers and students an opportunity for learning continuously, based on the belief that the more people learn, the better they can perform when they go on in life. Need for the Study Many academic institutions are struggling to meet the requirements for academic performance. In this study academic institutions is narrowed down to only schools, as they are base in the description of an academic institution. Despite numerous promising initiatives from the government to promote student success in schools, overall gains in student performance have been disappointing. Some commentators have suggested that nothing less than a fundamental redesign of the educational system will begin to address the hurdles faced by students in succeeding at school (Boyd Shouse, 1997). Coleman (1997) noted that the highly bureaucratic nature of Government schools stifles creative problem solving and blocks receptivity to large-scale and transformative system reform. He described schools as administratively driven organizations with long feedback loops from the top of the organization (for example, the principal) to component subsystems (for example, teachers and students). Coleman consi dered schools with decentralized authority structures and norms of accountability and social support, which he labels as output-driven organizations, as having more promise than ones with traditional bureaucratic forms for increasing teacher and student performance. With growing concerns about the ability of the public education system to respond to the needs of students (Orfield et al., 2004), many voices in the school reform movement have discussed the need for schools to operate as learning organizations, which addresses the importance of faculty and staff working together to solve problems through networking and team learning (Senge et al., 2000). The degree to which schools function as learning organizations may not only influence the willingness of school employees to embrace new innovations for promoting student achievement, but also their personal well-being, their sense of efficacy in working with students, their work satisfaction, and their evaluation of the school as a hi gh-performing organization. A burgeoning number of empirical investigations offer support for these types of positive effects from schools functioning as learning organizations (Lick, 2006; Orthner et al., 2006). I believe that understanding schools as learning organizations offers the potential to unlock the creative and dynamic processes that schools require to undergo fundamental and significant change initiatives. Only then do we believe that schools will begin to address the challenges they face in educating children and youths and in closing the significant gaps in educational achievement and life success. The phenomenon known as the learning organisations has during the past three decades been discussed widely in the literature (Khadra Rawabdeh, 2006; Moilanen, 2001, 2005; Hawkins, 1991; Watkins Marsick, 1993; Senge, 1990; Pedler, Burgoyne Boydell, 1991). Unfortunately, the concept of the learning organization remains abstract and elusive for many school level practitioners, which reflects, in part, a strong leaning toward a constructivist approach in the study of organizational learning. School personnel also have relatively few tools available to examine this aspect of their schools, and assessment is the first step in the evidence-based practice planning sequence. During the past century much has been learned about how the brain works and how students learn. We have also learned that how schools can be organized in what that can enhance the quality of learning that students experience and we know a great deal about the kinds of conditions that are necessary for change to occur. The issue in Indian Educational system is to find a way to create the conditions that will encourage the learning organization concept which is needed to transform Indian academic organizations. What is also clear is that leadership is a critical component of the transformation of education. However, the kind of leadership that is needed is fundamentally different than what has traditionally been the case. Leaders must be able to transform their academic institutions. This has been widely discussed the literature (Jones Rudd, 2007; Reed, 2006; Bartling Bartlett, 2005; CASEL, 2006; Bamburg, 1997; West, 1999; Telford, 1996; Barnett, Marsh Carven, 2003; Stander Rothman n, 2009) and hence the inclusion of this as a variable in this study. As small schools become more autonomous, they create new identities and establish unique school cultures. It is also believed that the schools culture is inextricably linked to classroom culture. Many researchers have explored the challenges of building school culture (Silver, 2003; Zilwa, 2007; Ferreira Hill, 2008; Niemann Kotzà ©, 2006; Thomas Willcoxson, 1998; Raywid, 2001;). The researches explore various approaches to the issue of organizational culture, including techniques from the business world, the connection to physical spaces, and the use of traditions (Berg Wilderom, 2004; Fard.et.al, 2007;). A schools culture includes the obvious elements of schedules, curriculum, demographics, and policies, as well as the social interactions that occur within those structures and give a school its look and feel as friendly, elite, competitive, inclusive, and so on. Just as culture is critical to understanding the dynamics behind any thriving community, organization, or business, t he daily realities and deep structure of school life hold the key to educational success. Reforms that strive for educational excellence are likely to fail unless they are meaningfully linked to the schools unique culture and hence the inclusion of this variable in this study. Teachers play an important role in the success of any school. The personal commitment of the teacher has a very strong influence in the smooth functioning of the school and the school to develop into a learning organization. Personal commitment could be commitment for ones own development and commitment for the development of the school and students. Research on commitment has generally focused on either the antecedents or the consequences of commitment. Early studies of commitment explored the antecedents of commitment and found four general antecedents, namely: personal characteristics, job characteristics, work experiences, and role-related characteristics (Mathieu and Hamel 1989; Mowday, Porter and Steers 1982). Some of the earlier studies also explored the role played by demographic variables on commitment. The demographic variables found to have influence on commitment are: age (Mathieu and Zajac 1990), organizational tenure (Mathieu and Hamel 1989), position tenure (Gregersen and Black 1992), and education (DeCotiis and Summers 1987). Furthermore, Glisson and Durick (1988) identified skill variety and role ambiguity as predictors of satisfaction and leadership, and the age of the organization as predictor of commitment. The impact of commitment on organizational level outcomes has also been explored in a number of studies. However, it is the consequence of affective commitment which is more often studied in the literature. This is because high levels of affective commitment are shown to be related to a number of positive behavioral level outcomes and job attitudes (Hislop 2003; Cooper-Hakim and Viswesvaran 2005). Further Organizational commitment and professional commitment of teachers in schools have been researched on (Sood Anand, 2009; Karakus Aslan, 2009; Weber, 1990; Coladarci, 1992; Menep. I, 2010; Iqbal, 2010; Borgei. et.al, 2010;). Although the study of commitment has been advanced from a range of theoretical perspectives, it is interesting to note that very few attempts have been made by researchers to work on personal commitment. The belief is that an understanding of the relationship between leadership, culture and commitment is necessary. As a teacher educator I think that personal com mitment of teachers is very important in transforming schools into a learning organization and no researches have been done in this area, hence the inclusion of the variable in this study. Conceptual Framework Schools as Learning Organization To present a theoretical framework in which the school as learning organization can be grounded, the study is using The learning disciplines (Senge et al., 1996:4). According to Peter Senge (1990: 3) learning organizations are: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together. While all people have the capacity to learn, the structures in which they have to function are often not conducive to reflection and engagement. Furthermore, people may lack the tools and guiding ideas to make sense of the situations they face. Organizations that are continually expanding their capacity to create their future require a fundamental shift of mind among their members.  For Peter Senge, real learning gets to the heart of what it is to be human. We become able to re -create ourselves. This applies to both individuals and organizations. Thus, for a learning organization it is not enough to survive. Survival learning or what is more often termed adaptive learning is important indeed it is necessary. But for a learning organization, adaptive learning must be joined by generative learning, learning that enhances our capacity to create (Senge 1990:14). The dimension that distinguishes learning from more traditional organizations is the mastery of certain basic disciplines or component technologies. The five that Peter Senge identifies are said to be converging to innovate learning organizations. They are: Systems thinking, Personal mastery, Mental models, Building shared vision Team learning Personal mastery According to Senge et al. (1996:194) the term mastery evolved from the medieval French, maitre, which meant someone who was exceptionally proficient and skilled a master of a craft. Maitre as it is used today means the capacity, not only to produce results, but also to master the principles that underpin the way an individual produces those results. Mastery is a commitment to be the best in whatever is done (Secretan, 1997:54). Educators who strive to become masters of their craft are often those who would be described as being committed to their work in their respective schools. According to Zecha (1994:6) and Kushman (1992:6), there are two types of educator commitment, namely organizational commitment and commitment to student learning which are effective ingredients for transforming schools into learning organisations. Mental models Research by Senge et al. (1996:235-236) indicates that mental models are subjective images, deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations and stories that people carry in their minds about themselves, other people, institutions and events that take place in the world. These mental maps act as a filtering system for our judgments and influence how we take actions based on these judgments. If these mental maps or models are not questioned they could become blockages to change. To succeed in transforming schools into learning organizations it is important that individual educators learn how to unearth their internal pictures (subjective images) of the world and bring these to the surface and critically scrutinize them. This can be done if meaningful conversations are encouraged in the school, where educators expose their own thinking patterns and also listen to other colleagues. These conversations can influence individuals to shift their thinking patterns and see the other side of the story. Shared vision A shared vision is an all-encompassing world view which provides focus for an individual and the team concerning what is to be learnt and what is to be valued (Bierema Berdish, 1996:6). This shared vision answers the question: What will success look like? This question acts as a motivating force for sustained action to achieve individual and school goals. It is a guiding image of success formed in terms of a contribution to the school. According to Johnson and Johnson (1994:9) a shared vision creates a basic sense of sink or swim together among the members of the school. A powerful vision binds educators to mutual commitments through collaboration to achieve individual and school goals. Team learning The discipline of team learning starts with dialogue, which is the capacity of members of a team to suspend their assumptions and enter into a genuine thinking together. According to Senge et al., 1996:352), team learning is the discipline that has to do with learning about alignment. Alignment means functioning as a whole or in a cohesive group committed to a common purpose. This alignment is achieved through sustained dialogue that may result in knowledge sharing and recognizing interdependencies among team members (Murgatroyd Morgan, 1993:73). The discipline of dialogue involves learning how to recognize the patterns of interaction in teams that undermine learning. The patterns of defensiveness are often deeply ingrained in how a team operates. Therefore, the impact of team learning is the establishment of shared values, vision, mission, and core strategies to achieve individual and school goals. The fifth discipline, systems thinking, incorporates the other four learning discipl ines. Systems thinking Systems thinking is based on system dynamics; it is highly conceptual and provides ways of understanding practical school issues. It looks at systems in terms of particular types of cycles and it includes explicit system modeling of complex issues. The discipline of systems thinking teaches that in any social phenomenon it is important to look at the whole picture. In systems thinking the school is looked at as a system that is interconnected to different parts of life that intersect and influence each other. These interrelated parts are bound together in such a way that they become coherent to one another (French Bell, 1995:93). The components of a school include learners, educators, context, student learning processes and any identifiable component that affects learning. Therefore, the essence of systems thinking lies in a shift of mind to one that sees:à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ interrelationships rather than linear cause-effect chains; and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ processes of change rather than sn ap shots. The discipline of systems thinking starts with understanding the concept of feedback: that is how actions can reinforce or counteract (balance) each other. In trying to build effective learning environments, educators have to learn to see the deeper patterns and interrelationships of change. Leadership Leadership is a described as being one of social sciences most examined phenomena (Antonakis, Cianciolo, Sternberg, 2004). Shoemaker (1998) suggested that leadership is difficult to characterize as the field is punctured by inconclusive definitions as to the role and function of leadership. The latest chapter in the almost 100 year history of leadership research is dominated by the development of transformational leadership theory embodied in the Full Range of Leadership Model (Antonakis, et al., 2004; Bass, 1998). This approach to leadership focuses on the charismatic and affective elements of leadership. Northouse (2004) described transformational leadership as a process that changes and transforms individuals. It is concerned with emotions, values, ethics, standards, and long-term goals, and includes assessing followers motives, satisfying their needs, and treating them as full human beings (p. 169). Furthermore, as Bass (1985) advocated, by engaging in transformational leadershi p behaviors a leader transforms followers. In reality this means that followers are changed from being self-centered individuals to being committed members of a group, they are then able to perform at levels far beyond what normally might have been expected (Antonakis, et al., 2004, p.175). The model of transformational leadership includes a continuum of transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire forms of leadership. Each form characterizes aspects of the dynamic process of interaction between leader and follower but identifies certain patterns and features to distinguish transformational leadership from transactional and laissez-faire styles (Avolio, 1999). The transformational leader pays particular attention to others needs, which, in turn, raises followers levels of motivation (Avolio, 1999; Bass, 1998). Furthermore, a leader of this type encourages others to reach their full potential while also adopting a strong ethical characteristic. Whereas, transactional leaders, approach followers with an eye to exchanging one thing for another (Burns, 1978, p. 4), with the leaders use of either reward or punishment contingent on the followers completion or non-completion of assigned tasks. Laissez-faire leadership involves indifference and avoidance as a leader with this profile will avoid making decisions, abdicate responsibilities, divert attention from hard choices, and will talk about getting down to work, but never really does (Bass, 1998, p. 148). Senge proposes that in learning organizations the leaders new work should include a commitment to: being the organizations architect; providing stewardship; and being a teacher. For schools to become learning organizations, the schools leader(s) must accept responsibility for creating conditions that promote and enhance that learning. Principals must create opportunities for teachers to acquire information about what is occurring in the school and engage them in finding solutions to the problems that occur. A fundamental difference between the old view of leadership and that proposed by Senge is that the leader has a responsibility to create opportunities for teachers to learn about current research and apply that research in their classrooms in an environment that promotes learning. Perhaps most important of all, principals need to create a climate that promotes risk taking and eliminates the fear of failure. If these things can be done successfully schools will then possess the capacity to develop a shared vision about what needs to be done and engage in the kinds of activities that are needed to make their shared vision a reality. Organizational Culture Organizational culture has been defined from various perspectives (Carroll and Nafukho, 2006; Popper and Lipshitz, 1995; Shien, 1990; Alvesson, 2002; Cook and Yanow, 1993; Adler and Jelinek, 1996; Argris, 1999). According to Marguardt (2002), culture is an organizations values, beliefs, practices, rituals and customs. The culture of a learning organization habitually learns and works to integrate processes in all organization functions. In effect, the learning organizations culture is constantly evolving and travels along an infinite continuum in a harmonious learning environment. Ultimately, the goal is an exchange of useful knowledge leading to innovation, and improved learning public organizations. The various terms used in the context of organizational culture are: values, ethics, beliefs, ethos, climate, environmental culture. Ethics refers to normative aspects to what is socially desirable. Values, beliefs: attitudes and norms are interrelated. Interaction between beliefs and values results in attitude formation and then produces norms. Values and benefits are the core, while attitudes are the next layer, followed by the norms or behavior. Then these get institutionalized, or when they accumulate and integrate we have social phenomena. The eight important values relevant to institution building are openness, confrontation, trust, authenticity, pro-action, autonomy, collaboration and experimentation. Openness: openness can be defined as a spontaneous expression of feeling and thoughts, and the sharing of these without defensiveness. Openness is in both directions, receiving and giving. Both these may relate to ideas (including suggestions, feedback (including criticism), and feelings. For example, openness means receiving without reservation, and taking steps to encourage more feedbacks and suggestions from customers, colleagues and others. Similarly, it means giving without hesitation, ideas, information, feedback, feelings, etc. openness may also mean spatial openness, in terms of accessibility. Confrontation: confrontation can be defined as facing rather than shying away from problems. It also implies deeper analysis of interpersonal problems. All this involves taking up challenges. Trust: trust is not used in the moral sense. It is reflected in maintaining the confidentiality of information shared by others, and in not misusing it. It is also reflected in a sense of a assurance that others will help, when such help is needed and will honor mutual commitments and obligations. Trust is also reflected in accepting what another person says at face value, and not searching for ulterior motives. Trust is an extremely important ingredient in the institution building processes. Authenticity: authenticity is the congruence between what one feels, says and does. It is reflected in owning up ones mistakes, and in unreserved sharing of feelings. Authenticity is closer to openness. The outcome of authenticity in an organization is reduced distortion in communication. Pro-action: pro-action means taking initiative, preplanning and taking preventive action, and calculating the payoffs of an alternative course before taking action. The term pro-act can be contrasted with the term react. Pro-activity gives initiative to the person to start a new process or set a new pattern of behavior. Pro-activity involves unusual behavior. In this sense pro-activity means freeing oneself from, and taking action beyond immediate concerns. A person showing pro-activity functions at all the three levels of feeling, thinking and action. Autonomy: Autonomy is using and giving freedom to plan and act in ones own sphere. It means respecting and encouraging individual and role autonomy. It develops mutual respect and is likely to result in willingness to take on responsibility, individual initiative, better succession planning. The main indicator of autonomy is effective delegation in organization and reduction in references made to senior people for approval of planned actions. Collaboration: Collaboration is giving help to, and asking for help from, others. It means working together (individuals and groups to solve problems and team spirit. The outcome of collaboration includes timely help, team work, sharing of experiences, improved communication and improved resource sharing. Experimenting: Experimenting means using and encouraging innovative approaches to solve problems, using feedbacks for improving, taking a fresh look at things and encouraging creativity. Personal Commitment Mowday, Steers and Porter (1979, p. 226), defined commitment as the relative strength of an individuals identification with, and involvement in a particular organization. Although many definitions of commitment have been presented since the seminal work of Mowday et al. (1979), it is the conception of Meyer and Allen (1991), which identifies three distinctive dimensions affective, normative, and continuance that has been the cornerstone of extant theorizing in the area of commitment (Herrbach, 2006). Mowday, Porter and Steers (1982) Model Commitment (Attitudinal Commitment), to an organization involves three components: (a) a strong belief in and acceptance of organizational goals and values, (b) a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization, and (c) a strong desire to maintain membership in the organization (Mowday et al., 1982). Research on organizational commitment has been examined primarily in relation to labour turnover (Ferris Aranya, 1983; Hom, Katerberg Hulin, 1979; Huselid Day, 1991; Mowday, Steers Porter, 1979; OReilly Caldwell, 1980; Wiener Vardi, 1980; Steers, 1977; Stumpf Hartman, 1984). Meyer and Allen (1997) Model Meyer and Allen (1997) view organizational commitment as a three component concept. The three components in their model are Affective, Continuous, and Normative. The affective commitment describes the emotional attachment an individual has with the organization, their identification with the goals and values of the organization and the level of their involvement (Zanagro, 2001). Affective commitment is taken as a construct closely related to identification (Bergami Bagozzi, 2000). Continuance commitment is based on the cost that an employee associates with leaving the organizations, such as reduction in pay, pension, benefits, or facilities (Herbiniak Alluto, 1972). Normative commitment is associated with employees feelings of obligation to continue employment due to the work culture and other socially accepted norms (Weiner Gechman, 1977). The less common approach to viewing commitment is in terms of obligation. Of the three components least is known about the development of norm ative commitment (Meyer Allen, 1997). The three dimensions highlight commitment from the perspectives of attachment, obligation, and necessity respectively. From the above conceptual framework, a model is drawn for better understanding. Organizational Culture Openness Confrontation Trust Authenticity Proaction Autonomy Collaboration Experimentation Leadership Transformational Transactional Laissez-Faire Personal Commitment Own Development Student Institutional Development Learning Organization Personal Mastery Mental Models Shared Vision Team Learning Systems Thinking Review of Literature Schools as Learning Organization Bowen et.al., 2007-Assessing the Functioning of Schools as Learning Organizations: Using data from the population of employees in 11 middle schools in North Carolina and building on an earlier analysis, this study examines the reliability and validity of a new assessment tool for assessing schools as learning organizations: the School Success Profile Learning Organization. The results align with the conceptual model that informed the development of the measure, including support for the two hypothesized learning organization components: actions and sentiments. Kelleher Michael, 2007 Learning Organization: The author designed a model for a learning organization: The model of the learning organization, with its three dimensional approach, proposes strategies within the domains of individual, team and organizational learning. He concluded by saying if lifelong learning is to become a reality, it will become increasingly important to ensure that strategies and actions support the development of learning organizations. If overlooked, the world of work could well be that area of peoples lives where learning is not explicit, supported and developed. Moloi K.C..et al., 2006 Educators perceptions of the school as a learning organization in the Vanderbijlpark-North District, South Africa: This article outlines the principal findings of research that sought to provide a comprehensive understanding of schools as learning organizations in the Vanderbijl Park-North District of the Gauteng province of South Africa. The quantitative research methodology used was of major importance in obtaining data that were grounded largely on the theoretical framework of learning organizations as wel