The increasing use of computers in schools Essay

The increasing use of computers in schools - Essay Example Hence, schools have introduced the use of computers not only to improve students' academic performance but also to increase students' familiarity with new technologies as well as make learning fun and effective for students. The introduction of computers in schools aimed first to improve students' performance in their academic subjects. Educators believe that the computers facilitate ease and convenience especially when these are used by the young people to write papers or do research. Studies done by researchers at Boston College state that regular use of computers in order to do research and write paper can improve students' writing abilities. These students are said to perform better in schools than those who don't use the computers on the same undertakings (O' Dwyer et al, 2005). Researchers also found out that the students' constant use of the computer results to higher score in standardized writing tests as a consequence of their learning from producing drafts, editing to correct errors and writing the final copy. In addition, computers have made the access to information swifter as students do not have to browse through books in the library in order to search to gain access for hard to find data.

American Meat Industry Writing Assignment Essay Example for Free

American Meat Industry Writing Assignment Essay Three main reasons why my feelings towards meat have changed is that I now know that the meat that is supposed to be ‘better for you, isn’t really better, the animals we eat are treated so badly before they are slaughtered, and that we are depleting our resources. For a long time I thought that eating grass-fed beef was a healthy alternative to eating feed-lot beef, which according to the article â€Å"What are Feedlot Beef, Organic Beef, and Grass-fed Beef’s† explanation in the section â€Å"What is Feedlot Beef†, treats the animals badly and gives them growth hormones and antibiotics. Eating grass-fed beef, which normally doesn’t use antibiotics and treats their animals better, still isn’t a good replacement though. It takes up too much land and causes around 50% more greenhouse gases according to â€Å"What’s Wrong with Grass-Fed Beef† in the section â€Å"Land Use† and â€Å"50% more Greenhouse Gases. Now that I know that there isn’t a healthy, safe type of meat, I no longer think eating it meat is a good idea. Another reason I now believe meat isn’t a wise choice is that animals are put in such awful conditions just so people can eat meat. The article â€Å"Factory Farming Facts† says â€Å"A majority of the animals that are raised for food live miserable lives in intensive confinement in dark, overcrowded facilities† in its first paragraph. In the paragraph â€Å"Broiler Chickens† it talks about how chickens are put in things called factory farms that do gruesome things like cut off chickens beaks in toes. The article â€Å"Factory Farming† even said that 99% of animals we eat come from factory farms. After hearing that most of our meat could have been treated like that, I don’t think eating meat is worth hurting so many animals. The third reason my opinion on meat has changed is that I learned how much our animals are being killed for meat. We are depleting the world of so many animals by eating meat. The article â€Å"What’s Wrong With Eating Fish† in the section â€Å"Overfishing†, said that by 2048 we may have completely ran out of seafood because of overfishing. They also talked about the Chesapeake Bay and how its oyster population is depleted and that has affected the Bay’s health overall. Learning that really changed my mind about eating meat and seafood because the Chesapeake Bay is something that can actually affect me and hits close to home. I used to think that eating farmed animals was normal and completely okay. I never knew any better so I never questioned it, until I learned about what I was eating. When I learned that I was hurting the environment and my body, hurting animals, and hurting animal’s populations, my opinions on meat changed drastically. Now I know to not eat as much meat, if any, and to be much more aware of any meat that I do eat.

Basics of Human Gene Therapy :: Genetics Science Essays

Basics of Human Gene Therapy Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was no cancer? No heart disease? No blood problems? Everyone wants to be healthy and have a healthy family but some diseases are genetically related. How are these diseases avoided? This question was pondered by molecular biologists and geneticists. What they developed will revolutionize medicine and health care as we know it. The technique used to try to cure these "incurable" genetic diseases is called human gene therapy. Gene therapy is by no means a new field of scientific query. The idea was first proposed back in the 1950's when Watson and Crick described a model of the double-stranded helix of DNA (Griffith 316). Knowing that DNA is composed of nucleotide base pairs in certain ways, scientists began to ask questions about the DNA structure in the 1970's (Becker) . If the bases can be arranged "incorrectly", then why can't they be rearranged in the "correct" way to produce the desired effect? Genetic experiments involving base pairing went on for years. After these years experiments with bacteria and viruses began. The genetic codes of these cells were changed to express different products like insulin. These products are human based but can be produced by non-human cells. This led to more thoughts and questions. If a bacteria cell can be altered to produce a human product, then why can't a human cell which can't produce this product be altered to produce it also? New experiments began with animal s and creatures with larger genomes. Answers formed from the animal experiments. Technical advances occurred to the point that gene therapy could be performed on humans. Gene therapy has now become a relatively simple process. The basics of the process are the identification of the gene in question, duplication of that gene, and insertion of the gene into the human genome needing the gene (CIS) . The gene that needs to be altered or replaced must be identified. The correctly functioning gene that replaces the defective gene must first be isolated and then duplicated. The gene in question can be isolated by attaching a molecular marker to the gene. The gene is then removed from the genome by a restriction enzyme that will break the genome only at the desired base junctions (i.e. when ATA is next to GAT). Genes removed from the genome can be duplicated easily by PCR. PCR is a process where the genetic sequence of the gene is replicated by the introduction of base pairs in the sequence along with replication enzymes, which induce, cause, and proofread replication. Basics of Human Gene Therapy :: Genetics Science Essays Basics of Human Gene Therapy Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was no cancer? No heart disease? No blood problems? Everyone wants to be healthy and have a healthy family but some diseases are genetically related. How are these diseases avoided? This question was pondered by molecular biologists and geneticists. What they developed will revolutionize medicine and health care as we know it. The technique used to try to cure these "incurable" genetic diseases is called human gene therapy. Gene therapy is by no means a new field of scientific query. The idea was first proposed back in the 1950's when Watson and Crick described a model of the double-stranded helix of DNA (Griffith 316). Knowing that DNA is composed of nucleotide base pairs in certain ways, scientists began to ask questions about the DNA structure in the 1970's (Becker) . If the bases can be arranged "incorrectly", then why can't they be rearranged in the "correct" way to produce the desired effect? Genetic experiments involving base pairing went on for years. After these years experiments with bacteria and viruses began. The genetic codes of these cells were changed to express different products like insulin. These products are human based but can be produced by non-human cells. This led to more thoughts and questions. If a bacteria cell can be altered to produce a human product, then why can't a human cell which can't produce this product be altered to produce it also? New experiments began with animal s and creatures with larger genomes. Answers formed from the animal experiments. Technical advances occurred to the point that gene therapy could be performed on humans. Gene therapy has now become a relatively simple process. The basics of the process are the identification of the gene in question, duplication of that gene, and insertion of the gene into the human genome needing the gene (CIS) . The gene that needs to be altered or replaced must be identified. The correctly functioning gene that replaces the defective gene must first be isolated and then duplicated. The gene in question can be isolated by attaching a molecular marker to the gene. The gene is then removed from the genome by a restriction enzyme that will break the genome only at the desired base junctions (i.e. when ATA is next to GAT). Genes removed from the genome can be duplicated easily by PCR. PCR is a process where the genetic sequence of the gene is replicated by the introduction of base pairs in the sequence along with replication enzymes, which induce, cause, and proofread replication.

Marvin’s Room Essay

Today I will be telling you about â€Å"Marvin’s Room† a play that was just performing in our WLC Theater this past weekend. The play was one of the best and interesting plays that I have ever seen but at the same time emotional and I will explain. â€Å"Marvin’s Room† was a story of a girl, who had cancer and needed a bone marrow transplant in order to survive. So her family came to visit her to see if they had a match and they didn’t. I learned a lot from this play and it made me look at life differently. I feel that this play can really change a lot of people’s state of mind because when it comes to life and death situations that change your whole view. You never know what can come along and change a person’s life. I really enjoyed the play all together because I saw how unique some people are in the preforming arts department at Wisconsin Lutheran College. I also like the way they let the students be their self and let them use some words that we use in everyday life when we’re angry. On top of that I could also tell that the students really enjoyed what they’re doing when they’re out on the stage in front of a big crowd and don’t get stage fright. I’m not much of a theater guy and not much into watching plays or musical plays either but I can say that this one really caught my eye. Last but not least, when you sit and watch a play this serious and a play that is so good and so well performed, it really get your mind thinking about life in this world when you have to depend on the Lord and your family.

How the internet has affected Music

Before the invention of the Internet, Music was available from many sources. Most commonly, people would venture out into their local town and buy CD's and records from music stores such as HMV and Virgin. Sometimes they would even record a friend's CD onto tape instead of buying it. With the advance of technology, people could even record from CD to CD. Music piracy existed before the invention of the Internet. This essay will focus on the effects the Internet has had on the Music industry Microsoft are one of the most important companies involved in this issue because they make they make the most readily recognised software to access the Internet and to stream media. (Streaming media is when media is listened to or watched when the media is situated on the Internet and not on your computer). Due to Microsoft's monopolisation of the software market, few other companies were significant. However, in previous years, other companies have started to greatly affect the Internet side of this story. The most well known story of a company defying Microsoft's power is the story of Napster and Metallica. Napster provided a free file-sharing service which let millions of users across the Internet ‘share' their music files, which meant anyone with this program could download any music that was on another user's computer. Metallica, a Heavy Metal band formed in 1981, are the second highest grossing Heavy Metal band after Iron Maiden. They filed a lawsuit against Napster in the US District Court, Central District of California, alleging that the company encourages piracy by enabling and allowing its users to trade copyrighted songs through its servers. This is the main disadvantage of the Internet's affects on the Music Industry. Bands, record companies and music shops are all suffering from this new craze to download or ‘share' music files across the Internet. The common misconseption is that the music is on the Internet, but most people get music from Peer-to-Peer programs (P2P). This means that people can share their music with the rest of the world. Users then search for the music they want and download it. Although Napster has now been reduced to a subscription based service, the main program that is used with Internet piracy is Kazaa. Not only can you download music using this program, but you can also download videos, pictures and software through the new Broadband services available to the public. Broadband is up to ten times faster than a normal Internet connection. As you can see from above, you can find hundreds of files to download, some with a download time of only 32 seconds for one whole song. If I can draw your attention to the magnified section of the picture, you can see there was over 3 million users sharing their files at that point in time. This is the reality of the Internet; people download albums instead of buying them, which severely damages the music industry. However, before the invention of file sharing programs, and before Windows 98, the Music Industry was beginning to be helped by the Internet Music Companies were the first to capitalise on the new medium to advertise their company. Record companies such as EMI and Sony set up websites that advertised their corporate image and focused little on product promotion. However, with the release of Windows 98, web pages could be viewed in a secure form, where no one else but you could view the web page. (See left) Once consumers had been convinced that their credit card numbers and their personal details could not be ‘hacked', the Internet was revolutionised. The most famous companies to capitalise on this technology are Amazon. com and CDNow. Both offer services where the consumer buys the product from the website, and then the product is delivered to the consumers doorstep. The choice is overwhelming, with the consumer not only having the luxury of purchasing from home, but they also have a huge choice of products which are not available at their local record store. Here is an example of a rare Judas Priest import which is difficult to find here in the U. K. However, you simply need to type in your details and depending on how you have it shipped; you can have it the next day. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage for the Music Industry. It is positive for the consumers and the artists, because their material is easy to buy. Conversely, it is a disadvantage for music stores because people will simply stay at home and buy music. Bands have a lot to gain from the Internet. They can promote their band by making a website full of details, pictures, news and event dates, and even samples of the band's music. This draws larger audiences for bands and they can also be ‘discovered' by record companies who have seen their website. A further advantage is that bands can save money while controlling their CD sales. A band can record their own music in a studio and then distribute it themselves, therefore cutting out the publishing costs. Finally, to the present day, where connection speeds to the Internet are rising, and the number of people sharing music is soaring. How will the Music Industry survive? Microsoft could hold the key. It is rumoured that the next version of Windows will only play media that has been created on your computer, stopping the file sharing craze dead in its tracks. Is it true? Only time will tell.

Macbeth Essays - Creative Works, Characters In Macbeth, Films

Macbeth Essays - Creative Works, Characters In Macbeth, Films In Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth, the characters and the roles they play are critical to its plot and theme, and therefore many of Shakespeare's characters are well developed and complex. Two of these characters are the protagonist, Macbeth, and his wife, Lady Macbeth. They play interesting roles in the tragedy, and over the course of the play, their relationship changes and their roles are essentially switched . At the beginning of the play, they treat each other as equals. They have great concern for each other, as illustrated when Macbeth races to tell Lady Macbeth the news about the witches and she immediately begins plotting how to gain for her husband his desire to be king. At this point, Lady Macbeth is the resolute, strong woman, while Macbeth is portrayed as her indecisive, cowardly husband. He does have ambition, but at this point, his conscience is stronger than that ambition. Lady Macbeth explains this char acteristic of her husband in Act I, Scene v, when she says, "Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o' th ' milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way." The next stage of change developing in the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is in Act II. This is the act in which Macbeth kills King Duncan. Macbeth's character change is apparent because it is obvious that he has given in to his ambition and has murdered the king. He is not entirely changed, though, because he is almost delirious after he has committed the crime. He exclaims, "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red." He believes that instead of the ocean cleaning his hands, his hands would turn the ocean red. Macbeth's role has changed somewhat but not entirely, since he has committed the crime but his conscience is still apparent afte r the murder. Lady Macbeth's role similarly changes somewhat in Act II. The reader sees a crack in her strong character when she tells Macbeth in Scene ii of Act II that she would have murdered Duncan herself if he had not resembled her father as he slept. Her boldness is still evident, though, when she calms Macbeth after the murder and believes "a little water clears us of this deed." Unlike the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, their relationship remains unchanged from Act I to II. Their relationship is still very close as seen through Duncan's murder - a product of teamwork. At the end of Act III, both the roles and the relationship of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have reached the final stage of their change. Now that Duncan is dead and Macbeth is hopelessly headed toward a life of immorality, Lady Macbeth fades into the background. Macbeth takes it upon himself in Act III to plot Banquo's murder without consulting his wife because he wants to protect her from the corruption that he has involved himself with. His role is now completely changed and there is no turning back for him. As Macbeth goes off on his own course during this time, Lady Macbeth's guilt is overwhelming and, cut off from him, she descends into madness. Her guilt emerges in Act III, Scene ii when she says she would rather be dead, and it grows from then on until her death. Lady Macbeth's character change is also evident in Act III, Scene ii when she backs out of Macbeth's mysterious murder plan and tell s him, "You must leave this." The relationship between the couple is being torn apart by this time in Macbeth. They are headed in separate directions - Macbeth towards a life of evil and Lady Macbeth towards insanity and grief. As Shakespeare developed the characters of Macbeth and his wife, their changing roles ironically ended up resembling the other one's role. At the beginning of the tragedy, Macbeth was the hesitant character with a strong conscience, while Lady Macbeth was powerful and firm. However, by the time these two characters were completely changed, Macbeth ended up being decisive and greedy, as Lady Macbeth turned out to be weak since her guilty conscience drove her

A Short History of the Toothpick

A Short History of the Toothpick Thanks to the humble toothpick, taking care of your oral hygiene after meals has become somewhat of a ritual. With needle-like precision, it makes removing unseemly pieces of food debris, such as that stubborn sliver of shredded chicken, a thoroughly satisfying task. So who should we thank for it? DIY Origins   The toothpick is one of the few inventions being used today that predates the arrival of modern humans. Fossil evidence of ancient skulls, for instance, suggests that early Neanderthals used tools to pick their teeth. Scientists have also found tooth indentations indicative of teeth picking in human remains among Australian Aborigines, prehistoric Native Americans, and the earliest Egyptians.    The practice of teeth picking was not uncommon among early civilizations, too. Mesopotamians used instruments to keep dental crevices clear and artifacts such as toothpicks made out of silver, bronze and various other precious metals that date back to antiquity have also been unearthed. By the Medieval period, carrying a gold or silver toothpick in a fancy case became a way for privileged Europeans to distinguish themselves from commoners. The toothpick wasn’t always quite the lowly, mass-produced and disposable piece of wood that we’ve come to know today. Queen Elizabeth once received six gold toothpicks as a gift and would often showcase them. There’s even an anonymous portrait depicting her as an old woman wearing multiple chains around her neck, from which hung a gold toothpick or a case. Meanwhile, those who couldn’t afford such luxuries resorted to more creative ways of fashioning their own toothpicks. The Romans came up with a particularly clever method of pulling bird feathers, chopping off the quill and sharpening the tip. The technique was passed on to future generations in Europe and eventually carried over to the new world. Over in the Americas, native peoples carved toothpicks from deer bone. And just up north, Eskimos used walrus whiskers. Coincidentally, wood was generally considered unsuitable for the purpose of dislodging trapped food bits. Twigs from trees were inadequate because they tended to wear down when wet and had a propensity to splinter, which tended to be problematic. One exception is the mastic gum tree of southern Europe, with the Romans among the first to take advantage of the plant’s pleasant aroma and its teeth whitening properties. A Toothpick for the Masses With the ubiquity of tooth picking tools across the world, it was only a matter of time before an industry was built around them. As small businesses specializing in toothpick manufacturing began to pop up, demand for toothpicks also grew.  American entrepreneur named Charles Forster. The mass production of toothpicks can be traced to the Mondego River Valley in Portugal. It was there, in the small municipality of Coimbra, that the 16th century nuns of the Mos-teiro de Lorvo monastery began making toothpicks as a disposable utensil for picking up sticky confections that tended to leave residue on fingers and teeth. Locals eventually picked up the tradition, using only the finest orangewood and a jackknife to handcraft the toothpicks. The region would over time earn a reputation as the world capital of the toothpick industry where the finest toothpicks were made. Orders soon came in from all over Europe and shipment were sent out as far overseas as the Americas. The Portuguese were especially renowned for a special type of cocktail tooth called â€Å"palitos especiales† distinct for their carved involutes and curly shafts. In the U.S., some vendors seek to mimic the classy, festive aesthetic with toothpicks topped with colored cellophane. Toothpicks in America The American entrepreneur Charles Forster was particularly impressed by the high quality of the toothpicks in South America. While working in Brazil, he noticed that the locals often had impeccable teeth and credited it to the use of imported toothpicks from Portugal. Inspired by fellow American Benjamin Franklin Sturtevant’s shoe-making machine, Forster got to work on building something similar that would be capable of mass-producing millions of toothpicks a day. While he was ultimately able to come up with the goods, Americans simply weren’t interested. Part of the problem was that Americans were already accustomed to whittling their own toothpicks and doling out cash for something that can easily make themselves made little sense at the time. What was needed was a sea change in ingrained lifestyle habits and attitudes if there was any hope of generating demand. Forster just so happened to be crazy enough to take on such a seemingly insurmountable challenge. Some of the unusual marketing tactics he employed included hiring students to pose as store customers seeking toothpicks and instructing Harvard students to ask for them whenever they dined at restaurants. Soon enough, many local eateries would make sure toothpicks were available for patrons who somehow developed a habit of reaching for them as they’re about to leave. Though it was Forster who at the time nearly singlehandedly established a growing market for mass-produced wooden toothpicks, there were a few others jockeying to get into the game. In 1869, Alphons Krizek, of Philadelphia, received a patent for an â€Å"improvement in toothpicks,† which featured a hooked end with spoon-shaped mechanism designed to clean out hollow and sensitive teeth. Other attempted â€Å"improvements† include a case for a retractable toothpick and a scented coating meant to freshen one’s breath.  Ã‚   Towards the end of the 19th century, there were literally billions of toothpicks made each year. In 1887, the count got as high as five billion toothpicks, with Forster accounting for more than half of them. And by the end of the century, there was one factory in Maine that was already making that many.  Ã‚   Toothpicks Not Just for Picking Teeth With the commercialized ubiquity of disposable wooden toothpicks, the concept of the toothpick as status symbol, which stubbornly persisted well into 19th century, would slowly begin to fade. Silver and gold toothpicks, once immensely popular amongst society’s most well-heeled elites, were increasingly turned in as donations at fundraisers. But that doesn’t mean a toothpick’s usefulness was simply relegated to oral hygiene. Most people, for instance, are familiar with the use of toothpicks in social settings where eau doeuvres and other finger foods are served. Yet they’ve also proved capable of pinning down overstuffed deli sandwiches, cleaning dirt from underneath fingernails, and even picking locks. While the standard toothpick of today remains essentially unchanged from the ones Forster was cranking out over a century ago, entrepreneurs still seek to improve upon its very basic iteration. One early attempt by Forster and others to make them more appealing was the introduction of flavored toothpicks. Popular flavors included cinnamon, wintergreen, and sassafras. For a time, there were even liquor flavors, such as Scotch and Bourbon. Inventors have also tested other coatings such as imbuing sticks with zinc as a disinfectant. Another therapeutic approach involved combining a toothpick and a gum massager. Others have tried tinkering with the shape by making the center square as a way to prevent rolling when dropped while some newer ones claim to offer enhanced cleaning ability with the addition of brush-like bristles to the head. Though such efforts to build a better toothpick may arguably yield some advantages, theres something about the toothpick’s modest simplicity that makes it so users dont have much of a desire to deviate. A disposable, cheap object with a simple design that achieves its desired goal, you really couldn’t ask for more - as a consumer or as a manufacturer.

Levallois Technique - Paleolithic Stone Tool Working

Levallois Technique - Paleolithic Stone Tool Working Levallois, or more precisely the Levallois prepared-core technique, is the name archaeologists have given to a distinctive style of flint knapping, which makes up part of the Middle Paleolithic Acheulean and Mousterian artifact assemblages. In his 1969 Paleolithic stone tool taxonomy (still widely used today), Grahame Clark defined Levallois as Mode 3, flake tools struck from prepared cores. Levallois technology is thought to have been an outgrowth of the Acheulean handaxe. The technique was reckoned a leap forward in stone technology and behavioral modernity: the production method is in stages  and requires forethought and planning. The stone tool-making Levallois technique involves preparing a raw block of stone by striking pieces off the edges until it is shaped something like a turtle shell: flat on the bottom and humped on the top. That shape permits the knapper to control the results of using applied force: by striking the top edges of the prepared core, the knapper can pop off a series of similarly sized flattish, sharp stone flakes which can then be used as tools. The presence of the Levallois technique is commonly used to define the beginning of the Middle Paleolithic. Dating the Levallois The Levallois technique was traditionally thought to have been invented by archaic humans in Africa beginning about 300,000 years ago, and then moved into Europe and perfected during the Mousterian of 100,000 years ago. However, there are numerous sites in Europe and Asia which contain Levallois or proto-Levallois artifacts dated between Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 8 and 9 (~330,000-300,000 years bp), and a handful as early as MIS 11 or 12 (~400,000-430,000 bp): although most are controversial or not well-dated. The site of Nor Geghi in Armenia was the first firmly dated site found to contain a Levallois assemblage in MIS9e: Adler and colleagues argue that the presence of Levallois in Armenia and other places in conjunction with Acheulean biface technology suggest that the transition to Levallois technology occurred independently several times before becoming widespread. Levallois, they argue, was part of a logical progression from a lithic biface technology, rather than a replacement by movement of archaic humans out of Africa. Scholars today believe that the long, long range of time in which the technique is recognized in lithic assemblages masks a high degree of variability, including differences in surface preparation, orientation of flake removal, and adjustments for raw source material. A range of tools made on Levallois flakes are also recognized, including the Levallois point. Some Recent Levallois Studies Archaeologists believe the purpose was to produce a single preferential Levallois flake, a nearly circular flake mimicking the original contours of the core. Eren, Bradley, and Sampson (2011) conducted some experimental archaeology, attempting to achieve that implied goal. They discovered that to create a perfect Levallois flake requires a level of skill that can only be identified under very specific circumstances: single knapper, all pieces of the production process present and refitted. Sisk and Shea (2009) suggest that Levallois points - stone projectile points formed on Levallois flakes - might have been used as arrowheads. After fifty years or so, Clarks stone tool taxonomy has lost some of its usefulness: so much has been learned that the five-mode stage of technology is far too simple. Shea (2013) proposes a new taxonomy for stone tools with nine modes, based on variations and innovations not known when Clark published his seminal paper. In his intriguing paper, Shea defines Levallois as Mode F, bifacial hierarchical cores, which more specifically embraces the technological variations. Sources Adler DS, Wilkinson KN, Blockley SM, Mark DF, Pinhasi R, Schmidt-Magee BA, Nahapetyan S, Mallol c, Berna F, Glauberman PJ et al. 2014. Early Levallois technology and the Lower to Middle Paleolithic transition in the southern Caucasus. Science 345(6204):1609-1613. doi: 10.1126/science.1256484 Binford LR, and Binford SR. 1966. A preliminary analysis of functional variability in the Mousterian of Levallois facies. American Anthropologist 68:238-295. Clark, G. 1969. World Prehistory: A New Synthesis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Brantingham PJ, and Kuhn SL. 2001. Constraints on Levallois Core Technology: A Mathematical Model. Journal of Archaeological Science 28(7):747-761. doi: 10.1006/jasc.2000.0594 Eren MI, Bradley BA, and Sampson CG. 2011. Middle Paleolithic Skill Level and the Individual Knapper: An Experiment. American Antiquity 71(2):229-251. Shea JJ. 2013. Lithic Modes A–I: A New Framework for Describing Global-Scale Variation in Stone Tool Technology Illustrated with Evidence from the East Mediterranean Levant. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 20(1):151-186. doi: 10.1007/s10816-012-9128-5 Sisk ML, and Shea JJ. 2009. Experimental use and quantitative performance analysis of triangular flakes (Levallois points) used as arrowheads. Journal of Archaeological Science 36(9):2039-2047. doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2009.05.023 Villa P. 2009. Discussion 3: The Lower to Middle Paleolithic Transition. In: Camps M, and Chauhan P, editors. Sourcebook of Paleolithic Transitions. New York: Springer. p 265-270. doi: 10.1007/978-0-387-76487-0_17 Wynn T, and Coolidge FL. 2004. The expert Neandertal mind. Journal of Human Evolution 46:467-487.

Software Engineering Tutorial Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Software Engineering Tutorial - Assignment Example Here, managing data being the prime task of Data-processing system, it is less applicable to the above system. All naturally happening systems are data processing systems, so that means what all we see is processed and interpreted by us so as to make it more relevant and useful. As far as our system is concerned, it is more of a spontaneous system rather than data related issues. The only information that needs to be kept is as the reference for examining values. Also, another useful thing is to make a log of all the different parameters such as pressure, temperature, etc, which can be really helpful in predicting the safe range for the above quantities. Generally, Data-processing system requires lot of storage capacity, but that's not the issue here. What is important here is the speed. Moving on to the next kind, Real-time Systems are the ones chasing the dead lines. They are called real time specifically because they work under a constrained environment, which deals with responsiv e attitude of the system. Real-time systems are designed for either real-time operating systems or other synchronous programming languages, which actually serve as a platform to build such immediate systems. These kinds of systems are really a challenge as they have a specific task to meet and if the software designed fails to deliver on time it's not of any worth. They are called real time specifically because they work under a constrained environment, which deals with responsive attitude of the system.  ... Our system deals with the naturally affecting factors such as pressure, friction, wear and tear and the work loss due to it. Such a system is definitely a real-time one. It has to take immediate care if any undue fluctuations are observed in the behavior of the system. For this to happen, a continuous monitoring is required. As described above, it is obviously a task to be performed in a constrained environment and it has a deadline and on missing the deadline the consequences can be expensive and destructive too. Moreover, when we are designing a system it should also take into account the pro and cons of it and then select the best combination for the product. This system would be an ideal one along with other ones working in the back up. (All the models of System Development Life Cycle) Decision Support System Description The next of the models is Decision support systems. This term is a very hazy one and this kind of system can be utilized variedly. Vaguely said, a Decision Support System is the one, which aids the process of decision-making. But, the developer, which actually designs it, only can define the clearer definition. Some of the explanations also suggest that Decision Support Systems or DSS can be used for the computer-based Information systems problems that are spontaneous or rather non-structured and deals with management issues. DSS can be of various characteristics based on the type of applications. A model-driven DSS would rather use the data provided by the users and it is an input to the system. Another of DSS is document-driven DSS which manages, gets back and manipulates unstructured information in different electronic formats. Finally

Smoking among college students Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Smoking among college students - Research Paper Example It is important to know the actual motives behind smoking before taking any kind of preventive action. Most of the people start smoking during their teenage due to peer pressure or need for approval by their friends. Some youngsters also believe that smoking actually helps them keep in shape and have self-control, while others say it makes them look cool. According to the statistical data, the rate of smoking has increased by 30 % during 1993-1997 amongst the college students. Studies show that the measures which can be taken by the colleges authorities in order to reduce the level of smoking amongst the young students. Experts believe that taking preventive measures is better than abrupt prohibition from smoking which can cause the opposite effect on the students. The high rate of smoking among college students can be explained by aggressive advertising and promotional activities aimed to increase the size of the market. The glamorous ads casting handsome and beautiful models, actually tempts the youngsters to smoke. Tobacco industry focuses on sales promotion more than any other industry in the world. Companies spend a huge amount of investment to reach adolescents. Adolescents, of 18-24 years, become the main target market for the tobacco industry. The companies distribute free cigarettes outside the concerts and college clubs in order to attract more and more people towards their brands. The industry has also involved the youngster in the promotional activities. These kinds of aggressive promotion activities have drawn a huge number of younger lots to smoking. Promotional activities in bars and night clubs were started during 1980s. The level of tobacco consumption among students was indistinct, but the some field researches show that nearly every college student was involved in those promotional activities during 1990s. It has been predicted that the college students will become main consumers of tobacco in the next few years. The tobacco companies launch their promotional campaign mostly in the urban localities, trying to trap the young consumers through various advertising medium and techniques. Even the students who don't have enough exposure to the bars and night clubs can be influenced by the heavy advertising by different brands. For instance, Asian American students have become the main target for many promotional campaigns aiming to find new customers. University Health Centers can help to prevent and reduce smoking rate by educating the students about the diseases caused by smoking. Smoking should also be strictly prohibited within the college premises. Psychologists have deduced the various ways to control smoking habits within the younger students by providing different psychological treatments for quitting smoking. They have also worked upon finding the relation between smoking and media exposure of the individuals. Further in their research works psychologists have also tried to analyze the factors which can contribute to motivate or de-motivate individuals from smoking. The previous studies have classified smokers by their age, gender and race and have provided the statistical data accordingly. The main theme of the paper is to examine the relation which exists between smoking and factors such as the peer pressure, stress and depression. METHODOLOGY

History Source based questions - Treaty Of Versailles Essay

History Source based questions - Treaty Of Versailles - Essay Example .I have personally no doubt that we will get everything that you can squeeze out of lemon, and a bit more. I propose that every bit of [German-owned] property, movable and immovable, in Allied and neutral countries, whether State property or private property should be surrendered by the Germans. The cartoonist is trying to tell us that the Treaty of Versailles would lead to another war. The four men in the foreground represent (from right to left) Woodrow Wilson, the President of the U.S, Georges Clemenceau, the Prime Minister of France, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, the Prime Minister of Italy and Lloyd George, the Prime Minister of Britain. These were the Big Four who drew up the Treaty of Versailles, which was signed by Germany in the Palace of Versailles near Paris on June 28, 1919. "The Tiger" refers to Clemenceau, who exercised powerful leadership with his slogan â€Å"I make war!† and became known as â€Å"The Tiger of France†. The cartoonist is suggesting the treaty was too harsh on Germany, because it severely punished it, forcing it to accept responsibility for causing World War I, and blackmailed the German government to sign the Treaty under threat of invasion by the Big Four; because of these biased impositions on the Germans, there will be another w ar in the future. The title of the cartoon suggests that the peace will result in "cannon fodder" in the future because the supposed-to-be ‘peace’ brought about by the Treaty of Versailles actually resulted in total humiliation heaped on Germany; the humiliation was too severe for it to withstand for long, and when it could stand it no more then German cannons would boom again (the cartoonist was right – it took just 22 years from the end of the First World War in 1917 to the beginning of the Second World War in 1939). Clemenceau’s words: â€Å"Curious! I seem to hear a child weeping!† shows that he (and the other 3 leaders of the Big Four) feel that Germany has got a fair deal

Assignment 5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Assignment 5 - Essay Example The company was designed to create cruise ships especially for pleasure in the warm-water Caribbean. Royal Caribbean Cruise Case sailed not only in the Caribbean but also in many other parts of the world (AirGuide Business 216). The Work System Framework Following the work system framework, the company can be analyzed by its activities and processes, information, technologies, products and services, the environment, strategies and infrastructure. Below is a detailed analysis following the criterion. Processes and Activities There were several activities that could be identified within the Caribbean work system. The processes were aimed at enhancing the customer experience, reducing costs, and increasing revenue. As such, activities such as deployment of ships to the US ports – a new development in the industry, carrying out promotion including giving huge discounts to customers have been witnessed in the company. The aim is to entice customers to travel and in the long run rea lize higher revenue. Another key process in the company is a distribution which is mainly done using the Travel Agent Channel. The participants in the Caribbean who ensure that these processes and activities are promptly and conveniently accomplished include the employees in the organization (The Cruise Industry News Quarterly 24). The company like any other is composed of the management, technical staff, travel agents and many other participants that work strongly to ensure that the objectives of the company are vehemently met (Applegate, Austin and McFarlan 56). Information Information plays an increasingly significant role in the Royal Caribbean Cruise case work system. This has particularly followed the realization that information is perhaps the most powerful tool that any organization can use to remain relevant in the wake of competition witnessed in the dynamics of the society. The Caribbean realized this and took a significant step in using the resource in marketing their se rvices. This is a way to enhancing their competitive advantage and is in line with their objectives of increasing revenue. Technologies Technologies were not left behind. At a time when technologies sweep the globe at a rate never witnessed before, the Caribbean realized that it is perhaps the only way to stand the test of time. Consequently, the issue of connectivity was very fundamental. Satellite was used to facilitate communication to the onshore purchasing agents and to the vendors. Ship-to-shore synchronization was also ensured at least four times a day. JDE system was used for financial gains of the company. This system was particularly critical in the accounting inventory and in the management of cash. The nature of the ship management was very diverse and required a special information subsystem to fulfill these special needs. AMOS was developed by developed by the Xantic Software Company again in the realization of the need for information technologies for the Caribbean. T he information system was specifically designed for ship maintenance purposes. It was fully implemented. However, there was significant work needed to standardize the parts database. Other technologies also formed part of this reputable ship management processes. As a result, technological equipments were fundamentally utilized to ensure that the ship met the legal and safety requirements and standards. Galley equipment, engines, valves, electrical systems, and even consumable items such

Fireworks Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Fireworks - Term Paper Example Fireworks The properties of firework explosions are force, velocity and heat. The combusting components undergo rapid entropic change, and thus this lends to the term â€Å"firework explosion.† The forces produced are generated by the rapid evolution of gases and heat that force them to expand according to the combined gas law (PV/T=k) where p is pressure, V=volume and T is temperature. The force of explosion is a component of the gas pressure. It is exerted equally in all directions obeying Pascal’s principle. Therefore, P=F/A where the ‘A’ is the area of confined combustibles. The force is responsible for the launching of the fireworks, their dispersion velocity and sound (report). Heat is a consequence of combustion and exothermic reactions such as oxidation and thermite-like redox reactions with the firework. The total summation of the energies produced obeys the first law of thermodynamics by adhering to the basic principle of â€Å"conservation of energy† Fireworks are generally composed of three chemical compounds; a fuel, an oxidizer, color producing compounds, a chlorinator and a binder. Manufacture of the fireworks is mainly done using chemicals that are non-toxic. Some compounds though, elicit high reactivity and toxic properties if handled directly. As will also be seen in later sections, the reactive products given off some other compounds are toxic. The fuel is the main component that allows the fireworks to burn. It is composed of sulphur, carbon based compounds, or metals. Phosphorous is also added to some fireworks for its glow in the dark properties. The most common metals are aluminum and magnesium. These burn brilliantly and are therefore preferred to others such as titanium. They are also cheaper. Often, the alloy, Magnalium is used. This is because magnesium does not form a protective oxide coat. This can be directly attributed to its high reactivity and thus higher risk of uncontrolled combustion. It may also cause serious burns and blindness due to its characteristically high temperatures and brilliance on combustion. The oxidizer is the accelerant used to make the burn more intense and violent. Potassium compounds are mostly preferred for this purpose. They include the nitrates, perchlorate, chlorate and peroxides. The potassium ions may also impart a pink color to the flame. Direct contact with these compounds may ca use an oxidizer burn to human skin or any organic material. Not to mention the fire risk if exposed to already combustible organic materials such as cloth, natural gas or dry grass. The colour imparting compounds are mainly metals. Their cations are the main contributors of the color. Their anion compounds determine how brilliantly they burn. Examples are the chlorides and nitrates that enhance brilliance. Carbonates and oxalates reduce brilliance. This is also where the aspect of toxicity emerges. a) Infra-red color- rubidium nitrate- it is not directly toxic, but is capable of oxidizing compounds b) Silver/ white- antimony sulphide- exists as stibnite and the antimony pentasulphide. The pentasulphide is flammable and can have potentially toxic effects on reacting with strong acids such as HCl. The reaction produces hydrogen sulphide which is a potent nerve toxin. HCl is naturally found in the stomachs of many mammals as a component of gastric juice. The pentasulphide is thus poten tially harmful if ingested. The stibnite form is also potentially toxic c) Blue- copper arsenite- the compound is toxic, and this can be

Assignment 5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Assignment 5 - Essay Example The company was designed to create cruise ships especially for pleasure in the warm-water Caribbean. Royal Caribbean Cruise Case sailed not only in the Caribbean but also in many other parts of the world (AirGuide Business 216). The Work System Framework Following the work system framework, the company can be analyzed by its activities and processes, information, technologies, products and services, the environment, strategies and infrastructure. Below is a detailed analysis following the criterion. Processes and Activities There were several activities that could be identified within the Caribbean work system. The processes were aimed at enhancing the customer experience, reducing costs, and increasing revenue. As such, activities such as deployment of ships to the US ports – a new development in the industry, carrying out promotion including giving huge discounts to customers have been witnessed in the company. The aim is to entice customers to travel and in the long run rea lize higher revenue. Another key process in the company is a distribution which is mainly done using the Travel Agent Channel. The participants in the Caribbean who ensure that these processes and activities are promptly and conveniently accomplished include the employees in the organization (The Cruise Industry News Quarterly 24). The company like any other is composed of the management, technical staff, travel agents and many other participants that work strongly to ensure that the objectives of the company are vehemently met (Applegate, Austin and McFarlan 56). Information Information plays an increasingly significant role in the Royal Caribbean Cruise case work system. This has particularly followed the realization that information is perhaps the most powerful tool that any organization can use to remain relevant in the wake of competition witnessed in the dynamics of the society. The Caribbean realized this and took a significant step in using the resource in marketing their se rvices. This is a way to enhancing their competitive advantage and is in line with their objectives of increasing revenue. Technologies Technologies were not left behind. At a time when technologies sweep the globe at a rate never witnessed before, the Caribbean realized that it is perhaps the only way to stand the test of time. Consequently, the issue of connectivity was very fundamental. Satellite was used to facilitate communication to the onshore purchasing agents and to the vendors. Ship-to-shore synchronization was also ensured at least four times a day. JDE system was used for financial gains of the company. This system was particularly critical in the accounting inventory and in the management of cash. The nature of the ship management was very diverse and required a special information subsystem to fulfill these special needs. AMOS was developed by developed by the Xantic Software Company again in the realization of the need for information technologies for the Caribbean. T he information system was specifically designed for ship maintenance purposes. It was fully implemented. However, there was significant work needed to standardize the parts database. Other technologies also formed part of this reputable ship management processes. As a result, technological equipments were fundamentally utilized to ensure that the ship met the legal and safety requirements and standards. Galley equipment, engines, valves, electrical systems, and even consumable items such

Legal, Ethical, and Regulatory Issues in Business Case Study

Legal, Ethical, and Regulatory Issues in Business - Case Study Example In this type of set-up, employees may quit their job anytime and for any, or no or uneven reason and the employers can likewise fire or layoff employees at any time and for any, no or unfair reasons. But employers are limited by exceptions such as if employment termination is in breach of a contract or illegal. This renders the Employment at Will Doctrine inapplicable. The doctrine will not be applicable if the court determines that an employer was guilty of discharging an employee for a discriminatory reason (employeeissues.com, At Will Employment). There are a number of federal laws that protect the employees against discrimination such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (www.eeoc.gov, Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination Questions And Answers). The federal and state laws of the United States forbids employers or companies from discriminating against employees on the basis of their age, race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, disability and physical handicap. The act of discrimination can take place as early as recruiting to discharging of employees (public.findlaw.com, Employee Discrimination). In the case of Elaine, there is a clear case of discrimination because she was just laid off her job without given a reason of termination.

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Essay Example for Free

Trojan Nuclear Power Plant Essay Trojan Plant was a pressurized water reactor (PWR) nuclear power plant located in Rainier, Oregon, United States. Its construction started in 1st February 1970 and its commenced commercial operation on May1976, with a 35-year license which was to lapse in 2011. Unfortunately, it was closed about 20 years before the year of its designed lifetime, 16 years precisely of its operation. During its existence, Trojan produced over 12% of the electrical supply of Oregon. Historically, more than 80% of Oregons electricity came from hydropower from dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, while the rest is from fossil fuels. Trojan generated 1130 megawatt electrical (MWe) unit, which was the largest PWR unit that was ever built. A total of $450 million was coughed out in order to build the plant. It reactor supplier was Combustion Engineering and Reactor type Pressurized water reactor (PRW), with a power Capacity of 1,130 MW. It was constructed by Babcock and Wilcox. Its operator was Portland General Electric. Trojan was closed down for a major modification in the year 1978 to improve its resistance to earthquake which unraveled major errors in its construction and a close proximity of an unknown faultline. The operators sued the builders but the case was settled out of court. It took its steam generators only 4years to start developing problems, although they were designed to last the life of the plant, the steam tubes started cracking. Debates on the closure of Trojan was initiated by Lloyd Marbet in 1980, it persisted for a while until its operators finally proceeded with the demolition of Trojan. Its demolition started in 1993 and was completed in 2006. Reference   Koberstein, Paul (2005-03-09). Trojan: PGEs Nuclear Gamble, Willamette Week, p.  A1. Retrieved on 2007-06-15.

Possible Factors In Underachievement Of Males Within Education Education Essay

Possible Factors In Underachievement Of Males Within Education Education Essay Sociological studies with regard the underachievement of males, throughout the British education system, appear to be dominated by the analysis of three central phenomena; the idea of bias and inequality which flaws the educational system, the prevalence of a modern day, laddish anti-learning culture (Byers, S. 1998, Never mind theories, under-achieving boys need practical help, _The Independent_, 5th January 1998.) and lastly, the psychology of the male mind. Each of these three interlinked themes will be reviewed within this document, which will focus solely upon the reasons which may held accountable for the identified underachievement of young men, most notably, at a General Certificate of Secondary Education Level (G.C.S.E) throughout the British education system, and internationally, around the world. The use of the term underachievement is widespread throughout educational discourse, and is predominately used in explaining a perceived failure to reach a given potential. Scott .J. Marshall .G. (2005:3). Sociologists, whose area of expertise lies within this particular field, tend to view low academic attainment in terms of factors such as prior attainment or socio-economic disadvantage, however in doing so, they acknowledge the danger of pathologising the underachiever, when in fact, responsibility may lie within the educational system itself. The term underachievement although widely used, appears to be problematic; masking ideological assumptions that concern socially constructed, subjective and relative matters, which concern the group understudy. The underachievement of young men within the education system is undoubtedly an immensely complex and contested field. Irrespective of these issues, the British education system has continued to make use of the term with a combinatio n of ubiquity and confidence. Gillies, D. (2010). Educational potential underachievement and cultural pluralism. Available: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/eitn/display.php?article_id=39. Last accessed 16th Feb 2011. Historical Background The underachievement of young men within the education system has appeared as a continual problem throughout the last decade. Dramatic illustrations from the media and speeches gave by the relevant government bodies have created in a sense a moral panic which has came to characterise many of the debates that surround the complex issue. Evidence from newspaper articles would suggest the underachievement of boys began in 1995. During this time the main professional newspaper, The Times Educational Supplement carried headlines declaring school work was Not for wimps Haigh, G. 1995, Not for wimps,_ The Times Educational Supplement_, 6th October 1995 and later asked Where did we go wrong? Bleach, K. 1997, Where did we go wrong?,_ The Times Educational Supplement_, 14th February 1997. Education correspondents for broadsheet newspapers similarly headlined articles which discussed The Failing Sex and called for schools to provide a Classroom rescue for Britains lost boys. Foster et al. (2001 ) What about the boys? An overview of the debates, in Martino .W. Meyenn .B. What About The Boys, Issues of Masculinity in Schools. Open University Press. Acknowledgement of the underachievement of boys within the education system can also be seen in Stephen Byers 1998 speech. The School Standards Minister, said: We should not simply accept with a shrug of our shoulders that boys will be boys. Speaking at the 11th International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement in Manchester, Mr Byers warned: Failure to raise the educational achievement of boys will mean that thousands of young men will face a bleak future in which a lack of qualifications and basic skills will mean unemployment and little hope of finding work. He disclosed new statistics on the standards of education at the time that had been reached by boys and girls. For example, in addition to girls far outperforming boys at a General Certificate Secondary Education level (G.C.S.E), National Curriculum assessments at seven, eleven and fourteen years of age also highlighted boys underperforming, within English Language in particular. Byers then went on to make an att ack on what he described as the prevailing laddish anti-learning culture. (Byers, S. 1998, Never mind theories, under-achieving boys need practical help, _The Independent_, 5th January 1998.) In response to Stephen Byers identification of male underachievement, Ted Wragg also published an article in the Times Educational Supplement, The Times Educational Supplement Editorial. 1997, Keeping Balance on the Gender Agenda, _ the Times Educational Supplement_, 23rd May 1997. Within this article Professor Ted Wragg warned unless the achievement of boys was improved significantly society would witness immense problems that would continue throughout the 21st century. The then Chief Inspector for Schools, Chris Woodhead too believed the failure of boys, in particular working class boys to be one of the most disturbing problems faced within the entire education system. As a result of such media hype education ministers called for all academic institutions to challenge the laddish anti-learning culture, (Byers, S. 1998, Never mind theories, under-achieving boys need practical help, _The Independent_, 5th January 1998.) which had been allowed to develop. Taking such media build up and government vocalizations into consideration, it would appear something significant entered public consciousness during this time. Despite media and government claims of boys underachievement being a recent phenomenon, problems concerning boys and academic schooling has, in fact, been a longstanding priority with regard to educational studies. In particular the English philosopher John Locke, among others expressed great concern with regard the problems boys faced in language and literacy, in the 17th century. Similarly literature on schooling throughout the 1960s and 1970s cautioned teachers against grouping boys according to their academic ability as it resulted in less academic boys developing negative attitudes towards education and schools. Foster et al. (2001) What about the boys? An overview of the debates, in Martino .W. Meyenn .B. What About The Boys, Issues of Masculinity in Schools. Open University Press. The introduction of the National Curriculum alongside the induction of complex assessment and reporting procedures, many believe, was what initially highlighted the problem of male underachievement in todays society. From 1991 onwards students have been made to complete Standard Assessment Tasks (S.A.T.s) at the ages of seven, eleven and fourteen. Responsibility lies with the educational institutions at this time to ensure pupils achieve the expected standards. Additionally schools undergo rigorous inspection; such inspections appear to be central to the Educational Schools Act 1992, which introduced the implementation of National League Tables. These tables rank schools according to their pupils performance in the Standard Assessment Tasks (S.A.T.s). Many believe such a procedure was what set the scene for the emergence of the boys underachievement debate. In order for schools to survive they had to attract clients in the form of parents, and they could only attract parents if they were able to demonstrate they provided and delivered a high standard of education. Schools were judged to be efficient by the national league tables according to their success in getting pupils to reach the required standards at the ages of seven, eleven and fourteen. In 1996 the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Office for Standards in Education produced a joint report on performance differences between boys and girls in school. Their findings included girls being more successful than boys or broadly as successful in almost all major subjects. They reported girls tended to be more reflective than boys and also better at planning and organising their work. Reactions to these findings that boys are doing less well in school and are also suffering in other respects, such as the disproportionate degree of unemployment, as mentioned previously have varied. Some have identified what they see to be a crucial social problem of the 21st century. Others see it as solely a symptom of a male backlash, creating a sense of moral panic, aimed at clawing back the gains made by women in recent years. In light of such diverse view points, when researching this area for myself it would appear necessary to mantain a sense of balance before finishing upon any su ch conclusion. Official statistics on the academic performance of pupils in Northern Ireland, England and Wales indicate girls have been performing increasingly well compared to boys in terms of their attainment at General Certificate of Secondary Education (G.C.S.E) level examinations in most subjects. As mentioned previously, this development has been the focus of considerable debate in both the popular media and the academic press, with regular pronouncements from politicians and government policy makers. The obvious heated debate over boys underachievement throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century is not solely connected to Britain, figures suggest male underachievement is a problematic issue in Australia, Canada, The United States of America, parts of Western Europe and Japan. Epstein. D. Et al. (1998) Educating Boys, Learning Gender. Open University Press. Focusing upon the underachievement of boys within the context of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland in particular, I plan to focus upon Symbolic Interactionism as the basis of my own theoretical research. I plan to consider Symbolic Interactionist debates over Britains Lost Boys and the undoubtable underachievement of boys compared to girls in certain subjects, predominately at General Certificate of Secondary Education level (G.C.S.E). Symbolic Interactionists, unlike functionalists and conflict theorists, tend to limit their analysis of education to what they directly observe happening within the classroom. Their main focus is on teacher, pupil relationships and the interaction processes that occur within the classroom. Symbolic Interactionists see the education system as playing a vital role in shaping the way students see reality and themselves. Interactionists such as Howard Becker see school settings as creating serious difficulties for students who are labelled as less academically able than their peers. He believed such students may never be able to see themselves as good students and move beyond such labels. Teacher expectations play a huge role in student achievement from an interactionists point of view and this is a point I would be interested in investigating further with regard to my own research. Labelling theory, was developed predominately by Howard Becker who in Outsiders 1963 argued underachievement to be created by society, in the sense social groups create underachievement by making the rules whose infraction constitutes low attainment and by applying those rules to particular persons and labelling them as such Scott .J. Marshall .G. (2005:341) Becker and Lermert initially developed Labelling Theory, Hargreaves et al showed how it could apply within school settings and Rosenthal and Jacobson suggested that it could create a Self Fulfilling Prophecy in school, such that children defined as bright would in fact live up to such expectations. In education, despite the Rosenthal and Jacobson study, labelling-based self-fulfilling prophecies usually operate to the disadvantage of students. Specific categories of students, based on gender, ethnicity or indeed social background, may be written off as incapable of achieving, setting up a frame of reference in which their failings are noticed and their achievements discounted. Individual students may also be labelled by being told they will never amount to anything, or for example they are no good at a particular subject. Internalised, these labels are carried into new situations, including further and higher education, as a result many believe the failure of the student to be inevitable. Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson conducted a land mark study for this approach in 1968. Firstly, they examined a group of students in accordance with standard IQ tests. The researchers then identified a number of students who they said would likely show a sharp increase in abilities over the coming year. They informed the teachers of these results, and asked them to watch and see if this increase did occur. When the researchers repeated the IQ tests at the end of the year, the students identified by the researchers did indeed show higher IQ scores. The significance of this study lies in the fact that the researchers had randomly selected a number of average students. The researchers found that when the teachers expected a particular performance or growth, it occurred. This phenomenon, where a false assumption actually occurs because someone predicted it, reinforces the notion of a self-fulfilling prophesy. Rosenthal .R. Jacobson .L. (1992) Pygmalion in the Classroom, Teachers Ex pectations and Pupils Intellectual Development. Crown House: Publishing Limited. Ray Rist conducted research similar to the Rosenthal and Jacobson study in 1970. In a kindergarten classroom where both students and teacher were of African American origin, the teacher assigned students to tables based on ability; the so called better students sat at a table closer to her, the average students sat at the next table, and the weakest students sat at the farthest table. Rist discovered that the teacher assigned the students to a table based on the teachers perception of the students skill levels on the eighth day of class, without any form of testing to verify such a placement. Rist also found that the students the teacher perceived as better learners came from higher social classes, while the weak students were from lower social classes. Monitoring the students through the year, Rist found that the students closer to the teacher received the most attention and performed better. The farther from the teacher a student sat, the weaker that student performed. Rist continu ed the study through the next several years and found that the labels assigned to the students on the eighth day of kindergarten followed them throughout their academic journey. Rist, Ray (1970). Student Social Class and Teacher Expectations: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in Ghetto Education. Harvard Educational Review 40, 3, 411-451. While Symbolic Interactionists have undoubtedly analysed this self fulfilling process, they have yet to find the exact way in which teachers form such expectations of students. Irrespective of such an issue I feel the Self Fulfilling Prophecy may be a crucial determining factor with regard to answering my own research question. The real importance of Rosenthal and Jacobsons findings at Oak School relates to the potential long-lasting effects of teachers expectations on the scholastic performance of students. It is of interest to explore some later research that examined the ways in which teachers unconsciously communicate their higher expectations to the students whom they believe possess greater potential. A study conducted by Chaiken, Sigler, and Derlega (1974) involved videotaping teacher-student interactions in a classroom situation in which the teachers had been informed that certain children were extremely bright (these bright students had been chosen at random from all the students in the class). Careful examination of the videos indicated that teachers favoured the identified brighter students in many subtle ways. They smiled at these students more often, made more eye contact, and had more favourable reactions to these students comments in class. These researchers go on to report that students for whom these high expectations exist are more likely to enjoy school receive more constructive comments from teachers on their mistakes, and work harder to try to improve. What this and other studies indicate are those teacher expectancies, while their influence is not the only determinant of a childs performance in school, can affect more than just IQ scores. Due in large part to Rosenthal and Jacobsons research, the power of teachers expectations on students performance has become an integral part of our understanding of the educational process. Furthermore, Rosenthals theory of interpersonal expectancies has exerted its influence in numerous areas other than education. In 2002, Rosenthal himself reviewed the literature on expectancy effects using meta-analysis techniques. He demonstrated how the expectations of psychological researchers, classroom teachers, judges in the courtroom, business executives, and health care providers can unintentionally affect the responses of their research participants, pupils, jurors, employees, and patients (Rosenthal, 2002, p. 839). Martino .W. Meyenn .B. (2001) What about the Boys, Issues of Masculinity in Schools. Open University Press. What about the Boys, Issues of Masculinity in Schools is a book which attempts to develop further understandings about masculinity. Such a piece of literature is timely given the continued moral panic that persists about boys disadvantaged status in comparison to girls. Throughout this book the view boys are victims and are attributed with a disadvantaged status remains throughout. Research undertaken with boys spanning Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States is brought together in this collection. The focus for each of the contributors is addressing issues of what about the boys in relation to their own research and informed perspectives on boys and schooling. Many focus on what boys (and girls) themselves say about their experiences of schooling and sexuality and use their voices as a basis for drawing out what the implications might be for those working in schools. In this regard the chapters are written with a broader audience in mind particularly teachers and administrators in schools with the view to using research to illuminate the effects of masculinity in the lives of boys and girls at school. All of the contributors are concerned to highlight the impact and effect of certain forms of masculinity on the lives of boys at school, but locate their research and/or discussion within the context of the boys education debates outlined by Foster, Kimmell and Skelton in the introductory chapter. Many have also indicated what the implications of their research are for daily practice in schools and classrooms. In this sense, the research documented here has major implications for the professional development of teachers in schools and for st udent teachers in tertiary institutions. Sociologists like Bob Connell (1987, 1995) have been particularly influential in drawing attention to how social, cultural and historical factors have influenced the various ways in which masculinity comes to be defined and embodied by boys and men. We see the contributors of this book building on this work. They highlight that there are many forms of masculinity that are played out in the context of a complex set of power relations in which certain types of masculinity are valued over others. Many also draw attention to the role of a dominant form of masculinity, which comes to be defined in opposition to femininity, and highlight that association with the feminine for boys can often lead to other boys questioning their sexuality (see also Frank,1987, 1993). Other factors such as race, class, ethnicity and geographical location are also taken up to develop an understanding of the various ways in which boys learn to relate and behave in certain social situations and within particular educational institutions. In this sense feminist educators and theories also inform the perspectives on boys and schooling elaborated in this book. Such perspectives have contributed significantly to producing valuable insights into the links between gender and power (Davies 1993; Steinberg et al. 1997), specifically in terms of illuminating boys social practices and ways of relating at school. All contributors recognize that schools are important arenas of power where masculinities and femininities are acted out on a daily basis through the dynamic processes of negotiation, refusal and struggle (Giroux and McLaren 1994). In other words, these papers illustrate that there are indeed social constraints and power imbalances in educational sites, but that gender regimes are more shifting and contradictory than theorists supposed in the seventies and eighties (Jackson and Salisbury 1996; Kenway et al. 1997). In this sense, each chapter included in this collection builds on studies into boys at school which have been undertaken by Kessler et al. (1985), Walker (1988), Mac an Ghaill (1994) and Epstein (1994). The contributors also suggest ways forward and beyond the popular and simplistic views which stress the need for boys to reclaim lost territory. There is a powerful discourse of neglect informing many of the popularist debates about the boys which continue to assert that provision for the educational needs of girls has been at the expense of boys (Yates 1997). Moreover, the idea or assumption that boys are somehow victims or losers now competing with girls who have suddenly become the winners is also refuted strongly by the various positions that are taken up in this book. Compounding such a position is the view that biology needs to be given equal consideration in developing an understanding of boys behaviours and learning orientations. This argument continues to be promulgated within the context of these debates about the boys (see submissions to Australian inquiry into boys education at http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/eewr/Epfb/sublist.htm) as if appeals to biological sex differences and essentialism are somehow outside the effects of certain power relations (see Fausto-Sterling 2000). As Peterson (2000) has illuminated, appeals to biological determinism have been used historically to enforce a binary categorization of gendered behaviours always within the context of and in response to the perceived power gained by women. Moreover, as Lingard and Douglas (1999) have lucidly illustrated, the debates about the boys in the nineties have been characterized by a strong backlash against feminism and this continues to be the case as we enter the new millennium. If we are indeed to encourage diversity and citizenship in multicultural societies it is crucial that issues of opportunity, access and distributed success before grounded in debates about gendered educational outcomes. Collins et al. (2000) have addressed this in a recent governmental report on the factors influencing the educational performance of males and females in school and their post-school labour destinations. In line with the positions taken up in that report, we believe that policy formulation and curriculum development in schools must avoid the popularist tendency to assert a binary oppositional and competing victims perspective on the factors impacting on the social and educational experiences of boys and girls. This will only lead to homogenizing and normalizing boys and girls on the basis of biological sex differences and, hence, reinforce the very versions of masculinity which the research shows have detrimental consequences for both the former and the latter. This book, therefore, is offered as an attempt to provide a more informed perspective on the social practices of masculinity impacting on boys lives at school. We hope that it will have the effect of moving the debates beyond the feminist backlash rhetoric which persists in casting boys as the new victims. If anything, as the contributors of this book argue, the issue that needs to be addressed is the investment that many boys, men and schools have in promoting a particular version of masculinity which is to their detriment in the sense that it limits them from developing a wider repertoire of behaviours and ways of relating. Until a commitment is made, particularly by men and boys themselves, to addressing the role that sexuality, homophobia and misogyny continue to play in how many of them define and negotiate their Masculinities, we believe that very little will change. Connolly .P. (2004) Boys and Schooling in the Early Years. Routledge Falmer Press. Boys underachievement in education has now become a international concern, prioritised highly b government bodies around the world. Boys and Schooling in the early years represents the first study of its kind to focus solely upon young men and their achievement within the education system. Throughout this book this is a powerful argument for the need to begin tackling the problem of boss lower educational performance in the early years. This proved entirely beneficial as it includes one of the most detailed analyses of national statistics regarding gender differences in educational achievement from the early years right through until compulsory schooling. Together with original and in depth case studies which vividly capture the differing experiences and perspectives of 5-6 year old boys, this book sets out the nature of the problems facing young boys in education and highlights a number of practical ways in which they can begin to be addressed. This is entirely relevant as i am conc erned about boys lower levels of achievement. This book follows the sandwich model: for the filling, juicy case studies of two contrasting schools in Northern Ireland; and, around the outside, nourishing chapters of theorizing, a critical review of the rhetoric and reality of the problem, and a detailed discussion of the strategies needed to sort everything out. Of these, probably the most useful is the chapter that sets the factual record straight, dismissing some current explanations of boys under-achievement: its not their brains, neurons or testosterone that are to blame; it isnt a question of girls holding boys back, or the feminization of schools, or an epidemic of laddish behavior. Rather, Connolly argues, the key factor in boys poor educational performance relative to girls is masculinity itself or, rather, masculinities. This is the rationale for the case studies that follow: one school in an affluent, peaceful, middle-class area, and another in a seriously disadvantaged working-class area, riven by sectarian violence. It is also the starting point for the authors research questions: what are the dominant forms of masculinity in the early years, and how do they influence boys attitudes towards schooling? Between October 2001 and June 2002, Connolly spent a day a week in each of the two primary schools, observing five and six-year-old boys, and interviewing boys, teachers and parents. In the middle-class school, dinosaurs are cool but reading is rubbish, while, on the other side of the tracks, resistance to school reaches dizzy heights. Boys in this school are not without enthusiasms, but these appear to be football, fighting, wrestling, pulling down girls trousers and marching with the local loyalist flute band. The chapter on home-school relations in this school is even more depressing, as parents describe how the teachers discourage their children from even entering for the 11-plus. Bad news all round then, including the research process itself: in particular, there are some dodgy interview questions that virtually invite the boys, across the class divide, to assert their innate superiority: If you had a choice, would you want to be girls or boys?; Would either of you like to be a girl? The boys answers fall smoothly into the stereotyped trap prepared for them. Nevertheless, this book asks some serious questions, not least of which is: why do we worry so much about gender differences when social class has a much greater impact on achievement? Furthermore, why are so many teachers apparently so willing to accept their pupils low levels of achievement on entry as a sure and certain guide to the future? And, lastly, when are we going to learn what Bronwen Davies tried to teach us long ago (in Frogs and Snails and Feminist Tales) about the need to go beyond male-female dualism, so that we can position ourselves, and our pupils, as neither male, nor female, but human. Im yet to be convinced that studies such as Connollys are going to help us take this tremendous step forward. Head .J. (1999) Understanding the Boys, Issues of Behavior and Achievement. Falmer Press. Attention is given to general aspects of learning and assessment before examining the response of boys to specific subjects within the curriculum. Personal, social and health education concerns are addressed. http://www.dropshippers.co.za/ This text aims to increase understanding of the potential causes of underachievement, violence and even suicide amongst teenage boys. Suicide has dramatically increased among young males and academic underachievement is common. The author argues that it is therefore important to understand the young male psyche. The text addresses questions such as: has male behavior in school worsened, or has media hype inflated the proportions of a good story; what is at the root of male violence; and are biological or social explanations telling the whole story? The author shows that it is only by engaging boys in arenas of thought and feeling that we can understand and help overcome the difficulties faced by boys today. The issue of boys work and behavior in school has created considerable public interest and has undoubtedly polarized opinion, with some claiming it is the greatest social problem of our time, while other asserts it is merely an expression of male backlash intended to divert attention and resources from the need of girls and women. The first of the two sections within this book contains a review discussion of the various explanatory models biological, social and psychological. Emerging message is schools and teachers matter in academic performance can be made and we need not see the failing or difficult boys as inevitably trapped in their current position. Head believed the key to successful intervention was in understanding the boys and attempting to see things from their perspective. Martino .W. et al. (2003) so whats a boy, addressing the issues of masculinity and schooling. Open University Press. So whats a bay? is a timely volume. It comes at a critical point in the expanding debate regarding boys and schools. Juxtaposed against an increasingly strident and often times stark mass media, this book offers a sober and contemporary view of boys and their place in that confused environment called school. However, not content to simply cite data and/or repeat refrains found elsewhere, the authors have avoided the boy crisis trap and raised the debate by taking an appealing, narrative approach. One can hear and appreciate the voices of boys (all kinds of different boys) through this volume! More Articles of Interest MALE TEACHERS AND THE BOY PROBLEM: AN ISSUE OF RECUPERATIVE EDUCATING BOYS: TEMPERING RHETORIC WITH RESEARCH EDITORIAL WHATS TO FEAR: CALLING HOMOPHOBIA INTO QUESTION Real Men or Real Teachers: Contradictions in the lives of men elementary http://dw.com.com/redir?tag=rbxira.2.a.10destUrl=http://www.cnet.com/b.gif The book is divided into three, roughly equal sections. Part 1, Normalization and Schooling, sets the general scene and brings the reader into the lives of boys with discussions regarding body image, emerging masculinities, bullying/harassment, and friendships. The second part, Diverse Masculinities, delves into the central issue of how boys see themselves, their developing sexuality, cultural/home conditions, how they are seen by others, and how

The Military Commander in Othello Essay -- Othello essays

The Military Commander in Othello  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   The character of the general in William Shakespeare’s tragic drama Othello is quite noble, although plagued by the shortcoming or weakness of gullibility. Let us in this essay look at all the features, both good and bad. of this ill-fated hero.    David Bevington in William Shakespeare: Four Tragedies describes many fine virtues which reside within the general:    Othello’s blackness, like that of the natives dwelling in heathen lands, could betoken to Elizabethan audiences an innocent proneness to accept Christianity, and Othello is one who has already embraced the Christian faith. His first appearance onstage, when he confronts a party of torch-bearing men coming to arrest him and bids his followers sheathe their swords, is sufficiently reminiscent of Christ’s arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane to convey a fleeting comparison between Othello and the Christian God whose charity and forbearance he seeks to emulate. Othello’s blackness may be used in part as an emblem of fallen man, but so are we all fallen. His age similarly strengthens our impression of his wisdom, restraint, leadership. (220)    Is it his â€Å"gullibility† which leads to his downfall? Morton W. Bloomfield and Robert C. Elliott   in Great Plays: Sophocles to Brecht posit the â€Å"lack of insight† of the hero as the cause of his tragic fall:    Othello’s lack of insight, cunningly played upon by Iago, leads to his downfall. And as the full enormity of his deed dawns upon him in the great scene of tragic self-revelation at the end, the audience may perhaps experience catharsis, that purgation of the soul brought about by an almost unbearable pity for him and his victims, and by terror at what human... ...han all his tribe [. . .] .† He dies a noble death, just as he has lived a noble life. Michael Cassio’s evaluation of his end is our evaluation: â€Å"This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon; / For he was great of heart.†       WORKS CITED    Bevington, David, ed. William Shakespeare: Four Tragedies. New York: Bantam Books, 1980.    Bloomfield, Morton W. and Robert C. Elliott, ed. Great Plays: Sophocles to Brecht. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1965.    Coles, Blanche. Shakespeare’s Four Giants. Rindge, New Hampshire: Richard Smith Publisher, 1957.    Jorgensen, Paul A. William Shakespeare: The Tragedies. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985.    Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.   

Arthur Miller biography Essay

Arthur Miller was born on 17 October 1915, in New York City. He lived in Harlem until he was fourteen. His Dad was a clothes manufacturer but lost all his money in 1929 when the stock market crashed. Due to the economic depression, which followed, when Miller graduated from high school in 1932 there was no money to send him to university. He worked for two years as shipping clerk, earning money to get him to college. He applied to the University of Michigan in 1934 and graduated from there in 1938. He worked in a Navy Yard while writing for the radio. His first successful stage play was All My Sons which opened in 1947 and later a film was made of it. Following this was the even more successful Death of a Salesman, which opened in 1949. These plays were seen as an attack on capitalism and during the McCarthy era of the 1940’s and 1950’s there was a lot of hysteria surrounding the spread of communism. Senator Joe McCarthy was very anti-communist and was adamant that any communist activities in America should be stomped out and the perpetrators jailed. Although this seemed a good idea to some, McCarthy’s policy was you either confess to be a communist, or give names of communists, or you would go to jail. Due to All My Sons and Death of a Salesman being seen as an attack on capitalism, Miller was summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee that had been in operation since 1938. He was told to confess to signing his name on various petitions that the court had received or he would be jailed. Arthur Miller linked the activities of the Committee to the Salem witchcraft trials in which a few adolescent girls accused people of Salem of witchcraft. If these people did not confess to witchcraft then they would be hanged. From this he was able to write the play, The Crucible. The Crucible is about a young girl named Abigail who is in love with a married man named John Proctor. Abby and some other girls confess to compacting with the devil and are seen as saints as they start naming people who they claim to be witches. Proctor is determined to stop them and he with some others try to oppose authority to uncover the truth. Miller has used John Proctor as metaphor for himself.

Chimney Sweeper Essay

A great writer, or poet, will make their readers feel as if they are a part of their story. The reader will feel happy when the character is happy, or sad when the character is sad. This is achieved by various rhetorical strategies that writers use. Some of these strategies include imagery and word diction. Sometimes it is one sentence that really gets to the reader. Other times it is simply one word that can make the reader feel anything from warm to sad. In William Blake’s poem, â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper,† from Songs of Innocence, there is an important transition in which the reader’s sense of emotions change from negative feelings of darkness, death, and misery to positive emotions of happiness, hope, and salvation. This transition in emotions reflects the child’s innocence and oblivion to his victimization whereas in the same poem from Songs of Experience the child is aware that he is the victim and therefore only reveals feelings of bitterness and sarcasm. This contrast is important to my understanding of the Innocence poem because it reveals a softer and more innocent perspective than the poem of Experience does. In the first half of the poem Blake uses word diction that gives off negative connotations in order to illustrate the horrible conditions the young chimneysweepers live in. The chimneysweeper says, â€Å"And my father sold me while yet my tongue/Could scarcely cry † ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep! ’† (2-3). Not only does the word â€Å"weep† clearly give off a sense of sadness and depression, but the fact that it is repeated four times puts an emphasis on the sadness that the chimneysweeper feels. The quote implies that the father sold his child at a very young age. As a result, the child was still too young to weep and therefore could not refuse to be sold. Another quote says, â€Å"So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep† (4). When one hears the word â€Å"sweep†, they are imagining dirt and filth being lifted off the ground. Moreover, the phrase â€Å"in soot I sleep†, if one imagines it in a literal sense, shows that the child is literally sleeping in soot, which is the black debris that the smoke from the chimney creates. As a result, this quote illustrates a dirty and filthy setting that these chimneysweepers are forced to live in. A phrase that, without a doubt, gives off a sense of death and hell is â€Å"coffins of black† (12). The chimneysweeper uses this phrase to describe where the other chimneysweepers are locked in Tom’s dream, which is still filthy and almost suffocating. While these quotes and phrases observe and reveal the terrible conditions that these children are living in, the chimneysweeper in the Experience poem reasons why he is living in those conditions by blaming his parents. This comparison makes evident the different perspectives from each poem. Hints of hope are first revealed in the Innocence poem where Blake uses the child’s sarcasm to show that in moments of darkness and unhappiness there is still space for optimism so as not to suffer so much. This is revealed when the chimneysweeper reassures Tom to â€Å"never mind it, for when your head’s bare/You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair† (7-8). In a way this would make Tom feel hopeful because with a bare head, the soot cannot ruin his hair. But in a metaphorical sense, it implies that darkness (the soot) will not prevail over everything, which gives one hope. What follows this sense of hope is Tom’s description of his dream: And by came an Angel who had a bright key/And he open’d the coffins & set them all free/Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run/And wash in a river, and shine in the Sun/Then naked and white, all their bags left behind/They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind. (13-18) This stanza contains numerous amounts of words and phrases that all give a positive connotation of hope, freedom, warmth, and happiness. Words such as â€Å"Angel†, â€Å"bright key†, â€Å"laughing†, â€Å"Sun†, and â€Å"white† give off a feeling that is too good to be true, which explains why it is a dream in the first place. But that hope and happiness is so strong that when Tom awakes, he continues his work happily. This utopian perspective clearly shows the innocence of these children, while the child in the poem of Experience has no sense of hope because he is aware of the reality he is living in. While the children in the Innocence poem use religious words and phrases to give them something to look forward to, the child in the Experience poem condemns religion. Blake shows how religion is used to almost condone the treatment and conditions of these chimneysweepers when he writes, â€Å"And the Angel told Tom, if he’d be a good boy/He’d have God for his father and never want joy† (19-20). This quote implies that obedience and sticking to your duties will bring happiness in the afterlife. The same thing is implied when the chimneysweeper says, â€Å"So if all do their duty they need not fear harm† (24). In other words, as long as these chimneysweepers continue with their gruesome work while refraining from complaints, they will be happy and will be rewarded in the afterlife for their good behavior. This mentality seems to convince the children that it is acceptable live in these horrible conditions because they will be rewarded once they pass. In contrast, the child in the Experience poem does not see the afterlife or God as something or someone to look forward to because he blames God for the position he is in. He mocks God by saying, â€Å"And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King/Who make up a heaven of our misery† (11-12). The child’s parents are praying in the church and believe that they have not caused their child any injury. In this case, it is the parents that are condoning the brutal life of their child. This major difference between the two poems is important because it reveals how differently each child views the situation they are in as chimneysweepers. Blake’s use of word diction and imagery in the poem of Innocence and in the poem of Experience differentiates the two opposing perspectives of each poem. Because the Innocence poem transitions from darkness and hopelessness to freedom and hopefulness, my understanding of this poem is extremely different from the other. It is clear that the chimneysweeper in the Experience poem is aware that he is the victim; therefore, his feelings of sadness and despair block him from seeing any hope. Instead, he blames God and his parents for the life he lives. In contrast, I am given the sense that the chimneysweeper in the Innocence poem is completely oblivious to the fact that he is a victim, and therefore it is easier for him to see the light in the darkest moments; in this sense he is still innocent of any hard feelings towards his father or God.