Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse Essay

In the text of Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, Lily is in the stage of Pre-operational. According to Jean Piaget, in the pre-operational stage, children develop semiotic function which is an ability to represent an object or action with signs and symbols, such as language, imagery, drawing symbolic games and deferred imitation. At first, Lily likes her teacher Mr. Slinger very much and she wants to be a teacher in the future. When Lily goes back to home, she imitates what Mr. Slinger does in school exactly. She drew a picture of Mr. Slinger when she gets angry with him. Pre-operational children are egocentric. When Mr. Slinger stops Lily not showing her purse at class time, Lily had a hard time being considerate. She talks aloud:† Look, everyone. Look what I’ve got!† without regarding for the classmates and the teacher. At the same time, pre-operational stage children exhibit centration. This can be explained when Lily peeked at her purse in the desk during the class. More important, the development of concepts in pre-operational stage is demonstrated by Lily’s concept of whether to be a teacher or not. When Mr. Slinger treats her well, she’d like to be a teacher while she hates to be a teacher when Mr. Slinger took away her purse. The Three Bears This book demonstrates Lev Vygotsky’s zone of proximal theory of inter-subjectivity. Inter-subjectivity is a process in which two individuals who begin a task with different knowledge and perspectives come to a shared understanding as each person adjust to the perspective of the other. The three bears are a little Wee Bear, a Middle-Sized Bear and a Great Big Bear respectively. They have different size of bowls for their porridges and different size of chairs for reading, different size bed for sleeping. Once Goldilocks came to their house, those different size staffs leave different impression on her. Such as the Great Big Bear’s chair was too hard, the Middle-Sized Bear’s chair was too soft while the Little Wee Bear’s was just right. Also the three bears speak in three level sounds. All these behavior and features reflect that three bears with different knowledge and perspective have shared understanding each other and shared one house. The Sissy Ducking The stage of fidelity: Identity vs. role confusion by Erikson’s stage of psychosocial development is performed exactly in the story of The Sissy Ducking. This stage focuses on who am I and what can I be? Elmer’s peers don’t play with him. He did all the special things and was just out of his peer society. His father was depressed about him. Elmer is sissy, he is unimportant, his father even doesn’t want to regard him as his son, and Elmer is a loser in the world that he lives in. Fortunately, Elmer’s mother has confidence on her son. Truly, Elmer is brave, loyal and ingenuity. Throughout the story, we can see the process that Elmer finds the way to prove himself and find out who he is and what he can be. Ross, M. (2005). Book Review of the Sissy Duckling (2002). School Libraries In Canada (17108535), 24(4), 91-92. Reference Henkes, Kevin. Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse (1996). Galdone, Paul. The Three Bears (1972). Cole, Henry. (2002). The Sissy Duckling( 2002).

JROTC Builds Character and Leardership

Junior ROTC can be a four year of your life with new experiences that builds character and leadership. Im a freshman and i joined JROTC when the school stared , and i wasn't sure what to expect about JROTC and the class mates. Throughout my six-months being a cadet, i was challanged emotionally, mentally , and physically. However i was able to learn about how to work in teams and how to become a leader. JROTC teaches character, leadership, personal responsibility, healthy lifestyles etc. It teaches responsibility, discipline and personal accountability. You do not have to go into the military if you join.If you are lacking in responsible adults in your life that teach you life lessons then JROTC can be really good. Or just if you need a new crowd of people to hang around with who will be positive influences. JROTC has taught me what I would not have learned in any other class in high school. Junior ROTC is unique because it gives us the independence to make decisions that impact us d irectly and we are free to make the organization our own. The goal is attained by mutual cooperation and behavior. They also teach us to build character and leadership by giving us guidence and putting the cadets in a position that we are not used to do.This helps us adapt to new things. The best leaders are those who can lead and direct without misuse of their power. They must be able to inspire others in a greater good. They must have honesty, confidence, communication, and commitment. JROTC brings us out the best in cadets because of the higher level of maturity expected of them from the teachers and the vast of students involvement in running the program. JROTC it is a great program that teaches leadership to students and is a worthwhile investment in one’s future. I love JROTC because it’s a place that im with friends that respect me for who I am .

The assignment is to develop an advertising strategy for a franchise Coursework

The assignment is to develop an advertising strategy for a franchise of your choosing - Coursework Example The company is defined by its unlimited milestones in the world of innovation and customer service. The marketing strategies of this franchise are dependent on customer satisfaction, environmental sustainability, and the utter need to expand beyond the current dimensions. Therefore, a diverse and cumulative marketing strategy is necessary to ensure that the franchise expands. The marketing strategies will involve finding the customers, maintaining their brands, networking, and selling of the product to the market. The Intercontinental Hotels Group is mainly concerned with customer satisfaction in order to oversee the final revenues of the franchise. The group should maintain the customer loyalty. This may be done through the provision of the best services to the customers to win their trust. The specific needs of the customer are taken into consideration. The customer is the basis of any business transaction. The staff at the franchise ensures that customer satisfaction is a necessit y. The mission of the franchise is to ensure that the customer gets an excellent service. All the other protocols of the franchise ensure that this mission is set to ensure that the customer loyalty is retained. The customer complaints are dealt with amicably and efficiently. Part of the marketing strategy is the introduction of the wireless network in the hotel rooms. This tends to give the customer a unique undertaking compared to the other competing hotels. All this improves the customer satisfaction and thus making the revenues increase eventually. Advertising techniques are also necessary for the marketing of this franchise. The company is widespread all over the world, and thus the large market stretch the hotel must serve. The provision of the best advertisement techniques deems the group successful in the management and customer service. The hotel provides five star services to its customers to try outdo other competitors in the same market. The best technique of advertising is the online advertising. The hotel provided the enigmatic service of online booking of rooms. The potential customers identify with the networking form of marketing. Currently, many people can access the social media through sites such as twitter, Facebook, and other sites. The ability of the group to prioritize the use of these services is a bold step in ensuring the culmination of the standards of advertisement in the marketing sector. Therefore, their marketing structure should ensure that customer appeal is portrayed. The group has been on the forefront of technology in the super positioning of better online technology measures in the franchise. The hotels have secured and simplified the private and public clouding network. This has the advantage of ensuring the provision of a favorable virtual network all over its hotels, including the resources in the software-defined networks. This has provided the cloud security and thus ensuring for the efficient communication to ensure a unified consumer satisfaction (Ferrell & Hartline, 2011). The customers can also access the services the hotels provide using the online means without being conned. Customer confidence is boosted since they can migrate around the private, public or hybrid cloud environments easily. Videos are posted online, and the customers can watch and make choices on the best services they want. Therefore, a larger target market is reached via the

Environmental Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Environmental Health - Essay Example Environmental Protection Agency, 2012). The definition of medical waste was effectively provided in the Medical Waste tracking Act of 1988 which aptly states its meaning as â€Å""any solid waste that is generated in the diagnosis, treatment, or immunization of human beings or animals, in research pertaining thereto, or in the production or testing of biologicals." This definition includes, but is not limited to: blood-soaked bandages; culture dishes and other glassware; discarded surgical gloves; discarded surgical instruments; discarded needles used to give shots or draw blood (e.g., medical sharps); cultures, stocks, swabs used to inoculate cultures; removed body organs (e.g., tonsils, appendices, limbs); and discarded lancets† (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2012, p. 1). 2. Describe the factors that contribute to its toxicity. Information from the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that as much as 20% of medical wastes are classified as hazardous which â€Å" may be infectious, toxic or radioactive† (WHO, 2011). The factors that allegedly contribute to its toxicity include presence of micro-organisms, as well as preponderance of specifically identified drug-resistant micro-organisms. Likewise, disposing of these medical wastes improperly could pose indirect risks in terms of release of toxic pollutants. As emphasized, â€Å"incinerated materials containing chlorine can generate dioxins and furans2, which are human carcinogens and have been associated with a range of adverse health effects. Incineration of heavy metals or materials with high metal content (in particular lead, mercury and cadmium) can lead to the spread of toxic metals in the environment† (WHO, 2011, p. 1). 3. Name the environmental and occupational sources of exposure to it. The environmental and occupational sources of exposure to medical wastes include landfills, which â€Å"can contaminate drinking-water if they not properly constructed. Occupational risk s exist at disposal facilities that are not well designed, run, or maintained† (WHO, 2011, p. 1). Likewise, medical wastes which are not properly incinerated pose significant hazards. 4. How is it evaluated and treated? According to the Healthcare Environment Resource Center, medical wastes were previously monitored and regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency; but currently, various states have allegedly taken control and governance. The different regulations that stipulate guidelines and monitor, evaluate and treat medical wastes include: the State Medical Waste Regulations, OSHA Regulations, the US EPA Regulations, as well as the Department of Transportation (DOT) Regulations (Healthcare Environment Resource Center, n.d.). 5. What action could you, the nurse, take to reduce exposure of yourself, your co-workers, patients, and the community? As a nurse, the action that must be taken to reduce exposure to medical wastes include adherence to safety procedures as prescr ibed by OSHA and infection control. Likewise, proper disposal in designated waste receptacles must be followed. In addition, the role of nurses in educating other health care practitioners on its hazard and possible effects, if contaminated, should be enforced as a firm advocate for promoting a safe and secure environment. 6. List at least three web sources about it. References Healthcare Enviro

An article for the Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (AJEC) Assignment

An article for the Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (AJEC) - Assignment Example Teachers in these environments have the opportunity to use action research as a method of improving the interaction of students to the environment in the context of independent study. Figure 1: Children Engaging the Natural Environment in a Forest School (Cummings, 2010) Creating Quality Learning Environments Logan, Press, and Sumsion (2012) discuss the idea of discourses and gazes as ways of creating a discussion about policy and defining quality. Discourses involve the literature and communications in which the construction of human social interaction is framed and formed, taking from basic policy the cues on how to behave as prescribed by society. The gaze is a way in which to form philosophy through grouping different discourses together and seeing the world through a specific lens. The philosophies that are central to encouraging sustainability and environmental responsibility are enhanced through the use of discourses and gaze. ... st is that they have a strong sense of identity through feeling secure in their world and the second in that they learn how to effectively communicate. Forest schools use a constructivist approach to learning as they are concerned with the processes through which children will learn through constructing their own learning experiences. The three aspects used in the Forest Schools are: using the forest as a context for learning, using materials from the forest for learning, and the use of the five senses as well as building on their natural curiosity in order to construct learning (Cumming, 2010). The process of learning transforms into increased effectiveness of defining their sense of self within the context of identity and within the context of the world environment. Action Research The concept of action research as a means of self critique and transformation provides for creating new and better worlds as time passes. MacNaughton and Smith (2001) discuss action research in relations hip with post-modernism in which there is a pursuit of ‘truth’. Through techniques of action research, teachers are continually improving their influence in the classroom by using what they learn in their practice to transform their means of communication and influence. The truth becomes an organic form of learning in which discovery by students and teachers allow for constant improvement and change. Figure 2: Teachers in a Forest School (Forest Education Initiative, 2013) Action research can help to transform a number of different areas in practice, but in learning to create philosophies about the world and influence the socialization of children a professional is helping to shape the future through beliefs and traditions that can influence a lifetime. Literature from the Lady Gowrie

Injuries In The Workplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Injuries In The Workplace - Essay Example Active work participation and good supervision are some of the important aspects in ensuring hazards are identified and tackled. Nevertheless, it is important to train workers on ways of ensuring safety in their workplaces. In this study, an investigation will be conducted in respect to the relationship between injury rates and different conditions in the workplaces. Although many organizations have some means of preventing and controlling hazards in workplaces, the effect of some conditions such as the total hours allocated for working and the impact of sensitization on high risk work places compared to less sensitization in low risk work places is ignored in many studies (Kennedy et al, 2010). Therefore, this study will investigate the impact that variation in the number of working hours and lack of protective sensitization in low risk workplaces , have on injury rates in workplaces. Research question 1. Does giving workers more time to complete their work reduce injuries in work places? 2. Does workers operating in high risk workplaces experience low injury rates than workers who operate in less risky workplaces because of high sensitization in high risk work environments? Hypothesis Null hypothesis: More working hours and working in risky working environments do not have any effect on the injury rate. Alternate hypothesis: More working hours and working in risky working environments have significant effect on the injury rate. Method and results The number of actual hours worked by all employees in the area/team for the 12 month period ending 12/31/2009 were taken and recorded in an excel spreadsheets. Also, operations for supervisors differed in terms of activities and risks. Risk ranged from low (1) office related to high (7) manual material handling activities. This data was taken and recorded in an excel worksheet as well. Finally, the average rate of injuries per 100 employees over 12 month period was recorded on the excel worksheets. Among these variables, the injury rate was taken as the dependent variable while the level of risk and hours worked was taken as the independent variables. The aim of the study is to find out the relationship between injury rate on the one hand and hours worked and risk, on the other hand. In other words, the researcher formulated a statistical model to find out whether the risk and hours worked can be used to predict the rate of injuries in workplaces. The data collected in the excel worksheets are then imported into an SPSS for statistical analysis. In this case, a regression analysis was run and the following output was established. Table 1: Model summary Model R Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate Change Statistics 1 0.455191 0.432491 13.16423 F Change Sig. F Change 20.05217 0.000000 Table 2: Coefficientsa Model Unstandardized Coefficients t Sig. B Std. Error 1 (Constant) 55.65025 6.654373 8.362959 .045 HOURS_WORKED RISK -0.000619 -2.080234 0.000128 0.988191 -4.855031 -2.105094 .000 .0405 a. Dep endent Variable: INJURYRATE Discussion and conclusion From table 2 above, the coefficient of hours worked is -0.000619 and that of the risk is -2.08. This means that the two independent variables are inversely related to the dependent variable. It also means that, when the hours worked and the level of risk is increased, the rate of injuries in the workplace is reduced (Morita, Lee & Mowday, 1993). The essence of this is twofold. First, when the workers are allocated adequate time to complete their tasks, there is a likelihood that they will concentrate and be more careful hence avoid injuries in the w

Challenging perspective in research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Challenging perspective in research - Essay Example According to him: â€Å"Looking at the different cultures of the world, one finds that no society is classless that is un-stratified. There are some primitive communities so small that no class strata appear, the social organization resting almost entirely on age, sex and kinship; but even here chieftainship individual prowess and clan or family properly introduce an incipient stratification.† (Davis and Moore, 1945: 242, quoted in Zaidi, 1997: 29) A child learns the process of interaction with other individuals from family and the peer group. All the parents try to bring up their children within the best possible atmosphere. The resources play pivotal role in the socialization of the individuals in a society. The members belonging to the upper class contain better opportunities to educate and nurture their children, and thus can make them more civilized and cultured ones in the future years to come, whereas the lower classes lack proper sources and opportunities that may influence their children. Rothstein has also defined the fact in the following words: â€Å"Parents of different social classes often have different child-rearing styles. It makes sense when you think about it: If upper-middle-class parents have jobs where they are expected to collaborate with fellow employees or create new solutions to problems, they are more likely to talk to their children in open-ended ways that differ from how parents address children if their own jobs simply require following orders. Children raised by middle-class parents will, on average, have more inquisitive attitudes toward academic material than children raised by working- class parents. No matter how competent a schoolteacher, lower-class children’s achievement will, on average, almost inevitably be less. Because the achievement gap already exists by age 3, it is unlikely to be narrowed without expensive infant and toddler centers where lower-class children can be

See instructions below Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

See instructions below - Term Paper Example strategy. The strategy will build on the company’s controlling positions in the market and in turn put them in a great position that will enable them improve profits over time. There are several important factors in the retail business that determine the success or failure of any business. Among them is advertising, product, distribution, pricing, and so on. Even so, pricing remains salient of these factors since it is the only one that generates revenue for the business. Most managers focused on product marketing considered all the other marketing aspects but gave pricing afterthought throughout the strategizing process. Currently, a lot of firms have adopted the guide throughout their pricing process and have seen incredible optimization of the whole marketing process bringing in profits and maintaining a competitive advantage. Wal-Mart, Target, and Amazon are some of the most successful firms in the world. Actually, all top in their specific line of business. Amazon retails goods throughout the world through the internet while Wal-Mart chain is the most successful retailer in the world. Both are household names. The three firms have taken advantage of p ricing as a strategy to increase sales and boost their revenue. As will be discussed later in the paper, pricing is an imperative factor in marketing and has colossal impacts on sale of goods and services. Even if a company adopts the other marketing strategies (advertising, product, and distribution) efficiently, ineffective pricing can have detrimental effects on the financial status of a company. While most firms know that this is the case, research shows that pricing as a strategy is continually being poorly adopted. Researchers and economists such as Thomas T. Nagle have, as a result, sought to create a universal guide where business men and company executives can borrow ideas from if they want to execute

How is Cannery Row like a Tide Pool Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

How is Cannery Row like a Tide Pool - Essay Example As the discussion stresses the starfish prey on mussels whereas gulls break open the sea urchins and feed on the starfish. The black bears also sometimes feed on the intertidal creatures when the tides are low. However, as much as the organisms must avoid the strong currents, wave, sun and predators to survive, they also rely on the constant changes in the pools for food. The creatures that thrive in the tide pool cannot survive on their own. There is some kind of interdependence among the various organisms, where each relies on the other for survival according to Halpern. This way of life in the tide pools have attracted special attention of philosophical writers such as John Steinbeck, marine biologists and naturalists.  This paper outlines that the life structures in the tide pools directly relate to the social structures of the Cannery Row. The mussels and limpets occupy the lowest status at the bottom of the pool whereas the starfish that prey on them and the eels that hide in crevices occupy a status above them. Hermit crabs who are always on the look out for empty shells that might be bigger than the ones they have also occupy the bottom of the sea. However, this structure is often silenced when the tides come back in but begin all over again when the tides move back and the ocean draws back.  The story of the Cannery Row revolves around the people left behind when the Cannery had closed. Mack and his friends (the boys) occupy the lowest status at the bottom end of the social structure just as the mussels.

Ap Bio Diseases Research Essay Example for Free

Ap Bio Diseases Research Essay 1. Norm of reaction: the phenotypic range that a genotype is associated with due to environmental influences. 2. Multifactorial: characters that have many factors, both genetic and environmental, collectively influence phenotype. 3. Pleiotropy: when a gene controls multiple phenotypic effects 4. Epistasis: When a gene at one locus alters the phenotypic expression of a gene at a second locus 5. Carrier: a person who is heterozygous for a recessive disease and therefore does not display the phenotype (disease). They are called carriers because although they are phenotypically normal with regard to the disorder, they can transmit the recessive allele to their offspring. They are heterozygotes and normal (Rr) DISEASES a. Recessively Inherited Disorders Tay-Sachs disease * Inherited disorder in humans where the brain cells of a child with the disease cannot metabolize certain lipids because a crucial enzyme does not working properly. * As the lipids accumulate in the brain cell, the child beings to suffer seizures, blindness, and degeneration of motor mental performance and dies within a few years. * Only children who inherit two copies of Tay-Sachs allele (HOMOZYGOUS) have the disease. Therefore at the organismal level, the Tay Sachs allele qualifies as recessive * The intermediate phenotype observed at the biochemical level is characteristic of incomplete dominance of either allele * At the molecular level, the normal allele and the Tay-Sachs allele are codominant because a person heterozygous for Tay Sachs disease does not have the disease symptoms, but the individual still produces equal number of normal and dysfunctional enzyme molecules Cystic Fibrosis * Most common lethal genetic disease in the U.S, strikes one out of every 2,500 people of European descent. * The normal allele for this gene codes for a membrane protein that functions in the transport of chloride ions between certain cells and the extracellular fluids. * A person who has the disease has two recessive alleles. * Two recessive alleles result in defective chloride transport channels in their plasma membrane. * Therefore they have a high conc. Of extracellular chloride which makes mucus thicker and sticker and it builds up in the pancreas, lungs, digestive tract, etc. leading to multiple (pleiotropic) effects. This includes poor absorption of nutrients from intestines, chronic bronchitis, recurrent bacterial infections, and disablement of a natural antibiotic made by some body cells. Sickle-Cell Disease * Most common inherited disorder among people of African descent, affects 1/400 of A.A. * Caused by the substitution of a single amino acid in the hemoglobin protein of red blood cells. * A person with the disease has 2 recessive alleles. * When the O2 content of an affected person’s blood is low, the sickle cell hemoglobin molecules aggregate into long rods that dorm the normal circular red blood cells in a shriveled sickle shape. * Sickled cells can clump blood vessels which = physical weakness, pain, organ damage, and even paralysis. * The multiple effects of a two recessive sickle-cell allele are another example of pleiotropy. * At the organismal level, the normal allele is incompletely dominant to the sickle-cell allele. * Heterozygotes of the Sick Cell disease have one sickle-cell allele and another normal allele. They are said to have the sickle-cell trait * Heterozygotes of the disease have a single copy of the sickle cell allele, and it reduces the frequency and severity of malaria attacks, especially among young children. * Therefore, about 1/10 A.A have the sickle cell trait because in tropical Africa, where infection with malaria parasite is common, the sickle-cell allele is more common as well because A.A’s with the sickle cell trait have a higher survival rate. * The presence of heterozygous amounts of sickle-cell hemoglobin results in lower parasite densities in the body! b. Dominant Inherited Disorders Achondroplasia * A form of dwarfism that occurs in one of every 250,000 people. Heterozygous individuals have the dwarf phenotype. * Everyone who is not an achondroplastic dwarf (99.99%) is homozygous for the RECESSIVE allele. * Dominant alleles that cause a lethal disease are much less common than recessive alleles that cause diseases. * If a lethal dominant allele causes the death of an offspring before they reproduce, the allele will not be passed on to future generations. A lethal recessive allele can be preserved from generation to generation by heterozygous carriers who have normal phenotypes). Huntington’s disease * A lethal dominant allele can escape elimination if it causes death only after an individual who carries the allele has reaches an advanced age. The individual w/ the disease could have already had children and given it to them, like the Huntington’s disease. * A degenerative disease of the nervous system that is caused by a lethal dominant allele that has no obvious phenotypic effect until the person is about 35-40 years old. * Deterioration of the nervous system is irreversible and inevitably fatal. * Affects 1/10,000 in the US * In modern tech, we can analyze DNA samples with a background of the disorder and track the Huntington’s allele to a locus near the tip of chromosome 4. YAY CHAPTER 15 Fruit Fly Lab * Thomas Hunt Morgan picked a species of fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster for his work. * Fruit flies only have 4 fairs of chromosomes that are easily distinguishable w/ a light microscope. * They can breed really fast. * He found a mutation after a long time; a male fruit fly with MUTANT TYPE eyes: White eyes * Regular fruit flies have red eyes, called the WILD TYP * Wild Type: Trait that is common and is dominant * Mutant Type: Trait that is less common and recessive * Notation for the first mutant (non-wild type) had the subscript w. A superscript + identifies the wild type trait: w+. So all wild type traits (normal have a plus symbol and all mutant’s had no plus signs. * Only males had white eyes in the F2 generation so he concluded that a fly’s eye color was linked to its sex. * Concluded that the gene for white eye mutation was located only on the X chromosome and not on the Y chromosome because males only need one X to have the mutation. A female in the F2 generationw would need two X chromosomes with the recessive mutant allele (w) which was impossible because the F1 father had red eyes. SEX-LINKED GENES AND DISEASES a. Sex linked Gene: * A sex-linked gene is a gene that is located on either sex chromosome X or Y. The term has historically referred specifically to a gene on the X chromosomes. * Fathers can pass sex-linked alleles to all their daughters but to none of their sons (since the father HAD TO HAVE contributed a Y chromosome to make the child a son, then the X must come from the mother and therefore if the disease was on his X chromosome, it wouldn’t have passed on to his son). * Mothers can pass sex-linked alleles to both sons and daughters. * IF a sex-linked trait is due to a RECCESSIVE allele, a girl will only express the phenotype if and only if she is a homozygote. * For males, the term hemizygous is used since they only have ONE x and ONE y. Any male receiving the recessive allele from his mother will ALWAYS express the trait. Therefore more men than females have sex-linked recessive. b. Sex-Linked Diseases 1. Colorblindness Usually rare 2. Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Affects about 1/3500 males born in the U.S. Characterized by a progressive weakening of the muscles and loss of coordination. Affected individuals rarely live past their early 20’s. The disorder is caused by the absence of a key muscle protein called dystrophin. Scientists have mapped the gene for this protein to a specific locus on the X chromosome. 3. Hemophilia Sex-linked recessive disorder defined by the absence of one or more of the proteins required for blood clotting. When a person w/ hemophilia is injured, bleeding is prolonged because a firm clot is slow to form. People with the disease are treated with injections of the missing protein. LINKED GENES * Linked genes are genes located on the same chromosome that tend to be inherited together in genetic crosses. * An example of a two linked genes on fruit flies is the gene for body type and wings. * In the fruit fly, the WILD (Normal) type for body color is GRAY and for wings are NORMAL wings. * In the fruit fly, the MUTANT type for body color is BLACK and for wings are VESTIGIAL wings. * In his experiment, if genes are located on different chromosomes, then the numbers for Gray-normal, Black-vestigial, Gray-Vestigial, and Black-Normal would be the same, but the #’s of the offspring are different because the genes are located on the same chromosome and the parent alleles are always inherited together. MAPS A genetic map is an order list of the genetic loci along a particular chromosome. * The father apart two genes are, the higher the probability that a crossover will occur between them and therefore the higher the recombination frequency. * So the greater the distance between two genes, the more points there are between them where crossing over can occur. A linkage map is a genetic map based on the recombination frequencies. Map Units are equivalent to a 1% recombination frequency. * So if the recombinant frequency is 17%, then the map unit would be 17. DISEASES DUE TO CHROMOSOMAL ALTERATIONS * NONDISJUNCTIO is when members of a pair of homologous chromosomes do not move apart properly during meiosis I or meiosis II. * ANEUPLIDY is when a zygote has an abnormal number of a chromosome. The zygote can be monosomic (missing one chromosome so it only has 1 chromosome) or trisomic (has an extra chromosome, so 3 chromosomes) * POLYPLOIDY is when organisms have more than two complete chromosome sets in all somatic cells. Down Syndrome (Trisomy 21) * An aneuploidy condition that affects around 1/700 children born in the U.S. * Usually the result of an extra chromosome 21, therefore each body cell has a total of 47 chromosomes * Includes characteristic facial features, short stature, heart defects, respiratory infection, and mental retardation. * Individuals w/ the disease are prone to developing leukemia and Alzheimer’s disease. * On average, people/ D.S have a life span shorter than normal and are sexually underdeveloped and sterile. * Frequency of Down syndrome increases w/ the age of the mother. * The extra chromosome can result from nondisjunction during meiosis I, and some research points to an age-dependent abnormality in a meiosis checkpoint that normally delays anaphase until all the kinetochores are attached to the spindle fiber (Like the M phase in the mitotic cell cycle). Klinefelter Syndrome * When an extra X chromosome is in a male, producing XXY. * Occurs about 1/2000 births. * People w/ the syndrome have male sex organs, but the testes are abnormally small and the man is sterile. * Even though the extra X is inactivated as Barr bodies in somatic cells, they can have some breast enlargement and other female body characteristics. They can also have subnormal intelligence. * Men with the disease tend to be taller than average Trisomy X * When a female has three X’s (XXX). * Occurs about 1/1000 live births * The females are healthy and cannot be distinguished from normal XX females except by karyotype. Turner Syndrome * Monosomy X, only one X in females * Occurs about 1/5000 births * Is the only known viable monosomy in humans * Although these X0 individuals are phenotypically female, they are sterile because their sex organs do not mature. * Most w/ the syndrome have normal intelligence. * When females that have Turner Syndrome are provided w/estrogen replacement therapy, they can develop secondary sex characteristics. Cri Du Chat (â€Å"cry of the cat†) * A disorder caused by a specific deletion in chromosome 5. * A child born w/ this syndrome is mentally retarded, has a small head w/ unusual facial features, and has a cry that sounds like the mewing of a distressed cat. * People w/ the disease usually die in infancy or early childhood. Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) * A disorder that occurs when a reciprocal translocation happens during mitosis of cells that will become white blood cells. * The exchange of a large portion of chromosome 22 w/ a small fragment from a tip of chromosome 9 produces a much shortened, easily recognized chromosome 22, called the Philadelphia chromosome. MITOCHONDRIAL DISEASES * They reduce the amount of ATP the cell can make. * RARE human disorders. * Mitochondrial mutations inherited from a person’s mother can contribute to some cases of diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. Mitochondrial Myopathy * Causes weakness, intolerance of exercise, and muscle deterioration Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy * Can produce sudden blindness in people as young as in their 20s or 30s * 4 mutations found so far to cause this disorder affect oxidative phosphorylation during cellular respiration ANOTHER DISORDER Phenylketonuria (PKU) * Recessively inherited disorder that occurs about 1/10,000-15,000 births in the U.S. * Children w/ disease can’t properly metabolize the amino acid phenylalanine. * The compound and its by-product, phenylpyruvate, can accumulate to toxic levels in the blood, causing mental retardation.

Contribution Of Rene Descartes To Mathematics Philosophy Essay

Contribution Of Rene Descartes To Mathematics Philosophy Essay Rene Descartes was born on March 31, 1596, in the magnificent city of the south of France (Touraine, France). Joachim Descartes his father was a councilor of Congress and intelligence, and ensured that Descartes was provided an excellent environment for learning. In 1606, when Descartes reached an age of 8 years, was admitted to Jesuit College of Henry IV, where he studied literature, grammar, science and mathematics for eight years. He was usually and critically unhealthy and was allowed to stay in bed late each morning. However, he studied the classics, logic and philosophy. In all Descartes just found mathematics is satisfactory to the truth of natural science. In 1614, he left the university to study civil and canon law at Poitiers. In 1616, he received his baccalaureate and licentiate titles. The degrees outside it, Descartes also spent time studying philosophy, theology and health. Descartes spent several years studying mathematics in Paris with friends, as Messene. Over time, a man for this type of education or enlist in the army or the church. Descartes decides to enlist in the army of a nobleman in 1617. During the service, with some geometric issues Descartes, a problem that had become a challenge for everyone to solve. Descartes solved it in only a few hours. Later, he met a man named Isaac Holland Beckman a scientist that became a friend of Descartes. Shortly after he took power in mathematics, the tasks is in the army would be unacceptable to him. However, he was still in the army under the influence of family and tradition. In 1621, Descartes give up the army and traveled extensively for doing researches in pure mathematics. Then he settled in Paris in 1626, he found the construction of the optical (eye) Instruments. Finally, in 1628, became the researcher for truth about the natural sciences. During this period, he moved to the Netherlands. He continued to live in there for over twenty years. During this period, Descartes published his first meditations philosophy. None other than his own work, he discovered his famous phrase I think then I exist. It could be used to cause the complex ideas of the universe in the simple idea thats true. So Descartes continued his work in mathematics. In 1638, the geometric aspect of Descartes became famous in the history of mathematics, as he did the invention of analytic geometry. Although this work has been done before by other mathematicians and the history of mathematics, introduces the theory Descartes Identify a point in a plane of pairs of real numbers (ordered pairs). This is called Cartesian delta. In 1649, Queen Descartes invited to Sweden to work in mathematics. It is said that the Queen wants to work in mathematics in the early morning hours. So Descartes must wake up early to go to the palace. Due to the cold climate, they developed pneumonia after only a few months and died on February 11, 1650. Contribution to Mathematics: Descartes has made many notable and famous contributions to mathematics. In 1618, when Descartes travelled to Holland to finally settle there, he met a thirty year-old student of medicine, Isaac Beeckman, after next few weeks. This new friend of Descartes was astonished at capability of Descartes at maths. Over the next few weeks Descartes showed Beeckman the following facts: How to apply algebra and mathematics to many problems. Mathematics could be applied to a more precise spacing and tuning of lute stings, Proposed algebraic formula to determine the raise in water level when a heavy object was placed in water. Drew a geometric graph that showed how to predict the accelerating speed of a pencil falling in a vacuum at any time during a two hour period. How a spinning top stays upright and how this could be used to help man become airborne. By the end of 1618, Descartes was already applying algebraic equations to solve geometric problems. It was then, not later as many sources say, that he invented analytical geometry. Descartes attempted to provide a philosophical foundation for the new mechanistic physics that was developing from the work of Copernicus and Galileo. He divided all things into two categories-mind and matter-and developed a dualistic philosophical system in which, although mind is subject to the will and does not follow physical laws, all matter must obey the same mechanistic laws The philosophical system that Descartes developed, known as Cartesian philosophy, was based on skepticism and asserted that all reliable knowledge must be built up by the use of reason through logical analysis. Cartesian philosophy was influential in the ultimate success of the Scientific Revolution and provides the foundation upon which most subsequent philosophical thought is grounded. Descartes published various treatises about philosophy and mathematics. In 1637 Descartes published his masterwork, Discourse on the Method of reasoning well and Seeking Truth in the Sciences. In Discourse, Descartes sought to explain everything in terms of matter and motion. Discourse contained three appendices, one on optics, one on meteorology, and one titled La Gà ©ometrie (The Geometry). In La Gà ©ometrie, Descartes described what is now known as the system of Cartesian Coordinates, or coordinate geometry. In Descartess system of coordinates, geometry and algebra were united for the first time to create what is known as analytic geometry. Many of his contributions to mathematics are: Cartesian coordinate system Fibred category Cartesian product Defect (geometry) Descartes rule of signs Descartes theorem Analytic geometry Pullback Theorm Cartesian Coordinate System: History: The idea of this system was developed in 1637 with two works by Descartes and independently by Pierre de Fermat, although Fermat used three-dimensional and unpublished findings. In the second part of his lecture method, Descartes introduces the new idea of determining the location of a point or object on the surface, using two intersecting axes as measuring guides. La Geometrie, he continued to explore the concept mentioned above. It might be interesting to note that some people have pointed out that the masters of the Renaissance used a grid, in the form of a mesh, as a tool to break the constituent parts of their subjects, they add color. Descartes may affect only speculate. (See opinion, radiation geometry.) Development of the Cartesian coordinate system enabled the development of the calculation of Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Nicole Oresme, a 14th century French philosopher, construction similar to using Cartesian coordinates before the time of Descartes. Many other coordinate system is developed for Descartes, as the plane polar coordinates and the spherical and cylindrical coordinates three-dimensional space. Listen Read phonetically Dictionary View detailed dictionary Introduction: A Cartesian coordinate system specifies each point uniquely in a plane by a pair of numerical coordinates, which are the signed distances from the point to two fixed perpendicular directed lines, measured in the same unit of length. Each reference line is called a coordinate axis or just axis of the system, and the point where they meet is its origin. The coordinates can also be defined as the positions of the perpendicular projections of the point onto the two axes, expressed as a signed distances from the origin. Illustration of a Cartesian coordinate plane. Four points are marked and labeled with their coordinates: (2,3) in green, (à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢3,1) in red, (à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢1.5,à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢2.5) in blue, and the origin (0,0) in purple. One can use the same principle to specify the position of any point in three-dimensional space by three Cartesian coordinates, its signed distances to three mutually perpendicular planes (or, equivalently, by its perpendicular projection onto three mutually perpendicular lines). In general, one can specify a point in a space of any dimension n by use of n Cartesian coordinates, the signed distances from n mutually perpendicular hyper planes. Cartesian coordinate system with a circle of radius 2 centered at the origin marked in red. The equation of a circle is x2 + y2 = r2. The invention of Cartesian coordinates in the 17th century by Renà © Descartes revolutionized mathematics by providing the first systematic link between Euclidean geometry and algebra. Using the Cartesian coordinate system, geometric shapes (such as curves) can be described by Cartesian equations: algebraic equations involving the coordinates of the points lying on the shape. For example, a circle of radius 2 may be described as the set of all points whose coordinates x and y satisfy the equation x2 + y2 = 22. Cartesian coordinates are the foundation of analytic geometry, and provide enlightening geometric interpretations for many other branches of mathematics, such as linear algebra, complex analysis, differential geometry, multivariate calculus, group theory, and more. A familiar example is the concept of the graph of a function. Cartesian coordinates are also essential tools for most applied disciplines that deal with geometry, including astronomy, physics, engineering, and many more. They are the most common coordinate system used in computer graphics, computer-aided geometric design, and other geometry-related data processing. Cartesian formulas for the plane: Distance between two points The Euclidean distance between two points of the plane with Cartesian coordinates (x1,y1) and (x2,y2) is This is the Cartesian version of Pythagoras theorem. In three-dimensional space, the distance between points (x1,y1,z1) and (x2,y2,z2) is Which can be obtained by two consecutive applications of Pythagoras theorem? Fibred category: Introduction: Fibred categories are complex entities in mathematics is used to provide a general framework for the first theory. They are formalized in different situations and algebraic geometry, where the reverse image (or pull-backs) the objects as vector bundles can be determined. For example, for every topological space can be eliminated in the vector space, and for all continuous maps from a topological space X into a topological space Y is a combination of functional bundle bundle the pullback of Y type of system X . physique goals include normalization and contrast image functors. Same settings appear in various guises in mathematics, especially algebra, geometry, that is the context in which the body of the type originally appeared. Fibrations also plays an important role in the theory of category classification and theoretical computer science, especially in the theoretical model depends Cartesian product: Introduction: In mathematics, a Cartesian product (or product set) is the direct product of two sets. The Cartesian product is named after Renà © Descartes, whose formulation of analytic geometry gave rise to this concept. Specifically, the Cartesian product of two sets X (for example the points on an x-axis) and Y (for example the points on a y-axis), denoted X ÃÆ'- Y, is the set of all possible ordered pairs whose first component is a member of X and whose second component is a member of Y (e.g., the whole of the x-y plane): [2] For example, the Cartesian product of the 13-element set of standard playing card ranks {Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2} and the four-element set of card suits {à ¢Ã¢â€ž ¢Ã‚  , à ¢Ã¢â€ž ¢Ã‚ ¥, à ¢Ã¢â€ž ¢Ã‚ ¦, à ¢Ã¢â€ž ¢Ã‚ £} is the 52-element set of all possible playing cards: ranks ÃÆ'- suits = {(Ace, à ¢Ã¢â€ž ¢Ã‚  ), (King, à ¢Ã¢â€ž ¢Ã‚  ), , (2, à ¢Ã¢â€ž ¢Ã‚  ), (Ace, à ¢Ã¢â€ž ¢Ã‚ ¥), , (3, à ¢Ã¢â€ž ¢Ã‚ £), (2, à ¢Ã¢â€ž ¢Ã‚ £)}. The corresponding Cartesian product has 52 = 13 ÃÆ'- 4 elements. The Cartesian product of the suits ÃÆ'- ranks would still be the 52 pairings, but in the opposite order {(à ¢Ã¢â€ž ¢Ã‚  , Ace), (à ¢Ã¢â€ž ¢Ã‚  , King), }. Ordered pairs (a kind of tuple) have order, but sets are unordered. The order in which the elements of a set are listed is irrelevant; you can shuffle the deck and its still the same set of cards. A Cartesian product of two finite sets can be represented by a table, with one set as the rows and the other as the columns, and forming the ordered pairs, the cells of the table, by choosing the element of the set from the row and the column. Basic properties Let A,B,C, and D be sets. In cases where the two input sets are not the same, the Cartesian product is not commutative because the ordered pairs are reversed. Although the elements of each of the ordered pairs in the sets will be the same, the pairing will differ. For example: {1,2} x {3,4} = {(1,3), (1,4), (2,3), (2,4)} {3,4} x {1,2} = {(3,1), (3,2), (4,1), (4,2)} One exception is with the empty set, which acts as a zero, and for equal sets. and, supposing G,T are sets and G=T: Strictly speaking, the Cartesian product is not associative. The Cartesian Product acts nicely with respect to intersections. Notice that in most cases the above statement is not true if we replace intersection with union. However, for intersection and union it holds for: and, n-ary product The Cartesian product can be generalized to the n-ary Cartesian product over n sets X1, , Xn: It is a set of n-tuples. If tuples are defined as nested ordered pairs, it can be identified to (X1 ÃÆ'- ÃÆ'- Xn-1) ÃÆ'- Xn. Defect (geometry): Introduction: In geometry, the defect (or deficit) means the failure of some angles to add up to the expected amount of 360 ° or 180 °, when such angles in the plane would. The opposite notion is the excess. Classically the defect arises in two ways: the defect of a vertex of a polyhedron; the defect of a hyperbolic triangle; and the excess arises in one way: the excess of a spherical triangle. In the plane, angles about a point add up to 360 °, while interior angles in a triangle add up to 180 ° (equivalently, exterior angles add up to 360 °). However, on a convex polyhedron the angles at a vertex on average add up to less that 360 °, on a spherical triangle the interior angles always add up to more than 180 ° (the exterior angles add up to less that 360 °), and the angles in a hyperbolic triangle always add up to less than 180 ° (the exterior angles add up to more than 360 °). In modern terms, the defect at a vertex or over a triangle (with a minus) is precisely the curvature at that point or the total (integrated) over the triangle, as established by the Gauss-Bonnet theorem. Descartes rule of signs: Introduction: In mathematics, Descartes rule of signs, first described by Renà © Descartes in his work La Gà ©omà ©trie, is a technique for determining the number of positive or negative real roots of a polynomial. The rule gives us an upper bound number of positive or negative roots of a polynomial. It is not a deterministic rule, i.e. it does not tell the exact number of positive or negative roots. Positive Roots The rule states that if the terms of a single-variable polynomial with real coefficients are ordered by descending variable exponent, then the number of positive roots of the polynomial is either equal to the number of sign differences between consecutive nonzero coefficients, or less than it by a multiple of 2. Multiple roots of the same value are counted separately. Negative Roots As a corollary of the rule, the number of negative roots is the number of sign changes after negating the coefficients of odd-power terms (otherwise seen as substituting the negation of the variable for the variable itself), or fewer than it by a multiple of 2. Descartes theorem: Introduction: In geometry, Descartes theorem, named after Renà © Descartes, establishes a relationship between four kissing, or mutually tangent, circles. The theorem can be used to construct a fourth circle tangent to three given, mutually tangent circles. Descartes theorem If four mutually tangent circles have curvatures ki (for i  =  1,  ,  4), Descartes theorem says: (1) When trying to find the radius of a fourth circle tangent to three given kissing circles, the equation is best rewritten as: (2) The  ± sign reflects the fact that there are in general two solutions. Ignoring the degenerate case of a straight line, one solution is positive and the other is either positive or negative; if negative, it represents a circle that circumscribes the first three (as shown in the diagram above). Other criteria may favor one solution over the other in any given problem. Analytic Geometry: Introduction Analytic geometry has two different meanings in mathematics. Except for the section Modern analytic geometry, this article treats the classical and elementary meaning, which is a synonym of coordinate geometry. The modern and advanced meaning refers to the geometry of analytic varieties, whose object is sketched in Section Modern analytic geometry, below. Cartesian coordinates. Analytic geometry, also known as coordinate geometry, analytical geometry, or Cartesian geometry, is the study of geometry using a coordinate system and the principles of algebra and analysis. This contrasts with the general approach of Euclidean geometry, which holds a number of geometric concepts as primitives, and use deductive reasoning based on axioms and theorems get the facts. Analytical geometry is the foundation of most modern areas of geometry, including algebraic geometry, differential geometry and discrete geometry and calculations, and are widely used in physics and engineering. Usually the Cartesian coordinate system is applied to manipulate the equations for planes, lines, and square, often two and sometimes three-dimensional measurement. Geometry, a study of the Euclidean plane (14:00) and Euclidean space (15:00). As taught in textbooks, geometry analysis can be explained more simply: it is concerned with defining a geometric shape and get some information from a representative of that. The digital outputs, however, might also be a vector or a shape. That the algebra of the real numbers can be employed to yield results about the linear continuum of geometry relies on the Cantor-Dedekind axiom. Pullback (category theorem): Introduction In category theory, a branch of mathematics, a pullback (also called a fiber product, fibre product, fibered product or Cartesian square) is the limit of a diagram consisting of two morphisms f  : X  Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã‚  Z and g  :  Y  Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã‚  Z with a common codomain; it is the limit of the cospan . The pullback is often written

Life of a Slave on the Plantation Essay -- History Slaves African Amer

Life of a Slave on the Plantation African slavery started at the 16th century and ended in the 19th century. Slave life was the most brutal and disrespected period of America. When Africans first stepped foot on the slave ships coming to America things were bad. The white man beat, raped, and treated the black men like animals. Life on the plantation wasn’t any better. The slaves didn’t work for a paycheck, they worked for their lives. The black man had difficulties adapting to the environment, learning another language, and being a monogamous. Most slaves came from the West African region. Disease, frailty and brutality, played a heavy part on of slaves dying on the ships. The slave ships landed in Maryland, Virginia, or Carolina. Once the slaves reached land they had to adjust to the environment in America. Adapting to the new country meant: Europeans and Africans would encounter varieties of microorganisms foreign to them and would bring with them varieties that were new to America. So with red, white, and black men merging in this place, their bodies would have to make adjustments. (Nathan Irvin 58) Europeans had trouble adapting to the shorelines. The Africans were amused by the illness of the Europeans. African immigrant wasn’t as vulnerable to the shoreline, because they were adapted to the shorelines in West Africa. They were most vulnerable to the malaria parasite. In time, they adapted to the parasite. Even though the African had some defenses, their body developed the sickle cell trait. Other fatal diseases were yellow fever, which is carried by mosquito and smallpox, a contagious disease carried by a human host. All white and black newcomers had to adapt to the new microorganisms coming into the country. It was hard to make medicine for the slaves, because they didn’t have the same herbs or plants in America.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Communication was a necessary tool between the Africans and the Europeans. To increase communications and reduce confusion, a language called linguae francae was developed. This is a blend of Portuguese, French and English. The slave owners and traders mixed the African tribes. The mixture of tongues helped make a new language. Children found it easy to mouth new sounds for old meanings. Older Africans were concerned that they were not being understood while trying to communicate in the new language. Some settlers didn... ... a dirt floor or a wooden floor with cold air seeping through the cracks. Cabins usually had three to eight people living in one room. School life for the slaves was forbidden. The classes usually took place in an abandon one-room building or a church. The children sat on either benches or a log. They didn’t learn off of any blackboard or maps. Students learned how to write and read out of the New England Primer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Conclusion, the punishment of black slaves was no joke. To me there is nothing that the white man can say to me or give to me to make up for the brutality of my ancestors. Today we do not appreciate our freedom, we take advantage of it. If the white man took our freedom away only a small percent of us will survive. To me slavery was pure evil. Slavery was the cause of the Civil War deaths. America was built on the blood sweat and tears of slavery. If the white man didn’t have our help to raise their daughter or son they wouldn’t have survive. When the white man says today black man society is lazy. I think to myself about how my ancestors help raise their kids. How slaves were in their fields picking their cotton, feeding their kids and doing their housework.

Endgame by Samuel Beckett :: essays research papers

As stated by Cohn in her article " 'Endgame': The Gospel According to Sad Sam Beckett" there is much evidence given relating to the many comparable instances between the Bible and Beckett's â€Å"Endgame.† With this interpretation as well as the discussion about the significance of the title, and the constant reference to the end of the world, it is nearly impossible to see Beckett's â€Å"Endgame† as anything other than a post-apocalyptic tale. I found particularly interesting Cohn's relation to Beckett's Hamm and the Bible's Ham. Ham being the son of Noah, as Cohn states, he is responsible for the survival of life. In the Bible, Ham obeys the wishes of his father, and thus God, and devoted his life to the expansion of humanity and the earth's mere existence. As the Noah story tells, God, unhappy with the world, creates a mass flood that kills the entire world's population, barring a male and a female of every species. This boatload of beings was to start th e world anew, to try and make it a better place. If Hamm is supposed to be a comparison to the Biblical Ham, could it not also be considered the Biblical Ham if things had gone wrong? Hamm, throughout the story welcomes the apocalypse, curses God and is contemptuous to his own existence. If the Biblical Ham had been his contemptuous person, could God not have sent yet another apocalypse to yet again end the world and try again? Is Beckett trying to say that it took more than one try for God himself to get it right? I find this a much clearer reading then one of each character being part of the brain. The text supports this in many ways, most already supported by Cohn. Her evidence, however, lead me to this conclusion. Her description of the resurrections also works with this theory. The world had many resurrections, all in the pursuit of a better place. Basically I find this play an instance of "What if?" What if Ham (Biblical) had screwed up? What if God’s great plan of the flood did not work? I also find Beckett's description of the small boy, the glimmer of hope, to be an image of a savior, possibly Jesus. This savior is another attempt by God to make a perfect world. In relating this theory to that of the term "endgame" one can also determine that possible life, humanity is in a constant game with God, or some higher being.

Blood Promise Chapter Twenty-Three

Unfortunately, I couldn't remember where I'd felt it before. Considering everything else that had been happening to me, the fact that I'd even recalled it at all was remarkable. My memories were a little scattered, but I did my best to sift through them, wondering where I had experienced that tickling in my brain. I received no answers, and pondering it all soon became as frustrating as coming up with an escape plan. And as more time passed, I realized I really did need an escape plan. The endorphin withdrawal was killing me, but I was thinking more and more clearly as the effects left my system. I was astonished at how out of it I'd let myself become. As soon as I'd allowed Dimitri to bite me†¦ I'd fallen apart. I'd lost my higher reasoning. I'd lost my strength and skills. I'd become soft and silly and stupid. Well, not entirely. If I'd completely lost it, I'd be a Strigoi now. There was some comfort, at least, in knowing that even while high on bites, some part of me had still fought through and refused to succumb. Knowing I wasn't as entirely weak as I'd believed helped keep me going. It made it easier to ignore the yearning in my body, to distract myself with bad TV and eating all the food in the little refrigerator. I even stayed awake for a long time in the hopes of exhausting myself. It worked, and I crashed as soon as I hit the pillow, drifting into a dreamless sleep with no withdrawal effects. I was awakened later when a body slid into bed beside me. I opened my eyes and stared right into Dimitri's red ones. For the first time in days, I looked at him with fear, not love. I kept that off my face, though, and smiled at him. I reached out and touched his face. â€Å"You're back. I missed you.† He caught my hand and kissed my palm. â€Å"I had things to do.† The shadows shifted on his face, and I caught the tiniest glimpse of dried blood near his mouth. Grimacing, I rubbed it off with my finger. â€Å"So I see.† â€Å"It's the natural order, Rose. How are you feeling?† â€Å"Better. Except†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"What?† I looked away, conflicted again. The look in his eyes just then was more than simple curiosity. There was concern there-only a little-but it was there. Concern for me. And yet only a moment ago, I'd wiped blood from his face-blood from some poor person whose life had been snuffed out within the last few hours, most likely. â€Å"I was in Lissa's head,† I said at last. There was no harm in telling him this. Like Nathan, he knew she was at the Academy. â€Å"And†¦ I got pushed out.† â€Å"Pushed out?† â€Å"Yeah†¦ I was seeing through her eyes like I usually do, and then some force†¦ I don't know, an invisible hand shoved me out. I've never felt anything like it.† â€Å"Maybe it's a new spirit ability.† â€Å"Maybe. Except, I've been watching her regularly, and I've never seen her practice or even consider anything like that.† He shrugged slightly and put an arm around me. â€Å"Being awakened gives you better senses and accessibility to the world. But it doesn't make you omniscient. I don't know why that happened to you.† â€Å"Clearly not omniscient, or else Nathan wouldn't want information about her so badly. Why is that? Why are the Strigoi fixated on killing the royal lines? We know they've-you've-been doing it, but why? What does it matter? Isn't a victim a victim-especially when plenty of Strigoi used to be royal Moroi?† â€Å"That requires a complicated answer. A large part of hunting Moroi royalty is fear. In your old world, royalty are held above all others. They get the best guardians, the best protection.† Yes, that was certainly true. Lissa had discovered that much at Court. â€Å"If we can still get to them through that, then what does it say? It means no one is safe. It creates fear, and fear makes people do foolish things. It makes them easier prey.† â€Å"That's horrible.† â€Å"Prey or-â€Å" â€Å"Yeah, yeah, I know. Prey or predator.† His eyes narrowed slightly, apparently not liking the interruption. He let it go. â€Å"There's also a benefit to unraveling Moroi leadership. That creates instability, too.† â€Å"Or maybe they'd be better off with a change of leadership,† I said. He gave me another odd look, and I was a bit startled myself. There I was, thinking like Victor Dashkov again. I realized I should just be quiet. I wasn't behaving like my usual scattered and high self. â€Å"What's the rest?† â€Å"The rest†¦Ã¢â‚¬  A smile curved up his lips. â€Å"The rest is prestige. We do it for the glory of it. For the reputation it gives us and the satisfaction of knowing we're responsible for destroying that which others haven't been able to destroy for centuries.† Simple Strigoi nature. Malice, hunting, and death. There didn't need to be any other reasons. Dimitri's gaze moved past me to my bedside table. It was where I took off all my jewelry at night and laid it out. All his gifts were there, glittering like some pirate's treasure. Reaching over me, he lifted up the nazar on its chain. â€Å"You still have this.† â€Å"Yup. Not as pretty as your stuff, though.† Seeing the blue eye reminded me of my mother. I hadn't thought about her in a very long time. Back in Baia, I'd grown to see Olena as a secondary mother, but now†¦ now I kind of wished for my own. Janine Hathaway might not cook and clean, but she was smart and competent. And in some ways, I realized with a start, we thought alike. My traits had come from her, and I knew with certainty that in this situation, she wouldn't have stopped planning escape. â€Å"This I haven't seen before,† Dimitri said. He'd set the nazar back down and picked up the plain silver ring Mark had given me. I hadn't worn it since I was last in the Belikov house and had set it on the table next to the nazar. â€Å"I got it while I was-† I stopped, realizing I hadn't ever brought up my travels before Novosibirsk. â€Å"While you were what?† â€Å"While I was in your hometown. In Baia.† Dimitri was playing with the ring, moving it from fingertip to fingertip, but he paused and glanced over at me when I said the name. â€Å"You were there?† Strangely, we hadn't talked much about that. I'd mentioned Novosibirsk a few times, but that was it. â€Å"I thought that's where you'd be,† I explained. â€Å"I didn't know that Strigoi did their hunting in cities here. I stayed with your family.† His eyes returned to the ring. He continued playing with it, twirling it and rolling it around. â€Å"And?† â€Å"And†¦ they were nice. I liked them. I hung out with Viktoria a lot.† â€Å"Why wasn't she at school?† â€Å"It was Easter.† â€Å"Ah, right. How was she?† â€Å"Fine,† I said quickly. I couldn't bring myself to tell him about that last night with her and Rolan. â€Å"Karolina's good too. She reminds me of you. She really laid into some dhampir guys who were causing trouble.† He smiled again, and it was†¦ nice. I mean, the fangs still made it creepy, but it didn't have that sinister edge I'd come to expect. There was fondness in his face, true affection that startled me. â€Å"I can see Karolina doing that. Did she have her baby yet?† â€Å"Yeah†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I was still a little thrown off by that smile. â€Å"It was a girl. Zoya.† â€Å"Zoya,† he repeated, still not looking at me. â€Å"Not a bad name. How was Sonya?† â€Å"Okay. I didn't see too much of her. She's a little touchy†¦ Viktoria says it's because of the pregnancy.† â€Å"Sonya's pregnant too?† â€Å"Oh. Yeah. Six months, I think.† His smile dimmed a little bit, and he almost seemed concerned. â€Å"I suppose it had to happen sooner or later. Her decisions aren't always as wise as Karolina's. Karolina's children were by choice†¦ I'm guessing Sonya's was a surprise.† â€Å"Yeah. I kind of got that feeling too.† He ticked off the rest of his family members. â€Å"My mother and grandmother?† â€Å"Er, fine. Both of them.† This conversation was becoming increasingly strange. Not only was it the first normal one we'd had since I'd arrived, it was also the first time he'd really seemed interested in anything that wasn't Strigoi related or that didn't involve kissing and biting, aside from some reminiscing about our early fights together-and the teasing reminders of sex in the cabin. â€Å"Your grandmother scared me a little.† He laughed, and I flinched. It was so, so close to his old laugh. Closer than I'd ever imagined it could be. â€Å"Yes, she does that to people.† â€Å"And she pretended not to speak English.† That was a pretty small detail in the grand scheme of things, but it still kind of pissed me off. â€Å"Yes, she does that too.† He continued smiling, voice fond. â€Å"Do they all still live together? In that same house?† â€Å"Yup. I saw the books you told me about. The pretty ones-but I couldn't read them.† â€Å"That's where I first got into American westerns.† â€Å"Man, I loved making fun of you over those.† He chuckled. â€Å"Yes, between that, your stereotypes about Eastern European music, and the whole ? ®comrade' thing, you had plenty of material.† I laughed too. â€Å"? ®Comrade' and the music were kind of out of line.† I'd almost forgotten about my old nickname for him. It didn't fit anymore. â€Å"But you brought the cowboy thing on yourself, between the leather duster and-† I stopped. I'd started to mention his duty to help those in need, but that was hardly the case anymore. He didn't notice my lapse. â€Å"And then you left them and came to Novosibirsk?† â€Å"Yeah. I came with those dhampirs I was hunting with†¦ those other unpromised ones. I almost didn't, though. Your family wanted me to stay. I thought about doing it.† Dimitri held the ring up to the light, face shadowed with thought. He sighed. â€Å"You probably should have.† â€Å"They're good people.† â€Å"They are,† he said softly. â€Å"You might have been happy there.† Reaching over, he set the ring back on the table and then turned to me, bringing our mouths together. It was the softest, sweetest kiss he'd given me as a Strigoi, and my already considerable shock increased. The gentleness was fleeting, though, and a few seconds later, our kissing returned to what it usually was, forceful and hungry. I had a feeling he was hungry for more than just kissing, too, despite having fed recently. Pushing aside my confusion over how†¦ well, normal and kind he'd seemed while talking about his family, I tried to figure out how I was going to dodge more biting without raising suspicion. My body was still weak and wanting it, but in my head, I felt more like myself than I had in ages. Dimitri pulled up from the kiss, and I blurted out the first thing that came to mind before he could do anything else. â€Å"What's it like?† â€Å"What's what like?† â€Å"Kissing.† He frowned. Score one for me. I'd momentarily baffled an undead creature of the night. Sydney would be proud. â€Å"What do you mean?† â€Å"You said being awakened enhances all the senses. Is kissing different then?† â€Å"Ah.† Understanding flashed over his features. â€Å"It is, kind of. My sense of smell is stronger than it used to be, so your scent comes through much more intensely†¦ your sweat, the shampoo in your hair†¦ it's beyond what you can imagine. Intoxicating. And of course, sharper taste and touch make this better.† He leaned down and kissed me again, and something about his description made my insides queasy-in a good way. That wasn't supposed to happen. My hope was to distract him-not myself. â€Å"When we were outside the other night, the flowers were really strong. If they're strong to me, are they overwhelming to you? I mean, do the scents get to be too much?† And so it began. I bombarded him with as many questions as I could, asking him about all aspects of Strigoi life. I wanted to know what it was like, how he felt†¦ I asked everything with curiosity and enthusiasm, biting my lip and turning thoughtful at all the right places. I could see his interest grow as I spoke, though his attitude was brisk and efficient-in no way resembling our earlier affectionate conversation. He was hoping that I was finally on the verge of agreeing to turn. As the questioning continued, so also did my outward signs of fatigue. I yawned a lot, lost my train of thought a lot. Finally, I rubbed my eyes with my hands and yawned again. â€Å"There's so much I didn't know†¦ still don't know†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I told you it was amazing.† Honestly, some of it was. Most of it was creepy as hell, but if you got over the whole undead and evil thing, there were definitely some perks to being Strigoi. â€Å"I have more questions,† I murmured. I closed my eyes and sighed, then opened them as though forcing myself to stay awake. â€Å"But†¦ I'm so tired†¦ I still don't feel good. You don't think I have a concussion, do I?† â€Å"No. And once you're awakened, it won't matter anyway.† â€Å"But not until you answer the rest of my questions.† The words were muffled in a yawn, but he understood. It took him a while to respond. â€Å"Okay. Not until then. But time is running out. I told you that before.† I let my lids drift closed then. â€Å"But it's not the second day yet†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"No,† he said quietly. â€Å"Not yet.† I lay there, steadying my breathing as much as I could. Would my act work? It was highly possible he would still drink from me even if he thought I was asleep. I was taking a gamble here. One bite, and all my work to fight the withdrawal would be wasted. I'd reset to how I'd been. As it was, I had no clue how I was going to dodge a bite next time†¦ but then, I didn't think there'd be a next time. I'd be a Strigoi by then. Dimitri lay beside me for a few more minutes, and then I felt him move. Inside, I braced myself. Damn. Here it came. The bite. I'd been certain that our kissing was part of the allure of him drinking from me and that if I just fell asleep, the allure would be gone. Apparently not. All my pretending was for nothing. It was all over. But it wasn't. He got up and left. When I heard the door close, I almost thought it was a scam. I thought for sure he was trying to fake me out and still actually stood in the room. Yet when I felt the Strigoi nausea fade, I realized the truth. He really had left me, thinking I needed to sleep. My act had been convincing. I immediately sat up, turning a few different things over in my mind. In that last bit of his visit, he'd seemed†¦ well, he'd reminded me more than ever of the old Dimitri. Sure, he'd still been Strigoi through and through, but there'd been something else. A bit of warmth to his laugh. Sincere interest and affection upon hearing about his family. Had that been it? Had hearing news of his family triggered some piece of his soul buried within the monster? I confess, I felt a little jealous at the thought that they might have wrought the change in him that I couldn't. But he'd still had that same warmth in talking about us, just a little†¦ No, no. I had to stop this. There was no change. No reversal of his state. It was wishful thinking, and the more I regained my old self, the more I realized the truth of the situation. Dimitri's actions had made me recall something. I'd completely forgotten about Oksana's ring. I picked it up from the table and slipped it on my finger. I felt no noticeable change, but if the healing magic was still in it, it might help me. It could expedite my body and mind healing from the withdrawal. If any of Lissa's darkness was bleeding into me, the ring could help dampen that, too. I sighed. No matter how often I told myself I was free of her, I never would be. She was my best friend. We were connected in a way that few could understand. The denial I'd been living under lifted. I regretted my actions with Adrian now. He'd come to me for help, and I'd thrown his kindness back in his face. Now I was bereft of communication with the outside world. And thinking of Lissa reminded me again of what had happened earlier when I'd been in her mind. What had pushed me out? I hesitated, pondering my course of action. Lissa was far away and possibly in trouble. Dimitri and the other Strigoi were here. But†¦ I couldn't walk away quite yet. I had to take one more look at her, just a quick one†¦ I found her in an unexpected place. She was with Deirdre, a counselor on campus. Lissa had been seeing a counselor ever since spirit had begun manifesting, but it had been someone else. Expanding my senses to Lissa's thoughts, I read the story: Her counselor had left shortly after the school's attack. Lissa had been reassigned to Deirdre-who had once counseled me when everyone thought I was going crazy over Mason's death. Deirdre was a very polished-looking Moroi, always meticulously dressed with her blond hair styled to perfection. She didn't look much older than us, and with me, her counseling method had resembled a police interrogation. With Lissa, she was more gentle. It figured. â€Å"Lissa, we're a little worried about you. Normally, you would have been suspended. I actually stopped that from happening. I keep feeling like there's something going on that you aren't telling me. Some other issue.† Lissa suspended? I again reached in to read the situation and found it. Last night, Lissa and others had been busted for breaking into the library of all places and having an impromptu party complete with alcohol and destruction to some of the property. Good God. My best friend needed to join AA. Lissa's arms were crossed, her demeanor almost combative. â€Å"There's no issue. We were just trying to have fun. I'm sorry for the damage. If you want to suspend me, go ahead.† Deirdre shook her head. â€Å"That's not my decision. My concern is the why here. I know you used to suffer from depression and other problems because of your, ah, magic. But this feels more like some kind of rebellion.† Rebellion? Oh, it was more than that. Since their fight, Lissa had been unable to find Christian, and it was killing her. She couldn't handle downtime now. All she thought about was him-or me. Partying and risk taking were the only things that could distract her from us. â€Å"Students do this stuff all the time,† argued Lissa. â€Å"Why is it a big deal for me?† â€Å"Well, because you put yourself in danger. After the library, you were on the verge of breaking into the pool. Swimming while intoxicated is definite cause for alarm.† â€Å"Nobody drowned. Even if someone had started to, I'm sure that between all of us, we could have pulled them out.† â€Å"It's just alarming, considering some of the self-destructive behaviors you once exhibited, like the cutting†¦Ã¢â‚¬  So it went for the next hour, and Lissa did as good a job as I used to in dodging Deirdre's questions. When the session ended, Deirdre said she wasn't going to recommend disciplinary action. She wanted Lissa back for more counseling. Lissa would have actually preferred detention or cleaning boards. As she stalked furiously across campus, she spotted Christian going in the opposite direction. Hope lit the blackness of her mind like sunshine. â€Å"Christian!† she yelled, running up to him. He stopped, giving her a wary look. â€Å"What do you want?† â€Å"What do you mean what do I want?† She wanted to throw herself in his arms and have him tell her everything would be okay. She was upset and overwhelmed and filled with darkness†¦ but there was a piece of vulnerability there that desperately needed him. â€Å"I haven't been able to find you.† â€Å"I've just been†¦Ã¢â‚¬  His face darkened. â€Å"I don't know. Thinking. Besides, from what I hear, you haven't been too bored.† No surprise everyone knew about last night's fiasco. That kind of thing spread like wildfire thanks to the Academy's gossip mill. â€Å"It was nothing,† she said. The way he regarded her made her heart ache. â€Å"That's the thing,† he said. â€Å"Everything's nothing lately. All your partying. Making out with other guys. Lying.† â€Å"I haven't been lying!† she exclaimed. â€Å"And when are you going to get over Aaron?† â€Å"You aren't telling me the truth. It's the same thing.† It was an echo of Jill's sentiment. Lissa barely knew her and was really starting to hate her. â€Å"I just can't handle this. I can't be a part of you going back to your days of being a royal girl doing crazy stunts with your other royal friends.† Here's the thing. If Lissa had elaborated on her feelings more, on just how much her guilt and depression were eating her up and making her spin out of control†¦ well, I think Christian would have been there for her in an instant. Despite his cynical exterior, he had a good heart-and Lissa owned most of it. Or used to. Now all he could see was her being silly and shallow and returning to a lifestyle he despised. â€Å"I'm not!† she exclaimed. â€Å"I'm just†¦ I don't know. It just feels good to sort of let loose.† â€Å"I can't do it,† he said. â€Å"I can't be with you if that's your life now.† Her eyes went wide. â€Å"Are you breaking up with me?† â€Å"I'm†¦ I don't know. Yeah, I guess.† Lissa was so consumed by the shock and horror of this that she didn't really see Christian the way I did, didn't see the agony in his eyes. It destroyed him to have to do this. He was hurting too, and all he saw was the girl he loved changing and becoming someone he couldn't be with. â€Å"Things aren't the way they used to be.† â€Å"You can't do that,† she cried. She didn't see his pain. She saw him as being cruel and unfair. â€Å"We need to talk about this-figure it out-â€Å" â€Å"The time for talking's past,† he argued. â€Å"You should have been ready to talk sooner-not now, not when things suddenly aren't going your way.† Lissa didn't know whether she wanted to scream or cry. She just knew she couldn't lose Christian-not after losing me, too. If she lost both of us, there was nothing left for her in the world. â€Å"Please, don't do this,† she begged. â€Å"I can change.† â€Å"I'm sorry,† he snapped. â€Å"I just don't see any evidence of that.† He turned and abruptly walked away. To her, his departure was harsh and cold. But again, I'd seen the anguish in his eyes. I think he left because he knew if he stayed, he wasn't going to be able to go through with this decision-this decision that hurt but that he felt was right. Lissa started to go after him when a hand suddenly pulled her back. She turned and saw Avery and Adrian standing there. From the looks on their faces, they'd overheard everything. â€Å"Let him go,† said Adrian gravely. He'd been the one to grab her. He dropped his hand and laced his fingers through Avery's. â€Å"Going after him now's just going to make it worse. Give him his space.† â€Å"He can't do this,† said Lissa. â€Å"He can't do this to me.† â€Å"He's upset,† said Avery, her concern mirroring Adrian's. â€Å"He isn't thinking straight. Wait for him to cool off, and he'll come around.† Lissa stared off after Christian's retreating figure, her heart breaking. â€Å"I don't know. I don't know if he will. Oh God. I can't lose him.† My own heart broke. I wanted so badly to go to her, to comfort her and be there for her. She felt so alone, and I felt horrible for leaving her. Something had pushed her into this downward spiral, and I should have been there to help her out of it. That was what best friends did. I needed to be there. Lissa turned back and looked at Avery. â€Å"I'm so confused†¦ I don't know what to do.† Avery met her eyes, but when she did†¦ the strangest thing happened. Avery wasn't looking at her. She was looking at me. Oh jeez. Not you again. The voice rang in my head, and snap! I was out of Lissa. There it was, the mental shove, the brush of my mind and waves of hot and cold. I stared around my room, shocked at how abrupt the transition had been. Yet I'd learned something. I knew then that Lissa hadn't been the one to shove me out before or now. Lissa had been too distracted and too distraught. The voice? That hadn't been hers either. And then, I finally remembered where I'd felt that brushing touch in my head. Oksana. It was the same sensation I'd experienced when she had reached out to my mind, trying to get a feel for my moods and intentions, an action that both she and Mark admitted was invasive and wrong if you weren't bonded to someone. Carefully, I replayed what had just happened with Lissa. Once again, I saw those last few moments. Blue-gray eyes staring at me-me, not Lissa. Lissa hadn't pushed me out of her head. Avery had.

Development of English Weapons Essay

Back in history, human beings used hunting by products such as craws, horns and animal teeth as weapon. As human being developed, he started to use axes made of stone as a weapon both for personal protection and for hunting. More development and civilization led to the development of weapons such as the wooden clubs, unshaped stones for throwing at the enemies and spears for both hunting and fighting. By then, human beings used to make wooden spears for hunting and for attacking any possible human enemy. With time the fire hardened spear points were replaced with stone sharp ones which were more effective than they precedents. Further development and civilization saw the development of bows and arrows to hunt and to counter attack an enemy (Davies, 1990, 67). By 400 B. C, evolution of what can be termed as earlier technology had enabled humans to develop a four wheeled ballista which was drawn by armored horses and more effective while it came to making attacks or counter attacking an enemy than the primitive weapons previously used. However, ancient weapons to be used by human being in their activities were qualitative improvement of the primitive weapons. In this context, revolution in military technology arose as a result of improvement in techniques and materials used in creating prehistoric weapons. As technology began to improve, weapons used in wars also started to improve. For example, with the discovery of the spooked wheel chariots drawn by horses became possible and useful for transporting soldiers to and fro the battle field. Around 1300BC, use of spoke wheel chariots had heightened but ceased later in the 4th century BC as humans began breeding horses that supported human weight and as cavalry replaced the military force that was used in fighting from chariots. In western world, the medieval period was highly characterized by knights and rudimentary siege artillery with their purpose inclusive of negating the increased use of castles which proliferated most of Europe and the neighboring East. The knights made use of various weapons such as the knifes, the bow and the sword. First, the knife which came in various designs was used highly by the knights to thrust into the weak sports of an enemy’s armor, to slit their throats when using stealth or to slash those enemies that came to the battle field un-armored. In essence, the knife could be single edged but many of them were usually double edged and unserrated. Today, knifes continue to be a major weapon used by soldiers both for fighting and other purposes. However, as opposed to knifes in the earlier times, most of knifes used by soldiers today are serrated. In particular, a knife forms one of the basic equipments for soldiers during any warfare. Secondly, the knights made use of swords which like knifes were designed either single edged or double edged. They also came in different sizes with some built heavy enough to be carried by only the strong men in the army. They were used in slashing the enemy or even killing them (http://atschool. eduweb. co. uk/sirrobhitch. suffolk/Portland%20State%20University%20Greek%20Civilization%20Home%20Page%20v2/DOCS/10/seanh1. htm. The design with which swords were supplied depended on the way in which they were intended to counter and kill the enemy. Some were long and others short while others were broad enough to accommodate both hands and could penetrate virtually any type of armor. For example, the bastard was a long or broad sword with normal types of blades but with a heavy pommel or ball at the bottom that was helpful for balancing purposes and as a mace for bashing the head of an enemy. Further, the saber was useful for slashing and employed by cavalry to kill the enemy and in this case could penetrate the armor of an enemy while riding a horse at a high speed. Other weapons commonly used by the knights and the cavalry include the pole arms, spears and lances, axe and other blunt objects such as a hammer and a mace. For one, the mace came as a metal or wood stick about twelve inches long and with a leather loop to prevent it from frying of the wrist while being used. The part used in striking the enemy was usually a sphere with spikes or angled blades designed to inflict injury on the enemy. Spears were simple weapons used for piercing the enemy both at close range or long range. They could have metal or wood heads and was useful while aiming at the weaker spots of the armor. It could also penetrate through the shields or mail given its length and sharpness (Boardman, 1998, 45). Further, the handle of the spear was commonly designed to break off once it hit the target to prevent the enemy from throwing it back. Pole arms came in different sizes and designs. They were used in piercing the armor of the enemy besides slicing or chopping through the enemy given its sharp and curved edges. It was useful while in a cavalry battle field due to the fact that it could be used in chopping off the feet of a horse rode by an enemy thus temporary incapacitating him. While many of this weapons such as the mace and the hammer did not see the light of modern usage, they still presented a good and viable starting point for the development of more sophisticated weapons used by armies all over the world. In regard to the armor used during the medieval times, leather formed the first form of armor to be worn and used by human beings in the battle field. As weapons developed and with the discovery of metal, leather started to become obsolete and was replaced by plate and mail. These two were worn on various parts of the body to prevent a soldier from being slashed by the enemy in the battle field (http://www. angelfire. com/wy/svenskildbiter/siege. html). As enlightenment hit the world, armors began to be worn together with undergarments and actually to be tailored like suits so that a knight could be hit but be on his feet within seconds having sustained no injury. Today, the plates and the mails have been discarded paving way for bullet proof armors and other forms of discovery. For example, the tanks used by armies around the world and in Europe in particular are heavily armored vehicles used for transporting weapons and soldiers to the battle field as well as launching missiles from the safety of highly armored walls. Despite this, the same metals used in designing and producing plates and mails are the ones used in producing today’s armored vehicles (U. S. Congress, 1995, 35). The knights developed from the earlier Calvary. On the other hand, siege artillery which were by then been used to breach the walls of the castles led to many revolutionary advances including the use of gun powder and cannon use. It was not until the Renaissance period that the western world and most parts of the rest of the world started to use firearms in warfare. Human powered weapons were finally exiting battle fields and being replaced with more powerful mechanically powered weapons. This is commonly referred to as the age of riffles as riffles begun to be commonly used in the battle fields. Firearms were developed in large numbers and cannons to support them. Motor vehicles replaced the use of horses in the battlefield and escalation technology which involves the use of armed aircrafts and armored vehicles developed. Firearms and cannons were designed to be fitted on these vehicles and aircrafts and were useful in attacking using long range missiles as is the case today. This saw the introduction of guns and rockets for use in the battle field. Guns and rockets were more efficient than their predecessors by the virtue of their design to store energy in a combustible propellant like gun powder as opposed to springs and weight. They increasingly started to be used in 16th century and with progressive ignition mechanisms remain in use to date. Based on these new developments, new technologies have such as machine guns have risen over the years (http://www. angelfire. com/wy/svenskildbiter/siege. html). Later in the 19th century, fossil fuel powered steam engines replaced sail power warship propulsion. In earlier times, bayonets were developed and which were used both as a pole-arm and as a knife but were later discarded with the discovery of rifled artillery which was by then being used in destroying masonry fortress. In essence, this discovery caused a huge revolution in the field of military and continues to affect today’s weaponry development and war strategies (Blair, 1997, 56). Further, the era of World War II marked a major revolution in military technology with more sophisticated weapons been developed in line with the emerging technologies. New concepts and designs of weapons were developed in massive numbers and the existing technology improved to march with the military needs. For example, atomic bomb was developed around this period. In essence, the end of World War II saw the institutionalization of weapons development as institutions and countries competed to develop unique weapons and counter weapons. In the western world, this constant development of weapons still continues to date (Collins, 1997, 87). In conclusion, despite the fact that weapons used during the medieval times have changed increasingly as compared to those used in recent times, these weapons formed the basis for developments of today world. The strategies employed during the medieval times were highly dependent on the kind of weapons in use. For example, the use of anchors to attack the enemy was dependent on the use of bows and arrows. Still, with the discovery of gunpowder, use of cannons became prominent in blasting the walls of castles and in sinking the ships of the enemy. Today’s weapons and strategies have their roots in the weapons and strategies employed during the earlier times with technology improvements and discoveries increasing the effectiveness of weapons being produced.For example, computer guided weaponry and nuclear weapons have developed over recent years though the later is useless for small wars. Work Cited: Blair Claude. European Armor c1066 to c1700. London: Batsford Publishers, 1997, pp. 56 Boardman Andrew. The Medieval Soldier in the Wars of the Roses. London: Alan Sutton,1998, pp, 45 Collins McNamee. The Wars of the Bruces: Scotland, England and Irelan. , London: East Linton, 1997, pp. 87 Davies R. Domination and Conquest: The Experience of Ireland, Scotland and Wales. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp. 67 Organized Infantry. Retrieved on 2nd January 2009 from http://atschool. eduweb. co. uk/sirrobhitch. suffolk/Portland%20State%20University%20Greek%20Civilization%20Home%20Page%20v2/DOCS/10/seanh1. htm U. S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment. Improving the prospects for future international peace operations: workshop proceedings, Washington DC, US Government Printing Office, 1995, pp. 35 Wyley Stephen, Siege Warfare. The Art of Offense and Defense, 1989. Retrieved on 2nd January 2009 from http://www. angelfire. com/wy/svenskildbiter/siege. html

Developing yourself as an effective hr practitioner †notes Essay

4DEP- notes Assignment- 1) Discuss timeline for HR and how it has evolved to the way it is today. 2) Generalist – Employee resourcing, reward and relation more recently L&D has come in (can break this down further into categories/ specialisms. 3) Self-assessment/ own reflections on analysis, ie appraisal. (look up Myers and Briggs) – Honey and Munford self-assessment – reflect on this and see what they suggest I work on for improvement – discuss my own career aspirations and goals and where I am now in my organisation. How to set the assignment out; Learning outcome one – assessment 1 criteria 1.1 LO1 AC 1.1 Discuss the two core professional areas (map) Global aspect Influence from external – eg. Government How has HR and L&D responded to changes? Discuss bands – 1 – 4 (where am I in these bands? How will I get to band 4? How is it useful for my development?) Activity 1. Describe map as a whole/ what its for, summarise core (as below) pick one form outer core (relevant to my role, discuss band 1or2) and discuss the activities/ knowledge. The core describes the foundation, the ability to have an insight, to lead people, to look for ways to find solutions. Next layer – The professional areas are the activities and knowledge. Outer layer – The behaviours are the approach needed to have in order to do the role. Band 1&2 – pick one to talk about – discuss where I am and why? (from the professional areas pick one from the activities point of view and one from the knowledge) Discuss how the Honey and Mumford test works and how they feel I can improve and go up a band. Activity 2. 2.1 For this one a table is appropriate see below as example; Customer Needs (only one needed in assignment) Line manager Guidance Policies Processes Front line adviser Progression Sickness Grievance Redundancy External recruitment candidate Point of call Responding to queries Start dates Induction Feedback (important) Interview dates How would I prioritise conflicting needs? How will I deliver service on time why is this Important? Delivering service on budget, dealing with difficult customers, handling and resolving complaints. 2.2 Identify different methods of communication and explain the advantages and disadvantages or each. Again a table is fine Email Face to Face Work intranet Advantages – Lots of detail Disadvantages 2.3 Describe how to build and maintain effective service delivery Activity 3. CPD 3.2 Complete map on CIPD website once I have membership. Read associate criteria. Discuss how I need to improve to meet the criteria. Self assessment 3.4 Produce and complete CPD (plan) Example – I want to become an associate member of the CIPD – to do this is will complete this course. 3.3 evaluate options to meet identified development needs 3.1 Importance or CPD paragraph – (not in word count) Challenging myself, development, career plan The importance of CPD is †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 3.5 Reflect on preferment against the plan 4. To be handed in at the end of the course (completed plan)