Alcohol Addiction Essay

It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the problem of addiction, which affects many individuals, families and communities everyday. This essay is going to look at the prevalence of addiction in Scotland and what the Scottish Government are proposing to do to reduce the damage caused by addiction. There are many other stakeholders in the scheme to make Scotland a better place these are: individuals themselves, friends, family, communities, local governments and the National Health Service. Everyone is working together to try and make Scotland a better and safer place to live. The definition of addiction has changed so many times over the years from when people believed that addiction was basically â€Å"a physiological adaptation to the presence of a drug in the body so that the absence of the drug leads to physiological dysfunction which is manifest to the sufferer as unpleasant or even life-threatening ‘withdrawal symptoms'† (West and Hardy, 2006). This definition howeve takes into consideration the idea that an addiction only has a physiological effect on the body rather than a psychological one. Now, addiction is to be defined as â€Å"a syndrome at the centre of which is impaired control over a behaviour, and this loss of control is leading to significant harm† (West and Hardy, 2006). One of the main reasons that the definition has changed so many times is the fact that addiction is socially defined rather than having a matter of fact definition of an object. It has been found that everyone is addicted to something; however, it may not be an illegal substance. It can range from anything that is immediately harmful like drugs to some other substances that become dangerous in larger quantities. Many people have become addicted to things such as exercise, food and gambling. Although these do not seem to be dangerous, addiction is more of a lifestyle and therefore addicts normally only live to get their next ‘fix’. So if done too often can become harmful, for example, putting on too much weight from eating a lot of food is psychologically damaging as well as bad for your mental health. Whereas shopping and gambling can put you in serious money debt, which in turn may cause a distress and psychological problems. Although there are many different types of addiction this essay is going to look at alcoholism in particular. An alcoholic is defined as a person who has â€Å"a tolerance for alcohol, they are dependent on alcohol, and the develop withdrawal symptoms when alcohol use is terminated† (Bennett and Holloway, 2005). Unlike other substances alcoholics tend to start in lower doses and work up to higher. In the UK, the recommended daily intake of alcohol, for men is 21 and women are 14 units. However, in 2008, it was found that â€Å"50% of men and 30% of women are regularly drinking of the sensible drinking guidelines†. Because of this, the Scottish Government has started to make many changes to the way alcohol is sold. This essay will look at the different effects that alcohol addiction has on a person’s life and what strategies the Government have put in to place. Many researches have taken place to determine whether or not there is a single gene that can decide whether a person will become dependant on alcohol in their life and without any proof it is understood that there is no genes that can influence this. However, there are countless factors that influence the prevalence of a person becoming an alcoholic from the environment they live in to the choices they make. In recent research carried out by the Scottish Government it was found that â€Å"One in 4 women consume alcohol during pregnancy†. Foetuses can become dependent on the alcohol that the mother is drinking throughout the pregnancy. This can also mean that the foetus can develop some kind of alcohol related birth defects, such a â€Å"malformations, growth retardation and abnormalities, which have ‘considerable individual variation'†. The environment that a child grows up in also plays a role in the way a person views alcohol. If a child grows up with parents who are either alcoholics themselves it is very likely that the child will start drinking at a younger age so therefore increasing their risk of alcohol dependency in later years. It has been found that male and females react differently to addiction, as women tend to start at lower doses than men, however they are increase their dosage at a higher rate than men. This is still the same when it comes down to dealing with addiction, women are more like to go and get help than men. With lack of quality education in the most deprived areas of Scotland many people are unemployed. It is these people with no real life prospects that turn to alcohol. With alcohol dependency being more of a lifestyle, an addicts life is very chaotic, only making sure they have enough money for the alcohol they need. Addiction can also be difficult for family and social life, as addicts are usually unable to look after children or other family member. This can lead to breakdown of families and communities, which can add more violence to an area. The government have estimated that â€Å"alcohol misuse costs Scotland  £2.25 billion every year†. This figure includes all of the social problems that alcohol misuse creates. For instance paying for the NHS to treat people who have had accidents while being intoxicated or domestic abuse cause by alcohol. In the policy the government aimed to reduce the alcohol related hospital admission by 2011. (Scot Gov, 2011) Scotland is well known around the world for the drinking and the whisky that the country produces. In a study that was carried out by Biggar Economics (Blackett, G. 2013) in 2012, it found that the whisky industry employs a massive 10,284 workers in Scotland and had a turnover of  £3,940 million in 2008. A survey was carried out to find if Scots enjoy a night better if they are drinking alcohol. It showed that 32% of people said that they found it easier and of the 32%, 42% of them were men. In the UK alone Scotland has the highest mortality rate out of each country. Scotland (26 deaths per 100,000 people) has double the amount of deaths by alcohol than England (13 deaths per 100,000 people). To reduce alcohol related violence the government put forward legislation to stop nightclubs from serving their drinks in glasses and serve them in plastic cups instead. This meant that let people were being injured from broken glass being thrown. â€Å"Changing Scotland’s Relationship with Alcohol: A Framework for Action (2009)† is a follow on policy from a, well received by the public, discussion paper, â€Å"Changing Scotland’s Relationship with Alcohol†, where they proposed different ways to reduce alcohol misuse in Scotland. The policy states that alcohol is a bigger problem than anybody realised with  many factor contributing to it such as, â€Å"socio-economic, cultural, educational, community-based, health-related, or linked to individual behaviors and choices† (Sturgeon, N. 2009). The main stakeholders of the policy are the Scottish Government, local Governments, health organisations (NHS), individuals and the alcohol trade market. The policy starts by stating the main reason that the alcohol misuse is becoming such a problem in Scotland, which is the fact that it has become so affordable, it is now â€Å"70% more affordable than in 1980† (Sturgeon, N. 2009). The main aim of the policy is to reduce alcohol consumption by supporting individuals and communities by improving their own attitude towards the ever-growing problem of alcohol misuse. The first thing that the government want to do is ban off-sales from selling alcohol as a loss leader to bring customers into their premises. The way to enforce this was to introduce a minimum price per unit of alcohol. This also meant that shops could no longer advertise alcohol based on price reduction alone. Another aim of the policy was to raise the legal age for buying alcohol from off sale to 21. There were mixed votes, with were in favour† (Sturgeon, N. 2009). In a test run of the project in Cupar, Stenhousemuir and Armadale, only running on Friday and Saturday evening, it was found that there was a reduction in anti-social areas in all three area. However, with so many people being against it the Scottish Government have refrained from putting this in force. â€Å"Plan for action on alcohol problems: update (2007)† is policy written by the Scottish government as an update of the â€Å"Plan for action on alcohol problems (2002)†. The main stakeholders of this policy are the Scottish Government, Local Government, the Scottish education system, individuals, health organisations (NHS) and the alcohol trade industry. One of the first aims of the policy is to educate young people about the dangers of alcohol and alcohol misuse. This is in hope that if they educate the young people then when they grow up and become the age of legally being able to drunk that they will have enough knowledge and education to be able to handle it with care and therefore reducing alcohol misuse in the future. The Scottish government have introduced the â€Å"Alcohol. Don’t Push It† campaign, set out to not only educating the young people but everyone of all ages not to abuse alcohol but rather to have it as part of a healthy, balanced li festyle. The  Scottish Government has put in â€Å" £13 million over 2005/06 and 2006/07 to support local alcohol treatment, support and prevention activities† (Kerr, A. 2007). This shows that they are trying to tackle local authorities to ensure that they have the knowledge and support to be able to educe their alcohol misuse problems themselves. It has been found that â€Å"the number of liquor licences in Scotland has increased by 23%†(Kerr, A. 2007). This is making alcohol more and more accessible meaning that people are able to drink to so much excess with alcohol being sold in off-licenses, supermarkets, pubs and little local shops. â€Å"Alcohol-related industries are estimated to employ around 155,000 people (6% of total employment in Scotland) (Kerr, A. 2007)† This means that a lot of people’s livelihood relies on the production and sale of alcohol in Scotland and if sales decrease too much these people lose out. The UK Government receives taxes of â€Å"7% of total Customs and Excise revenue† (Kerr, A. 2007) from alcohol alone. This means that if the alcohol sales were to go down they would lose out on money however, sa ying that they would also save the money that they currently spend on the restoring the problems that alcohol misuse cause, such as treating people that have illnesses relating to alcohol. When providing alcohol all premises have to have a license to allow the to do this. The Alcohol Etc. (Scotland) Act 2010 was written by the Scottish Government to ensure that all premises were following the laws and regulations of their license. The main stakeholders in this act are the Scottish Government and the alcohol sales industry. The act outlines the rule and regulations for the sale and pricing of alcohol. The act states that if â€Å"A package containing two or more alcoholic products (whether of the same or different kinds) may only be sold on the premises at a price equal to or greater than the sum of the prices at which each alcoholic product is for sale on the premises† (Anon. 2011). This means that if two products are packaged together that they must be sold for at least the price of the products if they were sold separately if they are also sold separately on the same premises. The act also states that a premise must have a scheme in place to make sure that age verification is being carried. Many place take the ‘Think 25’ approach, where they must ask verification of anyone who looks aged 25 or under. This is to ensure that young people who look older  than they are are being checked for identification. This is one way the Scottish Government are trying to reduce the underage drinking in Scotland. Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 was put into place to ensure that alcohol was not being sold at too much of a reduced price. The reason for this is to stop alcohol being made too accessible, especially to people who are not able to afford the necessities such as food, water and safe shelter. An equation was put in to place to ensure that everyone was complying with the same legislation, it was: â€Å"MPU x S x V x 100† (Anon. 2011). MPU is maximum price per unit, S is Strength of the Alcohol and V is the Volume of alcohol. In conclusion of this essay, alcohol misuse is still a major problem in Scotland to this day but with the leadership of the government and the help of every individual, community and local government then hopefully in the future we can say that Scotland is still as social and hospitable as ever. The only change will be that there is a decrease in the deaths, injuries and social problems cause by alcohol. REFERENCES Bennett, T. and Holloway, K. 2005. _Understanding drugs, alcohol and crime_. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Drink Aware. 2013. _Alcohol Dependence_. [online] Available at: http://www.drinkaware.co.uk/check-the-facts/health-effects-of-alcohol/mental-health/alcohol-dependence. Unknown. 2003. _Percentages of Past Year Alcohol Dependence or Abuse among Adults Aged 21 or Older, by Age at First Use_. [image online] Available at: http://www.samhsa.gov/data/2k4/ageDependence/ageDependence.htm. Scot Gov. 2011. _Varying risk of crime – proportion of adults who were victims of crime by area deprivation_. [image online] Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/10/28142346/5. West, R. and Hardy, A. 2006. _Theory of addiction_. Oxford: Blackwell Pub./Addiction Press. Ford, K. Unknown. Understanding of the use of alcohol in pregnancy amongst women in Scotland. Published by General Register Office. Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/175356/0066306.pdf Kerr, A. 2007. Plan for action on alcohol problems: update. Published by the Scottish Executive. Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/02/19150222/0 Sturgeon, N. 2009. Changing Scotland’s Relationship with Alcohol: A Framework for Action. Published by the Scottish Government. Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/262905/0078610.pdf Anon. 2010. Alcohol etc. (Scotland) Act 2010. Published by the Scottish Government. Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2010/18/contents Anon. 2012. Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012. Published by the Scottish Government. Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/Services/Alcohol/minimum-pricing Scot Gov. 2009. Tackling alcohol misuse. Published by the Scottish Government. Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2009/03/02085300 Blackett, G. 2013. Contribution of the Scotch Whisky Industry to the Scottish Economy. Published by Biggar Economics. Available at: http://reidfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Whisky-and-the-Scottish-Economy-BiGGAR-Economics-Nov12.pdf 8

Presentation of Self

â€Å"When an individual enters the presence of others, they commonly seek to acquire? information about him or to bring into play information about him already possessed. They? will be interested in his general socio-economic status, his conception of self, his attitude? towards them, his competence, his trustworthiness, etc. Although some of this information is? sought as an end in itself, there are usually quite practical reasons for acquiring it. Information? about the individual helps to define the situation, enabling others to know in advance what he? ill expect of them and what they may expect of him. Informed in these ways, the others will? know how best to act in order to call forth a desired response from him. †-Erving Goffman In â€Å"The Presentation of Self In Everyday Life,† by Erving Goffman he seeks to show the reader how everyone sets out to present themselves to the world around them, always trying to maintain the role they have selected for themselves , since those whom they meet not only try to decide what role it is you are playing, but also whether or not you are competent to play that role.Erving Goffman portrays everyday interactions as strategic encounters in which one is attempting to sell a particular self-image and, accordingly, a particular definition of the situation. I agree with Erving Goffman, in everyday life I believe we all play different roles to different people to portray ourselves in the way we want to be seen. The impression we have on people and society depends on the character and role we play.In my life today I try to please people the best way I can while still making myself happy I can relate to Goffman’s writings because I also believe myself that we are all actors playing a role in society that we choose to play. The ways we portray ourselves to the people around us can differ from friends to parents because we want a sense of acceptance from all. I agree with this very much. Growing up I know that I occasionally would lie to my parents to play the role that they wanted to see. The image my parents may have thought me to be, at times, actually was not me.I wanted to be my parent’s princess and the golden child, so I acted in a way to seek their approval which in some ways was not the â€Å"real† me. These conditions occur because of the existence of self presentational rules according to Goffman. â€Å"When one individual enters the presence of others, he will want to discover the facts of the situation. Were he to possess this information. †Also when meeting an individual we try to get information about them so we can act accordingly to their approval. How we act with one friend may not be the way we act with another.We determine the person’s status and attitude and decide for ourselves if we want to be a part of that. When we gather the information when first meeting someone, it determines the way we think and act towards them. Erving Goffman revolves his view of the human life around the belief that we are all actors who have both a front stage behavior and a back stage behavior. From an early age we have become skilled actors and move in and out of roles with precision such as with our family and friends. We follow the formal societal rules when we are on the front stage reciting a script, playing a role.This would include going to work, presenting ourselves as the person we should uphold to take part in society. On the other side, Goffman says our back stage behavior is informal, as we'd act when we are amongst friends. When I myself am in the public eye instead of in the social scene amongst my friends I find myself acting in a different way to please the group of people I am around. Erving Goffman had a good perception on society and natural human behavior that I myself can relate to and agree with.

Chapter Outline Chapter 2

Chapter Outline Chapter 2 I. Developmental theories and the issues they raise A. The Importance of Theories 1. Guides the collection of new information a. what is most important to study b. what can be hypothesized or predicted c. how it should be studied B. Qualities of a Good Theory 1. Internally consistent– its different parts are not contradictory 2. Falsifiable– generates testable hypotheses 3. Supported by data– describes, predicts, and explains human development C. Four Major Theories (psychoanalytic, learning, cognitive developmental, contextual/systems) D. Nature/Nurture 1. Nature– genetic/biological predisposition . Nurture– emphasis on experience/environmental impact E Goodness/Badness of Human Nature 1. Hobbes– children are selfish and bad and society must teach them to behave in a civilized way 2. Rousseau– children are innately good and society must not interfere with innate goodness 3. Locke– child born neither go od nor bad, but like a tabula rasa or â€Å"blank slate† F. Activity and Passivity 1. Activity– control over one’s development 2. Passive– product of forces beyond one’s control (environmental or biological) G. Continuity/Discontinuity 1. Continuity– gradual change (small steps) 2.Discontinuity– abrupt change 3. Qualitative or quantitative change a. qualitative– changes in a degree b. quantitative– change in kind c. developmental stages part of discontinuity approach H. Universality/Context-Specificity 1. Universality– developmental change common to everyone 2. Context-specific– developmental changes vary by individual/culture II. Freud: Psychoanalytic theory A. Sigmund Freud: Viennese Physician and Founder of Psychoanalytic Theory 1. Emphasis on motive and emotions of which we are unaware 2.. Theory less influential than in the past B. Instincts and Unconscious Motives 1.Instincts– inborn biological forces that motivate behavior 2. Unconscious motivation– instinctive and inner force influences beyond our awareness/control 3. Emphasis on nature (biological instincts) C. Id, Ego, and Superego 1. Id a. all psychic energy contained here b. basic biological urges c. impulsive d. seeks immediate gratification 2. Ego a. rational side of personality b. ability to postpone pleasure 3. Superego a. internalized moral standards b. perfection principle (adhere to moral standards) 4. Id, ego and superego conflict common/inevitable 5. Problems arise when level of psychic energy unevenly distributed D.Psychosexual Development 1. Importance of libido– sex instinct’s energy shifts body locations 2. Five stages of psychosexual development a. oral stage b. anal stage c. phallic stage d. latency period e. genital stage 3. Conflict of id and social demands leads to ego’s defense mechanisms defense mechanisms– unconscious coping mechanisms of the ego i. fixationâ⠂¬â€œ Development arrested at early stage ii. regression– Retreat to earlier stage 4. Phallic stage– Oedipus and Electra complexes (incestuous desire) resolve by identifying with same-sex parent and incorporating parent’s values into the super ego 5.Genital stage– experienced during puberty a. conflict and distance from parents b. greater capacity to love and have children in adulthood c. teen pregnancy due to inability to manage sexual urges because of childhood experiences E. Strengths and Weaknesses 1. Difficult to test and ambiguous 2. Weak support for specific aspects of the theory (e. g. , sexual seduction by parents) 3. Greater support for broad ideas a. unconscious motivation b. importance of early experience, especially parenting III. Erikson: Neo-Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory A. Neo-Freudians– Important Disciples of Psychoanalytic Theory 1.Notable neo-Freudians: Jung, Horney, Sullivan, Anna Freud 2. Erikson is most important life span ne o-Freudian theorist 3. Erikson’s differences with Freud a. less emphasis on sexual and more on social influences b. less emphasis on id, more on rational ego c. more positive view of human nature d. more emphasis on developmental changes in adulthood B. Psychosocial Development 1. Resolution of eight major psychosocial crises a. trust versus mistrust– key is general responsiveness of caregiver b. autonomy versus shame– terrible twos c. initiative versus guilt– preschool sense of autonomy d. ndustry versus inferiority– elementary age sense of mastery e. identity versus role confusion– adolescence acquisition of identity f. intimacy versus isolation– young adult commitment g. generativity versus stagnation– middle age sense of having produced something meaningful h. integrity versus despair– elderly sense of life meaning and success 2. Personality strengths â€Å"ego virtues† developed during stages 3. Stage develop ment due to biological maturation and environmental demands 4. Teen pregnancy explained as due to weak ego or super ego (management of sexual urges rooted in early childhood) C.Strengths and Weaknesses 1. Its emphases on rational, adaptive nature and social influences easier to accept 2. Captures some central development issues 3. Influenced thinking about adolescence and beyond 4. Like Freud, vague and difficult to test 5. Provides description, but not adequate explanation of development IV. Learning theories A. Watson: Classical Conditioning 1. Emphasis on behavioral change in response to environmental stimuli 2. Behaviorism– belief that only observed behavior should be studied 3. Rejected psychoanalytic theory and explained Freud using learning principles 4.Conducted classical conditioning research with colleague Rosalie Rayner Watson and Rayner condition infant â€Å"Albert† to fear rat a. loud noise was unconditioned (unlearned) stimulus b. crying (fear) was uncon ditioned (unlearned) response c. white rat became conditioned (learned) stimulus producing conditioned response of crying after it was paired with loud noise 5. Classical conditioning involved when children learn to â€Å"love† caring parents 6. Reject stage conceptualization of development 7. Learning is learning B. Skinner: Operant Conditioning 1.In operant (instrumental) conditioning learning thought to become more or less probable depending on consequences 2. Reinforcement– consequences that strengthen a response (increase probability of future response) 3. Positive– something added a. positive reinforcement– something pleasant added in attempt to strengthen behavior b. positive reinforcement best when continuous 4. Negative– something removed a. negative reinforcement– something unpleasant taken in attempt to strengthen behavior 5. Punishment– consequences that suppress future response a. positive punishment– something unp leasant added in attempt to weaken behavior b. egative punishment– something pleasant taken in attempt to weaken behavior 6. Extinction– no consequence given and behavior becomes less frequent 7. Skinner emphasized positive reinforcement in child rearing 8. Physical punishment best used in specific circumstances like†¦ a. administered immediately following act b. administered consistently following offense c. not overly harsh d. accompanied by explanation e. administered by otherwise affectionate person f. combined with efforts to reinforcement acceptable behaviors 9. Too little emphasis on role of cognitive processes C.Bandura: Social Cognitive Theory 1. Humans’ cognitive abilities distinguish them from animals– can think about behavior and anticipate consequences 2. Observational learning (learning from models) most important mechanism for behavior change 3. Classic experiment using â€Å"Bobo† doll showed that children could learn from mode l 4. Vicarious reinforcement– learner changes behaviors based on consequences observed being given to a model 5. Human agency– ways in which humans deliberately exercise control over environments and lives self-efficacy– sense of one’s ability to control self or environment 6.Reciprocal determinism– mutual influence of individuals and social environments determines behavior 7. Doubt the existence of stages 8. View cognitive capacities as maturing over time 9. Learning experiences differentiate development of child of same age D. Strengths and Weaknesses of Learning Theory 1. Learning theories are precise and testable 2. Principles operate across the life span 3. Practical applications 4. Doesn't show that learning actually causes observed developmental changes 5. Oversimplifies development by focusing on experience and downplaying biological influences V. Cognitive developmental theoryA. Jean Piaget Swiss Scholar Greatly Influences Study of Intelle ctual Development in Children 1. Emphasizes errors in thinking (wrong answers) 2. Argues that cognitive development is qualitative in nature B. Piaget's Constructivism 1. Constructivism– active construction of knowledge based on experience 2. Stage progression due to interaction of biological maturation and environment C. Stages of Cognitive Development (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operations) 1. Sensorimotor stage a. birth to age 2 b. deal with world directly through perceptions and actions . unable to use symbols 2. Preoperational stage a. ages 2 to 7 b. capacity for symbolic thought c. lack tools of logical thought d. cling to ideas they want to be true 3. Concrete operations stage a. ages 7 to 11 b. use trial-and-error strategy c. perform mental operations in their heads d. difficulty with abstract and hypothetical concepts 4. Formal operations stage a. ages 11 and later b. think abstractly and can formulate hypotheses c. can devise â€Å"g rand theories† about others D. Strengths and Weaknesses 1. Pioneer with long lasting impact 2. Many of Piaget’s concepts accepted (e. g. children active in own development) 3. Influential in education and child rearing practices 4. Too little emphasis on motivation and emotion 5. Questioning of stage model 6. Underestimated children’s cognitive skills VI. Contextual/Systems Theories A. Changes Over Life Span Arise from Ongoing Transactions and Mutual Influences Between Organism and Changing World No single end-point to development B. Vygotsky: A Sociocultural Perspective 1. Russian psychologist who took issue with Piaget 2. Sociocultural perspective– development shaped by organism growing in culture 3. Tools of a culture impact development . Cognitive development is social process 5. Children co-construct knowledge through social dialogues with others 6. Paid too little attention to biology C. Gottlieb: An Evolutionary/Epigenetic Systems View 1. Some conte xtual/systems theories have arisen from work by evolutionary biologists a. influenced by Darwin’s work b. genes aid in adapting to the environment 2. Ethology– study evolved behavior of species in natural environment a. birdsongs in the wild b. species-specific behavior of humans 3. Evolutionary/epigenetic systems perspective of Gottlieb a. evolution has endowed us with genes . predisposition to develop in certain direction genes do not dictate, make some outcomes more probable c. Gottleib’s emphases: i. activity of gene ii. activity of neuron iii. organism’s behavior iv. environmental influences d. interaction between genes and environmental factors e. instinctive behaviors may not be expressed if environmental conditions do not exist i. duckling vocalizations ii. baby rats seeking water f. normal development is combination of normal genes and normal early experience g. experience can influence genetic activity and change course of development i. ice che wing and impact on genes ii. lactose tolerance higher in cultures with dairy farming tradition h. difficult to predict outcome (multifactor influence) i. view people in continual flux and change is inevitable D. Strengths and Weaknesses 1. Complex like human development 2. Cannot predict outcome (wide range of paths) VII. Theories in Perspective A. Stage Theorists: Freud, Erikson, Piaget 1. Development guided in universal direction 2. Influenced by biological/maturational forces B. Learning Theorists: Watson, Skinner, Bandura 1. Emphasis on influence of environment 2.Deliberate steps taken by parents to shape development C. Contextual and Systems Theorists: Vygotsky, Gottleib 1. Focus on dynamic relationship between person and environment 2. Focus on impact of both biology and environment 3. Potential exists for qualitative and quantitative change 4. Developmental pathways depend on interplay of internal and external influences D. Changing World Views 1. Our understanding of human d evelopment is ever changing 2. Contextual/systems theories prevalent today 3. Less extreme, but more complex positions  © Copyright 2006 Thomson. All rights reserved.

Dance movie review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Dance movie review - Essay Example The movie follows the first embarrassed steps of the dancers to how they gain confidence to perform an excellent dance that attracts a standing ovation. The video is raw as the audience can tell the dancers are inexperienced. There is no voice-over at the beginning of the film indicating that the neither the dancers nor the audience understood the events going on or what they were meant to be doing. This gives authenticity to the fact that they were very new to the dancing and that they did not know where to start. The movie brings out the personalities of the dancers as they go through the journey and also their stamina and courage. The film focuses mostly on the teenagers and their journey for growth and into adulthood. The movie is profound and very real as opposed to the mechanized dances that are so popular with other dance videos. Wim directed the film after the death of Pina, and it consisted some of the best works by Pina. The dances that are performed in Pina take place everywhere. There are dances in the forests, on the road sidewalks and even in the tram cars. The movie also has some interviews with some of the dancers where their responses are not by word but are rather contemplative as they give their answers. Instead of using words from their minds, they use the dances on their bodies signifying the influence that their mentor had on them. Not only did Pina teach and inspire the dancers to become who they are but she also inspired in them a similar character signifying that she was such a charismatic mentor and her dances lived beyond her. The movie is very exhilarating but there is no single work of dance that is complete in the movie hence leaving the audience a bit frustrated. The power that Pina had is communicated in the movie and the audience experiences a dance and a movie at the same time and thus remains very

Creating a Flowchart Design for the Validation Check Process Lab Report

Creating a Flowchart Design for the Validation Check Process - Lab Report Example Input validation check may either use blacklisting approach or white-listing approach. White-listing allows programmer to define the data that should be accepted in an entry while blacklisting does the opposite. That is, a blacklist approach defines a set of ‘known bad inputs’ that should not be accepted as an input whereas a white-list defines a set of known good inputs. Using the two approaches, one of the input checks may be application of a white-list. The auditor may consider checking the accepted data types in each entry. For example in the access routine number to payroll by the operator, one may specify that the input must consider of letters, special characters such as dollar sign and numbers. Since it acts like a password, the combination ensures security when it comes to accessibility (Nick, 2003). Additionally, employees’ number inputs may be restricted to letters and numbers only e.g kw997836. Besides, another input validation check to consider is canonicalization of all inputs. This involves reducing data received to its simplest form. Simplifying one input may facilitate bypassing of validation functions. Thus canonicalization ensures that any malicious user do not bypass the validation function (Nick, 2003). Last but not least, one may consider creating checks for the system content. Check for content specifies the maximum and minimum lengths of entries and probably the syntax. For example, in the employees’ number input slot, one may specify that the letters comes before numbers and the maximum number of characters is 6. The specification ensures that a malicious user does not paste several input data in the entry (Nick,

Operations Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Operations Summary - Essay Example Examples of these include the grocery stores, ATM at banks, the supermarkets, websites and e-ticketing. In this design the physical office is eliminated (APICS) Personal attention: In this approach the customer has a minimum contact with the provider and the customer develops a relationship with the service provider representative. Eg sales person. This approach the work flow is not customized and provider seeks to build customer loyalty. Job Shop Process: This is manufacturing of a product in a fixed time and cost as per the requirements of the customer, and is done one by one. The jobs are unique, volumes are low and the variety is quite high (S. Anil Kumar, 2006, p. 17). The examples of Job Shops include in metal fabricators, ship building and in construction. Batch flow; examples of batch flow include air travelling, traditional mortgage loan processing, textile apparels, and bread factories. The products are manufactured in regular intervals, characterized by the routing of the jobs and sometimes the products are kept in a warehouse awaiting sales (S. Anil Kumar, 2006, p. 18). Assembly line: The examples of assembly line include in car manufacturing, mobile handset, television and most consumer products goods. The operations are performed in sequence and are assembly-oriented. The product moves from one workstation to the next in a sequence of operations and materials are handled by devices like conveyors (S. Anil Kumar, 2006, p.19). APICS. (n.d.). APICS Operations Management. Retrieved August 27, 2014, from APICS:

Human and animal interrelationships Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Human and animal interrelationships - Essay Example Although highly anthropomorphized in their thinking and approaches, the rabbits are true to the idea of wild rabbits. Most animals in the wild make an effort to avoid humanity and their interactions are often that of hunter versus prey, forced domestication, and protection of crops and property (Grandgeorge, and Hausberger 397-399). They, human beings, are seldom beneficial for the animals in the long run. I find this book to be a realistic manifestation of human and animal interactions in that it provides a realistic relationship of avoidance and inadvertent contact. Chapter Summaries/Analysis PART 1: The Journey Chapter 1: The Notice Board The opening introduces us to the rabbits, and the main characters, of the â€Å"Sandleford† Warren. The rabbits are out grazing when they are forced away from a the â€Å"cowslip† growing in the field by the Warren Owsla, which is the ruling class and pseudo military of the warren, who believe that the best foods are reserved for th em. Fiver, Hazel’s brother, is thought to be a bit psychic believes that something bas is going to happen but he does not know what. He directs attention to a sign posted on the property. The rabbits cannot read it, but it clearly states that human construction is coming to this filed; this means that Fiver’s vision may not be entirely unfounded (Adams 11-160). Human beings, although not there in person, have a very important role in the opening of this story; in fact, they are the motivating factor in Five’s fears. The sign represents the human presence and intentions for the area presently being occupied by the rabbit warren. This could be perceived as an example for human shortsightedness and disregard for the consequences of their actions where other species are concerned and the threat they present to other living things homes. The relationship between the animals and man is one of negative cause and effect, without interaction at all. Chapter 2: The Chief Rabbit Fiver's concerns and dreams about the â€Å"bad† things that are coming are getting worse. He wakes Hazel in the night because he believes that they all must leave the warren before it is too late. The next morning Hazel takes his brother to speak to the Chief Rabbit, ruler of the warren, about fiver’s fears. They have to convince BigWig, Owsla guard, that the issue was important enough to disturb the Chief. He relays his vision to the Chief who ultimately dismisses them without really believing them. Hazel defended his brother’s â€Å"gift† but to no avail. BigWig receives an unpleasant admonishment for letting them in the first place (Adams 17-21). The interaction of humans in this chapter is nonexistent. Other than the reference made to Fiver’s vision and the posting in the field. However, no direct or indirect human interaction occurs. This chapter is used to show readers those daily goings-on within the warren. Chapter 3: Hazel’s Decision Hazel decides that he, his brother, and any other warren members that want to will be leaving the Warren. Dandelion and Blackberry explain that life for the bucks, male rabbits, in the warren that were not members of the Owsla life was not very promising. BigWig, also, wants to go. However, Captain Holly, in particular is an Owsla that may mean trouble for them (Adams 22-25). Again the human presence in this chapter is essentially irrelevant. They do not appear in this chapter in any way, shape or form. Chapter 4: The Departure This point in the

Physical security Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Physical security - Term Paper Example How these threats occur and what techniques an intruder may use to enter into and hack a system, has been given a consideration. Next, the approaches that can be used for the determent of physical attacks and the security measures that can be taken to secure the hardware, network and the power supply, have been discussed in detail. Suggestions have been given to improve measures to deter political security threats which are growing in today’s world of increasing violence. Proper monitoring of physical security systems is also very important and has been talked about. This report provides a good and basic understanding of the field of physical security and its importance in sustaining livelihood and success of an organization or a home-made business with a foolproof system to avoid physical access of the enemy. Physical security is generally defined as the measures taken to ensure the security of workforce, system devices and equipment, resources, documents and sensitive information stored on physical media (like hardware programs and networks) from damaging proceedings like unauthorized access, fire, espionage, burglary, theft, vandalism, accidental loss or intentional crime that could cause severe harm to an activity, organization or establishment. In addition to this, physical security also provides assistance on scheming of such structures which help in deterring hostile operations. In terms of computers and internet, physical security is defined as a blockade placed about a computing system using secured operating systems and other protective measures to prevent unauthorized access to the information stored on it. This kind of physical security can also be referred to as computer security or cyber security or logical security in which information is protected by operating systems and special softwares from unauthorized access. Moreover, the physical security of hardware has to be made

Report on Religious Field Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Report on Religious Field - Research Paper Example This discussion is meant to investigate and discuss the misconceptions that people have about Buddhism religion. It will further, analyze the prior understanding about this religion, and if misconceptions about other people’s religion are common Buddhism exists in two different factions, Theravada, which is referred as school of elders and Mahayana. Theravada is found in Sri Lanka on the South-eastern side Asia and Mahayana is on the Eastern side of Asia. However, Buddhism is highly concentrated in Asia; it is scantly found in other parts of the world. The teachings of Buddhism differ in the kind on the course of freedom. The main teachings are on the dependent initiation and no self. The basis of this religion is the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Association with any of those courses is an indication of being a Buddhist (Christopher, 2000). Misconceptions of Buddhism religion Buddhist is pagans Pagan is a term used to refer to people who do not ascribe to God commonly accepted by the Christian God. Buddhist on their part does not relate themselves to God or gods. Instead, Buddhist relates their faith to Dharma, which is not an idol. Buddhist concerns itself about the truth. Conversely, to other religion when an negative eventuality occur, Buddhist will not raise question as to such, this is because Buddhist do not belief in supreme being like the other religion that believe that there is a supernatural power that have control over everything. Buddhist concerns themselves with appreciation of happenings that take place in ones in life (Kuo, 2008). Idea of Reincarnation This misconception is appreciable. For instance, Tibetans Buddhists holds the belief of being born again and in different class of life higher than the one a person occupied before he died. There is a misconception, which might lure a person to believing Tibetan Buddhism symbolizes Buddhism in entirety. Shin Buddhist appreciate the belief of reincarnation in the same way as other people beli eve in their god but the difference is they do not give it much thought. The common ground of all Buddhist is concern about the truth, which exists in nature, and people ought to appreciate (Kuo, 2008). Kuo ( 2008) argues that Buddhist appreciate anguish, the argument behind this is the perception that Buddhist stands for the truth and honesty. Suffering is a common thing in nature, and the truth about this should not be dispelled in the minds of human beings. Lack of appreciation of this belief is seen by Buddhist as escapism. Buddhists do not appreciate suffering as an opportunity to learn through encounters. Further, to the Buddhist suffering is seen as a positive phenomenon that a person should experience in order to learn from it. Buddhist dressing in robes is another misconception. This is attributed to the time of the Hare Krishna a faction that was very evident. In the 70s and 80s when this faction used to be in many places that it was very simple to identify them in their r obes. Most of the American may have been lured into believing that the Faction of the Hare Krishna was Buddhists. While the Buddhists, Tibetan monks and the priests wear robes during religious ceremonies, the other followers of the religion wear normal clothes. Buddhist is a unique religion in that it encourages meditation. The forms of meditation one may involve in depend on

The Motion Picture Association of America Essay Example for Free

The Motion Picture Association of America Essay American Psycho, A Clockwork Orange, Boys Don’t Cry, and Clerks. What do all these movies have in common? They were all rated NC-17 at first viewing. The reason why they were rated as such is the real issue. They were rated NC-17 for the sexual content, either shown or talked about. The way in which it was presented in these movies made the MPAA give it an NC-17 rating. The MPAA found it offensive and inappropriate. The violence, some of it quite gruesome, was seen as less offensive and inappropriate according to the MPAA. Despite their best efforts in trying to protect children and what they’re subjected to, the MPAA is utterly useless. The internet provides easy access to pornography and other sexual content by the click of a mouse. The boundaries made by the MPAA in regards to sexual content are unclear most of the time and the rating is inconsistent and gender biased. The MPAA has worn out its usefulness and should be entirely eliminated and replaced with a more democratic, fair and open rating system. A rating system for film has been around for quite a while. Since 1926, the film industry has been rated in some manner. Back in 1926, much more was banned sexually and in terms of violence. â€Å"For almost 40 years the US film industry was governed by the Motion Picture Production Code, which banned nudity, drug use, religious ridicule, disrespect for the law and other depictions in film that would have the effect of lowering society’s moral standards† ( Feiser, np). Many movies back them were quite subtle compared to today’s day and age. Many filmmakers didn’t get adventuress and stayed well within the parameters of the rules because our society was more modest and pure. There was a much harsher strain on sexuality. Romantic scenes were heavily scrutinized to uphold ‘the sanctity of the institution of marriage’ and ‘excessive and lustful kissing, lustful embraces, suggestive postures and gestures, are not to be shown’† (Feiser, np). Filmmakers had no option, they needed to comply with the code or their film would not be released. When the times changed, the rules needed to as well. â€Å"In 1966 the standards of the production code were relaxed, and two years later it was replaced with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) film rating system, which, in modified form, we follow today† (Fesier, np). However, with this rating sysyem, filmmakers have the option to not follow the guidelines set in place. â€Å"Filmmakers can opt out by not submitting their films for rating and accept an NR (not rated) designation. But by taking NR rating, a film will have less theatrical distribution and will attract fewer viewers to movie houses. Thus, for mainstream films, participation in the rating system is a practical necessity† (Fesier, np). Many filmmakers are stuck when it comes to getting their movie rated because the MPAA is the only company out there that rates films so what they say goes. Even though filmmakers can make their films NR, the film won’t get any publicity and will most likely fail. All filmmakers can do is hope for the best when they submit their film for rating. No filmmaker wants to receive an NC-17 rating because it would require severe editing and cutting of the film. Every filmmaker knows that sex is the only thing that will drastically effect a rating but the rules and guidelines of what sexual things are and aren’t allowed have never been stated by the MPAA and often times, it is shocking what is allowed in one film and not another. Let’s first discuss the issue of masturbation in films. For example, Kevin Smith’s film Jersey Girl, released in 2004, was made by Kevin Smith for his daughter. It’s about one man’s struggle to be a single father after his wife dies in childbirth. The movie contains no nudity or sex scene. When Kevin Smith gave it to the MPAA for rating, Kevin Smith said â€Å"The MPAA gave Jersey Girl an R rating for a scene where Liv Tyler and Ben Affleck’s characters discuss masturbation in a diner† (This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dir. Kirby Dick, IFC Films, 2006, Film). Kevin Smith, who disagreed with the film’s rating, talked to the head of the MPAA and her response was â€Å"It’s uncomfortable to think of my 16 year old daughter listening to this† (This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dir. Kirby Dick, IFC Films, 2006, Film). Kevin Smith then said in response, â€Å"Do you really think your daughter hasn’t masturbated? † (This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dir. Kirby Dick, IFC Films, 2006, Film). Kevin Smith’s response, although quite brave, brings up quite a valid point. Masturbation is a natural part of life but the MPAA don’t want kids knowing about it. The MPAA is incredibly gender biased when it comes to rating a film that includes physically showing masturbation. For example, in the film But I’m a Cheerleader, in its original viewing, it received an NC-17 rating. The director Jamie Babbit said that â€Å"The MPAA told me that in order to get an R rating, I would have to cut a scene where one of the girls is touching herself fully clothed† (This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dir. Kirby Dick, IFC Films, 2006, Film). The director, furious, then makes a great comparison when she uses the example of American Pie. Jamie Babbit says â€Å"In American Pie, Jason Bigg’s character masturbates in an apple pie not fully clothed and yet that only received an R rating† (This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dir. Kirby Dick, IFC Films, 2006, Film). A scene much more vulgar and inappropriate receives an R rating because it’s a male and not a female that does the masturbating. A girl fully clothed rubbing herself or a male, with his pants down, masturbating in an apple pie. It’s almost as if the MPAA views guys masturbating as inappropriate but natural but a female masturbating is unnatural and worse. That is insulting to women and angering as a film watcher. The MPAA is also quite harsh in their issue of physical sex between two people and sex scenes in movies. There are many perfect examples of movies being rated harshly, including NC-17 simply for sexual content over extreme violence like blood and gore, and mutilation. One example is when Marry Harron, the director of American Psycho, sent her movie to the MPAA for a rating. She asked the MPAA why it was rated as such and she paraphrases, saying â€Å"It was rated NC-17 but not for a scene of brutal mass murder with a chainsaw. No brutal murder scene was the issue; the issue was a rear entry three way sex scene† (This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dir. Kirby Dick, IFC Films, 2006, Film). One scene determined this movie’s harsh rating. One sex scene was enough to overlook several scenes of brutal mass murder. This is just one of many movies that have gotten an NC-17 for one sex scene and not for anything else. For example, Blue Valentine was rated â€Å"NC-17 for a scene of explicit sexual content† (Berkeley Library, np). Crash, as well, was given an NC-17 rating for â€Å"numerous explicit sex scenes (Berkeley Library, np). Even This Film Is Not Yet Rated was given an NC-17 rating due to â€Å"some graphic sexual content† (Berkeley Library, np). Maria Bello is an actress that was in The Cooler, which is another movie rated NC-17, this time because of Maria Bello’s pubic hair being shown in the sex scene. She gives her opinion in This Film Is Not Yet Rated when she says â€Å"I’ve always been such a fan of the way European filmmakers in the way they view sexuality which is real people and real bodies and it’s a way of life and human nature† (This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dir. Kirby Dick, IFC Films, 2006, Film). She goes on to say that â€Å"We’ve desexualized sex because we’ve taken it out of being a day to day function. We’ve desexualized because we’re afraid of it† (This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dir. Kirby Dick, IFC Films, 2006, Film). David Anser, a film critic for Newsweek says that â€Å"Europe has always found America odd in sexual matters† (This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dir. Kirby Dick, IFC Films, 2006, Film). Finally, Allison Anders, a director, says that the US has become so strict in their policies of sex that it’s become a â€Å"denial of women pleasure, but of pleasure in general† (This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dir. Kirby Dick, IFC Films, 2006, Film). Despite all of what is said, there are people who believe that movie censorship is a good thing. Jack Valenti, founder of the MPAA, has had to defend the MPAA and his opinion on censorship for years. He sent an article to the LA Times where he discusses why things are the way they are and why the MPAA is in fact successful. In the article, he states that â€Å"For the last 15 years, more than 70% of parents with children under 13 find the system to be Very Useful to Fairly Useful in helping them guide their childrens movie going† ( Valenti, np). He then mentions that the 2006 poll showed that â€Å"an increase in approval by parents with children under 13 to 80%. Those who said the rating system was Very Useful rose 10% higher than last year. This latest poll underscores my central theme that parents, for whom the system was designed, are highly approving of what it does they trust it† (Valenti, np). First of all, parents with children under 13 years of age are infected by the higher ratings because they can’t even be allowed into a PG-13 movie without a parent. The high ratings are the ones that affect ages 15-18. He should poll those parents and see how many parents agree with the R to NC-17 rating, or even the PG-13 to R rating. Secondly, Matt Stone, co creator of South Park states that â€Å"Valenti brings up these statistics that say that 70% of parents find the ratings useful. I always felt like that was because they’re the only game in town. As compared to nothing at all, they probably are useful† (This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dir. Kirby Dick, IFC Films, 2006, Film). Having no ratings board at all would be chaos. There needs to be a ratings board, there is no doubt about that. Having nothing at all would is not acceptable but since the MPAA is the only rating board that rates movies, they should be fair in their ratings as well as listen to directors arguments and try their best to accommodate. The MPAA refuses to ever change their minds or hear what anyone has to say. It’s their way or the highway. Unfortunately, the MPAA is not the end all be all in censorship. The internet, although a great tool, has little to no censorship and someone can find just about anything on the internet. As John Waters put it â€Å"All teenagers, because of the internet, have seen more hard core pornography then their parents have seen. They’ve seen the most hideous things you can find on the internet and they’ve all seen it. All kids have searched and gone deep into web porn sites† (This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dir. Kirby Dick, IFC Films, 2006, Film). Although film is a huge media outlet, kids aren’t seeing any less hideous things just because they’re not allowed to see this movie or an inappropriate sex scene was cut out of a movie. According to Internet Pornography Statistics, â€Å"The average age of a child’s first exposure to pornography is 11. A total of 90 percent of children ages 8-16 have viewed pornography online† (Ropelato, np). Another striking statistic is â€Å"15-17 year olds having multiple hard-core exposures is 80% and 8-16 year olds having viewed porn online is 90% (most while doing homework)† (Ropelato, np). Unfortunately, kids have so many options when it comes to pornographic sites. â€Å"There are 4. 2 million (12% of total websites) pornographic websites and 420 million pornographic pages† (Ropelato, np). By censoring or harshly rating films based on sexual content, all the MPAA is doing is forcing kids to go online to find pornographic material and as proven, it is as easy as the click of the mouse. â€Å"Encino, California inside the headquarters of the Motion Pictures Association of America, an anonymous group of parents gather to rate film G, PG, PG-13, R and NC-17. But the MPAA won’t let anyone inside to see who these people are or how they make their decisions and among their most controversial decisions are the movies they rate NC-17† (This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dir. Kirby Dick, IFC Films, 2006, Film). The MPAA has been anonymous and their members have been unknown since the MPAA’s inception. This has come under much scrutiny with filmmakers and film producers because they believe they have a right to know who these people are that rate their films. There are many opinions as to why the MPAA members are unknown and one opinion is by Kimberly Pierce, director of Boys Don’t Cry. She says â€Å"You’re dealing with a very powerful, cultural censorship group that doesn’t want to be disempowered. If you made those names public, you might disempower them† (This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dir. Kirby Dick, IFC Films, 2006, Film). Kirby Dick, the director of This Film Is Not Yet Rated asks John Lewis, author of Hollywood v. Hardcore â€Å"Is there any other review board in this country that you can think of in any industry besides the C. I. A. that is secret that operates in secrecy. † John Lewis’s simple is a simple but powerful â€Å"No. † The MPAA is the only other association besides the C. I. A. hat operates in secrecy. There is something seriously wrong with that picture. All the MPAA does is rate movies, the C. I. A. helps keep our country from being destroyed. The C. I. A. risks their lives every day to protect us and MPAA members sit in a dark room and rate movies. There is no good reason why the MPAA should be secretive. Naturally, Jack Valenti had something to say as to the reason why board members names are unknown. He told the L. A. Times â€Å"First, the Motion Picture Assn. f America withholds the names of the rating board members so they wont be harassed by disgruntled producers. Grand jury members names are withheld; so are criminal jury members, all for the same reasons. Theres nothing sinister about this. We convey to the press, upon request, a brief biography of each rater. We could make public their names, but if we did, how would that advance the quality of the ratings? † (Valenti, np). What Valenti doesn’t realize is that he has more disgruntled producers because the member’s names are unknown. Producers have the right to know who rated their movie. Kirby Dick said it best when he told Joan Graves â€Å"It seems like the raters who you are trying to protect from influence actually are in direct contact with the people who can influence them, the senior rater’s especially† (This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dir. Kirby Dick, IFC Films, 2006, Film). The senior raters would, in all likelihood, have a huge impact in what rating a movie gets and the other raters would be more inclined to agree and give it the same rating as the senior rater did. This is probably due to the fact that the raters have the opinion that the senior raters would know more knowledge of ratings and have more experience so therefore their rating must be the best rating for the film. Senior raters wouldn’t be the only ones that would influence raters, other raters as well would be able to convince another rater to give a rating. Even though Valenti tried to avoid influence, influence is still a big factor in the MPAA. Valenti also told the L. A. Times about the guidelines required to be an MPAA rater. He told the L. A.  Times that â€Å"They are parents, who see a film through the eyes of a parent. We have three senior raters who give historical knowledge to the system, have administrative duties and whose children, young when they started, are now over 17. The rest have younger children† (Valenti, np). Kirby Dick, director of This Film Is Not Yet Rated, hired a private investigator to discover the identities of the MPAA raters and find out if what Valenti said about them is in fact true. The investigator figured out the names of the raters on the 2005 board and discovered that what Valenti said wasn’t 100 percent accurate. One rater was â€Å"Joan Worden, Age 56, Children: 18 year old twins† and â€Å"Howard Fridkin, Age 47, Children: none† (This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dir. Kirby Dick, IFC Films, 2006, Film). Joan Worden has two twins who are old enough to see an NC-17 movie so how does she know what’s best for children to see? How is someone with no kids like Howard supposed to know what children should and should not see? Ultimately, it’s these factors that make the MPAA utterly useless and really more harm than good. The MPAA and the process of getting a game rated leaves many directors and producers frustrated. The MPAA should be replaced by a rating system which has clear rules and regulations when it comes to how movies are rated. It should also consist of members names that are known so as to give the producers and directors some idea who rated their movie and therefore can discuss easily what needs to be done to get a different rating. This system should also treat violence as being a serious factor, like sex, that determines a movie’s rating. These factors are essential for a successful movie rating system that will benefit not only the movie makers but the audience as well.

Cloud Computing Service Level Agreement and Governance

Cloud Computing Service Level Agreement and Governance Service Level Agreement and Governance for Cloud Computing The contractual side of a service level agreement (SLA) and governance for cloud computing Ali Raslan Abstract In the world of information technology (IT), cloud computing has been the futuristic concept of modern computing for the last decade or more. Nevertheless, in the last few years this concept has become the mainstream. However, with the entire buzz and the evolutionary techniques the information technology companies developing and implementing, many overwhelming issues like interoperability, insecurity, and accessibility represents some of the most anticipated questions every decision maker has to consider before signing the contract of a Cloud Service agreement document. In addition to that, one key issue for every organization trying to make the big move to the world of cloud computing, is to provide governance for data that it no longer directly controls. During this research, I will try to illustrate and point the main ideas and practices of the contractual side of a service level agreement (SLA) and governance for cloud computing by trying to highlight a set of guidelines to help and assist organization in defining and constraining the governance plans for data they are willing to move into the cloud. Keywords: cloud computing, SLA, IT, contract, agreement, constraining. Word count: 4000 words. Introduction Cloud computing is the new era of internet evolution, where this term usually refers to everything involves delivering hosted services and data over the internet to companies, individuals and even other computing systems. The idea of cloud computing started in 1950s when large-scale mainframes made available to schools and corporations (James, 2013). Few decades later, this concept started to become more alive by adopting this concept by some of the major technological companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft where commercial cloud computing started to take place in the market. This new technology developed through a number of phases, this includes Software as a Service (SaaS), Grid and Utility Computing (GaUC), Application Service Provision (ASP) (Arif, 2014). Nevertheless, through the development of this concept, many issues and uncertainties like security, interoperability, vendor lock-in, and compliance were arising against adopting this technology (North Bridge, 2013). These problems are familiar even with the traditional Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO), and these issues usually treated at the agreement level between the service provider and the customer. Cloud Computing Definitions The National Institute Of Standards And Technology NIST Definition of Cloud Computing â€Å"Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.† (Peter Mell, 2011). Moreover, in his book The Big Switch: Rewiring the World from Edison to Google by Nicholas Carr, hundred years from now, the modern era of power grid has begun when corporations started to join the power grid leaving behind the traditional power generator systems every company used to have in order to satisfy the company’s need for electricity. This big transformation at that time is very similar to today’s switching from traditiona l computing and data handling to the cloud. Where with all the unusual concepts and worries about the security, actual data place and the stability of the services provided, companies will soon realize the emerging markets and services Cloud Computing can offer. The main motivation behind Cloud computing mostly represented by the benefits this technology can offer for its clients. Where features like ‘Service on Demand’, usually with a ‘pay as you go’ billing system and factors like the highly abstracted and shared resources, the instantaneous provisioning and scalability makes cloud computing the next power grid transformation. Risks and Issues On the other hand, despite all the mentioned benefits and features cloud computing can offer, it has been realized that there are limits to the acceptance of cloud computing among enterprise companies, because of the level of complexity and dependability these service might become. Moreover, the data governance issues related to this technology represents some of the main difficulties the cloud computing market is facing right now. The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) defines that the client responsibility of data governance is similar to the service provider responsibility in case of any data lose or corruption (Catteddu, 2009). Thus because customer should be aware of the risks that might imply by using this technology, and to encourage these companies to investigate farther in finding a more reliable providers. In addition to that, farther risks might imply to any cloud computing environment, such as hacking attacks or unauthorized access to the actual phys ical data locations. The Journal of Information Technology Management categorized this type of attacks in three main categories: Attacks targets hosted application under a SaaS environment. Attacks through the trusted network connection. This can be done from the customer side to the provider or from the provider side to the customer environment. Attacks targets hosted server under a PaaS or IaaS environment. (Cochran Witman, 2011) Cloud Computing Governance Components In the Information Technology Outsourcing, describing the product or the service specifications to be delivered are usually drafted via a contract is in the form of Service Level Agreement (SLA), this agreement defines the all the important and legal parts of the service between the service provider and the service recipients. The same concept can be implemented with the cloud computing, since most of the main agreement parts involves providing an information technology service. However, cloud computing includes many different ideas and concepts, where in cloud computing agreement the service have to treat different concepts and behaviors like unknown data physical location, rapid scaling, lower IT upfront, and even different way of paying for the service such as monthly or annual subscriptions. In addition to that, in a cloud environment, usually the services are hosted and owned by a separate party. Where in most cases the owner of the application can be different from the owner of the server (Cochran Witman, 2011). Nondisclosure and Confidentiality Agreements These two terms are used in many other areas and through all types in contracts, agreements and forms, but the basic understanding of those two terms refers to the confidentiality of the agreement in general. Therefore, at the level of a service level agreement, a nondisclosure agreement usually means a confidential agreement. Margaret Rouse in her article about Nondisclosure Agreements she defines NDA as â€Å"A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a signed formal agreement in which one party agrees to give a second party confidential information about its business or products and the second party agrees not to share this information with anyone else for a specified period of time.† (Margaret, 2005). Similarly, David V. Radack in his article Understanding Confidentiality Agreements, he defines confidential agreement as â€Å"Confidentiality agreements, are contracts entered into by two or more parties in which some or all of the parties agree that certain types of information t hat pass from one party to the other or that are created by one of the parties will remain confidential.† (David, 2014). From the two provided definitions, we can see that a confidential or nondisclosure agreement force all participated parties to protect and never disclose any of the information passed between the parties while building the service. Legal location In general, the actual physical location of the server or the data in a Cloud Computing environment is not important from the technical point of view. However, from a legal point of view a Service Level Agreement requires clearly identifying the actual location of the servers handling the data and services. Thus in case of a security breach from the provider side, punishments or penalties could be issued through the provider’s local authority. For that reason, if the breach resulted the data to be moved into an offshores location, the local government regulations might have no effects towards that (Steele 2010). On the other hand, a civil case could be issued in the right of the vendor or attacker in case of such risks. For that reason, defining the legal location is very important in a service level agreement because it represents a legal cover to the actual data that might get stolen or destroyed. The Restrictions of a Software License Software License Restrictions is a very imperative factor in any Software License Agreement because it might affect the main tasks of the whole system in case of storing on an unknown devices or servers. This might occurs because sometimes software license might get violated when stored or hosted via remote hardware infrastructure. This issue might results a side effects like not being able to run the system as a whole or a part because software licenses might have a security features at the level of linking the software to a special machine MAC address or a processor serial number. User based exposures User based exposures might occurs when an end user posts some data in a secure interface or website in the system, after submitting the data to the main data server, the data might get through a third party communication systems or servers. During this stage, a security breach might occurs were data can be lost, stolen or disclosed. At this level, the Service Level Agreement investigates what administrators at this level have access to during the transmission stage. This point might cover different types and techniques for encrypting the data, or include the third party providers in the agreement to insure the security and safety of the data. Communicating With Remote Networks and Services. The system’s integration and incorporation with the cloud software as a service is one the most important factors any cloud based services have to offer for any system. However, integrating these services with the organization’s internal system sometimes means giving these services the possibility to become a part of the internal system. This can be an issue concerning the security the internal system. Mathias Thurman in his article Tightening Up SaaS Security, discusses how these concerns increase when the security of the SaaS is unidentified or unknown. Basically because when integrating the internal system with the SaaS, the SaaS network becomes a part of the internal system, and when reaching this level of integration, any attacks of security failures from the side of the SaaS provider well results the local network to be at risk too (Mathias, 2010). Cloud Service Level Agreement Components Service Level Agreement Template To illustrate the main parts and layout of a Service Level Agreement in a cloud-computing environment, in the following template we can see the main parts, layout, and definitions of the Service Level Agreement content, made by SLATemplate.com. Certainly, a Service Level Agreement can includes hundreds of pages describing every single specification. However, for the sake of illustrating the sample main part of the agreement we have the following template represents the most important parts of an SLA for a Cloud Computing system. Service Level Agreement (SLA) for Customer by Company name Effective Date: 10-08-2010 Version Approval (By signing below, all Approvers agree to all terms and conditions outlined in this Agreement.) Table of Contents 1. Agreement Overview 2. Goals Objectives 3. Stakeholders 4. Periodic Review 5. Service Agreement 1. Agreement Overview This Agreement represents a Service Level Agreement (â€Å"SLA† or â€Å"Agreement†) between Company name. and Customer for the provisioning of IT services required to support and sustain the Product or service. This Agreement remains valid until superseded by a revised agreement mutually endorsed by the stakeholders. This Agreement outlines the parameters of all IT services covered as they are mutually understood by the primary stakeholders. This Agreement does not supersede current processes and procedures unless explicitly stated herein. 2. Goals Objectives The purpose of this Agreement is to ensure that the proper elements and commitments are in place to provide consistent IT service support and delivery to the Customer(s) by the Service Provider(s). The goal of this Agreement is to obtain mutual agreement for IT service provision between the Service Provider(s) and Customer(s). The objectives of this Agreement are to: Provide clear reference to service ownership, accountability, roles and/or responsibilities. Present a clear, concise and measurable description of service provision to the customer. Match perceptions of expected service provision with actual service support delivery. 3. Stakeholders The following Service Provider(s) and Customer(s) will be used as the basis of the Agreement and represent the primary stakeholders associated with this SLA: IT Service Provider(s): Company name. (â€Å"Provider†) IT Customer(s): Customer (â€Å"Customer†) 4. Periodic Review This Agreement is valid from the Effective Date outlined herein and is valid until further notice. This Agreement should be reviewed at a minimum once per fiscal year; however, in lieu of a review during any period specified, the current Agreement will remain in effect. The Business Relationship Manager (â€Å"Document Owner†) is responsible for facilitating regular reviews of this document. Contents of this document may be amended as required, provided mutual agreement is obtained from the primary stakeholders and communicated to all affected parties. The Document Owner will incorporate all subsequent revisions and obtain mutual agreements / approvals as required. Business Relationship Manager: Company name Review Period: Bi-Yearly (6 months) Previous Review Date: 01-08-2010 Next Review Date: 01-12-2011 5. Service Agreement The following detailed service parameters are the responsibility of the Service Provider in the ongoing support of this Agreement. 5.1. Service Scope The following Services are covered by this Agreement; o Manned telephone support o Monitored email support o Remote assistance using Remote Desktop and a Virtual Private Network where available Planned or Emergency Onsite assistance (extra costs apply) Monthly system health check 5.2. Customer Requirements Customer responsibilities and/or requirements in support of this Agreement include: Payment for all support costs at the agreed interval. Reasonable availability of customer representative(s) when resolving a service related incident or request. 5.3. Service Provider Requirements Service Provider responsibilities and/or requirements in support of this Agreement include: Meeting response times associated with service related incidents. Appropriate notification to Customer for all scheduled maintenance. 5.4. Service Assumptions Assumptions related to in-scope services and/or components include: Changes to services will be communicated and documented to all stakeholders. 6. Service Management Effective support of in-scope services is a result of maintaining consistent service levels. The following sections provide relevant details on service availability, monitoring of in-scope services and related components. 6.1. Service Availability Coverage parameters specific to the service(s) covered in this Agreement are as follows: Telephone support : 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Monday – Friday Calls received out of office hours will be forwarded to a mobile phone and best efforts will be made to answer / action the call, however there will be a backup answer phone service Email support: Monitored 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Monday – Friday Emails received outside of office hours will be collected, however no action can be guaranteed until the next working day Onsite assistance guaranteed within 72 hours during the business week 6.2. Service Requests In support of services outlined in this Agreement, the Service Provider will respond to service related incidents and/or requests submitted by the Customer within the following time frames: 0-8 hours (during business hours) for issues classified as High priority. Within 48 hours for issues classified as Medium priority. Within 5 working days for issues classified as Low priority. Remote assistance will be provided in-line with the above timescales dependent on the priority of the support request. â€Å"(SLA template, 2010) References Carr, N. G., January 2008. The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google. s.l.:s.n. COCHRAN, M. WITMAN, P. D., 2011. GOVERNANCE AND SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT ISSUES IN A CLOUD COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT. Journal of Information Technology Management Volume XXII, Number 2, pp. 41-55. Peter Mell, T. G., 2011. The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing. [Online] Available at: http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf Arif Mohamed, A history of cloud computing. 2014. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/A-history-of-cloud-computing. [Accessed 5 March 2014]. James, A Brief History of Cloud Computing | SoftLayer Blog. 2013. [ONLINE] Available at: http://blog.softlayer.com/2013/virtual-magic-the-cloud. [Accessed 10 March 2014]. North Bridge, 2013 Cloud Computing Survey | North Bridge. 2014. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.northbridge.com/2013-cloud-computing-survey. [Accessed 11 May 2014]. Peter Mell. The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing 2011. [ONLINE] Available at: http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf. [Accessed 11 May 2014]. Catteddu, D. and G. Hogben, Cloud Computing Benefits, risks and recommendations for information security 2009, European Network and Information Security Agency: Heraklion, Crete, Greece. 125 pp. Margaret Rouse, What is non-disclosure agreement (NDA)? Definition from WhatIs.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/non-disclosure-agreement. [Accessed 11 May 2014]. David V. Radack, Understanding Confidentiality Agreements. 2014. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/jom/matters/matters-9405.html. [Accessed 11 May 2014]. Steele, C., City of Monrovia, California, personal communication, 2010. Mathias Thurman, Tightening Up SaaS Security Computerworld. 2010. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/352873/Tightening_Up_SaaS_Security. [Accessed 11 May 2014]. SLATeamplate.com, Service Level Agreement Template (SLA). 2010. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.slatemplate.com/. [Accessed 11 May 2014].

Interactions of TiO2 Nanoparticles With Carotenoids

Interactions of TiO2 Nanoparticles With Carotenoids Role of TiO2 semiconductor nanoparticles on photodegradation of carotenoids: stability of carotenoids in solution. D.D.D.H Alwis, U.G. Chandrika, P.M. Jayaweera Abstract: Introduction Carotenoid (Car) molecules as a sensitizer in Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) with optimum photo conversion efficiency have recently been widely investigated by several researchers1-3. Car are one of the most widespread naturally occurring pigments which are of great interest due to their biological functions in living organisms4. The most striking feature of the long chain car molecules is absorbing visible light in the electromagnetic spectrum, and therefore act as light harvesting pigments in green plants. The optical absorption of car molecules is occurred in the range of 400 nm to 550 nm with a very high molar absorptivity coefficient. Besides their light harvesting and photo-protecting actions in plants, they play major roles as good antioxidants on preventing degenerative diseases and some of them are important dietary source of vitamin A. Light harvesting ability of car is responsible for their attractive colours and which is associated with the long conjugated double bond system, composed of light absorbing chromophore5. Although the all-trans configuration of car is most stable in nature, several of mono-cis and di-cis isomers are possible during photodegradation of car. Cis-trans geometrical isomerization of double bonds in chromophore may cause the loss in colour of car molecules as well as appearing a cis peak in UV-region (Amaya et al. 2001). This colour loss may imparts the structural variations to the dye molecule and hence the performance of DSSC. Light Irradiation of car molecules is studied by several researchers6-8 and the photocatalyzed degradation of car on semiconductors such as TiO2, CdS and ZnO are studied by (kispert et al. 1998), he revealed that a rapid photodegradation of car are occurred in the presence of the semiconductors. Recently the application of wide band gap semiconductors mainly TiO2 are greatly under investigations for Photovoltaic (PV) solar cells over the last few years. TiO2 plays a major role in development of higher conversion efficiency solar cells that is because due to its good photoactive properties9,10, as well as its biological and chemical inertness for more suitability for many environmental applications. PV solar cells provide an attractive alternative to high cost energy sources for harnessing and converting free, unlimited solar energy into clean electricity10-12. However the expensive raw materials and high manufacturing cost for silicon and Ru-based solar cells have led to develop viable alternative for sensitizers in solar cells with new molecular materials using naturally occurring plant materials. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) assembled by natural dyes extracted from plant materials as a sensitizer have made considerable attention due to their low cost and environmental friendliness13. DSSC composed of nanostructured, mesoporous, wide-bandgap semiconductor to which the dye molecules (sensitizers) are adsorbed, a counter electrode and an electrolyte. In DSSC the dye molecule absorb visible light, and inject electron from photo-excited state of dye molecule to conduction band of semiconductor.12,14 The performance of a dye-sensitized solar cell is mainly based on the structure of the visible light absorbing dye/ sensitizer. Several researches were focused to enhance the conversion efficiency of solar cells by improving the photovoltaic properties of dye-sensitized semiconductor solar cells15,16. Recently (Polivka et al. 2002) studied the dynamics of photoinduced electron transfer and recombination between car and a TiO2 nanoparticle by means of transient absorption spectroscopy6. On the other hand utilization of several natural dyes extracted from natural plant sources as sensitizers have been reported by several workers14,17. Besides that the interactions of human serum albumin, porphyrin and natural pigments with colloidal TiO2 were studied by several researchers18-21 with the use of absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. However the photochemical behavior and the stability of car containing terminal carboxylic groups adsorb on to a surface of semiconductor in a solvent mixture has not been extensively investigated to our knowledge. The present study involves the use of mono and di-carboxylic carotenoids bixin and norbixin respectively to investigate the interactions of TiO2 nanoparticles with carotenoids extracted from annato (Bixa orellana) seeds. The chemical structures of bixin and norbixin are shown in Fig. 1. Here we irradiate the car solution in MeOH in the presence of spray coated and non-coated TiO2 semiconductor glass plate to investigate the photodegradation behavior of car. Further the effect of colloidal TiO2 on the fluorescence quenching of car was also studied to attain better understanding on the interception of the excited state of car on the TiO2 surface. UV-vis absorption and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectra were also obtained to characterized the car dye adsorb semiconductors. 2. Experimental methods. 2.1 Sample preparation and materials Titanium (IV) 2-propoxide at 21 nm in diameter was purchased from Sigma Aldrich. All solvents were HPLC grade obtained from Aldrich. The outer coating of the Annatto seeds of the Bixa orellana tree (50 g) were removed by ultra sonication and washed with hexane to extract the bixin14, followed by solvent removal by rotary evaporation. The crude residue was washed with cold solvent, further purified and dried. Norbixin was extracted by adding aqueous alkali to one part of the bixin residue obtained previously then heated for hydrolysis, followed by cooling. An aqueous solution was filtered and acidified with 5 M HCl to precipitate norbixin, washed with cold hexane, purified and then dried to obtain solid norbixin22. All of the samples were N2 purged and stored at -20  °C. Compounds were characterized using UV-vis spectrophotometry and HPLC techniques. A HPLC series 1200 (Agilent, Waldbronn Germany) apparatus equipped with a multiwavelength/ photodiode array detectors was used for chromatographic analysis. The mobile phase consisting acetonitrile, methanol and ethyl acetate with 0.05% (v/v) triethylamine was used a t a flow rate 0.5 ml/min. 2.2 UV-vis, UV-vis DRS and fluorescence spectroscopy Electronic absorption spectra were recorded using a Perkin-Elmer†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.., Spectro UV-vis double beam spectrophotometer Model †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ UV-Vis diffuse reflectance (UV-Vis DRS) were obtained in the range of 200-900 nm with†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦BaSO4†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ as the background on the Perkin-Elmer†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.spectrophotometer equipped with a integrating sphere. Fluorescence spectra were obtained at room temperature using Thermo Scientific Lumina spectro-fluorophotometer, using 10/10 nm slit widths. The excitation wavelength was 350 nm and the emission spectra were recorded between 460 and 660 nm. Fluorometric titrations were carried out by successive addition of 26.3 mg dm-3 of TiO2 NPs colloid in EtOH with a micropipette. The fluorescence spectra were recorded under 300 K. Photodegradation study of Car on TiO2 coated and non-coated glass plates were investigated by irradiating the samples with broadband UV source Xenon arc lamp (†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦W) at a distance †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. A spray coating method was used to prepare TiO2 coated glass plates having 2 cmÃâ€"2 cm surface area. During irradiation, the solutions were stirred magnetically and the effect of carotenoid degradation in pure MeOH, O2 purging and N2 purging were analyzed by measuring the absorbance of the solution at 460 nm for each 10 min intervals.

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

In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is a mysterious man living in the West Egg district of Long Island. Gatsby is extremely wealthy and owns a mansion with a large swimming pool, a fancy car, and dozens of servants. Every Saturday night, he throws extravagant parties which many people, most of whom haven't even been invited, attend. No one really knows anything about Gatsby, except that he is rich and generous. However, many rumors are created about him. Some say that he was a German spy during the war and some say that he killed a man. As the summer progresses, Nick Carraway the narrator who is also Gatsby's neighbor, learns more about who Gatsby really is, or rather who he isn't and reasons why he lives his life as he does. Nick doesn't approve of Gatsby's lifestyle and the way he earns his money, but nevertheless he sees Gatsby as superior to those who surround him. Nick admires the romantic hope that motivates Gatsby to pursue his drea ms. Jay Gatsby's greatness is a result of his naive belief that he can make his dreams a reality. In the beginning of the novel, Nick sums up Gatsby's character and the reasons why he respects him. "...Gatsby who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him...This responsiveness had nothing to do with that flabby impressionability which is dignified under the name if the 'creative temperament'--it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which is not likely I shall ever find again."(6) Nick makes it very clear that he doesn't agree with the way Gatsby makes and uses his money. Although Nick comes from a very wealthy family himself, he was taught to work hard for his money. Nevertheless, he does find himself admiring Gatsby. He values Gatsby's hope, no matter how false it is, that one day he will have a life with the woman whom he loves. Wealthy people often use their money to get everything they have always wanted for themselves, but Gatsby uses his money to get everything that he thinks Daisy has always wanted in hopes of winning her back.

Catherine des Roches Epistle To Her Mother :: Catherine Roches Epistle Letter Essays

Catherine des Roches' "Epistle To Her Mother" The "Epistle To Her Mother" by Catherine des Roches of Poitiers discusses the very close and dear relationship that exists between mother and daughter. In this letter, the daughter gives a very detailed and vibrant description of the closeness and respect that she shares with her mother. She also reveals her thankfulness to her mother for all that her mother has bestowed upon her. She does this by taking a vow of silence at the end of the letter, which will allow her mother to live a longer and fuller life. In the letter, she wrote, "Since he [the Samian] wishes to speak, I will be silent, Mother, after humbly beseeching Divine Mercy that it please Him lengthen and prosper your days so that you may live a long life as example of the graces of Heaven" (Roches 254). In this letter, Catherine des Roches states facts and details by addressing many parallel points in an easy to read manner. Catherine des Roches does a very good job of consistently using parallel points that contribute to her effectiveness in getting her point across. This means of description allows the reader to grasp the depth of her gratitude and love that she holds for her mother. In the "Epistle To Her Mother," Catherine des Roches uses a very definite pattern of imagery, which includes her use of many mythological figures and activities as references to describe her mother and the relationship that they share. Catherine des Roches also refers to things such as the earth and nature. An example of this is when she says, "You quickened me as Prometheus, the earth which he himself formed" (Roches 253). In this letter, there is also a strong appeal to the senses with the use of words such as luminosity and illumines. Catherine des Roches wrote, "And just as the body in all its proportions, and the shadow in its width cannot be seen without light, so the brilliant luminosity of your mind illumines for us the narrow path where I pray" (Roches 253). According to The Oxford English Dictionary, luminosity means shedding light and illumines means to light up or to enlighten spiritually. These two words are very strong and appeal to the senses to a great degree.

Love is a Disease: An Explication of Sonnet 147 Essay

Love is a Disease: An Explication of Sonnet 147 Love is a disease. Desire is deadly. When one thinks about Shakespeare’s sonnets, the instinctual response is the thought of romance. For instance the adoring lines, â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day/ Thou are more lovely and more temperate† (Sonnet 18, 1-2), are thought to be the most famous words from a Shakespearean sonnet. However, instead of describing love in a starry-eyed fashion, Shakespeare discusses the punitive characteristics of love in Sonnet 147. The persona describes love as an infectious illness caused by sexual appetites. The persona’s mind knows better than to indulge his appetite, but he does not listen to his logic. He begins the sonnet by stating the primary issue: love is a disease. He transitions into explaining that the cure for this disease is reason, however he does not have hope that he can starve his sexual desire. He finally shifts to a more frantic state and in the end addresses the cause of his illness, the dark lady. Shakespeare articulates his hostile definition of love through fashioning love as a disease to display the tribulations of love, lust, and desire. In the first quatrain, there is the statement of the sonnet’s primary topic, which is that love is a disease. The content suggests the battle between love versus sexual appetite. His love is diseased because he has an intense appetite for lust, which when indulged in makes the disease worse. Shakespeare utilizes the metaphor â€Å"My love is as a fever† (Sonnet 147, 1) at the very beginning of the poem to make a strong statement that his love is a disease, and also to introduce the main idea throughout the sonnet. The placement of the metaphor displays that his unenthusiastic viewpoint of love is prominent. Secondly, he utilizes punctuation to create a clear argument. After the metaphor, â€Å"My love is as a fever,† (1) there is a comma dividing the first line in half. This comma is not a hard punctuation mark, however it isolates the initial metaphor. In doing so, the metaphor stands out immediately and makes these words even more important. Shakespeare uses feminine rhyme to form unity within the quatrain. The rhyming words are â€Å"still†, â€Å"disease†, â€Å"ill† and â€Å"please†. Each word is important to the meaning of the first quatrain; love is a disease that still yearns to be pleased. Additionally, he ends the each quatrain with a period. The  punctuation at the end of each quatrain keeps the ideas separate and the transition between the sonnet’s consistent content more obvious. For example, the first quatrain discusses love as a disease and the following quatrain discusses the dangers of desire versus the intelligence of reason. In the second quatrain, the persona discusses the battle between desire and reason. He conveys that reason is the doctor who can cure this disease, however he does not oblige. He declares that desire is dangerous and lethal. Shakespeare uses personification of the word reason, â€Å"My reason, and the physician to my love† (5). Reason is personified as a doctor to show that the mind is what cures a dangerous sexual appetite. The personification of reason brings the word to life and makes it more powerful and of greater importance. This displays the strength reason has over desire. Shakespeare carries the metaphor of love as a disease from the first quatrain into the second quatrain through the use of diction. He uses many words that refer to medical terms to align with the disease metaphor. For example, he uses the words â€Å"physician†(5) and â€Å"prescription†(6) to keep with the motif of the first quatrain to unify meaning. Lust has already been defined as devious in the first quatrain when it is referred to as a â€Å"sickly appetite†(4), however Shakespeare takes it a step further when he uses the metaphor â€Å"Desire is death† (8). Like the personification of reason, this metaphor gives the word desire greater importance. This aids in the quatrain’s main dispute of reason versus desire. â€Å"Desire is death†, is a harsh and straightforward metaphor. The persona expresses that desire is what causes the toxic disease. The use of punctuation also isolates the words desire and reason to show their importance to the quatrain. â€Å"My reason,† (5) is followed by a comma. When the reader says this out loud, it forces the reader to pause where the coma is. In doing so, the word reason is separate from the rest of the sentence and emphasized. The comma also creates a visual separation that creates emphasis. In the same way, â€Å"Desire is death,† (8), is also foll owed by a comma. The same emphasis applies here, which strengthens the quatrains conflict of reason versus desire. In the third quatrain, the persona expresses that he is hopeless. His sexual appetite cannot be cured. He is now angry, and like a madman tells  lies due to his detrimental sexual desires. This quatrain portrays the conflict between desire and the cure. Desire has overcome the cure and the persona is now hopeless of overcoming this disease. In the first line, Shakespeare introduces the meaning of the quatrain, â€Å"Past cure I am, now reason is past care† (9). Shakespeare uses repetition in the first line to emphasize the persona’s hopelessness of being cured. Along with repetition, an anaphora is used to greater tie the phrases together and create greater emphasis. The words â€Å"care† and â€Å"cure† are similar in sound and create a relationship, which underlines the persona’s loss of reason. Punctuation is used to separate two ideas within the quatrain; this is done through the use of a semi colon. The first segment is â€Å"Past cure I am, now reason is past care/ And frantic-mad with evermore unrest;† (9-10). It expresses his frantic hopelessness and is stopped by the semicolon. After which, the second segment states â€Å" My thoughts and my discourse as madmen’s are,/ At random from the truth vainly express’d;† (11-12). The second part expresses that he feels like a madman, and like a madman has begun to tell frivolous lies. The semicolon creates a break between the two ideas and reveals a regression from the persona’s frantic and hopeless state to the state of a madman. In addition, the second semicolon creates a separation between the quatrain and the couplet, which also are two ideas that are separate in meaning and tone because the end of the third quatrain transitions from the persona talking about his faults to the persona discussing someone else. The couplet at the end strays away from the metaphor in the first three quatrains, that love is a disease and surprises the reader by addressing the dark lady directly. The sonnet shifts dramatically because the persona is no longer talking about himself and his disease; he identifies another character, the dark lady. The persona declares her evil nature and finally explains the source of his sexual appetite, his disease. He claims that he use to think that the dark lady was gentle and beautiful, however he learned that she is evil. Shakespeare uses a simile to emphasize the dark lady’s evil qualities, he says â€Å"Who art black as hell, as dark as night† (14). The similes clearly reveal the malevolent nature of this woman and the detestation the persona carries towards her. The two similes are similar because they both use dark, evil words: â€Å"black†, â€Å"hell†, â€Å"dark† and â€Å"night†. The abundance of gloomy words stresses the persona’s feelings that the dark lady is evil and the source of his complaint. Shakespeare clearly sums up in fourteen lines that a sexual appetite is a dangerous entity. The persona reveals his transition of arguments filling his head, sexual appetites verses love, desire versus reason, and desire versus cure. At the end, he finally breaks down and identifies the source of his problems, the loathed dark lady. This sonnet reveals Shakespeare’s notion that women are dangerous beings. Women cause diseases because men’s sexual appetites need to be fed, however this leads to the disease growing. He expresses that the mind, reason, can overcome and cure this desire but men are hopeless to follow. Ultimately he reveals how not only are women the source of disease, but they also are deceivers who fake beauty and are truly wicked. The use of diction, metaphors, similes, repetition and more emphasizes Shakespeare’s detest. Through Sonnet 147, he reveals that lust is infectious and all consuming and that it leads to lack of reason, lies and dangerous women.