Variable naming rules in Visual Basic, Python, and Java

This paper will describe the variable naming rules of three different programming languages. These three languages are Visual Basic, Python, and Java. Each of these languages has different rules that apply to them and some similarities. I will describe the rules and the similarities and differences in the next few paragraphs.The first language and its rules I will describe is Visual Basic. Visual Basic has a few different rules and they are described on Microsoft’s website in a document. This document is called (â€Å"Visual Basic Naming Rules†) and they read as such: You must use a letter as the first character.You can't use a space, period (.), exclamation mark (!), or the characters @, &, $, # in the name. Name can't exceed 255 characters in length. Generally, you shouldn't use any names that are the same as the functions, statements, and methods in Visual Basic. Visual Basic isn't case-sensitive, but it preserves the capitalization in the statement where the name is declared. These are the variable naming rules are specific to Visual Basic and are essential to know if you program using Visual Basic.The second language I will describe is Python. This language has a few rules of its own and they are described on a site called programmr.com in an article called (â€Å"Python Variable Naming Rules†) and they read as such: Must begin with a letter (a – z, A – B) or underscore (_).  Other characters can be letters, numbers or _ only.  Variable names are Case Sensitive.There are some reserved words which we cannot use as a variable name because Python uses them for other things. These are: and, del, from, not, while, as, elif, global, or, with, assert, else, if, pass, yield, break, except, import, print, break, except, import, print, class, exec, in, raise, class, exec, in, raise, continue, finally, is, return, continue, finally, is, return, def, for, lambda and try. These are the naming rules for Python and are necessary to programming in this specific language.The third and final language I will talk about is Java. This program is no different than the other two languages and its rules are described in an Oracle document called (â€Å"Lesson: Language Basics†) in a sub article called â€Å"Variables† and they read as such: Variable names are case-sensitive. A variable's name can be any legal identifier — an unlimited-length sequence of Unicode letters and digits, beginning with a letter, the dollar sign â€Å"$†, or the underscore character â€Å"_†. The convention, however, is to always begin your variable names with a letter, not â€Å"$† or â€Å"_†. Additionally, the dollar sign character, by convention, is never used at all.You may find some situations where auto-generated names will contain the dollar sign, but your variable names should always avoid using it. A similar convention exists for the underscore character; while it's technically legal t o begin your variable's name with â€Å"_†, this practice is discouraged. White space is not permitted. Subsequent characters may be letters, digits, dollar signs, or underscore characters. Conventions (and common sense) apply to this rule as well.When choosing a name for your variables, use full words instead of cryptic abbreviations. Doing so will make your code easier to read and understand. In many cases it will also make your code self-documenting; fields named cadence, speed, and gear, for example, are much more intuitive than abbreviated versions, such as s, c, and g. Also keep in mind that the name you choose must not be a keyword or reserved word. If the name you choose consists of only one word, spell that word in all lowercase letters. If it consists of more than one word, capitalize the first letter of each subsequent word. The names gearRatio and currentGear are prime examples of this convention.If your variable stores a constant value, such as static final int N UM_GEARS = 6, the convention changes slightly, capitalizing every letter and separating subsequent words with the underscore character. By convention, the underscore character is never used elsewhere. The Java programming language is statically-typed, which means that all variables must first be declared before they can be used.

International Data Communications Essay

Just like in end terminal / customer premise equipment (CPE) distribution, countries in European countries experience new applications and data services relatively in the same time with other regions like Asia and North America (USA and Canada). Figure 1 shows the current figure of telephone users in the world based on regions. Figure 1 Main telephone lines per 100 inhabitants (1994 -2004) Source: ITU. â€Å"The Digital Divide at a glance. † 2005. Retrieved December 10, 2007 from http://www.itu. int/wsis/tunis/newsroom/stats/ In terms of mobile service penetration rates, Europe is the leader since it currently composes of more than 570 million mobile subscribers and a mobile penetration of over 70%. It leaves other regions behind in mobile penetration rate in which Africa only accounts for 9%, America records 42%, and 19% in Asia Pacific. The high penetration rate has put mobile subscribers in Europe to surpass those in fixed phone lines. This situation also holds true for data communication in the region in which according to ITU (2005), the region has penetration rate above 50%, especially in Western Europe while the rest past of the region only records 20% of Internet penetration rate. However, like its Asian counterparts, some countries in Europe also experiences uneven users since in Russia, for instances, vast majority of subscribers located in large urban centers. 1. M-Commerce: Opportunities and Challenges Moreover, the advancement of telecommunications and internet technologies has created new model of commerce, the borderless commerce or e-commerce. The terminology refers to cross-nations or even cross-continents trade and commerce. This development goes further as Internet is accessible not only via desktop computers but also via mobile devices like PDAs and mobile phones. The benefit of using mobile commerce (m-commerce) is attractive. Say, a woman is shopping at a mall and decides to buy some clothes. Unfortunately, when she is at a cahier, she finds that her debit card has no enough balance to pay the clothes or her credit cards are out of limit. In this situation, she called her husband to transfer some money to her account. Although her husband is in a meeting that is far from a bank, he is still able to do the fund transfer by using his mobile phone and log into a bank’s mobile portal. Finally, in few minutes, the woman’s bank account has enough balance to pay the clothes. Similarly, mobile phones can also act as a virtual debit card when it is used as a payment method for vending machines. The method of this transaction is by sending sms (short message services) from users’ mobile phones and typing the short number that is displayed in the vending machines. When the server of the vending machines received this sms, they ask the telecommunication carrier to deduct some amount of money from the person’s prepaid balance or to add a transaction into his next billing statement.

American Literature Essay

When the English preacher and writer Sidney Smith asked in 1820, â€Å"In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book? † little did he suspect that less than two hundred years later the answer in literate quarters would be â€Å"just about everyone. † Indeed, just a few years after Smith posed his inflammatory question, the American writer Samuel Knapp would begin to assemble one of the first histories of American literature as part of a lecture series that he was giving. The course materials offered by American Passages continue in the tradition begun by Knapp in 1829. One goal of this Study Guide is to help you learn to be a literary historian: that is, to introduce you to American literature as it has evolved over time and to stimulate you to make connections between and among texts. Like a literary historian, when you make these connections you are telling a story: the story of how American literature came into being. This Overview outlines four paths (there are many others) by which you can narrate the story of American literature: one based on literary movements and historical change, one based on the American Passages Overview Questions, one based on Contexts, and one based on multiculturalism. TELLING THE STORY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE Literary Movements and Historical Change American Passages is organized around sixteen literary movements or â€Å"units. † A literary movement centers around a group of authors that share certain stylistic and thematic concerns. Each unit includes ten authors that are represented either in The Norton Anthology of American Literature or in the Online Archive. Two to four of these authors are discussed in the video, which calls attention to important historical and cultural influences on these authors, defines a genre that they share, and proposes some key thematic parallels. Tracking literary movements can help you see how American literature has changed and evolved over time. In general, people think about literary movements as reacting against earlier modes of writing and earlier movements. For T E L L I N G T H E S T O R Y O F A M E R I C A N L I T E R AT U R E 3 example, just as modernism (Units 10–13) is often seen as a response to realism and the Gilded Age (Unit 9), so Romanticism is seen as a response to the Enlightenment (Unit 4). Most of the units focus on one era (see the chart below), but they will often include relevant authors from other eras to help draw out the connections and differences. (Note: The movements in parentheses are not limited to authors/works from the era in question, but they do cover some material from it. ) Century Fifteenth– Seventeenth Eighteenth Era Renaissance American Passages Literary Movements. (1: Native Voices) 2: Exploring Borderlands 3: Utopian Promise (3: Utopian Promise) 4: Spirit of Nationalism (7: Slavery and Freedom) 4: Spirit of Nationalism 5: Masculine Heroes 6: Gothic Undercurrents 7: Slavery and Freedom (1: Native Voices) 6: Gothic Undercurrents 8: Regional Realism 9: Social Realism (1: Native Voices) 10: Rhythms in Poetry 11: Modernist Portraits 12: Migrant Struggle 13: Southern Renaissance 1: Native Voices 2: Exploring Borderlands 12: Migrant Struggle 14: Becoming Visible 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity Enlightenment Nineteenth Romanticist Nineteenth Realist Twentieth Modernist Twentieth Postmodernist Each unit contains a timeline of historical events along with the dates of key literary texts by the movement’s authors. These timelines are designed to help you make connections between and among the movements, eras, and authors covered in each unit. 4 W H AT I S A M E R I C A N L I T E R AT U R E ? Overview Questions The Overview Questions at the start of each unit are tailored from the five American Passages Overview Questions that follow. They are meant to help you focus your viewing and reading and participate in discussion afterward. 1. What is an American? How does literature create conceptions of the American experience and American identity? This two-part question should trigger discussion about issues such as, Who belongs to America? When and how does one become an American? How has the search for identity among American writers changed over time? It can also encourage discussion about the ways in which immigration, colonization, conquest, youth, race, class, and gender affect national identity. 2. What is American literature? What are the distinctive voices and styles in American literature? How do social and political issues influence the American canon? This multi-part question should instigate discussion about the aesthetics and reception of American literature. What is a masterpiece? When is something considered literature, and how is this category culturally and historically dependent? How has the canon of American literature changed and why? How have American writers used language to create art and meaning? What does literature do? This question can also raise the issue of American exceptionalism: Is American literature different from the literature of other nations? 3. How do place and time shape the authors’ works and our understanding of them? This question addresses America as a location and the many ways in which place impacts American literature’s form and content. It can provoke discussion about how regionalism, geography, immigration, the frontier, and borders impact American literature, as well as the role of the vernacular in indicating place. 4. What characteristics of a literary work have made it influential over time? This question can be used to spark discussion about the evolving impact of various pieces of American literature and about how American writers used language both to create art and respond to and call for change. What is the individual’s responsibility to uphold the community’s traditions, and when are individuals compelled to resist them? What is the relationship between the individual and the community? 5. How are American myths created, challenged, and re-imagined through this literature? This question returns to â€Å"What is an American? † But it poses the question at a cultural rather than individual level. What are the myths that make up American culture? What is the American Dream? What are American myths, dreams, and nightmares? How have these changed over time? T E L L I N G T H E S T O R Y O F A M E R I C A N L I T E R AT U R E 5 Contexts Another way that connections can be made across and between authors is through the five Contexts in each unit: three longer Core Contexts and two shorter Extended Contexts. The goal of the Contexts is both to help you read American literature in its cultural background and to teach you close-reading skills. Each Context consists of a brief narrative about an event, trend, or idea that had particular resonance for the writers in the unit as well as Americans of their era; questions that connect the Context to the authors in the unit; and a list of related texts and images in the Online Archive. Examples of Contexts include discussions of the concept of the Apocalypse (3: â€Å"Utopian Visions†), the sublime (4: â€Å"Spirit of Nationalism†), and baseball (14: â€Å"Becoming Visible†). The Contexts can be used in conjunction with an author or as stand-alone activities. The Slide Show Tool on the Web site is ideal for doing assignments that draw connections between archive items from a Context and a text you have read. And you can create your own contexts and activities using the Slide Show Tool: these materials can then be e-mailed, viewed online, projected, or printed out on overhead transparencies. Multiculturalism In the past twenty years, the field of American literature has undergone a radical transformation. Just as the mainstream public has begun to understand America as more diverse, so, too, have scholars moved to integrate more texts by women and ethnic minorities into the standard canon of literature taught and studied. These changes can be both exhilarating and disconcerting, as the breadth of American literature appears to be almost limitless. Each of the videos and units has been carefully balanced to pair canonical and noncanonical voices. You may find it helpful, however, to trace the development of American literature according to the rise of different ethnic and minority literatures. The following chart is designed to highlight which literatures are represented in the videos and the units. As the chart indicates, we have set different multicultural literatures in dialogue with one another. Literature African American literature Video Representation. 7: Slavery and Freedom 8: Regional Realism 10: Rhythms in Poetry 13: Southern Renaissance 14: Becoming Visible 15: Poetry of Liberation Study Guide Representation 4: Spirit of Nationalism 5: Masculine Heroes 7: Slavery and Freedom 8: Regional Realism 9: Social Realism 10: Rhythms in Poetry 11: Modernist Portraits 13: Southern Renaissance 14: Becoming Visible 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity 6 W H AT I S A M E R I C A N L I T E R AT U R E ? Native American literature 1: Native Voices 5: Masculine Heroes 14: Becoming Visible. 1: Native Voices 2: Exploring Borderlands 3: Utopian Promise 4: Spirit of Nationalism 5: Masculine Heroes 7: Slavery and Freedom 8: Regional Realism 14: Becoming Visible 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity 2: Exploring Borderlands 5: Masculine Heroes 10: Rhythms in Poetry 12: Migrant Struggle 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity 9: Social Realism 12: Migrant Struggle 16: Search for Identity 9: Social Realism 11: Modernist Portraits 14: Becoming Visible 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity 1: Native Voices 2: Exploring Borderlands 3: Utopian Promise 4: Spirit of Nationalism 5: Masculine Heroes 6: Gothic Undercurrents 7: Slavery and Freedom 8: Regional Realism 9: Social Realism 10: Rhythms in Poetry 11: Modernist Portraits 12: Migrant Struggle 13: Southern Renaissance 14: Becoming Visible 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity 2: Exploring Borderlands 5: Masculine Heroes 10: Rhythms in Poetry 11: Modernist Portraits 12: Migrant Struggle 13: Southern Renaissance 14: Becoming Visible 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity Latino literature 2: Exploring Borderlands 10: Rhythms in Poetry 12: Migrant Struggle 16: Search for Identity Asian American literature 12: Migrant Struggle 16: Search for Identity Jewish American 9: Social Realism literature 11: Modernist Portraits 14: Becoming Visible 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity Women’s literature 1: Native Voices 2: Exploring Borderlands 3: Utopian Promise 6: Gothic Undercurrents 7: Slavery and Freedom 8: Regional Realism 9: Social Realism 11: Modernist Portraits 12: Migrant Struggle 13: Southern Renaissance 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity Gay and lesbian literature 2: Exploring Borderlands 5: Masculine Heroes 10: Rhythms in Poetry 11: Modernist Portraits 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity T E L L I N G T H E S T O R Y O F A M E R I C A N L I T E R AT U R E 7 Literature cont’d Working-class literature Video Representation 2: Exploring Borderlands 4: Spirit of Nationalism 5: Masculine Heroes 7: Slavery and Freedom 9: Social Realism 12: Migrant Struggle 16: Search for Identity Study Guide Representation 2: Exploring Borderlands 4: Spirit of Nationalism 5: Masculine Heroes 7: Slavery and Freedom 9: Social Realism 10: Rhythms in Poetry 12: Migrant Struggle 14: Becoming Visible 15: Poetry of Liberation 16: Search for Identity LITERATURE IN ITS CULTURAL CONTEXT When you study American literature in its cultural context, you enter a multidisciplined and multi-voiced conversation where scholars and critics in different fields examine the same topic but ask very different questions about it. For example, how might a literary critic’s understanding of nineteenthcentury American culture compare to that of a historian of the same era? How can an art historian’s understanding of popular visual metaphors enrich our readings of literature? The materials presented in this section of the Study Guide aim to help you enter that conversation. Below are some suggestions on how to begin. Deep in the heart of the Vatican Museum is an exquisite marble statue from first- or second-century Rome. Over seven feet high, the statue depicts a scene from Virgil’s Aeneid in which Laocoon and his sons are punished for warning the Trojans about the Trojan horse. Their bodies are entwined with large, devouring serpents, and Laocoon’s face is turned upward in a dizzying portrait of anguish, his muscles rippling and bending beneath the snake’s strong coils. The emotion in the statue captured the heart and eye of critic Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, who used the work as the starting point for his seminal essay on the relationship between literature and art, â€Å"Laocoon: An Essay on the Limits of Painting and Poetry. † For Lessing, one of the most common errors that students of culture can make is to assume that all aspects of culture develop in tandem with one another. As Lessing points out, each art has its own strengths. For example, literature works well with notions of time and story, and thus is more flexible than visual art in terms of imaginative freedom, whereas painting is a visual medium that can reach greater beauty, although it is static. For Lessing, the mixing of these two modes (temporal and spatial) carries great risk along with rewards. As you study literature in conjunction with any of the fine arts, you may find it helpful to ask whether you agree with Lessing that literature is primarily a temporal art. Consider too the particular 8 W H AT I S A M E R I C A N L I T E R AT U R E ? strengths of the media discussed below. What do they offer that may not be available to writers? What modes do they use that complement our understanding of the literary arts? Fine Arts Albrecht Durer created some of the most disturbing drawings known to humans: they are rife with images of death, the end of the world, and dark creatures that inhabit hell. Images such as The Last Judgement (below) can be found in the Online Archive. In Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513), a devout Christian knight is taunted by the Devil and Death, who gleefully shakes a quickly depleting hourglass, mocking the soldier with the passing of time. Perhaps the tension and anxiety in Durer’s print resonated with the American poet Randall Jarrell in his struggle with mental illness. In â€Å"The Knight, Death, and the Devil,† Jarrell opens with a description of the scene: Cowhorn-crowned, shockheaded, cornshucked-bearded, Death is a scarecrow—his death’s-head a teetotum . . . Jarrell’s description is filled with adjectives in much the same way that the print is crowded with detail. The poem is an instance of what critics call ekphrasis: the verbal description of a work of visual art, usually of a painting, photograph, or sculpture but sometimes of an urn, tapestry, or quilt. Ekphrasis attempts to bridge the gap between the verbal and the visual arts. Artists and writers have always influenced one another: sometimes directly as in the case of Durer’s drawing and Jarrell’s poem, and other times indirectly. The Study Guide will help you navigate through these webs of influence. For example, Unit 5 will introduce you to the Hudson River [7995] Albrecht Durer, The Last School, the great American landscape painters Judgement (1510), courtesy of the of the nineteenth century. In the Context focusprint collection of Connecticut ing on these artists, you will learn of the interCollege, New London. connectedness of their visual motifs. In Unit 11, William Carlos Williams, whose poems â€Å"The Dance† and â€Å"Landscape with the Fall of Icarus† were inspired by two paintings by Breughel, will draw your attention to the use of ekphrasis. Williams’s work is a significant example of how multiple traditions in art can influence a writer: in addition to his interest in European art, Williams imitated Chinese landscapes and poetic forms. When you encounter works of fine art, such as paintings, photographs, or sculpture, in the Online Archive or the Study Guide, you may find two tools used by art historians helpful: formal analysis and iconography. Formal L I T E R AT U R E I N I T S C U LT U R A L C O N T E X T 9 [3694] Thomas Cole, The Falls of Kaaterskill (1826), courtesy of the Warner Collection of the Gulf States Paper Corporation, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. analysis, like close readings of poems, seeks to describe the nature of the object without reference to the context in which it was created. A formal analysis addresses such questions as Where does the central interest in the work lie? How is the work composed and with what materials? How is lighting or shading used? What does the scene depict? What allusions (mythological, religious, artistic) are found in the work? Once you have described the work of art using formal analysis, you may want to extend your reading by calling attention to the cultural climate in which the work was produced. This is called an iconographic reading. Here the Context sections of the Study Guide will be useful. You may notice, for example, a number of nineteenth-century paintings of ships in the Online Archive. One of the Contexts for Unit 6 argues that these ships can be read as symbols for nineteenth-century America, where it was common to refer to the nation as a â€Å"ship of state. † The glowing light or wrecked hulls in the paintings reflect the artists’ alternating optimism and pessimism about where the young country was headed. Below are two possible readings of Thomas Cole’s painting The Falls of Kaaterskill that employ the tools of formal analysis and iconography. W R I T E R A : F O R M A L A N A L Y S I S In this painting by Hudson River School artist Thomas Cole, the falls that give the painting its name grab our attention. The shock of the white falls against the concentrated brightness of the rocks ensures that the waterfall will be the focus of the work. Even amidst this brightness, however, there is darkness and mystery in the painting, where the falls emerge out of a dark quarry and crash down onto broken tree limbs and staggered rocks. The descent is neither peaceful nor pastoral, unlike the presentation of nature in Cole’s other works, such as the Oxbow. The enormity of the falls compared to the lone human figure that perches above them also adds to the sense of power the falls embody. Barely recognizable as human because it is so minute, the figure still pushes forward as if to embrace the cascade of the water in a painting that explores the tension between the individual and the power of nature. W R I T E R B : I C O N O G R A P H Y I agree with Writer A that this painting is all about the power of nature, but I would argue that it is about a particular kind of power: one that nineteenthcentury thinkers called the â€Å"sublime. † Cole’s portrait of the falls is particularly indebted to the aesthetic ideas formulated by Edmund Burke in the eighteenth century. Burke was interested in categorizing aesthetic responses, and he distinguished the â€Å"sublime† from the â€Å"beautiful. † While the beautiful is calm and harmonious, the sublime is majestic, wild, and even savage. While viewers are soothed by the beautiful, they are overwhelmed, awestruck, and sometimes terrified by the sublime. Often associated with huge, overpowering natural 10 W H AT I S A M E R I C A N L I T E R AT U R E ? phenomena like mountains, waterfalls, or thunderstorms, the â€Å"delightful terror† inspired by sublime visions was supposed to both remind viewers of their own insignificance in the face of nature and divinity and inspire them with a sense of transcendence. Here the miniature figure is the object of our gaze even as he is obliterated by the grandeur of the water. During the nineteenth century, tourists often visited locales such as the Kaaterskill Falls in order to experience the â€Å"delightful terror† that they brought. This experience is also echoed in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay â€Å"Nature,† in which he writes of his desire to become a â€Å"transparent eyeball† that will be able to absorb the oversoul that surrounds him. The power that nature holds here is that of the divine: nature is one way we can experience higher realms. How do these readings differ? Which do you find more compelling and why? What uses can you see for formal analysis or iconographic readings? When might you choose one of these strategies over the other? History As historian Ray Kierstead has pointed out, history is not just â€Å"one damn thing after another†: rather, history is a way of telling stories about time or, some might say, making an argument about time. The Greek historian Herodotus is often called the father of history in the western world, as he was one of the first historians to notice patterns in world events. Herodotus saw that the course of empires followed a cyclical pattern of rise and fall: as one empire reaches its peak and self-destructs out of hubris (excessive pride), a new empire or new nations will be born to take its place. Thomas Cole’s five-part series The Course of Empire (1833) mirrors this Herodotean notion of time as his scene moves from savage, to pastoral, to consummation, to devastation, to desolation. This vision of time has been tremendously influential in literature: whenever you read a work written in the pastoral mode (literature that looks back with nostalgia to an era of rural life, lost simplicity, and a time when nature and culture were one), ask yourself whether there is an implicit optimism or pessimism about what follows this lost rural ideal. For example, in Herman Melville’s South Sea novel Typee, we find the narrator in a Tahitian village. He seeks to determine if he has entered a pastoral or savage setting: is he surrounded by savages, or is he plunged in a pastoral bliss? Implicit in both is a suggestion that there are earlier forms of civilization than the United States that the narrator has left behind. Any structural analysis of a work of literature (an analysis that pays attention to how a work is ordered) would do well to consider what notions of history are embedded within. In addition to the structural significance of history, a dialogue between history and literature is crucial because much of the early literature of the United States can also be categorized as historical documents. It is helpful, therefore, to understand the genres of history. Like literature, history is comprised of different genres, or modes. Historian Elizabeth Boone defines the main traditional genres of history as res gestae, geographical, and annals. Res gestae, or â€Å"deeds done,† organizes history through a list of accomplishments. This was a popu- L I T E R AT U R E I N I T S C U LT U R A L C O N T E X T 11 lar form of history for the ancient Greeks and Romans; for example, the autobiography of Julius Caesar chronicles his deeds, narrated in the third person. When Hernan Cortes and other explorers wrote accounts of their travels (often in the form of letters to the emperor), Caesar’s autobiography served as their model. Geographical histories use travel through space to shape the narrative: Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative is an example of a geographical history in that it follows her through a sequence of twenty geographic â€Å"removes† into Indian country and back. Annals, by contrast, use time as the organizing principle. Information is catalogued by year or month. Diaries and journals are a good example of this genre. These three genres can also be found in the histories of the Aztecs and Mayans of Mesoamerica and in those of the native communities of the United States and Canada. For example, the migration legend, a popular indigenous form of history, is a geographical history, whereas trickster tales often tell the early history of the world through a series of deeds. Memoirists also mix genres; for example, the first section of William Bradford’s Of Plimouth Plantation is a geographical history, whereas the second half is annals. Today the most common historical genres are intellectual history (the history of ideas), political history (the story of leaders), and diplomatic history (the history of foreign relations). To these categories we might add the newer categories of â€Å"social history† (a history of everyday life) and â€Å"gender history† (which focuses on the construction of gender roles). Finally, history is a crucial tool for understanding literature because literature is written in—and arguably often reflects—a specific historical context. Readers of literary works can deepen their understanding by drawing on the tools of history, that is, the records people leave behind: political (or literary) documents, town records, census data, newspaper stories, captivity narratives, letters, journals, diaries, and the like. Even such objects as tools, graveyards, or trading goods can tell us important information about the nature of everyday life for a community, how it worshipped or what it thought of the relationship between life and death. 12 W H AT I S A M E R I C A N L I T E R AT U R E ? Material Culture [6332] Archibald Gunn and Richard Felton Outcault, New York Journal’s Colored Comic Supplement (1896), courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-USZC4-25531]. When you look at an object, it may call up associations from the past. For example, for the first-time viewer the clown figure in the image above may seem innocuous, yet at the end of the nineteenth century his popularity was so intense that it started a newspaper war fierce enough to spawn a whole new term for sensationalist, irresponsible journalism—â€Å"yellow journalism. † Objects such as this comic supplement constitute â€Å"material culture,† the objects of everyday life. In Material Culture Studies in America, Thomas Schlereth provides the following useful definition of material culture: Material culture can be considered to be the totality of artifacts in a culture, the vast universe of objects used by humankind to cope with the physical world, to facilitate social intercourse, to delight our fancy, and to create symbols of meaning. . . . Leland Ferguson argues that material culture includes all â€Å"the things that people leave behind . . . all of the things people make from the physical world—farm tools, ceramics, houses, furniture, toys, buttons, roads, cities. † (2) When we study material culture in conjunction with literature, we wed two notions of â€Å"culture† and explore how they relate. As critic John Storey notes, the first notion of culture is what is often called â€Å"high culture†Ã¢â‚¬â€the â€Å"general process of intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic factors†; and the second is â€Å"lived culture†Ã¢â‚¬â€the â€Å"particular way of life, whether of a people, a period or a group† (2). In a sense, material culture (as the objects of a lived culture) allows us to see how the prevailing intellectual ideas were played out in the daily lives of people in a particular era. Thus, as Schlereth explains, through studying material culture we can learn about the â€Å"belief systems—the values, ideas, attitudes, and assumptions—of a particular community or society, usually across time† (3). In reading objects as embedded with meaning, we follow Schlereth’s premise that â€Å"objects made or L I T E R AT U R E I N I T S C U LT U R A L C O N T E X T 13 modified by humans, consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly, reflect the belief patterns of individuals who made, commissioned, purchased, or used them, and, by extension, the belief patterns of the larger society of which they are a part† (3). The study of material culture, then, can help us better understand the cultures that produced and consumed the literature we read today. Thomas Schlereth suggests a number of useful models for studying material culture; his â€Å"Art History Paradigm† is particularly noteworthy in that it will help you approach works of â€Å"high art,† such as paintings and sculptures, as well. The â€Å"Art History Paradigm† argues that the interpretive objective of examining the artifact is to â€Å"depict the historical development and intrinsic merit† of it. If you are interested in writing an â€Å"Art History Paradigm† reading of material culture, you might look at an object and ask yourself the following questions, taken from Sylvan Barnet’s Short Guide to Writing about Art. These questions apply to any art object: First, we need to know information about the artifact so we can place it in a historical context. You might ask yourself: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. What is my first response to the work? When and where was the work made? Where would the work originally have been seen? What purpose did the work serve? In what condition has the work survived? (Barnet 21–22) In addition, if the artifact is a drawing, painting, or advertisement, you might want to ask yourself questions such as these: 1. What is the subject matter? What (if anything) is happening? 2. If the picture is a portrait, how do the furnishings and the background and the angle of the head or the posture of the head and body (as well as the facial expression) contribute to our sense of the subject’s character? 3. If the picture is a still life, does it suggest opulence or want? 4. In a landscape, what is the relation between human beings and nature? Are the figures at ease in nature, or are they dwarfed by it? Are they one with the horizon, or (because the viewpoint is low) do they stand out against the horizon and perhaps seem in touch with the heavens, or at least with open air? If there are woods, are these woods threatening, or are they an inviting place of refuge? If there is a clearing, is the clearing a vulnerable place or is it a place of refuge from ominous woods? Do the natural objects in the landscape somehow reflect the emotions of the figures? (Barnet 22–23; for more questions, see pp. 23–24) Material culture is a rich and varied resource that ranges from kitchen utensils, to advertisements, to farming tools, to clothing. Unpacking the significance of objects that appear in the stories and poems you read may help you better understand characters and their motives. 14 W H AT I S A M E R I C A N L I T E R AT U R E ? Architecture Most of the time we read the hidden meanings of buildings without even thinking twice. Consider the buildings below: Above: [9089] Anonymous, Capitol Building at Washington, D. C. (1906), courtesy of Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress [LC-USZ62-121528]. Right: [6889] Anonymous, Facade of the Sam Wah’s Chinese Laundry (c. 1890 –1900), courtesy of the Denver Public Library. Even if we had never seen either of these buildings before, it would not take us long to determine which was a government building and which was a smalltown retail establishment. Our having seen thousands of buildings enables us to understand the purpose of a building from architectural clues. When first seeing a work of architecture, it is helpful to unpack cultural assumptions. You might ask: 1. What is the purpose of this building? Is it public or private? What activities take place within it? 2. What features of the building reflect this purpose? Which of these features are necessary and which are merely conventional? 3. What buildings or building styles does this building allude to? What values are inherent in that allusion? 4. What parts of this building are principally decorative rather than functional? What does the ornament or lack of it say about the status of the owners or the people who work there? 5. What buildings surround this building? How do they affect the way the building is entered? 6. What types of people live or work in this building? How do they interact within the space? What do these findings say about the relative social status of the occupants? How does the building design restrict or encourage that status? 7. How are people supposed to enter and move through the building? What clues does the building give as to how this movement should take place? L I T E R AT U R E I N I T S C U LT U R A L C O N T E X T 15 These questions imply two basic assumptions about architecture: (1) architecture reflects and helps establish social status and social relations; and (2) architecture i

CIPD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

CIPD - Essay Example The postures and movement within the training room is important for the trainer as it keeps the learners enthusiastic along with an established but rotating eye contact that shows that individual attention from the trainer is present. I encouraged them to ask questions and for learning to occur, I kept summarizing what we learned from the previous slide and asked them questions to reinforce learning. An ample break of an hour was kept between two sections of the training and it was encouraging to see that the enthusiasm of the learners remained the same in fact some participants came up to me in the break to ask questions. I learned that besides readiness of learners and conducive environment of the training facility, an important factor that played a key role in this training, was my expertise on subject, enthusiasm and friendly behavior that created interest and raised expectations of the learners (Ford et al., 1998). The participants were seasoned professionals, hence creating a facilitating environment where learning can occur made my job easier although my inexperience and ability to relate their decision making examples to theoretical frameworks is a weakness that I need to work on. Further once a participant started sharing his / her experience I was not able to restrict them in the allotted time. I have learned that the learner cannot control every aspect of the training especially when he is countered with experienced professionals. One can only hope in effect to story tellers there will be some individuals that will keep things short and concise. It was an excellent experience where I saw many positives, my extensive research and readings on the subject matter helped me define and answer the questions from participants adequately. Participants found the Cynefin questionnaire very interesting and were eager to know there scores as soon as they were done with their

Sentencing Disparity Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Sentencing Disparity - Term Paper Example Moreover, this paper identifies the most important factor of prosecutorial discretion. It will also answer the question on whether or not sentencing disparity is fair or equitable. Finally, this paper will compare and contrast this disparity from the ethical point of view. People have an intuitive idea of the meaning of sentencing disparity. Paradoxically, the concept of unwarranted disparity becomes bleak upon deeper reflection. Two offenders, for instance, with the same crime of breaking and entering, are sentenced with one year and five years, respectively. Roberts (1999) posed an enduring question: Which sentence is disparate? They seem to emphasize the sentence or conviction that is categorically considered as disparate. Undoubtedly, there exists an unwarranted disparity in the case between the two above-mentioned offenders. In a survey conducted, 60 percent of over four-hundred respondents admitted that there is a degree of sentence variation among judges (Roberts, 1999). By and large, sentencing disparity occurs two or more offenders, having different committed crimes, are convicted with the same level and nature of punishment (Clear, Cole, & Reisig, 2009). And sentencing disparity is more obvious in the prosecutors’ judgment. Sentencing disparity is normative rather than empirical (Alschuler, 2005). Its archetype is the sentencing by lottery. In the lottery system, different numbers are treated as the same number by virtue of chance or probability. Similar to lottery, offenders with different crimes committed are equally treated like the same criminal by virtue of sentencing disparity. Equality, of course, means the consistent application of principles to different cases (Alschuler, 2005). Apparently, sentence disparity deviates from consistency or equality. There are three chief divisions of factors influencing prosecutorial discretion: (1) legal issue, (2) extralegal issue, and (3) resources issue (Siegel, 2008). First, legal issue refers to

How Industrial Revolution Affected Social Life in the Growing Urban Research Paper

How Industrial Revolution Affected Social Life in the Growing Urban Centers - Research Paper Example The growth of factories triggered the invention of other industries which resulted in the population boom in specific areas. As a result of this, major urban centers quested for the building of houses, shops, and other public amenities in order to meet the needs of the workers.   It is evident that the current living conditions of slums in many countries are as a result of industrialization. Industrialization leads to people settling together in areas near their source of livelihood. Unfortunately, the coming together of many people in a given area leads to deterioration of living conditions. For instance, the majority of the people in the slums live in very poor conditions because of the stretch they impose on the minimized resources. In addition to living in poor structures, they also lack public amenities such as toilets. Additionally, people in slums buy foods in very dirty environments. All these factors result in not only injuries but also ill health. This is also evidenced by what took place in the early 19th century as a result of an industrial revolution. The industrial revolution resulted in the building of shanties as well as overcrowding of people in unsanitary tenement houses. This was as a result of high demand for labor by the industries witho ut regarding the livelihood of the laborers. It is also evident that people in urban centers shared their houses with the animals of the masters. This is evidenced by the majority of the laborers spending their nights together with the horses of their masters. In connection to this, Goloboy also asserts that â€Å"homes were not occupied by a single family or even two or three families; but each room, from garret to cellar was filled with a family of several persons, and sometimes with two or more2.†

Various Aspects of Life of the Oromo People Research Paper

Various Aspects of Life of the Oromo People - Research Paper Example However, as distinguishing factors, African communities have different cultural practices and beliefs. According to Freund2, societal beliefs and practices, which define each community, are used to distinguish various African communities. Traditional practices and beliefs are, thus, used to describe each ethnic community. Inhabitation of various parts of Africa mainly depended on geographical factors, such as accessibility, topography, and nature of a place at different weather conditions. Even though each African community was and is still distinguishable from other communities, certain issues, nevertheless, brought the communities together. Examples of the factors include economic, social, and religious accords among various communities. According to Freund3, most African communities have not only settled in Africa, but also inhabit other continents. Example of such communities is the Oromo people. The community has the highest population in Africa and considerable numbers in Ameri ca and Saudi Arabia. Therefore, while discussing the community, focus is directed to Africa. This paper explores the Oromo community. Background of the Community The name â€Å"Oromo† means â€Å"the powerful.† Triulzi4 informs that several suggestions attempt to explain origin of the name. One postulate argues that the name is associated with the river Oromiffa. Levine (Greater Ethiopia, 45) also claims that the name was coined from â€Å"qaala laa† an Arabic word. Galla is another name used to refer to the community. The term â€Å"Galla† is used mostly by Amhara to refer the community. Abyssinians, on the other hand, use derogatory characteristics to describe the group5. The offensive names, which include â€Å"pagan,† â€Å"slave,† â€Å"uncivilized,† or uncultured, are meant to generate inferiority complex within the community. Members of the community, however, insisted on the name â€Å"Oromo† because it described the st rength or self-defense of the community. Oromo community is a member of Cushitic-speaking individuals. The native language of the community is Oromo. The language is part of an Afro-Asiatic language family. The community is estimated to have a population of 30 million members. In Africa, the community is largely found in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. In Ethiopia, census carried in 2007 revealed that 34.49 percent of the entire population of the country was Oromoota. Records indicate that the Oromo occupy eastern and north-eastern Africa. Migration and Demographic Information Mohammed6 asserts that Oromo community is an ancient group in Africa. The author claims that physical features, language, culture, and various other aspects of life conform to traditions of African societies, with slight variations. Ethiopia, which is the main settlement region for the community, has an approximate of 74 ethnically diverse language groups7. Because population of the country is majorly the Oromo, individuals of the community significantly contribute to development of the country in various capacities. Based on the report published by United Nations Population Fund, about 95 % are settled agriculturalists.

Foundational Paradigm for Ministry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Foundational Paradigm for Ministry - Essay Example hed values, the operative functions of the Church, the priorities to be undertaken by the Church, its direction along with the specific duties which must be performed by the bishop, and also the critical foundations which would help differentiate true essence of Christianity from the false version. This implies that various sources must be analyzed to converge the paradigm which must reflect true teachings of Christ. An analysis of the aforementioned perspectives will lead to an emergence of a foundational paradigm for the ministry which may be useful to understand the religious values in context, also it would help in the identification of one`s own personal afflictions towards religion. In order to understand the Church, the purpose for which the ministry of Church has been established would have to be discussed in detail. Various scriptures and analysis of the holy Bible suggest that the people of God are those who are alive merely for spiritual wellbeing, those who believe in the royal priesthood, people of God and those who serve others. These references imply that there is more to life for people of God than they can ever imagine, i.e. they must be indulged in building the spiritual tower, they must offer their spiritual rituals and sacrifices for worship (Branick 2009). Furthermore, an analysis of the Pastoral Letters suggest that people of God must abstain from the lust and darkness of the world, and ensure that their way of life is in compliance with the testimony of excellence offered by the religion. In addition, these letters draw attention towards what the true nature of the Church must be as opposed to a version which has been polluted. Furthermore, the foundations of the Church may be identified by virtue of Timothy and Titus which stress on the doctrines of humility, righteousness and hospitality on part of those running the institution (Manning 1871). Therefore, the people of God may thus be referred to as God`s Children, where those undertaking

The U.S. government opportunity cost for fighting the Global War on Essay

The U.S. government opportunity cost for fighting the Global War on Terrorism - Essay Example (Belasco, 2007) Opportunity costs of the global war on terror are crucial because they give an insight into other alternatives that the government would have sought if they had not invested in the war. They are also a means of measuring the effect of the measured direct costs of the war. The global war on terror has had serious implications on expenditure patterns in the country owing to the fact that some local expenditure had to be foregone. This has eventually reduced the public’s perception of their well being. Additionally, the global war on terror has caused the US government to reduce the amount of expenditure that they dedicate to economic investments. For instance, the US government has had to reduce the amount they spent on construction of residential buildings. They have also reduced the expenditure on health and education within the country. Investments in fixed businesses and also in infrastructural facilities have been much lower than they were before the global war on terror. It is particularly alarming that the global war on terror has caused a reduced investment in health because this is a crucial sector of the US economy. If people within the country cannot access quality health facilities or services, then they are likely to have lower living standards. This impacts on the GDP very negatively. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the United States government has dedicated six hundred and fifty one billion dollars on the global war on terror between 2001 and 2007. It should be noted that these estimates do not incorporate what has happened this year. Additionally, many other experts assert that this is a large under estimation. In fact, they argue that these are merely direct costs. (Chernick, 2006) The Congressional budget estimates were derivatives of what the US government has spent on disability compensation, military operations, survivor benefits and medical costs. As it can

Discuss one or more theories of Moral Understanding and evaluate its conclusions Essay Example for Free

Discuss one or more theories of Moral Understanding and evaluate its conclusions Essay The term morality, according to Shaffer (1993) means â€Å"a set of principles or ideals that help the individual to distinguish right from wrong and to act on this distinction. Morality is important to society, as it would not function effectively unless there is some agreement of what is right and wrong. There are many underlying processes and environmental factors, which limit or promote social, cognitive and moral development in children. In modern society, television could be considered to be one of the major influences on a child’s moral development. There are three approaches to moral development; the cognitive approach, the psychodynamic approach and the social learning theory. The Cognitive-Developmental approach of Piaget and Kohlberg studies how children become more able to reason morally and make moral judgements, whereas the Freud’s psychodynamic approach is more concerned with the development of the conscience and moral feelings such as guilt and anxiety. The social learning theory of Bandura and Mischel investigates the development of moral behaviour and how role models in the family, society and the media, influence it. The theory I am going to discuss is Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Approach. His theory of moral development is concerned with how the child’s moral knowledge and understanding change with age. Piaget saw morality as any system of rules, which governs interaction between people. The methods of investigation he used to develop his theories were, he looked at the way children imposed rules in their games. He used games to study the development of children’s moral development as he thought that by studying rules in the context of a game, he could study the child’s spontaneous though directly. He also, assessed changes in the child’s moral judgements by telling hypothetical stories about children who lied, stole or broke something. When using hypothetical stories, Piaget was generally more interested in the reasons why the children give the answers they did and not particularly the answers. Piaget identifies stages of moral development just as he identified stages with cognitive development. His theories of the way children think and their moral reasoning goes through a series of stages, as they are adapting to the world, these are also known as the processes of accommodation and assimilation. He believed that as children’s reasoning about the world changes when they grow older and gain more experience, so does their reasoning about morality. Their ability to think about the world in more complex ways is what causes them to move on from one stage to the next. This is known as cognitive development. Piaget stated that infants don’t understand much about morality until they are about three or four years of age. Their development divides into two main stages after infancy. His stages of moral development are: Pre Moral Stage (up to three or four years) Children don’t understand about rules, and so they don’t make moral judgements Stage of Heteronomous Morality (aged three – six years) Children at this stage think rules are absolute and unchangeable, and the goodness and badness of an action is judged largely on the basis of its consequences rather than by taking intent into account. Stage of Autonomous Morality (from around six or seven) Children at this stage now see rules as more changeable and intentions are taken into account. Children also start to believe that it is possible to break rules and get away with it, whereas earlier they tended to think they will always be found out and possibly punished. Researchers from Europe and America have tested some of Piaget’s theories and have concluded that distinct stages of development do seem to exist however, other research found that children do not see all rules as being equally important as Piaget thought they did. Heteronomous Morality, also known as moral realism, means when the child is subject to another’s laws or rules. Children think that rules must be obeyed no matter what the circumstances. A child at this stage will think that rules are only made by authority figures, such as, parents and teachers. Two other features that are displayed in moral reasoning at this stage are, first they expect bad behaviour to be punished in some way, they believe that the punishment should be expiatory – the wrongdoer must make amends for the crime by paying with some kind of suffering. They have the view that the amount of punishment should match the badness of the behaviour. Secondly, if the bad behaviour goes undetected then the child believes in immanent justice – where any misfortune occurring after the bad behaviour can be seen as a punishment. For example, if a child tells a lie and gets away with it, then later trips and falls, the younger child could consider this as a punishment. In general, they believe punishment should be fair and that wrongdoing will always be punished in some way. Autonomous Morality, which means when the child is subject to one’s own laws and rules. It involves moral relativism whereby the child comes to realise that rules evolve from social relationships. Due to the child ‘decentring’ and their developed ability to think more flexibly about moral issues, they have began to realise it is important to take other people’s opinions into account. At this stage a child will have developed the understanding that sometimes rules of morality can be broken in certain reasonable circumstances. They believe in reciprocal punishment, whereby the punishment should fit the crime. For example, if a child takes another child’s sweets, the first child should be deprived of their sweets or should make it up to the victim in some other way. This is known as the principle of reciprocity. Children will also have learnt at this stage that wrongdoers often avoid punishment, diminishing any belief in immanent justice. They see punishment as a method of making the offender understand the nature of the crime and that punishment is also a deterrent. The move from heteronomous morality to autonomous morality is influenced by two factors. Children around the age of seven begin to move on from the pre operational stage of an illogical and an egocentric way of thinking to more logical and flexible way of thinking, in the operational stage. Their growing awareness that other people have different views allows them to develop more mature moral reasoning. However, moral development lags at least one to two years behind cognitive development because the whole process depends on the cognitive changes occurring first. Kohlberg expanded Piagets theory to form a theory that also explained the development of moral reasoning. While Piaget described a two-stage process of moral development, Kohlberg’s theory outlined six stages within three different levels. Kohlberg extended Piaget’s theory, proposing that moral development is a continual process that occurs throughout the lifespan. A study by Colby et al (1983) criticised Piaget’s assumption that children of ten and eleven years old had reached an adult level of moral reasoning. Piaget was always focusing on what an average child was capable of achieving so he neglected the idea of great variations between the individual child’s ways of thinking. In general, Piaget’s cognitive theory has been criticised for the methods of investigation not being as precise as they could have been. Methods he used were seen as complicated, leading critics to think he under estimated younger children’s capabilities of what they could and could not do. This was because later research went on to conclude that children could actually take other motives into consideration, when they understood what motives were involved. Despite criticism, Piaget’s work is still regarded as a revolutionary step forward in the way we understand how children think. It has led to a much more realistic ways of understanding children’s moral development. Many attempts to test Piaget’s theories from researchers around the world have resulted in acceptance that some of his views and methods do appear to exist.

Mobile Phone Conversations vs. Face-to-Face Conversations

Mobile Phone Conversations vs. Face-to-Face Conversations Mobile Phone Conversations vs. Face-to-Face Conversations in Public Settings: An Annotated Bibliography Margarita Parker Cell phones burst into our life in the early 90’s and became an integral part of the modern world. They are convenient and essential. They are not only communication devices but also our friends who keep our secrets and save our happiest moments. They remind us about important events and wake us up in the morning. However, more and more people find it inappropriate and unethical to be involuntarily involved in other people’s cell phone conversations in public settings. At first, this paper was planned to be designed as a research critique paper on a study found in the textbook. The study I found interesting was conducted in 2008 by Scott Campbell, professor of Telecommunications in the University of Michigan (Campbell, 2014). His study, Perceptions of mobile phone use in public: The roles of individualism, collectivism, and focus of the setting (Campbell, 2008), was mentioned by Keyton (2010) in terms of â€Å"how mobile phone use in public settings was influenced by cultural and individual differences† (p. 45). I located the study online at ECU Joyner Library, read it, and found the results interesting. Campbell (2008) found that â€Å"participants with a collectivistic orientation [are] more tolerant of mobile phone use† in public settings that participants with an individualistic orientations (Campbell, 2008). While reading the study, I noticed that Campbell often mentioned the study by Monk et al. (2004) who found that people perceive cell phone conversations in public settings more annoying than face-to-face conversations of the same loudness. I located this study online at ECU Joyner Library, found it very interesting, and my initial research question – â€Å"How people of different cultures perceive the use of the mobile phones in public setting?† – changed to the other one: â€Å"Do people find cell phone conversations in public settings more annoying than face-to-face conversations?† Thus, I shifted my focus from a study in the textbook to an annotated bibliography. The study of Monk et al. (2004) became as incitement for its replication by Forma and Kaplowitz (2012). Therefore, this study was located online at ECU Joyner Library, read and analyzed carefully, and an annotated bibliography of the two studies was written. Monk, A., Carroll, J., Parker, S., Blythe, M. (2004). Why are mobile phones annoying? Behaviour Information Technology, 23 (1), 33-41. doi: 10.1080/01449290310001638496 In this study, Monk and the colleagues investigate the participants’ perception of mobile phone conversations and face-to-face conversations in public places. Monk et al. (2004) suggested that people might be more annoyed when hearing a cell phone conversation than a face-to-face conversation. They hypothesized that there were a few explanations to it. Frist, they suggested that it could be explained by the content or the volume of the conversation. Second explanation could be the novelty of the mobile connection technology. â€Å"People are used to others having face-to face conversations in public spaces and have learned to ignore them. The mobile phone is relatively new and hence more noticeable† (Monk et al., 2004). Third factor was suggested to be the fact that the one only hears a half of the cell phone conversation thus could not fully understand the content of the conversation. The experiment involved sixty-four randomly chosen participant – a half of them in the bus station, another half in the train carriage. The participants were exposed to the same staged conversation – one was face-to-face and another on the cell phone. The conversations lasted about one minutes. After that the participants were asked to read six statements and rate the conversation one the card displaying the Likert scale from 1(‘strongly disagree’) to 5 (‘strongly agree’). Each of the six statements was analyzed separately to find out â€Å"how the three independent variables, context (bus station or train), medium (mobile phone or face-to-face) and loudness (normal or loud), affect the ratings† (Monk et al.). A three-way between-subjects analysis of variance, Levine’s test for heterogeneity of variance, a two-tailed t-test, and a Mann-Whitney U-test were used to analyze the data. Analysis of Statement 1, The conversation was very noticeable, showed that the participants found the mobile conversation more noticeable than the face-to-face conversation of the same volume and content. Most of the ratings of Statement 2, The conversation was intrusive, were low. Analysis of Statement 3, I found myself listening to the conversation, revealed that the participants tended to listen to the cell phone conversation more than the face-to-face conversation. The participants were not strongly agreed or strongly disagreed on Statement 4, I found the ring tone of the phone annoying, as well as Statement 5, I found the volume of the conversation annoying. The rating of Statement 6, I found the content of the conversation annoying, were low. The findings provide evidence that in general, cell phone conversations are perceived as more noticeable and annoying than face-to-face conversations at approximately the same volume and content. The authors conclude that the study supported one of their hypothesis – cell phone conversations are more annoying because one hears only one side of the conversations that means people would rather hear a dialogue of two people than a monologue on the call phone. One of the advantages of the study is the random selection of participants as well as conducting the study in the real public settings were participants could do what they usually do in this public setting. However, the level of background noise was not taken into consideration. It can vary from very loud to very quiet in the bus station as well as on the train. This could affect the results of the study. More could be done on studying the effect of the context and content of the conversation. The authors of this study refer to Wei and Leung (1999) who found that public transportation settings were to be less irritating than restaurants, schools, and libraries (Wei Leung, 1999; Monk et al, 2004). Thus, the experiment could be conducted in the different public places such as restaurants, schools, theaters, hospitals, shopping malls, etc. in order to ensure validity and reliability of the experiment. The content of the conversation could be manipulated from being very annoying (talkin g to a customer service representative) to being very pleasant (congratulation on a new baby). The study is interesting but quite outdated. As stated in one of the hypothesis, cell phones were perceived as novelty. They were the novelty in the 90s but not anymore. However, the cell phone conversations in public setting are still perceived as rude and annoying. Thus, this study needs expansion as well as replication in the current time. Forma, J., Kaplowitz, S.A. (2012). The perceived rudeness of public cell phone behavior. Behaviour Information Technology, 31 (10), 947-952. doi: 10.1080/0144929X.2010.520335 The authors report two studies on the perception of face-to-face and mobile phone conversations. The first study was designed to find out if people speak louder when talking on the cell phone than when talking face-to-face. 90 participants were found on a university campus â€Å"30 cell phone users and 60 people having face-to-face conversations† (Forma Kaplowitz, 2012). The participants were observed in two public settings – in a food court on campus and in a lobby outside the food court. 30 cell phone and 30 face-to-face conversations were discretely recorder by one of the authors of this study who sat within 1 m of the participants and recorded the average dB level for 1 minute. The analysis of the collected data confirmed that people talk louder on the cell phone than face-to-face. The second study was a replication of the study of Monk et al. (2004). The goal of this study was to confirm or disprove the findings of Monk et al. (2004) that mobile phone conversations in public settings are perceived more annoying than face-to-face conversations. As in Monk et al. (2004) experiment, Forma and Kaplowitz (2012) used two actresses who engaged in cell phone and face-to-face staged conversations on a bus. In some of the face-to-face conversations, both actresses were audible while in others only one actress was audible. Participants were students riding the bus on the campus. After the conversation was over, the participants were asked if they noticed the girls’ conversations. Those who answered â€Å"yes† were given the questionnaire. 160 participants completed the questionnaire similar to the one Monk et al. (2004) used. The analysis of the results confirmed the findings of Monk and the colleagues that people perceive cell phone conversations in public places more rude that face-to-face conversations. Moreover, Forma and Kaplowitz (2012) found that face-to-face conversations in which only one person was audible were perceived even more annoying than cell phone conversations. Both studies of Forma and Kaplowitz (2012) are fairly recent, well designed, the topics are deeply analyzed, and the authors’ claims are strongly supported with evidence. The replication of the study of Monk et al. (2004) included more participants (160 vs 64) that could increase validity and reliability of the study. However, there are some factors that could make the validity and reliability of both studies of Forma and Kaplowitz (2012) slightly questionable as the participants were mostly young students, and the sample did not include people of different ages and occupations while in the original study by Monk et al. (2004) participants were randomly selected on the train and the bus station. Lastly, I would like to mention that the studies conducted by Monk et al. (2004) and Forma and Kaplowitz (2012) based on some of the findings in the work â€Å"Blurring public and private behaviours in public space: policy challenges in the use and improper use of the cell phone† by Wei and Leung (1999). This work deserves a special attention. However, this assignment is limited to two annotations. Thus, I am planning to return to this work in the future. References Campbell, S.W. (2008). Perceptions of mobile phone use in public: The roles of individualism, collectivism, and focus of the setting. Communication Reports, 21 (2), 70-81. doi: 10.1080/08934210802301506 Campbell, S.W. (2014). Curriculum Vitae. University of Michigan. Retrieved from http://sitemaker.umich.edu/scott.campbell/files/campbell_cv_aug_2014_.pdf Forma, J., Kaplowitz, S.A. (2012). The perceived rudeness of public cell phone behavior. Behaviour Information Technology, 31 (10), 947-952. doi: 10.1080/0144929X.2010.520335 Keyton, J. (2010.) Communication Research: Asking Questions, Finding Answers (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Monk, A., Carroll, J., Parker, S., Blythe, M. (2004). Why are mobile phones annoying? Behaviour Information Technology, 23 (1), 33-41. doi: 10.1080/01449290310001638496 Wei, R., Leung, L. (1999). Blurring public and private behaviours in public space: policy challenges in the use and improper use of the cell phone. Telematics and Informatics, 16, 11–26. doi:10.1016/S0736-5853(99)00016-7

Spanish Resistance to Napoleon Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Napoleon and the Spanish Resistance   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout time, the military has been considered one of the key features in a civilization. It has been considered the heart and soul of many countries and empires and has been the center of many cultures. Throughout history we have seen many military leaders and military powers. We have seen military techniques and technology change as we progress. Our schools are filled with legends of great war heroes and hard-fought battles. One such hero is Napoleon Bonaparte, perhaps one of the greatest generals who ever lived. In his adventures and conquest, as general of the French army, he warred against many lands. These included Spain, in which Napoleon met a strong resistance. The Spaniards were using a new military strategy called guerilla warfare, one that Napoleon had no experience against. Guerilla warfare is the use of unconventional war tactics, such as ambush and sabotage, coined by the Spanish rebellion to Napoleon Bonaparte, resulting in an uprising that even he couldn’t put to rest.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To understand why these tactics were so effective, you must first understand the tactics themselves. Before guerilla warfare was popularized, war was mainly a head-to-head meeting between two armies. This idea of mass confrontation was considered a formal and more manly way to conduct war. However, the Spanish noticed drawbacks to this idea. They had far fewer numbers than the French and by using traditional war methods they were destined for failure. The Spanish started to use guerilla tactics.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Traditional wars at the time were decided, often, just by a couple of mass confrontations between the two opponents. Each battle would usually consist of a significant number of soldiers going straight towards each other until they forced the other to retreat. Guerilla warfare on the other hand doesn’t rely on this premise. In order to successfully defeat your opponent using guerilla tactics, you must rely instead on a series of smaller confrontations (Free Dictionary). By using these â€Å"hit-and-run† strategies, guerilla fighters can quickly tire they’re opponents and not lose as many men. Another difference, is that guerilla war relies heavily on ambush. Ambush is when the ambushing force uses concealment to attack an enemy ... ...oleon returned and heard of the defeat he knew it was the end. Finally realizing that his unstoppable armies had been stopped for good he abdicated on April 11th, 1814. The Peninsular War has helped diminish Napoleon’s armies and expose his weaknesses. His enemies had finally caught on and in the end it was the great Napoleon who finally gave up.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Guerilla warfare is the use of unconventional war tactics, such as ambush and sabotage, coined by the Spanish rebellion to Napoleon Bonaparte, resulting in an uprising that even he couldn’t put to rest. Guerilla warfare, more in depth, is the use of tactics that don’t involve mass confrontation. They rely more on long drawn out smaller confrontations, slowly but surely weakening the enemy. The most prominent of these was the Peninsular War, fought between the French and the British and the Spanish guerillas. The British were able to keep a strong defensive position and with help from the guerillas eventually drove out the French regime. This loss brought Napoleon closer to defeat and his enemies realized it, causing them to go on the offensive and sack Paris, the final blow to the great Napoleon Bonaparte.

A Unique Approach: Education in Public and Charter Schools Essays

A Unique Approach: Education in Public and Charter Schools School choice: two words that together spell out a multitude of educational options for students today. Among them are charter schools and public schools; public schools standing the test of time and charter schools being at the forefront of a revolution in educational change. Surprisingly, these two educational institutions have more in common than one might think, but maintain their differences. Key differences between charter and public schools include approach to education, funding, level of government involvement, and enrollment practices. Despite these differences, both charter and public schools share the following features: free of charge to students, required to demonstrate adequate yearly progress on state standardized tests and status as public institutions. Charter schools are educational institutions that share common features with public schools and at the same time have key differences that make them unique. Charter schools and public schools share a definition as public educational institutions; however, there remain key differences within this explanation. Charter schools are independent public educational institutions that have the freedom to operate within a specific educational focus, such as math and science or agriculture science. (WestEd, 2010) Within the context of this specific educational focus; charter schools tailor curriculum, assessments, program goals, and measures of achievement towards the students their charter serves. (WestEd, 2010) Unlike charter schools, public schools are educational institutions that operate under the direction of a school board along with state and federal government whose rules and laws sanction their daily ope... ... and federal government on a per pupil enrollment basis, however do not have the luxury of levying taxes that public schools do. Finally, charter schools are independent of the geographical confines that a district imposes on public schools. Works Cited MN Association of Charter Schools. (2010, November 8). MN Charter School Facts & Statistics. Retrieved November 5, 2010, from MN Association of Charter Schools: http://www.mncharterschools.org/page/1/facts.jsp MN Charter School Resource Center. (2007, August 29). What is a Charter School-Center forSchool Change. Retrieved November 8, 2010, from Minnesota Charter School Resource Center: http://www.centerforschoolchange.org/index2.php?... WestEd. (2010, November 8). Answers to Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved Novemeber 8, 2010, from US Charter Schools: http://www.uscharterschools.org/lpt/uscs_docs/171

Ludwig Van Beethoven 9th Symphony Essay -- Music Beethoven Musician Es

Ludwig Van Beethoven 9th Symphony Symphony number nine in D minor, Op.125, the "Choral" is the outstanding piece accompanied with a vocal chorus. Beethoven began concentrated work on the piece in 1822. It occupied him throughout 1823, and he completed it in February 1824. The first performance took place at the Karntnertor Theater in Vienna on May 7, 1824. The deaf composer stood on stage beating time and turning the pages of his score, but the real conducting was done by Michael Umlauf. The first American performance was given on May 20, 1846 by the New York Philharmonic under George Loder. Its performance can never be an ordinary event, just another concert, it is something special because the feeling you get inside when you hear it for the first time. The work of Friedrich von Schiller to set "An die Freude" should be much of the credit of the ninth symphony, but Beethoven's ability to put into music; it’s an art song, which is lovely poetry put into music.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  By 1823, Beethoven was not yet sure whether the finale would be vocal or instrumental. Once the symphony was finished, a performance had to be organized. Beethoven saved the premiere for the city that had been his home for the past thirty-one years. At the end of the premiere, Beethoven was still hunched over toward the orchestra, so he was gently turned around so that he might see the applause he could not hear. "The D" turns out to be the "answer" on which the whole orchestra agrees in the great fortissimo summit of that first crescendo, but the tense anticipation of that note is a personal, marvelous, and utterly characteristic touch"(Orga 155).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The ninth symphony is my favorite symphony just because the music is so heavenly. It seems in the beginning of the piece brings a person from darkness to light. Beethoven, I believe, was ahead of his time. To me, he is the greatest composer of all time. His music is not just sounds of music played together in harmony, but a way of life. The music he created for the world is not just to listen to it, but grabs onto the emotion he was setting up. Beethoven's unordinary style cannot ever be copied by any composer or music artist. Today, when we hear music of any kind, we can only thank a certain person, and that person should be Ludwig van Beethoven.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This is how I heard the music, piece by piece with some help to understand and ... ...ers--over the canopy of stars Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen! A loving Father must live. and these lines are then repeated. The religious section of the ode begins as the chorus intones in an awed manner: Ihr stà ¼rzt nieder, Millionen? Millions, do you fall upon your knees? The music rises hopefully toward God and the heavens as the final lines of verse are sung: Ahnest du den Schà ¶pfer, Welt? Do you sense the Creator, world? Such' ihn à ¼berm Sternenzelt!Seek Him above the canopy of stars! ÃÅ"ber Sternen muss er wohnen. Surely He lives above the stars. The last section, from "Seid umschlungen, Millionen!" is repeated triumphantly in counterpoint. A dramatic hush, the music rises steadily. The quartet then re-enters with the following lines from the beginning of the poem: Daughter of Elysium Deine Zauber binden wieder, Thy magic binds together Was die Mode streng geteilt; What tradition has strongly parted, The chorus underlines "Alle Menschen werden Brà ¼der," "All mankind will be brothers." The same line is repeated ecstatically by the quartet, which soars upward to it’s peak. The orchestra and chorus re-enter at a rapid tempo to bring the movement to its conclusion.

Cornwall

Cornwall is the place I love to be, it is filled with lovely places to see, beautiful beaches of golden sand, which you can just spend hours walking on or looking out across the ocean, there are quaint little villages, sea ports and harbours. I love going to St. Ives this is my favourite place, it is just a small harbour town but packed with interesting things to do.You can have boat rides round the coastline, fishing, seeing the sea life, there is a museum where you can see how people made a living and the tragedies they went through and there is also a recording of the locals talking about how they have seen the changes in their lifetime. There is also a life boat station there which has it's own stories to tell. Driving through St. Ives can be a bit scary as the roads are very narrow, there is just enough room for one car to pass through, so most of the road near the harbour are one way.You also have art galleries, food shops, pubs and restaurants, hotels and holiday homes. As you walk through the back streets you find that the locals occupy the houses and it is less noisy. I like to sit on the harbour front and watch the boats coming and going and local fishermen selling their catch, also watching the sea rippling in and out, at night it is lit up lovely and is packed full of locals and holiday makers all enjoying themselves. There are other places to visit like the Eden Project at St.Austell which has the worlds largest greenhouse, two massive conservatories one of which is a rain forest and the is for fruits and flowers from different countries. The grounds are landscaped and produce tea, lavender, sun flowers and I think a desert conservatory is going to be built there too. The national trust owns and protects over 220 miles of the Cornish coastline, there are loads of coastal walks from just a gentle pace to hard hiking, oh that's not for me though.I have visited the lost gardens of Heligan and was totally blown away by what I saw, it was truly wonderfu l and to think it could have been lost for every would have been very sad, but to explore the whole of it would take at least two or three days. I was only there for one day and really I didn't see it all I was taken back with the plants and ponds and to think this was all made possible by the Tremayne family and now their descendants have found it and stated about restoring it with help from other sources, this is well worth a visit.Other places to visit is Porthleven another harbour town, the Minack theatre which was the inspiration of just one lady Rowena Gade, Charlestown Heritage, Shipwrecks and China Clay, well worth a look you also have Bodmin Moor which is one of the last unspoilt areas in the south west and I have also seen some beautiful church's driving through some of the Cornish towns.Across the coast you will find surfers trying to catch the perfect wave, they make it look so easy. You can also so some crabbing in the crab pools in Perrinporth. Newquay is a buslin town with loads of shops, arcades, pubs, beaches and night life. And now what I don't like about Cornwall, well that's easy to answer,it's leaving

Metabical Case Study Summary Essay

The Cambridge Sciences Pharmaceuticals (â€Å"CSP†) is an international healthcare company that had completed successful clinical trials for its newest weight loss prescription drug, Metabical. With the final FDA approval expected, Metabical’s launch was set for January 2009 and a clear marketing communications strategy needed to be in place before the launch. With 10 years and $400 million spent on research and development, it was imperative that CSP positions Metabical correctly in the marketplace. Optimal segmentation, targeting, and positioning were important factors to consider in order to ensure that the launch as well as post-launch marketing of the drug yielded strong sales and product longevity. Key Issues Analyzing the market and segmentation, and identifying the needs of the customers. The optimal marketing campaign would guarantee a better-off position of Metabical after the information search and alternative valuation that customers may perform. Furthermore, Metabical needs to be affordable and effective as it will only be available as a prescription drug and, at least initially, the patients would be required to purchase it as an â€Å"out of pocket† expense. Customers †¢General United Sates population struggling with excess weight (By 2000, 34% of the population was overweight, 25.8% classified as obese, and 4.7% was in the severely obese category) †¢End consumer (the patient): Moderately overweight people with the BMI of 25-30 †¢Men and women between the age 45-74 †¢Individuals with income between $40,000 and $80,000+   Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Health care providers who would prescribe the medication as this is not a over-the-counter (â€Å"OTC†) drug †¢Managed healthcare insurance companies Customer decision making process: Need Recognition and problem awareness: a. Overweight Consumers – Many health and social stigmas are centered around excess weight. 35% of the respondents of the CSP sponsored market research are trying to lose weight and 15% of those are comfortable using drugs to reach ideal weight. The campaign must be focused in activating the latent needs of this segment (see Table 1, Annex). b. Healthcare providers – Health care providers are already aware of the benefits that a reduction in weight would play in their client’s health. However, they are not successful in counseling them to establish long-term healthy diet habits and exercise routines. Information search a.Overweight consumers – Once the customer has recognized the information and the need then he/she can research through personal sources such as family, friends, testimonials, advertising, promotions, and sales persons or contact the expert healthcare providers. b.Healthcare providers – Healthcare providers receive information reading through medical journals, attending conferences, and speaking with science and medical sales representatives and other experts. Evaluation of Alternatives: a.Overweight consumers An alternative for Metabical would be a plethora of OTC solutions such as Alli, the only FDA approved OTC drug, and a dietary supplement ephedra. These alternatives, however, are associated with various and serious negative side effects. The fact that Metabical is the only weight loss product that requires prescription may be a point in its favor, as a sign of safety and effectiveness. Metabical is also only required to be taken once a day. b.Healthcare providers: The vast majority of alternatives for Metabical either have a negative effect or are not regulated by the FDA. Metabical represents a safer choice, in legal terms, to recommend its use. As the only FDA approved drug, Metabical can stimulate substantial weight loss in customers and provides a comprehensive support and long-term weight maintenance program that enhances the success of the drug.

Cross-cultural Interactions Essay

Communication differs in various cultures. A multinational or a global company employs a great number of people with different cultural traits. Some may possess traits that are good for business when sent to countries away from home and some may not take up this responsibility well. People with different values respond in various ways to leadership especially from leaders from a different background or culture. Cultural diversity is very wide and this would cause to some extent difficulties for a foreigner in a strange land. This is mainly because the foreigner has ittle or no knowledge of the land’s culture. For instance being a German and working in a subsidiary of the German mother company in China, I have come to realize the big difference that there is in various cultures. The team that I work with is a cross- cultural team. National culture does not fit with the organizational culture from my experience in this cross-cultural team. National culture is the values that an individual learns early in life and continues to grow or change slowly with generations. It is highly held in individuals hence difficult to influence . Organizational culture on the other hand means the wide guidelines that are created by an organization and is rooted on the Job tasks and practices.. It is a programmed way of thinking and reacting. It is used to differentiate a certain category of people from the other. Due to the deeply held national culture by people, it is difficult to change the organizational culture especially in a cross-cultural team. This is because for some, the organizational culture goes against the national culture therefore the practices of the organization will be taken for granted and undermined e. . a eadership trait which falls under an organizational culture can be easily shunned by a particular employee from a different culture if the trait is against his/her national trait. I encounter various tensions at my workplace. A group of a certain culture will follow or conform to a certain set of values and beliefs, and the other would differ from them. A large group with a set of similar values would f all in the same culture. The minority and the majority therefore have conflict when it comes to certain situations within the team. For instance, Germans are always on schedule and very unctual. This is their national culture. In the cross-cultural team there are people who have different perception when it comes to keeping time. When it comes to attending meetings for instance, there will be a set of people who will be punctual and those who will be late. This is a cause for tension within the cross-cultural team. Tension is a known cause for a decrease in a company’s productivity. Action should therefore be taken to resolve tension or conflict in these teams. Conflict is a challenge that is always faced by a team that is cross-cultural because it arises from time to time. The success and failure of a team depends on its response in time of conflict. To initiate organizational changes, I have done research and have come up with a plan of giving lessons to my team members. These lessons don’t give a direct solution to the conflicts but guidance on how to prevent, respond to and manage tension. The tips in my lesson plan include: Knowledge ot one selt and culture- when one becomes aware ot his culture, i. e. here he/she comes from and who he/she really is, it becomes easier to understand other people’s background hence become open to different ideas. This can be chieved by establishing friendship within the team Being inquisitive- ask other members with a different background from yours about your new environment and how best things are run and more importantly know how to deal with situations to avoid conflict Listen to people from a different culture effectively to have a better understanding of one another’s ways. This should only be done in situations where it doesn’t cause discomfort. Learn the expectations of others by having conversations about conflicts and the way forward when it arises. Management culture that suits every single person from a different culture should be ut in place. Management culture is one of the most critical leadership tools. In my opinion, a type of management that respects the differences and similarities of all employees should be adopted. Excellent organizational culture is the main goal of a company or an organization in regards toa cross-cultural team. To achieve this goal, management culture must be put in place . First of all, understanding the uniqueness and the differences of each individual is very important. This is largely referred to as work place diversity. Diversity entails religious beliefs, gender, race, age, political beliefs, sexual orientation and ethnicity. To deal effectively with this, the HR should check on issues such as communication, coping with differences and change. Management culture is important because it creates a comfortable and positive working environment hence higher productivity from the employees. The following management strategies should be adopted: Acquiring knowledge about different cultures and their ways of conducting business The leaders should nurture the communication, creative and cultural skills of various employees and utilize these skills to improve the policies, customer service and their products Being open minded. This involves leaders and their employees coming out of their comfort zone and accepting ways that they are not familiar with in terms of management. People from different backgrounds can factor in better and fresh ideas which could result in better services and performance Formulation of programs that will recognize the diversity of each individual. This will result in more interest in their roles Posting employees to areas where they can advance culturally Language training Taking care of employees’ complaints and issues Testing the organization’s practices to make sure that no discrimination against any ulture is practiced. At times, conflict becomes inevitable between members in the subsidiary. It always happens when there are people with a variety of different expectations. In a situation like this, I would resolve to a different way of handling conflict. The first step would be to make the employees aware of the difference in culture among them. Apart from making them aware, I would formulate a program where all employees will be taught about the existence ot diversity and to learn ways ot respecting these different values and practices. Encouraging the team to take up tasks overseas henever an opportunity arises is another positive way to handle inevitable conflicts. This will improve the interaction of employees with different backgrounds and cultures. The more knowledgeable they get about a variety of cultures, the more understanding of each other they also get. To avoid recurring tensions, another important strategy to follow through is to offer counselling to employees and their families that are moving to a new country. This can be done before and after the international assignment . When positive relationships are built between diverse individuals, a deeper understanding of each other is formed.

Are professional athletes paid too much? Essay

The Right to Bear Arms Is the right to bear arms needed for U.S. citizens today? Should we have the right to retaliate if other freedoms are seized? Should we have the right to hunt? Should we have the right to protect our belongings and families? If you said yes to any of these questions, then you probably believe that we do need protection, hunting, and other freedoms that are vital. First, U.S. citizens have the right to protect themselves. For example, robberies and other crimes occur every day and people are entitled to protect themselves. If we don’t have the right to bear arms, then gas-station cashiers would not be able to protect themselves and the money in the cash register. Another example is that if someone breaks into your home to steal from you or hurt you, how are you going to protect yourself and your belongings? The police take too long to get to your home, so we need our right to bear arms! While it is important to protect ourselves, it is also important to hunt. It has been a sour ce of food since the beginning of time. Unless hunters are able to use guns there will be less food on the table for many Americans. Hunting is also a sport and a hobby to many Americans. Teenagers, adolescents, and young adults are always complaining about being bored. Hunting is an important activity to this age group, so the government does not need to take this away from U.S. citizens. While protection and hunting are very important, it is also important to remember that when the government takes one freedom they can also take others. In fact, once the government seized our right to bear arms, they could take away our freedom of speech. We would not be able to retaliate if they took our right to bear arms, so they would have full power and dictatorship over all U.S. citizens. Another freedom the government could take is our freedom of religion. It would be easier for them to control how we did everything, because we can’t do anything about it without guns. Finally, these three reasons are excellent reasons for why I support the right to bear arms. All of these reasons are proof for how we would not have much freedom at all without the second amendment. Our ancestors put this amendment in the Bill of Rights for many reasons, but these are just a few. Even if you don’t support the right to bear arms,  these reasons could persuade anyone to support it. Protection, hunting, and freedom of speech/religion for American citizens are the reasons for why I support the second amendment.