Beautillion & church and school

When I look back unto my life, I find that it has – short as it may be – so far been a good one. Divided between church and school, and backed up by my home, I understand quite well that I am luckier than most youths my age. I don't do drugs – beyond the legally allowed ones, such as coffee – I don't drink. I don't have an unstable situation is my household, nor am I close to a dropout, as many youths are.I've found God and was able to implement Him into my life as an advisor and someone to talk to on an everyday basis. I don't meet with discrimination much, not more than any of my peers.And yet I find there is something left unfulfilled in my life. So I look back upon myself and the places I inhabit, and recollect, to move forward with the improved knowledge of myself. My home has always been good to me. I have always had a great relationship with my parents, who were an inspiration for the many things I do. Without their support, I would never have been able to gather the determination to study the saxophone long enough to be an active member in a marching band. They are also the ones who taught me compassion and to look at the elderly in a different, kind light.This has led to one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life: using my ability to create music to help the elderly in their retirement homes. This is a daily school of tolerance and kindness for me, and I can with all honesty say that I have learned much from them and with their help. My parents have also always been there for me, through thick and thin, and for that I am eternally grateful. School is a very important part of my life. It gives me the information I need to live well. I am a good student, my grades are above average, but the more I learn, the more I see that education I am getting is really rather basic.Since I study more than I am supposed to by normal school standards, I can see that there is much more to be learned than high school gives us. There are obvious gaps in our education, and I think they create part of the problems this country is having. I try to alleviate the unfortunate side effects of early specialization through my own efforts, but this is rather difficult. I can only hope that when I get into college the situation will be somewhat amended by the possibility of free research and the aid of experienced scholars.Still, school is a great learning experience for me, because, even despite the lack of serious understanding of the natural and social sciences, it is a great place to adapt to adult life and learn how to gradually take responsibility. I try to make the most of school, but am anxious to gain the greater opportunities of college. My church life is a good one, as well. I am a Baptist, and love my congregation for the principle of sola scriptura. Every single Baptist must think for himself and commune with God directly.I know I have a living, personal God looking after me, and I confide in him. When I look at m embers of other confessions I feel sadness, because I know that very many of them are mistaken and are led down the darker paths of life, and quite possibly into the bowels of Satan. I try to help them best I can, through intelligently questioning them on their morality and faith in God. I try not to act too strongly in my desire to help, as many people consider such actions an infringement of their personal space, even though I am simply demonstrating how Baptism helps in living a good life.However, I am happy in the lap of my Church, and I try to lead others to it by example. After all, if we do not help these people, who will tell them that they are in the grave danger of sin? I take pride in getting the chance to help those who strayed from Jesus’s flock. My life may seem perfect from this essay. I am very well-rounded education-wise; I have a good home, and a direct hotline with God. Yet there is something always left unfulfilled. I do not mean the failures of life †“ those I have long learned to accept and to listen to as mere messages.Perfection is lonely, and, though I have most anything I really want, I do not know what to desire further. I have reached a stage in personal development when just helping myself is not enough. A new need opens up in me, slowly and steadily. It is the need to help others. What use is there for good in my own life if my best friend is troubled? How worthy am I if my mother cries at night, for any reason? These questions haunt me constantly, and drive to begin a new stage – life as a servant to the people.

Slave Dbq

Julie Giaimo DBQ Going back to 1619, Africans were bought to America and sold to Americans as workers. It wasn’t long before slavery became a controversial issue. Over the course of almost two and a half centuries the debate of weather to continue or abolish slavery went on. The supporters and the abolitionist had their arguments on how they viewed slavery, and the government played their part too. Those who supported slavery were for the most part southerners. Senator John C. Calhoun states that slavery is a â€Å"positive good†.He says that through slavery, the conditions of the races improved physically, morally, and intellectually and the two races of black and white were brought together. Calhoun also says that the living conditions for the slaves were good and they were taken care of. But in reality, the slaves were living in shacks fearing for their lives and hoping not to get beaten by their slave owner after a long hard day of working in the blistering sun on t he plantations (document 2). Another man against the abolition of slavery is Chancellor Harper.According to Harper, the emancipated slaves would harm the economy of the United States and Europe. This is because he believed that the free laborers would strike against working for higher pays and they wouldn’t do their jobs, thus affecting the trade. The slaves did get paid but very low amounts compared to the hard work that they put into their jobs (document 3). Those were some arguments of people who supported slavery and believed that it should be continued. People who didn’t believe in slavery are known as abolitionist.

Aspects of Belonging Notes

English questions: -Explain how some of the specific events that are presented in your texts provide insight into belonging/ not belonging? -Relationships are integral to human beings feeling like they belong. Assess the truth of this statement in regard to your prescribed text and one other text. TODAYS LESSON: -Thesis statements for each aspect of belonging: -Acceptance -Understanding -Relationships -Notions of Identity -Experience -Landscape Write an introduction and conclusion for each of the questions at the top of the page. Acceptance: A strong sense of belonging within a community is reliant not only on the willingness to assimilate, but also on those already in the community to be accepting. †¢Feelings of acceptance can heighten a sense of belonging whereas rejection can alienate individuals. †¢An individual’s fear of alienation can lead them to think or act in ways that are not true to their ideology. Understanding †¢For an individual to feel that they belong to a particular person, place or group, they need to accept and understand the social expectations and behaviours of that community. Understanding the values of a person, place or group is the fundamental foundation for mutual respect that allows for a sense of belonging. †¢An understanding and appreciation of individual differences – even within a group – is essential for the smooth running of the society and thus is the origin of the sense of belonging or not belonging. Relationships †¢The need to belong to a group or community shapes our behaviour, attitude and actions. When humanity experiences a strong connection to a place the notion of belonging is strengthened and enriched. †¢When our relationship with a place is shaped by a narrow and biased view of the world, our notion of belonging can be questionable. †¢Connections with individuals, groups or places can nurture a sense of belonging through the relationship with that other person, group or place. †¢Relationships are the basis upon which an individual may feel a sense of belonging or not belonging towards a person or place. When significant relationships in life are fractured, often many other aspects related to an individual’s wellbeing will be negatively impacted. †¢Relationships come in many forms and can either allow an individual to experience a sense of belonging or hinder this sense of belonging. Notions of Identity †¢When your cultural identity is marginalised, you can feel dislocated and displaced, and believe that you do not belong to your culture or part of the dominant culture. Our search for who we are is fuelled by a need to find a place in the world where we feel we belong. †¢Time and the passage of time can have a significant impact on our notion of identity and from that – to whom and to where an individual might belong. †¢An individual’s fear of alienation can make them act or think in ways that a re not true to their ideology. †¢Our individual identity is greatly constructed by how others perceive us. †¢The community surrounding you impacts your opinion of selfhood, consequently moulding your identity. Experience We search for a place to belong, not realising that it is our perceptions and attitudes, not the place, that ultimately allows us to feel a sense of belonging. †¢Personal experiences shape our beliefs and values and hence contribute to their sense of self and ultimately where they belong. †¢Experiences can have both positive and negative effects on individuals depending on the extent and power of the knowledge gained. †¢The way we view and assess the experiences of life can change overtime and thus impact how we establish the present and future. Place/Landscape †¢ Strong conclusion: Strong relationships nourish belonging, whilst damaged relationships may be detrimental to the experience of belonging† It is evident that both compos ers represent this interpretation, but in varying ways – while Romulus focuses more on so how relationships – and barriers to these – can hinder belonging, â€Å"other related text† focuses much more on the†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. and how these flourish and nourish one’s sense of belonging/ Although different, both composers effectively present their interpretation of relationships, and how these can either nourish or hinder one’s sense of belonging. ORIn conclusion, both â€Å"† and â€Å"† show the various ways in which relationships with people and surroundings can impact an individual’s experience of belonging. Degrees of empathy, understanding, prejudice and sexual attraction, as shown in the examples above, clearly help determine the nature and strength of some of the relationships within the respective texts, and the extent to which they can and do impact on an individual’s broader sense of belonging or exclusion. R omantic, professional and cultural affiliation with others and his surroundings are integral to Romulus’ efforts to belong in his new country, Australia.

Police Administration CompStat Model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Police Administration CompStat Model - Essay Example However, critics of the model argues that it is based purely on pursuit of disorder, and as such, it enforces a zero tolerance policy. Others argue that it is aggressive policing thus returning the public to the days of police mishandling of force through violation of individual human rights. The aim of this paper is to evaluate whether CompStat model may or may not be the best alternative. The paper critiques the five basic principles of CompStat model, before discussing the long-term and short-term effectiveness measures. The paper also provides an implementation plan of the system. Discussion Strengths Firstly, since agendas are single focused, reporting meetings form a key program initiative under CompStat, and delays or any excuses are not tolerated. Hence no commander is allowed to leave the meeting without providing solutions to the task required (Willis, Mastrofskib, & Weisburd, 2004). In such meetings, every unit is represented and the commanding officers are not just able t o share information, but also responsibilities. Therefore, time, distance or diverse objectives which are common inhibitors under conventional models are eliminated under CompStat. In the end many resources from the departments can be applied during a response issue during such meetings, and the major aspect of CompStat effectiveness in tactics is based on its specified assignment of resources to a particular issue (McDonald, 2001). The major component of CompStat is relentless follow-up with assessment, and the strategies and tactic are assessed regarding every decision undertaken. However, techniques of assessment shift based on particular issue or tactic applied in assessing issues, such as shifting crime patterns, citizen complaints, or shifts in arrests result in prosecution (McDonald, 2001). Technology use is significant under CompStat and it is implemented effectively when it comes to electronic pin mapping, thus enabling visual portrayal of not just the crime hotspots but al so the crime patterns (Henry, 2008). For instance, computer pin mapping crime assessment system, adds to the departments radars system operations in attaining an early recognition of crime patterns. Thus, the system gathers response times while reporting activities. This technology use enables any police department to derive its crime data from various sources, hence guaranteeing precise identification of crime hotspots or crime patterns. Thirdly, data gathering and analysis forms a major aspect of CompStat program design and selection of effective tactics. Since timely data is essential, it is updated weekly and data analysis goes further than simple tallying of crime totals, to other trend indicators like assessment of geographic regions (McDonald, 2001). Hence, data analysis places emphasis on shifts in crime numbers, the demographic patterns, nature of arrests made, available resources, as well as behavior patterns of the criminals. Furthermore, the quality data collection and a nalysis does not cost millions of dollars or application of complicated software packages, but accurate automated systems which only require commitment and precision. Compstat

Change from Quantitative to Qualitative using template Article

Change from Quantitative to Qualitative using template - Article Example Research Purpose Thus, the aim of this quantitative descriptive research study was to appraise nurses’ knowledge on the subject of prevention of unpremeditated perioperative hypothermia (Hegarty, & ettal, 2009). As a result, Hegarty, & ettal (2009) observes that between 60%-90% perioperative patients by chance become hypothermic, which then results in significant negative outcomes on the patient health, including increased hospital-stays, as well as further procedures and even forced to undergo further diagnostic tests. It therefore becomes important to every perioperative nurse to have an in-depth awareness of inadvertent hypothermia, particularly the risk factors and subsequent complications. Research Question The research question centers on whether perioperative setting nurses do have sufficient knowledge base concerning the management of their patients body temperature in a defined range, given the detrimental outcomes linked to inadvertent hypothermia. Normally, accident al hypothermia among perioperative patients has been linked to deprived patient outcomes, whereby control of the patient body temperature is not under a defined range which can sustain a stable body environment (Hegarty, & ettal, 2009). Informed Consent and Ethical Considerations This study can be considered ethical since it considers the basic ethical principles of research comprising autonomy, non-malfeasance, and justice. Notably, ethical approval was acquired from relevant clinical-research ethical committees, even though the researchers have not stated specifically the institutional names of the committees. Furthermore, informed consent was the hallmark of their research, since they used informational leaflet to notify the volunteers of their participation in the study, and as such, participation was voluntary and personal information acquired through questionnaires were kept confidential. Thus, the volunteers were given detailed purpose and objectives of the research study bef orehand (Hegarty, & ettal, 2009). Design In terms of design, the researchers applied a quasi-experimental design whereby the sole variable was not influenced or controlled. The strengths, sample size, limitations, and overall implications have been highlighted just as required in any evidence based nursing study. The study is based on a reflexive progression, which entailed working through every phase of the research whereby the functions of developing theory, gathering and analyzing of data, in addition to elaborating of research questions have been done simultaneously (Hegarty, & ettal, 2009). Hence, each of these functions influenced the others. Data Collection In terms of data collection, questionnaires containing structured questions in several leaflets were filled by participants, even as the entire survey package comprised two survey-tools tailored with consent from original authors of the questionnaires. The intention for tailoring the survey tools was to suit the perioperat ive setting nurses working environment. Moreover, the study participants were able to identify various techniques applied under their clinical-field when trying to make certain that their patients do not acquire hypothermia. In total there were nine questions with the major questions asking the participants to describe hypothermia and the other to list factors which can result in hypothermia for their perioperative patients. They were also asked to state likely sources of heat loss, the methods each participant applies in their

George Berkeley and his famous work A Treatise Concerning the Essay

George Berkeley and his famous work A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge - Essay Example Berkeley was a great a philosopher with many philosophical achievements under his theories of idealism and immaterialism. He is also best remembered for his early works on vision and metaphysics, the latter regarding the treatise concerning the principles of human knowledge (Olscamp1). His death occurred in 1753 and according to his will, his body was to be kept above the ground for some time before burial; this shows how great a philosopher he was. Being a philosopher, Berkeley took time to study wisdom and truth. It is normally assumed that those who take such direction in life have greater enjoyment of life and peace of mind with clear understanding of many things. Another assumption that exists is that these philosophers have fewer disturbances than any other man. The other group of people who are not philosophers often put blames on objects and facilities that are meant to help human beings, rather than taking the responsibility so that humans can change and live a better life. Berkeley urges us to have belief in God who has been generous to men giving them great desire to have knowledge (Berkeley, â€Å"A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge† 1). ... The purpose of Berkeley’s study in philosophy was to try to discover underlying sources that have created a lot of doubtfulness and uncertainties with regard to philosophy. Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge The principle of idealism Berkeley was pushed by the desire to make discoveries about the principles that have introduced doubtfulness and uncertainties as well as contradictions in life, especially along the lines of philosophy. Adding his argument on that, Berkeley had made an observation that even the wise men have the notion that ignorance has no cure; he envisages it to the rise in natural dreariness and inadequacy of faculties (Berkeley, â€Å"A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge† 10 ). It was a belief by George Berkeley that when one takes an analysis of human knowledge, â€Å"the ideas are either actually imprinted on the senses or perceived to be attending to the passions and operations of the mind† (Berkeley, â €Å"The Principles of Human Knowledge† 29). Human ideas are developed by the help of the brain whereby imaginations are formed. Berkeley used the idea of light and colours to expound the fact that through them, one can be able to differentiate amongst many things that surround the human being; they may be touch or smell, hearing also conveys information regarding the tonal variations. Several objects that are used by human beings to understand the surrounding whether being colour, smell, and taste, they all define the passion of love, hatred, happiness and sadness. Besides the knowledge and ideas that accompany the understanding of the nature and the environment, this has to be accompanied by the ability to remember and imagine, as well as willingness to

Change in milk bacterias and the effect on teenage girls Research Paper

Change in milk bacterias and the effect on teenage girls - Research Paper Example To counter this, pasteurization of milk was discovered to kill a huge number of diseases causing bacterium. However, pasteurization does not kill every bacterium (Gupta 52). Milk products such as cheese, yoghurt and butter carry the potential of having some bacteria in them. Their consumption in large numbers is relative to an increasing risk of affection. For instance, increased intake milk products correlate with but do not necessarily cause adolescent acne. At this point, it is good to note that milk has two layers one that contains fat and one that does not. The fatty layer has hormones such as progesterone and androgens that stimulate acne. Acne leads to hormonal imbalances and thus abnormal experiences in regard to menstruation (Fox 45). The number of diseases caused by bacteria is large but this paper intends to focus on female genital tuberculosis as one of them. Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium causes this disease. A person suffering from this disease, experiences the fo llowing symptoms; abdominal pain from the lower side, oligomenorrhoea, menstrual disorders, infertility, dyspareunia, vaginal discharges, fatigue, pelvic mass, weight loss among many others. The major treatments include surgery and chemotherapy and use of antituberculosis drugs (Zourob et al 22). The false believe that close contact can lead to transmission of the disease has resulted to the victims being stigmatized. The treatment taking sixth months and above is expensive both to the self and to the government. Studies have shown that most people who suffer from this disease are young, the working bracket, a reduction in the labor force occurs, and a fall in gross domestic product is seen if the number of victims is high like in India. This disease runs over every sphere of the world although the percentages vary. Geographical distribution shows that India has been in the lead followed by Scotland and Saudi Arabia respectively while Australia, USA and Finland have managed less tha n one percent. The historical perspective has reflected that Africa has been leading in mortality rates resulting from this calamity (Gupta 53). Nations have taken measures on prevention of disease to their nationals. Developing nations have embarked on poverty alleviation methodologies. Poverty dictates poor nutrition, inaccessibility to information, poor housing and welfare and is thus expedient to have measures to reduce and control it. Amongst the strategies is equal distribution of funds, enhancement of the rule of law, providence of social amenities ranging from health centers, schools to administration offices and equity in education. These countries have also embarked in building research centers and funding universities and colleges involved in medical research (Zourob et al 23). These nations through the ministries of health have integrated programs to engage the WHO programs that include vaccinations and immunizations. Developed countries have directed their efforts in th e formulation and implementation of laws and policies against industrial environmental pollution, production and marketing of genetically modified foods and global warming activities. Both developed and developing countries have formed joint unions to strategize on how to promote the health welfare of their nationals. The World Health Organization (WHO) has held a different position altogether. It advocates for enactment of emergency intervention

What Ties Mary Shelly's Frankenstein to Tony Morrison's Sula Essay

What Ties Mary Shelly's Frankenstein to Tony Morrison's Sula - Essay Example This novel compares to Tony Morrison’s Sula, written in 1978. The two books have strikingly similar themes, such as Family, mystery, the pursuit of knowledge, unconventional thought and love and romance. The theme of family ties seems to best join the two novels, since it is at the heart of this theme that the novels unravel. Both Shelley and Morrison seem top agree that the family is a very important institution in the society, and that its choice to accept or reject a person has serious implications on the person’s self worth, conduct and final outcome. For instance, both novels reveal that the family is the most important social order. Shelley’s Frankenstein’s begins with a narration by Robert Walton, an unsuccessful author who, in pursuit of fame, sets out on a scientific exploration of the Polar North. Captain Walton is writing a letter to his sister, Madam Margaret Walton Saville. The letter ends up being the novel Frankenstein. By indicating Waltonà ¢â‚¬â„¢s background, Shelley accounts for the inconsistencies and discontinuities seen in his narrative letter. On the other hand, Morrison’s introduction of the Bottom, the area where Sula is set brings about a slave and his master. The slave hopes to attain a reward from his master, who has become his family. The master points to the hills, the Bottomland. The authors could not have found a stronger way to introduce their stories. Shelley’s introduction of a captain talking to his sister foreshadows the close ties to be identified later in the novel. Similarly, Morrison’s introduction foreshadows the future issues which will arise from family ties. Captain Walton explains the story of Victor as received from a dying Victor Frankenstein. It will be noted that almost throughout the novel, Shelley introduces a character by first stating their family background. Victor’s birth in a wealthy family from Geneva, as well as that of his brothers Ernest and Willi am point to his current situation. The death of his mother just before he joins the University inspires him to venture in to researches in Alchemy, Chemistry and Physical Sciences. He is more fascinated with how such sciences can be used to bring back the dead. Shelley’s connection of Victor’s mother’s death to his ambitious pursuits in the University has significance in bringing coherence to her storyline. It is also a statement that circumstances affecting our beloved ones affect our life choices. Little is said about his brothers, which is understandable in a novel setting. On the other hand, in Sula, the background of the protagonist, Nel, and antagonist, Sula, take a similar perspective. The ... chapter contrasts the families of the two. Nel’s family upholds conventional living to the latter. The family wants her to lead a similar life, but she is not decided, even after meeting her unconventional grandmother. Sula’s family is the exact opposi te of Nel’s family. Her promiscuous mother and grandmother, as well as her three adopted brothers, the deweys represent an unconventional family. Nevertheless, Nel and Sula become fierce friends in their adolescence. Morrison uses the family to show how our personality types, life beliefs and philosophies are shaped. Similarly, the contrast builds in to his conflict and later resolution.     

Land Use in Pinchot Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Land Use in Pinchot - Lab Report Example resulted in a decrease in the population of the predator/prey ecosystem while the 50% and 75% fragmentation created a more distorted distribution of the species. This shows that the hypothesis should be accepted. It was observed that increasing fragmentation is directly proportional to the increase in abundance of the Spiny Firegrass (SFG) and Elk population. The wolf and bluebunch wheatflower (BBWF) population remained constant at 0% and 25% fragmentation and drastically dropped at 50% and 75% fragmentation. The addition of the BBWF, elk and wolf created a more balanced ecosystem in the 0%, 25% and 50% fragmentation as affected by the hierarchy of the species in the trophic level (Moorecroft, n.d.). The increasing fragmentation caused the increase in the abundance of the SFG because of the increased amount of direct sunlight brought about by deforestation. The habitat has become more favorable for the SFG, while unfavorable for the wolf and BBWF which take shelter and protection from the forest. Lindsey (2007) emphasized that deforestation directly makes the species depending on the forests vulnerable; and in this case, it will be the wolves and BBWF. The wolves can be considered the keystone species in the Pinchot ecosystem because the results obtained from the 75% fragmentation created a trophic cascade because there was a very small number of the higher level predator that will be able to control the number of the elks in the ecosystem (Moorecroft, n.d.). The observations gathered shows that the ecosystem is a top-down control of population dynamics. Deforestation and urban sprawl has a direct impact on the food web because these two activities endanger the higher level predator, causing a trophic cascade in the ecosystem (Moorecroft, n.d.). Deforestation provides a better habitat for the proliferation of SFG, and urban sprawl drives away the wolves that live in the woods, causing the increase in the elk population, and consequently depleting the

Business decision making Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business decision making - Assignment Example Decision making process is a very significant function to any company that must attain success in the market. It stipulates the areas that the company can easily penetrate in the market without enormous incurrence on costs and any impending risks. Data collection is the approach that wills open doors for such a company to make an adequate decision from the analysis they arrive at as per the data segments (Carroll, 2008). In this paper is stipulated that data analysis is a significant faction which every company ought to adopt. The report revolves around a fashion industry selling fashion clothes, shoes, jeans and other related fashion components whose main target is the youth generation. It possesses a challenge since the youths are dynamics in their desires, this call for constant review of its products to meet the demand of its market segment. A group comprising of 20 youths is sampled from Coventry region who are interviewed on a major market trends about fashion and their take on how fashion impacts the development of new products in the market. Their involvement in the changes is the key factor that is considered (Bazerman& Moore, 2013). Decisions amount to the most significant components to business in the market regardless of its current position. For a business to start it must involve decision making processes and growing business must always apply different decisions for its growth purposes, otherwise growth and start-up will never be met. An agglomeration of factors must be taken into consideration on the particular field of the company. A company ought to ask such questions like what is my market size. What is the market trend? Who are my consumers? What is the market perception? Among other critical questions which will drive the company to undertake proper steps. Quality, quantity, location, size and other structural characteristics are influenced by the decisions made by management in a company (Teale,

Learning and Teaching Styles Essay Example for Free

Learning and Teaching Styles Essay Wk. 2 Learning and Teaching Styles â€Å"In almost every actual well-designed study, Mr. Pashler and his colleagues write in their paper, ‘Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence,’ the pattern is similar: For a given lesson, one instructional technique turns out to be optimal for all groups of students, even though students with certain learning styles may not love that technique. † (2009) I wanted to start this paper with this quote since it did involve some sort of evidence that teaching in one style still works. Students can and do succeed and have received equal scores as their peers whose learning styles matched the teachers methods of teaching. I do believe however that students may not catch on as fast and lose interest easier when being taught material. This is why I would still use different methods of teaching versus just one. As a visual learner, I understand how difficult it can be to orally receive directions for an assignment or other activity. I thrive on written directions and learning materials that need to be read or are graphed. I often had to ask the teacher numerous times to repeat the directions because I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. This put me behind and my grades occasionally suffered as a result. As a past teacher who worked in a school that believed in teaching using the multiple intelligences method, I found great joy in seeing my students succeed. As teachers, we were required to hand in our lesson plans weekly to the principal. Our lesson plans had to involve each of the intelligences. This was my first real job as a teacher and I did not completely understand why we were required to do this and not use our own personal methods. Looking back, I am so grateful that I learned and saw first hand the consequences of teaching using the multiple intelligences. I enjoyed seeing my student’s motivation rise as their type of learning was focused on for a particular lesson. When I go back to teaching, I will with no doubt in my mind, use this method again. It completely fits with my style of teaching most likely because it was my first real experience and works even for those students who have a completely different learning style than I do. In an ESL classroom, â€Å"dividing a lesson into phases† (Palmberg) to make sure I use each of the intelligences is ideal. I firmly believe that this method works no matter how different a student’s learning style is from the teacher. In a sample lesson for example, I would explain the topic (i. e. vocabulary words on food items) and give the students an overview of what they will need to do and what they are expected to learn. I would read them a story relating to food or going shopping. Next I would have them write down their own list of items that their families normally buy often for a real-life experience. The next phase is to divide the class into groups and share each other’s lists. They would also discuss what their ideal list and store layout would be like if they could buy any type of food that they wanted from their ideal grocery store. They would then move on to thinking about a song or songs that is about food. We would play that song the following day. For the students who feel comfortable, creating their own body expressions describing food would be next and sharing these movements with the rest of the class. This exercise could be turned into a fun lesson where the rest of the class would have to guess which food item is being emphasized (like charades). We would next come up with a class list of favorite food items. There would more than likely be some disagreement so I would divide them up in half asking them to have a debate based on reasonable food limits and favorites to come up with an ideal list. We would do the same thing for the ideal store layout. For the sake of repetition, each original group would compare with the class their original lists and new â€Å"reasonable† list and layout. I believe this lesson would take a few days but involves most if not all intelligences. Being a visual learner, I can benefit from the students who are different from me as much as they benefit from me and the lessons I teach them using the different intelligences. For example, as I try and improve my weaknesses in some forms of learning, I can benefit from the students who learn better in a completely different way (say kinesthetic). They will get much benefit from the part of the lesson that involves movement and I will get the same benefit seeing how they react and learn to this part of the lesson. To make things fun for the students (and me) those willing could come up with their own way of teaching each other about a certain topic. I would of course give them the general rules and guidelines and they would do the rest. I think each student could benefit from this because they would more than likely use their favorite way of learning to â€Å"teach† a lesson. For those who do not want to do this, they could also benefit from this since it is an exercise that is not ordinarily done and will hold interest longer. I am not a teacher and never have been one who forces students to do something that makes them feel uncomfortable (i. e. standing up and doing a charade). I think that this will do more harm than good. The student may back off and not participate or be eager to learn for fear that they may be picked on by their peers or even the teacher. I had this experience in middle school and know how it feels. I began to pull myself away from the class and especially the teacher. As a result, I did poorly in the class. For these types of students, a more gentle approach is necessary. The teacher may ask this type of student to write an explanation of what they would do or simply tell the teacher what they would do for an assignment. This is why I am such a believer of the multiple intelligences method. It involves all students and doesn’t single out particular ones. Everyone benefits and everyone learns based on their own learning strengths. Another less popular/obvious benefit of this teaching method is related to the impact that the students learning has on their own family and home life. I think that because a student is more eager to learn as a result of the multiple intelligences method, they will carry their positive attitude into their home life and be more compliant towards their family and of course themselves. As we all know, a student’s home life reflects their attitudes and success in school. References: chronicle. com/article/Matching-Teaching-Style-to/49497/ www. sube. com/ /integrating_learning_styles_and_skills_in_e www. tecweb. org/styles/gardner. html www. tefl. net/esl-lesson-plans/multiple-intelligences. htm Gardner, Howard. 1993. Multiple intelligences. The theory in practice. New York: Basic Books.

The Presentation Of Childhood In Adult Literature Essay Example for Free

The Presentation Of Childhood In Adult Literature Essay The childs inability to interpret the adult world is often central to the presentation of childhood in adult literature. Compare the presentation of childhood in Spies and Atonement, considering to what extent you feel this comment is applicable to these texts. As is frequently the case with novels written for adults with children as the main protagonists, the presentation of childhood emphasises the innocence of those at a young and often tender age. When the real world is like a dream, everyday activities are play and adults are a separate species with baffling social conventions, a child will often try to understand grown up aspects of life, but will make genuine misunderstandings instead. Many writers look back on their youth with fondness and use these misunderstandings for either comic intent, such as in Frayns Spies, or for life-altering tragedy in McEwans Atonement. In these two novels, as well as the prominence of childhood and memories being recalled as an adult, there is also the historical context to be considered in how this affects the presentation of childhood. Both novels are set during the Second World War. Life in Britain in the 1930s and 40s was an era of transition for society, during which the rise of the urban working class had led to significant changes in politics. Because of the war and the sudden absence of huge amounts of the populations men, families as units were changing more women were working at the same time as being mothers. However, the class system still held a firm grip on society, with every individual aware of their own status. It dictated what they would achieve or become, if anything, in life. This is shown in Spies as Stephen feels inferior to his friend Keith. He is aware he comes from a less well off milieu and goes to a different school. In Atonement Robbie Turner suffers all his life from the discrimination that comes with being working class and the son of the Tallises cleaning lady. In Spies, the character of Stephen is portrayed sympathetically, but not always sentimentally, by his older self. Humour is used frequently to invite the reader to laugh at Stephens inadequacies or false conclusions. But with the distance created by the maturity of the narrator, Stephens childhood troubles and traumas can be viewed with a sense of perspective. In the first paragraph of the novel, the narrator says, Im a child again and everythings before me all the frightening, half understood promise of life. Stephen is constantly fearful and held back by his crippling inability to be brave. He has a fight or flight mentality, twinned with a habit of avoidance. This is demonstrated by his childish habit of physically shutting his eyes when in a dangerous or tense situation, vainly trying to escape. Another aspect of his extreme anxiety is his terror of germs everything about them (the children in the Lanes) is plainly laden with germs and his understandable fear of Mr Hayward. The narrator relates Stephens feelings honestly and does not hold back embarrassing details his being teased by his classmates, or his crawling into his parents bed after a nightmare. As a child passing into adolescence, there develops an emerging sexuality with the influence of Barbara and awareness of his own mortality and vulnerability, but he still has irrational thoughts and feelings that as an adult he does not find so all-consuming any more: The imagination ages, like everything else. The intensity fades. You dont get as afraid as you used to Chapter 11, p232. Barbaras character symbolised by her blue bobble purse, both intrigues and unsettles Stephen. This is shown in Chapter 5 when she intrudes into the hideout in the bushes, smiling her big mocking smile, making herself entirely at home. p96. Stephen is outraged by her very presence and goes off on a ranting description Theres something girlishly self-satisfied about the bobbliness of the leather and the shininess of the popper that offends me almost as much as her intrusion. Unable to process his real feelings, he blames objects for his bad moods. He rejects anything feminine, which is a classic trait for young boys unable to understand girlhood. The naivety of childhood is captured in Spies because there are so many misunderstandings on Stephen and Keiths part about what is really going on in the Close and who is potentially a spy. The narrator frequently asks rhetorical questions about how much the child knew, and whether he should have noticed any inconsistencies in the stories he actively believed at the time. Atonement is similar to Spies in that it has a child protagonist, the precocious and intelligent Briony, but she is in contrast to the introverted and paranoid Stephen. Both Briony and Stephen make assumptions about the adults around them. The narrative structure of Atonement is different to Spies in that it has the added post-modern twist of a narrator who takes a writers liberty to change what really happened. While Spies concerns only one small world of Stephen, Brionys older self writes about the wider world, with the part two concerning Robbie in occupied France. It could be said that while Atonement is a grand panorama, Spies is a claustrophobic, brooding miniature (Geraldine Brooks, Slate.com.). However, it is difficult to completely agree with this view in light of Spies. As it is still primarily concerned with documenting life during the war, the definition of the wider world become looser and all points of view, whether from an overseas soldier or a sheltered child, could be considered valid and important. Childhood in Atonement is centred on the one crucial misunderstanding that Briony makes, and that causes tragedy to reverberate in the ruined lives of Cecilia and Robbie. Because of her inability to understand that Robbies interest in Cecilia is perfectly normal as an adult, she then has a fantasy that he is a sex maniac due to the shocking letter, and she is not capable of seeing her older sister as a willing participant in the library. As events in the house snowball and she interprets cousin Lolas silence for confirmation of her suspicions of Robbie, she is more than happy to be useful and give the statement to the police that condemns him. Later in her life she realises her mistake and gains humility, trying to atone for what she had done. But Briony is perhaps not the only one to be blamed, for in Cecilias letter to Robbie in part two her perspective shifts culpability from Brionys mischief more to the inattentive, uninsightful adults: They chose to believe the evidence of a silly, hysterical little girl. In fact, they encouraged her by giving her no room to turn back. She was a young thirteen, I know. Also significant in the presentation of childhood in Atonement is the gulf between the adults and the children. On pondering her interruption of the library, Briony realises that Robbie must hate her. She describes it as another entry, another first: to be hated by an adultChildren hated generously, capriciously. It hardly mattered. But to be the object of adult hatred was an initiation into a solemn new world. It was promotion. Briony longs to be more grown up and thinks that she has knowledge of the adult world. But her excited girlishness and tendency to over exaggerate prevents her from ever being convincing. Briony teeters at the brink of adolescence, just as Lola longed to throw off the last restrains of childhood. In reading Atonement we see the child of 1935 the scene of the crime through the eyes and pen of the adult of the 1999 coda. At the beginning of chapter 13 it says with the insight and irony of the adult, Within half an hour Briony would commit her crime. The novel includes aspects of the coming of age genre, or Bildungsroman. The story of Brionys individual growth and development takes place in the context of wartime and the certain kind of romanticism that often comes with stories of WW2 childhood (the mixture of awareness and innocence, with the innocence being corrupted by the war and devastation going on around them). If the childs inability to interpret the adults around them is central to the presentation of childhood in adult novels, then it is realistic to say that both Spies and Atonement use the full resources of an adult mentality remembering her/himself. They are both adult narrative voices reflecting atmosphere of innocence oppressed by knowledge. Stephen and Briony are too young to process the adult world, so they have their own interpretations, and these lead to consequences that affect the outcome of the stories. Bibliography Spies, Michael Frayn, 2002 Faber and Faber Atonement, Ian McEwan, 2002 Vintage Spies York Notes Advanced by Anne Rooney, 2007 Atonement- Text Guide by Robert Swan, Philip Allan Updates 2006 Brionys Stand Against Oblivion: Ian McEwans Atonement by Brian Finney, 2002 http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/mcewan.html

Introduction To Health Information Technology Health Essay

Introduction To Health Information Technology Health Essay Health informatics as (Conrick, 2006) sees it is the field that concerns itself with the cognitive, information processing, and communication tasks of medical practice, education, and research including the information science and technology to support those tasks. It deals with the resources, devices, and methods required to optimize acquisition, storage, and retrieval. Health informatics tools include computers as well as clinical guidelines, formal medical terminologies, and information and communication systems. More broadly speaking, its emphasis is on clinical and biomedical applications with the added possibility of the integrating these clinical components either among themselves or to more administrative-type health information systems. HIT is defined by the Department of Health and Human Services as a comprehensive management of medical information and its secure exchange between healthcare consumers and providers (Department of Health and Human Services, 2008). The recent advances in Health Information Technology (HIT) have transformed hospitals, medical centers, and clinics paper filing management into Electronic medical record systems (EMR). (Protti et al. describes Electronic medical records as a medical record in digital format. The National Alliance for Health Information Technology describes electronic medical records as an electronic record of health-related information on an individual that can be created, gathered, managed, and consulted by authorized clinicians and staff within one healthcare organization. (Hinman and Ross, 2010). For decades healthcare industries around the globe have invested significant portions of their health information technology budgets into acquiring best-of-breed clinical technologies in order to have the best tools to effectively and efficiently heal and treat patients. The UAE healthcare industry has kept in pace with the advancements in this area; however, the infrastructure of HIT in healthcare industries worldwide lags years, and sometimes decades, behind other industries such as the banking and logistics industries. Æ’Å ¸ information like this requires a source to prove its credibility. In recent efforts to improve healthcare quality several countries around the world have proposed healthcare reforms through information technology while emphasizing the concept of electronic health records. Electronic health record (EHR) as (Protti et al., 2009) sees it refers to an individual patients medical record in digital format. EHR systems coordinate the storage and retrieval of individual records with the aid of computers, which are usually accessed on a computer, often over an internal network. While most of the literature does not distinguish between the concepts of the electronic medical record and the electronic health record, (Hinman and Ross, 2010) explain EHR as an electronic record of the range of services received by a single patient within his or her lifetime from various providers and across a series of institutions. They further describe the electronic health record as containing health-related information on an individual that conforms to nationally recognized i nteroperability standards and that can be created, managed, and consulted by authorized clinicians and staff across more than one healthcare organization. The purpose of this paper is to research and assess the key factors for the successful introduction of a new healthcare management software program called (eCare) in all hospitals and clinics across the UAE. The paper will aim to identify the target market, analyze the current key competitors, define the products competitive advantage, and evaluate and propose solutions to overcome its major weaknesses. UAE Healthcare Industry background The Healthcare sector in the United Arab Emirates is divided into 3 main sectors: Government Hospitals, ministry Hospitals, and Private Hospitals; government hospitals are governed by the emirates government and funded by each emirate separately. Ministry hospitals are governed by the UAE federation and funded by the ministry of health for all its hospitals across the seven emirates. Finally, the private hospitals are funded through their own administrations. All these hospitals in the end follow the rules and guidelines of the ministry of health while maintaining all levels of control of its procedures and practices as long as it abides by the ministrys health guidelines. Æ’Å ¸ can you provide a source for this info? The more sources the better. Business Model eCare is an innovative information management system based heavily on developing electronic health records and emphasizing health information exchange across the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Our target market is the whole UAE healthcare network which includes government, ministry, and private hospitals as well as medical centers, clinics, and pharmacies across the seven emirates. We aim to provide the UAE with a simple, robust and flexible information management system that will facilitate the delivery of quality, integrated and cost effective healthcare services. eCare will facilitate the following objectives for the medical and administrative staff of the target market: Health information exchange between all healthcare providers database systems in order to create a single medical record for each patient through his or her national ID as an identifier. Online access to medical records, irrespective of patients location or service provider. Real-time drug dispensing and automated labeling and drug interaction alerts. A synchronized system will help different physicians in even different healthcare facilities avoid prescribing drugs with interactional problems. Real-time monitoring of disease trends in particular areas of the UAE and treatment outcomes. Online database of external medical bills and services promoting a streamline and efficient billing system. Online reports and statistics that cover the whole country as well as the ability to view detailed health reports for each emirate without giving away patients personal information (de-identification). Online processing and reporting of lab results and real time imaging investigations. Real-time appointment scheduling. eCare standards aim to achieve functional and efficient outcomes in health information exchanges. Health Information Exchange (HIE) is defined as the mobilization of healthcare information electronically across organizations within a region or community (Overhage et al., 2005). HIE provides the capability to electronically move clinical information among healthcare information systems while maintaining the meaning of the information being exchanged. Healthcare communities worldwide continue to adopt new approaches to better serve an increasingly complex patient population. eCare aims to improve safety of the patients, simplify service providers workflow through faster and more distributed access to medical information. Security of patients files is the number one priority in eCare standards that is why it emphasizes on the use of digital signatures and sophisticated file encryption methods so that hospital information systems can deliver EHRs to individual patients for personal health management purposes. Furthermore, eCare is a partner of the Health Level Seven standards organization which creates standards for the exchange, management and integration of electronic healthcare information. BOOK1REFERENCE Current Competitors eCare is the first of its kind in offering a full featured system proposed for the UAE government. The healthcare industry is young in the country while resources and capital are available to invest in it; however few rival companies tried to propose similar solutions for the UAE government. iCare Healthcare (iCHC) is a healthcare informatics and consulting firm assisting private and public sectors in establishing high standard healthcare systems. iCHC offers 14 different software solutions mainly focused on providers-payers solutions and not a fully fledged health information infrastructure that connects all healthcare providers in the country. The main concern of iCHC is to implement an electronic means for healthcare providers to connect with insurance companies, while eCares objectives cover important key elements of the healthcare industry in the UAE. (you need to provide a source for your information about iCare. Again, this is not a complete discussion of the competition. You are only going to mention one competitor? All the hospitals in the UAE must currently use some kind of medical record system What is it? You must compete with this and you must be able to convince all the hospitals to make the switch to your product how will you do this? Strategic competitive advantage Financing: The cost of implementing electronic health records and a system capable of exchanging health information has been an obstacle to their widespread adoption. The cost of any system implementation is usually borne by the hospital administration and taken out of the annual budget. However, the future of EHR and Health Information exchange promises more rewards and benefits to the healthcare industry and to its main stakeholder, the society. Implementation of a national infrastructure will require the government to financially support healthcare providers in order to overcome the cost issue. eCare will offer the government flexible and easy methods of payment that covers all aspects of the design, development, testing and rollout phase of the system as well as training the health care professionals and administrators to maximize the system utilization. Innovation: eCare is custom built to satisfy the needs of its customers as it can include several add-on options and can also be utilized to allow patients to view their personal medical records through simplified and secure interface. Reliability: eCare offers a variety of health information technology solutions which connects different stakeholder such as health care providers, patients and insurance companies to maximize the EHR utilization that is protected against theft, fraud and breaches through several levels of security measurements. eCare also improves the quality and reliability of health information through decreasing number of redundant data and minimizing medical errors. Major Problems Interoperability In the healthcare sector, interoperability is the ability of different information technology systems and software applications to communicate, to exchange medical data accurately, effectively, and consistently, and to use the information related to the patient that has been exchanged. (Bailey et al., 2008). Berler et al. illustrated that the integration of information systems represents one of the most urgent priorities of a Regional Healthcare Authority (RHA) in order to meet its clinical, organizational and managerial needs. Current practice shows that the most promising approach to achieve a Regional Healthcare Information System (RHIS) is to use a HL7 message-based communication system implemented by an asynchronous common communication infrastructure between healthcare sites (Berler et al., 2004). Privacy and Security Issues Data security and confidentiality of health information are two of the most important concerns in the application of electronic health technologies. Security access is a major concern as e-health technologies become available to a huge number of users spread across the whole country. Taking the banking industry as an example; the sensitivity of our personal financial information ranks right up there with the privacy and security of our personal health information; however, people establish relationships not only with the branch they opened an account with, and shared all their personal information with but also with a global network of real-time financial information; therefore eCare is also able to take appropriate measurements such as firewall protection, data encryption, and password access can all be employed to secure patients personal and health information. Just as in the banking system, eCare can also enable the patients to control their medical records as much as they handle their financial investments; one of the major issues of an interconnected healthcare infrastructure is security and privacy of the information and who is allowed to handle these confidential information and how to limit the impact of mishandling patients personal information; eCare will provide patients with an option to select the healthcare providers they want to share their personal information with. In case of online reports and statistics all patients personal information are kept anonymous. Conclusion The healthcare industry relies on data and information for every aspect of its delivery cycle it is hard to imagine healthcare without information technology to manage the unprecedented amount of information and data flowing in the healthcare industry. Building a national HIT infrastructure with abilities of exchanging electronic health care records will result in tremendous improvements in several aspects of the healthcare industry in the UAE such as the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, quality, and safety of medical care delivery in the healthcare system.

Black Man Standing :: essays research papers fc

Black Man Standing: The Media’s Portrayal of African-American Men Documentation Style: MLA Name and Description of Target Audience: Readers of the Chicago Tribune Guest Editorial Section Forum/Genre Paper Would Take in Target Publication: Guest Editorial in the Chicago Tribune Brief Description of Assignment and Instructor Expectations for Critical Thinking: 4 page paper with a 2 source minimum, evaluating media in the terms of values it reinforces or resists, and the consequences this has on specific subgroups or cultures. The media has a powerful influence in the everyday thoughts and lives of Americans. Most Americans wake up in the morning and turn on the TV to see what’s going on in the world as they get ready for work; pick up a newspaper and read it with breakfast; turn on the radio and listen to it in their car on the way to work or school; or we do a combination of the three. The people in charge of the media are also in charge, to a great degree, of how we perceive our world. We can sort through our own thoughts and make our own opinions, but we get our information from the media, and the media decides what to show us in the first place. We look to the media to tell us what is important, what we need to know. We also look to the media for our entertainment. It’s important for us to realize all the roles that media has in our lives and to what extent we are influenced by it, because the media is also responsible for our cultural stereotypes and values.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One major example that I will focus on here is the way that black males are represented. Black men are consistently being portrayed by the media to fit into narrow, stereotypical roles. They are being shown to be less complex, and two dimensional as opposed to the broader range of Caucasian roles and depictions that the media exemplifies. I think this is of great consequence to society, because it effects not only how society perceives black men, but also how black males perceive themselves, and how they think they are supposed to act and be.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Black men are shown less often in the media, especially on primetime TV, but when they are shown you can almost always fit them into one of three categories; 1.) Comedian, 2.) Angry/Jaded, or 3.) Gangster/Thug. Do we as the viewers ever ask ourselves why black males seem to be getting so embarrassingly over-typecast?

My Personal Philosophy of Education :: Philosophy of Education Statement Teaching

An educator means that you are someone who cares and wants to see children be successful in your class and in their futures. The reason I want to become an educator is to make a difference in a child's life. I have worked with children for over seven years and everyday I spend with a child I learn someone new, about them and about myself. I want to give back to the community in which I was raised. I want to show them that they have helped make me become what I am today. A teacher can make a difference in a child's life to the good or bad if they went into the field for the wrong reason. I want to be remembered for the one who helped and made a difference a child?s life and also as good role model. In my classroom I would like to arrange the desk in a semi-circle and I want a sit at the head of the circle and than the circle will be complete. That way I will be able to see all of the children faces when involved in class discussion or in-group activities. This will show the students that I am equal and no one is better or less than the other. I still want my students to see me as the teacher and not a playmate when it comes to learning and see that I am in control of the class not them. I want them to be able to express what they are feeling and not be afraid that someone is going to put them down. On my bulletin boards I want to place work and coloring pictures that the students have brought in or did in class. I want to work with every student not just a selected few. I do not want to leave anyone out; I want them to be proud of their work. I would also like to have bulletin board with an historical theme such as up coming holidays, where the st udents can go and learn through different fun activities like coloring pages and information sheets that are on the board.

Childhood Obesity Essay -- Obesity in Adolescents

Childhood Obesity Introduction The past several decades have seen an escalating trend in the rate of childhood obesity not only in the United States where 25%-30% of children are affected, but also in many of the industrialized nations. Childhood obesity has continued to be a major issue in the public health care system. The economic cost of the medical expenses as well as the lost income resulting from the complications of obesity both in children and adults has been estimated at almost $100 billion (Barnes, 2011). Overweight children are more predisposed to the danger of becoming overweight in their adulthood unless they ensure healthier eating habits and exercise. It is worth noting that the current lifestyle in which many children spend a lot of time watching television as well as the consumption of sugary and fatty foods has significantly contributed to the high prevalence of childhood obesity. Regarding the causes of childhood obesity, several theories of etiology including genetic, developmental, and environmental, have been proposed. Despite the prevalence of childhood obesity rising dramatically over the past 3 or 4 decades, major challenges still face the fight against the condition due to its underdiagnosis and undertreatment. It is worth noting that with careful physical examination and evaluation of disease history, unnecessary diagnostic procedures and the need for expensive equipment can be avoided. Given the rising concern about childhood obesity, this paper will discuss several issues. These include the history, epidemiology, etiology, course and prognosis onset, and how the disorder is represented in the DSM IV TR with its associated features. History of childhood obesity The health risks associated with ob... ... and substance abuse in the DSM-IV. Therefore, some people have strongly suggested that childhood obesity be regarded as a food addiction which has a psychological origin and thus deserves to be fully represented in the DSM-IV TR (O’Brien & Volkow, 2007). It is also vital to note that despite the increasing association between obesity and mental health, this relationship has been inconsistently confirmed in literature. For instance, researchers have established that as a child grows to yound adulthood, the prevalence of obesity and depression increases. Certain prospective studies and a significant number of cross sectional studies have alluded to the link between obesity and depression. However, a precise summary of the links between the two conditions is unavailable in literature (Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences Management & Yagnik, 2009, p. 4).

Investigating Psychology Classic Studies Research Essay

Examine and assess the ways in which the classic studies discussed in Chapters 2, 4 and 8 of Investigating Psychology influenced subsequent psychological research. Certain psychological studies are termed ‘classics’ as they’ve become renowned for the influence or contribution that they’ve made to particular areas of psychology. This essay looks in detail at such studies, carried out by Milgram, Skinner and Broadbent, with a view to assessing the value of their influences on subsequent psychological research. This essay aims to demonstrate how these studies have largely been influential and valuable as a result of their strengths, but will also demonstrate that a weakness within the structure of a study can also be influential. B.F. Skinner is considered to be one of the most influential psychologists of the twentieth century (Brace and Byford, 2012). His work on behaviour shaping and theory of operant conditioning is still influential today. Skinner believed that behaviour could be influenced through manipulation such as reinforcement, and controversially believed that thought processes and free will play no part in d etermining behaviour. To test his theories he experimented with rats and pigeons. He created the ‘Skinner box’ which meant that the animals’ behaviour could scientifically and objectively be measured. This was an influential and important development that enabled future studies to be carried out under tight controls. Skinner argued that learning through reinforcement could be successfully extended to humans (Toates, 2012). Subsequent research studies have been carried out testing the sustained influence of Skinners theory of reinforcement, and supporting its validity and value. Studies by Swinson and Harrop, 2005 (cited in Toates, 2012) support that challenging behaviour in the classroom can be reduced using positive reinforcement. E.g. a child receives praise for desired behaviours, rather than receiving attention for undesirable behaviour. Therefore Skinner’s classical study has had a positive influence in relation to behaviour in education. Furthermore there is evidence from therapeutic settings (Flora 2004), (cited in Toates, 2012) including mental hospitals, showing that children and adults have been successfully modified for psychological issues such as self-harming, using therapies derived from Skinner’s studies. These techniques of reinforcement are being used today in many hospitals, schools and prisons. (Toates, 2012). However, aspects of Skinner’s theory of behaviourism, displayed weaknesses  and as such is not favoured in psychology today. Most psychologists retain the view that free will is instrumental to behaviour and how we learn, believing that our ability to make choices is influenced by factors other than operant conditioning alone. This was a view rejected by Skinner (Toates, 2012). This aspect of behaviourism has had little influence on subsequent research other than to refute it. Nevertheless Skinners work on operant conditioning remains influential, and is used by many professionals (Cherry, 2013). Furthermore, the work of David Broadbent has been greatly influential and valuable, the evidence of which continues to be seen in research today. Broadbent’s work has contributed to our understanding of attention. He invented the modern study of attention, introducing and making popular the ‘information-processing’ approach which launched the cognitive revolution. This approach was the first testable model of attention and Broadbent was keen that others carried out experiments to test it (Edgar and Edgar 2012). He believed that psychological theory should come from considering practical problems, and with this approach he bridged the gap between the laboratory and the real-world (Berry, 2002, p.403). Broadbent’s model displayed that we have limited capacity to how much information we can process at one time, and as such this affects our abilities to multi-task etc. (Edgar and Edgar, 2012). This has implications on everyday tasks such as driving. This proved extremely valuable information with regards to researching cognitive abilities in humans, and is still used in cognitive psychology today. Colin Cherry was a contemporary of Broadbent’s, whose research extended that of Broadbent’s to explore the role of ‘meaning’ in attention. Cherry’s (1953) findings showed that meaning does play a role in information-processing and as a consequence Broadbent’s original model needed to be modified in a way that recognised memory, experience and expectations can influence attention. These findings generated refinements to the model, raised further specific questions and generated hypothesis which have been, and continue to be tested by carefully designed experiments. This process is known as the â€Å"Cycle of Enquiry†. Broadbent’s research regarding attention and multi-tasking influenced Ivan Brown et al. (1960), (cited in Edgar and Edgar, 2012) to conduct studies into the effects on driving whilst using a mobile ‘phone. This study is an excellent example and evidence of hypothesis testing. There were certain  elements applied to the experiment to ensure a valid test of the hypothesis: Performance or ‘dependent variables’ were measured by speed/accuracy; the two ‘conditions’ were driving without using a ‘phone, and driving the same route whilst answering questions using a ‘phone. The ‘conditions’ arose from manipulating the ‘independent’ variable’ – the use of a ‘phone or not. Other variables were controlled to ensure that the only influence on the result of the study was the variable being measured. The finding of the experiment supported Broadbent’s views regarding attention and multi-tasking. The value that the ‘cycle of enquiry’ adds to subsequent psychological research is immeasurable, as it ensures research is constantly open to re-evaluation. Over time and with the advent of technology, re search performed by Broadbent has influenced studies using fMRI which have been able to ‘see’ how attention is depicted in brain activity. Findings were consistent with Broadbent’s theory of limited capacity (Sabine Kastner et. al. (1998) cited in Edgar and Edgar 2012). Broadbent’s methodical approach to experimental research and theory development were the origins of subsequent psychological research. As such he was instrumental in the development of cognitive psychology. (Edgar and Edgar 2012). Equally influential on psychological research is Milgram’s studies into obedience from authorities’ (1961), which was provoked by the atrocities of the Second World War. The studies investigated whether volunteers would administer potential lethal electrical shocks to another human because they were told to by an ‘authoritative figure’. The findings were alarming in that most people were willing to administer the shocks on the instruction of ‘someone in authority.’ It was these findings that provoked much debate and influenced attempts at replications of the original study. Weaknesses of the study included it being conducted in a single geographical area, using same gender participants, and not being carried out in a real-world environment. In order to address the issue of gender, Milgram himself replicated his study using only females, with the resu lts showing that women were just as likely as men to give the shocks (Banyard, 2012). With regards to culture and geography, Milgram’s study was replicated in many countries and the results were analysed by Peter Smith and Michael Bond (1993), (cited in Banyard, 2012). The findings were that varying degrees of obedience were displayed by different cultures. To test the theory in a real-world  environment, a replication was carried out in a work environment by Charles Hofling et.al. (1996), (cited in Banyard, 2012) to see if nurses would give patients an overdose of a drug on the instruction of a telephone call from a Doctor. The drugs were ‘dummies’ and the Doctor a fake. The request broke hospital protocol but alarmingly a very high percentage of nurses followed the Doctors instruction. However, it’s not just the findings regarding human behaviour that have been greatly influential, but a significant weakness of the study has been equally so. The first code of ethics, The Nuremberg Code, was devised in 1946 as a response to the atrocities carried out during the Second World War. Many people disapproved of Milgram’s obedience studies as they felt that it was ethically wrong. One such psychologist was Diana Baumrind who felt Milgram had broken certain aspects of the code of ethics (Banyard, 2012). She believe d that the participants hadn’t been treated properly as their welfare had been compromised due to the extreme stress they had encountered; they weren’t able to give informed consent; the emotional cost to the participants wasn’t worth the benefit of the study, and participants weren’t able to exercise their right to withdraw. Furthermore, she argued that Milgram had harmed the public image of psychology. The value of this to subsequent research is that the obedience study demonstrated why ethics is so important in psychology, and highlighted the need for strict guidelines in research (Banyard, 2012). These very concerns regarding ethics would make it difficult to replicate the original study today. However, the development of technology has enabled replications of the study to be carried out in a virtual environment (Mel Slater et.al 2006, cited in Banyard 2012). The findings were similar to that of the original study. However you measure Milgram’s impact, whether it’s in terms of obedience, ethics or human behaviour, he remains one of the most influential Social Psychologists of our time. (Banyard, 2012). To conclude, having looked in detail at the classic studies, the evidence supplied clearly demonstrates that they’ve had a significant and valuable influence on subsequent psychological research. The influence that they’ve had and the high value to research are evident throughout history. However, it is also important to note that these studies do also display weaknesses; there are elements which have been challenged, offer no value, and have had no significant influence on subsequent research. This is however, over  shadowed by the body of evidence presented that outline the many ways in which the classical studies have influenced subsequent psychological research and continue to do so. (1553 words). References: Banyard, P. (2012) ‘Just Following Orders?’ in Brace, N. and Byford, J. (eds) Investigating Psychology, Oxford, Oxford University press/Milton Keynes, The Open University. Berry, D. (2012) The Psychologist, vol.15, no.8 22 August [Online]. Available at www.thepsychologist.org.uk/archive/archive_home.cfm/volumeID_15-edition_83-ArticleID_437-getfile-getPDF/thepsychologist/aug02berry.pdf) (Accessed 14 August 2013) Brace, N. and Byford, J. (eds) Investigating Psychology, Oxford, Oxford University press/Milton Keynes, The Open University. Cherry, K. (2013) http://psychology.about.com/od/profileofmajorthinkers/p/bio_skinner.htm (Accessed 14 August 2013) Edgar, H. and Edgar, G. (2012) ‘Paying Attention’ in Brace, N. and Byford, J. (eds) Investigating Psychology, Oxford, Oxford University press/Milton Keynes, The Open University. Toates, F. (2012. ‘Changing Behaviour’ in Brace, N. and Byford, J. (eds) Investigating Psychology, Oxford, Oxford University press/Milton Keynes, The Open University.

Guidelines on Writing a Research Proposal

Guidelines on writing a research proposal Introduction This is a guide to writing M. A. research proposals. The same principles apply to dissertation proposals and to proposals to most funding agencies. It includes a model outline, but advisor, committee and funding agency expectations vary and your proposal will be a variation on this basic theme. Use these guidelines as a point of departure for discussions with your advisor. They may serve as a straw-man against which to build your understanding of both your project and of proposal writing. For USM students, the same rules apply as for proposals everywhere in the world. Proposal Writing Proposal writing is important to your pursuit of a graduate degree. The proposal specifies what you will do, how you will do it, and how you will interpret the results. In specifying what will be done it also gives criteria for determining whether it is done. In approving the proposal, your committee gives their best judgment that the approach to the research is reasonable and likely to yield the anticipated results. Both parties benefit from an agreed upon plan. The objective in writing a proposal is to describe what you will do, why it should be done, how you will do it and what you expect will result. Being clear about these things from the beginning will help you complete your thesis in a timely fashion. A good thesis proposal hinges on a good idea. Once you have a good idea, you can draft the proposal in an evening. Getting a good idea hinges on familiarity with the topic. This assumes a longer preparatory period of reading, observation, discussion, and incubation. Read everything that you can in your area of interest. Figure out what are the important and missing parts of our understanding. Figure out how to build/discover those pieces. Live and breathe the topic. Talk about it with anyone who is interested. Then just write the important parts as the proposal. Filling in the things that we do not know and that will help us know more: that is what research is all about. Proposals help you estimate the size of a project. Don't make the project too big. Your proposal will be perhaps five pages and certainly no more than fifteen pages long. For perspective, the American National Science Foundation limits the length of proposal narratives to 15 pages, even when the request might be for multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is the merit of the proposal which counts, not the weight. ) Shoot for five pithy pages that indicate to a relatively well-informed audience that you know the topic and how its logic hangs together, rather than fifteen or twenty pages that indicate that you have read a lot of things but not yet boiled it down to a set of prioritized linked questions. Different Theses, Similar Proposals In the abstract all proposals are very similar. They need to show a reasonably informed reader why a particular topic is important to address and how you will do it. To that end, a proposal needs to show how your work fits into what is already known about the topic and what new contribution your work will make. Specify the question that your research will answer, establish why it is a significant question, show how you are going to answer the question, and indicate what you expect we will learn. The proposal should situate the work in the literature, it should show why this is an (if not the most) important question to answer in the field, and convince your committee that your approach will in fact result in an answer to the question. Theses which address research questions that can be answered by making plan-able observations (and hypothesis testing) are preferred and perhaps the easiest to write. Because they address well-bounded topics, they can be very tight, but they do require more planning on the front end. Theses which re largely based on synthesis of observations, rumination, speculation, and opinion formation are harder to write, and usually not as convincing, often because they address questions which are not well-bounded and essentially unanswerable. Literature review-based theses involve collection of information from the literature, distillation of it, and coming up with new insight on an issue. One problem with this type of research is that you might find the perfect succinct answer to your question on the night before (or after) you turn in the final draft — in someone else's work. This certainly can knock the wind out of your sails. (But note that even a straight-ahead science thesis can have the problem of late in the game discovering that the work you have done or are doing has already been done, this is where familiarity with the relevant literature by both yourself and your committee members is important. ) A Couple of Models for Proposals A Two Page (Preliminary Proposal) Model Here is a model for a very brief (maybe five paragraph) proposal that you might use to interest faculty in sitting on your committee. People who are not yet hooked may especially appreciate its brevity. In the first paragraph, the first sentence identifies the general topic area. The second sentence gives the research question, and the third sentence establishes its significance. The next couple of paragraphs gives the larger historical perspective on the topic. Essentially list the major schools of thought on the topic and very briefly review the literature in the area with its major findings. Who has written on the topic and what have they found? Allocate about a sentence per important person or finding. Include any preliminary findings you have, and indicate what open questions are left. Restate your question in this context, showing how it fits into this larger picture. The next paragraph describes your methodology. It tells how will you approach the question, what you will need to do it. The final paragraph outlines your expected results, how you will interpret them, and how they will fit into the our larger understanding i. e. , ‘the literature'. The (Longer) Standard Model The Basic Thesis Outline Introduction Topic area Research question (finding? ) Significance to knowledge Literature review Previous research others & yours Interlocking findings and Unanswered questions Your preliminary work on the topic The remaining questions and inter-locking logic Reprise of your research question(s) in this context Methodology Approach Data needs Analytic techniques Plan for interpreting results Results Discussion and Conclusions Bibliography You get the idea of what the proposal does for you and organizing your thoughts and approach. The section below goes into slightly more (boring) detail on what each of the points in the outline is and does. The Sections of the Proposal The Introduction Topic Area A good title will clue the reader into the topic but it cannot tell the whole story. Follow the title with a strong introduction. The introduction provides a brief overview that tells a fairly well informed (but perhaps non-specialist) reader what the proposal is about. It might be as short as a single page, but it should be very clearly written, and it should let one assess whether the research is relevant to their own. With luck it will hook the reader's interest. What is your proposal about? Setting the topical area is a start but you need more, and quickly. Get specific about what your research will address. Question Once the topic is established, come right to the point. What are you doing? What specific issue or question will your work address? Very briefly (this is still the introduction) say how you will approach the work. What will we learn from your work? Significance Why is this work important? Show why this is it important to answer this question. What are the implications of doing it? How does it link to other knowledge? How does it stand to inform policy making? This should show how this project is significant to our body of knowledge. Why is it important to our understanding of the world? It should establish why I would want to read on. It should also tell me why I would want to support, or fund, the project. Literature Review State of our knowledge The purpose of the literature review is to situate your research in the context of what is already known about a topic. It need not be exhaustive; it needs to show how your work will benefit the whole. It should provide the theoretical basis for your work, show what has been done in the area by others, and set the stage for your work. In a literature review you should give the reader enough ties to the literature that they feel confident that you have found, read, and assimilated the literature in the field. It should probably move from the more general to the more focused studies, but need not be exhaustive, only relevant. Outstanding questions This is where you present the holes in the knowledge that need to be plugged and by so doing, situate your work. It is the place where you establish that your work will fit in and be significant to the discipline. This can be made easier if there is literature that comes out and says â€Å"Hey, this is a topic that needs to be treated! What is the answer to this question? † and you will sometimes see this type of piece in the literature. Research Questions in Detail Your work to date Tell what you have done so far. It might report preliminary studies that you have conducted to establish the feasibility of your research. It should give a sense that you are in a position to add to the body of knowledge. Methodology Overview of approach This section should make clear to the reader the way that you intend to approach the research question and the techniques and logic that you will use to address it. Data Collection This might include the field site description, a description of the instruments you will use, and particularly the data that you anticipate collecting. You may need to comment on site and resource accessibility in the time frame and budget that you have available, to demonstrate feasibility, but the emphasis in this section should be to fully describe specifically what data you will be using in your study. Part of the purpose of doing this is to detect flaws in the plan before they become problems in the research. Data Analysis This should explain in some detail how you will manipulate the data that you assembled to get at the information that you will use to answer your question. It will include the tools that you will use in processing the data, such as the type of interviews you will undertake, statistical software and techniques (if you’re doing a quantitative study), survey instruments, or any innovative approach you’re developing. It probably should also include an indication of the range of outcomes that you could reasonably expect from your observations. Interpretation In this section you should indicate how the anticipated outcomes will be interpreted to answer the research question. It is extremely beneficial to anticipate the range of outcomes from your analysis, and for each know what it will mean in terms of the answer to your question. Expected Results This section should give a good indication of what you expect to get out of the research. It should join the data analysis and possible outcomes to the theory and questions that you have raised. It will be a good place to summarize the significance of the work. It is often useful from the very beginning of formulating your work to write one page for this section to focus your reasoning as you build the rest of the proposal. Bibliography This is the list of the relevant works. There is no reason to cite irrelevant literature but it may be useful to keep track of it even if only to say that it was examined and found to be irrelevant. Use a standard format. Order the references alphabetically. Tips and Tricks Read. Read everything you can find in your area of interest. Read. Read. Read. Take notes, and talk to your advisor about the topic. If your advisor won't talk to you, find another one or rely on ‘the net' for intellectual interaction. Email has the advantage of forcing you to get your thoughts into written words that can be refined, edited and improved. It also gets time stamped records of when you submitted what to your advisor and how long it took to get a response. Write about the topic a lot, and don't be afraid to tear up (delete) passages that just don't work. Often you can re-think and re-type faster than than you can edit your way out of a hopeless mess. The advantage is in the re-thinking. Very early on, generate the research question, critical observation, interpretations of the possible outcomes, and the expected results. These are the core of the project and will help focus your reading and thinking. Modify them as needed as your understanding increases. Use some systematic way of recording notes and bibliographic information from the very beginning. The classic approach is a deck of index cards. You can sort, regroup, layout spatial arrangements and work on the beach. Possibly a slight improvement is to use a word-processor file that contains bibliographic reference information and notes, quotes etc. that you take from the source. This can be sorted, searched, diced and sliced in your familiar word-processor. You may even print the index cards from the word-processor if you like the ability to physically re-arrange things. Even better for some, is to use specialized bibliographic database software. Papyrus, Journler, EndNote, and other packages are available for PCs and MacIntoshs. Another pointer is to keep in mind from the outset that this project is neither the last nor the greatest thing you will do in your life. It is just one step along the way. Get it done and get on with the next one. Cover your topic, but don't confuse it with too many loosely relevant side lines. The balance between Introduction and Literature Review needs to be thought out. The reader will want to be able to figure out whether to read the proposal. The literature review should be sufficiently inclusive that the reader can tell where the bounds of knowledge lie. It should also show what has been done and what seem to be accepted approaches in the field and the kinds of results that are being gotten. Useful References: Krathwohl, David R. 1988. How to Prepare a Research Proposal: Guidelines for Funding and Dissertations in the Social and Behavioral Sciences . Syracuse University Press. Recent National Science Foundations Guidelines for Research Proposals can be found on the NSF website, www. nsf. gov. Chamberlain, T. C. â€Å"The Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses†, reprinted in Science, Vol 148, pp754-759. 7 May 1965. Platt, J. â€Å"Strong Inference† in Science, Number 3642, pp. 347-353, 16 October 1964. Strunk and White The Elements of Style Turabian, Kate. 1955 (or a more recent edition) A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations, University of Chicago Press. Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren. 1940 ('67, '72 etc). How to Read a Book. Simon and Schuster Publishers. New York City, NY.

The Host Chapter 29: Betrayed

Maybe I should have run the other way. But no one was holding me back now, and though his voice was cold and angry, Jared was calling to me. Melanie was even more eager than I was as I stepped carefully around the corner and into the blue light; I hesitated there. Ian stood just a few feet ahead of me, poised on the balls of his feet, ready for whatever hostile movement Jared might make toward me. Jared sat on the ground, on one of the mats Jamie and I had left here. He looked as weary as Ian, though his eyes, too, were more alert than the rest of his exhausted posture. â€Å"At ease,† Jared said to Ian. â€Å"I just want to talk to it. I promised the kid, and I'll stand by that promise.† â€Å"Where's Kyle?† Ian demanded. â€Å"Snoring. Your cave might shake apart from the vibrations.† Ian didn't move. â€Å"I'm not lying, Ian. And I'm not going to kill it. Jeb is right. No matter how messed up this stupid situation is, Jamie has as much say as I do, and he's been totally suckered, so I doubt he'll be giving me the go-ahead anytime soon.† â€Å"No one's been suckered,† Ian growled. Jared waved his hand, dismissing the disagreement over terminology. â€Å"It's not in any danger from me, is my point.† For the first time he looked at me, evaluating the way I hugged the far wall, watching my hands tremble. â€Å"I won't hurt you again,† he said to me. I took a small step forward. â€Å"You don't have to talk to him if you don't want to, Wanda,† Ian said quickly. â€Å"This isn't a duty or a chore to be done. It's not mandatory. You have a choice.† Jared's eyebrows pulled low over his eyes-Ian's words confused him. â€Å"No,† I whispered. â€Å"I'll talk to him.† I took another short step. Jared turned his hand palm up and curled his fingers twice, encouraging me forward. I walked slowly, each step an individual movement followed by a pause, not part of a steady advance. I stopped a yard away from him. Ian shadowed each step, keeping close to my side. â€Å"I'd like to talk to it alone, if you don't mind,† Jared said to him. Ian planted himself. â€Å"I do mind.† â€Å"No, Ian, it's okay. Go get some sleep. I'll be fine.† I nudged his arm lightly. Ian scrutinized my face, his expression dubious. â€Å"This isn't some death wish? Sparing the kid?† he demanded. â€Å"No. Jared wouldn't lie to Jamie about this.† Jared scowled when I said his name, the sound of it full of confidence. â€Å"Please, Ian,† I pleaded. â€Å"I want to talk to him.† Ian looked at me for a long minute, then turned to scowl at Jared. He barked out each sentence like an order. â€Å"Her name is Wanda, not it. You will not touch her. Any mark you leave on her, I will double on your worthless hide.† I winced at the threat. Ian turned abruptly and stalked into the darkness. It was silent for a moment as we both watched the empty space where he had disappeared. I looked at Jared's face first, while he still stared after Ian. When he turned to meet my gaze, I dropped my eyes. â€Å"Wow. He's not kidding, is he?† Jared said. I treated that as a rhetorical question. â€Å"Why don't you have a seat?† he asked me, patting the mat be-side him. I deliberated for a moment, then went to sit against the same wall but close to the hole, putting the length of the mat between us. Melanie didn't like this; she wanted to be near him, for me to smell his scent and feel the warmth of his body beside me. I did not want that-and it wasn't because I was afraid he would hurt me; he didn't look angry at the moment, only tired and wary. I just didn't want to be any closer to him. Something in my chest was hurting to have him so near-to have him hating me in such close proximity. He watched me, his head tilted to the side; I could only meet his gaze fleetingly before I had to look away. â€Å"I'm sorry about last night-about your face. I shouldn't have done that.† I stared at my hands, knotted together in a double fist on my lap. â€Å"You don't have to be afraid of me.† I nodded, not looking at him. He grunted. â€Å"Thought you said you would talk to me?† I shrugged. I couldn't find my voice with the weight of his antagonism in the air between us. I heard him move. He scooted down the mat until he sat right beside me-the way Melanie had hoped for. Too close-it was hard to think straight, hard to breathe right-but I couldn't bring myself to scoot away. Oddly, for this was what she'd wanted in the first place, Melanie was suddenly irritated. What? I asked, startled by the intensity of her emotion. I don't like him next to you. It doesn't feel right. I don't like the way you want him there. For the first time since we'd abandoned civilization together, I felt waves of hostility emanating from her. I was shocked. That was hardly fair. â€Å"I just have one question,† Jared said, interrupting us. I met his gaze and then shied away-recoiling both from his hard eyes and from Melanie's resentment. â€Å"You can probably guess what it is. Jeb and Jamie spent all night jabbering at me†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I waited for the question, staring across the dark hall at the rice bag-last night's pillow. In my peripheral vision, I saw his hand come up, and I cringed into the wall. â€Å"I'm not going to hurt you,† he said again, impatient, and cupped my chin in his rough hand, pulling my face around so I had to look at him. My heart stuttered when he touched me, and there was suddenly too much moisture in my eyes. I blinked, trying to clear them. â€Å"Wanda.† He said my name slowly-unwillingly, I could tell, though his voice was even and toneless. â€Å"Is Melanie still alive-still part of you? Tell me the truth.† Melanie attacked with the brute strength of a wrecking ball. It was physically painful, like the sudden stab of a migraine headache, where she tried to force her way out. Stop it! Can't you see? It was so obvious in the set of his lips, the tight lines under his eyes. It didn't matter what I said or what she said. I'm already a liar to him, I told her. He doesn't want the truth-he's just looking for evidence, some way to prove me a liar, a Seeker, to Jeb and Jamie so that he'll be allowed to kill me. Melanie refused to answer or believe me; it was a struggle to keep her silent. Jared watched the sweat bead on my forehead, the strange shiver that shook down my spine, and his eyes narrowed. He held on to my chin, refusing to let me hide my face. Jared, I love you, she tried to scream. I'm right here. My lips didn't quiver, but I was surprised that he couldn't read the words spelled out plainly in my eyes. Time passed slowly while he waited for my answer. It was agonizing, having to stare into his eyes, having to see the revulsion there. As if that weren't enough, Melanie's anger continued to slice at me from the inside. Her jealousy swelled into a bitter flood that washed through my body and left it polluted. More time passed, and the tears welled up until they couldn't be contained in my eyes anymore. They spilled over onto my cheeks and rolled silently into Jared's palm. His expression didn't change. Finally, I'd had enough. I closed my eyes and jerked my head down. Rather than hurt me, he dropped his hand. He sighed, frustrated. I expected he would leave. I stared at my hands again, waiting for that. My heartbeat marked the passing minutes. He didn't move. I didn't move. He seemed carved out of stone beside me. It fit him, this stonelike stillness. It fit his new, hard expression, the flint in his eyes. Melanie pondered this Jared, comparing him with the man he used to be. She remembered an unremarkable day on the run†¦ â€Å"Argh!† Jared and Jamie groan together. Jared lounges on the leather sofa and Jamie sprawls on the carpet in front of him. They're watching a basketball game on the big-screen TV. The para-sites who live in this house are at work, and we've already filled the jeep with all it can hold. We have hours to rest before we need to disappear again. On the TV, two players are disagreeing politely on the sideline. The cameraman is close; we can hear what they're saying. â€Å"I believe I was the last one to touch it-it's your ball.† â€Å"I'm not sure about that. I wouldn't want to take any unfair advantage. We'd better have the refs review the tape.† The players shake hands, pat each other's shoulders. â€Å"This is ridiculous,† Jared grumbles. â€Å"I can't stand it,† Jamie agrees, mirroring Jared's tone perfectly; he sounds more like Jared every day-one of the many forms his hero worship has taken. â€Å"Is there anything else on?† Jared flips through a few channels until he finds a track and field meet. The parasites are holding the Olympics in Haiti right now. From what we can see, the aliens are all hugely excited about it. Lots of them have Olympic flags outside their houses. It's not the same, though. Everyone who participates gets a medal now. Pathetic. But they can't really screw up the hundred-meter dash. Individual parasite sports are much more entertaining than when they try to compete against each other directly. They perform better in separate lanes. â€Å"Mel, come relax,† Jared calls. I stand by the back door out of habit, not because I'm tensed to run. Not because I'm frightened. Empty habit, nothing more. I go to Jared. He pulls me onto his lap and tucks my head under his chin. â€Å"Comfortable?† he asks. â€Å"Yes,† I say, because I really, truly am entirely comfortable. Here, in an alien's house. Dad used to say lots of funny things-like he was speaking his own language sometimes. Twenty-three skidoo, salad days, nosy parker, bandbox fresh, the catbird seat, chocolate teapot, and something about Grandma sucking eggs. One of his favorites was safe as houses. Teaching me to ride a bike, my mother worrying in the doorway: â€Å"Calm down, Linda, this street is safe as houses.† Convincing Jamie to sleep without his nightlight: â€Å"It's safe as houses in here, son, not a monster for miles.† Then overnight the world turned into a hideous nightmare, and the phrase became a black joke to Jamie and me. Houses were the most dangerous places we knew. Hiding in a patch of scrubby pines, watching a car pull out from the garage of a secluded home, deciding whether to make a food run, whether it was too dicey. â€Å"Do you think the parasites'll be gone for long?† â€Å"No way-that place is safe as houses. Let's get out of here.† And now I can sit here and watch TV like it is five years ago and Mom and Dad are in the other room and I've never spent a night hiding in a drainpipe with Jamie and a bunch of rats while body snatchers with spotlights search for the thieves who made off with a bag of dried beans and a bowl of cold spaghetti. I know that if Jamie and I survived alone for twenty years we would never find this feeling on our own. The feeling of safety. More than safety, even-happiness. Safe and happy, two things I thought I'd never feel again. Jared makes us feel that way without trying, just by being Jared. I breathe in the scent of his skin and feel the warmth of his body under mine. Jared makes everything safe, everything happy. Even houses. He still makes me feel safe, Melanie realized, feeling the warmth where his arm was just half an inch from mine. Though he doesn't even know I'm here. I didn't feel safe. Loving Jared made me feel less safe than anything else I could think of. I wondered if Melanie and I would have loved Jared if he'd always been who he was now, rather than the smiling Jared in our memories, the one who had come to Melanie with his hands full of hope and miracles. Would she have followed him if he'd always been so hard and cynical? If the loss of his laughing father and wild big brothers had iced him over the way nothing but Melanie's loss had? Of course. Mel was certain. I would love Jared in any form. Even like this, he belongs with me. I wondered if the same held true for me. Would I love him now if he were like this in her memory? Then I was interrupted. Without any cue that I perceived, suddenly Jared was talking, speaking as if we were in the middle of a conversation. â€Å"And so, because of you, Jeb and Jamie are convinced that it's possible to continue some kind of awareness after†¦ being caught. They're both sure Mel's still kicking in there.† He rapped his fist lightly against my head. I flinched away from him, and he folded his arms. â€Å"Jamie thinks she's talking to him.† He rolled his eyes. â€Å"Not really fair to play the kid like that-but that's assuming a sense of ethics that clearly does not apply.† I wrapped my arms around myself. â€Å"Jeb does have a point, though-that's what's killing me! What are you after? The Seekers' search wasn't well directed or even†¦ suspicious. They only seemed to be looking for you-not for us. So maybe they didn't know what you were up to. Maybe you're freelancing? Some kind of undercover thing. Or†¦Ã¢â‚¬  It was easier to ignore him when he was speculating so foolishly. I focused on my knees. They were dirty, as usual, purple and black. â€Å"Maybe they're right-about the killing-you part, anyway.† Unexpectedly, his fingers brushed lightly once across the goose bumps his words had raised on my arm. His voice was softer when he spoke again. â€Å"Nobody's going to hurt you now. As long as you aren't causing any trouble†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He shrugged. â€Å"I can sort of see their point, and maybe, in a sick way, it would be wrong, like they say. Maybe there is no justifiable reason to†¦ Except that Jamie†¦Ã¢â‚¬  My head flipped up-his eyes were sharp, scrutinizing my reaction. I regretted showing interest and watched my knees again. â€Å"It scares me how attached he's getting,† Jared muttered. â€Å"Shouldn't have left him behind. I never imagined†¦ And I don't know what to do about it now. He thinks Mel's alive in there. What will it do to him when†¦?† I noticed how he said when, not if. No matter what promises he'd made, he didn't see me lasting in the long term. â€Å"I'm surprised you got to Jeb,† he reflected, changing the subject. â€Å"He's a canny old guy. He sees through deceptions so easily. Till now.† He thought about that for a minute. â€Å"Not much for conversation, are you?† There was another long silence. His words came in a sudden gush. â€Å"The part that keeps bugging me is what if they're right? How the hell would I know? I hate the way their logic makes sense to me. There's got to be another explanation.† Melanie struggled again to speak, not as viciously as before, this time without hope of breaking through. I kept my arms and lips locked. Jared moved, shifting away from the wall so that his body was turned toward me. I watched the movement from the corner of my eye. â€Å"Why are you here?† he whispered. I peeked up at his face. It was gentle, kind, almost the way Melanie remembered it. I felt my control slipping; my lips trembled. Keeping my arms locked took all my strength. I wanted to touch his face. I wanted it. Melanie did not like this. If you won't let me talk, then at least keep your hands to yourself, she hissed. I'm trying. I'm sorry. I was sorry. This was hurting her. We were both hurting, different hurts. It was hard to know who had it worse at the moment. Jared watched me curiously while my eyes filled again. â€Å"Why?† he asked softly. â€Å"You know, Jeb has this crazy idea that you're here for me and Jamie. Isn't that nuts?† My mouth half-opened; I quickly bit down on my lip. Jared leaned forward slowly and took my face between both his hands. My eyes closed. â€Å"Won't you tell me?† My head shook once, fast. I wasn't sure who did it. Was it me saying won't or Melanie saying can't? His hands tightened under my jaw. I opened my eyes, and his face was inches away from mine. My heart fluttered, my stomach dropped-I tried to breathe, but my lungs did not obey. I recognized the intention in his eyes; I knew how he would move, exactly how his lips would feel. And yet it was so new to me, a first more shocking than any other, as his mouth pressed against mine. I think he meant just to touch his lips to mine, to be soft, but things changed when our skin met. His mouth was abruptly hard and rough, his hands trapped my face to his while his lips moved mine in urgent, unfamiliar patterns. It was so different from remembering, so much stronger. My head swam incoherently. The body revolted. I was no longer in control of it-it was in control of me. It was not Melanie-the body was stronger than either of us now. Our breathing echoed loudly: mine wild and gasping, his fierce, almost a snarl. My arms broke free from my control. My left hand reached for his face, his hair, to wind my fingers in it. My right hand was faster. Was not mine. Melanie's fist punched his jaw, knocked his face away from mine with a blunt, low sound. Flesh against flesh, hard and angry. The force of it was not enough to move him far, but he scrambled away from me the instant our lips were no longer connected, gaping with horrorstruck eyes at my horrorstruck expression. I stared down at the still-clenched fist, as repulsed as if I'd found a scorpion growing on the end of my arm. A gasp of revulsion choked its way out of my throat. I grabbed the right wrist with my left hand, desperate to keep Melanie from using my body for violence again. I glanced up at Jared. He was staring at the fist I restrained, too, the horror fading, surprise taking its place. In that second, his expression was entirely defenseless. I could easily read his thoughts as they moved across his unlocked face. This was not what he had expected. And he'd had expectations; that was plain to see. This had been a test. A test he'd thought he was prepared to evaluate. A test with results he'd anticipated with confidence. But he'd been surprised. Did that mean pass or fail? The pain in my chest was not a surprise. I already knew that a breaking heart was more than an exaggeration. In a fight-or-flight situation, I never had a choice; it would always be flight for me. Because Jared was between me and the darkness of the tunnel exit, I wheeled and threw myself into the box-packed hole. The boxes crunched, crackled, and cracked as my weight shoved them into the wall, into the floor. I wriggled my way into the impossible space, twisting around the heavier squares and crushing the others. I felt his fingers scrape across my foot as he made a grab for my ankle, and I kicked one of the more solid boxes between us. He grunted, and despair wrapped choking hands around my throat. I hadn't meant to hurt him again; I hadn't meant to strike. I was only trying to escape. I didn't hear my own sobbing, loud as it was, until I could go no farther into the crowded hole and the sound of my thrashing stopped. When I did hear myself, heard the ragged, tearing gasps of agony, I was mortified. So mortified, so humiliated. I was horrified at myself, at the violence I'd allowed to flow through my body, whether consciously or not, but that was not why I was sobbing. I was sobbing because it had been a test, and, stupid, stupid, stupid, emotional creature that I was, I wanted it to be real. Melanie was writhing in agony inside me, and it was hard to make sense of the double pain. I felt as though I was dying because it was not real; she felt as though she was dying because, to her, it had felt real enough. In all that she'd lost since the end of her world, so long ago, she'd never before felt betrayed. When her father had brought the Seekers after his children, she'd known it was not him. There was no betrayal, only grief. Her father was dead. But Jared was alive and himself. No one's betrayed you, stupid, I railed at her. I wanted her pain to stop. It was too much, the extra burden of her agony. Mine was enough. How could he? How? she ranted, ignoring me. We sobbed, beyond control. One word snapped us back from the edge of hysteria. From the mouth of the hole, Jared's low, rough voice-broken and strangely childlike-asked, â€Å"Mel?†