Monday, September 30, 2019

Machinal as a Play Written in Anger.

Machinal was written by Sophie Treadwell, a woman attempting to make her mark in a male dominated society and in a male dominated work sphere (as an author and playwright). This was in a time when it was considered a tenet of social life to accept a woman’s role was to facilitate the life of the man to whom she belongs. To reach above the kitchen shelf and attempt men’s work or to enter the men’s world was frowned upon and was punished by the social system. A woman in the wrong field or operating socially as equal to a male would either have to work under a different, male, identity or be met by severe criticism and gender based discrimination, her works largely ignored or peremptorily dismissed as inferior. The playwright draws on her experience with and bitterness against the social machine (hence the name Machinal, French for machine like) and tells the tale of an average everywoman who spends her entire, short, life seeking freedom from the role society has cast her in. Her role as defined by society is that of what the society in question considers any decent well bred young woman. She is originally a caregiver for her mother’ working at a job that makes her feel suffocated to earn enough to take care of both of them. Next she becomes a companion, decoration (he chose her for her hands) and sexual partner for her husband who â€Å"buys her† by providing for her mother and making sure she no longer needs to work at the job she hates and finally she becomes a mother caring for her daughter not because of any sense of love but because society refuses to allow her to abandon the child. These separate roles give birth to her rage pushing her to outbursts of rage and anti-social behaviour and ironically in their climax lead to a murder based on pity, not for herself but for her husband. Based on the idea that the play was based loosely on Treadwell’s experiences in a man’s world and the infamous murderess †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. it can be assumed that the emotions that Helen (young woman) experiences are echoes, or perhaps rather intensified images of her feelings. Her mother speaks with the voice of society, having been the one to raise her to be imprisoned in a world where she will never truly experience freedom. Her mother is a symbol of how entrenched the rules of the machine are. Having in her time experienced, surely, the same suppression as her daughter she was still unable to conceive a life outside the machine or to offer that freedom to her child. Instead she denies her the slight pleasure she found in marrying a man who appealed to her insisting that she instead take the practical course of marrying the man with the highest income though what she is offered is a pampered but empty life. It is questionable if she in fact loves her daughter or simply nags her because it is her method of keeping her in line. It begins to seem as though she simply ensures that she herself will be taken care of, so that a rich husband her daughter is an opportunity to jump at, not for Helens benefit but for hers. This would indicate that within the machine all interpersonal relations are determined by such practical considerations as where the power, especially in monetary terms lies and this is always with the men. What is left to the women is only as much as they can wrest from each other by manipulation and deception. This may be what young woman realises causing her to threaten her mother; that she does not in truth love her and simply uses her in and for the purposes that suit her. This They inspire the young not particularly educated or intelligent woman to crystallize the comprehension of her condition though it is one that has been forced on her since infancy and is considered normal by the rest of the machine and her objection and opposition of it succinctly in her statement â€Å"I will not submit† which she repeats like a mantra. This is a role that truly does not inspire her, that of mother, wife and daughter. Though she must also endure her mother’s nagging. She is controlled even unconsciously by men who like her husband who do not recognise their domination She does not like or love him and resents him because she did not choose to marry him but was forced to by her mother, and through her mother, society’s expectations of her. Also at the time of the marriage she disliked his â€Å"fat pressing† hands which to her represented oppression. he viewed it as the lesser of two evils because it would provide the means to provide for her mother and escape her. It would also mean she no longer had to work, being unsuited (or so it seems) to any type of structure. She also marries him despite a strong distaste for him because it is accepted by society that a woman gets married and has children. This is possibly the first major capitulation in her life. The first time she could be said to have had a choice in the direction of her life and in her attempting to find or maintain her (relative) freedom. Machinal by Sophie Treadwell

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Conccussions

Informative speech on Concussions Intro Imagine your head pounding and you don’t know where you are, your eyes are dilated and you can’t remember how or what happened. All of a sudden you’re getting help being carried off by people you can’t recognize. You get to the sideline and they start asking you multiple questions, who are we playing? What’s the score? And you stumble to answer these questions and get them wrong. Then they make you take a seat on the bench and say your done playing and inform you that you have received a concussion. 1st body- what concussions are, causesFirst I would like to discuss what concussions actually are. According to Web MD, a concussion is a type of brain injury that is caused by a blow to the head or body, or another injury that jars or shakes the brain inside the skull. By definition, a concussion is not a life threatening injury but it can cause both short term and long term problems. There most likely arenâ€℠¢t any visible signs of a brain injury when a concussion occurs. Even though it is a minor traumatic brain injury, they are still very serious. It can affect how your brain works for a while.A concussion can result from a fall, sports activities, and even a car accident. Your brain is a soft organ that is surrounded by spinal fluid and protected by your hard skull. The fluid around your brain acts like a cushion that keeps your brain from banging against your skull. If your head or body is hit hard enough though, your brain can collide with your skull and be injured. There are many ways to receiving a concussion; they aren’t just involved with sports. Today there are three different types of grades you can receive for a concussion. A grade 3 concussion is the worst one you can get.According to Center for Disease and prevention, recent data shows that, on average, approximately 1. 7 million people sustain a traumatic brain injury annually. 2nd body-symptoms Now that we have a clear understanding of what a concussion is, let me share some of the symptoms with you. Symptoms of a concussion can range from mild to severe and can last for hours, days, weeks, or even months. E medicine health states some very important concussion symptoms and they are loss of consciousness after any trauma to the head, confusion, headache, nausea or vomiting, or even blurred vision.All of these may not occur when you sustain a concussion though; you could only get one or two of them. You don’t have to pass out to have a concussion either, that’s why they are always difficult to tell if someone has one. There are four main categories that concussion can fit into and they are thinking and remembering, physical, emotional and mood, and sleep. All four of these areas have different symptoms for each of them. 3rd body-treatments/my experience with them/prevention Now that I have discussed symptoms of concussions, let me explain the treatments and preventions.According to MayoClinic rest is the best way to allow your brain to recover from a concussion. Any person who may have had a concussion needs to see a doctor. If a doctor thinks you have a concussion, he or she will ask you multiple questions about the injury. These questions will test your ability to pay attention and your learning and memory. A person who might have a concussion needs to immediately stop any kind of activity or sport. Being active again too soon increases the person’s risk of having a more serious brain injury.It is very important to allow yourself time to get better and to slowly return to your regular activities. Conclusion In conclusion, we have discussed what concussions are, its symptoms, and treatments. Concussions can be prevented in some situations, but not all of them. So the next time you receive a headache from hitting your head, the best thing you can do is call your doctor. Concussions are not something you want to mess with, they are a very serious mat ter and you want to get them treated right away. Thank you. Works cited Webmd. com Emedicinehealth. com Mayoclinic. com Cdc. com

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Music & Dementia Care Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Music & Dementia Care - Assignment Example The first paper by Gà ¶tell, Brown & Ekman (2002) covers how caregiver singing and background music affected the verbal communications between the caregiver and the dementia patient in an urban area of Sweden. The second paper, by Hammar, Emami, Engstrà ¶m & Gà ¶tell (2011), focuses purely on music therapeutic caregiving (MTC) and the experiences that caregivers had when considering the effect of MTC on patients with dementia. One of the major similarities between the two pieces of research is that they are qualitative in nature, and thus gather information designed to provide an in-depth look at human behavior (Merriam, 2009). Many of the strengths and weaknesses of the two papers are linked to this type of data-gathering. One issue with which qualitative research struggles is that it can be difficult and expensive to involve a lot of participants, and this research is no different; Gà ¶tell, Brown & Ekman (2002) focused on nine individuals whilst Hammar (2011) focused on six. This can make the results hard to generalize to the wider population and additionally makes the results more prone to various types of bias (Merriam, 2009). However, as the aim of the research was to uncover more detail about the relationship between music-related caregiving and dementia patients, this type of result is much more informative. Gà ¶tell, Brown & Ekman (2002) collected their data in two main ways. Firstly, the morning routine of the dementia patients was recorded (6-22 minutes). Following this, the caregiver was interviewed about how the morning session had gone. Later in the day, the caregiver and the researchers would look back over the video recording of the session to allow the caregiver to give further comment on the morning routine. Using this methodology is useful because it allows the caregiver to incorporate emotions and feelings that were felt immediately after the event and logical thoughts that occurred after a period time into their responses, giving a fuller account of the effect of music on caregiving.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Argumentative Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Argumentative Research - Essay Example You do not have any good memories of going out, watching a movie or playing on the rides. And you do not even have any bad memories. It is like you are dead (Polakov & Guillean, 195). The word â€Å"homelessness† started being heard after the 1980s in United States when a large number of people including women and children started appearing on the streets seeking emergency shelter. Economic downturn caused by the Great Depression in the 1930s resulted in a mass movement of people in search of jobs also causing homelessness to plunge. Homeless people include men, women, children, young, old, alcoholics, drug addicts, immigrants, native Americans, as well as people from other races, ethnicities, and religions. Although every homeless person faces different circumstances, however they all have one thing in common that they do not have any permanent dwelling (Gottfried, 10). The question is: what is its proper solution for homelessness? There are various factors contributing towar ds homelessness including lack of community based care, plummeting poverty, decreasing assistance, low income, and scarcity of affordable housing. Among other causes are poverty, domestic violence, conditions of the economy, health care costs and lack of services (Hombs, 34). After budget cuts, numerous sectors of society responded by providing food, shelter, services and so on. These also include religious groups, civic groups and other organizations. Most of the funding for the emergency shelter programs comes from federal funds. The demand for shelter by homeless people has increased incredibly. Because shelter is not always available where it is required, therefore this causes family members to separate. Many people believe that simply providing these homeless people with housing is not a long term solution. In most occasions homeless people look for help themselves. They live in inexpensive and inadequate hotels that provide them with poor living conditions. Lack of having a jo b also causes them to either live in poor conditions or to keep on moving to different places in search of food and accommodation. Many homeless people also forage for food and other useful materials by means of â€Å"dumpster diving†. They look for things that are disposed of by their original owners that may prove useful to them. The things found include electronics, appliances, scrap items, other house wares and also food. Legally, dumpster diving is not particularly prohibited however dumpster diving performed within the premises of a residence may get the dumpster diver into trouble. In order to help the homeless people, the government started a cash assistance program by providing them with money. Only those people are eligible to receive this cash assistance who have incomes less than the State’s minimum Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) (Hombs, 39). Among these who are eligible, cash assistance is provided for homeless people or families. The main aim of such cash programs is to provide homeless people with money to spend on other basic necessities apart from housing as housing itself consumes a big chunk of the income. Arguments against the cash aid programs say that such aids encourage people to relocate to states in hopes to receive higher payments and this relocation does not solve the problem of homelessness but leads to greater problems. But in order to discourage people from moving to the

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Exploratory Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Exploratory Paper - Essay Example The only drug that has the potential to depress these symptoms is marijuana. However, because of its illegality, it cannot be given to patients. This paper seeks to explore the various viewpoints regarding medical marijuana issue and its legalization. Doctors believe that marijuana is an appetite builder, a great painkiller, and reduces nausea. Many patients in California, which legalizes medical marijuana use, claim that it relieves symptoms related to chemotherapy (Beau 12). Patients even report enhancement of prescription drugs by marijuana. However, not all doctors believe in the use marijuana, in the treatment of cancer patients. Dr. Hiebert, a hypnotist who helps people kick marijuana, claims that marijuana worsens glaucoma and increases MS symptoms (Beau 13). The final decision on marijuana use for medical purposes lies with the judicial system and lawmakers (Beau 21). The US Supreme Court has opened hearings into whether marijuana distribution for medical use should be legalized under federal law. This case was prompted, by legislation, to legalize marijuana for medicinal use in California. This shows that some courts are becoming lenient towards the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Federal courts, however, are very serious on the illegality of marijuana and aim to keep it this way. A judiciary panel resolved that marijuana should not be legalized for medical purposes. They labeled it an addictive and dangerous drug as it is under the Controlled Substance Act. Because of this, marijuana has been labeled as psychologically and physiologically damaging without reference to the manner of its use. The federal judicial branch prefers not to legalize it, according to the annual report on alcoholism, as they consider it just as dangero us as cocaine (Beau 23). Law enforcement and government’s approach have a lot of influence on the possibility of legalization of medical marijuana. In states that have

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Philosophy ( Against Bioethics) by jonathan baron Essay

Philosophy ( Against Bioethics) by jonathan baron - Essay Example This essay will explore the meaning of QALY in bioethics. A QALY is an initial of the terms quality-adjusted life year. It refers to a measure of health outcome values and includes quality and quantity of life lived. QALYs measure an individual’s expected life years in both healthy and unhealthy conditions. To determine the value of QALY, one multiplies the utility value associated with a state of health by the number of years the individual lives in that state. The calculations involved in finding out how QALYs are measured are as explained below. QALYs were first introduced by the researchers and decision analysts in the United States of America. Quality-adjusted life year is used in assessing the monetary value of a medical intervention. This model is based on the life period that would be added in the intervention. Yearly, if an individual is in perfect health, they earn a value of 1.0 up to 0.0 for death. However, in cases where the patient incurs some unhealthy conditions that may be long lasting, then a value of between 0(years) and 1(year) is assigned to account for the unhealthy condition. Some of the conditions may even include blindness and physical challenges to the body which may even lead to individuals using wheel-chairs. Baron argues that applied bioethics lacks the element of a coherent theory, and for this fact; it is largely based on judgments that are intuitive. He continually proposes the fact that bioethics could have a coherent theory based on decision analysis and utilitarianism. The utilitarianism factor defines the best option as the one that gives the best output. Such a theory makes bioethics yield the best results in relation to the people involved. Furthermore, Baron argues that the recent practices involved in bioethics should be avoided. He also notes that with the combination of utilitarianism and decision analysis, bioethics can achieve most out of it by

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Report on Religious Field Research Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Report on Religious Field Research - Assignment Example This religious teaching emanated from India when Siddharta Gautama, son of King Suddhodana and Queen Maya in 566 BB of Kapilavastu, who reflected the four realities of life: sickness, old age, death, and a wandering monk. He followed the life of the monk, abandoned his wealth and wore ragged robes (Instilling Goodness School, 2013). He practiced ascetic lifestyle to gain enlightenment; do a lot of meditation and eat raw foods, fruits and leaves. Sometimes, he fasted. He realized in life that overdoing things cannot provide happiness in life, but moderation and objective balancing of needs is. Gautama became Buddha, the awakened one (Boundlesslight.webs.com, 2013). He emphasized that suffering is caused by peoples’ dissatisfaction and greed and such could only be eliminated if one would live a life of truth, moderation, meditation, and reflective reasoning of life. He believed that life’s moderation will spare one from unnecessary wants and from overreacting to life†™s circumstances (Instilling Goodness School, 2013). ... While it has been recognized that human failures are sourced from misguidance, misperceptions, distortion, stresses and suffering, but for them, this can be remedied by living a balance life and life of reason as the best remedy for all these things (Boundlesslight.webs.com, 2013). Buddha explicated that happiness is fundamentally based on quiet and simple life: to want what you have and not want those you do not have (Instilling Goodness School, 2013). This is to rule over one’s negativities in life to maintain that composure and peace derived from the inevitabilities of life’s roller coaster realities. Self-control is possible when we all have control of our very lives and when we are reasonably able to maintain that life of reflective reason (Instilling Goodness School, 2013). Buddhism has three major teachings: 1. Nothing is lost in the universe- this asserts that all matters are transformed into energies of the universe and vice versa. For instance, all human being s are finite and life will eventually die and be buried back into the earth. From dust we came and life returns into dust (Instilling Goodness School, 2013). Other life forms emerge from the soil which could either be plants that could provide oxygen which will support the existence of life too. Every person is born from parents and the children grow into adults to become parents too of the younger offspring. Human life perpetuated in this cycle and if people tends to be destructive to the environ where one is evolving would mean that we, too, are destroying our lives (Instilling Goodness School, 2013). 2. Everything Changes – this is the fundamental principle of impermanence.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Perspectives of Regulation of Complex Financial Institutes Essay

Perspectives of Regulation of Complex Financial Institutes - Essay Example General complaints about a â€Å"lack of regulatory aggressiveness† ignore the realities of actually bringing enforcement actions in a tough environment. Regulatory enforcement in the United States operates surprisingly well given the difficulties of this operating environment, and critics have not presented credible alternatives to the present system. A second perspective is that major financial institutions escape meaningful regulatory constraints because their power and influence overwhelm regulators and because individuals from regulatory institutions give too much deference to major financial institutions and their key executives and staff. This perspective suggests that financial regulation in the United States is broken largely because of this political dynamic and needs fundamental reform. This paper will examine and look into how regulators and firms deal with each other, how interdependent they are on each other and the outcome of such interdependency. What kind of b enefits and liabilities develop due to their strong ties. Financial institutes will be used as the premise of all discussion. Special attention will be given to potential benefits and risks of such cohesive regulatory networks. Regular dealings between regulators and financial institute beyond the regular rule making boost up co-operation. Ineffect transparency takes a toll. Information disparities also strengthen regulatory cultures and bring down the threshold of external pressure need to effect changes within firms. The conditions that bring this benefit impede flow of information and genuine criticism from outsider. As a result performance standards dip and various other problems crop up. The paper looks into various examples of such fraudulent activities and also the circumstances in which these tensions are more likely to manage without damage from these problems. Strong ties that encourage cooperation within insiders have a huge impact on the flow of information. Information disparity arises and outsiders are asked to stop criticism. A lot of problems shape up as a result. A very prominent example in this case would be the SEC, NASD and NYSE when they acted against conflicts of interests in investment banking and mutual funds, immediately after outsiders. In 2003, at a cost 1.4 billion dollars, regulator prosecutors and large securities firms settled charges. The firms had encouraged investment analysts to mask and exaggerate corporation’s investment value while misleading investors in order to win the corporation’s investment banking business. For many years, this was floating around as a secret in the industry while the press and various congressional hearings had focused on it. While the participants were aware of the ethical implications of such a business, they eventually came to terms with it and started living with it as if it was a normal part of the business. The Lehman Brothers came to the rescue and appealed for new synergy by a nnouncing a new model for dealing between analysts and investment banking. This was widely accepted new paradigm for synergy and stated that â€Å"The analyst is THE key driver of the firm relationship with its corporate client base. Analysts need to accept responsibility and use it to expand the franchise and DRIVE PROFITABILITY

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Four Seasons Hotels Essay Example for Free

Four Seasons Hotels Essay The Four Seasons Company, as per current financial, seems very profitable and the earnings per share are increasing each year. From 1997 to 1998 EPS increased by 66% and from 1998 to 1999 it increased by 22%, actually from 1997 to 1999, the value has more than doubled. The main reason for the increase seems to be a total net earnings increase of 112% in two years. (See Exhibit # 1 for figures). This is a result of increase in revenues and also because costs increased less than revenues. This indicates that in addition to higher sales, efficiency improvements have been effective as yearly costs for operating items dropped 68% and the interest costs also have decreased by 105%, making it interest income. Based on this information, the company is recommended to continue their emphasis on high personal service and quality for their hotels as the customer base are not price sensitive but concerned about service and luxury. It is important to have non-complaining, satisfied customers as this  group is more satisfied than those where service recovery is needed, even when service recovery is performed at a high level. Also, satisfied customers are more loyal and a key to continue having a financially strong company. A key to this development is to continue to focus on employee satisfaction and employment procedures as this is resulting in low turnover (compared to the industry average), highly experienced and motivated staff and consequently excellent service. Also, the strong financials support FSHs (costly) growth strategy, and would further indicate that the company has the back-bone to support such a strategy. 3.0 Leverage the website for marketing purposes The Four Season Hotel (FSH) should further leverage their impressive website. First, they should maximize the site for mass marketing purposes. For example, the site would allow customers to appreciate all FSH properties, and a customer who has never seen a FSH can view rooms, conference halls, restaurants etc. The website can further provide up-to-date information on vacancies, promotions, city tours etc. This same information could be updated at any time to reflect specials across respective FSH. For instance, the Milan hotel might anticipate low vacancy one week, and could attempt to fill some vacancies by listing a Milan resident special on the site e.g. with a two night stay and get a free dinner in the restaurant. Internal marketing is another great possibility for the FSH, as long as the high tech is followed by high touch, and the system is not used to replace the human element. The intranet site should focus on cost-saving promotions, healthy competition between across respective FSHs, employee feedback pages etc. Management should use the intranet as an additional medium to disseminate information to employees and as a means to obtain information from employees. An easy to use e-commerce site for the hotel would be interesting for select  Four Seasons customers. Again, this should not replace the high touch that the FSH brand is identified with, but rather add another convenience for its customers. For example, some customers like making their reservation via the Internet and having an additional option with regards to making a hotel booking could turn out positively. 4.0 Establish and manage a common customer awareness database The hotel should change the existing database containing guest preferences into a centralized database available to all FHS properties. This should be deemed a high priority. It would be a typical one-time fix to enhance customer satisfaction and for implementation it could leverage FSHs existing intranet platform. The main driver for a change of this sort would be its potential to further improve the FSHs customer service. For example, as existing FSH customers are highly concerned about time there should be no need for them to fill in forms with preferences for each new hotel they arrive at. Also, it would be perceived as impressive for the customer arriving at a new hotel where the personnel would already know their preferences. This would increase the feeling of intimacy and personal touch during the hotel stay and consequently enhance customer loyalty and satisfaction. Additionally, the fact that only 9% of Four Seasons hotel guests are using multiple properties should not lower the importance of making such a change. In fact, 9% of their customer base means that approximately 400.000 customers each year use multiple Four Seasons Hotels. (See Exhibit #1) Also, the positive word-of-mouth this change would bring will most likely increase the number of guests staying at multiple properties. Furthermore, as the hotel has a growth strategy, the number of hotels and rooms will continue to increase and as such enhance the need for the common database. Also, in addition to customer satisfaction, having one database for all hotels would decrease costs for the chain in the long run as it will not have to maintain 50+ different databases. 5.0 Four Seasons management should solicit select feedback from customers. The idea here is quite simple and essentially comes down to ensuring that the hotel maintains its brand. The FSH has done very well by establishing a strong brand and enjoys a high % of repeat customers. Management and employees alike know what the Four Seasons stands for and the experience they aim to offer the customer. That said, and as technology races forward it is important for businesses to leverage it where possible and profitable. The key for the Four Seasons is to leverage it in a way that does not negatively impact their brand i.e. detract from the overall customer experience offered by Four Seasons employees, which is highly personal, intimate and customer oriented. For example, management could solicit feedback from customers as to whether they would use an automated (electronic) checkout service and whether customers view this as something consistent with the Four Seasons brand. This selective feedback could be centralized at first in that it is sponsored by the corporate office (so as to solicit feedback that could be leveraged across all properties) and then tweaked per location to take into consideration cultural specifics etc. Findings could be leveraged across properties and stored in the central database to eventually maintain, reinforce and ultimately improve the Four Seasons brand, customer experience and ultimate profitability. 6.0 Implement a Seasons Pass Loyalty Program Enhancing Customer Loyalty. Implementing a Loyalty program contributes to making guests feeling special, which undoubtedly makes a difference in his or her experience. A loyalty program could even extend to other value chain partners, thereby, allowing for further tracking of guest preferences. Without a loyalty program, FSH loses out on building strong relationships with its guests. As switching costs are minimal, loyalty is low unless a competitor differentiates and thereby increases its odds of attracting return guests. In order to compete successfully within this tier, a reputable brand name is imperative, which also represents a significant barrier to entry for potential new entrants. The common database will undoubtedly enhance the relationships because clients enjoy the sense of community that is established when being part of a loyalty club. Therefore it is important to have mechanisms in place to ensure guests to remain loyal to FSH and choose the company as his or her accommodation provider. To facilitate this, the hotel should introduce a frequent guest card, the Seasons Pass, which will serve two functions: 1. Track guest activities within FSH so that their preferences can be recorded. 2. Allow guests to collect points every time they stay at a Four Seasons property and use them towards service companies affiliated with Four Seasons, creating loyalty as a result. It will also aid individual FSH locations to better understand which facilities within the hotel or resort are the most sought after and will be able to segment the information based on the region of the world or type of consumer (leisure or business). Through partnering with external companies such as high-end car rental companies, airlines, and travel agencies, FSH will be able to offer guests a solution to every decision they may encounter during their stay. Thus the Seasons Pass and the networked database will ultimately be the bridge to building and maintaining positive guest relationships. Exhibit 1: Financial data for the Four Seasons Hotels EOY 1997 to EOY 1999: Exhibit # 2: Number of customers using multiple Four Season Hotels each year * Assumed average coverage rate through the year is based on information in case, The Roccoco New York Hotel by Anna S. Mattila. Using the rate accomplished by the Roccoco New York boutique hotel. ** As no information of number of customers per room is provided, one per room is assumed.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Apple game Console Essay Example for Free

Apple game Console Essay Apple is planning to enter the intensely competitive gaming industry, dominated by three large competitors, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. Apple’s has success with providing quality products and, has already established markets for Mac computers, notebooks, TV, iPad’s, iPhone’s and iPod’s. As Apple has a reputation being high quality, stylish and, luxurious brand, the new game console will be perceived to have the same qualities. Step 1 Idea Generation With the new technology and changing consumer preferences the gaming industry is continuously evolving. With the right product catered to the market, differentiation can bring market share, profits and, growth. Using marketing research Apple needs to identify what is already in the market, the demand for them, how they could be improved and differentiated. Step 2: Screening Strength †¢Already established successful brand name †¢Loyal customers †¢Apple perceived as innovative, superior quality and, stylish products †¢Ability to generate higher profits due to premium price charged Weakness. †¢Failure in the launch of the first gaming system †¢Inexperience in the video game industry †¢Short life span on game consoles Opportunities †¢Apple caters to the premium market which has less competition †¢Continuously expanding market. †¢Consumer demand for new innovative products Threats †¢Intense competition from already established competitors †¢Challenges caused by the continuously evolving market to regularly release new innovative products to stay competitive. †¢Risk of reputation if the new launch fails. Step 3 – Idea evaluation At the evaluation stage Apple needs obtain an understanding about the consumer reaction towards the product using concept testing. It is important that the target market, the size of the market and potential opportunities are identified when deciding whether to enter the market. Consumer needs should also be identified and the console should be developed to satisfy their needs. Rough estimates of costs, revenue and profitability should be made to determine product feasibility. Step 4: Development As the product development requires substantial financial commitments, extensive research and development should be carried out before building a prototype. Apple should use innovation and creativity when designing the product ensuring target markets needs are met. Market testing should be carried out to identify the consumer responses and revisions should be done to avoid failures. Step 5 – Commercialization. Before the roll out, extensive advertising and promotion should be carried out to introduce and, to promote the product. As Apple has its own stores, consoles can be initially offered to the market without having to deal with dealers and middlemen. This allows Apple to gradually roll out product to the market. As Apple has already established brand name, the new console would surely thrive. However, they need to ensure that its operating capacity is not at a maximum point and can be increased if required.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Implementation of the data gloves in various fields

Implementation of the data gloves in various fields Introduction This project is all about interfaces that are going to control the synthesiser called Midi. This project is useful in the real world in controlling visual effects in the present world. These Visual effects are kind of methods, practices and technologies relating to creation and manipulation of elements within moving images to elicit a desired emotional response. They often involve the integration of Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) and live-action footage to create realistic environments however it would be dangerous, costly and not easily accessible to the real life. In general these visual effects are controlled by the standard input devices like mouse, joystick, track balls, light pens, keyboards, however there are many virtual interfaces developed to interact the visual effects other than mouse, which is nothing but the Data Gloves. These interfaces are used in live concerts, DJs, medical applications, robotics, biomechanics, deaf and speech impaired community as a communication tool, 3d virtual design etc to make their life easier. Just with the few motions they could interact, control, and compose the music as they wish in a much improvised way. This way of interaction reduces the interface bottleneck between the artists and the music. This system also supports multiple artists to simultaneously control the audio. This interface prototype is built upon standard virtual reality software and user interface technology. Data gloves are used to manipulate audio objects and stereoscopic projection to display the virtual 3D sound stage. The aim of this project is to research on these virtual reality interfaces and control synthesisers. So I would conclude as, to make things easier and to improve the latest technologies we are going to find out how the interfaces and the synthesisers work to increase its real life applications by overcoming the difficulties and drawbacks. AIMS Aims of this project is to research on ongoing virtual reality interfaces i.e. P5 gloves which are nothing but Data gloves and its application in the real life .Data gloves can be defined as an inventive, glove like peripheral device which is based upon patented bend sensor and remote tracking technologies, that provide users total instinctive interaction 3d and virtual environments, such as games, websites and educational softwares. These kind of latest technologies are going to make our life easy. In this project we worked on p5 gloves, Glove pie programs and finally controlled MIDI music and audio files using data gloves. In earlier days musicians believed in human capabilities, so they struggled very hard to compose music and to manage live concerts as there was no effective mean source to implement to make their performances realistic and impressive .However they failed as its tough to play many instruments at a time so to overcome this they started operating computers for vario us purposes like multi tasking and to save time. However most of the times they failed in coordinating and synchronizing more number of computers at a time. Due to the complications in their musical life they started using virtual reality interfaces to create imaginative interactive environments that seems to be in the three dimensional real space and to achieve aesthetic effects. In this project we had overcome the problems they faced earlier and exploded more improvised technology to get better output, robustness and versatility. The goal of the project is to control the Midi, virtual and real world applications according to the user. This project is beneficial to musicians, animators, doctors, scientists and many more One sentence. OBJECTIVES The objective is to successfully study about the implementation of the data gloves in various fields like music, medicine, animation, education once it is well known ,have to start exploding on this because it is not going to be the end it is an ongoing music and performance art project and moreover it is not limited to particular settings. This project on novel interfaces is definitely going to help academic field as synchronizing the machines is an ongoing issue everywhere and its going to ease the teaching field because by producing dynamic 3D images or the environment we can make students understand the subject well, because practical knowledge is more important than theoretical knowledge. And I believe this is the correct time to work on this project to overcome the present issues as we can benefit more from this device. Because we have already started enjoying its benefits and this is an opportunity to overcome the drawbacks. Features of glove To produce outputs Identify Features controlling Identify all the drivers to consider for the software and configure Limitations and advantages DELIVERABLES To deliver the objectives of the project we need Data gloves to research with, Midi device, Midi software, visual jockey software, Glove pie programs. P5 midi allows controlling synthesizers and other midi programs using the movement of hand by converting the p5 gloves from essential reality into a Midi controller. P5 not only translates all the information i.e. coming from the p5 glove sensors into Midi messages but also helps us to choose the Midi port and Midi messages. This P5 glove can act as an interface between the computer and Midi or a game console. It easily fits over the hand and senses all its movements in three dimensions. It captures finger bends and relative hand position that enables intuitive interaction with three dimensional environments. It has got 6 degrees of tracking(X, Y, Z, YAW, PITCH and ROLL) with optical tracking technology, bend sensor, anti reflective lens to provide true to life mobility, infrared control receptor with scratch-resistant, and anti reflec tive lens to provide. Midi is an acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface which is defined as a music industry standard communications protocol which lets Midi instruments and sequencers talk to each other to play and record music. SCOPE In this project we worked on how we can make use of data glove using its various programs and how we can manipulate Midi files using Data gloves, however we are not bothered about how it is going to work in the other real time applications such as medical, virtual reality etc. We concentrated on how we can change the movements of the data gloves by using various factors however we never worked how it is going to work in the real time musical field as we have not tried to test it before any one. To show how dg can control data s/w And piece Chapter 2 PROBLEM STATEMENT RATIONALE FOR THIS THESIS In real life controlling a video on the personal computer using software can be done by the input device called mouse however a greater visual impact to the performer is given by the use of Data Gloves instead of mouse. And the synthesiser used is Midi keyboard which was designed for music input. In particular, Midi keyboard is a very good tool for controlling a large number of instruments in a real time animation system. In this project we had faced compatibility issues while testing the Data Gloves functionality. However we had overcome them using the other alternatives and achieved the outcome on time. PERCEIVED BENEFITS Recently Computer has made it possible to manipulate and operate larger and larger amounts of information, however humans are cognitively ill-suited for understanding the resulting complexity. All the information is readily available; however users are failed in accessing individual items or maintaining a global context of how the information fits together efficiently. Recent studies in virtual reality using Data Gloves technology suggest that encoding subsets of the information using multimedia techniques and placing the resultant visualizations into a perceptual three-dimensional space will increase the amount of information that people can meaningfully manage. Data glove plays a very important role in recognizing hand gestures (which is a complicated task as they are just temporal sequences of hand configurations) and in three dimensional animations. Data glove interaction improves flexibility, usability, and re-usability of 3-D environment applications because * It can be easily encapsulated to a variety of applications. * Can be used for both two dimensional and three dimensional even though the gesture methods are likely to be moderately different for both areas * It imposes easy navigation, navigation * Makes the techniques easily available for variety of users like adults, occasional users, professionals, naive users and children. Application areas of the Data Gloves are: * Virtual reality applications * Planning systems * Computer supported teaching (teaching), and self learning. * Music applications. * CAD architecture and design. * Test and simulation systems. * Scientific modelling As Midi is a hardware specification and standardised control language that makes it possible for electronic instruments processor controllers, and other device types to communicate control and performance related data in real world. It helps the beginning aspiring artists, musicians, composers or who are working professional because the Midi workstation can also act as a portable all in one keyboard instrument that includes a polyphonic synthesiser, built-in sequencers, integrated keyboard, percussion sounds, and audio recording capabilities in a single hardware package. Midi has become an indispensible live performance tool for many musicians because of its ability to serialise background parts and rhythm in advance, chain them together into a single, controllable sequence and play them on stage. Midi also provides the ability to control over inter active loops or pre programmed sequence over video play backs and on-stage visuals. Midi adds a varied and fresh feel to the musical per formance for those who are on the stage and in the audience. Apart from the control over on-stage music performance, pre produced sequencing and lighting; Midi can play a strong role in the execution and production of on-stage lightning special effects. Midi enables drum machines, samplers, sequencers, electronic drums, synthesisers, digital reverbs and delays, home computers and guitars and all sorts of other music and music related gears to be inter-connected so that we can control and play several pieces of equipment from central device. Midi also provides a common timing source for synchronising drum machines and sequencers. Apart from the benefits, Data Glove has some perceived problems in its usage. The movements of the Data glove are limited as it is connected to the receptor through wire and sometimes it exhibits delays in catching up the movements. Fingers can exhibit sporadic movements and can have bad effects if they fit the fingers badly. These are the common problems we are going to face with its usage in any other area or real time applications. Chapter 3 LITERATURE REVIEW SCOPE AND LIMITATION LIMITATIONS: Problems faced by Data Glove are reliability, both from physical and calibration point of view. Gloves become highly frustrating and non intuitive to use if they badly fit the fingers. Fingers can exhibit sporadic movement or even take on physical impossible shapes. The movements of the controller are limited because they are dependent upon the receptor which is picking up the location of the sensors. When the sensors cannot be detected by the receptor, then the movements of the Data Glove will not be registered. And as the Data Glove is connected to the receptor through the cable, it limits the users amount of movement and range. Sometimes Data Glove virtual controllers found slight delay in the movement time depending on the computer speed as well. Absence of left hand model and a tired arm after prolonged use of Data Glove are few more limitations of the Data Glove. SCOPE: The scope of this project is to work only on the functionality of the Data Gloves in the system control and Midi management by overwhelming the drawbacks; however we are not bothered about how the Data Glove is going to be used in other real world applications. And we dont have participants in this project to test because finally we just dealt with the expansion of Data Gloves applicability in controlling the Midi files. However the project quality is maintained by testing the results repeatedly in the virtual environment by me before the supervisor. So this is all about movements of Data Glove movements in terms of Midi. STRUCTURE OF REVIEW In this project we controlled the computer operations using the Glove movements and hand gestures. When we move the Data Glove in front of the receptor tower which has got two infrared sensors in its range, it receives the hand gestures. These 2 infrared sensors are going to detect the visible LEDS on the Glove (they are eight altogether) and convert them into an (x, y, z) position for the Glove and an orientation in terms of Pitch, Yaw and Roll. The Glove uses a 6 bit A/D converter with a resolution of 64 intermediate positions between a fisted and a flat hand. The Glove is plugged in to the tower first, which is then connected to the pcs USB port. The Glove also has bend sensors in its fingers and four buttons on the top. The p5 is an amazing piece of hardware below shows the diagram of the Data Glove. Pitch is nothing but the rotation about the x-axis; Yaw acts around the y-axis; and Roll acts around the z-axis. A positive pitch rotates the hand upward; a positive yaw turns it to the right; and a positive roll turns the top of the hand to face right. The fingers bend data depends on the Glove calibration settings. (P5 is calibrated via its windows control panel, which comes as part of its installation software). An interactive Glove is made from a light weight material into which transducers are sewn to measure finger joint angles. These transducers can be fibre optics or strain gauges which changes their physical characteristics when they stretched. Gloves are mainly designed to use in the virtual environments. It monitors the assimilation of the fingers and an extra tracker on the wrist keeps track of the position and orientation of the hand. However together they enable a complete virtual hand to be animated within a virtual environment. There are four buttons on the top face o f the Glove, which are labelled as A, B, C, and D. When D button is pressed the Glove automatically switches off. A wired Glove is Glove-like input device for the virtual reality environments. Power Glove was first developed by Mattel Intellivision Company for entertainment applications. It is a most common hand measurement device which is based upon infrared remote tracking technologies and proprietary band sensors which are used to interact with 3D and virtual environments such as educational softwares, video games, websites and many more. Its a kind of USB peripheral device that captures the finger movements using optical system-infrared signals rather than sound waves. And various sensor technologies are used to capture physical movements like bending angles of the joints of the thumb and the lower and middle knuckles of the other fingers, also extended to measure abduction angles between the fingers. These movements are translated by the respective software which accompanies the Gloves because even one movement can mean any number of things. These Gloves can also be used as an output device by providing hap tic feedback, which is a simulation of the sense of touch. Motion trackers like magnetic tracking device or inertial tracking device is often attached to capture the global position or rotation data of the Glove. This Glove offers six degrees of tracking such as x, y, z, yaw, pitch, and roll. This is designed in such a way that it is compatible with the Microsoft Windows operating system and Apple Macintosh operating system. The Data Glove was developed as a gesture recognition tool. This Data Glove is based upon fibre optic technology. Many types of Gloves like Digital Data Entry Glove, MIT LED Gloves, Super Gloves, Fifth dimension Technologies 5th Gloves, Sensor Gloves are also developed till now for the purposes of real time computer graphics, animations and gesture recognition, Design research, and robot control applications. We have got few IEEE papers from the internet where in they worked on the Data Glove in various fields. However we have considered only few papers that closely related to my project. In the paper titled Techniques for selecting and manipulating objects in the virtual environment by Yingzhen Liu and Gang Wan they tried to prove interaction with the virtual objects in virtual environment using Data gloves, is more natural, realistic and efficient than using a mouse to increase the users immersion. They tried to work on the human computer interaction by measuring the finger motions, finger flexure and abduction between the fingers to recognize the gestures from the raw data collected by the computer correctly. They first tracked all the data from the Glove, then constructed a frame by converting the data into gestures using glove sensors and compared it with the users real hand gestures. As the virtual gestures kept changing with the users they had set particular boundaries for the disp lay. Using these strategies they managed the selection and modification of the virtual objects in the virtual environment by the virtual hand i.e. human Data Gloves realistic. However further studies are going on this research based on various properties. The second paper which was accessed on 27th November from the website http://homepages.inf.edu.ac.uk was Motion Editing With Data Glove which was worked by Wai-Chun Lam, Feng Zou, Taku Komura. In this paper they proposed a new method to edit captured human motion data by using the Data Glove. This method is used not only for editing human motion, but also for controlling human figures in real time environments such as games and virtual reality systems. They generate a mapping function that converts the motion of the hand to that of the whole body by wearing the Data Glove and a new motion out of the existing motion captured data in database, and to apply the motion to characters with different hierarchical and retargeting methods and body sizes. In this paper they introduced a new dynamic editing method which is called data gloves to overcome the gap of the nature of editing methods and that of human motion. In this project they wear the Data Glove and display, mimic the human moti ons on the graphical display to generate the motion synchronous to the human gait appearing on the screen by moving the index finger and the middle finger. They followed two stages i.e. capturing stage and reproduction stage to work on this concept. Finally by capturing the human motions and reproducing them in a creative way they have succeeded in proposing a new method in editing human motions using the Data gloves. The third paper we have considered is Data glove Calibration with Constructed Grasping Gesture Database by Bin Wang and Shuling Dai. The main aim of this paper is to improve the precision of the human hand Data Gloves motion measurements and to construct a human hand model suit for general purpose instrumented Glove applications. This paper contributed to achieve grasping gesture database construction without the need of any external sensors, a reliable and discreet calibration routine that can handle cross coupling errors of the sensors. They presented a model based gesture construction technique for establishing calibration database and a calibration routine for the instrumental Glove that precisely and quickly adjusts the Glove to fit a particular user. After a few experiments using kinematics they finally succeeded in proposing a complete Data Glove calibration method, identifying the Data Glove impressions precisely without any help of external sensors, and also handling the cro ss coupling errors using calibration routine . REVIEW In this project we worked with the dynamic input device like Data Gloves to construct an interactive 3D virtual design with the use of software. Because standard input devices do not mostly resemble natural hand motions. This involves recognition of hand gestures and their implementation. In this way we created virtual environments according to the music in a dynamic, lively and sprightly way so that these creations can be used by the musicians, DJs and many more to make the audience feel and appear like in a real environment and succeeded in controlling Midi files in the virtual environment. Transmitting software is used here to track the motions of different parts of the body and changes the virtual environment accordingly. SUMMARY Finally we would like to summarise what we have done in this project is, we have used Data Gloves as an input device for the computer using various attributes in various ways and controlled the Midi files output in the virtual environment by taking the Midi files as an input through Midi devices which acts as a bridge between the Glove Pie software and Midi files CONSTRAINTS The equipment required to research in this project is Data gloves which is provided by the university and few softwares that are available online for free and as we have not practiced it before any one there is no need of participants in this project as we have not practiced the results before anyone. Chapter 4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES DATA GATHERING TECHNIQUES Not clear To research and produce the results we followed a particular protocol, a methodology which helped us to achieve expected error free results on time. Analysis on this project helped us to achieve the target easily because in the phase of analysis we have designed what to do, how to do and started implementing them one by one by experimenting the data gloves and running various Glove pie programs by modifying their attributes. And then we started testing Midi files using data gloves in the SynthEdit software which is nothing but a freeware windows application that uses a modular Visual Programming Language to create music synthesizers and effects units. It Provides a GUI(Graphical User Interface) editing system with full of Midi interface for hardware controllers and allows users to create Visual Studio Technology(VST) effects and Visual Studio Technology instruments. All the audio and Midi plug ins for SynthEdit software are coded in C and C++ languages using SynthEdit Music Plug In Standard application programming interface i.e. based upon Generalized Music Plug In Interface. In order to test how we control Midi files using data gloves we have to install the Midi driver first, which acts as a connecting drive between data gloves and Midi software. We have installed Midi Yoke as the Midi driver. It is a Midis patch cable driver which is used to connect any applications output to any other applications input. After that we installed P5 Midi software which is used to transfer the P5 glove movements from essential reality into midi controller. It takes the hand movements coming from P5 glove sensors and converts them to Midi messages. This is used to control all the Midi programs and the Midi synthesizer using a single hand movement. It can be used either with Midi synthesizer or with Midi device and it allows selecting the Midi port to which the messages are sent by connecting the synthesizer directly to the Midi port. Midi is really a wired protocol specificatio n that describes the transmission of data from one Midi enabled device to another. Midi defines a set of messages that travel over dedicated, synchronous serial channels. There are two sorts of messages, Midi short messages and system messages. The short messages are made up of one to three Midi words where each Midi word consists of a start bit, data bits and a stop bit. They contain information such as note beginning and end, volume, and other sorts of music gesture information. The system messages can be broken down into system exclusive messages, which can be any length and are used to configure and manage Midi equipment, and active sensing messages. Active sensing messages are transmitted at a definite frequent interval to indicate that a controller is still alive and active. The Midi short messages include Midi channel information. Finally we require visual jockey software which is a three dimensional animation software, where we finally implement the procedure in real time. U sing this we finally play the Midi keyboard notes using the data gloves which is quite exciting. We follow a particular protocol to connect the data gloves, Midi software and the Midi drive to generate the anticipated outcome. All the software we require for this research can be found on the internet for free. METHODS CHOOSEN To bring out the expected outcome on time there is a need to follow a particular protocol which is nothing but a set of rules and regulations. Because disruptions in the project may lead to unexpected typical sequences which is going to affect time and final result. So the methodology used in this project is, first we collected all the data required to process further and then started working on the softwares downloaded one by one. Glove pie programs are easy to run and implement. We worked on various glove pie programs to know how the movement changes with various parameters changing, using the data gloves. A few Glove pie programs, variation in the output by changing the existing programs are presented below. // Grabbing the bow string: //var.GrabbingBowString = pressed(var.CanGrabBowString and p5.z > -700) var.TryingToGrabBow = pressed(var.CanGrabBowStr0ing) var.GrabbingBow = False if ((not var.HoldingBowString) and (var.ValidBowGrip) and var.TryingToGrabBow and (p5.z > -700)) then var.GrabbingBow = true var.HoldingBowString = true Debug = Grabbing Bow String end if // Pulling back the bow string var.DrawingBow = var.HoldingBowString and p5.zVelocity < -800 if var.DrawingBow then debug = Drawing Bow end if var.UndrawingBow = var.HoldingBowString and p5.zVelocity > 800 var.BowDrawnBack = var.HoldingBowString and p5.z

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Graduation Speech: Thank You! :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

To begin something new, you must sacrifice something old. To enter the real world, you must graduate your childhood. A childhood is the delicate phase of every adolescent's life where they must mature into their own person, with their own responsibilities. Although every individual will eventually bloom with their own personality, morals, and perspectives, the education and values we learn and see along the way add to the fingers that mold. We begin when we are born, and are taken in by strangers. These priceless people show us love, and just how strong attachments can be. Family ties snare us in their loving webs and become the support network to catch us throughout our youthful falls. They are our first real pictures of people, and their actions and emotions immediately become examples. Throughout our lives we will always find in ourselves patterns of the men and women that raised us. Next, when we are finally able to branch our innocent eyes onto larger horizons, we meet our peers, who will become our precious friends. They will hold our hands on our first days of new adventures, and wipe our tears when our delicate worlds are rocked. Some will be our friends of the moment, and some will stand by our sides, on our sports teams, on our graduations, at our weddings, and during our retirements. While our parents help and support us while growing, our friends will grow with us. These valuable attachments are cherished and needed, and their emotional embrace will always comfort us. With these friends we enter the world of education, our basis to survive in the outside world. We meet the teachers who will give us the instruments to join the orchestra of the world. We love them, admire them, respect them, and above all, learn from them. Forever into our future we will tell stories and reminisce of the memorable teachers and classrooms that taught us so diligently. They teach us the information to decode life, and be able to support ourselves. We excel in the subjects we love, and take this excellence into our future careers. We valiantly struggle to do our best, and pass within the necessary limits. Some breezed by on the wings of their genius while some studied day and night to keep up with our peers. Whichever of these you were, you worked hard enough to make it here. We are watched on by these people who have seen us this far, and will be there for us farther.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Free College Essays - Loss of Faith in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown :: Free Essay Writer

Loss of Faith in "Young Goodman Brown" Throughout ones journey in life, our individual perceptions of faith in God, in mankind, and in ourselves, guide us along our path. In the absence of clarity of our faith, one is led to believe the norm is what proves to be popular within a society. Nathaniel Hawthorne's, "Young Goodman Brown", demonstrates to the reader, man's inherent attraction to evil, the intertwined depths of evil, and that a lack of understanding of faith; can not only destroy ones life, but also steal from the beliefs which binds us together as a social group. Even with a clear understanding of the Puritan attitude, the reader is left with the dilemma that seems to impose the idea, that faith in God alone is but a dogma in the absence of faith in and an understanding of humanity. Therefore, we resolve that it is not good enough to choose between good and evil; we must be all embracing of the doctrine of faith and forgiveness, so that we can function in a contributory way within our community. Is Young Goodman Brown's encountering with the Devil merely a test of his own faith? Or perhaps, is he simply intrigued by the mystique of evil forces that lie outside the realm of what he considers acceptable behavior in his Puritan times? Â  "With this excellent resolve for the future, Goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose" (634). Through his writing Nathaniel Hawthorne is able to develop a distinct set of doctrine that existed within the mind of Goodman Brown. Thus, the reader can assume that one trait of Puritan Society is a lack of tolerance for forgiveness. It is no wonder that Puritanism is known for a somber outlook on life, and a tendency to be immovable. A Puritan Society might find it difficult to see perfection in it's own members, especially if they do not recognize their own tendency toward hypocrisy. Young Goodman Brown's perception of his faith abandons him because he lacks a clear understanding of his experience in the woods. So in his ignorance he simply continues to criticize others due to the events that have taken place in his misguided life. He resolves that those he had previously viewed as pious, are now hypocrites in his eyes. "Men of dissolute lives and women of spotted fame, wretches given over to all mean and filthy vice and suspected of horrid crimes" (640).

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Daydreams Essay: Exam Question

Daydreams A day dream is defined as ‘a series of pleasant thoughts that distract one’s attention from the present’. In my opinion, a daydream is not a frivolous activity practiced only by a doe eyed schoolgirl during an unendurable French lesson. A daydream acts as a subconscious portal which allows one to escape from ones everyday life of stress and negative circumstances. One could almost say it is chewing gum for the mind. Of course, some differ in that view.A critically acclaimed author Ian McEwan said â€Å"The cost of oblivious daydreaming was always this moment of return, the realignment with what had been before and now seemed a little worse. †   his opinion is that daydreaming is a self depressant and that it would only make the persons view of their own life disappointing. He believes that it is a pointless to waste ones time on imaginings of alternative lives that will never become reality. But I wonder if it was these ‘oblivious’ daydreams which lead to him writing many of his books like ‘sweet tooth’ and ‘atonement’.Where is the fine line between daydreaming and simply thinking of possibilities? I myself am a keen daydreamer, sometimes I just lie on my bed and I quietly slip into a dreamtime of my own imaginings. I don’t directly imagine some event or situation I drift between scattered thoughts in search of that perfect possibility. That perfect possibility which fills me with an unconscious serenity and extracts me from my reality to show me a fictional circumstance.When I carefully draw that perfect possibility from the shadows of my mind, like picking an eyelash from my cheek, I examine it cautiously so as not to miss a moment of the fabricated thought. My daydreams can vary from the most extravagant and outlandish events to very trivial thoughts formed by my imagination. I often daydream about my future and what it could be like. My mind becomes completely consumed by t his image and the steps I would need to take to make it a reality. I very much enjoy watching movies where you see projections of the characters daydreams.These daydreams normally vividly depict what that character would love to do in that moment; it is usually an action that would not be acceptable in society. For example, an employee humorously insults their boss or a mother-in-law imagines shoving her daughter-in-laws face into a cake. These amusing daydreams provide a comedic outlet. But when I am watching these movies I can’t help but wish my daydream was that vivid. I never get a completely clear image; all I get is a serious of quick flashes of images.My daydreams are not fluid they are choppy they don’t possess a natural flow like my sleeping dreams have. I often wonder if the fluidity of day dreams and dreams changes for each person. Some psychiatrists believe that the imaginings of one’s mind is associated with mental health and stability, so my questi on is ‘if people’s mental health varies does their way of dreaming vary? ’ Many famous people have become famous because of their daydreams. Einstein is believed to have begun his theory of relativity while he daydreamed about riding or running beside a sunbeam to the edge of the universe.This tiny moment where Einstein’s mind accidentally wandered resulted in a huge scientific breakthrough. Einstein’s theory of relativity which contributed to the development of the atomic bomb. Many famously inspired people praise daydreaming, a well known American poet named Rita Dove celebrates daydreaming. She once said â€Å"I want to discuss an activity which is barely tolerated in adolescence, never encouraged in school – but without which no bridges would soar, no light bulbs burn. † She found that daydreaming was like a creative outlet where one can discover something beautiful without attention.Mozart also believed that daydreaming was a proc ess of greatness â€Å"All this inventing, this producing, takes place in a lively dream† I find it amazing that one daydream, just one, can create a ripple effect and change the world. This tiny thought which is considered insignificant, at first look, can cause an action which is very much significant, in the long term. The positive effects of daydreaming are limitless but of course, daydreaming also has its negative aspects. There is a time when daydreaming can be useful and productive, but other times it can cause you to lose focus and you can miss out.There is a time for fantasy but there is also a time for reality. But overall, my opinion is that daydreaming is positive when one is not daydreaming constantly and about bad things, which can result in depression. Daydreams can be very influential on a person’s mental health. If one is only thinking about negative possibilities, their outlook on life becomes cloudy and hopeless. I once heard someone say ‘How m any of our daydreams would darken into nightmares, were there danger if their coming true. ’ Just because one imagines something it does not mean they want it to come true.The fact that daydreams are just daydreams makes them free to anyone with an imagination. Daydreaming is an activity for all ages; one does not have to be of a certain height to daydream. One does not have to be a particular age to daydream and one does not require three forms of identification to daydream. When one is daydreaming they are free of judgment and worry. Some say, one man’s daydream is another man’s day, but neither will ever know, I think it is the fact that our daydreams are private that makes them our own personal unwritten diary of hope.Just like one’s diaries our daydreams change, our handwriting improves and our thoughts become slightly more grounded. When we are young our daydreams consist of imaginary friends from exotic places and tea parties on the moon with the E aster bunny and Santa Clause. Daydreams as a child are not recognised by the daydreamer. Children can often confuse their fantasies with reality and think their daydreams actually happened. We can openly express our daydreams with others and it is accepted in society and cast off as the sweet imaginings of children with active imaginations.When we are older our daydreams become more refined and closer to reality. The more mature daydreamer imagines what their life would be like if they had taken a different path , some also imagine situations that they are presently in and how they would change if they said or did something. Of course every now and then the inner child in everybody takes charge and we succumb to our childlike fantasies. But these fantasies are not confessed to others often. We never become too old to dream but I wonder at what age one becomes too old for the publication of one’s daydreams.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Impact of the internet Essay

Since the advent of the internet, the world has experienced many changes in various aspects of life including the social set up. There is virtually no limit to the information that one can access from the internet just from the comfort of ones chair or bed depending on where you are logged in. Getting in touch with people from any corner of the world has been reduced to just a few strokes of the keys and a click of the mouse. The social impacts of these are many. To start with, there is social alienation leading to complete lose of physical touch with relatives and friends. Individuals are tending to keep away from education and work places. The outcome of this is that people tend to lack face to face socialization as they just get locked up behind there computers. According to Brian, people tend to become significantly depressed, stressed and lonely with one another as they spend many hours chatting in the internet (Brian W, 2006). Even though chat rooms in the net provide almost the same interactive approach to socialization, it however lacks the in–person connection necessary for people to develop acceptable social skills. It is feared that this lack of touch will affect the way the young people socialize especially in communities that dictates strong interpersonal relationships whether it is to the families or friends. This is just one good example of a culture that faces being thrown out or being given little significance by the people due to advent of the internet. Another big change brought to the society due to internet is the lose of identity since most people especially in the urban set up are getting strongly attached to the new culture adopted from the internet . Almost all communities uphold good moral standards in the societies. However, with advent of internet, this has been completely put at stake. High percentage of pictures and videos in the net are pornographic in nature. There are new cultures coming up in the society like establishing online friends. This is common with the many social sites like nimbuzz, tweeter and facebook. Furthermore, dating culture has shifted to the net where there are many sites to look for soul mate. The ease with which people access the friends highly jeopardizes the morality of the society. Politically the freedom of flow of information is suggestion of the democratic level in a country. The internet is one of the technological means in the area of information and knowledge revolution. The internet therefore bears political culture in many meanings. As a fast and handy way of disseminating information, many governments have started using the internet to reach out to the public. There are various government sites with government information. In addition, many people converse about political issues over the net through chat rooms and networking sites. Internet is an available means through which people concerned with politics communicate since it has a gigantic storage capacity (Hasan A, 2005). The internet is an arena that has experienced rapid growth economically. The net is no longer just a place for getting simple information and walk away. It has turned out to be taking the place of learning institutions. It is like a playing field full of games and even a shopping mall full of goods of all sorts. Actually, there is a lot of business carried out in the net. Various companies’ enterprise on providing internet services. They host the internet backbones acting as internet access points, service providers between countries and continents (Andrew O, 1998). They reap a lot profit due to the increasing high demand for internet services, though there is a lot of competition as more people also venture in to get the benefits.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Psychological Analysis of “The Butterfly Effect” Essay

This paper revolves around the four main psychological aspects of the 2004 movie The Butterfly Effect which are memory retrieval in Evan, trauma in the characters, depression, and Evan’s therapy. In memory we will look through the protagonist’s, Evan, past and how he represses his memory and retrieves them back as adult. In trauma we will look at the different events Evan’s friend Lenny experiences and how it affects his life and gives him traumatic disorders. Next, we will examine depressive symptoms in the character Kayleigh. Finally, we will look at the different treatments Evan’s therapist uses on him and his reasons why. I will reveal each of the role these four aspects play and relate them to the characters and the movie. In the movie The Butterfly Effect a boy named Evan develops a unknown hereditary disease where he blacks out during very traumatic events. These blackouts eventually fade away when we moves away and he never experiences them again. One day, in college he reads an old journal from his childhood and all the old memories hit him like a brick. Within days he discovers he is able to actually go back in time and change those past traumatic events, which results in a series altered realities. In these different realities, not only do the events change, but Evan and his friends develop totally new idenities This movie mainly revolves around Evan’s memory, trauma and depression in some of the characters, and the therapy used to try to treat Evan’s illness. In that brief summary alone you are able to see that Evan’s memory is a large part of this movie. Throughout the movies Evan goes through periods of  memory repressions where he gets these uncontrollable blackouts, usually under times of heavy stress and trauma, and wakes up completely unaware of what happened. These blackouts occurred when he is participating in child pornography, killing a women and her baby, his father trying to kill him and watching his dog be burned alive. Repressed memories are â€Å"memories of actual events that were pushed into the unconscious because they are emotionally threatening (Kosslyn and Rosenberg 2011 p.183)†. That means although these events are emotionally charged they are forgotten not because they are pushed out of awareness but because the individual mentally put them into another place in their mind. Evan eventually moves away from this town leaving Lenny, Tommy and Kayleigh. After that we notice that these sudden blackouts disappear and when he goes to college he is able to live a normal life. Until, he reads one of his old journals and all the old memories come back to him and he is able vividly experience them through a process known as memory retrieval. He is even able to go back in time and change his actions. Although this obviously is not possible in real life, it is an example of a study that shows that, â€Å"as we try to recall something our brain works to match the brain state we had during the event we are remembering (DeNoon 2005)†, so when your brain state matches the state in your memory you’ll remember it a lot easier. This study is true in Evan’s case, because has he read through his journal entries he, in a sense, put himself into his teenage shoes and is able to visualize that exact moment he is reading. Therefore, a person’s emotion can affect a their memory retrieval. â€Å"(It is) much like when you try to remember where you put your keys last night, if you recall that you were washing dishes, that might trigger associated memories, leading you to remember that your keys are next to the sink (DeNoon 2005)†. Evan also develops implicit memories during his frat boy lifestyle reality. Implicit memories are memories â€Å"that cannot be retrieved voluntarily but rather predispose a person to process information or behave certain ways in the presence of specific stimuli (Kosslyn and Rosenberg 2011 p.169)†. In this altered reality Evan becomes the leader of a fraternity and one of the popular jocks, a totally different persona compared to his hardworking, shy  behavior in the first reality. Yet, even though it is still normal Evan switching through different realities he starts to involuntarily develop these habits the fraternity persona would do, like cheat on tests and bully younger students. These actions and personalities he developed is an example of a type of implicit memory known as habits. Cheating on his psychology test and yelling at one of his pledges was a well-learned response that is carried out automatically. The next topic the movie portrays is trauma in the character Lenny. Lenny is most affected by two traumatic events shown in the movie, the first is when he accidentally blows up a mailbox killing a mother and her baby and the second is when he kills Tommy during one of Evan’s interactive memory. After those experiences Lenny develops clear signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to the DSM-IV-TR, the diagnosis of PSTD is decided when three conditions are met. First, the person experiences an event that involves an injury or death and Lenny clearly experienced death through murdering the mother and baby, and killing Tommy. Next, the traumatized person responds to the situation with fear, which Lenny shows from the utter shock after the mailbox blows up and he becomes so afraid of what he has done that he collapses and ends up in hospitalized. Lenny shows â€Å"persistent avoidance of anything associated with the trauma (Kosslyn and Rosenberg 2011 p.420)†. This explains why Lenny, after so many years, was still in his room building model airplanes after Evan goes back home to him. Also, when Evan asks Lenny to described what happened during that event Lenny violently threatens him to kill him if he ever mentions it again. Model airplanes is a hobby he enjoys and it helps keep him distracted from all his thoughts, which is why his room contained over one hundred models. If he keeps himself preoccupied with the model planes, those thoughts of killing the mother will never cross his mind. Not only does Lenny and his model airplane hobby distract him from the trauma but it also show a very distinct relationship between dissociation and trauma. Constance J. Dalenburg conducted an experiment which shows â€Å"that there is strong empirical support for the hypothesis that trauma  causes dissociation (a perceived detachment of the mind from the emotional state or even from the body), and that dissociation remains related to trauma history when fantasy proness is controlled (Dalenberg 2012)†. After experiencing the two traumas Lenny enters a dreamlike state where he completely separates himself from the world by staying in his room all day and doing nothing else. Even when Evan comes to visit him in his bedroom or in the insane asylum he never displays any emotions, speak to him or even acknowledge he is there. During the dog blackout Lenny witnessed Tommy burning Evan’s dog alive and Tommy told him, â€Å"if you tell anyone, I’ll slit your throat†. Lenny was discharged from the hospital just before that occurred and before Evan called him out to play we can see Lenny was busy working on a model airplane. Therefore, we can conclude that Lenny makes these model airplanes, stays in his room all day and even keeps his room exactly the same (which we can see because he still race car bed) because he trying to distance himself from reality and mentally revert back to the exact time before he witnessed Evan’s dog being burned alive. The third topic faced in the movie is depression. Kayleigh and Evan go through periods of depression through three different altered realities of the movie. In the first altered reality Evan goes back to his hometown and finds Kayleigh working as waitress, in the next altered reality Kayleigh becomes a hooker after Evan goes back and accidentally kills Tommy, and in the last reality Evan loses his arms and legs along with the love of his life, Kayleigh to Lenny. The four main symptoms of major depressive disorder (depression) shown throughout these scenes were insomnia and tiredness, heavy sadness, feeling of hopelessness, and thoughts of suicide. In the first reality Kayleigh shows physical signs of insomnia and tiredness. Physically, you can tell by her sluggish movements and heavy bags under her eyes that she is not getting enough rest. She then goes on to shout at him saying, â€Å"nothing’s ever going to get better Evan, nothing ever gets better†. This quote and the fact that she is just a waiter shows the feeling of hopelessness and how she believes there is no real future and she will never be truly happy due to her traumatizing past. This feeling of hopelessness might have occurred after Evan moved away from her, causing her  to have no one else to rely on. That change can also cause depression because when change occurs, stress happens. â€Å"Significant levels of stress can result from any important life change, but people vary considerably in the ways they respond to change in their lives†¦ Their reactions depend on their resources and the contexts in which stress occurs. If you have the money, time, and friends to help you pick up and go on after a disruption, you will certainly fare better (Mcgregor 2006)†, all of which Kayleigh doesn’t have anymore, leading her to developed depression. Kayleigh also cries and yell at Evan for bringing up old memories, a potential sign of heavy sadness. Finally, Evan finds out the next day that Kayleigh committed suicide, (thoughts of suicide) which is the last symptom of clinical depression. In the second reality Evan finds Kayleigh in a run down motel room as hooker with a drug addiction. Kayleigh is portraying signs of worthlessness in her body because of the sexual acts she is involved in to receive money. Due the sexual abuse she received from her father she now feels her body is dirty or damaged making her believe she in unworthy of being treated as a normal person. This is a big contribution to her low self esteem and her drug abuse issue. Not only does she feel used but the abuse she suffered from her dad, the first true male role model in her life, leaves her to feel that people will always hurt her. You can see her environment plays a big role in her depression because in the final altered reality, she lives in a nurturing environment with her mother and is finally happy which leads her live to a normal happy life and a better career. In the final reality Evan loses his arms and legs after trying to save the mom and child from the explosion. During that scene Evan sees Kayleigh run up to Lenny and kiss him. You can tell from his facial expression he was feeling sadness and remorse over not being with her when he knows he could be. After losing his arms and legs, Evan realizes life for him is hopeless, and he can never amount to anything because he doesn’t arms or Kayleigh, so that sign of worthlessness is once again showing. Evan tries to drown himself in the movie, showing those thoughts of suicide. Evan shows a clear example of Aaron Beck’s â€Å"negative cognitive triads of depression†. â€Å"The  triad consists of: a negative view of the world, a negative view of the self, and a negative view of the future (Kosslyn and Rosenberg 2011 p.412)†. Evan views the world as unfair because of his missing limbs, his disability leave him to think his life pointless, and he know his future is nothing without Kayleigh and his limbs. Finally, there was some use of psychological strategies and therapy techniques Evan’s therapist uses to try to find a way to diagnose and solve this rare disease. The first treatment Evan’s therapist tried was hypnosis. The therapist tried to calm Evan, then told him to recollect his memory of that mailbox event and â€Å"play, rewind, and pause it like a movie†. Hypnosis did not work in Evan’s case, instead only causing nose bleeds and headaches . As a child, when his mom first realizes something is wrong Evan is given a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scan to look for anything wrong in his brain structure. Yet, they were not able to find anything wrong with his brain. The most effective method used was asking Evan to keep a journal of his daily life. Journals are commonly used and is an example of one of â€Å"Beck’s cognitive therapy techniques† which is â€Å"the process of helping clients view their situation in a new light (Kosslyn and Rosenberg 2011 p.420)†. This method proves to be affective because it helps Evan solve the root of his black outs and realize he is able to go back in time during those blackouts and control his past body, preventing certain stimuli. In conclusion, you can see that The Butterfly Effect portrays a lot of psychological facts and disorders because of all the traumatic events these young children went through. The biggest aspect of The Butterfly Effect is the different types of memory Evan uses in the movie, like repression, retrieval, and implicit. The main idea of the movie is that one tiny change can completely alter the future and we clearly see that through the different identity each character goes through in the movie. In some realities Lenny is forced to live life alone and in fear under his extreme post traumatic stress disorder due to all the traumatic events. In two realities Kayleigh goes through symptoms of depression, like sadness, thoughts of suicide, insomnia, and feelings of hopelessness due to factors like her sexual abuse and hostile environment. Each event the characters went through plays a drastic role on how they turned out, which shows that a lot of our life is really not under our control.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Kinesiology

The movement that the paper shall discuss is the ‘hammer throw’ â€Å"The modern or Olympic hammer throw is an athletic throwing event where the object to be thrown is a heavy steel ball attached with wire (maximum 4 ft (1.22 m) to a handle.† (Farlex Inc., 2007, p.1) The objective of the feat is throwing the steel ball at the farthest distance. â€Å"The two most important factors for a far throw are the angle of release and the speed of the ball.† (Farlex Inc., 2007, p.1)For an athlete, it is important for them to be aware of every muscle movement that happens during the process of hammer throw. These phases are important for a smooth transition of muscles from one stage to another to execute a correct and efficient movement. The next part will highlight the five phases involved in hammer throw. In particular, the following phases will determine the relevant muscles involved in the process.The first phase involves the stance phase. There is minimal amount of movement in this phase that is why muscles remain at status quo. â€Å"Due to the minimal amount of movement in this phase, the majority muscle position maintenance throughout the body should be accomplished through isometric contraction.† (www.mhhe.com/floyd16e, p.196)The next phase involves the preparatory phase. In hammer throw, â€Å"concentric contractions occur in their anatagonist muscles in this phase.† (www.mhhe.com/floyd16e, p.196) The joints involved are the shoulder and elbow in which their actions represent a horizontal hyperextension and extension respectively. In addition, the agonists muscles involve in the process are posterior deltoids and latissiumus dorsi and triceps brachii (shoulder and elbow)The third phase talks about the movement phase. â€Å"It is the phase in which the summation of force is generated directly to the ball, sport, object, or opponent, and is usually characterized by near-maximal concentric activity in the involved muscles.à ¢â‚¬  (www.mhhe.com/floyd16e, p.197) With hammer throw, this is the process wherein the person starts rotating the body which is called ‘turns’.â€Å"You must try to utilize inertial forces of the hammer in the single by riding the ball and being passive with the ascending hammer, while avoiding activity with the pelvis and legs.† (Larry, 2000, p. 1) In addition, â€Å"After running through the high point of the hammer, you must complete the turn on the ball of the left foot by actively driving back to double support as soon as possible.† (Larry, 2000, p.1)The next phase involves the follow-through phase. â€Å"In this phase, often referred to as the deceleration phase, the velocity of the body segment progressively decreases, usually over a wide range of motion.† In the process of hammer throw, the joints involved are the shoulder and elbow. The actions involved are a horizontal flexion and flexion for the shoulder and elbow respectively. The agon ist muscles involved in the process are (1) anterior deltoids and Pectoralis major for the shoulder and (2) biceps brachii for the elbow.The last phase is the recovery phase. â€Å"The recovery phase is used after follow through to regain balance and positioning to be ready for the next sport demand.† (www.mhhe†¦, p.197) For hammer throw, the individual after the follow through stage slowly goes back to status quo as both muscles in the elbow, shoulder, hips, and legs relax to prepare for the next throw.In the process of hammer throw, an individual might sustain an injury due to lack of stretching or failure to follow the proper process in hammer throw. Injuries related to hammer throwing include (1) strains, (2) cramps, (3) calf muscle injuries, (4) sprains and (5) elbow and shoulder muscle related injuries. Thus, it is very important for a hammer thrower to constantly warm up for the sport and at the same time follows effectively every step mentioned by the coach for i njuries to be prevented.ReferencesBrainmac. Movement Analysis in Sports Coach. Retrieved October 21, 2007 fromhttp://www.brianmac.co.uk/moveanal.htmFarlex Inc. (2007) Hammer Throw in The Free Dictionary. Retrieved October 21, 2007 fromhttp://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Hammer+throwingJudge, L. (2000) A Technique Analysis of the Hammer Throw for Men & Women. RetrievedKinesiology. Retrieved October 21, 2007 from http://www.mhhe.com/floyd16e Kinesiology Al Reyes married and has a step child and I child of his own has done a lot in his lifetime. His jobs vary from working in a cubicle in his early year to coaching high school sports teams to now teaching and coaching the water polo team at Santa Ana College. His life stories have had a vastly large impact on me, he made me realize that life is not always about money, although with it life would be a lot easier, but all you really need is people and things you love and your set.What I really enjoyed bout having him in the class was that he made you listen but not in the way an average teacher would he made you intrigued in whatever it was he was talking about. Although I don't want to become a teacher later in life he made me rethink this. Response to Brian: I agree with Brian I have put a lot of thought into becoming a teacher/coach but never knew what to teach/coach and who for.Mr. Reyes has shed some light and has really been making me think hard, asking myself if teaching is actua lly what I want to do with my life. Have little money but be content with what I'm doing, impacting kids lives in such a way that they don't even know, it sounds just about equally awarding to me.My high School basketball coach/Spanish teacher has changed my life in so many ways, from being captain of her basketball teaching me the importance of teamwork, dedication and hard work can take you a long way to my teacher making me work hard. She was also very close to me I considered her more as a friend in ways she was always looking out for me, driving me to go to college, finding me a place to live. If I change someones life the way she has changed mine I know life will be amazing.

Friday, September 13, 2019

Broken Family

A vast majority of my friends, peers, and coworkers have a relationship with at least one parent. It has really caused me to question a lot about my faith, myself, and the fairness of not being able to choose one’s parents. The idea of a parent is a tough one. What does it take to make a parent? What is a good parent and what is a bad parent? Absentee parents fall somewhere in between because even if they live at the same address as their children, they’re emotionally unavailable. According to dictionary. com,  the definition for parent  is: a mother or a father. I’m no expert on the etymology of words, but I think we should redefine parents a bit. A parent is someone who loves, nurtures, and cares for their young. There are plenty of â€Å"parents† in the world who may not have bore children of their body but have certainly bore children of their heart. As a young Christian, I have been tormented by my relationship with my mother and my other family members. Over the years, my relationship with her and my siblings has deteriorated tremendously. On the one hand, Christians are told to be loving. We are to endure with one another and bare with one another. This is noble philosophy and life doctrine but implementation of it is excruciating. How do we know when to â€Å"endure with one and bare with one another† and when to draw the line to protect ourselves from mistreatment? I have grappled with this concept for years. When I have asked my friends their opinion, most of them shrug their shoulders and insist that I have to accept my family how they are. Obviously, these are individuals with relatively functional families. They have no idea what I’m subjecting myself by toughing it out and â€Å"dealing† with some of my relatives. Only until recently has God really started drawing my attention or I’ve been more attentive, to what His word says about parents and baring with them. A few days ago, I read 1 Kings 19: 20-21. It says: â€Å"Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. Let me kiss my father and mother good-by,† he said, â€Å"and then I will come with you. † â€Å"Go back,† Elijah replied. â€Å"What have I done to you? â€Å"†¦. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant. † In this verse, Elisha does not go back to his parents. Instead, he leaves his farming equipment and speeds to follow Elijah. In Hebrews 11:24, the Bible says â€Å"By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. † In reality, Moses was the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter but here’s where the debate on parents comes in. Pharaoh’s daughter had parented Moses as if he were her own son. But Moses refused this tie to the Pharaoh’s daughter. Similarly, Christians are free to cast down false relationship or ties to people by faith. Being cared for as a child is important but it should not be the sole reason why we keep contact with or relate to people that did so. Parenting is so much more that providing for a child. It is having a relationship with a child. I am sure that there are many people who have family problems. Not everyone needs to disown their parents and siblings to deal with it but sometimes it is necessary and even ordained by God. In Genesis 12:1, the Bible says: â€Å"The Lord had said to Abram, â€Å"Leave your country, your people and your fathers’ household and go to the land I will show you. † The very first book in the Bible contains a story where God ordains a mighty man to leave his father’s household. We are not meant to stay with our parents forever. There are plenty of stories throughout the Bible of people being at odds with family members. The story of Joseph is a prime example of sibling rivalry and dissension that leads to Joseph being betrayed and sold into slavery. His brothers were his blood kin but they did not have his best interest at heart. Maybe one way to analyze the story of Joseph is to say that God recognized the jealousy in the brothers of Joseph. Hence, he decided that it was even better for him to be sold into slavery than to live around a den of jealousy amongst â€Å"family ties†. Mothers, you can’t live with ’em and you can’t live without ’em. But God says that He will not leave us even when our mothers do. In my post:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"In my Darkest Hours†¦ â€Å", I discuss the tension that can exist between family in greater depth. That post also talks about God’s response as a loving Father and how He intervenes in these circumstances. How do you define a parent? Have you ever had a really tumultuous relationship with a parent that you couldn’t over come? If you did overcome it, how so? Do you think that God may be calling you to something greater that will draw you away from conventional family ties? When do you bare with a parent, and when is it time to walk away from emotionally abusive relationships? 1. Isang pamilyang di magkasundo o/at magkahiwalay or divorced. 2. Ang broken family ay ung pamilyang nagkawatak watak kaya ngakakaroon ng broken family ay dahil sa ating mga magulang na hindi nagkakaunawaan. . If the father and the mother decided not to stay with each other because of their difference then that’s what you called broken family. News Print Article  Ã‚  |   Ã‚  Email Friend  Ã‚  |  Ã‚  Reprint Permissions Broken Family Structure Leads to Educational Difficulties for Children By Gudrun Schultz UNITED STATES, January 16, 2006 (LifeSiteNews. com) – The U. S Center for Marria ge and Family released a study in November 2005 that shows broken family structures consistently lead to education difficulties for children. When it comes to educational achievement,† the study says, â€Å"children living with their own married parents do significantly better than other children. † The report found that children from non-intact families (children living in a situation other than with their own married father and mother) have significantly higher rates of difficulty with all levels of education, from pre-kindergarten through to primary, secondary, and college-age levels. Each year a child spends with a single mother or stepparent â€Å"reduces that child’s overall educational attainment by approximately one-half year† suggests the report. The study, a comprehensive review of recent academic research on the relationship between family structures and children’s academic performance, compared education outcomes from children growing up with their own married parents to children in non-intact family structures such as divorced, single, remarried or cohabiting parents. Family structure was consistently found to be the deciding factor in a wide range of child behaviors that directly influence academic performance, including emotional and psychological distress, attention disorders, social misbehavior, substance abuse, sexual activity and teen pregnancy. Children from non-intact homes had higher rates of stress, depression, anxiety and low self-esteem, particularly as teenagers. The study found that preschool children from broken homes were three times more likely to suffer from attention deficit disorders than children from intact homes. Children from single-parent homes suffered from more physical health problems, as well. Pre-school children from single-parent homes were also less likely to be read to or given help with letter-recognition. A During elementary school, children from non-intact families scored consistently lower on reading comprehension and math, and had more difficulty maintaining their grade levels overall. Children from married parents had much lower rates of behavioral problems in the classroom than children who did not live with married parents. In particular, boys from broken marriages showed a higher rate of classroom misbehavior. For teenagers, students from broken homes were 30 percent more likely to miss school, be late, or cut class than students from intact homes, in part because single parents had more difficulty monitoring their children. These children were also at higher risk for smoking, using drugs and consuming alcohol. Teenagers from non-intact families were more likely to be sexually active and had higher rates of pregnancy. Girls from divorced single-mother homes were at greatest risk for teenage pregnancy. The study also found that children who were in a single-parent or step-parent home by the time they were ten were more than twice as likely to be arrested by age 14. A Children who never lived with their own father had the highest likelihood of being arrested. The study reports that a majority of U. S. children will have spent a significant part of their childhood in a one-parent home by the time they reach 18. Single parent homes in the U. S. nearly doubled in the period from 1968-2003. Family Structure and Children’s Educational Outcomes: http://www. americanvalues. org/briefs/edoutcomes. htm broken family is one where the parents (mother and father) of a child or children have split up and no longer share a single family home as a family unit. This is also known as a broken home. Broken Family Broken Family A vast majority of my friends, peers, and coworkers have a relationship with at least one parent. It has really caused me to question a lot about my faith, myself, and the fairness of not being able to choose one’s parents. The idea of a parent is a tough one. What does it take to make a parent? What is a good parent and what is a bad parent? Absentee parents fall somewhere in between because even if they live at the same address as their children, they’re emotionally unavailable. According to dictionary. com,  the definition for parent  is: a mother or a father. I’m no expert on the etymology of words, but I think we should redefine parents a bit. A parent is someone who loves, nurtures, and cares for their young. There are plenty of â€Å"parents† in the world who may not have bore children of their body but have certainly bore children of their heart. As a young Christian, I have been tormented by my relationship with my mother and my other family members. Over the years, my relationship with her and my siblings has deteriorated tremendously. On the one hand, Christians are told to be loving. We are to endure with one another and bare with one another. This is noble philosophy and life doctrine but implementation of it is excruciating. How do we know when to â€Å"endure with one and bare with one another† and when to draw the line to protect ourselves from mistreatment? I have grappled with this concept for years. When I have asked my friends their opinion, most of them shrug their shoulders and insist that I have to accept my family how they are. Obviously, these are individuals with relatively functional families. They have no idea what I’m subjecting myself by toughing it out and â€Å"dealing† with some of my relatives. Only until recently has God really started drawing my attention or I’ve been more attentive, to what His word says about parents and baring with them. A few days ago, I read 1 Kings 19: 20-21. It says: â€Å"Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. Let me kiss my father and mother good-by,† he said, â€Å"and then I will come with you. † â€Å"Go back,† Elijah replied. â€Å"What have I done to you? â€Å"†¦. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant. † In this verse, Elisha does not go back to his parents. Instead, he leaves his farming equipment and speeds to follow Elijah. In Hebrews 11:24, the Bible says â€Å"By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. † In reality, Moses was the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter but here’s where the debate on parents comes in. Pharaoh’s daughter had parented Moses as if he were her own son. But Moses refused this tie to the Pharaoh’s daughter. Similarly, Christians are free to cast down false relationship or ties to people by faith. Being cared for as a child is important but it should not be the sole reason why we keep contact with or relate to people that did so. Parenting is so much more that providing for a child. It is having a relationship with a child. I am sure that there are many people who have family problems. Not everyone needs to disown their parents and siblings to deal with it but sometimes it is necessary and even ordained by God. In Genesis 12:1, the Bible says: â€Å"The Lord had said to Abram, â€Å"Leave your country, your people and your fathers’ household and go to the land I will show you. † The very first book in the Bible contains a story where God ordains a mighty man to leave his father’s household. We are not meant to stay with our parents forever. There are plenty of stories throughout the Bible of people being at odds with family members. The story of Joseph is a prime example of sibling rivalry and dissension that leads to Joseph being betrayed and sold into slavery. His brothers were his blood kin but they did not have his best interest at heart. Maybe one way to analyze the story of Joseph is to say that God recognized the jealousy in the brothers of Joseph. Hence, he decided that it was even better for him to be sold into slavery than to live around a den of jealousy amongst â€Å"family ties†. Mothers, you can’t live with ’em and you can’t live without ’em. But God says that He will not leave us even when our mothers do. In my post:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"In my Darkest Hours†¦ â€Å", I discuss the tension that can exist between family in greater depth. That post also talks about God’s response as a loving Father and how He intervenes in these circumstances. How do you define a parent? Have you ever had a really tumultuous relationship with a parent that you couldn’t over come? If you did overcome it, how so? Do you think that God may be calling you to something greater that will draw you away from conventional family ties? When do you bare with a parent, and when is it time to walk away from emotionally abusive relationships? 1. Isang pamilyang di magkasundo o/at magkahiwalay or divorced. 2. Ang broken family ay ung pamilyang nagkawatak watak kaya ngakakaroon ng broken family ay dahil sa ating mga magulang na hindi nagkakaunawaan. . If the father and the mother decided not to stay with each other because of their difference then that’s what you called broken family. News Print Article  Ã‚  |   Ã‚  Email Friend  Ã‚  |  Ã‚  Reprint Permissions Broken Family Structure Leads to Educational Difficulties for Children By Gudrun Schultz UNITED STATES, January 16, 2006 (LifeSiteNews. com) – The U. S Center for Marria ge and Family released a study in November 2005 that shows broken family structures consistently lead to education difficulties for children. When it comes to educational achievement,† the study says, â€Å"children living with their own married parents do significantly better than other children. † The report found that children from non-intact families (children living in a situation other than with their own married father and mother) have significantly higher rates of difficulty with all levels of education, from pre-kindergarten through to primary, secondary, and college-age levels. Each year a child spends with a single mother or stepparent â€Å"reduces that child’s overall educational attainment by approximately one-half year† suggests the report. The study, a comprehensive review of recent academic research on the relationship between family structures and children’s academic performance, compared education outcomes from children growing up with their own married parents to children in non-intact family structures such as divorced, single, remarried or cohabiting parents. Family structure was consistently found to be the deciding factor in a wide range of child behaviors that directly influence academic performance, including emotional and psychological distress, attention disorders, social misbehavior, substance abuse, sexual activity and teen pregnancy. Children from non-intact homes had higher rates of stress, depression, anxiety and low self-esteem, particularly as teenagers. The study found that preschool children from broken homes were three times more likely to suffer from attention deficit disorders than children from intact homes. Children from single-parent homes suffered from more physical health problems, as well. Pre-school children from single-parent homes were also less likely to be read to or given help with letter-recognition. A During elementary school, children from non-intact families scored consistently lower on reading comprehension and math, and had more difficulty maintaining their grade levels overall. Children from married parents had much lower rates of behavioral problems in the classroom than children who did not live with married parents. In particular, boys from broken marriages showed a higher rate of classroom misbehavior. For teenagers, students from broken homes were 30 percent more likely to miss school, be late, or cut class than students from intact homes, in part because single parents had more difficulty monitoring their children. These children were also at higher risk for smoking, using drugs and consuming alcohol. Teenagers from non-intact families were more likely to be sexually active and had higher rates of pregnancy. Girls from divorced single-mother homes were at greatest risk for teenage pregnancy. The study also found that children who were in a single-parent or step-parent home by the time they were ten were more than twice as likely to be arrested by age 14. A Children who never lived with their own father had the highest likelihood of being arrested. The study reports that a majority of U. S. children will have spent a significant part of their childhood in a one-parent home by the time they reach 18. Single parent homes in the U. S. nearly doubled in the period from 1968-2003. Family Structure and Children’s Educational Outcomes: http://www. americanvalues. org/briefs/edoutcomes. htm broken family is one where the parents (mother and father) of a child or children have split up and no longer share a single family home as a family unit. This is also known as a broken home.