Even if computers become self-aware Essay

‘Even if computers become self-aware, they will never have anything like human souls. ‘ Discuss. In order to discuss this topic, I must obtain definitions for the words â€Å"computer†, â€Å"self-aware†, and â€Å"soul†. This is so that I can build my arguments upon a stable base. These definitions have been gathered from ‘The Oxford Paperback Dictionary & Thesaurus’. From this definition of soul, it is obvious that computers have to become a person to have a soul, and this is impossible as (by definition) a person is a human being, and cannot be anything else. However, maybe it is possible for a computer to acquire something very similar to a soul. For example, a computer may be able to have feelings, emotions, consciousness, opinions and other characteristics of human’s with souls. These abilities in a computer are known as A. I. (artificial intelligence). This seems impossible with the computers of this day and age, however, if one follows the drastic improvement in technology over the last century, one can see that what we know as standard now was inconceivable years ago. What we call a â€Å"computer† (like the one this has been written on) would have been something science fiction in the beginning of the 20th Century. Therefore, it is obvious that there is tremendous scope for computers to become a lot more improved in the future. They may even gain some if not total A. I. This implies that a computer could obtain all the intelligence of a human being if not more. The statement I am discussing asserts that even if computers become conscious, they will never have a spiritual or immaterial part to them. This is blatantly true, as we (the creators of computers) know that we have and will have only built them out of materials. I believe that we will not have the ability to insert a spiritual side into a computer within the same time-span that we will have the ability to give computers A. I. However, maybe computers can acquire A. I. , and maybe this is the next best thing to a soul. After all, we have no proof that we (humans) have souls; this is just a religious belief that we have faith in. Therefore, it is probable (from an atheistic point of view) that we are just advanced computers. The only difference is that we are made of biological materials, which are a lot more complex than the materials used in a computer. These may have a capacity, unknown to humans and incapable of other materials, to have souls. On the other hand, there are biological life forms (i. e. plants), which we believe not to have souls. Science has shown that humans have evolved over years, from animals like apes, and originally from organisms like bacteria. If this is true, then it shows that humans were once creatures without intelligence – that is just something we have achieved through evolution. Then surely, when computers gain the ability to make decisions, they will be able to improve themselves and in a virtual evolution improve and improve over time, becoming more and more lifelike? It is also possible that computers already have minds. The ‘qualia’ problem suggests that we cannot determine whether something has a mind or is conscious merely by the way it acts. Just because a computer seems to be a slave to us, doing exactly what we tell it to do when we press buttons, does that necessarily mean that this is all it is capable off? Or even all that is does? A computer obviously does a lot more than we know, as it already has vague forms of artificial intelligence. A lot of standard software has assistants with A. I. in order to assist and help us.

Discuss Mr. Collins’ Proposal to Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen’s Novel ‘Pride & Prejudice’ Essay

‘It is a truth acknowledged, that a man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife’ This quote not only opens the novel, but also sets the tone of the narrative story. It says that a man in possession of money and being an eligible bachelor would have every spinster in the neighbourhood wanting to be his wife In the nineteenth century women were below men in status. Men owned everything. After the death of the master of the house all his possessions were given to the next male relative. In the novel as there were only five daughters Jane, Elizabeth, Kitty, Mary and Lydia and no males in the immediate family, so their mother, Mrs. Bennet, as she is called in the novel is determined to get her daughters married as soon as possible. When the Bennet family received the letter from Mr.Collins, which included the words, ‘.. Assure you of my readiness to make them every possible amends, but of this hereafter’ this shows that Mr. Collins was hinting that he is looking for a wife. When Mrs. Bennet read this she was pleased at the news. When the daughters heard of his visit, they were not as pleased as their mother, ‘ He must be an oddity†¦ I cannot make him out†¦ The is something very pompous in his style.’ They also added that in his letter there was a mixture of servility and self-importance. Elizabeth was stuck with his extraordinary deference to Lady Catherine de Bourgh, his patroness. Mr.Collins visited the family with the sole purpose of finding a wife, in his letter he states, ‘ I feel it my duty to promote and establish the blessing of peace in all families..’ this is just an excuse to come to Longbourn because he really wanted to ‘admire’ the girls and propose to one of them. Mr.Collins didn’t really want to get married, it was actually his patroness; Lady Catherine de Bourgh who had recommend, advised or rather orders him to marry and wished to comply with her wishes. When Mr.Collins arrived, out of all the sisters only Mary thought anything of him but everyone else found faults in him. Mrs.Bennet also had the same opinions as her daughter, she knew he would be a suitable husband for one of her daughters because he knew Lady Catherine and lived near her. When he arrives D he wished to propose to the eldest daughter, Jane, but soon found out she was to be engaged to Mr.Bingly. Mr.Collins had only to change from Jane to Elizabeth and it was, ‘Done while Mrs.Bennet was stirring the fire’ Mr.Collins obviously didn’t have true feelings towards Jane or Elizabeth, since he was able to change his mind so quickly. He obviously only wanted to please his patroness. Elizabeth was very intelligent, independent and her interests in many different things like reading, playing the piano, singing, needlework and dancing. She believed marriage had to have an element of love and not just wealth like her mother believed. When Mr.Collins proposed to her, as a reader we knew that she had an independent mind. In the proposal, Mr.Collins made it quite obvious that the proposal was more of a business transaction and he asked for a chance to speak with Elizabeth, ‘May I hope, madam, for your interest with your fair Elizabeth, when I solicit for a private audience with her..’ before Elizabeth could even blush with surprise, Mrs.Bennet instantly answered. Elizabeth begged her mother not to go, but Mrs.Bennet obviously knew what Mr.Collins had in mind and insisted that she stayed with Mr.Collins. At this time Mr.Collins really thought she was being shy and modest tried to add it to a compliant, ‘.. your modesty, so far from doing disservice, rather adds to your perfections.’ Elizabeth would have had a clear idea that he was about to propose to her. Mr.Collins started off staying, ‘Almost as soon as I entered the house, I singled you out as the companion of my future life.’ This was not true to the reader, as the truth is that he was going to propose to the eldest daughter, Miss Jane Bennet, but when he heard the news of her engagement he changed to Elizabeth. Mr.Collins then came out with his first reason for his proposal, ‘†¦first that I think it a right thing for every clergyman in easy circumstances (like myself) to set the example of matrimony in the parish;’ This shows he obviously wants to marry her to set a good example to his parish, it also this shows her doesn’t care about her, but what Lady Catherine de Bourgh wishes and his reputation. He then states, ‘..secondly, that I am convinced it will add very greatly to my happiness;..’ Once again he is showing that he thinks marriage will bring him happiness, he has no idea that marriage is suppose to be about being in love, trust, companionship and getting to know each other beforehand. ‘.. and thirdly-which perhaps I ought to have mentioned earlier, that it is the particular advice and recommendation of the very noble lady whom I have the honour of calling patroness.’ This is actually the only true reason that he wants to marry her, to please Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Mr.Collins is frightened of not complying with her wishes. He sees her suggestion as an order or a command and he would never disobey her because he is very aware of her superior rank in the society, this shows him to be cowardly, weak and rather silly man who can be easily intimidated. He wants Elizabeth to see Lady Catherine’s advice and recommendation as her wanting to see Mr.Collins happy, settled down and to carry on working for her. He then went on and tried to compliment Elizabeth and make her see that Lady Catherine will welcome her into her estate. In his reasons for the proposal he had no references to Elizabeth’s happiness which showed how self-centred he really was. The connection that she could have with Lady Catherine and show she could boast about knowing a person of high status, was the real reason that he could give her for accepting the proposal. This showed how little he knew about Elizabeth’s personality, as this reason would not have meant anything to her. Elizabeth would bot feel inferior to people of higher rank in society. Mr.Collins then went on about how she would have pressure to wed when she gets to her late twenties, ‘ As I am to inherit this estate after the death of your honoured (who, however may live for many years), I could not satisfy myself without resolving to chuse a wife among his daughters, that the loss to them might be as little as possible.’ This comment was to persuade Elizabeth’s decision and make her feel guilty if she was to refuse his proposal, because her unmarried sisters and mother would have nothing if they were made to move out of their home. He was certain she would accept his proposal when he used his persuasive comment because he thought himself was a worthy choice, that he was already making plans for their married life, ‘you may assure yourself that no ungenerous reproach shall ever pass my lips when we are married.’ Elizabeth found it necessary to interrupt him by telling him that she hasn’t given him an answer and politely. Mr.Collins being so full of self-importance saw he refusal as a way to make him more passionate, ‘It is usual with young ladies to reject the address of the man whom they secretly mean to accept.’ Elizabeth was not that type of girl to lead a man on or to keep him waiting and stated she was not the girl who would have been foolish enough to risk her future happiness on the chance of being asked again by someone she truly loved and Mr.Collins failed to see that, ‘I cannot therefore by no means discouraged by what you have just said, and shall hope to lead you to the altar ere long.’ Elizabeth tried to make it even clearer, without being rude and even added that Lady Catherine would not approve of her independent mind and he would not want to upset his patroness by choosing an inappropriate partner. Even when Elizabeth gives him these reasons for refusal he still continues, ‘I cannot imagine that her ladyship would at all disapprove of you’ The reader will know that he has once again mis-judged her character. Later on in the novel Elizabeth and Lady Catherine are introduced to each other. Lady Catherine clearly despises Elizabeth’s outspoken manner and lack of awe. Elizabeth, getting annoyed by the lack by his persistence still behaved as a young lady and had to remain polite and assure him that he could only leave Longbourn feeling he has done his duty. ‘In making me the offer, you must satisfied the delicacy of your feelings with regard to my family.’ She then went to leave the room, thinking he had finally understood her, but Mr.Collins was persistent and had not understand why she refused such a great and wonderful proposal, as he thought himself eligible and worthy husband. He tried once again to change her mind, ‘My situation in life, my connection with the family of de Bourgh and my relationship to your own, are circumstances of high favour’. Mr.Collins the greatly insulted her, as she was just to leave the room, ‘it is by no means certain, that another offer of marriage may be ever be made to you’ , but as a reader we know that that is certainly not true.

Utilization of Wind Energy

Energy is essential in all aspects of human life, this is the main reason why scientific inventions on energy are more recognized that inventions in other spheres. Upon discovery, there must be regular innovations to spice up the invention so that it does not run out market or become inefficient. This is what has led to major improvements on development of wind energy all over the world. This has been catalyzed by global efforts to reduce emission of green house gases; a vision 2030 project that is to be implemented throughout the world. Wind energy has come in the limelight after researches noted that it is most underutilized type of energy (Henderson-2003). This is because the developers have been focusing on the wrong directives; their focus was mainly on the demand and not the supply side. Even with innovations, investors have been reluctant to in funding of wind energy researches as there are many laws and policies around this sphere that can turn the venture unproductive economically. Wind energy is one of the renewable sources of energy that is currently in practical use in the developed countries; developing countries are also picking up the momentum. Just like the hydroelectric generation of power, where enormous water currents are used to rotate the large turbines that convert potential energy to kinetic energy, strong wind currents mostly found in the deserts, along coastlines and open plain areas are used to rotate the turbines suspended in open areas. This generates electricity by converting potential energy into kinetic energy. I decided to carry out a research on wind type of energy; this was in a bid to learn the steps that have been made so far, the loopholes in the steps and factors that are impeding the implementation of the wind energy across the world. The resources I used were mainly academic journals that talk about the whole process of setting up wind energy plants, the policies around the activity and also the steps most of the developing counties are taking towards achievement of their wind energy plans. The journals and articles I used were ones written from 1988 during a United Nations Environmental meeting; Paris COP21 to the ones written in 2018 when President Donald Trump reduced the chains on Environmental Policy Act in 2017. By learning these policies and logistics around them I was able to draw my own map to the road of reliance on wind energy to help ease the stress on the hydro-electric grids we have in the country. The policies that will help in implementation of my plans were also found in the journals, the appropriate modes of transmission and the stakeholders that play a critical role in the sector. The problems I faced when finding inference to the research is that most of them either lacked proper guidelines or lacked good recommendations hence could not be so useful. The reasons behind the researches and geographical areas they were taken in rendered some of the researches impractical. The questions that guided me through that whole process are; who are the stakeholders to team up? What are the policies for the transmission? When will the implementation begin? What is the timeline for setting up and maintaining of the whole transmission process?Goals and objectivesGoalsReduce green house emission from manufacturing companies by 16%Lower the cost of power supply Make wind energy a common preferenceRemedy power interruptions in manufacturing industries. The vision 2030 states that all countries should cut their carbon emissions by 30%. In my research I realized that it's the manufacturing companies that produce a large amount of this gas. Most of these companies are directed by the federal environmental protection agency to fit sieves that will filter carbon from their chimneys; lack of proper follow up by the agency has made them relax and I discovered that most of them have diesel powered generators to supplement the power interruptions they face. My wind energy is mainly customized to target manufacturing companies as primary consumers thus hasten the achievement of vision 2030.There has overreliance on the hydroelectric plants because there is a high demand of the end product in homes. This has led to public outcry due to regular interruptions and inconsistent supply. This projects aims to fit customized turbines for specific regions and hence give them a reliable option.ObjectivesImprove the current design of wind turbinesCarry out campaigns to sensitize the public on the use of wind energyDevelop an overlapping cycle of turbines that will maximize wind farms across the countryInduce the federal government to reduce the laws on implementation of wind projectsThe major improvement I want to put on the current turbines is to reduce their mass and size but affect their performance. The reason behind this is so that they can be able to fit on rooftops or even suspended at different heights on skyscrapers. The campaigns are aimed at sensitizing the masses about the projects benefits and educating them on the importance of it. Through that we will be lowering risks that come about when the turbines fall or even vandalism. The current turbine sizes are large hence occupy lot space during installation. I have developed turbine stand that can 3 turbines of different sizes to be fitted at different heights of the towers. This state of art of art innovation will help reduce overlapping that leads underperformance and underutilization of wind farms. There so many regulations and policies for stakeholders to pass through before initiating wind projects. The many agencies that overlook all the regulations require fees; this is one issue that has scared investors away. We plan to involve the government and make it reduce the regulations, the bodies that oversee it or the fees charged for turbine set up and maintenance. Policies and Problems in the wind energy sectorMotor noise; there has been an environmental concern that the turbines produce a lot of noise thus leading to severe headaches and sometimes depression in the residents around the farm. We plan to curb this by using the latest turbine models that are noise free.Destruction of the ecology system; this is attributed to the number of birds that are chopped by the blades. Most affected birds are bats, owls and eagles. This will be combated by making the edges of the blades blunt.Congestion on wind line; this is a problem I had touched on earlier and stated that our state of equipment will be used to counter it.Policies around this project are; state permitting, this is the first step that has to be met before setting of the off shore and in land turbines. This is one of the policies we plan to counter after starting as the permitting discrepancies between organizations leads to delay of the projects. Federal permitting; this will oversee the setting up and maintenance of inland turbines to make sure they are in line with the environmental laws.We see a positive impact in the society despite the inevitable changes. There will be satisfaction as the customers will be able to get electricity when they need it most. If the implementation takes place as planned then there will be lesser electricity interruptions as time goes by. There will be lesser diseases in the community; water borne and air borne diseases caused by harmful industry emissions and disposal.Strategies and resourcesAnalytical researches have claimed that installation and maintenance of wind energy power plants is expensive than all other types of energy. This claim forgot to mention that the benefits are perpetual as wind never expires. The high cost is not only attributed to set up capital but also the high fees charged by federal agencies if the turbines underperform. The design of our turbines is expected to be so efficient that our transmission company won't have to be subjected to the underperformance fees. Only the human and financial resources are fundamental in the set up stage of the project. Due to its huge implementation budget; I plan to call on board different stakeholders after proposing a comprehensive compensation plan for the funds they are going to pour on the project. Manufacturing companies are my main investor target as the plan will mainly benefit them, reaching out will be an easy task as I will use emails as my main communication mode. Having different stakeholders with different set of contacts will help us get federal environmental permits faster than if we were to do it alone. Collective bargaining of our force will make the state see the urgency and importance of the project. This whole project will be initiated by getting the state permits and environmental agency permits before reaching out to the investors. This is a plan to keep everything in check and reduce delay once the permitting process is done. We plan to carry out a site study to know the precise location of our times and the accurate number of turbines needed per site; this will reduce excess set up costs. Off shore and on shore sites will be studied concurrently. The original plan is that we set up a collection plant for our electricity before adding it to the national grid. This will help us in the maintenance and billing process, we hope to achieve more profits from this. Buying of all the essential equipments will follow the turbines, electricity transmission cables and storage devices. My team plans to use two manufacturers for the whole process, they will partly invest in us using seed money (manwell-2010). This is a good investment plan as it has reliable end users; we hope to bring the desired people on board. Benefits of this step are stretched towards fostering partnerships towards the attainment of sustainable development goals that are envisioned in the vision 2030 blueprint.Every business has a number of risks attached to it; the risks on our court are, theft of equipment at the installation site, pulling out of partners due to uncertainty and getting under qualified stuff to install the equipments. The plans we have to counter these are; hiring of professional security services to safeguard our equipment until the installation process is done. We plan to acquire a loan to supplement the money lost if an investor pulls out in the initial stages, this plan will help motivate the remaining members and thus reduce the risk of more pulling out after the project stalls abruptly. We will be deploying the services of a hiring farm to help us get professionals that will act as the human resource. We will be sure to seal and counter all seen and unseen risks to avoid disappointments and loses.Decision making process of this whole plan factored in the time, scope and cost. I knew that by bringing in different stakeholders to partner on it will reduce the implementation timeline and the cost that will arise from it. It would be easier convincing different stakeholders to channel in small amounts than getting to convince one investor to fund the whole project. The few limitations and lack of innovation also led me to choose now as the specific time to start. There are less wind energy transmission companies than there are hydroelectric transmission plants. I will stress on the societal management level as it is through it that we can bring on board more investors, shareholders and donors. I decided on this because our expansion plan will touch on civilian lives; we plan to convince farmers with large tracts of land to allow us install the turbine towers on their properties at a fee. Incentives we plan to use to effect this are providing electricity for them at lower rates and equipping if not build social libraries as our cooperate social responsibility.Environmental protection agency will oversee all our stages of the project to make sure we comply with all the regulations. We hope to not get interferences as wind energy posses' minor and controllable risks to the environment unlike other types of energy production. Our future goal will be increasing the number of turbines across all geographical areas so as to meet the ever rising demand of electricity. I will motivate my team to come up with other innovations to boost performance and not stick our turbines along congested coastal lines and rural areas alone. This will be in a bid to lower the greenhouse emissions from companies and later reduce the electricity cost.ReferencesAR Henderson 2003Offshore wind energy in Europe; a review of the state of artJF Manwell 2010Wind energy explained; theory, design and application

Conservation of Energy Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Conservation of Energy - Lab Report Example From the graph presented; angle versus time, it is evident that when the angle of displacement is increased, the periodic interval is reduced for a constant length if the string. This proportionality is directly varying. In general, the swinging pendulum portrays a consistency in the changes involving kinetic, potential and gravitational potential energies. This can be summed serially as potential energy to kinetic energy then back to kinetic energy. This is when the pendulum is released from a height above the reference point level. At the instance the bob (mass) is released, it has an initial energy potential in nature. This is followed by gradual changes in the kinetic energies when at the minimum of the reference point; a maximum kinetic energy is attained. At this point, the swinging mass has its maximum velocity v, which is the converse for the point of zero (0) potential energy for the system in question. There are two maxima heights in respect of the reference position for the system. At these points, the system depicts its maxima potential energies which can as well be stated as minimum kinetic energy for the system. A graph of kinetic energy versus time is a sinusoidal curve. This is the same for the case of potential energy. However the two curves are completely out of phase. This is due to the corresponding changes between kinetic to potential energy. This is evident in the total energy curve as a function of time; whose curve is straight. This is a true confirmation of the law of conservation of energy which can also be stated as â€Å"energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but rather conserved.† For the pendulum, the reference level point to measure the y-coordinate location is at the mid-point between the two maxima levels of displacement of the pendulum. At equilibrium, the pendulum is at rest when it is at this point. If the reference level is changed to where the rotary motion is, it would mean the length L is

Theories of Marketing Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Theories of Marketing Development - Essay Example This theory applies to Sony considerably given that the organization spends heavily in R&D across all the product lines. As per statement released in 2003 by Nobuyuki Idei, Chairman & CEO of Sony Corporation, the organization planned to spend 500 billion Yens (about 5.1 billion US Dollars as per current rate) in three years to develop competitive key electronic devices through internal innovations although the organization invested 502 billion Yens (about 5.12 billion US Dollars) in 2005 itself. [Sony Corporation, 2003; Sony Corporation, 2005] Sony has been practicing creative destruction by forcing the old available products towards obsolescence by virtue of their innovations. One excellent example is the â€Å"style† innovation of Sony latest Pocket Style VAIO P that is expected to yet again create a new niche segment for Sony that may force laptops to obsolescence especially in applications like Internet usage, word processing, multi-media & entertainment, messaging, Internet-based telephony, etc. [Prokaza, Julian. 2009] Sony practices the strategy of Differentiation Strategy thus targeting niche markets where products are unique and sold at premium rates. They tend to develop unique market segments where there aren’t any competitions and the pricing strategies are totally in their own control. Walkman, Play Station, and now the Pocket Style Vaio P are examples of product uniqueness that Sony brings to the market. In these markets, Sony is not bogged down by competition that practice Cost Leadership strategy. Sony practices product uniqueness (differentiation) and achieves the same by virtue of huge investments in Innovation and R&D.

660 Assignment 5 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

660 5 - Assignment Example Situational leadership model has outlined three critical elements that come into play in the situational leadership theory. Among them is the leader, the followers and the circumstance/situation at hand that has to be handled. Applying this theory to Windber Medical centre and its administration by F. Nicholas Jacob, we get all the three factors of the theory coming into play. First we have Jacob has the leader, the followers being the workers and the situation being the poor state of performance of the hospital in terms of service delivery and its remuneration to its workers. Jacobs’ approach to the situation was one that depicted his task behavior and at the same time relationship behavior. He talked to the workers in a bid to know what they would want done about their workplace to improve the situation. More so he reached talks with the surrounding community in his efforts to establishing good relations with them. He got engaged in instructing the workers what to do, selling ;by extending his relations to the surrounding community, participating and delegating some duty to his juniors for instance putting somebody in charge of the food service. This refers to a follower’s ability and willingness to successfully accomplish a specific given task. This does not evaluate the individual/group’s innate values and qualities. In applying this to Jacobs’ case we find that 32 employees who were not willing and ready to cope up with the new working conditions were laid off as others joined the institution amidst impressive economic and developmental performance. A continuum ranging from R1(lowest readiness) to R4(highest readiness) has been crafted to show the extent of this ability and willingness by the followers to perform task. The task to be accomplished by Jacobs as the president of Windber was to raise the performance of the institution and make sure it’s not closed down. Jacobs had to ensure the old structures

Philosophy of science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Philosophy of science - Essay Example Such arguments have now resulted in the creation of a philosophical problem, the problem of induction that stands disputed, especially in case of the scientists that are in continuation of using this technique of considering limited number of instances to derive a universal formula. In order to understand the problem of induction, the example of swans will be evident to provide an effective understanding of the issue. By means of induction, it was a universal principle that swans are white, as few centuries ago, people had only seen white swans, and the scientists were inclined to derive the declaration that all swans are white. In this regard, scientists have until today continued to magnify specific observations to create common principles to carry out their planning for prospects of the physical world. However, the major argument of the adversaries of this methodology argues regarding the validity of such suppositions based on only finite observations. Until today, various experts2 have argued over the problem of induction; however, historical evidence indicates that David Hume was the first person to inquire about this issue, and carry out analysis accordingly. During his analysis, he wrapped up by saying that inductive suppositions do not carry any logical explanations, and thus, it is incorrect for scientists to originate universal theories based on such finite observations3. In response, various philosophers endeavored to come up with a solution; however, this problem of induction has remained a major problem in the Western philosophy due to its disputed nature. In this regard, Hume enjoys huge number of advocates until today; however, few of the experts have criticized Hume’s critique on the problem while concluding that although such inferences do not carry justifications4. However, it is erroneous to specify that science depend on the

Business and Economic Forecasting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Business and Economic Forecasting - Essay Example The appropriate model is estimated and a one to four step forecasting is undertaken to determine the appropriateness of the model. We consider the price index of the Rio Tinto, the 5 day weekly stock price for the period 31st December 1999 to 31st December 2007 is used and the following chart summarizes the price index for the period. From the above table it is evident that for the period 2000 to 2004 the price remained relatively stable deviating by small margins, however for the period 2005 to 2007 there was an increase in prices by larger margins. The following is an analysis of the Rio Tinto returns. According to Woodridge (2006) dynamic heteroskedasticity can appear in regressions with no dynamic, in a regression if the Gauss Markov assumption holds then the estimators are BLUE (best linear unbiased estimator). However even when the homoskedasticity assumption that the error terms variance is constant across observations holds there could be still other forms of heteroskedasticity that may arise, heteroskedasticity can be tested using the white test or the Breusch pagan test. The following chart shows a case of homoskedasticity and heteroskedasticity: From the above diagrams assuming that the 45 degree line is the fitted regression model, then the first diagram shows a case where as x increases the mean of y increases but the variance of y around its mean remains constant over time, for the second diagram a case where as x increases the mean of y increases and the variance of y around its mean does not remain constant and this shows heteroskedasticity. There are a number of consequences of heteroskedasticity and they include the fact that: Estimators are still linear functions of the independent variable The estimators are not biased Estimators no longer have minimum variance therefore are not efficient The estimated variance of the estimators is biased because the formula to estimate them could over state or under state the true variance The hypothesis test of the significance is unreliable given that the estimated variance is biased. As a result Engel (1982) suggested the ARCH model that would consider a conditional error term variance that takes into consideration past error terms and this was the ARCH model. The ARCH and GARSH model are appropriate models that can be used in modeling financial data that exhibit volatility clustering, volatility clustering refers to a trend that shows that small increases or declines are followed by small increases or declines and that large increases or declines are followed by large increases or declines. From our price data chart it is evident that for the period 2000 to 2004 small increases and declines are followed by small increases or declines, however for the period 2005 and 2007 large increases are followed by large increases. This means that the ARCH and GARSH model are appropriate in estimating an appropriate model. The following chart summarizes the returns mean, kurtosis and

Cultural Anthropology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cultural Anthropology - Essay Example Language being one of the most powerful tools of communications, it acts as a connection between two or more people hence enhancing knowledge of the society, as well as the residents of South Korea. Korean, being the official language spoken by South Koreans, is not only spoken in this country, but also all over the world. Moreover, English is taught in both middle and high school. Recently, Chinese has been increasingly popular as the South Koreans rediscover their ancient ties to China as a trading partner. Almost all the schools teach English due to the country’s tight diplomatic ties with United States of America. It is in this country where literacy level is as high as 98 percent and due to its homogeneity; almost everyone speaks Korean. Here, the education system is organized in a 6-3-3-4 pattern, with six grades of elementary school, where kindergarten is not included in the formal education system, three grades in the middle school, another three in high school and fou r years of higher education. With effect from 1953, elementary education was made free and compulsory for all children between the ages of 6 and 11 years. Practical and fine arts, social studies, arithmetic music natural science, physical education, moral education and Korean language are the basics of the curriculum. Admissions into middle school have been through a lottery system by zones so as to ease distinctions between schools of different quality. A curriculum includes 11 required subjects, electives and extra-curricular activities. High school education is a bit advanced as it provides advanced general and specific training based on middle school work. Also, it is based on entrance examination and is not free. Higher education institutions include four year colleges, universities and miscellaneous colleges such as seminaries. About 80 percent of these institutions are private but supervised by the Ministry of Education (pp.110). Â  The traditional Buddhist and Christianity are the two predominant religions practiced in South Korea. However, these religions have been influenced significantly by the native Korean peninsula, Joseon Dynasty, shamanism and the Korean Confucianism that was the official ideology for over 500 years. However, the most recent estimates show that approximately 46 percent of Koreans have no affiliations to any religion. Among the Christians, Protestants have outnumbered the Roman Catholics. Christianity was introduced here in the 18th century by the Jesuit Missionaries. While 17 protestant missionaries operate in the country, Catholics have only six missionary groups and 15 dioceses. Most of the people here who are Buddhists are members of the Mahayana school that is also practiced in China, Vietnam and Japan. Confucianism was the official religion from the 14th to the 20th centuries and also ensured Korean social order. It encouraged devotion to family, friends, worship of ancestors and family, peace, harmony, justice and ethica l living. Shamanism is the country’s oldest religion and still exists in many, diverse forms such as shamanism organizations throughout the country. Other religions include the Jesus Morning Star Church, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witness, Muslims and Taoism (pp. 107). Many Koreans hold to the belief that certain foods are eaten to treat various illnesses. Many South Koreans dislike iced beverages, and many avoid milk products as they are lactose intolerant. Here, vegetables and rice are the staple foods. A typical meal is comprised of steamed rice (pap), a type of soup known as kuk and raw vegetables (banchan). Meals are eaten in silence as it is inappropriate to speak while eating especially in the presence of an elder. Rice is eaten with a spoon and lifting the rice bowl to the mouth is ill manners. Kimchee, a Korean

Development from Birth - 19 Years Essay Example for Free

Development from Birth 19 Years Essay The aspects of development are defined as Physical, Social Emotional, Language and Intellectual. There are different stages of development for each category, 0-3 years, 3-7 years, 7-12 years and 12-19 years. All children will follow the same pattern of development but at different rates and will reach their milestones at different times. Physical During the 0-3 year period a child’s physical development will see them start to move and react to memorable sounds and voices. They recognise people, reach for brightly coloured or noisy items. Their ability to move begins with rolling over, moves to crawling, shuffling and finally the ability to walk. Fine motor skills will also increase, from being able to hold and shake interesting objects to using crayons to scribble and make marks. They will use body language to communicate, such as shaking the head to indicate ‘NO’. As they move into years 3-7 their skills become more refined, they will be able to walk up and down stairs, catch a ball, use paints. Then they will learn to pedal a bike start to draw basic pictures of people or houses. Movement continues to improve and they become confident at climbing and jumping and their fine motor skills allow them to write more clearly, sew and manage shoe laces. By ages 7-12 years children are generally able to hit a ball and participate in team sports although their ability may not meet their own expectations at first. During adolescence physical development becomes more about appearance and the process of puberty. Whilst girls begin this process earlier than boys all children will develop as individuals. This can be a very difficult time for teenagers, with insecurities about they way they look and how they compare to their peers. Some will suffer anxiety at some point and worry about being a late or early developer. Social and Emotional Social and emotional development begins by showing affection and becoming attached to parents or carers and becoming what we usually call ‘clingy’. Young children may become distressed when a parent leaves the room or is not in sight. Slightly older children may demand attention and use tantrums to get their own way. They will generally be easily distracted from unwanted behaviour. By age 2-3 years children enjoy playing with older people who provide them with attention and begin to enjoy time with children their own age. Over the next few years the child becomes more independent and coopertative and likes to help. They develop social skills and play with others is more comfortable as they begin to consider the feelings of others and make friends, although resolving disputes can still be an issue. Rules and routine are required to help the child feel secure and safe. In later years the child becomes less dependant on their parents and moves closer to their peers. They develop a sense of right and wrong by may still adult intervention to settle arguments. They become aware of their gender and normally prefer the company of their own sex. Their behaviour differs with their emotions depending upon circumstance. In the final stages of development puberty creates feelings of self-consciousness and insecurity about body image. Behaviour is very unsettled as they sway between the feelings of being a child and wanting to be an adult. Friendships become stronger and adolescents depend less on the parents. They are much more aware of the opposite sex and need to fit in social with their peer group. People of this age begin to think about their social environment and may start to form strong opinions about community, politics and religion. Language In the early stages of development language is more about making sounds to show feelings. Babies watch others to learn facial movements to help them to begin making their own sounds and will turn towards sound they hear. From making sounds, words develop and gradually increase in number. They begin to understand key words spoken to them and will repeat back what they hear building from single words, to phrases and then sentences. Children’s ability to understand develops faster than the ability to speak and this can cause frustration with not being able to express themselves. During the 3-7 year period children begin to question things more intently, use more accurate grammar and their vocabulary increases dramatically. Reading skills start to develop, first recognising a few frequently seen words and understanding stories and books. During the Key Stage 1 years learning and recognising letters and the sounds they make develops into reading and later into writing. The next stages of language development involves the vocabulary increasing further and learning to spell more difficult words. Adult interaction is important to help children learn fluency and progress towards telling more complicated stories and the correct use of grammar and tenses. During adolescence language becomes more mature and logical thinking begins to develop. They can be sarcastic and begin to experiment with humour or may wish to publicly demonstrate their new found skills. Intellectual Early intellectual development involves copying others through play and testing different styles of behaviour. Young children also begin to recognise that all people are separate from themselves. Next comes the ability to understand instructions and recognise things that are similar, for example, shapes and colours. Between 5-7 years children start to become aware of their environment and understand what is means when things are different or the same. Next a child will develop their own interests and reading becomes a skill used for entertainment. Finally the mind matures and young people learn responsibility for their own thoughts and actions. They begin to think about their future lives and things they might like to do like, jobs, marriage and children. The ability to make connections between pieces of information and the world around them also matures. The speed of development at this stage very much depends upon the amount of guidance received. The more guidance a person gets the quicker they are able to reflect upon how things relate to in practice to their lives. An individuals personal identity is formed from the things they learn at this stage which should be more moral and cultural. Adolescents begin to take more responsibility away from their parents with regard to managing their finances, employment and their personal relationships and becomes complete during adulthood.

The quiet American

The quiet American Summary: Fowler is a Journalist and he has left his wife. Then he lived in Saigon during the French-Vietnamese war, along with a Chinese woman, Phuong. An American diplomat, Pyle will also feature. He has read books about China, which have influenced his thinking throughout, because he has quite a few strange ideas about the course of the war. Pyle is also in love with Phuong Fowler goes a few days to the battlefield at Phat Diem, where he describes the situation. To his amazement Pyle will also show up, to tell that he wants to marry Phuong. He made the trip in spite of all the dangers to tell Fowler that he must not go to Phuong before Fowler is back. When Fowler is back goes he, Pyle en Phuong talk about her future. Phuong says nothing. Then goes Fowler to a special place 50 miles north of Saigon. There he sees Pyle. Because his belly is broken, he goes back with Fowler. Then they are without gasoline. They go to a guard tower along the road. Then there are soldiers but the soldiers dont see the tower. Pyle and Fowler managed to escape, but thereto Fowler breaks a leg. Romanisatie weergevenPyle brings him to a hospital, and so he saves his life. Romanisatie weergevenPhuong comes to visit him in hospital, but after a few weeks she finally chooses to Pyle. Romanisatie weergevenShe leaves Fowler because he cant marry her. In the meanwhile Pyle supports the third army. Romanisatie weergevenLater, a bomb is not stopped when a military parade had been cancelled. When Fowler come off this, he enabled his own connections to murder Pyle. After that Romanisatie weergeven Fowler and Phuong are back together and happy. Analysis interpretation Genre: A psychological war novel, because the main character has lots of troubles during war. Themes: War : the story is set during the war in Vietnam. Relations: in the story, two friends named, Fowler an Pyle, are fighting about the love of a girl named, Phuong. Structure: There are many flashbacks, so the story is not chronological. The book contains three parts. Those three parts contain out of four chapters. In the end Pyle dies, so the end is closed. Characters: There are three main characters in the story: Fowler: A journalist. He is a person with guts, but doesnt always take everything for granted. Pyle: he is involved in the war as an American diplomat. he is an honest person and he has much trust in other people. Phuong: She is a Vietnamese woman. She is the fiancà ©e of Pyle, but after he was murdered, she married Fowler. She is easily suppressed, and she Quigley does what other people tell her to do. Time: The story is set during the Vietnamese war between the Vietminh and the French. Its exactly from March 1952 till June 1955. Perspective: The story is told by Pyle. space: the story is set in Saigon and Hanoi. Those are the biggest towns in Vietnam. Language and style: The story language is English dialogue. There are much conversations between the main character and another person. The story is pretty serious because there are not much comic moments in the story. Personal opinion Opinion Cornà © I tought the book was very confusing for somewhone how never red a english book. In the first pages was one of the main characters ,Pyle, dead, but in the other pages he was alive. After al I new it was a flashback but I didnt new that before. But it was a exciting book because war had a major role. I always like books where war played a major role. When I must read a book for Dutch, I prefer book with war. Those books are exciting and sometimes the contain humor. Humor is also a major factor for a book. Humor didnt sit in The quiet American. That was very unfortunate. In the end it was a exciting book but I dont think I will read it again. There was to many humor and it was confusing. I think I must have a book without flashbacks. A book with no flashbacks reads a lot better. Opinion Martijn I think this book is very good written. The was in the book is very well describe and it is very realistic. I found the book very bold, this is mainly because the story takes place during the war. A very big drawback of this book is that there very difficult words are used. This is very difficult to get into the story and it is much harder to understand the story. And it is especially difficult if youre bad in English, like me. The characters in the book will fit well into the story home, also the characters are very realistic. This makes the book more attractive So if someone like it to read English books , than is this book a real must. Opinion Jogchum This book was hard for me to understand, because there are many difficult words in the book, and Im not really good at English. I think this book was exciting, because it goes about war, and mostly books about war are exciting. I found the book well written, because the characters that the author used well described. Furthermore, the author has much knowledge of war, because he used this knowledge, you could notice that many things from the war emerged. Romanisatie weergeven I thought it was a realistic book, because it could happen in real life. Opinion Jochum In my opinion, this book wasnt really a exiting book. It was pretty hard to read and because of that it became a little bit boring. That it was hard to read was because it was English. Not that I have trouble reading English, but the book contained a lot of English proverbs. When I read English I just translate the words, but here I had much misunderstandings. There were proverbs like: Slow fire ah boil hard cow-heel. There were also a lot of difficult words like, vaguely, reassuring and crippled. I also had a continuous feeling that the phrases were grammatically incorrect, but that could be, because that this is an old book or that this book is written in a different dialect. The story was pretty exiting tough, because it was about war. And war is an exiting time. Unfortunately I didnt really understand the story, because of the difficult words and proverbs. Background Information of Graham Greene Graham Greene was an english author, play wright and literary critic. Unfortunately he is deceased. He was born on the 2th of october 1904 and was passed away on the 3th of april 1991. His father was director of his school. He went below to the balliol college on the unversity of Oxford. His first book was published in 1925. He where Catholic after he graduated. He where a journalist but this wasnt a succes. He caused the bankruptcy of the magazine he worked for. His books are modern-realistic style. It contains often people who doubt themselves and the darkside. His books were divided into thrillers with entertainment, but those books had philosophical side. His reputation was built on the literary books as the power and the glory. He becames famous because he brought together the entertainment and literature.

Mathematics in the Primary School

Mathematics in the Primary School Innumerate school children cost the taxpayer up to  £2.4bn a year. In 2007, Sir Peter Williams the then chair of the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education (ACME), was commissioned to consider and make his recommendations in response to the teaching of mathematics in early years settings and primary schools, with a view to assessing and improving upon the current practices of mathematics teaching in early years settings (EYS) and primary schools (Adonis 2007). By examining the available evidence, drawing from the best practice nationally and internationally and by working closely with the teaching profession, the Williams final report was published in June 2008. By means of 10 recommendations the report identifies methods by which children in primary schools and early years settings can acquire a greater understanding of mathematics, and a greater appreciation of its importantance with relation to a successful progression through life during and after their school career is over. Through a high-quality curriculum and excellent teaching (Williams, 2008, p61), children should have confidence and feel comfortable with the concept of Mathematics within their day to day lives. In the following, I will explore the implications of the ten recommendations outlined in the Williams Report and will conclude with some reflection on the value of the report and the likely impact it will have on me as a trainee teacher. Recommendation 1 Considers the entry requirements necessary for Initial Teacher Training (ITT). GCSE Grade C mathematics continues to be the mandatory minimum requirement level. However the report argues that grade B in GCSE maths is desirable with the long-term ambition of the government initiative the Training and Development Agency for Schools(TDA), being for all Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) graduates to have reached Masters-level accreditation. However, this is currently deemed inadvisable given the possible risk of falling enrolment of trainee teachers A higher priority is given to teaching experience through teaching placements to increase the students pedagogical knowledge, Williams (2008, p7) states that, a combination of deep subject knowledge and pedagogical skill is required to promote effective learning, a view supported by the research body Mathematical Knowledge in Teaching (2007/2008). The evidence of good grounding in these two fundamental attributes shows; taken together they constitute a necessary condition to progress learning for all children up to the end of Key Stage 2, which prepares them well for Key Stage 3 ((Williams, 2008, p10). The only currently acceptable route to raising mathematical understanding is through properly funded and rewarded continuing professional development (ibid p 12) Q14, Q15, Q19, Q25a,b,c,d Recommendation 2 Local Authorities (LAs) are to continue to up-skill and increase the numbers of their Mathematic Consultants. A continued extensive budget is to be set aside by the Government for local LAs to implement this following the recommendations made by the Primary National Strategy (PNS) (via the National Numeracy Strategy (NNS)), and in partnership with the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM). This funding to be used to develop and track refresher Continued Professional Development (CPD) courses for all LA consultants, evidence being that since the introduction of the NNS, a transformation in the way mathematics is taught can be strongly correlated with the increase in the attainment levels of primary school children (ibid p 16). Q14, Q15, Q18, Q19, Q20, Q25a,b,c,d Recommendation 3 Every school should have at least one mathematics specialist present (or have access to one), whose initial objective is to raise standards and narrow attainment gaps. By utilising the highly-trained (circa) 400 LA Mathematic Consultants to their fullest, a phased proposal is given to have a Mathematical Specialist present in every school which will re-enforce the importance of mathematics within schools and enhance and allow flexibility for CPD provisions available to all teaching and support staff. Small and rural schools benefitting from pooled resources wherever possible. Many of these specialists could be sourced from Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) trained to a higher mathematical level through their ITT providers, and all specialists to be monitored by their respective head teacher. Q14, Q15, Q19, Q20, Q25a,b,c,d Recommendation 4 The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) is to commission a set of materials which will help early years practitioners understand the effect of childrens development as shown through their mathematical mark-making. The resulting report supports the introduction of childrens mathematical graphics (Worthington, M/ Carruthers, E, 2003), at the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). The EYFS adheres to the principles of the central importance of creativity and critical thinking in early learning and development (Mark Making Matters, 2008, p2). By giving practitioners the tools to support and challenge a childs thought process through encouragement and understanding of the young childs mark-making, along-side open ended discussion (sustained shared thinking (Williams, 2008, p34)), the children will become confident and competent communicators, both orally and on paper, in all six areas of learning and development. (Mark Making Matters, 2008, p2) In relationship to mathematics, by encouraging a child to mark-make from a very early age, when children realise that marks can be used symbolically to carry meaning [] they begin to make marks as tools to make their thinking visible (ibid p3). Through drawing the child may develop their concepts in relationship to problem solving, reasoning and numeracy. The importance of the Early Years Practitioners taking the time to observe, listen and analyse childrens mark making in order to understand, praise and enrich the childs achievements (ibid p3), is affirmed. However, I must agree with the importance of a young childs mathematical understanding being developed through imaginative play and effective mathematical learning for children in this age group needs to be predominantly social in nature (Williams, 2008, p36). Q15, Q18, Q19, Q20 Recommendation 5 The forthcoming review of the EYSF in 2010 is to consider the inclusion of time and capacity which Williams feel were omitted when the statutory early learning goals set out in the Statutory Framework for EYFS: Learning and Development Requirements (DCSF 2006) were first developed. By using these two extra concepts along with those already required i.e., shape, space, measures along with the use of correct mathematical language, it would enable the child to apply their mathematical knowledge in practical and active ways (Williams, 2008, p36), whilst also enhancing the childs understanding of problem solving. The responsibilities of effective pedagogy for this remit falling to local authorities, leaders, managers and head-teachers. Q14, Q15, Q19, Q20, Q25a,b,c,d Recommendation 6 The DCSF is to continue to increase the amount of graduate practitioners going into Early Years Settings (EYS). The Childrens Workforce Development Council (CWDC) (2010), states High quality early years provision can have a significant impact on childrens development, performance at school and their future life chances (CWDC, 2010, Areas of Work- Early Years) and the early years workforce must be well qualified. (ibid) With reference to the Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE, 2004), the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS, 2005) and the evaluation of the Neighbourhood Nursery Initiative (NNI, 2000), it recognises the importance of having a good proportion of trained teachers on the staff. The recommendation being for one graduate early years professional per setting by 2010 and with provision for two graduates per setting in disadvantaged areas. A member of staff having Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and a Graduate Early Years Practitioner who has a specialism in working with early years children could have the most benefit to most childrens development and learning. Standards could also be raised with additional funding given to implementing CPD within the Early Years Workforce where mathematics is given essential priority. It should however be noted that EYFS provisions are currently very erratic throughout the UK. Q14, Q15, Q18, Q19, Q20, Q25a,b,c,d Recommendation 7 Engaging the full understanding and commitment of participating children and their parents/carers before the onset of intervention, paying special attention to the integration of intervention in the class room and in a home-school partnership through official home-learning activities. Where research is undertaken, it is proven that the inclusion and understanding of parents/carers before the onset of intervention is paramount in guaranteeing programme success, and parents/carers could support their childs learning progress through official home-learning activities. Equally, children who understand exactly the nature of the programme show genuine delight in their progress and the importance of this factor should not be under estimated for a successful programme (Williams, 2008, p55). In terms of the integration of intervention, the DCSF National Strategy Standards (PNS) (1998) cites; Intervention is not just about additional out-of-class provision. It also includes reviewing what happens in class to make sure it is appropriately tailored to the needs of the children. Q14, Q15, Q18, Q19, Q20 Recommendation 8 The Wave 3 Intervention programme from The Every Child Counts (2008) initiative; a partnership between government, businesses and the charity Every Child a Chance (2007) aims to enhance achievement for approximately 5%-10% of children nationally who are failing to master the basics of numeracy (Adonis, 2007). Adonis (2007) states; there is no single cause of under-attainment and therefore no single answer'(ibid) It is best to summarise the implications, logistics and recommendations of wave 3 intervention in Year 2 as follows:- Intervention should be led by a qualified teacher on a 1: 1 teacher pupil ratio. The benefits of working in pairs or small groups should also be explored. The childs class teacher should be given responsibility to decide whether intervention is necessary. Investigation into of the efficacy of using video tapes for assessment and training should be undertaken. Diagnostic tools should be developed to aid teachers with assessment before intervention and monitor progress after leaving the programme, using for example, Assessing Pupils Progress (APP) and the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP). Intervention should ideally last for one term and be completed by the end of Key Stage 1. Where it is deemed that a child is in need of intervention for both literacy and mathematics, it is imperative that mathematics be given equal standing to literacy. A wide range of (potentially costly) multi-sensory resources should be made available, for example, Numicom and the interactive whiteboard, to enable the teacher and child to select the appropriate aid to their specific issue. CCD programmes should be developed for the teacher as intervention specialist and for LA intervention specialists. Currently there is only a small cohort of intervention specialists available. Combining the roles of intervention specialist and mathematics specialist should be considered through the pooling of resources wherever possible to limit cost implications. Teaching Assistants could be further trained to lead less intensive wave 2 and 3 interventions. A longitudinal study is to be carried out over the next 10-15 years to assess the success of the programme. Q14, Q15, Q18, Q19, Q20, Q25a,b,c,d Recommendation 9 and 10 Refer to the importance of continued building on the currently solid curriculum, with more prominence being given to use and application (Williams, 2008, p60) of Mathematics across all subjects and to give renewed focus to oral and mental mathematics. Q14, Q15, Q18, Q19, Q20, Q25a,b,c,d Conclusion In conclusion, the above discussion has demonstrated the key features of the Williams Report and has reflected on the implications of the report for EYP, strategies for intervention and the roles of the curriculum, training, accreditation, head-teachers and the family. I have demonstrated how the Williams Report has both drawn on existing regulations, recommendations, policies and practice but crucially, identified the weaknesses in existing legislation. For me the key strengths of the report lie in its emphasis on the role of teacher pedagogy and practice and the shared responsibility of the LAs with schools, in particular the head-teacher, and with the parent/carer. A key recommendation is being pro-active and understanding that every child matters. I feel the weaknesses of the report relate to its over-emphasis on high-levels of formal accreditation, which do not reflect an individuals natural gift to teach and which may jeopardise future recruitment. Of course, the question remains what the effect of recent government changes and the very real and imminent threat of public sector cuts will mean for the practical implementation of the Williams report recommendations.

The Great Gatsby :: The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Great Gatsby" is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald which takes place in the early 1900's. This book consists of five main characters, Nick Carraway, Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan, Jay Gatsby and Jordan Baker. When I completed this novel, I came to a conclusion that this is a well - written book. The two main reasons that makes this novel so superior is that Fitzgerald writes from his personal experience and makes good use of his literary elements. Throughout this novel, Fitzgerald's life plays a major part in the scenes and in the story. For example, the conflict in this novel is that Gatsby is trying to get Daisy from Tom, after Daisy turned him down because he wasn't wealthy. Similarly, Fitzgerald and Zelda liked each other, but before they could get married, Fitzgerald needed to earn some money. Obviously, his money came from writing great novels. Another example that portrays Fitzgerald's life in this novel is the vast use of alcohol. In the novel, alcohol is mentioned so often that it changes character's lives. Firstly, Dan Cody, Gatsby's mentor was an alcoholic who died from alcoholism. And secondly, during Gatsby's parties, people were getting drunk (the man in the library saying the books are real!). In Fitzgerald's life, partying and getting drunk was a frequent routine. Coincidentally, Fitzgerald was also an alcoholic who suffered from alcoholism. Not only does Fitzgerald write from his personal experience to enhance his writing, but he also uses good literary elements. Fitzgerald's use of irony and foreshadowing makes his writing so highly - rated. One scene when foreshadowing kicks is when Fitzgerald describes the scene outside the room where Gatsby and Daisy are sitting together. Fitzgerald describes, "Outside the wind was loud and there was a faint flow of thunder along the sound." Thunder is added on purpose; to foreshadow the unstable relationship between Gatsby and Daisy. He uses irony in describing his characters. For example, when Nick goes to Tom's house for the first time and Daisy describes her husband, Tom as being smart and profound. Later on in this novel, we find out how unintelligent Tom is and it takes him great amount of time to figure out that Gatsby and Daisy have something going on.

The Cyclooxygenase-2 Essay -- Health, Diseases

The cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is a key enzyme in the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostaglandins, which promote cell proliferation, angiogenesis and metastasis, and inhibit apoptosis. Unlike COX-1, which is constitutively expressed isoform, COX-2 is an inducible isoform of cyclooxygenase and which may participate in inflammatory responses and contribute to inflammation and cancersthe development of colorectal cancer as well as other human cancers (1). COX-2 is not detectable detected in most normal tissues. However, it but is rapidly induced when stimulated by in response to mitogens, cytokines and tumor promoters, which leads to the leading to increased accumulation of prostanoids in neoplastic and inflamed tissues (2). COX-2 is highly expressed at high levels in intestinal tumors in rodents and humans (1). For example, Mmore than 80% of all colorectal tumors were shown to overexpress COX-2 (3-5). Epidemiologic studies have shown that taking aspirin or other nonsteroidal anti-i nflammatory drugs on a regular basis could reduce mortality from colorectal cancer by 40-50% compared with those who not taking these drugs (1). One characteristic shared by all of these drugs is their ability to inhibit COX activity and/or expression (1). Although COX-2 is expressed in 80-90% of human colon carcinoma specimens, not all colorectal cancer cell lines constitutively expressed COX-2. Constitutive expression of COX-2 was only detected in a relatively small number of established colorectal carcinoma cell lines (6). For example, human colon adenocarcinoma cell lines, HCT116 and SW480, have been described as COX-2 negative, since they did not express COX-2, neither at mRNA nor at protein level (7). COX-2-derived prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) ... ...t as well as when the conditioned medium will be collected, with multiple parameters in which not only COX-2 mRNA and protein as well as PGE2 levels will be observed, but also other relevant molecular markers or factors like those mentioned above. Not only paradoxical observations of COX-2 expression and the functional activity in human colon cancer cell line have been documented, the role of PGE2 on inflammation seems also paradoxical. Although PGE2 is a potent mediator of inflammation (55), it was suggested that PGE2, endogenous COX products, also inhibit acute allergic inflammation (56). Thus, PGE2 may produce both pro- and anti-inflammatory effects (57). More extensive well-designed experiments are needed to help us to unveil the secret of COX-2 expression and the functional activity as well as their roles in physiological and pathophysiological conditions.

Childrens Crying Patterns Clinical Assessment Health And Social Care Essay

Abstraction:Materials and Methods: Children in the age group 4-9 old ages were divided into Group1: ( 40 kids ) and Group 2: ( 60 kids ) and their calls were recorded utilizing a picture camera. Different calls analyzed were frightened, hurting, obstinate, manipulative and boredom call on the footing of their description in the literature. Group I was subjected to detailed clinical scrutiny and Group II to assorted dental processs. Consequences: The most normally observed call was pain call. Pain call was largely associated with dento-alveolar abscess. With regard to dental processs, pain call was normally associated with usage of inject able AIDSs, frightened call and compensatory call with the usage of alveolar consonant drill. Decision: Cries could be agencies of communicating and plus in clinical diagnosing. Cardinal words: hurting call, frightened call, compensatory call, stubborn call, ennui call, manipulative call.Introduction: –Since birth, the babes have a communicative purpose and the call is the chief manner they use to show their demands and feelings to their health professionals ( 6 ) . Harmonizing to Adler the first call represents an â€Å" overpowering sense of lower status at therefore all of a sudden being confronted by world without of all time holding had to cover with its jobs. â€Å" ( 1 ) this feeling at least serves a utile map in air outing lungs. Another psychologist wrote that shouting at birth represents the baby ‘s loss of Eden ( 2 ) . Shouting, like other emotional manifestations of human behaviour is an look of personality of an person. Crying is apt to be the consequence of struggle with the developing self-importance and with his freshly found involvements. Many cryings are the consequence of injuring kid ‘s pride. After the age of one and a half kid develops a assortment of frights and calls for the security of his female parent ‘s company. In the instance of a younger kid, the frequence of shouting depends on his personality. Excessive weeping is about ever due to mismanagement, in the signifier of failure to give the kid the love and the security which he needs and failure to let him to larn independency and pattern his freshly found accomplishments. It is increased by changeless interference-by perfectionism, inordinate subject, domination and efforts to ‘train him before he is really ready ( 3 ) . It is increased by insecurity, whatever the cause. It is increased by crossness and wearines s. Factors which govern the sum of shouting include the female parent ‘s personality and her reactivity to his demands and kid ‘s personality and his finding to command his environment. Treating a weeping kid is one of the most nerve-racking state of affairss encountered in dental medicine. Previous plants have demonstrated that using signal processing techniques to analyse the sound of these calls, its possible determinate which features carry information about the context that evoked the call ( 4 ) . Since kids exhibit diverseness of behaviours, it is of import that tooth doctors have a broad scope of behavior direction methods to run into the demands of the single kid ( 5 ) . For that purpose a diagnosing is needed. Since weeping is a manner of look of the personality traits, the weeping should be used as an plus in diagnosing. Following types of calls are normally encountered in the dental office. Pain call: This call begins all of a sudden nonstop and unmanageable and is high-pitched and shrill. The call is loud and long Frightened call: This call is characterized by a crisp shrilled highly high pitched call followed by little breath catching shortness of breath followed by a crisp shrilled highly high pitched call Obstinate call: it is loud high pitched & amp ; characterized as a Siren like lament, a intermission and repeated over and over once more. This forms a combatant call, represents the child external response to anxiety.child throws a pique fit to queer dental intervention. Compensatory call: Slow humdrum call, the shouting serves to â€Å" counterbalance † for the noise.its sort of get bying mechanism to unpleasant stimulations. Manipulative call: a characteristic characteristic of kids, they cry for understanding and acquire off by shouting and whining. Boredom call: a call that is fretful and whimpering ; sometimes it about sounds like a moanThis call Michigans suddenly when the intervention Michigans. In a dental clinic a kid may non merely cry out of fright, but out of true hurting, anxiousness or he may shout merely to acquire off with the intervention, in this survey we evaluated the call of the kid patients and carbon monoxide related it to their clinical diagnosing and the usage of dental instruments.Materials and methods:This survey was planned in the section of Pedodontics and preventative dental medicine. The survey was carried out in two parts in two groups of kids. Children under both the groups were in the age group of 5 to 9 old ages. Group I included 40 kids with no old dental experience and were selected from the patients who came for their first dental visit. For the group II 60 kids were selected and divided into six sub groups of 10 each.children of this group were selected based on their intervention demands and divided into bomber groups which were based on processs undertaken, viz. injection of local anaesthesia, usage of alveolar consonant drill, crisp instrum ents, root canal instruments, doing of I.O.P.A and drawn-out assignments. Consent was obtained from patient ‘s parents or defender of both the groups, along with brief medical and dental history of the patient. GROUP I: -Thorough clinical scrutiny was done and the diagnosing was made.patients call was recorded during the scrutiny and was so co-related to the diagnosing obtained. GROUP II: -for the bomber group 1, kids necessitating either extraction or endodontic intervention of lower primary molar/s were injected inferior alveolar block and the call was recorded during disposal. For the bomber group 2 call was recorded during the mush ablation and filing of the root canals of deciduous grinders. For the bomber group 3 patient with occlusal dentinal cavities with moderate deepnesss were selected for category I cavity readying with air rotor and the call was recorded during the pit readying. for the bomber group 4 call was recorded during the usage of crisp instruments like excavators during cavities digging, usage of forceps during extraction and the usage of scalers during unwritten prophylaxis.sub group 5 included patients necessitating preoperative diagnostic I.O.P.A for posterior dentitions and the call was recorded during the exposure.sub group 6 included the process of anterior composite rosin Restoration ( no tooth readying ) of at least 2-4 dentition s carried out in individual assignment which lasted for minimal 1 hour.cry was recorded during the assignment. Each call recorded with audio ocular camera.cry was evaluated and classified into any of the six types mentioned antecedently, by an expert. Consequences GROUP I: – Postpone A ) Type of call N ( % ) Pain call 17 ( 45.0 % ) Frightened call 15 ( 37.5 % ) Obstinate call 06 ( 15.0 % ) Compensatory call 00 ( 0.0 % ) Manipulative call 00 ( 0.0 % ) Boredom call 02 ( 2.5 % ) entire 40 ( 100 % ) Table B ) call cavities Chronic pulpitis Dento-alveolar abscess Periapical abscess Traumatic hurt Apical periodontal disease others Everyday check-up entire hurting 3 4 5 3–2––17 frightened 3 3 2 1 1–1 4 15 obstinate 2 2––––1 1 06 compensatory––––––––00 manipulative––––––––00 ennui 2–––––––02 entire 10 09 07 04 01 02 02 05 40 GROUP II Postpone A ) call injections Endodontic instruments Dental drill Crisp instruments Drawn-out assignments radiogram Sum ; hurting 3 3 2 4 1 3 16 frightened 6 3 3 2–5 19 obstinate 1 1 2–1 2 07 compensatory––3 1 2–06 manipulative–2–1 3–06 ennui–1–2 3–06 entire 10 10 10 10 10 10 60 GROUP I Postpone A ) : -out of 40 kids examined most often recorded call was pain call ( 45 % ) , followed by scared call, stubborn call and ennui cry.manipulative and compensatory call was non observed during initial scrutiny. Table B ) : -out of 40 kids examined, 10 kids were enduring from dental caries.most normally observed call in relation to dental cavities was hurting and frightened ( three kids each ) .nine kids were diagnosed with chronic irreversible pulpitis with the head complain tooth.this pathosis was most normally associated with hurting call ( four kids ) .dentoalveolar abscess was diagnosed in seven kids out of forty.majority of these kids ( five ) had pain cry.four kids were diagnosed with periapical abscess and out of them three kids had hurting cry.one kid with traumatic hurt had frightened cry.two instances of apical periodontal disease were diagnosed and both of them were related to trouble cry.other alveolar consonant jobs were associated with scared and stubborn cry.routine dental cheque ups were largely associated with scared call. GROUP II Table B ) : -out of 60 kids examined most normally observed call was frightened call, followed by hurting cry.out of 10 kids subjected to injections, bulk ( six kids ) cried out of fear.out of 10 kids subjected to endodontic instrumentality, most of the kids cried out of fright and hurting ( three each ) , in the group of 10 subjected to utilize of alveolar consonant drill compensatory and frightened call was observed upper limit ( three each ) .hand instrumentality was largely associated with hurting cry.lengthy assignments was largely associated with ennui and manipulative call. Discussion: – The most normally ascertained call during the initial scrutiny was hurting or ache call accounting for 45 % .this was expected because most of the patients were brought to the section with the main complain of hurting. Following normally observed call was frightened call. Studies suggest a multifactorial etiology of dental fright and anxiousness ( 7 ) . Associated factors are related to a kid ‘s fear temperament, negative emotions, hurting sensitiveness, and get bying manner, with the later being related to parental attitudes, negative information, and painful experiences ( 8,9 ) .although we selected patients with no old dental experience, yet parent ‘s old dental experience was non taken into history. Obstinate call was characteristically observed in kids exhibiting pique fits. Temper fits were normally observed in active, determined kids with abundant energy and non in placid, easy-going chidren.in kernel fits represent the clang of the kid ‘s developing personal ity with the will of his parents. His increasing desire to demo his powers, to derive attending and to hold his ain manner gets him into problem, peculiarly when his parents are perfectionists and of tyrannizing type ( 10 ) . Boredom call was the consequence of long waiting period patient had to face before the initial scrutiny because of the inaccessibility of the physician. With regard to the diagnosing, dental abscess was most normally associated with hurting call. Because of the age group selected that is 4-9 year, most of the abscesses encountered were dento-alveolar abscesses associated with deciduous grinders. Out of 40 kids examined we encountered merely 4 periapical abscess, out of which 3 were associated with hurting call. Thus writer feels that periapical abscess excessively is every bit strongly associated with hurting call. Dental cavities and its association with call is variable, scared and pain call were every bit related to cavities every bit Wellss as obstinate call was besides recorded in the patient enduring from the dental caries.Pain is natural in deep cavities nearing mush. Reason for the fright in the kid with the dental cavities is chiefly because of the invasive intervention that would be undertaken for the remedy of the caries.Obstinate call could be due to feeling of insecurity where the kid considers the dental visit as a pena lty instead than a need.cry in a kid who had Ellis category II break was evaluated as scared call. Breath catching shortness of breath, the feature of scared call are seen n he kids when they experience pain as from a autumn or knock or fright. Apical periodontal disease was associated with hurting call as the hurting was produced on even on soft tapping of the dentitions with instrument handle.cry related to routine look into up and every bit good as other jobs like enamel stains ‘ and hypoplasia, orthodontic malalignment and malocclusions were chiefly of scared type. This could be attributed to dental phobia.one patient who had come for everyday alveolar consonant look into up exhibited obstinate call and threw temper fits. The kid was accompanied by female parent who was over protective and over indulgent sort. Often the inordinate intervention with the kid ‘s normal chases by the parent ( female parent ) because of perfectionism is met by rebellion. Temper fit is the best defence reaction against such a repression. A barbarous circle is set up, the opposition being met with more repression and the repression by more opposition ( 11,12 ) . Another kid with minor crowding in anterior dentitions exhibited obstinate call which could be attributed to personality trait. Most normally ascertained call in kids enduring from chronic pulpitis was hurting call followed by scared call and obstinate call severally. Dull longstanding hurting is frequently associated with chronic pulpitis which is exaggerated on examining for the deepness of the lesion. Fear once more could be attributed to dental phobic disorder or the fright of the invasive intervention that would be coming up. With regard to the usage of dental instruments, injection of local anaesthesia was most normally associated with scared call. Based on invasiveness of the intervention, processs can be ranged and the strongest frights are caused due to injection, followed by the drill and the remotion of the concretion. ( 13 ) hurting call was besides observed during injections. Pain is natural when acerate leaf penetrates the mucous membrane ( 14 ) .obstinate call during the injection could be because, the kid considers injection as a penalty to him. Use of endodontic instruments viz. barbed broochs for ablation of the mush, followed by K files for canal expansion, was normally associated with scared and pain call. Pain was felt even after the disposal of local anaesthesia in some instances, in such instances intra pulpal anaesthesia was given after entering of the call. Fear was attributed to the sight of broochs and files as they resemble to little acerate leafs. Boredom call was besides associate d in some instances with the usage of endodontic instruments because it was a drawn-out process. Dental drill is one of the most normally feared objects and hence it was normally associated with scared call. Another call normally associated with the usage of alveolar consonant drill was compensatory call. This could be attributed to annoyed kids ‘s effort to get the better of the noise and the pandemonium. Pain during boring could be attributed to dentinal sensitiveness and hence it produced hurting call ( 15 ) .cry recorded during usage of crisp instruments viz. scalers, forceps and excavators was largely related to trouble followed by fright. Most of the kids were scared of forceps and objected its usage.hand digging was more normally associated with hurting call and in some instances, although there was no hurting, but yet the process was clip devouring so the kids got fatigued and this resulted in ennui and manipulative call. Compensatory call during this process could bes ides be attributed to the kid ‘s effort to get the better of the unpleasant, clip devouring dental state of affairs. Anterior Restorations were largely related to manipulative and boredom calls because this process was clip consuming, doing the kids tired, fatigued and ungratified. Pain during this process observed in one instance could be reasoned as jaw hurting since the kid had to maintain oral cavity unfastened for a long period. Frightened and stubborn call was less ascertained may be because kids were already conditioned since cavities digging was already completed and they knew that â€Å" now teeth were merely to be filled! â€Å" While doing radiograms, most normally observed call was frightened call as kids were dying about the full exposure unit, particularly the cone. Pain call could be attributed to discomfort during the arrangement of films.obstinate call is more related to personality trait of the kid.

Jack Mapanje as an Imbongi.

HOW JACK MAPANJE FULFILLS THE ROLE OF AN â€Å"IMBONGI†- ON HIS ROYAL BLINDNESS PARAMOUNT CHIEF KWANGWALA. Africa is one of the world's continents, having a unique physical make up of its own which comprises of some of the distinct features in the likes of mountains, lakes, falls and plains just to mention a few. It is from this outset that one of the integral branches of literature particularly African literature sprouted.Practiced and expressed in the southern central nation of Malawi, African literature was used as a tool in a fight for change and was used to question the monstrous leadership of the Malawi nation which was being practiced by the then country's president late Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda. Chirambo (2009: p1) highlights that the government of former president for life Dr. H. K. Banda and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) in Malawi was a dictatorship that relied on coercion as well as mobilization of grassroots popular support and consent to maintain itself in power for 30 years (1964–1994).It was this governance that gave birth to different self camouflaging writing styles, a point which Kerr (1987) agrees to by saying that writers formed a Malawian creative writing movement which used literary methods that frequently outwitted Banda and his ever vigilant formal and informal censors. Jack Mapanje, James Gibbs, Leroy Vail and Landeg White all give accounts of how writers managed to beat censorship. Using oral forms, new metaphors from Malawi's indigenous languages, suggestive words, puns, and certain popular phrases, they managed to camouflage some of the critical literature for circulation without reprisal.Depicting such a writing style some of the writers emerged as messengers. These messengers in African literature are termed as â€Å"Imbongis†. This essay intends to bring to the fore how Jack Mapanje fulfills the role of an imbongi through his writings basing its discussion on a three stanza poem â€Å"On His Royal Blindness Paramount Chief Kwangwala†. Mapanje is one of Malawi’s renowned poets who suffered the hand of Kamuzu's readership as he was detained without charge for almost four years between September 1987 and May 1991.At the time of his arrest, Mapanje was serving as Chair of the English Department at Chancellor College of the University of Malawi. To this day the government has not given the actual reasons for his detention (Chirambo: 2009, p4). Writing in the time s of â€Å"Kamuzuism† a term assigned to symbolize Kamuzu's oppressive acts, Mapanje secured the role of an imbongi as his writings circulated against Kamuzu's leadership with criticism, disagreement and at the same time praise. Whereby these are some of the roles of a praise poet (an Imbongi).Mafeje(1967: p193) defines an imbongi as someone who lived in close proximity to the Chief’s Great Place and who accompanied the Chief on important occasions . His performances would be directed at the Chief, decry ing what was unworthy, praising what was worthy and even forecasting what was going to happen. Clearly, the Imbongi's role was one that allowed for criticism . With reference to Mafeje's definition then taking a closer look at Mapanje's title â€Å" On His Royal Blindness Paramount Chief Kwangwala† it can easily be assumed that the poet was describing the leadership of a chief whom the poet himself served as an imbongi.The title on the other hand is brandished with sarcasm as the poet has used the term â€Å"blindness† which represents the lost in direction of the leadership in discussion. This leadership can be equated to that of Kamuzu this is so as Banda regarded Malawi as one big village in which he was the paramount Chief, father, guardian, and protector of all people and went so far as to call Malawi, â€Å"my tribe . . . the whole nation, the tribe of Malawi† (Chirambo: 2001, p 226). This prompts us to earmark Kamuzu as the chief who's leadership the poet is trying to describe with sarcasm.In the opening stanza the poet is praising the chief by describing how the chief (Kamuzu) finds loyalty in the carried-awayness of his people not under the fact that they really are carried away but the chief has instilled in them a sense that he is their hero. This is the Same spirit that those who lived in the Kamuzu era expressed and it was due to the fact that Kamuzu termed himself with all sorts of self praising names for example Banda was called â€Å"Wamuyaya†, meaning â€Å"the immortal†.The other reason for the undeserved praises was that Kamuzu ordered all women and girls to sing songs of praise where ever he was to visit and he named them â€Å"Mbumba za Kamuzu† meaning Kamuzu's children. As an Imbongi the poet in the first two lines of the poem praising his chief but at the same time in the preceding four lines of the stanza the poet is expressing his bad feeling over how the chief talks to his people as he address es.The poet has used the term â€Å"golden breath† which insinuates the importance of the chief's talks simultaneously criticizing him even more by calling the speeches breath wasting, this has been presented in irony in the line that says . â€Å"Those impromptu, long-winded tirades of your might† Thus Mapanje depicting the role of an imbongi. The second stanza is just a continuation ironic praise the poet is expressing towards the Chief to whom he is an imbongi. In the first lines of the stanza th poet is refuting the thinking that he is criticizing the chief's powers which is exactly what he did in the first stanza.He manages to do this by admitting that him too is supposed to praise the leader and this has been developed in the lines that say; â€Å"I know I too must sing to such royal happiness† â€Å"And I am not arguing†. To further show his devotion Mapanje describes the leader's might by talking about how those that questioned his power suffered, and this is praise in disguise making Mapanje to assume the role of an Imbongi. Mapanje brings up the issue of those that suffered Kamuzuism as they questioned the leader's powers, as a away of showing up his might and at the same time exposing the dark parts of the leader's era.This has been brought up in the lines that say; â€Å" How dare I when we have scribbled our praises all over our graves? † Which is a question that the poet has posed to mean how could he question the president's leadership yet he knows that others have died because of doing the same. A point which in similar vain Steve Chimombo raised in his piece â€Å"A Dead Song† in which he picked animals in the likes of lizards and rats and described by saying they kept seeking refuge from time to time. In Chimombo's context these homeless animals symbolized some of the politicians who went into exile and others who died mysteriously.Mapanje in the last lines of the second stanza is using the leader's i ll-treatments for praise and implicitly unveiling the president's monstrosity. Thereby fulfilling his role as an imbongi. In the third stanza Mapanje is proceeding with his criticism by highlighting that he can not go against the president's governance as he knows people have always done what ever they can to make the leader proud and he would not want to defy such a record. This is in the five lines that say; â€Å"Why should I quarrel when I too have known mask dancers Dancers making troubled journeys to the gold minesOn bare foot and bringing back fake European gadgets The broken pipes, torn coats, crumpled bowler hats, Dangling mirrors and rusty tin cans to make their dancing strange? † Mapanje closes the last line by questioning if others did not die trying to please the president. This is to prove how inhuman the president was. In complete closure Mapanje's last stanza is in total refutation of his underlying criticism in the first three stanzas. He addresses the chief as â€Å" His grace† in sarcasm and refers to himself as just a child who is bored by the chief's self-praising, long, meaningless and tedious speeches .Even though he throws such criticism is at the same time praising the chief in the lines that say â€Å"I am only a child surprised how you broadly disparage Me shocked only by the tedium of your continuous palaver. I adore your majesty†. The poet then goes on by reminding the leader that his leadership powers are time bound and will at some point in time come to an end, and this is in total rejection of the term that refers to the president as being immortal the poet has presented this as a simile.He is also making a wake up call to the nation by asking it as to when will it realize it is misled by old age that is being expressed by the president. This has been expressed by the poet in the lines that say; â€Å"But paramountcy is like a rain drop On a vast sea. Why should we wait for the children to Tell us about too thless gums or our showing flies. In conclusion Jack Mapanje as a poet he fulfills his role as an imbongi by using irony, sarcasm, similes, metaphors as poetic tools to camouflage his Kamuzuism challenging ideas which is one of the roles of a praise poet (Imbongi) .Despite highlighting the monstrosity of Kamuzu's leadership, Mapanje at the same time praises the president. Thereby fulfilling his role as an Imbongi. REFERENCES. Chirambo, R. (2001) â€Å"Protesting Politics of ‘Death and Darkness’ in Malawi. † :Journal of Folklore Research 38. 3. Chirambo, R. (2009) â€Å"Subverting Banda’s Dictatorship in Malawi: Orality as Counter-Discourse in Jack: PDF. Chimombo, S. (1987) â€Å"Napolo Poems†. Zomba: Manchichi Publishers. Kerr, D. (1987) â€Å"Theater in Malawi', The Drama Review 31†, Summer. Mafeje, A. (1967) â€Å"The Role of the Bard in a Contemporary African Community† :Journal of African Languages.

Assignment 2.2: Ratio Analysis

Assignment 2. 2: Ratio Analysis Name| | Part 1: Enter the information based on your computations. | 2011| 2010| Benchmark| Favorable (F), Unfavorable (U), or Approximate (A)? 2011/2010| 1. Current ratio | 3. 52| 2. 59| 2. 00| Favorable| 2. Days cash on hand| 27. 64| 18. 10| 15. 00| Favorable| 3. Days in A/R| 69. 32| 76. 59| 45. 00| Favorable| 4. Operating margin | 2. 18%| 3. 03%| 4%| Unfavorable| 5. Return on total assets | 5. 08%| 7. 13%| 4%| Unfavorable| 6. Return on net assets | 14. 54%| 17. 76%| 10%| Unfavorable| 7. Debt to capitalization| 61. 21%| 53. 69%| 50%| Unfavorable| 8.Times interest earned | 2. 47| 3. 36| 4. 00| Unfavorable| 9. Debt service coverage | 1. 28| 1. 30| 2. 00| Approximate| 10. Fixed asset turnover | 3. 28| 2. 88| 3. 00| Favorable| 11. Salary and benefit/NPSR| 84. 08%| 82. 82%| 55%| Unfavorable| 1. Current ratio = Total Current Assets in Balance Sheet / Total Current Liabilities in Balance Sheet 2011| 2010| $54,306/$15,425| $39,715/$15,315| 3. 52| 2. 59 | 2. D ays Cash on Hand = Cash and Cash Equivalents from Balance Sheet / [(Total Expenses – Depreciation – Provision for Bad Debts in Statement of Operations) / 365] 011| 2010| $12,102/[($168,232 – $6,405 – $2,000)/365]| $6,486/[($138,394 – $5,798 – $1,800)/365]| $12,102/[$159,827/365]| $6,486/[$130. 796/365]| $12,102/437. 88| $6,486/358. 34| 27. 64| 18. 10| 3. Days in A/R = Net Patient Accounts Receivable in Balance Sheet / (Net Patient Service Revenue in Statement of Operations / 365) 2011| 2010| $28,509/($150,118/365)| $25,927/$123,565/365)| $28,509/411. 28| $25,927/338. 53| 69. 32| 76. 59| 4. Operating margin = Operating Income from Statement of Operations / Total Revenues in Statement of Operations 2011| 2010| 3,747/$171,979| $4,330/$142,724| .0218 x 100| . 0303 X 100| 2. 18%| 3. 03%| 5. Return on total assets = Net Income in Statement of Operations / Total Assets in Balance Sheet 2011| 2010| $7,860/$154,815| $8,206/$115,101| .0508 x 100| . 07 13 x 100| 5. 08%| 7. 13%| 6. Return on net assets = Net Income in Statement of Operations / Net Assets in the Balance Sheet 2011| 2010| $7,860/$54,068| $8,206/$46,208| .1454 x 100| . 1776 x 100| 14. 54%| 17. 76%| 7. Debt to capitalization = Long-term Debt in Balance Sheet / Long term debt + Net Assets in Balance Sheet 2011| 2010| 85,322/($85,322 + $54,068)| $53,578/($53,578 + $46,208)| $85,322/$139,390| $53,578/$99,786| .6121 x 100| . 5369 x 100| 61. 21%| 53. 69%| 8. Times interest earned = (Net Income + Interest) in Statement of Operations / Interest in Statement of Operations 2011| 2010| ($7,860 + $5,329)/$5,329| ($8,206 + $3,476)/$3,476| $13,189/$5,329| $11,682/$3,476| 2. 47| 3. 36| 9. Debt service coverage = (Net Income + Interest + Depreciation) in Statement of Operations/ Interest + Principal Payments ($10 million assumed for this assignment) 2011| 2010| ($7,860 + $5,329 + $6. 05)/$15,329| ($8,206 + $3,476 + $5,795)/$13,476| $19,594/$15,329| $17,477/$13,476| 1. 28| 1. 30| 10. Fixed asset turnover = Total Revenues in Statement of Operations / Net Property and Equipment 2011| 2010| $171,979/$52,450| $142,724/$49,549| 3. 28| 2. 88| 11. Salary and benefits as a % of net patient revenue = Salaries and Benefits in Statement of Operations / Net Patient Service Revenue in Statement of Operations 2011| 2010| $126,223/$150,118| $102,334/$123,565| .8408 X 100| . 8282 x 100| 84. 08%| 82. 82%| Part 2: Type your memo to senior management below