Wednesday, July 31, 2019

A&P Analysis Essay

It is extremely helpful to use the numerical scale for quantifying pain severity for a patient in order to best asses a pain’s origin and severity, thus allowing for the most accurate diagnosis and pain treatment. 4. The term â€Å"putting a joint back into place† indicates moving the bone back into the synovial joint (its proper place). The â€Å"pop† sound occurs due to gas bubbles (nitrogen) escaping from the synovial fluid. 5. Both the shoulder joint and the hip joint are ball-and-socket joints, but the hip joint does not have as large a range of motion when compared to the shoulder joint. The shoulder joint is not just a bony socket, but is comprised of several tendons/muscles (as previously mentioned), synovial fluid, tendon sheaths and hyaline cartilage. Issue #3: Eye problems 1. The term for someone who has problems seeing close objects but can see objects far away is â€Å"hyperopia† or farsightedness. 2. Contrarily, â€Å"myopia† or nearsightedness is the condition of being able to see objects up close but not ones far away. 3. David appears to have hyperopia, since he needs to hold a paper at arm’s length to be able to read. Issue #4: Muscle Physiology 1. The cause of the muscle cramping is hyponatremia or low blood sodium, which may have occurred by the young girl drinking a lot of water in the hot sun to try and stay hydrated, but which caused an electrolyte imbalance in her body, thus resulting in muscle cramps. 2. The muscle cramps will go away once she drinks the salt water, which will restore the necessary electrolyte balance in her body. Issue #5: Muscle Physiology Child Case History 1. The hereditary X-linked recessive disease characterized by progressive muscular weakness is called muscular dystrophy, or Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). 2. â€Å"Dystrophy† refers to the degeneration of, in this case, muscles. 3. Muscles in the leg involved in walking â€Å"on the toes† are the illopsoas, gastrocnemius and soleus. As these muscles weaken, the plantar flexors in the foot take over the job of walking. 4. The trunk muscles that weaken in certain cases of lordosis (sway back) and abdominal protuberance are the lower back muscles (erector spinae), hip flexors, abdominal muscles and the hamstrings.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Ducati Case Study Essay

Introduction: Being a motorcycle company that produces high performance, highly successful racing motorcycles, as well as motorcycles for the commercial market, has proven to be a winning strategy for Ducati. This case focuses on Ducati Corse, a subsidiary of Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. that manages racing teams, bike development, promotions, and sponsorship areas of the company. Ducati Corse is a relatively small organization that encourages cross-departmental integration with its internal teams to achieve the best motorcycle design and racing outcomes as possible. Ducati started racing in the new MotoGP Circuit during the 2003 race season. With unexpected positive racing results, Ducati took the data collected from the 2003 racing season and changed too many aspects of the bike in 2004. The 2004 racing season proved to be far worse partially because Ducati failed to test all changes made. Looking forward to the 2005 season, Ducati is debating whether to switch to a modular design for their racing motorcycle that would, over time, lead to grander designs for Ducati. Discovery: Question 1: What is the organization trying to achieve? Ducati is after a competitive advantage, via learnings from previous races, which has produced a new product design process that will allow modularity of their racing motorcycle. With success on-track, Ducati believes they can achieve increased commercial sales through a popularity increase, which comes from the surge of interest following a winning race or season. Ducati engineers collect and use enormous amounts data from previous races and tests along with rider feedback to build a winning combination of bike attributes that are specifically tuned to the nuances of the ride. Question 2: How would you describe their operating environment? The Ducati operating environment is informal and small when compared to competitors. With most departments under one roof, the company has a siloed feel to it. Ducati has hired top graduates, who have an intense passion for motorcycles. Ducati encompasses three main principles: a data-driven approach to problem  solving, a clear priority in solving problems, and frequent face-to-face communication. The importance of face-to-face communication cannot be underestimated and Ducati Corse, being a small operation, can seize the advantage of having a small floor plan, more direct personal relationships, and close geography to push operations that are more efficient. Question 3: Who are their customers and how does this affect their decision? Ducati’s customers are in-market, sport motorcycle enthusiasts looking for a high performance bike. They also have customers, likely race fans, who may one day consider a Ducati for purchase, but may not necessarily be in the market for one now. Customer-wise, Ducati has a primary focus on the Western European and North American markets. If Ducati can win on the track, marketing has additional opportunities for promotion via traditional and non-traditional media. It is crucial that Ducati performs well on-track to give customers additional assurance and confidence when applying purchase rationale that they are buying a high performance machine. Question 4: What at this point is the current dilemma? The current dilemma is whether or not to take a modular approach to their GP5 design for the 2005 race season. In the past two years, they applied an integrated design approach, which had made small design changes very expensive, but resulted in high performance. This pushes Ducati Corse to evaluate the risk of taking a modular approach, which offers ease of manufacturing and the ability to change one aspect of the bike at a time, but could result in a compromise of performance. Development: Question 1: What accounts for Ducati’s success? The perceived performance of the street bikes was positively influenced by successes on the track, which was intimately intertwined with sales. The two played well together because Ducati realized increased off track sales as they continued to win on track. Ducati’s success was a combination of Ducati engineers’ passion for their work, their detailed attention to the design process, and a well-defined, developed method called the â€Å"Ducati Method.† The â€Å"Ducati Method† helped lead to modular design via extensive  use of CAD and simulation technology to optimize the design before physically developing the components followed by intense testing to validate the design. Question 2: How did Ducati use data? Processing, interpreting, and using real-time data is a complex task which the Ducati engineers employed with the help of other departments. They utilized rider feedback from the races, videos of each race, track tests, data on race performance, and functional data acquired by on-bike sensors. Ducati used the data from the track to identify problems that could not be detected in simulation. This type of data is excellent for measuring relative performance, evaluating structural stress loads, drivetrain torque, and system temperatures. However, it can be greatly influenced by the driver and environmental conditions. Data of this volume proved difficult to sift through, and additional staffers were hired to tackle it for the 2004 season. Question 3: What is your assessment of their approach? We feel that Ducati’s approach was ineffective due to the lack of a structured plan with clear priorities. Ducati Corse tried to solve more problems than they were able, which seemed to result in missed opportunities even though each team member was hungry for success. They were overconfident with the positive results of the 2003 season, and that proved faulty for 2004. Ducati did not give themselves enough time to test everything and should have researched why they performed so well in 2003. Their decision to make big changes to GP3 in order to make GP4, despite initial success of GP3, is not comprehensible. The company should have taken an incremental approach to design changes to improve the design. Question 4: What options do they have to improve the performance in both the short and long term given their capabilities? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these options? In the short term, the company can continue to do parallel testing and make incremental changes to the design rather than making big changes. The strength in this is that improvements would be progressive in nature, but the downfall could be that you cannot always  predict or assure riders’ confidence levels and it would not simplify the design process. In the long term, they should continue with the modular design development. They cannot effectively pull off an entirely new modular design in-between seasons. The strength in this is that calculated steps toward better performance will more so guarantee movement in the right direction. Since this would be a new, large-scale design approach, it would require more testing, analysis, and validation before it could be successfully implemented. Question 5: Should they go to a modular approach†¦what should they do? The modular approach is a positive change for Ducati. With it, they have the opportunity to build a greater amount of flexibility in the engineering framework in order to provide higher results on track. This change would allow them to more easily make greater strides in performance with less effort and effect on other systems – all of which could translate to higher off track sales. Deployment: Question 1: What do you want to do? Ducati should strive to accomplish a modular design for the 2005 racing season, while working on evolutionary improvements to the current bikes as a backup plan. Ducati might want to consider re-weighting the importance of data that delivered via the riders during the race season. Perhaps focus their feedback on ergonomic features of the bike, while taking hard data from engine and subsystems to measure the performance of the bike. This will help to fine tune the changes and deliver an increased amount of on-track victories moving forward. Finally, we would need to consider the design options from commercial standpoint and will only support those design changes that can be implemented in commercial bikes. Question 2: What will it take and what approaches, tools and techniques will help? Leaving enough time to analyze the data from the current and previous racing seasons will help Ducati to use the information to the best of their ability. Improvement of this nature will take many calculated improvements. The continued use of concurrent engineering and computer-aided design will help Ducati to stay on top of technological changes in the marketplace. The use of classic engineering tools: team structure, design reviews, effective  accelerated testing, careful planning, utilize Plan Do Check Adjust and lean the problem solving. Also, more component level testing needs to be done before full system level testing is done because the eventual use of the models will be in the commercial motorcycle industry. Thus, the engineering team should collaborate with manufacturing and follow the concurrent engineering model. Question 3: How will this impact decision making, product development, and operating structure? Switching to a modular design will help Ducati in their decision making process by focusing on the advantages and disadvantages of each individual change as opposed to many all at once. The modular design will allow for smaller development teams which can work more independently and possibly even have competing teams develop variants of a given component. The product development process will become more integrated company-wide even though the product itself will be less integrated and more modular. The operating structure of the Ducati environment will effectively remain the same. Debrief: Question 1: What can you take away from this case study? There are a few overall takeaways with this case. First, effective communication done with respect is of utmost importance to effective engineering operation. Second, the need to use tools, systems, along with human feedback, provides a balance of the use of human and mechanically collected data and is most beneficial when analyzing an operation. Finally, a proper root cause analysis of any problem must be done before designing a solution. Question 2: What can you take away from the decision making approach? Ducati benefited from taking a step back and altering their approach, moving from integrated to modular design. It is not easy to be without a robust design, or a product that can function over a broad range of conditions, but Ducati kept their organization flexible enough to be able to do so quickly and have it based on real-time results. Management is making decisions and changing approaches based on learnings from past mistakes and what competitors are  doing, which will only serve to enhance their product offerings in the future. Summary: Ducati was already a successful company before taking the brave step of altering a process that had been in place for years. They had always brought in top talent, with the passion to make the company a force on the track and extremely desirable to consumers off the track. It was time to take the company to the next level and deliver consistent results on track. The engineering approach and internal collaboration led to a modular design and a more flexible approach. This renewed way of design and manufacturing is a sign that Ducati will be successful for years to come not only because they can change, but because they have the leadership and personnel who are willing to take risks and put the company ahead of any personal interests.

Monday, July 29, 2019

John Foulcher for the Fire Q&a Essay

For the fire Q&A The first lines in the poem introduce us to the sounds in the bush. what are these sounds and whom does he think is making the noise? Why is his mistake understandable? What effect is achieved through these sound images? * The opening starts with the word â€Å"Outside† presenting the natural world that appears on the surface to be so beautiful and gentle. â€Å"a chopping sound† disrupts the natural image, â€Å"its singular human thud† represents a human is harming the environment. The effect is that humans are damaging the environment and its not uncommon (the author is not surprised† Explain the effect of the simile â€Å"like clockwork† what effect is created by the repetition of the‘t’ and‘d’ sounds in the sound drops/chipped from a tall dead tree? * It reminds us that this is a place controlled by nature. It is repetitive and continuous the image of the kookaburra and the lizard is vivid. Comment on lines 6-10 discussing the images created, choice of words and what they may suggest, the expressive verbs and the overall meaning of these lines. * The authors powerful language and imagery that we witness the savagery and brutality and feel sympathetic. what does the word oblivious tell us about the birds behaviour? * The bird doesn’t have sympathy for the lizard because it is a part of natures cycle and it was uninvietable. The birds behaviour is instinctive and even though it may seem brutal and savage to us, it is acting only out of instinct and survival. How does the poet indicate his acceptance of the birds apparent brutality. * The poet doesn’t help the lizard, instead he accepts natures cycle and picks up his kindling and leaves. What interpretation can you suggest to explain the meaning of the cold air congealing behind me * Visual image of the air is like a door closing on a world where the poet was an intruder.

Marketing Plan Phase II Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing Plan Phase II - Essay Example Pricing should not be seen in isolation of the other factors that have a bearing and often influence the decision itself. Predominantly price is part of a price-quality equation. The most important consideration in price decisions is its objectives. And objectives are in turn based on the strategy of product positioning. Commonly companies try to achieve any of five objectives through pricing: survival, maximize profit, maximize market share, skim the market or product-quality leadership. (Kotler, 2001, p. 458) "The business of businesses is business!" Friedman (as cited in Pohl, Eva, 1970, p.12). So understandably businesses exist to maximize profits. This then brings up for consideration the price-demand-profit relationship. This in other words is the demand for a product at different prices; which is the product's price sensitivity. "Price sensitivity is a measure of how important lower prices are to the customer" (Day, 1999, p. 114). In general products are less price sensitive if buyers are less aware of substitutes, when a one-on-one comparison between competing products is not possible and when a product is perceived to have quality and exclusivity. Bread is such routine fare. As such it is highly price sensitive. But Panera's customers don't see the company's products as just any bread. There is a definite value perception.

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Building the Franchise of IHoP Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Building the Franchise of IHoP - Assignment Example Following a step by step process can then be used to ensure that the culture is one which is conducive to the needs of the franchise. The first steps implemented with the project are to ensure that the requirements with IHOP are met with the different needs within the organization. Even though the franchise creates specific developments with the space, electricity, requirements for functioning and the overall organization, the need to implement this is the requirement of the main manager and owner. The strategy implemented at the beginning stages of the franchise is one which incorporates ensuring that all tools and machinery are placed correctly while making sure that the different structure works effectively for the franchise. The franchise system is one which has to be developed specifically to incorporate a set of communication and culture with the main layout which is used while incorporating different methods with the work in the franchise. From recent studies, (Chiou et al, 19: 2004), it is found that the use of a system is one which creates a higher level of satisfaction among employees and customers (Chiou et al, 19: 2004). The main concepts which are used for the safety, organization and different concepts for IHOP are only the beginning stages of the franchise. When all requirements are met, the owners of the franchise are required to build a system for a franchise culture. The first step to this is to work with new employees, including chefs, customer representatives, and waitresses about the rules and regulations which are a part of the main system. Training sessions and the implementation of different ways to communicate become a part of the building of the franchise.  

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Managing Workplace Diversity Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Managing Workplace Diversity - Assignment Example However, in the course of this unit, I have discovered that every state in the United States have The Second Injury Fund that assumes the responsibility of compensating the disabled in an instance they sustain an injury and become totally disabled. The affirmative actions were created to supplement what law could not do in ensuring equality among people of different cultures, gender and ethnicity. There are policies and laws that are in place to ensure that discrimination is addressed, but their effectiveness remains equivocal. Affirmative actions will remedy these inequalities, but presenting the long-time disadvantaged minority groups with equitable opportunities that ultimately addresses inequalities. Although the affirmative action will present added advantage to the minority groups, I learned in class that they, too, should meet qualifications. Affirmative action does not translate to undue advantage over others. It simply means providing more opportunities to the underserved group of individuals. Another misconception I had is that affirmative action is only concerned with providing people of the color with more opportunities. However, Caucasian women can attest to the more open doors available to them following affirmative actions. It is evident that we mostly practice the religion passed down to us, and with time, we believe that our religion is the right one. This belief may lead to creating an environment that disregards co-workers’ religion. When handling religious diversity, I have learned from the class work that the best way to go about it is to have an open mind. It is impossible to understand all religions and their beliefs and practices, but keeping an open mind will facilitate accommodation of people with religious beliefs that differ from mine. Work diversity is often viewed in terms of cultural diversities among the workers. Often, religious contributions towards the same are neglected.

Friday, July 26, 2019

Literature Review. ADHD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Literature Review. ADHD - Essay Example The front part of the brain has slightest to do with aptitude, so it is likely to be very intelligent and still have ADHD. The study of ADHD goes back to the early 1900s. However, its name has changed over time. Children who survived the encephalitis epidemics of the 1920s were left with a post-encephalitic syndrome characterized by problems with memory, attention, hyperactivity, and a lack of impulse control. There was also a group of children who, though not post-encephalitic, presented clinically with the same triad of symptoms: hyperactivity, impulsivity, and distractibility. The term minimal brain damage or hyperactive child syndrome was used for this group. However, when it became apparent that there was no frank evidence of brain damage, the designation was changed to minimal brain dysfunction, although hyperactive child syndrome was also in use (Okagaki, Kontos, &, 1998). During the 1970s, it was thought that the focus on hyperactivity was not clinically warranted and did not sufficiently accent problems with attention and impulse control. In view of the latter, the DSM-III revision of 1980 changed the designation to attention deficit disorder, with or without hyperactivity, thus highlighting inattention and distractibility. ... ADHD is generally characterized by a persistent pattern of inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity that causes impairment across settings. ADHD is a developmental disorder (symptoms present before age 7) with recognized subtypes: a predominantly impulsive-hyperactive subtype, a predominantly inattentive subtype, and a third subtype combining features of both. Adults with ADHD, while usually not physically hyperactive, often continue to have marked problems in time management, sustained attention, impulse control, social skills, and frustration tolerance. Academic and work-related problems may result from poor organization, planning, and follow-through. Probably as many as four million children and four to five million adults in the United States suffer from Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Although ADHD was described by physicians many years ago, its frequency only recently has been recognized. Exact figures are not available, but it seems likely that between 3 to 10 percent of school-age children and 4 to 5 percent of adults have ADHD (Scheinbaum, Newton, Zecker, & Rosenfeld, 1995). . ADHD is frequently accompanied by learning disorders in reading, spelling, or arithmetic, and it may be accompanied by other behavior disorders. ADHD is more common in boys than in girls. Child psychiatrists used to believe that the symptoms of ADHD diminished and disappeared as children grew older, but recent studies have found that ADHD frequently persists into adolescence and adult life. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, defines ADHD as a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that is more frequent and severe than typically observed in

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Ethics Concern in Criminal Justice Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Ethics Concern in Criminal Justice - Term Paper Example This fact has led to a lot of misunderstanding between students and the disciplinary faculties of institutions. These cases have become common since some of the academic ethics tend to contradict the students' rights, thus, resulting in some form of a dilemma (Hendrick 2000). These situations always make students find it difficult to differentiate between what is right and wrong. For instance, one of the academic ethics states that students should not cheat during any exam or test. Cheating here includes things like plagiarism among others. It is notable that a student might have done his personal research on the Internet and got the right answers. But it may be because he never cited his work properly the instructor might declare his work plagiarized. This action taken by the instructor might go against the student’s right to fair treatment due to the fact that the student got the question right, but the instructor degraded him because of improper citations. The other aspect might also come as a fact that the student was a slow learner and never got the concept of citation during the class time, yet the instructor assumed that every student understood the concept. Ethics Applied to Social Behavior Different people from various kinds of walks do have different behaviors. It is also notable that some behavior might affect other people negatively. This negative effect might then force the need of coming up with a solution for the affected ones. However, as much as there will be a need for coming up with a measure to control this behavior, the right of an individual to have a fond behavior should also not be violated (Bergman-Rosaman & Phythian 2011). A perfect example is that of smokers. It is clear that the law allows them to smoke, yet not everyone is ok with the smell of the cigarette smoke. This will then imply that as much as the law allows them to smoke cigarettes, they will need to ethically behave when smoking by isolating themselves in the smoking zones. Consequently, the act of isolating themselves when smoking tends to deny their right to free movement implying that the act is unfair to them (Sutch, 2001). Ethical Injustices that Might Arise When an Individual Is on I nternship Individuals are often subjected to more ethical dilemmas when they change places of work or when they join a new institution or organization. This is mainly because they might be unaware of the cultures and routines of these new environments. The main reason for this is always because some ethical behavior that they might have been used to in their initial institutions or organization might be immoral to the new organization, thus, making them face a dilemma (Bergman-Rosaman & Phythian 2011). Eventually they might forget that they are in a new environment and behave in accordance with their previous institution’s ethics which might be immoral to the new institution. This might then force the institution to subject them to harsh consequences just because of their ignorance or forgetful human nature. This can tend to be unfair to them. For instance, an individual who is used to a casual outfit might find it difficult to adapt to

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Addictions and interventions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Addictions and interventions - Essay Example The following treatment plan and recommendations will be instituted to help make this possible.The type of therapy that will be best suited in aiding Linda to recovery is Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. The reason this is the best option for Linda is that it will not only help her to recover the quickest, since this type of therapy is the most rapid in producing results, it is the best use of time and resources, as this sort of therapy is a very direct approach, and it is not open ended in the way that other therapies are, such as psycho-analysis (National Association of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists, 2009). Another reason that Linda will benefit from Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy is that it will enable her to think differently about her circumstances, even if they cannot be changed (National Association of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists, 2009). For instance, she lives in a poor part of town. While she may not be able to change that immediately or even at all, Cognitive-Behavior Ther apy will assist her in learning to view her circumstances differently. The results of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy are long term. This is due to the fact that the client will understand how and what to do in order to make things better, and then they will be able to apply it, even after therapy has ended. (National Association of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists, 2009). Linda and I can work together, and she will feel involved in her treatment, which will give her the incentive to want to do better. As far as having others involved in working on the case, I would prefer to work with Linda alone, since it is vital that she and I establish a relationship where she is comfortable opening up to me and expressing her feelings. If too many other professionals are involved in her case, it would be to her detriment because she would not have the chance to form a bond with me that would allow her to feel comfortable enough to work with me in improving her life and setting goals. Cognitive-Behavior therapy is most effective when sessions involve only the client and the therapist, not multiple professionals (National Association of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists, 2009). There will be a number of things that I will need to know about Linda in order for the use of Cognitive-behavior therapy to be best effective in helping her to recover. One thing that I will like to know about Linda is what she'd like to get out of life. Knowing this bit of information will enable me to help her set goals and come up with different strategies that will help her to achieve those goals. Secondly, I will like her to tell me a little about herself and what makes her feel the need to engage in using drugs. Knowing her reasons for why she feels the need to engage in this behavior will enable me to better know and understand her, so I will be able to tailor the therapy sessions to best suit her needs. Finally, I will ask her how she feels about herself and her current circumstances. Knowing about these things will enable me to help her to set goals o either change her attitude or change her world. Though I'd love to focus on every aspect of Linda, this would be impossible due to time constraints and limited resources. So in order to make the best use of the time and resources that are available to me in dealing with this case, it will be advantageous for me to focus on aspects of her life and character that are of vital importance. Two major areas that deserve the utmost attention are helping her to establish goals on fighting her addiction and helping her to think of herself and her circumstances in a different light. When it comes

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Research report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Research report - Essay Example Now-a-days, several organizations within the aerospace manufacturing industry are trying to select Singapore innovation hub for several favourable reasons. Being one of the leading aerospace manufacturing organizations, Rolls-Royce tried to focus on emerging South Asian markets in order to gain potential competitive advantages within this particular industry. The significant growth of the Asian market and effective business opportunities attracted the organizati0ons to develop its manufacturing hub in the emerging Asian Markets. Singapore is one state and one country. The government of Singapore is trying to influence the leading aerospace manufacturing organizations around the globe to invest within the country’s industry as this particular industry is playing a significant role in the economic development of country. The government as well as the policy makers are trying to limit the degree of external environmental challenges in order to attain positive economic growth rate in this particular period of global economic downturn. This essay will discuss about the challenges that are faced by Rolls-Royce in international supply chain management operation. In addition to this, this study will recommend some important facts and concepts that will help the management of the organization to mitigate the associated risks and improve its supply chain management performance in global market place. It is clear that Rolls-Royce has tried to implement several unique strategies in the business operation process in order to maintain its core competency in global market place. Rolls-Royce started to venture in the global aerospace business in the year 1990. Slowly and gradually, the organizations started to expand its business practices in global market places in order to increase its market share. However, it is true that that the organization capitalized several opportunities in the supply chain management processes

Reflection Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 17

Reflection - Assignment Example The feeling was great because participating in a worthy cause of raising funds to cater for children’s health concerns is good. My thought is that more funds need to be raised by conducting regular walks to cater for research activities by the children’s hospital. My reaction was positive since the event was a platform to get to touch a child’s heart especially those from poor backgrounds who cannot afford expensive medical bills (Voelker 12). The walk was quite a success; however, the experience from it is what is vital. I noticed that few families participated. Instead, it was only school children. Parents should be encouraged to participate more. The event is also supposed to be expanded to other areas in order to raise more funds. Most important is for accountability of these funds to ensure it benefits the children from poor backgrounds. The funds should go into projects that aim to ensure all children access affordable quality healthcare. Questions that need to be considered include: was the event a success? What improvements need to be done? What impact has the awareness created and how are the funds going to be used? A number of nurses participated in the event. The experience from a professional nurse’s perspective was a constructive one. Nurses need to envision becoming caring so as to improve the health of the children. They have to carry out their duties with high standards of dedication through nursing research, evidence objective practice and high quality of nursing care to the kids. The nurses must place the needs of the kids and their families fast by ensuring they are responsible, excellent, and innovative enough and practice with respect and dignity (Voelker

Monday, July 22, 2019

Carcinogenic Hydrocarbons Essay Example for Free

Carcinogenic Hydrocarbons Essay Once in the body, they are converted into arene oxides by cytochrome P. An arene oxide is a compound in which one of the double bonds of the aromatic ring has been converted into an epoxide. The changing of the aromatic hydrocarbon into an epoxide forms a more water-soluble compound that can be eliminated from the body. Arene oxides can react in two ways. They can undergo attack by a nucleophile to form addition products or rearrange to form a phenol. Some aromatic hydrocarbons are carcinogens, meaning they can cause cancer. Investigations have shown that hydrocarbons themselves are not carcinogenic, but the carcinogens are the oxidation products of the aromatic molecules. Nucleophiles react with epoxides to form addition products. 2’-Deoxyguanosine, a component of DNA, has a nucleophilic NH? group that is known to react with certain arene oxides. Once it attaches to an arene oxide, the 2’-deoxyguanosine can no longer fit into the DNA. This results in the genetic code not being properly transcribed, which can lead to mutations that cause cancer. Arene oxides’ becoming carcinogenic depends on the rates of its two reaction pathways: rearrangement and reaction with a nucleophile. When an arene oxide rearranges, it forms phenols which are not carcinogenic. However, the formation of two addition products from nucleophilic attack by DNA can be carcinogenic. If the rate of arene oxide rearrangement is faster the nucleophilic attack by DNA, the arene oxide is harmless. If the rates are the other way around the arene oxide is likely to be carcinogenic. The rate of arene oxide rearrangement depends on the stability of the carbocation formed in the rate determining step. So, an arene oxide’s cancer causing ability depends on the stability of the carbocation. If the carbocation is stable, the rate will be faster and therefore the arene oxide is less likely to be carcinogenic. If the carbocation is unstable, the rate will be relatively slow and the arene oxide will more likely be attacked by nucleophiles. This leads to the possibility of carcinogens. After reading thoroughly through the Organic Chemistry 5th Edition book by Paula Bruice, I must agree with the investigations that have proven aromatic hydrocarbons to be non-carcinogenic. It is kind of interesting that arene oxides become carcinogenic depending on the reaction pathway it takes. I would like to know what other, if any, factors may contribute to carcinogens being formed once aromatic hydrocarbons enter the body

Sunday, July 21, 2019

The Visual Feedback From Video Games Media Essay

The Visual Feedback From Video Games Media Essay Video games are electronic games that engage the user through an interactive interface. The interaction involves the use of visual feedback mechanism which is generated on a specially designed video device. Just like any other medium, the use of video games can be used as an effective communication channel. The content of the specific game is however the determinant of the specific ideology that it expresses. It has been proven through elaborate research that video games have a profound influence in the manner which an individual thinks and behave. Certain experimental and analytical data shows that the playing of video games has a direct influence on ones thoughts. The playing of violent video games has been proven to increase the level of aggressive and hostile thoughts (Anderson, Buckley, Gentile, 2007; Anderson, Carnagey, Flanagan, Benjamin, Eubanks Valentine, 2004).The engagement of a player in games that have positive content has also been proven to elicit positive outcomes. A perfect example is the playing of video games by children which has been proven to help in weight management. In this paper we explicitly investigate whether video games side with certain British political ideologies. In the recent past, researchers have questioned the validity of passing on political ideologies in videogames. This has always drawn the conclusion that the reputation of the video game industry despite being a disposable form of entertainment which serves a very wide audience does in fact have a degree of political discourse. This notion of political ideologies being encoded in the some games is true but has a degree of flaw. Thus notion for example overlooks the effort of certain independent game designers and developers. Games such as Super Columbine massacre RPG and Cutthroat Capitalism go to a large extent to dispute the notion of apolitical landscape in the industry of videogames. The level of success in the process of communicating the various political statements which incorporate military, social and economic issues just illustrate the political nature of these videogames. Video games by design and existence are a true example of cultural artifacts which bear a certain degree of political messages. It is a proven fact that even the simplest of the video games despite their low level of mindlessness can never fail to portray the politics of the underlying culture in which they are designed. The mainstream video which games do seem to lack political ideologies in actual sense have an implicit political undertone. The basic design of these games is not supposed to handle or tackle any form of political issue directly. The design also does not allow for the carrying of political messages covertly. The reality however is that the games do reflect the underlying social values and most of the popular ideologies of the resident culture in which the game was intended to be deployed in. Even in the conservative and economically centered eighties or even the liberal society, politics are in fact intertwined in the very underlying codes of the video games that we do enjoy Video Games and the Brain Researchers have in past conducted experiments to investigate the influence the mechanism and relationship that occurs in the brain when an individual is playing a computer game. The work of researchers published in Nature (1998) ,a British journal indicated that the brain secrets a special hormone called dopamine when one is laying a computer game. Dopamine is a pleasure inducing chemical that is secreted whenever an individual engages his/her mind in the playing f video games. The New brain research that was conducted years back (Bartholow, Bushman Sestir, 2006) was the first to show that the playing of violent video games results in bad health of the players. The emphatic responses of the brain to the simulation of certain real-life violence such as shooting with a gun and bombing are also elicited. It was also explained by Walsh (2004, 2006). That the exposure of a teenaged brain to video games results in certain violent long-lasting effects. A group of British researchers embarked on a research to understand the neurochemical outcomes of playing video games (Koepp et al. 1998).They measured the amount of dopamine hormone which gets released whenever subjects were engaged in playing a video game. The video games were of action genre. The action game involved the maneuvering through a battlefield full of landmines and tanks. Dopamine is a special neurotransmitter that necessitates the modulation of certain information that is passed from one brain area to another. The particular interest in dopamine was because of its role in the control and influence of a wide range of human behavior. Some of the behaviors that it influences are pleasure, learning and even addiction. An example is the fact that in most cases of drug addiction, pleasure is achieved by increasing the level of dopamine in the brain. By employing a special form of brain imaging technique called (Positron Emission Tomograph) the researchers were in a position to determine the effects of playing a video game on the level of dopamine that is released. The result showed a rapid surge in the amount of dopamine that was released in the brain. The areas that were most noted to have these dopamine surges/release are the areas that are attributed to learning and reward. The injection of amphetamines intravenously gave out comparable results. The observed surge in dopamine and its resulting implications are never well known but is a success in rats. This implies that dopamine may indeed be very crucial in the process of modifying the brain following a certain period of perpetual engagement in training activities. Bao Etal conducted a study using groups of rats. One group of rats was paired with the presentation of a certain tone of about 9-kHz.The observation made was that there was a particular expansion in the brain area that is devoted to the used tone. This was just in the rats that had concurrent of dopamine simulation. (Bao, CHan, and Merze nich,2001).Their conclusion therefore was that dopamine plays a very integral role in the process of learning. This was what caused the neural realignment in the rats. The conclusion from this experiment is that the large increase in the amount of dopamine that is observed when a person plays a video games has a role that is similar to the one in the rats. The dopamine released leads to a faster rate of learning and pleasure. The Dominant British political Ideology The term ideology was first made use of by French philosopher Destutt de Tracy in the nineteenth century. He used it to refer to the science of human ideas. However several definitions have been coined for the word. The term ideology is however used to refer to a certain particular set of ideas and assumptions that are necessary in the shaping of ones understanding of the world. It was however argued by Leys (1983:14) that ideology refers to any set of social ideas that become part of the operative assumptions of the general political practice of a certain particular social group. The very nature of an ideology is usually interpreted to be very coherent in that the main ideas within the specific ideology will usually tend to show a high degree of coherent with one another. The main ideologies that dominate the British way of life are conservatism, socialism and liberalism. Methodology Participants The participants were gathered from a certain popular social online video gaming platform. To explore the questions as to how often the participants engage themselves in playing video games and How this video games affect politics, the research was undertaken by interviewing six hundred participants of which the majority were male compared to females. There were 65% of males compared to 45% females. The participants were aged between eighteen years and forty years with the mean age being 25year and a standard deviation of 0.64. Procedure Data collection was done between the months of January and February the year 2010. The affair was random and after informing the officials of the underlying research it was on. The participants were recruited randomly through random sampling technique which was geared towards a generalized finding that gives a wider scope of views from the respondents, and avoidance of biasness. This was done to eradicate biasness and to get various views from different people who comes from all forms of employment. The main concern of the research was to analyze how people especially teenagers look up for political information online. Secondly there was a concern was how they had persuaded people into voting in elections; thirdly they sort to know how the people had been living informed on politics and other current affairs in the past six months, forth is whether they have stayed committed to their civic participation. And lastly the research sort to see how interested the participants are in polit ical issues around them. The research engage in analyzing both the activities and interests of the participant from that earlier ages because though teenagers do not always involve themselves in political issues as compared to their adult counterparts, they are at a critical age where experimentation are eminent that can help in the development of new political ideologies that give them certain political identities. Each person participating filled an anonymous survey questionnaire that was to give details of their attitudes towards videogames, what they know about them, how often they play and lastly, their perception of politics and how video games affects it. The participants were told that video games included any games played on a computer, video arcades, and handheld devices among others. The data collectors were also taught and trained the manner in which the survey was to be conducted. (Walsh, 2000) The research uses logistic regression and multivariate linear methods in their analysis between the participants background information variables and their civic quality in playing video games together with the above five concerns of the research on what the participants engage in. the games can then be categorized under various groupings such as those that tries to coin the thoughts of participants on moral issues, how they help people learn about problems in the society, how they help in influencing communities decision making procedures, and the nation at large. And lastly some are categorized on how they help in teaching about social issues. The above statistical methods are used because they assist in controlling factors such as how parent may influence the civil participation of the youths and also how participants incomes can affect their civil and political participation. The analysis due to past researches on the topic goes ahead to categorize influencing measures in four different categories that includes; the political characteristics of the games played which talks about how the participants and whether they have any civic experiences that influence political issues or supports them. Another is the social context of the games played which assesses the way the games are played. This could be in solitude or in groups. It also assesses the political behaviors and attitudes, this deal with the magnitude of involvement of the participants to gamming and their political involvement. Also there are demographic variables. They include analysis on age, gender, race and also household incomes. It also analyses the frequency of the games played. Therefore on this research our main concern will be on the variables listed below. Variables Amount of time spent on video games: the participants were asked how much time they spend playing their favorite video games. This time was categorized into week days and weekends which helped in calculating the amount of time people use in playing the video games weekly. Video games exposure: the participants were again asked to name at least three of their favorite video games. On each video game named the participants were expected to rate how often they play this game on a seven point Likert scale. Also the participants were asked to rate how the video game related to politics on the same Likert scale. On the scale it is interpreted that 1 represent a no relation to politics while 7 mean a higher relationship to politics. The video game political relation score was calculated. The participants were also asked to rate their video games relation on a 1 to 10 scale to show how much trends of politics in video games has changed in the past two to three years. Video game limit: the participants were again asked how often they limit themselves from playing video and the period of time they use in playing the video games. Underlying video game political inclination: The participants were asked to state the general mood that laying the game elicited as concerns the major British political ideologies. The model There exists broad based and multidisciplinary body of research work that deal with the effects of video games on various social phenomena, some borrow their relevance applications, game theory. DeGroot (1974) came up with a perfect self updating model , whereby persons adjust their personal belief regarding a certain event (also called the state of the world) by way of observing all persons with whom they have a common social tie and in effect taking an average of their friends averages. Political ideologies and beliefs do necessarily involve a certain level of personal stubbornness but is not explicitly explored by the model, however the DeGroot updating model is still relevant towards the process of forming a political ideology, especially when the aspect of social video gaming which is so connected and impressionable is concerned. In this research however, we do a slight modification of the DeGroots model in order to include an element of political judgment as well as a decreasing level of an individuals sensitivity to others views in a bid to capture the overall maturation state and solidification of the various political views and ideologies. For this purpose we begin by employing DeGroot model which has a simple stochastic configuration having the following parameters. The model is employed in gauging a persons view regarding the elements of British political ideologies that they derive or perceive to be entailed in the video games. The model is a follows. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.(1) Where n is denotes the number of direct links that an individual i has with certain other people j in the online gaming network. I reconfigured the model to incorporate some of the most observed realities of British political ideology acquisition. In the model we assume that a person maintains an autoregressive component in his or her ideology. The model then becomes as follows. . à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦(2) Allowing the general political ideology to start out at time 1 as i b~ + e , in which ÃŽÂ µi is a random error term which is drawn from N(0,s 2 ) . The expectation of ÃŽÂ ²i, and 2 is b~ is arrived at by inspection, as the expectation ( ) i E b~ + e is b~ , Which leads us back to equation (2). Variance of ÃŽÂ ²i,2 is evaluated the equation Nis clearly decreasing. Therefore, one can boldly infer that more connections of n can lead to correponding ÃŽÂ ²s which quickly converges to the equilibrium of mb~ and to each other.2 This model however comes with a certain number of assumptions, some of which are more concrete than others. The initial assumption is that it does not take into account the weightings or a measure of the strength of the various different ties. Conclusion Video games have been proven to have profound effects on the players thoughts. Certain ideologies can also be passed or rather contained in the video games. The exact nature of the ideology that a particular game may pass varies significantly with the nature of the game. Certain games have specific political ideologies that dominate their main theme. The study reveals that a great degree of political ideology is encapsulated in the British games. The designers of various games area at times motivated by certain political ambitions in the process of designing the games. The main political ideology that is eminent in most games is conservationism and it is mainly expressed in terms of strategy of the games. Most British gamers enjoy playing games that replicate the old battlefields campaigns. Literature Review Many theorists have come up with similar and different arguments concerning the relations of video games, politics and culture of different regions of the earth. When participating in these social practices, players of the game have the opportunity to involve themselves in new identities. For example, while playing the game Sims Online a presidential political contest of Alphaville erupted between, Baynes who is 21 years old, and Laura who is a 14 year old girl. Political jockeying and voter fraud accusations emerged just like it would in a real political activity. These occurrences created learning opportunities to Laura and Baynes about the realities of real politics and what they entail. This very election attracted national attention as pundits engaged in debates on the significance of games where players could not only run political systems in their virtual lives, but could also engage in political debates and arguments. Lauras political campaign, platform and alliances were substantial enough to initiate a stronger police force and run an overhaul of the system of judiciary. This creates an understanding of how deep it can be to gain ex perience in online virtual worlds. These games contain very rich contexts for learning since players are able to have new and powerful identities and actually experiment on them.( Shaffer 2004) According to Terry Flew (2005) digital games are on the increase in society, a thing which has created social isolation especially teenage boys, who hide in bedrooms; thus fail to actively engage in the society. David Marshal (2002) agrees with Flew though he is against the effects of the out come of his research He found out that games are dynamically social and extensive social conversations emerge from online gaming in huge multi-player formats. For example, the Sims Online has created entire social and political structures in some communities that have adopted a social gaming prospect in their daily lives. These online gamers actively participate in various forms of communication which includes one-on-one correspondence. These kinds of games are massive, social and intimate. On the other hand, McArthur (2008) argues that the amount of time young people play, or the frequency of the plays are significantly related to most outcomes of both civic and political occurrences in pour daily lives. McArthur continues to emphasize that the gaming influence to games has increasingly persuaded others on the voting process, charity contribution, volunteer work, and also in growing interest as far as political views and events are concerned. MacArthur finds very little evidence supporting the aspect of videogames in the promotion of attitudes and behavior that undermine behavior as well as civic commitments. On the same note, there is also little evidence supporting an association of video game playing and that of a vibrant civic and political life. McArthur concluded that the frequency of playing games was associated with only two political and civics outcomes i.e. an increase in political interest and protesting with variations that only emerge according to the leve l of frequency a gamer has to play. Henry Jenkins, a prominent scholar in digital media highlighted potential participation of cultures that come up as a result of engagement with the digital media. Such participatory cultures are in support of communities that share the same interest and involve themselves in sharing and creating what they create with others. Those with experience join in to mentor those who are coming up. With the kind of report put forth by Jenkins, the newly created participatory culture presents more opportunities for gamers to, participate in community life as opposed to isolation, engage in civic debates, or to be leaders in politics. Extensive opportunities through participation may gradually change self perception and encourage social ties with other inhabitants. In order to be empowered, one is supposed to make meaningful decisions within a civic point of view. For example, citizenship skills are learnt through engaging into political acting in order to understand choices to be made in politi cal terms; all these require steps from watching political news and acting politically. This is more like having interest in politics acting in a game world and then acting politically in the real world. Henry Jenkins (2007) Developmental Psychologists concerned with adolescent behavior have suggested that nurturing is very important during the early years in life i.e. child and teenage years. This is the time that teenagers try to anticipate the lives of adulthood and work hard to understand who they are, who they want to be and how they relate to the society. Gibson (2003) notes that the development of sociopolitical orientations is very critical; therefore assessment of the importance to which young members of the society experiment with civic and political activities available to them is crucial in development of future participation. Brown and Thomas in their arguments in virtual worlds write that players learn to create new innovations within networked environments that are well suited to social interactions, problem solving and effective communication. For example, in world of warcraft, players generally come together to form guilds in which they associate together and coordinate in how to attack and destroy the enemy as well as plan to raid the enemy. When new members are recruited, they undergo training as well as ways of resolving conflict among the guild members. This calls for the establishment of an implicit or explicit code of conduct. This kind of interaction and social influence prepares young people on the future stance of their lives. Douglas Thomas (2008) Sasha Barab and Kurt Squire have qualitatively studied the content of the game Civilization IV. This is a game where players begin to join a group settlers living in an underdeveloped land. After joining the piece of land, they try to think deeply on how they will develop the land to the standards of a big city; they therefore send a number of scouts to go and explore the territories that surround them. In order to do this, they are expected to set up a group of warriors who are supposed to fight and protect their city. These players start their ways from the Stone Age period and keep moving until the modern twenty first century. This is a process where they have to develop ideas and make wise decision on how to introduce religion, reading e.t.c at the same time; trade negotiations take place as well as talks on governing their territories especially financially and politically. This kind of simulation enables players to have opportunities of learning about the dynamics of political, economical, as well as the legal system that are stipulated in a real government. This simulation also provides opportunity for players to acknowledge their civic identities due to their experience as civic leaders in the virtual world. Such cognitions and attitude coincide with the players behavior, thus help them develop and practice civic skills. With this study, Squire and Borab concluded that young people gain both civic and political knowledge through playing commercial video games such as Civilization IV. Borab and Squire (2004). There also have been games purely designed to be used within a basic education context. Games such as Quest Atlantis include a narration based on a storyline of young male and female protagonists. This is meant to initiate a proper understanding in pupils about the purpose of some of the activities they carry out in their daily prospects. This game has also helped students perform batter in their studies, especially in subjects like, language arts, social studies and science. For example, in social studies; students have developed and appreciated history and its relationship to their present lives and the adoption of various perspectives of making decisions. As far as gaming in an educational setting is concerned, studies show that players under the guidance and intervention of adults yield more productivity and worthiness as opposed to the players under the reflection of peer groups. Other arguments though state that games with more distinct design features can facilitate greater ci vic learning conditions without the intervention of an adult. Borab and Squire (2004). More literacy scholars have introduced the new versus the old literacy in this new technology era of global understanding. Meyer and rose (1999) interprets the old literacy concept based on the assumption that the basic carrier of information in our culture is the print and the most important knowledge is the ability of students to express and understand themselves through text. Right now technology is catching up, thus the new definition of literacy has changed to mean the ability of a student tot be able to express self through digital technology which is rapidly becoming the sole carrier of information. This is critical in todays education context. This education context requires the knowledge of print literacy; this call for both the old (print) and this new (digital) concept to enhance more skilled literacy. It simply shows that there is a perverse challenge of literacy in both the digital and the non-digital innovations of our daily lives. (Meyer Rose, 1999) Electronic games have actually been used in the classroom by teachers to associate the traditional ways of teaching. Young people have always been inspired by some character in the games. This invokes some sense of attention and concentration which are part of the teachers goals in the teaching process. After the digital game use, pupils begin to reveal some real enthusiasm for writing diaries, text, coloring and making drawings; this also motivate them to keep proper records for what they have learned and drafted in the classroom. They also go on to discuss their projects in broader perspectives, thanks to the games their teachers introduce to them in classroom. The game world in schools is particularly stronger in the United Kingdom for the sole contribution of contributing and advancing personal skills in innovation and creativity. These games develop intellectual and social skills that includes self confidence, ability to explore and cooperate, enterprise and initiative, responsi bility, independence e.t.c. (Meyer Rose, 1999) According to Zimmerman and Salen, games are forms of organized play with a set of rules and guide to players. If a game is well designed with a meaningful purpose, then the game will definitely yield positive results meaningful play which is a very good learning condition. This definition of meaningful play simply means the results of the relationship between the outcome and the action in a game which are integrated and discernable into the wider view of the game. When the real design focuses on meaningful learning results, then it is able to preserve playfulness which is deserved by children and at the same time serious learning. Games really motivate players to concentrate on mastering their tasks according to how the game is supposed to be played. The innovation of very distinct elements of game design such as rewards, goals, rules, multisensory cues, interactivity, and narrative context, have proven necessary to kindle the expected outcomes of learning. For example, EVE Online is an online game that one has to subscribe to in order to play. Its nature as a casual game doesnt in any way undermine the gain of knowledge while playing it. EVE Online is all about dominating a market by setting up a number of corporations. This game has attracted so many prominent personnel including, MBAs, city traders, economists, chief executives e.t.c. to gain knowledge of complex financial lessons that they can practice in the real world. One of the gamers was interviewed and explained that once one has managed to conquer a virtual corporation spanning the universe, you can then easily be able to manage a real corporation spanning the earth. (Zimmerman and Salen 2004) Games are interactive mediums with to fully understand becomes a core challenge. Within game worlds, players have the agency. These games are therefore inhabited by the gamers, within the theories of digital games, a reliable game should be able to constrain players through the narratives and the rules that they are bound to. It is also important that the players be given the actual control for entering the virtual world. Kreimeier, 2000 continues to explain that the game developers desire is always be able to design games that enable the players to fully engage themselves in the game world. In this way, games are constructions by both the players as well as the authors. For example, the Grand Theft is a game representing the inner L.A in a way that leads players to understand some of the limited choices urban youth have, this game also has a way of inviting them to try the personae of the black man in the inner city; and the experience the sensations of the urban culture and the lif e of an urban gang member. The Grand Theft game allows gamers to inhabit this for a particular view point and also help in the development of the identities within them. (Squire, 2004). Deux Ex is a very popular game design as a science fiction game. It contains characters of duplicitous leaders of the government, very powerful corporations and also full of terrorists who are sponsored by the government. Warren Spector who designed the game offers moral choices to the gamers on whether to trust organizations or to trust individual people. In a world where no moral decision is right, the player is left tot rethink of who he wants to joint the competing organizations such, as family royalties, government or corporations. This kind of game helps us know the must important things and choices to make; as well as what to ignore when making very important decisions. All these game are differently understood and interpreted by different player.(Black 2004) According to Tom Malone (1981), there is an intrinsic motivation of games to players through challenge, control, fantasy, curiosity and opportunities for competition, collaborative play and social interaction. He goes on arguing that games have a way of creating presence, or emotional immediacy which is one of their most appealing features; the core to this is that we are entering the word to this and not merely manipulating the screen pixels. Clinton (2004) says on the other hand that immersion is fundamentally built through the game world interaction. These verbs given to players- jumping, punching, running, diving and kicking through and over enemies and few other obstacles are the building blocks through which gamers become war lords, action heroes, or civilization leaders. Clinton maintains that the digital worlds cognition is mediated thoroughly by players action capacity. Thus the players actions become the players interface with the world. Clintons observations go on proving that the first thing a player does before playing a particular game is to familiarize him with the game controls. This action gives him total control of the characters body and what he can do in the virtual world. In the real world this helps a player to conform and find out his abilities that he can use to venture through his day-to-day

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Damning Of The Masses Essay -- essays research papers

Damning of the Masses   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  That if you confess with your mouth, â€Å"Jesus is Lord,† and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  you will be saved. --Romans 10: 9  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  From the time we are small children sitting in Sunday school not able to fully grasp the love of God that we sing simple songs about, we are taught that Jesus was sent to earth to love us no matter what. The Puritan congregation listening to Jonathan Edwards’ sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God in 1741 were not being taught of this wonderful gift. Though Edwards’ intentions were sincere and good, he put far too much emphasis on the side of judgment that is to be greatly softened by the lesson of love Christ came to earth to make known. This made his invitation to salvation very appealing, but only through the avenue of fear of what might happen otherwise, not through sincere love for Christ. Because of this, Edwards’ call to Christianity and repentance is not complete.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Edwards’ sermon, emphasis is placed on what will happen if we do not put Christ on in baptism, enslaving ourselves to sin. He uses the fear of God that is emphasized so much in the Bible and twists it just a bit. The fear we are...

Alzheimers Disease Essay -- Alzheimers Disease Essays

Alzheimer’s Disease is an irreversible, genetically linked illness. This disease was chosen for the topic of this essay under the consideration that in many families the illness can be incredibly tragic, passing down for generations without mercy. It is not rare to encounter families in which each member is afflicted with a form, mild or severe, of Alzheimer’s. The disease is a progressive brain disease which comes in two separate types: Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease and Late-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease. These will be discussed in full later on in the paper. The symptoms of Alzheimer’s are extremely detrimental to the individual whom it affects, as the disease attacks the brain cells and their connections. As the illness progresses, many of the affected brain cells die. In the very beginning stages, many of the symptoms are mistakenly associated simply with the effects of ageing or stress. Issues such as attentiveness, abstract thinking, and mild memory loss which happens to be the most notable of these early symptoms, will all start to appear. As the disease progresses, patients will begin to have a difficulty with perception and execution of motions. Memory will begin to take a heavy toll on the patient at this point, becoming a prominent dilemma. Older memories or episodic memories (such as writing), do not take the brunt of these attacks, but rather newer memories are affected the most. Soon, issues with speech will begin to arise, as the patient’s vocabulary begins to become more and more limited and simplistic. Coordi nation and movement begin to become difficult task for the persons affected, but can ordinarily be accomplished at this point of the disease. In moderate cases, the deterioration of the mind will eventually ... ...much to prepare themselves for the onslaught that is Alzheimer’s Disease. Works Cited "Alzheimer's Association - Alzheimer's & Dementia Risk Factors." Alzheimer's Association. Web. 04 May 2012. . "Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Fact Sheet." National Institute on Aging. Web. 04 May 2012. . "Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers." National Institute on Aging. Web. 04 May 2012. . "Alzheimer's Topics." National Institute on Aging. Web. 04 May 2012. . "Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation." Fisher Center Foundation. Web. 04 May 2012. .

Friday, July 19, 2019

A Review of Eaters of the Dead :: Free Essay Writer

Eaters of the Dead Almost everybody recognizes Michael Crichton as the author of books such as Jurassic Park, Disclosure, and Congo. Considering he is one of the hottest authors in Hollywood, how could you not. The book reviewed here, however, is none of the above; it is a more or less forgotten book called Eaters of the Dead. As with all of his older books, it has been reprinted recently so it is easy to find. This book is written more like a scholarly work rather than like a novel, yet it definitely tells a story, one which many of the readers will recognize as Beowulf. It is told from the point of view of Ibn Fadlon, a representative of the Caliph of Baghdad. He then gets caught up with a band of northmen. The band, led by one Buliwyf, is on a mission to help defend King Rothgar from some evil which is spreading across his land. Doesn=t that sound compelling? What makes this book so different is the way in which the tale is offered. Ibn Fadlan is a Muslim and gives the distinct impression that he does not approve of the lifestyle of the Northmen, yet he tells his story (actually he is giving a report to the Caliph) with great detail. He tells of the Northmen's ways, relating what impresses him as well as what disgusts him. His very first impression of the Norsemen comes as he observes how they deal with a newly dead king. His description of the mourning period and funeral provices the reader his first experience with the Northmen's way of life. How wonderful! Throughout the book, Crichton uses footnotes to help the reader understand what is going on, and to give the impression that this a paper rather than a novel. As mentioned above, the story is a familiar one but told in such a different way as to make it a much more interesting story then the original. This book may be different and original which helps but, it is absolutely HORRIFIC! I had no idea what was happening.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Zoe’s Tale PART I Chapter Nine

â€Å"Oh, look,† Gretchen said. â€Å"Teenage boys, about to do something stupid.† â€Å"Shut up,† I said. â€Å"That couldn't possibly happen.† But I looked anyway. Sure enough, across the Magellan's common area, two clots of teenage males were staring each other down with that look of we're so gonna fight about something lame. They were all getting ready for a snarl, except for one of them, who gave every appearance of trying to talk some sense into one guy who looked particularly itchin' to fight. â€Å"There's one who appears to have a brain,† I said. â€Å"One out of eight,† Gretchen said. â€Å"Not a really excellent percentage. And if he really had a brain he'd probably be getting out of the way.† â€Å"This is true,† I said. â€Å"Never send a teenage boy to do a teenage girl's job.† Gretchen grinned over to me. â€Å"We have that mind-meld thing going, don't we?† â€Å"I think you know the answer to that,† I said. â€Å"You want to plan it out or just improvise?† Gretchen asked. â€Å"By the time we plan it out, someone's going to be missing teeth,† I said. â€Å"Good point,† Gretchen said, and then got up and started moving toward the boys. Twenty seconds later the boys were startled to find Gretchen in the middle of them. â€Å"You're making me lose a bet,† she said, to the one who looked the most aggressive. The dude stared for a moment, trying to wrap whatever was passing for his brain around this sudden and unexpected appearance. â€Å"What?† he said. â€Å"I said, you're making me lose a bet,† Gretchen repeated, and then jerked a thumb over toward me. â€Å"I had a bet with Zoe here that no one would start a fight on the Magellan before we actually left dock, because no one would be stupid enough to do something that would get their entire family kicked off the ship.† â€Å"Kicked off the ship two hours before departure, even,† I said. â€Å"Right,† Gretchen said. â€Å"Because what sort of moron would you have to be to do that?† â€Å"A teenage boy moron,† I suggested. â€Å"Apparently,† Gretchen said. â€Å"See – what's your name?† â€Å"What?† the guy said again. â€Å"Your name,† Gretchen said. â€Å"What your mother and father will call you, angrily, once you've gotten them kicked off the ship.† The guy looked around at his friends. â€Å"Magdy,† he said, and then opened his mouth as if to say something. â€Å"Well, see, Magdy, I have faith in humanity, even the teenage male part of it,† Gretchen said, plowing through whatever it was that our Magdy might have had to say. â€Å"I believed that not even teenage boys would be dumb enough to give Captain Zane an excuse to kick a bunch of them off the ship while he still could. Once we're under way, the worst he could do is put you in the brig. But right now he could have the crew drop you and your family at the loading bay. Then you could watch the rest of us wave good-bye. Surely, I said, no one could be that incredibly dense. But my friend Zoe disagreed. What did you say, Zoe?† â€Å"I said that teenage boys can't think beyond or without their newly dropped testicles,† I said, staring at the boy who had been trying to talk sense into his pal. â€Å"Also, they smell funny.† The boy grinned. He knew what we were up to. I didn't grin back; I didn't want to mess with Gretchen's play. â€Å"And I was so convinced that I was right and she was wrong that I actually made a bet,† Gretchen said. â€Å"I bet every single dessert I'd get here on the Magellan that no one would be that stupid. That's a serious bet.† â€Å"She loves her dessert,† I said. â€Å"It's true, I do,† Gretchen said. â€Å"She's a dessert fiend,† I said. â€Å"And now you are going to make me lose all my desserts,† Gretchen said, poking Magdy in the chest. â€Å"This is not acceptable.† There was a snerk from the boy Magdy had been facing off with. Gretchen wheeled on him; the boy actually flinched backward. â€Å"I don't know why you think this is funny,† Gretchen said. â€Å"Your family would have been thrown off the ship just like his.† â€Å"He started it,† the boy said. Gretchen blinked, dramatically. â€Å"‘He started it'? Zoe, tell me I heard that wrong.† â€Å"You didn't,† I said. â€Å"He really said it.† â€Å"It doesn't seem possible that anyone over the age of five would be using that as a rationale for anything,† Gretchen said, examining the boy critically. â€Å"Where's your faith in humanity now?† I asked. â€Å"I'm losing it,† Gretchen said. â€Å"Along with all your desserts,† I said. â€Å"Let me guess,† Gretchen said, and waved generally at the clot of boys in front of her. â€Å"You're all from the same planet.† She turned and looked at the other boy clot. â€Å"And you're all from another planet.† The boys shifted uncomfortably; she had gotten their number. â€Å"And so the first thing you do is you start picking fights because of where you used to live.† â€Å"Because that's the smart thing to do with people you're going to spend the rest of your life living with,† I said. â€Å"I don't remember that being in the new colonist orientation material,† Gretchen said. â€Å"Funny about that,† I said. â€Å"Indeed,† Gretchen said, and stopped talking. There was silence for several seconds. â€Å"Well?† Gretchen said. â€Å"What?† Magdy said. It was his favorite word. â€Å"Are you going to fight now or what?† Gretchen said. â€Å"If I'm going to lose my bet, now's as good a time as any.† â€Å"She's right,† I said. â€Å"It's almost lunchtime. Dessert is calling.† â€Å"So either get on with it or break it up,† Gretchen said. She stepped back. The boys, suddenly aware that whatever it was they were fighting about had been effectively reduced to whether or not some girl would get a cupcake, dispersed, each clot headed pointedly in a separate direction from the other. The sane boy glanced back at me as he walked off with his friends. â€Å"That was fun,† Gretchen said. â€Å"Yeah, until they all decide to do it again,† I said. â€Å"We can't use the dessert humiliation trick every time. And there are colonists from ten separate worlds. That's a hundred different possible idiotic teenage boy fight situations.† â€Å"Well, the colonists from Kyoto are Colonial Mennonites,† Gretchen said. â€Å"They're pacifists. So it's only eighty-one possible idiotic teenage boy fight combinations.† â€Å"And yet still only two of us,† I said. â€Å"I don't like the odds. And how did you know about the Kyoto folks, anyway?† â€Å"When my father was still thinking he'd be running the colony, he made me read the reports on all the colonists and their original planets,† Gretchen said. â€Å"He said I was going to be his aide-de-camp. Because, you know, that's really what I would have wanted to do with my time.† â€Å"Comes in handy, though,† I said. Gretchen pulled out her PDA, which was buzzing, and looked at the screen. â€Å"Speaking of which,† she said, and showed me the screen. â€Å"Looks like Dad's calling.† â€Å"Go be aide de camp-y,† I said. Gretchen rolled her eyes. â€Å"Thanks. Want to get together for the departure? And then we can go have lunch. You'll have lost the bet by then. I'll get your dessert.† â€Å"Touch my dessert and you will die in horrible ways,† I said. Gretchen laughed and left. I pulled out my own PDA to see if there were messages from John or Jane; there was one from Jane telling me that Hickory and Dickory were looking for me about something. Well, they knew I was onboard, and they also knew how to reach me by PDA; it's not like I went anywhere without it. I thought about giving them a call but I figured they would find me sooner or later. I put the PDA away and looked up to find the sane boy standing in front of me. â€Å"Hi,† he said. â€Å"Uh,† I said, a testament to my smoothness. â€Å"Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you like that,† he said. â€Å"It's okay,† I said, only a little flustered. He stuck out his hand. â€Å"Enzo,† he said. â€Å"And you're Zoe, I guess.† â€Å"I am,† I said, taking his hand and shaking it. â€Å"Hi,† he said. â€Å"Hi,† I said. â€Å"Hi,† he said, and then seemed to realize he was back where he started. I smiled. And then there was about, oh, 47 million seconds of awkward silence. It was only actually a second or two, but as Einstein could tell you, some events have a way of stretching out. â€Å"Thanks for that,† Enzo said, finally. â€Å"For stopping the fight, I mean.† â€Å"You're welcome,† I said. â€Å"I'm glad you didn't mind we stepped in on what you were doing.† â€Å"Well, I wasn't doing a great job of it anyway,† Enzo said. â€Å"Once Magdy gets himself worked up, it's hard to get him to back down.† â€Å"What was that all about anyway?† I asked. â€Å"It's kind of stupid,† Enzo said. â€Å"That I know,† I said, and then wondered if Enzo would take it the wrong way. He smiled. Score one for Enzo. â€Å"I mean what caused it.† â€Å"Magdy's pretty sarcastic, and he's also pretty loud,† Enzo said. â€Å"He made some snide remark about what those other guys were wearing as they passed by. One of them got upset and they got into it.† â€Å"So you guys nearly had a brawl over fashion,† I said. â€Å"I told you it was stupid,† Enzo said. â€Å"But you know how it is. You get worked up, it's kind of hard to think rationally.† â€Å"But you were thinking rationally,† I said. â€Å"That's my job,† Enzo said. â€Å"Magdy gets us into trouble, I get us out of it.† â€Å"So you've known each other for a while,† I said. â€Å"He's been my best friend since we were little,† Enzo said. â€Å"He's really not a jerk, honest. He just sometimes doesn't think about what he's doing.† â€Å"You look out for him,† I said. â€Å"It goes both ways,† Enzo said. â€Å"I'm not much of a fighter. A lot of kids we knew would have taken advantage of that fact if they didn't know Magdy would have punched them in the head.† â€Å"Why aren't you much of a fighter?† I asked. â€Å"I think you have to like to fight a little,† Enzo said. Then he seemed to realize this was challenging his own masculinity a bit, and this would get him kicked out of the teenage male club. â€Å"Don't get me wrong. I can defend myself just fine without Magdy around. We're just a good team.† â€Å"You're the brains of the outfit,† I suggested. â€Å"That's possible,† he allowed, and then seemed to figure out that I'd gotten him to make a whole bunch of statements about himself without getting to find out anything about me. â€Å"What about you and your friend? Who is the brains of that outfit?† â€Å"I think Gretchen and I both hold our own pretty well in the brains department,† I said. â€Å"That's a little scary,† Enzo said. â€Å"It's not a bad thing to be a little intimidating,† I said. â€Å"Well, you have that down,† Enzo said, with just the right amount of offhandedness. I tried very hard not to blush. â€Å"So, listen, Zoe – † Enzo began, and then looked over my shoulder. I saw his eyes get very wide. â€Å"Let me guess,† I said, to Enzo. â€Å"There are two very scary-looking aliens standing directly behind me.† â€Å"How did you know?† Enzo said, after a minute. â€Å"Because what you're doing now is the usual response,† I said. I glanced back at Hickory and Dickory. â€Å"Give me a minute,† I said to them. They took a step back. â€Å"You know them?† Enzo said. â€Å"They're sort of my bodyguards,† I said. â€Å"You need bodyguards?† Enzo asked. â€Å"It's a little complicated,† I said. â€Å"Now I know why you and your friend can both work on being the brains of the outfit,† Enzo said. â€Å"Don't worry,† I said, and turned to Hickory and Dickory. â€Å"Guys, this is my new friend Enzo. Say hello.† â€Å"Hello,† they said, in their deadly monotone. â€Å"Uh,† Enzo said. â€Å"They're perfectly harmless unless they think you're a threat to me,† I said. â€Å"What happens then?† Enzo asked. â€Å"I'm not really sure,† I said. â€Å"But I think it would involve you being turned into a large number of very small cubes.† Enzo looked at me for a minute. â€Å"Don't take this the wrong way,† he said. â€Å"But I'm a little afraid of you right now.† I smiled at this. â€Å"Don't be,† I said, and I took his hand, which seemed to surprise him. â€Å"I want us to be friends.† There was an interesting play across Enzo's face: pleasure at the fact I'd taken his hand, and apprehension that if he showed too much pleasure at the fact, he'd be summarily cubed. It was very cute. He was very cute. As if on cue, Hickory audibly shifted its weight. I sighed. â€Å"I need to talk to Hickory and Dickory,† I said, to Enzo. â€Å"Will you excuse me?† â€Å"Sure,† Enzo said, and took his hand out of mine. â€Å"Will I see you later?† I asked. â€Å"I hope so,† Enzo said, and then got that look that said his brain was telling him he was being too enthusiastic. Shut up, stupid brain. Enthusiasm is a good thing. He backed off and went away. I watched him go a little. Then I turned to Hickory and Dickory. â€Å"This had better be good,† I said. â€Å"Who was that?† Hickory asked. â€Å"That was Enzo,† I said. â€Å"Which I already told you. He's a boy. A cute one, too.† â€Å"Does he have impure intentions?† Hickory asked. â€Å"What?† I said, slightly incredulous. â€Å"‘Impure intentions'? Are you serious? No. I've only known him for about twenty minutes. Even for a teenage boy, that would be a pretty quick ramp-up.† â€Å"This is not what we have heard,† Hickory said. â€Å"From whom?† I asked. â€Å"From Major Perry,† Hickory said. â€Å"He said that he was once a teenage boy himself.† â€Å"Oh, God,† I said. â€Å"Thank you so very much for the mental image of Dad as a teenage sack of hormones. That's the sort of image that takes therapy to get rid of.† â€Å"You have asked us to intercede for you with teenage boys before,† Hickory said. â€Å"That was a special case,† I said. And it had been. Just before we left Huckleberry my parents had gone off on a planetary survey of Roanoke and I was given tacit permission to have a good-bye party for my friends, and Anil Rameesh had taken it upon himself to sneak into my bedroom and get naked, and upon discovery, to inform me that he was giving me his virginity as a good-bye gift. Well, he didn't put it that way; he was trying to avoid mentioning the whole â€Å"virginity† aspect of it at all. Regardless, this was a gift I really didn't want, even though it was already unwrapped. I told Hickory and Dickory to escort him out; Anil responded by screaming, jumping out my window and down off the roof, and then running all the way home naked. Which was a sight. I had his clothes delivered home the next day. Poor Anil. He wasn't a bad person. Just deluded and hopeful. â€Å"I will let you know if Enzo presents any problems,† I said. â€Å"Until then, you leave him alone.† â€Å"As you wish,† Hickory said. I could tell it was not entirely pleased about this. â€Å"What was it you wanted to talk to me about?† I asked. â€Å"We have news for you from the Obin government,† Hickory said. â€Å"An invitation.† â€Å"An invitation for what?† I asked. â€Å"An invitation to visit our homeworld, and to tour our planets and colonies,† Hickory said. â€Å"You are now old enough to travel unaccompanied, and while all Obin have known of you since you were young, thanks to our recordings, there is a great desire among all Obin to meet you in person. Our government asks you if you will not accede to this request.† â€Å"When?† I asked. â€Å"Immediately,† Hickory said. I looked at them both. â€Å"You're asking me this now?† I said. â€Å"We're less than two hours from departing to Roanoke.† â€Å"We have only just now received the invitation,† Hickory said. â€Å"As soon as it was sent to us, we came to find you.† â€Å"It couldn't wait?† I asked. â€Å"Our government wished to ask you before your journey to Roanoke began,† Hickory said. â€Å"Once you had established yourself on Roanoke, you might be hesitant to leave for such a significant amount of time.† â€Å"How much time?† I asked. â€Å"We have sent a proposed itinerary to your PDA,† Hickory said. â€Å"I'm asking you,† I said. â€Å"The entire tour would take thirteen of your standard months,† Hickory said. â€Å"Although if you were amenable, it could be extended.† â€Å"So, to recap,† I said. â€Å"You want me to decide in the next two hours whether or not to leave my family and friends for at least a year, maybe longer, to tour the Obin worlds by myself.† â€Å"Yes,† Hickory said. â€Å"Although of course Dickory and I would accompany you.† â€Å"No other humans, though,† I said. â€Å"We could find some if you wanted,† Hickory said. â€Å"Would you?† I said. â€Å"That would be swell.† â€Å"Very well,† Hickory said. â€Å"I'm being sarcastic, Hickory,† I said, irritated. â€Å"The answer is no. I mean, really, Hickory. You're asking me to make a life-changing decision on two hours' notice. That's completely ridiculous.† â€Å"We understand that the timing of this request is not optimal,† Hickory said. â€Å"I don't think you do,† I said. â€Å"I think you know it's short notice, but I don't think you understand that it's offensive.† Hickory shrank back slightly. â€Å"We did not mean to offend,† it said. I was about to snap something off but I stopped and started counting in my head, because somewhere in there the rational part of my brain was letting me know I was heading into over-reaction territory. Hickory and Dickory's invitation was last-minute, but biting their heads off for it didn't make much sense. Something about the request was just rubbing me the wrong way. It took me a minute to figure out why. Hickory and Dickory were asking me to leave behind everyone I knew, and everyone I had just met, for a year of being alone. I had already done that, long ago, when the Obin had taken me from Covell, in the time I had to wait before my father could find a way to reclaim me. It was a different time and with different circumstances, but I remember the loneliness and need for human contact. I loved Hickory and Dickory; they were family. But they couldn't offer me what I needed and could get from human contact. And besides, I just said good-bye to a whole village of people I knew, and before that had said good-bye to family and friends, usually forever, a whole lot more than most people my age. Right now I had just found Gretchen, and Enzo was certainly looking interesting. I didn't want to say good-bye to them even before I properly got to know them. I looked at Hickory and Dickory, who despite everything they knew about me couldn't have understood why what they were asking me would affect me like this. It's not their fault, said the rational part of my brain. And it was right. Which was why it was the rational part of my brain. I didn't always like that part, but it was usually on point for stuff like this. â€Å"I'm sorry, Hickory,† I said, finally. â€Å"I didn't mean to yell at you. Please accept my apology.† â€Å"Of course,† Hickory said. It unshrunk itself. â€Å"But even if I wanted to go, two hours is not nearly enough time to think this through,† I said. â€Å"Have you spoken to John or Jane about this?† â€Å"We felt it best to come to you,† Hickory said. â€Å"Your desire to go would have influenced their decision to let you go.† I smiled. â€Å"Not as much as I think you think it would,† I said. â€Å"You may think I'm old enough to spend a year off touring the Obin worlds, but I guarantee you Dad will have a different opinion about that. It took both Jane and Savitri a couple of days to convince him to let me have that good-bye party while they were away. You think he'd say ‘yes' to having me go away for a year when there's a two-hour time limit attached? That's optimistic.† â€Å"It is very important to our government,† Dickory said. Which was surprising. Dickory almost never spoke about anything, other than to make one of its monochromatic greetings. The fact Dickory felt compelled to pipe up spoke volumes in itself. â€Å"I understand that,† I said. â€Å"But it's still too sudden. I can't make a decision like this now. I just can't. Please tell your government I'm honored by the invitation, and that I want to make a tour of the Obin worlds one day. I really do. But I can't do it like this. And I want to go to Roanoke.† Hickory and Dickory were silent for a moment. â€Å"Perhaps if Major Perry and Lieutenant Sagan were to hear our invitation and agree, you might be persuaded,† Hickory said. Rankle, rankle. â€Å"What is that supposed to mean?† I asked. â€Å"First you say you wanted me to say yes because then they might agree, and now you want to work it the other way? You asked me, Hickory. My answer is no. If you think asking my parents is going to get me to change my mind, then you don't understand human teenagers, and you certainly don't understand me. Even if they said yes, which, believe me, they won't, since the first thing they will do is ask me what I think of the idea. And I'll tell them what I told you. And that I told you.† Another moment of silence. I watched the two of them very closely, looking for the trembles or twitches that sometimes followed when they were emotionally wrung out. The two of them were rock steady. â€Å"Very well,† Hickory said. â€Å"We will inform our government of your decision.† â€Å"Tell them that I will consider it some other time. Maybe in a year,† I said. Maybe by that time I could convince Gretchen to go with me. And Enzo. As long as we were daydreaming here. â€Å"We will tell them,† Hickory said, and then it and Dickory did a little head bow and departed. I looked around. Some of the people in the common area were watching Hickory and Dickory leave; the others were looking at me with strange expressions. I guess they'd never seen a girl with her own pet aliens before. I sighed. I pulled out my PDA to contact Gretchen but then stopped before I accessed her address. Because as much as I didn't want to be alone in the larger sense, at that moment, I needed a time out. Something was going on, and I needed to figure what it was. Because whatever it was, it was making me nervous. I put the PDA back in my pocket, thought about what Hickory and Dickory just said to me, and worried.

My Sister

I was three years old sitting in my front railway yard when one of my older babes friends frantic altogethery comes let on of nowhere and starts screaming incredibly noisy towards me. I was only three, and had no estimate what she was talking ab forth. completely I conceive is her being completely bitter. So I was hopelessly sitting in that respect winning it alone told in. Which is where my older baby Brooke erupt in front of me with total peevishness and starts screaming right back at her and tells her to bring in lost. I felt so protected and safe by my sister that day, I miss having her around.It every last(predicate)(prenominal) started with this fire feeling of being extremely claustrophobic. We arrived at the crowded airport at simply five oclock. Everyone crammed moving shoulder to shoulder. The categoric was canceled so we had to stay shoulder to shoulder for two more long twisting hours. Finally, it was measure for my big sister Brooke to get on her flight of steps and leave for the extreme BMW ( basic military preparation). after this I would not be seeing my sister for some(prenominal) months. My sister and I are very close It was very fleshy letting her go.As the plane flew miles away snap ran down my face like shave blades, my heart was cracking like mortal had Just hit it with a spirt and chisel , and I had that horrible pounding main in my throat where It hurts to swallow. aft(prenominal) several torturous months of crying and praying for my sister, it was in conclusion time to go see her graduate. standing(a) there In the excruciating cheerfulness on the curb waiting for all the broadsheet to Jog by modulation with their running cadences with their powerful booming voices.Finally Brooks flight jogged by and seeing her for the first time after those long months gave me so oft happiness and Joy. The ceremony was pretty vexation in the neckful. All that, Mitts (military training Instructors) gave long he art make full touching speeches which made my family and I cry. after all hose tears and amazing speeches each airman got granted a united States discouragement Force coin. After the 2 hour ceremony we in conclusion got to go see our graduated lineageman. My family and I were overwhelmed with Joy and couldnt bankrupt crying.After leaving the Alarm Force base we all went out to eat at a pizza pie parlor. After filling our stomachs with pizza and soda pop pop, Brooke told us all intimately BMW how It was ruffianly and demanding but after a magic spell she started to get used to It. in like manner how It was real good at times, because of all the vernal friends and people she had met. Brooke loved BMW and express It was a very good experience. After all the tears Brooke had cried, all the horrible pain she had suffered through, all the awkward training she had to endure, all turned out to be deserving It.From the time she protected and stood up for me when I was three u ntil now Brooke has never let me down. Brooke Is, and always will be my sister, my airman, and my hero. My sis By Nicknaming My sister and I are very close it was very hard letting her go. As the plane flew pain in my throat where it hurts to swallow. After several torturous months of crying and praying for my sister, it was finally time to go see her graduate. Standing there in The ceremony was pretty amazing.All that, Mitts (military training instructors) those tears and amazing speeches each airman got granted a United States Air Force family and I were overwhelmed with Joy and couldnt stop crying. After leaving the Air pizza and soda pop, Brooke told us all about BMW how it was hard and demanding but after a while she started to get used to it. Also how it was really good at times, because of all the new friends and people she had met. Brooke loved BMW and said it all the hard training she had to endure, all turned out to be value it. From the time me down. Brooke is, and alwa ys will be my sister, my airman, and my hero.