Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

The text under consideration presents an excerpt from the novel â€Å"Great expectations† by Charles Dickens who is one of the world’s greatest novelists of the 19th century famous for his criticism of the bourgeois society of his time with its evils and contrasts of wealth and poverty, his unique mastery of character drawing and optimistic point of view concerning life and the world around him.The reader highly appreciates Dickens’s spirit of optimism, his love for common people and his strong belief in the final victory of good over evil as well as his humour which is to be found on every page and in characters and incidents of the greatest diversity. However, Dickens possesses a great dramatic instinct which can be proved by the following extract. On a stormy rainy night a young man named Pip is reading a book when a strange visitor interrupts him appearing unexpectedly.Pip lets him in wondering what has brought the man to his flat. While talking to him Pip su ddenly begins to recognize the guest whose strange behavior confuses the young man. The stranger turns out to be Pip’s mysterious benefactor whom he helped escape from pursuit when a child and this fact shocks Pip so much for he considers his present status to be his own achievement. The convict reveals secret after secret and does not conceal his pride of Pip’s being a real gentleman.The extract under consideration presents a piece of 1st person narration which proves to be more objective from the point of view of the novel protagonist with elements of colorful description and vivid portrayal intercepted with a dialog and flashbacks deepening the reader’s penetration into the character thoughts. The prevalent mood of the excerpt is gloomy, nervous and disturbing, full of anxiety and tension maintained by the weather behind the window of the Pip’s room with an air of approaching disaster.With every coming word the author creates the atmosphere of a lonely stormy evening that brings not only disaster but also renders the character’s thoughts, his state of mind and soul, his vague foreboding of radical but inevitable changes that are both captivating ad dramatic. With the tonality of the narration gradually shifting along the scale of intensiveness the text under analysis can be split into four logical parts and the following names can be suggested for each of them.The 1st part titled â€Å"An anticipatory fear† introduces the reader into the story and forms the background against which all the events take place. The 2nd one bears the name â€Å"The stranger in the room† acquainting the reader with the uninvited guest who is the embodiment of mystery and enigma. The 3d part of the excerpt called â€Å"The present meets the past† provides the reader with some new information concerning the protagonist’s early life and reasons his present behavior.The final part which presents the climax of the extract can be named â€Å"The revelation† answering the questions aroused in the previous parts. Let us consider each part of the text separately. The 1st part of the extract serves as introduction into a stormy and dark evening provoking the whole chain of mysterious and striking events happening to the protagonist of the novel Pip reading a book late at night in his small London flat at the top floor of the building.Every detail introduced by the author is called upon enhancing the gloominess of the atmosphere and preparing the reader for the events forthcoming. To intensify the wretchedness of the weather of the weather the writer resorts to the whole palette of stylistic devices – numerous repetitions (â€Å"stormy and wet, stormy and wet†, â€Å"mud, mud, mud†) to form the background against the events take place and gradually draw the reader into the story who comes across another SD – polysyndeton (and†¦ and†¦ and) that is another type o f repetition which intensifies the increasing strain and growing nervousness.Apart from that Dickens metaphorically compares the clouds with a heavy veil which being vast, heavy and all-embracing covers the whole city reinforcing the image of inevitable disaster by means of hyperbole (an eternity of cloud and wind, the worst day of all) lending an additional expressiveness to the narration. The wind is personified by the author and likened to a terrible monster, primeval beast which deals death and destruction and demolishes everything in its way (violent blasts, rages of the wind, the wind assails and tears the sound) in order to emphasize the implied feeling of the ramatic events coming. The lexical expressive means are strengthen by definite syntactic structures used by Dickens to contribute to a more colorful and probable presentation of the scene. The expressive intensive sentence â€Å"So furious had been the gusts† brings additional vividness and luster to the descript ion is accompanied by a SD of detachment which primary function is to add significance to the part of the sentence manifesting itself in the following phrase: and gloomy accounts had come in from the coast, of shipwreck and death.The time is flowing carrying away the last moments of Pip’s peaceful reading and the final one is burned out by the Saint Paul’s and all the many church-clocks striking. In this paragraph the author’s godsend is the use of SD of onomatopoeia (the sound of the clocks striking – leading, accompanying, following) that perfectly presents the idea of the clock chime as a sign of approaching danger or disaster.The parallel construction of this sentence is backed up by anaphora accentuating the temporary state of affairs (some†¦ some†¦ some). The SD of parallelism is also used by the author in the next phrase â€Å"The sound was curiously flowed by the wind and I was listening and thinking† which is gradually bringing t he reader to the 2nd part of the excerpt â€Å"The stranger in the room† further intensifying the tense atmosphere of the 1st one.Gloomy prophesies turns out to be true – the strange uninvited guest is coming up the stairs to intrude into Pip’s apartment and Pip’s life. Dickens masterfully resorts to the SD of metonymy to maintain the air of mystery and growing suspense – Pip hears a footstep, not a man (I heard a footstep on the stair, the footstep stumbled), talks to a voice that seems to be the echo of his own words (There is nothing the reflected by matter? Nothing the matter†¦) presented by anadiplosis, sees a face – larding the image of the stranger with a special choice of words including epithets rendering not only the character’s thoughts but also enhancing the general sense of anxiety the whole extract is permeated with (nervous folly, awfully connected, dead sister, blown out lights, incomprehensible air, mere instant, the darkness beneath, a shaded lamp etc. ).The author has a firm grip on reader’s interest inserting an indefinite pronoun â€Å"whoever† which precedes the actual description of the night visitor built by the author with the help of antithesis (he was substantially dressed, but roughly), simile (like a voyager by the sea and tha abundant use of various epithets (muscular man, strong on his legs, large brown venous hands, browned, hardened). His hair is metaphorically called iron-grey, and judging by his appearance one might say that this person is used to hard work.The paragraph is practically built on parallel constructions backed up by anaphoric repetition (that†¦ that) to make the description of the stranger more expressive. Pip gets involved in the conversation with his visitor and we cannot but notice that these principle characters are opposed to each other at different levels and in different ways – both in speech and their attitude towards each ot her.All kinds of deviations from standard English – phonetic (arter, fur). Grammatical (you’ve grow’d up, I have never forgot it, you was a saying, wot) and lexical (nigh, alonger) are typical for Pip’s guest speech as contrasted to Pip’s highly educated phraseology that forms the huge gap between these two people that at first sight seems to be insuperable.Besides with the dialog intercepted the reader should pay the closest attention to the politeness the visitor addresses with to Pip (by your live, Master) and Pip’s inhospitable answers and nervous reactions finding their expression in such words as â€Å"resent the recognition of brightness, unwilling, ask as civilly as he can† revealing his inner shapeless fears and temporary mental state.One must feel the constant intention of the stranger to reach to Pip, to express joy caused by the sight of him (bright and gratified recognition that shone in his face), holds out both his hand s to Pip – the phrase which runs like a refrain through the whole text merging its parts to a single whole and totally enjoys the view of Pip’s flat â€Å"looking about him as if he had some part in the things he admired†.Ascribing some positive intentions to the strange visitor on the one hand the author intensifies Pip’s negative attitude towards him on the other, laying an emphasis on the fact that Pip suspects the stranger to be mad, recoils from him talking to the interlocutor even in somewhat humiliating way (Why do you, a strange coming into my rooms at this time of the night, ask that question? ) when the first hint at disappointment of the night visitor gradually realizing him being an uninvited guest appears expressed by the epithets (his coarse broken voice) and his moment hesitation presented by epiphoric repetition (I’ll speak in half a minute.Give me half a minute, please) although his strong believe in Pip and his admiration remain u nshakable. The atmosphere of growing suspense and tension maintained in the previous part bursts into a well-considered moment of recognition causing a tsunami of thoughts and feelings that threatens to devour the principle character. Pip’s night guest turns out to be the convict he helped escape from pursuit long time ago – and now this man so suddenly and unscrupulously interferes with Pip’s life.In order the reader forms a clear view of the situation, the author gives a flashback into the past events proceeding the present ones with a perfect use of causative-consecutive ties and connections. It is necessary to point out that repetition takes various forms in this paragraph. By means of anaphoric reiteration (For I knew him, but I new him, I knew him now! ) the writer sets an unmistakable rhyme reinforcing with every beat of Pip’s heart his feeling of realization and anxiety that is immediately communicated to the reader.No need to take a file, no need to take the handkerchief, no need to hug himself – there is something sinister about the fact that the phrase â€Å"no need to† is repeated so many times that the reader may find disturbing. As always when a repetition takes place, it results in a parallel arrangement of constructions (had driven away, had scattered, had swept us to the churchyard) which is meant to accentuate certain significant details of the past horrible for Pip.The constant use of the verb â€Å"to know† which is definitely a key word of the paragraph deserves special attention, as it is employed so as to emphasize the very fact of recognition. Moreover, the author resorts to a special choice of words aimed at lending an additional expressiveness to the moment described to produce the greatest possible effect achieved by the smallest possible means: to detect, to recall, feature, recognition, identity, suspect, consciousness, distinctly etc.The dramatic opposition of the characters previou sly introduced by Dickens finds its further development in the course of narration when being under the influence of moment hesitation Pip finally gives his hands to the convict – reluctantly – who grasps them heartily, and kisses them, and holds them which forms a kind of antithesis in the attitude of the personages towards each other. While the convict interprets Pip’s unconscious resignation as a good sign even going to embrace him, the protagonist overcomes his shock and astonishment to keep the distance (I aid a hand upon his breast and put him away) raising his voice in a fit of anger and in his desperate desire to be as far from this man as possible. The author favors reiterations in great abundance expressing one and the same idea from different angles to reveal Pip’s hesitation, lack of self-confidence with the help of root repetition (grateful, gratitude, to thank, to be thanked), anaphora (I am glad, I am glad) and chiasmus (I deserve to be tha nked, you have come to thank me).As the author puts it Pip loses his self-possession not knowing what to do and the SD of aposiopesis (But surely you must understand – I†¦) is an excellent proof of it. The last phrase of the sentence bringing up the paragraph may be regarded as a logical summing up of what was previously said presenting the reader with a magnificent metaphor â€Å"the words died away on my tongue† proving to be an apotheosis of Pip’s temporary state of numbness and shock.While analyzing the text we must take into account the fact that both characters are presented in evolution – but each of them in his own unique way. At the beginning of the excerpt Pip is self-confident, self-reliant, a bit arrogant considering himself to be a master of the situation although this state does not last long. Pip tries to keep at the same level of formality but he is confused, nervous, anxious. Pip recognizes him but he’s unwilling to renew the chance intercourse with him (But our ways are different ways).In the course of narration he suffers lack of words and numbness while concerning the convict Dickens makes a well-thought-out swift in the mood of the personage shifting from friendly tone to somewhat ironic and self-assured one. The convict also repeats himself but deliberately as it produces quite a different, even opposite impression on the reader – his speech is now imbued with bitter disappointment and irony seems to be a perfect tool for its expression.Apart from this he tries to sound poetic (many a thousand mile of stormy water, since you and me was out on them lone shivering marshes) and all the dialect and uneducated features of his speech prominent not only in phonetics, but also in vocabulary and syntax cannot prevent the reader from perception of his romantic nature. In the stream of consciousness Pip turns off to his past again remembering some significant details about his acquaintance with the conv ict.Dickens resorts to anaphora (I was a poor boy, and to a poor boy they) to lay a special stress on the fact mentioned intensifying it with oxymoron (they were a little fortune) to lend probability and additional expressiveness to the description of Pip’s joyless childhood full of hardship and privation. The fact that the convict gave some money to Pip finds its reflection in the present when Pip is trying to repay to him to split all the bonds between them and get rid of the feeling of obligation. The protagonist’s actions insult the convict who does not care of money, burning them down.It is necessary to point out that Pip’s actions are connected polysyndetically to indicate Pip’s hurriedness and nervousness whereas the convict’s actions are joined asyndetically displaying perfectly his self-reliance. The contradictions of the convict’s manifest themselves in the recurring SD of chiasmus (with a smile that was like a frown, and with a fr own that was like a smile) employed by the author confuse Pip even more when the night guest puts a question truing to sound greatly and deeply ironically – May I make so bold as ask you how you have done well? laying a special stress on â€Å"how† which is italicized. The question influences Pip in a strange and frightening way and the author reinforces his hidden fears using the emphatic it-structure in the following sentence – It was only now I began to tremble – in order to mark the moment when Pip’s numbness is ready to set him free giving way to much wilder feelings and emotions. To impart to the paragraph its own stylistic value Dickens resorts to the SD of metonymy (lips had parted and shaped some words that were without sound) to deepen Pip’s hesitation and feeling of uncertainty.The question is piled on the question while the convict deliberately disparages himself (a mere warmint) to let Pip feel in full measure, keenly, acutely t he convict’s ironic attitude towards him as a naive boy who thanks his lucky stars having no slightest idea of his real benefactor. Along with the epithet â€Å"wildly† the author make use of a colorful simile – with my heart beating like a heavy hammer of disorder action – and the SD of suspension (as to the first figure now.Five? As to the 1st letter of this layer’s name, now. Would it be J? ) to introduce the reader into the final part of the extract under consideration containing the denouement of the whole text. The final part of the text presents the climax of the excerpt with Pip’s state of shock being underlined in a number of ways and exaggerated. The author’s chief weapon is hyperbole. The abundant use of hyperbolic plural orms (disappointments, dangers, disgraces, consequences) blended with metaphoric (all the truth of my position came flashing on me, rushed in in such multitude) and some other hyperbolic expressions (I was borne down, had to struggle for every breath, could not have spoken one word though it had been to save my life, suffocating) give the reader a vivid sense of revelation befallen Pip who is about to faint which is proved metaphorically by the author (the room began to surge and turn) as well as metonymically (bringing the face that I now well remembered).The final part is based on the SD of suspense which makes the idea of revelation more prominent and surely holds the reader’s attention till the very last word. The use of emphatic it-construction (It’s me wot has done it! ) deepens the reader’s understanding of it. The last paragraph is practically built up on parallel constructions backed up by anaphoric repetitions (as ever I earned a guinea, that guinea should go to you, as ever spec’lated and got rich, you should get rich) and the SD of antithesis (I lived rough, that you should live smooth, I worked hard that you should be above work).Rhetorical qu estions that do not need any answers but stimulate some meditations upon the real state of affairs strengthen the crash of all Pip’s great expectations. Disparaging himself deliberately the convict desires to sacrifice a lot for Pip’s sake that emphasizes his magnanimity and Pip’s pettiness. The young man’s happiness is the only compensation he needs and exclaiming – I could make a gentleman – and, Pip, you are him! – he sounds proud and satisfied with what he has done.In his novel Dickens touches upon some burning issues of his time in a life story of a young man whose being poor and lonely gets a chance to change all his life with the help of money and the power they give abandoning his friends and family, almost betraying the only people who ever loved him. With an ironic and satiric touch the author uncrowns all the great expectations of the young man who is subject to go through disappointments of his adult life much harder to ov ercome than childhood ones. For me the great value of the extract consists in my desire to read the whole story appeared while analyzing this text.To tell you the truth I’ve experienced some controversially feelings reading this passage trying to understand it completely and utterly. As they say good deeds are those you are not telling of so no matter how proud you are of your success and your achievements concerning some other person’s destiny you should not come to him to point out the connection between your actions and his fortune in order to avoid the annoying feeling of obligation, especially in case you do not know this person well enough to make him feel obliged.From my personal experience I cannot but say that friends and family will realize themselves whether they should thank you or not, as regards some other people you’ve ever secretly helped – sometimes it’s even a pleasure to watch them coping with their lives knowing that you’ ve taken part in their success but keeping it to yourself to enjoy privately. Good deeds will be rewarded in any case – no need to force people thanking you or this gratitude will bring no good.

History and Memory: The Fiftieth Gate Essay

History and memory are both needed to uncover human experiences. We are already aware, from ourselves, that memory can be defined as recalling or recognising ones past and previous experiences and events; however memory is dependent on one’s involvement and personal perception of their past. History is the meaning of documented records of past events, usually written as a chronological account. Both history and memory share a deep relation to the truth, however, also give separate meanings. History relies on memory as it cannot be created without one’s records of facts on past events. At the same time, memory can be influenced by history as one cannot keep recollections of their past life without having experienced it. Humans can come to a state of realisation through the fact that memory can be something that is possible to be flaw. An individual’s current emotions, opinions or understanding on their past experienced event can influence them to change their memory of that event, thus re-writing the history of their personal lives. This same fault can also coincide with the flaws that occur in the documentary evidence of history, which influences memory. Doctor Mark Raphael Baker’s narrative text, ‘The Fiftieth Gate’, reveals the nature of history and memory through his attempts to record his parents’ stories and experiences, as Holocaust survivors, in order to allow a better understanding of his identity and experience in human history. His particular profession as an historian, lecturing in modern Jewish history at the University of Melbourne, was responsible for his desire to explore the past of his parents, Yossl and Genia. It is also through this profession that allows us to see the connection between history and memory, as well as the tension and conflict that may arise as a consequence of this connection. Baker’s study, of history and memory, in hope to enter his parent’s recollections becomes a confrontation with the terror of his parents’ childhood. ‘The Fiftieth Gate’ uses a range of textual forms that allows us to gain an understanding between the rich connection of history and memory, in which Baker takes to provoke his parents’ experiences, both past and present; providing us with an insight of its complex link. Yossl’s and Genia’s stories are told in both their own words and evidently proven through the use of documented records, that Baker finds, in the Yad Vashem archives in Jerusalem. Yossl Bekiermaszyn, born in 1927 before, recalls his childhood town of Wierzbnik as having green fields, forests, snow, rivers – a normal life in a normal town. Baker believes that Yossl has a very accurate memory of his past; this is evident from Yossl’s clothing business as he has an outstanding ability to recite everything about his clothing; whether it is its fabric, size, weight, structure, price, colour, etc. Yossl’s explains that during his childhood before the Second World War, his family owned a shop in the local area and were financially stable. His parents would help out friends and family when they were in desperate needs during The Great Depression. Yossl’s family members died between 1940 and 1945. His father, Leibush, and mother, Hinda, both died in death camps.

Christian Worldview Reflection Essay

In the book, Be thou my vision: Pursuing God’s perspective in a pluralistic world it states , â€Å"provides life events and experiences that deposit eternal truths in our minds and lives, and make room for intimacy with Christ†. When I read this phrase it picked up my attention right away because I am a true believer that God always help us and never is going to leave us alone but, at the same time, I believe it is our job to be smart and choose the best choice. When I was 18 years old, God opened a door so I came to United States to play Soccer and to get a scholarship. Before that opportunity, I was not very close from Christ and never went to church and read the bible very often. Being here, I meet great people, the family that I stay with help me to get closer to God and I started going every Sunday to church and reading the bible more often. Since that moment, God is more present in my life and working through my life showing me His intimate love. With Christ being in my heart, my life has grown stronger and I try to follow His way the best that I can. The NIV of Proverbs 3:5-6 states, â€Å"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; acknowledge Him and He will make you path straight.† I believe that choosing that opportunity changed my life. I’m glad to be here and I am very grateful to God for giving me so good opportunities in my life. Now, it just depends on me to be successful in what I want and follow his word to be better follower of Christ

Short answers_THE RISE OF NAZISM IN WEIMAR GERMANY (1919-1934) Assignment

Short answers_THE RISE OF NAZISM IN WEIMAR GERMANY (1919-1934) - Assignment Example ect the country to economic recovery, and assert German nationalism, solutions that the country greatly needed (Fritzsche, 1998).   Hitler’s diplomatic successes in foreign nations also added to the appeal of the Nazi movement to the German people. The German National Socialist party was based on the ideology that the German people were superior to other people (Hitler, 1925). In this respect, the movement emphasized German nationalism. As noted by Adolf Hitler in his Mein Kampf, the movement was founded on the premise that the Aryan master race was superior to all other races and that other races were in conflict especially with the master race. More especially, the Nazi movement believed that Jews were a mixed race which had infiltrated many societies was behind the repression and exploitation of the master race. Apart from its racial and anti-Semitic ideals, the Nazi movement was based on the need to expand Germany to provide more living space and resources to the Germans (Hitler, 1925). The Nazi movement felt that Germany was overpopulated and the territory occupied by the Germans was not enough for the people’s wellbeing, especially following the First World War. In this respect, Hitler noted that Germany’s relationship with Russia would be friendly if the latter if only Russia agreed to the re-establishment of the borders created by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Nazis believed that communism and capitalism were both dangerous to the nation (Hitler, 1925). Communism according to the Nazis would dissolve private property and would aggravate class conflict among other reasons. On the other hand they believed that capitalism destroys nations because of Jewish influences, international finance, and dominance by big corporations. Totalitarianism was yet another ideal of the Nazi m ovement as it believed that individual needs were less important compared to those of the community. Hitler, the main brain behind the Nazi movement stated that order and national

Write an annotation entry consisting of a Citation, a brief Summary, Annotated Bibliography

Write an annotation entry consisting of a Citation, a brief Summary, and a short paragraph Evaluation of the text below - Annotated Bibliography Example Research by Kolbert in four continents shows that human activities threaten all species that inhabit the planet. According to Kolbert, large numbers of plants and animals are dying. Kolbert says in that â€Å"Up to 50 percent of all living species are in danger of disappearing by the end of the century.† The information in the video is vital because the balance of the ecosystem is declining rapidly. The different species that inhabit the earth are the reason for the existence of sustainable environment for all of us. Activities such as â€Å"†¦fossil fuel consumption, ocean acidification, pollution, deforestation, forced migration†¦Ã¢â‚¬  among others, kill plant and animals (Kolbert n.p.). As a result, a harsh environment that cannot support life develops. The information in the video is sensitive to a balanced environmental existence that every individual desire. To sum up, the creation of sustainable communities through green action plans is an imperative key for human survival. The sustainability is achievable through reducing overreliance on fossil fuel, minimizing the levels of carbonates and sulphates in oceans, and encouraging afforestation. Land reclamation in areas where pollution due to human activities is also an important gesture of commitment to restore a safer environment for all species. As such, all green movement societies should raise their eyebrows and condemn human activities that disrupt the balance of the

WAS BARRY GOLDWATER MISREPRESENTED BY THE MEDIA Research Paper

WAS BARRY GOLDWATER MISREPRESENTED BY THE MEDIA - Research Paper Example Media uses this phenomenon and controls us in many ways, as to how we remember events and people, thus effectively shaping our opinions. The power of media to shape opinions has always been lucrative to politicians. Consequently what the media shows us may not be the reality as portrayals and images sometimes lie in the category of paid-content, which is of course unreliable. Great leaders and politicians have always been a target for the media’s strident and harsh remarks. Barry Goldwater, â€Å"a five-term U.S. senator from Arizona and a champion of conservatism whose 1964 presidential candidacy who launched a revolution within the Republican Party† (Barnes, â€Å"Barry Goldwater†), is one victim herein. During that era he was also known as Mr. Conservative for his articulate, blunt and charismatic approach in political dealings. Politicians and leaders all over the globe still admire him for his values and have set him as a benchmark for themselves. This resea rch paper aims to briefly show how and why the media misinterpreted Barry Goldwater. Liberals during the 60’s had left no stone unturned to term Barry Goldwater as a racist and to tarnish his image in public but Goldwater stood as a man of principle and courage. He fought back to each and every allegation that was pointed towards him. It might be not be an overstatement to suggest that he had more enemies than friends but despite this fact, his political career had always been applauded. And even at this present day, it remains as interesting as it was back in the 60’s. To begin with, the first thing that needs discussion is his presidential elections in 1964 in which he had to face a crushing defeat by 16 million votes from Lyndon B. Johnson. Many factors contributed towards this but the most important of all was the misrepresentation of Barry Goldwater’s persona by the liberals. Moreover, the assassination of John F. Kennedy also contributed to his defeat, as it was discovered that he has been shot dead by someone with a Goldwater sticker on his forehead. So heartbroken was Goldwater at that time that he gave out a blunt statement, which further added to his criticism, i.e. â€Å"This is a great country, where anybody can grow up to be president...except me† (â€Å"Barry Goldwater†). Liberals were the actual culprits who misinterpreted him through media but in actuality, he was a staunch conservative with strong and practical thoughts, which if implemented, could have out casted the liberals. In the presidential elections of 1964 he was stereotyped as a nuclear war monger by the media. This was reinforced again and again by airing a television ad where a child was shown picking daisies counting down each petal till it reached one and then an atomic bomb exploding into a mushroom cloud with an announcer announcing in the background that these are the stakes so better vote for Johnson. By using tactics such as these, Goldwate r was highly misrepresented. Initially the liberals termed him as a racist because they said that he was a segregationist who would not allow equality and would not give an equal standing to every individual in the country. It all began when he insisted that he would vote for the approval of 1964 civil rights act if and only if section 2 on equal employment opportunity was removed. From then onwards, started a battle of allegations and misperceptions. People started calling him racist. They were aware

Gendered-Language Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Gendered-Language Journal - Essay Example Sociolinguistics is the study of society and language. Sociolinguistics attempts to analyze the social factors which leading to the diversity of human languages, whereas many linguists concentrate on exploring unity under the diversity of human languages. In a nut shell, sociolinguists focus on the differences in languages and variation within a particular society language. As stated earlier, this paper will focus on the aspects of sociolinguistic variations in terms of gender based conversations. For example, television interviews, conversations in professional meetings, and daily readings. Language is particularly a form of social behavior and societies tend to split into groups displaying behavior differences. People react and behave variedly when giving information or involved in a particular conversation especially where a common gender is involved. This is generally due to the fact that language defines group identity because of its deep social function. People of same gender in a particular social group speak like one another. This strengthens the bonds and at the same time divides people from those in other groups speaking differently. This is a result of dialect. Dialect signals there individuals come from. This may be regional dialect and has significant applications to the social background of individuals. In a conversation within a common group of people or gender, they appear distinguished from other groups in their linguistic structure and features such as grammar, accent, pronunciation, and vocabulary. Most often than not, people of different dialects hav e varied accents, however, speakers of a common dialect may show different accents as well. This has resulted into Standard English; however, people speak differently and uniquely due to their education, life experience, aspiration, and age. This is what is observed in gendered language (Aitchison, 1978). In any particular gender conversation, for

The connection between Networks and the Internet Essay

The connection between Networks and the Internet - Essay Example In a computer network, all data transmitted consist of a node which refers to any computer or digital device using the network links (Krol 49). The finest way to lead in the world of business today is to network systems in organization and businesses. Data networks are essential to all existing modern organizations. They facilitate in faster and easier ways to access any data and resources that are within the organization (Krol 53). There are many types of networks used in the entire world today both commercially and homes. Networks cab categorized according to their scope and scale, historical grounds, favorites for networking industries, their design and implementation matter (Krol 59). WAN - Wide Area Network - This network covers up a larger span for communication between the network devices. It is an interconnection of many LANs through routers, and its example is the network which is covering the entire globe. MAN - Metropolitan Area Network - This type of set-up is not common, but it can be useful in governmental departments and large organizations such as banks. It falls at the middle of LAN and WAN. It covers a larger geographical coverage compared to Local Area Network but smaller than Wide Area Network.   Ã‚  CAN - Campus Area Network – This network interconnects several multiple Local Area Networks but smaller compared to a Metropolitan area network. This type of network generally can be useful relatively in vast universities or buildings and local business offices.    SAN - Storage Area Network - This technology is mostly used for data storage. It’s mostly crucial to those organizations that are data oriented. This network connects servers to the data store devices through fiber channels technology. A network topology illustrates the arrangement of machines and devices on a network. It describes the way the computers and other devices within the network are laid down and linked to each other. Common network

Direct and Internet Marketing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Direct and Internet Marketing - Research Paper Example From appearing first in 1952 in annual report of GE (Annual Report, New York: General Electric Company, 1952) marketing concept has acquired the most important aspect for any organization. An organization that has a market orientation focuses its efforts on. The ever changing situation of the market i.e. of buyers, suppliers, customers, employees or technological could change the equilibrium of any organization. Organizations normally adjust to these changes by changing their overall all-round policies and strategies. The market-led approach has three components: Consumer orientation, Competitor orientation and Inter-functional co-ordination (See Appendix). The result is today's "Customers era", in which firms seek continuously to satisfy the high expectations of customers. An important outgrowth of this focus on the customer is the recent attention placed on customers relationship management (CRM), the process of identifying prospective buyers, understanding them intimately and developing favorable long term perceptions of the organization and its offering so that buyers will choose them in the market place (Srivastava, Shervani and Fahey, 1999). This process requires the involvement and commitment of managers and employees throughout the organization and a growing application of information, communication and Internet technology. Now reaching perspective buyers either, directly or indirectly is a prerequisite for successful marketing. To reach out to the customers organizations use different channels through which goods and services from the producer/providers flows to buyers either through intermediaries or without them. To communicate with customers, a company can use one or more of five promotional alternatives: advertising, personal selling, public relations, sales promotions and direct marketing. The first three alternatives are often use mass selling because they are used with groups of perspective buyers. In contrast, personal selling uses customized interaction between a seller and a perspective buyer. Personal selling activities include face-to-face, telephone and interactive electronic communications. Direct marketing also uses messages customized for specific customers. Direct marketing uses direct co mmunication with consumers to generate a response in the form of an order, a request for further information, or a visit to a retail outlet (Economic impact: U.S. Direct marketing today, New York: Direct marketing Association, 1998). The communication can take many forms including face to face selling, direct mail, catalogs, telephone, oscillations, direct response advertising (on television and radio and in print), and online (Internet) marketing. It has an advantage of being customized to match the needs to specific target markets. Messages can be developed and adopted quickly to facilitate one to one relationship with customers. Direct marketing have certain disadvantage First direct marketing requires a comprehensive and up to date data base with information about target market. Developing and maintaining the database can be expensive and time consuming.

BLUE STEEL Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

BLUE STEEL - Essay Example As Turner fights for her badge and cases helped by Detective Nick, she is trying to imagine her relationship with a murder. She decides to spend the night with Mann when she watches her best friend killed. Turner hunts for the killer and after a long confrontation and wounds that she manages to kill Hunt. There are many themes and lessons throughout this file as discussed below. Bullet with her the name of Megan is one most revealed theme in the movie. Eugene recreates the supermarket scene, terms the gun as a lucky object, and puts it in use. Hunt engraves Turner’s name on the bullets, which Hunt uses to kill his victims. If Hunt had no reason for this act then his acts are psycho behaviors yet the blue steel glory sequence connected Megan’s body with her gun’s blue steel. Megan is associated with the killings when Eugene assigns her name on the bullets used in the killings (Tasker, 1998). The film’s exchange of sexuality as illustrated Mann describes a m an cut off his penis in a cab by a prostitute and not her wife. This story reveals the construction of women’s role in men’s affairs when the man’s penis was misplaced. In the story where the hooker has a needle ever ready and skills of sewing reveals the womanly trope of intertwining and male wish for tamed whore. Passing back and onwards of someone’s penis shows the suitable and unsuitable use of phallic power. Exchange of guns at the start of the film connected to the back and forth at the end of the film. Both passing of bullets and penis represents the issue of inaccessible economies operating between both male and female and the care both genders ought to have for their phalluses. Hunt pisses off when he sees a woman shooting a man in the supermarket. Hunt finds in Turner a beautiful person who is able to serve a public violence and this is which is a form of over-recognition. This strange recognition shows the reliance of yuppie devil for his indiv iduality. Such psychotic characters as constructed towards gender of feminine heroes are evident in the film. As the film starts, Megan kills a man on her first day in job and a customer who is already troubled before the shooting started pockets the man’s gun. Curtis’ social life starts when Silver plans for a date but she does not suspect why he is up to her. Another scene is created when Curtis and her father leaves home when Silver comes whose characters are intelligent and sets things up such that Curtis is seen as the killer herself (Freud, 1995). Blue steel is a thriller that has a shock and afterwards a surprise. One feels dumb after moving through the scenes of the film. For instance, Megan meets unexpected horrors by Strode and sexually abused in a brutal rape and made a device of sexual bias and rejected by the whole society. Megan is a new cop and helps prevent theft in a store by shooting assailant who were armed. After the killings, since a customer pocke ted the gun of the assailant killed and therefore Megan is in trouble because the department terms him as unarmed person. Her department disowns her for killing innocent man and Hunt starts killing people in the streets with the bullets engraved with Megan’s name. Movies like this that indulge the psychology, provide more reasons on murderer’s behavior of anti-sociality. In addition, before Megan and Eugene had sex, Eugene asks her to take away the gun

Professional Communication at the Workplace Essay Example for Free

Professional Communication at the Workplace Essay Interpersonal communication is essentially the exchange of communication between one person(s) and another. Like any other form of communication, interpersonal communication involves the sender of the message and the recipient of the message. The message can only be passed correctly if both the sender and the recipient pass it correctly and understand each other. I work for a voluntary group at the University. This group aims at reaching out to the less fortunate both in the institution and the society generally. We do not offer financial help as such but instead focus on the abilities of the people we interact with and give them the necessary counsel and advice they need. In this way, we give them ideas on how they can actually help themselves out financially. This organization involves a lot of interaction, both within ourselves as the members of the organization and also between us and the people we interact with. As such there is a lot of interpersonal communication that goes on. The group consists of a total of ten members, and as they say, we are like our fingers; we come in different sizes and lengths, not literally but in terms of age, personalities, gender, culture, spiritual orientation and physical abilities and disabilities. This whole structure of diversity makes communication, particularly interpersonal communication, an issue worth debate. This is because the way we choose to communicate within ourselves and others is bound to affect our service delivery either positively or n egatively. The following part of the paper will critically analyze each of these factors mentioned above that makes us diverse in our communication, interpersonal communication.CITATION Joh12 p 56 l 1033 (Johnson, 2012, p. 56)Age The voluntary group I work for is extremely diversified when it comes to age, with members from the extreme sides of the age spectrum. The oldest member in the group is aged forty seven, while the youngest is seventeen. Most of the members, about seventy percent, are aged between seventeen and twenty five. The main reason behind this is the fact that the organization requires the participation of both the old and young. For instance, the young and vibrant group, which forms the majority of the group, is required to move up and down and interact with the people we look forward to offering our help to. The older group is mostly involved ion critically analyzing our case studies and give direction on the best way forward. It is therefore not easy to hold a conversation between these two groups that are different in terms of age. For instance, young people will always base their ideas on what social media says. They will go with current trends since that are what they are familiar with a nd immediately make a decision. The older group will look at trends on a more historical point of view and analyze historical events in relation to the topic of discussion before coming up with a remedy. The young members, moreover, communicate with a lot of slang because as much as this organization is based on official business, it is also a social and interactive group as well. This way, the message at times is not passed effectively from one person(s) to another. The consequence of this communication gap is that the goals of the organizations are not at all times met and therefore efficiency is not achieved as well.CITATION Ric01 p 76 l 1033 (Pircadi, 2001, p. 76)Perceived Emotions, Relationships and Personality Our personalities define us. We have different personalities just as we are different in other aspects of our lives. The personality of a person is one thing that psychologists have proved beyond reasonable doubt that is very difficult to change. The personalities of a person will most of the time dictate the way in which they communicate. Some people are introverts and as such they tend to keep to themselves. They listen more than they speak. They think more and learn more from their surrounding and the people around them. Others are outspoken and will speak more. They express themselves through speech. The relationship between or among people also influences communication. CITATION Joh12 l 1033 (Johnson, 2012)This I have witnessed in my voluntary work group. People tend to open up to those they are close with and give less details to the people they are not that close to. One’s family tends to know them better because of the blood relationship that exists as compared to outs iders. Finally, people perceive and express their emotions very differently. Jerry, a member of my voluntary group tends to hide his low moments in smiles. It is therefore not easy to tell what he is going through. I, on the other hand will always show it. I have no way to hide and it is communicated through my emotions. The way we react to how we feel will determine the way we communicate. There are those of us like Jerry who will drown our sorrows in smiles and those like me who will communicate it just as it is. It is therefore very clear that we communicate our emotions very differently and this goes way back to our personalities.CITATION Joh02 p 94 l 1033 (Gray, 2002, p. 94)Spiritual Orientation The world is composed of people with very diverse spiritual backgrounds. Spiritual background forms the foundation of the life of a person. More often than not, the behavior of a person is well explained by their religious beliefs. This is also the case with communication most of the time. Spiritual diversity will create diversity in speech and in communication generally. For instance, Moslems do not shake hands as a sign of greeting. Their greetings are always in form of speech. This is unlike other religions where people are allowed to shake hands casually and even hug. People from strong religious backgrounds and those with high faith are also very cautious with their speech. They tend to taste their words before they spit them out, that is, they are sensitive in their speech so as not to hurt others. The voluntary group that I work with, or rather that I work for has all Christians but one Moslem, Rahima Nassir. She, in one way or another, communicates in a different way from the rest. Most of the time, she refers to the Allah, who is the Supreme Being according to her religion. This happens especially in cases where she tries to sound optimistic and give a hopeless situation hope. The voluntary group involves a lot of interaction and therefore we have to be warm as we interact with others. This is at times not very easy to achieve owing to the fact that some religious beliefs have certain strains. Rahima is not the only one that faces such challenges. Even along the Christian front, there are various denominations which uphold different values. These values make the approach to various situations very differently. CITATION Gai10 p 104 l 1033 (Forey, 2010, p. 104)Gender The gender of a person also affects communication, particularly interpersonal communication. The female species has a different way of passing a message from the male species. One thing I love the most about my voluntary group is that we are balanced when it comes to gender. Out of a group of ten, we have five ladies and five gentlemen. This gives a ratio of one to one. However, this gender difference can at timers be a major setback in terms of communication. The Ladies, for instance would like to be addressed in a more soft way even when it comes to simple aspects such as greetings. Important to note is that communication does not involve only speech, there is verbal and non-verbal communication, all of which should be considered. Throughout the time that I spend with members of my organization, I have observed that men and women have very different modes and methods of communication. Most of the time, male members are very radical in their speech as well as their illustrations. La dies have a different approach. They, more often than not, are very soft both in their speech and illustrations. It is for this reason that they (ladies) are extremely cautious in their speech. I also noted that the men speak fewer words as compared to the ladies. Ladies speak more, except in a few instances.CITATION Mar09 p 85 l 1033 (Gufey, 2009, p. 85)Person with Disability They say disability is not inability. However, this part of the paper will view disability as a hindrance to communication to an extent. People with disabilities, physical disabilities for that matter, face a lot of challenges when it comes to passing a message effectively. This bottleneck is faced by not only the sender of the message but the recipient as well. The voluntary group that I work for or rather the members of the group that I work with experiences such challenges. In the group, there are two people with physical disabilities. Jerry is a deaf while Geoffrey is visually impaired. Of the two, I think Geoffrey has the most difficult time when it comes to communication. For one reason or the other, Geoffrey happened to be the secretary of the organization at some point in time. He therefore took minutes during meetings and did all the secretarial work. This position, I can say he deserved. Geoffrey is very brilliant besides being very diligent in his work. The main challenge that group faced was the translation of the brail recorded minutes. No one in the group understood brail language apart from Geoffrey himself. He was the only one that could read and understand the minutes. Consequently, he had to step down as secretary after a fortnight of good leadership. Jerry on the other hand, cannot communicate easily and effectively. As a matter of facts, he is most of the time misunderstood and the group experiences a lot of instances with miscommunication. Sign language is not that easy to understand. This impacts negatively on the communication in the organization. Both Jerry and the rest of the members have a hard time in communicating. The importance of both Geoffrey and Jerry in the group can never be underestimated but then at times the challenges effective communication a tall order.CITATION Per08 p 119 l 1033 (Mcintosh, 2008, p. 119)Culture Culture is a very important aspect that should be put into consideration when it comes to effective communication. The culture of a member or members of a group determines how the message is conveyed and it also determines how the message is perceived. Culture affects communication to a very great extent simply because the culture of a person will dictate their style of communication. This means that the more diverse the cultures are, the more diverse their styles of communication. Though to a small extent, there is cultural diversity in our voluntary group. In essence we have people from diverse cultural group. For matters of convenience, I will describe the cultural diversity as high culture and low culture, not that any culture is more superior to another, but for explanatory purposes. For instance, Evelyn, the group’s organizing secretary, is from the high culture. This category mainly focuses their communication on arts and by arts I mean it is more of music, drama et cet era. This category will therefore involve people with a very high esteem since for one to be able to express themselves through arts; they have to be extremely bold, just typical of Evelyn. On the contrary, the low culture category involves large audiences. A good illustration of how culture can affect communication is that in some cultures for instance, it is very vital to maintain eye contact during communication while in others; eye contact can be seen as offensive and unacceptable. Barry, the chairman of our voluntary group and Miley, our secretary are most of the time caught up in such a situation due to their religious differences.CITATION Jos14 p 92 l 1033 (Chesobro, 2014, p. 92)Conclusion and Recommendations With over seven billion people in the world, it is expected that people will differ in relation to various aspects of life. Even people from the same family, people with the same cultures, same religious beliefs and people from the same age group will at one point or the other differ. Communication, on the other is also very important. Each and everything we do revolves around communication. No man is an island. This simply means we have to live harmoniously with each other. For this reason, communication is very important. This paper has not focused on intrapersonal communication but interpersonal communication since this is the way we interact with each other in our work places. Without effective interpersonal communication at our work places, it almost difficult to make any social and economic progress. However, I have learnt from my work experiences at my voluntary group that diversities will always be there, they are there to stay. These are some aspects of life that we should a ccept them just in the way they come. We can never be the same. It is therefore very important to understand and embrace each of our diversities, placing our differences aside. From my own case study it is clear that communication is very important. It is equally clear that challenges must arise due to the diversities in various life aspects. Therefore, from my own experience, I would recommend that we respect the fact that we are not and can never be the same but try as well to burn any bridges that might exist as a result of the differences amongst us. We are one and shall always be one, despite our differences. Let us let communication to make us and not break us. References 1033 Avery, C. (2001). The Flexible Workplace. New York: New York University Press. Chesobro, J. (2014). Professional Communication at the Workplace. New York: New York University Press. Eunson, B. (2009). Communication in the Workplace. New York: Edgeworth Publishers. Forey, G. (2010). Globalization, Communication in the Workplace. Oxford University Press. Gray, J. (2002). Mars and Venus in the Workplace. Oxford University Press. Gufey, M. E. (2009). Essentials of Business Communication. New York: New York University Press. Johnson, J. (2012). Solving Problems in Technical Communication. Oxford University Press. Mcintosh, P. (2008). Interpersonal Communication In The Workplace. New York : New York University Press. Muema, T. (2007). Effects of Poor Communication in the Workplace. Miley and Sons Publishers. Pircadi, R. (2001). Skills of Workplace Communication. New York: New York University Press. Source document

Research Paper Animal Experimentation Essay Example for Free

Research Paper Animal Experimentation Essay I Introduction Thesis Statement: Animal testing is a debatable issue in modern society. Some people argue that animal testing should be kept due to medical benefits and research study conveniences. However, I think animal experimentation should be banned by refuting supporters’ arguments. II Body A. Opposing argument 1 Animal experimentations are conducted for human health. Rebuttal to this argument: Animal testing can cause serious problems regarding to human health. a. The results of animal experimentation are often inconclusive and cannot be accurately applied to human. b. Animal drug testing causes a lot of dangerous side effects. B. Opposing argument 2 Animal experimentation is vital for research purposes. Rebuttal to this argument: Ethnics problems: Are humans too selfish? a. Animal testing can be extremely cruel and inhumane. b. Examples to illustrate the cruelly experiments conducted on animals. c. Animals deserve the equal rights as humans. C. Opposing argument 3 There are no effective alternatives to animal experimentation. Rebuttal to this argument: The facts of efficient non-animal methods and relevant benefits. a. Examples of successful alternative methods. b. Lists of possible technology as alternative methods. c. The benefits of non-animal methods. III Conclusion Animal Testing should be banned due to its cruelness, moral issues and the existence of effective alternative methods. Should Animal Experimentation Be Abandon? Animal Experimentation, also known as animal testing, is the use of animals to conduct experiments or do research in the laboratory. The number of animals used in experiments increased dramatically after World War II. Nowadays, animal experimentation is widely used in many areas such as medical research, behavior study, and drug tests. It is estimated that scientists in America utilize more than 15 million animals each year in their research. Also, animal research and testing is used in almost 10% of all biomedical research. (â€Å"Animal experimentation†, 2011, para.4 ) While some people insist animal experimentation is necessary for social progress due to its unique contributions to human health and scientific researches, opponents of animal research argue that it is cruel, immoral, and unnecessary. As a matter of fact, animal experimentation has been a controversy issue for a very long time. At the same time, there are an increasing number of regulations which restrict animal testing to some extent in order to protect animals’ rights. From my perspective, animal experimentation should be abandoned because of its inhuman cruelness, moral issues, and the existence of possible alternatives. The most common arguments supporting animal experimentation can be refuted and shown to be unnecessary harm to animals. There are many arguments to support animal experimentation. Supporters of animal testing assert animal experimentations are beneficial for human health and vital for research purposes. Also, supporters tend to believe that there are no effective  alternatives for animal experimentation. One of the most common opinions supporters of animal experimentation hold is that a lot of animal experimentations are conducted for human health. They assert animal testing is critical for drug development, the safety of cosmetic products, and treatment for diseases. For instance, Carl Cohen (2005), a professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, argues that vaccines for diseases such as polio and malaria could not have been developed without animal testing (para.1). There is no denying that humans did benefit a lot from animal experimentations. People practice on dogs first to learn how to perform surgery successfully, test the toxicity of ingredients of shampoo on mice to ensure the safety of cosmetic products, and study the infected chimpanzees to study the virus effects. These actions seem to be reasonable. However, there are also plenty of problems of animal experimentation associated with human health are ignored by supporters. The results of animal testing are often inconclusive and cannot be accurately applied to human. â€Å"Many of the drugs approved through animal experimentation have proven dangerous to humans† (Thomas, 2008, para.3). The inner structure of human body is quite different from animals’. In fact, animal experimentation results cannot predict many common life threatening side effects of new products like drugs and cosmetics. Animal testing could be the reason that many so called â€Å"safety products† drugs which work perfectly on animals would cause so many dangerous side effects on human body. More seriously, it is possible for humans to suffer from allergic reactions, some blood disorders, skin lesions and many central nervous system effects that cannot be demonstrated by animal models (Singer, 2006). Most medications are derived from one big contradiction: Our government demands that we test all medications on animals prior to continuing to human trials, and it admits that applying animal data to humans is a leap of faith. However, animal drug testing cannot guarantee all the medications would apply to humans. Still, many human diseases go uncured. Besides human health perspective, supporters argue it is necessary to conduct research through animal experimentation. The history of animal experimentation can be traced back a very early time. The earliest references to animal testing are found in the writings of the Greeks in the 2nd and 4th centuries BCE (History of nonhuman animal research, 1984). The achievements of animal testing research cannot be ignored. For example, the Roman physician Galen dissected pigs and apes to demonstrate that veins carry blood, not air as people previously thought. In the early 1600’s English doctor William Harvey dissected numerous types of animals, including frogs and fish, to show how blood circulates the body. During the 1800s, scientists used animals to examine the role of microorganisms in causing disease (Gilland, 2002).Scientists take advantage of the animals’ biological similarity to humans to gain advanced biology and behavior knowledge. Furthermore, scientists can create controlled environments for animals (regulating their diet, temperature, and other factors) in a way that would be difficult for human research subjects. Evidence shows   the research progress benefits from animal experimentation. It cannot be denied that the animal experimentation plays a crucial role in research. However, as the scale of animal experimentations increasing drastically over years, there are more animal-rights movements and more ethics questions have come to the top. Opponents of animal experimentation consider it is unethical due to reasons such as it is cruel and inhuman, and it violates animals’ rights. Firstly, animal testing is always merciless. The condition of where animals are kept within laboratory could be poor, and animals are often exposed to harmful chemicals to see the results. In 1997, people for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filmed staff inside Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) in the UK. The staff was hitting puppies, shouting at them, and taking blood samples from the dogs. (â€Å"It’s A Dog’s Life,†2005). Another example is the primate experiments conducted at the University of Cambridge in 2002. The monkeys in laboratory had undergone surgery to induce a stroke, and were left alone after the procedure for 15 hours overnight. They were only given food and water for two hours a day so that researchers can better observe their reactions in different situations (Sandra, 2005). The extremely pain and suffering caused by animal testing has become a serious ethics issue. The second debatable ethics issue is regarding to animals’ rights. People have started to ask whether animals deserve the same rights as humans. According to human’s basic rights, a person may not be killed, cruelly treated, intimidated, or imprisoned for no good reason. Put another way, people should be able to live in their own needs and preferences. What about animals? Do they deserve the basic respects like humans? There is no doubt that animals experience life as humans do. Animals can feel pain and fear, and they would be desperate in difficult situations. It is true that animals do not have the same abilities as humans. They cannot speak, write or invent things, but neither can some humans. Can we deprive the rights of those humans who lack these abilities? Do we say disabled humans have no inherent value and rights? Certainly not, because their lives still has value to them. As philosopher Tom Regan (1985) has said in his argument for animal rights: we are each of us the experiencing subject of a life, a conscious creature having an individual welfare that has importance to us whatever our usefulness to others†¦ animals too must be viewed as the experiencing subjects of a life, with inherent value of their own(p.13). It is not justifiable to harm animals’ lives for the benefits of humans. Humans tend to regard themselves as the most important and valuable species on earth. However, this opinion is too self-centered and unmoral. Millions of species are all living on this planet, and they all deserve the dignity to live. Even though there is no doubt that better research progress would be gained from animal testing, we human cannot take the benefits from the misfortune of other species. We are part of this planet, and we have the obligation to protect ecological balance, not to harm it. Supporters of animal experimentation are also aware of the defects and ethical problems of animal experimentation, but they assert there are no effective alternatives to animal testing. As a matter of fact, with the development of technology, there are many more possibilities to conduct experimentations without animals. Thanks to modern technology, more and more non-animal research is being used now all over the world. For example, Pharmagene Laboratories is the first company to use only human tissues and sophisticated computer technology for the purpose of drug development and testing. People in Pharmagene use sophisticated scanning devices to analyze inner structure of human. With tools from biochemistry, analytical pharmacology, and molecular biology, Pharmagene is able to study human genes and drug effects on the proteins they make. They have made great achievements in the field of non-animal experimentation. Besides, the scientists in Pharmagene believe that the study process would be much more efficient with human tissues instead of animals’. They also state there would be lower risk associated with non-animal experimentation. (Coghlan,1996). As I pointed out before, animal testing can be inconclusive and inaccurate. Also, it is usually expensive to do experiments on animals. On the contrary, non-animal methods often take less time and cost less to conduct. Effective, affordable, and humane research methods include sophisticated in vitro, genomic, and computer-modeling techniques as well as studies of human populations, volunteers, and patients. Why do we have to conduct the cruel, immoral animal testing which cost us money and effort? People c an use these effective alternatives instead. Today, animal experimentations are still used widespread in areas of biology, behavior study, medical research, and drug testing. Although supporters of animal experimentations argue that animal testing is beneficial for human health, critical for research purposes, there are strong evidence showing that animal experimentation might not be necessary. Animal experimentation can cause a lot of dangerous side effects in drug testing. Moreover, People’s diseases cannot be accurately treated through animal experimentation. Also, there are serious moral issues associated with animal testing, and we should not take the benefits from the misfortune of other species. People need to be aware of the disadvantages of animal testing and seek for better alternatives. Non-animal methods often take less time and cost less to conduct. With the development of technology, there would be more and more effective alternatives to animal testing. Due to the various disadvantages of animal experimenta tion, we ought to abandon animal testing and focus on better solutions. I believe humans can benefit more from non-animal experimentations References Animal Experimentation.(2011). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Balls, M. Statement on the Application of the Epidermâ„ ¢ Human Skin Model for Skin Corrosivity Testing. New York, NY: Metropolitan. Cohen, C. (2001). The Animal Rights Debate. Lanham, MD: Rowman. Coghlan, A, (1996). Pioneers Cut Out Animal Testing. New Scientist, 9, 31-33. Deborah, L. (2009). Novel Multicellular Organotypic Models of Normal and Malignant Breast: Tools for Dissecting the Role of Microenvironmen in Breast Cancer Progression. Breast Cancer Research, 11, p.3. Festing, S. (2008). Animal Research—a Defense. Retrieved from http://www. Newstatesman.con/life-and-society/2008/03/animal-rights-debate. Gilland, T. (2002). Animal Experimentation: Good or Bad? London: Hodder. It’s a Dog’s Life. (2005). Small World Productions, pp. 54, 56. Laboratory Primate Advocacy Group. (1984). History of nonhuman animal Research. Boston, MA: Bedford. Regan, T. (1985). The Case for animal rights. New York: Basil Blackwell. Sandra, L.(2005). Lab monkeys in tests. The Grardian. p. R3. Singer, P. (2006). In Defense of Animals: The Second Wave. Malden, MA: Blackwell. Thomas, P.(2008). Animal Testing—Dangerous to Human Health. Retrieved From http://www.newstatesman/life-and-society/2008/animal-right

Eco-city

Eco-city The concept of eco-city is sometimes regarded as a utopian concept that is not possible to achieve in totality in the real world. Write an essay to present your understanding and evaluation of the concept, using appropriate examples for illustration. The next new wave in city planning is Eco-City in response to global climate changes crisis. It is a relatively new concept, combining together ideas from several disciplines such as urban design, urban planning, transportation, health, housing, energy, economic development, natural habitats, public participation, and social justice (Register 1994). In simple word, Eco-city is settlement where it allows the citizen to live and work using minimum resources. In the past, most of the cities are small and within walk able distance till 1800. But the advent of industrial revolution changed all that, along with the many changes it bought about. The harnessing of steam engine make it possible for people and thing to move fast, that city which once was capable of handling itself could no longer sustain. The cities become crowded and that the living conditions become deplorable. So, the people moved to the suburbs. But along with the growth of suburban town and cities, the roads need to rebuild, housing needs increases along with consumptions of natural resources. Although the Industrial Revolution is extremely beneficial for the human and it had other consequences which are detrimental to the environment in the longer term. In physical terms, the revolution included a dramatic switch from the reliance on organic materials and energy sources to inorganic sources-that is, from wood and thatch for construction to bricks and iron; from human, water, wind, and animal power to fossil fuels(White, R.R.,2001, Sustainable Development in Urban Areas: An Overview). At the same time, Industrial revolution brought about population growth as people live longer. People become wealthier and they required more throughput and created more waste. Economist Herman Daly describes this transformation as increasing throughput of the materials, energy, and water that people now required for their daily needs (Daly and Cobb 1990). This caused accumulation of waste in the water, on the land, and in the air at very alarming rate. The natures of waste stream from human activities become complex and problematical due to chemical industry. Human and animals waste which are once broken down naturally by river became sewers. Everywhere rubbish dumps soon grew into vast nondegradable materials that soon fill many areas becoming a major feature of city in many parts of the world. The challenges from urbanization are becoming nightmare as more people are expected to move into city putting pressure on resources. Ecocity originated in 1975 when Richard register and few friends founded Urban Ecology in Berkeley, California, as Non-profit organisation to make built our cities in balance with nature. According to Register (1994), the purpose of urban ecology was to build in Berkeley a slow street which is to have many trees along road, solar green houses, energy ordinance, establish good and efficient public transport, promoting pedestrainization as alternative to automobile, holding regular conference meeting with different stake holder. But it was until the publications of Registers visionary new book called Eco-city Berkeley in 1987, that the urban ecology gained momentum (Roseland, 2001). And the organisations new journal called The Urban Ecologist. The organisation held First International Eco-City Conference, in Berkeley in 1990 and ever since it held conference every year inviting people from around the world to discuss urban problems and to submit proposal for designing our cities based on ecological principles.[1] In 1992, David Engwicht, an Australian community activist, published Towards an Eco-City, in which he talks about how city planners and engineers have virtually eliminated effective human interaction by buildings more roads, shopping malls, gutting communities and increasing dense traffic. For Engwicht, a city is a place for inventions of maximizing exchanging and having minimized travel distance. The book was later reissued in North America as Reclaiming Our Cities and Towns (1993). Engwicht talks about how city planners and engineers have eliminated effective human exchange by building more roads, taking commerce out of the cities into strip malls, gutting communities, and increasing traffic fatalities. A city is an invention for maximizing exchange and minimizing travel (Engwicht, 1993). He advocates eco-city where there is transaction of all sorts of goods, money, ideas, emotions, genetic material, etc and where people move freely via foot, bicycles, and mass transit and interact freely without fear of traffic and pollutions. But it was until the 1960s, the use of fossil fuels, chemically controlled agriculture, deforestation and depletion of marine resources was thought to be not in dangers. In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission), released a summary report called our Common Future which cause widespread concerns on world deepening environmental degradation(WCED 1987). And this pushed sustainable development on the forefront. Various industries and sector are also going for sustainable development. The issue of sustainable planning is also a concern for planner, urban designer, construction industries, development authority and the population at large. Register, Engwicht and Urban Ecology certainly deserve credit for popularizing the term eco-city in the last decade, but the eco-city concept is strongly influenced by other movements as well(Roseland, 2001). The mission of Urban Ecology is to create ecological cities based on the following 10 principles (Urban Ecology 1996b): 1. Revise land-use priorities to create compact, diverse, green, safe, pleasant, and vital mixed-use communities near transit nodes and other transportation facilities. 2. Revise transportation priorities to favor foot, bicycle, cart, and transit over autos, and to emphasize access by proximity. 3. Restore damaged urban environments, especially creeks, shore lines, ridgelines, and wetlands. 4. Create decent, affordable, safe, convenient, and racially and economically mixed housing. 5. Nurture social justice and create improved opportunities for women, people of color, and the disabled. 6. Support local agriculture, urban greening projects, and community gardening. 7. Promote recycling, innovative appropriate technology, and resource conservation while reducing pollution and hazardous wastes. 8. Work with businesses to support ecologically sound economic activity while discouraging pollution, waste, and the use and production of hazardous materials. 9. Promote voluntary simplicity and discourage excessive consumption of material goods. 10. Increase awareness of the local environment and bioregion through activist and educational projects that increase public awareness of ecological sustainability issues. The practical application of these principles has not been really encouraging for many years until literature that promotes the ideas began to appear. It appears in different terminology as per the oreintations of the authors. The Authors include Designers, Practitioners, Visionaries and Activists, and the terminology includes everything from neotraditional town planning, pedestrian pockets, reurbanization, post-industrial suburbs, sustainable cities, green cities and eco-communities. The Designers category includes architects, planners, consultants, and related professionals whose main focus in on the costs of sprawl and sustainability by design. The activists are most parts, writers, community activists and environmentalists who placed emphasis on community change within the context of society toward a more sustainable way from anti-ecological ways. The practitioners and visionaries are between the above two. The Practitioners represent politicians, local government professionals (staff from development authority, environmental management, etc) whose emphasis is more public sectors decision-makers. The Visionaries category includes agriculturists, economists, architects, planning theorists, and appropriate technologists. Visionaries literature is often directed toward professionals, academics, and other citizens concerned with issues such as energy conservation, appropriate technology, and community economic development. Although, the authors orientation has discernible differences in analysis, emphasis, and strategy between the variations as shown in table-1, the eco-city theme is can encompass any and all of them. Orientation Focus Means Designers Architects, plan- New develop- Reducing sprawl; design to ners, consultants, ments encourage the revival of and related profes- public life (e.g., townscapes, sionals streetscapes, malls and squares) Practitioners Politicians, local Existing settle- Local initiatives to create government profes- ments, munici- local sustainable develop- sionals, citizens and community organizations palities ment action strategies Visionaries Agriculturists, Communities of Reducing resource waste; economists, archi- association and energy efficiency, stressing tects, planning the- of interest, as passive solar heating and orists, and well as of place cooling; encouraging local appropriate tech- food production and reli- nologists ance on local resources; fostering creation of on-site jobs and neighborhood stores to revitalize communities and eliminate wasteful commuting Activists Writers and com- Human-scale, Decentralized, grass roots, munity activists sustainable set- cooperative development who consider them- tlements based selves bioregional- on ecological bal- ists, social ance, commu- ecologists, and vari- nity self-reliance, ous other kinds of and participa- environmentalists tory democracy TABLE 1 Comparisons of the Literature Catagories Citizen organizations and municipal officials in cities and towns around the world have recently started experimenting on this eco-city concept to meet the social and environmental challenges (Roseland 1997, 1998). Chattanooga and the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S., Ottawa, Hamilton-Wentworth, and Greater Toronto in Canada, and Curitiba in Brazil are some of the earliest cities where this concept has been successfully applied. Curitiba, a small Brazilian city, is one of the most sustainable cities in the world. It has received international recognition for its integrated transportation and land-use planning, and for its waste management programs. The citys success is due to strong leadership-city officials who focused on simple, flexible, and affordable solutions that can be done at the local level and adapted to changing conditions. Throughout the project, the government promoted a strong sense of public participation by looking at city problems, talk to the people, discuss the main issues, and only then reach for the pen (Rabinovitch 1996). Jonas Rabinovitch, adviser to Curitiba Mayor Jaime Lerner, believes the lesson to be learned from Curitiba is that creativity can substitute for financial resources (Rabinovitch 1996). Emboldened by the success of the above projects, Designer and local government are planning for massive overhaul of traditional way of city planning. They are looking at a way to plan new cities incorporating the entire above concept. China, one of the world most populous countries in the world, faced massive environmental problem. It has emerged as major industrial power but at a great cost. The environment degradation are so severe that it is a cause for concern in china and could have international repercussions. Since pollution know no boundaries. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides produce by Chinas coal-fired power plants fall as acid rain on Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo. Suspended particulate over Los Angeles city originates in China, according to the Journal of Geophysical Research ( The New York Times.) The Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation (SIIC) hired Arup in 2005, to design a city which would exclusively use sustainable energy (solar panels, wind turbines and bio-fuels), self-sufficient and reduce energy consumption by 66% in comparision to Shanghai. The eco-city of Dongtan, which is be located on the island of Chongming, not far from Shanghai will be one of the world largest eco-city to provide housing for 500,000 people from rural areas. The Dongtan city will cover about 8,800 hectares which is roughly equal to the size of Manhattan Island. Dongtan will have ecological footprint of 2.2 ha per person by means of a combination of behaviour change and energy efficiency which is very close to limit of sustainability of 1.9 ha set forth by World Wide Fund for Nature. China is also partnering with Singapore to build eco-city in Tianjin based on three harmonies principles which are people-people, people-environment and people-economy. The 30-square-kilometer site is a wasted land and water scarcity area which will be built over a period of 15 years at a cost of around 50 billion yuan (S$10 billion). The criteria for selection of site are that it should be wasted land and water scarce area. First, restoring the jiyun river will be top priority for propose new city of 350,000. Renewable energy like solar and wind power, rainwater harvesting, wastewater treatment and desalination of sea water are some of the proposal. United Arab Emirates has planned to build the worlds most sustainable city, called Masdar City, initiatives of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company. It is an ambitious project which will cost $22 billion to build a new, zero-emissions city for 50,000 residents in Abu Dhabi. The project is launched in 2007 and is designed by world renowned British firm Foster + Partners, and received widespread coverage in the mainstream press. The propose new city will have new university, the Headquarters for Abu Dhabis Future Energy Company, special economic zones and an Innovation Center. According to the designer, Masdar eco-city is to be constructed in an energy efficient two-stage phase that depend on large photovoltaic power plant to meet energy needs, which later becomes the site for the citys second phas.. The city is a car free, with a maximum walking distance of 200m to the nearest transport link and amenities. The streets are compact to encourage walking and are complemented by a personalised rapid transport system. Due to it compactness, the walkway and streets are shaded creating a pedestrian-friendly environment. The city will have wind, photovoltaic farms, research fields and plantations, so that it is entirely self-sustaining. Masdar City will be built in seven phases, the first of which is the Masdar Institute, which is set to be completed in 2010. The citys phases will be progressively built over the next decade with the first phase reaching completion in 2013(Foster and Partner). The idea of a city without any waste, landfill, car, self contained or without any carbon emission seem very desirable for a city but for some sceptic it a utopian dream which will never materialise. Sceptics are questioning whether totally designing a new city is possible incorporating all the eco-city concepts due to time and cost involved. They are concern that it might just be a strategy used to shield from environmental criticism while countries like China and UAE continue to grow along the same unsustainable path. Countries like China and UAE are in a position to fund such kind of projects and if it is successful it will create a precedent for other parts of the world as well. Unfortunately, Dongtan eco-city never materialise. Although, Chinese President Hu Juntao and shanghai major has shown keen interest in the project, the first phase of construction which is to be ready for Shanghai expo 2010 has not even started. The Dongtan eco-city in spite of being a government endeavour has failed to materialise. The mayor of shanghai is caught in corruption charges too. As for Masdar eco-city, work has already started for phase 1 as seen from fig 2 below. However, sceptics are concern that it might be just an isolated green in the desert where the rest of UAE proceed in the same line of big ecological footprint which is even bigger than United State. They are also apprehensive about the embodied energy used in buildings and infrastructure which are very high. The heavy dependent on technology for personal rapid transport and infrastructure is another issues. Since the technology for personal rapid transport is not fully developed and co-ordinating infrastructure with different agencies is difficult.

Argument for the Existence of God :: Religion, Theology

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The following paper will provide a sound argument in favor of the existence of God. By demonstrating that an Atheist world cannot account for the preconditions of the laws of logic an Atheist cannot even account for a rational debate concerning the existence of God.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The impossibility of the contrary†, the best and only proof that the nesesary truth of the existence of God is his revelation of himself to us that makes it possible for us to use logic. This could be translated, using only nessesary truths, into the form of:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  L: (laws of logic)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  G: (God exists)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   if L entails G L   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  ================   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   G Logic is â€Å"the laws of reasoning that God has established.† If God has established these laws of reasoning that we call logic then how could the Atheist system account for the laws of logic. First they are immaterial and universal, and how could anything immaterial and universal be accounted for in a naturalistic (matter only) universe. Second if God has established these laws of reasoning then there would be no atheism. An Atheist wants to believe in laws of logic which are universal in application, but in order to escape the ultimate implications of this idea ( there is a God who imposes universal standards of reason.), the Atheist will try to maintain that the â€Å"laws of logic† are merely â€Å" conventions† of general agreement amongst them. This is philosophically non- acceptable, if logic were simply a matter of convention, it would be impossible

resolving coworkers conflicts :: essays research papers

Dear Sakiko and Edmundo,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After reviewing both of your letters, I can definitely see that you guys do not get along. You both gave me your opinions of each other and I can see that you both have different views of each other. Hopefully, as your Editor in Chief, I can resolve your differences. Even though the two of you may not be on the same page, you really need to try and give each other respect. Although you guys aren’t friends, you are coworkers and you both see each other eight hours a day, five days a week. Once you show some respect, the lines of communication will open and disagreements will be reduced. Don't run away and hide from the problems. Confront it head on. You will never solve anything if you don't speak. Now is not the time to be selfish; don't just think of yourself. As your Editor in Chief, I think we should pick a quiet, neutral location such as the company boardroom to sit down and discuss these problems. I will personally make sure that the both of you have an understanding of what the other is feeling at the end of the meeting. First, we will try to find out what exactly makes you both upset, angry or hurt. I think there may be more to the story than meets the eye. I want to get all of the issues out on the table, that way we can try and solve it. When one of you tells your side of the story, I want the other to listen carefully to what your partner is saying and don't jump to conclusions or try to argue his or her point. I want both of you to speak your mind before you dispute it (in a calm manner). Try to step back for a moment. Put yourself in each other’s shoes. How would you feel if you were in his/her position? When you do this, his/her perspective may not seem so farfetched. Finally, come to a truce.

Life in the Sixties :: essays research papers

Life in the Sixties   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sometimes in life people do strange things, and while others may perceive it as a harmless act, human morals can make it seem otherwise. In the story â€Å"A & P† John Updike reveals what it is like to have been a young man who worked in a grocery store in the nineteen-sixties and what it was like to see three young girls walk in with only two pieces on. The semi- sexist thoughts of how Sammy describes the young girls when they walk in, the three girls walking in to the grocery store in only two pieces was obviously against the moral standards of that day, and sometimes small, seemingly insignificant actions and events can push a person to make a life-changing decisions, are the themes of John Updike’s story.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  How men perceive women is a funny thing, Sammy, the one who is telling the story, gives, what we call sexual, and almost kind of a perverted way of describing the girls. Updike used his descriptions of the girls to bring out that men, even then had impure thoughts of women and the way that we perceive them sometimes, really though, it’s the nineteen-sixties and in walks three beautiful girls in not just bathing suits, but two pieces! Of course a male mind is going to start racing a million miles per second. So begins the sexual descriptions of the girls. So as Sammy is ringing up the lady’s food at the cash register, he can’t help but be distracted, Updike shows us this when Sammy says â€Å"I stood there with a box of HiHo crackers trying to remember if I rang it up or not. I ring it up and the customer starts giving me hell†(p.344). Updike clearly showed that the girls were a distraction to Sammy, and how easy it was for his thoughts to go astray.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The three girls walking into the A & P was not what was wrong, it was the fact that they came in wearing bathing suits. Not just the normal bathing suit, but a bikini! By law, one had to be over eighteen just to get in to a movie if there were going to be women in bikinis in it. Two piece bathing suits were practically unheard of and if someone was caught wearing one, they might have been considered wild and irresponsible. Walking into the grocery store would be were the wild part comes in.

Challenges Faced when Grandparents Raise Grandchildren Essay

There has been a drastic increase in recent years of grandparents raising their grandchildren. Statistics have shown that between 1970 and 2000, the number of grandchildren being raised in a grandparent-headed household has actually doubled from 2.2 million to 4.4 million (Hayslip & Glover, 2009). Research has also shown that more than half of of these children are under the age of six (Brintnall-Peterson, et. al., 2009). New Mexico ranks sixth in the nation for the number of grandchildren living in grandparent-headed households (Goodman & Rao, 2007). A substantial amount of research has been done in the last decade to explore the effects, both negative and positive, that this increasing trend has had on grandparents and their grandchildren. There are many reasons why grandchildren live with their grandparents. Reasons include parent’s incarceration, drug abuse, death or divorce, unemployment, mental illness, abuse or neglect, child abandonment, or even deployment (Goodman & Rao, 2007; Bunch et al., 2007). Goodman and Rao (2007) list three different types of caregiving roles for grandparents: transitional, custodial, and co-parenting. In the transitional role, parents are away temporarily and are expected to return after a brief period of time (after incarceration or deployment, for example). Custodial grandparents assume responsibility when a parent dies or is deemed unable to care for the child. Co-parenting grandparents are residing with the child and a parent due to financial hardship or other reasons. These grandparents share the responsibilities of raising the children with the parents. For the purpose of this paper, information focuses on transitional and custodial grandparents and the effects that this rol e has on their financial, physical, social, and emotional well being. Financial Challenges When a child comes into any home, even in the best of circumstances, there are financial ramifications. This is especially true for grandparents who assume custody of their grandchildren. Even when grandparents feel positively about taking on the custodial role, they report substantial financial hardship and loss of financial freedom (Hayslip & Glover, 2009). In many cases, the dreams and plans for retirement are postponed to meet these financial challenges (Bunch et al., 2007). Additionally, grandparents often draw on savings and retirement funds to make ends meet. One grandmother in Dunne and Kettler’s (2008) study explained that she had spent thousands and thousands of dollars out of her retirement fund to support her granddaughter. Her son made no effort to help financially. There are also legal ramifications that come with assuming custody of a grandchild. Sometimes the grandparent does not have legal custody of the child, making it difficult to get educational, medical, and financial help without first hiring an attorney. Without documented legal custody, frustration increases when enrolling children in school, daycare, or when seeking medical and dental care (Bunch et al., 2007). Physical Challenges Current research has shown that grandparents that raise grandchildren experience lower physical health than their non-custodial peers (Kelch-Oliver, 2011; Brintnall-Peterson et al., 2009) due to higher levels of emotional stress (Lumpkin, 2008). In Bunch, Eastman, and Moore’s (2007) study, the research showed that grandparents can feel overwhelmed with addressing their own physical and emotional needs. This is due, in part, to parenting with pre-existing health challenges. However, the research also found that many grandparents report deteriorating health because it becomes difficult to interrupt their new responsibilities to seek healthcare for themselves. Furthermore, this same study conducted a questionnaire for grandparents that addressed health concerns. Out of 23 custodial grandparents, none of them listed their health as â€Å"very good.† In another study, the researchers found that grandmothers tend to downplay health issues, but that the phy sical stresses of their new responsibilities often resulted in an increase in insomnia, hypertension, alcohol consumption, and smoking (Erbert & Aleman, 2008). Physical health seems to be a recurring theme in the studies involving grandparents that are raising their grandchildren. Most of the research found a negative impact on health when assuming responsibility and custody of grandchildren. This presents other difficulties as well. In Goodman and Rao’s (2007) study, they interviewed many grandparents and grandchildren that expressed fear surrounding the grandparent’s mortality. The grandmothers were worried about what would happen to the grandchildren if their health continued to deteriorate. In another study, the grandchildren expressed extreme concern about losing their grandparent (Erbert & Aleman, 2008). Social Challenges Social ramifications of grandparents raising grandchildren can be very difficult for both the grandparent and the grandchild. While non-custodial peers are in the best position to provide needed support to custodial grandparents, grandparents often feel socially isolated as they raise their grandchildren. Hayslip and Glover (2009) conducted a study specifically examining the social challenges of custodial grandparents. The grandparents in this study described a lack of validation by society that resulted when others around them did not acknowledge their sense of loss or provide empathy and support for their situation. The custodial grandparents often made comparisons of themselves to non-custodial grandparents and expressed a sadness in the loss of a more traditional grandparent role. This feeling seemed to cause some grandparents to further isolate themselves from their peers and to be less likely to seek support for themselves. Interestingly, the study did not stop with the custodial grandparents and their feelings. The researchers also interviewed non-custodial grandparents and their perceptions of their custodial peers. The peers were given sample scenarios and discussed their impressions in a packet, which they then mailed back to the researchers. The findings indicated that the custodial grandparent’s concerns regarding a lack of support and empathy from others may not be completely accurate. Their peers seemed to be more sensitive to their loss than the custodial grandparent had perceived. There was a high level of empathy for most of the circumstances outlined in the study (Hayslip & Glover, 2009). One major factor of social isolation for both grandparents and grandchildren appears to be social stigmas attached to the reasons of the custody circumstances (Goodman & Rao, 2007; Dunne & Kettler, 2008). There is often a high level of shame associated with situations involving substance abuse, incarceration, or child abuse. Changes in custodial arrangements can present social challenges for children as well. When moving in with grandparents, children face the loss of friends, schools, and other family support (Dunne & Kettler, 2008). Social losses can create stress in other areas, leading to behavioral problems and emotional challenges. Emotional Challenges Stigmas and shame related to the reason of assumption of the custodial role can cause substantial emotional and psychological challenges for the grandparent. Hayslip and Glover (2009) state, â€Å"grandparents may also experience loss that comes from a sense of failure resulting from social stigma associated with behaviors of their adult child which resulted in the need to care for a grandchild.† This study also recognizes that custodial grandparents often, but not always, experience a decrease in general life satisfaction. Another study found that depression, stress, and anxiety are significantly higher in grandparents who are raising their grandchildren (Dunne & Kettler, 2008). These findings were particularly notable when dealing with the behavioral challenges of granddaughters and the emotional concerns for grandsons. The emotional well-being of the custodial grandparents is directly related to their ability to cope with the stress of their situation. Since coping refers to an individual’s capability to manage the demands of an environment, coping skills are crucial for the emotional well being in a home with high-stress circumstances (Lumpkin, 2008). Coping with stress can often be more challenging when the grandparent is caregiving in the shadow of losing their own child. This can cause an overwhelming sense of loss and stress as they deal with their own emotional needs in addition to the needs of their grandchild (Bunch et al., 2007). Further stress can occur in the grandparents’ marriage after assuming the role of caregiver to their grandchildren. In a study with 23 grandmothers, every one of them reported a negative impact on the relationship with their partner (Bunch et al., 2007). Reasons included having less privacy, less time, disagreements about child rearing decisions, and drastic changes in leisure time. These grandmothers also reported lower levels of satisfaction with themselves as parents when compared to parents in the general population, further adding to emotional challenges. Behavioral Challenges Many children living with their grandparents exhibit behavioral problems, often due to disrupted family relationships (Brintnall-Peterson et al., 2009). Before coming to live with their grandparents, the grandchildren may have experienced high levels of trauma and family dysfunction, leading to abandonment issues (Kelch-Oliver, 2011). Brintnall-Peterson and colleagues (2009) put together a web-based fact sheet series to help grandparents that are raising grandchildren with these issues. These researchers argue that there are many resources focused on helping grandparents with legal, school, health, and economic issues but there is a drastic shortage of resources for developmental and relationship challenges. They created a fact sheet series entitled â€Å"Through the Eyes of a Child: Grandparents Raising Grandchildren.† This fact sheet offers easy to read, academically useful, and low cost education about behavioral and relational issues for children who are living with a grandparent. The fact sheet focuses on attachment theory to address â€Å"interactions among behavioral, cognitive, emotional, interpersonal, and social-contextual dynamics in relationships rather than focusing on any one of these domains.† These researchers believe that attachment theory is particularly helpful when addressing thes e children because of the parental deprivation, trauma, and loss of development that has already had an effect on the child’s life. This approach also emphasizes the importance of sensitive and responsive caregiving to improve the child’s relationships, especially with the custodial grandparent. Since children that are living with their grandparents are often struggling in school or experiencing anger and depression, it is critical that custodial grandparents seek help in constructive discipline. Clear rules and boundaries can also provide a sense of security for children that are confused and overwhelmed (Erbert & Aleman, 2008). Benefits of Grandparent-Headed Households Although raising grandchildren provides many challenges and concerns for custodial grandparents, many grandparents express joy and optimism while raising their grandchildren. Some reported greater feelings of self-esteem and grandmothers expressed a feeling of relief that they no longer had to worry about their grandchildren’s safety once they were no longer in the care of neglectful or abusive parents (Goodman & Rao, 2007). Grandparents also expressed contentment and purpose in their lives, especially when it came to the protection of their grandchildren (Erbert & Aleman, 2008). One grandmother said that she could not imagine her life without her granddaughter in her home and that if her biological mother showed up, she would fight to protect her and not let her go. Another grandmother voiced her commitment to determine herself whether her daughter was well enough to resume custody or visitation. Grandchildren also experience positive effects when living with their grandparents. One study showed that children living with their grandparent experience less trauma than if they were with a non-relative because of the increased sense of family support (Goodman & Rao, 2007). Perhaps the most compelling argument for the benefits of grandparent-headed households is the findings that grandchildren often begin to achieve their potential in school, sports, music, or art once they feel safe and stable (Dunne & Kettler, 2008). Grandparents expressed a deep sense of pride in their grandchildren, and themselves, during interviews with Dunne and Kettler (2008). Conclusion Present research indicates that are there are many challenges when it comes to grandparents raising their grandchildren. Although there can be financial, physical, social, and emotional repercussions for grandparents and their grandchildren, sometimes it is the best option in an otherwise impossible situation. Research shows that children appear relatively well adjusted and happy living with their grandparents (Kelch-Oliver, 2011). Since it is apparent that the numbers of custodial grandparent households will continue to rise (Goodman & Rao, 2007), ongoing support is critical for grandparents. Social and emotional support is invaluable and grandparents should seek out support groups to help them feel less alone in raising their grandchildren. Education about various parenting approaches is also beneficial. Better access to educational resources would help provide clearer direction when it comes to behavioral and emotional challenges that grandchildren face. If the grandparent feels better equipped, it would drastically improve overall feelings of contentment in both the grandparent and their grandchildren.