The South African Youth

Reflecting back on the tragedy that just occurred at Columbine High School in Denver Colorado and the generalizations being made about the U.S youth and the crisis that we are in and supposedly are experiencing ,I decided to research the youth crisis in South Africa. There is at present no â€Å"youth crisis† as such. However young people find themselves in the midst of a range of crises that should be addressed urgently by the state and society. † South African youths† as a category refers to South Africans between 15 and 30 years of age; they constitute 29,5% of the population, yet there is no comprehensive youth policy in place to attend to their needs. Most young people share common values of society – signs of radicalism and militarism are found in only a minority of youth. Only a small percentage of South Africa's youth can be considered truly marginalized as the country's youth as a whole and therefore cannot be called a â€Å"lost generation†. Thirty-seven per cent of South Africa population were below the age of 15 in 1991. It can be compared with the average of 40% for similar countries in the world, less-developed countries averaging 44% and industrialized countries 23%. The composition of people between 15 and 30 years, comprised 29,5% of South Africa's population. Figures for racial categories indicate a total of approximately 8,3 million (75%) black, 1,4 m. (12%) white, 1,1 m. (10%) colored and 300 000 (3%) Asian youths in this group. There are many problems for the South African Youth and some of the most challenging problems include family and community instability that leads to a wide range of other social problems for youth. The black family has been under enormous strain partly because of an education system that is not providing all youth with relevant and quality education. Economic stagnation, together with inadequate education, has resulted in high levels of unemployment and poverty, especially among women and blacks. Demographic factors which continue to impact on the South African population and more specifically the youth. It has been estimated that by 1995, 50% of the age cohort 15 to 19 will live in urban areas. The extent to which young people from the different racial and cultural groups have become isolated from one another, with the accompanying negative stereotypes, intolerance and racism. A historical survey in the report leaves little doubt that South African youth have over the years been victims of political and socio-cultural crises. They have been subjected to poverty, blatant political manipulation, racial and other divisions that tore the country apart, and a lack of any systematic youth policy to attend to their needs. As a group, they have for many years been largely ignored by the leaders in control of their destiny. And yet, from the earliest decades of the century, they have attempted to assert themselves by forming youth organizations, by protesting against injustices and by insisting on a decent education and living conditions. Unemployment has been a struggle for the South African Youth. Studies show roughly 42% of youth between the ages of 15 and 30 were unemployed. Young women were particularly disadvantaged. In the first place, they were less likely to be part of the labor force because large numbers were involved in unpaid domestic work. Secondly, they found it difficult to find employment while being involved in unpaid domestic work. Unemployment affects the unmarried, junior members of households more adversely than the other members. Unemployment is higher in the homelands and in urban areas that comprise squatter and informal settlements close to the major metropolitan area. It is however unclear as to whether unemployment is higher in rural or in urban areas. At the time, studies indicate 45% of the black, 12% of the white, 40% of the colored and 29% of the Asian youth were unemployed. Family structure and living conditions play an important role. The core family has been seriously affected by social upheavals. Studies indicate that 22% of white, 20% of Asian, 32% of colored and 40 % of black families are currently headed by females. Stability may be found in nuclear, extended, compound or single-parent families. The extended kinship system among blacks and Asians seems to cushion the negative effects of disrupted nuclear family units. However, many youths are not experiencing stability of an enduring nature, and it emerges from surveys that a lot of young people are receiving only fragmented care. The lack of control, supervision and attention is clearly linked to teenagers' negative behavior such as alcohol and drug abuse, crime, indiscriminate and unprotected sexual activities, etc. Percentages of teenage pregnancies and births out of wedlock are unacceptably high and AIDS is a frightening reality. Amenities such as electricity, on-tap water, waterborne sewerage, refuse removal, etc, are massively under provided to blacks. Black youth live in homes of which 46 % do not have running water and 57 % have no electricity. Only 53 % blacks have access to television Over the life span of today's youth, a third of all Asian families, nearly a quarter of all colored families and nearly a fifth of the black population were forcibly moved by one method or another. Culture and youth organizations play a very important role in the South African youth of today. Studies affirm that one cannot really speak of a single, monolithic â€Å"youth culture†. In an era of rapid social transformation, stereotyped binary cultural oppositions such as urban/rural, elitist/popular, modern/traditional, are also losing their essential distinctive value. For example, some research point to the possibility that the position that youth occupied in â€Å"traditional†, conservative societies has changed with urbanization and westernization. Recognition of youth's new, more assertive position has important implications for policy formulation regarding their diversity and their ability not only to react to change and development but actually help guide it. On the other hand, one study showed that, in spite of lingering signs of racism, 60% of adolescents from all the population groups preferred to identify themselves as â€Å"South African†, which may indicate an increasing sense of shared identity, if not unity. The present processes of societal transformation and democratization make the promotion of a shared culture and values essential; something that should start at school level. Recreation and sports play an important role in young people's lives: 41,7% of male youth and 18,7% of female youth in South Africa are active members of sports clubs. Only 16,3% of all youth however belonged to a youth club and only 8,4% belonged to a cultural organization. Facilities for sports, recreational and organizational activities are urgently needed. The crisis in education is well documented. Black education was seriously disrupted during the 1980s. However, black education expanded greatly in an attempt to fulfil its community's needs, and improved its retention rates at the same time, despite a range of crises that were almost beyond human imagination. For the majority of black youth in South Africa, access to secondary education is restricted to traditional secondary schools where places are limited, facilities are not up to standard, teachers are not properly qualified and access to subjects such as mathematics, physical science, economics, business economics, accounting, etc, is limited because of a shortage of teachers qualified in these subjects. This causes the whole system to be skewed in favor of such subjects as biology, geography, history and biblical studies, which are the four most â€Å"popular† non-language subjects among black pupils. Clearly if this trend were to continue, the youth would be even more fr ustrated with the learning opportunities offered to them. Violence and crime remain endemic in the country and have many destructive effects on youth. Scientific research has shown that black respondents generally rejected violence as a political option, but that about 20% of the white the respondents tended to be militarized in their outlook. In a new democracy like South Africa it is imperative that all its citizens should be politically literate to enable them to participate fully in all facets of a democratic society. Several studies on political literacy among young South Africans have suggested that this country's youth are not well informed about politics. There is probably no area of South African life which has more compellingly shown the extent to which apartheid has isolated and insulated different sections of this country's youth from one another than the area of politics. Youth who grew up in the security and tranquillity of white neighborhoods could fully participate in the parliamentary politics of apartheid South Africa if they wished to do so. They had very little knowledge or understanding of the harsh realities of township life which confronted the vast majority of South Africa's youth every day. For most white youths the events, that have taken place in South Africa's black townships since the mid-seventies, were nothing more than images on the television screen – events they were socialized to interpret as being initiated by radical (communist inspired) people who were attempting to take away their (whites') privileged position. Indeed, white and black youths under apartheid lived in different worlds. Studies have shown that the above problems are ameliorated by two sets of findings, namely that â€Å"the South African youth† by no means represent a uniform category of people, and that the majority of South Africa's young people want to play a constructive role in the creation of a new South Africa. Their rejection of violence, their respect for the cultural and racial diversity in South Africa, the value they place on education and training are all very important to the South African youths of today and in that sense we American youths should learn a thing or two from them. They have adapted in remarkable and innovative ways to the often painful processes of rapid change, and although they may lack skills and opportunities, they are eager to face the challenge of reconstruction and development. Most of them share their communities' values and are basically conservative in their views. Only 8% of the sample claimed no religious affiliation – the majority felt that religion played an important role in their daily lives. In conclusion that the tide may be turning for the country's youth. Population growth rates are decreasing, income distribution is becoming more equal, the assault on family structures was balanced by the growth of the compound family, a legitimately elected government is in place and a national youth policy has been promised in the RDP. June 16 has been declared a public holiday and renamed Youth Day. Not only youth's many contributions to the country, but in particular their sacrifices and hardships have not gone unnoticed or unappreciated.

Urbanisation

Urbanisation in the world today is an ongoing process that has a profound impact on people's living conditions and health status. The globalisation of markets, the desire for higher education, increased use of communication, and new information technologies are the driving forces behind this process. The urbanisation process has marked effects on the natural and cultural environment, on housing arrangements and social networks, as well as on work and employment patterns, not only in the cities, but also in the rural areas.Access to health care, social services, and cultural activities are in many cases better in the cities, but there the access may not be evenly distributed among the population. Problem of urbanization is manifestation of lopsided urbanization, faulty urban planning, urbanization with poor economic base and without having functional categories . Hence India's urbanization is followed by some basic problems in the field of : 1) housing, 2) slums, 3) transport 4) water supply and sanitation, 5) water pollution and air pollution, 6)inadequate provision for social infrastructure ( school, hospital, etc ).Class I cities such as Calcutta , Bombay, Delhi, Madras etc have reached saturation level of employment generating capacity (Kundu,1997). Since these cities are suffering from of urban poverty, unemployment, housing shortage, crisis in urban infra-structural services these large cities can not absorb these distressed rural migrants i. e poor landless illiterate and unskilled agricultural labourers. Hence this migration to urban class I cities causes urban crisis more acute. 2 Most of these cities using capital intensive technologies can not generate employment for these distress rural poor.So there is transfer of rural poverty to urban poverty. Poverty induced migration of illiterate and unskilled labourer occurs in class I cities addressing urban involution and urban decay. 3 Indian urbanization is involuted not evoluted ( Mukherji, 1995). Poverty induced migration occurs due to rural push . Megacities grow in urban population (Nayak,1962) not in urban prosperity, and culture. Hence it is urbanization without urban functional characteristics.These mega cities are subject to extreme filthy slum and very cruel mega city denying shelter, drinking water, electricity,  sanitation ( Kundu,,Bagchi and Kundu, 1999) to the extreme poor and rural migrants. 4 Urbanisation is degenerating social and economic inequalities ( Kundu and Gupta, 1996) which warrants social conflicts, crimes and anti-social activities. Lopsided and uncontrolled urbanization led to environmental degradation and degradation in the quality of urban life—-pollution in sound, air, water, created by disposal of hazardous waste. Illiterate, low- skill or no-skill migrants from rural areas are absorbed in poor low grade urban informal sector at a very low wage rate and urban informal sector becomes in-efficient and unproductive.

Early Patient Contact Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7500 words

Early Patient Contact - Essay Example The Family Case Study will give you the opportunity to work both independently and within a small group. You will establish a professional relationship with your assigned family, allowing you to obtain demographic, social, and health and development information, and to observe human behavior and family dynamics. The Health Care Symposia will take place on designated days during the semester. You will have the opportunity to hear, discuss and reflect on the experiences of patients and family members who have experienced and coped with a disease, disability or addiction. Your class will be divided into groups of approximately seven to eight students. Each group will be assigned to a family physician tutor. Each group will consist of two to three groups of students, and your smaller group will be assigned to a family to visit There will be a group leader for each group of nine students, and this student will have responsibility for liaising with the family physician and arranging a suitable tutorial time. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT ONLY ONE STUDENT, THE GROUP LEADER, MAKES CONTACT WITH THE FAMILY PHYSICIAN. It is then the responsibility of each student in the group of nine to make contact with the group leader and to clarify specific arrangements which have been made with the family physician for the tutorial. Similarly, each subgroup of students will have a designated group leader, who will make contact with the family, and the other members of this small group should clarify (with that student) what visiting arrangements have been made. Your first visit will be to the expectant mother/ family and your second visit should take place in the postnatal period. Both visits will be preceded by a tutorial with your family physician tutor (in your group of nine) and clear aims/ objectives can be discussed at these tutorials.

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The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in heaven Essay

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in heaven - Essay Example The characters have been generalized to emphasize on the importance of this cultural conflict. For example in the very beginning, the grave shift workers are described in the same way, whether they are Indians or Americans,â€Å"The graveyard shift worker in the Third Avenue 7-11 looked like they all do. Acne scars and a bad haircut, work pants that showed off his white socks, and those cheap black shoes that have no support.†The concept of assimilation also comes in that is the minorities try to adapt to the ways of the prevailing culture. When the narrator goes in the store that is owned by the White grave shift worker, he is immediately tagged as a robber, because he is an Indian â€Å"†¦ clerk †¦ searching for some response that would reassure him that I was not an armed robber. He knew this dark skin and long black hair of mine was dangerous. I had potential.†The theme of conflict is described when the narrator goes to a posh area, by mistake and the rich ones call the police because he â€Å"didn’t fit the profile of the neighborhood†. Moreover, the narrator also wants to tell the policeman that he did not equate or gel in the â€Å"profile of the country† but knows that it would be a reason for his troubles. The narrator constantly feels that he does not belong in this world. He cannot relate to anything. There is this continuous feeling of nothingness and as if everything has been lost. He says that there are times that he does not remember where he is and is lost. He drives for extended time periods to find something he can associate with but fails. He goes on to say that he feels as if his entire life has been spent looking for that something familiar. In between the lines, we also see that the minorities are afraid to take a risk. They have accepted the cruel behavior because they think that nothing is ever going to change. They are not ready to stand up for themselves. For example, when they are playing basketball and there is a white kid

European Sovereign Debt Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

European Sovereign Debt Crisis - Essay Example In addition, the crisis led to a downtown in the equity market and increased demand for gold because of loss of confidence in the Euro by investors. The states within the European market should learn from the consequences of sovereign default so that their economic condition is kept at check. To prevent debt crises, various financial institutions and policy makers in countries have used policies and strategies of stabilizing the economy, which include regulation of financial credit and national balance sheet management. Introduction The world economy is controlled by various financial and political forces, which should be regulated to avoid sovereign debt crises and defaults. The European Sovereign Debt Crisis illustrates the failure of financial institutions, which stretched across the world. Governments, which face such crises, may announce sovereign default leading to economic consequences. This paper gives a critical discussion of the European Foreign Debt Crisis of 2010/2011, it s impact in the bond market and the lessons, which the Eurozone states would learn, from sovereign defaulters such as Russia and Argentina. A critical analysis of the effectiveness of economic policies and the impact of sovereign debt crises on the financial landscape is also provided in this paper. Part A: European Sovereign Debt Crisis The recent European Sovereign Debt Crisis of 2010/2011 has many features in common with the financial stresses experienced in the early 1990s in the world economy. The features of the sovereign debt crises such as low risk on premiums, long duration of credit growth, abundant liquidity, high asset prices, strong leveraging, and real estate bubbles are experienced in the European Sovereign Debt Crisis which began in 2008 with the collapse of the banking system of Iceland. As a result, there is a lot of uncertainty of banks on the creditworthiness of the institutions in which they had heavily invested. As a result, there is reduced investments by bank s in various institutions in the United Kingdom as demonstrated by Brearley (2010, p. 36). Moreover the recent European Sovereign Debt Crisis has caused a big liquidity problem among the European banks. Because of the liquidity problem, the European banks are failing to rollover their debts. The European Sovereign Debt Crisis may be viewed as a mere liquidity problem by policy makers and financial institutions like the previous crises which would cause eventual collapse of the financial institutions. Estenssoro (2010, p. 4), explains the beginning of the recent European Foreign Debt Crisis by showing that the emergency concerned with the solvency of various financial institutions in Europe demonstrated a serious economic problem policy makers thought that it was unlikely for the financial systems in Europe to fail. From the point of view of Blundell-Wignall and Slovik (2010, p. 12), the European economy was believed to be immune to the financial turbulences because it was considered to be thriving through the good financial positions of businesses and households in addition to the growth in export. In September 2008 when the recent crisis began, these perceptions changed drastically with evaporation of valuations of the financial firms, which caused panic within the stock markets. At this point, the collapse of the financial institutions became a real threat to the stakeholders of the financial and manufacturing sectors. The sovereign debt

Career Management Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Career Management Plan - Assignment Example My Career management Plan sets the timeline for achieving this objective by 30th January 2017. While this may be quite an ambitious goal especially when looking at the timeline, my passion for this career path propped by my personality and academic background would play a pivotal role in safeguarding the achievement of the goal. With a thirteen years’ experience and training in animal control, animal handling, animal control code enforcement and supervision, it is imminent that I have the requisite skills, abilities and knowledge for the job. However, this does not undermine the fact that more learning and experience in varied capacities is required to achieve my career objective. Nevertheless, in my 13 years’ experience, I have found out that I derive immeasurable satisfaction in enforcing the provisions of all the applicable ordinances, laws, codes and regulations pertaining to animal control as well as initiating the necessary actions in order to correct violations a nd deviations. My passion for overseeing the compliance of animal control regulations has informed my desire and goal of being a Chief Animal Control Officer by the end of January 2017. Interim Goals My career plan, goals, and objectives are set upon a number of interim goals. The interim goals aid in the pursuit of my career aim of becoming a Chief Animal Control Officer. In essence, my first interim career goal is to possess and maintain a valid Animal Control Enforcement Certification from my state. This will aid in attaining the necessary requirement in my department for becoming a Chief Animal Control Officer. In addition, it would set me on the right path of my career by differentiating my roles in line with the career. My second interim goal would be possession and maintenance of a valid Euthanasia Certification. With this certification, the roles and responsibilities that will be assigned even in my current position will be more in line with my career. My third interim goal is to obtain and maintain a valid Chemical Immobilization Certification from the Drug Enforcement Agency. This is not only a requirement in my Department for anyone who aims at [performing duties and responsibilities in animal control field, but also complements my two previous goals. My fourth interim objective is to play a greater role in the supervision and motivation of subordinates. This interim goal aims at outlining my initiative and passion as an individual in safeguarding quality service provision in the department. In essence, this will be combined with training my subordinates on the various aspects of the animal control field. This would allow for the growth of more enhanced interaction and communication skills necessary in my career as Chief Animal Control Officer. My fifth interim objective is to gain experience as Animal Control Officer in line with the basic animal control course taken. This is in line with obtaining a driver’s license which would enhance my c apacity to execute my duties and responsibilities as Chief Animal Control Officer. In essence, this is the initial step taken by individuals who aim at becoming a Chief Animal Control Officer. Resources Needed There are variations as to the resources required to meet the interim goals, as well as the ultimate goal. The first interim goal will require that I relocate to West Virginia

TV Show Presentation Speech or Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

TV Show - Speech or Presentation Example It is time for the History Channel to produce its first original hour long dramatic TV series. The success of Roots back in the 1970s and the Tudors on Showtime today proves that there is an audience for a well-produced drama that engages with exciting history. It is our intention to produce for you a show that focuses like a laser on historical accuracy while also providing your audience with entertainment unlike they can find anywhere else. Some might call this show a soap opera, but do you know how Webster's defines a soap opera It is a serial drama chiefly characterized by tangled interpersonal situations. In other words, you could describe Desperate Housewives as a soap opera as well as William Shakespeare's Hamlet as a soap opera. The difference, of course, lies in the construction and the presentation. Was Buffy the Vampire Slayer not simply a soap opera with vampires And yet, today you can find college courses devoted to themes and philosophy of that show, as well as highly s killed academic papers. Call it a soap opera, or a historical drama, our show is guaranteed to draw viewers in with sex, violence, romance, backstabbing, politics, religions and some of the most infamous historical figures of all time. The title of our show tells it all: The Borgias.

Analysis of Work Placement Vacancy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Analysis of Work Placement Vacancy - Essay Example In product development, an employer would be exposed to the global trends embraced by the organization in regards to product production. Skills required for the placement are based on the ability to develop communication and technological techniques (Ford Motor Company, 2014). The IT placement requires one to bear the ability to develop IT tools and solutions to enhance business productivity (Ford Motor Company, 2014). In the marketing placement, one is required to possess consumer appreciation skills as well as the ability to develop fresh and trendy marketing ideas. In the quality placement, a person is required to have ideas on how to connect quality to product production and manufacturing. From my academic experience, I was able to acquire the skills required for the placement. I have exceptional skills in teamwork, total quality assurance, marketing and IT. However, the requirements by ford are more demanding that my prior experience in school. The skills I lack will be provided by the employer in the training experience. Moreover, I will develop skills as required by the employer to increase my work placement effectiveness. In addition, I would enhance the skills I lack by consulting with other employees in the

Result produces movement Essay Example for Free

Result produces movement Essay When our bodies require us to produce movement our brains have to provide our muscles with the signals to carry out the movement, this type of communication between the brain and the muscle is known as nerve impulses, these nerve pulses are electrical currents that travel from the central nervous system also known as the CNS through nerves and then to the desired muscle tissues, which the final result produces movement. Therefore initially when we begin exercise there are more muscles involved which require nerve impulses from the brain to create the movement, and these have to be sent within split seconds, this is why the nerve impulses coming from the brain increase, because not only do they have to send the normal resting nerve impulses but they also have to send nerve impulses to the desired organs or parts of the body which now have had an increase demand of contractions. For example the hearts contractions initially in exercise increase by up to 10-20 beats per a minute therefore to carry out this increased heart contractions more nerve impulses are needed to be sent. Also when these increased signals are sent, initially any muscular contractions would also be on the incline because at rest or relaxation all muscles still need to contract otherwise the body would just collapse or flop, therefore slight signals are sent to these muscles to remained contracted, however as soon as exercise begins the brain sends increased amount of nerve impulses to contract the muscles at a quicker rate, this is why it is said that weight resistant training can be more beneficial to loose weight, because as the muscle contractions are quicker they require more and more energy. The signal sent from the CNS to the muscles is whats called an Action Potential, as the signal is sent to the motor neurones the motor neurones signal a contraction to the muscle fibres. The Action Potential increases because the signals sent from the brain to the CNS are an increased amount of signals therefore the CNS has to provide more Action Potentials to assure that the motor neurones signal quickly enough to the muscle fibres to produce the desired movements. Acetylcholine diffusion occurs across the gap between the nerve and the muscle, this produces an electrical signal which is known as the Excitatory post-synaptic action potential, as initial exercise begins the diffusion of Acetylcholine is going to increase because as the muscle requires to contract more to produce more movement this requires more electrical signals to be sent to the muscles to produce this contraction, therefore Acetylcholine needs to diffuse more quickly to ensure that the Excitatory post-synaptic action potential occurs, otherwise if this signal is not big enough the muscle tissues will fail to contract sufficiently. In result of the increased Acetylcholine production, there is an enzyme known as Cholinesterase, this type of enzyme has the characteristics to break down the Acetylcholine, this is essential that Acetylcholine is broken down because it allows the muscle to be ready to receive the next signal. Therefore in the first stages of exercise because there are increased amounts of signals to produce rapid muscle contractions there is increased amounts of Acetylcholine production therefore the enzyme Cholinesterase has to be increased in order to break down the Acetylcholine quick enough to be ready to produce the next muscle signal.

Understanding And Coping With Client Resistances Social Work Essay

Understanding And Coping With Client Resistances Social Work Essay Professional social workers frequently encounter a thorny situation called client resistance. As resistance is inevitable in the intervention process and will very likely affect the intervention outcomes, study of client resistance is important to social workers and learning how to manage it will be pivotal to achieve expected goals and objectives. This paper will firstly narrate the writer ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s personal experience so as to put the issue of client resistance on the agenda and give a brief description of involuntary clients or client resistance, then present the writer ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s understanding of them in terms of their several distinctive features, and finally propose tentative strategies of coping with client resistance. Keywords: resistance; involuntary clients; intervention skills Introduction As potential social workers, we probably will be brought into contact with more and more  ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½involuntary clients ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ in the future, like mentally illness patients, deviant behavior adolescents, violent parents, battered children, etc.. Some of them are  ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½legally mandated to engage with service providers ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ (Rooney,1992), while others are experiencing  ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½social or non-legal pressures, for example, being coerced by family members to seek assistance for a particular behavior ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ (Rooney,1992). These kinds of clients constitute a high proportion of whole clients and display more resistant behaviors than those voluntary ones. Often, they do not seek help willingly and may demonstrate resistant behaviors such as negative evasions, pretended obedience or undisguised hostilities, threats and attacks from the very beginning of the worker ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s intervention. Therefore, how to interact with and intervene in this type of clients has become a tremendous challenge in the field of social work practice and it is important for social workers to get a deeper understanding of involuntary clients. Case Example X once was a primary school teacher with a fine income, and her husband Y has been running a factory which creates a great deal of wealth to the whole family. Everything seemed perfect that the couple were devoted to each other and have a daughter C who was in her second year in a satisfactory university. Unfortunately, X was extensively burnt in an explosion accident three years ago. Since then, she lost self-confidence because of her disfigured face and refused to go out for the fears of being laughed at. The daughter Z tried to took her out for an airing and ease her anxieties and inferiority about the disfigurement but failed. Since a lot of people pointed at her on the street, X felt painful and tended to isolate herself. To make things worse, not too long after her accident, her husband Y began to make relationship with another woman and was spending a large sum of time and money on that woman. He went to his factory early and back home late every day and seldom had meals at home which was entirely different from what it was before. In addition to Y ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s indifference, Z was studying at a university so far from home that she was unable to accompany her mother all the time. Consequently, X always staied alone at home with the feeling of helpless and hopeless. Although sometimes Y would come back home and cook meals for A, he had nothing to talk with X. Actually, the daughter Z here is me. I was extremely anguished, seeing my originally harmonious family rapidly disappeared. I tried to cope with such a depressing family atmosphere, but found it difficult. However, when I look back and combine the past experiences with what I have learnt in MSW, I have been realized that there were such a lot of unwise actions had been taken to resolve my family problems. Examples are showed as follows: In that period of time, I tended to communicate with my mother more than with my father and owe this difference to gender similarity and the tragic suffering of my mother. I spent much time on comforting her just because she was the only victim as in my own perception. I constantly teaching my mother how to calm herself down and change her mindsets, so as to survive in a miserable feeling. Unexpectedly, when I suggested her talking more with my father, she just sneered, saying  ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½he is so obstinate that nothing will change his mind ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. It could be inferred that she was still pessimistic and lacked motivation to make changes in spite of my consistent encouragement. On the other hand, the stereotypes that men are always mentally stronger than women made me totally forgot that my father was suffering pains and he needed care as well. Hardly had I decided to concern for and communicate with my father when I learnt that I should take him into consideration early. The most challenging thing was that he had been greatly reluctant to talk about either his former or current relationship with my mother especially the information about his extramarital love. He even did not admit any fault he had made. I have to acknowledge that I was livid when I found out that my father had been two-timing his wife and was highly emotional and illiberally prejudiced against as a result. Only now did I understand the reasons why I failed to assist my parents in settling their contradiction. My deficient consideration of my father ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s personality and the dignity as a man almost turned an equal dialogue into a thoughtless bickering. In fact, my father was def iant in the whole session because he was afraid that his authoritative status in the family would be ruined, however, I did not realize that kind of unwillingness at that time. No doubt, neither my mother nor my father is my client in the sense of professional, but if they are viewed as clients, it will be a classic case of client resistance. Definition of Client Resistance When doing the literature review, I found that the term involuntary is sometimes used interchangeably with resistant, however, the former refers to  ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½the status of the client ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, while the latter refers to  ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ behaviors or characteristics that hinder the therapeutic process ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ (Chui Ho, 2006). Usually, involuntary clients show some resistant thoughts and behaviors. Freud (1914/1957) originally conceptualized resistance as  ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½the client ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s effort to repress anxiety-provoking memories and insights in the unconscious during psychoanalytic free association ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ (Freud, 1914/1957). According to the perspective of social interaction theory, resistance is  ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½psychological forces aroused in the client that restrain acceptance of influence (acceptance of the counselors suggestion) and are generated by the way the suggestion is stated and by the characteristics of the counselor stating it ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ (Strong Matross, 1973). Simply stated, resistance has been defined as  ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½a process of avoiding or diminishing the self-disclosing communication requested by the interviewer because of its capacity to make the interviewee uncomfortable or anxious ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ (Pope, 1979). Client resistance should not be regarded as  ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½something that happens within the client, as a response to his or her inner workings, and must be overcome by the counselor ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ (Cowan Presbury, 2000). Rather, resistance should be understood as  ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½a phenomenon that emerges between client and therapist in the unfolding interaction between their differently organized subjective worlds ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ (Cowan Presbury, 2000). In a word, resistance is treated as results from the communication pattern of the counselor and the client. In other words, resistance emerges when the intervention strategies are not gear to clients ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ willingness to accept the style in which the intervention is conducted. Typical Involuntary Clients This part is a personal understanding towards client resistance. Based on an examination of the case example and the literature review, I summarized three types of involuntary clients. 1. Clients Who Have Inadequate Strength or Ability Some clients do not have the ability to take care of themselves or seek help from others, such as the disabled, the battered children and the abandoned elderly. These clients are normally forced by others to consult an agency and a social worker. 2. Clients Who Have Insufficient Motivation The clients who fall into the difficult position for a long time may feel mentally exhausted and have no extra will to seek help. Take some battered women as an example, they tend to have a despairing view of the marriage because of the learned helplessness and may find it meaningless to join in the intervention tasks. Similar to those who have inadequate strength or ability, the majority of the insufficiently motivated clients are not willingly attended the intervention tasks. 3. Clients Who Lack Introspection Although some people know that they are mired in difficulties because of their misbehaviors, they have insufficient self-contemplation, and self-examination when faced with the problems they have, which, as a result, make the problems relapse again and again. This is also the reason why most drug or alcoholic abusers find it difficult to completely overcome their additions. Skills of Coping with Client Resistance For involuntary clients, it is a common phenomenon that they will be reluctant towards self-exposure and conservative to their own experience because they worry about that not doing so would threaten their self-concept. It is necessary for a social worker to learn how to alleviate clients ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ excessive anxiety. Social workers are expected to adjust their intervention methods and the styles to the need of clients. Since most involuntary clients pay much attention to self-protection, the workers should not only avoid requesting or anticipating their self-betrayal, but also refrain from any actions that attempting to tear down clients ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ mask. 1. To Find Out the Third Party In general, social workers are required to listen carefully to clients, thus provide clients more opportunities to express their feelings and perceptions and make them feel respected and admitted. However, things are different when confronting involuntary clients. Since it is an issue of power and control that the pouring-out people are usually vulnerable whereas the listening people always have the power to make evaluation and assessment, the involuntary clients tend to crave a sense of empower through the process of resistance and rebuttal. In involuntary cases, the third party is needed in the course of the entire conversation. If I intake a client like my mother, I should not unilaterally focus on counseling the client changing herself, but on concerning several means to bring the third party into the intervention so that establishing a  ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½social work  ¿Ã‚ ½C client  ¿Ã‚ ½C the third party ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ triangular communication system. In short, the third party is ones who push clients to seek help or forced them to ask for counseling. 2. To Make the Intervention Process Clear Apart from understanding about the force that push clients into the intervention, the workers should also enquire about whether the clients have any other confusions. It aims at discovering the problems which clients want to improve. The worker as a listener should do something to give clients a feeling that they are under a clearly planned effective assistance. In addition, it is very important to make sure that clients know what will the worker do and will not do. For example, summarizing or reflecting clients ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ current situation or their main resentment can possibly promote their expectation to the counseling and enhance social workers ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ reliability as well. 3. To Alleviate Clients ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Anxieties about Changes Resistant clients may or may not recognize that they have a problem, and/or may not want to engage in a process of change (Rooney, 1992) so that they will take resistance as an means to protect themselves from the unknown (Yalom Molyn, 2005). They might be resistant towards the therapeutic process because it involves changing their current maladaptive behavior (Chui Ho, 2006). An available method to ease clients ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ anxiety about change is to make them feel more sense of control. The less the clients can control the process and results of intervention, the more they will view social workers as the representatives of those who force them to participate in the intervention. Consequently, the degree of resistance may increase dramatically. Such situation requires social workers to discuss with clients about the reasons why they are recommended to have the counseling. If a client is compelled to accept counseling, the social worker may point it out to the client that he could reject the counseling and bear the consequences of such rejection, thus restore their sense of control. Furthermore, as cultivating new behaviors is much easier than changing old ones, it might be more reasonable and effective that social works try to train the clients to foster some new patterns of communication and behavioral habits, rather than amend their previous habits, thus establish a harmonious relationship with clients. Some more complex intervention, such as teaching clients relaxation skills, or assisting them in analyzing the irrational thoughts, may have immediate utilities to the involuntary clients. Discussion The relationship between the social worker and the client is always living no matter what happened in the process of intervention. One of the major responsibilities for social workers is paying enough attention to the quality and the health of rapport-building process. To some extent, clients ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ changes or improvements come from an appropriate and valid interaction within a harmonious relationship. As potential social workers, in addition to understanding of various theories or therapies which provide different approaches to resolve client resistance, we should also learn to  ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½determine how best to address that relational dynamic in counseling ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ (Joshua, 2008).

The Incredible Journey of Moll Flanders Essay examples -- Moll Flander

The Incredible Journey of Moll Flanders      Ã‚   Abandoned by her mother at the age of six months Moll Flanders does not have any of the requirements expected for her life journey to be a very good one. Her first memory is that of "wandering among a crew of those people they call gypsies, or Egyptians;" (9). But already as a child of about eight or ten she is aware of herself as an individual ready to shape her own life: "...for alas! all I understood by being a gentlewoman was to be able to work for myself, and get enough to keep me without that terrible bugbear going to service..." (13).    Moll ´s first very frightening experience is that of being "cast off the ship" when she is turned out of doors to the wide world before reaching the age we call lawful. She is very ironic when she says: "Now I was a poor gentlewoman indeed..." (18). At this time, when individualism was beginning to be seen as something worth aimimg at, Moll is aware that for a woman life is much more limited than for a man. This novel, written as an autobiography, was composed by a man, but I think he has managed well to convey to us a woman ´s experiences and thoughts. Moll wants to shape her own life, but she does not always reach her goal. As a young woman she is seduced by a man who does not keep his promise to marry her, and then she marries his brother and lives in a marriage that is not at all a happy one.    When left a widow, she keeps thinking of the next step, of her next station in life. As it is very difficult for a woman in this society to live alone, she is "...resolved to be married or nothing, and to be well married or not at all." (65). She has a very strong notion that a woman should not be kept for a mistress if she has mon... ... Moll ´s life journey could very well have ended with her being executed, but she is lucky enough to be sentenced to transportation. The novel The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders takes us again to Virginia, where Moll and her Lancashire husband start a new life as planters. She meets her son ( a very moving event), and she inherits a farm from her mother. When we leave Moll and her husband they are living a quiet life in England, "...where we resolve to spend the remainder of our years in sincere penitence for the wicked lives we have lived." (376). To a modern reader Moll seems to be a "survivor" in a society not yet prepared or able to care for all its members. She tries, and ultimately manages, to be the captain of a ship, that is not easily steered.    Work Cited: Defoe, Daniel. Moll Flanders. Penguin Popular Classics, 1994.   

Speaker identification and verification over short distance telephone l

SPEAKER IDENTIFICATION AND VERIFICATION OVER SHORT DISTANCE TELEPHONE LINES USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS Ganesh K Venayagamoorthy, Narend Sunderpersadh, and Theophilus N Andrew gkumar@ieee.org sundern@telkom.co.za theo@wpo.mlsultan.ac.za Electronic Engineering Department, M L Sultan Technikon, P O Box 1334, Durban, South Africa. ABSTRACT Crime and corruption have become rampant today in our society and countless money is lost each year due to white collar crime, fraud, and embezzlement. This paper presents a technique of an ongoing work to combat white-collar crime in telephone transactions by identifying and verifying speakers using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). Results are presented to show the potential of this technique. 1. INTRODUCTION Several countries today are facing rampant crime and corruption. Countless money is lost each year due to white collar crime, fraud, and embezzlement. In today’s complex economic times, businesses and individuals are both falling victims to these devastating crimes. Employees embezzle funds or steal goods from their employers, then disappear or hide behind legal issues. Individuals can easily become helpless victims of identity theft, stock schemes and other scams that rob them of their money White collar crime occurs in the gray area where the criminal law ends and civil law begins. Victims of white collar crimes are faced with navigating a daunting legal maze in order to effect some sort of resolution or recovery. Law enforcement is often too focused on combating â€Å"street crime† or does not have the expertise to investigate and prosecute sophisticated fraudulent acts. Even if criminal prosecution is pursued, a criminal conviction does not mean that the victims of fraud are able to recover their losses. They have to rely on th criminal courts awarding restitution after the conviction and by then the perpetrator has disposed of or hidde most of the assets available for recovery. From the civil law perspective, resolution and recovery can just be a difficult as pursuing criminal prosecution. Perpetrators of white collar crime are often difficult to locate and served with civil process. Once the perpetrators have been located and served, proof must be provided that the fraudulent act occurred and recovery/damages are needed. This usually takes a lengthy legal fight, which often can cost the victim more money than t... ...phone speech†, IEEE Signal Processing Letters, vol. 2 no. 3 March 1995, pp. 46 - 48. [2] J.M.Naik, L.P.Netsch, G.R.Doddington, â€Å"Speaker verification over long distance telephone lines†, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP), 23-26 May 1989, pp. 524 - 527. [3] A.L.Mcilraith, H.C.Card, â€Å"Birdsong Recognition Using Backpropagation and Multivariate Statistics†, Proceedings of IEEE Trans on Signal Processing, vol. 45, no. 11, November 1997. [4] G.K.Venayagamoorthy, V.Moonasar, K.Sandrasegaran, â€Å"Voice Recognition Using Neural Networks†, Proceedings of IEEE South African Symposium on Communications and Signal Processing (COMSIG 98), 7-8 September 1998, pp. 29 - 32. [5] V.Moonasar, G.K.Venayagamoorthy, â€Å"Speaker identification using a combination of different parameters as feature inputs to an artificial neural network classifier†, accepted for publication in the Proceedings of IEEE Africon 99 conference, Cape Town, 29 September – 2 October 99. [6] H.Demuth, M.Beale, MATLAB Neural Network Toolbox User’s Guide, The Maths Works Inc., 1996. [7] T.Kohonen, Self-organizing and associate memory Spring Verlag, Berlin, third edition, 1989.

frank sinatra :: essays research papers

Sinatra, Frank (1915-1998), American singer and motion-picture actor, one of the most famous American singers of his generation. Born Francis Albert Sinatra in Hoboken, New Jersey, he sang with the big bands of Harry James and Tommy Dorsey in the 1930s.Influenced by American singers Bing Crosby and Billie Holiday, Sinatra anticipated the decline of big-band instrumental jazz music and helped establish an enthusiastic climate for popular singers. In the 1940s Sinatra embarked on a solo career and became the idol of so-called bobby-soxers, teenage girls who swooned over his crooning, soft-voiced singing. He appeared in such film musicals as Anchors Aweigh (1945), Till the Clouds Roll By (1947), and On the Town (1949). In 1953 he won an Academy Award for his nonsinging performance in From Here to Eternity. His performances in The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and The Detective (1968) were also highly regarded. During the 1950s and 1960s Sinatra teamed with a number of talented jazz arrangers, including Nelson Riddle, Neal Hefti, Quincy Jones, and Billy May, and produced a number of albums, now regarded as classic recordings, including Swing Easy (1955), In the Wee Small Hours (1955), Songs for Swingin' Lovers (1956), Come Fly with Me (1958), Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely (1958), Nice 'N' Easy (1960), and Strangers in the Night (1966). In the 1960s he also recorded with the big bands of American jazz musicians Count Basie and Duke Ellington. After a brief retirement from 1971 to 1973, Sinatra resumed his singing career. In 1993 he released the album Frank Sinatra Duets, on which many of his standard songs were engineered as duets with other famous singers. Contributors to the album included American singers Barbra Streisand and Aretha Franklin, Latin American recording star Julio Iglesias, and Bono, lead singer of the Irish rock group U2. The album sequel Duets II (1994), which won Sinatra his ninth Grammy Award in 1996, includes collaborations with country-and-western star Willie Nelson, jazz singer Lena Horne, and popular singer and songwriter Neil Diamond. frank sinatra :: essays research papers Sinatra, Frank (1915-1998), American singer and motion-picture actor, one of the most famous American singers of his generation. Born Francis Albert Sinatra in Hoboken, New Jersey, he sang with the big bands of Harry James and Tommy Dorsey in the 1930s.Influenced by American singers Bing Crosby and Billie Holiday, Sinatra anticipated the decline of big-band instrumental jazz music and helped establish an enthusiastic climate for popular singers. In the 1940s Sinatra embarked on a solo career and became the idol of so-called bobby-soxers, teenage girls who swooned over his crooning, soft-voiced singing. He appeared in such film musicals as Anchors Aweigh (1945), Till the Clouds Roll By (1947), and On the Town (1949). In 1953 he won an Academy Award for his nonsinging performance in From Here to Eternity. His performances in The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and The Detective (1968) were also highly regarded. During the 1950s and 1960s Sinatra teamed with a number of talented jazz arrangers, including Nelson Riddle, Neal Hefti, Quincy Jones, and Billy May, and produced a number of albums, now regarded as classic recordings, including Swing Easy (1955), In the Wee Small Hours (1955), Songs for Swingin' Lovers (1956), Come Fly with Me (1958), Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely (1958), Nice 'N' Easy (1960), and Strangers in the Night (1966). In the 1960s he also recorded with the big bands of American jazz musicians Count Basie and Duke Ellington. After a brief retirement from 1971 to 1973, Sinatra resumed his singing career. In 1993 he released the album Frank Sinatra Duets, on which many of his standard songs were engineered as duets with other famous singers. Contributors to the album included American singers Barbra Streisand and Aretha Franklin, Latin American recording star Julio Iglesias, and Bono, lead singer of the Irish rock group U2. The album sequel Duets II (1994), which won Sinatra his ninth Grammy Award in 1996, includes collaborations with country-and-western star Willie Nelson, jazz singer Lena Horne, and popular singer and songwriter Neil Diamond.

African Americans in the Civil War Essay

The role African Americans played in the outcome, and the road to the outcome of the Civil War was immense. The fact that the south had slaves and the north did not played an enormous role in the issues. The north wanted to abolish slavery, and the south did not and after the war started this became one of the main reasons for the Civil War. Since most African Americans could not read or write, this made them an easy target, for slavery, against the dominant white man. Once the slaves got to America they started to realize how much trouble they were actually in. The north and the south had a problem brewing, and that was due to the slave uprisings and the run a ways. African Americans played an enormous role in the outcome of the Civil War because of the part they took in it. The civil war, which took place from 1861 to the 1920s, the African American community made tremendous strides toward them becoming apart of America and equals in America. Since they had been controlled by the power of the whites for so long, their independence was extremely unfamiliar to them, with their new emancipation. Since they were so uncertain, they debated about the most effect way to go about actually receiving the rights they deserved. They did not just want to be inferior Negros. Some African Americans thought the actual approach would be to go along with the submissive status the whites held them to, so they could earn their respect until fairness pervaded. Others were more wishful with their thinking and thought the military would make whites surrender and give blacks their basic rights. Those who were still they are thought that no progress would ever come. These blacks decided that it was essential to escape the shackles and cruel attitudes toward blacks. The civil war initially began to save the Union. At the start of the war slave masters were terribly scared that the slaves would run to join the Union and help the war efforts. To subsidize the problem, most owner enforced harsh restrictions on their slaves. Some owners even moved their whole plantations inland to avoid any contact with the outside northerners. This did not stop the slaves one bit though, this just caused more slave to flee to the north. The slaves that did decide to stay just demanded more freedom from their masters. Some would say the ones that stayed even gained more power; this forced their masters to give them offerings in exchange for work. The issues of emancipation and military service were intertwined from almost the beginning of the war. News from Fort Sumter made African Americans rush to enlist in military units. They were all turned away since there was a law dating from 1792 that kept African Americans from joining the U. S. army. In Boston disappointed African Americans met and passed a resolution that requested the Government to modify its laws to permit them to enlist. Then Lincoln’s Second Confiscation Act was passed. The act stated that, Confederates who did not surrender with in sixty days of the acts passage were to be punished by having their slaves freed. The Militia Act was also passed. This act stated African Americans were allowed to fight in the war. These two acts together thoroughly punished rebel slaveholders. The African Americans that enlisted both fought in the front lines and worked behind the scenes labor jobs. All these rights that the African Americans were receiving inspired them to return home and free their families and friends. Some of them even started living in the plantations that they used to be slaves of. They took them over and began their own cropping. Some of the other plantations had been left to older disabled white woman, when the men had left for the Confederate army. All of this led to the separation of slave labor in the south After trying terribly hard to keep the issue of slavery out of the war, the North decided to start enlisting African Americans to help them fight in the war. The Fifty-Fourth regiment was created by the Union Army, and was the only all black unit. This Union in particular contributed to the war efforts of the North and showed a new found power among blacks. The regiment started when John Andrew sent a request to the secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, to create a volunteer regiment of African Americans (3). African Americans from all over the country joined. To help recruit even further they called for help from African American leaders like, Frederick Douglas and William Wells Brown. In just two months over one thousand African Americans, one from at least every state, had enlisted in the regiment. The leader of the regiment would not be black though, they wanted the superior officer to have some certain credentials. The job description posted read: â€Å"Young Man of Military Experience Of firm antislavery principles, ambitious, Superior to the vulgar contempt of color Having Faith in the capacity of colored men for military purpose† (2) The man picked for the job was Robert Shaw. The African American regiment and their captain set off for Beaufort, South Carolina on May 28, 1863 (1). They were to attack Fort Wagner, which was a vital key to Charleston. They only way to storm the fort was to go through loads and loads of Confederates. The sheer size of the Confederates to the Fifty- Fourth regiment was an obstacle in itself. The regiment knew the amount of obstacles they would have to overcome to achieve a victory and yet they kept marching. Shaw and a few men marched to the top of the parapet, and there Shaw was shot and killed. Though this was almost a complete disaster for the regiment they had set a path for future African American soldiers. Frederick Douglas said, â€Å"Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U. S. , let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship. † One thousand seventy-nine African Americans had served in the Civil War. They served in both the U. S. Army and about two thousand served in the Navy. By the time the war was over, forty thousand had died in battle and thirty thousand had died of disease and infection. African American soldiers performed all the jobs needed to run an army. They also served as carpenters, chaplains, cooks, guards, laborers, nurses, scouts, spies, steamboat pilots, surgeons, and teamsters (4). There were nearly 80 black commissioned officers (4). Harriet Tubman was the most famous spy; she served for the 2nd South Carolina Volunteers. Tubman decided to help the Union Army because she wanted freedom for all of the people who were forced into slavery, not just the few she could help by herself. And she convinced many other brave African Americans to join her as spies, even at the risk of being hanged if they were caught (4). Among Harriet Tubman were many other African American women who served as nurses, spies and scouts. Although, no women were allowed to formally join the army. When black troops were captured by the confederate soldiers, they faced harsher punishments than the white troops. In 1863 the Confederate Congress threatened to punish officers of African American troops and enslave the African Americans, if they were captured. As a result of this, President Lincoln issued General Order 233, which threatened payback on Confederate prisoners of war, if they mistreated African American troops. This order did scare the Confederates a little, but African American soldiers were still treated harsher than whites. In one of the worst examples of this abuse, Confederate soldiers shot to death black Union soldiers, captures at Fort Pillow, TN, in 1864(). Confederate General Nathan B. Forrest witnessed it all and did nothing to stop it. The President, Abraham Lincoln, issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. This proclamation eventually led to the freedom of all slaves. The document officially made free all bondsmen in the areas of the Confederacy that were still in rebellion. Slavery although was not abolished in the Border States, Tennessee, or the Union occupied areas of Louisiana and Virginia. The proclamation only affected the states in rebellion, so after the efforts it didn’t actually free any slaves. On the other hand, it did strengthen the Northern war efforts, because they knew they were fighting for a cause. Over five hundred thousand slaves had escaped to the North by the end of the civil war. Many of the escapees joined the Union Army, which tremendously increased its power. As a result of the Emancipation Proclamation, the thirteenth Amendment was created. The Amendment created on December 18, 1865, legally freed all slaves still in bondage. The final step the Emancipation Proclamation was to depress England and France from arriving to the war on the side of the South. England and France wanted to enter the war on the South side, because the South had supplied them both with cotton and tobacco. England and Frances stance changed when they heard that the war had changed to a fight over slavery. Both nations were opposed to slavery, so ended up giving their support to the Union. That led to the winning of the fight for freedom. Juneteenth was the day created to celebrate the emancipation, when the slaves heard about it that midsummer. The holiday is still celebrated today. Abraham Lincoln said, â€Å"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. â€Å"(3) African Americans along with the rest of the Union were fighting for this freedom and equality that Abraham Lincoln, was talking about. African American contributions were not limited to the role of working the fields in the south or supplying labor for industry in the north. Many African Americans in both south and north participated in either direct or supporting roles in the military. The War Between the States proved to be a war fought for democracy. The liberation that the slaves had been waiting for, recovered the ideas that founded the United States of America. All men were equal under the law. Since, the African Americans made such a persistent effort the changes were made more quickly. Africans pushed for their own emancipation by resisting their masters and other labor tasks. Although a formal Emancipation Proclamation and Thirteenth Amendment freed blacks in America, it would be a long time before they received all the rights they deserved. The minds of Americans had been so engrained with racism only decades of hard work would lessen this. Works Cited 1) Freeman, Elsie, Wynell Burroughs Schamel, and Jean West. â€Å"The Fight for Equal Rights: A Recruiting Poster for Black Soldiers in the Civil War. † Social Education 56, 2 (February 1992): 118-120. 2) â€Å"Blacks in the Civil War. †. Colorado College. Web. 3 Mar 2013.

Human Nature Essay

Human nature is based on self-preservation and selfishness in both Rashomon by Ryunosuke Akutagawa and The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. In The Lottery human nature is selfish because they kill someone in the community for their own personal gain. Selfishness also has a negative effect in Rashomon due to the harmful extremes the servant takes to stay alive. The way human nature is portrayed in these two stories is sometimes similar to the way people act in real life. In Rashomon the servant turns into a thief for the purpose of staying alive. He knows better than to steal from a woman who is already poor and living amongst corpses but he steals from her anyway. He tries to justify his actions when he says â€Å"You won’t blame me, then, for taking your clothes. That’s what I have to do to keep from starving to death. † His words show that he knows what he is about to do is wrong, but stating his reasons for why he needs to do it makes him feel better. At the beginning of the story he has no intentions of becoming a thief. Soon he realizes how bad his conditions are, this weakens his morals and his first priority becomes survival. This shows that when it comes to staying alive people become selfish and less concerned with other humans well being. Humans will go to extreme measures to get what they need even if that involves harming others. This story uses a lot of animal imagery to show how people become violent and tend to forget their morals when it comes to survival, it becomes almost like â€Å"dog eat dog. † An example of this is when the woman is picking hair out of the corpses to make a wig in hopes of selling it for money; this behavior is animal like. Why is it that people resort to crimes and immoral acts before considering other options when it comes to survival? In The Lottery the community is selfish because they sacrifice someone so their crops will grow. They need their crops to flourish so they will not go hungry; this is a form of self-preservation. In real life we have laws to stop people from committing various crimes. In The Lottery there are no laws to stop them from acting like animals and stoning each other. The fact that we have laws proves that we have them because some people do not have morals or choose to ignore them in certain circumstances. Laws were created to keep communities in order and civilized. Self preservation makes people forget about the well-being of others and instead focus on themselves. We see this in The Lottery when it says, â€Å"Mrs. Delacroix picked up a rock so large she had to use both hands to lift it. † In the beginning of the story Mrs. Delacroix and Mrs. Hutchinson are friends but at the end of the story when it comes down to her crops flourishing or her friend; Mrs. Delacroix is selfish and stones Mrs. Hutchinson to death. This example shows people are selfish and put their own needs first. Another example of this is when Mrs. Hutchinson say’s â€Å"it’s not right, it isn’t fair†, she is not talking about the lottery she means it is not fair that she was chosen. She would have no problem stoning someone else to death so that she could live and her crops could flourish. Human nature is portrayed the same way in Rashomon and The Lottery. In both stories the people are selfish and harm other people to benefit themselves. In Rashomon he beats up a woman and steals her clothes so he can survive and in The Lottery the community kills Mrs. Hutchinson so their crops will flourish. Their reason for being so selfish is self-preservation. The servant doesn’t want to die so he steals from a woman who has less than him. The community in The Lottery needs food to survive so they take part in the lottery. In both stories the people act like animals because they have no laws or rules to stop them from doing so. The difference between these stories is that in Rashomon it is only two people acting immoral but in The Lottery a whole community is acting uncivilized. In both stories human nature is portrayed negatively. In comparing this to current times, I find that Hurricane Sandy brought out the worst and the best in people. I live in a waterfront community that was badly affected by the hurricane. Some people’s homes were destroyed or flooded but that didn’t stop people from robbing homes in my neighborhood. At night we had police driving around with spotlights checking on homes and properties. Some people chose to steal generators right off others driveways. News reports talked about opportunist who broke into damaged businesses and stole whatever they wanted. Criminals broke into flooded homes and took what little salvageable items were left. When faced with a problem people have the option to rise to the occasion or not too. Unfortunately more people choose not to. This is what makes human nature selfish for the most part. After reading the newspaper this morning stealing generators seems pretty insignificant. I came across a story I can’t seem to get past. The Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Newton Connecticut. I cannot understand how someone could go into an elementary school and shoot innocent children for their own selfish reasons. I cannot comprehend how someone could kill his or her own mother over a petty argument and feel no guilt. It scares me to know we live in a generation where human nature is so selfish that sending your children to school has become dangerous. Because human nature is so selfish children at such a young age are exposed to so much hatred. No six or seven year old should have to watch their classmates die for no reason other than the killer was simply having a â€Å"bad day† and needed to take his anger out on someone. The one aspect from this story that shows me human nature is sometimes still selfless is Victoria Soto. Victoria hid her students in closets and other spaces so the killer could not find them. When the killer approached her classroom door and asked where her students were she replied the gym; she was then shot. Victoria Soto may not have been able to save herself but she saved an entire classroom of innocent children. It is sad that a horrific event like this needs to take place before human nature changes because for twenty-seven children it’s a day too late. In both Rashomon and The Lottery the people go to immoral extremes for selfish reasons. In The Lottery the community stones someone for their own personal gain. In Rashomon the servant harms a woman in worse conditions than him self for the means of survival. The way human nature is negatively portrayed in these two stories is unfortunately similar to the way people act in real life.

Limitations of financial ratios as a tool to evaluate financial performance Essay

Although financial ratios play a critical role in allowing investors and analysts to give appropriate predictions and a measure of how the company will perform in the future years in terms of stock prices and profitability but a measure problem with these ratios is that they are based on historical data and therefore an attempt to look into the future with the use of these ratios is risky and exposes investors to different kinds of risks such as inflation, cross-border risk and other business related risks. Another limitation of these ratios is related to there limited use on there own. Certain ratios are insignificant unless they compared with the older data or industry averages. This is a main reason why most analysts want to compare a company’s financial ratio with the industry figures. This also means that an understanding of the business and industry must be there with the investor before a decision is made with regards to purchasing the stock of a company. We also see that firms and their finance departments do try their best to inflate results and window dress the balance sheet and profit and loss figures. This can lead to over estimated revenues and understated costs which might be discovered later. Therefore it is important to look at different ratios and notes to the statements before conclusions are drawn. There is also a case for companies that have defaulted or there have been instances where scams have been caught and reported by the securities companies and other government departments. Some of the financial ratios also might be impacted by the sudden change in a particular factor or some economic factor that might have a short-term affect on the performance of the company’s bottom line and earnings per share. To counter this short-term possibility analyst must look at both technical and fundamental analysis before deciding the long-term view on the company. Another issue with financial ratios is that it does not take into account off-balance sheet items that might play a significant role in the profitability and revenue generation of a company this is a case especially for investment banks. We also see that financial ratios only use accounting data and not economic data. This is also a downside to financial ratios as only limited data is being used to come to important conclusions. (Financial modeling guide, n. d. ) Conclusion MITIE is a strong group with businesses in strategically strong markets where long-term view is extremely positive. The company has strong financials with a prudent policy of avoiding debt in uncertain times. The company has done well considering the difficult time that has been presented by the economic recession and worldwide financial crunch. The company’s profitability looks stronger as we move into 2010 and beyond. The company also has huge potential in business areas such as infrastructure management and property works especially within the public sector. We say so because a lot of options will be available and a number of opportunities present themselves specifically in the government sector. (Reilly & Brown, 2003) The financial analysis reveals important stuff about the company; firstly the company has very few assets backed by long-term borrowing which shows that the company has an opportunity to raise finances by leveraging its balance sheet. This could be very effective if some strategic capital is bought or expansion is sought by the company. We also see great potential as the liquidity and cash position of the company s very impressive this is the case because it is very difficult to manipulate important data in the cash flow statement and the cash flow figures therefore a good performance in that sector shows great potential and the healthy performance of the company. Essentially what is of utmost importance for the company is the fact that it has successfully faced the lowest points of the economic cycle and more importantly it ensured that it developed adequate policies to handle the recessionary times so that in future when liquidity crunch will strike again the company will have adequate measures in place. Appendix Bibliography: Baker. H, Powell. G, 2005. Understanding financial management: a practical guide. Blackwell Publishing Financial Modeling Guide, n. d. Limitations of Financial Ratios in Financial Modeling. Viewed February 6, 2010. < http://www. financialmodelingguide. com/financial-ratios/financial-ratio-limitations/> MITIE, 2010. Investors at MITIE, viewed February 7, 2010 < http://www. mitie. com/investors> MITIE, 2010. About us, viewed February 7, 2010 < http://www. mitie. com/about-us> MITIE, 2010. Annual Report 2009, viewed February 7, 2010 < http://www. mitie. com/investors_reports-and-presentations_2009_MITIE-Group-PLC-Annual-Report-2009> Reilly, K Frank & Brown, 2003. Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management, Cengage South-Western Publisher.

Corporate Security within Emerging Markets Essay

Corporate Security within Emerging Markets - Essay Example cular forms of behaviour can improve or damage an organisation's 'licence to operate', and in some cases this can create risks that would not otherwise present. Consequently, security has a higher framework in the corporate world in the present day than it did couple of years ago. Companies are seeking new ways to administer these threats and the portfolio of the security department has expanded to include common responsibility for things for example standing, corporate governance and parameter, corporate social responsibility and information assurance. As the undertaking matures, the corporate security community has been trying to recognize how to support security with the business, in order that doing business and doing security go together. On the other hand, the political economy of Africa is at the defining moment. The centrally controlled economies are yielding to global liberalism. Regionalism as a development strategy seems to be getting a new lease of life in the general development discourse in Africa while assuming varying forms. This report brings to light several practices which create a policy for twenty-first-century corporate security with particular emphasis on the countries of Africa. Corporate Security: An Introduction The companies recognize that the challenge for corporate security is no unlike that for any other function - they must correspond their company's varying business milieu and ensure that how they act, what they do and how they perform reveal these truths. The companies show six key characteristics: 1. They recognize that security is realized through the everyday actions of employees' right across the company. It is not something that the corporate security department can do to or for the company on its behalf and its operating... As the essay declares the corporate security department can do to or for the company on its behalf and its operating success is thus reliant on its capability to influence others to work in a different way. This puts weight on communication and needs security departments to assess the outlooks of non-security professionals just to the extent that those of the specialists. This paper stresses that behaviour is changed only by persuasion, influencing and explanation of as why a novel mode of working is in each person’s interest. This entails departments to work through reliable social networks, which puts greater weight on people, management and social skills than security knowledge. The power of the corporate security role is now directly proportionate to the value of its relationships, not the strength of its substance knowledge. The corporate security departments that are directing the way have discarded old notions about where their power and authority come from. Their position does not hinge on which makes them special – their content knowledge – however on business insight, people skills, management capability and communication skills. In other words, they have to vie on the same terms as every other function in the company. This is causing many organisations to put greater weight on these abilities than on a security conditio ns and some have people working on security who don’t have any security know-how.

Critically evaluate equality of opportunity in (a) the teaching Essay

Critically evaluate equality of opportunity in (a) the teaching profession OR (b) the classroom - Essay Example It must be pointed out that the EO in teaching profession result to EO in education and hence any discussion for EO in the classroom must be taken to explain the effect of EO in the teaching profession. On the hand the inequality of opportunity (IEO) teaching profession result to IEO in education and hence, any discussion for IEO in the classroom must be taken to explain the effect of IEO in the teaching profession. The premise the teaching profession affects education is based on the premise that teachers bear great responsibility in moulding education of students who will become professionals and matured members of society. And hence good teachers produce good students in the classroom and good teachers and good students produce good education of UK citizens. "Let us stop tinkering with school structures, such as bringing back grammar schools, or promoting selection and the rest. Let us address the real problem, which is to recruit more teachers and better qualified teachers, with adequate resources for them to do the job of raising the general standard of basic education in our country." (Callaghan, 2001) Community Council of DevonïÆ'  (CCD) defines equal opportunities EO as that â€Å"about ensuring fair and equal treatment for everyone, and tackling discrimination wherever it exists in our society.† It says the fundamental principle is that employment opportunities and service provisions should be free from bias, and equally available to all. It posits as well that equal EO involves the breakdown and removal of discriminatory structures, biased policies and prejudicial practices in organisations and individuals. It further states that EO seeks to replace processes that perpetuate inequality with fairer and more effective ways of working. (Community Council of Devon, 2002, pages 1-4) (paraphrasing made) CCD summarized that EOP is about the elimination of discrimination, maximising potential, taking positive action, implementing change,

Suicide among young men in the United Kingdom in related to the press Research Paper

Suicide among young men in the United Kingdom in related to the press - Research Paper Example Social phenomenon of various kinds is analysed using evidence to back up claims. Evidence gathering for such purposes needs to be traced out meticulously in order to create a true reflection of the society and its problems. This paper attempts to analyse the social problem of suicide in Great Britain in order to ascertain a particular direction for research. Overlying trends will be identified and any anomalies in social behaviour will be segregated. These social anomalies will be investigated later as â€Å"major memoirs† while this â€Å"minor memoir† will delineate the various resources that could be used to research the identified issue. Moreover, the credibility, relevance and suitability of the sources will be established to present a strong foundation for research. Social Problems Social problems can be seen as any social conditions that produce harm to any segment of the society’s population. Moreover, social problems can also represent various social con ditions and acts that may violate a society’s norms and values. (Eitzen et al., 2009) Social problems can be produced by social psychological behaviour or through implications of the social structure. (Beeghley, 2000) For example if a person is a drug addict then there could be multiple causes for it. One reason could be that the person in question has friends or other social influences that encourage the use of drugs. This reason would constitute the social psychological aspect of the explanation. Another reason could be that the person in question is unemployed, depressed or otherwise repressed by social institutions to an extent that he feels that drug use is the only solution. Such an explanation would constitute a social structural explanation of the problem. Social problems can proliferate if portrayed in such light. Suicide: Social Problem or Private Problem Suicide can be seen as any act initiated by a human being to end his or her own life with complete knowledge and established intent. (Hawton & van Heeringen, 2009) Various reasons can be attributed to suicide including social, biological and other explanations. Perhaps the most significant work on suicide was produced by Emile Durkheim in analysing suicide using scientific methods. However there has been rampant debate regarding the nature of suicide as a personal or as a social problem. The act of taking one’s own life is nonetheless a purely personal problem. The lack of social commentary on any issue tends to make such issues personal. Previously suicide was treated as a purely personal problem. However media spotlight on the issue aided in the transformation of suicide into a social problem in recent years. (Samaritans, 2011) In order to ground things in more concrete reason it is best to analyse the statistics for suicide to form a clearer picture. Suicidal Trends in Great Britain The suicide rates in Great Britain must be traced from official sources in order to guarantee their c redibility. Moreover, suicide rates need to be adjusted for their consistency with population growth. As population levels grow each year, the suicide rates must reflect this growth or suicide rates would seem to keep decreasing each year. The government of Great Britain compiles statistics for suicide as well as other such issues each year. These statistics are available on the official statistics portal of the government better known as the Office for National

Separation of Powers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Separation of Powers - Essay Example Montesquieu echoes Aristotle's arguments that having the mixture of the traditional governing bodies would balance the power and authority. Further more, he references Aristotle in his book by saying; "The inhabitants of a particular town are much better acquainted with its wants and interests than with those of other places; and are better judges of the capacity of their neighbors than of that of the rest of their countrymen. The members, therefore, of the legislature should not be chosen from the general body of the nation; but it is proper that in every considerable place a representative should be elected by the inhabitants" (Montesquieu). Aristotle, Montesquieu, and Locke all support the notion that civil society originates when, for the better administration of the law, men agree to delegate legal functions to certain officers. They are all against a "monarchy" government as it does not support a civil society. It by definition corrupts the individual who is given all of the power. Both Aristotle and Montesquieu allow for a balance between the oligarchy/monarchy and the democracy by allowing an "executive" element who's function is to balance that of the legislative/democratic element. 2) Aristotle believed that there were three classes. At the bottom were the farmers, laborers, and poor. As this class of people did not have the leisure time to pursue education, they would make a meager ruling class. The ruling class Aristotle argued should be comprised of the leisured classes, and the "middling element". He clarifies that the governing body with a larger "middling" element is more stable as they relate best to both of the extreme elements and are less concerned with power so as not to become corrupt. This combination of the "leisure class" and the "middling element" Aristotle referred to as citizens; "Citizens are distinguished from other inhabitants, such as resident aliens and slaves; and even children and seniors are not unqualified citizens (nor are most ordinary workers). After further analysis he defines the citizen as a person who has the right to participate in deliberative or judicial office" (SEP) Montesquieu viewed class as an outcome of the ability of the legislative body. He acknowledges that people are born into different circumstances, but argues that "the laws should disguise as much as possible the difference between the nobility and the people, so that the people feel their lack of power as little as possible" (SEP). In other words, the nobility who are likely the majority of those elected to be in the governing body should exercise care in order to not alienate those subjected to their rulings. When they fail to do so, the nobility will lose its spirit of moderation, and the government will be corrupted. 3) Montesquieu believed that "it is the masterpiece of legislation to know where to place properly the judicial power" (SL) According to Vile, Montesquieu was not the first philosopher to separate the judicial from the legislative but rather his writing was published at a time which

Technological determinism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Technological determinism - Essay Example In relation to this, the notion of technological determinism is referred to the belief that new technology will certainly lead to a cultural as well as social change which further seeks to ensure certain developments in the media and technology dimensions within the society on a whole (O'Loughlin, 2010). Based on this understanding, the paper will provide an insight on how a particular technology is responsible for any sort of cultural and social change. Technological Determinism Theoretically, technological determinism is described as an idiom that depicts how the evolution of technologies influence change in the standard of living of human beings. It is often described as among the most important aspects that positively impact the overall society. Technological determinism is further believed that technological determinism is a media technology that shapes the perceptions of people living in the society and brings significant changes in the way they act and feel. As per this partic ular idiom, technology innovation, with the passing time becomes a bit faded but is well capable to bring considerable changes in the society. Moreover, in the similar context, it is also believed that introduction of any sort of technology in the society influences people to adopt the same which brings changes in their behaviour and eventually alters the overall nature of the society. Stating precisely, technological determinism addresses the impact of different technologies on the overall functioning of the society (McLuhan, 2010). Arguments in Support of Technology and its Impacts on Culture and Society Undoubtedly, technology has driven some significant changes in the society and the culture of the modern day scenario. It has to be mentioned that the impacts of technology in the society can be both negative and positive. Contextually, when assessing the societal and cultural impressions led by technology innovations, the role of mass communication and telecommunication can be ob served apparently imposing positive changes within the society and culture. Taking into account the effects of mass communication and telecommunication technologies, it can be justifiably argued that technology is quite a powerful prospect which is well capable of influencing the lifestyle preferences and beliefs of people and the society at large with a wider prospect for exchanging thoughts and stimulating cultural diversity (O'Loughlin, 2010). Effects of Mass Communication on Society and Culture Mass communication is the overall blend of technologies such as radio, television, newspaper, films and advertising among others. After the evolution of these technologies, a significant change had been observed in the behaviour and standard of living of people which eventually impacted the culture and the society at large irrespective of geographical limits and cultural variances. The introduction of these technologies in the society further allowed people to experience or perform tasks that would had otherwise been stated as unimaginable. For instance, since its innovation and with

Individuals Influence On Gender Identity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Individuals Influence On Gender Identity - Essay Example To understand gender identity at a deeper length, it is imperative to consider social constructs of gender difference. This implies that issues like socialization or environmental factors and response to changing societal norms must be considered and understood. Children start understanding gender identity at a very tender age. A child will know whether he is a boy or she is a girl. Thus children at an early age can already categorize their gender. They further learn how to perform gender roles that are associated with their identity as masculine and feminine. Boys learn to control and manipulate their physical environment through their strength and sometimes skills. On the other hand, girls at an early age, already start presenting themselves as an object that should be viewed. These children keenly monitor their friends’ gendered behaviors as well as their own. Thus, gender segregated children activities, partly found in their play and normal life practices bring in the appe arance that there are male and female behaviors. Therefore, these children grow up knowing that there are varied behaviors, roles, and practices that they should do as a male or a female. There are a number of factors that influence a child’s gender development. The most outstanding of these factors is the environment where a child develops. Indeed, Barret found out that one's identification as a male or a female is not natural, but it results after a series of repeated performance of gender norms conforming to the above-identified sexes. identified sexes (2001, pp. 313). Thus, it is this performance that will reproduce and results into the traditional gender categories of males and females. Studies have found out that children develop gender identities as they search for their social cues (Lucal, 1999, pp. 513). In addition, Brown established similar findings in his studies. He established that, children will develop their

Dorian Gray- the uncanny Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Dorian Gray- the uncanny - Essay Example it is only possible for the cynical modern man, in all his busy activity, to learn from directly experiencing the consequences of acting without thought or presuming too much thought into what should instead be an action. This is spelled out in the essay and then acted out in personified form in the novel. In relating these concepts to the world of art, it is important to remember that Wilde’s concept of art was that it should be something experienced thoughtfully as an object of pure beauty rather than an interpretation of the artist’s values – an artistic instinct fed by spiritual inspiration. â€Å"Emotion for the sake of emotion is the aim of art, and emotion for the sake of action is the aim of life, and of that practical organization of life that we call society† (Gilbert). These ideas regarding the artistic ideal are clearly spelled out through the words of Gilbert in â€Å"The Critic as Artist† and are personified in the characters of Lord H enry Wotton (instinct), Basil Hallward (conscience) and Dorian Gray (object) in The Picture of Dorian Gray. In â€Å"The Artist as Critic,† Gilbert quickly illustrates why consciously imbuing art with symbolism and other purposeful value judgments is not the most desirable action to take; that the only true art must come into existence as the result of a perfect meld between instinct and conscience. He tells Ernest that those with the best intentions may end up being proven to have instead the worst effects while those who have intended to do great harm may similarly have enormously positive results. â€Å"[Men] rage against Materialism, as they call it, forgetting that there has been no material improvement that has not spiritualized the world, and that there have been few, if any, spiritual awakenings that have not wasted the world’s faculties in barren hopes, and fruitless aspirations, and empty of trammeling creeds† (Gilbert). In making this statement, Gilbert indicates that materialism, the lifestyle

Microbiology Study Guide Chapter Essay Example for Free

Microbiology Study Guide Chapter Essay Food Production 1. Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, 2. Saccharomyces cerevisiae B. Oxygen production C. Nitrogen Fixation D. Decomposition E. Bioremediation F. Antibiotics G. Biotechnology and research H. Normal flora I. Pathogens (malaria parasite, E. coli, Salmonella, Clostridium) IV. The Origin of Microorganisms A. Spontaneous Generation revisited 1. Francesco Redi 2. Lazzaro Spallazani 3. Louis Pasteur 4. John Tyndall B. If not Spontaneous Generation, then what? 1. Ferdinand Cohn 2. Robert Koch Chapter 3: Microscopy Staining I. What can we see with a microscope? A. Micrometer B. Nanometer II. History of Microscopy A. Robert Hooke B. Anton van Leeuwenhoek III. Principles of Microscopy A. Total Magnification B. Resolution/Resolving power 1. Wavelength 2. Numerical aperture C. Refraction/Refractive index D. Contrast IV. Light Microscope /Bright field Microscope A. Parts and functions 1. Oculars 2. Objectives/Revolving nosepiece 3. Stage 4. Condenser Iris diaphragm 5. Adjustment knobs- Course, fine, condenser and stage B. Principles of electron microscopy (transmission and scanning electron microscopes). V. Staining Techniques A. Smear Preparation B. Types of dyes – basic, acidic C. Types of Staining Procedures 1. Simple staining 2. Positive and Negative staining 3. Differential staining a. Gram stain b. Acid-fast stain 4. Structural stains a. Capsule stain b. Endospore stain c. Flagella stain Lecture Chapter 3: Prokaryotic Cell I. Shape: A. Coccus B. Bacillus (rod) C. Coccobacillus D. Vibrio E. Spirillum F. Spirochete II. Arrangements: A. For cocci: 1. Chains or Streptococci arrangement 2. Packets (tetrads (4 cells) or 8 cells (Sarcinae)) 3. Clusters or Staphylococci arrangement B. For bacilli- Single, irregular, stacked or chained rods III. External Extensions A. Flagella in Gram negative bacteria 1. Components – Basal body, Hook, Filament 2. Arrangement – (Mono, Lopho, Amphi or Peri) trichous 3. Movement – Chemotaxis, Phototaxis, Aerotaxis, Magnetotaxis B. Axial filaments (endoflagella) C. Attachment pili (Fimbriae) D. Sex pilus IV. Layers/Coverings A. Glycocalyx – Capsule, Slime layer B. Cell Wall – Peptidoglycan, NAG and NAM 1. Gram positive- Teichoic- (TA) and lipoteichoic acids (LTA) 2. Gram negative- outer membrane made of endotoxin -Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), periplasm 3. No cell wall- Mycoplasma C. Cytoplasmic (cell) membrane 1. Components – Phospholipid bilayer, Fluid Mosaic model 2. Passive transport a. Simple diffusion b. Osmosis 1)Â  Hypertonic 2)Â  Hypotonic 3)Â  Isotonic c. Facilitated diffusion 3. Active transport a. Major Facilitator family transporters –use proton motive force b. ABC transporters- use ATP as energy c. Group translocation 4. Energy production a. Electron Transport chain b. Proton Motive Force V. Internal Structures A. DNA as a Single chromosome in a Nucleoid region B. Plasmids and transfer of plasmids (conjugation) C. Ribosomes D. Storage Granules – Glycogen, Volutin, Poly-? -hydroxybutyrate, sulfur E. Gas vacuoles (vesicles) F. Endospores 1. Formation of Endospore-sporulation a. Core – Dipicolonic acid + Ca2+, DNA enzymes b. Core Wall Cortex – peptidoglycan + muramic lactam c. Spore coat – keratin-like protein 2. Germination – Return to Vegetative State 3. Location – terminal, lateral, central