Impacts of black codes,Jim Crow Laws and segregation on african Essay

Impacts of black codes,Jim Crow Laws and segregation on african americans in the United States - Essay Example Racism was so much deep rooted in an American’s heart that the enactments of anti-slavery laws and the relevant amendments in the US Constitution were merely to redirect a racial mind to find alternatives of white superiority over the Black. Indeed the amended Constitution provided the legal safeguard to the Black, barring the practice of slavery at the state level as well as, to the extent the state could interfere into the public affairs. But it could do nothing to bring about the changes in the culture and the society that intrinsically nourished the racial hostility against their former slaves. Forced by the Constitution and laws, the Americans, especially the Southern States could not but embrace their former slaves, always whispering into their ears, â€Å"You are a black and you must feel it† (Haws 34). This act of reminding the Black that they were inferior to the White and subjects to the White Grace was being done perfectly by Black Codes, Segregation and the Jim Crow Laws. The â€Å"separate but equal† policy in the South is emblematic of the Whites’ failure to assimilate the minor black community into the mainstream of the society. Reconstruction: the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments The racial Segregation and the Jim Crow laws, in a single phrase the â€Å"separate policy† of the south was essentially the South’s reaction to the 13th, 14th and the 15th constitutional Amendments during the Reconstruction in the post Civil War Period. Reconstruction’s primary goals were to establish the Black rights by withering out Slavery and to reintegrate the South with the nation. But the Southerners took it as a Northern insult aggravating the injury of the Civil War. The Reconstruction started with President Lincoln’s affirmative actions for a race-blind, equal and reunited America. While Lincoln followed a more moderate course to establish black people’s right and to reunite the South, the Radical R epublicans â€Å"opposed it on the ground that Lincoln reconstruction plan had freed the slaves without paying much attention to establishing their socio-political, economic and other rights† (Stampp 78). What the North feared the most was that the Government should play a more active role in introducing the people of races to the newly imposed freedom through educational, economic and other sector developments. As a result, by passing the Wade-Davis Bill in 1864 Republican dominated Congress declare that Southern States should be run by military governors and, Secession and Slavery would be outlawed with the consent of the fifty percent of a state’s voters. Eventually the Congress also passed â€Å"the 13th Amendment and established the Freedmen’s Bureau in order to provide the formers slaves and black communities with the opportunities of education, employment, medical service, and economic facilities† (Carter 67). With the reelection of the Democrats i n 1968, the Oval Office under Johnson’s Presidency followed the same path that Lincoln started immediately after the Civil War. But President Johnson’s lack of foresight and wholeheartedness severely affected Reconstruction. Eventually, the Congress voted for the 14th Amendment of the US constitution to provide legal safeguard to Black people’s civil right in 1866 and the 15th Amendment to protect the black’s right to vote in 1870. But along the passage of time, the reconstruction zeal began to wane. Indeed the different political scandal, corruption of the reconstructed governments, economic aftermaths, etc aggravated the waning of Reconstruction. The South’s Response to the 13th Amendment: Black Codes To the North’s surprise, the South began to impose unofficial and legislative restrictions on the black’s rights. Both theoretically and legally by the 13th Amendment of the

Create a visual aid that illustrates a problem Assignment

Create a visual aid that illustrates a problem - Assignment Example The worst polluted cities Time Magazine has a listing of the world’s most polluted cities. Two are in China, two in India, two in Russia and a city each in Peru, Ukraine, Azerbaizan and Zambia. There are criteria set for categorizing the most polluted cities, and these are: the high volume of people, traffic congestion, trash and air pollution; mercury contaminated water and sewerage; danger to humans in contracting cancer by 50%, and danger to death by more than 50% compared with those not living in these cities. The most polluted cities show various types of pollutants, such as coal and particulates coming from automobiles and industrial plants. The city of Linfin in China, for example, is at the heart of China’s coal belt. Its air is filled with smog from burning coal; laundry on clotheslines turn black before it can dry under the sun. Sad to say, little is being done about the situation in these cities, especially as warnings on pollutants are muffled by talk on glo bal warming, the more dominant environmental topic today. But the problem of pollution in cities is most urgent since pollution is a direct threat to human health. Even the World Health Organization reports that water and air pollution cause GREENING THE CITIES 20% of global disease (Time). The greenest cities Fortunately solutions exist, and greening can start in cities where it is most critically needed. There are five cities recognized as the â€Å"Five Most Amazing Green Cities† by experts who used a combination of criteria including urban planning and environmental statistics (energy sources, consumption, emissions, transportation options, habits). Green cities show the availability of public parks, sustainable buildings, green jobs, and other ecological perspectives such as recycling (Howstuffworks). The first of the cities recognized for its green practices is Malmo, Sweden, with its canals, beaches, parks, and harbours looking as fresh as they were during the Middle A ges. Sweden itself leads in the green electricity revolution, while Malmo’s Western Harbour is run by 100% renewable energy sourced from the sun, wind, hydropower ad biofuels. Buildings and homes have green roofing, and are designed to be energy efficient. Streets are pedestrian and cycle friendly with 70% commuters and other travellers going on bike. The other four leading eco-cities are: (a) Copenhagen, Denmark, which has reduced cars for green transportation using bikes and a metro system. Its 56.000 windmills supply 10% of Denmark’s electricity comprising the world’s largest offshore windmill park. (b) Portland, Oregon, has 92,000 acres of green space and 74 miles of biking, hiking and running trails. Its ambitious goal is the use of 100% renewable energy by 2010. (c) Vancouver, Canada, was GREENING THE CITIES named â€Å"The World’s Most liveable City† by the Economist Magazine. It has a 100-year plan for clean and green living, and it leads t he world in the use of hydroelectric energy, while reducing wind, solar, wave and tidal energy. (d) Reykiovik, Ireland, is described as the smallest amazing green community with its 115,000 population, which is almost half of the 300,00 total population of Iceland. It uses hydrogen energy in addition to heat, geothermal and electricity energy sources. Turning the tide through greening is illustrated by a planned proposal for the capital city of Manila with its urban pollutants caused by heavy congestion of crude fuel-run motor vehicles, buildings without

The effect of Facebook on student performace

The effect of Facebook on student performace Facebook is a social networking site and website launched in February 2004 and was founded by Mark Zuckerberg. The popularity of online social network is growing at a rapid rate, such as Facebook. By end of 2008, Facebook became the most popular social network with 140 million active users Rayport, (2009). Today students use Facebook, because it is the other way to communicate with friends and family all over the world other than Twitter, my space and other social networks. Facebook offers many different options for social networking and entertainment, whereas it is free and the cheapest way to communicate with others. As far as communication goes, Facebook offers a chat option in which students can send messages instantly to one another regarding their work. They can also talk to numerous people at the same time. It is another way of communicating is using a private message option to write messages to another person. Facebook also offers the option to write on another persons profile where other people may view the message. However, these are not the only things can be found in Facebook. There are many applications and games can also be found on this site. There are ways to post items in other peoples profiles. A person can play interactive games that involve playing with other people on the site. Whereas, there are many choices of games and applications that people can choose. Examples of the games are Farmville, Pet Society, Poker, Sims and many more. These games can be interacted with friends and family. Games that this website provides continue to grow and in turn it continues to keep people intrigued and keeps them coming back. Facebook has become common among college students, Facebook games and applications and are one of the reason students are on Facebook. They spend many hours on games and applications till late at night, rather than studying or revising. This could affect the students marks and concentration during class. This is mainly because Facebook entertains them with variety of games and applications. Another reason could be because students too stress while studying, they need break, one of the option they log on to Facebook, on their phones, tabs, personal computer or laptops. When it is time to get back to their books, they spent more time on Facebook, and time just passes away without them knowing. This shows students can spend more time on Facebook rather than studying. The applications that most students spent their time on Facebook, that are uploading photos, posting links on their wall and also sending links on their wall friends wall. Whereas famous games on Facebook such as Pet Society, Texas Holdem Poker, The Sims Social and Farmville. Pet Society allows users to raise their pet in a self-decorated pet house. Users are able to play games, bring their pet to play with neighbours, as well as having the responsibility to feed their pets on time and clean them every day. Whereas, Texas Hold ´em Poker is a casino game that allows users to play poker as in real casinos, but with in-game currency. The game is nearly identical to other real cash poker games, fold, having a standard interface of check, and raise, and can sit down at any seat at the table. The game Sims Social is a unique computer game that allows players to create and control their own virtual household of people, known as Sims. Players control everything from their Sims career choic es to their eating habits, dreams, relationships, Thaddeus (2006). Farmville is an aspect of farm management such as growing and harvesting crops, planting, ploughing land, and harvesting trees and bushes, and generally run a basic farm. Some exploratory studies by Canales et al, (2009); Karpinski Duberstein, (2009) shown that the extended presence of students on Facebook has harmful effect on their task performance. While Facebook games are often said to be developed for people to spend their leisure time, it is proven that the games are addictive, causing people to spend a lot of time visiting the games. These two studies demonstrated that long hours spent on Facebook seem to decrease students academic performance and thus, their achievement grades. Students spend an average of 30 to 35 minutes a day surfing Facebook from The Learning Network blog, Schulten (2009). Many college students note that they actually spend only 3 to 4 minutes during each visit to check updates, making several visit a day; other spend up to 8 hours a day on the website. Students also acknowledge that they find the website totally distracting and the time consuming, but they also noted that they cannot quit visiting the website because they like it and can use it to keep in contact with all their family and friends, whether they meet them every day or not (Facebook, 2010). Some students are likely to spend more time than others on Facebook; they would be more immersed in related tasked as they spend long hours surfing on the websites thereby promoting their distraction from any tasks as they spend long hours surfing the website, thus promoting their distraction from any tasks performed in parallel. For example, users become interested in sharing information with friends and participating in discussion as well as uploading or watching videos and pictures. Students and other active user engage in long discussions about daily issues, checking their Facebook profiles from homes and from their cell phones. Students also check updates while preparing their assignments, which interferes with their assignments preparation. They are distracted from main occupation and their working memory load allocated to these tasks makes it difficult for them to focused and prepare their homework effectively. This would lead to instable results and likely decreased in their global achievement due to participation with Facebook. There have been many studies about using Facebook as a learning tool. One study showed that most students joined Facebook because Facebook was associated with university-level education by Madge et. al., (2009). This same study also found that Facebook is mainly used to keep up with social aspects of college life and it is a part of most students daily routine by Madge, et. al., (2009). However, students also did not seem to agree that Facebook helped their academic life cited by Madge et. al., (2009). Other studies have found that when students are asked why they did not put more effort into schoolwork that Facebook distraction was a regular explanation. Therefore, it is obvious that Facebook has become a very important feature of college life. There were no differences in Facebook use between different members of racial and ethnic groups that were part of the study, or between women and men. Younger and full-time students were more likely to be Facebook users. This study is to find out, does the time spent on games and application on Facebook affect the academic performance of students in SEGi University, Kota Damansara. Therefore the purpose of this study is to know whether Facebook games and application affects the grade point average (GPA) of students and the amount of time spent on Facebook games and application affects their studies. Grade point average (GPA) is a commonly used indicator of academic performance. Thus, the relationship among time spent on Facebook games and application and academic performance will be surveyed. In present study, Mass Communication students have been selected to conduct this study in SEGi University, Kota Damansara. The Facebook games that will be focusing on are Farmville, Pet Society, The Sims Social and Poker. While, Facebook application are pictures and videos that students spent time posting. 1.1.2 Statement of the research problem The main problem which is being addressed in this research is, how far does the time spent on games and applications on Facebook affect the academic performance of college students? The fact that excessive gaming will lead to a fall in academic performance is being illustrated on a report by Vivek Anand, (2007). It mentions that time management is the cause of the negative correlation of time spent on gaming and students academic performance. This also applies on Facebook gaming as they have the same nature and interrupts students time management in the same way. Many students in University already have laptops, smartphones; that supports the gaming in Facebook and tabs will bring it to the University. Therefore when they get notifications on their electronic devices, they will concentrate more on Facebook rather than the lecturer. Due to the lack of concentration towards the subject, students will tend to play games, chat with friends, post pictures and many more activities that capture their attention. This is not the fault of the lecturer, when students do not do well in their exams, is because they did not want to focus during the lecture. Karpinski focused on the relationship between time spent on Facebook and the academic performance of students San Miguel, (2009). He added the overall finding indicated more time on Facebook equals slightly lower grades. In Karpinskis study the regular Facebook user had a GPA of 3.0 to 3.5, while the rare Facebook user had a GPA of 3.5-4.0. Also, the regular Facebook user studied for 1-5 hours per week, while the rare Facebook user would student 11-15 hours per week. Many researchers are aware that Facebook is not the only thing that could possibly be taking away study time. However, 55 percent of those surveyed access their pages several times a day or at least once a day for a long period of time stated by San Miguel, (2009). 1.1.3 Research questions To find out does time spent on Facebook games affect academic performance? To find out does time spent on Facebook application affect academic performance? 1.1.4 Research objectives To determine the relationship between games and applications on Facebook and time spent. To find out the relationship between time spent and academic performance. 1.1.5 Significance of the study The effect of this study is to know whether Facebook games and applications affect students academic performance. This study is to find out does time spent on Facebook games and applications affect students grades. In this present study to find out does Facebook games and applications affect students academic performance, then hours students spent on Facebook games and applications affect their grades. In this study student agrees that the more time spent on Facebook games affect their academic performance, they spent hours on games rather than studying. Whereas Facebook application consume time and it does not affect their academic performance. This study will be beneficial to SEGi University students who want to know the factor, does the time spent on Facebook games and applications lower their academic performance, and does it affect their GPA. Therefore, the study is significant in this regard. It attempts to combine Facebook games and applications and the time consume does it affect the grades and academic performance. It will provide valuable information about Facebook games, applications, time spent, and academic performance. In this study will be shown the results of students when Facebook excessively. It also will serve as resource materials for others who want to carry out research in related field. 1.1.6 Scope/Limitation of the study A limitation of this project that is the participants are sampled from only one University, focusing at SEGi University on Mass Communication students, Kota Damansara. Therefore, the findings cannot be generalized to all colleges and universities. The researcher chooses the institution because of size, familiarity, cost-effectiveness, and diversity of students. Another limitation this study is that, the researcher cannot control whether the participants fill out the survey correctly and accurately. Nor can the researcher make the participants be truthful with their responses. Students may also underestimate or overestimate the time they spent on the activities listed on the survey. Students might also have trouble of distinguishing between being logged on and actively using their Facebook site. In addition, students may also under-report or over-report their GPA score. It attempts to combine Facebook application and games and the time consume does it affect the grades. The major limitation of this study is that it is cross-sectional and correlational in nature, and therefore it is impossible to determine the causal mechanisms between Facebook academic performance and time spent. While the data show that engagement and Facebook use are related, the direction of the effect is dif ¬Ã‚ cult to determine. For instance, students who spend more time on Facebook games and application also score higher on the engagement scale and also the grades are higher however it could be that students who are more engaged to begin with spend more time on Facebook games and application. It will provide valuable information about Facebook, does it affect the students grades and to manage their time. It also will serve as resource materials for others who want to carry out research in related field. CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Background of the literature The present study conducted a comprehensive examination of the pertinent literature to understand better on the time spent on games and application on Facebook and how it affects academic performance. This chapter is organized into two main categories of research literature that shape the problem. The first section focuses on the definition and historical context games and applications on Facebook. The second section focuses on the time spent on academic performance and the students GPA on University students. The literature review revealed significant information about Facebook, games and application on Facebook, the time spent on the games and application, academic performance, and students grades. 2.2 Facebook Games and Application Facebook games are originated from the development of Facebook Platform, which allow 3rd party developers to develop applications that can be deeply integrated into Facebook, and have mass distribution through the social graph. Facebook Platform has proven to be extremely popular immediately after its launch. According to Facebook Platform Statistics, (2010). More than 70% of Facebook users engage with Platform applications, and there are 550,000 active applications currently on Facebook Platform. Considering there are more than 500 million active Facebook users worldwide, the number of people engaged in the platform is huge. The applications on Facebook Platform often incorporate Flash technologies to enhance interaction with users, which quickly develop into the form of games. Facebook is one of the social network, students spend most of the time because of the application that have many choices for them to check, view and post. As mention by Block, (2010). Games are often said to be developed for people to spend their leisure time, it is proven that games are fairly addictive, causing people to spend a lot of time visiting the games. Games such as Pet Society are developed by Playfish in the year 2007. Pet Society is a pet raising game that allows users to raise their pet in a self-decorated pet house. Users are able to play games, bring their pet to play with neighbours, as well as having the responsibility to feed their pets on time and clean them every day, Block (2010). It functions are to design their pets by choosing genders, names, colours, and physical appearance features. There are a variety of activities with which the user can interact with the pet, including washing, brushing, petting and feeding the pet. There are also activities whereby pets can interact with the pets of those in the friends network. A pet can visit the pets of their friends and perform the same activities to these pets, such as washing, grooming, feeding and many more. A pet can visit other pets as many times per day as it is inclined. Pets will receive coins on the first visit to each friend of the day and Paw Points on this and each subsequent visit. Ways to earn coins in Pet Society include the Daily Lottery, visiting friends, and winning awards, cleaning or playing with pets, winning hurdle races or betting on the outcome of hurdle races. By earning a certain number of paw points makes the pet level up. Students will spend most of their time visiting their friends pets and also to make sure they play till the next level. This causes them to spend a lot of time visiting the g ame. Next game would be, Farmville. This is an application where you can create and manage your own virtual farm. Buying animals and regularly growing and tending to crops is daily routine for those addicted to Farmville and once you have gathered enough money, you can spend it on farm extensions and other big items that allow you to make your farm that extra little bit more personal. After few hours you have to come back to harvest the crop, if not your crop will die and for this time are wasted. Students spend more of their time waiting for their crops to harvest and because of that they will be thinking of the game rather than focusing on the book. Another game that students would be addicted is The Sims Social is a Facebook videogames developed by Playfish. It lets the user to create their own customizable character. In this version, the player uses their character to interact with those of their Facebook friends. The character can develop like or dislike for other Sims, creating relationship that can publicized on the users Facebook page. In this game Sims are able to develop skills, such as art, cooking, music, writing, athletic, driving, and various project skill items which are tied with specific themed collections. The Sims Social is also able to select their careers and traits. It also has needs such as social, fun, hunger, hygiene, bladder, and sleep. The Sims cannot die, therefore all mood meters cycle from deep green (good) to lighter green, yellow, orange, red, and finally gray. The Sims Social uses the socializing features of Facebook to allow players to send and receive gifts in order to finish certain quests or ob jects. For example, when a Sims levels up to a skill, they must have certain items to unlock the next level. Most of these items are obtained by sending requests to other friends or by interacting with friends Sims. Lastly is Texas Holdem Poker. It is developed by Zynga in the year of 2007, Block (2010). According to Texas Holdem is a poker variation of seven card stud poker where poker players share common cards called the board. Due to the fact that the starting two card poker hand is comprised entirely of face-down poker cards, the obligation to open the betting is rotated clockwise after each poker hand. This is accomplished with the use of a dealer button and blinds. A dealer button is a round disk with the word dealer written on it. Blinds are mandatory bets made by the first two players clockwise from the dealer button. The blinds posted in all limit games are in the amounts of 1/2 of the lower limit for the first player (small blind) and the lower limit for the second player (big blind). The blinds in a $10-$20 game would, therefore, be $5 and $10. Poker is a type of card game in which poker players bet on the value of the poker card combination (hand) in their possession, by placing a b et into a central poker game pot. The poker winner is the one who holds the poker hand with the highest value according to an established poker rankings hierarchy, or otherwise the poker player who remains in the poker hand after all others have folded. Students are addicted to this game because they want to raise the amount of money, called chips. They can play and bet with their friends. If one of them loses the game, they will play even more and this consumes time. Students are able to compete and interact with your their friends that they really know who they are in the Facebook Platform. Every time one log onto the game, they can see the progress of their friends in the game fairly easily. People can keep in touch with friends with minimal time and financial costs, which is an important factor of game addiction. Their friends that are playing the game are automatically added to the player list of them, bringing much convenience. This will encourage people to keep on playing the games, and invite more people to join the community. This we can see that, students will spend more time playing games, because they have to pass to the new level and beat their friends. 2.3 Facebook and Academic Performance Over the past few years, the use of social software tools like Friendster, MySpace, and Facebook has been increasing. Facebook, in particular, has become hugely popular among college and university students since its inception in 2004. While participation in sites like Facebook raises some concerns about privacy, there are potential benefits from participation, such as meeting new people through the site, or learning more about people in ones offline community. A lot of students prefer to use Facebook, because it offers multiple functions. For example they are able to post link with picture, therefore people spend most time on Facebook just by reading those links, going through the pictures and also chatting with friends and commenting on it. According to Hargittai,( 2008); Jones Fox,( 2009); Matney Borland, (2009). Facebook has become, the most popular social media website for college, and research shows that anywhere between 85 and 99 percent of college students use Facebook. Whereas, there are few researcher, Cooper Weaver, (2003); DiMaggio, Hargittai, Celeste, Shafer, (2004); Hargittai, (2008); Junco, Merson, Salter, (2010); Kaiser Family Foundation, (2004) agreed that Facebook has become the use of social media in the world. There are persistent differences along gender, socioeconomic, and racial lines in technology adoption and the usage, often referred to as the digital divide. Further, Subrahmanyam, Smahel, Greenfield, (2006); Valkenburg Peter, (2007); Wolak, Mitchell, Finkelhor, (2003) shows that adolescents consider the Internet a highly important medium in their everyday social life and use it to form and maintain social relationships. In this survey we can say that students use Facebook to interact with their family and friends, to keep in touch and to maintain their friendship and relationship between each other. A researcher in the education department at Ohio State University, Aryn Karpinski (2009), stated that students who spending much time on Facebook regularly surf Facebook does not do well in their academic performance. The American research found that Facebook rituals, including adding many friends, adding applications, poking other users and joining groups, can swallow up hours of study time. Some students were spending as little as an hour a week on academic work as they were too busy surfing Facebook. This study shows people who spend more time on Facebook spend less time studying. Kubey, Lavin, and Barrows (2001) found that students who spent five times more hours online reported schoolwork problems. Ten to fifteen per cent of the student participants felt their Internet visits were out of control. Although this study did not mention Facebook specifically, the researchers did mention that the captive social opportunities of the Internet appeared to be the culprit of the schoolwork problems (Kubey et. al, 2001). In addition, Vanden Boogart (2006) discovered that excessive 35 Facebook use was found among students with lower GPAs. Conversely, Pasek, More, Hargittai (2009) and Kolek and Saunders (2008) found no correlation between Facebook use and GPA in their studies. Bauerlein (2008) claimed that social networking sites (i.e. Facebook) raise vocabulary problems, which can lead to weaker reading and writing skills. Students who write and read messages on social network sites often use new lingo (i.e. short-hand versions of words), incomplete sentences, misspelled words, and incorrect grammar. Online social network etiquette allows for students to write poorly because it is a very lax environment for writing and sending messages. Unfortunately, when students consistently practice poor writing skills when participating in online activities, they start to develop bad writing habits that could also hinder their academic performance. Some exploratory studies by Canales et al, (2009); Karpinski Duberstein, (2009) have shown that the extended presence of students on Facebook has harmful effect on their task performance. These two studies revealed that long hours spent on Facebook seem to decrease students academic performance and thus, their achievement grades. Students spend an average of 30 to 35 minutes a day surfing Facebook from The Learning Network blog, Schulten (2009). Many students noted that they actually spend only 3 to 4 minutes during each visit to check updates, making several visit a day; other spend up to 8 hours a day on the website. From this study we will know that students prefer using Facebook rather than studying and they prefer spending time on Facebook. Students who are logged on to Facebook while studying get significantly lower grades than those who did not use Facebook, according to psychologists. A study has found that the exam results of those who used the social networking site while homework, were 20 percent lower than rare users. According to researchers, the findings put a dent in the theory that young peoples brains are better at multitasking on digital gadgets. The problem is that most people have Facebook or other social networking sites, their emails and maybe instant messaging constantly running in the background while they are carrying out other tasks, the Daily Mail quoted study author Professor Paul Kirschner as saying. Our study, and other previous work, suggests that while people may think constant task-switching allows them to get more done in less time, the reality is it extends the amount of time needed to carry out tasks and leads to more mistakes, (pg 1237-1245) His team studied 219 students aged between 19 and 54 at an American university. It was observed that the Facebook users had a typical grade point average score from zero up to four of 3.06. Non-users had an average GPA of 3.82. Those who did not use the site also said they devoted more time to studying, spending an average of 88 per cent longer working outside class. Three fourth of the Facebook users claimed they didnt believe spending time on the site affected their academic performance. The study by Open University in the Netherlands will be published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior. According to Professor Paul Kirschner: The problem is that most people have Facebook or other social networking sites, their emails and maybe instant messaging constantly running in the background while they are carrying out other tasks. The Facebook users among them had a typical grade point average a score from zero up to four of 3.06. Non-users had an average GPA of 3.82 (pg 1237-1245) According to the researcher, students are always with their laptops, hand phone, and tabs. Therefore they will get the notifications while studying, students will tend to concentrate more on Facebook rather than their subject. Therefore, whenever the lecturer explains in the class, their concentration will be on Facebook. When comes to exam the students who did not use Facebook while concentrating in class will score more in exams rather than the students, that are more on Facebook. Yamamichi, (2011). Stated that the Facebook Statistics also mentions, that there are more than 250 million active users accessing Facebook through their mobile devices and people that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on Facebook than rare mobile users. This shows many of students not only use laptops and tabs, but they use Facebook on their mobile device to connect to Facebook. Canales, Wilbanks, and Yeoman (2007). Conducted their survey on sixty-one college students, they found that students who use Facebook more often generally have lower GPAs and tend more towards extraversion and neurosis (associated with anxiety, anger, depression, and impulsivity) than those students who use Facebook less. Referring to Choney, ( 2010) statement Users of Facebook have an average GPA of 3.06, while non-users have an average GPA of 3.82. It shows Facebook does affect their academic performance, to be included that students not using Facebook getting higher GPA then users in their exam. Another statement by Fodeman and Monroe, (2009). Students have an irresistible need to connect with their peers because of the development of these 24/7 accessible technologies. Therefore, the usage of Facebook can become a habit that may affect the academic performance of students as well as their quality of life. 2.4 Theory The theory of this study is the Uses and Gratification (UG). Uses and gratifications is a psychological communication perspective that examines how individuals use mass media. An audience based theoretical framework, it is grounded on the assumption that individuals select media and content to fulfill felt needs or wants. These needs are expressed as motives for adopting particular medium use and are connected to social and physical makeup of individual. Based on perceived needs, social and psychological characteristics, and media attributes, individuals use media and experience related gratifications. The perspective can be used to understand a variety of media uses and consequences. It assumes a relatively active audience, which consciously selects content and media to satisfy specific needs or desires. For example students do come to Facebook to fulfill their needs for self-expression. Some may post on statues to express their needs and also chat or message their friends. In this study, have to understanding the thoughts and behaviours of the students in using Facebook games and applications. The media uses and gratifications theory looks at understanding what people do with media outlets. This approach focuses on why people use particular media rather than on content. In contrast to the concern of the media effects tradition with what media do to people. Uses and Gratification can be seen as part of a broader trend amongst media researchers which is more concerned with what people do with media, allowing for a variety of responses and interpretations. Katz, Blumler, and Gurevitch (1974) describe the concept as one that is concerned with the social and psychological origins of needs, which generate expectations of the mass media or other sources, which lead to differential patterns of media exposure. This means many people use media to satisfy their needs, for example students use media such as Facebook to past their time, for a learning tool, play games and many more. Uses and Gratifications Approach offers another way of explaining why people expose themselves to some communications. Katz, Blumler, and Gurevitchs Uses and Gratification Theory suggest that media users play an active role in choosing and using media. Users take an active part in the communication process and are goal-oriented in their media usage. Theorists say that media users seek out source that best fulfills their needs. Uses and Gratifications Theory assumes that users have alternate choices to satisfy their needs (Griffin, 2000). Focus of this theory is that viewers attend, perceive and remember information that is pleasurable or that will in some way help satisfy their needs

Essay --

Food related projects are super interesting, projects that have to do with seeing changes when you add different substances and how it affects the outcome. Last year, I did a project on how acids affect the rate of corrosion of steel wool. This year, my focus was food, especially baking. My research resulted in projects involving different amounts of baking soda and their affect on cake texture, or how chips lose their crunch. Then, an idea stood out to me: what makes gelatin and gels so strong. I wondered, what is in gels that make it strong and easy to form a shape. That led me to forming my question: What sorts of substances make gelatin the strongest? Hypothesis: If different substances are added to gelatin, then it is expected that the citric acid would make the gelatin strongest because it is found in gelatin treats like sour gummy worms, which have a strong texture. Goals: †¢ Find a substance which makes the gel strongest. †¢ See what substance weakens the gel. †¢ Find out what can make a gel go from strong and firm to a jelly-like consistency. †¢ Determine if the pH has anything to do with the gel being strong. †¢ See whether or the not the substance being a solid or liquid affects how strong the gel becomes. †¢ Find what substance can make the gel to shake. Background Information/Review of Literature: The Egyptians first used gelatin, they found gelatin in the Pharaoh's tomb in the form of glue. In 1682, Denis Papin, a Frenchman, took out tissue from animal bones and boiled it. He created a pure protein. In 1753, an Englishman made the first gelatin, and from then on, it got manufactured and became an industry. Gelatin is something that we eat a lot in our lives. Foods that contain gelatin are Jell-O, gummy bear... ... †¢ Use different substances like detergent, soap, egg whites, or cheese. †¢ Do the experiment under the sun and see which is strongest. †¢ Use sweetened gelatin instead of unsweetened. Different Experiments- †¢ How does temperature affect gels to become strong? †¢ How do bananas, apples, and grapes affect how strong gels will become? †¢ How do different amounts of gelatin affect how strong it becomes? †¢ Does pH affect how strong a gel is? Acknowledgements: †¢ I would like to thank Ms. Simmons who helped me step by step for the Science Fair. She guided me through all the work necessary to make a good project. She reviewed my Research Paper to make sure it met all of the criteria and check for any mistakes. †¢ I would like to thank my mom and dad who got me all the supplies and helped me make my project possible. When I needed help, they were always there to motivate me.

Structural Properties of Timber

1. Introduction During this assignment different types of wood will be discussed every bit good as the value of lumber used in interior applications. The headers will be organised consequently: 1.1 Chipboard versus Plywood 1.2 Autochthonal Hardwood versus Softwood 1.3 Laminates and veneers 1.4 Timber joinery. Each of the descriptions will incorporate a briefly written account, discoursing the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing the peculiar merchandise or fixture within an interior application. Photographs of the merchandise every bit good as a peculiar application of this merchandise will be included. It will be stipulated why the peculiar applications is either successful or less successful. Assorted lumber fall ining methods will be researched every bit good as peculiar applications thereof.1.1 Chipboard versus PlywoodChipboardChipboardcan be defined as a low class board that consists of tight wood french friess, bound together with a man-made rosin. This low grade composition board can besides be used as a stiffener for exposure and as a backup for paper tablets. ( Dictionary.com,2014 ) . Chipboard is besides available in a figure of densenesss: normal- , medium- and high denseness. Normal denseness is reasonably soft and high denseness is solid and difficult. ( Design-Technolog y, n.d. ) A positionadvantagesof hardboard include, cost efficiency as it is used for an alternate to solid wood for the building of furniture, usually the sort of furniture that is meant for ego assembly by the consumer. Chipboard is besides an advantage to the environment as it is made out of 70 per centum recycled stuffs. This means that alternatively of utilizing solid wood, fewer trees will hold to be chopped down when people choose to utilize chipboard alternatively. Chipboard is besides really strong and performs good under force per unit area. If hardboard is used alternatively of solid wood, it creates no weak musca volitanss in furniture. As hardboard can be covered with a broad assortment of coatings, it allows the consumer to take a coating to his or her liking. The hardboard can be made to imitate any type of wood every bit good as the best quality of wood without defects or knots. ( Grand Wood China, 2013 ) Somedisadvantagesof hardboard may include, H2O harm ; as hardboard can falsify, snarl and damage when exposed to wet. Because of this hardboard should non be installed in damp environments such as bathrooms. ( Grand Wood China, 2013 ) . Chipboard is chieflyusedfor counter tops in kitchens, where it will be laminated with cyanuramide, and fire doors. Work surfaces and flat- battalion furniture is made out of hardboard with a veneered surface. High denseness hardboard is heavy, stiff and hardwearing, these types of hardboard is chiefly used as the shell for kitchen units, worktops and flooring. ( Design-Technology, n.d. ) .Successful or Less SuccessfulPlywoodPlywoodcan be defined as a structural board that consists out of an uneven figure of thin beds ( lower limit of three beds ) of wood glued together under force per unit area, ever with the grain of one bed at right angles to the grain of the bordering bed. ( The Free Dictionary, 2014 ) . Advantagesof plyboard are the layering of the wood that creates strength, this besides prevents the boards from writhing, checking and falsifying under force per unit area. Plywood is besides less expensive than solid forests. ( Make It Yourself, 2011 ) . Marine Plywood is specially made for the usage under H2O, this stuff should be protected with vanish or pigment and the plyboard is fixed with rainproof adhesive. ( Design-Technology, n.d. ) The plyboard will go even stronger depending on the sum of beds added. The coating of plyboard can change, as some contain knots and other consist of attractive grains. Plywood can be used in insides every bit good as outsides, depending on the H2O opposition adhesives that is used. Plywood can be nailed or screwed and it can be curved because of the flexibleness of the stuff. The most common thicknesses of plyboard are 4,6,9 and 12 millimeter. ( Design-Technology, n.d. ) . Plywood has a fewdisadvantageslike H2O harm due to the layering which makes the material porous. Plywood will acquire heavy when moisture and should hence be covered when left out-of-doorss. ( Make It Yourself, 2011 ) . Plywood is normallyusedfor walls, roofing, flooring and decks. Plywood can be used for insides every bit good as outsides, plyboard can even be used for the building of boats. Because plyboard is a lasting and strong stuff, it is first-class for the usage in building. ( Make It Yourself, 2011 ) . Plywood can besides be used for cladding, sheds, furniture and shuttering boxes, this is normally used in building to incorporate concrete while it sets. ( Design-Technology, n.d. ) Harmonizing to ( Design-Technology, n.d. ) , â€Å" Exterior class plyboard ( WBP – Weather and Boil Proof ) . This type of plyboard can be used outside. Water-repellent adhesives are used and can defy a certain sum of wet. Weather boiled cogent evidence plyboard requires pigment or varnish to protect the outer veneer from the elements. Internal plyboard does non incorporate water-repellent adhesive. The codification used to stand for this plyboard is ( Int.interior use merely ) . Other codifications used on the surface of plyboard are: Bromines: -Boil Resistant, MR: -Moisture Resistant. †Successful or Less SuccessfulIn decision to the research provided refering hardboard and plyboard, it is hard to compare the two stuffs as they are really much the same. Chipboard is more aesthetically delighting and is non every bit harmful to the environment but can damage easy and plyboard is more cost effectual and is stronger than hardboard and it is used for a larger assortment o f merchandises.1.2 Autochthonal Hardwood versus SoftwoodAutochthonal HardwoodDefinition of Autochthonal Hardwood: Advantages of hardwood include, toughness, hardness, strong, the closer the grain is the more it can defy daze and wear, lasting, easy to utilize, elastic, does non divide easy, can be used under H2O, due to the oil content, it is of course lasting to wet and it will non eat Fe or steel adjustments. ( Design-Technology, n.d. ) . The disadvantages of hardwood include, falsifying, heavy and expencive, dividing can happen, hard to paste because of the oil content, will blunt tools really rapidly, does non smooth every bit good and it is hard to complete. ( Design-Technology, n.d. ) . Hardwood is chiefly used for furniture, floors, veneers, wooden plaything and decorations, boat edifice, gate stations, decks, store adjustments, Sillss, Gatess, doors, and stepss. ( Design-Technology, n.d. ) . Successful or Less SuccessfulSoftwoodSoftwoodcan be defined as wood that comes from an cone-bearing tree. Softwood are in general softer than hardwoods but there are a few exclusions. ( The Free Dictionary. 2014 ) There are advantages of deal, viz. , wood like pine, redwood and Scottishs pine are readily available and reasonably inexpensive, lasting, easy to work with, attractive grain and available in long and broad boards. Wood like Western Red Cedar are immune to insect onslaught due to natural preservative oils every bit good as conditions and dry putrefaction. It is besides knot free, H2O resistant and lasting. ( Design-Technology, n.d. ) Softwood has disadvantages every bit good and they include, the fact that they are non as strong, does be given to falsify, splits easy and expensive. ( Design-Technology, n.d. ) Softwood can be used for stairwaies, furniture, cladding for outside of edifices and general outside work. ( Design-Technology, n.d. )Successful or Less SuccessfulDecision1.3 Laminates and veneersLaminatesLaminates can be defined as two or more thin sheets of stuff, bonded together to cover or cover another stuff. ( The Free Dictionary, 2014 ) Advantages Disadvantages Uses in an Interior SpaceSuccessful or Less SuccessfulVeneersVeneerscan be defined as cosmetic, thin surface bed, glued to a base of low grade stuff to give the feeling that it is made of high quality stuff. ( The Free Dictionary, 2014 ) Veneers have advantages and disadvantages. An advantage of veneers are AdvantagesVeneer wood furniture begins with thin beds of wood glued together with the grain at right angles over a thick nucleus. This mark design reduces the opportunities of splitting or snap. Plus, the gum is the every bit strong, rainproof adhesive used in aircraft and marine building, so the terminal consequence is really stronger than the natural wood. Many people erroneously assume that veneered furniture is inferior to or cheaper than solid wood ; nevertheless, veneers rather frequently are used in high terminal furniture pieces and it can be more dearly-won than solid wood.AdvantagesofVeneer Woodhypertext transfer protocol: //www.horizon-custom-homes.com/2014Disadvantages Uses in an Interior SpaceSuccessful or Less SuccessfulDecision1.4 Timber JoineryJoinery is all right woodwork executed on wood working machinery in the protection of a workshop, in contrast to woodworking, which is unsmooth woodwork executed on the edifice site. The modern joiner makes purpose made closets, doors, Windowss, architraves and counters in solid wood, plyboard, fiberboard and hardboard, on modern woodwork machinery.249 Chipboard is an economical board made of harsh timber french friess bonded together under force per unit area. The criterion for hardboard is SANS 50312. Board made with phenolic type adhesive is suited for external usage, that made with melamine-urea methanals adhesive is suited for floor stuff or research lab worktops that are infrequently wetted. 251 The criterion for plyboard is SANS 929. Plywood can be of commercial, marine or structural class. The figure of hemorrhoids is ever uneven ( lower limit of three ) sing that the grain of the two outer beds runs parallel to guarantee a balanced board. Plywood can be dead set and shaped by wetting the board and determining it under heat and force per unit area, e.g. chair seats.251 Hardwood- The criterions for hardwood for furniture is SANS 1099. This includes a description of 29 local and imported species. Hardwood is supplied in three class: clear class ( marked red ) ; semi-clear ( pronounced blue ) ; knotty class ( marked viridity ) . 249 Softwood- The criterion for sawn industrial deal is SANS 1783. Softwood is grown locally and is supplied in six classs: clear class for high quality furniture ; semi-clear class for furniture and joinery ; cutting class ; visual aspect class for furniture, floors and shelves ; public-service corporation class, where visual aspect is non of import ; packing class for palettes and crates.250 Cosmetic laminates are fictile sheets with a cosmetic face. Cosmetic Laminates sheets sizes are 3.5 ten 1.2 m. There are several high and low force per unit area cosmetic laminate types, each with its ain application: general intent type ; for worktops, doors, shortss, light responsibility type ; for door- and drawer foreparts, carcases, shelves, cabinet liner type ; for internal liner of closets, angel type ; for contrary sides of boards to forestall uneven soaking up of wet of the substrate, specific purpose type ; for doors, dividers, walls and floors, high-wear type ; for industrial worktops, fire retardent type. All cosmetic laminates are made from rosin and paper. Melamine rosin and paper are used for surfaces, and phenol rosin and trade paper for nucleus building. Melamine is a thermosetting rosin type that is immune to high temperatures, chemicals and wear. Resins can be modified for specific intents like station forming and fire retarding. 252 Particle board, and fibreboard with at least minimal denseness, may be covered with veneers or cosmetic laminates. Veneer is a thin Peel of largely hardwoods. 2522. Decision3. BibliographyDictionary.com. 2014.Chipboard. [ Online ] . Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.dictionary.com [ Accessed 5 May 2014 ] . Grand Wood China. 2013.The Advantages of Chipboard.[ Online ] . Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.grandwoodchina.com/ [ Accessed 5 May 2014 ] . Design-Technology. n.d.Chipboard.[ Online ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.design-technology.org [ Accessed 5 May 2014 ] . The Free Dictionary. 2014.Plywood. [ Online ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.thefreedictionary.com [ Accessed 5 May 2014 ] . Make It Yourself. 2011.Plywood Advantages and Disadvantages.[ Online ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.doityourself.com/ [ Accessed 5 May 2014 ] . Design-Technology. n.d.Plywood.[ Online ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.design-technology.org [ Accessed 5 May 2014 ] . The Free Dictionary. 2014.Laminates. [ Online ] . Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.thefreedictionary.com/ [ Accessed 5 May 2014 ] The Free Dictionary. 2014.Veneers. [ Online ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.thefreedictionary.com/ [ Accessed 5 May 2014 ] The Free Dictionary. 2014.Softwood. [ Online ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.thefreedictionary.com/ [ Accessed 5 May 2014 ] Design-Technology. n.d.Hardwoods and Softwoods Table. [ Online ] Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.design-technology.org/ [ Accessed 5 May 2014 ]

Richard Character analysis Essay

The film Little Miss Sunshine directed by Valerie Farris and Jonathon Dayton tells of the Hoover Family’s emotional and physical journey from New Mexico to Florida for the youngest member, Olive’s beauty pageant competition. The viewing audience is introduced to several characters in the beginning of the film and are able to see their development and change as the film progresses. Richard Hoover is the father of the dysfunctional Hoover family who shows an important change in values and viewpoint of life and people. He is introduced as a narrow-minded and arrogant character, however as a result of his emotional journey he encounters he is later viewed as a respectable family man after re-evaluating his own perspectives, and priorities in life. Richard shows the change in thinking and life philosophy, from narrow-minded to accepting of those around him and himself. In the beginning Richard is very concerned about his status, and lives off his definitions of losers and winners. â€Å"There are two types of people in this world, winners and losers.† This shows the extent of his narrow-mindedness as he does not acknowledge or understand that an individual could exhibit traits of both a winner and a loser, and that we should not be defined by a superficial title. The diner scene is a key scene in the beginning of the film that shows Richard’s narrow-mindedness through his black-and-white perspectives about the controversial issue of concern for one’s appearance throughout the pageant society. Richard shows a clear bias towards those thinner through his words of â€Å"fat†¦or nice and skinny.† He is portrayed as a dislikeable character in the beginning scenes of the film. However, when faces with the difficulty of Olive’s eccentric character that does not fit in with the strict expectations of competitors in the beauty pageant, Richard accepts that fact although society may not condone or view Olive as the ‘winner’ of the pageant, Olive is still the ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ of their family and ultimately a winner. Through his consistent encouragement and support whilst Olive is performing on stage, we are able to see the newfound acceptance and appreciation he demonstrates. He exhibits the attributes of a supportive and caring father, who is able to accept Olive for who she really is. From this,  we see the change of Richard from a narrow-minded and careless character to an accepting and supportive father. Richard began as a character that was extremely conscious and perhaps uptight about pleasing society and upholding the law, however he develops into a character that is willing to break rules to meet the means of the situation at hand. When faced with a dangerous situation of getting pulled over by a police officer. Richard acts very cautiously, not wanting to displease the officer or raise suspicion for their potential crime. â€Å"Everyone pretend to be normal.† is a quote said by Richard, showing his need to please society and ‘acting normal’ when clearly they are a very unique, dysfunctional family of characters far from normal. We see his priority of upholding the standards of society and pleasing people. However, from this we can see his self-consciousness and uptight character displayed in the film. Later as the film progresses, Richard is able to develop into a character that is unafraid to break the rules at times to fulfil an ambition or goal. With the H oover family running late to the pageant venue, Richard is sent o make the abrupt decision of â€Å"I’m not going back!† and potentially puts his family at risk. He bypasses the chained gateways and parking barriers in order to fit the means of the situation and arrive on time through this shortcut. He is decisive in leading his family to the objective and now willing to bend rules, though he would have been reluctant to do so previously. Through this we are able to see the change in Richard’s behaviour and actions, as he is able to quickly assess the situation, be decisive and less uptight. Another significant change Richard demonstrates is the change in his priorities, where he begins as a selfish man with no regard for those around him including his family. He changes into a father wiling to sacrifice his pride, for the sake of his daughter’s potential happiness. In the beginning scenes of the film, we are able to see Richard’s selfishness as he hastily listens to the family’s voicemail machine recordings and dismisses all information irrelevant to himself. When talking on the phone about a business matter he te lls those around him to remain silent for him. His only shows concern for himself. We are able to see that he doesn’t tend to prioritise family above his personal matters, and displays his selfishness through this action. However, as the film progresses he becomes more  selfless and willing to sacrifice his pride to beg for Olive’s chance to compete in the pageant. As he gets down on his knees and begs â€Å"You don’t know what we’ve been through.† for a chance, we see the vulnerability and selflessness in Richard which contrasts greatly with his character in the beginning scenes. He changes into a more selfless character, with the newfound sense of what his priorities truly are, as he puts the happiness of Olive before his own pride. The character of Richard Hoover in Little Miss Sunshine displays a significant change in philosophy, attitude, priorities and behaviour through the contrasting in character in the beginning and end of the film. He is introduced and developed into a dislikeable character due to his selfishness, close-mindedness, uptight and need to please society’s expectations of people. However, he develops and changes into a selfless, accepting father with his family as a higher priority in his life. The happiness he receives and gives to those around him due to his change in perspectives and character show us the importance of discontinuing a life centred around ourselves. He demonstrates the change one goes through in behaviour, thinking, and actions when able to prioritise others before oneself.

Genus Gallioto essays

Genus Gallioto essays The definition of evolution is a genetic change in a population or species over generations. This is exactly what occurred in the case of genus Gallotia in the Canary Islands. The Canary Islands are made up of seven islands, named Lanzarote, Feurteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Gomera, Palma, and Hierro . Throughout time many changes have happened to the species Gallotia atlantica, found on Lanzarote, to G. stehlini found on Gran Canaria, to G. galloti found on the other four islands. Also, there are many subdivisions found within the species galloti, with one species that appears to have begun to evolve on each of the four islands. The Galloti Genus evolved in the order shown in chart 3. 3. Island Biogeography and Evolution: Solving a Phylogenetic Puzzle by R. P. Filson 4. Island Biogeography and Evolution: Solving a Phylogenetic Puzzle (cont.) by R. P. Filson 1. Review the geographic and geologic data from the packet. 2. Measure the distances of each individual island from the mainland of Africa. 3. Create a phylogenetic tree based on this data. 4. Compare the traits of the lizards shown in figure two. 5. Create a new phylogenetic tree based on the new data. 6. Obtain the genetic code of each species. 7. Tally the genetic differences of each species. 8. Make a chart with the results from table two. 9. Make your final chart based on the observations you made in genetic differences. Phylogenetic Tree 1: Geography and Geology Chart 1 is based on the geographic and geologic data it is the least accurate of the charts, this first chart is more an assessment of the geologic history of the Canary Islands, not the morphologic history of the lizards. Although chart 2 is base ...

Ancient Maya Locations, Architecture, Language

Ancient Maya Locations, Architecture, Language The Maya lived in subtropical Mesomerica in parts of the countries that are now Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, Honduras, and the Yucatan peninsula area of Mexico. Major sites of the Maya are located at: PalenqueCopanBonampakTikalChichà ©n ItzYakchilanPiedras NegrasCalakmul. When Were the Ancient Maya? The recognizable culture of the Maya developed between 2500 B.C. and A.D. 250. The peak period of Maya civilization was in the Classic period, which began in A.D. 250. The Maya lasted for about another 700 years before suddenly disappearing as a major force; however, the Maya did not die out then and havent to this day. What We Mean by the Ancient Maya The ancient Maya were united by a shared religious system and language, although there are actually many Mayan languages. While the political system was also shared among the Maya, each chiefdom had its own ruler. Battles between cities and protective alliances were frequent. Sacrifice and Ball Games Human sacrifice is a part of many cultures, including the Maya, and is usually associated with religion in that people are sacrificed to the gods. The Maya creation myth involved a sacrifice made by the gods that had to be re-enacted by humans from time to time. One of the occasions of human sacrifice was the ball game. It is not known how often sacrifice of the loser ended the game, but the game itself was often deadly. The Architecture of the Maya The Maya built pyramids, like the people of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Maya pyramids were usually 9-step pyramids with flat tops on which were perched temples to the gods accessible by stairs. The steps corresponded with the 9 layers of the Underworld. Maya created corbeled arches. Their communities had sweat baths, a ball game area, and a central ceremonial area that may have also served as a market in the cities of the Maya. The Maya at the city of Uxmal used concrete in their buildings. Commoners had homes made of thatch and either adobe or sticks. Some residents had fruit trees. Canals afforded an opportunity for mollusks and fish. The Language of the Maya The Maya spoke various Maya family languages some of which were phonetically transcribed via hieroglyphs. The Maya painted their words on bark paper that has disintegrated but also wrote on more enduring substances [see epigraphy]. Two dialects dominate the inscriptions and are presumed to be the more prestigious forms of the Maya language. One is from the southern area of the Maya and the other from the Yucatan peninsula. With the advent of the Spanish, the prestige language became Spanish.

How Christmas Is Celebrated in Russia

How Christmas Is Celebrated in Russia Christmas is a public holiday in Russia, celebrated by many Christian Russians as one of the most important holidays of the year. While some Russian Christmas traditions are similar to those practiced in the West, others are specific to Russia, reflecting Russias rich history and the traditions associated with the Russian Orthodox Church. Fast Facts: Christmas in Russia In Russia, Christmas is celebrated on January 7th.Many Russian Christmas traditions originated with the pagan culture that predated Christianity in Russia. Long-standing Russian Christmas customs include caroling, fortune-telling, and following a strict Nativity Fast for forty days leading up to Christmas Eve. Many of Russias Christmas customs originated with the pagan culture that existed in Russia before the arrival of Christianity. Pagan rituals designed to bring about a good year with a rich harvest were performed from the end of December until around mid-January. When Christianity arrived in Russia, these rituals transformed and merged with the customs of the newly arrived religion, creating a unique mixture of Christmas traditions that are still observed in Russia today. Russian Orthodox Christmas Russian Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on January 7th, according to the Julian calendar observed by the Russian Orthodox Church. Currently, the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the Julian calendar is 13 days. Starting in 2100, the difference will increase to 14 days, and Russian Christmas will thus be celebrated on January 8th from then onwards, until the next increase. During the Soviet era, Christmas and all other church holidays were banned (though many people continued to celebrate them in secret). Many Christmas traditions were moved to New Years, which has been the most popular holiday in Russia ever since. Nevertheless, a wealth of Christmas traditions remain in Russia, including fortune-telling on Christmas Eve, singing Christmas carols (Ð ºÃ ¾Ã »Ã' Ã ´Ã ºÃ ¸, pronounced kaLYADky), and following a strict fast until the first star appears in the sky on the night of Christmas Eve. Russian Christmas Traditions Traditionally, Russian Christmas celebrations begin on Christmas Eve, called Ð ¡Ã ¾Ã'‡Ð µÃ »Ã'Å'Ð ½Ã ¸Ã º (saCHYELnik). The name Ð ¡Ã ¾Ã'‡Ð µÃ »Ã'Å'Ð ½Ã ¸Ã º comes from the word Ã' Ã ¾Ã'‡Ð ¸Ã ²Ã ¾ (SOHchiva), a special meal made from grains (usually wheat), seeds, nuts, honey, and sometimes dried fruit. This meal, also known as Ð ºÃ'Æ'Ã'‚Ã'Å'Ã'  (kooTYA), signifies the end of the strict Nativity Fast which is held for forty days. The Nativity Fast is observed until the first star is seen in the evening sky on the night of Ð ¡Ã ¾Ã'‡Ð µÃ »Ã'Å'Ð ½Ã ¸Ã º, to symbolize the appearance of the Star of Bethlehem that inspired and led the three wise men to Jesus home in Jerusalem. Russian Christmas is spent with family, and is considered a time of forgiveness and love. Thoughtful gifts are given to loved ones, and homes are decorated with figures of angels, stars, and nativity scenes. Many Russians attend a Christmas mass on Christmas Eve. After dark, once the fast is broken, families sit down for a celebration meal. Traditionally, various pickled items are served, including gherkins, pickled mushrooms, sauerkraut, and pickled apples. Other traditional dishes include pies meat, mushroom, fish, or vegetable fillings. A drink called Ã' Ã ±Ã ¸Ã'‚Ð µÃ ½Ã'Å' (ZBEEtyn), made with spices and honey, is also served. (Ã' Ã ±Ã ¸Ã'‚Ð µÃ ½Ã'Å' was once the most popular drink in Russia, before tea took over.) Today, Russian Christmas meals are eclectic and varied, with some families following tradition and others choosing entirely different dishes. Many Russians do not follow the fast or attend church, but still celebrate Christmas, viewing the holiday as a celebration of love, acceptance, and tolerance. Christmas Fortune-Telling Fortune-telling is a tradition that began in Russias pre-Christianity times (and is not condoned by the Russian Orthodox Church). Traditionally, fortune-telling was performed by young, unmarried women who gathered at a house or a Ð ±Ã °Ã ½Ã'  (BAnya)- a Russian sauna. The women wore only their nightgowns and kept their hair loose. Married women and men were not allowed to take part in fortune-telling rituals. Instead, older women performed Ð ·Ã °Ã ³Ã ¾Ã ²Ã ¾Ã'€Ã'‹ (zagaVOry): word-based rituals designed to bring prosperity to their families. In todays Russia, many fortune-telling rituals involve the whole family. Tarot reading, tea leaf reading and coffee grounds divination are also common. Here are some examples of traditional fortune-telling methods performed at Russian Christmas celebrations: A bowl is filled with rice and a question is asked or a wish is made. When you put your hand into the bowl and then take it back out, you must count the number of grains that have stuck to your hand. An even number means that the wish will come true soon, while an odd number means that it will come true after some time. It can also be seen as a yes or no answer to the question. Gather as many cups or mugs as there are people present. One of the following objects is put in each cup (one object per cup): a ring, a coin, an onion, some salt, a piece of bread, some sugar, and water. Everyone takes turns to choose a cup, keeping their eyes closed. The chosen object represents the near future. A ring means a wedding, a coin means wealth, bread means abundance, sugar means happy times and laughter, an onion means tears, salt means difficult times, and a cup of water means life without changes. Traditionally, on Christmas Eve, young women went outside and asked the first man they saw what his name was. This name was believed to be the name of their future husband. Merry Christmas in Russian The most common Russian Christmas greetings are: Ð ¡ Ð  Ã ¾Ã ¶Ã ´Ã µÃ' Ã'‚Ð ²Ã ¾Ã ¼ Ð ¥Ã'€Ð ¸Ã' Ã'‚Ð ¾Ã ²Ã'‹Ð ¼ (s razhdystVOM khrisTOvym): Merry ChristmasÐ ¡ Ð  Ã ¾Ã ¶Ã ´Ã µÃ' Ã'‚Ð ²Ã ¾Ã ¼ (s razhdystVOM): Merry Christmas (abbreviated)Ð ¡ Ð ¿Ã'€Ð °Ã ·Ã ´Ã ½Ã ¸Ã ºÃ ¾Ã ¼ (s PRAZnikum): Happy holidays

Write the benefit part of the issue Is It Time to Think Seriously Essay

Write the benefit part of the issue Is It Time to Think Seriously About Climate Engineering - Essay Example and Atlantic ice sheets which pose a great environmental danger to the ecosystem thus an alternative measure to curb this â€Å"long term effects† menace. Carbon levels and other heat trapping gases have been on the increase and to some extent surpassed the tipping point; as of May 2012, carbon dioxide had reached 396.18 parts per million in the atmosphere which is way over the 350 parts per million upper limit, a stable climate’s relative point. With earth’s atmosphere monitoring stations over the last two decades indicating an increase in annual carbon emissions by 41% mainly from the fossil fuel combustions, indicate that the carbon concentration has approximately been increasing with 2 million parts per million each year; with this trend, it might be more than twice of the pre-industrial levels by the end of century resulting to further ecosystem damages. Geo-engineering measures more so the suggested strategies of pumping 5million to 10 million tons of sulphur dioxide in to the stratosphere; where they cannot be washed away easily by rain, intended to form microscopic particle to shade the planet from direct radiation, advancing bio-technological research on the algae fertilization to enhance carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere and invention of an alternative to fossil fuels, will go an extra mile in combating the global warming menace. Despite these measures being faced by a couple of limitations such as lack of effective understanding of ecological problems, increasing the acidity of the oceans, ineffective measure of full implication tests and barriers from the economically benefiting segments and organizations/governments with interests in these biodegrading activities, extensive research more so on the geo-engineering to curb the radiation and carbon emissions. A further global warming of 1 degree centigrade defines a critical threshold with the earth creating more Venus like conditions characterized by unhealthy and unlivable conditions

Sickle cell anemia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sickle cell anemia - Research Paper Example This paper briefly analyses various characteristics of Sickle cell anemia. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS Anemia is a condition in which the number of red cells in blood decreases beyond certain limits. It can occur because of lack of hemoglobin and defective functioning of hemoglobin. Sickle cells contain sickle hemoglobin or hemoglobin S which is causing Sickle cell anemia. The changes in the shape of red blood cells are referred as sickling in medical terms. Sickle shaped means the shaping of red blood cells in the form of a crescent. Normally blood cells are disc shaped and therefore it can move quickly through the blood. However, when it attains the shape of a crescent, mobility of these cells would be decreased. (Kids health: Sickle Cell Anemia, 2011) Sickling can affect the normal functioning of the cells in different ways. It can reduce the flexibility of the cells and thereby various complications can occur to the patient. Life expectancy of the Sickle cell anemia patients has found to be comparatively lower to that of the normal people. Sickle cell anemia is usually appearing at the childhood itself. In areas where malaria is common, Sickle cell anemia found to be more common. In other words, a connection between Sickle cell anemia and malaria cannot be ruled out. ... It should be noted that normal life span of red blood cells is about 120 days. If red cells die within 10 to 20 days from its production, it is evident that the normal number of red cells cannot be sustained in blood. It is difficult for bone marrow to supply enough red cells based on the demand created by the untimely death of red cells. CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS If both parents have the sickle cell trait, the chance that a child will have sickle cell disease is 25%. If one parent is carrying the trait and the other actually has disease, the odds increase to 50% that their child will inherit the disease (Sickle cell anemia: patient education, 2011) Sickle cell anemia normally occurs when a child gets two sickle cell genes from his parents. If the child gets the defective gene or hemoglobin from one parent and normal hemoglobin from the other parent, he may develop sickle cell trait. However, such people may not show the symptoms of this disease. Symptoms of Sickle cell anemia may not appear until a child becomes four months old. Unusual pain lasting from hours to days is the major symptom of Sickle cell anemia. In some cases, the pain might be extended for many years. Pain can affect the entire body. â€Å"Abdominal pain, Bone pain, Breathlessness, Delayed growth and puberty, Fatigue, Fever, Paleness, Rapid heart rate, Ulcers on the lower legs, jaundice, Chest pain, Excessive thirst, Frequent urination, Painful and prolonged erection, Poor eyesight, Strokes, Skin ulcers† (Sickle cell anemia, 2011) etc are the major symptoms of Sickle cell anemia. DIAGNOSIS CRITERIA â€Å"Complete blood count (CBC) test, Hemoglobin electrophoresis, Sickle cell test† (Sickle cell anemia, 2011) etc are some of the

BMAN 71701 e-Business Coursework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

BMAN 71701 e-Business Coursework - Essay Example On the sell side threats, the company is faced with the issues of customer threats and entry of new business models (Chaffey 2011). Below is a brief discussion of these competitive threats and their respective levels on business performance. 1. Suppler threats To the glam media company, supplier threat is low and is not likely to influence the company’s performance in any way. Since most of the company has established a long term relationship with its suppliers around the globe. As the company largely deals on fashions, women styles and beauty, there are many willing and potential suppliers around the globe that are capable of giving them their demanded products (Plunkett 2009). Therefore since the company is fast growing and incorporating more and more products into their system, the issue of suppliers is a little threat and can only influence the company’s performance positively , helping it to rise to higher levels and seek new markets (Plunkett 2008). Similarly, the company has invested on agile and adaptable suppliers who are willing to change and transform with every bit of market change. Such companies can withstand technological advancements and can have long term effects on business performance. 2. New digital products threat New digital products is equal a low level treat to the glam media company. The company management has engaged in a series of innovative ideas that largely help the company advance with the technological changes and transformations in the market. The management of the company has ensured that they stay ahead of the market competition through the introduction of new products. Similarly, the company has engaged in a series of market research that enables it to discover the various customer need (Chaffey & Wood 2010). This technique has enabled them to stay firm and effective in the market. As well, the company has extended its services to many countries, and the website is already getting clicks from various parts of th e world. This is a sign that they have conquered the market and effectively penetrated deeper markets. To this extent the company enjoys a large global market share hence ensuring that they stay on top of the market in terms of quality and the most latest products in the market. 3. Threat of new entrants in the market This is a medium competitive threat. The glam media company has largely captured the market and is currently among the leading company in terms of women products and styles. One of the greatest tool that the company initially relied upon was proper market survey and bringing in exactly what people demand (Smith & Zook 2011). New entrants into the market are however a threat since a company may learn of their weaknesses and then use it against them. In addition, entry of new companies in the market may lead to emergence of new and more superior products that will out do theirs. This factor makes new entrants into the company a little threat. Relatively, new entrants int o the market may come up with similar products but different and more lucrative means of advertisement as well as distribution channels. Advertisements play a very major role in company development, thus it sets the basic threshold for competition. Therefore if a company

Persistence of Christianity in Post communist china Research Paper

Persistence of Christianity in Post communist china - Research Paper Example However, despite the hostility against Christianity, the religion evolved and was practiced underground in order to survive. Therefore, the revolution did not result in any shift in Christianity, but the religion persisted even after this revolution. As early as 17th century, Christian missionaries of the Roman Catholics belonging to the Jesuit order had been actively involved in China while the protestant missionary arrived in the 19th century.4 Conversion of the Chinese to Christianity was difficult in that it was linked to western imperialism. Approximately 3 to 4 million Chinese had been converted to Christianity by 1949, less than 1% of the entire population; after the collapse of the monarchial rule, fights erupted largely fueled by a need to determine the next form of governance different from the Monarchs, and in which Christians were heavily involved.5 Monarchs used religion to control their territories and neglected its moral teachings. The rise of Communism acted as a barr ier to the spread of Christianity stating religion as â€Å"opium of the people† from Max philosophy Before the 1949 revolution, Christians were estimated to be about 700,000 in China.6 In the 1940s, many Chinese Christians were behind calls to rid China off foreign influence, with a selected group of Chinese Church leaders preparing a document that was later to be known as â€Å"Christian Manifesto.†7 For example, because of their steadfast loyalty to the pope, Catholics faced great persecution from the early 1950s and 1960s, with all foreign missions being expelled from China.8 The number of Catholics in 1949 was estimated to be about 4 million in China. The severe persecution of Catholicism led to cold relationship between Vatican and the Communist country. In fact, the relations are still shaky as the Chinese Catholic church continued to ordain a bishop without Papal approval as the communist regime still requires the native Catholics to choose between devotion to the pope, and obedience to the communist authorities.9 Religion was viewed as a strong factor of change that could have threatened the status quo as introduced by the communist regime; it was mainly viewed as a liberal force in China after the 1949 revolution. Though contributing only a small portion, Christianity was particularly indentified as a big risk that could cause problems to the communist regime. Christianity was particularly introduced in China from the Western and European regions, and was thus seen as a perpetuation of western ideologies in the communist country. Having been introduced by foreigners with strong establishments in European countries and offering education, medicine, and food to the locals, it earned much hate and suspicion from the communist rulers. Clarke offers a concise differentiation of what constitutes public and private realm. Such a distinction has to rely on the dichotomous distinction between the private and public.10 Therefore, in terms of reli gion in China, private realm would constitute

CRM - Customer Relationship management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

CRM - Customer Relationship management - Essay Example For instance, Dell, Acer, HP ranks at 77 percent and others lower than this despite of their improvements (OGrady, 2009). Over the past two years, the company has been able to expand its market across the world. This has been attributed to its effective customer relationship management strategies, which have made it possible for the business to retain its loyal customers and attract new clients towards its products and services. Apple Inc. takes the responsibility of putting up a store just for its products to eliminate the trouble of ill information of their products, which in turn has culminated an excellent move on their loyal customers. The store encourages PC and Mac users to explore and play with the company’s technology. The store space provides a quality service to Mac heads users where they can also hang out with the lovers of the Apple products. Therefore, by creating the stores, the company encourages existing and the newer customers enjoy the products they offer. Moreover, the products complement and complete the others such as incorporating other software’s in one product. For instance, with an iPod it is easier downloading the iTunes. In addition, with their varied products some which are relatively cheaper than others are, encourages customers to purchase them, and thus increases the likelihood of buying Apple products in the future. With the increasing cost of traditional media, i.e. audio, visual, and print media, the company has diverted to other strategies of creating a close relationship with the customers. For instance, Apple Inc. is using social media to collect the views of the customers. Through this platform, the company is able to understand different aspects that affect the consumption behavior of the target market. In addition, social media gives the customers an opportunity to interact direct with the company’s subordinates. Therefore, through this channel, they have been able to air their grievances concerning the products

Preparation of Business Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Preparation of Business Plan - Assignment Example However, it is possible for more successes to be reached in new entrants because the target segments of customers in the travel agency market in Singapore vary a lot. By focusing on some potential business opportunities witnessed in the Singaporean tourist market, business investors can expect to achieve pleasing business successes. The name of the travel agency to be started is Enjoy life to the fullest. As is indicated in the words included in the name of the travel agency to be started in Singapore, the major values proposed for operating the businesses are facilitating in the process for people to enjoy their life as much as possible by going on interesting trips to the different tourist attractions in Singapore. Instead of passively following the arrangements made by the travel agency in the form of tour trips, the travel agency to be started will emphasize on the participation of the tourists in making an optimal tourist plan for achieving their expected tourist purposes in Singapore. Under the competitive business environment of the travel agency industry sector in the current times, inspiring the tourists to take part in the process of making the practical and detailed tourist plans would enable the customers to enjoy their trips to their selected tourist attractions on more occasions. The competitive a dvantages of the travel agency to be started in this business plan will be expected to be improved compared with the business rivals in the Singaporean tourist market.   In addition to that, the travel agency to be started in Singapore will also focus on providing more considerate services to cater for the needs of reaching smooth communication in the process of offering tourist services for the customers from different countries. Interpreters that can speed different languages used in different countries of the world will be employed as service staffs to help reach a smooth communication with the tourists from different places of the world. That

CRM - Customer Relationship management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

CRM - Customer Relationship management - Essay Example For instance, Dell, Acer, HP ranks at 77 percent and others lower than this despite of their improvements (OGrady, 2009). Over the past two years, the company has been able to expand its market across the world. This has been attributed to its effective customer relationship management strategies, which have made it possible for the business to retain its loyal customers and attract new clients towards its products and services. Apple Inc. takes the responsibility of putting up a store just for its products to eliminate the trouble of ill information of their products, which in turn has culminated an excellent move on their loyal customers. The store encourages PC and Mac users to explore and play with the company’s technology. The store space provides a quality service to Mac heads users where they can also hang out with the lovers of the Apple products. Therefore, by creating the stores, the company encourages existing and the newer customers enjoy the products they offer. Moreover, the products complement and complete the others such as incorporating other software’s in one product. For instance, with an iPod it is easier downloading the iTunes. In addition, with their varied products some which are relatively cheaper than others are, encourages customers to purchase them, and thus increases the likelihood of buying Apple products in the future. With the increasing cost of traditional media, i.e. audio, visual, and print media, the company has diverted to other strategies of creating a close relationship with the customers. For instance, Apple Inc. is using social media to collect the views of the customers. Through this platform, the company is able to understand different aspects that affect the consumption behavior of the target market. In addition, social media gives the customers an opportunity to interact direct with the company’s subordinates. Therefore, through this channel, they have been able to air their grievances concerning the products

Physics of racing cars Essay Example for Free

Physics of racing cars Essay Racing cars are high performance cars. In order for them to be fast the cars body (and interior must be very light). By re-arranging Newton’s 2nd it can be seen that the larger the mass of the car the smaller the acceleration the car will have. For the car to accelerate (or decelerate) there must be some friction in between the cars tyres and the road surface. This traction helps the car to move at a very high speed and if the traction isn’t there the car won’t move even though the tires are rotating. This can be seen when the road surface is icy and the cars loose grip, the wheels are rotating but the car doesn’t move very fast. The force required to slide a tyre is called the adhesive limit of the tyre, or sometimes the stiction. image00.png The formula F  µN shows the relationship between the frictional force and the surface the tyre is moving on. F is the frictional force, N is the normal reaction between on the tyre and  µ is the coefficient of the friction, the more the  µ value the rougher the surface is. The maximum frictional force provided by the tyre is given by  µN, beyond this value slipping starts to occur. This equation implies that the frictional force made by the tyres is independent of the width of the tyre. A car fitted with a wider tyre is creates the same friction as a thinner tyre because the thinner tyre creates more pressure point hence created more contact between the tyre and road surface whereas, the wider tyre covers more surface area therefore creates the same grip between the tyre and surface. Newton’s second law (F=ma), shows that when the traction force is generated the car accelerates forward. Newton’s third law, every action has an opposite and equal reaction shows that when the car does accelerate the driver experiences a force opposite and is pushed backwards into the seat. When the steering wheel is turned the driver tries to get the front tyres to push a little sideways on the ground, and by Newton’s third law the ground pushes back, which causes little sideways acceleration. This changes the sideway velocity. The acceleration is relative to the sideways force and inversely relative to the mass of the car. The sideways acceleration causes the car to go sideways which the driver requires when turning the wheel. When the car decelerates the resistive braking force acts in the opposite direction to the moving car and the driver is pushed forward. The car experiences torque when traction and braking forces are generated. This transfers the weight forward when accelerating sharply and backward when braking sharply. Weight transfer can be controlled by using throttle, brakes and steering. The equation shows that if the speed of the car doubles, the centripetal force must quadruple for the car to go around the same bend, the centrifugal force must also quadruple if this happens. Therefore, racing cars are subject to forward and backward forces due to linear acceleration and deceleration and also large side forces during cornering bends at high speeds, which are called G forces. The equation also shows that if the bend is doubled the centripetal halves. It’s useful for the driver to go around bends at high speeds as the fastest route given by tracing out a curve with the largest radius possible. Air resistance can be modelled by the equation C-Coefficient of drag (0.25-0.45 for cars) p-Density of air A-Reference area (area of car perpendicular to the direction of motion) Ï…-Speed/velocity of car If the speed of the vehicle doubles the drag force quadruples. The drag force can be minimised by decreasing the reference area. This is achieved by making the car flatter so that it cuts through the wind easily giving it a stream lined shape. The shape is also usually like the wings of an aeroplane upside down. In aeroplane the wings will give it a lift whereas the upside down shape on the car will give it a downwards force which helps it prevent from lifting up at high speeds. According to Newton’s first law of motion a car in a straight line motion at a constant speed will keep such motion until it’s acted upon with an external force. The reason why the car does not perform such a motion forever is because of air resistance and friction. Reference: http://www.dur.ac.uk/r.g.bower/PoM/pom/node16.html#eqweight, Richard Bower, 8 16:09:30 BST 1998

Analysis Of Claude Steeles Whistling Vivaldi

Analysis Of Claude Steeles Whistling Vivaldi This semester has proven to be a very useful for the development of both my reading and writings skills. For me, as for a person who merely five months ago came from a country where English language is known by a few, this experience was vital in a way that it opened up the secrets of effective reading, writing and analyzing in English language. Before taking the College Writing course I had a hard time understanding the proper writing process, which seemed very vague to me, but as I began taking my first steps in trying to understand it I have realized that it was only fear that took over me. Although many would think that the final result is only what matters, for me the process was more engaging. The course has offered a wide range of reading and writing techniques and styles, thus taught me to transfer my ideas to paper clearly and effectively. However, applying theory in practice would have been much harder if there were not the preparatory writing assignments that we had throug hout semester. The essays and papers we wrote throughout semester helped me to trace my progress in writing process. They helped me comfortably and very efficiently write papers based on academic journals and articles. In the beginning of the semester, one of my weaknesses was the organization of sentences and paragraphs. The process of writing an essay has changed over the semester. At first I would start writing essay by putting all of my ideas onto paper thus making an inappropriate organization. But having realized the importance of making a thesis statement I have less trouble organizing main points of each paragraph. Even though it is hard to develop a solid and clear thesis, I understand its significance as it states the argument that reader will be reading. The first major assignment that we did this semester was the paper on Robert Sapolskys Ego Boundaries, or the Fit of My Fathers Shirt. This assignment was unique in its nature, as it demanded us to deeply analyze each and every part of the text: summarize it, reflect upon the ideas of the text by explaining them, and finally exploring our own experiences with those ideas. Clearly, the assignments goal was to teach us the proper way to understand texts, and integrate ideas that are present in texts with our own lives. I have to admit that in the beginning I had no idea how to complete the assignment, but with the clear directions that were provided, I managed to do it. It was very surprising when I realized that the writing process for this paper was very mechanical and precise. Before this paper, I always thought that writing such complicated papers required a lot of imagination, which I thought I did not have. However, now I understand that all that I needed to do is to read the tex t thoroughly, brainstorm for ideas, and to formulate the final version of the paper based on my ideas and on drafts that I previously wrote. I felt a huge satisfaction and relief after completion of the assignment, because I have learnt a huge lesson for myself from this assignment and I was ready for this type of tasks in the future. However, as confident as I felt after completing the Sapolsky paper, I had never imagined that there were different approaches to writing these kinds of essays. One of the major tasks was to write an essay based on a very complicated book by Ervin Goffman The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. This book was intended for large audiences with no particular knowledge about the study of psychology. Nevertheless, the text was very difficult to analyze as it contained many complicated words, intricate sentence structure, and allusions to other works on similar topics. . I felt overwhelmed by reading long and complicated literature because I thought I needed to remember every single detail that I read. However I learned to highlight the main ideas as I read so that I could go back and find details if I needed to recall on them for my essay. Due to this technique, I improved my analytical skill tremendously and was able to extract the main ideas throughout the text, and combine them to w rite a decent essay. The primary difficulties I faced doing this task were the abundance of scientific terms and the overall difficulty of the text. In order to understand the text, I had to read it carefully, part by part, so that I could get the connection between the ideas in the text. By taking notes every time I encountered something interesting and provoking, I managed to construct the outline for the essay. Then, writing the essay itself became much easier since I had all the ideas on my notes. The only thing I had to do to finish the assignment was to assemble the notes and combine them in meaningful sentences and in correct order to provide the essay with a proper flow and preciseness. The course has offered a wide range of reading and writing techniques and styles, thus helping me formulate the notion of clear, rich, and focused writing. The essays and papers we wrote this semester helped me formulate my own writing process, with help of which I can comfortably and very efficiently write papers based on academic readings that the university classes offer. As far as I am concerned, I have become a much more attentive reader and a much better writer since I took this class. I have to admit that I was rather skeptical about what the class had to offer me, but now I understand how important it was for me to be a part of this class and had such a valuable experience. With the knowledge that I have acquired during this semester, I am very eager to start working on papers and essays regarding my own field of specialization. Understanding other peoples stories In his article Understanding Other People Stories Roger Schank discusses the challenges people encounter when trying to understand each other. According to Schank, people frequently do not understand what others tell them. It is easier to remember a notion or a belief if it is told in a form of a story. He presents a theory that all the information, experience and events we understand are incorporated in a story that that we remember and share with others. Schank states that understanding means to respond to the speakers stories with stories of listeners own memory. People learn from stories if they can relate it to something that they previously knew. Moreover, we truly understand a new story only if it made us reexamine our previous stories. Throughout the text author talks about different things that are important to know about understanding other peoples stories. There is an interesting point that the author describes is a selective listening. People hear only some parts of the stories they are told and tend to listen to the ones that interest them. The reason for that is that we care about topics that we can understand and relate to. We cannot think of about all the possible ramifications of something we are being told. So we pay attention to what interests us (Schank, 374). He presents a notion about index, which is a kind of symbol that helps people classify all the stories they have in the memory. Schank describes it as [a]n index is a juxtaposition of another persons beliefs, made evident by statements or actions, with ones own beliefs (Schank, 380). We use them to label some stories of beliefs that we had before in our system of values. Furthermore, the author describes the topic about the way people understand stories as that they do it by reflecting their own stories onto the speakers stories. Understanding process of other peoples stories involves identifying ourselves to our own memories. We can use our own stories to confirm the beliefs of others that were imposed on a particular object. An example of this is my recent conversation with my parents. Last time using Skype, we were talking about my new life at Berkeley. I told them my story of getting used to my new environment that involved the difficulties and obstacles that I struggled with during the first month. There were a lot of challenges; I told them that it is really hard to study abroad, and particularly at such a place as Berkeley. I have troubles with a lot of things ranging from studying unfamiliar subjects to living in the dorm. Interestingly, their response was recalling their own time when they were students in college as I am now. And what they told me is that everybody goes through this process that I am neither the first one nor the last one. The academic year will pass quickly before I even notice it. I just need to be patient and do my best to succeed in college. I found their answer interesting, since I could see the relation of it to the idea that people understand stories by reflecting their own stories. My parents reflected my story to their own experience when they were in college. They saw my story as a story about them as a Subject 5 from the text did. They found an index of studying at college is difficult time and that everyone goes through this process. As a result they just confirmed their previously held beliefs about hard time at university. This is an example of the process when people understand a story by recalling their own memories. Another interesting idea that the author highlights in the article is that people often misunderstand other peoples stories by relating their own experience to the new story. When the listener hears a new story he finds an old story from his memory, which he can use to relate it to. However, the idea is that we usually find only one principle to relate a story, because it is enough for us. That is why each person understands stories in a different way. A good example of that could be how I personally got confused when I was reading Robert Sapolskys Ego boundaries or the Fit of my Father Shirt. At first, I misunderstood the nitroglycerin bottle as the bottle containing the ashes of the authors father. This happened because of the word frailty, which I thought to be remains of his father, but having discussed this article in the class I realized that this was just a medicine that his father used to take. This misunderstanding happened because of my previous experiences with the word fr ailty. I related the context of the text as a story about people who hold ashes of their ancestors in a vase, since it is important and sacred remains of their loved ones. Because I initially knew a story about such people I just related it to the new story that I have read. My index was that people remember and honor deceased relatives in way of storing their ashes. I had a belief that people often keep the ashes of their ancestors after the death, so that they have some part of the deceased person to relate to him. Thus recalling a previously known story to understand a new one led me to misunderstanding the core context. This example proves the idea that people often misunderstand stories by reflecting their own meanings on it. To learn from the story you need to enhance the old story with details that you matched with a new one. Because people tend to understand other peoples stories mainly through reflecting the stories they previously knew, the question then arises: How do people get beyond this circle of understanding and learning new things? Schank answers this with a contradictory approach. He argues that it happens due to irregularity in understanding stories. By not fully understanding the story they learn something new easily since that piece of information gets stuck in their memories for a while when they identify the mistake afterwards., as he points this out, [w]e really only learn when the stories we hear relate to beliefs that we feel rather unsure of, ones that we are flirting with at the moment, so to speak. When we are wondering, consciously or unconsciously, about the truthà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, then the evidence provided by others can be of some use (Schank, 388). Schank believes that people c an learn something new only when they ask questions and analyze their views. For example, in the Sapolskys article Ego boundaries or the Fit of my Father Shirt, the author describes the relationship with his father, and the way he thought about his father as a mentally ill person. He tries to use his previously known stories such as scientific knowledge of the disorders to explain the illness of his father. His index is that science can explain everything. He uses his understanding of mental disorder to examine the behavior of his father. As a result, Sapolsky considers his father as a scientific case not as a father. Using his scientific knowledge he tries to explain that his father had split brain disorder that led to vanishing of his ego boundaries. However, through the process, he realizes that he is not able to justify his previously believed thoughts about his father as a mentally ill patient, because the science could not answer all of the questions the author had. In the end he understands that the problem was not in the diagnosis, but in the attitude towards the problems he had with his father. Thus, he teaches himself a new story: by reexamining his previously held beliefs about an index that scientific approach can explain everything in the life. In the conclusion we can see that the process of understanding other peoples stories is complicated. Understanding involves such process as indexing, finding old stories to relate, and reflecting them to the new ones. We usually do it by relating our own stories to the new stories that we hear, but finding similar elements in our own story and the story being told is different to all people. Therefore, we learn from new stories if we rethink our previously held beliefs. The Role of Thefts in Theft The main topic in Joyce Carol Oatess Theft are the different kinds of thefts. Theft in the story appears to take both physical and intangible forms such as stealing pens, wallets, personalities, authority and reputation. Theft is a zero-sum game with no win-win outcome. That is a fundamental idea which lies throughout Oates story. Peoples vulnerabilities, bad habits and motivations of hatred are resembled through these thefts. The author presents several facts of theft to allow a reader to analyze motives of a thief, his/her psychology and consequences of such their acts. The main character, a college sophomore, Marya Knauer has a complex and ambiguous attitude towards theft. She perceives it as a weakness, which prevails over her sense of moral duty and voice of reason, but also as a tool that she believes can empower her. Her first stealing experience began with silly little shoplifting expeditions which insensibly rose into a sequence of spontaneous, rash and pointless thefts (143). Admittedly, stealing gave her a feeling of elation and triumph when she appropriated someones genuinely valuable possessions. It can be inferred that Marya clearly understood that her habit to steal was disgusting but she could not resist any opportunity to do so. It seems she sought excitement and a dose of adrenaline by getting involved in risky and morally unacceptable affairs. Moreover, Marya considered theft as an act of liberating herself when her personal life was constrained and dictated by others will, when she had had to submit to the routine schedule of Wilmas household and she was living her life as it were nothing more than an extension of theirs (142). Stealing made her feel free because she could transgress the bounds of decency, disregard rules, and neglect prohibitions without being caught and taken into accountability. She could hardly fight her impulse even though her euphoria lasted fraction of a second. For Marya stealing was a way of seeking revenge from people who tried to take advantage from her. She stole a pen from a professor who did not give her a good grade, because he lost some of her work during grading. Having put much effort in studying, she took everything too seriously what resulted in professor calling her rather grim as she was always thinking only about academics. The reaction to such rude remark was her lying about her mo ther serious illness and stealing the professors pen. Marya felt her pulses were beating hot, in triumphed for a way of defeating the professor for the words he said and for the grades he gave (158). Moreover, she did not feel guilty or ashamed because she believed that professor deserved this. She started using this pen signing her name repeatedly, hypnotically: Marya, Marya, Marya Knauer, Marya Marya Marya Knauer, a name that eventually seemed to have been signed by someone else, a stranger (159). She saw this act of stealing as triumph over the professor, who tried to hurt Maryas identity. Interestingly, theft takes on a more sophisticated form when it comes to reading. The reading she did acquired an aura, a value, a mysterious sort of enchantment (142). It was perceived as a forbidden fruit, something illicit, precious beyond estimation (142). Indeed, she could be completely immersed in reading, slipping out of her consciousness and into that of the writers (142). She found herself entirely absorbed into writers ideas and mentality as if her mind was led by an invisible hand, and that experience was electrifying and hypnotizing. It prompted her to conceive life as an ephemeral and to regard everything as superficial and trivial. Mere life was the husk, the actors performance, negligible in the long run (142). Reading as a process was equally elating and exciting as stealing but not criminal and risky. Maryas personality was splitting and she started losing authenticity while making her way through writers imagination, greedily reading every word as it was her own, tr eating every emotion, idea expressed and the plot itself as her own creation. Maryas addiction to reading can be expressed by absence of any intrigue in her personal life, which Oates describes as isolated, ascetic, and monotonous (143). Reading is treated as a one-sided relationship which she benefits from without giving anything back. When the book Marya read seemed to take life through her, she could get her emotions, which are usually experienced and nurtured through building relations with other people. The first theft that is depicted in the story happens with Marya, when her wallet with a month salary from part time job at university library and her favorite pen were stolen from her room in Maynard House. These incidents made Marya become anxious and angry, feeling unprotected before the real world. It ruined her previous impressions of the university life and made her very cautious and even distrustful for other students. Marya decided to isolate from the world by staying in her room all the time and reading every book she could find. (142). As a consequence she became a complete robot, having a derelict life, because she could not trust anyone in her dormitory anymore. Marys isolated living and unsocial behavior reflects her attitude towards friendship. She asserts that friendship is a waste of time on something ephemeral and not worthwhile (154). Marya is completely obsessed with studying; her energy is devoted to maintaining high grades. However, relationship with Imogene alters her perception of the friendship. It evolves from a friendly acquaintance to admiration, mutual benefit, envy, competition, ignorance and culminates in break up. Imogene is presented as a chameleon playing various roles in public, quickly adapting her behavior to changing circumstances, and changing her mood and attitudes frequently. Her inquisitive character and easygoing informality are seen by Marya as intrusion into her privacy, her secret isolation. Marya and Imogene become interdependent but they are not interested in the actual friendship. Maryas life changed drastically when she met Imogene Skillman. The first time when Imogene appeared in the dorm room, Marya was depressed and reduced the protection level from the world. Marya recognized from the first look that Imogene was somewhat unique person, not resembling other student on the campus. But Marya could not fully understand what Imogenes real personality was. After spending more time with Imogene, Marya still did not acknowledge that they are becoming friends. She always questioned herself if she appreciated Imogenes friendship and even accepted that she liked Prhyllis more (153). This girl majored in mathematics and lived next-door, and according to Maryas system of values of true friendship Philly was a best match as an appropriate company. In spite of Phyllis being more likeable friend, Marya could not stop thinking that she is more inclined towards Imogene. Marya is flattered by Imogenes attention; she accompanies her to coffee shop, meets with her friends trying to impress them. Marya cautiously succumbs to Imogenes admiration and tolerates flattery since she fears becoming dependent on her friendship, for dependency is equivalent to limited freedom. Her protest against Imogenes influence and domination is expressed in the intense concentration on her academic performance. She threw herself into work with more passion than before, eager to face challenges and vindicate that her intellectual achievements demonstrate her wealth, thus soft power (154). The difficulties in friendship that Marya and Imogene had with each other originate from different backgrounds they had before. First, Marya came from a poor family, where she had to obey restrictions and authority. On the contrary, Imogene being from a rich family had a nonchalant life with lots of freedom and opulence. The thefts that are illustrated in the story had a great influence on the development of the relationship between main characters. Thus, thefts caused Marya and Imogene to realize what true friendship is. However, Marya and Imogene have never become best friends, because Imogene, in contrast, had plans of her own about Marya. Imogene stole Maryas time by spending time in the coffee shops with her friends, stole characteristics of Maryas personality like mimicking in order to perform on stage, and rumored bad things about Maryas reputation. But when Marya realized that Imogene was using her for own purposes, she immediately felt deceived and angry. However, even though Marya understood Imogenes true intentions, she could not stop having relationships with Imogene. Marya discovered Imogenes true nature at the dinner in a sorority house where Marya was invited as a guest. When she heard that Imogene made Matthew write a paper on Chekhov for herself, Marya began suspecting the true Imogenes intentions and desires (163). Her suspicion grew up more when Marya knew about Imogenes cheating on her fiancà © with a stranger. Imogene did it on purpose to make Marya and Matthew jealous of her. After all these underprivileged activities of Imogene, Marya begins to realize that she has become Imogenes possession, a trophy displayed to her alleged admirers, just a decoration in her one-actor performance. Marya rethinks her concept of friendship writing that it is play-acting of an amateur type and a puzzle that demands too much of imagination (154). Maryas protest against Imogenes influence and domination is expressed in the stealing the earrings of Imogene the Aztec ones, the barbarian-princess ones (175). The author wittingly emphasizes the earrings design to show that they symbolize Imogenes social status, popularity and dominance on the campus. Stealing in this case epitomizes betrayal and presumably attempt to appropriate Imogenes privileges. Unlike Maryas previous inconsequential thefts this case has a major impact on both characters. She did it on purpose to get everyones attention to her, to show that Marya was stronger than all the disloyalties and intrigues against her. She even pierced her ears, risking infection and sickness, and showed everyone that she is truly a nut that cant be cracked (174). Marya felt triumphant, she did not fear being caught up and punished. In contrast, Marya had worn earrings everywhere, for everyone to see, to comment, and to admire and she had been amused at Imogenes shocked expression (17 6). That theft left no winner. Imogene and Maryas friendship was completely ruined. Both students driven by envy and competition have been contributing to gradual erosion of their relationship by covertly and sometimes explicitly stealing each others intangible possessions. Various thefts depicted in the story tell readers about the many different circumstances that Marya and Imogenes friendship had to go through. Marya Knauer is a vivid instance of a strong willed personality. Despite all of the hostile and embarrassing obstacles and actions towards her, she managed to overcome and keep the perfect record, so that to save her status and character unbroken. The effects of stereotype threats Whistling Vivaldi by Claude M. Steele is a thorough analysis of a concept known as identity contingency. According to Steele, contingencies are circumstances you have to deal with because of a given social identity. Identity contingencies from the authors perspective represent constraints, both formal and implicit, tied to social, ethnic, religious, gender or any other recognized identity (3). Identity contingencies negatively affect individuals since they deprive those prone to being stereotyped or discriminated of equal opportunities, and abilities. Steeles research interest in identity contingencies and the roles they play in peoples lives stems from his personal experience of segregation. He reflects on his childhood when he was a victim of racial order in the 1950s, which placed a number of restrictions tied to the identity, from housing and school segregation to employment discrimination (3). Those conditions made individuals feel their racial identities and deal with their neg ative implications in everyday life. Steele focuses his research on educational issues tied to identity contingencies and their influence on academic performance among minority college students. The author argues that identity contingencies and specifically stereotype threats negatively impact the intellectual abilities of students; moreover he encourages exploring and implementing solutions to alleviate the stress and underperformance in academic setting in order to help students succeed at university. The aim of the research is to prove the importance of identity contingencies and of understanding identity threat to personal and societal progress (Steele, p.15). Steele comes up with several general patterns of findings. The first is the role identity contingency have in shaping individual lives. The second suggests that their negative impact contributes to the most important social problems in society, thus undermining social integrity. Third is a general process by which stereotype threats interfere with a broad range of human functioning. Finally, they offer a set of solutions that can alleviate effects of the identity threats. At the forefront of Steeles analysis is a stereotype threat, a particular kind of identity contingency. He speculates that stereotype threat embodies a standard human predicament, powerful enough to constrain behavior simply by putting a threat in the air. It is a widespread phenomenon found in any given society and any potential identity group can become subjected to it. It can be applied to any situation to which stereotype is relevant. Thus, it follows members of the stereotyped group into these situations as a balloon over their heads (Steele, p. 5). The author asserts that it is hard to eradicate stereotype threats, though the pressure they impose on individuals can be eased. Stereotype threat is an intrinsic part of human interrelations, a tool used by individuals, driven by a basic instinct of competition. Unlike discrimination in its gross forms, stereotype threats are formed subconsciously to benefit privileges of one social group, competing for opportunity and decent life, at the expense of the other group. The correlation between identity contingency and intellectual performance, in particular academic, preoccupies Steele throughout his research. He sheds light on the issue of academic underperformance of students from underrepresented backgrounds. The problem he believes has repercussions at a nationwide level, even though people think they live in a racially fair and identity-fair society (212). He perceives it as a core American struggle, wherein institutions try to integrate themselves racially, ethnically, class-wise (Steele, p. 17). In his attempt to reveal what factors account for persistent academic struggles of minority students, Steele uses a concept known as observers actors perspective. The actors perspective emphasizes students characteristics, their intellectual luggage, aspirations, values, skills, and expectations. He accesses that the actors perspective can be essential in explaining underperformance since the observers perspective alone cannot provide the full pictur e of the problem. His research appeals to E. Jones and R. Nisbett concept of the difference between those two perspectives. They argued that the observers perspective is subject to bias because it stresses the things we can see, the actors traits and characteristics. But it deemphasizes these traits and characteristics which fall out of the observers literal and mental visual field, namely circumstances the actor responds to and the environment he has to adapt to. Steele believes that the actors perspective can offer a plausible explanation of the link between identity contingency and intellectual performance. The feedback he receives from minority students supports his view. Students noted the university environment, wherein their social status was subtly accentuated and social life which was organized by race, ethnicity, and social class. This organization led to a rather racially homogeneous teaching staff and faculty. As a result, their social networks were organized by race. They were also puzzle d by the fact that minority styles, interests and preferences were marginalized on campus (Steele, p. 19). Steele in his book presents several experiments conducted to demonstrate how stereotype threat indirectly affects behavior and interferes with physical or intellectual performance. Experiments he refers to, Michigan Athletic Aptitude Test and the one done at Princeton University, clearly show that the pressure stereotype threat is distracting enough to lead to individuals failure in particular task. The task in experiment measured the very trait and ability the group was stereotyped as lacking. Knowledge of the negative stereotypes relevance in the given situation made the assessed group fear that frustration on the task could be misinterpreted and seen as confirming the stereotype. Hence, any deviation in performance, whether mental or physical, or a false move could cause an individual to be reduced to the stereotype and treated accordingly. Steele admits that it is hard to prove that something abstract like stereotype threat can have a substantial effect on the individuals perform ance. Nonetheless, the research and experiments he undertakes supports his hypothesis of stereotype threats detrimental effect on individual performance. His research focus raises a number of thought-provoking questions about the ways stereotypes affect our intellectual functioning, stress reactions, and the tension that can exist between different groups. Moreover, he explores strategies that alleviate these effects in order to help solve societal problems (Steele, p. 13). Steele conducts an experiment to prove that academic achievement problem of minority students is not entirely due to skill and ability deficits. He contends that external factors and social and psychological aspects of academic experience can be powerful enough to directly or indirectly impair intellectual performance. Hence, the environment and status of a student can be an actual component of ability. Steele comes up with a stigmatization idea, an idea that a devalued social status can cause und