First impressions Essay Example for Free

First impressions Essay In my opinion it is your first impression of something that ultimately gives you the perfect vantage point in which to accurately assume the true nature of something. Your notion of this something is then unaffected or swayed by any outside sources or by second guessing yourself. Upon first experiencing this first time offered course, I immediately felt right at home concerning the direction in which the course was headed and also with the enthusiasm and involvement of the professor. The first class began as any other, anxiously awaiting an unknown professor and the educational information he bears. With a proverbial collective sigh of relief, the class was greeted with a pleasant professor offering a most interesting lesson plan on the writing in the discipline of psychology. After welcomed introductions class was underway and a new appreciation for my major was attained. Our first homework assignment required us to read and analyze an article entitled â€Å"Making Science Understandable to a Broad Audience† by Richard Reis. The article portrays the notion that we as those in search of educational advancement must accommodate the manner in which we write for individuals many whom are otherwise unaware. This piece I believe sets the tone for this course in its entirety and my perceptions as to what is seeks to achieve, in that to truly know and understand an idea or concept one must have the ability to correctly perceive and present information of the utmost importance to the vast majority. Throughout my college career I have strived to put forth my best effort and achieve a great standing in all my courses. I plan on not doing any different here, so upon perusing the course syllabus I noticed many assignments wherein groups were involved. In my past experience, sadly I have had many instances in which fellow group members became ‘clingers’ to my dedicated work whilst I labored on it. Assignments listed as anything prefaced by the dreaded utterance â€Å"Group,† made me question my position here. Despite my reservations I believe that those fellow students in my class are just as dedicated as I and wish to succeed just as much. Without further explanation of the group work involved, much of it looks fairly familiar to projects that I have done in past classes both in college and high school concerning poster presentations and literature reviews. My worries, other than those aforementioned, lie in the â€Å"Individual Components† of the course description and what they might entail. At least for me, when work pertaining to that of doling out constructive criticism is required I simply feel inadequate in telling others how to go about their work. Other than that one hiccup, the rest of the work to be done individually seems common or at least manageable. In the past I have kept a record or journal of daily events of significance, in that I can see doing well in keeping a research journal. Being accustomed to modern times and technology use should help serve me in using the â€Å"Learning E-Portfolios,† and submitting assignments online. My major is in psychology and therefore have read extensively on the subject as well as taken previous writing courses, all of which will hopefully aid me in doing well this semester. I feel as though this course will play towards my strengths and will be successful overall. Although, I do not expect to go without surprises, I trust this course to challenge my writing ability as well as my grasp on psychology ASSIGNMENT REFLECTION FORM 1. How would you describe your experience in working on this assignment (Was it difficult to begin? Did the ideas come easily or with difficulty? What obstacles did you face in the process of writing? How long did it take you?)? A: As with any paper, I found it slightly difficult to begin because I enjoy taking the time to organize my thoughts into a cohesive and coherent piece. In the writing process I found it difficult to completely fulfill the requirements in that the book contained in the courses required reading section had been backordered and in an attempt to continue, I had purchased a copy on Amazon.com and am sadly still awaiting its arrival. From beginning to end this essay took me around two hours to complete in its entirety. 2. What do you see as the strengths of this paper? A: I believe the strengths of this paper to be my honesty involving the course. It may or may not help with improvements and or changes in future assignments and course direction. 3. What do you see as areas for improvement in the paper? A: Not to sound clichà © but I believe that all papers still require improvement. No matter how many edits or drafts it takes there will always be one idea or point that may have been over expressed or a central one that had been simply left out completely. I may need to improve upon my ordering or overall flow of my paper to achieve a better read. 4. What did you learn (about yourself, the subject, writing, or reading) from doing this assignment? A: While writing this piece I learned that I truly enjoy expressing myself through writing. Although I consider myself to have a limited vocabulary I find nothing more exciting than to surprise someone with my work.

Will The New Technologies Affect Leadership And Leaders

Will The New Technologies Affect Leadership And Leaders Abstract The article presented here talks about the influence of technology on leaders and leadership. The article starts with identifying the key practices that a leader need to perform in a typical organization and then states the ways in which, technology has influenced these practices. The article present two aspects, one is key roles and responsibilities of leader and characteristics of leadership and then presents how technology has its influence. In the end, the article make justification of the concerned topic i.e. is technology has an impact on leadership and leaders or not. Key words: technology, leader, leadership Introduction A leader is a person who motivates its employee to perform high. According to few management gurus, what the corporate world needs are leaders and not managers. Leaders main work is to motivate the employees for harder work. Leader is very widespread character that could be originate in any area of a company. Leadership is the quality which is possessed by the leader. In any leadership stream the most significant work is to motivate people to work under him. Leadership can better defined as the process and set of activities by which the leader establishes a social influence on the people by imparting them support and helps who are working for the achievement of common goal. It is the leadership of the leader to bring out the maximum contribution from an individual as possible. A leader must have a quality leadership. He could also provide people working for him the social security so that they feel secure under him and should also be able to motivate people for common beliefs. (Dee) The issue of the report is to discuss the impact of technology on leaders and leaderships. We know that in last few decades, the technology has developed too many folds. This technology has changed the working process of employees and entire organization. No one today thinks of working without a computer and the world is entirely connected to each other. The report will thus, try to find out the impact of these technological advancements on the leadership styles and on leader too. Methodology and Discussion: Leaders enjoy a great amount of powers in the organization. With these powers leaders are said to be engaged in power-politics that is using the authority for own sake. Leaders faces a lot of problems in an organization in terms of issues related to power and politics. The first one is managing diversity at work place. In country like UAE, where the workforce is completely diverse in terms of cultural background, education etc, managing diversity is a big challenge for the leaders. The leaders also have to maintain proper communication with the employees. Literatures suggest that this is one of the primary causes of leaders problem in the organization.  [1]   Another issue which leaders have to face is regarding work environment. Work environment is a major constituent of an effective organizational culture. The work environment not only constitutes the physical constituents of the location but also the culture of the work like senior-subordinate relations. (Pilerot, 2009) Another issue which leaders need to address is employee training. The problem here is that when new technology is introduced in the company to cut operational expenses, the work and expectation from the employees also changes a lot. So there is a clear need to employee training. Employees are needed to be trained at new technology so that they are able to be a part of companys cost cutting scheme. Employee training is a necessary part of any organization which needs to be happen periodically. Also, the modern high competitive world has generated new concerns like work life balance etc for leaders to address. Introducing technology here, technology has provided many of the tools and ways for organization to produce effectively and also to manage their workforce effectively. Employees can now work from their home as technology keeps then connected to the office. The works which use to take days can now be addressed very quickly and precisely as now there are softwares and hardware to address the problems. In the later part of the report, we will focus on how the technology has influenced on leadership and leaders keeping in mind the discussion regarding roles and problems a leader faces in an organization. (Dee) Technology and work life balance: As discussed earlier that one of the key issue a leader needs to address is the work life balance of the employees. In this highly competitive world, every organization wants its employees to perform as effectively as they want. The labor laws which use to restrict the working hours and just dummy rules now the problem of work life balance is on high alert these days. Leaders are constantly facing problem to retain their employees and to keep them motivated towards the work place. Here, technology forwards its hands to help leaders. With development in technology, employees are no more restricted to work in office premises. Employees can now work from their home as technology keeps then connected to the office. The works which use to take days can now be addressed very quickly and precisely as now there are softwares and hardware to address the problems. What leaders now use to do is to email the work to the employee assigning the time line and the employees have to do the work witho ut any restriction of attendance in the office. So, if the employees have a high propriety work, he can address the work while working from this home. This also saves the time consumed in travelling etc and adds to work life balance of the employee. This adds to the job satisfaction of the employees and also helps leaders to keep the trust of the employees in the organization as using these techniques gives a message to the employees that leader do think about them. (Pilerot, 2009) Technology helps leaders to manage work force diversity The world today is a single entity. The borders of nations have not left with any restrictions on passage of trade and business. This has made the global GDP to increase with many folds. The other outcome of this globalization is diversity. There could be no better example than UAE which has more people of foreign origin than the natives. The issue of managing a diverse workforce is increased too. Technology again helps leaders to address the problem. One important problem raised to leaders by diversity is managing documents in different languages. Technical solutions like translators, converters are now helping leaders to communicate with the employee in their native languages. For example, Google translator is used in UAE to convert Arabic documents to English and vice-versa. Leaders thus can communicate properly with employees of other ethnic origin. (G. Sheard, 2009) Leaders issue of maintaining communication with the employees: For any leader, maintain proper communication with the employee is a key issue. Leaders need to know the views of the employees, their perception of any issue or decision, and employee aspect of company policy. The size of any organization is the most significant obstacle in this direction. Also to keep the records of every communication with every single person is out of scope of common individual. Technology again helps leaders in this perspective. The leaders now can maintain digital copy of their communications with employees. Emails, chats, memos, reminders are now all digitized. The leader can record important events like meeting with a group of employees, birthdays of employees etc on electronic calendars which make the probability of missing any information close to zero. (Albion, n.d) Technology also is providing different ways of communication. For information communication needs, there are ways like cell phones, chats, video conferencing etc by which a leader can keep touch with the employee. Now the leader can exactly see what the employee is doing and how he is doing the work. Taking about few new advancements too, there is a facility to share your computer screen with others via internet so that now the leader can see what the employee is doing, the progress of his work etc. So technology has changed the way a leader communicates with his employees and has increased the efficiency to great heights. Technology is helping leaders to conduct trainings Another issue which leaders need to address is employee training. The problem here is that when new technology is introduced in the company to cut operational expenses, the work and expectation from the employees also changes a lot. So there is a clear need to employee training. Employees are needed to be trained at new technology so that they are able to be a part of companys cost cutting scheme. The problem here is employees are reluctant towards change and there are evidences which prove that employees have negative attitude towards undergoing training. This attitude increases an issue of motivating employees towards training for leaders. Leaders again get support of technology for addressing this problem. An example is Learning Management system. One case is of Aventis Pharmaceuticals and IBM which implemented learning management system. It is critical in enabling an organization to compliance with modern business standards. LMS enables employees to register online, join other business training activities and personalizing training records by conferences, meetings and documenting training taken outside the LMS. With the help of technology like LMS, leaders can now arrange trainings for the employees in more efficient manner than before. (Dee) Technology help leaders to establish a sound work environment: Another issue where technology is helping leaders is establishing a sound work environment. The business structure now a day is required to be employee friendly and at the same time should encourage employees to perform effectively. This is a tough task for leaders as these demands are contradictory to each other. Technology again has a role here to address the issue. With efficient ways to maintain proper communication, managing diversity and other issues addressed earlier, technology helps leaders to build an efficient as well as employee friendly environment. Critical Analysis: From the above discussion it is clear that technology has influenced almost every aspect of leadership and leaders role. But we see critically analyze it, we will found that the leader still have to manage communication with the workforce, leader still has to ensure that employee are satisfied with the company in terms of work life balance. Leader even after great advancements in technology has to look for training needs of the employees. (Albion) All these shows that technology do has influenced the ways in which leaders used to work but the basic roles of leaders and concern of leadership practices are static. Conclusion: On the basis of the report, we can say that even with the great advancements in technology, the basic roles and practices that leaders and leadership involve are still the same. The primary roles of leaders incorporate managing work force diversity, ensuring work life balance; encourage employee participation and most of all, directing the efforts of the employee to achieve the goals of the organization as a whole. With the advancements in technology, the ways in which leaders use to perform all these tasks can changed significantly but has not change the theme of leadership. Technology has greatly improved leaders ways to manage the workforce but has again given birth to new types of problems too. As we defined in introduction section, a leader is a person who motivates its employee to perform high. According to few management gurus, what the corporate world needs are leaders and not managers. Leaders main work is to motivate the employees for harder work. Technology has changed the way in which a leader works but has not changed the characteristics of leadership. (Pilerot, 2009)

Waves On Pregnant Women Health And Social Care Essay

Waves On Pregnant Women Health And Social Care Essay Waves have been applied to many important procedures nowadays. In this article I am going to investigate the application of waves on pregnant women. One of the very important topics is the application of ultrasonography in prenatal checkup; therefore I would focus on this topic and discuss its principle and advantages among other different methods of prenatal checkup. Nonetheless waves do not only bring benefits to pregnant women, but also harm. There are some electromagnetic waves (or EM waves) which may be harmful to both the mothers and the fetuses, such as X-ray. Yet, will pregnant women really have an increased risk of miscarriage after having an X-ray? Recently there are also concerns about the effect of radio waves and microwaves on pregnancy. In this article I am going to investigate them one by one. Obstetric Ultrasonography Ultrasonography refers to the use of ultrasound. Ultrasound is longitudinal wave, it has the same speed as audible sound wave in air, which is 340ms-1. The main difference between audible sound wave and ultrasound is that ultrasound has a frequency beyond audible range of human, which is around 20 Hertz (20 Hz) to 20 kilohertz (20 kHz or 20,000 Hz). Normally the frequency of ultrasound used in prenatal checkup is ranged from 1.6 to 10 megahertz (MHz), depending on what structures of the fetuses are being examined. Ultrasound with lower frequency can penetrate deeper into body tissues, because the higher the frequency, the more ultrasonic waves are being absorbed instead of reflected, thus while examining deeper tissues like the liver and kidney, ultrasound with lower frequency (around 1.6-6MHz) is used. In the ultrasonography, ultrasound waves are emitted by a device called transducer. Actually the term transducer refers to a device which converts one form of energy into another, so there are lots of types of transducer. In the ultrasonography, an electroacoustic transducer is used to convert electricity to emit and receive ultrasound; therefore to be more exact, the device used is also called an ultrasound transceiver. The transducer is placed on the abdomen of the pregnant woman, the ultrasound emitted penetrates the skin and then reaches the foetus and other internal organs of the mother. The waves are then reflected back to the transceiver, the transceiver senses the waves and converts them into images. An ultrasound transceiver: http://l.b5z.net/i/u/6062479/i/transducer_tn.jpg source: http://www.chesapeakeultrasound.com/ultrasound_products An ultrasonography: http://gulfcoastmri.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/sonogram-human-foetal-fetal-ultrasound-scan-at-22-weeks-mono-1-anon.jpg Source: http://gulfcoastmri.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/obstetric-ultrasonography/ In case that the pregnant woman is in early pregnancy or obese, she can undergo transvaginal sonography, which a probe is placed in the womans vagina. Sometimes the test is also carried out if the pregnant woman has got abnormal vaginal bleeding or pelvic pain. This type of sonography has the similar principle as the ultrasonography mentioned above. Some mothers may want to see the heartbeat of their babies, they can carry out the Doppler sonography. It has basically the same principle as the ultrasonography except the ultrasound is further enhanced by Doppler Effect. Generally the fetuss heartbeat can be detected after 7 weeks of gestation, thus the blood flow of the fetus can be detected as well. The blood flows in a circulation in the body of the fetus, the Doppler sonography can thus detect the change in directions of blood flow by Doppler effect and see if the circulation is normal or not. This can be done by measuring the change in the frequency received in the transceiver. In fact there are a few more types of prenatal checkup, such as amniocentesis and chronic villus sampling. Nonetheless, the ultrasonography is the safest way for diagnosis. The ultrasonography only involves a transducer placing outside the mothers abdomen, while amniocentesis and chronic villus sampling require mechanical penetration and sampling inside the mothers uterus or abdomen, this increases the risk of miscarriage during the tests. Despite this fact, ultrasonography can only give an early diagnosis of the mothers and fetuses, it cannot treat anomalies or genetic diseases. According to the test conducted by RADIUS study group in 1993, researchers found that obtaining sonography has no significantly negative effect on reducing perinatal morbidity or mortality among the fetuses or the mothers. Moreover, the detection of anomalies actually did not alter the outcome of newborn babies. Therefore it is important to acknowledge that ultrasonography is just a test whether the fetuses are healthy, but not a treatment to anomalies. Harmful effect of X-ray X-ray is an electromagnetic wave with a wavelength ranged from 0.01 to 10 nanometers (0.01-10 x10-9m). It has a speed of 3108 ms-1 in vacuum. In fact, X-ray is commonly used in medical treatments, such as radiation therapy of cancer and medical imaging technology. X-ray is produced in an X-ray tube. In the X-ray tube, electrons are accelerated by applying a high voltage. Electrons then collide with a metal, and the sudden deceleration of electrons results in the emission of X-ray. An X-ray tube: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/quantum/imgqua/xtube.gif Source: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/quantum/xtube.html X-ray has high ionizing power, thus there are many people worrying about the harmful effects of having an X-ray diagnosis, especially pregnant women. It is true that a very high dose of radiation from X-ray may result in radiation sickness. Prolonged and continuous exposure to X-ray also increases the risk of cancer development, and in pregnant women, there may also be a risk for the fetus to develop childhood cancer or even miscarriage. Nevertheless, it seems that the harmful effects of exposing to X-ray are exaggerated. The serious harmful effects mentioned above are just the results of high dosage in a short period of time. There are different kinds of X-rays, one type is used in scanning or diagnosis, one type is used in treating cancer. The energy stored in different types of X-rays is different. For normal X-ray scanning, the dosage is extremely small. The absorbed dose of X-ray is measured in rad, which 1 rad = 1010-3 J kg-1 = 10-2 J kg-1. If a pregnant woman is having a chest X-ray, the estimated fetal dose is around 60 millirads, the dose is around 290 millirads for an abdominal X-ray. This is quite a low value, as the dose from the radiation from outer space is around 90-100 millirads. In fact, the risk of the fetus having eye abnormalities or mental retardation increases only when the dosage exceeds 10 rads, therefore it is very rare that pregnant women suffer from harmful effects by the X-ray radiation. According to the  American Academy of Family Physicians, generally X-rays are safe even for pregnant women, and according to radiologists, no single diagnostic x-ray has a radiation dose signi ficant enough to cause adverse effects in a developing embryo or fetus. Normally doctors will not ask pregnant women to undergo an X-ray scanning, unless when it is urgent and necessary. It is also suggested that pregnant women should tell the radiologists about the pregnancy, so that radiologists can adjust the radiation level to better protect the mothers and the fetuses. To conclude, many people are afraid of having X-ray scanning when they are pregnant, but in fact the risk is not that high if we compare the dosage to the exposure to outer space radiation. An X-ray film showing pregnancy: http://www.neurobodyfit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/xray-pregnancy.jpg Source: http://www.neurobodyfit.com/x-rays-are-safe-during-pregnancy/ Concerns of radio waves and microwaves Besides X-ray, some people are concerning about the effect of radio waves and microwaves on pregnancy. In fact the effect of these two types of EM waves is even less than X-ray. There has been a study investigating the relationship between exposure of radio waves and microwaves of female physiotherapists, and the ratio of miscarriage. Due to occupational use, physiotherapists are very often exposed to medical equipment emitting microwaves diathermy and radio waves. According to the study, investigators compared the odd ratios between those pregnant physiotherapists and other pregnant women. The results showed that the risk of miscarriage was not associated with reported use of diathermy equipment, thus people need not worry too much about this issue. A microwave diathermy: http://image.ec21.com/image/medicm/oimg_GC04993002_CA04993086/Microwave_Diathermy_HM-801C.jpg Source: http://medicm.en.ec21.com/Microwave_Diathermy_HM_801C4993002_4993086.html Conclusion Waves have been widely used in medical equipment, and there are several applications of waves on pregnancy. Ultrasonography is the most common and the safest method of prenatal checkup. Though it can be used in diagnosis, it is unable to treat diseases in fetus. Many people concern about the side effects of using X-ray, microwaves and radio waves, however it is in fact very safe because the dosage of radiation is extremely small. Therefore people need not worry too much about the risk of miscarriage caused by exposure to these waves.

The Discovery of Paralititan Stomeri - A Giant Sauropod Essay -- Anthr

The Discovery of Paralititan Stomeri - A Giant Sauropod In the scientific article â€Å"A giant sauropod dinosaur from an upper Cretaceous mangrove deposit in Egypt,† by Joshua Smith, Matthew Lamanna, Kenneth Lacovara, and Peter Dodson it is indicated that a giant sauropod named Paralititan Stomeri was discovered in a desert area in western Egypt in 2001. The skeleton was dated back to ninety to one hundred million years ago, which is the late Cretaceous period. Paralititan is a sauropod, which is thought to be the second largest that has ever lived. A partial skeleton of this enormous sauropod was found. What was found is seen when the authors write, â€Å"The specimen consists largely of vertebrae, pectoral girdle, and forelimb elements† (Dodson, Lacovara, Lamanna, and Smith). The largest bone found was a 1.69 meter long humerus, which is an upper arm bone. This was the first find in the area since 1935. The area where the bones were found is called Egypt’s Bahariya Oasis. The last time this site was explored was when a German, named Ernst Stromer, found four smaller dinosaur species. Stromer believed that the fossils he found came from a period in the Upper Cretaceous around ninety three to ninety nine million years ago. Included in stromer’s findings were fish, turtles, plesiosaurs, squamates, crocodyliforms, and four dinosaurs: the theropods Spinosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, and Bahariasaurus, and the sauropod Aegyptosaurus (Dodson, Lacovara, Lamanna, and Smith). Unfortunately most of these fossils were destroyed in 1944 when the Allied forces bombed Munich during World War II. The period around ninety to one hundred million years ago is characterized by a very small variation in temperature between the north and south ... ... in that area. The discovery of the Paralititan supports the theory that the two continents were attached through the late Cretaceous, because it is closely related to the Argentinosaurus. This discovery is exciting because it is another very large sauropod and, because it helps support the theory that Africa and South America were still connected through the late Cretaceous period. Bibliography Dodson, Peter, Kenneth Lacovara, Matthew Lamanna, and Joshua Smith. â€Å"A giant sauropod dinosaur from an Upper Creataceous mangrove deposit in Egypt†. Science. Washington: June1, 2001. Vo. 292, Iss. 5522. Roach, John. â€Å"’Tidal Giant’ Roamed Coastal Swamps of Ancient Africa†. National Geographic News. 2001. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/05/0 531-tidaldinosaur.html

The Old Man And The Sea: Man Defeated :: essays research papers

Reading through the novel The Old Man and the Sea one, as a reader, can perceive several themes in the book. Hemingway suggests certain subjects for discussion which built up the whole plot, therefore giving us options to choose the one we believe is the main one. In the past weeks we have been discussing, in a debate, which is that main theme. My group’s theme was â€Å"Man Defeated† and although it is hard to affirm that this theme was the prevailing one of the book, we firmly defend it. Various arguments were established. Some argued that the novel’s theme was Santiago’s struggle, the friendship with the fish and other characters; Santiago’s perseverance and that he really ended up as a triumphant man. But to argue that those were also the main themes of the book is also a difficult thing to do. Even though Santiago fought and kept on with his struggle to catch the fish, he was defeated because he lost it at the end. Defeat, according to the Larousse Chambers English Dictionary, is when you are overthrown in a battle, you lose a game and therefore you don’t win: you don’t gain or reach your goal. As we can see Santiago, in spite of the fact that he persevered and struggled, starving, for three days lost the battle. He couldn’t get to his main goal. But , exactly what was his goal, one may ask? He wanted the fish, he was not fishing as a hobby or sport; he planned to sell the fish and get some money to eat, it was his way of surviving. Santiago’s only way of income was fishing and he knew that. He mentions: â€Å" He was a fish to keep a man all winter.†(page 111). Santiago had plans for him already but failed to accomplish them. Some will argue that he won because he gained spiritual victory. This , in a way, is true; but fishing is his job and only way of living. If the case had been different and Santiago was only fishing for his personal entertainment, which wasn’t, it could be seen as a new experience or story to tell. But it wasn’t. Santiago needed the fish and lost it. He wasn’t happy or joyful about it, as we will later on discuss. The definition of the word triumph is : â€Å"victory, success, a state of great joy over success, to win a great victory or success and rejoice over this; openly to show one’s rejoicing over the person one has defeated. The Old Man And The Sea: Man Defeated :: essays research papers Reading through the novel The Old Man and the Sea one, as a reader, can perceive several themes in the book. Hemingway suggests certain subjects for discussion which built up the whole plot, therefore giving us options to choose the one we believe is the main one. In the past weeks we have been discussing, in a debate, which is that main theme. My group’s theme was â€Å"Man Defeated† and although it is hard to affirm that this theme was the prevailing one of the book, we firmly defend it. Various arguments were established. Some argued that the novel’s theme was Santiago’s struggle, the friendship with the fish and other characters; Santiago’s perseverance and that he really ended up as a triumphant man. But to argue that those were also the main themes of the book is also a difficult thing to do. Even though Santiago fought and kept on with his struggle to catch the fish, he was defeated because he lost it at the end. Defeat, according to the Larousse Chambers English Dictionary, is when you are overthrown in a battle, you lose a game and therefore you don’t win: you don’t gain or reach your goal. As we can see Santiago, in spite of the fact that he persevered and struggled, starving, for three days lost the battle. He couldn’t get to his main goal. But , exactly what was his goal, one may ask? He wanted the fish, he was not fishing as a hobby or sport; he planned to sell the fish and get some money to eat, it was his way of surviving. Santiago’s only way of income was fishing and he knew that. He mentions: â€Å" He was a fish to keep a man all winter.†(page 111). Santiago had plans for him already but failed to accomplish them. Some will argue that he won because he gained spiritual victory. This , in a way, is true; but fishing is his job and only way of living. If the case had been different and Santiago was only fishing for his personal entertainment, which wasn’t, it could be seen as a new experience or story to tell. But it wasn’t. Santiago needed the fish and lost it. He wasn’t happy or joyful about it, as we will later on discuss. The definition of the word triumph is : â€Å"victory, success, a state of great joy over success, to win a great victory or success and rejoice over this; openly to show one’s rejoicing over the person one has defeated.

Bad Boys

Nick Stephens 4/3/13 Albritton Sociology 3255 Bad Boys Ann Arnett Ferguson’s book â€Å"Bad Boys† discusses the way educators and other people in the school systems, and society as a whole view black youth in today’s world. There are many stereotypes that are discussed and stigmas that stick with black children through their entire lives in Ferguson’s book. In order to prevent further damage to this part of our society the reader should take a long hard look at the problems brought forth by â€Å"Bad Boys†.One problem that Ferguson discusses in her book is adultification. According to her definition adultification is the idea that teachers and other adults see black children as willfully bad. Since they are seen in this light it creates an idea that black boys have adult motivations thus, making black boys seem like criminals instead of kids. Also, along the same lines, black girls are perceived as dangerously sexual. While this issue seems sort of ridiculous, these things actually happen in our public school system.While white children are seen as naturally naughty, essentially authority figures adopt the â€Å"boys will be boys† mentality when white boys get in trouble or act out, instead of issuing punishment equally to white children who act out. Ferguson states, â€Å"One the one hand children are assumed to be dissembling, devious, because they are more egocentric. On the other hand, there is an attribution of innocence to their wrongdoing. In both cases, this is understood to be a temporary condition, a stage prior to maturity. †(80)Another problem that Ferguson observes in her book is the two controlling images of black males in schools. She says, â€Å"Two cultural images stigmatize black males in the United States today: one represents him as a criminal, and the other depicts him as an endangered species. I found that both of these images were commonly invoked at Rosa Parks School for identifying, clas sifying, and making punishment decisions by the adults responsible for disciplining the kids. †(20) The way that black boys are seen creates a social hierarchy based solely on class.Ferguson is able, through her first-hand experience, to record instances that show these problems in action and give the reader insight to the problems that are being addressed. The image of black children being criminals is inherent to their development. If they are treated from a young age as criminals, they will eventually come to accept that as part of their social identity, leading them to actually commit crimes in the future. If they were treated equally then black children, especially males, may not be on a definite path into the heart of the criminal justice system by the time they are adults.Ferguson addresses another problem that has a severe effect on the psyche of young black boys in public schools. Teachers and administrators alike are guilty of assuming that these children are headed for a future of crime. They are labeled as unsalvageable and bound for jail. She uses the example, â€Å"There is a jail cell with your name on it† coming from the teacher to one of their students. This is damaging to the child’s development because it seemingly predetermines their fate. The punishing room that Ferguson discusses is primarily made up of black boys.The punishing room makes these boys truly believe that they are bad, and that since even their teachers and other superiors cannot see through this it tends to give the children a sense of identity as someone who is bad, and does not really count. With the punishing room the idea is solidified in the minds of these children, which is a problem. Ideally these troubled children should be worked with individually in order to get to the root of the reason that they are acting out in school. Ferguson says about the punishing room, â€Å"The child who gets in trouble is the norm. Identities and reputations are mad e and remade here.It is the space in the school in which everyone is like yourself-in trouble-and you are no longer different. † This quote gives the reader a visible reference of why some of these children, deemed unsalvageable by their teachers, may get into trouble on purpose so they have to go to this place where at least they are not alone. This leads into the idea of the importance of group identity. Ferguson explains the importance of group identity in her book by basically saying that kids need to feel like they fit it, and they will use whatever tools necessary in order to do so.This is all brought together by the idea of cultural capital. Ferguson explains that in the school system there is a hierarchy of the children, â€Å"The disciplinary techniques of the school actively produce social identities of â€Å"good†, â€Å"bad†, â€Å"gifted†, â€Å"having potential†, â€Å"troubled†, and â€Å"troublesome,† rather than ferre t them out and reveal them as they naturally exist. The importance of group identity is essential in the development of all children. It helps them to develop a sense of self, who they are, and who they want to be.The problem lies in the fact that children are becoming fine with the idea that they are â€Å"bad† and come to accept that as reality, which allows them to form that identity, in turn making them into bad kids, because the only way that they are able to fit in to the social atmosphere is by acting out and getting in trouble. The boys in Ferguson’s study use the importance of group identity, coping mechanisms in public, and classroom performance in tandem to secure their own personal identities. Most of the kids are not really that â€Å"bad† they often have extenuating circumstances outside of school that make school not seem important to them.They often feel secluded, which draws from the problem with adultification by their teachers and other superi ors. So by acting out in the classroom they get attention, even though it is negative attention, it is still attention. Through the eyes of the teachers it seems like they are just putting forth a poor classroom performance. They do not see the struggles that the children go through outside of school, which tends to directly have an impact on the way the handle themselves in social situations, craving the need to belong to some sort of group. So they turn to what is presented to them, being bad.In conclusion, there are many flaws with the education system in the United States. The processes in which black children are dealt with need to be reformed. The idea of adultification as defined by Ferguson is a serious issue that plagues schools, where even teachers who are conscious of this fall into the category of looking at black children as small adults, holding them to different standards than their white counterparts. They are still subject to the controlling images of black males as being criminals, and assuming that they are on the path to prison anyway, so what is the use. This is unacceptable.Different strategies in dealing with this problem should be implemented than the ones that the public school system has to offer at the present time. Through Ferguson’s first-hand accounts of what she observed during her time in Rosa Parks School the reader is painted a picture of the very real problems at hand. Most people outside of these schools do not even realize what is going on and that is a problem as well. By studying Ferguson’s work one can hope that in the near future there will be some sort of reconstruction of the schools in order to help prevent further damage and stigmatization to black children.

Nz Fitness Industry

Within New Zealand a growing number of people are using the fitness industry as a convenient means of improving and maintaining their well-being. In recent times a market boom has taken place with more and more gyms being built throughout the country, and with them new business opportunities arising. One of the most renown gyms in New Zealand, Les Mills is an example of one of these modern business franchises.In the 43 years since Phillip Mills family started running their first Les Mills gym in New Zealand, the gym has since gone international with over 14,000 gyms now spread throughout 75 countries worldwide and an estimated net worth of (†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. ) (citation). It is estimated that in New Zealand alone the gym industry generated over (†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. ) in 2008 (citation). Along with the increase in gyms being established a large proportion of the fitness industry is now focusing on nutrition as an additional market for generating profit.This report serves to a nalyse and interpret both individual markets along with relevant figures, and will outline the potential future business prospects for investment or creating a new franchise in both markets. New Zealand has a large fitness industry as exercise has become a very important part of everyday life. Today’s gym goers are opting for low frills operators trading away high end services in favour of convenience, price and flexible contracts.With more than 10% of New Zealand’s population now seeing an exercise professional regularly, there is a total of 400,000 people on average seeing 1500 exercise professionals on a regular basis. (cited) Some of the top gyms in New Zealand are Les Mills, Next generation and Jetts. Les Mills has a competitive advantage of having fun while exercise via the fitness classes that are suitable for all ages and sizes, such as Body Combat. Les Mills is a large firm that has privately owned companies headquarters in Auckland only which are valued at $1 30 million.Les Mills believes that by 2020 they will open a further of 10 gyms in Auckland (cited Mills). The health and fitness market has been described as blandly premium as there is little deffirentiation between service offerings, indicating that there is opportunity for competitive advantage to be achieved through quality. In order to open a new franchise sufficient funds must be available. Competition exist with a newly opened Les Mills Britomart, which was set up with a total cost of $10 million dollars. Margins are very slim for smaller gyms, so would need to be a large player to be successful. Nz Fitness Industry Within New Zealand a growing number of people are using the fitness industry as a convenient means of improving and maintaining their well-being. In recent times a market boom has taken place with more and more gyms being built throughout the country, and with them new business opportunities arising. One of the most renown gyms in New Zealand, Les Mills is an example of one of these modern business franchises.In the 43 years since Phillip Mills family started running their first Les Mills gym in New Zealand, the gym has since gone international with over 14,000 gyms now spread throughout 75 countries worldwide and an estimated net worth of (†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. ) (citation). It is estimated that in New Zealand alone the gym industry generated over (†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. ) in 2008 (citation). Along with the increase in gyms being established a large proportion of the fitness industry is now focusing on nutrition as an additional market for generating profit.This report serves to a nalyse and interpret both individual markets along with relevant figures, and will outline the potential future business prospects for investment or creating a new franchise in both markets. New Zealand has a large fitness industry as exercise has become a very important part of everyday life. Today’s gym goers are opting for low frills operators trading away high end services in favour of convenience, price and flexible contracts.With more than 10% of New Zealand’s population now seeing an exercise professional regularly, there is a total of 400,000 people on average seeing 1500 exercise professionals on a regular basis. (cited) Some of the top gyms in New Zealand are Les Mills, Next generation and Jetts. Les Mills has a competitive advantage of having fun while exercise via the fitness classes that are suitable for all ages and sizes, such as Body Combat. Les Mills is a large firm that has privately owned companies headquarters in Auckland only which are valued at $1 30 million.Les Mills believes that by 2020 they will open a further of 10 gyms in Auckland (cited Mills). The health and fitness market has been described as blandly premium as there is little deffirentiation between service offerings, indicating that there is opportunity for competitive advantage to be achieved through quality. In order to open a new franchise sufficient funds must be available. Competition exist with a newly opened Les Mills Britomart, which was set up with a total cost of $10 million dollars. Margins are very slim for smaller gyms, so would need to be a large player to be successful.