Life of Gangsters

â€Å"Quick a coppers coming!† said Dominic, Ringleader of the robbers. † I can't get this crap to start up!† said Vincent. (Vinc) â€Å"Oi stop in the name of the law!† yelled the police officer. At this point the police officer was running after the Hi-Jackers like a bullet. He was so eager to apprehend the law-binding criminals. â€Å"Yes it's started,† shouted Vinc. â€Å"Run him over, he's trying to mess us around!† Cried Dominic at the top of his voice. The Car backed up like the speed of lightning and hit the Police officer leaving him crippled like a boneless dog. â€Å"Bingo! Nice aim huh? Asked Vinc. The robbers had a good getaway leaving the policeman behind. The sun was setting and the view was beautiful. The robbers were cruising towards an urban area. â€Å"Dom where do you want to go now?† asked Vinc. â€Å"Lets go and see Dred, I need announce of weed.† Replied Clyde. They pulled up at an old wrecked garage. The garage was like a rusty old skip there was a sign that said â€Å"Dred Motor Company.† The sign was about to fall off it was hanging vertically. The robbers went inside and saw a big huge figure. â€Å"Yo what do you need today boys?† asked the huge figure. â€Å"I just need an ounce of weed,† said Dom. Dred pulled out a small transparent bag with some cannabis inside it. â€Å"Is this enough ma boy Dom?† asked Dred. â€Å"Yeah that's enough,† said Dom Dom was about to grab the bag, but Dred demanded for some money first â€Å"Money First† said Dred. Dom went towards the car and pulled out a machine gun. â€Å"Gimme the Flipin weed before I blow yo big ass off permanently!† Said Dom â€Å"Yo Dom you know im just messing around with you here take it its all yours† said Dred in a discreet voice. Vincent and Dominic drove off leaving not a footprint in sight. Dom was busy rolling up a spliff when Vinc pulled up at a petrol station. Bonnie filled the tank up to the maximum amount of petrol. He was about to drive off when the shopkeeper came out and threatened to shoot if they drove off. Dom came outside with his machinegun and shot the innocent shopkeeper in his head. As soon as they were about to drive off, 10 police cars and 3 riot vans surrounded the exits. Clyde shot four of the police officers. It was a narrow getaway, but they made it. Riot vans and police cars were chasing them. With Vincent's Skilful driving the pair lost the cops. Hey Dom this car is mashed man! We need to boost another car. Then do it, but make sure no cops are involved. They approached a little quite area and saw a Nissan skyline. Dom this will do us nicely. Within a minute they drove off in a Nissan Skyline without anyone knowing. There, nice new car and no cops, but we are broke. â€Å"How fast does this baby go?† asked Dominic. This one will do over 170mph. Great! I know some one who organises street races. If we enter this car into a race we are sure to win! Dominic took out his mobile phone and phoned a guy called Hector. â€Å"Hector its me Dominic, I need some cash. Are there any races going on?† asked Dominic â€Å"It's a good job you phoned me there is one today. Why what car you got?† asked Hector. â€Å"I got a Nissan R34 Skyline.† â€Å"Meet me at the cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ seven o'clock sharp.† Said Hector. Dominic and Vincent just arrive at the cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, and meet Hector. â€Å"Hey Dom long time no see and who's the other guy?† asked Hector. This is my man Vinc. Vinc this is Hector. Hector, Vinc is going to drive. Right then, let's roll! There are three other guys who you are going to be racing with. As soon as Vinc took a right the cops were on their tail. They caught Dominic and Vinc And arrested them on murder, grand theft auto and possession of drugs. They were sentenced life and both died in prison.

Holocaust drama stimulus

During our first lesson, as a class we went through a slide show of different shocking pictures. These shocking pictures represented what the Jewish people had to go through during the period in which the Holocaust took place. As a class, we discussed about how we felt looking at these pictures and these feelings and emotions were going to help us create a new piece of drama later on. The pictures that were being put in front of us made me feel disgusted, it made me feel disgusted that a whole race can happily discriminate and wipe out another race simply because they did not fit in or because they were not liked. I was shocked and angry because no one took action as no one really knew this massacre was taking place. We were going through the slide show which showed these horrid pictures of innocent women, men and even children getting killed, dead in piles of bodies or being in really bad conditions, these pictures made the atmosphere feel different; it made the atmosphere feel gloomy and depressing. Everyone who sat in the room went from feeling happy to feeling sad and miserable but suddenly a picture of a man who was behind all of this cruelty came up, at this point all I felt was anger but I also felt pity for him. I felt pity for him because I didn’t understand how someone can be this cruel to human beings. When the photograph of soldiers and one of Hitler laughing with some people was juxtaposed with the photos of the Jewish people in the camps it made me feel confused with different emotions such as anger and sadness. This was a picture which really made me think about what Jewish people really had to go through. I could see a huge group of heartless and cold blooded German soldiers at the back watching Jews being shot in the back of the head one by one, it seemed like it was some sort of entertainment for them and this was a day to day event. While the soldiers are just watching, a Jewish man is sitting beside his own death waiting to join all the others who have already been sent down. There was nothing he could do to stop him from falling into the ‘death whole’. I think there is some sort of juxtaposition in this picture. The soldiers who are enjoying and the Jewish who are next to their death have been put side to side despite their differences and despite the contrast between them. When we were thinking about being a Jewish person it made me feel miserable. People who were Jewish knew they were going to die one day or another, they were just waiting for their life to be taken by one of the heartless Germans, and living like this everyday with such a thought must have been horrific. I later then used these well-built feelings and emotions to help me maintain a strong and realistic character. These feelings made me focus on the character in which I was playing; it made me focus on what the character may have felt like and what the character went through. I then used all these factors to change the tone of my voice and the way I behave accordingly and appropriately to match the character I was playing. Task 1 After the discussion we were told to create three still images in our groups. We used all the emotions and feelings that a Jewish person may have had and interpreted it as our own. The still images had to include a family who represented three stages of their lives; 1. Life before anything happened 2. When they received the letter about what was going to happen to them 3. The family falling into pieces 1st STILL IMAGE; Happy family before anything happens. 1. The height between each character is different. Brandon is much higher then the rest, this shows that Brandon has higher authority and is a much important member of the family, they have used height arrangements in a clever way as the audience can quickly spot out who has higher authority within the family. 2. The group uses hand gestures to try and tell the audience thing. This particular gesture shows that the family are going to eat their dinner; this is represented with the way their arms and hands are positioned. However all the hand gestures are regular hand gestures, the group should have tried using different variations. 3. Facial expression has been used to express emotion, khaled has a smile on his face; this indicates that he is happy. However this expression looks unrealistic so to make this better khaled should have done a more realistic smile. 4. Proxemics has been used by the group to show the spacing between each character. They are all tightly packed in showing a good family atmosphere. 5. The group has tried to use their body language to show the audience that they are a family who are comfortable around each other. This is done well as they are well packed in together and are slouching in towards each other. The posture also shows the same, the way they are sitting around each other shows that they know each other very well. 2ND STILL IMAGE; this still image shows the stage in which the family has received shocking news 1. Facial expression has been used again by Brandon to show the emotions. The facial expressions that have been used by Brandon show that the family are in shock due to something that has happened or due to shocking information they have received. From this image you can see that Brandon has his face wide open while looking at the document. This has been successful as the audience can quickly spot out that Brandon is shocked. 2. Hand gestures have been used by khaled. In this image khaled look like he is holding something such as a young infant or a baby. However, holding a young infant does not fit in the scenario and it seems like it has been put there ‘randomly’. The group should have picked hand gestures that are connected to the situation. 3. The body language and posture between Rebecca and Calleh shows that they are trying to comfort each other as they are in distress; this has been done well as they are both very low down and their head are facing downwards while holding each other. 4. Proxemics has been used again in this image to show the relationship between two individual by putting them very close to each other. From the body image of the two characters, we can tell that they are in great distress and they are trying to comfort each other by holding each other’s arm. 5. The levels show you who are more upset within the family and who are in more distress. We can tell that the men are taking the situation calmly although they are in shock but the women are in more distress. 3rd STILL IMAGE; Stage in which each family member has to leave and make their own way. 1. Brandon has used facial expression; we can tell that he is not happy; in fact he is quite angry and upset about leaving everyone. His facial expressions are quite powerful as it looks realistic. 2. Their postures and body language gives a hint to the audience that they are not happy. Everyone has their head down showing that they are in distress but the character that had the higher authority (Brandon) is looking back at everything. 1. Everyone is now at the same height and stages, this shows that they are all at the same stages and shows that they all have the same values and destiny (they were all going to die). 2. Gestures have been used, each member have put out their hand, this tells the audience that they do not want to leave each other, and want to come back together as a family. Using arms as a method of connection within individuals is quite powerful. 3. Proxemics(the use of space) represent that they are all now separating from each other to go live their own lives, this is shown as they are further apart from each other and there is no way of coming back together. This group told the audience something new, we were told that Jewish family were like any other families and they lived a normal life such as having family dinners together. Jewish families had nothing that was different from other families but due to new laws and rules they had to leave each other and it’s not very easy to leave someone who is part of your family. This group have worked well as a group to show real emotions and all the gestures they have acted out were realistic making the whole performance realistic and effective. We analysed the poem at first as a class, we could feel the tension around the classroom building up as we were going through the poem. When the poem was being read by the teacher, it felt like a Jewish boy was talking to us directly, it felt so realistic as when the poem was read out, slow and emotional string music was going on in the background making every individual feel upset and emotional. The mixture of the long and short sentences (stanza) makes an impact. Also I like that the writer has used simple use of vocabulary for such a serious situation. However, while analysing the poem I realised that turning such a serious situation into a performance was hard because we had to bring all the different emotions together. When we then got into a group to start a performance, we chose music to accompany our performance. Our group chose music that had a slow pace to it, this fitted in well as our performance in a whole was quite slow. However it was very hard to find unique motions for different sections of the poem. During our performance we put a lot of emphasis on particular words, at the beginning of our performance one individual said; â€Å"and thrown into the fire†. We put emphasis on the word ‘thrown’ by saying it together at the same time with a strong loud voice and the person, who started the sentence alone, finishes the sentence. This made it so much powerful as it tells the audience how bad the Jewish were treated and makes the audience think. Also when shouting a powerful word out in a quiet surrounding, the audience gets shocked and feel more emotional towards the performance. When saying it we also dropped on the floor making it more effective as it was quite loud. â€Å"Lawyers, rabbis, wives, teachers, mothers†; we gave each word to different individual and they all said it in unison. I was sitting in the middle as a child ‘who had dreams, then had no hope’ with each character saying one word that was a career which I could have had. After saying their career they walked off, this showed that the dream I had, has gone and I have now no hope. Saying it unison made an effect as it shows how it not only affected a group of people, but it affected every individual deeply. We also used echoes. â€Å"We were taken away in the dead of night like cattle in cars, no air to breathe† The lights completely switched off and we all came together in a circle facing outwards. When the light turned back on I started saying ‘we were taken away in the dead of night’ then another individual said ‘like cattle in cars, no air to breathe’. The other two individuals where quietly whispering ‘no air to breathe’ creating an echo. It made the atmosphere feel tensed and spooky. We could have improved this as the lights were not switched on and off at the correct times not giving us enough time to go into our position, we should have made it clear to the person who was doing the lighting. Also as we panicked about the light we forgot few bits which we had to say together. â€Å"Smothering, Crying, Starving, Dying†, we all had a particular word to say and while saying it got into a position. We were all in a line in a different level. The person who said ‘Smothering’ were stood higher up and the person who said ‘dying’ was completely on the floor. This showed the different stages a Jewish person went through. Saying it in unison showed that everyone went through the same stages and ended up in the same place ‘dying’. I think this really worked well as saying it in unison and doing the movement to match the word really explained each stage that a Jewish individual had to go through. â€Å"From the ashes, hear our plea†; we said ‘hear our plea’ together as it made it more clear to the audience that ALL the Jewish children were upset and frustrated and wanted someone to listen to them. Our motion to this was sitting on the floor with our arms out looking upwards as if we were praying to have justice and for people to listen to us. I think we could have improved this by saying this together at the same time and improve our timings. â€Å"This atrocity to mankind can not happen again†; we shouted out ‘can not’ together to show our anger against what has happened and show that this certainly cannot happen again. I personally believe this worked well as it showed our anger because we did not shout many things out so shouting these particular words out really meant something. At the end we all got in a line and sat down, we then each said few words from this sentence; remember us/, for we were the children/ whose dreams and lives/ were stolen away. After saying our section we looked down and the lights slowly switched off. I think this was a good end because it seemed like we came back from dead to give a message to everyone and then went back. I believe that we worked well as a group and rehearsed well towards our performance. We had few errors during our performance in which one individual forgot to say something and some repetition were forgotten but these errors were not noticeable.

Climate effects from historical volcanic eruptions Research Paper

Climate effects from historical volcanic eruptions - Research Paper Example The change in climatic conditions as observed by the scientist was as a result of volcanic activity. The paper will explain the various climatic effects that resulted from volcanic eruption in the past1. The change was linked to the eruption of the Laki fissure system. Laki fissure system was a chain of volcanic activities that results to the movement of lava through several cracks in the ground rather than from a single point. The eruption happened in Iceland. The Laki eruptions took place in more than 8 months and produced about 14 km3 of basalt that was made up thin, black and fluid lava. The eruption also resulted to production of ash clouds that made their way into the stratosphere. The ash clouds formed a dense haze across Europe which resulted to blockage of the sun’s rays from reaching the ground. In addition to the ash, the eruptive clouds that came out of the fissures consisted mainly of high quantities of hydrogen chloride, sulfur dioxide and hydrogen Fluoride gases2. These gases combined with atmospheric water to produce acid rain that lead to death of livestock as well as destruction of vegetations and crops. The effect was however severe in Iceland where seventy five percent of the livestock and twenty five percent of the people died from the toxic impact of the volcanic activities. The impact of the eruption was also felt in places far away from Iceland. During the period the United States recorded low temperatures. In fact, the temperatures in the northern hemisphere decreased by over a degree Celsius. There are various reasons on how large volcanic eruption may have an impact on the global climate. Volcanic eruptions often produce large quantities of carbon dioxide, a gas that is associated with the green house effect. Carbon dioxide is known to trap gases that are been radiated form the surface of the earth forming an insulations around the earth. The green house impact is essential for human survival as it maintains the temperatures

Week 6 Assignment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Week 6 Assignment - Research Paper Example Business practices differ from one state to another based on the company culture in the respective countries. The appreciation of a county’s entrepreneurial culture and hierarchy allows smooth running of commercial activities devoid of unethical circumstances. There are multiple challenges associated with ethics in global business; however, there are various roles that standards plays in the same setting. This paper seeks to examine the need and the importance of establishing a global set of ethical standards, the history and growth of international ethical standards, as well as the challenges that governing bodies face. The accounting field is a constantly growing and changing industry. Accounting was regarded an area with high ethical standards until recently. The business world has recently experienced high profile failures through unethical behavior. Conducting business internationally may cause numerous ethical concerns. Some of the ethical issues are corruption, diverse cultures and customs, human rights, and different working environments. The economy of today is becoming globally smaller; for this reason, corporate institutions across the globe are becoming co-dependent on one another on local and international viewpoint. For instance, labor, information technology, raw materials, and finance. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants draws the behaviors within the United States during the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), outlines international ethical standards and practices. The principle of one ethics system requires the understanding of the ideologies and operations of both standards bodies as well as similarities amid them. The AICPA is an American based professional organization for certified accountants. The key objective is this institution is to provide sufficient resources, set professional and ethical standards to certified public accounting

Three Interesting Articles about an Issue Related to Money and Capital Assignment

Three Interesting Articles about an Issue Related to Money and Capital Markets, Financial Markets, Financial Instrument - Assignment Example The first article "Economists are rethinking the view that capital should not be taxed" relates to policy making. Taxation is one of the major tools of fiscal policy. The policy makers consider the canons of taxation put forth by Adam Smith but some markets are so complex that it is almost impossible to achieve all the objectives of these canons: There are trade-offs. This article probes into the usefulness of tax on capital gains. Traditionally, taxes on capital gains have been low because of the belief that higher taxes would have an impact on growth. This article provides arguments against this view and suggests that taxing capital gains is a good idea. America’s current corporate-tax system is being blamed for the struggling economy. Currently, the tax rate on capital gains is 15% which is lower than in many countries. Since the 1970s and 1980s, many economics have believed that this tax must be made lower. Some argue that there should be no capital tax at all. Governments have to tax some part to restore equality and to fund public goods but there is an inevitable trade-off: taxes have an impact on consumption. Negative responses to taxation are harmful for the economy. Taxation has been dealing with inequalities that related to pay differences and these inequalities were addressed through taxation on labor. However, capital tax has more complicated implications because when tax affects the level of investments and savings, it has an impact on future growth and consumption. The economic sector has incessantly appealed the policy makers to cut the rate of capital tax and it was, in fact, brought down to more than half from 1950 to 1980. There is pressure for more and zero capital tax has been recommended by most economists. Messrs Piketty and Saez have argued that lower capital tax has brought more inequalities and lesser growth. They argue that taxing capital gains is not a bad idea because the capital markets are imperfect and it is appropriate to tax capital to provide social insurance against risks. It is commonly believed that capital investments are very sensitive to the changes in tax rates. In order to keep these investments running in the future, zero tax on capital gain should be employed. This belief is reputed by the argument that most of these taxes are paid by working-age ad ults who are saving for their retirement. Therefore, they are going to save regardless of the fact that their savings are being taxed. Some economics argue that the conventional view of taxes has been ignoring inheritances. Taxing hard workers who have earned their income due to their ability seems to be unfair as those who have done nothing to earn their income are exempt. Messrs Piketty and Saez found out that the capital-output ratios

The concept of language standardisation and an analysis of its Essay

The concept of language standardisation and an analysis of its application to the history and development of the English languag - Essay Example Some languages such as Greek, Sanskrit and Spanish have been given greater importance compared to others because of their richness of expression, whereas other languages have been regarded as inferior to them because of their lacking in these elements. According to Wardhaugh (2006, p.1), language standardization is the process whereby the language is â€Å"codified†. This process of codification of the language can be done by a number of ways such as the development of language, spelling books, dictionaries and at times even literature too. Elaborating upon this view, standardization of language encompasses presenting and storing the language in an official way so that this variety of the language can be given the status of the preferred and most accurate variety. Each language manifests itself in an array of varieties, and is essentially regarded as an aggregate of all these different varieties (Wardhaugh 2009, p.23). Hudson (1996, p.22) refers to the variety of language as t he â€Å"set of linguistic items with similar distribution†. He claims that Canadian English, London English and the English that is spoken in football commentaries are all a variety of the language English. ... For instance, for Ferguson (1971, p.30) a variety is a body compromising of human speech patterns and a large collection of elements and their organization which is able to function in any formal context of conversation and is adequately identical to be evaluated by the available methods of synchronic explanation. This follows that a complete homogeneity is not needed and there is always some variation on existence at which ever level language is interpreted, be it a dialect of the language or a group or the language as a whole. Language, when subjected to the process of standardization, starts to undergo a continuous progress with respect to this process. Standardization is not an ideology that has an impact on language in a particular era and then finishes to further have any effects on it as time progresses. On the contrary, the process of standardization is never a universal and complete process; rather it is in state of being enhanced and improved in the populations (Stein & Ost ade 1994, p.19). Standardization does not necessarily have the same impact on every language. It affects those languages more which are not only in use by the majority of the population but also encompass a sense of nationhood or the notion of a shared identity. Observing the standardization of language from the vantage point of a student of linguistic change, it can be seen that standardization entails the creation and promotion of non-localized norms of language usage. Analyzing the variations in language from a sociolinguistic perspective, it can be established that it is not easy to fathom the process of language standardization (Stein & Ostade 1994, p.19). Duranti (1997, p.45) furthers upon the concept of language

Compare and Contrast the theme of Good verse Evil in the two short Essay

Compare and Contrast the theme of Good verse Evil in the two short stories Barn Burning by William Faulkner and good Old Country People by Flannery O'Connor - Essay Example In both these stories, there is a struggle between good and evil but the outcome of the struggles differ from one another. The story Barn Burning is about the youngest son, Sartoris Snopess struggle of trying to do what is right for his family, against the wishes of his own father, Abner Snopes during the post Civil War period. Sartoris or Sartys wish to keep his family together is tested in the beginning of the story itself. When his father Abner was charged for arson, he knows that his father is wrong. But, Abner by constantly reminding him of the importance of family elicits a favorable response from him. He tells Sarty, "You got to learn to stick to your own blood or you aint going to have any blood to stick to you." (Faulkner). That is, Abner instills in Sarty that only if an individual is loyal to the family, even if it is right or wrong, he will in turn get familys help in needy times. But, in the course of the story Sarty feels an aversion towards his father because of his wrongs and violent behavior. Abner exhibits violence towards Sarty and also others who questions his authority. Sarty descri bes his father as: "There was something about his wolf-like independence" (Faulkner). So, the whole family including Sarty and his sisters dislike him. The main theme of Barn Burning is Sartys desire to stand by good and fight the evil which is represented by his wicked father. That is, when his father was bent on burning down Major de Spains barn, Sarty reveals to him about his fathers intentions, thereby leading to his fathers death and victory of good over evil. The theme of good verse evil is depicted in the story through Sarty’s struggle between loyalty for his family and morality. Similarly, the story Good Country People presents the theme of good verse evil. The protagonist of the story, Hulga is a thirty two year old woman. She had lost one leg in an accident

Hewlett Packard Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hewlett Packard - Essay Example Their e-services are based on is based on a multi-operating system strategy that leverages a suite of integrated applications upon which dynamic e-services can be built (Cook, 2001). Their e-services strategy revolves around creating and delivering services over the net. To position itself as a company for helping a business mature of the internet, HP needs to have three initiatives – the ability to deliver highly reliable systems, the eagerness to supply services over the internet, and the support of the proliferation of mobile devices clients use to stay in touch with the office and associates. HP’s internet business model was supposed to provide customers an end-to-end solution but it failed to achieve its mission. Although technology was the backbone of its operations and management functions, their control strategies were not in place. Knowledge portals in the form of internet, intranet or extranets have the most common function in communication forms. Portals help to attain well-versed and speedy transportation of knowledge in any form. This improves interdepartmental communication, gives easy access to information which means informed decisions. The emergence of knowledge management follows two paths. One is the application heavy IT oriented approaches which emphasize the acquisition and storage of knowledge. These include data warehousing, Yellow pages, document management, decision support systems. Every person in HP has access to intranet and it is based on the standards established by the management. Initially intranet was used mainly for publication of information but gradually it evolved to mission-critical operations and now is vital for day-to-day operations. All departments at HP did not evolve at the same pace and did not reach the same level of sophistication. Although they attempted to standardize the use and application of intranet,

Psychology textbook Essay Example for Free

Psychology textbook Essay I didn’t know that psychology actually had a goal until I read the introduction to Psychology textbook. I am learning a lot of new things on this subject. For instance science of psychology has four main goals and they are as listed, described, predict, understand, and mental process and influence behavior. In my own words here they are. Describing: collecting information from the population by certain targeted people. The prediction goal is self explanatory it’s mostly meant for making assumption or predictions of what will become of your study before you actually know what will happen. The third goal of psychology is Understand, in this area you never really know when the information that you learn will change the next day or even within the next year. Psychology is a continuously growing field and the information that is gathered is only considered as theories and always changes, sometimes without knowledge or notice. Lets move on to influences which in my opinion one of the most used in everyday life . for instance a toddler is encourage to learn how to walk and talk. And a teenager can be pressured into doing things and making choices that they wouldn’t originally have made without the influence from their peers. Influencing people can be good too. For instance you can be influenced by coworkers and supervisors to take an open position that they feel you would get with no problem. Another example is to get the influence to do better than you are currently doing whether it be work, school, or making a better relationship with you family. The Biology and behavior was hard for me to decide what section to write about because there were so many to choose from. I didn’t want to be wrong about this section so I decided to pick the part that stood out the most to me. I am going talk about the Nervous System. It’s a really important part of the body because it helps you maintain consciousness and your behavior. The nervous system has billions of neurons. They are too, a very important part in the body because they do things such as sending messages from one end to the other end of the neuron. They are also called wires. To show why the nervous system is a really important part of the body, I will use the wires in a radio for an example. The wires in the radio are the main connection for it to provide power to send to the wires that go throughout the radio in order to hear the sound and in for it to recognize what needs to be done when certain buttons are pressed. Without the power cord the radio would really have no use. When the power cord is plugged into a power outlet the power cord provides the ability for the radio to produce sound from the speakers. It enables the buttons to work properly so that you can press the play button on the radio and hear the tracks on a CD. The wires also give you the ability to actually hear the music that comes out of the speakers. The next topics I will mention are sensation and perception. First I will mention what sensation is, it allows your brain to connect with the outer part of your body and transfer it to the inside of your body to your brain. For example, touching things with different temperature let’s say you touch or hold ice. If you hold it the ice long enough you may begin to feel a numbing sensation and you may start getting cold or experiencing the chills or goose bumps. Another example would be touching something hot. Due to the high degrees in the object you may experience pain or even have burn marks on your skin. Now lets move on to Perception which n my words mean, getting information and making images of them. There are a few different types of perception for instance â€Å"constancy† this also has different types. But for now we will use size constancy. When you look at the very same object from different angles and distances, it may appear smaller or bigger than it really is. Picture looking at a large building out of a window on an airplane before it takes off of the ground and try watching it until you get in the sky. It will appear to be much smaller than it did when you were viewing it at a closer distance but you know the actual building didn’t get smaller, it was the distance that you were viewing it at that made it look a different size. We all must know that perception is just about the same in everyone and that’s the reason we are able to communicate with each other.

Triple Sugar Test in Microbiology Essay Example for Free

Triple Sugar Test in Microbiology Essay Triple sugar-iron (TSI) agar test- designed to differentiate among the different groups or genera of the Enterobacteriaceae, which are all gram-negative bacilli capable of fermenting glucose with the production of acid a. Differentiation is made on the basis of differences in carbohydrate fermentation patterns and hydrogen sulfide production. To facilitate observation of carbohydrate utilization patterns- TSI agar slants contain lactose and sucrose (1%) concentrations and glucose (0.1%) concentration which permits detection of the utilization of this substrate only. The acid base indicator phenol red- also incorporated to detect carbohydrate fermentation that is indicated by a change in color of the medium from orange-red to yellow in the presence of acids. a. Method to inoculate slant: stab and streak procedure which requires insertion of sterile straight needle from the base of the slant into the butt. Upon withdrawal, the slanted surface of the medium is streaked. Determining activities of the organism: a. Alkaline slant (red) and acid butt (yellow) with or without gas production (breaks in the agar butt): Only glucose fermentation has occurred. Glucose was degraded first. Since this substrate is minimally present, the small amount of acid produced on the slant surface is oxidized rapidly. Peptones in the medium are used in production of alkali. In the butt the acid reaction is maintained because of reduced O2 tension and slower growth of the organism. b.Acid slant (yellow) and acid butt (yellow) with or without gas production: Lactose and or sucrose fermentation has occurred. Since these substances are present in higher concentrations, they serve as the substrates for continued fermentative activities with maintenance of an acid reaction in both slant and butt. c.Alkaline slant (red) and alkaline butt (red) or no change (orange-red) butt- No carbohydrate fermentation has occurred. Instead peptones are catabolized under anaerobic and or aerobic conditions resulting in an alkaline pH due to production of ammonia. If only aerobic degradation of peptones occur, the alkaline reaction is evidenced only on the slant surface. If there is aerobic and anaerobic utilization of peptone, the alkaline reaction is present on the slant and the butt.

Ethical Examination of the Mortgage Meltdown

Ethical Examination of the Mortgage Meltdown The subprime mortgage crisis, commonly referred to as the mortgage meltdown, unveiled itself after a sharp increase in home foreclosures beginning in 2006, which unfolded seemingly out of control by 2007. American spending declined, the housing market plunged, foreclosures continued to climb and the stock market was shaken. The subprime crisis and resulting foreclosures prompted discord among consumers, lenders and legislators all bound to one another by a web of complex financial engineering. The event represents a turning point in the world economy and our culture as fundamental societal changes are needed to rebuild the relationship between the U.S. government, Wall Street institutions, and the average American. Unethical decisions from various parties have altered the way future business will be conducted as the current economic and political policies were unable to confront the crisis before it unraveled. This paper is focused on investigating the unfavorable effects of the curr ent financial system structure established on unbreakable bonds of linkage among American communities and financial institutions. Initially, many financial experts including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) believed the crisis would be limited within the arena of mortgage lenders who had accumulated these subprime loans. But as time progressed there was an evident spread into the prime commercial and residential real estate markets as well as an impact on consumer credit. In an April 2008 Global Financial Stability Report, the IMF criticized the excessive risk-taking and weak underwriting undertaken by under-capitalized institutions and recommended measures including ratings systems reform and a change in compensation schemes for managers of financial institutions (Smith, 2009, p. 2). According to the IMF, there was a collective failure by financial institutions for not properly managing risk. The New York Times columnist Michiko Kakutani (2010) would add there were flawed mathematical models that most financial executives did not really understand themselves (Kakutani, p. 1). Essentially, Wall Street firm s turned subprime mortgages into exotic, toxic financial products by making a fortune laundering and reselling, and they were enabled in doing so by the very ratings agencies that were supposed to police risk (Kakutani, p.1). Even as the quality of the underlying loans appeared sketchy, few could have expected how the severity of the subprime fallout would threaten the U.S. economy to the degree it has so far. The idea behind subprime loans is borrowers who do not meet the credit requirements for prime mortgage loans are required to pay higher interest rates and fees than prime mortgage loans. Since a significant portion of new home ownership expansion stems from buyers with a lower income compared to historical norms, the initial down payment is relatively low. This creates more risk for lenders and requires higher interest rates attached to the monthly mortgage payment. The difference between the social and economic impact of historical home ownership compared to the subprime situation is the earlier loans created real ownership and wealth, which could be passed along to future generations. The illusion of wealth in subprime lending has led to instability within families and communities as many low-income borrowers were enticed by the ease of becoming a first-time homeowner (Muolo, 2008, p. 277-303). Its important to consider how subprime borrowers came from lower income families. Due to lower savings, they are unable to pay the typical 20% down payment on a house, thus requiring near 100% financing. This new form of lending allowed families who had previously been excluded from home-owning to participate in affordable housing programs. It was even referred to as creative financing. The common question at hand is identifying who is to blame for allowing the capital market economy to create irresponsible home ownership. Much of the subprime homes never yielded real wealth as outright ownership of the home was highly unlikely. Subprime lending to low-income people illustrates how leaders in power are able to raise awareness to followers that home ownership is a moral obligation. The leaders have demonstrated their ability to raise followers consciousness about what is and ought to be important to them (Ciulla, 2003, p. 220). The idea of home ownership even became a political agenda to make people feel like they deserve a new home. Comparisons could be made that our government was almost behaving as a Jim Jones leader. Jim Jones appealed generally to impoverished and minority individuals who felt oppressed and besieged by a hostile world. Similarly, the government allowed subprime lending to target individuals who were historically turned away. ETHICAL ANALYSIS OF MARKET CONDITIONS Understanding the ethical behaviors of the subprime fallout is rather challenging as many dynamics stem from the individual as well as from a societal level. First of all, a new research paper conducted by three respected Irish economists point to a common factor of irrational exuberance among the real estate bubbles experienced in America and Ireland. In both countries, buyers and lenders convinced themselves that real estate prices, although sky-high by historical standards, would continue to rise (Krugman, 2010, p. 2). Consequently, this prevalent belief cannot be explicitly linked to an individual as society collectively accepted these trends. Additionally, the common social viewpoint that rising incomes would continue to accommodate the rising price of homes is not any individuals responsibility. Perhaps, the forecasting models used by economic experts were excessively optimistic, but this does not make them morally irresponsible. Robert Shiller (2008) argues the housing bubble that created the subprime crisis ultimately grew as big as it did because we as a society do not understand, or know how to deal with, speculative bubbles (p. 3). It is difficult to affix an ethical verdict to something as uncontained as the market. However, a slice of moral accountability should be ascribed to key leaders who have control in shaping the market. There was a form of regulatory imprudence as the people charged with keeping banks safe didnt do their job (Krugman, 2010, p. 2). While many regulators looked the other way, the bigger issue is the ideology based on free-market fundamentalism where deregulation was thought to strengthen the financial system. The Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, was criticized for maintaining low interest rates that further provoked subprime lending. Due to many stakeholders in the subprime story, blame has been placed on many factors such as a growing dishonesty among mortgage lenders, increasing greed among securitizers, hedge funds, and rating agencies (Shiller, 2008, p. 4). But, we can identify that Greenspan had direct control over key monetary policies such as interest rates, with foreseeable impacts. Justifying whether poor judgment was made in these decisions illustrates a moral question of his accountability. Many others question how well the government addressed regulation policies and the freedom given to banking institutions to issue reckless lending. It is also logical to believe the government essentially allowed an over inflation of homes in the market. Their openhanded efforts in rescuing weakening financial institutions beginning in 2008 with Bear Stearns, then AIG, and many others may indicate a form of duty the government has to help make amends for allowing too many Americans to have a mortgage they are unable to afford. The American financial system is filled with firms that disdain the need for government regulation in good times but insist on being rescued by the government in bad times (Kakutani, 2010, p. 2). Nevertheless, prescribing all of the liability upon the government or Federal Reserve is too unbalanced. The complex nature of the economic conditions related to the subprime crisis is larger than what any single stakeholder could instigate. Helping to fuel new mortgages, brokers sought to attract home-buyers with no money down agreements. Some likely acted of the premises that housing values and real incomes would gradually keep climbing to create a win-win situation for both parties. Again, to assign a moral indiscretion to a specific mortgage broker supplied with the best available public information to guide potential buyers is unsupported. It is not appropriate to directly attribute their actions to the subprime meltdown. But, as we continue to analyze behaviors we will see how many individuals took advantage of the economic zeal that fueled the subprime crisis (Cohan, 2009, p. 92-108). Much of what has been discussed points to the common belief of increasing prosperity and as well as a general unsupported belief in maintaining such high growth. There is quite a fine line between having sustained optimism for a bright future and a greed-like attitude that tries to hide the reality of an eventual economic decline. Would it be acceptable to morally blame society as a whole for overlooking the apparent signs of danger? Not fully. Yet, as more players in the market are outlined in the following sections we will see how the rules of the game may have deliberately hurt others. ETHICAL ANALYSIS OF KEY PLAYERS To expand upon the market condition section previously discussed the moral responsibility in the transactional loan process is analyzed next. There is a duty for each party to have transparency and truthfulness when completing a deal. Ideally, the consumer is obligated to pay loans they agree upon with the broker. As government leaders portray the promise for all Americans to have prosperity, home ownership became a reality for the most economically impoverished people. We begin to see a fabrication of falsely portrayed subprime loan applications by consumers captivated by these lucrative opportunities to have a new house. It would seem morally wrong for a person to falsify information, as most people should only want to acquire a loan they can manage with financial responsibility. However, the self-interest of satisfying their desire overcame the normal way of managing finances. There also presents a moral hazard to the broker who works for commission by getting people to sign agree ments and has no financial liability afterwards. Is the broker seeking the best interests in protecting customers? We realize the lack of concern by many brokers who overlooked the details. Ironically, as many of the brokers did not fully consider the unethical transactions, they are now the ones out of a job (Andrews, 2009, p. 133-148.). Furthermore, the lenders or banks are presented with ethical considerations as to how well they scanned applicants before providing loans. Were loan requirements not strict enough on purpose? It would seem a bad business practice to grant loans knowing customers will have late or no payments towards the principal of the loan. As we have learned, the banks ended up selling the bad loans to investors. The analysis up to this point seems to be pointing toward the idea that owning a home is becoming a morally acceptable idea and a basic right for everyone. Envision subprime loans as being a prescription drug. When placed in the hands of a diagnosed person in need of the drug, it can bring about social good, but if given to a teenager, who has no need for it, the drug can lead to destruction. This illustration shows how subprime loans require proper structuring to provide the most good. ETHICAL ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND INVESTORS Containing the misfortunate subprime loans solely between the lender and consumer could have benefited and alleviated the crisis if the loans were able to be paid by the new homeowner. But, due to lenders not making any profit on the loans they are forced to sell bad mortgages by packaging them in the form of collateralized debt in hopes of selling to investors who believe the value of the mortgage assets will increase. Again, we are confronted with the moral issue of how transparent these debt packages are represented. Do investors deserve better warning of the extreme risk of buying mortgage debts? Who is ultimately ethically accountable for selling bad debt? Everyone seemed to be caught up in this euphoria where no one expected anything bad to happen. To break down some of the moral culprits of passing along bad loans, many financial agencies were persuading clients to invest in bad debt, while at the same time these organizations sold off the loans to avoid any further losses. The apparent misuse seems morally wrong as they knowingly caused harm to investors. The rating agencies are also tossed into the blame game. Wall Street firms knew how to game the system; they knew how to get the rating agencies (which were eager to collect big fees for their services) to ineptly rate dangerous bonds (Kakutani, 2010, p. 2). Who is to protecting the financial stability of the economy by inaccurately rating risky subprime loans? Too many people assumed continued economic growth and overlooked the likelihood of the bubble bursting (Mason, 2009, p. 81-90). Overall, much of the calamity of the mortgage meltdown is due to the collective failure of society in a business and government sense to foresee the collapse, making it difficult to assign re sponsibility. PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACTS The various examples presented have illustrated the psychology involved in the real estate bubble (Schiller, p. 4). From Paul Masons (2009) book we not only have witnessed capitalisms tendency to expand the power of the market to push for the maximum freedom (p. 171), but the tendency for a double movement as ascribed by the Hungarian philosopher Karl Polanyi. As free market expansion oftentimes reduces the relationships between families, nations, and social classes to a mere commercial level based on money, a counter-tendency arises to defend common human values and community. The dynamics of the economy will require a willingness of ordinary people to impose limits, standards and sustainability on capital (Mason, p. 172). The current form of our markets have possibilities for limitless growth, yet the often selfish and unequal society in which we live in has created repeated financial distress. PHILOSOPHICAL IMPLICATIONS As many people point to banks for significantly contributing to the economic downfall, understanding how philosophers approach the situation is important to further our awareness of the problem. The premise of Immanuel Kants categorical imperative is based on the morality of the act, not outcomes, meaning an act may be done for the right reasons, even if it has bad consequences (Ciulla, 2003, p. 95). So, how can a lending institute be judged as unethical for issuing loans to help customers purchase a home? The morality failure, based on this stance would not fall on the bank. But, consider Kants statement that all rational beings stand under the law that each of them should treat himself and all others never merely as a means but always at the same time as an end in himself (Ciulla, 2003, p. 107). If the bank fails to appropriately evaluate the clients ability to pay back debt, then they are treating the client as a means for their own financial benefit and are eventually leading the ir clients to an ethical failure. On the same token, the brokers who never bothered to properly perform background checks on their clients were also satisfying their own financial desires, rather than helping customers make sound financial choices. John Stuart Mills utilitarian approach emphasizes multiplying happiness, or making life better for the majority of stakeholders in an organization, a community, or a country (Ciulla, 2003, p. 143). Therefore, Mill would view the lending institutions as providing moral value to the individuals seeking to gain home ownership. The general economy and government polices were allowing and expanding housing programs, in which there was a collective agreement that having people buy homes was a good strategy for the country. We now realize the greatest good often looks different in the short term than in the long term. In retrospect, too much emphasis may have been placed on the present and not enough concern on potential consequences of too much lending. The multiplication of happiness for those involved in subprime lending only lasted until the foreclosures and collapse of the banking industry began. Just as Kant and Mills viewpoints speak of the moral behaviors among the parties involved, Ayn Rand offers insight by arguing that every man is an end in himself, he exists for his own sake, and the achievement of his own happiness is his highest moral purpose (Ciulla, 2003, p. 47). Her position seeks happiness proper to man and does not advise seeking happiness through fraudulent schemes as this approach will lead to frustration. She believes moralitys purpose isnt to command you to sacrifice your interests for the sake of others but rather to teach you the rational values and virtues happiness in fact requires. (Ghate, 2009, p. 3). In hopes of restoring society to the place we were before the collapse, Rand would not place the primary blame on the people, but the immoral system in which they had to act. There should be a reevaluation of what genuine self-interest consists of and whether the pursuit for happiness is moral. DEATH PLEDGE As mortgages have become a norm in the American society, there is an underlying meaning to the origin. The word mortgage comes from the Latin words, mort and gage. Mort means death, and gage means a pledge to forfeit something of value if a debt is not repaid. The basics of mortgages have remained the same; high value real estate which cannot be funded by most people results in borrowing money to buy property. Many people are enslaved to meet the death pledge they signed. Borrowers should be aware of what they are doing and realize it is not always justifiable to blame the banks, as they ultimately cannot force an individual to take on a mortgage obligation. (Marples, 2008, p. 2) There seems to be a moral dilemma confronting families who still owe more on their mortgages than what their home is worth. Should they sacrifice to pay their mortgage even though their homes value may not recover for several years? Or should they simply walk away (Merrel, 2009, p. 2)? If they made an agreement with a lender to pay the loan, then on the surface it would seem morally right to continue paying for the home. After understanding the significance of a death pledge, we could argue mortgages are not ethical documents, they are legal contracts (Merrel, 2009, p. 2). So, if a person decides to stop paying their mortgage, they simply pledge the ownership of the home back to the lender. Nevertheless, realize a mortgage contract entails a promise to pay and walking away from a promise in a way leads to a breach of ethics. It seems that determining whether it is morally justifiable in walking away has to be examined on a case to case basis. In respect to the people who lost their homes due to unemployment or other valid reasons, they have a right to be upset for how the careless decisions of others hurt their American Dream. It has turned into just that, a dream, as society allowed people to believe they deserve a home they cannot afford. John Rawls, a Harvard philosopher, offers insight to the economic and moral issues societies confront regarding distributive justice. He argues as self-interested rational beings governed by principles that oppose discrimination, everyone should have equal liberties and fair distribution. He speaks of inequalities among social class wealth as only being just if and only if they are part of a larger system on which they work out to the advantage of the most unfortunate representative man (Ciulla, 2003, p. 158). Why should we be making life better for those who are already well of with nice homes and do nothing for those who are already underprivileged? Perhaps, as in the case of subprim e lending, there was an outreach by leaders to provide equal opportunity to the least advantaged persons. In order to learn from the U.S. financial crisis, we have to enforce action by people who see it as their duty to protect the American people. We have to focus as much on the regulators as on the regulations (Krugman, 2010, p. 2). Financial consumers need protection from being taken advantage of or else we will have failed to learn from our recent history and can expect to repeat it again. References Andrews, E. (2009). Busted: Life Inside the Great Mortgage Meltdown. New York, NY: W.W. Norton Company, Inc. Ciulla, J, ed. (2003). The Ethics of Leadership. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Cohan, W. (2009). House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street. New York, NY: Doubleday Publishing Group. Ghate, O. (2009, June). The Economy Needs Ayn Rand. BusinessWeek. Retrieved February 24, 2010, from businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2009/04/the_ economy_ nee_1.html Kakutani, M. (2010, March). Investors Who Foresaw the Meltdown. New York Times, March 15. Krugman, P. (2010, March). An Irish Mirror. New York Times, March 8. Marples, G. (2008, September). The History of Home Mortgages. TheHistoryOf. Retrieved February 25, 2010, from thehistoryof.net/history-of-home-mortgages.html Mason, P. (2009). Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed. London: Verso. Merrel, S. (2009, September). A Thorny Dilemma: The Ethics of Mortgage Walkaways. SmartNestEgg. Retrieved February 27, 2010, from smartnestegg.com/blog/2009/9/4/a- thorny-dilemma-the-ethics-of-mortgage-walkaways.html Muolo, P., Padilla, M. (2008). Chain of Blame: How Wall Street Caused the Mortgage and Credit Crisis. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley Sons, Inc. Shiller, R. (2008). The Subprime Solution: How Todays Global Financial Crisis Happened, and What to do About it. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Smith, V. (2009, April). IMF: Mortgage Crisis May Cost $945bn Worldwide. InfiniteUnkwown. Retrieved March 1, 2010, from infiniteunknown.net/2008/04/09/imf- mortgage-crisis-may-cost-945bn-worldwide

Early Christianity :: essays research papers

Christianity is now in our modern world one of the five major religions. The other major religions include Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism from which Christianity descended. Christianity was practiced before Christ, During his life, and after his life. After Christ ¹s life Christianity spread to become a main world religion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 63 B.C. Roman power spread to Judea, the Jewish homeland. At the time King Herod was the ruler of Judea, he accepted Roman rule and angered many Jews by doing so. After the death of Herod many Jews revolted against Roman rule for 10 years. At this time there were two main factions of Jews, one group, the Zealots wanted to rid Judea of Roman influence. The other group was waiting for a messiah as scripture had prophetized. The Messiah, or Savior would restore the kingdom to the Jews.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jesus is said to have been born around 4-6 BC. When Jesus was 30 he began his ministry. Many of the reasons that his religion succeeded were that it treated everyone equally promised eternal life and was centered on on your personal relationship with God. Jesus ¹ teachings included love for God, neighbors, enemies and yourself. The ten commandments and the basic foundation of Judaism was included in his teachings as Jesus was born a Jew.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jesus had 12 disciples, disciple means follower or pupil, even long after the death of Jesus these disciples would continue teaching about Jesus. The first four books of the bible were written by the Disciple these books are called apostles they are as follows Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Jesus became famous, because he appealed to the rich and poor alike, he had few or no possessions and he traveled all over what was then considered to be the world. Jesus attracted attention from both Jewish and Roman leaders.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Jesus visited Jerusalem around 29 AD, he found enthusiastic crowds greeting him as the messiah. However he was arrested for not worshiping pagan Roman gods and was sentenced to death on a cross. While he was hanging awaiting death he forgave those who had killed him and those who had worshipped him the day before were denying him. After his crucifixion he was placed in a tomb, on the third day he rose, and greeted his followers, further convincing them that he was the messiah.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Paul was originally a Jew by the name of Saul, who persecuted Christians.

The Path to the Chromosome Theory of Heredity :: History Science Biology Essays

The Path to the Chromosome Theory of Heredity The notion of the chromosome theory of heredity is very important to the understanding of evolution and genetics. There were many ideas, some correct and others not, which influenced the revolutionary discovery of chromosomal heredity. The main stones in the path to the chromosomal theory are the pangenesis hypothesis, the germ-plasm theory, and Mendel’s Laws. Pangenesis Lamarck expressed the idea that by simply using or not using certain organs they may be developed or atrophied and their offspring can then inherit these acquired characteristics. (Milner p. 375, 1993) It should be noted that this theory was not widely accepted largely due to the fact that the French word that Lamarck used in the sense of â€Å"must† was translated as â€Å"wants to,† which makes it sound as though the organism decides to change its body. Furthermore, Lamarck provided no mechanism by which this could take place. (www.ridgenet.net/do_while/sage/v1i8f.htm) Darwin was the one to give a mechanism for Lamarck’s idea. This mechanism is known as pangenesis. Darwin’s ideas of evolution were well founded in the beginning; however, as his theory progressed he reverted to Lamarckian thought to explain his observations. To begin his theory he started with the observations that there is variation in offspring. He wrote, â€Å"no one supposes that all the individuals of the same species inhabiting the same confined locality, are cast of the same mold†¦I am convinced that the most experienced naturalist would be surprised at the number of the cases of variability†¦as I have collected† (Chapter 2 of Origin of Species). He sees that there is a struggle for existence saying, â€Å"as more individuals are produced than can possibly survive, there must in every case be a struggle for existence† (Chapter 3 of Origin of Species). Finally, Darwin recognized that there is a survival of the fittest in that the organisms with the best variations for the continuance of the species live and those with variations that are n ot as useful to the continuation of the species die (Chapter 4 of Origin of Species). Darwin begins to diverge into Lamarckian thought at this point. Darwin wrote that, â€Å" slightly different changes in the conditions of life add to the vigor and fertility of all organic beings†¦the crossing of forms which have been exposed to slightly different conditions of life or which have varied, favours the size, vigor, and fertility of their offspring† (Chapter 9 of Origin of Species).

Phillip Larkin Essay

The statement â€Å"Larkin is a poet of grey moods, suburban melancholy and accepted regrets.† Is accurate and appropriate when looking at and reading his poetry. This is displayed through his various poems, including the ones I’m going to talk about; ‘Aubade’ and ‘The Whitsun Weddings.’ Both of which portray all three themes. The poem Aubade as a whole represents these three themes through the constant use of truncation in poem at the end of every stanza. The poem itself also represents the themes as ‘Aubade’ is about mourning the life we have in preparation for death, which in its irony comes under the first theme of grey moods. More specifically to the theme of grey moods within Aubade is through the quote, â€Å"I work all day, and get half drunk at night. /Waking at four to soundless dark. I stare† As this is in the opening stanza it sets the tone of the poem and portrays Larkin’s particular mindset. The monosyllabic language emphasises his reluctance in engaging in daily life as well as his depression. â€Å"Soundless dark,† being an allusion to death it portrays to the reader a certain outlook Larkin has on life due to these moods. The next quote to represent grey moods shows a pragmatic outlook Larkin has on life and thoughts. â€Å"Making all thought impossible but how / and where and when I shall myself die.† This quote from the poem is truncated to emphasise the inevitability of death itself. This quote yet again shows the outlook he has on life and the particular mindset Larkin is in which is largely influences his moods. Suburban melancholy is another theme represented throughout various poems written by Larkin, including ‘Aubade.’ Throughout this poem despondent outlooks on life is shown for example in this quote, ‘meanwhile telephones crouch, getting ready to ring / in locked up offices.† The personification effectively represents his distaste for life, working and daily duties again reiterating that the poem is about mourning life in preparation for death. The line in the quote saying, â€Å"getting ready to ring† can be interpreted as a symbol or a metaphorical representation of death calling. Another example displaying the theme of suburban melancholy is the quote, â€Å"all the uncaring / intricate rented world begins to rouse.† By saying intricate world meaning complicated it shows his outlook again on the daily life of society and human beings, possibly because they don’t share the same concern for death as he does. The words ‘uncaring and unrented world’ link to extinction and further links back to the theme of grey moods as well as accepted regrets as his attitude towards life is we are all going to die anyway so in a way what is the point. The theme of accepted regrets is evident throughout this poem and is shown in the quote, â€Å"Being brave / let’s no one off the grave† This rhyme and truncation emphasises Larkin’s outlook and acceptance within life and death. In this quote he accepts and understands that death is inevitable and Larkin acknowledges that it does not matter who he is or the decisions he has made in life it will not change anything. Death will still come. The poem ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ by Larkin as a whole represents all three themes through the structural use of truncation within stanzas to represent lines that are in a candid tone and also enjambment in Larkin’s descriptions of buildings and such as he admires buildings because they can stand forever and he fears death. The theme of grey moods is present within this poem in the following quote, â€Å"did my three-quarters-empty train pull out† The use of rhythm allows this line to flow in to the next line to further emphasise his tone and attitude. This quote also shows a metaphorical emptiness within Larkin as during this poem the time and place and setting have a relevance and meaning and he does not. Suburban melancholy is portrayed throughout these quotes, â€Å"Of blinding windscreens, smelt the fish dock.† The visual imagery at the beginning of this quote and then the olfactory imagery of the smell of the fish dock show sadness in his opinion and description of the landscape and his surroundings and how unappealing his society and life may be. Then in the quote, â€Å"Its postal districts packed like squares of wheat:† The simile emphasises the closeness and urban feel of the society again adding to the unappealing and dull nature and tone he sees in his surroundings. The final theme of accepted regrets is present within ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ in these quotes, â€Å"ready to be loosed with all the power / that being change can give.† This objective language shows Larkin’s experience on this journey and that events like this can change someone’s outlook on life but it hasn’t changed him and he accepts his decision for partaking in the journey. â€Å"And as the tightened brakes took hold, there swelled / a sense of falling.† This quote contains an aspect of visual imagery but shows a sense of falling to death. Death is inevitable and he believes that there is no hope, which he accepts and understands with the link to the sense of falling. Phillip Larkin is a poet is a poet of grey moods, suburban melancholy and accepted regrets and this as I have stated is unmistakable throughout all aspects of his poetry.

Research Article Analysis Essay

The purpose of the research study is to see if juveniles being employed affects delinquency and substance abuse amongst youth. The problem is that there seems to be a direct correlation between substance abuse and the intensity of work schedules while teens are attending school. The questions that are to be researched are why are youth who spend long hours at work more likely to be delinquent? What is the connection between those teens who work long hours and those who do not and how does it influence delinquency and substance abuse? The design of the study â€Å"includes the who, what, when, where, why, and how of an investigation† (Hagan, 2010, Ch. 3). The who for this study is U.S. students in eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades. The sample excludes students who dropped out or graduated during the survey period. Some of the students have jobs, and some do not. Those who do not were asked if they could work, what would be the ideal amount of hours they would want to work each week. The amount of hours teens work while in school is the what for the study. The when is 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999. During these years, the same students were surveyed to see how their circumstances had changed between eighth and twelfth grades. The where is the United States. The researchers are surveying random students in the eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades across the country. The why is to see if employment negatively impacts juveniles and contributes towards delinquency and substance abuse. The how is the way in which the study is designed so that the hypothesis can be addressed and the results will in some way resolve the research problem (Hagan, 2010, Ch. 3). The study is designed in a way to track students across a certain age range while also surveying them multiple times through a set time period to track any changes to working while in school. Delinquency and substance abuse are common amongst teens, but some teens may be more likely to commit delinquent acts and abuse sub stances than  others. This is a problem for researchers because it is not known if working many hours each week, in addition to attending school, causes students to be pulled away from social interactions with their peers, which contributes towards delinquency and substance abuse. An operational definition for delinquency and substance abuse is a self-report measure. During a self-report measure, the participants in the study give their own report of the way something makes them feel. In this case, it would be the number of hours worked or the numbers of hours unemployed teens would prefer to work while attending school. There is room for presentational bias because those being surveyed may not tell the truth about their actions. Inductive logic is a way to determine a theory or theories that may explain the results of the data. This study shows inductive logic in the results because the results determined that deviance was associated with those juveniles who do work, and not those who preferred to work. â€Å"Delinquency, marijuana use, and heavy drinking were significantly higher for adolescents who spent long hours on the job compared with adolescents who were jobless but preferred moderate hours of work† (Staff, Osgood, & Schulenberg, 2010, page 17). Deductive logic gives absolute proof of something. It begins with a premise that is assumed to be true, and the researcher infers what would be true if the premise is true. They are sometimes known as â€Å"if†¦then† statements. Deductive logic is shown in the results because the researchers assume that if a student works while in school, then they are more likely to be delinquent and abuse alcohol and drugs. This research study is quantitative because it puts the results of the surveys into numerical values that are expressed by charts. Quantitative research uses surveys and questionnaires to compile the data, which is what researchers used for this study. The researcher was not part of the investigation. It was all done by students across the United States. The methodology for this study is use surveys and questionnaires to ask students in the eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades over a four year span about their work history, alcohol usage, and drug usage. The population is all students in the eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades. The sampling method is to use students who remain in school throughout the survey period, and to exclude those who drop out or graduate. The findings of the study were those who were unemployed, but wished they could work were the teens with the highest rates of delinquency and substance abuse. The  researchers believe this is caused by a desire for the teens to feel like they are adults. They also believe this is because the students who wanted to work had loose ties between family and school. The author’s conclusions are that working does not necessarily contribute to higher delinquency and substance abuse rates. Neither does not working. Those who desire to work, but are unable to do so because they are too young, have no experience, cannot drive, or lack the necessary skills to perform a job properly are the juveniles who are the most likely to engage in delinquent acts, alcohol abuse, and subject abuse. The study could have been done differently by asking questions in a more anonymous way. Instead of asking surveys and sending questionnaires out, the students could be asked to voluntarily complete the survey. This could be done by using something like a voting booth. It is quick and easy. No one else would see the results, and it is completely anonymous. It also should not be limited to only students in the eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades. References Hagan, F. E. (2010). Research methods in criminal justice and criminology (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Staff, J., Osgood, D. W., & Schulenberg, J. E. (2010, November). Explaining the Relationship between Employment and Juvenile Delinquency. Crime and Delinquency.

Inactivity and Obesity Essay

Review the article â€Å"Physical activity and sedentary activity patterns among children and adolescents: A latent class analysis approach† for this assignment. As individuals and families spend more time in front of televisions, playing video games, surfing the internet, etc., incidence and prevalence rates of overweight and obese people in throughout the world increase. Based on the article, describe family, community, and school level strategies you would use in planning an obesity prevention program. The following items in particular will be assessed: 1. Identify two specific strategies (family, community, or school level) you would use to plan an obesity prevention program. Include evidence-based information as to why you believe these strategies will be the best ones to use. 2. In your opinion, when should obesity prevention start? What should be the ideal age to start obesity prevention, knowing that lifestyle has a great impact on whether individuals will become obese? 3. Provide empirical evidence to support your position as to when obesity prevention should start. Make sure to cite your sources. Introduction Studies of the health behavior of healthy individuals and families are closely correlated since without the support of a family, an individual would not prosper in healthy behaviors. This example hit close to home since there was someone at home always trying to gear my brother, sister, and myself in the right way. This might not be the case for other families and they might have different types of issues that are involved in the studies of health behavior of individuals and families. Human behavior plays a central role in the maintenance of health and the prevention of disease. Issues Involved Some of the issues involved in the studies of the health behavior of healthy individuals and families are the different strategies for establishing healthy eating habits in children and adolescents might be quite ineffective for changing maladaptive eating behaviors. This seems to be a major issue with families of all types of financial background. The majority of individuals that lack the monetary resource to buy healthier food choices seem to be at riskiest end. Also, maintaining a particular behavior over time might require different strategies than will establishing behavior. Studies Accomplished/Reasons they are Important Studies can be accomplished through different age groups and addressing certain behaviors cues associated with healthy families and individuals. For example, one might ask a teenage group if they have ever tried smoking or drinking. From this study, they can find out information concerning the individual behavior and why it is not conducive to healthy family behaviors. Two examples of studies accomplished from the reading are classical conditioning and operant-conditioning which each has its own way of learning behaviors. For example, classical conditioning modifies behavior by repeatedly pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus that elicits the desired response. This type of learning behavior is important it allows the studies to see what mechanisms triggers different people to behave a certain way. One of the most famous classical conditioning was taught in a previous class that mentioned the salivation of dog in response to a bell being rung. The reason behind this was that every time individual brought in food for the dog, they would ring a bell. Later, they found out that just the ringing alone would set of excitement in the dog. This is important because we find out what triggers an individual’s happiness and with little help, their behavior can be geared towards a healthier one. In individuals, if someone is praised on how well they look and that they are maintaining their bodies well, the compliments alone can trigger an individual to want more praises, thus maintaining a great physique. The second type of study conducted was the operant-conditioning which builds on classical conditioning and focuses on the hypothesis that the frequency of a behavior is determined by its consequences. One example would be that of rewards for positive behavior as well as decreasing behavior from punishment. If an individual, gets praises for cleaning their room and is told that if they discontinue cleaning their room, they will make their parents disappointed, that individual might not want the negative responses thus making them decrease their negative behaviors. Contribution to Existing Knowledge These studies contribute to the existing knowledge by showing us that health behaviors can be changed by the way we treat each other. Also, with the studies, we are able to see how an individual’s health behavior can be controlled by praises and can also eliminate negative behavior by adding negative consequences.

Psychotropic Medication Essay

A psychotropic medication is a drug that can affect the mind, behavior and emotions.   It can be utilized to treat several mental disorders.   In recent years, with the advancement of mental sciences, there has been a sudden increase in use of psychotropic medications for the treatment of several mental disorders.   However, it is still not clearly understood whether these would be safe and efficient over the long run.   Some of the psychotropic medications, which are increasingly being utilized, recently include antidepressants, antianxiety drugs, antipsychotics, and antiepileptic drugs (Weller, 2007, Thompson, 2001 & Kohen, 2005).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A study was conducted by Freeman et al (1998), to study the efficacy and safety of multi-drug therapy in the treatment of resistant (refractory) bipolar disorder.   In the past, physicians and researchers have faced a lot of difficulties in the treatment of bipolar disorders.   The severity of the disease and the range of symptoms that can develop vary hugely from one individual to another.   The length of the illness, response to treatment, chances of recurrences, outcomes, etc, vary from one case to another and depends on several factors. However, during the last half a century, the use of medications has really helped to improve the outcome of bipolar disorders.   Several drugs have come into the picture in the treatment of bipolar disorders, which have been utilized during various periods.   Some of the drugs include lithium, chloropromazine, carbamazepine, haloperidol, calcium-channel blockers, clozapine, risperidol, lamotrigine, gabapentin, olanzapine, etc.   Although, a variety of drugs are currently available for the treatment of bipolar disorder, it remains a real challenge to manage.   The range of symptoms are so vast that it is often difficult to manage it with a single drug.   Hence, a combination of drugs has to be utilized for a short-term period. The author researched various drugs utilized in the treatment including lithium, lamotrigine, carbamazepine, valproate, verapamil, olanzapine, nimodipine, benzodiazepines, amlodipine, neuroleptics, gabapentin, clonazepam, clozapine, and risperidone.   Studies conducted in patients consuming lithium and sodium valproate have demonstrated that the chances of recurrences were much lesser.   The chances of adverse effects were also slightly higher.   But, weighing the disadvantages against the advantages demonstrated that valproate and lithium combination was efficient.   On the other hand lithium utilized along with carbamazepine demonstrated that only in certain cases this combination was effective and safe. However, in comorbid disease of the brain, the combination was best avoided.   Studies have shown that the valproate carbamazepine combination has a synergistic effect, but there are associated dangers of serious side effects.   Hence, it would be advisable from preliminary tests itself to avoid this combination.   To several extents, the data currently available seems to be inconsistent and there is an urgent need to conduct comprehensive drug trials.   The physician should be able to determine the risk of developing adverse effects and accordingly modify the treatment. The main issue of combination therapy is that there are greater chances of damage occurring due to associated drug interaction and individual actions of the drug.   However, as the drugs may have a synergistic effect, the potential for huge amount of benefits also exist.   Another adverse issue that exists with combination therapy is the potential for not complying with the treatment plan.   The patient may stop taking the drugs due to the several side effects (Freeman et al, 1998).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Studies have demonstrated that in spite of a dearth of long-term studies (to determine the safety and efficacy of the drug), many drugs are being utilized in children.   This is the most sensitive age group, and any negative reaction can have a life-long effect.   Currently the drugs utilized in children have been only assessed for their short-term and medium-term effect.   Many drugs, which seem to be safe, are seldom effective for long-periods of time.   However, many drugs that do seem effective may not in fact be safe. In a study conducted by Hussain on children suffering from ADHD, he found that about 25 % of the patients administered olanzapine and 30 % administered risperidone stopped the drug due to several reasons.   The main reasons for stopping the drug included poor response during the initial stages of drug therapy and the development of several side effects (such as sedation, confusion, agitation, nausea, vomiting, etc).   After a period of three months, there was an improvement in the symptoms and signs of ADHD. Another issues, which also need to be considered in adolescents, are the issue of drug compliance.   Children are more likely not to comply with treatment compared to adults.   Children may not comply with the doses when the side effects associated with the drug are high.   Many children would not be consuming the drug as they feel that it would not be beneficial in any way.   However, scientists do feel that with the advent of advanced studying techniques and the development of safer drug profiles, the chances of developing side effects have significantly dropped in children (Weller, 2007).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During the breast-feeding period, it is important for the physician to note that any drug consumed by the mother would not only have an adverse effect on her, but also on the baby.   This is because the drug or its metabolite may be expressed in the breast milk.   Previously, women in urgent need of psychotropic medications were advised to avoid breastfeeding the child.   However, nowadays, the physicians would have to give a judgment call depending on the nature of the drug consumed and the risk of potential side effects. The chances of ill effects developing in the child depend on the quantity of drug expressed in the breast milk.   Children having liver function defects or those born prematurely are at a greater risk of developing side effects.   Besides, the heart and the kidney function also play an important role.   During the nursing period, the physician should be able to determine the chances of developing risk, and accordingly advise the mother.   It is very important to study the extent of the mental health disorder, the support from the family members, women’s chances of complying and adhering to the treatment, etc. It is important to note that during the nursing period, a healthy mother would be in a better situation to take care of the baby, than an ill mother.   It is also important to note that any drug, which has a beneficial effect on the body, would also be having a side effect.   Thus it is found that a single drug utilized in low doses would be having minimal amount of side effects compared to other drugs.   However, the psychiatrist may want to choose a combination of two or more drug in order to improve the benefits. In such cases, the risk for side effects would be high, especially in the baby.   The psychiatrist should work in close coordination with the mother, family members and the pediatrician In all cases, the chances of benefits should outweigh that of the risks from occurring.   In cases, the health of the mother is at stake, and she requires a combination of drugs, it would be advisable to stop breastfeeding and return to this healthy practice only when the drug therapy is completely stopped (Kohen, 2005). Recently, newer antidepressants drugs are being available in the market.   These antidepressants have fewer side effects, are more effective and act very fast.   Although, the chances of developing minor side effects were small in number, the chances of developing the more serious ones occurred on fewer occasions.   However, the recent drug trials have been unable to determine the long-term side effects. In this regard, more number of drug trials need to be conducted.   Many researchers have suggested that as chances of serious side effects are also present, it would be advisable to follow certain precautions. These include closely monitoring the drug therapy, administering for short periods of time, using other treatment measures such as psychotherapy as first line, starting from a low dosage and slowly increasing it depending on the patient’s response, stoppage of alcohol and other drugs, etc.   Certain warning signs need to be looked into to determine the chances of side effects from developing.   Studies have shown that usually minor side effects occur more frequently than the major ones. Studies conducted through clinical trials have demonstrated that the chances of side effects were particularly higher in those who consumed the drug than the placebo.   However, it would also be interesting to note that patients receiving the placebo took longer time to recover from the disease than those who received the drug.   If a drug has only minor side effects are well tolerated in the body, then it should be preferred to one that causes major side effects.   Psychiatrists prefer to use psychotropic medications for short period of time, in order to avoid the chances of side effects from developing (Jureidini et al, 2005). Another approach that also seems to be beneficial includes combining the drug with other drugs in order to decrease the dosage.   In all cases, the patient’s treatment with drug therapy needs to be closely monitored in order to determine the chances of side effects and benefits from developing.   As the effects of several drugs on the developing baby are not known, its use should be restricted during pregnancy and lactation.   Further research needs to be conducted in this regard (Jureidini et al, 2005, Kohen, 2005, Gazley, 2004 & Freeman, 1998). Psychotropic medications have the potential of causing side effects and also helping to improve the outcome of the condition.   The risk of side effects may be difficult to manage and to predict.   However, if certain measures are followed, they could be kept to a minimal.   Some of the measures that are required include:- Conducting detailed drug trials to asses the potential side-effects and benefits Ensuring that the drug trials are conducted for determining the long term effects Monitoring the drug administration of the patient Making a thorough risk assessment (weighting the risks and the benefits) in each and very case. Making sure that the factors, which would result in the development of side effects, are discussed and addressed appropriately. Taking care whilst administering drugs to pregnant women and nursing mothers. Taking care whilst administering drugs to sensitive groups such as children, elders, etc. Taking care whilst administering combination drugs (as they could have a synergistic effect) Seeking patient’s compliance and adherence to the drug therapy. Modifying the other factors that alter the course of the disease. To ensure that the drug are administered in low doses for short period of time. Using psychotherapy as an adjuvant.    References: Freeman, M. P. & Stoll, A. L. (1998). â€Å"Mood Stabilizer Combinations: A Review of Safety and Efficacy.† Am J Psych, 155, 12-21. http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/155/1/12 Gazley, J. (2004). â€Å"Sample Email Answer 7 – Psychotropic Drugs. What are the side effects?† Retrieved on December 12, 2007, from Ask the internet Therapist Web site: http://www.asktheinternettherapist.com/counselingarchive_psychotropic_drugs.asp Jereidini, J. N., Doecke, C. J., Mansfield, P. R. (2004). â€Å"Efficacy and safety of antidepressants for children and adolescents.† BMJ, 328, 879-883. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/328/7444/879 Kohen, D. (2005). â€Å"Psychotropic medication and breast-feeding.† Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 11, 371-379. http://apt.rcpsych.org/cgi/reprint/11/5/371.pdf Thompson, L. L. (2001). â€Å"Neuropsychological Testing.† In. Jacobson (Ed), Psychiatric Secrets, Philadelphia: Hanley & Belfus. Weller, E. B. (2007). â€Å"Issues in Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology.† Medscape. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/420268

AIDS Social Workers

Looks at the dangers, relationships with clients, treatment, socioeconomics, diagnosis, at-risk behavior, prevention, and public perceptions. This paper is an examination of the problems that the rising epidemic of HIV infection and AIDS poses to social workers, both as a direct issue in providing service to infected clients and as an indirect part of the overall job of social work. The prevalence of this devastating illness has had a profound effect on society as a whole. The consequences for social workers, however, are even greater, since the field services many of the patients most profoundly affected, either those who are suffering from advanced stages of the disease or those who are closely involved with the ailing. In order to provide the most effective service possible, social workers need to understand the stages of HIV and AIDS, the most current medical understanding of the ways in which HIV can be transmitted, some of the current treatments, and funding and other resources that are available to diagnosed.

The dynamics of employment relations in British Airways Essay

The dynamics of employment relations in British Airways - Essay Example According to the research findings employment relations refer to the collective and individual dimensions of labour and the associated buying and selling of this labour power. However, fundamentally the definition of employment relations does not remain restricted to the field of trade unions, government agencies and employer’s associations or processes of collective bargaining; it rather focuses on employment relationships. Poole has rightly defined the scope of employment relationships as a discipline concerning the systematic and organised study of all the aspects of employment relationships in the organizations. This relationship is generated when an employee sells his capacity of work in exchange for wages and other benefits. It also considers the potential disagreement between employees and employers and considers the broader context in which organizations operate, influence of the broader nature of economic activities, analyses the basis of conflicts and accommodations between employers and employees and develops interdisciplinary approaches based on ideas and concepts derived from sociology, psychology or even economics. This assignment analyses the various employee engagement strategies and employment relations strategies in British Airways and the associated policies and practices implemented by the organization. This is done in the context of suitability or fitness of these strategies with the present and emerging trends of business. The use of these strategies and their impacts in driving organizational performance and productivity are analysed in the project. The project also analyses whether and how British Airways evaluates the performance of its employees. Based on this analysis suitable recommendations are provided with regards to the current employment relationship strategies in the organization. This is done to ensure they are strategically beneficial for the organization and are cost effective too. Finally an action plan is provided w ith clearly defined processes and practices along with the likely outcomes they could generate for the organization. Findings Employment Relations in the organization British Airways began its existence within the public sector and had majority of its characteristics in tandem with employment relations of the public sector organizations. The organization was highly unionised and recognised sixteen separate trade unions. One of these was BALPLA (British Airlines Pilots Association). This union

Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition Essay

Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition - Essay Example Language pedagogy has always been my unflinching passion; and my experiences of teaching English as a foreign language primary school pupils (voluntary work in high school), helped me conclusively determine my goals. Observing the process of SLA, I was able to better comprehend the impact of socio-cultural impacts on learning and receptivity. Various elements such as critical age influence, personal motivations, and the overall environment –including social and domestic settings – in which these pupils were learning, combined to create their own dynamic reception framework. I realized that the role of a teacher is not only challenging but also essential in facilitating the development of linguistic skills and effective communication. Indeed, as Sir Christopher Ball put it â€Å"successful teaching is about winning the attention of the learner.† After completing socially-tailored A-levels, I jointly took up English Language and Linguistics and International Relations at Oxford Brookes University. I liked the Linguistics course’s focus on the relationship between language and meaning just as much as I enjoyed perceiving the interrelation between language and communication; the course also dealt with human development, the interplay between language and literature and the ideational concepts of descriptive linguistics. The "Psychology of Language"(B+) module, where I developed my interests in SLA, helped me appreciate the social implications of language acquisition, and "Methodology of Foreign Language Teaching"(A) helped develop a keen awareness of a range of teaching techniques (especially, microteaching). My enthusiasm for this program arises from my conviction that it shall allow me to explore each of the above facets more substantively.