Wednesday, October 30, 2019

What Factors Contribute to Cost Increases in Higher Education Research Paper

What Factors Contribute to Cost Increases in Higher Education - Research Paper Example Unlike older days, the global niche has become more and more competitive. It is a race; survival of the fittest. The more skilled and educationally equipped the more chance you have to fight and survive. Catching up with the technology is one way higher education enhance economic development as graduates are better equipped to use new technologies. It is a complete cycle as higher education provides better job opportunities which in turns run the economic engine providing more capital which can be collected back as taxes and used to further improve the framework of higher education. (Bloom et al 2006). Concept that higher education plays an important role in the economic development and institutions can stimulate productivity was first introduced by Theodore W. Schultz. He introduced the idea of Human capital and its link to modernizing economy which flourished into complete Human Capital Research Program influencing many researchers and policy makers. (Teixeira 2006).The nations hav e long realized the significance of higher education and much has been done to build a solid infrastructure that can extract and polish the skills of an individual. But the capital required to obtain such qualifications is on the rise making it difficult for a middle class family to afford. According to the US statistics shown by Institutional Characteristics Survey tuition fee charges remained relatively stagnant in the 1970s. But there was a considerable increase in fee charges between 1980 and 1990. This increase not only had a great effect on the student and parents but also on education policymakers. In the same survey it was noted that rate of increase was greater at public institutions as compared to private institutions. Despite increase in tuition charges, number of students continuing on to higher education after finishing their high school has raised from 49% in 1980 to nearly 62% in 1993. During 1992-93 full time students attending a public school received financial aid on an average of 29%. The aid was greater for families with poor income about 80% and less for high income families about 10%. (Livingston 1995). Some enthusiast believes that higher education should be free. Many would agree that this statement is misconstructed. Even though sometimes consumer may not have to pay for a product but someone else in the background is bearing the cost. Going through a lot of literature I realized that it has been debated extensively but the question is still the same: who should pay? (Johnstone et al 2010). Before we can answer this question we need to understand different policies which provide the revenue that fuel the education system. The most common and classical model is General Tax system. In this policy, the funds are collected via general taxes imposed on every individual of the country. This model has served well over the decades but in general violated the beneficiary pays principle. Although university graduates mostly contribute in this re venue collection, a large proportion never attended the university and still has to pay. However, this policy is in line with equal opportunities for equal abilities principle. Second plan that provide funds to higher educational system is implementation of tuition fees and scholarship combination model. Institutions take a considerable amount of tuition fee to compensate for the operating cost. This is line with the beneficiary pays principle but defies the principle of equal access. This model favors the

Monday, October 28, 2019

Literacy and illiteracy in UAE Essay Example for Free

Literacy and illiteracy in UAE Essay Education is one of the most basic factors for the uplifting of man’s basic level of understanding. The Middle East has suffered the most in terms of illiteracy of its nationals. UAE which is the most promising country in terms of infrastructure and economy of the Middle East has laid out certain strategic developments for the future. The United Arab Emirates had a very high illiteracy rate in the new millennium and it was estimated to be over 22%. The first of the country’s strategy was to recognize the problem’s complexity which is exactly done by UAE and has released a mammoth capital of $2 billion for the same cause. The government of UAE has strategized the situation well and has kept their primary focus on educating the teachers and professors on proper education techniques and making them learn about following proper accreditation guidelines. The project has already been launched by sending hundred school principals to various countries for gaining experience on teaching methods used by international developed countries The part of strategizing is having the pilot testing programs, which exactly is being done by the government of UAE in ten public schools, where right from the level of education to the insight on infrastructure will be given a complete overhaul. UAE has targeted 100% literacy rates in 2015 and for achieving this target the strategies that are being are not only for children but also emphasis has been given on adult education. The following will shed light on the government’s intention of educating illiterate adults of the country: ‘Thousands of nationals pursuing formal learning at 86 adult education centers across the country. Many of them are above 50 years of age. A large number of graduates from these evening schools have enrolled for higher education at various universities’ (Courtesy: Team KT, â€Å"UAE targets total literacy†. 16 March 2008 . Retrieved on November 29, 2008 from http://www. khaleejtimes. com/DisplayArticleNew. asp? xfile=data/theuae/2008/March/theuae_March498. xmlsection=theuaecol=) The country is doing well in its planning and its implementation and the stratagem to the problem if illiteracy has been very seriously executed. Reference: 1) Team KT, â€Å"UAE targets total literacy†. 16 March 2008. http://www. khaleejtimes. com/DisplayArticleNew. asp? xfile=data/theuae/2008/March/theuae_March498. xmlsection=theuaecol 2) Andy Sambidge, â€Å"UAE education chief reveals $2bn strategy†. 17 November 2008. http://www. arabianbusiness. com/538482-uae-education-chief-reveals-2bn-strategy

Saturday, October 26, 2019

The Role of Women in Chinese Culture Essay -- World Cultures

The Role of Women in Chinese Culture In traditional Chinese culture, women were inferior to men. They were not allowed to make any decisions concerning their families. Their only purpose in life was to stay home and take care of the households. "A woman's duties are to cook the five grains, heat the wine, look after her parents-in-law, make clothes, and that's all! ...she must follow the `three submissions.' When she is young, she must submit to her parents. After her marriage, she must submit to her husband. When she is widowed, she must submit to her son. These are the rules of propriety." ("The Mother Of Mencius", p.34) That's the principle that was followed in traditional China. Some of the examples of this are discussed in this essay. Young girls were taught to be good housewives and good mothers; they had to submit to their fathers. Children were not allowed to disagree with the fathers. However, if a son had an opinion, he was allowed to discuss it with the father and daughters were not able to do so. Young women were not able to choose their husbands; the parents set it...

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Book Analysis: No Matter How Loud I Shout: A Year in the Life of Juvenile Court Essay

A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Humes dedicated a year of his life researching California’s juvenile justice system His book, â€Å"No Matter How Loud I Shout: A Year in the Life of Juvenile Court† is inspired from this experience. Humes has written a moving account of California’s juvenile justice system and the children who pass through it. This carefully researched book chronicles the arrests of seven teenagers and their experiences both in juvenile court, and while serving time. The book also describes the legal processes and interactions between prosecutors, public, private defenders, and judges that decide the fates of these teenagers The book begins by shedding light on the development of laws for Juvenile Delinquents. In the 1960s sentencing for juvenile offenders was entirely left to the mercy of the judge since as minors they were not granted the same legal rights as an adult However this practice allowed an Arizona Judge to sentence a teenager to six years in jail for making just an obscene phone call. Three years later when the Supreme Court overturned the conviction it ruled that juvenile delinquents could not face sentences more severe than adults This particular ruling, though safeguarding delinquents from the whims of an overzealous judge has also allows those who have committed serious juvenile offences to receive sentences which are more lenient than those warranted by the severity of the crime. This ruling and its consequences in shaping the life of Juvenile delinquents forms the cornerstone of Hume’s book . When Hume’s wrote his book the law in California allowed only offenders sixteen years old and up to be tried in adult court. This has proved to be an arbitrary and extremely infuriating cut off for both the prosecutors and the Judges. The reason for contention is that this law often allows a delinquent who is just a few months short of a sixteenth birthday being given a lesser sentence for a crime quite severe in nature while a delinquent who is just barely a few months over sixteen is a given a longer sentence for a crime of a less severe nature In his book Hume’s illustrates the injustice that delinquents have to suffer as a result of this ruling. He follows the case of 15-year-old Ronald Duncan from a middle class family with no prior criminal record. Duncan was accused of double homicide when he shot his employers at point-blank range. The motive for the crime: a few hundred dollars and revenge for a petty reprimand by his employer on being late for work. But because Ronald was still a few days short from his 16th birthday at the time of his crime the maximum sentenced he received was eight years and would be released by his 25th birthday– with a clean record. The author draws a parallel between this case and Geri Vance another case he has been following. This 16-year-old was forced to participate in a motel robbery by two drug dealers. When the robbery was botched Gerri ended up getting arrested because he took his wounded partner to hospital and sacrificed a chance to flee. Geri lacked a pre-meditated intention to commit this crime, a determination to reform, an excellent record in juvenile hall, the fact that he had not fired his gun and that he had taken a wounded man to hospital. How can they charge me with murder? I never even fired my gun at anyone, Geri tells the Intake Officer, which is perfectly true — and, legally at least, completely irrelevant. â€Å"I was forced to take part in that robbery. I didn’t want to do it, but I gave in. I know I have to do some time for that, I understand that. But I’m no killer. † (Humes 1997, 13) But despite all this he still ended up facing potential life imprisonment when his cohort died of his wounds because he had already turned sixteen and was treated like an adult. This is definitely a much severer penalty than the one imposed on Duncan who deliberately shot two people with the intent to kill them. However Gerry did get lucky on a plea bargain and his sentence was reduced to 12 years, still longer than the time served by Duncan â€Å"Geri Vance, the would-be motel robber — the murder defendant who killed no one — faces life in prison without possibility of parole, and will almost certainly get it. Ronald Duncan, the shotgun killer, can serve no more than eight years, and probably will do less. He can never see the inside of a state penitentiary. After his release, his record will be wiped clean, as if it never existed, the files sealed by state law, so that he can move freely, run for office, own a gun. † (Humes 1997, 15) In his book Hume tries to establish that three out of four juveniles who are arrested under the age of 16 walk away with minor punitive action. This has resulted in an increasing incidence of repeat offenders. He states that in California, repeat offenders account for almost 16 percent of the total crime committed y juvenile delinquents. However these repeat offenders only get serious and deterring punishment when their offences progress to the most serious levels. Until that happens the juveniles are not actually deterred from committing a crime because of the lax punitive measures. In his book Humes mentions that an experienced judge can predict the punishment meted out to a juvenile just by looking at the size of the file. â€Å"When a file is a sixteen of an inch, it will almost certainly end in probation. A quarter to a half inch, add some time in the hall†¦. An inch or so in thickness and the likely sentence is one of the county’s two dozen juvenile camps. And over two inches, the kid is probably a Sixteen Percenter. â€Å"(Humes 1997, 35) Another major issue: that Hume discusses in his book, is the fact that juvenile offenders with financial resources receive much more lenient sentences. He states that rich kids get their sentences tailored according to them while the poor kids receive sentences tailored to their crimes. He cites that this injustice occurs because rich kids and their parents can hire lawyers who prove to the judge through character witnesses that the rich kid is a law abiding and morally righteous and that his criminal behaviour is a deviant occurrence which can be corrected through rehabilitation and does not warrant a long sentence. However the poorer kid cannot prove the case for rehabilitation and ends up with a longer prison sentence. Hume discusses the need to reform the young offender. Offenders should be caught early at the age of 13 or even before that when they first start to cut school and commit their first offence or right after they join their official gang. â€Å"And, finally, when I was growing up, I learned how to load bullets into a gun. I learned how to carry it and aim it, and I learned how to shoot at the enemy, to be there for my homeboys, no matter what† (Humes 1997, 17) Currently the system doesn’t focusing on reforming those who are caught early because it is too overburdened in punishing those that it has allowed to become repeat offenders and commit serious crimes. Hume sites that there is a lack of proper rehabilitation facilities to accommodate those who can benefit and reform as a result. Rather than release young juvenile offenders parole send them to rehabilitation camp can prove to be a greater deterrent that can cause them to abandon their life of crime and escape serious punitive action in the future. Hume ends his book by advocating that that early prevention programs targeting kids with high-risk profile can yield positive results and reduce the incidence of absenteeism from school, first time drug use and repeat offences. He also notes that there is greater support to change the Law and have all juvenile delinquents be treated as adults and warrant serious punishments attributable to their crimes. Though this would definitely ensure that the Ronald Duncans of the world get what they deserve it would also mean turning a blind eye on the countless kids who could have been reformed through a rehabilitation program.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

United States V. Dentsply International, Inc

Name: Lei Chen Course : ACCT 362W Prof: Kenneth Ryesky Esq. Date: 11/4/2010 Case Caption: United States v. Dentsply International, Inc. , Court: United States of Appeals, Third Circuit. Date: Argued September 21, 2004. February 24, 2005 Citation: 399 F. 3d 181 Facts: This is an antitrust case that the defendant- Dentsply international, Inc. , is one of a dozen manufactures of artificial teeth for dentures and other restorative device. Dentsply dominates the industry, his market share is greater than 75 percent and is about fifteen times larger than that of its next-closest competitor.The defendant use sells his teeth to dealers of dental products; then the dealers supply the teeth to dental laboratories, which fabricate dentures for sale to dentists. As the hundreds of dealer who compete with each other on the basis of price and service; some other manufactures sell their teeth directly to the laboratories basis of on the price and service; Dentsply prohibits its dealers from marketi ng competitor’s teeth unless they were selling the teeth before 1993. The plaintiff- the federal government files a suit in a federal district court against Dentsply, alleging, a violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act.Issue: Was the defendant’s preventing its dealer from selling competitors’ products restraint of trade and harm the market? Was the defendant’s act violating of section 2 of the Sherman Act? Decision: Yes, the district court’s judgment was reversed and the case was remanded with directions to grant the government’s request for injunctive relief. Reason: The Section 2 of the Sherman Act – the relevant market in this case was the total sales of artificial teeth to laboratories and dealers combined.The defendant’s act preventing its dealer from selling other competitors’ product was designed to block competitive distribution points, and to prevent giving the customer a choice. It was a plan to maintain mono polistic power, which it is restraints on trade, harm the market. Opinion I agree with the court decision because Dentsply’s act was not allowing dealers to handle competitors’ teeth, and then there will be few choices in the market giving the customer to choice. Dentsply’s monopolistic power could set the teeth price what their want, which the harm the economy and the whole market.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Free Essays on Taoism

Taoism is one of the two great philosophical and religious traditions that originated in China. The other religion native to China is Confucianism. Both Taoism and Confucianism began at about the same time, around the sixth century B.C.E. China's third great religion, Buddhism, came to China from India around the second century of the common era. Together, these three faiths have shaped Chinese life and thought for nearly twenty-five hundred years (Hartz 3). One dominate concept in Taoism and Buddhism is the belief in some form of reincarnation. The idea that life does not end when one dies is an integral part of these religions and the culture of the Chinese people. Reincarnation, life after death, beliefs are not standardized. Each religion has a different way of applying this concept to its beliefs. This paper will describe the reincarnation concepts as they apply to Taoism and Buddhism, and then provide a comparison of the two. Taoism The goal in Taoism is to achieve tao, to find the way. Tao is the ultimate reality, a presence that existed before the universe was formed and which continues to guide the world and everything in it. Tao is sometimes identified as the Mother, or the source of all things. That source is not a god or a supreme being, as Taoism is not monotheistic. The focus is not to worship one god, but instead on coming into harmony with tao (Hartz, 8). Tao is the essence of everything that is right, and complications exist only because people choose to complicate their own lives. Desire, ambition, fame, and selfishness are seen as 1 hindrances to a harmonious life. It is only when a person rids himself of all desires can tao be achieved. By shunning every earthly distraction, the Taoist is able to concentrate on life itself. The longer the person's life, the more saintly the person is presumed to have be... Free Essays on Taoism Free Essays on Taoism taoism By: Gemma Taoism Taoism originated in China during the 300 ¡Ã‚ ¯s BC. It has been part of the Chinese culture for 2,000 years. It was during the same time period as Confucianism, but had opposite ideas and morals, yet it was equally as important as Confucianism in Chinese history. Taoism began as a reaction to  ¡Ã‚ °historical situations ¡Ã‚ ±(c1), and became a philosophy of the natural way. The word Tao actually means  ¡Ã‚ °road ¡Ã‚ ± or  ¡Ã‚ °way. ¡Ã‚ ± Taoism has had a large impact on art and literature, and had been greatly influenced by Chinese folk religion. Folk religion says that most gods were actually just people who displayed heroic qualities. The priests conducted public rituals. Many Taoists seek careers in astronomy, herbal remedies, and alchemy, among other fields. Tao represents what makes everything what it is, reality as a whole (all the ways). It provides spiritual inspiration, and moral standards. It supplies strength and refuge. Taoism is  ¡Ã‚ °not a thing, but a creative process ¡Ã‚ ±(b1). The ways tell you to live your life, but not to interfere with nature. A fish needs to swim; a tree needs to grow. The Tao focuses on independence and tranquility. Taoism is equally as important as Confucianism in Chinese history. Confucianism and Taoism began during the same time period, but had different views, even from the beginning. Confucianism says that you can only live a good life in a well disciplined and structured society, and Taoism says you should live your life however you want, as long as you stay close to nature. Taoism is a philosophy of the natural way. It is a practical way of life. Taoists look down upon war, taxes, punishment, and your typical set of morals. They look up to happiness, contentment, control, and giving in when you believe is necessary. They also stress simplicity. Profit, cleverness, desire, and selfishness shall be left behind. The  ¡Ã‚ °three treasures ¡Ã‚ ±(c4) are said to be  ¡Ã‚ °deep love, frugalit ... Free Essays on Taoism Taoism is one of the two great philosophical and religious traditions that originated in China. The other religion native to China is Confucianism. Both Taoism and Confucianism began at about the same time, around the sixth century B.C.E. China's third great religion, Buddhism, came to China from India around the second century of the common era. Together, these three faiths have shaped Chinese life and thought for nearly twenty-five hundred years (Hartz 3). One dominate concept in Taoism and Buddhism is the belief in some form of reincarnation. The idea that life does not end when one dies is an integral part of these religions and the culture of the Chinese people. Reincarnation, life after death, beliefs are not standardized. Each religion has a different way of applying this concept to its beliefs. This paper will describe the reincarnation concepts as they apply to Taoism and Buddhism, and then provide a comparison of the two. Taoism The goal in Taoism is to achieve tao, to find the way. Tao is the ultimate reality, a presence that existed before the universe was formed and which continues to guide the world and everything in it. Tao is sometimes identified as the Mother, or the source of all things. That source is not a god or a supreme being, as Taoism is not monotheistic. The focus is not to worship one god, but instead on coming into harmony with tao (Hartz, 8). Tao is the essence of everything that is right, and complications exist only because people choose to complicate their own lives. Desire, ambition, fame, and selfishness are seen as 1 hindrances to a harmonious life. It is only when a person rids himself of all desires can tao be achieved. By shunning every earthly distraction, the Taoist is able to concentrate on life itself. The longer the person's life, the more saintly the person is presumed to have be...

Monday, October 21, 2019

Alexis Sanchez Essays

Alexis Sanchez Essays Alexis Sanchez Essay Alexis Sanchez Essay Alexis Alejandro Sanchez Sanchez (born on December 19, 1988 in Tocopilla, Chile) is a Chilean football player, who plays as a winger or forward. He is known as El Nino Maravilla (the Wonder Boy). Alexis was named by World Soccer Magazine as one of the 50 most exciting teenagers in the world game. He began his professional career with the Chilean club Cobreloa. He played one season there before being signed by the Serie A team, Udinese. Udinese had to pay nearly $3 million for his signature. Colo-Colo then paid Udinese nearly $150,000 for his services in the upcoming Clausura tournament and the following Apertura tournament in the Liga Chilena. He scored his first goal with Colo-Colo in the Copa Sudamericana 2006 against the Liga Deportiva Alajuelense on October 10, 2006 in David Arellano Stadium. On March 12th 2007 Sanchez hurt his toe and there were major fears that Sanchezs career may be over. On March 20th 2007, Sanchez made a miraculous recovery from his bad toe and scored a hat-trick in a Copa Libertadores group match versus Caracas. On August 15th 2007, he was signed to River Plate on loan. [1] Udinese has Alexis Sanchez valued at 20 million euros. [2] On June 18th 2008 newspaper reports were published linking Sanchez to a move to Manchester United FC. Sanchez the Wonder Boy is dubbed the next Cristiano Ronaldo. International At the young age of seventeen, Sanchez has played for the Chilean National team on several different occasions. He debuted when the international team took on Universidad Catolica. He played in a friendly game against New Zealand in Chile. Prior to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, the Chilean National Team went on a tour in Europe playing three friendlies. They played Ireland, Cote dIvoire, and Sweden. Sanchez played significant minutes in all three games impressing scouts. Despite only scoring one goal in the 2007 South American Youth Championship, Sanchez proved to be a vital part of the Chilean national team that went on to qualify for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. During the tournament Sanchez had numerous chances and created opportunities for others. However the U-20 World Cup and the Copa America 2007 are both taking place in the same month with both teams needing his services. Titles Season Club Title Clausura 2006 Colo-Colo Primera Division Chile Champion Apertura 2007 Colo-Colo Primera Division Chile Champion Clausura 2008 River Plate Argentine Primera

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Interview Lessons from an IKEA Cartoon

Interview Lessons from an IKEA Cartoon A cartoon image that had me laughing out loud was an â€Å"IKEA Job Interview.†Ã‚   The interviewer sits behind a desk in a sparsely furnished room and points to a bunch of pieces of a disassembled chair, which lie neatly on the floor.   â€Å"Please have a seat,† says the interviewer. While this image is hilarious, if the job interview were for a mechanic or an assembler of chairs at IKEA, the scene would not be so farfetched.   And in fact, it is not unusual for an interviewer to test an interviewee with a task to perform on the spot.   A good interviewer might test your practical skills in an interview, or your ability to respond to criticism, by asking you to perform a task or adjust your demeanor mid-interview. I once interviewed a young man for a social worker position at the non-profit where I worked in Brooklyn, NY.   There were two of us interviewing him, and I really liked him.   He answered questions well and I was considering hiring him.   My frustration was that he never made eye contact with me.   It seemed as if he were gazing off into space and not fully connecting with me.   And I knew there was no way I would actually hire him if he couldn’t make eye contact. I did something perhaps unconventional.   I stopped the interview, told him what I was experiencing, and asked him why he wasn’t making eye contact.   He gave a reasonable response that he was struggling with having two interviewers and didn’t want either of us to get all his focus.   From that moment in the interview, he made full eye contact with either me or my associate. I hired him. Why?   Because I knew beyond doubt from that interview that this man took criticism and coaching well, and could implement a suggestion quickly and effectively.   He also had all the other qualifications we were looking for. He is still working at the organization today, and is appreciated for his work ethic and great attitude, as well as for the results he produces. So this IKEA cartoon, while humorous, might not be that far off the mark for something you might be called upon to perform on the spot in a job interview.   Luckily, all the tools you need are already in your possession.   You just need to be good at following directions. 🙂 Log in to Reply azwinndini says: May 12, 2018 at 4:26 am and it still very funny Log in to Reply

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Critical Thinking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 12

Critical Thinking - Essay Example It is a normal attitude that human beings have towards different kinds of people and hence the ways in which beggars or a young girl would be observed are different. While psychologically the author’s comments may seem to be right, logically they do not fit the idea since if an individual’s psychological mind-set allows him to pre-judge a person wrongly, it is nonetheless wrong. This fact has not been discussed in the passage. The author tries to focus on the point that a drunk beggar would be generally more dangerous than a sober teenager girl, in terms of any harm that they might do to others. Negative pre-judgment would actually help people to be careful in this regard. The author has remained consistent in his views but his arguments do not reveal his confidence on the issue, which is complicated in the sense that judging people without knowing much about them can be either right or wrong, and this factor cannot be analysed from before. The author has also mentioned that he cannot answer this point perfectly. Hence as the author says negative pre-judgments are not always wrong, is a statement that has no valid logic to support it. Brandon Bean has considered in his note a very important issue which is experienced by almost all individuals at some point or another. People have a general tendency to pre-judge others, before knowing much in details about the individual. But it is generally believed that al such pre-judgments are bad or negative. Bean has focused his thinking on the fact that this is not true in all cases, stating two main factors. Firstly, that all pre-judgments are not negative, and secondly that, it is not always wrong to have negative pre-judgments. While the author has tried to deliver an argument to focus that negative pre-judgment is not always wrong, rationally this cannot be supported considering that such negative pre-judgment can affect the

Friday, October 18, 2019

Evaluating Instructional Design Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Evaluating Instructional Design - Research Paper Example The three basic outlines for how to approach instruction are defined and given meaning in relationship with instruction. Fifteen principles are involved in the discussion of instructional design, and from these fifteen principles it is intended that seven will be further explored through examples of videos in which they have been violated. In learning how to appropriately use a theory it is often beneficial to see how it has been erroneously applied, or not followed. In looking at the principles of instructional design, it is valuable to see how others have failed to follow the ideas put forth and the effect that these missed steps have on the information that is intended. Merrill on Instructional Design M. David Merrill (2008) has been in the instructional design business for about 40 years. His opinion is that the internet has allowed for easy access to the public, but has created a glut of information dumps through which true instruction is ineffective. He assesses the glut of wor k as representative of an inability to create effective instruction at a broad level, with even professional organizations falling short of those principles that have been determined as necessary to create effective instruction. Merrill (2008) outlines three important aspects of designing learning. The first is the need to show people what is being instructed rather than just tell. Giving people an opportunity to practice what has been learned is more than just multiple choice questions. Getting them involved in more complex tasks is required for good learning. The final aspect of educating that is important for learning is motivation. Real learning comes when a student is able to do something that they were not able to accomplish before the education event, with a real world application being the reward so that they can do what they could not do before the instruction. Being able to do something new is the greatest motivational factor available to the instructor, according to Merri ll. He states that through demonstration, activation of practical application, then through the motivation of learning how to do something, the basics have been covered to improve instruction. Broken down to simple, one word explanations, a teacher must engage the student by showing, practicing, and doing. The emphasis on real world application seems to have a strong focus for learning practices, where abstract concepts are far more difficult to achieve than concepts that are applicable in the real world. Clark and Mayer (2011) break this idea down into farther into three additional types of teaching, the first being show and tell which is receptive, show and do which is directive, and teaching by problem solving which is guided discovery. However, these three concepts are based upon the idea that the student is motivated towards learning because they will be able to do something after the conclusion of the learning experience. The last two of these types of teaching are particularl y directed towards creating a system in which the student is given a form of a doable result from the instruction. Overview of 15 Principles of Instructional Design The discussion of education in relationship to instructional design is based upon the use of principles that guide instruction towards affecting the student to engage in learning. The first principle is alignment between activities and outcomes. In order to create effective learning, it is important

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 9

Assignment Example Increase in the wages of orange pickers. Again many firms operating below the appropriate profit margin will find it difficult to pay expensive orange pickers, who will be made redundant. As a result, firms will have to reduce their output and have to charge higher prices to compensate high wages of workers who are retained in the job. 3) The result of price reduction is increase in the companies producing these computers which increased the supply and at the same time reducing prices. It may also be due to foreign firm giving competition to the local expensive brands. 4) A tariff on imported orange juice will mean that imported orange juice will become more expensive. This will reduce the competition on the local firms to reduce their prices to compete with a cheaper brand. As a result, local firms will exploit the consumers charging higher prices and thus overall market price for consumers is going to increase. 5) A shift in demand signifies that a product will now be bought more or less at every give price. This occurs due to some factors that make the product more or less attractive and it is not due to the price. Similarly, increase in quantity demanded is movement along the curve and is basically increase or decrease in price brought about by price fluctuations. 6) An increase in income is going to increase the demand for normal good as income increases. This is because people now have more to spend and will try to improve their living standard. On the other hand, an increase in income is going to reduce the demand for inferior goods as people will look for better alternatives and high quality goods. 7) No, consumers do not buy more of every good as the price of goods fall. The demands for necessities remain more or less constant throughout the changes in income cycles. Demand for normal good increases as the price of a good falls, but the demand for inferior goods or cheap goods does not vary that much as they constitute only a small

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Postmodernity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Postmodernity - Essay Example Talk about religion, culture, art and even technology and you are certainly confronted with both fundamentalists and a new wave of thinkers who will normally feel that postmodernism should be the accepted way of life (Anderson 2003). Well, it then begs the analysis of the whole concept of postmodernism to clearly see its true connotation and to draw lines between the term and the conventional modernism. Modernism, contrary to popular knowledge, has been in existence since somewhere in the late 17th or early 18th centuries (Chan, 2008). It is a period that radically transformed all manner of life in science, art, religion, culture etc. The ideas and thoughts propounded by postmodernists are normally subjects of much analysis. This arises out of the true nature of postmodernism. It has normally been seen that postmodernists are driven by that ultimate opposition and antipathy towards modernism. Whatever is conventional in the mindset of the modernist is therefore what the postmodernist seeks to prove wrong and nullify as old and traditional (Deely, 2001). A more recent trend seen is where postmodern fundamentalists have been constantly attacking and questioning some of the most celebrated knowledge in academic and professional realms (Eagleton, 2000). As a very special characteristic, postmodernism fundamentally relies on the voice of reason and the ability to inspire change through the avoidance of the bandwagon effect where humanity simply borrow from their past without much thought or ability to think and analyze what is good for them. With modernism, humanity evidenced the development of the Enlightenment era in which reason was used to establish fundamental truths about the world (Docherty, 2003). These truths have gradually been developed and have guided life for the past few centuries. Well, it has to be realized that postmoderns are normally against such guiding principles. To them, the concepts of morality and ethics, which are normally considered univer sal, are merely subjects of personal and subjective decision. In several instances, it can be seen that postmodernity tries to bridge the gap that is normally left with the flaws of modernism. In a critical perspective, postmodernism is not simply a way of life. On the contrary, the word is simply meant to address a wide range of social, economic, cultural and political changes that have lately inundated the world. It is the modernistic way of life supplemented with modern technology, globalization, individualism, feminism and multiculturalism (Gidders, 1999). On the cultural perspective, the move towards ethnic pluralism and relativism has made people to nostalgically think about their past cultures and what has been lost over time. Indeed much has been lost. On the social scale, the digital age has made the flow of information across the world as easy as possible. This has radically transformed lifestyles across many areas as new ways of life are adopted. Postmodernity encompasses that timeframe between the early 1980s to the present. It is a period that saw the emergence of a new economy-the postindustrial, which effectively replaced the earlier forms of life like aristocracy, working class and middle class (Zygmunt, 2000). Much of this era is however defined by the emergence of

What Effect Does ADX Have on Atherosclerosis Article

What Effect Does ADX Have on Atherosclerosis - Article Example Image 1 the image above shows the pathway by which the Adrenal glands respond to the signal triggered by the brain.1 When the adrenal glands are removed, there is a sudden decrease in the epinephrine, norepinephrine and hormones. This could lead to disastrous effects in the body. Reasons for an adrenalectomy could be due to an adrenal mass (incidental adenoma), pheochromocytoma, Conn’s Syndrome (aldostrenoma) and Cushing’s syndrome.2 Atherosclerosis is a stress inducing disease. The adrenal glands respond to the development of atherosclerosis and release hormones to reduce the further developing. In atherosclerosis the Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL) enter the endothelial cells in the cell wall where they are oxidized. Oxidized LDL is toxic and induces inflammation. The monocytes, in the blood passing through the artery, respond to the inflammation and engulf the macrophages (cholesterol rich oxidized LDL). These form foam cells, filled with lipid. The cells die (apoptos is) and leave a lipid core. The body’s attempt to heal forms a fibrous cap over the lipid core. LDL growth continues causing the elastic membrane to stretch outward. Arterial remodeling takes place to maintain the artery’s shape, however if the lesion continues to grow the growth will continue inwards when it cannot stretch outward anymore. This narrows the diameter making it less easy for the blood to pass through, and the fibrous cap is now very thin after is has been stretched which increases chances of lesion rupture. Glucocorticoids are stress-response hormones; the hormone is released in response to stress in the body by the adrenal glands. Glucocorticoids also play a role in the further developing of atherosclerosis. The glucocorticoids inhibit the colony growth of macrophages; this is beneficial to reducing atherosclerosis. However, glucocorticoids have side effects which could increase the chances of developing atherosclerosis, such as high blood pressure, ind uction on hypercholesterolemia, impairment of glucose tolerance, hypertriglyceridemia, imbalance of thrombosis and fibronolysis.3 In the present study, I hypothesized that an adrenalectomy will lead to further the development of atherosclerosis in the LDL-knockout mice. To test this hypothesis, the levels of stress was compared to the development of atherosclerosis in both sham operated and adrenalectomized (ADX) mice. The genetic differences were compared after the sham operation and the adrenalectomy took place. This study demonstrates the effect of ADX on atherosclerosis. Methods: In this experiment 12 week old female LDL-receptor knockout mice were used. Supplied by, my supervisor Menno Hoekstra. The mice were caged in groups of four or five. The drink bottles contained a saline solution, from which the mice could drink at any time, also during fasting. Diet N is made up of cholesterol, fat and cholic acid. The experiment took place as follows; the mice were 6 weeks old when the ADX and SHAM operations took place. This is week 0. At two weeks the mice gained strength after being fed the chow diet. Blood was drawn at two weeks. At six weeks the mice were put on diet N and blood was drawn again. At 8 weeks the mice were sacrificed after blood was drawn. Sacrificing: The adrenalectomy takes place when

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Postmodernity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Postmodernity - Essay Example Talk about religion, culture, art and even technology and you are certainly confronted with both fundamentalists and a new wave of thinkers who will normally feel that postmodernism should be the accepted way of life (Anderson 2003). Well, it then begs the analysis of the whole concept of postmodernism to clearly see its true connotation and to draw lines between the term and the conventional modernism. Modernism, contrary to popular knowledge, has been in existence since somewhere in the late 17th or early 18th centuries (Chan, 2008). It is a period that radically transformed all manner of life in science, art, religion, culture etc. The ideas and thoughts propounded by postmodernists are normally subjects of much analysis. This arises out of the true nature of postmodernism. It has normally been seen that postmodernists are driven by that ultimate opposition and antipathy towards modernism. Whatever is conventional in the mindset of the modernist is therefore what the postmodernist seeks to prove wrong and nullify as old and traditional (Deely, 2001). A more recent trend seen is where postmodern fundamentalists have been constantly attacking and questioning some of the most celebrated knowledge in academic and professional realms (Eagleton, 2000). As a very special characteristic, postmodernism fundamentally relies on the voice of reason and the ability to inspire change through the avoidance of the bandwagon effect where humanity simply borrow from their past without much thought or ability to think and analyze what is good for them. With modernism, humanity evidenced the development of the Enlightenment era in which reason was used to establish fundamental truths about the world (Docherty, 2003). These truths have gradually been developed and have guided life for the past few centuries. Well, it has to be realized that postmoderns are normally against such guiding principles. To them, the concepts of morality and ethics, which are normally considered univer sal, are merely subjects of personal and subjective decision. In several instances, it can be seen that postmodernity tries to bridge the gap that is normally left with the flaws of modernism. In a critical perspective, postmodernism is not simply a way of life. On the contrary, the word is simply meant to address a wide range of social, economic, cultural and political changes that have lately inundated the world. It is the modernistic way of life supplemented with modern technology, globalization, individualism, feminism and multiculturalism (Gidders, 1999). On the cultural perspective, the move towards ethnic pluralism and relativism has made people to nostalgically think about their past cultures and what has been lost over time. Indeed much has been lost. On the social scale, the digital age has made the flow of information across the world as easy as possible. This has radically transformed lifestyles across many areas as new ways of life are adopted. Postmodernity encompasses that timeframe between the early 1980s to the present. It is a period that saw the emergence of a new economy-the postindustrial, which effectively replaced the earlier forms of life like aristocracy, working class and middle class (Zygmunt, 2000). Much of this era is however defined by the emergence of

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Electronic Health Records - Has the Affordable Care Act, Meaningful Term Paper

Electronic Health Records - Has the Affordable Care Act, Meaningful use and incentives helped Where are we with EHR compliance Meaningful Use - Term Paper Example or Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) have also been implemented to achieve some positive progress in the United States of America with regard to healthcare delivery. These programs and reforms cost the United States government a lot of taxpayer money, sometimes going up to tens or hundreds of billions of dollars. The important question that must be answered with regard to these reforms is whether they are effective and whether they really do lead to better healthcare (Copeland, 2011). Past performance such as in the Medicaid and Medicare indicates that the success rate may be low. The low success rate may be indicated by the fact that these reforms such as Medicaid and Medicare end up being scrapped off due to poor performance. The affordable care act is a health reform legislation that has led to many controversies in the United States. The implementation of the reform is estimated to cost billions of US dollars. The purpose and intention of this act was to ensure that the cost of health insurance was lowered while at the same time improving healthcare to the many people who could not afford health insurance (Schreiber, 2011). It was geared towards reducing the rates of non-coverage and this would be helpful in making sure that healthcare in the United States was equalized for all, poor and rich. The act is still under implementation in the United States and it is estimated to be fully implemented by the year 2020. Reports indicate that the affordable healthcare act has made it possible to minimize the number of uninsured people in the United States from about 18 percent to about 15 percent (Foster, 2010). This is a significant figure considering that it has not been fully implemented yet. However, the pr oblem is with regard to how this act relates to other health reforms such as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, the question that must be answered as to how these two acts relate with each other and how they support,

Aspects of individuals Essay Example for Free

Aspects of individuals Essay The study of the aspects of individuals who become Presidents is a rich field with many different perspectives. Scholars utilize many different factors in determining two basic ideas about the presidency. Those ideas are the characteristics needed to become the President and the characteristics needed to do a good job being president. One of the perspectives of presidential research is the psychological perspective. Using this perspective, scholars claim to be able to identify some characteristics of â€Å"successful† presidents. There are many difficulties attached to this concept. The first is that, from a psychological perspective, the sample pool is extremely small, another is the ambiguity attached to the notion of applying personality traits to person based on their entire lives, and the final difficulty is in evaluating the presidency in terms of success. In trying to determine what personality traits are most amenable to becoming president, scholars are limited by the simple fact that there have only been 44 presidents, and of those, only 43 were ever elected (President Ford was an appointee to Replace Nixon). Also, when examining personality traits of a pool of individuals, it is important to control for factors other than personality that may be contributing factors. This further limits scholars because all presidents to date have been male, all but one have been white, none have served or been elected below the age of 42, and nearly all of them came from privileged socioeconomic circumstances. As all of these demographic elements can have significant impact on personality, it is difficult to associate personality alone with any commonalities noted in this group. A second difficulty in assessing personality as a function of presidential success lies in the study of personality itself. In the field of psychology there are dozens of tests, measures, and categories that can be used to type an individual. One of the problems with these measures is that they rely, at least in part, on self-reporting. Thus, for any president who has never participated in such an evaluation (most of them), and attribution of traits or categories of personality would be speculation at best. Further complicating the issue is attempting to discern whether a President’s behavior either in or out of office is consistent enough across his life to be considered a personality trait. Scholars have only the reports of the Presidents themselves and their contemporaries to make that determination. Political scientists, therefore, cannot have much ground to associate personality traits with presidential success. The field of personality study is sufficiently ambiguous that, given the small sample of presidents, nearly any conclusion can be supported by some evidence. In addition, a scholar would run into the question of causation when determining the Presidents’ personality. If, for example, a President is deemed to be decisive based on their conduct in office, the question would remain as to whether that trait was a result of being President when many critical decisions had to be made, or whether the President was always decisive. Even if scholars could quantify personality traits on a consistent basis, presidential performance is even more difficult to quantify. A President may be judged a success or failure on any one of a number of categories. Even the Presidents’ career path offers differing notions of success. One segment of Presidential success is the ability to be elected or re-elected. A second is their performance while in office. A third might be their conduct and life after the presidency. Scholars have picked and chosen the criteria for a successful president, but those choices are largely self-fulfilling, and often, beyond the control of the Presidents. Presidential performance is predicated on the historical context more so than any other job. A President who was, for example, very conservative fiscally could gain the reputation as a â€Å"good† President when economic times are flush (as with Coolidge in the 1920s) and a President with the same ideals and personality could fail miserably if conditions were different during their presidency. i. e. Hoover) The Illustration of Coolidge and Hoover brings to light another problem with evaluating the performance of a President. Although he presided during an economic boom, Coolidge was in fact responsible for the policies that led to the financial crisis which began in Hoover’s Administration. In contrast, Hoover was given a window of barely four years to â€Å"fix† a depression that he neither caused nor was chosen to deal with. A further point is that the president who is credited for ending the crisis may have been nothing more than the fortunate beneficiary of a huge worldwide conflict that would have stimulated the economy regardless of who was in the White House. Unfortunately, one of the most popular ways of assessing presidential success is on the basis of popularity polls. This is unfortunate for a number of reasons. Most notably, those who respond to those polls are relying on incomplete information. The average citizen may be able to identify Abraham Lincoln, for example, as the President who preserved the union, but few could identify James K. Polk as one of the few Presidents in history to have kept all of his campaign promises (including the promise that he not seek a second term). Depending on the measure of performance applied, the â€Å"most popular† Presidents can actually be among the worst. For example, if foreign policy success were the measure, George Washington, an avowed isolationist, John F. Kennedy, whose actions embroiled us in Vietnam, and Bill Clinton, whose administration failed to capture Osama Bin Laden after a 1993 attack on the World Trade center might be ranked among the worst. In contrast, Richard Nixon (opened talks with China, achieved Detente with USSR) was probably among the best. Even in the abstract, it is difficult to identify personality traits that would make an effective president. The job changes on an almost daily basis, and the actions and behavior of the president must be flexible enough to deal with new situations and a near-constant air of crisis. Most historians and presidential scholars admit that it takes at least a generation or two after the presidency to even begin to evaluate its success, and doing so on the basis of personality traits is extremely problematic. Question 2 The Modern presidency is a result of over two hundred years of trial and error with respect to the use of power. Over the time of the nation’s history, the Presidential usage of power has varied from near-inertia, to near-dictatorial powers. In the modern era, the Presidency has become increasingly powerful. Using the tools of command of the Armed Forces, executive orders, and political influence, the Modern president is now a political creature totally different from that envisioned by the framers of the Constitution, and while not necessarily in keeping with democracy, the modern Presidency is much better equipped to deal with crises than a Presidency as viewed by the framers of the Constitution. The President exercises much authority in foreign policy through his command of the armed forces. The congressional check on this power by the president is twofold. First, congress issues forma declarations of war, and second, it provides the money needed for extended military actions. Modern trends have completely neutralized both of these checks. In the first case, the United States does not need to formally declare a state of war in order to send troops into combat. In Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, among other places, the US has entered combat without a formal declaration of war. The second check, the so-called â€Å"power of the purse† has been neutralized by modern politics. If congress refused to fund a military effort, they would be painted as being â€Å"against the troops† and would face political repercussions. Thus, politically and practically, the Modern president has nearly unilateral control over the military. This, while not the intention of the Framers, is not necessarily a bad thing. Modern technology causes events around the world to happen much more quickly than in years past, requiring, at times, quicker responses than one is likely to get from Congress. The ability of the President to react unilaterally to military crises is a necessary development in response to a changing technological and geopolitical circumstance. The modern President has made a habit of circumventing the proper law-making processes through the use of executive orders and agency regulations. Since the executive branch is meant to enforce the laws of Congress, it is left with the power to formulate a mode of enforcement that suits its own interpretation of the intent of the law. Again, this goes well beyond the intention of the framers of the Constitution, who feared exactly this sort of power invested in a single individual. Fortunately, modern government being as large and cumbersome as it is, not all policy decisions are made directly by the President. A vast majority of them are made by underlings following general guidelines of the administration. This practice has made it so domestic policy in particular does not reflect necessarily to will of Congress. Historically, the President has used executive orders to circumvent the constitution, going so far in recent years as to deny citizens certain protections provided in the Bill of Rights. This practice is neither new nor unique among Presidents. From the time of Abraham Lincoln, presidents have used the exigency of war as justification for ignoring the Constitution. At times, it seems that this mode of lawmaking is actually advantageous, given the partisan bickering that accompanies Congressional lawmaking, and, again, in times of crisis, when quick, rational action is needed, Congress is better off outside the loop. The modern President also uses his role as head of the Political party to exercise policy control. Particularly if his party controls the majority of Congress, he may make his law-making wishes known and receive a good deal of support in Congress for his initiatives. Using his veto authority, he can make sure that policies contrary to his parties’ views do not become law, unless met with overwhelming support from both sides. This practice is more in keeping with the intention of the framers. Congress can still overrule the President if there is sufficient sentiment that a given law is necessary, but, for the most part, the modern President sets lawmaking priorities for a friendly Congress. This is in keeping with the Ideal of democracy in only a limited way. The people choose the President through the means of the Electoral College, but have very limited input into policy once that decision is made. The framers set thins up intentionally in this manner because they feared direct democracy. They only went so far as to allow the people to choose their representatives in the hopes that they would pick able people who could exercise their own judgement in determining the best interests of the nation. The unilateral nature of the Presidency has had mixed results in modern history. It has allowed the nation to respond quickly in crises such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the First Iraqi War, but has also sent us into ill-advised military actions in Vietnam, Central America, Africa, and the Second Iraq War. The power of the presidency was utilized well to handle crises such as the attacks on the world trade center, but not as well in response to some natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina. On the whole, it seems that it is better to have the ability to act quickly in the modern world, than not be able to do so. However; it is in the nature of reality that the first response to a problem is not always the best one, and some issues require deliberation and time to solve. If a president recognizes these facts, and acts accordingly in the appropriate situations, he or she can be a very effective leader while honoring the spirit of Constitutionality. Question 3 The Modern Presidency has become a centralized and politicized position, more so than in any other era. More than any time historically, citizens cast their vote for one of two parties, relying on their platforms to indicate how they will conduit the government. As a result, the Presidency has become the centralized embodiment of principles that appeal to the mainstream of political thought. This politicization was not what the framers intended, but the centralization has served the nation reasonably well in practice. In the modern era, scrutiny on presidential candidates is extremely close and getting closer and closer. Since the first televised debates in 1960, unprecedentedly large numbers of people have been privy to the record, reputation and history of presidential hopefuls. This forces the candidate to be careful to articulate viewpoints in a manner that will be least offensive to the most people. Part of this dynamic is the fact that those with more radical viewpoints, no matter which side of the political spectrum they lie, have a disproportionately loud voce in modern media to support or decry a given candidate. If a candidate is unfortunate enough to offend one of these groups, he or she is facing opposition from an extremely well-funded, vociferous group. Because of this, political hopefuls, particularly presidents have to be, or at least appear, to be politically moderate. This engenders an environment where the politically moderate become the primary pool from which candidates are selected. The result has been, in recent elections, that barring an extremely charismatic candidate, the choices are so near each other politically as to be nearly indistinguishable. The elections of 2000 and 2004 are examples of this phenomenon. The absence of a charismatic challenger made it impossible for the voters to distinguish between the candidates, resulting in one of the closest elections in history in 2000, and one of the poorest-attended elections in 2004. The Framers of the United States Constitution did not envision a two-party system when they designed the government. Nevertheless, one quickly developed, first in the debate for ratification of the Constitution, and later around the principles of federal power. Although the foundations of the various parties have varied historically, the two-party system has remained in place for most presidential elections. The modern era may be witnessing a major change in the party system. One of the parties suffered a severe defeat in the 2008 election cycle and appears to be reevaluating its platform. If the party chooses to embrace the more extreme portions of their platform, it could lead to the creation of a new centralized party, which would draw support from the more moderate elements of the two major parties. A large amount of institutional inertia has been set against this development, but there is nothing in the Constitution that forbids it, nor is such an event unprecedented in the history of American politics. These developments illustrate a move from the extremism that had dominated politics since the beginning of the Cold War. More and more individuals are becoming sensitive to the voice of reason, cooperation and compromise, which weakens the position of the radical groups, and limits their ability to influence policy or elections. While it is important and permissible for these radical opinions to be heard, it is equally important that be considered from an even-handed and rational perspective, which is what a centralized president offers. Centralization of the Presidency is more in keeping with the notions of Democratic government than politicization. The more people whose viewpoints are represented by the President, the more democratic the government. A centralized presidency philosophically meshes with the majority of citizens. This observation is circular in nature. Absent compelling events such as war, the a majority of voters will embrace a more moderate candidate, and thus, candidates will endeavor to be more moderate in order to court such votes. Politicization is a positive thing in the political process. It allows all viewpoints to be aired and discussed. Centralization of the presidency is also a positive thing because a moderate president will be more likely to make pragmatic choices, rather than ones based in dogmatic ideals with little relationship to reality. Additionally, a moderate president is more likely to act in interests that mirror those of the majority of citizens. Thus, a moderate, or centralized presidency is good for both the execution of government, and the promotion of democracy.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

The congenital heart disease

The congenital heart disease Does an Exercise Program following Cardiac Surgery for Congenital Heart Defects improve a Childs Cardiopulmonary Response to Exercise and Increase Exercise Tolerance? Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Paediatric Cardiac Problems are prevalent throughout the world with 1.5 million new cases diagnosed each year. Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) is the most common diagnosis of heart problems at birth. Between four and nine per one thousand live births each year are diagnosed with the condition (Draper 2008). In 2007, 989 live births were recorded of babies with cardiovascular abnormalities (National Statistics 2007). Congenital Heart Disease is an umbrella term which encompasses all heart defects that are present when a child is born. The child may have one or multiple defects at birth which can either be detected by a scan ante-natally or are diagnosed soon after birth. Although the diagnosis of CHD is now becoming easier, some diagnoses of the condition do not happen till later on in life. Statistics show that around 60% of congenital heart disease are diagnosed in babies aged from birth to one year, 30% in children aged one to fifteen, and 10% in adul thood (16 years and over) (BHF 2003). Many common conditions include a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), Pulmonary Artery Stenosis, Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) (Fig. 1) and Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA) (Fig. 2). Congenital Heart Disease is now not just a problem of the child, many people with the condition are now living into adulthood. It is predicted that by 2010, 185,000 people will be living in the UK with CHD (Deanfield (BHF) 2003). Treatment for Congenital Heart Conditions has changed rapidly over the last 50 years. Now surgical management is needed in most cases however some defects will either resolve themselves or require medication. Surgical treatment has changed in recent times, fewer patients are requiring open heart surgery and more are receiving a catheterisation technique. Around 3,100 operations and 725 interventional cardiac catheterisations are performed each year on babies and children with CHD (BHF 2003). The effects of surgical interventions on cardiopulmonary function have been thoroughly researched in the past. The studies have concluded that surgery does improve lung and cardiac function and reduces secondary complications (Picchio 2006). Exercise is widely known as the best treatment for most musculoskeletal problems but its effects on the cardiopulmonary system has only recently been researched into (Cullen 1991). Pulmonary and Cardiac Rehabilitation have now been shown to have an effect in adults but the research into paediatric rehabilitation classes is not widely known about. Other studies have looked at exercise training or a cardiac rehabilitation programmes following surgery and the effect of this on the patients exercise tolerance. I am going to use this review to assess these studies which look at both cardiac rehabilitation programmes and also levels of exercise tolerance following surgery. I want to discuss whether there are any gaps in the knowledge base surrounding the effects of exercise in cardiac surgery of paediatrics. I also want to conclude whether the assumption that exercise is positive, can be correctly justified. Method After deciding a topic I was able to start researching into the background area of paediatric cardiology. I started by using a combination of terms including, Exercise, Sports, Physical Activity, Paediatrics, Children, Post-Cardiac Surgery, Congenital Heart Disease, Congenital Heart Defects and Cardiac Rehabilitation. The search pages I found highlighted articles of relevance and then I used the link to related articles to find the studies (see appendix 1). I also searched on individual journal websites including, Paediatric Cardiology and Cardiology in the Young. I used databases such as Pubmed, Medline, Ovid, Sciencedirect and Springerlink to read abstracts of articles and decide their relevance to my review. I then selected the most relevant and used excel to compile a table where I could easily see the differences in the studies under headings (see appendix 4). The studies I am looking at are all based on paediatrics and are randomised controlled trials dating from 1981 to 2009. Although some of the studies are nearly thirty years old, they hold some strong evidence compared to present day studies and therefore I have not discounted older studies from this review. Other reviews have assessed whether exercise has an impact on cardiopulmonary performance and have been shown that an exercise rehabilitation class does provide benefits in cardiopulmonary performance and exercise capacity. Some of the studies that are being reviewed however are concluding with insignificant findings. The reviews have stated that research lacks long-term effects of training and also a clear understanding as to which exercise type is best (Tomassoni 1996). In this review I will try look at newer studies and see if the areas of knowledge that were found to be omitted after previous reviews have now been researched into. Review of Studies Firstly I am going to discuss the testing of the participants. All of the studies completed two exercise tests to assess the participants ability before and after either the cardiac rehabilitation program or surgery. Exercise testing is very difficult to reproduce. Many studies have problems with ensuring the test is accurate and reliable and many struggle, causing results and testing to be different and therefore not comparable. If the results are not accurate and cannot be compared to other studies the results can cause a change in average results and therefore may mislead readers into a false positive result. Each of the studies used either a treadmill test or a cycle ergometer to test their participants cardiopulmonary function and exercise tolerance. Using these two tests is the most common technique of testing function as it is very reliable. (Washington 1994) All studies used a specific protocol outlined in the Washington Guidelines with all of the studies using a treadmill test with five of the thirteen studies using Bruces protocol. Bruces protocol is where the grade of exercise is increased every 3 minutes until the participant has reached their maximum capacity and cannot continue. The bicycle ergometer tests are where the participants are required to cycle continuously at approximately 50-60rpm where the grade of exercise is increased by 10-20 watts/ minute every three minutes. This is also completed until the participant can no longer continue (Washington 1994). Exercise testing using a treadmill or a cycle ergometer causes problems because the task they are undertaking in the test are is not functional and do not relate to daily tasks. Running and cycling is functional but not to that grade of exhaustion. Many children normally will stop an exercise when they are tiring and will never push themselves to the level that these exercise tests are pushing them. The tasks are also not fun for the participants and I feel that it should be fun otherwise children will get bored. This is the same with the intervention as well and the programmes should be child orientated and individual to each child. Outcome Measures are the basis to the results of a study and therefore its effectiveness. A lack of certain outcome measures may show large flaws in a study as many can be used to assess different parts of function and physiological activities. In the studies looking at the effects of cardiovascular surgery, there were a limited number of outcome measures that were looked at. Sarubbi (2000) only looked at heart rate and blood pressure as outcome measures and this limits results. The main outcome measures were heart rate, blood pressure and maximum work rate in all the studies. These outcome measures although very limited are values that help us to understand cardiovascular activities. Other helpful measures would have been oxygen saturations, which only Rhodes studies (2005/6) looked into. Saturations are helpful to assess whether a change in heart rate or blood pressure affects saturations or whether a change in these may be due to a ventilation problem. (Rivers 2001) The outcome measures of the cardiac rehabilitation studies are all different but all have similarly looked at exercise capacity after the intervention. This is shown by all the studies using VO2 as a measure and that all the participants improved their VO2 maximum to allow for a greater exercise capacity. The only study that did not prove an increase in VO2 max was Goldbergs study (1981) which only showed an improvement in maximum work rate. This could have been due to the date in which the study was undertaken. This was one of the earlier studies done in 1981 and therefore technology may not have been as accurate or as reliable as some of the later studies done since 2000. However Goldbergs study was the one that had the most intervention time of all the studies with exercise of up to 45 minutes completed on alternate days with a strict regime to increase grade of exercise over the 6 weeks. This leads me to believe that maybe it was inappropriate testing or inaccurate technology tha t changed the results of the study as previous reviews have shown that an increase in exercise time has shown to have positive effects on health. As technology has developed since the early eighties, this may be why more accurate testing is used and therefore making results more positive to the outcome we wish. Another problem in trials of this sort is compliance. Compliance is always an issue when completing studies (Burke 1997). Initially recruiting people to participate is difficult and many people with either choose not to participate or may drop-out early in the study. Many people will not participate because of exercise testing being too invasive or because of geographical implications as the distance to the base of the study being an issue. Some of the studies had large drop-out rates with almost 30% decrease in patients initially viable for the treatment plan and those who undertook the tests in the study (Arvidsson 2009). I think this could be explained by that the studies involved child participants that are less compliant to long term programmes and who tire easily to an activity. Also due to the nature of the surgery that they have all completed, many parents will be protective over their children and be pushing the participants exercise tolerance will make many parents worried about their childs health. Much of this can be avoided by specifically explaining the procedures and answering any questions that the parent or participant may have to educate them that this a treatment plan and is not going to hinder their childs recovery or health. Also intervention time is a major issue when looking at trials. Some may be days long and others have follow-ups of years once the intervention has finished. The studies that focus on Cardiac rehabilitation all have various time scales of their intervention with the shortest program being six weeks (Goldberg 1981) and the longest around twenty weeks (Opocher 2005). The difference in timescale and the different number of sessions that the participants attend makes it difficult to assess whether it is the content of the program that affects the patients or whether just exercising over a longer, more sustained period of time effects the participants in the same way. I think studies that look at different contents of treatment programmes but have a fixed intervention time may be beneficial in deciding the aim of this review. When looking at the studies, all of the cardiac rehabilitation programs only assess the patients exercise performance straight after the program and only one study looks at the effects of the program long term. Rhodes et al 2005 firstly looked at the immediate effect of a cardiac rehabilitation program and then in 2006 did another study looking at the same participants of the previous study six months after the original program. The studies that look at exercise capacity before and after surgery also do not look at the effects of the cardiovascular system in response to exercise on a long term scale. Long term effects are the best indicator to say that function and exercise capacity has improved (Miller 2005). Sociodemographics of the subjects in a study are also important to review as to its involvement in accuracy of results. Different age ranges or male to female ratios cause studies to be inaccurate in trying to generalise the population group. Many of the studies had a very large age range within their participant groups with the largest difference being 17.6 years in Marino et als study in 2005. I feel that the exercise difference between a seven year old is very different to that of a twenty-four year old. I feel that a large age range is used to increase subject numbers. Male: Female ratios are also important and that a large majority in these studies had male participants. The biggest ratio of male to female was in Opochers (2005) study where there were nine male participants and only one female participants. The best ratio of male: female was either Moalla (2006) study with 44 males and 39 females. This is important as I believe men and women react differently to exercise. Subject numbers is also a large problem with these studies. Due to most of the studies only looking at the children that have had surgery in their trust or hospital they have decreased their subject numbers and none of the studies look at the effects on large number of subjects on a national scale. The studies that looked at cardiac rehabilitation all have subject numbers under 16 which is a very big limitation. The only studies that have larger numbers are the ones that look at exercise capacity after surgery. By having participants that are only from the immediate area of the study base also means you do not get a generalised view of everyone nationally and you may not cover different children from different backgrounds socially and economically and so may have different attitudes to rehabilitation, treatment and self-management. Studies with participants that are not generalised to their population group can therefore produce a bias result to that specific population group. Also having different backgrounds of participants is important in assessing their compliance and what individual exercise programme they should be given. Having a specific age range is particularly important as many of the subjects may be inappropriate for the programme due to their age. Some of the subjects may be too young and using subjects that are under six years old would be inappropriate due to the subjects being too young to understand the instructions of the study. Using older subjects may also cause different results as their bodies have had longer to regain independent function and the body has had time to compensate for a lack in cardiopulmonary function. I think it is important to keep variables as succinct as possible and trials should be able to based on one variable alone and truly work on whether surgery or exercise has a n effect on that variable independently. Effects of Cardiac Rehabilitation The studies looking at cardiac rehabilitation all have an exercise programme set up for their patients either at home (Moalla 2006) or in an outpatient setting (Ruttenberg 1983). These sessions ranging in therapy time from one hour alternate days to one hour once a week, all show an increase in either cardiopulmonary performance or in exercise tolerance. This shows that a rehabilitation programme is appropriate for these patients and does have a positive effect on the participants life. Rhodes studies (2005/6) had the greatest effect on the patients final outcome. Not only did most of the testing result in significant effects but the large range of outcome measures used means that we can assess not only the cardiovascular performance of the participant but also look at the pulmonary effects of the exercise and their effects of the heart and the cardiac system. What we can also see from this review is that the cardiac rehabilitation programmes are becoming more significant in results as the studies get newer. This is a good indicator that current programmes are being effective in their rehabilitation (Opocher 2005, Rhodes 2005/6, Moalla 2006) and that newer techniques and more knowledge on exercise has lead to better run classes which not only improve results more consistently than the older studies and that the effects from an initial programme can also be maintained for 6months after intervention (Rhodes 2006). Effects of Cardiovascular Surgery Two of the studies looking at effects of surgery only have exercise testing after the surgery. The study by Arvidsson only used the number of sports sessions a week that the participant goes to after the surgery. Therefore a direct comparison between their before and after the surgery ability cannot be done and so the study is only looking at their sports participation after surgery and not the effects of the surgery. However these studies do show that after surgery childrens exercise tolerance increases to the level that healthy participants are achieving (Zaccara 2003) and they are participating in equal amounts of sports participation following surgery (Arvidsson 2009) Future ideas In future studies, long term effects of cardiac rehabilitation should be researched, with a follow-up test of a least a year after their rehabilitation to see if the participant is now more active. I also think a control group should be used in the study to look at the effects of non-surgical patients that also participate in cardiac rehabilitation. This is to assess whether the improvement seen during cardiac rehabilitation is not just a response to any exercise and that if a child went back to normality and participating in sports then they will just be as exercise tolerant as children who do not have CHD. Also I would suggest that an exercise programme for the patients that is more functional but also fun and exciting for the patient should be used to increase compliance and also enjoyment for the participants and their parents. Conclusion In conclusion, Cardiac surgery is a commonly used form of reducing congenital heart defects and has been shown by these studies that the surgery does have an improvement on the patients cardiopulmonary performance. I have also found that a cardiac rehabilitation programme is beneficial for paediatric patients after cardiac surgery for congenital heart defects. References/ Bibliography Arvidsson, D (2009) Physical Activity, sports participation and aerobic fitness in children who have undergone surgery for congenital heart defects. Acta Paediatrica 98 pp. 1475-1482 Balfour, I. (1991) Pediatric Cardiac Rehabilitation. AJDC- Volume 145 pp. 627-630 Bradley, L. (1985) Effect of Intense Aerobic Training on Exercise Performance in Children After Surgical Repair of Tetralogy of Fallot or Complete Transposition of the Great Arteries. The American Journal of Cardiology Volume 56 pp.816-818 Burke, L. (1997) Compliance with cardiovascular disease prevention strategies: A review of the research. Annals of Behavioural Medicine. Volume 19, number 3, pp. 239-263 Cullen, S. (1991) Exercise in Congenital Heart Disease. Cardiology in the Young; 1: pp. 129-135 Deanfield J. (2003) Congenital Heart Disease Statistics (accessed on 8/11/09) British Heart Foundation Statistics Database www.heartstats.org disease participate in sport and in which kind of sport? Journal Of Cardiovascular Medicine, 7: pp. 234-238 Draper, Dr. Richard (2008) Congenital Heart Disease in Children (accessed on 3/11/09) http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Congenital-Heart-Disease-(CHD)-in-Children.htm ECHO (Evelina Childrens Heart Organisation) (accessed on 15/11/2009) http://www.echo-evelina.org.uk/ Goldberg, B. (1981) Effects of Physical Training on Exercise Performance of Children Following Surgical Repair of Congenital Heart Disease. Pediatrics Vol. 68 No.5 pp. 691-699 http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/08/01/health/adam/18088.jpg http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/08/01/health/adam/8807.jpg Marino, B. (2006) Exercise Performance in children and adolescents after the Ross procedure. Cardiology in the Young 16: 40-47 Miller, T. (2005) Exercise rehabilitation of paediatric patients with cardiovascular disease. Progress in Paediatric Cardiology Volume 20, pp. 27-37 Minamisawa, S. (2001) Effect of Aerobic Training on Exercise Performance in Patients After the Fontan Operation. The American Journal of Cardiology Volume 88 pp. 695-699 Moalla, W. (2006) Effect of exercise training on respiratory muscle oxygenation in children with congenital heart disease. European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation 13: 604-611 National Statistics (2007) Congenital anomaly Statistics Notifications. Office for National Statistics. Series MB3, no.22 Opocher, F. (2005) Effects of Aerobic Exercise Training in Children After the Fontan Operation. The American Journal of Cardiology Vol. 95 pp.150-152 Picchio F. (2006) Can a child who has been operated on for congenital heart Rhodes J. (2006) Sustained Effects of Cardiac Rehabilitation in Children with serious Congenital Heart Disease. Paediatrics Volume 118:3 pp.586-592 Rhodes, J. (2005) Impact of Cardiac Rehabiliation on the Exercise Function of Children with Serious Congenital Heart Disease. Pediatrics Volume 116:6 pp.1339-1345 Rivers, E. (2001) Central venous oxygen saturation monitoring in the critically ill patient. Current Opinion in Critical Care. Volume 7, issue 3, pp. 204-211 Ruttenberg, H. (1983) Effects of Exercise Training on Aerobic Fitness in Children after Open Heart Surgery. Pediatric Cardiology Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 19-24 Sarubbi, B. (2000) Exercise Capacity in Young Patients after Total Repair of Tetralogy of Fallot. Paediatric Cardiology 21: 211-215 Tomassoni, T. (1996) Role of exercise in the management of cardiovascular disease in children and youth. Medicine Science in Sports Exercise. Volume 28(4), pp 406-413 Washington RL. Et al. (1994) Guidelines for exercise testing in the pediatric age group. Journal of the American Heart Association. Volume 90;pp. 2166-2179 Zaccara, A. (2003) Cardiopulmonary Performances in Young Children and Adolescents Born with Large Abdominal Wall Defects. Journal of Pediatric Surgery Volume 38;3 pp 478-481

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Courtly And Uncourtly Views Of Poetry :: essays research papers

Between the twelfth and fifteenth century, the form of the lyric was founded in and became very popular within England. Few of the lyrics that were composed remain in existance today. This is mainly due to the fact that these lyrics were transferred orally. This meant they were never printed or published. The ones we do have paint for us a vague but sufficient picture of life as it was in these times. Particularily they give us a peek into the lives of the women of the medieval era and how they were viewed by their patriarchal society. The ways women were portrayed in much of the poetry can be expressed in two broad categories: courtly and uncourtly. The former of these categories developed from the lyrics of the Provenà §-al troubadours. The latter is, in relation, a more modern view of women, one that sees them as irritating and stupid.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Courtly poetry, as I said, developed from the lyrics of the troubadours. Although there are many similarities, such as the woman’s high status, there are also many dissimilarities. One of the most obvious of these is these poets acceptance of the real world. It is difficult to find references to other women in the troubadours’ poetry let alone other relationships as one would find in the Middle English courtly lyric. An example of such a reference can be found in the refrain: â€Å"An handy hap ich habbe ihent! / Ichot from hevene it is me sent; / From alle wimmen my love is lent, / And light on Alisoun†(Luria, 27). This poet tells his lady that his heart is set on her and no other woman can pull him away. To a troubadour saying that there was anything but his lady would be abominable. There is little of the intensity of devotion and the analysis of love that is characteristic of the Troubadours. Nor are these personal lyrics of private, intimate love. On the contrary, they are public poems operating through well-recognized conventions. These conventions are a little different from those of the troubadours as well. The lady has hair of gold, a long neck, a slender waist and is often described as being prudent and wise. But these poems focus not on the lady but on the lover and his suffering for derne love or secret love. The lover’s day is spent sighing and begging his lady to pity and have mercy on him.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Dr. Phil and Maury

In 2008 over 30 million people in the United States admitted to watching day time TV talk shows, and that number is progressively climbing. These talk shows range from cooking secrets, to bizarre life situations, to more serious national news stories such as interviews with the parents of Treyvon Martin. Two of these TV talk shows include: the serious psychologist, Dr. Phil McGraw and the syndicated tabloid talk show host, Maury Povich. Although, Dr. Phil and Maury are both national TV talk shows, they differ in content, targeted audience, and national news.The most noticeable difference between Maury and Dr. Phil is the content of each talk show. Maury is a bizarre, outrageous talk show that includes topics such as; paternity test, lie detector test, shocking sex secrets, controlling and abusive men, out of control teenage girls, transsexuals, and transformations. The most famous topic is paternity testing; for instance, a mother appears on air in an attempt to prove or disprove tha t a man is the biological father of her child or children. Usually the man is certain that the child is not his, acts with hostility, and accuses the mother of being a lair.On the other hand, Dr. Phil covers a wide variety of topics, including weight loss, financial planning, errant children, mental health issues, drug abuse, depression, suicide, child abuse, domestic violence, personal and social issues; however, the list continues on and on. For example, Dr. Phil has taken on the task of interviewing the family of Treyvon Martin and the best friend of the accused killer. Since there is a huge content difference, naturally there is also a difference in the viewing audience. Right now, Maury has the youngest audience of any talk show out there.His targeted audience is between the ages of 18 and 35; the younger audience is drawn to the real life comical drama the show brings. While not as popular and not in as many markets today as it once was, Maury maintains a solid audience base; thus, has led to its contract renewal through 2014. Dr. Phil is a clinical psychologist who would often appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show, so those who viewed Oprah also tune in to Dr. Phil. Dr. Phil often tops the TV talk show viewer ratings, and has been nominated for multiple Daytime Emmys because of his dynamic and hard hitting topics; therefore leading him to the #1 Day Time talk show in the ation. Dr. Phil’s topics range from bullied children to war veterans suffering from PTSD; consequently his viewers are ageless. Another difference between the talk shows is the National News stories. While Maury in his early days focused on National News stories such as, interviewing one of the jurors of the OJ Simpson trail; he no longer tackles those issues and focuses on his amusing drama. Dr. Phil on the other hand, has created more than 1,500 hours of national television devoted to helping people create better lives and families.Because of his broad education, training and experi ence in the field of psychology, and his unique ability to effectively communicate in common sense language. Dr. Phil is repeatedly called upon for his expert opinion on current events by major national and international news outlets, including the  Today  show,  Good Morning America,  The Early Show  and  Anderson Cooper 360. (Dr. Phil Biography) Some examples of Dr. Phil’s tackled national news stories are: football star Terrell Owens, the mother of Lindsay Lohan, Olympic swimmer and model, Amanda Beard and many more.Many people from all walks of life enjoy Daytime TV Talk shows and it’s the differences that make them entertaining. Some may enjoy the serious, informative content of The Dr. Phil Show; while others find the wacky situations and outcomes of Maury humorous. Although, both shows deal with real life situations they are obviously not the same because of the content, target audience, and national news stories. Maury may have the younger viewing a udience focusing on laughter and the shock effect, but I would much rather broaden and enrich my mind with compelling stories from Dr. Phil. How about you?

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Touchstone anthology of contemporary creative nonfiction Essay

Comparative essay assignment Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"In the Trenches† written by Charles Yale Harrison and â€Å"This Is Not Who We Are† written by Naomi Shihab are two different pieces of work which outline almost the same message. The analysis of these two stories differs in various ways such as application of styles, themes and imagery as articulated in each of the writings. Both contexts give a description about the occurrence of wars in the twentieth century in America but in different parts.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the trenches which are written by Canadian writer Charles Yale Harrison is a story about the Canadian war which starts in Monreal, a place where an unidentified soldier who is twenty years old is together with Canadian soldiers formulating to set up the Germans in Belgium and France. In this writing, a horrifying and realistic portrayal is described in an antiwar statement. This story is expressed from the first person point of opinion of a soldier who is in a trench. The writer begins the story by describing his close relationship with his fellow soldiers; Anderson, Brown, Broadbent and Cleary and then shifts to the scenes of the infamous World War 1 trenches whereby the conditions are filthy and the soldiers are continually exposed to the flesh-looting rainfalls, lice and huge rats (Harrison, 2002).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, Naomi Shihab, Arab-American poet is the writer of â€Å"This is not who we are† which is almost similar to the â€Å"in the trenches† although the writer of this story depict it in form of a poem. This story begins with the writer’s personal life who seek relative safety in the American southwest which is a place torn by war. She describes her marital and emotional connection to Palestine since this is her ancestral homeland. The writer offers evidence of life in safer environment which she feels the disgrace of being an Arab in America at a time when every Arab is considered suspect, including her (Nye, 1997). Nevertheless, the introduction of these two stories brings a perspective on what the entire story is all about. The ideas between the two stories are presented in a different way depending on the kind of structure and form of each author. Therefore both contain different or similar themes, styles and li terary devices in delivering the message which the author wants to communicate. Styles   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Both stories have employed styles in communicating the message to the targeted audience in form of simile, metaphor, personification and imagery. Similes is the main style applied in both contexts, Naomi Shihab, the writer of â€Å"This is not who we are† begins by describing Arab-American skillful violinist as a stylish man who dresses decorous black suits and white shirts and plays like an angel. The writer adds that she wish for world symbols rather than the expensive American vehicles which wear American flags like hula skirts. This shows how she wished that the war could end rather than being prosperous and rich in a violent land. Moreover, the writer proceeds to describe the world that she wished to be and there is application of another simile when she states that she can â€Å"treasure the welcoming world of women†¦, smiling, nurturing, fixing, tending and wrapping language around one another like a warm cloak†. Similarly, Charles Yale Harrison has also applied similes in his writing when he was in the trench and states that he seen the whole army of wire posts beginning to move like a silent host towards him (Harrison, 2002). As the condition of war worsens, the writer depicts the boys who were in firing-step saying that they were like dead men.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In addition, as the soldiers struggles in the dirt trench to save their lives, the writer applies simile by stating that they try to hideaway into the ground like frightened rats. However, Charles Yale Harrison describes the red-tailed comets which were sent by the Germans as looking pretty like the fireworks they have left in Monreal adding that the sky is lit by hundreds of extravagant fireworks like a night carnival which sounds very ironical. During the process of protecting themselves from the explosives, the writer illustrate using a simile stating that the soldiers thrown their faces downward on the bottom of the grovel and trench like savages before that demoniac havoc. The application of similes in these two stories helps the audience to generate a kind of comparison which improves the understanding of what is going on.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Moreover, metaphors and imagery has been applied in these two stories. Naomi Shihab (1997) describes the terrorist as men with hard faces who do vicious things. Although the terrorists are Arabs, the writer does not refer them as Arabs since she is one of them and wants to show that all Arabs are not terrorists. The behavior of men with the hard faces causes the writer to defend herself and her people against the idea that she is one of those with hard faces who choose fierceness over words. This demonstration serves a major drive of explaining that blaming all Arabs because of behavior of the few terrorists is unfair. The writer states a story about a gentleman who approaches her; this makes her afraid because she a half Arab thus this makes her to be momentarily tongue-tied but later finds her voice. Correspondingly, Harrison applies much of imagery and metaphors while describing the nature of the trench during war. He states that the tr ench is unsanitary due to the presence of mud, huge rats, flesh-rotting rainfalls and lice (Reid, 2004). The condition of the trench does not keep soldiers comfortable since they struggle to protect themselves from explosives of their enemies yet the place they are hiding is not safe. This story is distressing and upsetting; illuminating the certainties of war through the eyes of a young soldier and the impressions they fragment. Themes   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Theme of war is general from both stories since the principal message is about the occurrence of war. This theme develops strongly in â€Å"In the Trenches† written by Charles Yale Harrison, war between his fellow soldiers and the Europeans begins from the first line up to the last line. According to the writer, the war is horrifying and we find a sense of shock at the cruelty of war which alters depression to the soldiers. Charles Yale Harrison’s memoir leads us to wonder about why humans continue to retort to war in response to worldwide clashes while being fully conscious of its ferocity (Williford and Martone, 2007). The writer states how one of his fellow soldier said loudly as they argue that no wonder they are losing the bloody war. Moreover, the writer keeps stating that â€Å"so this is war† in many parts of the story thus depicting that the war is occurring. Conversely, Naomi Shihab describes the theme of war in form of terrorism which is caused by the men with hard faces. She describes his ancestral land as â€Å"a place torn by war†, (Williford &Martone, 51). This can evidently show the presence of war when she was writing this story.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, theme of suffering is another theme which has been described in both pieces of writing. Harrison begins describing the theme of suffering by describing how his friend by the name Fry suffers with his feet, as he keeps sliding into holes and creeping out, all the way up. The writer adds that he can hear his friend coughing and panting behind him. In addition the writer states that his nose is bleeding from the force of the detonations (Reid, 2004). Generally, Harrison gives description on how they are affected by the conditions of the trench as they try to protect themselves from the explosives; this brings the theme of suffering plainly. Similarly, Naomi Shihab states that she cannot forget the fate of the people who suffer the daily indignities of surviving in a world at war, of persistent pain caused by the men with hard faces. In addition the writer says that she hold in heart so many distressed individuals because all friends and families of innocent victims affected by war are everywhere. This means that there were many people suffering due to the violence which was happening (Nye, 1997). Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Generally, by comparing the two pieces of writing, I can conclude that they portray the same message but in a different manner and style because both stories focuses heavily on the conceit of war and violence in relation to the society. Harrison brings a clear perspective of the soldiers who were simply unexperienced youths, fighting ineffectively for meaningless ideals. Naomi Shihab brings a general explanation that blaming all Arabs for behavior of the few terrorists is absolute unfair. Both stories shape the future altitudes to war and develop a strong enthusiasm to the audience. References Harrison, C. (2002). Generals die in bed. Toronto: Annick Press. Nye, N. (1997). Habibi. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. Reid, J. H. (2004). Award-winning films of the 1930s: From Wings to Gone with the wind : the definitive guide. Morrisville, NC: Lulu Press. The Canadian republic magazine. (1929). Montreal: s.n. Williford, L., & Martone, M. (2007). Touchstone anthology of contemporary creative nonfiction. New York: Simon & Schuster. Source document