Journal 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Journal 1 - Essay Example During the reconstruction, factors such as social, cultural, political and economic emerged as the root problems that made Haiti experience hard times in handling this process on its own (Ulysses 38). Cultural illiteracy, witchcraft, Haitian Vodou, political instability like the 1991 military coup that ousted Jean- Bertrand Aristide and the effect of imperialism are some of the issues Ulysses highlights in his article (Ulysses, 40). Former American President Bill Clinton stated that the issue of money to reconstruct Haiti was not the fundamental problem, but the Haitians themselves. The earthquake unearthed Haiti’s history that is darkened by colonialism, racism, segregation, witchcraft, cultural illiteracy and political instability. It made Haiti look like, â€Å"a backward and uncivilized black country hidden in the west† (Ulysses 41). In conclusion, Haiti’s problems and internal threats can be summarized into social, cultural, political, and economic factors, which have long been embedded in their history since their independence. The 2010 earthquake justified that these factors need to be adequately addressed in order to solve Haiti’s

The Phantom of the Opera Essay Example for Free

The Phantom of the Opera Essay The phantom of the opera is e novel by a French writer Gaston Lecroux. It was first published us a serialization in a French daily newspaper named â€Å"Le Gaulois† from September 1909 to January 1910. This story sold very poorly upon publication In book form and it was even out of print several times during the twentieth century . But the book is overshadowed by the success of its various film and stage adaptations The most notable of these were the 1925 American silent horror film depiction and Andrew Webbers Musical on 1986 The story take place in Paris on nineth century and is a romantic drama with a little action . There are three main characters , Eric , Christine and Raoul. Un fortuanally they are a love triangle with cristine in the middle . Raoul was cristine; s childhood friend . He saved her scarf from the sea and since they remained friends. Cristine’s mother and father both being dead and she lives with Mamma Valerious , the elderly window of her father’s benefecrtor Cristine’s father was a famous fiddler who played folk music and during her childhood Cristine listen many stories from her father about the â€Å"Angel of Music† who is the personification of musical inspiration. Before he died told her and Roul the story of Little Lotte , a girl who is visited by the Angel of the Music and possesses a heavenly voice Eventually Christine take a position in the chorus at the Paris Opera House. She begins hearing a beautiful, unearthly voice which sings to her and speaks to her. She believes this must be the Angel of Music and asks him if he is. The Voice agrees and offers to teach her a little bit of heavens music. The Voice, however, belongs to Erik, a physically deformed and mentally disturbed charismatic genius who was one of the architects who took part in the construction of the opera. He has been extorting money from the Operas management for many years. Erik kidnaps Christine to his home in the cellars. He plans to keep her there only a few days, hoping she will come to love him, and Christine begins to find him attractive but when she unmask him feeil horror by his ugly face which according to the book, resembles the face of a rotting corpse. Erik change his plans and he decides to keep her with him forever, but when Christine requests release after two weeks, he agrees on condition that she wear his ring and be faithful to him. Up on the roof of the opera house, Christine tells Raoul of Erik taking her to the cellars. Raoul promises to take Christine away where Erik can never find her and to take her even if she resists. Raoul tells Christine he shall act on his promise the following day, to which Christine agrees, but she pities Erik and will not go until she has sung for him one last time. Christine then realizes the ring has slipped off her finger and fallen into the streets somewhere, and begins to panic. The two leave. But neither is aware that Erik has been listening to their conversation or that it has driven him to jealous frenzy. During the week and that night, Erik had been terrorizing anyone who stood in his way or in that of Christines career, including the managers. The following night, Erik kidnaps Christine during a production of Faust (by drugging the gas men and switching the lights off, he spirits Christine off the stage before anyone turned the lights on). Back in the cellars, Erik tries to force Christine into marriage. If she refuses he will destroy the entire opera house and everyone inside with explosives he haw in the cellar Then Cristine realise that Raoul and Persian , an old friend of Eric’s from the past hae come to resue jer but they are trapped in Eric;s torture chamber. Attemping to save the people above she agrees to marry Eric. Raul and Percian find a way to escape and they fall into where Eric keeps the barrels of gunpowder. Fortunately, the Persian, Raoul, and Christine escaped and Erik is broken-hearted and asks them to bury him with the gold ring when he died. When the advertisement is published that â€Å"Erik is dead,† they make sure that Erik is buried next the lake. The author claims the truth of the existence of Erik. He tells that Christine and Raoul eloped to the Scandinavia. He also says that they found a skeleton under the Opera house,a skeleton which he attributes to the Opera ghost

Leading Quietly Essay -- Business and Management Studies Essays

Leading Quietly Leading quietly is the ability to influence individuals or groups toward the achievement of goals. Quiet Leadership, as a process, shapes the goals of a group or organization, motivates behavior toward the achievement of those goals, and helps define group or organizational culture behind the scenes. It is primarily a process of influence. Quiet leaders carrier a sixth sense and one who can envision the changing processes in the sense that, while influence is always present, the persons exercising that influence may change. Possession of influence depends upon the situation and upon the relevancy of the individual's skills and abilities to the situation. For example, if a particular individual has the expertise that is required to solve a problem, then that individual may be assumed to have some degree of influence over others. Quiet leaders are realist. They try hard to see the world as it is quiet leaders almost possess a sixth sense (Badaracco, p 11) I have so many ideas of what qualities a quiet leader should have that I often feel overwhelmed and cannot imagine how achieve these skills. There are many ingredients of effective leadership styles. I have read several books and articles on leadership and management. I have also participated in a few leadership training/education modules offered through my employers. There are many theories on what makes an effective or quiet leader. In the book, leading quietly, quiet leaders see the world as a kaleidoscope rather than a fixed target or a well-mapped terrain. Quiet leaders value trust, but they don’t forget how fragile it can be (Badaracco, 12). In my research, I discovered that there are many leadership styles and most are effective if used in the right situations. The directing leadership style would be needed for new hires, or less competent employees that show commitment and a desire to be productive. The employees at this development level would require very clear directions, and a lot of supervision. The atmosphere must be controlled and structured until these employees develop some competence. In today’s work force, many managers lead by the use of email. Instructions and guide lines are provided by connecting to online databases (Maccoby, 39). The coaching style would be useful for existing employees who have lost their sense of commitme... ...ers may feel a more positive association with the company. Companies that show a concern for their employee’s personal growth may find that employees will feel obligated to do a better job for the company. In conclusion, leadership is about service. The greater the ability to serve the needs of others, the more powerful and effective, are the actions of the leader (Cashman, p.23). While leaders lead by virtue of whom they are, leaders create value by virtue of their service. Leadership can be thought of as the dynamic process of assessing our unique potentialities to serve the needs of others like employees, co-workers, and customers. Works Cited: Blanchard, Kenneth, Patricia Zigarmi, and Drea Zigarmi. Leadership and the One Minute Manager. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1995. Kelly, Kevin, You can’t Make Leaders. Business Week 07 Dec. 1998: Enterprise My Company. Business Week Online Archives. Cashman, Kevin. Leadership in Business Today. Business Journal Serving Fresno. April 1998, i322295, p.23-47. Badaracco, Joseph. Leading Quietly. Harvard Business School Press, 2002. Maccoby, Michael, The Leader. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981.

Health and Medical Careers

There are hundreds of different medically related careers. Some of the jobs involve close contact with patients whereas others are to do with organisation and management or with providing essential support services. There are opportunities for people with all levels of qualifications from none at all, to post graduates and degrees. So don't think that you have to be VERY brainy to work in medicine because there is a job for everyone, as you will see from this presentation. To work in Medicine Basically, to work in health and medicine, you need: * Good communication and team work skills. A lot of the work you do will be as part of a team so you need to know how to behave and cooperate with other people. * To be reliable and conscientious. Your patients need to feel they can rely on you and come to you for any help. * Sensitivity, tact and understanding. (For those in patient contact) * An interest in science and technology. So don't just choose medicine because of your family, or because of the amount of money you get paid, that's just ridiculous. You need to have a genuine interest in science and technology. People with 5 GCSEs at Grades A – C * Dental technicians make dental appliances such as dentures, crowns and braces as well as fittings for people with facial injuries. It is mainly a workshop job and most dental technicians work in commercial dental laboratories. o You need to be good with your hands and be interested in science and technology. * Dental Nurses work with dentists in hospitals, community clinics and private practices. They prepare fillings and dressing, pass instruments to the dentist, attend to the patients and sometimes act like receptionists too. Therefore you need to be calm and have a pleasant manner. * Medical technology covers the area of clinical physiology and medical physics. Concerned with measuring how well various parts of the body function and it involves working with sophisticated electronic machinery such as scanners or working in nuclear medicine. The technicians assist the professionally qualified staff in diagnosing and treating patients. * Biomedical scientists work mainly in hospital labs, carrying out tests on bodily tissues and fluids. There are opportunities for those without any formal qualifications to work as medical laboratory assistants and assist those that are professionally qualified. * Pharmacy technicians make up prescriptions and prepare medicines, supervised by a pharmacist. Accuracy is essential when you are working with drugs, as mistakes can be highly dangerous. It's largely behind-the-scenes job in a hospital or in a retail chemist's shop. * Dispensing opticians supply and fit glasses and contact lenses, working from the optometrists prescription. They are not qualified to do eye tests themselves. You need to be good with people and also enjoy selling. For people with A-levels or equivalent, or with higher qualifications. * Doctors diagnose and treat illness, but they also have a role in preventing disease. Qualified doctors can specialise in general practice, surgery, psychiatry, obstetrics, orthopaedics, paediatrics, ophthalmology, oncology and many other areas. Three very good A-levels are needed, including Chemistry and often two other sciences. * Dentists treat damaged and diseased teeth and gums, and also carry out preventative and corrective treatments. Dentists must be skilled with their hands and good at dealing with people under stress. * Dental therapists and hygienists advise people on how to look after their teeth and gums. They clean and scale teeth, and carry out other treatments prescribed by dental surgeons. Therapists are trained to do fillings and extractions on children. Medical illustrator, pharmacist & optometrist * Medical Photographers record operations, post mortem examinations, laboratory specimens and injuries at various stages of recovery. Medical photographs are used for patient's records, to help in diagnosis and to record patients' progress. Medical illustrators make illustrations, diagrams, visual aids and displays. Their work is mainly used for teaching, health education, medical journals, textbooks and for presentations. * Pharmacists supply drugs, medicines, preparations and appliances prescribed by doctors, either in hospital pharmacies or over the counter in a retail chemist's shop. They have to know a great deal about medicine and their effect on the body. * Optometrists test eyesight to detect and measure faulty vision, and prescribe lenses to correct it. They must also spot any diseases, which can show up as eye conditions and know when to refer patients to a doctor. Most optometrists work in private practice, but some work in the NHS. * Clinical psychologists treat people who have behavioural problems, learning difficulties, and conditions like anxiety and depression through a mixture of counselling and psychotherapy. After a psychology degree, comes postgraduate training. * Health Promotion is an area where experienced health professionals can enter. It raises our awareness of how to live a healthy lifestyle. The work involves organising campaigns, providing advice and support to other health professionals and health service managers. * Podiatrists treat all kinds of foot problems from verrucas to ulcers. They also try to stop such problems arising in the first place. * Dieticians advise patients about special diets to follow to control a medical condition or as part of their general recovery plan. They also advise hospital catering staff on nutrition. They may also work in health and fitness clubs. * Orthoptists work with patients, often children who have defective vision, abnormal eye movements or other correctable eye conditions. They prescribe eye exercises and check on their progress. * Radiographers can specialise in one of two areas. In diagnostic radiography, they help doctors to diagnose broken bones and other conditions using x-rays, ultrasound and other techniques. In therapeutic radiography or radiotherapy, small doses of radiation are used to treat patients with conditions such as cancer. * There are many different therapists. Physiotherapists help sick and injured people, and those with disabilities, to be as physically independent as possible. They use exercises, massage, heat and electrical treatment, hydrotherapy etc. o Occupational therapists help clients to be more independent through everyday activities, which will get their minds, muscles and joints working properly. Patients may need help because psychiatric problems or accidents. o Speech and language therapists work with clients who have speech and communication problems, which they may have been born with, or which has risen due o illness, injury, or as a result of psychological problems. Therapists need to be patient, resourceful and have good communication skills. o Art, music and drama therapists help patients on general psychiatric hospital units, clinics, special schools etc. dance therapists have a similar role.

Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 17~18

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Jonathan Livingston Reaper Amy wore an oversized, tattered â€Å"I'M WITH STUPID† nightshirt and Local Motion flip-flops. Her hair was completely flat on one side and splayed out into an improbable sunburst of spikes on the other, making it appear that she was getting hit in the side of the head by a tiny hurricane, which she wasn't. She was, however, performing the longest sustained yawn Clay had ever seen. â€Å"Ooo ahe-e, I aya oa a,† she said in yawnspeak, a language – not unlike Hawaiian – known for its paucity of consonants. (You go ahead, I'm okay, she was saying.) She gestured for Clay to continue. Clay cued the tape and fiddled with the audio. A whale tail in a field of blue passed by on the monitor. â€Å"There's someone outside, Captain.† â€Å"Does he have my sandwich with him?† Amy stopped yawning and scooted forward on the stool she was perched upon behind Clay. When the whale tail came down, Clay stopped the tape and looked back at her. â€Å"Well?† â€Å"Play it again.† He did. â€Å"Can we get a feeling for direction?† Amy asked. â€Å"That housing has stereo microphones, right? What if we move the speakers far apart – can we get a sense where it's coming from?† Clay shook his head. â€Å"The mikes are right next to each other. You have to separate them by at least a meter to get any spatial information. All I can tell you is that it's in the water and it's not particularly loud. In fact, if I hadn't been using the rebreather, I'd never have heard it. You're the audio person. What can you tell me?† He ran it back and played it again. â€Å"It's human speech.† Clay looked at her as if to say, Uh-huh, I woke you up because I needed the obvious pointed out. â€Å"And it's military.† â€Å"Why do you think it's military?† Now Amy gave Clay the same look that he had just finished giving her.† ‘Captain'?† â€Å"Oh, right,† said Clay. â€Å"Speaker in the water? Divers with underwater communications? What do you think?† â€Å"Didn't sound like it. Did it sound like it was coming from small speakers to you?† â€Å"Nope.† Clay played it again. â€Å"Sandwich?† he said. â€Å"Sandwich?† â€Å"The Old Broad said that someone called her claiming to be a whale and asked her to tell Nate to bring him a sandwich.† Amy squeezed Clay's shoulder. â€Å"He's gone, Clay. I know you don't believe what I saw happened, but it certainly wasn't about a sandwich conspiracy.† â€Å"I'm not saying that, Amy. Damn it. I'm not saying this had anything to do with Nate's† – he was going to say drowning and stopped himself – â€Å"accident. But it might have to do with the lab getting wrecked, the tapes getting stolen, and someone trying to mess with the Old Broad. Someone is fucking with us, Amy, and it might be whoever is recorded on this tape.† â€Å"And there's no way the camera could have pulled a signal out of the air, something on the same frequency or something? A mobile phone or something?† â€Å"Through a half-inch of powder-coated aluminum housing and a hundred feet of water? No, that signal came in through the mike. That I'm sure of.† Amy nodded and looked at the paused picture on the screen. â€Å"So you're looking for two things: someone military and someone who has an interest in Nate's work.† â€Å"No one – † Clay stopped himself again, remembering what he'd said to Nate when the lab had been wrecked. That no one cared about their work. But obviously someone did. â€Å"Tarwater?† Amy shrugged. â€Å"He's military. Maybe. Leave the tape out. I'll run a spectrograph on the audio in the morning, see if I can tell if it's coming through some kind of amplifier. I've got nothing left tonight – I'm beat.† â€Å"Thanks,† Clay said. â€Å"You get some rest, kiddo. I'm going to hit it, too. I'll be heading down to the harbor first thing.† † ‘Kay.† â€Å"Oh, and hey, the ‘kiddo' thing, I didn't mean – ; Amy threw her arms around him and kissed the top of his head. â€Å"You big mook. Don't worry, we'll get through this.† She turned and started out the door. â€Å"Amy?† She paused in the doorway. â€Å"Yeah?† â€Å"Can I ask you a†¦ personal question, kinda?† â€Å"Shoot.† â€Å"The shirt – who's stupid?† She looked down at her shirt, then back at him and grinned. â€Å"Always seems to apply, Clay. No matter where I am or who I'm with, the smoke clears and the shirt is true. You gotta hang on to truth when you find it.† â€Å"I like truth,† Clay said. â€Å"Night, Clay.† â€Å"Night, kiddo.† The next day the weather was blown out, with whitecaps frosting the entire channel across to Lanai and the coconut palms whipping overhead like epileptic dust mops. Clay drove by the harbor in his truck, noting that the cabin cruiser that Cliff Hyland's group had been using was parked in its slip. Then he turned around and caught a flash of white out of the corner of his eye as he drove past the hundred-year-old Pioneer Inn – Captain Tarwater's navy whites standing out against the green shiplap. He parked his truck by the giant banyan tree next door and humped it over to the restaurant. When Clay came up to the table, the hostess was just seating Cliff Hyland, Tarwater, and one of their grad students, a young blond woman with a raccoon sunburn and straw-dry hair. â€Å"Hey, Cliff,† Clay said. â€Å"You got a minute?† â€Å"Clay, how you doing?† Hyland took off his sunglasses and stood to shake hands. â€Å"Please, join us.† Clay looked at Tarwater, and the naval officer nodded. â€Å"Sorry to hear about your partner,† he said. Then he looked back down at his menu. The young woman sitting with them was watching the dynamic between the three men as if she might write a paper on it. â€Å"Just a second,† Clay said. â€Å"If I could talk to you outside.† Now Tarwater glanced up and gave Cliff Hyland an almost imperceptible shake of the head. â€Å"Sure, Clay,† Cliff said, â€Å"let's walk.† He looked to the junior researcher. â€Å"When she comes, coffee, Portuguese sausage, eggs over easy, whole wheat.† The girl nodded. Hyland followed Clay out to the front of the hotel, which overlooked the harbor fueling station and the Carthaginian, a steel-hulled replica of a whaling brig, now used as a floating museum. They stood side by side, watching the harbor, each with a foot propped on the seawall. â€Å"What's up, Clay?† â€Å"What are you guys working on, Cliff?† â€Å"You know I can't talk about that. I signed a nondisclosure thing.† â€Å"You got divers in the water, people with underwater coms?† â€Å"Don't be silly, Clay. You've seen my crew. Except for Tarwater, they're just kids. What's this about?† â€Å"Somebody's fucking with us, Cliff. They sank my boat, tore up the office, took Nate's papers and tapes. They're even messing with one of our benefactors. I'm not even sure they don't have something to do with Nate's –  » â€Å"And you think it's me?† Hyland took his foot off the seawall and turned to Clay. â€Å"Nate was my friend, too. I've known you guys, what? Twenty-two, twenty-three years? You can't think I'd do anything like that.† â€Å"I'm not saying you personally. What are you and Tarwater working on, Cliff? What would Nate know that would interfere with what you're doing?† Hyland stared at his feet. Scratched his beard. â€Å"I don't know.† â€Å"You don't know? You know what we're doing – figure it out. Listen, I know you guys are using a big towable sonar rig, right? What's Tarwater looking at? Some new kind of active sonar? If it didn't have a hinky element, he wouldn't be here on site. Mines?† â€Å"Damn it, Clay, I can't tell you! I can tell you that if I thought it was going to hurt the animals, or anyone in the field for that matter, I wouldn't be doing the work.† â€Å"Remember the navy's Pacific Biological Ocean Science Program? Were you in on that?† â€Å"No. Birds, wasn't it?† â€Å"Yeah, seabirds. The navy came to a bunch of field biologists with a ton of money – wanted seabirds tagged and tracked, behavior recorded, population information, habitat, everything. Everyone thought the heavens had opened up and started raining money. Thought the navy was doing some sort of secret impact study to preserve the birds. Do you know what the study was actually for?† â€Å"No, that was before my time, Clay.† â€Å"They wanted to use the birds as delivery systems for biological weapons. Wanted to make sure they could predict that they'd fly to the enemy. Probably fifty scientists helped in that study.† â€Å"But it didn't happen, Clay, did it? I mean, the data was valuable scientifically, but the weapons project didn't pan out.† â€Å"As far as we know. That's the point. How would we know, until a seagull drops fucking anthrax on us?† Cliff Hyland had aged a couple of years in the few minutes they'd been standing there. â€Å"I promise, Clay, if there's any indication that Tarwater or the navy or any of the spooky guys that come around from time to time are involved with trying to sabotage you guys, I'll call you in an instant. I promise you. But I can't tell you what I'm working on, or why. I don't exactly have funding coming out my ears. If I lose this, I'm teaching freshmen about dolphin jaws. I'm not ready for that. I need to be in the field.† Clay looked at him sideways and saw that there was real concern, maybe even a spark of desperation in Hyland's eyes. â€Å"You know, your funding might be a little easier to come by if you weren't based in Iowa. I don't know if you've noticed, but there's no ocean in Iowa.† Hyland smiled at the old dig. â€Å"Thanks for pointing that out, Clay.† Clay extended his hand. â€Å"You promise you'll let me know?† â€Å"Absolutely.† Clay left feeling totally spent. The great head of steam he'd built up through a night of fitful sleep had wilted into exhaustion and confusion. He got in his truck and sat while sweat rolled down his neck. He watched tourists in aloha wear mill around under the great banyan tree like gift-wrapped zombies. Cliff Hyland's eggs were still steaming when he returned to the table. Tarwater looked up from his own breakfast and moved his snow-white hat away from Hyland's plate, as if the rumpled scientist might splash yolk over the gold anchors in a fit of disorganized eating. â€Å"Everything all right?† The young woman at the table fidgeted and tried to look invisible. â€Å"Clay's still a little shaken up. Understandably. He and Nathan Quinn have been working together a long time.† â€Å"Lucky they made it this long without self-destructing,† Tarwater said. â€Å"Slipshod as they run that operation. You see that kid that works for them? Not worth grinding up for chum.† Cliff Hyland dropped his fork in his plate. â€Å"Nathan Quinn was one of the most intuitively brilliant biologists in the field. And Clay Demodocus may very well be the best underwater photographer in the world, certainly when it comes to cetaceans. You have no right.† â€Å"The world turns, Doc. Yesterday's alphas are today's betas. Losers lose. Isn't that what you biologists teach?† Cliff Hyland came very close to burying a fork in Tarwater's tanned forehead, but instead he slowly climbed to his feet. â€Å"I need to use the restroom. Excuse me.† As he walked away, Hyland could hear Tarwater lecturing the junior researcher on how the strong survive. Cliff dug his mobile phone out of the pocket of his safari shirt and began scrolling through the numbers. Clay was just dozing off in the driver's seat when his mobile trilled. Without looking at the display, he figured it was Clair checking up on him. â€Å"Go, baby.† â€Å"Clay, it's Cliff Hyland.† â€Å"Cliff? What's up?† â€Å"You've got to keep this under your hat, Clay. It's my ass.† â€Å"I got you. What is it, Cliff?† â€Å"It's a torpedo range. We're doing site studies for a torpedo test range.† â€Å"Not in the sanctuary?† â€Å"Right in the middle of the sanctuary.† â€Å"Jeepers, Cliff, that's terrible. I don't know if my hat is big enough to hold that.† â€Å"You gave me your word, Clay. What's with ‘jeepers'? Who says ‘jeepers'?† â€Å"Amy does. She's a little eccentric. Tell me more. Does the navy have divers in the water?† CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Heinous Fuckery Most Foul â€Å"Jeepers,† said Amy. She was at Quinn's computer. Streamers of digital videotape were festooned across her lap and over the desk. â€Å"Oh, that's heinous fuckery most foul,† said Kona. He was perched on the high stool behind Amy and actually appeared to be trying to learn something when Clay came in. â€Å"They've been simulating explosions on the lee of Kahoolawe with a big towable array of underwater speakers, measuring the levels. The speaker array is what's in that big case we've seen on their boat.† â€Å"We have a couple of explosions on the singer tapes, but distant,† Amy said. â€Å"Nate thought it might be naval exercises out at sea.† â€Å"Speaking of tapes?† Clay picked up a strand of tape. â€Å"This isn't my rebreather footage, is it?† â€Å"I'm sorry, Clay. I didn't get the video, but I pulled the audio off before this happened. Want to see the spectrograph?† Kona asked, â€Å"You think those voices in the water be navy divers?† Clay looked at Amy, raised an eyebrow. â€Å"He wanted to learn.† â€Å"Cliff says there're no divers in the water, that his operation is it, militarily, in the sanctuary anyway. But he might not even know.† Amy wadded up the videotape and chucked the resulting bird's nest into the wastebasket. â€Å"How can they do that, Clay? How can they put a torpedo range in the middle of the humpback sanctuary? It's not like people won't notice.† â€Å"Yeah, she's a big ocean. Why here?† Kona said. â€Å"I have no idea. Maybe they don't want there to be any mistake about whose waters they're blowing up ordnance in. If they blow them up in between a bunch of American islands, maybe there can't be any misinterpretation about what they're doing.† â€Å"Lost now,† Kona said. â€Å"Does not compute. Danger. Danger. Control room needs herb.† The Rastafarian had affected an accent that seemed an excellent approximation of how a stoned robot might sound. â€Å"Submarine warfare is all about hide and seek with other submarines,† Clay said. â€Å"The crews are autonomous when they're underwater. They make decisions on whether they're being attacked and whether to defend. Maybe if the navy just shot torpedoes off in the middle of the open sea, someone might misinterpret the action as an attack. It's damn unlikely that a Russian sub is going to be cruising up to Wailea for brunch and misinterpret an attack.† â€Å"They can't do that,† Amy said. â€Å"They can't let them set off high explosives around the mothers and calves. It's just insane.† â€Å"They'll go deep and say it doesn't bother them. The navy will guarantee they won't blow up anything shallower than, say, four hundred feet. The humpbacks don't dive that deep in this channel.† â€Å"Yes they do,† Amy said. â€Å"No they don't,† Clay said. â€Å"Yes they do.† â€Å"There's no data on that, Amy. That's specifically what Cliff Hyland asked me about. He wanted to know if we were doing any research on the depth of humpback dives. Said that it would be the only thing the navy would care about.† Amy stood up and shoved the wheeled desk chair away. It bounced off Kona's shins, causing him to wince. â€Å"Ease on up, sistah.† â€Å"Amy, this wasn't my idea,† Clay said. â€Å"I'm just telling you what Hyland told me.† â€Å"Fine,† Amy said. She pushed her way past Clay and headed for the door. â€Å"Where are you going?† â€Å"Somewhere else.† She let the screen door slam behind her. Clay turned to Kona, who appeared to be studying the ceiling with great concentration. â€Å"What?† â€Å"You makin' up that submarine war story?† â€Å"Kind of. I read a Tom Clancy book once. Look, Kona, I'm not supposed to know stuff. Nate knew stuff. I just take the pictures.† â€Å"You think the navy sink your boat? Maybe make something bad happen to Nate?† â€Å"The boat, maybe. I don't think they could have had anything to do with Nate. That was just bad luck.† â€Å"The Snowy Biscuit – all this getting under her skin.† â€Å"Mine, too.† â€Å"I'll go put the calm on her.† â€Å"Thanks,† Clay said. He walked to the other side of the office, slumped in his chair, and pulled his editing tools up on the giant monitor. A half hour later he heard a tiny voice coming through the screen door. â€Å"Sorry,† Amy said. â€Å"It's okay.† She stepped into the room and stood there, not looking as glazed as he would have expected if Kona had put the calm on her in an herbal way. â€Å"Sorry about your tape, too. The camera was making crunching noises on playback, so I sort of rushed taking it out.† â€Å"Not a problem. It was your big rescue scene. It just made me look like an amateur. I got most of it on the hard drive, I think.† â€Å"You did?† She stepped over to the monitor. â€Å"That it?† Frame stopped, the whale tail from the edge, black marks barely visible. â€Å"Just going through it to see if there's anything else the audio picked up. The camera was running the whole time you were saving my bacon.† â€Å"Why don't you let it rest and let me take you out to lunch.† â€Å"It's ten-thirty.† â€Å"What, you're Mr. Rigid Schedule all of a sudden? Come out to lunch with me. I feel bad.† â€Å"Don't feel bad, Amy. It's a huge loss. I†¦ I'm not dealing well myself. You know, to keep this work going, we'll be needing some academic juice.† Amy just stared at the frozen image of the whale tail, and then she caught herself. â€Å"What? Oh, you'll get someone. You put the word out, you'll have Ph.D.'s knocking the door down to work with you.† â€Å"I was thinking about you.† â€Å"Me? I'm crap. I don't even have a bona fide hair color. Ink on my master's isn't even dry. You read my resume.† â€Å"Actually, I didn't.† â€Å"You didn't?† â€Å"You seemed intelligent. You were willing to work for nothing.† â€Å"Nate read it, though, right?† â€Å"I told him you were good. And if it's any consolation, he thought the world of you.† â€Å"That's how you hire? I'm smart and I'm cheap – that's it? What kind of standards do you guys have?† â€Å"Have you met Kona?† She looked back at the monitor, then at Clay again. â€Å"I feel so used. Honored, but used. Look, I'm thrilled you want to keep me on, but I'm not going to bring you funding or legitimacy.† â€Å"I'll worry about that.† â€Å"Worry about it after lunch. Come on, I'll buy.† â€Å"You're poor. Besides, I'm meeting Clair for lunch at one.† â€Å"Okay. Can I borrow Nate's – uh, the green truck?† â€Å"Keys are on the counter.† Clay waved over his shoulder toward the kitchen. Amy took the keys, then started out the door, caught herself, then ran back, and threw her arms around the photographer. â€Å"I really appreciate your asking me to stay.† â€Å"Go. Take Kona with you. Feed him. Hose him off.† â€Å"Nope, if you're not coming, I'm going solo. Tell Clair hi for me.† â€Å"Go.† He looked back at the computer, looked past the window at the brilliant Maui sun, then shut the computer down, feeling very much as if nothing he did mattered or would ever matter again.

A Group of Baboons Is Not a Congress

A Group of Baboons Is Not a Congress A popular meme contains a picture with several baboons playing in the snow captioned: Did you know that a large group of baboons is called a Congress? As the meme goes on to explain: We are all familiar with a herd of cows, a flock of chickens, a school of fish and a gaggle of geese. However, less widely known is a pride of lions, a murder of crows (as well as their cousins the rooks and ravens), an exaltation of doves and, presumably because they look so wise, a parliament of owls. Now consider a group of baboons. They are the loudest, most dangerous, most obnoxious, most viciously aggressive and least intelligent of all primates. And what is the proper collective noun for a group of baboons? Believe it or not ... a Congress! I guess that pretty much explains the things that come out of Washington! The meme does explain one thing: The person who posted or sent it does not know what a large group of baboons is called. It’s a ‘Troop’ National Geographic says, baboons form large troops, composed of dozens or even hundreds of baboons, governed by a complex hierarchy that fascinates scientists. According to the Oxford Dictionaries list of proper terms for groups of things, organized gatherings of kangaroos, monkeys, and baboons are all called â€Å"troops,† while the only group called a â€Å"congress† is Congress.   An Expert Weighs In In an email to PolitiFact, Shirley Strum, director of the University of Californias Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project in Nairobi, Kenya, agreed that a group of baboons is known as a â€Å"troop.† â€Å"I have never heard the term congress used for a group of baboons! she wrote, adding, I would prefer to be governed by baboons than the current Congress! They are more socially committed, abide by the golden rule and are generally nicer people. Baboons are socially sophisticated and incredibly smart and among primates, no species is as dangerous as humans. Only baboons who have been spoiled by humans feeding them are dangerous and are never as aggressive as humans. The Point The point the meme is trying to make is that the U.S. Congress has pretty much degenerated into a largely ineffectual collection of lifetime professional politicians, typically  trusted by only 10% of the American people, that spends more time arguing, running for re-election and on vacation than it does tending to its real job of carrying out the legislative process in a way that helps Americans happily pursue life and liberty.   In 1970, for example, the troop called Congress passed its very own Legislative Reorganization Act, which among other things â€Å"required† both the House of Representatives and the Senate to take the entire month of August off every year unless a â€Å"state of war† or â€Å"emergency† exists at the time. The last time Congress decided to take a break from its break was in the summer of 2005 when lawmakers returned to Washington just long enough to pass legislation authorizing aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina. But the fact remains that a gathering of baboons is not a congress.

Process Reengineering

Process Reengineering Process Reengineering Summary "Beyond Reengineering" is Hammer's preach of the vital importance of an organization's processes to its success. In four sections, Hammer stresses and explains the different aspects in how the organization must focus on their processes in terms of- work, management, enterprise and society. More importantly, how by tending a process-oriented approach, organizations will be able to achieve efficiency, profits and success in like.In the first section of the book, Hammer explains the implications a process-centered organization will have on workers and how important this change is for the whole process. First, Hammer explains the basics of a process-oriented organization and why it is so important. When Hammer states that we take a process perspective in looking at organizations, it means that we do not just see individual tasks in isolation, but the entire collection of tasks that contribute to a desired outcome. Because even if all tasks were perfect, it w ould mean nothing if the processes putting them together is inefficient and failing.Workflow/Business Process Management (BPM) Service...A process is a group of tasks that together create a result of value to a customer. The importance or processes cannot be stressed enough by Hammer, and in order to guide an organization towards the process centering path, he suggested these four steps: 1. recognize and name the company's processes 2. ensure everyone in the organization is aware of these processes and their importance 3. identify the key measures by which each process is to be assessed 4. become serious about process management What this leads to is the change this new process perspective will for the people of the organization. Instead of the previous specialized tasks workers were assigned, they will be challenged with more "professional" work. Hammer calls this "professionalizing its work"- a pre-requisite transition for...

Sociological Definition of Degradation Ceremony

Sociological Definition of Degradation Ceremony Historically, a degradation ceremony is the process by which to lower a persons social status within a group or within society in general, for the purposes of shaming that person for violating norms, rules, or laws, and to inflict punishment by taking away rights and privileges, as well as access to the group or society in some cases. Degradation Ceremonies in History Some of the earliest documented forms of degradation ceremonies are within military history, and this is a practice that still exists today (known within the military as cashiering). When a member of a military unit violates the rules of the branch, he or she may be stripped of rank, perhaps even publicly by the removal of stripes from ones uniform. Doing so results in an immediate demotion in rank or expulsion from the unit. However, degradation ceremonies take many other forms, from the formal and dramatic to the informal and subtle. What unifies them is that they all serve the same purpose: to lower a persons status and limit or revoke their membership in a group, community, or society. Sociologist Harold Garfinkel coined the term (also known as status degradation ceremony)  in the essay Conditions of Successful Degradation Ceremonies, published in  American Journal of Sociology  in 1956. Garfinkel explained that such processes tend to follow moral outrage after a person has committed a violation, or a perceived violation, of norms, rules, or laws. Thus degradation ceremonies can be understood in the context of the sociology of deviance. They mark and punish the deviant, and in the process of doing so, reaffirm the importance and legitimacy of the norms, rules, or laws that were violated (much like other rituals, as discussed by Émile Durkheim). Initiation Ritual On some occasions, degradation ceremonies are  used to initiate people into total institutions like mental hospitals, prisons, or military units. The purpose of a ceremony in this context is to deprive people of their former identities and dignity in order to make them more accepting of external control. The perp walk, wherein a person suspected of committing criminal acts is publicly arrested and led into a police car or station, is a common example of this kind of degradation ceremony. Another common example is the sentencing to jail or prison of an accused criminal in a court of law. In cases like these, arrest and sentencing, the accused or convicted loses their identity as a free citizen and is given a new and lower criminal/deviant identity that deprives them of the social status they previously enjoyed. At the same time, their rights and access to membership of society are limited by their new identity as an accused criminal or a convict. Its important to recognize that degradation ceremonies can also be informal but still quite effective. For example, the act of slut-shaming a girl or woman, whether in person, within her community (like a school), or online produces similar effects to the formal kind. Being labeled a slut by a cohort of peers can lower a girl or womans social status and deny her access to her peer group. This kind of degradation ceremony is the modern-day version of the Puritans forcing people who were thought to have had sex out of marriage to wear AD (for adulterer) on their clothing (the origins of Hawthornes story  The Scarlet Letter). Updated  by Nicki Lisa Cole, Ph.D.

Organizational Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Organizational Justice - Essay Example Organizational Justice is the term used to define people's perception of fairness in an organization. The majority of studies on justice were conducted in the 1960's, but the majority of studies on justice in organizations have been published since 1990 (Charash 278). As it is a relatively newer field, it is surprising the number of studies that have been conducted, Charash mentions 400 studies and 100 theoretical papers. It is therefore obvious that it is an important topic in Business Management. There are three main types of Organizational Justice; distributive, procedural, and interactional (Charash 278, Henle 248). Distributive justice emphasizes the perceived outcome of fairness, and is mainly related to the cognitive, affective, and behavioral reactions to particular outcomes. When an outcome is perceived as unfair, it will affect the employee's emotions and ultimately their behavior in relation to the organization. Distributive justice fails the measure the interpretation of the methods of an organization, it only addresses the outcome. Procedural justice shifted the focus from emphasizing not only the outcome as with distributive justice, but rather the perceived fairness of the process by which the outcome was achieved. (Charash 280). It is simply defined as the fairness of the process by which outcomes are determined. ... They are; (a) the consistency rule; (b) the bias-suppression rule; (c) the accuracy rule; (d) the correctability rule; (e) the representativeness rule; and (f) the ethicality rule. It is worth noting that perception of unfairness in an organization's procedure will result in reactions directed toward the organization as opposed to distributive justice, where the reactions will be directed toward the decision maker. The third type of Organizational justice is interactional justice. Interactional justice pertains to the human side of organizational procedures (Charash 281). It is best explained as the way management is behaving toward the recipient of justice; it relates to the communication process between the source and the recipient of justice. Because interactional justice is determined by the interpersonal behavior of management's representatives, reactions are generally directed toward those individuals as opposed to the organization. It is difficult to determine a measurement of the justice in an organization as the interpretations of justice are subject to an individual's opinion. However, there are some determining factors. Perceptions of justice are influenced by many different variables including (a) outcomes one receives, (b) organizational practices, and (c) characteristics of the perceiver (Charash 282). An organization can be perceived to be unfair if an individual receives an outcome that they perceive to be unfair (ie. Don't receive a promotion they feel they deserve). A set guideline or practice of an organization can be perceived as unfair, such as no health care until a year's employment. The perception of fairness is most drastically colored by the individual who is examining the judgment; if they expect health

Surgery Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Surgery - Case Study Example The patient is physically active and does not have any known allergies. Her height and weight on admission were 70 kg and 178 cm high respectively. She currently presented to the emergency department on the 27th April 2009 with a history of sudden, acute right sided abdominal pain which was associated with nausea. The patient was thus admitted with a diagnosis of acute right sided abdominal pain and her code status was full. History of presenting illness: According to the patient she was in her usual state of health until late this morning when she developed sudden right sided abdominal pain. The pain was colicky in nature and was associated with a feeling of nausea. It was localized in the right lower quadrant and there was no radiation. There were no particular aggravating factors. The pain was slightly reduced in supine position. The intensity of the pain increased gradually throughout the day and by the evening it became unbearable. Thus, the patient was rushed to the ER. Menstrual History: The patient reported having regular menstrual cycles of 4/28 days with normal flow. She has no complains of dysmenorrhea or intermenstrual bleeding. Her last menstrual period (LMP) was on the 20th of December 2008 and currently she is 18 weeks pregnant with twins. Sexual History: The patient lives with her steady boyfriend of 10 years. The couple report having regular, unprotected sexual intercourse. The frequency of intercourse is at least twice a week. There are no complains of dysparunea, post coital bleeding or any other problems. Past Obstetric History: The woman has had two previous deliveries, seven years and three years back. Both were normal vaginal deliveries. Both pregnancies followed an uncomplicated course and there were no issues like pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes. Social History: The woman did not have any addictions or allergies. She works as a full time employ in an education center and lives with her two children, a boy and a girl, aged seven years and three years, respectively. The patient is physically active and likes to engage in sports such as netball. Moreover, she also reports going to the gym five days a week. Findings on Examination: On inspection, there were no visible signs of any abnormalities. On palpation, the abdomen was soft, but significant guarding was present. There was localized tenderness in the right lower quadrant. No palpable masses were found. The gut sounds were present. Shifting dullness and fluid thrill were absent. Pain score on arrival: 7 out of 10 Investigations ordered and their results: On arrival in the ward and abdominal ultrasound was ordered to elucidate the cause of the abdominal pain and it revealed a right sided ovarian cyst which was 16 cm in diameter. Nursing Assessment: A young female patient, 18 weeks pregnant with twins, presenting with right sided abdominal pain, tender on palpation, feeling nauseated on arrival and has a pain score 7 out of 10. Nursing Diagnosis: Acute right side abdominal pain Management Plan: On the basis of the ultrasound, it was decided

Study Case of Goldman Sachs and the Real Estate Bubble

Of Goldman Sachs and the Real Estate Bubble - Case Study Example e an evaluation of what really happened, prescribe alternatives that ought to have been taken, give recommendations about how such a situation can be avoided and finally give a conclusion. Goldman Sachs is one of the biggest, and leading financial institutions in the world. Founded in the year 1869, it is an investment bank that is regarded the leading world investment bank. It is also involved in the management of investments and securities and also provides a variety of consultancy and other services across the world. The net revenue that Goldman Sachs raked in from its wide portfolio of services in the year 2011 was over 28 billion dollars (Konecny, 2012). It is also known for employing the top cream of the best universities who help propel it to such great heights, with top officials sitting at the treasury, such as the former secretary to the treasury, Henry Paulson, and other government financial institutions being past employees of Goldman Sachs. So what was the involvement of this giant company in the real estate bubble hit? Its involvement, both direct and indirect, can be simplified into three. Firstly, it sold securities which were mortgage- related and ove rpriced to investors without actually telling them the obvious risks that lay ahead. Secondly, Goldman Sachs, through its mortgage division’s Alternative Mortgage Products, made bets that the values of the securities would dip following a drop in the prices of houses in the United States. The third involvement of the investment bank in the housing bubble issue was its indirect connections with powerful government executives, who were actually former executives at Goldman. This made way for its receipt of bailout money from payments advanced to entities it had acquired such as AIG after the collapse of the bubble (Cohan, 2012). A number of reasons have been put forth in an attempt to explain the causes of the housing bubble. Such explanations include deregulation of financial institutions, misguided

Evatuation argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Evatuation argument - Essay Example Contrary to the expectations, Minh Dang’s parents started molesting her at the tender age of three and she was later on traded in brothels to sustain her parents’ incomes against her will. On the other hand, Maria Suarez’s parents tricked her in sexual slavery by sending her to attend a job interview for the position of a house help where she was in turn held hostage (Sher 89). The argumentantive approach indicates that Abby Sher’s short stories succeed in evaluating the mayhem that faces people subjected to sexual trafficking, but it is evident that she fails to include the actions undertaken by other members in the society to halt the anti-social behavior. The author’s study presents Minh Dang’s bibliography in the form of a story, which acquaints knowledge to readers from different demographic groups about the types of experiences condoned by the society as things of the past, but yet in prevalence and harmful to the young women and men. For instance, the fact that Minh Dang faced sexual harassment from her father from the age of 3 years is an indication that ignorance in the society has provoked the prevalence of the inhuman practices (p. 15). Therefore, the author’s approach in the subject of sex trafficking to the different recipients of the messages deciphers the intended understanding to intelligently identify the unethical relationships whenever they exist (Hanes 1). According to McSwane David, child trafficking remains a prevalent in the American society with the administration acting slowly to halt the continuity of the menace. Abby Sher succeeds in informing the society that the Maria Suarez and Minh Dan g’s family members with whom the children trusted exposed them to the harmful trade against their consent. When reading the stories about the two victims, it is evident that they were incapacitated to act in accordance to their constitutional rights because of the physical and mental torture they would face

Two Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Two Questions - Essay Example One occasion in which Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" reiterates this famous ruler is when he asserts, â€Å"our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation.† (Boritt 1). Similarly, Pericles started his speech in this way when he claimed, â€Å"I shall began by speaking about our ancestors.† (Halsall 34). Another instance is when Lincoln claims, â€Å"we cannot consecrate -we cannot hallow-this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it.† (Boritt 1). This is also evident in Pericles speech when he argues that the people being honored have proved themselves valiant on the war zone, and that their victory shall not be illustrated through speech given by a single man, but by action (Halsall 34). In addition, in Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address", Lincoln also reiterates Pericles’ recognition and admiration of democracy. The famed conclusion of the speech, â€Å"government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth,† exhibits Lincoln view on democracy (Boritt 1). Similarly, Pericles appears to embellish democracy when he claims, â€Å"power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people our political life is free and open† (Halsall 38). ... In conclusion, the purpose of both Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" To Thucydides' "Pericles' Funeral Oration" was to honor those who had perished in war Question 2 Friendship as comprehended by the most famous theologians, philosophers, and church illustrates an association in which there is a shared significance in attaining the good. Every participant is expected to assist the other in their development of virtue, or good behavior, in a true friendship (Sachs 14). This explanation aids in developing peaceful relations between people, thus serving the common good in an adequate way. This part addresses Machiavelli’s and Aristotle’s views on friendship (Marriott 52). Machiavelli: I would not want to observe fruitful, peaceful relations between people because an integrated populace is not easily dominated. Therefore, to me, friendship is an association in which the prudent member uses the other to ally with if in need, gain favors, and attain power. Aristotle: In my view, friendship lies squarely within the political arena. True friendship in a similar fashion as a political alliance, is an activity that is functional in the polis and depends on committed reciprocity. Friendship is part of righteous behavior whose conclusion is the goodness and happiness because it appears in a community of beings. Machiavelli: Friendship does not exist where there is nothing to be offered that could help in the search of power. It is essential to sometimes jeopardize the love of others so as to attain significant success. I believe that happiness and power do not necessary lie in being righteous but at least seeming to be righteous. Aristotle: In spite the community of beings, friendship is only probable with a

Evatuation argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Evatuation argument - Essay Example Contrary to the expectations, Minh Dang’s parents started molesting her at the tender age of three and she was later on traded in brothels to sustain her parents’ incomes against her will. On the other hand, Maria Suarez’s parents tricked her in sexual slavery by sending her to attend a job interview for the position of a house help where she was in turn held hostage (Sher 89). The argumentantive approach indicates that Abby Sher’s short stories succeed in evaluating the mayhem that faces people subjected to sexual trafficking, but it is evident that she fails to include the actions undertaken by other members in the society to halt the anti-social behavior. The author’s study presents Minh Dang’s bibliography in the form of a story, which acquaints knowledge to readers from different demographic groups about the types of experiences condoned by the society as things of the past, but yet in prevalence and harmful to the young women and men. For instance, the fact that Minh Dang faced sexual harassment from her father from the age of 3 years is an indication that ignorance in the society has provoked the prevalence of the inhuman practices (p. 15). Therefore, the author’s approach in the subject of sex trafficking to the different recipients of the messages deciphers the intended understanding to intelligently identify the unethical relationships whenever they exist (Hanes 1). According to McSwane David, child trafficking remains a prevalent in the American society with the administration acting slowly to halt the continuity of the menace. Abby Sher succeeds in informing the society that the Maria Suarez and Minh Dan g’s family members with whom the children trusted exposed them to the harmful trade against their consent. When reading the stories about the two victims, it is evident that they were incapacitated to act in accordance to their constitutional rights because of the physical and mental torture they would face

Strategy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategy - Case Study Example erative pillar for economic development companies operating in Qatar; it deals with three major issues: The first is to facilitate sound economic management through five major approaches as in: To facilitate cooperation with Arab regional states as well as the Gulf Cooperation Council States thereby promoting the establishment of trade relations and reduction of financial crisis. The other approach is to facilitate competition in the international market by opening flexible economic structures. Moreover, sustained economic management shall be achieved by creating structures that attract foreign investors in Qatar. In addition, the vision aims to achieve sustained economic management through reducing inflation thus creating a stable economic growth. Qatari government also aspires to provide sustained economic growth condition to ensure that it provides high standards of living. The economic pillar also aspires to facilitate responsible ways of oil exploration and gas in Qatar. This shall be achieved through four different sustainable exploration methods. Additionally the economic pillar is also geared towards promoting suitable economic diversification. This is expected to reduce the country’s dependency rate on some of its natural resources such as hydrocarbons; it shall also be achieved through empowering the private sector hence improving their competitive advantage. Another pillar of the Qatar vision 2030 that may be applied to facilitate economic development is the Human Development Pillar. The Qatari government recognizes that effective economic development can only be achieved through proper human capital development. In this regard, the human development pillar focuses on three issues: Provision of world class education among the Qatari populace thereby improving their skills to undertake economic development activities; provision of world class healthcare services to the Qatari populace and improving the capacity of the Qatari populace to participate in

Types of Constitution Essay Example for Free

Types of Constitution Essay * Written and Unwritten Most constitutions are enacted or codified, either in a single document or series of documents. Many countries have followed the models of the US or French constitutions. The UK constitution is considered to be unwritten, despite key documents such as the Human Rights Act 1998 which could be viewed as constitutional documents there is no systematic code. The only other states not to have entirely written constitutions are New Zealand and Israel. * Rigid and Flexible The ease with which a constitution can be altered is a factor. Some are classed as rigid if they require a special process before they can be changed. This process is usually more onerous and so restricts the ability to change a constitution compared to other laws. To amend the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution requires a two thirds majority of both Houses of Congress and ratification by three quarters of State legislatures. In the Republic of Ireland amendments must be passed by the legislature and then approved by a majority in a referendum. The UK constitution is described as flexible as it requires only the normal procedure to pass on Act of Parliament, essentially a majority in both the Houses, to change any written law elements. The UK constitution also includes non legal rules which can be changed without any formal procedure. * Supreme and Subordinate A supreme constitution is not subject to any external superior force. A subordinate constitution is drafted and introduced in a country by an external sovereign power, so could be amended by that external power. At the core of the distinction is whether the constitution provides the highest form of law in the land. For example subordinate constitutions can be found in federal systems and in countries which have gained partial independence but are a limited government. The UK constitution is viewed as supreme. Although, the constitutional impact of UK membership of the European Union (EU) is debated. It can be argued that UK sovereignty is limited by EU treaties but it can be seen this limitation is voluntary, under an Act of Parliament European Communities Act 1972 and therefore does not alter supremacy. * Federal and Unitary The internal division of power within a state is an important aspect. In a unitary state only the central government has primary law making powers, powers may be delegated to lower tiers only. In a federal state, both the central government and the individual territories comprising the federation have primary powers. For example, in US the individual States have autonomy to legislate on some matters. Despite devolution, the UK remains a unitary state, with Parliament having the ultimate law making power over all the constituent nations. * Republican and Monarchical In republics, there is no monarchy and there will normally be a President, who is a directly elected Head of State, such as in the US. In some republics the President can be restricted to a more formal role of a figurehead, such as Italy or Germany. The UK remains monarchical, with the Queen as Head of State. The monarch continues to hold formal powers under the royal prerogative, although in practice these are exercised by the elected Government.

Psychiatric Care After Drug Overdose: Case Study

Psychiatric Care After Drug Overdose: Case Study Case Scenario: Marcella Helen Farel Marcella is a 15 year old bi-racial female who was admitted to the local community hospital in Chester, Pennsylvania for a drug overdose. The attending psychiatrist, Dr. Miller has referred Marcella to me to be evaluated for a possible substance use disorder and to be screened for the potential risk of future substance use disorder. Carefully describe the client’s demographic characteristics. Marcella is a 15-year-old bi-racial (Caucasian and African American) female who attends high school full-time. What is the presenting problem? Marcella has been referred for screening of a possible substance use disorder and the possible risk of future substance use problems after being treated at a local community hospital for attempting suicide with prescription pain medications. What is the pertinent family history? Marcella is being raised by her grandparents with sporadic input from her single mother. Bethany, Marcella’s mother, has never been married and has raised Marcella as a single mom since her birth. What is the substance use history of the client’s family? Marcella’s grandparents both drank alcohol throughout their adult lives and also experimented with various other drugs. Her stepfather uses marijuana on a daily basis because he feels that it helps with the pain from a back injury. Her mother developed a substance use problem at the age of 14, shortly after her father killed himself, and it rapidly progressed. What are some of the direct and indirect messages Marcella may have received from her family about substance use? Children and teenagers are heavily influenced by their parents. Having a parent who uses drugs is a strong predictor of adolescent substance abuse. The messages that Marcella may have received are my parents and grandparents use drugs so therefore it is okay for me to use them as well. What is Marcella’s education and employment history? Marcella is a full-time high school student and has not had any type of employment at this point but has done some babysitting. What is significant in terms of risk factors, about Marcella’s academic history? Marcella has done well academically throughout elementary school but for the last four years her grades in high school have been steadily dropping. Describe Marcella’s social history? Marcella can name only two friends and also states that she doesn’t like people so having only two friends is fine with her. What is Marcella’s self-report of her substance use history? Marcella states that she has used alcohol a few times with her friends and also used alcohol on special occasions at family gatherings. She also states that her suicide attempt was the first time she used pain pills or any non-prescribed drugs. What is significant in terms of risk factors about Marcella’s description of her relationships with family members? When asking Marcella about her relationship with her family members she stated that she never had a father and she isn’t sure if her mother even knows who her father was. She also states that he has never been a part of her life. She bluntly states that she hasn’t had a mother for the past few years as well. She describes her grandmother as the only one who would care if she had succeeded in her suicide attempt. Accurately identify risk and protective factors for developing a substance use disorder as related to the client in the case scenario. â€Å"Many factors have been identified that help determine† which individuals â€Å"are likely to abuse drugs.† The factors that are associated with the â€Å"greater potential for drug abuse are† known as â€Å"risk† factors, and those associated with the least potential for drug abuse are known as â€Å"protective† factors. (NIDA, 2003. pg. 6). Risk factors influence drug use in many ways. The more risks the adolescent is exposed to the more likely he or she is to use and abuse drugs. (NIDA, 2003. pg. 7). â€Å"Having a family history of substance abuse puts† the adolescent at risk for drug abuse. â€Å"The presence of protective factors can lessen the impact† of some risk factors, â€Å"such as parental support and involvement†; this â€Å"can reduce the influence of strong risks, such as having substance abusing peers.† (NIDA, 2003. pg. 7). Some risk factors that could have an influence on Marcella are: Substance use among parents. Poor attachment with parents. Social difficulties Negative emotionality Early substance use Academic failure Low commitment to school Some protective factors that could lessen the impact of a few of the risk factors are: Positive physical development Family connectedness (attachment and bonding with grandmother) Living in a stable home (grandparents) Supportive relationship with family (grandmother). (NIDA, 2003). Discuss other relevant factors in the case scenario that could lead to the development of a substance use disorder. Other risk factors often â€Å"relate to the quality of relationships outside† of â€Å"the family, such as in their schools, with their peers, teachers, and in the community.† (NIDA, 2003. pg. 9). â€Å"Difficulties in these settings can be crucial to† the adolescent’s â€Å"emotional, cognitive, and social development. Some of† the risk factors are academic failure and poor coping skills. (NIDA, 2003. pg. 9). Other risks that can influence adolescents to start using drugs are the availability of the drugs and the belief that drug abuse is generally tolerated. (NIDA, 2003. pg. 9). â€Å"Screening and assessment are† part â€Å"of a process that aims to identify and measure the mental health and substance use related needs and† behaviors of adolescents. It is â€Å"difficult to determine where screening ends and assessment begins. Screening† â€Å"determines the need for a† more comprehensive assessment but does not provide actual information about the diagnosis or possible treatment needs. The screening â€Å"process should take no longer than† thirty minutes and in some instances will be shorter. (NCBI, 1999. pg. 9). An appropriate screening procedure must† take into consideration â€Å"several variables pertaining to the client, such as† their â€Å"age, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and literacy level.† (NCBI, 1999. pg. 10). It â€Å"is important that the† contents of the test be â€Å"appropriate for clients from a variety of backgrounds and† cultures. (NCBI, 1999. pg. 10). â€Å"There are three primary components to preliminary screening: content domains, screening methods, and information sources. The screening procedure focuses on verif ied indicators of substance related problems among adolescents.† These â€Å"indicators fall into two categories: those that indicate substance use problem severity and those that are psychosocial factors.† (NCBI, 1999. pg. 11). There is no set number of uncovered red flags or indicators that mandate â€Å"a referral for a comprehensive assessment. Many† of the screening questionnaires provide a set of scores to assist with the decision in obtaining a comprehensive assessment. (NCBI, 1999. pg. 11). Regardless, â€Å"if there are several red flags or a few that† are meaningful, it is recommended â€Å"to refer the adolescent for a† more comprehensive assessment. (NCBI, 1999. pg. 11). The â€Å"comprehensive assessment follows a positive screening for a substance use disorder and may lead to long term intervention efforts such as† treatments. (NCBI, 1999. pg. 11). The screening procedures identify if the adolescent has â€Å"a significant substance use problem† and â€Å"the comprehensive assessment confirms the problem and helps† to  clarify other problems that may be â€Å"connected with the adolescent’s su bstance use disorder. Comprehensive information can be used to develop† a proper set of interventions. (NCBI, 1999. pg. 17). There are many different purposes of the comprehensive assessment. To report in more detail the vicinity, nature, and unpredictability of substance utilization reported amid a screening, including whether the pre-adult meets symptomatic criteria for abuse or dependence. (NCBI, 1999. pg. 17). To focus the particular treatment needs of the client if substance misuse or substance dependence is confirmed, so that limited resources are not misdirected. (NCBI, 1999. pg. 17). To allow the evaluator to take in more about the nature, connects, and results of the adolescents substance-utilizing conduct. (NCBI, 1999. pg. 17). To guarantee that related issues not hailed in the screening procedure (e.g., issues in medicinal status, mental status, social functioning, family relations, educational performance, and delinquent behavior) are recognized. (NCBI, 1999. pg. 17). To inspect the degree to which the adolescents family (as characterized prior) might be included in the comprehensive assessment but also in possible subsequent interventions. (NCBI, 1999. pg. 17). To distinguish particular qualities of the adolescent, family, and other social backings (e.g., coping skills) that could be utilized within creating a fitting treatment plan (financial information is significant here as well). (NCBI, 1999. pg. 17). To develop a written report that: Identifies and accurately diagnoses the severity of the use. Identifies factors that contribute to or are related to the substance use disorder. Identifies a corrective treatment plan to address these problem areas. Details a plan to ensure that the treatment plan is implemented and monitored to its conclusion. Makes recommendations for referral to agencies or services. (NCBI, 1999. pg. 17). â€Å"A valid, standardized, and clinically relevant assessment is† crucial â€Å"for effective intervention with adolescent substance abusers.† (NIH, 2005. para. #6). â€Å"The advantages of standardized assessments are that they: Provide a benchmark against which clinical decisions can be compared and validated; Are less prone to clinician biases and inconsistencies than more traditional assessment methods; and Provide a common language which improved communication in the field can develop.† (NIH, 2005. para #6). â€Å"Until recently clinicians have relied on clinical judgment or locally developed procedures to diagnose adolescent substance use problems. This has begun to change since standardized and clinically valid instruments such as The† Drug Use Screening Inventory Revised (DUSI-R), The Teen-Addiction Severity Index (T-ASI), â€Å"have been introduced into the literature. Developmental appropriateness is critical to the effectiveness of using these instruments in work with adolescents.† (NIH, 2005. para. #7). The Drug Use Screening Inventory-Revised (DUSI-R) is a 159-item instrument that documents the level of involvement with a variety of drugs and quantifies severity of consequences associated with drug use. The profile identifies and prioritizes intervention needs and provides an informative and facile method of monitoring treatment course and aftercare. The DUSI-R is a self-administered instrument. (NCBI, 1999. pg. 69). The purpose of this instrument is â€Å"to comprehensively evaluate adolescents and adults who are suspected of using drugs; to identify or â€Å"flag† problem areas; to quantitatively monitor treatment progress and outcome; and to estimate likelihood of drug use disorder diagnosis.† (NCBI, 1999. pg. 69). A decision tree approach is used and the information acquired â€Å"should be viewed as implicative and not definitive in that the findings should generate hypotheses regarding the areas requiring comprehensive diagnostic evaluation by using other instruments.† The â€Å"DUSI-R is structured and formatted for self-administration using paper and pencil or computer.† The areas assessed are: â€Å"substance use behavior, behavior patterns, health status, psychiatric disorder, social skill, family system, school work, peer relationship, leisure† and recreation. This assessment takes 20-40 minutes to complete depending on the subject. (NCBI, 1999. pg. 6 9). The Teen Addictions â€Å"Severity Index (T-ASI) is a brief assessment instrument developed for use when an adolescent is being admitted to inpatient care for substance use related problems.† (NCBI, 1999. pg. 78). â€Å"The purpose of this instrument is to provide basic information on an adolescent prior to entry into inpatient care for substance use related problems.† (NCBI, 1999. pg. 78). This assessment is an â€Å"objective face to face interview combined with opportunity for assessor to offer comments, confidence ratings† (indication â€Å"whether the information may be distorted), and severity ratings (indicating how severe the assessor believes is the need for treatment or counseling).† (NCBI, 1999. pg. 78). The areas assessed are: â€Å"chemical use, school status, employment/support, family relationships, peer/social relationships, legal status (involvement with criminal justice program), psychiatric status,† and â€Å"contact list for add itional information. The† number of† questions asked for each area are fewer in number than many† of the other instruments used. (NCBI, 1999. pg. 78). These â€Å"screening tools are brief self-reports or interviews that are used as the first step in the process of evaluating whether an adolescent may or may not have a drug problem. The outcome of a screening is to determine the need for further, more comprehensive assessment. (NCBI, 1999. pg. 78). I would use the DUSI-R to assess Marcella’s potential drug use because it is a self-report inventory that is available in paper or online that deals with both drugs and alcohol. It is utilized for measuring current status, recognizing areas in need of prevention, and evaluating the degree of change after treatment. Substance use disorder in the â€Å"DSM-5 combines the DSM-IV categories of substance abuse and substance dependence into a single disorder† using a measurement of mild to severe. The â€Å"diagnosis of dependence caused† some confusion. Most people think that dependence is â€Å"addiction† when in fact dependence could be the body’s â€Å"normal response to a substance. In† order for a patient â€Å"to be diagnosed with Substance Use Disorder the patient must meet at least† two of the eleven criteria for the diagnosis. A patient meeting â€Å"2-3 of the criteria indicates mild substance use disorder, meeting 4-5 criteria indicates moderate† substance use disorder and meeting 6-7 criteria indicates severe substance use disorder. (BupPractice, 2014). The Diagnostic Criteria are as follows: Continuing to use opioids despite negative personal consequences. Repeatedly unable to carry out major obligations at work, school, or home due to opioid use. Recurrent use of opioids in physically hazardous situations. Continued use despite persistent or recurring social or interpersonal problems caused or made worse by opioid use. Tolerance as defined by either a need for markedly increased amounts to achieve intoxication or desired effect or markedly diminished effect with continued use of the same amount. Withdrawal manifesting as either characteristic syndrome or the substance is used to avoid withdrawal. Using greater amounts or using over a longer time period than intended. Persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control opioid use. Spending a lot more time obtaining, using, or recovering from using opioids. Stopping or reducing important social, occupational, or recreational activities due to opioid use. Consistent use of opioids despite acknowledgement of persistent or recurrent physical or psychological difficulties from using opioids. Craving or a strong desire to use opioids. (This is a new criterion added since the DSM-IV-TR). (BupPractice, 2014). During the assessment and evaluation with Marcella she stated that she tried alcohol a few times with friends and on special occasions at family gatherings and she denies having ever been intoxicated. She also states that the pain pills she took in the suicide attempt were her only use of non-prescribed drugs. According to the DSM-5, Marcella does not meet any of the criteria for the diagnosis of a substance use disorder. In order to be diagnosed with a substance use disorder Marcella must meet 2 of the 11 criteria for the diagnosis. After my assessment and evaluation of Marcella I have come to the conclusion that she does not meet any of the criteria to be diagnosed with a substance use disorder. While she did take prescription pain medication in an attempt to commit suicide it was the first and only time that she took any type of drug prescription or otherwise. Marcella continues to work on her other medical issues with the hospital psychiatrist. References American Psychiatric Association. (2005). Substance-Related and addictive disorders. Retrieved from www.dsm5.org/Documents/Substance%20Use%20Disorder%20Fact%20sheet.pdf BupPractice. (2014). DSM-5 Substance use disorder. Diagnostic criteria. Retrieved from www.dsm5.org/Documents/Substance%20Disorder%20Fact%20sheet.pdf Centers for Substance Abuse Treatment. (1999).Screening and assessing adolescents for substance use disorders. Substance abuse and mental health services administration (US); (Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 31 Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64364/pdf/TOC.pdf National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2003). Chapter 1: Risk and Protective Factors. In Preventing Drug Use Among Children and Adolescents. Retrieved from http://drugabuse.gov/publications/preventing-drug-abuse-among-children-and-adolescents?chapter-1-risk-factors-protective-factors. Miller, W.R., Forcehimes, A. A., Zweben, A. (2011). Treating addiction: A guide for professionals. New York, NY: Guilford National Institute on Drug Abuse. (n.d.). Risk and protective factors. Retrieved from http://drugabuse.gov/sites/default/files/preventingdruguse_2.pdf

Essay on Teens - Popular Musics Impact on Youth -- Exploratory Essays

Popular Music's Impact on Youth Popular music and its artists have an enormous impact on our culture's youth from generation to generation. In almost any generation within the past fifty years, the behavior and beliefs of the majority of pre-teens and teens can be closely correlated with those of the popular music artist's of that time. Which music was "the popular music" changed drastically several times between the 1950s and the present, along with the attitudes of that generation's young adults. With each change in popular music came also a lasting change in the behavior of generations to follow. In some cases, the change was evident --the band or artist was creating or surrounded by controversy-- in other cases, the change was not evident until afterwards, a learning experience perhaps. In the 1950s, Bill Haley and the Comets first used the word "rock" to describe a musical form. They also released two movies, Blackboard Jungle, and Rock Around the Clock, which featured their music and were aimed specifically at young audiences. Blackboard Jungle told a story of teenage alienation and also made a star of Haley because of the overwhelming number of negative criticisms it received. Also, since adults of that time thought the music was just plain bad, the teens were even more drawn to its sound (Brown, 50, 53). Elvis Aaron Presley is known as the "King" today, but in the mid-fifties, he was known as "Elvis the Pelvis" because of his pelvic thrusts and somewhat exaggerated hip movements (67). These sexual mannerisms caught the attention of young women who viewed him as a sex icon, but also caught the attention of the media. In the fifties, these actions were too obscene to be shown on televi... ... What is to be learned from our generation? There does not appear to be a clearly defined movement being promoted like the antiwar movement of the sixties and seventies. Our generation will leave a legacy, or a lesson to be learned. Through the generations we have learned much; drug awareness, responsibility, and safe sex were all changes faced by generations following the previous generation's lifestyles. Our children will face different lifestyles that we are facing now, and the popular music of their time will surely shape their behavior and attitude to fit their generation. Works Cited Brown, Charles T. The Art of Rock and Roll. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall Inc. 1987. Christgau, Robert. Any Old Way You Choose It: Rock and Other Pop Music, 1967- 1973. Baltimore: Penguin Books Inc. 1973. http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/ent/A0860766.html

Presentation and Role of Religion in Chronicle of a Death Foretold Essay

Chronicle of a Death Foretold is set in Columbia, where the extreme theocentricity means every character’s actions are intrinsically affected by religion. Whilst Marquez also explores much deeper religious issues, the action of the novel centres on the God-fearing townspeople allowing the murder of Santiago Nasar, which clearly contradicts the Christian commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’1 Since female virginity is so venerated in the Catholic faith, when Santiago is accused of taking Angela Vicario’s virginity, her life would be worthless without it, and Angela’s brothers are charged with redeeming her honour. The novel can boil down to the assertion that a man died because of the teaching of both the Catholic Church, and the embedded paganistic values that are subliminally prioritised. The novel presents characters using religion to give meaning to their lives, and Marquez satirises this role accordingly2. Evidence of Marquez’s satire of religion’s malfunctioning role is; â€Å"If God hadn’t rested on Sunday, he would have had time to finish the world. †3 There is a subtle sense that Marquez hopes to probe and engage the reader’s opinions on religion by displaying both sides of the argument in his characters – those that are superstitious, and those who are religious. In practice, most characters are of both camps, which points to a mockery of religion. The theme of mockery is perhaps the strongest idea relating to religion to be conveyed by the novel. As an atheist, Marquez appears dedicated to accentuating the hypocrisies of the Catholic Church, saying himself, â€Å"Fiction was invented the day Jonas arrived home and told his wife he was three days late because he had been swallowed by a whale. †4 This satirical quote highlights Marquez’s belief in the deceit of the Church, even from its conception; strongly suggesting the whole business is fraudulent. Marquez’s use of Christian references and symbolism lend a deeper meaning to the text, implicating the characters and events at a subtextual level. The majority of the character’s names are theological, however it is more revealing to note some of the names that do not hold religious connotations, such as Placida Linero5, who is a well known â€Å"(dream) interpreter†6, and Luisa Santiaga, a notorious precognitive. These are two older members of the community who prioritise superstition and the paranormal over religion; therefore indicating a revival of paganism. Perhaps Marquez is suggesting that paganism is constantly just beneath the surface of South American culture, since honour is a remnant of paganism which has survived colonisation and the introduction of Catholicism. That religious authorities were powerless to stop Santiago’s murder (even if they had wanted to) indicates that the underlying pagan culture is the stronger. A fascinating double standard is the town prostitute, Maria Alejandrina Cervantes, in whom Marquez has chosen to represent the Virgin Mary, the most pure and chaste woman. This character maternally mourns Santiago’s death. In fact, Maria’s role extends far beyond prostitution. Although she â€Å"did away with our (Santiago’s) generation’s virginity†7, she is described as apostolic, and is repeatedly reported as having taught the young males crucial lessons about marriage, love and life. The character that ran about the town minutes before Santiago’s death, attempting to warn him is ‘Cristo Bedoya’. ‘Cristo’ means ‘bearer of Christ’; in a sense, Cristo bears the burden of Santiago’s death. Santiago’s ranch, the ‘Divine Face’ is almost a pun, being a derivation of the phrase ‘Divine Countenance’, which means ‘the Face of God’. Perhaps a further mockery of Catholicism is the idea that ‘the Face of God’ was passed on by an Arab (who, presumably, was not Christian). The significance of these Biblical names is to enable the reader, especially a Western reader, a reference point, since they will already be familiar with the theological implications, but unfamiliar with the South American culture. The reader will also discern the scores of parallels able to be drawn between Santiago and Jesus Christ, making Santiago a literary ‘Christ-figure’. Both were somewhat outcast, in Santiago’s case because he was not a native Columbian. This makes it easier for the town to allow Santiago’s death, and make him the scapegoat. The town’s unwillingness to save Santiago is similar to the Jews choosing to have Jesus killed rather than a murderer. In both cases, those who had the chance to save the innocent man felt terrible afterwards. Jesus had foretold his own death, and although Santiago was blissfully unaware of his demise until it befell him, the narrator states ‘never was there a death more foretold. ’ In dying for the sake of Angela Vicario’s honour, Santiago is sacrificed for the sins of others, which was also Jesus’ purpose in dying. In addition, the seven fatal wounds Santiago suffers probably represent the Seven Deadly sins. Even the way in which Santiago was murdered is akin to the Romans’ killing of Jesus. â€Å"The knife went through the palm of his right hand and then sank into his side up to the hilt. †8 The Romans ensured their victims were dead by stabbing them in the side, their hands having been pierced by being nailed to the crucifix. Incidentally, the Vicarios’ knives â€Å"kept coming out clean†9, which denotes Santiago’s innocence. This is amplified by his Christ-like appearance that day, dressed in white. Finally, since Santiago eventually dies in the kitchen, this could reflect the image of eating the body of Christ in the Catholic mass. Since the chronicle is written twenty-seven years after Santiago’s death, the reader is able to observe with a degree of objectivity the affect it had on the townspeople’s lives. One in particular is the town mayor, Colonel Lazaro Aponte, who as a result of the incident became â€Å"a spiritualist. †10 His faith was not the only character’s to falter under the strain of justifying murder. In fact, the faith of the older generation seemed already to have dwindled, as is notable in Placida and Luisa. The younger generation, including the narrator and Angela follow suit, as Angela states â€Å"The only thing I prayed to God for was to give me the courage to kill myself†¦but he didn’t give it to me. †11 She also resents the gluttony of the Church12, asserting that she â€Å"didn’t want to be blessed by a man who only cut off the combs for soup and threw the rest of the rooster in the garbage. †13 Angela’s radical discontent with the Church is presumably Marquez’s suggestion of a wider disillusionment with religion, beginning to seep through the more contemplative members of the novel’s characters, and perhaps even the real South American people. The immoral waste that Angela refers to is part of a much wider hypocritical routine. This includes the â€Å"mechanical†14 blessing the Bishop bestows upon the town as he passes by, not bothering even to stop the boat to greet his flock. This event indicates the Church has long-since ceased to be a charitable establishment, and is now effectively a totalitarian state. One under the directive of the Bishop was the narrator’s sister; â€Å"My sister the nun, who wasn’t going to wait for the bishop because she had an eighty-proof hangover. †15 In addition, the juxtaposition of the Virgin Mary’s name with the local prostitute, who lives â€Å"in a house with open doors†16 presents an appalling blasphemy. These two representations go beyond mockery of Catholicism, and enter into sacrilege. Finally, Father Amador says plainly that the Vicario twins are â€Å"perhaps (innocent) before God†17. This embodies the ultimate corruption of the values of the Church – to condone murder and to profess the twins’ innocence directly contradicts the word of the Bible, and critically impairs his pastoral role. The non-linear style of the novel revolves constantly around Santiago’s death, (‘â€Å"They’ve already killed him. †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢18 and â€Å"whose sentence has always been written. †19) With each revolution of the spiral story, more detail is displayed and more characters’ recollections revealed. This constant reminder to the reader that Santiago will die, as opposed to a linear story with a final climax, simulates the nature of the killing, with the entire town aware. By placing the reader in the position of those who share in the guilt for Santiago’s death (who (pour) â€Å"in to testify without having been summoned†20), Marquez succeeds in making the reader uneasy, and therefore challenge the morality of the culture and the religion that dictates it, as well as their own nature. The guilty conscience the reader develops cannot be laid to rest, due to the unresolved and ever-present death achieved by the non-linear style. Marquez uses characters to present arguments regarding attitudes towards life, and the religion that presides over them. In particular the rejection of religion in favour of the more traditional paganism, which is beginning to seep through the Columbian society, despite religion’s stranglehold. By Marquez’s characters sharing their opinions, the reader in turn considers his own stance and questions religion’s role, which is no doubt Marquez’s objective. It can be assumed that any reader of the novel would also reach Marquez’s satirical judgement of the role of religion. Bibliography The Bible. King James Version. 1769 Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Chronicle of a Death Foretold. London, Penguin Books, 2007 http://www. goodreads. com/quotes. 2012 Goodreads Inc. Mar G. Berg, Repitions and Reflections in Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California. http://authors. library. caltech. edu/18939/1/HumsWP-0110. pdf

Equal Opportunity for Financial Aid

Most post secondary institutions consider themselves to be equal opportunity establishments, although their financial aid system does not always seem to agree. In leaving my native country for university I have personally gone through the difficulties of trying to get financial aid. If you are an international student your only hopes of obtaining any aid are based on your athletic ability or your SAT scores. If we chose to come to America to get a university education, we should be treated as equals and allowed to apply for all the same financial aid that the American students do. It is every student-athletes dream to come to an American university. Athletes from around the world try to obtain athletic scholarships in hopes of getting the training and recognition to be able to go professional. Unfortunately not every athlete is able to obtain a full athletic scholarship, leaving the student to come up with the remainder. Not that we all deserve full scholarships, but in order to qualify for an I-20 student visa you must show proof of having 15,000 American dollars at your dispense. Once that amount is converted to Malaysian funds that amount is nearly $60,000, significantly more than ny American student needs proof of. The Malaysian government does not agree with giving of athletic scholarships, therefore they withhold any funding for student-athletes to leave to study in the United States. There is one source of financial aid for post secondary students from Malaysia, For students studying internationally, called the Malaysia Student Assistance Program. This is a near impossible student loan to obtain, it is available to students who's parents either make enough money to send them anywhere they want to go, or for students who could ot afford to go to university in Malaysia, therefore needing the athletic scholarships only offered in the United States. Being from a middle class family I, like many other Malaysian student-athletes could not qualify for this loan because of my working class The other option for international students to obtain financial aid from the institution of education would be from their SAT scores. The United States is the only country in which this standardized test is mandatory. In Malaysia the cost of taking this test is $100 American, which converts to approximately $ 400 Malaysian, the cost of aking this test restricts most people from taking it numerous times as we are prompted to do. I could only afford to take the test once, therefore limiting my academic scholarship American students also have to opportunity to hold employment while in university. International students according to the I-20 student visa are unable to hold employment. We are not given social security numbers or citizenship status, although the majority of us will end up acquiring a green card and living in the United States by the time that we are done our university educations. For the amount of money we are giving to the American economy one would think that they would be grateful and be willing to give back by helping to subsidize our education. We are forced into bank loans, and personal loans to pay for our education. The thought of living in debt for the rest of by life trying to pay back seven years of post-secondary education is absolutely terrifying. As well as the thought of only being nineteen years old an already being in debt, because I am unable to hold a job or obtain any sort of financial aid because I am not an American The Malaysian government has a right to withhold money from its citizens for leaving the country, as well as the American government has a right to only give to American citizens. I am just unsure as to why either country would want to with hold money from any student from any country. In a time where education is so important to the future why would either country want to hold its youth back. We would not be aiding or taking away from either economy by studying in another country. We aid the American economy by continuing our education here, and then we return to our country f origin where we pursue summer and winter employment, where we still pay taxes. We are not helping solely our economy of our country of origin, but we are helping a global economy by becoming aware of not just our country, but also other countries. We remain sheltered if we stay in one place all our lives, we need to explore and see the world, and we can start by going from our home country to another for post secondary education. The opportunity to study in another country does not come to everyone, but to those it does come to, it is a very difficult opportunity to pass up. If we are invited to this county to continue our education, why are we not treated as equals, both emotionally and financially. We, like the American students are just that, students. We do not come here because we do not want to study in our native countries, we come for the opportunity to experience new things, meet new people and become more educated, just like the American students. We do not come here to be judged or treated differently. We came to be treated like what we are, students, regardless of where we came from.