“Patriotism by Yukio Mishima Essay

Many people consider suicide a moral wrong or cowardly in that it is taking the easy way out of a tough situation. And, by our modern standards, that is typically the case. But, in the case of the story, â€Å"Patriotism,† written by Yukio Mishima, the suicide Lieutenant Shinji and his wife Reiko committed was the noble and honorable thing. The couple died together in order to preserve their honor and loyalty, which were key in setting of this story. To truly judge the characters for their heroism, the setting of the story must be understood. â€Å"Patriotism† is set in Japan in 1936, which was the pre-World War II era. Patriotism and loyalty were at an all-time high, which created an atmosphere of duty and determination to serve. With that mindset, both characters were justified to sacrifice themselves for what they believed was the greater good. The story centers around the ideas of loyalty and the sacrifice required for that loyalty. Heroism is about sacrificing the self for the greater good. Sometimes that sacrifice is part of a natural sequence of events, and sometimes it is a radical swerve from the path a person is on. Regardless, heroism requires a change to benefit others, often having the potential to harm the hero. A hero must decide that others are to be placed before themselves; they acknowledge that their very being is meant to aid the millions around them. In addition, heroes have a cause to fight for. The cause can be world impacting, or as simple as affecting one person. Whatever the cause is, a hero must dedicate themselves fully to what they believe. Heroes are in pursuit of perfection, but acknowledge their shortcomings as an obstacle to work around in order to help others. Heroes willingly accept their duty and don’t resent the sacrifices their decisions often require. Heroes are humble in their actions and don’t expect anything in return for their attempts to improve the lives of others. As Brodi Ashton, author of Everneath, puts it, â€Å"Heroes are made by the paths they choose, not the powers they are graced with.† Reiko follows that path of heroism, which for her, ends with the greatest sacrifice a man can give- their life. In â€Å"Patriotism,† Reiko and Shinji sacrifice their lives to preserve their honor for their beliefs, but again, Reiko makes the larger sacrifice. Reiko belongs to two causes; she dedicates her life to her country, but more importantly, to her husband. She has no direct ties to the government, and could’ve gone on without her husband. Reiko had the potential to create a new life for herself, but choses to give up her life for a man she is in love with. â€Å"Ever since her marriage her husband’s existence had been her own existence and every breath of his had been a breath drawn by herself. But now, while her husband’s existence in pain was a vivid reality, Reiko could find in this grief of hers no certain proof at all of her own existence† (19). Reiko had so fully dedicated herself to her husband that his pain became her pain and his death certainly had to become her death. Reiko is also a willing participant in the sacrifice her husband finds truly necessary. Not only that, she is willing to sacrifice herself even before understanding the whole situation. â€Å"In the lieutenant’s face, as he hurried silently into the snowy morning, Reiko had read the determination to die. If her husband did not return her own decision was made: she too would die† (3). Both Reiko and Shinji sacrifice their lives for the greater good, Reiko makes the bigger sacrifice by dying for both her country’s honor and her loyalty to her true love, Shiniji. â€Å"Reiko firmly believed that everything her husband was feeling or thinking now, his anguish and distress, was leading her- just as surely as the power in his flesh- to a welcome death. She felt as if her body could melt away with ease and be transformed to the merest fraction of her husband’s thought† (4). Even in her final hours, Reiko humbles herself to a position below her husband and is content with the sudden change in her fate. Reiko doesn’t boast of her confidence or willingness to die for her lover, but humbly follows her husband’s pursuit of duty through death. Whereas most people in the same situation would fearfully and stressfully await their death, Reiko approaches it as the next step in her life. â€Å"Reiko did not linger. When she though how the pain which had previously opened such a gulf between herself and her dying husband was now to become a part of her own experience, she saw before her only the joy of herself entering a realm her husband had already made his own† (22). Reiko is content, even joyful, with her current situation. She doesn’t resent her husband for asking her to die along with him, but sees it as the next step in her life and has embraced the path. Reiko sacrificed what could have potentially been a fulfilling life for the man of her dreams- a man that she loved so deeply that she was willing to die along with him to maintain a sense of dignity toward her country and her husband. Not only did she agree to die along with him, she accepted the fact that she would watch him die first, as a witness, and then followed through on her agreement to die herself. Despite the pain that event caused, Reiko was willing to witness her husband’s death, simply because he asked her to. She understood her duty as a lieutenants wife in a time of war and accepted Shinji’s interpretation of loyalty. In Reiko’s mind, death wasn’t thrust upon her; it was a peaceful necessity. Reiko accepted the fate her husband asked upon her simply because of her love for her country, and even more than that, the love for her husband. That sense of loyalty, particularly loyalty without complaint, comes from a true hero who died for her passions.

Contribution of Engineers in Society

Question 5: In this technological age, the power of the engineers in shaping the society and environment in all pervading and can profoundly affect the lives of many members of the society. Enumerate, from your personal experience, how largely positive impacts have accrued from the contributions of engineers. Answer: Introduction In the eyes of public, an engineer is a professional man who is of sufficient training, expertise, and integrity as to be able to act with independence and impartiality in his professional judgments to ensure trust and confidence of public.Since ancient era to recent technological age, participation and contribution of engineers have been seen in all ways of life. Involvement and contributions of engineers are tremendous and playing important roles in almost all aspects of human being life. Let us discuss from the following few angles: – 1)HSE Engineers in their profession, shall identify the safety and health risks in their works, assess them and tak e steps to minimize and control these risks in the work place and public arena. Engineers are involved in the search for safer work places and products.These search for improved safety benefited in reducing accidents and harm to the public. Engineers are keenly aware that their work and recommendations can have a very major impact on the environment that we live in. The very car that we drive emits carbon dioxide that is causing warming of the atmosphere that eventual could lead to massive environmental disasters later. Engineers are at the very core of the research and development into ways and means to reduce emissions by example of hybrid cars, cars running on hydrogen or biofuel alternative.Engineer has reduced greatly the negative impact from the sewerage generated by the increasing population. The sewerage produced by human being if not treated properly, will cause disastrous to the environment. Imagine what is going to happen if the underground water and rivers are contaminat ed by the sewerage. Therefore the engineer’s effort in construction of the sewerage treatment plant has greatly impact in preservation of environment. 2)DevelopmentEngineers contributed very significantly to a country’s development from an agricultural economy to one that includes manufacturing, communication services and exploitation of the country’s natural resources like tin, hydropower, oil and gas. They built the infrastructure and the tools necessary for progress. Without road, highways, bridges, clean water supply, electrical power supply, telephone and cell phone communication, we would be living lives in jungle, where it will be dark at night and water is from well. Engineers build new townships and residential areas which create more jobs opportunity to the adjacent areas.In the city, engineers build high rise building which maximize land usages, provide a better and comfortable working environment to increase quality & productivity of work. Engineers also forecast & plan for future water demands & make proposals to solve current water supply problems. Example: Proposal of building new water treatment plants & reservoirs, or replacement of old pipelines to reduce loses due to leakages and so on, all these were developed and built with the input from engineers. One of the engineer’s contributions that have major impact of the lives of many members of society is in the Transportation sector.Better transportation network such as PLUS, KESAS, ELITE, will boost many new residential area & township development of suburban area. Upgrading of road network and transportation system improve production and economy; improve unity of nation and communication between state. People find easier and more convenient in moving around from one place to anther place. It only takes about 4 hours to travel from Penang to KL with North South Highway. Rest & Recreation Area provide a place for road users to rest and a new optional place for food, recreation and public services.Engineers also help in providing good public transportation network which enhance country image. Moving around in big city in Klang Valley using Light Rail Transit and Monorail System can avoid the congestion of traffic, overcome the problem of scarcity of car parks and shorten the period of time to reach the destination. Engineers provide solution for limited space in a city by efficiency of interchange, solve foundation and stability problem, carry out value engineering for optimization of cost which make more development for limited capital a nation has.Beside this, the improvement in the telecommunication contributed by the engineers in the field of electrical, electronic and computer engineering have resulted to a better quality of lives. Satellite TV and cell phones together with computer and internet have enabled us to communicate instantly and anywhere on earth, so that we are now more informed than ever with the information that can be searche d for and accessed more readily. One can communicate with their friends, family members, business partners or clients at any place, and anytime.The advancement in communication coupled with the better physical communication such as transportation network have bring not just better quality of life, but also have increased business activities, more decision can be made daily, more people can be involved in business activities, more income generated for company and individual, and the taxes collected by the government as well. 3)Innovation on equipment and machine The life expectancy of the population at large is getting longer and part of the reason is the health service providers like hospital being equipped with better tools and machines e. g. -rays and scanners developed and built by engineers. Medicine has been made more cheaply and widely available by new techniques. Engineering practices and knowledge that have been put in the design, application and production of hearing aids a nd other equipment such as lasers for optometric correction is a significant contribution to the better welfare of human being. The home is typically equipped with airconditioning and washing machine that engineers contributed in the development and manufacturing so that we can live a more comfortable life with more time for more productive and creative activities.Conclusion Engineer’s professional behavior require that they act faithfully to their employer or clients, be competent in their field of work, gain required technical know how and work experience, put the safety of the public in profound regards, protect the environment, contribute to sustainable development, make objective and truthful report to the public if needed, avoid conflict of interest in the job and to act honorably and respectfully in their professional conduct.The most important aspect is that any advice given has to be fair, objective, impartial, and has to be in the best interest of the public in gene ral and client in particular, in order to instill public confidence and trust. Engineers must be seen as a person with total integrity in his work and no compromise to his professional judgment.These behaviors generally spill over to the professional’s conduct in public and thereby contributing to a better work place and to the society from the services and products they have generated. All of these have resulted a quantum leap in human civilization and all these cannot be happened without engineers.

Madame Bovary and Written on the body Essay

Madame Bovary and Written on the body, penned by Gustave Flaubert and Jeanette Winterson respectively, encapsulate the essence of gender while breaking free of the stigma attached to it. The actions of both the protagonists from these works reflect a complete divorce of the influence of their genders from the course of action they took. The ambiguity of the sex of Winterson’s character along with the Volatile nature of Flaubert’s Emma twist many facets of gender and society together into solid plots. Both are narratives of the highest order and equally reflect ideas which are considered radical. Both novels place sexual structures and explanations of gender into question, i. e. is the male sex really superior? Are woman really constricted by their femininity? Through the narrative on Emma we get a taste of a woman who goes again societal norms and at times acts more masculine than feminine. Then we have the I-narrator in Winterson’s novel that continually transcends boundaries set for sexes because of his/her own unidentified and undefined gender. Similarly, one would have to notice that Winterson’s novel shuns sexes completely. Instead of working within a space where there is a fixed gender, which is further placed into a categorically constructed culture and society in order to pinpoint the wants and needs of an individual, we are left with imagery that shows us a being, which has an identity and subsequently wants and needs things based on that identity. (Sonnenberg 3) Typical to this fact both the characters tip toe around the limitations of the sexes. This is the reason Winterson’s character is easy to compare to Emma. The novels’ negate the traditional roles of the sexes, in particular they negate the role of women as passive object of exploration by following masculine paradigms, but also in ultimately rejecting such models in favor of reciprocity, they becomes an almost perfect illustration of a refusal of the role of woman and also the refusal of the economic, ideological, and political power of a man. The actions of both characters set them apart from normal behavior (Maynard, Purvis 151). One has to wonder whether Emma is a victim in the traditional sense or has the author deliberately downplayed the masculinity of the three main male characters i. e. Charles, Leon and Rodolphe. (Porter 263). The character does not follow the norms of one gender. This was the reason that Flaubert’s novel was greatly protested. On one hand she is extremely feminine but on the other hand she has extremely masculine markers in her personality. It was Charles Baudelaire who pointed out that Emma’s desires masculinized her, and he labeled her a â€Å"bizarre androgyne. † In reality, in the background of the 19th-century French anticipations about women’s conduct, Emma’s blatant sexuality and far-reaching aspiration did stand out as alien and unacceptable, as the trial of Madame Bovary on allegations of violating public morals showed. (Porter 124). She is definitely feminine in many ways, but very easily slips into the lead of forefront of her relationships which is usually reserved for the male counterparts. An example of this would be her relationship with Leon and also the fact that she wore monocles which was highly unlikely for a woman of that day and age. Likewise the I-narrator in â€Å"Written on the body† seems to be neither male nor female. As tempting as it would be, it does not work for the reader to search for the gender clues in this character, the mention of a shirt, a nipple, a motorcycle – for none of these provides conclusive evidence, there are however, many hints that suggest that the character is in fact female such as the description s/he awards to the objective of his/her affection i. e. Louise. It is that very fact which throws the plot into controversy; a plain tale of adultery would have been rather poetic, one which is filled with ambiguity and revolves around a woman stealing another mans wife is highly bizarre (Farwell 187). Explaining Emma’s character, Laurence porter writes, â€Å"Naomi Schor described Emma as a woman who desired to break the chain of passive femininity but who fails to accede to the phallic writing state. Roger Huss centers similarly on the impossibility of Emma’s incorporation of the masculine, the impossibility of gender plentitude, and the problem of the different itself. † (Porter 125). In a world where men ruled supreme, Emma’s charm stemmed from her education which had taken away some parts of her femininity because of the knowledge she had gained. She was now a part of the male world whether anyone admitted her into that world or not was not even a question. In the same way as the protagonist in â€Å"Written on the body,† who, if indeed a lesbian, failed to separate herself from the masculine side of her personality, and if a man, fell short of acting like the traditional Alpha. Another comparison could be the ideology of love and in fact the myth of romance. The protagonists of both novels have a very cliched understanding of love. They are deluded with their preconceived notions about love and how it is meant to play out in their lives. Emma becomes depressed with her life and her marriage because of this very fact. The narrator in ‘Written on the body’ also feels the same, which is reflected in the following words, â€Å"I was trapped in a cliche every bit as redundant as my parents’ roses round the door, I was looking for the perfect coupling, the never-sleep-non-stop mighty orgasm. Ecstasy without end. I was deep in the slop-bucket of romance,† (Written on the body 21). They are both looking for something which is basically too idealistic and utopian in nature to really exist. One more front on which both the novels collide is adultery. Both the protagonists wholeheartedly indulge. Emma does it by cheating on her husband not once but twice. She craves the kind of love that she had read about in her books and goes around looking for it till she finds it in Leon and Rodolphe. Winterson’s character is also infatuated with the idea of love and goes looking for it in the arms of another man’s wife. There seems to be nothing that can stop the two and their own selfish motives are the only ones they care about. The character in ‘Written on the body’ seems to be a narcissist who cares for no one but him/herself. Emma is indeed selfish in the same way because she cares only for her own self-satisfaction and disregards the pain she could cause her husband when she finds out about her affairs. Madame Bovary reflects the 19th century French society, while Winterson’s expose is from more recent times. What the works show us is that sexuality and gender have been conflicted since a long time and continue to stay so. Society will always gape and be appalled at such pieces of literature because they go against the dead rules that have been constructed for the existence of mankind. Traditionally men and women have both been assigned their places in the world and those places are not to be tampered with; one of the most sensitive areas one can go experimenting with is sexuality. In some ways both works reflect how anyone from a particular gender cannot stay happy once it has tasted the waters from the other side. The knowledge of the other side gives them an insane desire to climb onto it repeatedly, thereby causing friction and in fact a chaotic contradiction the roles that society had already laid out for them. Work Cited Farwell, Marilyn R: Heterosexual Plots and Lesbian Narratives: 1996 Flaubert, Gustave: Madame Bovary: 2004 Maynard, Mary & Purvis, June: Hetero) sexual Politics: 1995 Porter, Laurence M: A Gustave Flaubert encyclopaedia: 2001 Sonnenberg: Body Image and Identity in Jeanette Winterson’s â€Å"Written on the Body†: 2007 Winterson, Jeanette: Written on the Body: 1994

UK Luxury Fashion Online Retailer Net-A-Porter Coursework

UK Luxury Fashion Online Retailer Net-A-Porter - Coursework Example From this paper it is clear that Net-a-Porter is a luxury fashion retailer that provides products and services to customers online. The main USP of the company’s website is that it is designed like a magazine. Presently the company has many brands popular that it retails including  Yves Saint Laurent,  Diane von Furstenberg and Stella McCartney.  Although the economy of UK and US is experiencing a general slowdown after the global financial crisis, the company shows no signs of holding up operations. It has recently launched a beauty products segment, a new publishing business, and planned logistics expansions in the Asia-Pacific regions. The company also  added a dedicated sportswear section to their website.This discussion highlights that the company presently operates in three offices located in two countries, US and UK. It is headquartered in London and it has distribution centres in US. The business model of Net-a-Porter is e-commerce based and hence it provides 2 4/7 services to customers. It has 2600 employees and it is also planning to expand full-scale operations in emerging economies such as China where the demand is very strong. The main products of the company may be classified into major segments, apparels and accessories. Different types of luxury clothes are offered by the company including beachwear, coats, bridal, Denim, gowns, jumpsuits, shirts, sportswear, premium suits, jeans and jackets. The accessories include products like belts, gloves, jewellery, hats, shoes, etc.      

Modern State Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Modern State - Essay Example The concept and framework of the modern state is difficult to define because it involves a combination of historical, economic, political and cultural factors. Historical mythologies and memories are shared, traditional routes of pilgrimage have united the nations of the continent in common religious bonds throughout history, and now they all share the same market (Morphet 517). It is possible to single out the following distinctive features of the modern state: high level of nationalism and multiculturalism, liberal institutions and importance of national culture, integrity and cooperation on the global level. Collective identity and individual freedom are the main characteristics of the modern state 9Richard Stillman II 23). The state is inevitably involved in recognizing and reproducing particular ethno-cultural groups, and so the politicization of cultural identities is, to some extent, inevitable. Modernization liberates people from fixed social roles and traditional identities, and fosters an ideal of autonomous individuality that encourages individuals to prefer choice and mobility over traditional ascriptive identities (Rubin 65). Modernization theorists argued that this ideal of autonomous individuality conflicts with a deep attachment to one's cultural group, particularly in the case of smaller nations or national minorities (Morphet 517). These smaller groups face strong economic and political pressures to assimilate into larger nations, and theorists assumed that the members of these groups would accept this process, rather than fight to maintain their cultural identity at the price of economic well-being or social mobility. To resist assimilation would require an irrational attachment to an 'ascriptive group' identity that was inconsistent with the modern ideal of autonomous individuality (Rubin 75). So there are many ways that government decisions play a crucial role in sustaining national cultures. This is not to say that governments can only promote one societal culture. So nationalist movements by national minorities are not rejecting the dynamic of modernization and nation-building. The modern state accepts the idea that a modern economy and democratic community requires a diffused common culture (Rubin 64). They are simply arguing that they form their own distinct economy and society within the boundaries of the large state. They are arguing that some countries are not nation-states, but are multination states, containing two or more national societies. In this case, "democracy has two aspects, authorial and editorial; democracy is authorial so far as it gives the collective people direct or indirect control of government; democracy is editorial so far as it gives people, whether in a collective or plural identity, the capacity to challenge government decisions; and as a feature of the plural people editorial democracy may be representative, reactive or regulative in character" (Pettit 527). Many liberal states do not make nationalism per se, but they introduce common use of the term nation and are clearly dedicated to a modern and unified administration, church-state reform, modern education and a liberal constitutional system. For instance, this is based on a general

Applying Mathematical Concepts to Business Administration Essay

Applying Mathematical Concepts to Business Administration - Essay Example Despite this, many students still fail to realize just how important mathematics can be in their chosen profession. Other students mistakenly believe that the extent to which mathematics will play a role in their profession will be a minor role. In truth, mathematics is used daily in a variety of professional fields including business administration, and can often play a role in problem resolution. Some business related problems that can be solved with mathematics are payroll discrepancies and funding needs. Business Administration entails a multitude of tasks and responsibilities. Many of these components can become problematic if proper mathematics is not applied. For example, a business owner or manager may, at times, be held responsible for pay roll, accounts payables, accounts receivables, determining advertising or marketing needs, and writing various proposals. Although business owners can and often do hire help to perform these many functions, understanding the concepts will ensure that the business owner can accurately monitor the progress and effectiveness of his or her employees or contracted associates. Owning a business can present a variety of problems, including conflict resolution, competition, and establishing a loyal customer base. Some of these problems cannot be solved by the use of mathematics. However, several other problems can arise that will require a solid knowledge of mathematics and an understanding of how to apply mathematical skills: Having [at least] an introduction to these topics will provide you with the basics needed for initial analysis of financial situations in your business. This information is critical to successfully managing the financial aspects of your business (Jones International University 1). Although it may appear trite to first reference financial aspects of an organization as a source of potential problems faced by business administrators and owners, the problems that can stem out of a business's financial matters can be immense. If these problems are handled improperly, they could prove to be fatal for the business. One such problem is with proper payroll accounting. Payroll embodies the life-blood of a company's employees, contracted employees, and management staff. Put simply, payroll is the monetary compensation such employees receive in exchange for their work and services provided to the company or on the behalf of the company. The most common problem that can occur with payroll is inadequate tracking of hourly employees (Corpus Christi Caller 1). Hourly employees, or those employees who receive compensation based on the number of hours they work during a specific amount of time, can make mistakes regarding their time tracking. Additionally, managers can make mistakes when calculating the wage amount for an employee for one specific pay-period. When a mistake is found, several mathematics concepts will come into play to find the mistake and work to resolve the issue. First, to find the exact mistake, the manager's first step will be to recalculate the wages based on the employees hourly pay-rate and the number of hours that employee has reported working. Doing this will require a basic mathematical concept; simply multiply the number of hours worked by the employee's hourly wage amount and round the product up or down to the nearest 100th. Should this answer not match the amount shown on the check, then the problem can be resolved by issuing a new check for the amount of the difference. However, if this new product does match the amount

Native People of North America Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Native People of North America - Assignment Example This are spirits being used in the western religious practices and pueblo cosmology. There are personification spirits of things existing in the real world. It can represent anything in the natural world from location, concept, and revered ancestor to an element or a quality. There are more than 300 kachinas in pueblo culture. Real Hopi katsinas/kachinas have changed to suit the contemporary world. Today, curving have been termed Hopi katsinas/kachinas for business purposes changing the meaning and originality of the culture of the Hopi people. Natchez are Native American people who are believed to have a Mississippi origin. They have unique language that has isolated them from their close relatives. They have a distant resemblance to the Muskogean languages. Thus, their unique language is a facet towards maintaining their originality. The other unique characteristic of the Natchez is the unusual social system. The system is composed of exogamous marriage and nobility classes. The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin was given the rights to the nation by the government’s legal process known as the Indian Treaties. These treaties were granted by the house of congress. Congress vested its powers to overthrow all the historical Indian treaty legislation. This took place when they refused to agree to its promise of granting the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin treaty rights to own their lands in 1830. The congress legislation to eliminate the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin overrode all Indian Treaties. This is an example of plenary authority. Their accomplishments are preserving their native culture and language, improving their educational opportunities and protecting their environment. 3. Reservation gaming helps nationwide collection of revenues from fee charged from gaming projects. This revenue is used to build schools and colleges as we as investing in drug and alcohol treatment programs. 2. Despite that

The legend of Sleepy Hollow Washington Irving Research Paper

The legend of Sleepy Hollow Washington Irving - Research Paper Example It is also worth noting that the comedic and foolish nature of Ichabod is detectable from the strength of his imaginations. The writer uses this story for the main purpose of accentuating the fact that imaginations form a significant part of human life. Just like any other aspect of life, imaginations can lead to failure or success of the subject individual as depicted by Ichabod. The story shows that imaginations can have influence on lifestyle of an individual and may end up alienating him or her. Further the writer also shows the impotence nature of Ichabod as an element of his much involvement in imaginations. This research paper cites some of the instances used by Irvins to illustrate the power imagination in â€Å"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow†. Imaginations reinforce a lifestyle Irving also uses the allegory to show that imagination may also reinforce a way of life into an individual. As depicted in the story, Ichabod’s imagination about ghosts, demons and witches, acts as the main reason for his preference in reading the ghost stories. His imaginations make him feel that the ghosts are real thereby increasing interest for knowing about them. Most of his life he sits down to read and hear about the ghostly stories. Intuitively, these stories make him believe that anything around him is supernatural. His affection for the stories is also evident when he goes to apply everything he reads about in the real world. He walks out during the night believing that there are ghosts roaming in the midst. Just as stated by the stories he always read. The writer also depict his love for the ghostly stories, when instead of contributing to the harvest party, he divert his attention to listening to ghostly legends told by Brom (Damon-Bach & Lucinda, 38). Even though owning the farm and proposing to Katrina was the major aim for attending the harvest party, Ichabod wholly diverts to his darling stories about the ghosts. Just like the environment and family ba ckground can shape individual’s lifestyle, Ichabod’s imaginations models his love for the ghostly stories. He believes that reading the ghostly stories is the only fulfilling way he can live his daily life. The incidences show that there is no day Ichabod would have changed his lifestyle because of the belief that the ghost exist in the real world. As shown through Ichabod’s experience, in the whole story, it is true that the imaginations held by individuals can serve in alienating their life from the usual. Ichabod, whose imaginations concentrates around the existence of ghosts, lives a tough life albeit living among other human beings. He easily gets frightened at littlest things which a normal human being will always assume. When walking home during the darkest hours, he gets frightened most of the time, by the invisible thing because his imaginations had made him believe that there is a headless horseman who usually rides back in quest for his head. This sho ws a clear alienation of Ichabod from the reality just because of the imagination he holds. His alienation is also detectable in the relic that people of the society associate to him. His brand in the society was a wandering horse, trampled saddle, discarded hat, and a mysterious shattered pumpkin (Irving & Jane 56). Naturally, an individual can only associate these paraphernalia to an insane person who has lost in his societal ways. However, it is worth noting

Starbucks and Mcdonalds Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Starbucks and Mcdonalds - Research Proposal Example Data and information should be on the last three to five years for consistency in the use of statistics and comparative figures. Whatever strategies were deemed more effective, as practiced, together with validated support from other authoritative sources would be used to recommend future strategies to improve revenues, market share and profits for both organizations. A review of related literature is proposed to be included as part of the research to contain information on past researches conducted for both Starbucks and McDonalds for the last three to five years. Comparative information would be gathered, evaluated and integrated to focus on strategies on products, price, place and promotions. Findings would therefore be written on which particular strategies were deemed most effective in both organizations and if these strategies can still be used to improve on the organizations’ performance. A review of external factors that influence future performance of these organizations would also be presented prior to

Teachers in Nathaniels Life Essay Example for Free

Teachers in Nathaniels Life Essay Long after we finish school we remember our school teachers and experiences. We gain experience as a consequence of the situation or the people, who surround us. Our school teachers often help us to decide on important life choice and inspire us in our further pursuits. Nathaniel, the main character of the book The Soloist, written by Steve Lopez had several excellent teachers, who helped him with his experience in music and also in life. These three teachers helped Nathaniel during his personal difficulties and in the achievements he had along the way. Nathaniel’s first teacher was William Moon. Moon appeared in a complex and transitional period of Nathaniel’s life, when Nathaniel’s personality and confidence started to fade. Before Nathaniel turned eleven he was the happiest child. He had a complete happy family, but soon after his life took an unexpected turn. Nathaniel’s parents divorced. Nathaniel wanted to see his father, to be with him, share his experiences, but the child felt that there’s no place in his father’s life or him. Nathaniel was shocked by these changes: he couldn’t understand why his father abandoned his family. Floria Ayers, his mother remarried and Nathaniel and his two sisters moved to their mother’ new husband’s house. Alexnader Mangrum, his new stepfather had four children. Nathaniel had very complicated relationships with his stepbrothers and stepsisters, who weren’t happy to see â€Å"strangers† in their house. Nathaniel considered to leave his mother’s home. He told his little sister: â€Å"Let’s run away†. But she answered him: â€Å"Where are we going to go? You don’t think they are going to call our mother in a minute we got there? † They spoke of running away to aunt and uncle’s home. Nathaniel’s confidence and outgoing personality slowly began to fade after a short stay at his father’s home, the young man returned to Cleveland more sullen, more broken and yet more grown-up, it seemed. And there, in Cleveland Nathaniel met him, his first teacher. William Moon inspired Nathaniel. He put into the student the love of music. Music became the escape from reality for the lonely teen. Mr. Moon’s daughter Marjorie was studying music at Ohio University and played a string bass. One day, when Nathaniel heard how Marjorie plays the string bass, he told Moon: â€Å"That’s what I want to do. I want to do what she does†. (p155) This decision has defined Nathaniel’s way forward. The aspiring musician did all his best. Soon Nathaniel became so good, that William Moon couldn’t help him any longer. Moon had become attached to Nathaniel so much, that he even considered Nathaniel to be his son. He referred his talented student to Cleveland Orchestra, where Nathaniel met the next very important person and mentor of his life. Harry Barnoff improved Nathaniel’s musical ability, but also the teacher helped Nathaniel to believe in himself. Barnoff grew up in conditions, similar to Nathaniel’s. Their parents weren’t musicians. Nathaniel found his own way himself like Barnoff many years before, thanks to fate and natural talent. Further Barnoff helped his student to believe in himself during the hard repressive time in American history and enroll in Julliard. Probably, Barnoff was the most beloved of all Nathaniel’s teachers. Even many years later, when Nathaniel was mentally ill and needed to hear a familiar voice, Nathaniel called Barnoff. Lopez mentioned: â€Å"For many years Harry Barnoff was the man Nathaniel tried so hard to impress. It was Barnoff he called when he was in trouble, and it was Barnoff, whose phone number he still had committed to memory more than twenty years after the last time he dialed it†. (p 175). These words show how much Nathaniel was attached to Barnoff. Barnoff wasn’t an ordinary character in Nathaniel’s life. Barnoff was Nathaniel’s teacher, spiritual relative guide and friend for many years. The two previous teachers have been a part of Nathaniel’s past. They have done a tremendous job in a building of Nathaniel’s character. But that’s not enough; Nathaniel needed the help and support for the present. As such, Pete Snyder came into Nathaniel’s life for that purpose. Snyder is a famous musician, who consented to give the lessons to Nathaniel. They met because of Steve Lopez. Snyder read the article and invited Lopez and Nathaniel to his concert. Snyder was going to help Nathaniel in finding his own way in his current situation. The teacher’s purpose was to rehabilitate Nathaniel through music. Snyder was someone like a doctor for Nathaniel. He was a doctor, who treated Nathaniel without medications. Snyder did it through Nathaniel’s enthusiasm for music and it paid off. Lopez states: â€Å"It was a promising break through. Nathaniel is confronting his fears and thinking more rationally† (p. 179) Also with Snyder’s help Lopez tried to persuade Nathaniel to move in to an apartment after thirty years living on the streets and he did just that. At first Nathaniel refused to be in an apartment. He said: â€Å"It’s not my room; I’m not going to be living in here†. (p. 167). However, a week after holding the lessons with Snyder, Nathaniel started to like his new place. One day Nathaniel went out his new apartment to the yard and he saw his neighbor James, who was smoking a cigarette there. When he finished, he threw a cigarette butt on the floor. Nathaniel hated to see garbage on the floor, especially cigarette butts. When Nathaniel saw it he came to James and said: â€Å"Excuse me, sir, you cannot smoke here† Nathaniel said it with such authority, as if he was a courtyard monitor. There stood in the yard and to James’s question: â€Å"Who are you? You don’t live there† Nathaniel pointed on the window of his room and said: â€Å"This is my place† (p. 186) I don’t think that Nathaniel would go so far without Peter Snyder. One day, when Nathaniel had a dialogue with Snyder about the reason of refusing the room. Nathaniel said that in the tunnel he hears the city and doesn’t feel cut off from it like he does inside these four walls. Snyder’s answer had to impress Nathaniel and gave him a different point of view:†Think of this as a clean quiet tunnel. Nathaniel got this point; he agreed that the room is a good decision for his passion, not a prison as he thought of before. Each of Nathaniel’s teachers made an important contribution in Nathaniel’s life. It changed it for the better I had similar experience. I was a very a stubborn child. I never listened to other people’s opinion and I didn’t listen to my school teachers. Probably the main reason for my attitude to teachers was that my teachers didn’t generally like their job and I sensed that. However, after I met my math teacher all that changed. She as very kind and very helpful. Professor Ahmatullaeva wasn’t an ordinary teacher, who taught basic math. She also showed us why math is interesting. She inspired us to learn math. Her attitude was completely different. When I saw her I remembered my mother. Her eyes beamed pure warmth. When she saw that we can’t do something she helped us, when she saw that we felt bad she took care about us. Farida Ahmatullaeva did her best for us. We were a big family for her. She always told us that we are her kids. Even after our graduation we came to school just to visit her. She was always touched that we loved and remembered her. Our teacher Farida remembered all of our names and everything we did in class. A couple days before leaving Tashkent I met her. She was also leaving my city to go to Russia. I remember this day as it was yesterday. I saw tears in her eyes. My teacher told me: â€Å"I know, you will do your best and achieve whatever you want. † She became very close for me because she wasn’t an ordinary teacher, she was also my friend and mentor. There’s no doubt that teachers are very important for the development of our personality. They take part in our educational and the moral foundations of our lives just as our parents do. Our first part of life is at home; as we grow up we continue our lives at school. Teachers become the next support and network by helping us to mature. That’s why becoming a teacher is a very responsible choice. Being a teacher goes beyond the delivery of the essential subject. It also means to be personally connected. Teacher is a bond between the person, who teaches knowledge to students and the person, who provide with a life experience. Also teacher tries to put themselves into the student’s shoes, share own point of view. Teacher helps a student make a decision and give new ways of looking at some experiences. If we are more aware, we have a wider disposal of choices.

User Level Rootkit: Computer Security Systems

User Level Rootkit: Computer Security Systems Hamid Tarmazdi Sohaib Irshad 1 Introduction Let us have a look at the definition of the word. The word has two components, root and kit. Root is usually a UNIX/Linux term that is used for administrators just like we do in Windows. The word kit is used to denote the programs that allow someone to gain illegal access to root/admin level of the computer by executing some programs in the kit. All of this is done without the consent or knowledge of the end-user. This document is the final report on the user level rootkit developed by our team. It contains new and updated information from previous documents. The general aspects are discussed to provide a overview on rootkits in general and specifically user level rootkits. Different features have been described with code snippets or pseudocode depending on complexity and length of the code. The aim has been to make this document as self sufficient as possible, so the reader can gain information on rootkits and user level rootkits and then proceed to details of implementing one. 2 Usage There are two primary functions for rootkit. Backdoor remote command or control of the computer Software eavesdropping. Rootkits are used to administratively control a computer, either through legitimate means or otherwise. This means that one can execute files, access logs, monitor the user activity and even able to change the computer configuration. If we consider the strict definition of rootkit, even some versions of VNC are rootkits. One example of the rootkit use was by Sony BMG’s attempt to install a software on user machines to prevent copyright violations. 3 Propagation Rootkits do not propagate by themselves. They are one single part of three part component which we call as Blended Threat. A blended threat has three snippets of code that are dropper, loader and rootkit itself. Dropper initializes the installation of the rootkit. Dropper is usually activated through human intervention (read: error) for example clicking a malicious link. After it initiates, it executes loader program and then deletes itself to avoid any detection. After the loader has been activated, it causes a buffer overflow which then loads the rootkit into the memory. One of the recent examples of such an attack are through propagation of malicious links through social media sites (Facebook and Twitter). After clicking a malicious link, the rootkit takes control of the client and then sends out messages to every contact on the list. Other example is through Rich content such as PDF files. Just opening such files will execute dropper code and the rootkit is subsequently installed, infecting the computer. 4 Types of Rootkits There are several types of rootkits that we can discuss. 4.1 User-mode rootkits Such rootkits usually run on a computer with administrative rights. This allows the usermode rootkits to change security options and hide system processes, files, system drivers, block network ports and system services. These rootkits remain on the infected computer through copying of required files on target computer’s hard drive and launch automatically with every system reboot. 4.2 Kernel-mode rootkits Because the user-mode rootkits can be found by rootkit detection software’s running in kernel mode, malware developers developed kernel mode rootkits. They placed the rootkit in the same level as operating system and rootkit detection software. In other words, the Operating system could not find the rootkit. 4.3 User-mode/kernel-mode hybrid rootkit Some malware developers designed the hybrid of both the rootkits, user-mode for higher stability and kernel mode for greater stealth ability. It is the most successful and most popular rootkit at this moment. 4.4 Firmware rootkit The next sophisticated form of rootkit is firmware rootkit. It is a very complex and harder to detect rootkit. It hides itself into the firmware of the computer and reinstall every time the PC gets rebooted. It can be installed with any firmware such as microprocessor code to PCI expansion card firmware. 4.5 Virtual rootkit These are the most new kind of rootkit in the industry and the most difficult to detect. It acts like a software implementation of a hardware set in a manner similar to used by VMware. Such rootkits are almost invisible. One of the examples of such rootkits is Blue Pill. 5 Polymorphism and Detection of Rootkits Polymorphism is one of the techniques that make us difficult to find and remove malwares such as rootkits. It is defined as the ability by the rootkit to rewrite the core assembly  code that makes antivirus pr antispyware signature based defenses useless. 6 History The term rootkit or root kit originally is attributed to maliciously modified set of admin- istrative tools in a Unix OS that is granted a †root† access. If an intruder substitutes the standard administrative tools on a system with a program such as rootkit, the intruder could gain root access over the system whilst at the same time obscuring these activities from the legitimate system administrator. These rootkits known as first generation rootkits were easy to detect using the tools such as Tripwire. First documented computer virus was discovered in 1986. It used cloaking techniques to hide itself. The Brain virus intercepted many attempts to read the boot sector and then made sure these attacks are redirected to elsewhere on the disk. These disks contained confidential data and also a copy of the original boot sector. Over time, DOS-virus cloaking methods have become more sophisti- cated, with the usage of advanced techniques including the hooking of low-level disk INT 13H BIOS interrupt calls to hide unauthorized modifications to files. 7 Features This section contains information on general functionalities of the rootkit developed by our team. Feature set is divided into small tasks and these tasks are individually completed and integrated. 7.1 Achieved functionality Following is a detailed breakdown of the feature set including implementation details. The rootkit shall be installed through modifying LD PRELOAD to pre-load our dynamic library with our functions to replace their original counterparts in standard C library. The rootkit shall hide LD PRELOAD environment variable. The rootkit shall start automatically on user login. The mechanism of the rootkit must be hidden. 7.2 Subtasks 7.2.1 req.1 To achieve req.1 we have finished following sub tasks : A sample C program which makes a call to a method from standard C library. A sample dynamic library which redefines the function called in our program. Modifying LD PRELOAD to preload our custom library. Update the modified function to also run the original function in addition to the modified code to avoid breaking functionality. Acceptance criteria req.1: After successfully executing sub-task #4 running the program created in sub-task #1 would result in execution of the modified function in our library created in sub-task #2 in addition to running the original function from standard C libraries. This gives the capability to spy on user program, modify its input/output,etc. Achieving req.1 allows us to run our code within a user program. 7.2.2 req.2 Following subtasks are finished for req.2. Identify the functions used to retrieve LD PRELOAD by programs Hook the functions to hide LD PRELOAD Acceptance criteria req.2: The function to return environment variables is â€Å"getenv†, when hooked it should not return the value for LD PRELOAD. 7.2.3 req.3 To achieve req.3 following tasks have been perused: Create a script for initiating the rootkit. We have created a pseudocode for our script which puts our preload library into â€Å"/lib†. Modify /etc/ld.so.preload to include an entry for hooking the dynamic library we have placed in â€Å"/lib†. Acceptance criteria req.3: A script which successfully copies the library and applies the changes to preload when executed. 7.2.4 req.4 To hide the rootkit, the rootkit file and entry must be hidden. For more detail on hiding please refer to Section 9. Identify the functions involved in listing files: The functions are identified in Listing 6. Hook these functions to hide our mechanism. Modified version of 6 out of 8 functions are coded. Acceptance criteria req.4: In order to hide the rootkit, the folder containing the rootkit or the rootkit files and any script must be hidden in addition to hiding LD PRELOAD(req.2). The files and folder of the rootkit shall not be visible. 8 Implementation Following we have details on implementation of the different features. 8.1 req.1 Sub-task 1: Following C program is used as a sample program to demonstrate the mechanism. Listing 1: Sample C Program #include main() { printf(This is a valid program.); } Sub-task 2: We have used printf function as an example for demonstration of this feature, modified version is compiled into a shared dynamic library using the following commands: gcc -fPIC -c -o fakeprintf.o fakeprintf.c gcc -shared -o libfakeprintf.so fakeprintf.o Argument -fPIC is for position independent code to used in dynamic linking. Listing 2: fakeprintf.c #define GNU SOURCE #include int printf(const char âˆâ€"format, ) { } Sub-task 3: To modify LD PRELOAD we can run the following command: export LD PRELOAD=$PWD/libfakeprintf.so Now when we run our sample C program there will be no output as the printf function in the modified library will get executed instead of the original printf. Sub-task 4: To run the original function in addition to the modified function, we need to obtain a pointer to the original function using â€Å"dlsym† [2] with the argument RTLD NEXT. Code in Listing 3 shows how â€Å"rmdir† has been hooked to prevent from removing the rootkit files while keeping the functionality of the said function intact everywhere else. Listing 3: fakermdir.c #define GNU SOURCE #include int rmdir(const char âˆâ€"pathname) { typeof(rmdir) âˆâ€"clean rmdir; clean rmdir = dlsym(RTLD NEXT, rmdir); /* return if pathname contains rootkit files */ return clean rmdir(pathname); } 8.2 req.2 Sub-task 1: The function to retrieve environment variables is â€Å"getenv† [1]. Sub-task 2: The modified version in Listing 4 prevents from retrieving LD PRELOAD. However this method has not been successful in hiding the environment variable. Listing 4: fakegetenv.c #define GNU SOURCE #include char âˆâ€"getenv(const char âˆâ€"name) { typeof(getenv) âˆâ€"clean getenv; clean getenv = dlsym(RTLD NEXT, getenv); /* return zero if name contains LD_PRELOAD */ return clean getenv(name); } 8.3 req.3 The script to install the rootkit follows the pseudocode 5. Listing 5: install.sh compile and copy rootkit.so to /lib remove source modify /etc/ld.so.preload to hook rootkit.so export LD PRELOAD=$PWD/rootkit.so 8.4 req.4 Sub-task 1: List of functions that need to be hooked are in Listing 6. More detail on hiding is provided in Section 9. Listing 6: functions stat, fstat, lstat Information about a file, Filter the rootkit files rmdir Prevent removal opendir, fdopendir Filter the rootkit directory readdir, readdir r Prevent reading the rootkit directory Sub-task 2: We have coded the hooked functions for stat, fstat, lstat, rmdir, readdir, readdir r. More detail on how to hide the rootkit by hooking this functions in next section. 9 Hiding Due to their importance the hiding techniques are discussed in more detail in this section. To hide the files/folders the functions which are used to access or get information on these must be hooked. To have a bash which does not show the rootkit files the LD PRELOAD for running the bash have to be hooked: LD PRELOAD=/lib/libselinux.so bash -l The list of functions to be hooked for this purpose is listed in Listing 6, the method on hiding the file/folder is similar so one example is given in Listing 7. All the functions in Listing 6 must be hooked according to the example in Listing 7. Listing 7: Hiding the rootkit #define GNU SOURCE #include int lstat(const char âˆâ€"file, struct stat âˆâ€"buffer) { if(to be hidden(file)) { errno = ENOENT; return −1; } return clean lstat(file,buffer); } The function â€Å"to be hidden† returns true for each of the files(example:rootkit.so or ld.so.preload) or folders containing files related to the rootkit. Applying this hook to functions in Listing 6 will cause them to skip any file related to the rootkit. References [1] Linux man page getenv. http://linux.die.net/man/3/getenv [2] Linux man page dlsym. http://linux.die.net/man/3/dlsym

Comparison of Hinduism and Judaism

Comparison of Hinduism and Judaism It is of great importance when comparing religions to take a careful consideration on fundamental beliefs and rituals each religion engages in. this gives and aids in understanding each religion quite clearly. A comparison enables analysis of disparity among different aspects of a religion as it relates to another religion. In this paper, a comparison of Hinduism and Judaism will be analyzed where a comparison of the beliefs of life after death and prayer/worship will be looked at. Judaism is a monotheistic religion and one of the first religions. The faith sorely believes in the reality of one God, who made a covenant, agreement between Him and the Jews. They were promised to be given provision so long as they obeyed the rules and did not deviate from the rules. The rules were originally written in two stone tablets and are known as The Ten Commandments, this rules and regulations are supposed to govern the interactions between man and man, and man with God. Jews do not try to convert other members of other religions as they regard themselves as specially and purposely chosen by God. Unlike the Judaism, it is extremely difficult to categorize Hinduism as either polytheistic or monotheistic because of the fundamental faith in the Universal spirit. Hindus believe in several gods and goddesses; but they are all reflections and dimensions of one Supreme Being Brahman or the Universal Spirit. Hinduism holds true that all in the universe is cyclic. The world has be en created, sustained, and destroyed many times. The god presents himself in three forms: Brahma, who created the world, Vishnu, who sustains and Shiva, who destroys the universe and begins the cycle again. Hindu people generally worship Vishnu and Shiva. Vishnu is said to have a kindly nature and is thought to try to protect the wellbeing of humanity. The god descends from heavens to earth in a physical form on every occasion a cataclysm faces the cosmos or if humankind needs consolation and guidance (Linda, 189). On the other hand Vishnu is exceptionally drawn in with humanity, Shiva is detached from people. He is from time to time reflected meditating alone. He has immense supremacy and is further than the parameters of good and evil. He saves man by removing mans sins. Judaism as well as Hinduism has faith that God is omnipresent and omnipotent; He is the creator, the protector and the destroyer. The Sustenance of the humanity on the earth simply relies heavily on the will of Go d and nothing ever moves without His doing. Prayer/worship is intertwined in the Hinduism and Judaism lifestyle. Prayer is the way of communication and worship (devotion) with God. Prayer is seen as an essential and innate act of relating with the gods. Judaism and Hinduism prayers are usually said in the morning, afternoon and evening. Prayers are basically used to call upon gods or diverse supernatural powers, for the interests of the people as individuals and as a community. Hindus use prayer books. Perhaps the most powerful Hindu prayer books are the Vedic hymns. During the utterance and recitation of the prayers the sounds and content of the prayer must be observed and a great stress is laid on the mode and process in which they are recited. Its believed that when a prayer is not properly chanted or the syllables arent pronounced correctly it could bring harm and may not lead to the intended purpose. Provided the Vedic mantras are chanted in the appropriate way and in accordance to a specific rhythm its believed they cont ain alluring mystical command to summon supernatural beings. The prayers praise the virtues and potencies of various gods and goddesses in order to seek favors from them. During public ceremonies the mantras are chanted loudly whereas there are some mantras, principally the private mantras which are meant to be kept undisclosed. The rules of Hinduism also stipulate that mantras should not be disclosed to those that are religiously lame and therefore unqualified. Deep devotional songs and dances accompany the prayers. In the spiritual realm of a Hindu worshipper a prayer has a greater implication. Incessant recitation of gods name is believed to lead to cleansing of the mind and internal transformation. It is seen as the most effective way of developing a close association with God and realizes the inner self. Puja is a daily ritual done in a sacred corner in a worship room of the home it keeps the Hindus aware of their family gods and mindful of their duties as individuals. Puja inv olves three steps: The first is seeing the family deity (darshana). A small statue or picture of the god is placed in the sacred spot. The second step is the worship of the god, or puja. The worshiper offers the god flowers, fruits, and cooked food (bhog). The third step is retrieving the blessed food (prasada) and consuming it (Van, 11). Prayer in the Judaism consists: Shacharit in the morning, Minchah and Maariv, in late afternoon and evening. On the Sabbath, there is an additional service, Mussaf, added on to the morning. One prayer is essential to each devotion service, morning and night, weekday, Shabbat, and holiday: the Amidah the Standing Prayer, which is also known as the Shmoneh Esrai, the Eighteen blessings, or the Silent Devotion, its a key prayer in many services, and it is the declaration of faith, Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God! The Lord is One! (Van, 21). Its generally accepted that prayers should be recited privately and in solitude but sometimes Judaism encourages prayer in the company of others and for this basis Jews often try to come together to pray in public. Prayer is just like a second part of a person life, a daily diet. In that way, one comes to be peaceful speaking terms with God, who, in turn, becomes accessible, almost a dialogue partner. It is the peak experience of the prayer servi ce, emphasized by taking three steps backward to withdraw symbolically from your surroundings and three steps forward to symbolically enter the presence of Almighty God. It is recited silently, standing, and occasionally bowing (Linda, 190). Unlike the Hinduism where prayers are directed to gods, supernatural spirits and goddesses Judaism prayers are directed to God alone. Worship in both religions involves a strong observance of rules and guidelines in dressing, diet and general lifestyle as a way of maintaining external purity. The outer purity is perceived to be important in inculcating purity. Afterlife entails those beliefs held about life after an individual has died (Fisher, 156). Judaism and Hinduism believe in life after death. Jews have the suggestion of Heaven as their afterlife, they hold that if they have done right in the life they lived on Earth, and then they shall spend eternity in Heaven with their God. The Hindus accept as true that you are reincarnated until you reach the Brahma. Hindus believe in Karma which is the belief that if you do good things, then good things shall happen to you and vice versa (Selwyn, 19). When you die your final death in Hinduism, you reach the Brahma where the excruciating sequence of regeneration is finally ruined. Hinduism assumes the eternal reality of a universal spirit that guides all life on earth. A piece of the spirit called the atman is trapped inside humans and other living creatures. The most important desire of the atman is to be reunited with the universal spirit, and every aspect of an individuals life is governed b y it. When someone dies, their atman may be reunited, but most usually is reborn in a new body. A persons caste membership is a clear indication of how close he or she is to the desired reunion. While many differences are found among the doctrine and beliefs of life after death between these two religions some similarities also do exist, like how they have certain rules that their followers must obey to make it to heaven for the Judaism and Niverna for the Hinduism (Selwyn, 26). Each of the religions has guild lines and regulations that tell you what you should do to be a good person and appease their God or gods. They teach people how to live a correct life, and how to be kind to others while they are living on the Earth. Both religions believe in a final quiescent position for the spirit and both faiths hold high moral demeanor for their members such as benevolence to the underprivileged and altruistic sense of duty. Both religions also have sacred texts that are fundamental to their religions and provide instructions pertaining to relationship between people and God, and amongst people themselves. Also instructions pertaining to lifestyle, worship and performance of ritua ls are found in the sacred books. The religions have sacred locations where pilgrimages are undertaken by the faithful. Work cited Van Voorst, Robert. Anthology of World Scriptures. 7th Ed. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage, 2010: 11-25. Fisher, Mary Pat. Living Religions. New York: Prentice Hall, 2007: 151-159. Linda Woodhead, Paul Heelas. Religion in Modern Times: An Interpretive Anthology. New York: Willey Blackwell, 2007: 188-191. Selwyn Gurney. The Worlds Great Religions: An Anthology of Sacred Texts. Phoenix: Dover Publishers, 2009: 10-31.

Sperm Selection After Mating :: Biology

A Bit of Background Information What is pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection? From the word copulatory, meaning to engage in sexual intercourse, pre-copulatory sexual selection refers to the female's choice in selecting a mate before sexual intercourse takes place. Post-copulatory sexual selection occurs within the female's reproductive track, and it describes the biological selection (whether due to sperm or the female's biology) that results in the fertilization her eggs. Why are guppies good subjects for research in this topic? The most significant reason for using guppies in sexual selection research is because they casually participate in polyandry. This means that in nature a female guppy will mate (willingly or unwillingly) with numerous males at a time, allowing for experiments to be conducted to see which male's sperm fertilizes the most eggs. Why use artificial insemination? Before the use of artificial insemination, the results of such experiments were obscure and varied greatly. There was no way of controlling the males' ejaculate sizes or thier specific sexual contact with the female guppies. By using artificial insemination techniques, these two variables can be controlled: equal quantities of sperm from each male guppy can be isolated, and no sexual contact need ever take place. The increased control over these variables makes it possible to attain reliable results that are directly related to postcopulatory processes. Introduction Sexual selection is a common facet of evolutionary biology that plays a key role in the mating choices of a variety of different species. Competition between the male’s sperm as well as the choice of mate by the female factor into a successful copulation.This experiment examines the precopulatory and postcopulatory behavior of Poecilia reticulata , the guppy. Artificial insemination was used to separate the factors of sexual selection before and after sexual intercourse. â€Å"Attractive† males in the guppy population—deemed attractive based on the female guppy’s affinity for them—were those with high levels of carotenoid coloration (orange, yellow, and red). Relative statures were also compared. The purpose of this experiment is to demonstrate, through artificial insemination, the role of postcopulatory sexual selection in a population of guppies. If guppy females are partial to specific traits, the propagation of those traits will be e vident. The Methods That Were Used Prior to insemination, the behavior of the guppies involved was analyzed and one adult, non-virgin female and two sexually immature fish were put in observation tanks.

How Does Iago Persuade Othello Essay -- essays research papers

In Act 3 Scene 3, how does Iago persuade Othello of Desdemona’s supposed infidelity? Act 3 Scene 3 is, arguably, the most important scene in the entire play, for it is the point of no return. It is as if for the entire beginning of the play you were pushing a huge boulder up a steep mountain, and in this scene you reach the top, and push it down the other side, helpless to stop it. This is how I see the action in Othello. Iago spends the whole time plotting, and conspiring with the audience, and in this scene you can actually pinpoint the line where he finally pushes Othello over the edge. Iago manages this in several ways, through imagery, ‘sewing the seed’ in Othello’s mind, and reverse psychology. However all of these ways boil down to one thing, Iago, throughout the play, plays on Othello’s own insecurities about race, and Desdemona. Iago’s language throughout the scene is very rich and amazingly descriptive so much so that it actually acts as a projector, projecting vivid, clear pictures into the audience’s, and more importantly, Othello’s mind. This is more evident in the later part of the scene, and there is one particular speech I wish to isolate. Iago’s speech, lines 407 to 423, is where the richest image is created in the scene. He is describing a night through which he lay with Cassio, and witnessed a so-called dream. In this dream, Cassio is meant to have said “S...

Mokshagundam Vishveshwariah Essay

Mokshagundam Vishveshwariah, KCIE,, (popularly known as Sir MV; 15 September 1860 – 14 April 1962 was a notable Indian engineer, scholar, statesman and the Diwan of Mysore during 1912 to 1918. He was a recipient of the Indian Republic’s highest honor, the Bharat Ratna, in 1955. He was knighted as a Commander of the British Indian Empire by King George V for his myriad contributions to the public good. Every year, 15 September is celebrated as Engineer’s Day in India in his memory. He is held in high regard as a pre-eminent engineer of India. see more:bangalore essay He was the chief designer of the flood protection system for the city of Hyderabad, as well as the chief engineer responsible for the construction of the Krishna Raja Sagara dam in Mysore. He is also revered a lot in the state of Karnataka. Sir MV was born in 1861 in a Telugu Brahmin family to Mokshagundam Srinivasa Shastry and Venkatalakshmamma in Muddenahalli village, 40 miles from Bangalore, India. Their family migrated from Mokshagundam village in Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh. His father was a Sanskrit scholar and an authority on Hindu Dharmashastras (theology), besides being an Ayurvedic practitioner. Visvesvaraya lost his father at the age of 15. He enrolled for primary school in Chikballapur and attended high school in Bangalore. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from Central College,Bangalore affiliated to Madras University in 1881 and later studied civil engineering at the prestigious College of Engineering, Pune, popularly known as CoEP. Upon graduating as an engineer, Visvesvaraya took up a job with the Public Works Department (PWD) of Mumbai and was later invited to join the Indian Irrigation Commission. He implemented an extremely intricate system of irrigation in the Deccan area. He also designed and patented a system of automatic weir water floodgates that were first installed in 1903 at the Khadakvasla Reservoir near Pune. These gates were employed to raise the flood supply level of storage in the reservoir to the highest level likely to be attained by a flood without causing any damage to the dam. Based on the success of these gates, the same system was installed at the Tigra Dam in Gwalior and the Krishna Raja Sagara (KRS) Dam in Mandya/ Mysore,Karnataka. In 1906-07, the Government of India sent him to Eden, Africa to study water supply and drainage system and the project prepared by him was implemented in Eden[disambiguation needed] successfully. Visvesvaraya achieved celebrity status when he designed a flood protection system for the city of Hyderabad. He was instrumental in developing a system to protect Visakhapatnam port from sea erosion. Visvesvaraya supervised the construction of the KRS Dam across the Cauvery River from concept to inauguration. This dam created the biggest reservoir in Asia when it was built. He was rightly called the â€Å"Father of modern Mysore state† (now Karnataka): During his period of service with the Government of Mysore state, he was responsible for the founding of, (under the Patronage of Mysore Government), the Mysore Soap Factory, the Parasitoide Laboratory, the Mysore Iron & Steel Works (now known as Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Limited) in Bhadravathi, the Sri Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic Institute, the Bangalore Agricultural University, the State Bank of Mysore, The Century Club, Mysore Chambers of Commerce and numerous other industrial ventures. He encouraged private investment in industry during his tenure as Diwan of Mysore. He was instrumental in charting out the plan for road construction between Tirumala and Tirupati. He was known for sincerity, time management and dedication to a cause.

Problems Faced by Women in the 1880s

During the 1880s, many women faced difficulties because of gender issues. Because of this, females were sometimes described as weak, emotional, and overreacting. As well, it was believed that they did not match the same qualifications as with men in certain work fields. Women who were hired as hired girls back in the 1880s had little control over their earnings. They also believed that their employer would take care of them and would not hurt them. But due to the disadvantages that they had and what they believed in, the employers often took these weaknesses for granted and benefited from them. These women often faced the danger of sexual harassment by their male employer and/or by other brutal men because of their weaknesses such as: they could not disrespect their bosses and they did not have the strength to fight back. Women, at that time, did not have much opportunity to pursue a higher education, which caused a lack of qualified female workers during the 1880s. Most of the women were hired as servants, farmers, or factory workers. In contrast, married women took care of their families and served their husbands. Indeed, women had faced many difficulties since that time because of their gender disadvantages. My Antonia showed many situations that girls were often used as tools by the people in their work fields. Moreover, women workers back in the 1880s did not have the same amount of wages as men did even when they performed the same duties. The women who had jobs did not have the chance to enjoy their earnings because they had to send it to their families in order to help with the family expenses. They had to keep very little for their own living. The same was true with the married women who became housewives just to serve their husbands while raising and taking care of their children because their earnings also went to their husbands and children. In My Antonia, Antonia was taken advantage of by Ambrosch because he took her wages and Antonia could not do anything about it because he was her boss. Lena also did not have the authority over her wages because she had to provide the financial support to her family. Neither of the girls had control over their earnings, and had no power to spend the earnings for their own needs. Among all of the risks that women had faced during the 1880s, the most challenging was sexual harassment. This easily occurred because women were physically weak to resist the advances of their bosses, coworkers, or even husbands. Women back in the 1880s can be simply raped and sexually harassed at all places including the farm, factory, or even at home. The sexual harassments often resulted in favoring the suspects, and blaming the victims for their â€Å"misconducts† that had caused the unlucky event. For example, in My Antonia, Antonia almost became a rape victim when she was approached by her boss, Mr. Cutter, who was going to sexually abuse her. And in another case, Antonia was fired due to her â€Å"misconducts† while dancing and parting, which attracted the men in the parties. These showed that there were really aspects that were against womens' behavior and social order. Willa Cather compared the condition of being raped as being â€Å"ruined. † Comparing the working conditions and social issues that were addressed in the 1880s to the present, there are changes but it had not been completely solved. Nowadays, we have more legal documentary that protects women against hostility from unnecessary forces. Nevertheless, it is still common that women are viewed to be weak and sexual harassment issues still appears to be common. Also, gender discrimination still exists today.

An Analysis of Scene 3 (Pages 7 to 9), From ‘Gregory’s Girl

In scene 3 of ‘Gregory's Girl' there are only three characters involved. One is Gregory, another is Madeline who is Gregory's sister, and the other one is Mike who is Gregory's father. In this scene Gregory is late for school and is getting ready in front of a mirror in his bedroom. He then is talking to himself while he is putting on his deodorant. His sister who is outside is listening to him talking to himself. Gregory then smells is own breath by putting his hands over his mouth and breathes out and smells. He then exhales out loudly and smells. He then picks up his electric toothbrush, selects an appropriate brush, clicks it into place and then turns on his brush. He is in tune with the brush. He then changes gear. Madeline then comes into his bedroom and then criticises his tie saying it clashes with what he is wearing. Gregory then has a conversation with Madeline. The doorbell then rings and Madeline says bye. Gregory then ponders the purple tie and tosses it to one side. He unbuttons his shirt and his father walks in and shouts â€Å"good god† and Gregory then reply's â€Å"hi Mike†. Gregory's dad then tells him not to call him mike but to call him father or dad. Gregory then has a conversation with his dad and his dad makes a plan with Gregory to meet up sometime. They make an agreement to meet at 8 O'clock in the kitchen on Friday for breakfast. Gregory then leaves and his father picks up the purple tie with disdain. For acting out scene 3, I would have a stage set which has Gregory's bedroom, the kitchen and the passageway. The bedroom would be on the left side of the stage. On the right side of the stage would be a passageway which leads to the kitchen in front. Opposite the bedroom would be a door offstage. This would be used to exit/enter the flat. There would be a wall with a door splitting the bedroom and the passageway. There will be no wall to separate the kitchen from the passageway because the audience will not be able to see the kitchen. There will be another door in the passageway which would be Madeline's room. Madeline's room would be behind Gregory's room. This room the audience will not be able to see therefore there will be no need for this room to have props. The props in the bedroom would have a bed facing the audience which would have the blanket shoved to one side and it would be situated on the far left. Next to the bed would be a brown desk which would have a lamp on it, a silver alarm clock, an electrical toothbrush, a roll on deodorant and some books in a messy pile. Next to the desk will be a cupboard and next to the cupboard there is a long mirror. On the floor there will be a school bag some clothes which are in a messy pile. The colour of the room would be blue. I would make Gregory's room a bit messy to show to the audience the typical lifestyle of a male teenager. Another way to show his laziness of waking up is the silver alarm clock to show that he's not bothered about being late for school. The mirror would be there to show him getting changed in front of the mirror. The other props in his rooms are extras to make it look like a bedroom. The props in the passageway would have hooks attached to the wall with jackets on them, a telephone and clock attached to the wall with a desk just below it, some shoes lined up on the floor against the wall near the desk. Next to the desk would be a black school bag (this bag belongs to Gregory). The colour of the wall would be brown. The props would be here to show to the audience that this place is the passageway. The kitchen would have a sink, a washing machine, a cooker, a kettle, a microwave, a fridge, a shelves attached to the walls, there would be plates next to the sink and the walls would be white. The props in the kitchen are here to show what a typical kitchen looks like. The way the actors speak and move is very important in this scene. As a director, I would choose to start off the play by opening the stage curtains and the first thing the audience will see is Gregory buttoning his shirt in front of a mirror. The clothing Gregory would be wearing is black trousers and a white shirt. The clothing he is wearing is his school uniform. While he is dressing he is whistling and moving side to side. When the audience see his room they can tell that he is a typical lazy teenager by the mess in his room. Madeline will then come of her room into the passageway dressed up in her school uniform carrying her brown school bag. She then puts her bag next to Gregory's on the floor then stands outside Gregory's door listening to Gregory's monologue. The actress playing Madeline would be leaning against the wall and would be smiling. She would be wearing a black skirt, a white shirt with a black jumper and a school tie. This would show the audience that she is getting ready for school. Gregory then stops buttoning his shirt and says â€Å"ooh dear me, almost forgot my twelve hour protector. That would never do. Just a little roll fights off the demon sweaty odours for a full twelve hours. Then a little dab to encourage the chesty follicles and perhaps a quick whirl round the band of the Y-fronts and he's protected. One hundred per cent protection against all unsightly odours. Or is he? â€Å". I would make the actor use a commentating voice when the actor is saying these lines. The facial expressions when the actor is speaking he would be raising his eyebrows and moving his head. When the audience see this scene the audience know that Gregory likes to smell good. Then Gregory puts his hands over his mouth and smells his breath. Then he exhales out loudly smelling to see if his breath smells. When the audience see this they realise that Gregory does not like to smell bad and he likes to give a good impression of himself. He then says â€Å"can't smell a thing. Better give the shiny molars a polish, just to be on the safe side†. The way the actor would say this would be in a ‘oh well' tone of voice. The actor would shrug his shoulders and raise his eyebrow slightly when he is saying this. Gregory then picks up his electric toothbrush, selects an appropriate brush, clicks it into place and then turns on his brush. He is in tune with the brush. Gregory then stops brushing his teeth and puts on a purple tie. At this point Madeline walks into his room, stops dead and stairs at his tie and says â€Å"you're not wearing that tie are you? â€Å". When Madeline says this she would say it in an ‘uurgh' tone. Gregory would then jump from fright and would turn around saying â€Å"please don't creep up on me like that. You could damage my delicate relationship with this finely tuned apparatus†. He would then say in a suspicious tone â€Å"what's wrong with the tie†. Madeline would then reply in an accusing tone â€Å"it jars†. Gregory then says â€Å"so! † in a not bothered way. Madeline then says â€Å"it will set peoples teeth on the edge†. Gregory then argues back â€Å"it's a statement†. Madeline then replies â€Å"only to you. to everyone else it shows dreadful taste† in a criticising tone. When Madeline is talking the audience know that Madeline is in control and that Gregory listens to his sister who is younger than him. At this time Gregory will be adjusting his tie looking back at the mirror. Madeline will then go to his bed to fold up his duvet. When the audience sees Madeline fold up his duvet they see that she cares for his brother and she act a lot older than her big brother Gregory. Madeline then sits on his bed staring at him. Gregory then says in a curious voice â€Å"aren't you late for school or something? â€Å". Madeline then says looking at his clock I'm waiting for someone†. When the audience see her looking at the clock they think that the person she is waiting for is late or. Gregory then looks at her and says â€Å"oh. Who? â€Å". Madeline then gets off the bed and walks past him stops at the door turns back and says â€Å"Richard. He walks me to school†. At this time there will be a sound effect of a doorbell. Madeline then opens his door and leaves going into the passageway, she then collects her bag and when she gets to the front door to leave the flat, she opens the front door then says â€Å"see you† and Madeline the departs with the front door closing behind her. Gregory then leaves his room fully dressed and says â€Å"bye†. He then stops dead and looks slightly up then says to his self â€Å"walks her to school†. Gregory then ponders at the purple tie and throws it to one side onto the desk in the passageway. He then undoes one shirt button looking at the audience, two buttons then three. Gregory's vest shows then he tries to adjust it but it fails. He does his third button up and his father then comes in through the front door and looks at him and shouts â€Å"good God†. Gregory then reply's in a normal high voice â€Å"hi Mike†. The actor playing mike has a newspaper and goes towards the desk and says â€Å"call me dad, Gregory, or pop ore something . . . it makes me feel better when you call me dad . . . or father†. Mike then puts the news paper down onto the desk. The actor playing mike says these lines in a disappointing voice. Gregory then says â€Å"as you wish, father† in a not bothered way. At this time Gregory's father walks into the kitchen and opens the fridge. Gregory follows him. Gregory then says â€Å"how are you anyway†. Mike reply's â€Å"fine. Were all very well. Your mother was asking about you only the other day† in a surprising voice. At this time mike has just taken a bottle of milk out from the fridge. Mike then continues â€Å"I told her we had met in the hallway, briefly, last Thursday and you looked fine†. Mike then puts the milk near the kettle and takes the kettle to the sink and now he is filling it up with water. Mike then turns the tap off and takes the kettle back to boil the water. Mike is continuing â€Å"this is an added bonus. She'll be thrilled with news from this unexpected sighting†. Mike then presses the button to boil the kettle. Gregory then looks at the kettles light and asks his dad â€Å"so what keeps you hanging about the homestead† in a curious voice. Mike then corrects him in a correcting voice â€Å"returning to not hanging about. He then says in a tiresome voice â€Å"I have already taken Mr. Clarke for his pre-test warm up, done an hour with Miss. Benthal and since my next client†¦ † Gregory then buts in and says † client? Bit over the top, isn't it? † in a humorous voice. Mike then looks at Gregory with a raised eyebrow and continues â€Å"my next client happens to lives nearby so I dropped off for a cup of coffee. Unfortunately the adaptor for the coffee machine seems to have walked, and, not unnaturally, I surmised that it may have walked here†. Mike says the last few lines sarcastically to give the audience a bit of humour.

Lynda Smith “Disconnected” Rhetorical Summary Essay

In her essay, â€Å"Disconnected†, Lynda Smith apprehends that today’s technological forward movements are taking over our basic human interactions. She explains that we are being brainwashed into believing that cell phone, computers and other technological gadgets help us to stay connected smoothly and instantaneously. Although the reality is by using these gadgets we are not experiencing face to face communications, instead we are separating from each other. Lynda Smith tries to connect with readers emotions by pointing out misleading cell phone carrier commercials and slogans. Smith also uses further facts to support her claims, that these companies have lied to us and succeeded by providing false information by repetition. Which causal has the customer believe these companies are trustworthy and customer friendly. Even more she uses CIA’s data base information to show the number of cell phone and internet users to conclude her theory on commercials influencing our choices to purchase these services. Furthermore, Smith connects with people who have been affected by advertising and cell phone carries enormous number of cell phone users. Smith’s example portrays a men who was lead to believe, he would save time by owning a cell phone, while the truth is there is no saving time. Big corporations are just out to warp our sense of time so that we really end up with less, while still buying their products, and jumping on the bandwagon. Smith ends her arguments by stating we all have individual choice to decide how we communicate with our close once. Will it be by fast forwarding technology, or face to face interaction, either way we need to keep updated with technology in order progress forwards but we can not depend on it.

Who you are what defines who you are Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Who you are what defines who you are - Essay Example I was born and grown up in South Korea where I lived until I was 17 years old. I have come to the U.S to pursue my studies and higher goals in my life and to get more experience about the larger world. Currently, I’m planning to transfer to UCLA because my girlfriend is studying here. I’m a Christian in religion and an aspirant of economics in career (I did my Major in economics). Three essential factors that determine or define who I am today are money (I believe in the power of money in today’s world), my girlfriend (she has changed my life entirely), and my self-consciousness (I’ve always been self-conscious – so I bought an expensive car, fancy stuff, nice house, etc.). The most essential factor that defines who I am is money and I am very honest and frank in admitting that money is everything in my life. From my personal experience, I have realized that money is so powerful in contemporary world that it can resolve even the hard-hitting issues of daily life. Whenever I got into a trouble, money was powerful enough to solve it and get me relieved from the issue. Therefore, I believe in the power of money which can make real life for human beings. My education has been connected with my faith in the power of money and I have acquired my major in economics. All my education and career orientation have been directed towards the goal of achieving money in life. Economics can help me understand the various aspects of money and offer a means to earn the same. Secondly, I believe, it is the relationship with my girlfriend which has tremendously influenced my definition of what I am today. It is my girlfriend who has changed my life drastically and has influenced me in formulating my life. She has been the essential source of inspiration and courage in my life for the last several years. I am fortunate to enjoy her love and care all through the last several years and she has given me the real meaning of my life. Today, as I reflect on who I

RFPs are sick, not dead Read this article, and write a report about it Essay

RFPs are sick, not dead Read this article, and write a report about it - Essay Example nizations require to consider when they are making decisions concerning the most appropriate routes for making pre-contract engagements with their suppliers. The St. Paul meeting center that is located in Mississippi uses RFP’s or information to find visitors to their ideal locations that they have established for holding conferences, conventions, trade shows and other similar events. The company’s RFP requires any personal or event information that their customers may require so that can prepare in advance for the meetings. It also contains the preferred contact methods and any other information that the customers may require on their site. The requirements include things like hospitality suite and audio visual requirements and descriptions of the catered dining events among other similar issues (Cendyn, 2012). According to the article, â€Å"RFP’s are sick, not dead† some senior representatives who were attending the Business Travel Market session 2012 debated on the issue with some proposing while others were opposing the motion. The critics insisted that RFP’s had been very long and required too many details that were in fact placing heavy burdens on their suppliers with the hope of winning business (Leach, 2012). However, one Bruno Fornasiero who was a global sales optimization director defended the process claiming that the principles behind the processes had remained strong over time though improvements could be made on this process. In his defense, he explained that he had viewed on many occasions RFP’s that asked questions like, â€Å"How many key strokes are required to make a booking†. Some other participants like Russell Green, a corporate sales director from the UK & IHG Company strongly resented the traditional processes and advocated for the use of the less official RFI (Request for Information) process. Telefonica’s HR, Sarah-Jayne Aldridge did however support the use of these RFP’s by suggesting that it was the suppliers who did not

Guy couples should be allowed to adopt children Essay

Guy couples should be allowed to adopt children - Essay Example It is high time the remaining States emulate them, take cognizance of the overwhelming arguments in favor of the practice, stop their unfair restriction and allow gay and lesbian couples to adopt children. Firstly, there are an inordinately large number of children in the country who are on the adoption waiting list. Rob Woronoff, spokesperson of Child Welfare League of America {CWLA} has gone on record to state that the child welfare system in the U.S. is mired in deep crisis because there are not enough families coming forward to adopt children. North American Council on Adoptable Children reports that nearly 520,000 children are in foster homes in the U.S. Out of these, although 120,000 are ready for adoption, only 50,000 ultimately reach permanent homes every year (Stone http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-02-20-gay-adoption-foster_x.htm). A large percentage of the children left behind are the ‘odd’ ones: older children, or children with special needs. The children left behind, especially the ‘odd’ ones, have been accepted in foster care by same sex couples, who are now desirous of adopting the children (Belge http://lesbianlife.about.com/cs/families /a/adoption.htm). Renowned actress Rosie O’Donnell {a lesbian living with her same sex partner Kelli O’Donnell and their 4 adopted children} unerringly points to the reason for same sex couples’ partiality towards adopting ‘odd’ children: â€Å"As a gay person as a child, you kind of know what it’s like to be the odd one out† (Stone http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-02-20-gay-adoption-foster_x.htm). By not allowing adoption, the authorities are not permitting the already existing loving relationship between children and same sex couples to blossom into full-fledged fruition acceptable by society. This attitude is especially unfair to the children as they are being refused the opportunity to live in safe, sound and permanent households (Belge

Sexual Harassment Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Sexual Harassment - Research Paper Example It commonly takes a pattern of behavior, but it can also take the form of a single incidence to direct towards a group of persons or an individual. It is noteworthy that all employees; whether supervisors, peers, or subordinates should treat one another with respect, tolerance, sensitivity, and impartiality. They should avoid any behavior that may create a hostile environment or intimidation at the work place. However, this is not the case in most of the workplaces as observed. Many types of behaviors fall under the same umbrella of sexual harassment. There are effective ways as outlined in the law to deal with sexual harassment. People consider sexual harassment as a â€Å"natural† practice based on pure sexual attraction (Petrocelli, and Barbara Kate, 3). A common say goes, â€Å"Boys will be boys†. They will always be attracted to women at all costs or any circumstance. Sexual harassment may result from the victim’s provocative dressing behavior, people statin g, â€Å"she was asking for it† (Resnik 660). That statement is what most of the culprits say. They also believe that sexual harassment is justified because women are working in jobs traditionally held by men i.e. â€Å"it is men’s work; women should not be there.† The tradition that women should not have power still operates for some persons. In that, they believe that women should primarily be homemakers.In most cases, what follows is that there are no consequences for the harasser, no incentives to report sexual harassment (Baillien, Inge, and Hans 5). The victim receives blame while, in other cases, it is said that a work environment is permissive of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is also about economic motivations. Men have used it in maintaining their competitiveness in the workplace. Their aim in doing this is to preserve their most rewarding jobs as they brand women in such positions as incompetent and unsuitable for such positions.Sexual harassmen t is a dignity insult in the workplace. Some theories characterize sexual harassment as a violation of dignity. They aim at prohibiting harassing behavior towards all workers regardless of gender (Heather, Vanessa, and Deborah 4). In fact, some Western European countries address such issues as â€Å"moral harassment,†, â€Å"workplace bullying† or â€Å"mobbing† thus; they focus less on the issue as a gender dynamic and more on the question of rights for all workers. Sexual harassment refers to any interaction be it verbal, or physical, that causes displeasure. This interaction could be verbal abuse, jokes, or conversations about sex or sexual suggestions or explicit language about sex that offends another person. Pressure for sex e.g. one could be flirting, asking for sex, staring or brushing up against a person’s body, is an offensive behavior. It includes any physical contact that a person does not want like patting, pinching, hugging kissing or any un needed touching (Baker 23). Showing any sexually explicit or degrading materials like posters, calendars, graffiti, or clothing with an offensive message is another conduct considered sexual harassment (Barickman, Barickman, and Paludi 133). Short message services (SMS) in mobile phones and emails or other communication tools that display offensive language is sexual harassment. A work-related event that is sexually oriented is a serious offence considered harassment. In some cases, an employer or fellow