A paper on a material object during the medieval period Essay

A paper on a material object during the medieval period - Essay Example However for the bulk of this period the availability of the Holy Bible as a material object was restricted for practical as well as theological reasons.1 During the medieval period access to the Holy Bible, as a material object was in fact restricted due to various intentional and unintentional factors. Books of any description were generally very expensive material objects throughout the medieval period taken as a whole.2 The high cost of books put all but the wealthiest people off buying them in the first place. Books were highly expensive because of the methods used to produce them, paper and parchment was costly to make, meaning that writing errors and mistakes were often just crossed out, or even ignored completely.3 The Holy Bible during the majority of the medieval period was hand written as the Chinese invention of the movable printing press took a long time to reach Europe (not doing so until the late fifteenth century).4 Therefore the production of the Holy Bible was slow as well as painstaking if done properly. Then again it could take just as long to produce copies of the Holy Bible, which were riddled with mistakes, and inaccurate wording.5 Indeed it frequently took days for people usually monks to write out new copies of the Holy Bible in full by hand. There was not a high demand for new copies of the Holy Bible due to the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches wanting to control who actually read the gospel, as well as they interpreted the content of the gospel.6 The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern orthodox churches were particularly keen on restricting access to the Holy Bible to those it trusted. In other words they’re own clergy, monks, nuns, and the wealthier citizens within European societies. For the majority of the medieval period it was only the clergy and the members of the religious orders that were predominantly literate, although the male

Current And Future Use of Technology Essay Example for Free

Current And Future Use of Technology Essay Spotify has provided a way for people to access and share music with services such as exchange of selections and even mobile access. In the process of providing these services, the users’ data is acquired through initial registration and this helps categorize the market. The main target for Spotify is not registration of premium accounts without adverts but the free use by the public where adverts can be played in between songs. There are many issues handled by Spotify in the business including competition from existing online music selling companies like Sony and Apple, and challenges on fair artists’ royalties with restrictions by copyrights in some regions. The e business strategy is well established for Spotify as the company deals with music producing companies and companies who look for a way to advertise brands. The peer to peer technology used and the feature of listening to music even when offline together with a simple user interface are all technological advantages of Spotify that make it popular in the market. The future of Spotify is based on integration of the software into hand held processing devices like modern phones, and having a good relation with the sources of music. E-Business background Spotify’s business idea was to create a medium through which to provide advertisers with a way of reaching a traceable and response predictable market. By creating a digital library of a wide variety of music and an interface through which listeners can register and listen to music free, Spotify was able do just that. There are adverts pushed in between songs and last for between 15 and 30 seconds. The users that don’t want to get interference from the audio adverts can pay a monthly fee to stop them. The portion of listeners who pay this fee is so small compared to the free users, who form the main market idea for Spotify. The company has arrangement with the world’s major labels to provide their music and in return claim an 18% stake in the company. The integration of the music producing companies, the listeners and the advertisers forms the e-business model for Spotify. There is competition from similar companies like Last. fm, Amazon (which sells music online), my space and facebook; with the direct rival being Last. fm. Spotify and Last. fm have integrated their systems though and this form a way to create an entry hardship in an effort to protect high profit business and raise competition advantage for both companies to realize. Porters Five Forces model Spotify’s business faces the five forces from threats of substitute, barriers to entry, supply power, buyers power and rivalry (Porter 1985). There are various ways that it has put up strategies to deal with this. First, there is the presence of substitute firms like Last. com; Spotify has planned to sing a deal in merged operations with the company in order to increase the business opportunities for both sides. It was proposed that the advertisers/brands could then be able to buy advertising services across the platforms of the two companies (McCormick 2009). According to the nature of the platform on which the adverts are run, Spotify has created a medium where the message is streamline with the music being listened to. Apart from the major rival with whom Spotify agrees to merge business with, the brands will face a hard time looking for an alternative service of the kind. Thus the buyer’s power is low, considering that there are also many scattered brands to advertise through the electronic platform. Furthermore, the platform provides a way of major record labels availing their music to the users, making sure that brands can get the largest number of music fans at Spotify, which they cannot get from online music shops. On the suppliers’ power towards Spotify’s business, there are many music producing labels that offer a variety of music. Also, the fact that the buyers of the service are somewhat weak, the suppliers are also put in the same line; because advertisers has no much power over Spotify, they cannot demand of specific record labels. Since the entry of Spotify into the e-business, the key issue is to keep the prices offered virtually low in order to provide a barrier of entry of new competition. One strategy applied by firms to this effect is merging their markets and operations so that they can enjoy economies of scale and protect the high profit market from other entrants while keeping the quality of services high. This was a case possible from the Spotify’s deal with Last. fm. There is rivalry in the industry of e-business and marketing through electronic means has been applied by many companies. The industry is disciplined though, from previous competition, the methods of enticing the music fans and through ease of use of platforms by the market forming population. The application streams music with no buffering times and provides a very wide variety of ready to listen categories of songs; from major record labels. The fact that the market for Spotify seems to be exponentially growing means that soon the buyers will be so many and so their power will go down, providing a business advantage for the company ( ). E-Marketing The internet is a unique marketing medium in that it provides a global market with instant response dynamism. The fact that when a product is advertised through the internet can reach millions of users within a short while is enough to make it a rich market. Spotify has its marketing strategy based on online access of adverts by the users in their endeavor to listen to music. Data and Market Analysis The strongest part of Spotify registration of users is that it takes the demographic data so that the company is in a position to provide marketing strategies to advertisers based on age, location and music taste. The ability to analyze and classify a market is important to advertisers, especially when it involves technical goods and services. Promotion and mobile services The introduction of the mobile version of Spotify software has helped in a far reaching marketing strategy. The whole issue has been in news for sometime and major discussion blogs and websites like BBC NEWS, leading to less costly promotion effect in Europe. The market in Spotify is really the online internet resource as well as the users PC’s and portable mobile Activities Spotify engages in various activities that are geared towards having a wide base of users so that it can reach more people when targeting an audience for an advert. These activities include; invite scheme, tell a friend and viral advertising. The â€Å"invite scheme† is where the newly registered and the existing members are given an opportunity to invite friends and family to experience Spotify while still promoting the premium membership. The â€Å"tell a friend† activity involves a Spotify inbuilt tool to spread word of mouth. This is a strategy to use the existing users to get the message to their friends using the already existing internet framework. The other one is viral advertising where the medium mainly used is social networking frameworks like facebook. The most visited WebPages are targeted and a multimedia message displayed. Web-design Spotify has created a peer to peer application that streams music between the listeners computer, whether online or offline. Spotify has a service to which clients connect and have the contents of the cache summarized in an index which is then sent to Spotify’s stream hub. The data in the index is usually used to alert other users of the additional peers they can connect to, to fetch streamed data for specific songs being played. This arrangement is enabled and tolerated by each upon start up. Each client listen to incoming connections from other Spotify clients like a server and connects to other users to exchange cached data. The users are actually not in apposition to configure the connections or alter the bandwidth of transmission of data. These settings are hard coded in the system. The design of the entire architecture may be complicated but the interface used by the listeners is so simple and effective. There are just few controls of play, rewind and forward. The Spotify application offers the following features to the users; Catalogue: Spotify offers users access to millions of music tracks including songs from major music labels. Some specific music from some artists may not be available due to boundary regulations in the copyright. Playlists: it allows users to create collections of favorite music and lets them share them. The users can also edit the playlists with other users together through collaborating software. For this purpose, the playlists can be shared through an email or instant messaging window. On accessing the link, the data gets downloaded into Spotify. Integration with Last. fm: the specific feature from last. fm is the ability to collect the users’ preference in music and store it into Last. fm’s database. This has been integrated into Spotify without requiring external plug-ins (Spotify Archives 2010). Radio feature: this creates random playlists of songs related to the music of the currently selected artist. Spotify has a simple to use interface that allows the user to search for music by artist, album or title. It displays the user chosen playlist and some advert image, which on clicking, one can explore the promotion (Spotify Forums 2010). Business-to-Business (B2B) Spotify has introduced the music service to the listeners and charge a certain rate for ad free music. However, it does not rely on this for its source of revenue. It largely relies on the free service where the listeners will have to bear with the adverts. At this point, it does business with other firms that want to advertise their brands to the listeners. The main target for business is therefore dealing with other companies that want to reach the audience. On the same platform, there is collaboration with major record labels where they claim a certain percentage stake in the company and in turn provide their music libraries to Spotify (Nylander 2009). Spotify focuses on doing business with other businesses in its plans. It has tailored it product for mobile phones and approached the mobile phone making companies like apple in an effort to do business with them (Emerald). This is a direct challenge to Apple’s iTunes though and touches on the competition end. Mobile Commerce Spotify has produced a mobile version of the application that can allow users with premium accounts to access and listen to music wherever they go. It also allows the users to download a certain number of songs on to the phone for listening while out of network range. Mobile business seems to be the future of IT marketing, especially with the progress and expectations of pervasive mobile programming. By considering the mobile version of the application to target the users on the move and virtually at all instances of life, Spotify has provided a wider more reaching market for its business. Given that all the mobile users will have to be premium users, the focus of mobile versions will be to create a customer base where the services will be like a contract between Spotify and the user (Ionescu 2009). This eliminates the advertisers from the picture and allows Spotify to compete with earlier established businesses on the same line like Apple, while still spreading the risk. Instead of relying on the advertising source alone, the company can now create a one to one relation with the music fans through their premium accounts. Conclusions It is a good business plan for Spotify to create such a huge market base by having so many users registered, both free and premium categories. The plan of pushing adverts into streamed music provides an excellent way of gaining the revenue from brands. On the mobile world, it provides a good way of reaching a wider market and a premium account for the mobile is a plus on the revenue. This was a wise decision considering the processing power of phones cannot be compared to that of PC’s. The strategy of extending into the mobile world was a good way of preparing for the future of IT with the trends in pervasive mobile programming. Mobile marketing will form an even wider market considering the more frequent use and an extension of the PC use after work hours. Recommendations The competition in the market is high and Spotify will have to deal with some issues, especially with the application interface and specifically the technology on the size of bandwidth among other resource utilized on users machines. Criticism is usually on the fact that the interface does not give a user the access to control the amount of resources like bandwidth that Spotify uses against other systems on the same machine. The issue of coming up with a way of establishing the classification of music sources with their effect on the market using the users data to determine the ratings would be an important thing to indulge in, in order to establishing a fair royalties to the artists in order to keep everyone happy and the future of Spotify bright (BBC News 2010). More concentration on helping the production teams with useful demographic and ratings information will give the company a strong relationship with the source of music, the medium they use to make money. References BBC News, (2010) ‘Spotify boss Daniel Ek sets out future plans’, [Online], Available: http://news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/8478599. stm Porter M. (1998) ‘Competitive strategy: techniques for analyzing industries and competitors’, Free Press, ISBN 0684005778, 9780684005775. McCormick, A. (2009) ‘Spotify and Last. fm moot partnership’, Britannica article; Revolution (14605953) [Online], Available: http://www. britannica. com/bps/additionalcontent/18/38216709/Spotify-and-Lastfm-moot-partnership Ionescu D. , Nov 23, 2009, Spotify Lands App for Symbian Phones, [emailprotected], [Online], Available: http://www. pcworld. com/article/182833/spotify_lands_app_for_symbian_phones. html Robert Andrews, 2009, Apple Approves Spotify’s iPhone App, web article on Paid Content: UK, [Online], Available: http://paidcontent. co. uk/article/419-spotify-says-apple-still-testing-iphone-app-spotify-vanishes-from-app-s/ Emerald, Current CITE-ings from the popular and trade computing press, Library Hi Tech News, Volume 26, Issue 9, [Online], Available: http://www. emeraldinsight. com. ezproxy. cqu. edu. au/Insight/ViewContentServlet? contentType=NonArticleFilename=Published/NonArticle/Articles/23926iae. 001. html Spotify Archives (2010) ‘Spotify for iPhone v0. 4 now available’, [Online], Available: http://www. spotify. com/int/blog/archives/2010/03/31/iphone-v4/ Johan Nylander, Record labels part owner of Spotify, from The Swedish Wire, Published Friday, 07 August 2009, [Online], Available: http://www. swedishwire. com/business/680-record-labels-part-owner-of-spotify Spotify Forums, What is Spotify? Why choose Spotify? How much advertising? [Online], Available: http://www. spotify-forum. com/what_is_spotify. php

Home Theater :: Television Media Entertainment Technology Essays

Home Theater What is a home theater? There are three main components of a home theater system, which are a video display, a source, and sound systems. A basic home theater has a television (at least 27†), a good DVD player, and a surround sound system with at least 4 speakers. Today, we can benefit from recent breakthroughs in electronic such as progressive scan DVD players, flat panel TV and Dolby Digital surround sound. And also the packaged systems make assembling home theater easier than you can imagine. Video Display The video display is the most important component of your home theater. If the picture doesn't look good or isn't big enough, it will lower the impact of the movie considerably. The display is also probably the most expensive piece of a home theater, generally covering half of the total value of the system. There are so many types of displays but the ones to look at are traditional tube TVs for the lower end systems, rear projection TVs for mid range systems and front projection systems for high end system. There are several things you need to look to buy a TV: 1. Fit in the room Screen size is the most important factor in choosing a TV because you'll still want the most immense pictures you can get, which generally means you want to sit 1.5 times the screen's diagonal measurement away from a wide-screen HDTV. For example, a 42-inch HDTV should be placed at least 63 inches from the couch. You need to consider viewing distance too in order to get full performance of your television. 2.Size and display type Most sets up to 40 inches diagonally are direct view, meaning they use the common glass to display the image. Direct-view TVs remain the most popular thanks to their smaller sizes but also because they generally provide a brighter picture with a wider viewing angle than larger rear-projection TVs. The main advantage of a rear-projection set is size because they range between 40 and 82 inches diagonally. 3. Choosing Aspect Ratio If you watch mostly television, like news and sports, you are better off with conventional 4:3 aspect ratio, but if you watch mostly movies, you are better off with wide screen 16:9 aspect ratio. But, it always depends on what you watch and what you need the most. Wide-screen sets also let you stretch the image horizontally to eliminate the window-box bars or otherwise broaden or crop the picture to fill the wide screen.

What is the challenge in the healthcare

Improving the quality of the health care system is among one of the prevailing challenges that United States. The health care system plays a major role in the society because the lives of the people depend on it. Improvement in the standard quality of health care as well as increase in medical knowledge enables people to live a fuller lives (Bernanke, 2008). Health care involves the prevention and treatment of ailments as well as the preservation of mental and physical well-being through services offered by the health and medical profession (The Free Dictionary, 2004). The quality of health care is a very significant aspect which affects the country scientifically, socially and economically. Health care is not only confined to the prevention and treatment of sickness but it also covers the health care organizations and associations. Lack of health care access is among one of the many challenges that the health care reform must address. As of 2006, studies show that almost forty seven million Americans or sixteen percent of the population lacks insurance which means to say that they get less health care attention than those people with insurance thereby causing their health to suffer. It is a well-known fact that the quality of medical technology and research in the United States is very high, however, the highest level of effectiveness may only be achieved if there is information dissemination and consistencies in policy implementation(Bernanke, 2008). Since the quality of health care is a global concern, then the answer to the problem should be apt to encompass global barriers. Countries from around the globe should gather to surpass economic and political barriers and unite to form a strategic plan in order to overcome and address this problem.

Pro-divorce Law Essay

People who say that divorce is not advisable for the Philippines forget or ignore our history. The ethno-linguistic communities of the Philippine archipelago before the Spanish conquest practiced divorce. We had a divorce law from 1917 until August 30, 1950, when the Civil Code of 1950 took effect. The latter law prohibited divorce for Filipinos, and the prohibition continues under the present Family Code. But Muslim Filipinos have always practiced divorce, which Philippine law allowed. Today, divorce continues to be available to Muslim Filipinos under the Code of Muslim Personal Law of the Philippines (Presidential Decree No. 1083), promulgated in 1977. In the 16th Congress, Gabriela, a women’s party-list group pursuing the passage of a divorce bill. Since the previous congress did not pass House Bill No. 1799, â€Å"An Act Introducing Divorce in the Philippines,† the said party-list group will again file the said bill. According to the group, â€Å"couples must have the option to avail of remedies that will pave the way for the attainment of their full human development and self-fulfillment and the protection of their human rights.† Upon the other hand, Marikina Rep. Teodoro has filed House Bill No. 37, â€Å"An Act Providing for the Protection of Marriage as an Inviolable Social Institution and the Family as the Foundation of the Nation and for other Purposes.† According to the proponent, ‘it ensures that absolute divorce remains unacceptable in the Philippines legal system, and maintains that legal separation can be availed of by spouses in troubled marriage, as provided under the Family Code, so they live independently of each other but without the right to remarry other persons.† Issue: Whether or not the Philippines is ready for a divorce law. Yes, the Philippines is ready for a divorce law. Some think that we do not need a divorce law because the Family Code, which applies to non-Muslim Filipinos, already provides for the termination of marriages through â€Å"annulment.† This argument misleads. Annulment is a legal term that has a specific meaning. The remedy of annulment is based on specified grounds that occurred at the time of the celebration of the marriage, such as lack of parental consent and vitiated consent (as when a person married another at gunpoint). The remedy of annulment expires, and the defect may actually be cured by ratification through free and voluntary cohabitation. When people speak of â€Å"annulment† as a means of terminating a marriage, they actually  refer to the remedy under Article 36 of the Family Code. Article 36 declares that a marriage is void from the beginning when one or both spouses are psychologically incapacitated to perform the essential marital obligations. Under Article 36, a court does not terminate a marriage but only declares it void. One must prove psychological incapacity by presenting evidence on three essential elements of the condition: that it already existed before the marriage; that it is grave or serious; and that it is incurable. To do this, one usually needs the help of a psychiatrist or psychologist to testify as an expert witness. But what if the marriage worked in the first ten years, but later the parties drifted apart for some reason or another? What if the other spouse was violent, unfaithful, indolent, or an alcoholic or a drug addict? What if one spouse abandoned the family? These may not be used for â€Å"annulment,† or for a marriage to be declared void under Article 36, unless it can be proved that these are manifestations of psychological incapacity that predated the marriage. A divorce law will provide a remedy that Article 36 does not. Divorce does not concern itself with validity or invalidity of a marriage. It terminates a marriage based on a ground that occurred during the marriage, which makes the marital relationship no longer tenable, regardless of the spouse’s psychological constitution. A divorce law will provide a straightforward remedy to a marital failure. It will benefit Filipinos wherever they are. A PETITION FOR DIVORCE MAY BE FILED ON ANY OF THE FOLLOWING GROUNDS: (1) THE PETITIONER HAS BEEN SEPARATED DE FACTO FROM HIS OR HER SPOUSE FOR AT LEAST FIVE YEARS AT THE TIME OF THE FILING OF THE PETITION AND RECONCILIATION IS HIGHLY IMPROBABLE; (2) THE PETITIONER HAS BEEN LEGALLY SEPARATED FROM HIS OR HER SPOUSE FOR AT LEAST TWO YEARS AT THE TIME OF THE FILING OF THE PETITION AND RECONCILIATION IS HIGHLY IMPROBABLE; (3) WHEN ANY OF THE GROUNDS FOR LEGAL SEPARATION UNDER PARAGRAPH (A) OF THIS ARTICLE HAS CAUSED THE IRREPARABLE BREAKDOWN OF THE MARRIAGE; (4) WHEN ONE OR BOTH SPOUSES ARE PSYCHOLOGICALLY INCAPACITATED TO COMPLY WITH THE ESSENTIAL MARITAL OBLIGATIONS; (5) WHEN THE SPOUSES SUFFER FROM IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES THAT HAVE CAUSED THE IRREPARABLE BREAKDOWN OF THE MARRIAGE.† Even when couples start out well in their marriage, political, economical and social realities take their toll on their relationship. Some are not prepared to handle the intricacies of the married life. For a large number of women, the inequalities and violence in marriage negate its ideals as the embodiment of love, care and safety and erode the bases upon which a marriage is founded. The marital relations facilitate the commission of violence and perpetuate their oppression. Official figures in 2009 showed that nineteen women were victims of marital violence everyday. Among the different forms of violence and abuse against women committed in 2009, wife battery ranked highest at 6,783 or 72% according to the Philippine National Police (PNP). The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) likewise recorded marital violence as highest among different forms of violence against owmen at 1,933. Previous reports of the PNP about three of ten perpetrators of violence against women were husbands of the victims. Husbands accounted for 28 percent of the violence against women crimes. Given these realities, couples must have the option to avail of remedies that will pave the way for the attainment of their full human development and self-fulfillment and the protection of their human rights. Existing laws are not enough to guarantee and protect these rights. To quote the Women’s Legal Bureau, Inc., a legal resource NGO for women: â€Å"The present laws relating to separation of couples and termination of marriage are inadequate to respond to the myriad causes of failed marriages. Particularly, the remedies of declaration of nullity and annulment do not cover the problems that occur during the existence of marriage. Legal separation, on the other hand, while covering problems during marriage, does not put an end to marriage.† â€Å"Though both divorce and a declaration of nullity of a marriage allow the spouses to remarry, the two remedies differ in concept and basis. A declaration of nullity presupposes that the marriage is valid from the beginning and the court declares its non-existence†¦ Beyond [the] grounds specified [in the law], declaration of nullity is not possible.† â€Å"In annulment, the marriage of the parties is declared defective from the beginning, albeit it is considered valid until annulled. The defect can be used to nullify the marriage within a specified period but the same may be ignored and the marriage becomes perfectly valid after the lapse of that period, or the defect may be cured through some act. The defect relates to the time of the celebration of the marriage and has nothing to do with circumstances occurring after the marriage is celebrated. In annulment, the marriage is legally cancelled, and the man and woman are restored to their single status.† â€Å"Since August 3, 1988, couples have been given a way out of failed marriages through Article 36 of the Family Code†¦ The remedy provides under Article 36 is declaration of nullity of the marriage. The article voids a marriage where one party is â€Å"psychologically incapacitated† to comply with the essentials of marital obligations. Consistent with the concept of void marriages (where the remedy is declaration of nullity), the law requires that the incapacity must have existed at the time of the celebration of the marriage†¦ In practice, Article 36 has become a form of divorce, as valid marriages are declared void every day in the guise of â€Å"psychological incapacity.† The innumerable Article 36 cases brought to trial courts is an indication of the elasticity of Article 36 to accommodate the needs of many couples desiring to terminate their marriages. It is proof that divorce is needed in the Philippines. Article 36 provides a remedy only for spouses who can prove â€Å"psychological incapacity†. The concept certainly cannot accommodate all cases where divorce would be necessary. What we need is a divorce law that defines clearly and unequivocally the grounds and terms for terminating a marriage. That law will put an end to the creative efforts played daily in courtrooms across the country to accommodate a wide range of  cases in order to prove â€Å"psychological incapacity.† (Women’s Legal Bureau, Inc., The Relevance of Divorce in the Philippines, 1998) Divorce does not concern itself with validity or invalidity of a marriage. It terminates a marriage based on a ground that occurred during the marriage, which makes the marital relationship no longer tenable, regardless of the spouse’s psychological constitution. A divorce law will provide a straightforward remedy to a marital failure. It will benefit Filipinos wherever they are. â€Å"The law should only give people a choice, to be exercised according to their own personal beliefs.†- Luzviminda Ilagan The Catholic Church need not worry. The institutions of marriage and the family have survived to this day, as they will survive a Philippine divorce law. We are a secular state, where no religious group has the right to define law or policy for the entire population. There is not one but a plurality of beliefs in Philippine society. The law should only give people a choice, to be exercised according to their own personal beliefs. Therefore, to be set free from an unhappy marriage is to allow citizens of any country to form their own lives. Freedom is something we all want. To allow a country to set the law for such freedoms is nothing more than an act which is incomprehensible. There are record amounts of unhappy marriages in the Philippines. Every day, Filipinos get married, bear children, separate and get into other relationships, regardless of what the law says. The lack of a divorce law for non-Muslim Filipinos complicates further the marital and family problems of many Filipinos. Our government has clearly failed to respond to their needs. If the country wants to move forward, it has to confront the realities of marital and family life of Filipinos in the Philippines and abroad. It has to pass a divorce law now.

H.O.P.E Consumer Fitness Log Essay Example

H.O.P.E Consumer Fitness Log Essay Example H.O.P.E Consumer Fitness Log Essay H.O.P.E Consumer Fitness Log Essay You will need to document six hours (or 360 minutes) to include a variety of physical activity. A variety of physical activity can be defined as a minimum of three different activities. Students are expected to log activities multiple times per week for each week enrolled in the HOPE course. You cannot complete and receive credit for this HOPE course if you do not complete each of the topic workout logs. Student Name: Tatiana Joseph All activities recorded on MapMyWalk App, Fitbit App and J. R. Workout App Regular physical activity has many positive benefits that contribute to improved mental health and well being.Please define a measurable physical activity goal you would like to meet that relates to improving your overall mental health status. Goal:Â   I aspire to lower my body fat by 1% no later than August 1, 2013. This 1% drop in body fat will Date| Warm-Up| Physical Activity| Intensity (Light, Medium, or High)| Cool-Down| Minutes| 7/3/2013| Walking| Jogging| Medium| Quadriceps , hamstring, and calf stretches| 50| 7/15/13| Walking | Boot camp| Medium| Walking| 60| 7/16/13| walking | Training| high| Walking| 60 | 7/17/13| Walking | Jump rope| Medium| Walking| 15| 7/17/13| Walking | Sprinting| Medium| Walking| 15| /18/13| Walking | Biking| Medium| Walking| 70| 7/19/13| Walking | Walking| Medium| Walking| 20| 7/20/14| Walking | Boot Camp| Medium| Walking| 60| 7/22/13| Walking | Personal trainer| High| Walking| 60| 7/23/13| Walking | Gym workout| Medium| Walking| 60| 7/23/13| Walking | Jump rope| Medium| Walking| 15| | | | | Total | 430 minutes| | Â  | Â  | Â  | Â  | | Reflections: (worth 20 points) 1. Did your workouts impact your stress level? Why or why not? Yes. It keeps me in a relaxed state of mind. 2. What additional activities could you include in your workout routine to improve your stress level? Jump roping daily 3.Do you believe your workouts impact your self-image? Why or why not? I feel great and look great. I will be ready for track season at school! 4. Does meeting or exceeding your goals impact your self-image? Why or why not? Challenging yourself is always good. It pushes you to be your best in whatever you do. 1. Search the web to identify a motivational quote that inspires you to maintain or strengthen your self-image. Include the quote and the source of your quote . In a world where you can be anything you want, BE YOURSELF. pointswww. goodreads. com . Why will this quote help you with your self-image?It means to me to never compare yourself to to others. Just be happy and be you. Fitness Test Comparison: (worth 20 ) 2. Repeat the body composition fitness test from the Getting Started lesson. 3. Compare your original body composition result (body mass index or BMI) with your current body composition result (body mass index or BMI). Write out your original score and status, along with your current score and status.? Original score 20. 6Â   Current score 19 4. Did your results improve? Why or why not? Yes and know. I think It could be better if I stop with Mcdonald, Chik Fila and Pizza.

Four Ways to Find New Markets

Four Ways to Find New Markets Youve signed up for all possible newsletters that promise to  introduce you to the magazine of your dreams one that pays well,  publishes fast and edits nary a word. Whats more, youve actually  tried all the magazines touted Or perhaps youve exhausted your permissible quota of stories that can  be submitted to these dream magazines. (Two in a year. Yeah, right.  What are you supposed to do for the remaining ten months?) Or perhaps youve sold first rights and would now like to sell  reprints to other magazines to make a quick, painless buck. Whatever the reason, you need more wonderful magazines to submit  stories to. Only, where do you find them? With more than 5,500 markets in my personal database, Ive become  something of an expert in sniffing out potential venues for  publication. Want to know my secret? Actually there are four: 1. Peek into your own backyard. Has your work been published online? Web magazines often have a  section that hyperlinks to other similar e-zines. It goes 2. Take a helping hand from your competitors. Diligently read the

Definition and Examples of Narratives in Writing

Definition and Examples of Narratives in Writing The definition of narrative is a piece of writing that tells a story, and it is one of four classical rhetorical modes or ways that writers use to present information. The others include an exposition, which explains and analyzes an idea or set of ideas; an argument, which attempts to persuade the reader to a particular point of view; and a description, a written form of a visual experience. Key Takeaways: Narrative Definition A narrative is a form of writing that tells a story.  Narratives can be essays, fairy tales, movies, and jokes.  Narratives have five elements: plot, setting, character, conflict, and theme.  Writers use narrator style, chronological order, a point of view, and other strategies to tell a story. Telling stories is an ancient art that started long before humans invented writing. People tell stories when they gossip, tell jokes, or reminisce about the past. Written forms of narration include most forms of writing: personal essays, fairy tales, short stories, novels, plays, screenplays, autobiographies, histories, even news stories have a narrative. Narratives may be a sequence of events in chronological order or an imagined tale with flashbacks or multiple timelines. Narrative Elements Every narrative has five elements that define and shape the narrative: plot, setting, character, conflict, and theme. These elements are rarely stated in a story; they are revealed to the readers in the story in subtle or not-so-subtle ways, but the writer needs to understand the elements to assemble her story. Heres an example from The Martian, a novel by Andy Weir that was made into a film: The plot is the thread of events that occur in a story. Weirs plot is about a man who gets accidentally abandoned on the surface of Mars.The setting is the location of the events in time and place. The Martian is set on Mars in the not-too-distant future.The characters are the people in the story who drive the plot, are impacted by the plot, or may even be bystanders to the plot. The characters in The Martian include Mark Watney, his shipmates, the people at NASA resolving the issue, and even his parents who are only mentioned in the story but still are impacted by the situation and in turn impact Marks decisions.The conflict is the problem that is being resolved. Plots need a moment of tension, which involves some difficulty that requires resolution. The conflict in The Martian is that Watney needs to figure out how to survive and eventually leave the planets surface.Most important and least explicit is the theme. What is the moral of the story? What does the writer intend the reade r to understand? There are arguably several themes in The Martian: the ability of humans to overcome problems, the stodginess of bureaucrats, the willingness of scientists to overcome political differences, the dangers of space travel, and the power of flexibility as a scientific method. Setting Tone and Mood In addition to structural elements, narratives have several styles that help move the plot along or serve to involve the reader. Writers define space and time in a descriptive narrative, and how they choose to define those characteristics can convey a specific mood or tone. For example, chronological choices can affect the readers impressions. Past events always occur in strict chronological order, but writers can choose to mix that up, show events out of sequence, or the same event several times experienced by different characters or described by different narrators. In Gabriel Garcà ­a Mrquezs novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the same few hours are experienced in sequence from the viewpoint of several different characters. Garcà ­a Mrquez uses that to illustrate the peculiar almost magical inability of the townspeople to stop a murder they know is going to happen. The choice of a narrator is another way that writers set the tone of a piece. Is the narrator someone who experienced the events as a participant, or one who witnessed the events but wasnt an active participant? Is that narrator an omniscient undefined person who knows everything about the plot including its ending, or is he confused and uncertain about the events underway? Is the narrator a reliable witness or lying to themselves or the reader? In the novel Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn, the reader is forced to constantly revise her opinion as to the honesty and guilt of the husband Nick and his missing wife. In Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, the narrator is Humbert Humbert, a pedophile who constantly justifies his actions despite the damage that Nabokov illustrates hes doing. Point of View Establishing a point of view for a narrator allows the writer to filter the events through a particular character. The most common point of view in fiction is the omniscient (all-knowing) narrator who has access to all the thoughts and experiences of each of her characters. Omniscient narrators are almost always written in the third person and do not usually have a role in the storyline. The Harry Potter novels, for example, are all written in third person; that narrator knows everything about everybody but is unknown to us. The other extreme is a story with a first-person point of view in which the narrator is a character within that story, relating events as they see them and with no visibility into other character motivations. Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre is an example of this: Jane relates her experiences of the mysterious Mr. Rochester to us directly, not revealing the full explanation until Reader, I married him. Points of view can also be effectively shifted throughout a piece- in her novel Keys to the Street, Ruth Rendell used limited third-person narratives from the point of view of five different characters, enabling the reader to assemble a coherent whole out of what first appears to be unrelated stories.   Other Strategies Writers also use the grammatical strategies of tense (past, present, future), person (first person, second person, third person), number (singular, plural) and voice (active, passive). Writing in the present tense is unsettling- the narrators have no idea what will happen next- while past tense can build in some foreshadowing. Many recent novels use the present tense, including The Martian. A writer sometimes personalizes the narrator of a story as a specific person for a specific purpose: The narrator can only see and report on what happens to him or her. In Moby Dick, the entire story is told by the narrator Ishmael, who relates the tragedy of the mad Captain Ahab, and is situated as the moral center. E.B. White, writing columns in 1935s New Yorker magazine, often used the plural or editorial we to add a humorous universality and a slow pace to his writing. The barber was cutting our hair, and our eyes were closed- as they are so likely to be... Deep in a world of our own, we heard, from far away, a voice saying goodbye. It was a customer of the shop, leaving. Goodbye, he said to the barbers. Goodbye, echoed the barbers. And without ever returning to consciousness, or opening our eyes, or thinking, we joined in. Goodbye, we said, before we could catch ourselves.- E.B. White Sadness of Parting. In contrast, sportswriter Roger Angell (Whites stepson) epitomizes sports writing, with a quick, active voice, and straight chronological snap: In September 1986, during an unmomentous Giants-Braves game out at Candlestick Park, Bob Brenly, playing third base for San Francisco, made an error on a routine ground ball in the top of the fourth inning. Four batters later, he kicked away another chance and then, scrambling after the ball, threw wildly past home in an attempt to nail a runner there: two errors on the same play. A few moments after that, he managed another boot, thus becoming only the fourth player since the turn of the century to rack up four errors in one inning.- Roger Angell. La Vida.

2 Questions Needed to be Ansewered Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

2 Questions Needed to be Ansewered - Assignment Example Firstly, they encourage countries to tighten money supply and reduce fiscal stimulus (Friedman 4). Secondly, they advocate privatization of public enterprises (Friedman Web). They also advocates for liberal, free market economy. These institutions also force countries to adopt tax rate that prevail in other countries. They also demands countries to maintain their deficit to GDP ratio to international standards. In addition, they allow the removal of restrictions on the flow of international capital and the removal of barriers to trade (Quiggin 5). Countries are also required to maintain zero tolerance to corruption. In fact, after the 1980’s debt crisis, the IMF required the government to cut public expenditure, sell or close public institution operating at a loss followed by removal of regulatory policies (Quiggin 32). Several benefits exist to countries that follow the Golden Straightjacket. The first benefit is the increased acceleration of the economy and decreased political interference (Friedman 4). The Golden Straightjacket fosters more growth and higher average income (Friedman 4). This happens through increased trading activities, foreign investments, privatization and efficiency in resources used due to the pressure of global competition (Friedman 4). On the political front, the political and economic choices of those in power are limited by the global economic standards (Friedman 4). In fact, the government control on the economy minimizes as it adopts more policies that are liberal. This means the degrees of freedom on fiscal policies are limited (Friedman 101-111). On the other hand, some countries are against the Golden Straightjacket. Consequently, there is a consequence to such countries. Firstly, there is decreased investment. Secondly, there is reduced spending or withdrawing of m oney from such countries. Moreover, such countries are required to pay higher interest rates to borrow from foreign institutions (Chaudhry

English - School Lunches Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

English - School Lunches - Research Paper Example As the school bell rings for lunch, children rush to the canteen to fill their hungry stomachs. Most schools have a menu from which children can select for their lunch. The lunch time for the kids is a time not only to energize themselves but also to sit with their friends and have a good time. However though, there are certain concerns which are going unnoticed by the school authorities. Concerns A lot of teachers have noticed a tired set of students attending the classes which are conducted after lunch. The reason for tiresome students has been the food they consume. Most schools though are not able to provide healthy food to the students. This has been a problem for most of the schools. In most schools, the menu for lunch reads a list of junk foods which is wrong. Looking at the menu, children have no other option but to consume them. The school authorities should take responsibilities and stop selling junk foods. One of the main reasons why junk food should be stopped is it affec ts the health of the children a lot. It is the major reason for child obesity. To be unfit and obese at a young age is a concern. Survey has shown that 32% of the youngsters are obese. One can accept the fact that such food is sold outside to earn money but it is unacceptable when such food is sold in schools. Due of the lack of fresh foods and healthy foods, students buy cheap junk foods. Pizzas, pastas, chips, cookies and burgers form the main menu in school lunches. Consumption of these means a lot of sugar is consumed by the children. School lunches have a high level of sugar content in them. Healthier food would mean that the obesity rate is reduced. Another reason why cafeterias should not serve junk food is that it keeps the energy levels of the children low. High energized food shall help the children to maintain good focus and participate in sports as well. Lunch is the most important since it falls in the middle of the day. Consuming junk food will extracts all the energy and reduces the physical activity. One cannot perform to their potential if they do not have enough energy. In one of the schools, children complained of less stamina while practicing soccer. When the coach investigated in their diet, he found out that most of them had a packet of chips and soda before practice. He advised them not to consume fried and fatty foods before exercising since it consumes most of the energy from the body. Studies have shown that the most commonly food consumed by children is cookies, candy, cakes and ice cream. This is also the reason for children losing energy during their noon classes. He stressed on the importance of consuming healthy and natural food which give energy to our bodies. Despite schools imparting knowledge to the children on how to remain healthy, sometimes they miss out on providing healthy food to them. The authorities should notice this and make sure that children are provided good food. Quality Most of the science classes teach the chi ldren that good food is the secret of a healthy life. However though, the same is not followed in schools. Authorities take a lot of effort to make sure that children get tasty food, but they miss out on the quality. In an era where health has been given primary importance, schools have neglected that. Parents have complained that their children are suffering from illness frequently and their immune systems have gone down. An inspection conducted by the officials brought a

Sustainable Operations Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sustainable Operations Management - Essay Example Its main focus is on the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes involved in value creation for sustainable development and growth. The term sustainability aims at keeping a balance between the human needs and prevention of the ecosystems on which our future generation depends. In specific, it refers to the exploitation of resources with the orientation of technological changes and minimal environmental damage to the present as well as future needs. The adoption of sustainable development theory is at an ever growing pace with the increased awareness of eco-friendly environment and analysis has indicated that since after the introduction of UN Agenda 21 (Moore, pp. 20-28, 2008), things seem to accelerate significantly in this area. In order to compete with the global market, businesses are paying more attention towards the environmental consequences of their products or services. They have realized the importance of operations strategy to support the company’s objectives and corporate goals. This trend has transformed the nature of operations to green product design, triple bottom line reporting and close-loop supply chains (Lippmann, pp. 1-9, 1999). The involvement of operations management is present from strategic to tactical and operational levels. Its activities include â€Å"site location, layout and structure, inventory management, traffic and materials handling, equipment selection and maintenance, designing technology supply chains, etc† (Metz, 1998). In this regard, this paper will focus on the issues companies confront while developing their policies regarding sustainable development (Moore, pp. 29-33, 2008) in the area of supply chain management. Supply Chain Management The term supply chain interchangeably used as ‘demand chain’ or ‘value chain’ refers to the voluntary commitments made by the companies to manage better relations with the suppliers (Metz, 1998). It manages in three different directions: t he information flow in all the departments, the funds flow and the materials flow to the concerned places. As the aim of this assignment is to identify and discuss some of the key issues faced by the companies in the development of a sustainable supply chain policy, it has been an observation that companies have realized that the value they provide to their customers in the form of a product or service is not enough to survive in this competitive world (Webb, pp. 1-5, 2000). There is a constant need to address and resolve the sustainability issues throughout the supply chain. â€Å"Some of the most popular and important approaches to SCM includes collaborative planning, outsourcing, customers-suppliers partnership and ISC (integrated supply chain) design† (OECD, 1999). In specific, there are three dimensions on the basis of which a sustainable supply chain policy is developed. Particularly, UN Agenda 21 (Moore, pp. 29-33, 2008) divided the dimensions in two categories: social and economic. However, this paper has identified environmental, social, and ethical concerns that directly affect the performance and image of the company. Environmental Issues: a) the use of natural resources b) gas emissions c) waste management concerns d) harmful substances e) energy consumption f) deforestation g) global warming h) ozone depletion i) Nuclear radiation. Social Issues: a) Role and responsibility of the company towards the social

Capital Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Capital - Essay Example The results of the strategy are dependent of the performance of the companies. Basically, the concept of capital gearing is designed to provide competitive advantage and to provide long-term benefits to the consumers. Actually, the proposal of the board of directors appears to be right. Capital gearing is an instrument that tends to decrease the cost of capital. Simple computations will suggest that gearing is increased in three ways: increase in net assets, decrease net borrowings, and decrease shareholder funds. Cost of capital is reduced by minimising issuance of stocks and issuance of borrowings. In addition, not venturing to internal financing also maintains the level of capital cost. Theoretically, the proposal is sound because capital gearing will definitely decrease the value of capital. Basically, it will depend on the strategy of the firm on which item to concentrate. The notion provides an interesting subject that has to be analysed before the gearing is finally approved. Actually, the board of directors failed to notice an important component of the equation. The corporate tax was secluded for the computation. Thus, the calculation has to be corrected by inserting the missing part of the equation. The increase in gearing has resulted to a decrease total capital by 1%. Ignoring the importance of the corporate tax was crucial in the actual results. Despite of the minimal change in the results, the managers was still right in doubting the computations. The small change in the decrease in cost of capital was favourable for the company. The impact of the decrease will be observed in the benefits provided to all stakeholders, in particular the investors. Assuming that the cost of equity and cost of debt do not alter, estimate the effect of the share repurchase on the company's cost of capital and value. Basically, this method of gearing will have more substantial effects to the cost of capital. As mentioned, gearing is possible when the assets of the company are greater than the debts and equity. Share repurchase will definitely affect the cost of equity. Perhaps this notion contradicts to the earlier statement that the equity cost retains its value. Even with the repurchase shares, the cost of capital will not affected. In the previous discussion, it was mentioned that internal financing also promotes gearing. By doing such, the company can use its earnings to repurchase the share. Basically, the company will not resort into borrowings and will not use the available equity as means to do the repurchase. The internal investment will have similar effects to the company in terms of the reduction of capital cost and benefits gained. Although, it is

Social media advertising on airline industries Article

Social media advertising on airline industries - Article Example These sites are not only used by youngsters, but businessmen/women, housewives, and even retired people use them to get connected with their friends, share their thoughts with the world and find entertainment as well. The most popular sites Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn generate heavy traffic from all kinds of people around the globe. All these sites although have different purposes but are easily used by advertisers to advertise brands in a cost-effective and more interactive way. Social Networks Advertising (SNA) is a very distinct form of advertising. There can ads that are pushed to the consumers, and some that the consumers pull towards themselves. There are some advertisements that require the companies to pay to the social networking sites, whereas there are some that are for free (e.g. Fan pages, twitter profile etc.) There are some that are merely adaptation of the print media (e.g. Banner ads) whereas others are unique for the social media (e.g. fan pages, micro blogging etc) In the beginning only FMCGs or Restaurants marketed themselves on the social media. But now even if you are a service company or you belong to an automobile industry, or you have a small business, you need to have your brand’s social media presence. This research paper will see how social media is used in the airline industry. Most of the great airlines have a social media presence and are engaging with their customers through these interactive mediums. However there are still some airlines where they consider social media as â€Å"just a silly fad† as mentioned in the article â€Å"All that twitters† by Madhu Unnikrishnan & Robert Wall. The article gives the example of JetBlue airline which has 1.4 million followers on Twitter. The company focuses on listening to what customers say and solving their customer service issues with the help of twitter. Many social media analysts say that even if the brand is not online, it will still be discussed there by the

Capital Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Capital - Essay Example The results of the strategy are dependent of the performance of the companies. Basically, the concept of capital gearing is designed to provide competitive advantage and to provide long-term benefits to the consumers. Actually, the proposal of the board of directors appears to be right. Capital gearing is an instrument that tends to decrease the cost of capital. Simple computations will suggest that gearing is increased in three ways: increase in net assets, decrease net borrowings, and decrease shareholder funds. Cost of capital is reduced by minimising issuance of stocks and issuance of borrowings. In addition, not venturing to internal financing also maintains the level of capital cost. Theoretically, the proposal is sound because capital gearing will definitely decrease the value of capital. Basically, it will depend on the strategy of the firm on which item to concentrate. The notion provides an interesting subject that has to be analysed before the gearing is finally approved. Actually, the board of directors failed to notice an important component of the equation. The corporate tax was secluded for the computation. Thus, the calculation has to be corrected by inserting the missing part of the equation. The increase in gearing has resulted to a decrease total capital by 1%. Ignoring the importance of the corporate tax was crucial in the actual results. Despite of the minimal change in the results, the managers was still right in doubting the computations. The small change in the decrease in cost of capital was favourable for the company. The impact of the decrease will be observed in the benefits provided to all stakeholders, in particular the investors. Assuming that the cost of equity and cost of debt do not alter, estimate the effect of the share repurchase on the company's cost of capital and value. Basically, this method of gearing will have more substantial effects to the cost of capital. As mentioned, gearing is possible when the assets of the company are greater than the debts and equity. Share repurchase will definitely affect the cost of equity. Perhaps this notion contradicts to the earlier statement that the equity cost retains its value. Even with the repurchase shares, the cost of capital will not affected. In the previous discussion, it was mentioned that internal financing also promotes gearing. By doing such, the company can use its earnings to repurchase the share. Basically, the company will not resort into borrowings and will not use the available equity as means to do the repurchase. The internal investment will have similar effects to the company in terms of the reduction of capital cost and benefits gained. Although, it is

MARKETING PROFESSIONAL Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

MARKETING PROFESSIONAL Practice - Essay Example At the next level, the people who will work on this plan’s realization need to be identified and appropriately trained. The research for the staff required for the completion of an organizational plan begins within the organization. If specific competencies are involved in the particular project, then individuals with the required skills need to be identified. At this point, there is the following problem: is the organization involved able to respond to the financial needs of such initiative? In current case, the financial status of the particular (non – profit) organization is rather satisfactory – at least for now. However, the organization is not able of hiring staff; for this reason, volunteers will be asked to participate in the particular project – supporting the organization’s permanent staff. The various aspects of the specific scheme – of attracting volunteers – need to be carefully reviewed: a) volunteers will be treated like the permanent staff, b) the tasks allocated to volunteers will be checked – in accordance with the skills and the competencies of each individual, c) the time period of the volunteers’ participation in the project will be strictly defined – each volunteer will be asked to participate in the project for a short period – not more than a month – in order to guarantee the quality of the work provided but also the availability of volunteers, d) the performance of volunteers will be monitored – ensuring that volunteers who highly perform will be rewarded for their efforts; non-financial rewards could be provided to volunteers aiming to enforce their motivation. When the financial and the non-financial resources required for the specific project have been allocated – in the context described above – then the practical implications and challenges of the project should be identified and evaluated. First, the phases of the project need to be presented: a) in terms of location, the project will be

Fahrenheit 451 Essay Example for Free

Fahrenheit 451 Essay Fahrenheit 451 is a book that was published by Ray Bradbury in 1953. This book tells the story in which intellectual thought and books are illegal. According to the book, the futuristic firemen have the responsibility of setting fire to the books and any place that they reside. Numerous significant symbols occur in this book. In my opinion, fire, the Hearth and the Salamander, and the Phoenix are three of the most important symbols. The title of the book is an important symbol in and of itself. Ray Bradbury titled the book Fahrenheit 451 because 451 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which paper burns. Fire is a symbol of destruction. It’s significant because the main character, Guy Montag, and the rest of the firemen burn books because they are illegal. When seventeen-year-old Clarisse McClellan asks if Montag ever reads any of the books he burns, he laughs and replies â€Å"That’s against the law!† When Clarisse and Montag begin to talk more, Montag is taken aback by the different knowledge that Clarisse expresses to him. She tells him that firemen used to be sent out to stop fires, not start them. Montag couldn’t fight the sudden burning curiosity that over took all of his past beliefs. He began to collect books from each book burning and read them. The Hearth and the Salamander is the title of the first section of the book. Hearths are fireplaces that are traditionally placed in the center of the home and are a source of warmth. They represent the constructive use of fire, which Clarisse unintentionally shows Montag. After walking and talking with Clarisse, he realizes that he is not happy. The book states, â€Å"He felt his smile slide away, melt, fold over and down on itself like a tallow skin, like the stuff of a fantastic candle burning too long and now collapsing and now blown out. Darkness. He was not happy.† The salamander on the other hand was once believed to be able to live in fire without being consumed by it. This represents the destructive side of fire. Salamanders are the names given to the fire trucks and are the official symbols of the firemen. When Clarisse meets Montag for the first time the book describes her as being, â€Å"hypnotized by the salamander on his arm.† The Phoenix is a huge symbol that is mentioned in the novel. Toward the end of the story, the city is completely destroyed. The Phoenix was a mystical bird that would burn itself up and then rise again. Granger explains the legend of the Phoenix to Montag when they are watching the fire. It’s used to symbolize the renewal of mankind. Like the Phoenix, they have the ability to rise from the ashes, and rebuild their society. These extremely significant symbols are what make the novel a fantastic story. Fire, the Hearth and the Salamander, and the Phoenix are three symbols that I chose to go into detail about. They each express a different meaning of the book. The thought of firemen starting fires is something that could possibly change when rebuilding the city. At the end of the book they have one thing in mind and that is to change people’s minds about books.

Importance of biofuels

Importance of biofuels Abstract World demand for energy has been projected to double by 2050 and be more than triple by the end of the century. Since industrial revolution in the 1850s, the human consumption of fossil fuels has been one of the growing causes of international concern and unease among some industrial nations. The reasons for which can be attributed to the rapidly depleting reserves of fossil fuels. Over the past few decades, with the successes achieved in genetic engineering technology, advances made in the field of biofuels offer the only immediate solution to fossil fuels. Presently, most of the ethanol in use is produced either from starch or sugar, but these sources have not proven to be sufficient to meet the growing global fuel requirements. However, conversion of abundant and renewable cellulosic biomass into alternative sources of energy seems to be an effective and promising solution. But for this technology to become viable there is a need to develop cheap and sustainable sources of cellulases along with eliminating the need for pretreatment processes. The review thus aims to provide a brief overview about the need and importance of biofuels particularly bioethanol with respect to the growing environmental concerns along with an urgent need to address the existing problems about cost-optimisation and large scale production of biofuels. 1.0 Introduction Biofuels are liquid fuels derived from plants. Currently, first generation biofuels are extensively being produced and used. These are generated using starch, sugar, vegetable oils and animal fats using fairly expensive conventional technology. In recent years, the fact that production of ethanol from cellulosic and lignocellulosic material is being hindered due to inadequate technology to enable efficient and economically viable methods to break down the multipolymeric raw material has gained wide popularity (Verma et al, 2010). Therefore, there is a need to develop efficient systems for the production of cellulases and other cellulose degrading enzymes. Lignocellulosic biofuels are thus likely to be seen as a part of the portfolio of solutions being offered to reduce high energy prices, including more efficient energy use along with the use of other alternative fuels (Coyle, 2007). 1.1 Importance of biofuels: Factors like the finite petroleum reserves and constantly rising demands for energy by the industrialised as well as the highly populated countries (on their Way to industrialisation) like India and china have made it absolutely necessary to look into alternate and efficient methods to replace these fuels in future (Stephanopoulos, 2008). Also, concerns like steep rise in fossil fuel prices in the recent years, increasing concerns about climate change like global warming, insecurity and unrest among governments due to their depleting natural reserves are just a few factors that define an urgent need for a sustainable path towards renewable fuel technology development (Stephanopoulos, 2008). Among the various types of alternative fuels considered (liquid fuels from coal and/or biomass with and without carbon capture and storage (CCS)), biofuels derived from lignocellulosic biomass offer the most clean and sustainable alternative to fossil fuels essentially because of their cost compet itiveness as opposed to the current expensive methods of ethanol production from sugarcane and corn (Stephanopoulos, 2008) (Shen and Gnanakaran, 2009). The global production and use of biofuels has increased tremendously in recent years, from 18.2 billion litres in 2000 to about 60.6 billion litres in 2007. It has been estimated that about 85% of this amount is bioethanol (Coyle, 2007). This increase is primarily a result of the reasons stated above along with rising concerns about global warming and greenhouse gas emissions due to excessive fossil fuels usage since biofuels are carbon-neutral and reduce green house emissions (Sainz, 2009). Also, one of the factors contributing to the viability of biofuels as an alternative transportation fuel is their ease of compatibility with our existing liquid fuel infrastructure (Sainz, 2009). An important step in the production of biofuels is the breakdown of cellulose fibres by the enzymes capable of degrading it. But the production of these enzymes is still an expensive task due to their production in large microorganism bioreactors. One method for the inexpensive production of these enzymes is the use of transgenic plants as heterologous protein production systems (Danna, 2001; Kusnadi et al., 1997; Twyman et al., 2003). Plant based enzyme production offers advantages over the traditional bacterial and fungal cultures by being commercially viable and particularly attractive since in plants, the desired protein can be made to accumulate at high levels i.e. at even greater levels than 10% of total soluble protein (Gray et al, 2008). Another major economic advantage of plant-based protein production over one that is microorganism-based is in the scale-up of protein expression. Whereas scale-up of microbial systems implies large purchase and maintenance costs for large fermentors and related equipment, scale-up of plant-based protein product would only require planting of more seeds and harvesting of a larger area (Gray et al, 2008). Cellulase expressing transgenic plants may thus offer significant capital cost savings over more traditional cellulase production via cellulolytic fungi or bacteria (Gray et al, 2008). Ethanolis an alcohol fuel currently made from the sugars found in grains, such as corn, sorghum, and wheat, as well as potato skins, rice, sugar cane, sugar beets, molasses and yard clippings. Currently, there are two methods employed for the production of bioethanol. In the first process, sugar crops or starch are grown and fermented to produce ethanol. The second process, naturally oil producing plants like Jatropha and algae are utilised to produce oils which can directly be utilised as fuel for diesel engines after heating them to reduce their viscosity. However, currently, it is majorly being produced from starch (Corn in US) and sugar (Sugarcane in Brazil) sources. According to the latest statistics (in 2008), USA and Brazil (fig. 1) were the major producers of fuel ethanol by producing 51.9% and 37.3% of global bioethanol respectively (http://www.ethanolrfa.org/industry/statistics/#E). Brazil especially produces ethanol to a large extent from fermentation of sugarcane sugar to cater to one-fourth of its ground transportation needs (Sticklen, 2008).Similarly, to meet part of its own needs; United States produces ethanol from corn. Unfortunately, inspite of being breakthrough developments, the production of ethanol by this method is not cost-effective and barely manages to meet less than about 15 % of the countrys demands (Sticklen, 2008). Their use as energy crops is thus posing to be inappropriate since these are primary food sources, and are unstable from the viewpoints of long-term supply and cost (Sainz, 2009). The restrictions on available land and the rising price pressures would soon limit the production of grain and corn based ethanol to less than 8% in the US transport fuel mix (Tyner, 2008). Similarly, in spite of a predicted increase to 79.5 billion litres by 2022 in ethanol production from sugarcane in Brazil, this technology would eventually be limited by the same agro-economic factors affecting the grain and the corn based ethanol production (Sainz, 2009). For e.g. the use of corn for production of ethanol has led to an increase in the prices of livestock and poultry since it is the main starch component of the animal feed. Therefore, there is an urgent need for new and sustainable technologies for a significant contribution of biofuels towards the progress of renewable sources of energy and the reduction of greenhouse gases (Sainz, 2009). Thus, the benefits of a high efficiency of carbohydrate recovery compared to other technologies and the possibilities of technology improvement due to breakthrough processes in biotechnology, offer cost-competitive solutions for bioethanol production, thus making the second generation or lignocellulosic sources the most attractive option the large scale production of biofuels (Wyman et al, 2005). 3.0 Potential of cellulosic bioethanol Cellulosic ethanolis abiofuelproduced from wood, grasses, or the non-edible parts of plants. It is a type ofbiofuelproduced frombreaking down of lignocellulose, a tough structural material that comprises much of the mass of plants and provides them rigidity and structural stability (Coyle, 2007). Lignocellulose is composed mainly ofcellulose,hemicelluloseandlignin (Carroll and Sommerville, 2009). Another factor that makes the production of cellulosic bioethanol a promising step in future is that unlike corn and sugarcane, its production is not dependent on any feedcrop since cellulose is the worlds most widely available biological material that can be obtained from widely available low-value materials like wood waste, widely growing grasses and crop wastes and manures (Coyle, 2007). But production of ethanol from lignocellulose requires a greater amount of processing to make the sugar monomers available to the microorganisms that are typically used to produce ethanol by fermentation. Bioethanol is one fuel that is expected to be in great global demand in the coming years since its only main requirement is the abundant supply of biomass either directly from plants or from plant derived materials including animal manures. It is also a clean fuel as it produces fewer air-borne pollutants than petroleum, has a low toxicity and is readily biodegradable. Furthermore, the use of cellulosic biomass allows bioethanol production in countries with climates that are unsuitable for crops such as sugarcane or corn. For example, the use of rice straw for the production of ethanol is an attractive goal given that it comprises 50% of the words agronomic biomass (Sticklen, 2008). Though cellulosic ethanol is a promising fuel from an environmental point of view, its industrial production and commercialisation has not been progressing successfully. This can mainly be attributed to the high cost of production of cellulose degrading enzymes -Cellulases (Lynd et.al, 1996). Yet another very important factor is the pretreatment of lignocellulosic content in the biomass to allow cellulases and hemicellulases to penetrate and break the cellulose in the cell wall. These two steps together incur very high costs and are a hindrance in efficient production of cellulosic bioethanol. Thus plant genetic engineering is the best alternative to bioreactors for an inexpensive production of these enzymes (cellulases and hemicellulases). It can also be used to modify the lignin content/amount to reduce the need for expensive pretreatment (Sticklen, 2008). 4.0 The abundance and structure of cellulose Photosynthetic organisms such as plants, algae and some bacteria produce more than 100 million tonnes of organic matter each year from the fixation of carbon dioxide. Half of this biomass is made up of the biopolymer cellulose which, as a result, is perhaps the most abundant It is the most common organic compound on Earth. Cellulose comprises about 33 percent of all plant matter, 90 percent of cotton is composed of cellulose and so is around 50 percent of wood (Britannica encyclopaedia, 2008). Higher plant tissues such as trees, cotton, flax, sugar beet residues, ramie, cereal straw, etc represent the main sources of cellulose. This carbohydrate macromolecule is the principal structural element of the cell wall of the majority of plants. Cellulose is also a major component of wood as well as cotton and other textile fibres such as linen, hemp and jute. Cellulose and its derivatives are one of the principal materials of use for industrial exploitation (paper, nitrocellulose, cellulose acetate, methyl cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) etc.) and they represent a considerable economic investment (Pà ©rez and Mackie, 2001). Cellulose and lignin are the majorcombustiblecomponents of non-foodenergy crops. Some of the examples of non-feed industrial crops are tobacco, miscanthus, industrial hemp, Populus(poplar) species and Salix(willow). Celluloseserves as one of the major resistance to external chemical, mechanical, or biological perturbations in plants. This resistance ofcelluloseto depolymerization is offered by its occurrence as highly crystalline polymer fibers (Shen and Gnanakaran, 2009).it occur in plants in two crystalline forms, I-aand I-ß(Nishiyama et al, 2002) (Nishiyama et al, 2003). The crystal structures of both these forms suggest that hydrogen (H) bonding plays a key role in determining the properties ofcellulose (Shen and Gnanakaran, 2009).Thechemical formula of cellulose is(C6H10O5) n. It is apolysaccharideconsisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand ß (1?4) linkedD-glucoseunit (Crawford, 1981) (Updegraff, 1969). This tough crystalline structure of cellulose molecules is proving to be a critical roadblock in the production of cellulosic bioethanol as it is difficult to breakdown the microfibrils of crystalline cellulose to glucose (Shen and Gnanakaran, 2009). 4.1 Primary structure of cellulose The main form of cellulose found in higher plants is I-ß. The primary structure of cellulose as shown in figure 2, is a linear homopolymer of glucose residues having theDconfiguration and connected byß-(1-4) glycosidic linkages (Sun et al, 2009). Essentially, the occurrence of intrachain and interchain hydrogen bonds (fig. 3) in cellulose structures has been known to provide thermostability to its crystal complex (Nishiyama, 2002). Intrachain hydrogen bonds are known to raise the strength and stiffness of each polymer while the interchain bonds along with weak Wander-Waals forces hold the two sheets together to provide a 2-D structure. This arrangement makes the intrachain bonding stronger than that holding the two sheets together (Nishiyama, 2002). The chain length and the degree of polymerisation of glucose units determine many properties of the cellulose molecule like its rigidity and insolubility compared to starch (Shigeru et al, 2006). Cellulose from different sources also varies in chain lengths, for e.g. cellulose from wood pulp has lengths between 300 and 1700 units while that from fibre plants and bacterial sources have chain lengths varying from 800 to 10,000 units (Klemm et al, 2005). Cellulose, a glucose polymer is the most abundant component in the cell wall. These cellulose molecules consist of long chains of sugar molecules. The process of breaking down these long chains to free the sugar is called hydrolysis. This is then followed by fermentation to produce bioethanol. Various enzymes are involved in the complex process of breaking down glycosidic linkages in cellulose (Verma et al, 2010). These are together known as glycoside hydrolases and include endo- acting cellulases and exo-acting cellulases or cellobiohydrolase along with ß-glucosidase (Ziegelhoffer, 2001) (Ziegler, 2000). In the cellulose hydrolysis process, endoglucanase first randomly cleaves different regions of crystalline cellulose producing chain ends. Exoglucanase then attaches to the chain ends and cleaves off the cellobiose units. The exoglucanase also acts on regions of amorphous cellulose with exposed chain ends without the need for prior endoglucanase activity. Finally ß-glucosidase breaks the bonds between the two glucose sugars of cellobiose to produce monomers of glucose (Warren, 1996). Presently, two methods are widely used for cellulose degradation on an industrial scale: Chemical hydrolysis: This is a traditional method in which, cellulose is broken down by the action of an acid, dilute and concentrated both acids can be used by varying the temperature and the pH accordingly. The product produced from this hydrolysis is then neutralised and fermented to produce ethanol. These methods are not very attractive due to the generation of toxic fermentation inhibitors. Enzymatic hydrolysis: Due to the production of harmful by-products by chemical hydrolysis, the enzymatic method to breakdown cellulose into glucose monomers is largely preferred. This allows breaking down lignocellulosic material at relatively milder conditions (50?C and pH5), which leads to effective cellulose breakdown. 6.0 Steps involved in cellulosic ethanol (bioethanol) production process The first step in the production of bioethanol, involves harvesting lignocellulose from the feedstock crops, compaction and finally its transportation to a factory for ethanol production where it is stored in a ready form for conversion. The second step is the removal of lignin present in the feedstock biomass by using heat or chemical pre-treatment methods. This step facilitates the breakdown of cell wall into intermediates and removes lignin so as to allow cellulose to be exposed to cellulases, which then break down cellulose into sugar residues. Currently, cellulases are being produced as a combination of bacterial and fungal enzymes for such commercial purposes (Sticklen, 2008). This is then followed by steps like detoxification, neutralisation and separation into solid and liquid components (Sticklen, 2008). The hydrolysis of these components then takes place by the enzymes like cellulases and hemicellulases that are produced from micro-organisms in the bioreactors (Sticklen, 2008).and finally; ethanol is produced by sugar fermentation. The figure below (fig. 4) depicts the main steps in the production of bioethanol:   7.0 Major cell wall components and the key enzymes involved in their breakdown 6.1 Cellulose and cellulases: About 180 billion tonnes of cellulose is produced per year by plants globally (Festucci et al, 2007). In the primary and secondary cell walls, about 15-30% and 40% dry mass respectively is made up of cellulose (Sticklen, 2008). Till date, it is the only polysaccharide being used for commercial production of cellulosic ethanol because of the commercial availability of its deconstructing enzymes (Sticklen, 2008). As described above, three types of cellulases are involved in the breakdown of cellulose into sugars namely, endoglucanases, exoglucanasees and ßglucosidase (Ziegler, 2000). 6.2 Hemicellulose and Xylanases: xyloglucans and hemicelluloses surround the cellulose microfibrils. So in order to break cellulose units, specific enzymes are first required to first remove the hemicellulose polysaccharide. Hemicelluloses are diverse and amorphous and its main constituent is ß-1, 4-xylan. Thus, xylanases re the most bundant type of hemicellulases required to cleave the endo-and exo-activity (Warren, 1996). These are mainly obtained from the fungi Trichoderma reesei, along with a large number of bacteria, yeast and other fungi which have been reported to produce1.4 ß-D xylanases. 6.3 Lignin and Laccasses: The major constituent of plants secondary cell wall is lignin. It accounts for nearly 10-25% of total plant dry matter (Sticklen, 2008). Unlike cellulose and hemicelluloses, the lignin polymer is not particularly linear and instead comprises of a complex of phenylpropanoid units which are linked in a 3-D network to cellulose and xylose with ester, phenyl and covalent bonds (Carpita, 2002).   White rot fungi (esp. Phanerochaete chrysosporium and Trametes versicolour) are thought degrade lignin more efficiently and rapidly than any other studied microorganisms (DSouza, 1999). P. Chrysosporium produces laccases like ligninases or lignin peroxidase, which initiate the process of degradation of lignin and manganese dependent peroxidises (Cullen, 1992). 8.0 Production of cellulases and hemicellulases in tobacco chloroplasts Protein engineering methodologies provide the best answer to concerns regarding production of improved cellulases with reduced allosteric hindrance, improved tolerance to high temperatures and specific pH optima along with higher specific activity (Sainz, 2009). The table below (table 1) lists different type of cellulases and hemicellulases that have been expressed in plant chloroplasts: Chloroplasts are green coloured plastids that have their own genome and are found in plant cells and other eukaryotic organisms like algae. The targeted expression of foreign genes in plant organelles can be used to introduce desired characteristics in a contained and economically sustainable manner (fig. 5). It also allows us to combine various other advantages like easy and efficient scalability along with being entirely free of animal pathogens. Unlike most other methods of plant genetic engineering, the major advantage with chloroplast transformation is their characteristic of transgene containment i.e. transgenes in these plastids are not spread through pollen (Verma and Daniell, 2007). This implies that chloroplast genetic transformation is fairly a safe one and does not pose the risk of producing herbicide resistant weeds (Ho and Cummins, 2005). Chloroplast transformation involves homologous recombination. Thisnot only minimises the insertion of unnecessary DNA that accompaniestransformation of the nuclear genome, but also allows precisetargeting of inserted genes, thereby also avoiding theuncontrollable, unpredictable rearrangements and deletions oftransgene DNA as well as host genome DNA at the site of insertionthat characterises nuclear transformation (Nixon, 2001). Another advantage of chloroplast transformation is that foreign genes can be over-expressed due to the high gene copy number, up to 100,000 compared with single-copy nuclear genes (Maliga, 2003). While nuclear transformants typically produce foreign protein up to 1%TSP in transformed leaf tissue, with some exceptional transformants producing protein at 5-10%TSP, chloroplast transformants often accumulate foreign protein at 5-10%TSP in transformed leaves, with exceptional transformants reaching as high as >40%TSP (Maliga, 2003). Research is needed to determine the stability of the biological activity of extracted plant-produced hydrolysis enzymes in TSP when stored under freeze conditions for different periods of time before their use in hydrolysis (Sticklen, 2008). Two other important and related areas for further research are increasing the levels of production and the biological activity of the heterologous enzymes (Sticklen, 2008).Many cell wall deconstructing enzymes have been isolated and characterised and more need to be investigated for finding more enzymes that can resist higher conversion temperatures and a range of pHs during pretreatment. Serious efforts to produce cellulosic ethanol on an industrial scale are already underway. Other than the Canadian Iorgen plant, no commercial cellulosic ethanol plant is yet in operation or under construction (Sticklen, 2008). However, research in this area is underway and funding is becoming available around the world for this purpose, from both governmental and commercial sources. For example, British Petroleum have donated half a billion dollars to US institutions to develop new sources of energy primarily biofuel crops (Sticklen, 2008). 10.0 Conclusion The fact that corn ethanol produces more green house gas emissions than gasoline and that cellulosic ethanol from non-food crops produces less green house gas emissions than electricity or hydrogen, is one of the factors that highly favour production of ethanol from cellulosic biomass (Verma, 2010). However, biofuel production from lignocellulosic materials is a challenging problem because of the multifaceted nature of raw materials and lack of technology to efficiently and economically release fermentable sugars from the complex multi-polymeric raw materials (Verma, 2010). After decades of research aimed at reducing the costs of microbial cellulases, their production is still expensive (Sticklen and Oraby, 2005). One way of decreasing such costs is to produce these enzymes within crop biomass. Although some important advances have been made to lay the foundations for plant genetic engineering for biofuel production, this science is still in its infancy (Sticklen, 2008). A general challenge is to develop efficient systems for the genetic transformation of plant systems for the production of cellulose degrading enzymes. Research is particularly needed to focus on the targeting of these enzymes to multiple subcellular locations in order to increase levels of enzyme production and produce enzymes with higher biological activities (Sticklen, 2008). A huge potential exists to produce larger amounts of these enzymes in chloroplasts, and exciting progress has been made in terms of the crops for which the chloroplast can now be genetically engineered. More effo rts are however needed towards the development of systems to genetically engineer chloroplasts of biomass crops such as cereals and perennial grasses (Blaschke, 2006). Some of the key aims of the project would be: To characterise cell wall degrading enzymes Overexpression of cellulose cDNA in pET30 vector systems Induction and characterisation of proteins in different conditions The use of tobacco plant as means of producing cellulases through chloroplast genetic engineering to simultaneously addresses the most important question of shifting the agricultural land from feed crops to biofuel crops (like corn and sugarcane at present) along with the cost-effective large scale production of cellulose degrading enzymes.

Chaucers Views Exposed in The Canterbury Tales Essay -- Canterbury Ta

Chaucer's Views Exposed in The Canterbury Tales    The Canterbury Tales were written and pieced together in the late 1380's, early 1390's.   The author of the book is Geoffrey Chaucer.   When considering the structure of the tales, one can deduce that they were put together using Framework Narrative, a very unique style of writing.   The opening prologue speaks of 29 pilgrims, including Chaucer, who are all on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. All of them are seeking a certain shrine for spiritual cleansing, and relief.   The journey was to be long, but in the end it would all be worth it.   Chaucer's social views and prejudices are revealed through his description of the pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales.      Ã‚  Ã‚   Chaucer presents a very positive picture of the pilgrims in the ruling class.   For example, when describing the personality of the Knight, he refers to him as being honorable, truthful, chivalrous, courteous, brave, and gentle.   Two quotes that stood out when searching for the positive qualities of the Knight were:     ·Ã‚  Ã‚   "He was a true and perfect gentle Knight."(Chaucer Pg. 2-Line 15)  ·Ã‚  Ã‚   "He had never yet in all his life spoken discourteously to anybody." (Chaucer Pg. 2-Line 14)    Chaucer also builds up the Squire, the Knights son in a similar way.   He says that the squire is remarkably agile, strong, joyful, courteous, helpful, and humble.   Two quotes that were quite noticeable when searching for the positive qualities of the Squire were:     ·Ã‚  Ã‚   "His cloak was short, with long, wide sleeves, and he sat his horse well and rode excellently."(Chaucer Pg. 2-Line 30)  ·Ã‚  Ã‚   "He could compose the words and music for songs, joust and also dance, and draw and write very well."(Ch... ...orm them.         Works Cited and Consulted: Brewer, Derek. Tradition and Innovation in Chaucer. London: Macmillan, 1982. Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Pp. 3-328. In the Riverside Chaucer. Larry D. Benson, ed. Boston: Houghton, 1987. Cooper, Helen. "The Shape-shiftings of the Wife of Bath, 1395-1670." Pp. 168-184. In Chaucer Traditions: Studies in Honour of Derek Brewer. Ruth Morse and Barry Windeatt, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990. Delasanta, Rodney. "Nominalism and the 'Clerk's Tale' Revisited." Chaucer Review 31.3 (1997), 209-231. Hallissy, Margaret. Clean Maids, True Wives, Steadfast Widows: Chaucer's Women and Medieval Codes of Conduct. Connecticut: Greenwood, 1993. Saul, Nigel. "Chaucer and Gentility." Pp. 41-58. In Chaucer's England. Barbara A. Hanawalt, ed. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1992.    Chaucer's Views Exposed in The Canterbury Tales Essay -- Canterbury Ta Chaucer's Views Exposed in The Canterbury Tales    The Canterbury Tales were written and pieced together in the late 1380's, early 1390's.   The author of the book is Geoffrey Chaucer.   When considering the structure of the tales, one can deduce that they were put together using Framework Narrative, a very unique style of writing.   The opening prologue speaks of 29 pilgrims, including Chaucer, who are all on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. All of them are seeking a certain shrine for spiritual cleansing, and relief.   The journey was to be long, but in the end it would all be worth it.   Chaucer's social views and prejudices are revealed through his description of the pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales.      Ã‚  Ã‚   Chaucer presents a very positive picture of the pilgrims in the ruling class.   For example, when describing the personality of the Knight, he refers to him as being honorable, truthful, chivalrous, courteous, brave, and gentle.   Two quotes that stood out when searching for the positive qualities of the Knight were:     ·Ã‚  Ã‚   "He was a true and perfect gentle Knight."(Chaucer Pg. 2-Line 15)  ·Ã‚  Ã‚   "He had never yet in all his life spoken discourteously to anybody." (Chaucer Pg. 2-Line 14)    Chaucer also builds up the Squire, the Knights son in a similar way.   He says that the squire is remarkably agile, strong, joyful, courteous, helpful, and humble.   Two quotes that were quite noticeable when searching for the positive qualities of the Squire were:     ·Ã‚  Ã‚   "His cloak was short, with long, wide sleeves, and he sat his horse well and rode excellently."(Chaucer Pg. 2-Line 30)  ·Ã‚  Ã‚   "He could compose the words and music for songs, joust and also dance, and draw and write very well."(Ch... ...orm them.         Works Cited and Consulted: Brewer, Derek. Tradition and Innovation in Chaucer. London: Macmillan, 1982. Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Pp. 3-328. In the Riverside Chaucer. Larry D. Benson, ed. Boston: Houghton, 1987. Cooper, Helen. "The Shape-shiftings of the Wife of Bath, 1395-1670." Pp. 168-184. In Chaucer Traditions: Studies in Honour of Derek Brewer. Ruth Morse and Barry Windeatt, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990. Delasanta, Rodney. "Nominalism and the 'Clerk's Tale' Revisited." Chaucer Review 31.3 (1997), 209-231. Hallissy, Margaret. Clean Maids, True Wives, Steadfast Widows: Chaucer's Women and Medieval Codes of Conduct. Connecticut: Greenwood, 1993. Saul, Nigel. "Chaucer and Gentility." Pp. 41-58. In Chaucer's England. Barbara A. Hanawalt, ed. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1992.   

Kubler Ross Essay

The Kubler-Ross model is based on five stages of grief. These are five emotional stages that someone can experience when faced with death or some other loss. The five stages are Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. Kubler-Ross noted that these stages are not meant to be a complete list of all possible emotions that could be felt, and they can occur in any order. Reactions to loss and grief are as different as each person experiencing them. We spend different lengths of time working through each step and express each stage more or less intensely. We often move between stages before achieving a more peaceful acceptance of death. Many of us do not achieve this final stage of grief. â€Å"Many people do not experience the stages in the order listed below, which is okay. The key to understanding the stages is not to feel like you must go through every one of them, in precise order. Instead, it’s more helpful to look at them as guides in the grieving process — it helps you understand and put into context where you are. † Denial —One of the first reactions to follow a loss or news of an impending loss is Denial. What this means is that the person is trying to shut out the reality or magnitude of their situation. It is a defence mechanism that buffers the immediate shock. We block out the words and hide from the facts. This is a temporary response that carries us through the first wave of pain. Anger — As the effects of denial begin to wear, reality and its pain re-emerge. We are not ready Because of anger, the person is very difficult to care for due to misplaced feelings of rage and envy. Anger can manifest itself in different ways. People can be angry with themselves, or with others, and especially those who are close to them. Anger may be directed at our dying or deceased loved one. Rationally, we know the person is not to be blamed. Emotionally, however, we may resent the person for causing us pain or for leaving us. We feel guilty for being angry, and this makes us even more angry. It is important to remain detached and nonjudgmental when dealing with a person experiencing anger from grief. Bargaining — The third stage involves the hope that the individual can somehow undo or avoid a cause of grief. The normal reaction to feelings of helplessness and vulnerability is often a need to regain control. Secretly, we may make a deal with God or a higher power in an attempt to postpone the inevitable. This is a weaker line of defence to protect us from the painful reality. Psychologically, the individual is saying, â€Å"I understand I will die, but I am not ready, if I could just do something to buy more time†¦Ã¢â‚¬  People facing less serious trauma can bargain or seek to negotiate a compromise. For example â€Å"Can we still be friends? † when facing a break-up. Bargaining rarely provides a sustainable solution, especially if it is a matter of life or death. Depression —The grieving person begins to understand the lack of control over the situation. Much like the existential concept of The Void, the idea of living becomes pointless. Things begin to lose meaning to the griever. Because of this, the individual may become silent, refuse visitors and spend much of the time crying and sullen. This process allows the grieving person to disconnect from things of love and affection, possibly in an attempt to avoid further trauma. It is natural to feel sadness, regret, fear, and uncertainty when going through this stage. Feeling these emotions shows that the person has begun to accept the situation. Acceptance — In this last stage, individuals begin to come to terms with what has happened or what will happen. This typically comes with a calm, retrospective view for the individual, and a stable mindset but reaching this stage of mourning is a gift not afforded to everyone. Death may be sudden and unexpected or we may never see beyond our anger or denial. This phase is marked by withdrawal and calm. This is not a period of happiness and must be distinguished from depression. Coping with loss is a ultimately a deeply personal and singular experience — nobody can help you go through it more easily or understand all the emotions that you’re going through. But others can be there for you and help comfort you through this process. The best thing you can do is to allow yourself to feel the grief as it comes over you. Resisting it only will prolong the natural process of healing.