Fireflies, Family Lampyridae

Who hasn’t chased a blinking firefly on a warm summer night? As children, we captured their luminescence in glass jars to make insect lanterns. Unfortunately, these beacons of childhood seem to be disappearing due to habitat loss and the interference of manmade lights. Fireflies, or lightning bugs as some call them, belong to the family Lampyridae. Description: Fireflies are usually black or brown, with elongate bodies. If you handle one, youll notice they feel somewhat soft, unlike many other kinds of beetles. Hold it gently, as its quite easy to squish. When viewed from above, the Lampyrids seem to conceal their heads with a large shield. This feature, an extended pronotum, characterizes the firefly family. If you examine the underside of a firefly, you should find the first abdominal segment is complete (undivided by the hind legs, unlike in ground beetles). In most, but not all fireflies, the last two or three abdominal segments look quite different from the others. These segments are modified as light-producing organs. Firefly larvae live in moist, dark places – in the soil, under tree bark, and even in swampy areas. Like their adult counterparts, larvae glow. In fact, fireflies produce light in all stages of their life cycles. Classification: Kingdom – AnimaliaPhylum - ArthropodaClass – InsectaOrder – ColeopteraFamily – Lampyridae Diet: Most adult fireflies do not feed at all. Firefly larvae live in the soil, preying on snails, grubs, cutworms, and other soil-dwellers. They inject their prey with digestive enzymes that paralyze and break down the bodies, and then consume the liquefied remains. Some fireflies eat mites or even pollen. Life Cycle: Fireflies typically lay their eggs in damp soil. Eggs hatch within weeks, and larvae overwinter. Fireflies may remain in the larval stage for several years before pupating in the spring. In ten days to a few weeks, adults emerge from the pupal cases. Adults live just long enough to reproduce. Special Adaptations and Defenses: Fireflies are best known for their coolest adaptation – they produce light. Male fireflies flash their abdomens in species-specific patterns, hoping to attract the attention of a female hiding in the grass. An interested female will return the pattern, helping guide the male to her in the darkness. Some females use this behavior for more sinister means. A female of one species will purposefully mimic the flash patterns of another species, luring a male of another kind to her. When he arrives, she eats him. Male fireflies are rich with defensive chemicals, which she consumes and uses to protect her eggs. Most females dont practice cannibalism, though. In fact, since females live just a few days spent waiting in the grass for a mate, some dont even bother to develop wings. Firefly females may look just like larvae, but with compound eyes. Many fireflies use foul-tasting defensive compounds to deter predators, like jumping spiders or even birds. These steroids, called lucibufagins, cause the predator to vomit, an experience it wont soon forget when it next encounters a firefly. Range and Distribution: Fireflies live in both temperate and tropical climates throughout the world. About 2,000 species of Lampyrids are known globally.

Alice Walker s Everyday Use - 1924 Words

Family, is a word that is familiar to everyone, but may have different meanings for each individual. It is most commonly seen as a group consisting of parents and children. Family can be defined not just through blood but through love and commitment as well. In our readings this semester, one of the frequent themes has been about family. The unconditional love found in a family does not prevent them from experiencing difficult dilemmas. Families can have powerful influences on an individual being either positive, negative, or even both. The influences brought on by families can give a sense to someone as more of a positive feeling such as, attachment, love, and thrill, or a sense more negative such as pain, anger, and guilt, or, can even†¦show more content†¦In Theodore Roethke’s poem, â€Å"My Papas Waltz†, the dance between the father and son can be viewed from a loving perspective or a fearful one. The reader can perceive the dance more through a loving scen e from the boy with him saying, â€Å"But I hung on like death† (p. 264). This illustrates the son persisted on the attachment to his father as they danced along. The family times spent with his father meant a lot to him, even if it may have been rough. The same attachment toward someone can be seen in Anne Tyler’s book, Saint Maybe. After Ian found an abandoned cat outside, he had a thought come to him and pictured Agatha, Thomas, and Daphne abandoned on the side of the rode bunched together. He pictured them as the cat with having fear in their eyes, while in the distance he was disappearing (p. 190). Ian couldn’t see his self not being without the kids as he describes, â€Å"But then immediately afterward, he felt such a deep sense of loss that it made his breath catch† (p. 190). The attachment he has for Agatha, Thomas, and Daphne he couldn’t let go of, because of the influencing feeling they gave, completing his family. In addition to having a sense of attachment, love can change someone’s outlook toward their family, giving a heartening feeling. Expressing love towards someone is a great impact on a person’s family. The feeling of love Mama described toward Maggie saying, â€Å"When I looked at her like

Aviation Benchmarks Essay Research Paper Aviation BenchmarksThousands free essay sample

Aviation Benchmarks Essay, Research Paper Aviation Benchmarks Thousands of people have contributed to Aviation. Dreams by the Wright Bothers made flight possible for all of us. Others like Emelia Earhardt, and Charles Linburg stretched the bounds to carry through what had neer been done earlier. Many have even given their life to be in the air. I will discourse some of the paramount events and people that helped exceed Aviation. The most appropriate topographic point to get down is on the Seventeenth of December in 1903, the brothers Orville and Wilber Wright flew the first powered aircraft a sum of 120 pess in 12 seconds. Wilber the eldest, and younger brother Orville ever were fascinated by flight. During their childhood, sailplanes and balloons were being used. Painstaking attempts were made by them subsequently in life to make an expeditiously powered trade. They had used aeromechanicss tabular arraies set Forth by Langley to prove their ain sailplanes. We will write a custom essay sample on Aviation Benchmarks Essay Research Paper Aviation BenchmarksThousands or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page They found that the tabular arraies didn # 8217 ; t supply adequate lift to acquire barely anything off the land. So they set out to hammer their ain tabular arraies by expereimenting with two-hundred different flying designs in a home-made air current tunnel. They invalidated Langley # 8217 ; s aeromechanicss tabular arraies. From there with the aid of mechanic Charles Taylor, they were able to plan an engine visible radiation and yet powerful plenty to propell a little trade. The powerplant on the # 8220 ; Flyer 1 # 8243 ; weighed 170 pound. and operated with 12hp at 1200rpm. With this design they made air power history as described above. Subsequently on that twenty-four hours though, Wilber soloed a flight of 152 pess in 59 seconds. After 100s of successful flights and small attending, the military took an involvement in their advancement. They designed the first plane that could turn, bank, and do calculate 8s for one-half an hr. They named thier creative activity the Flyer III. The Wright # 8217 ; s winging machine recieved a patent on March 22nd, 1906. One twelvemonth after that in 1907, the foundation of the Aeronautical Experimental Association ( FEA, now the FAA ) was founded. I feel its lone proper to honour the persons that tested themselves and thier trade in order to learn us about aircraft design, processs, and human bounds in the air. The first individual to decease in an aeroplane clang was Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge. He was winging with Orville in 1908. No admiration Orville was the 4th individual in history to acquire a pilot certification: the 3rd was Lousis Paulhan, 2nd was Frank Lham, and the first was Glen Curtiss. The first pilot to be killed was Eug ne Lef bvre in France, on Sept 7, 1909. Calbreth Perry Rodgers bought the first Wright aeroplane. Rodgers recieved 90 proceedingss of flight direction from Wilber. After his ample flight school, Rodgers accepted the challeng of winging across the United States for a award of $ 50,000 ( if he could make it in 30 yearss ) offered by a publishing house. He got a soft drink shaper to sponser him, and therefore the flight of Vin Fiz ( name of the sodium carbonate ) got off the land. He started in New York, and shortly ran into a batch of problem. He crashed someplace between 20 and 36 times. His patron fixed him up though. It took the persistant and invariably bandaged Rodgers 49 yearss to acquire to Pasadena ; funny merely 82 hours and 4 proceedingss were spent in the air. Luckly Rodger # 8217 ; s 51mph clangs didn # 8217 ; t kill him. Amelia Aerhart is another noteworthy individual that sacrificed herself for the promotion of air transit. She was the first adult female to traverse the Atlantic-from Newfoundland to North Ireland, 2,026 stat mis. She did it in 1932. But this wasn # 8217 ; t adequate. In 1937 she wanted to circle the Earth at the equator. Unfortunately she missed the bantam Howeland Island in the Pacific and was neer seen once more. Other indispensable people in air power include Glen Curtiss, Charles Lindbergh, and Ilray Jeppeson. Glen Curtiss flew from Albany to New York in 1910, which crushed the old distance record of 24 stat mis. His flight amounted to 143 entire stat mis. Curtiss was besides a innovator in early engines. Charles Lindbergh is credited for the first flight across the Atlantic from New York to Paris. His flight on the 20th of May, 1927 took him an astonishing 33 hours and 20 proceedingss. His plane # 8220 ; The Spirit of Saint Louis # 8221 ; traveled 3,610 stat mis. Lindbergh thrilled everyone in the provinces and positive people that aeroplanes were # 8217 ; nt merely for barnstormin g shows. They could be used for the transit of mail, lading, and even people. This was all a reasonably new construct. Ilray Jeppeson was a innovator in the country of flight pilotage. In the 1920’s he was an air mail pilot who methodicly charted and mapped mention points and jeopardies. Soon his fellow employees wanted transcripts, and the concern was born. Later he provided pilotage charts and maps to about every major airdrome in the universe. Finally, I will advert a critical flight made by Louis Bleriot across the English Channel. Bleriot was a mechanical fiddler. Kind of like Bell’s male parent in Beauty and the Beast. Bleriot was in the headlamp concern but sought to construct an aeroplane. He accomplished this when he engineered the Model XI monoplane in 1909. With predictable drop the balling manner, he finished the 22 stat mi stretch across the channel by crashing his overheated trade near Dover Castle. He captured the imaginativenesss of all who heard about i t. I did program on traveling into great item about the developments in air foils and aeromechanicss. But I # 8217 ; ve decided its merely excessively complicated. I will travel over some cardinal improvemnets on aerofoils through the old ages. We all understand the construct of Bernouli # 8217 ; s Principle whre the air going over the top of the foil will be accellerated because its somewhat longer, and therefore force per unit area is decreased. The unchanged speed of the air going beneath the foil consists of a higher force per unit area that pushes the air foil up. This construct International Relations and Security Network # 8217 ; t wholly true. Research indicates that air that is seperated doesn # 8217 ; t meet at the draging border simotaneously like one time thought. So, basicly we truly wear # 8217 ; t cognize how it works, we merely discovered the aerofoil through test and mistake. And from there we tweaked it to acquire the coveted consequence. Newton helped us to see t he four forces moving on an aeroplane in flight: lift, push, weight, and retarding force. Therefore we have done much research refering how to diminish retarding force. In WWII the Germans came up with the swept wing design. So alternatively of the organic structure and wings coming together at near perpendicular angles, they are swept back like in the form of an pointer. This reduces, or more accurately delays retarding force. Thus higher velocities can be obtained. Last, another of import devolopment in earodynamics is the laminal air foil. A regular air foil will hold Eddies of air resiling off the surface of the wing. But a laminal air foil will maintain the air flow smooth over the top of the wing and hence a decrease in retarding force is accomplished. Now, I can depict a few of the countless alterations aviation powerplants have gone through. The male parent of aircraft engines is known as Glen Curtiss. He began by doing two cylinder engines for bikes, and in 1906 was looking to sell his engines for aircraft. From what I # 8217 ; ve read he wasn # 8217 ; t a savvy salesman. Once he put his engine in the # 8220 ; June Bug # 8221 ; and flew an amazing 1 kilometre, subsequently he worked with the Navy in planing sea planes. Some clip after the Curtis the Conquerer engines, the Clerget came into usage. It had 1200hp. In 1937, Daimler-Benz came out with their DB-601. It had twelve cylinders, was liquid cooled, and produced 1,475hp. During this epoch, Pratt and Whitney, Lycoming, and Wright Aeronautical wholly contributed to the advancemnet of the recipricating and radial engines. In the early 1940 # 8217 ; s the industry came out with fanjets, propjets, and the fanjet engine designs. Turbofans were of import to the industry, so we re coal-black engines. These two types of engines made ace sonic flight possible, and non to advert a fast, efficient, and safe manner to go. There are excessively many people and developments that contributed to aviation as we know it today. I tried in vain to capture the most of import events in the industry since it # 8217 ; s birth 97 old ages ago. Im certain I missed much. Aviation has become a portion of everyone # 8217 ; s lives. We depend on it for commercialism and enjoyment. The industry will go on to thrive, and better. Bibliography hypertext transfer protocol: //www.letsfindout.com/subjects/aviation/first-channel-crossing.html hypertext transfer protocol: //www.albanyairport.com/History.html hypertext transfer protocol: //www.aerofiles.com/chrono.html hypertext transfer protocol: //www.aviation-history.com/theory/lift.htm hypertext transfer protocol: //www.aviation-history.com/index-engine.htm Jeppesen Private Pilot Manual Copyright 1998,1999

Political Leadership in Africa (Do or Die Affair)

The do or die affair movie discusses political leadership in Africa. The setting is in Nigeria where the general election is about to take place. The current president is proposing the vice president as the most suited candidate for presidency. Moreover, one of the governors of the states in the country is expressing his interest to run for presidency.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Political Leadership in Africa (Do or Die Affair) specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The movie starts with the president outside the state house talking with one of the zonal leaders. This leader comes from an area with a high population density that can favor his chances of winning the presidency. The zonal leader pledges his loyalty to president by promising to support his preferred candidate, the vice president. The zonal leader is a polygamist who has married three wives. The youngest of the three wives works in the presidentâ€⠄¢s office as the president’s personal assistant in foreign affairs. This leader is a rich man and the other wives are involved in business. The governor expressing desire to run for presidency appears for the first time and is seen talking to his mother about his worries with regard to stiff competition in the presidential race. The mother is very encouraging and in the end, the governor is reassured of his chances of winning the presidency. However, he faces a tough opponent in the vice president. From the definition of leadership, the governor seems to be the ideal candidate for the presidency. There is talk on how the state developed during his stint as a governor. The governor is also seen talking to elders asking for their support. Most of the elders support his bid. Nevertheless, all is not well in the house of the governor. Rivalry between the governor’s three wives comes out very clearly when the second wife is openly jealous of the third wife. The second wife devices a conspiracy to ruin the relationship between her husband and the third wife. To achieve this, she basis her claims on the third wife’s job and the numerous trips she makes with the president as his personal assistant to assert that the wife has an affair with the president. The husband is enraged after discovering that the third wife has an illicit affair with the president. The shortcoming of polygamous marriages is evident. The governor comes out as a humorous, religious, and family minded person during a press conference. At the press conference, the governor intent is to inform the public of his aspirations to run for president in the next general elections. Moreover, the press conference helps reveal the role of the governor’s mother the son’s campaign and the entire political career. Both the governor and the vice president belong to the same political party.Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get y our first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This is a dilemma, which the vice president plans to solve by meeting the party leaders and securing their support for his candidature. The meeting with the party leaders takes place in the vice president’s office. The party leaders decline to give the vice president express nomination and insist that the presidential candidate for the party is only to be selected by the delegates conference to be held later. The vice president is infuriated by a decision taken by the party leaders and this reveals how most leaders want their decision to be followed without opposition. The vice presidents express his discontent with the stand of the party leaders and accuse them of supporting his opponent, the governor. When the attempt to remove the governor from the presidential election through the party nominations fails, the vice president decides to limit the governor’s chances. He uses the power vested in him to sabotage the busin esses of the governor specifically the governors airline. Through the ministry of transport, the airline is banned on grounds that the airplanes are under poor maintenance and they do not meet the standards stipulated by the government. This shows that political opponents can destroy political ambitions of each other. The governor takes the case to the president who remains adamant unless he drops his ambition to run for president. The president is arrogant towards the governor. The president employs blackmail to ensure the governor does not run for the presidency, but he is determined to go all the way, notwithstanding that the political tide is against him. The vice president seeks the service of a young ambitious journalist to release discriminatory information about his opponents. The journalist declines to take up the job at first but accepts when she is offered a bribery. The governor also meets the journalist as a result of an article she has written on the newspaper that sup ports the governor’s candidature for the presidency. The governor and the journalist meet at the governor’s office. The intention of the journalist, though not clear to the governor, is to steal information from the governor’s camp and sell it to the vice president’s side. The governor is attracted to the journalist and proposes to her that she be his mistress citing his willingness to spoil her. The wife of the governor, worried that the husband’s ambition is ruining the family, talks to her husband requesting him to quit his ambition of becoming president. The mother of the governor walks into the room.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Political Leadership in Africa (Do or Die Affair) specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More She is so annoyed by the wife’s request, and alleges that she has been paid to discourage her husband from running for office. The governor is worried abou t his financial situation and at some point contemplates quitting the race. His mother however, encourages him suggesting that he invest in a different country where the opponents cannot influence his business. The zonal leader is convinced that his wife is having an affair with the president. When the wife returns, she asks her to resign from the job. The relationship between the president and the zone leader is ruined. The zone leader switches his support to the governor’s camp, a move that costs him his life. The journalist acquires information about offshore accounts that the governor has. She avails the information to the vice president who, together with the president focus on ruining the reputation of the governor. They plan to charge him in court for corruption. The governor however with the help of his new friend, the zonal leader, wins the case in court. The vice president through his friend Igwe, hires a witch doctor to kill the governor while at his home. The witc h doctor goes to the governor’s home and kills the guard. Before he can get into the house, the witch doctor encounters the mother of the governor who also seems to posses magical powers. After a brief showdown, the witch doctor is arrested and the plot to kill the governor thwarted. The retired military personnel feel that one of them should be the one to hold the highest office in the land. They attribute this decision to the numerous many sacrifices they have made for the country while the politicians take all the credit. The plan they have in mind is for them to rule for the next 30 years. The military personnel meet with the president to inform him of their view and ask for his support. The president promises to consider the matter and provide his answer at a later date. While the president meets the retired military personnel, he misses a meeting with the vice president where he was to endorse his candidature. This reveals that politicians are sometimes untrustworthy. C onclusion The movie presents three main candidates each with their own traits. Of all the candidates, the governor is the most suited and the best example that African leaders should strive to emulate. The governor has a track record of development in his state. He consults with the people he led as seen when he meets the elders to inform them of his aspirations and ask for their guidance.Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The governor unlike the other leaders does not engage in abuse of office to ensure that personal goals are attained. The other leaders, especially the vice president are seen to use wealth and position in the government to ensure that the governor does not run for presidency. This is achieved by ruining his businesses, using witchcraft, and killing the zonal leader via the vice president’s security guards. This essay on Political Leadership in Africa (Do or Die Affair) was written and submitted by user Ana E. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Bob Roberts essays

Bob Roberts essays The movie Bob Roberts is a political satire based on one mans campaign for a seat in the Senate. A British documentary crew is on hand to film Roberts' campaign and captures the frightening possibilities of a steamrolling campaign and all it can experience along its trail to Washington. Of course Bob Roberts the character is about as real as an honest politician, however the film's fiction comes closer to fact than many of todays politicians would like us to believe. Writer-director Tim Robbins plays Bob Roberts in this thought-provoking dramatic and political satire about a 1990 Pennsylvania race for the U.S. Senate. At first, it's easy to laugh at Roberts' phony-baloney public facade as he strums pro-capitalist folk songs such as "I Want to Be Rich" and "This Land Was Made for Me." Later, though, the laughs fade as we get a glimpse behind Roberts' hospitable mask and witness a snake pit of guns-for-drugs trades, cash looted from failed savings-and-loan institutions and ex-CIA campaign managers. A documentary filmmaker is along for the ride and captures Roberts sound-bite campaign against liberal incumbent Senator Brickley Paiste (Gore Vidal.) The rest of the cast is sprinkled with such notable actors as James Spader, Helen Hunt, Susan Sarandon, Fred Ward and Peter Gallagher in cameo roles. Most of them play television news reporters that are as biased as Bob Roberts campaign is crooked. This is how the film allows the media to portray itself throughout. During the film the media is very biased towards both campaigns. One particular example of this is when Bob Roberts is about to go on the show Good Morning Philadelphia. Right before he goes on, the host of the show tells him that she does not support his views. This leads to the two of them having an exchange on the air about differing points of view. While this seems to be an uncomfortable moment for the candidate, it ...

Scare Quotes Should Be Scarce Quotes

Scare Quotes Should Be Scarce Quotes Scare Quotes Should Be Scarce Quotes Scare Quotes Should Be Scarce Quotes By Mark Nichol Many writers- professionals and creators of casual composition alike- employ a form of emphasis that is usually unnecessary and often clumsily intrusive. Scare quotes, pairs of quotation marks placed around a word or phrase for emphasis, are valid when writers frame wording they are using ironically or mockingly, when they wish to imply that the enclosed word or words are not valid, or to communicate that they are reporting but not endorsing a term or expression. In any case, by using scare quotes, writers are making a statement and therefore calling attention not only to the wording but also to themselves. However, the use of scare quotes to superfluously bracket slang or figurative language is a hallmark of amateurish prose, and anyone who wishes to be taken seriously as a writer should avoid this misuse of a tool that is best employed in appropriate circumstances and in moderation. Examples of extraneous scare quotes follow: The tech industry has a history of hiring so-called â€Å"booth babes† to attract passersby at big trade shows. So-called and scare quotes are redundant, so employ one form of emphasis or the other, but not both: â€Å"The tech industry has a history of hiring so-called booth babes to attract passersby at big trade shows† or â€Å"The tech industry has a history of hiring â€Å"booth babes† to attract passersby at big trade shows.† (Because many people consider the phrase â€Å"booth babes† demeaning, it is probably better to employ so-called, which exonerates the writer, who is merely reporting the term and attitudes behind it, not suggesting his or or her approval of the term.) A â€Å"shoot the messenger† environment is a toxic environment. Metaphorical phrases need no special emphasis (but the figurative wording, a phrasal adjective, requires connecting hyphens): â€Å"A shoot-the-messenger environment is a toxic environment.† There are things organizations can do in the meantime to â€Å"hit the ground running.† Again, phrases that refer to nonliteral actions (as here, where no impact, surface, or speedy perambulation actually occurs) require no quotation marks: â€Å"There are things organizations can do in the meantime to hit the ground running.† Online crime will continue to â€Å"follow the money† and attempt to disrupt legitimate payment processes or divert digital funds in order to take advantage of the next online crime wave. The figurative phrase â€Å"follow the money† is understood as such and need not enclosed in quotation marks for emphasis: â€Å"Online crime will continue to follow the money and attempt to disrupt legitimate payment processes or divert digital funds in order to take advantage of the next online crime wave.† Manufacturers that have so far taken a â€Å"wait and see† approach with big-sata analytics and similar digital innovations have the benefit of learning from the missteps of early adopters. â€Å"Wait and see† requires no special emphasis, though because it is a phrasal adjective modifying approach, it should be hyphenated: â€Å"Manufacturers that have so far taken a wait-and-see approach with big-data analytics and similar digital innovations have the benefit of learning from the missteps of early adopters.† In a rapidly changing environment, this behavior creates lethal â€Å"blind spots† in an organization. Readers understand that the reference to blind spots does not pertain literally to the sense of sight, so the phrase does not need to be emphasized to signal its figurative use: â€Å"In a rapidly changing environment, this behavior creates lethal blind spots in an organization.† This action was intended to purge â€Å"black money,† or illegal cash holdings, from its financial system. When a potentially unfamiliar term is introduced with a gloss (a brief parenthetical definition), as here, quotation marks should not frame the word or phrase: â€Å"This action was intended to purge black money, or illegal cash holdings, from its financial system.† The government action to remove these notes from circulation (known as â€Å"demonetarization†) voided most of the cash in circulation. Again, a term introduced with a definition requires no emphasis: â€Å"The government action to remove these notes from circulation (known as demonetarization) voided most of the cash in circulation.† The NASA mission’s lead scientist described the asteroid, known as â€Å"16 Psyche,† as the remnant of the core of a planet. Introduction of a proper name does not merit enclosure of the term in quotation marks: â€Å"The NASA mission’s lead scientist described the asteroid, known as 16 Psyche, as the remnant of the core of a planet.† Her new band, â€Å"Tempest,† has just released its debut album. Again, proper names have no need for framing quotation marks: â€Å"Her new band, Tempest, has just released its debut album.† A related, and also regrettable, use of scare quotes is frequently seen in advertisements and signs- when, for example, one sees â€Å"Sale† or the name of a product in quotation marks, as if to say, â€Å"This sale is not real† or â€Å"These ‘widgets’ are not actual widgets.†) So, how does one use scare quotes appropriately? Examples follow: â€Å"He ignores women he considers unattractive, and he talked to me, so I guess that means I’m ‘hot.’† â€Å"Evidently, in this upwardly mobile, uptight neighborhood, that is not ‘proper’ behavior.† â€Å"This strategy is reminiscent of the ‘pacification’ of a village achieved by bombing the hell out of it.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:What is the Difference Between "These" and "Those"?Comma Before ButWords Often Misspelled Because of Double Letters

Management Organisational Design and change Essay

Management Organisational Design and change - Essay Example A summary of the main points discussed will be given in the conclusion at the end of the paper. 1. Basically, strategic planning can be defined as the process of attempting to strike a balance between the organisation’s objectives and resources and its changing opportunities (Mintzberg, 2000). It tries to set the direction for the use of all resources and this direction will remain valid for a period of time. As such, analysing scenarios and using them as a strategic planning tool is beneficial for planners to rank them and attempt to identify commonness in possible futures and potential pathways. Thus, scenario review involves engaging in a systematic conjecture concerning potential futures and is mainly based on scanning the environment in which the organisation operates, interpreting signals and making predictions about what might happen next. This allows the organisation to be better positioned to formulate ideal strategies that can be implemented to meet the changing dema nds of the environment in which the organisation operates. It is important for the planners to rank these scenarios given that they often differ in their order of importance. Some scenarios would require immediate actions while others would require long term plans. It is also important for the planners to identify the commonness of these scenarios in possible futures and potential pathways so as to enable them to ensure that they do not waste resources on scenarios which would otherwise require the same strategy to be solved. The planners have to first identify the scenario then followed by choosing the appropriate pathway that can be taken to fulfil the strategy. Pertinent scenarios to the organisation are often given priority and it is the duty of the planner to anticipate the intended destination of the strategy to be implemented. 2. Strategic drift is a scenario that is witnessed when a strategy manager has failed to monitor and keep pace with its changing external environment. There are certain issues for managers when they prevent strategic drift and some of them involve the following: establishing the capacity of the organisation to make the strategy happen, availability of resources as well as fear for worsening the situation. The environment in which organisations operate is dynamic and at times, unprecedented scenarios which are unfavorable to the organisation may emerge the reason why managers ought to prevent such issues from happening (Kleynhans et al 2007). In most cases, the managers prevent strategic drift by weighing their capability of making the strategy happen. Indeed, there may be changes in the external environment and it is the role of the strategy managers to ensure that the organisation has the capability to meet these changes. In order to prevent strategic drift, the managers ought to deploy strategic decisions that will ensure that the organisation may remain viable in the face of changing environment so as to be able to be better po sitioned to keep pace with the changes. The availability of resources and time may be the other issues for the managers when preventing strategic drift. It is the duty of the manager to ensure that they channel adequate resources that enable them to monitor the environment to avoid

Economic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 5

Economic - Essay Example This has caused increase in demand for Iron-ore to carry out the firms production and produce the resulting output. Price is derived by the crossing of supply and demand. (Figure 3) The resultant market price is dependent upon both of these basic components of a market. A transaction of goods or services will occur when so ever buyers and sellers can agree on a certain price. When a transaction occurs, the agreed upon price is called the "market clearing price† or "equilibrium price". As the population of China has grown, the demand for minerals and metals has risen. This has pushed the price of iron ore (and complementary products) up and also spurred the development of iron, accelerating the quantity of iron supplied as well. We can see the demand increase in Figure 1 below, that represents an increase in the demand of iron-ore. In the figure, supply and demand have been short formed as S and D. Demand begins at D1 and is moves to D2 provided that supply remains the same. We see that the equilibrium price even increases from p1 to p2, and the quantity moves from q1 to q2. The figure clearly shows that increase in demand for iron ore would clearly cause an increase in price. As the quantity of iron ore increases so would the resultant price provided supply remains constant. In order to meet the increasing demand the quantity of iron ore production would even have to be increased. An increase in supply results about from a decrease in the marginal cost as like the marginal cost of production. As a result, an increased in production is represented by a line to the right on the supply and demand graph. The effects of an increase in production are illustrated in Figure 2. The supply line goes from S1 to S2 that represents a lesser marginal cost. Moreover in this case, the quantity also rises from q1 to q2 and price falls from p1to p2. As the demand of

Visual Literacy Essay Example for Free

Visual Literacy Essay Visual Literacy throughout the history of our world has been important; dating back to cave drawings and carvings, and developing all the way to automated street signs signaling vehicles when to slow, stop, or go. Visuals are a part of our daily lives today as much as they were at the beginning of man’s time-and other living beings’ time-and his, first ability to communicate, visually. Communication was not something that was first spoken or written, it was something shown or demonstrated; such as dance for instance, while someone else was viewing/watching, to portray a message or a feeling to that other person. Whether the Visual Literacy or communication is hand signals-similar to sign language, facial expressions-as simple as the way an individual winks at another individual today, a nod to another person, or something as complex as an artists’ message through a painting, sculpture, other, or not; Visual Literacy is and always will be the first mode of communication in the past, present, and future. Visual Literacy can be a considered a universal language because everybody, or most individuals understand pictures, drawings, artwork, or hand signals/sign language of today. â€Å"The only individuals who do not understand visuals are the blind community-however, this handicap is adapted by the body and other the other body senses become enhanced greatly† (B. Kennedy, 2010). Perhaps sign language varies throughout different regions of the world, but the basics will always be well-known, regardless. For example, pointing to oneself means me, no matter what country you are residing in. A simple sign such as this is a basic way to communicate, and is universal. If two individuals from different countries who did not understand each other were to sit down together and draw a picture of a house, hut, or dwelling of some sort; each individual would understand the drawing, or picture of a dwelling as a home. This is considered Visual Literacy, as well. These two individuals may not be speaking with their mouths, or sounds, but they are communicating with visuals. Brian Kennedy provides an excellent portrayal of what he believes Visual Literacy to be in today’s world. However, our text provides a wonderful explanation of Visual Literacy within the business world today as well, and between both of these resources is a wealth of information. Mr. Kennedy takes a very literal look at Visual Literacy- no pun intended. Kennedy believes that what we view each day through sight is a way that we can learn and communicate if we pay attention. Most of the time, however, we do not pay attention. In fact, he states, â€Å"everything we see is an image, but unless we connect cognition and memory, we do not remember what we see† (B.  Kennedy, 2010). We see hundreds of images everyday throughout our lives, but unless we have some connection to the image, we do not retain it. However, if we â€Å"slow-look, we can look, see, describe, analyze, and interpret or construct meaning† (B. Kennedy, 2010). As with this prior quote, Mr. Kennedy made many other interesting statements within his presentation. For instance, â€Å"we read non-text 60,000 times faster than written text,† and â€Å"90% of what we learn is taken in visually† (B. Kennedy, 2010). Regarding our text, and the definition provided regarding Visual Literacy compared to the video containing Brian Kennedy speaking about the subject, our text is more business oriented, or technically derived. The text this week seems to focus on the high-tech aspect of Visual Literacy. This includes television, billboards, computer images, etc. Also, there almost has to be a difference between the two definitions because one was presented visually, and the other was presented in a written format. Within the text, there are other terms for Visual Literacy, such as media literacy, for example. Also, within our text (W.Ryan, 2012), are two authors (Avgerinou and Ericson, 1997) featured who present this opinion of the definition of Visual Literacy along with 9 other definitions, but will not get into in this paper: â€Å"Visuals may be objects, events, actions, pictorial representations, nonverbal or digital symbols, written words, or numbers. They then argue that visual literacy refers to the use of visuals for communicating, thinking, learning, constructing meaning, creative expression, and aesthetic enjoyment. For example, supplementing a business meeting with visuals created in PowerPoint or Prezi communicate information in a manner alternative to the  spoken word, may engage visually literate audience members in critical thinking about the message, and help them learn more than they may have if they had only heard the message. When these media are used effectively and appropriately, they may stimulate creative thinking and generate affects or liking among audience members through the use of charts, graphs, audio, images, and video† (Avgerinou and Ericson, 1997). It seems that our text is much more technical as far as addressing the definition of Visual Literacy, than the video created by Brian Kennedy. Perhaps it seems that way because the definition that Brian Kennedy offers is visual, as well as audible, but it does seem that he offers a much easier explanation. Communication, through visuals such as photographs for example, have been a way of communicating across borders, oceans, and continents over the decades. One photograph that finds its way on a national magazine cover can convey much more than an entire book devoted to a certain topic. A wonderful example of this comes from our text this week, and that is The National Geographic cover of â€Å"Afghan Girl† that was the cover of the magazine when this girl featured was just 17. It touched many people, and many lives, enough for the photographer to search her out years later without even knowing her name. She was found, and reunited with the photographer, but how does a girl who did not want her picture taken to begin with, react to a huge worldwide reaction to her picture so many years ago, and now with so much attention? She never even knew, or saw her picture. That says quite a bit, as well, as far as Visual Literacy. Perhaps it does not reach as far as we think it does. Globally, perhaps we are not there yet, with our Visual Literacy-or, as easy of a definition, communicating visually. Perhaps we are still a bit Visually Illiterate when it comes to the way we want to portray others, our art, our people, or people from other countries. Also, we should be aware of the way that other countries present us visually. That is something that The United States has not really worried about too much, it seems. We find ourselves upon a pedestal at times and just burst in and start snapping pictures, or slapping paint, etc. The story regarding â€Å"The Afghan Girl† was a reminder of that. We, as a Great Big Beautiful, Wonderful, Intelligent Country believe that all of our media reaches every crevice in the entire world, yet it does not, by any means. We must be mindful of that, while still trying to see everything we are looking at†¦. References: Avgerinou, M. , Ericson, J. (1997). A Review of the Concept of Visual Literacy. British Journal of Educational Technology. Kennedy, B. (2010). Brian Kennedy’s TedTalk: Brian Kennedy: Visual Literacy and Why We Need It . Retrieved From: (http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=OefLEpds5Is). Ryan, W. (2012). Visual literacy: learning to see. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

The Importance of Ion Channels Essay -- Disease, Disorders

Oculocutaneous albinism is the lack of color in an individual skin hair and eyes. This is a condition that exists from birth. This a The Importance of Ion Channels: An Analysis of the Long QT Syndrome Inheritance method Long QT Syndrome (LQTS) is an uncommon congenital heart condition in which patients affected by this syndrome are at high risks for cardiac arrest and sudden cardiac death due to mutations in cardiac ion channels (Crotti et al., 2008). There are two particular variants to the Long QT Syndrome; one is called the Jervell and Lange-Nielsen Syndrome (J-LN), which is associated with deafness, and the other has been named the Romano-Ward Syndrome (R-W), in which there is no connection with deafness (Crotti et al., 2008). The Romano-Ward Syndrome is known to be the more common type of LQTS and is autosomal dominant (Russell et al., 1996), whereas the Jervell and Lange-Nielsen Syndrome is less common and is autosomal recessive (Crotti et al., 2008). Gene(s) responsible or implicated in the disorder The research community has divided the Long QT Syndrome by types, depending upon the different mutations in four of the cardiac ion- channel genes, KVLQT1, HERG, SCN5A, and KCNE1 (Zareba et al., 1998). Mutations within these voltage-gated ion channels ultimately disrupt the normal nerve impulses that take place within myocardial cells. Sodium and potassium channels play key roles during action potentials as it is through these channels that their respective ions are able to enter and leave the cell in order to generate electrical excitation or inhibition throughout. Such channels are composed of subunits of proteins, and damage within even one subunit can alter the overall function of the action potential, which will alte... ...ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007: 52. Priori, S., Napolitano, C., Schwartz, P., (1999). Low penetrance in the long-qt syndrome. Circulation 99, 529-533. Russell, M., Dick, M., Collins, F., Brody, L,. (1996). KVLQT1 mutations in three families with familial or sporadic long QT syndrome. Human Molecular Genetics 5, 1319-1324. Westenskow, P., Splawski, I., Timothy, K., Keating, M., Sanguinetti, M., (2004). Compound mutations: a common cause of severe long-QT syndrome. Circulation 109, 1834-1841. Zareba, W., Moss, A., Schwartz, P., Vincent, M., Robinson, J., Priori, S., Benhorin, J., Locati, E., Towbin, J., Keating, M., Lehmann, M., Hall, J., Andrews, M., Napolitano, C., Timothy, K., Zhang, L., Medina, A., MacCluer, J., (1998). Influence of the genotype on the clinical course of the long-QT syndrome. The New England Journal of Medicine 339, 960-965.

Physiological manipulation in novel Essay

Aldous Huxley is a visionary in every sense of the word, as he paints a vivid picture of the future that is second to none. His imagination is almost prophetic as he boldly presents his idea of futuristic society and the direction of mankind. Huxley’s imaginary society in the ‘Brave New World’ controls citizens through physiological manipulation during birth, psychological conditioning while growing up and a hallucinogenic drug called ‘Soma’ to provide instant gratification (Huxley 15). Although these techniques are said to eradicate class discrimination, religion and unhappiness, it paves the way for a lackluster, grey world deprived of any real life and creative ideas. Huxley’s visions of technology of the future such as genetic engineering, mind-altering drugs and bio-technological advances are quite startling. In spite of having classic science-fiction traits, there is a Shakespearean character as well as weak-minded and strong-spirited human characters in the book that one can relate to. The ‘Brave New World’ is a book with several subtle layers that is entertaining and enlightening at the same time. Although the subject matter of the book is quite dense, it is presented in satirical fashion. Huxley’s Ford analogy explains how technology is also an illusion to exercise control, which has been put in place to replace previous control mechanisms such as religion. Huxley’s political commentary describing an anti-utopian society controlled by a totalistic government is relevant, even in today’s context. Although the centralized world government’ claims technology to be advancing, it merely improves upon existing technologies and fails to make any new breakthroughs in science, thereby keeping people ignorant. The manipulative government also restricts reproduction and promotes polygamous physical relationship, thereby killing meaningful family values and moral gratification. One of the most intriguing issues raised by Huxley’s work is the true meaning of happiness. It makes one reexamine life and realize that happiness is not merely avoidance of pain, conforming to societal norms and amassing wealth. Huxley, through the depiction of the totalitarian government, tries to explain the evils of people losing power and one body exercising absolute control over the masses. Although the book is over seventy-five years old, it is still very relevant in our contemporary political scenario. Huxley’s work also seeks out to enlighten the world about the importance of individuality and freedom of thought. It ultimately makes a statement that blind conformity backed up by fear will only lead to complete surrender of the human mind and soul. On careful analysis, one would come to realize that the fictional society portrayed in Brave New World is not merely a work of Huxley’s fantasy, but actually an extrapolation of our degrading societal values such as greed, meaningless relationships and hyper- consumerism. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein tells us about the consequences of technology over-stepping the nature’s boundaries. It shares recurring themes with Brave New World such as scientists creating life by going against the laws of nature. In both the books, the characters try to use technology to better mankind, but eventually end up making things worse. Both the authors feel that unchecked growth of technology could lead to dire consequences. In the book ‘On the Genealogy of Morals`, Nietzsche reveals the moral crisis that industrialization had brought to the lives of people. Though he believes that human life would be better without religion, he feels human beings need a moral frame of reference to be disciplined. Nietzsche and Huxley share a common view on religion keeping down humans from realizing their true potential. Again, nihilism of established standards and belief systems to enhance human life are common in both the authors’ works. Fyodor Dostoevsky in ‘The Grand Inquisitor’ portrays the return of Jesus Christ and his arrest by the Spanish Inquisition. God is blamed for bestowing freedom upon human beings and thereby making them suffer (Dostoevsky 249). The Church starts to work with the devil to end human suffering, wherein only a few posses freedom while the rest live and die blissfully in ignorance. This theme in Dostoevsky’s parable parallels the Brave New World’s totalitarian government ruling over the ignorant people of the world who are free from pain. I believe our world is moving towards Huxley’s prediction of universal singularity. We are witnessing our freedoms being taken away right under noses by the government, under the pretense of security and progress. We are seeing the decline of families and a blind urge for physical gratification running rampant driven by mindless television entertainment. We are also observing alarmingly higher levels of consumption as well as production, while original thought is gradually deteriorating. Technology is growing exponentially and becoming more and more pervasive by the day. However, in spite of all this, people do not seem to be enjoying true ‘happiness’ and are turning towards anti-depressants to relieve stress, thereby reiterating Huxley’s vision again. Works Cited Page Dostoevsky, Fyodor. â€Å"The Grand Inquisitor†. The Brothers Karamazov. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000. 246-264. Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. Harper & Row Publishers, 1969. Nietzsche, Friedrich. On the Genealogy of Morals. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Pocket Books, 2004.

Social Costs and Externalities of Indonesian Palm Oil

Indonesia is the leading producer and exporter of palm oil across the globe. Oil palm is of high economic status throughout Indonesia, Africa, and most of the East because of its abundance in the region, richness of nutritional and mineral components, and high yields of edible and technical oils. The extensive development of oil palm industries in many tropical countries is due to its extremely high potential productivity. The steady demand of the oil has existed for integration into processed oods, personal care products, and home-cooked meals.Correspondingly, with increased interest in substitution of fossil fuels, palm oil is being demanded for biofuel energy production. The issues with palm oil extraction are many; One including that the high demand from developed nations has lead to the push of cultivation into the rainforests, destroying habitat. Additionally, the production and extracting gives opportunities for small land-holders to participate in the cash economy, but often time big banks and companies acquire their land without notification or compensation. Migrant workers and imported laborers are said to legally conflict with extraction processes.Regardless, a large majority of the rural- poor, working class of Indonesia relies on income from palm oil production. With that, the entire population could be lifted out of poverty. The central obligation Indonesia holds is to lift their unemployed and impoverished majority from those circumstances and boost sustainable economic growth. Since the economy of the country is heavily dependent primarily of the agriculture, forestry and mining sectors, the opening up of forests and further extraction of their natural esources are the most reliable sources toward reaching their financial goals.In relation, externalities and social costs must be taken into account because local production, global markets, and climate change are ever connected in the race to seize reproductive function of renewable resources. Wit h that in mind, Indonesia is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world as a result of their deforestation, peat land degradation, and forest fires for their expanding industry of palm oil extraction (Business Watch Indonesia, 2007).Meanwhile, Indonesia is a low-lying coastal area and is vulnerable to the climate ffects that they, in fact, are contributing their greenhouse gases to. Additionally, with Indonesia's longitudinal positioning on the equator, it is most susceptible to the sink dynamics resulting from climate change. However, because there is an influx of demand for palm oil for food and industrial consumption, Indonesia has Jumped onto the opportunity to expand their already leading production to meet demand and bring rise to each worker's GDP.Indonesia holds close to 50 percent of share-hold global production on palm oil and to keep up with their plans on extending the ountries production from 22 million tons to 40 million tons by 2020, they are using thi s opportunity to establish programs for promotion of biofuels (Buschmann, The Case of Indonesian Palm Oil, 2011). While rich countries put forth effort to specialize in environmentally friendly production and are implementing boundaries of sustainability in their own economies, they are attracted to productions that are environmentally harmful in developing regions.This shifts the environmental costs from importer to exporter and ultimately leads to unequal ecological exchange from ttempting to make the shift to renewable energy and meet the standards of the Kyoto and Montreal Protocols within their own boundaries. Wealthy nations are continuously working to cut emissions with increased awareness of global climate change. However, the Kyoto Protocol fails to commit those high producing developing nations to those same standards, (BWI, 2010). This is an issue in that rich nations emission reduction is based on their economic development and status.What such nations are not willing to assist in is the sustainable development and growth of the eveloping nations they are importing from through fair trade, technology transfer, and overall financial and technical assistance. Without respect to the natural capital or the environment, Indonesia is doing quite well in terms of progressing as an economically sustainable country. Palm oil and its global importance in the newer- found relation to biodiesel is a valuable asset in providing a brighter quality of life in regards to revenue for more than three million Indonesian workers and their families (Waltermann & Streubel, BWI, 2010).Commonsensically, more people working in a rowing biofuel-centered sector would lead to increasing incomes and overall economic achievement. In the case of Indonesian palm oil, there is a central assumption that represents complex, crisscrossing issues that encompass the different levels of action from a varying range of contributors with multiple interests. This means that although the loc al production is paying the native workers, local production, international trade, and global climate change are all interconnected.The directives put in place by developed economies look to reach a final level of renewable energy consumption. Palm oil is seen for its energetic, technically renewable â€Å"biofuel† use and can have a positive effect on economic growth for both palm oil producers as well as energy producers, at the expense of exploited natural resources and forest habitats. There are undoubtedly counterproductive consequences accompanying the demand for sustainable crude palm oil and the general switch from fossil fuels to â€Å"renewable† fuels.By converting national accounts to â€Å"green economies† (budgets with money for renewable energy allotted into them), there is an alleviation on the debate of translating environmental concerns into conomic variables, but only when applied to sustainable concepts. This is faulty because it rides on the idea that all forms of capital can substitute each other regardless of how the stock of the capital is composed. This means that well-off the while overextending a resources productive capacity (OECD, 2005) The concept of environmental Justice or â€Å"strong sustainability' has limitations on the previously noted substitution of capital.Because there are boundaries on forests' reproductive capacity, the continuity of economic systems are at risk. Most â€Å"westernized† overnments have reached the manufactured and natural capital equilibrium, where they have the ability to access both forms of the goods, and any rise in one will have an expense on the other. Forest products, and in this case palm oil from the Indonesian forests, are shown to have short-term economic gains by conversion of forest to agricultural use in the over-exploitation of the products. This typically leads to long-term loss in income and biological productivity.Also in the case of Indonesian palm oil an d forest loss, the production is exceeding the value of ready-for- production, mature sources. The graph below demonstrates the progression of palm oil production and how Indonesia was able to reliably supply roughly 57 percent of the annual increase with its vast land resources and a suitable climate. However, it is clear that production has extended beyond the mature supplies and gone into areas beyond suitability to reach demand from international markets and an increased interest by native small farm-holders to erect their own private plantations (USDA, Foreign Agricultural Service, 2009).Social and external costs are largely associated with export and import rates, overnment investment and tax systems in the international market. One abrogating externality is the non-tariff trade barriers applied by developed importers. To assure some security when and if free trade is effective and ecological standards go down, these barriers work to restrict the exporters in the market when s upply cannot meet demand. On the other hand, for small farm-holders to establish their plantations, they must qualify for subsidizing credit provided by the Government of Indonesia and prioritize with other startup costs.Because of this possibility the palm oil roduction sector has experienced strong development and expansion across the country, with an average of 8-13% annual growth rates in palm areas over the last decade (USDA, 2009). The Indonesian government, over the past decade, has provided these loans to encourage smallholders' expansion, at rates below market interest. Alongside the enabling of non-commercial plantation ownership, the Government has advocated ownership with programs that provide smallholders with improved seed, fertilizers, and techniques for growth.Additionally, land-use permits ave been reevaluated to allot more time for companies to control profits earned by a plantation. These interventions have brought positive change in the market significantly; non- commercial palm oil farms now account for 44 percent of the total area in the country, second to private commercials (Foreign Agricultural Service, 2009). A major effect of these implementations is the establishment of processing plants. Because fresh fruit bunches require processing within 48 hours of harvest, oil refining plants have been constructed near major concentrations of harvest land.Construction and operation of each plant represents a significant fixed cost for the developer, and typically ends up servicing both commercial and smallholder palm producers that surround it† (Foreign Agricultural Service, 2009). The investment in in contributor in the success of Indonesia's palm oil business. At the expense of the environment's health, and with the push from changes in government economic and political policies, historical highs have been reached leading Indonesia to the number one spot in exporting and producing of palm oil.Nonetheless, without regard to its ommunal u se and benefits to the servicer, service emissions are still added to the atmosphere, more resources and forests are eliminated, reducing the amount of the fruit available for use by the farmers and ruining the habitat of accompanying wildlife. Further success rates in the palm oil sector I believe, at this point, rely on the clarification of one all-encompassing issue. That is, whether or not ecological economies can lead to different assessments of how economic growth, open trade, and the environment can be positively or negatively associated.Investors and roducers have optimistic expectations of improving their economies despite being built on the depletion of a natural capital and possibly misleading those civilians toward a downward trend.

Verbal

Best Books for SAT Critical Reading / Verbal SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips What are the best books for the SAT critical reading section (which used to be called the verbal section)? Here we review a few of the top books that we feel helps students the most. We discuss which skills you should be learning from books, and which you should instead be learning from flashcards or practice. You can get these books online, or better yet from the library. What is the Critical Reading? Start with Sentence Completion. By now you understand what the Critical Reading is about. About a third of it is sentence completion, which is a vocabulary test by any other name. As background, the SAT Critical Reading section used to be called the Verbal section, which many years ago used to be almost all based on vocabulary. Vocabulary has fallen in importance on the SAT from around 50% of the entire test (in the 1990s) to just about 10% today, and will even be lower with the new SAT in 2016. Thus, sentence completion represents a vestigial portion of the SAT. Since it's all about vocabulary, the best books for sentence completion, in our opinion, are books that directly target this. Bonus: Money-Saving Tip: Most of these books can be reused by many students. It's better to get more of these books and see what works for you, and instead of shelling out money for new, latest-edition copies of every single of these books consider 1) Borrowing these books from the library many well stocked town libraries have these books 2) Buying used or older editionsof the books: the SAT test has been relatively stable from 2006-2015, used or old versions can real tough or 3) Finding free analogues online, many sites online offer the all the major ideas and tips in the books for free, oftentimes summarized. Best Books for SAT Sentence Completion: #1 Book in Sentence Completion: Direct Hits, Vol #1 and Vol #2 This book is seen as one of the best books for SAT vocabulary studying for one simple reason: it has an incredibly high hit rate compared to others. The words in this book consistently show up more on future SATs than other lists online. It uses real vocabulary tested in past SATs most often, therefore explaining its high predictive power for future SATs. Another reason this book is great is that it's so concise: there are only 200 words in each volume. This makes it easier to memorize than the thousand-word lists, and ensure that the authors can concentrate on only the most important vocab words. My professional advice is this: if you can only remember 200 words for the SAT, make it Direct Hits Volume 1. If you can only remember 400 words, for the SAT, make it Direct Hits Volume 2. You'll get more mileage out of these than any other books. If you can't get your hands on the direct hits book, then base the first 200-400 of your vocab studying off of a list that is constructed based on past SAT tests as well, such as our free vocab cards of 400 most frequent SAT words. The old saying is true: the past predicts the future well. #2 Book in Sentence Completion: Barron's SAT Vocab Flash Cards This is the new edition of the word list I personally used to study for the SAT and get a perfect on it back in the day when it was much more vocab, which is high praise for this word list. Barron's consistently manages to be the best book studying for high achieving SAT students, and this book (actually a flashcard pack) is no different. With word count at 500, it's bigger than Direct Hits. All independent word lists likely have some overlap, but this is definitely the list to go onto after the Direct Hits, and together with Direct Hits this forms about a thousand words that will take about 20 hours to memorize. If you have an SAT study plan that spans in the hundreds of hours, this set of flashcards is certainly worth it. SAT Critical Reading: Passages Passages constitute the rest of the Critical Reading SAT section. Much of passages is about understanding the meaning of a story what the author's feeling are, the main idea the author is trying to convey, how the author communicates. Thus, understanding this is very important. I want to dispel what I believe is a myth about Critical Reading Books at this point. Myth: the best way to improve on SAT Passages for Critical Reading is by reading more English Literature books. The myth goes: read Dickens, Austen, Fitzgerald, and Shakespeare to improve your reading skills fastest. Hogwash! First, reading is NOT the same thing as English literature (analogous to the reason here). Likewise, literature passages only form a small portion of the SAT Critical Reading passages. Second, reading English literature is incredibly inefficient. Pride and Prejudiceby Austen may take a dozen hours to read. In that same time, you could have practiced a hundred short passages. Moreover, you'll be caught up in the story, and you'll rarely be practicing effective SAT relevant skills: quicklydissecting separate, small passages. Once you figure out Austen's intent once, you never have to figure it out again. In 12 hours, you get one practice swing and figuring out author intent, whereas you could be practicing 100 times instead. This motivates our choice of books: The Best SAT Critical Reading Passage Books #1 Book in Passages:Real SATs from the Past: I don't just mean the latest College Board Official SAT prep guide, but also the 1997, 2000,2003, and2005, editions, and more versions that you can find if you're resourceful. Why would I recommend such outdated material? Because passages themselves haven't changed that much through time. The SAT has changed up analogies, writing, and a lot of other things, but the format of short, self-contained passages has been maintained for decades. Like I mentioned before in 24 hours, you can read either two novels, or do 40 passage sections from the past tests. It is important while reading, whether passages like suggested above, or longer format text like short stories or essays, to focus on SAT type questions. The most common are: 1) what is the author's opinion about the subject? 2) what's the author's emotion? 3) does the author have any motivations that might skew his opinion? Keep these in mind no matter what you read! #2 Book in Passages:Barron's Critical Reading Again, this book is best for high scorers, but it explicitly points out the types of tricks and strategies often used on the SAT. The great thing about this book is that it dissects the passages out for you, and doesn't patronize you at all. The authors are perfect-scoring level professionals who clearly know the material cold, and they're targeting students aiming for a perfect 800 as well. I wouldn't recommend this for students starting below a 550, as it can be intimidating and the techniques may not be optimal for students starting out. #3 Book in Passages:Kaplan's Critical Reading At this point, we're getting into pretty standard run-of-the-mill explanations for critical reading. However, Kaplan's book is stellar at being a general introduction to Critical Reading, especially if your starting score is 350-550 region. It won't cover strategies for perfectionists well, and the writer often seems to lack full understanding of the toughest concepts, but it's a very gentle introduction for students starting in this range. You might also say at this point what if I'm starting out below a 350? In this case, there might be some basic English language deficiencies at play perhaps English was your second language. We'll have another article out for this range soon! What's Next? The college admissions process has become so competitive that it's helpful to plan well in advance for SAT/ACT prep during high school. Here are a few guides to help your thinking: Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points, or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

The Bre-X Gold Scandal, History and Resources

The Bre-X Gold Scandal, History and Resources Start with the biggest deposit of gold ever reported, in the headwaters of the Busang River in the steaming jungle of Borneo. The Canadian company Bre-X Minerals Ltd. didnt know about that when it bought rights to the site in 1993. But after Bre-X hired a high-living geologist to map the ore body, the deposit, along with the fever dreams that accompany gold, grew to monster size- by March 1997 that geologist was talking about a 200-million-ounce resource. You do the math at, say US$500 per ounce in mid-1990s dollars. Bre-X prepared for big times ahead by building a gold-plated website, where you could generate your own Bre-X stock chart to follow its meteoric rise. It also had a chart showing the equally meteoric rise of the estimated gold resource: together, those two pages could infect anyone with gold fever. The Sharks Arrive Bigger mineral companies took notice. Some made takeover offers. So did the Indonesian government, in the person of president Suharto and his powerful family. Bre-X owned more of this lode than seemed prudent for such a small, inexperienced foreign firm. Suharto suggested that Bre-X share its fortunate surplus with the people of Indonesia and with Barrick, a firm tied to Suhartos ambitious daughter Siti Rukmana. (Barricks advisors, among them George H. W. Bush and ex-prime minister of Canada Brian Mulroney, also favored this scheme.) Bre-X responded by enlisting Suhartos son Sigit Hardjojudanto on its side. An impasse loomed. To end the contretemps, family friend Mohamad Bob Hasan stepped in to offer all sides a deal. The American firm Freeport-McMoRan Copper Gold, led by another old Suharto friend, would run the mine and Indonesian interests would share the wealth. Bre-X would keep 45 percent of the ownership and Hasan for his pains would accept a share possibly worth a billion or so. Asked what he was paying for this stake, Hasan said, There is no payment, no nothing. It is a very clean deal. Trouble Arises The deal was announced on 17 February 1997. Freeport went to Borneo to start its own due-diligence drilling. Suharto was ready to sign a contract after this step, locking in Bre-Xs land rights for 30 years and starting the flood of gold. But just four weeks later, Bre-Xs geologist at Busang, Michael de Guzman, exited his helicopter that was 250 meters in the air at the time- an evident suicide. On March 26 Freeport reported that its due-diligence cores, drilled only a meter and a half from Bre-Xs, showed insignificant amounts of gold. The next day Bre-X stock lost almost all of its value. Freeport brought more rock samples to its American headquarters under armed guard. Bre-X commissioned a review of Freeports drilling; the review recommended more drilling. Another review focusing on the chemical assays caused Bre-X to clam up completely on 1 April, and Suhartos signature was postponed. Bre-X, in a novel strategy for the time, blamed the Web. CEO David Walsh told a fawning Calgary Herald reporter that the meltdown began when scurrilous local rumors in Indonesia were picked up by one of the ghostwriters on the Internet on the chat page or whatever. Further reviews took the rest of April. Meanwhile, disquieting details began to arise. Industry journalists soon found evidence that the Busang ore samples had been salted with gold dust. Salting of the Earth On Friday 11 April, Northern Miner magazine put a news flash on its site laying out three lines of evidence that Bre-X had been duped. First, contrary to company statements, the Busang core samples had been prepared for assay in the jungle, not in the testing lab. A videotape made by a visitor to the field site showed the humble machines common in assay labs- hammer mills, crushers, and sample splitters. Well-labeled sample bags clearly had finely crushed ore in them. Security was lax enough that samples could easily have been spiked with gold.Second, the local inhabitants had begun panning for gold in the Busang River, but in two years they never found any. Yet Bre-X claimed that gold was visible, a sign of unusually rich ore. And de Guzmans technical report, confusingly, called the gold submicroscopic, which is typical of hard-rock gold ore.Third, the assayer that tested the samples said the gold was predominantly in visible-sized grains. Also, the grains showed signs consistent with being typical river-panned gold dust, such as rounded outlines and rims depleted in silver. The assayer dodged the 64-billion-dollar question, saying that there were indeed ways for hard-rock gold grains to acquire rounded edges- but that argument was a fig leaf. The Curtain Falls Meanwhile, a storm of securities lawsuits arose around Bre-X, which vigorously protested that this was just an unfortunate series of misunderstandings. But it was too late. The collapse of Bre-X cast a cloud over the gold mining industry that lasted into the next century. David Walsh decamped to the Bahamas, where he died of an aneurysm in 1998. Bre-Xs chief geologist, John Felderhof, eventually went on trial in Canada but was acquitted of securities fraud in July 2007. Apparently in selling part of his stock holdings for $84 million in the months before the scandal hit he had not been criminal, just too stupid to catch the fraud. And I have been told that Michael de Guzman has been seen in Canada, years after the scandal. The explanation would be that, as was rumored at the time, an anonymous corpse was thrown from the helicopter. You could say the very jungle had been salted as well as the ore bags.

Business Strategy on Ryan Air Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Business Strategy on Ryan Air - Case Study Example Ryan air is one of Europe's largest low-cost carriers and one of the most successful, operating on 262 routes to 22 countries. Its focus is on providing low cost, efficient, frequent connections and consequently offering no other frills or supporting services on their flights. The changes in the nature of the barriers to entry in the mid - 1980s with the deregulation of the airline industry , as well as the adoption of a strategy which was noticeably different from that pursued by the market leader at the time (Aer Lingus) was a credible means for Ryan air to gain entry into the market. O'Leary, the company's Chief Executive Office, adopted the Southwest Airlines model, established by Herb Kelleher which adhered to the following principles: fly one type of plane to keep down engineering costs every year; turn around aircraft as quickly as possible; and concentrate on selling seats by avoiding loyalty schemes or air miles. The airline took several other steps to restructure its business model. It eliminated business class to concentrate on economy class and leisure customers. It stopped serving free meals and beverages on flights - a move which allowed the airline to reduce the number of attendants on each flight from five to two. It also eliminated seat assignments to speed up boarding and stopped carrying cargo, which reduced aircraft turnaround times from 45 minutes to 25 minutes. There has been a revolutionary increase in the number of low-cost airline which are otherwise called the budget airlines in the aviation industry over the last few years. The budget airlines are usually operators who provide low-cost travel options for the passengers. The budget airlines try and cut the indirect costs to the maximum possible extent. Passengers are not offered wet towels, meals etc. Sometimes it may even happen that they do not even offer water to the passengers flying the budget airlines [(Phillip), 2002]. Internal analysis Revenue Generation is one of the most important aspects that Budget airlines give more importance, to the extent that most of the budget airlines have a position that is unique to this particular industry - "Chief Revenue Officer" (AIR DECCAN) whose sole responsibility is to focus on revenue generation from all possible sources. Unlike the scheduled airlines, they sell the maximum possible space they can. They sell space on the aircrafts in order to give advertisements. They even sell the space on the rear side of the boarding passes (Palanikumar). However, despite of the increase of passengers, the company is not so good in managing cost that the company has lose its money. A new management team is brought in to sort it out and re-launch as a "low fares or no frills" airline, closely modelling the Southwest Airlines model in the U.S. And in 1994, Ryan air bought its first Boeing 737 aircraft which carried over 1.5 million passengers. In 1995, Ryan air is the biggest passenger carrier on Dublin-London route, the largest Irish airline on every route being operate and carried 2.25 million passengers in the year (ivythesis). The main areas which have been the focus of the airline's concentration on costs have been: - Fleet commonality (operates only one type of aircraft, Boeing 737- 200s) - Contracting out of services

Chemical Shale Instability & Inhibition Research Paper

Chemical Shale Instability & Inhibition - Research Paper Example From the discussion it is clear that understanding the overall behavior of shale is the core intention of this paper. Furthermore, the discussion is also aiming at understanding various types of shale drilling fluids. This also includes the use of the drilling fluids and their composition. The other key concept explored in te discussion is the mechanism involved in the development of new shale.This essay discusses Shale can be defined as a sedimentary rock which is fine grained and is composed of mineral rich mud. The mineral composition found in this mud is variable. When discussing about shale instability and inhibition. It is prudent to note that the interaction between water and the clay like material forung within the shale is the root cause (REFF). This interaction contributes to wellbore instability which thereafter result in formation of poor gause and many other anomalies. This paper targets discussing issue related to shale instability and inhibition, challenges faced and h ow to prevent such inconvenient precisely when drilling shale. There are many types of drilling fluids that serve different purpose based on the shale being encountered. For example; the drilling fluid can be air, liquid or foam which is colloid of liquid and air (REFF). The role of the drilling mud at this point is to dissipate the heat by circulating the drilling fluids (REFF). Moreover, the drilling mud also lubricates the bits and reduces friction.

Supply Network Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Supply Network - Essay Example Supply chain network can be described as a customer-oriented operation management. The following diagram is an illustration of the supply chain network process. However beneficial the supply chain designs are to a company’s growth, there are a few flaws to these designs. For example, there is the issue of variation in minimum cost objectives. Still on the case of Sun Orchard, supply chain design objectives will be more beneficial only in the distribution of physical goods (Sun Orchard, 2012). Thereby, Sun Orchard should apply supply chain designs that mainly focus on proximity rather than the costs involved. Consequently, the application of the supply chain designs is not a guarantee that they will bring diversity and applicability to the business. Supply Chain Example: for Sun Orchard juice production. Sun Orchard is a juice producing company in the United States. The company specializes in the production and distribution of all kinds of juices with a global presence in Ameri ca, Australia, Asia and Africa. A simple process of the supply chain network process in Sun Orchard shows the links between the farm, the production plant to the distribution outlets and how materials and information is shared between these links. Supply Chain: Sun Orchard farm Juicing plant National Regional Shops, Distribution Distribution Supermarkets Centers Centers Vending machines The above supply chain is a simple illustration of the way information and material flows from the sun orchard farm, right through the process of production to the customers. Company change Nestle has successfully managed to apply supply chain management strategies for more business... This paper stresses that the current developments in IT have helped Target Australia in the development of its supply chain network process. Information Technology brings a smooth flow throughout the supply network. A supply chain design with system integration is able to provide an integrated transaction processing platform for the company, enhancing its overall performance and improving consistency in information relay and in improving efficiency in transaction processes. For example, the use of Electronic Data Interchange has helped Target Australia in relaying information thus reducing the costs of sending documents. According to Mike Johnston of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative center, North Carolina University, an EDI helps in time management, create efficiency in the management of warehouse, create accuracy in transactions, and reduce clerical/administrative costs. This report makes a conclusion that The process starts from purchasing, production and then distribution to consumers. Flow of information is a link to the whole chain of supply from supplier and manufacturer to the customer. When the flow of information is unconstrained; the company will increase accuracy of operation by saving costs of production and fostering competitiveness of companies. Product flow profits through this supply chain from materials in raw state to manufacturing and lastly the finished goods which are sold to customers. The SCM deals with purchase manufacture and lastly, transport.

Outline of your first main point Essay Example for Free

Outline of your first main point Essay Develop a detailed outline of your first main point. (For assistance with your writing skills, check out the Ashford Writing Center at https://awc.ashford.edu/essay-dev-essay-structure.html.) 1. The Constitution: a. Provide a topic sentence that briefly describes one strength and one weakness of the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Constitution has its strengths and weaknesses. What makes the US Constitution great is that it’s solely based upon the will of the people which is backed up by the Bill of Rights. However there are some flaws within the Constitution and that is the government being weak in interpreting the constitution. They do not uphold the constitution and what it stands for and it’s being misused to suit their needs. See more: what is essay format b. Provide a topic sentence that recommends one option to maintain the strength and one to correct the weakness.  In order to build the strength and also correct the weakness of our constitution is to enhance utilizing checks and balances. 2. Scholarly Support: (For assistance with your research, see the Tutorials provided by Ashford University’s Library at http://library.ashford.edu/tutorials.aspx, the APA Style Aid at https://www.wou.edu/provost/library/clip/apa/, and Annotated Bibliographies at https://awc.ashford.edu/tocw-sample-annotated-bibliography.html for additional help.) a. Provide two sources in APA format to support your main points. John, C. (2011). DIVIDED WE FALL: THE CASE AGAINST DIVIDED GOVERNMENT. International Social Science Review, 86(3/4), 166-174. Yeselson, R. (2014). James Madisons worst nightmare: todays Republicans have become the very kind of obstructionist factionwith apocalyptic politicsthat the primary author of our Constitution warned us against. The American Prospect, (1), 18. b. Briefly discuss how these sources support your main points. Divided We Fall supports my main points because it touches on the separation of powers and how checks and balances are crucial for both our government and country.  James Madison worst nightmare supports my main points by how the government is portraying weakness by not abiding by the constitution c. Briefly evaluate your sources for bias, validity, and reliability. Both articles are unbiased and are reliable because they have gone through a peer scholarly review.

After Great Pain, A Formal Feeling Comes-- :: essays research papers

Elements of despair evident from the inner workings of Emily Dickinson are present in her poem, â€Å"After Great Pain, A Formal Feeling Comes--.† Emily Dickinson led a difficult life which left her alone. These feelings of sorrow and isolation have produced works by Dickinson which question human existence and thought. Such works include the theme of despair which is inextricably related to spiritual strivings and misgivings. They lead inevitably to her thematic concern with man’s knowledge of death and his dream of immortality, directly relevant to â€Å"After Great Pain, A Formal Feeling Comes--.†In this poem, Emily Dickinson renders the extinction of consciousness by pain in terms of a funeral. By paraphrasing the first stanza,After great pain, a formal feeling comes--The Nerves sits ceremonious, like Tombs--The stiff Heart, questions was it He, that bore,And Yesterday, or Centuries before?The reader perceives the first of three stages of a funeral ceremony, the formal service. After the onset of suffering through death, the presence of finality through a funeral rises. The second stanza brings with it the second stage of the ceremony, carrying off the casket by pallbearers.The Feet, mechanical, go round--A wooden wayOf Ground, or Air, or Ought--Regardless grown,A Quartz contentment, like a stone--The feet of the pallbearers work rhythmically and mechanically, performing their duty. The final stanza includes the final stage of a funeral,the burial.This is the Hour of Lead--Remembered, if outlived,As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow--First--Chill--then Stupor--then the letting go-- The reader notes that this is the time of finality, and of parting with the deceased. It is also a time of final recollections, and of healing.In an interpretation of this poem, Dickinson is neither speaking of the persona, or the funeral ritual, but instead of the state of mind at death. This perception includes the premise of one who has lost all sense of identity. The various parts of the anatomy noted in the poem, such as the nerves, heart, and feet, are no longer part of one central being,but now moving through the acts of a meaningless ceremony. In essence, they are lifeless forms enacted in a trance. As the idea of a funeral ceremony subsides, the once living body’s form emerges. The â€Å"formal feeling† that comes after a great pain is actually no pain at all, but instead the loss of form, time, and space. Throughout â€Å"After Great Pain, A Formal Feeling Comes--†, Dickinson uses many forms of connotation, such as imagery, symbolism, and irony.

Reaction Paper- Asian and Global Crisis Essay

Reaction Paper Asian and Global Crisis During the Asian and Global Crisis many of the criticisms are against accounting and accountants. In my further readings, I’ve read that during the Asian Crisis in 1997, where affected countries suffered severe setbacks in their economies and where development stagnated, the accountancy profession, including its standards, policies and levels of information disclosures, had played a role in the start of the crisis, and perhaps had even worsened it. Moreover, I’ve also read that during both crises, the Asian Crisis and Global Crisis in 2008, insufficient clarity in what was being measured, the wrong things being measured or things being measured inappropriately, lack of standards, inadequate transparency and poor ethical conduct, in short, poor corporate governance is the main breadth and depth of the crises. As a future accountant, what will I do after all the doubts and criticisms against the profession? In my opinion, sufficient clarity on what to measure, measuring things appropriately, following the applicable standards, adequate transparency and good ethical conduct are the things that I should carry out. It should be clarified in the accountant on what is the thing that he/she should measure. If I’m the accountant I should be knowledgeable on the nature and I should have understood necessary facts about the account when doing measurement or on examining the reasonableness of the measurement method used by the management. In addition, in measuring risks like financial risk, I should use a valid and reliable risk measurement technique because the information that I’ll be giving will be the basis for the management’s decision-making. If I have measured the things incorrectly or a wrong technique has been used, it could be misleading to the decision-making of the management and may cause chaos in the future to the company. In an accounting perspective, applicable generally accepted accounting standards should be used in the accounts of the financials of the company. Strict compliance should be observed so that transactions are properly recorded, summarized, classified and accounted for. Adequate disclosures should also be done. In the auditing perspective, as an auditor, auditing the company should be in accordance with the applicable generally accepted auditing standards. The auditor should be independent so that the opinion will be unbiased. I would like to emphasize that in compliance with the generally accepted auditing standards, the auditor should always take into consideration if the company provided adequate disclosures. Disclosure on significant matters is really important for the users who don’t have enough information regarding the matter will be informed. However, I have read in an article that there is also a lack of standards that also caused the hitch on crises. Regarding the lack of standards, I think it is already in the hands of the appropriate groups with authorities. Accountants need to refocus the structuring of financial transactions so that they comply with generally accepted accounting principles and that the economic substance of financial transactions is communicated. More accountability and ethical awareness needs to be instilled in the individuals who deceitfully structure financial transactions. Regulatory bodies need to ensure more transparency by closing loopholes and better enforcement of accounting standards. Audit committees, need to be sure that a company is communicating the true economic reality of the financial transactions and financial position of the business entity. Off-balance-sheet financing is one of the most significant ways, among others, that the user of financial statements can be misled. It is time for regulatory bodies to eliminate overly rules-based standards, clearly state the economic objective of each standard, and require firms to disclose the economic motivations for the accounting practices they adopt. While making judgment accountants need to be cautious and prudent. Accounting transactions and other events are sometimes uncertain but in order to be relevant it should be reported in time. Accountants have to make estimates requiring judgment to counter the uncertainty. Prudence is a key accounting principle which makes sure that assets and income are not overstated and liabilities and expenses are not understated. The bottom-line for all of these is to have good corporate governance. As defined by Robert M. Bushman, corporate governance structures serve: 1) to ensure that minority shareholders receive reliable information about the value of firms and that a company’s managers and large shareholders do not cheat them out of the value of their investments, and 2) to motivate managers to maximize firm value instead of pursuing personal objectives. I believe that all of the things I have mentioned are some of the keys that can help me as a future accountant in dealing the reality and to get out of all the doubts against the accounting profession.

Evaluate the claim that personal identity is self- defined Essay

Your identity is what makes you who you are and what makes you unique as an individual and different from other people. Identities are not static but dynamic and constantly changing. A personal identity is made up of several different aspects, and can be defined by culture (nationality, religion and gender) as well as family and career. Your identity is defined by how you see yourself and also by how you are seen by others. It is part given and part taken and also can be something we are born with. In some instances an identity may be something you are given and may not be through choice. I am going to look at what makes a personal identity and is it self-defined and made without the assistance of anyone else. I am also going to compare the opinion of the theorists Erik Erikson and Sigmund Freud and I will be using the case findings of the research project into becoming a mother for the first time and more importantly the case of Silma and her experiences, this was a research program me which included detailed interviews as well as observational research. There are numerous ways in which our Identity can change, for example our bodies change and how we look alters as we get older but our appearance and our bodies can also be changed by choice for example hair colour, cosmetic surgery etc. (chapter 4, Exploring Social Lives) Our identities also change through practices and when there is an upset to our normal routines and we need to establish new ones or learn new skills, this also has an impact on our identity. This is the case when practices turn into routines and we no longer need to think about doing them as they become second nature. Finally we also experience relationship changes where our views on who we think we are is influenced by the opinions of other people and how they see us. We become who we are and modify ourselves through the way others treat us and respond to us. This is witnessed when a woman becomes a mother, she may be treated differently by her parents as a result of moving to parenthood herself. This was the claim for theorist Erik Erikson who studied that our identity changes are influenced by past experiences, the moment-by-moment activities and relationships we have daily. This is spanned over a lifetime and although can happen at any time, Erikson defined 8 stages in which identity is transformed in unique ways, as transition was not a smooth process, these stages he called â€Å"identity crises†. These stages were seen as times when conflict was introduced, conflict is contending with happenings in everyday life that stops life running as smoothly as before. Conflict is being faced with choices, feeling confused and although he uses the example of passing from adolescence into adulthood it could also mean becoming middle aged, old or moving into parenthood. (chapter 4, Exploring Social Lives) Everyone experiences conflicts and in turn experiencing conflicts make us who we are and give us an identity One way our identity can change is through identification, which is what it is called when we â€Å"try on† someone else’s persona. We try on other people’s identity and see life through their eyes and empathise with how they felt at a certain time, for example when you become a mother you can empathise and understand how other mothers feel. This was the case with Liyanna, she used to look at pictures of her mother with her sister and the mother daughter relationship meant nothing to her, however now she is a mother herself she looks at the photo differently and can identify with the love and the emotion her mother was feeling when the photo was taken. She says that now she looks at the photo and â€Å"she knows exactly what her mum was feeling†, she sees her mother in a new light and because of her own experiences can now put herself in her mother’s shoes. She is now identifying with her mother. The theorist Billig looks at identification and associates it with groups of people and how they are connected by the common quality or interest that they share. Sigmund Freud also claims that identification is the expression of an emotional tie with another person, an identity can be borrowed from someone else. The theory suggests that there are two kinds of identification, projection which is the message we give off and introjection which is the messages we take in. Both are done unintentionally and unconsciously to furnish ones identity. (chapter 4, Exploring Social Lives). All these theories can be backed up by the case study completed on first time mothers and in particular Silma’s case. Silma’s identity begins to change with practices, she has had to learn a whole new routine which will need to adapt as her baby grows. She also has a new relationship to establish as mother and daughter with her new baby, the relationship with her husband and family will also change. Silma has also to deal with the conflict of becoming a new mother, this conflict between being the â€Å"indulged eldest daughter† to motherhood and also between pleasing yourself and having to put your baby first are all aspects of defining her new identity. Silma is also seen differently not only by her neighbours but also by her family and in particular her aunts and her sister. Silma feels she is treated with more respect by her aunts and is now welcomed into their group as a mother. This is a generational shift for Silma and where she once thought of her aunts as boring who only talked about babies she now finds this interesting and likes to stay around them and can actually relate to them and now sees herself more like them. Silma also starts to behave differently and sees herself differently because people are treating her differently. Silma admits that she has left her wild days behind and become more mature and motherly and spends more time with her family. This has also had an effect on her choice of clothes and prior to becoming a mother Silma preferred to wear jeans but now she is a mother her choice of clothing is now the traditional salwaar kameez, she refers to these clothes as â€Å"normal† and now feels less comfortable in jeans. Silma received several gifts of salwaar kameez for her birthday after becoming a mother which may have encouraged her decision. Silma’s new identity has also caused conflict with her sister who now sees her as becoming like her aunts and gives Silma a hard time for being boring and because she prefers the aunts company. Silma has also taken on the identity as a mother and this is implemented in her concern for her younger sister and the way she behaves, she worries that by staying out late she may get hurt but in actual fact this was the same way Silma used to behave prior  to becoming a mother. Silma’s sister makes reference to the fact that Silma â€Å"used to be worse than me† but Silma puts this down to her having changed. Silma talks about meeting up with old friends at McDonalds and although we cannot assume that she would wear the salwaar kameez this is a clear distinction of how Silma has changed and her new identity as a mother is the dominant one. We have looked at various theories on what makes up personal identity and it is clear that self- definition on its own is not sufficient. Personal identity is made up through interacting with others and through projection and introjection, it’s a two way thing people see you differently so you behave differently. When we use identification it can only be done through another person to allow you to identify, this is not self-defined as you need another person to be able to do it. You need to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and yourself definition shifts when you look at someone else. Also some identities are already defined by others and you are moved into this social category without choice, as was the case for Silma when she became a mother, this identity is social and it is defined by how a mother should behave. If we require others to create our identity then our personal identity cannot be self-defined.