Finding A Winning Strategy On Uk Stock Market Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1871 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? 1.0 Introduction Warren Buffett is considered the most successful among investment community of experts. Actually his words and deeds are treated as a golden rule by the global investors. There are two secrets of success according to Buffett: First, the long-held strategy; the second is ignore market . Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Finding A Winning Strategy On Uk Stock Market Finance Essay" essay for you Create order Buffett is a model of long-term investment. When making investment choice, he never treats himself as market analysts, but as business operators. Buffett buying stocks before, do a lot of good lessons in advance, know about this stock the companys products, financial condition, future growth, and even potential competitors. One interesting point is that Buffett strongly opposed to short-term trading, saying that it is just a waste of time and money, and it will affect the operating performance of your body. Buffett said: I do not intend to buy the shares the next day to make money, I buy stocks, always assume that exchange will be closed tomorrow, 5 years before they re-open and resume trading. He warned investors, for the stock of any file, if you not sure if you can hold for 10 years, then do not even consider holding for 10 minutes. Buffett has $ 10,600,000 in 1972 to buy the Washington Post stock, and the value has been added to 9.3 billion dollars in 1999. In 27 years the Washington Post shares rose 86 times, although 27 years in the United States in the market went through ups and downs, Washington Post also had a severe shock, diving and surge appears countless times. However, the final proof of the fact that long-term and patience as Buffett has brought considerable gains. According to Buffett, the second key to success is: Ignore the market, the so-called Ignore the market is that not to read too much short-term market volatility, investor sentiment about the market not to be and not too be over sensitive on market behavior, or Image. In a word, do not be assertive in time with Mr. Market dance. Since he holds long-term investment patterns, Buffett advocates should ignore all the market, including price volatility and all market information, of course, do not bother economists, analysts, and the stock brokers proposal, as securities brokers provides some so-called views and reasons to lure investors buying and selling stocks, which investors earn fees and commissions. The report is organized as follows: It first introduces some basic rules in trading to be aware of in Section 2. Then two technical trading strategies: Momentum strategy and MACD strategy are illustrated in Section 3 and 4. Also, the implementation of these strategies on UK stock market in my model investment is explained. Finally, Efficient Market Hypothesis is briefly discussed and my results provide weak support for it. 2.0 Some basic rules in investing Here are some advices from Richard Rhodes before I enter the stock market. The first and also the most important rule to be keep in mind is that a long position is to be hold in bull markets. This may sound obvious, but a lot of people have sold the first rally in every bull market, saying that the market has moved too far. The next is to buy that which is showing strength sell that which is showing weakness. The public continues to buy when prices have fallen. However, the professional buys because prices have rallied. The rule of survival is not to buy low, sell high, but to buy higher and sell higher. So never be afraid of seemingly high prices. Furthermore, be patient. This means that when an opportunity to buy is missed, waiting for another instead of trying to catch up with the trend in a hurry. Another interesting one is that never adds to a losing trade to reach the average effects in the position. To put it in another word, for long position holders, each new buy price must be higher than the previous buy price. 3.0 Momentum trading strategy Jegadeesh and Titman (1993)s study showed that experience in the U.S. stock market over the past 3 to 12 months good or poor performance of stocks (winners or losers) in the next 3-12 months will continue to perform better or worse, the construction of arbitrage portfolios using this phenomenon (winner to buy, short selling losers) yields abnormal returns that can be sustained. This shows that changes in stock prices show a rise or decline inertia, namely, the existence of momentum effects. This phenomenon is contrary to the traditional risk-based asset pricing theory. The existence of momentum effect that changes in stock prices there is a pattern, which means the practice of technical analysis in investment has some value, its trading strategies of investors have a significant impact. The momentum trading strategies based on the momentum effects catches many market participants attention. From the investors point of view, only knowing the benefits of momentum strategies is not enough, they must also examine the profit net of transaction costs. Jegadeesh and Titman (1993) hold the view that, on average, the half-year turnover rate for momentum trading strategy is 84.8%. 4.0 Technical trading strategy: using MACD The investment philosophy hold by most people can be divided into two categories, one is the so called buy-hold, the main representative of this view is Malkiel ¼Ãƒâ€¹Ã¢â‚¬  1990 ¼Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ °, contending that the stock prices are random walk and is not predictable, so the analysis is often trying to predict stock trend is not valid. Therefore the best way is to buy and hold; The second is active operational, according to this method of analysis, the trend is predictable, they or the use of fundamental analysis, or to use technical analysis, or combine the two methods together to analyze information so as to predict stock movements, which take advantage of favorable earnings trend, and also avoid the negative trend. Because technical analysis is easy to understand, simple to use, it gains popularity among the majority of active operational investors. The technical analysis moving average method is an important indicator and it is widely used. According to W. K. Wong, M. Manzur and B. K. Chew ¼Ãƒâ€¹Ã¢â‚¬  2003 ¼Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ °, there are many ways to calculate the moving average. Most widely used among them are the following three ways: simple arithmetic mean, linear weighted moving average method and the exponentially weighted moving average method. The core idea of the latter two methods is to give greater weight to the prices close from now, and then two methods is based on the simple arithmetic mean method, they are actually the changed form of simple arithmetic average, the basic ideas are contained in the simple among the arithmetic mean law. To analyze the moving average trading strategy, we must first model the trading strategy, clearly they relate to the indicators, parameters and trading signals. First, the use of moving average method, we must clearly define the moving average line. Here, we directly use a simple weighting method, the first x days moving average value on the t day is: Where, I is the closing price. Second, the use of moving average method, we must determine whether the transaction rules. In accordance with the technical analysis theory, we assume that when the closing price of the upward moving average line, the value increased to above the moving average, it sends the signal to buy; when closing prices are down across the moving average, moving average value decreased to below, it issued a sell signal. That is: If and then it is a strong signal to buy on the t day. If and then it is a strong signal to sell on the t day. If then the investor should hold the position unchanged. Based on these strategies and advices, I bought BP, RBS and LLOY. And the attached excel file includes transactions in detail. The result turns out that the return on this portfolio closely resembles that of FTSE100, however, it still can not beat the market. This may be a supporting evidence for Efficient Market Hypothesis, while its effects are not that strong. 5.0 Brief discussion of EMH Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) originated from the securities laws of price change. By examine the securities prices time series analysis, which is combined with random walk theory, the use of the theory has been greatly developed. In 1970, the American economist Fama ¼Ãƒâ€¹Ã¢â‚¬  1970 ¼Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ° proposed the efficient market hypothesis, and thus there is a systematic summary of past research results, he propose a more complete theoretical framework. Efficient market means that in a stock market, securities prices fully reflect all the information possible to obtain or use, the price of each security will always be equal to its intrinsic value, no one can continue to reap excessive profits. The essence is that the stock price series reflect the efficiency of the relevant information (the degree of response and reaction efficiency), which requires the current stock price fully reflect all relevant information. Only when new information is received, the price wil l change. The previous days information will not lead to price changes. The amount of investors in the market is large enough to ensure fair prices, the market role of the collective production of the equilibrium price. Fama(1970) in the study of the issue, took note of the securities of two problems: First, stock price information and the relationship between changes in how that information caused by price changes; the second is related with the price of securities the types of information. Different information has different impact on the price level of securities, relevant information will be divided into three categories: historical information, public information and internal information, and according to these three defined three different levels of information efficiency of markets: weak efficient market, semi-strong efficient market and strong efficient market. From the three levels of the efficient market point of view, from weak to semi-strong efficient and effective and t hen to a strong and effective, is a progression from low to high relationship, and not vice versa. Efficient market theory is built on three theoretical assumptions: First, investors are considered to be rational, they take utility maximization as the goal, which is based on the known information for processing in accordance with Bayes rule, and thus give unbiased estimation of the market to make, so they can make a reasonable valuation of the securities; Second, in a way some investors are not rational, but because of securities transactions between them is carried out randomly, so they non-rational will cancel each other out, so the price of the securities will not be affected; Third, according to Shleifer(2000). In some cases, non-rational investors make the same mistakes, but they will be affected by the arbitrage of rational investors, which will eliminate the former on the prices. 6.0 Conclusion In the field of investment, there are some golden rules suggested by famous economists as well as successful investing tycoon to be kept in mind. This report adopts mainly technical methods to decide the right timing to buy. A bundle of large cap stocks and well-known companies are chosen. The technical strategy used here are momentum trading and MACD. The return turns out nearly to beat the market, that is, the return during the trading days on FTSE100. This provides weak support for the efficient market hypothesis.

Utilitarianism The And Influential Moral Theories

Utilitarianism is one of the most renowned and influential moral theories. The basis of act utilitarianism is maximizing utility, that is, doing the things that maximize happiness over suffering. Utilitarians reject moral codes that are based on customs or traditions given by leaders or supernatural deities because they judge the truth or justifiability of morality as its positive contribution to all beings. Both act utilitarians and rule utilitarians concur that the overall aim in determining the morality of our actions should be to create the best possible results, but they differ in their methods. However, do the methods of act utilitarianism stand up to the traditional rule utilitarian style? Per say that a person maximizes the utility of each specific action that they do, then they have maximized the overall utility that is within their power. If a person occasionally choses options that produce less positive results than other solutions, the total positivity of their actions wo uld be less than the amount of positive than could have been created. This reason is what allows act utilitarians to argue that humans should apply the utilitarian principle to specific acts, not to classes of similar actions. Act utilitarianism is the most natural interpretation of utilitarian ideals, and elaborates further into what is morally correct, as opposed to the traditional rule utilitarian style. For instance, the Ten Commandments are a set of traditional rules that focus on generalShow MoreRelatedThe Most Influential Moral Theories : Virtue Ethics, Deontology, And Utilitarianism2412 Words   |  10 Pagesthe moral criteria that we as human beings have. They are the rules of the game that are supposed to guide us through our decision making in life and how to behave to one another as part of a society. However, there are different perspectives on how this criteria should be used, and when and whom they apply to. I will focus on the three most influential moral theories: virtue ethics, deontology, and utilitarianism. Although there are many great names of philosophers that fall in those theories, IRead MoreUtilitarianism Vs. Kantian Theory1100 Words   |  5 PagesMelanie Dolechek 3/30/17 PHI Essay #2 Utilitarianism vs Kantian Theory Morality is a complex subject and ethical dilemmas yield differing opinions and theories that have manifested through time by intelligent philosophers. There were two influential philosophers’ names Jeremy Bentham and Immanuel Kant, who formed differing theories, in an attempt to set a uniform approach to ethical dilemmas and morality. Bentham was a firm supporter of Utilitarian theory; which focuses on overall happiness andRead MoreUtilitarianism : Utilitarianism And Rule Utilitarianism871 Words   |  4 PagesUtilitarianism, which is also called consequentialism, is a theory in normative ethics. It is one of the best known and most influential moral theories. The main idea of utilitarianism is to determine whether actions are morally good or bad, right or wrong depends on their consequences rather than intentions. (Moreland 1) In order to understand utilitarianism, it is important to learn about Jeremy Bentham, who is the influential philosopher represented utilitarianism t he best. The utilitarianismRead MoreUtilitarianism Vs. Utilitarianism Theory909 Words   |  4 Pages In the history of philosophy Utilitarianism has been viewed as one of the best of the moral theories. It has become one the most powerful, influential, and most persuasive approach to normative ethics. The utilitarianism theory also has had a major impacts on approaches to economic, political, and social policy. The utilitarianism theory had originally had been created by Jeremy Bentham. His version of was that aggregate pleasure after deducting suffering of all involved in any action. HoweverRead MoreEthical Theories Supporting Different Moral Perspectives Of Human Actions871 Words   |  4 PagesThere are numerous ethical theories supporting different moral perspectives of human actions. The various theories differ according to the way in which they require people to act, and in their fundamental arguments. Because of different perspectives and philosophical views, no ethical t heory can be said to be superior to the other. The paper that follows describes and defends the ethical theory of utilitarianism. Reasons why Utilitarianism is the Correct Ethical Theory i. It reinforces rationalityRead MoreUtilitarianism, By John Stuart Mill And Utilitarianism880 Words   |  4 PagesMoral theories are sometimes hard to define, but with John Stuart Mill and Utilitarianism it is a little bit easier. Utilitarianism is an easy one, for the reason that it is defined by the greatest happiness for everyone involved. Sometimes it does not always make everyone content, but if you look at it as a whole it makes sense. Mill says that we have to look at the bigger picture. One person’s happiness affects another’s and so on. Utilitarianism is a moral theory that John Stuart Mill, the philosopherRead MoreThe Moral Theory Of Utilitarianism1725 Words   |  7 PagesNumerous moral theories have surfaced in the past years. They have been widely debated by philosophers and social reformers. It is important to understand what these theories are because of their influential tendencies in the way people act, especially in making morally right or wrong d ecisions. Utilitarianism is one of these many moral theories. Upon further analysis, problems with utilitarian thoughts are revealed. It has been widely debated by many philosophers, including G.E. Moore and ImmanuelRead MoreBroad-Based Blac Economic Empowerment996 Words   |  4 Pagesarticle is to discuss the ethical consequences of BBBEE and other affirmative action tools implemented by the South African Government, and the role of these measures in the present and future workplace. Stakeholder Theory Stakeholder theory states that managers within a company have a moral duty beyond merely maximizing profits and not involving potential role players (Beauchamp 2009). It says that a manager has ethical obligations to help all stakeholders within a company as well as external stakeholdersRead MoreThe Moral Problem Of A Moral Theory1450 Words   |  6 PagesSome people think that one aim of a moral theory is to give one a â€Å"decision procedure† to use when faced with moral problems. Decision procedures are defined as procedures that are similar to an algorithm for determining a finite number of specific steps that validate a particular proposition or argument. Well known examples of a decision procedure is the popular Venn-diagrams for aid in determining an interpretation of categorical knowledge and truth tables which are used in calculus problems. ButRead MoreThe Ethical Responsibilities Of Business Ethics Essay1737 Words   |  7 Pagesdilemma perspective with three different ethical theories, Kantian, utilitarianism and egoism. Based on the information from Jean’s case, the existence of an ethical dilemma is implied. Generally, ethical dilemma is defined as† a complex situation that often involves an apparent mental conflict between moral imperatives, in which to obey one would result in transgressing another.†(Allen, n.d., para. 1). Ethical dilemma refers to a complex situation of moral conflicts without clear guidance about how to

Antigone Essay free essay sample

Pride is not a symbol for strength, but of arrogance. It does not modify you as a powerful individual, but as a weakling with feign courage. It is not something to be proud of, for it veils you with vanity and ignorance so delicately and innocently that it betrays your conscience into thinking that it is a normal feeling that has no consequence whatsoever. An example of this infamous trap is presented in the play of tragedy Antigone, written by Sophocles himself. A character by the name of Creon was a victim of pride born from his position as ruler of the city of Thebes. It wasn’t long before he wallowed in sorrow, as pride swallowed in whole, smothering his familial views, killing his feel for care, and taking its place beside the ones he loved so. The motive by which Creon committed was a lethal mistake. His law of a deadly penalty crushed his son’s wife’s heart. We will write a custom essay sample on Antigone Essay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page That wife, Antigone, was determined to break his law to her love’s expense. She was not content with her brother’s improper burial and of his title, the â€Å"Traitor of Thebes†. Although she was aware of his treacherous actions, she was not about to stand back and watch her own blood and flesh rot to the ground, with no recognition or remembrance. I was born to join in love, not hate- that is my nature. † (Line 590) So she was determined to become a â€Å"glorified criminal†, determined to bury her mother’s son. â€Å"I will bury him myself. And even if I die in the act, that death will be a glory. † (Line 86). Creon believed her foolish, disloyal, yet passionate and wild. He ignored her views and spit on her face, as he responded, â€Å"Go down below and love, if love you must-love the dead! While I’m alive, no woman is going to lord it over me. † (Lines 592-594) This proves of Creon’s pride, his blindness at the sight before him. He will not allow Antigone dominate his authority, which is translation for ‘I will disregard my son’s useless wife because she is a woman, a weaker being under me, not because she is part of my family. ’ As the ruler of Thebes, it is understandable that Creon takes his job seriously and sets it on his priority list. However, his worst mistake was that his family came second, if not third. He valued his proud position of head of state, and would not tolerate any disloyal act, hence his law of prohibition of Polynices’s mourn. He does not care if Polynices was, too, part of his family, merely tossed him aside because he wounded Creon’s pride. He did not care when Haemon pleaded him with his eyes and struggled to help his father notice his blunder before it was too late. â€Å"You’ve seen trees by a raging winter torrent, how many sway with the flood and salvage every twig, but not the stubborn-they’re ripped out, roots and all. Bend or break†¦ Oh give away. Relax your anger – change! † (Lines 797-800, 804) However, as ignorant as ever, Creon takes no notice of the large warning sign below his nose. So, men our age, we’re supposed to be lectured, are we? – schooled by a boy his age? †¦This boy, I do believe, is fighting on her side, the woman’s side. † (Lines 813-815, 828-829) He does not realize the severe consequences that are about to follow his mistakes. Because of the death sentence hovering and raining down on Antigone, his wife, his hero, Haemon became intoxicated with sorrow and despair. He threatened another life loss following Antigone’s potential death, a threat dangerously tossed aside. After Antigone was found hung in the bricked imprisonment, Haemon was driven to take his sword to his chest, a tragedy Eurydice, Creon’s wife, could not bear. Three deaths, three losses, three strikes and Creon was out. Too many warnings were blown his way, and was blessed with many opportunities to prevent the calamity that took place. â€Å"Take these things to heart, my son, I warn you†¦ Stubbornness brands you for stupidity – pride is a crime. † (Lines 1131, 1136-1137) Sadly, he let his brick wall made of the finest feign courage get in his way. He let his pride take control of his life decisions. Once he tried to amend his errors, he had fallen low, and it was too late. Pride had given his loved ones to death at its doorstep, and abandoned Creon like an empty shell. Pride must not be let in control in any circumstance. It disguises itself with a foreign innocence that backstabs you once you give it an ounce of trust. Antigone is the perfect example of pride empowering a ruler, who tried to rid of the pest a second too late. Would you be a proud ruler, or the ruler of pride? You decide.

Philos, Eros, Agape Love in Religion Essay Example

Philos, Eros, Agape Love in Religion Paper Philia, eros, and agape are three different Greek terms for the word. These three terms explain the different types of love a human being can acquire. Philia is a love of friendship, which is grounded in commonality. However, eros is a kind of love that seeks something from the other person or thing. Lastly, agape is the love that wills the good of the other and is completely self-giving. The meanings of these Greek terminologies, philia, eros, and agape, allow us to better understand and discuss our relationship with God and human fulfillment. In order to find human fulfillment, one must find God of Jesus Christ as well. Erotic loving is our desire for this fulfillment, which can be seen through eros. Human nature can be simply defined in our constant want and need for infinite. The infinite, for humans, is never being satisfied, always wanting more, the best, and as much as we can get of something. This insatiable drive within all of us takes us to the question of human fulfillment. Eros is not a noun but yet an action or an activity. For instance, eros is the longing and search for a significant other throughout our lives. We will write a custom essay sample on Philos, Eros, Agape Love in Religion specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Philos, Eros, Agape Love in Religion specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Philos, Eros, Agape Love in Religion specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer By the same token, we search for God and yearn for infinite happiness and fulfillment from God. All human beings in one-way or another seek about human fulfillment. An example of someone who struggled with human fulfillment is Augustine. Although later he became known as Saint Augustine, in his earlier years he was everything but. Augustine was very intrigued by very common materialistic desires such as worldly possessions and lust. These skewed desires enthralled his thoughts, words, and actions. Consequently, Augustine became involved in petty crimes in order to feed this idea of â€Å"love† in the materialistic world. This concept of love and desire can be further illustrated as a receding horizon; the farther you continue into the horizon the bigger and more numerous your wants become. Later on Augustine reflected upon his materialistic ways of life and made significant life changes to become the Saint Augustine he is referred to today. As exemplified, the essence of eros can have a negative outlook and has been evaluated as such by Jean Paul Sartre. Sartre attested that the human being is a useless passion due to our insatiable desires. Markedly, human beings desire to retain the infinite and that need is simply impossible. For the search for the unlimited is tiresome and unappeasable. Conversely, there is an alternate way of looking at eros. In order to have hope, God has to appear to human life as not a receding horizon but an absolute savior. Human beings long for the truth and due to the constraints of science and history, Jesus is seen in an alternate way because he is no longer limited by space or time. In this case, Karl Rahner and Saint Augustine both agree that God always initiates the relationship with human life. Namely, they asserted that we are constantly drawn to God and God is not drawn to us. Because of this, we have the option of forming a better relationship with God. Rahner said that God dispenses his grace to all human beings of every religion in and God is continually accepting. Chiefly, it is not God’s choice to accept or deny us, for that is not his matter?. Anthony De Mello describes another explanation of human fulfillment to us. He explains to us that in order to have human fulfillment, we must detach ourselves from our worldly attachments. As human beings, we allow ourselves to believe that we cannot be happy without a certain thing or person in our life. Thus, that is not correct. We completely wreck ourselves with the belief in finite things. De Mello also emphasizes that we shouldn’t not care about these things and people in our life but rather we realize that we can live without them and be intent with that. ? Besides eros being a description of love there is also philia. Philia is the love of friendship or brotherly love. This kind of love is seen most commonly between friends who share things in common. Once we seek God, we have a friendship with God. Although, God is not described by philia because it is not completely reliable due to changes in friendships in positive and negative ways, and God’s love never changes. On the contrary to philia, agapic love is God. The terminology of agape explains God’s love as it wills the good of the other. Agape is all self-giving and never asks for anything in return. When a person gives them self to God, this love is agape. Nevertheless, agape and philia types of are critical to having a strong relationship with God. ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The doctrine of the Trinity can be viewed as God invites human beings into the inner life of God. Consequently, the doctrine of the Trinity correlates with this topic of discussing the types of love. The idea that God is three persons, yet one essence exhibits that God revealing Godself. God not only communicates with us, but he also draws us into the Trinity. Rahner expressed that the doctrine of the Trinity â€Å"is not a subtle theological and speculative game but is about the self-communication of God. † In the final analysis, there are two models that Christian theologians have formulated in an attempt to address the question of the salvation of non-Christians. These models are the Replacement Model and the Fulfillment Model. The Replacement Model mainly represents the Fundamentalist and Evangelist churches which existed over most of Christian history. This model emphasizes the scriptures from a literal standpoint. According to the Replacement Model, in order to be saved one must be in connection with the Church. Quite clearly, the Replacement model is not very accepting of other religions and believes only Christians will have salvation. ? The Fulfillment Model represents the majority of modern day Christians. The Fulfillment Model preaches the perspective that Christians need to have dialogue with non-Christians. In addition, many Christians think it’s not fair to punish those who have never learned the religion of Christianity or even heard of it. The Fulfillment Model is a way to accommodate people of all different faiths and as long as they are moral, that they too will see eternal life with God. By and large, Karl Rahner’s ideas mostly correlate with the ideas of the Fulfillment Model. The only real difference is that he states is that other religious views are also true. The church did not accept Rahner’s view because quite simply the church thought that other religions couldn’t be true and by believing so it devalued the image of Jesus in the Christian Church. In Vatican II, the council agreed with Rahner’s except they said there was no such thing as â€Å"anonymous Christians† and that other religions cannot be viewed as ways of salvation. Moreover, I believe that the Fulfillment model is the most accurate description of how non-Christians should be viewed. I believe that all people have salvation in God because God knows and loves all human beings. Lastly, I believe that by thinking that God doesn’t save non-Christians limits the idea God’s everlasting love.

Biology for Christians essays

Biology for Christians essays The Plantae includes all land plants: mosses, ferns, conifers, flowering plants, and so on-an amazing range of diverse forms. With more than 250,000 species, they are second in size only to the arthropoda. The most striking, and important, feature of plants is their green color, the result of a pigment called chlorophyll. Plants use chlorophyll to capture light energy, which fuels the manufacture of food-sugar, starch, and other carbohydrates. Without these food sources, most life on earth would be impossible. There would still be mushrooms and algae, but there would be no fruits, vegetables, grains, or any animals (which ultimately rely on plants for their food too!) Another important contribution of plants is their shaping of the environment. Think of a place without plants. The only such places on earth are the arctic wastelands, really arid deserts, and the deep ocean. Everywhere else, from the tundra to the rainforest to the desert, is populated by plants. In fact, when we think of a particular landscape, it is the plants which first come to mind. Try to picture a forest without trees, or a prairie without grasses. It is the plants which produce and maintain the terrestrial environment as we know it. The ferns are an ancient lineage of plants, dating back to at least the Devonian. They include three living groups Marattiales, Ophioglossales, and leptosporangiate ferns as well as a couple of extinct groups. An additional group, the Psilotales, is tentatively included in the ferns, though the group is so vastly different from living ferns that no one is really certain of its relationships. If you have ever stopped to smell the roses, then you are familiar with the largest group of plants, the Anthophyta. The distinctive feature of this group is the flower, a cluster of highly-specialized leaves which participate in reproduction. Not all flowers are as conspicuous as the Magnolia blosso ...

10 Fascinating Facts About Grasshoppers

10 Fascinating Facts About Grasshoppers Famed fable writer Aesop portrayed the grasshopper as a neer do well who fiddled away his summer days without a thought to the future but in the real world, the destruction wreaked by grasshoppers on farming and ranching is far from a harmless parable. Although grasshoppers are extremely common, theres more to these summertime critters than meets the eye. Heres a list of 10 fascinating grasshopper-related facts. 1. Grasshoppers and Locusts Are One and the Same When we think of grasshoppers, most people recall pleasant childhood memories of trying to catch the jumping insects in meadows or backyards. Say the word locusts, however, and it brings to mind images of historic plagues raining down destruction on crops and devouring every plant in sight. Truth be told, grasshoppers and locusts are members of the same insect order. While certain species are commonly referred to grasshoppers and others as locusts, both creatures are short-horned members of the order Orthoptera. Jumping herbivores with shorter antennae are grouped into the suborder Caelifera, while their longer-horned brethren (crickets and katydids) belong to the suborder Ensifera. 2. Grasshoppers Have Ears on Their Bellies The grasshoppers auditory organs are found not on the head, but rather, on the abdomen. A pair of membranes that vibrate in response to sound waves are located one on either side of the first abdominal segment, tucked under the wings. This simple eardrum, called a tympanal organ, allows the grasshopper to hear the songs of its fellow grasshoppers. 3. Although Grasshoppers Can Hear, They Cant Distinguish Pitch  Very Well As with most insects, the grasshoppers auditory organs are simple structures. They can detect differences in intensity and rhythm, but not pitch. The male grasshoppers song isnt particularly melodic which is a good thing since females dont care whether or not a fellow can carry a tune. Each species of grasshopper produces a characteristic rhythm that distinguishes its song from others and enables courting males and females of a given species to find one another. 4. Grasshoppers Make Music by Stridulating or Crepitating If youre not familiar with those terms, dont worry. Its not all that complicated. Most grasshoppers stridulate, which simply means that they rub their hind legs against their forewings to produce their trademark tunes. Special pegs on the inside of the hind leg act like a percussion instrument of sorts when they come in contact with the thickened edge of the wing. The band-winged grasshoppers crepitate or loudly snap their wings as they fly. 5. Grasshoppers Catapult Themselves Into the Air If youve ever tried to catch a grasshopper, you know how far they can jump to flee danger. If humans could jump the way grasshoppers do, we would be able to easily leap the length of a football field. How do these insects jump so far? Its all in those big, back legs. A grasshoppers hind legs function like miniature catapults. In preparation for a jump, the grasshopper contracts its large flexor muscles slowly, bending its hind legs at the knee joint. A special piece of cuticle within the knee acts as a spring, storing up all the potential energy. The grasshopper then relaxes its leg muscles, allowing the spring to release its energy and fling the insect into the air. 6. Grasshoppers Can Fly Because grasshoppers have such powerful jumping legs, people sometimes dont realize that they also have wings. Grasshoppers use their jumping ability to give them a boost into the air but most are pretty strong fliers and make good use of their wings to escape predators. 7. Grasshoppers Cause Billions of Dollars in Damage to Food Crops Annually One lone grasshopper cant do too much harm, although it eats about half its body weight in plants each day- but when locusts swarm, their combined feeding habits can completely defoliate a landscape, leaving farmers without crops and people without food. In the U.S. alone, grasshoppers cause about $1.5 billion in damage to grazing lands each year. In 1954, a swarm of Desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) consumed over 75 square miles of wild and cultivated plants in Kenya. 8. Grasshoppers Are an Important Source of Protein People have been consuming locusts and grasshoppers for centuries. According to the Bible, John the Baptist ate locusts and honey in the wilderness. Locusts and grasshoppers are a regular dietary component in local diets in many areas of Africa, Asia, and the Americas- and since theyre packed with protein, theyre an important nutritional staple as well. 9. Grasshoppers Existed Long Before Dinosaurs Modern-day grasshoppers descend from ancient ancestors that lived long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth. The fossil record shows that primitive grasshoppers first appeared during the Carboniferous period, more than 300 million years ago. Most ancient grasshoppers are preserved as fossils, although grasshopper nymphs (the second stage in the grasshopper lifestyle after the initial egg phase) are occasionally found in amber. 10. Grasshoppers  May Spit Liquid to Defend Themselves If youve ever handled grasshoppers, youve probably had a few of them spit brown liquid on you in protest. Scientists believe this behavior is a means of self-defense, and the liquid helps the insects repel predators. Some people say grasshoppers spit tobacco juice, probably because historically, grasshoppers have been associated with tobacco crops. Rest assured, however, the grasshoppers arent using you as a spittoon.

Project as an Intern at a Design Film Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Project as an Intern at a Design Film - Essay Example This all depended on appropriate time scale, enough budget allocation and good client communication, since the work of a designer is turning a concept into reality. In the long run the design processes included experimental, routine and fashion designs. Another key is the assembly of the client team which gave an outline of factors to be considered when hiring personnel in the business, which resulted in overcoming the cultural and operational differences experienced. The last key is the briefing process, which defined the project objectives, specific business opportunities to be realized and the scope for creating opportunities for the firm. Shortlisting of qualified design consultants was paramount as their main function in the business was to provide professional design solutions so that the client needs are met. Appointed design consultants were to specifically give shape to responses made by the clients. They provided polished design criteria for projects which comprised of gene ral overview of the project, intellectual, functional, technical and accommodation design criteria’s. ... Introduction to Finance Every business is formed on a strong financial base for it to properly carry out its operations of making profits. Most of the spheres affected by the financial principles of the design firm were contract management, administration of contracts, resourcing, budget and cost planning. The module, introduction to finance introduced the basic corporate and personal finance concepts, the time value for money, financial markets, shares and bonds, financial risk and return, ways of raising money and elements of investment. In addition the major components of finance included institutions and markets under which there were banks and other financial institutions, and the Federal Reserve System fell (Melicher and Norton 115). Finally, financial management comprised of business organization, financial analysis and long term financial planning, managing working capital and capital budgeting analysis. These principles served as the foundation of finance relating to the des ign business during my internship. Through financial analysis: the differences between manager and stakeholders are identified, time value of money, and higher returns were realized by taking more risks as the diversification of interests reduced risks. The design business had a financial system where the financial capital flowed with the aid of markets, intermediaries and regulation from savings to investments in the economy (Melicher and Norton 328). Melicher and Norton (251) argue that money markets are where the debt securities maturing within one year or less are traded while the capital markets are debt securities that mature longer than one year are traded. The major types of financial

Slavery between 1800 and 1865 and the the development of the American Essay

Slavery between 1800 and 1865 and the the development of the American South - Essay Example Slavery is interesting because there are many economic, political, social and cultural implications, which will be covered during the course of this essay. Social and Cultural Slavery The main social implication of slavery is that there will always be one ruling class and one formed of slaves. In the case of the United States, people were born into slavery and it was very difficult to escape, unless you could escape to the Union states and begin a new life, something which was not always easy. This led to black slaves being seen as inferior and finding it very difficult to move up the hierarchy into becoming landowners. This led to the culture that the United States has only recently (debatably) escaped, which is thinking that black people are somehow inferior. After the abolition of slavery, black people still found it very difficult to be treated equally to the white European settlers, simply because the cultural and social stereotype of slavery was left behind. Slavery in Economic s Economically, slavery was more positive. There were many available sources of labor which could be bought for a one-off price and then used until the slave was no longer fit for work. This was particularly important in cotton agriculture, because a large number of field hands were required for every harvest. The economics of the situation are impressive because actually, cheap or free labor is something that still occurs in the modern age and has been very useful to many companies over the years. This facet of slavery is interesting because if you take it apart from the other problems, it seems to make the situation seem almost positive, something which cannot be said of how slavery affected people themselves politically, morally and socially. Slavery in Politics Political interests in slavery have been wide-ranging and varied over the years. The Civil War occurred between 1861 and 1865 and was essentially a war waged between two sides (Union and Confederate) that could not bring themselves to agree politically about the topic of slavery. The Union side favored abolition, and was the side that eventually won. Politically, most people today would agree with the Union side, perhaps because of this victory and perhaps because of the burgening social interest in equality between races. The Confederate side believed that slavery was an essential part of the lifestyle, and necessary to keep the cotton (and other) crops being grown and harvested successfully. Slavery was part of the way of life, with slaves being incorporated into nearly every family, with the number of slaves a household possessed being a generally accepted measure of wealth. This ties in well with the social and cultural implications of slavery, which essentially suggested that the American South required slavery to continue being the prosperous land that it was. Slavery and the Development of the American South Slavery is something that affected the development of the American South greatly. As previously mentioned, slavery was a great part of the culture in the South prior to the Confederate states losing the American Civil War. Every respected household had black slaves up until (and past) the point at which it was illegal. The American South is still famous for having a higher level of racial inequality than the North, and this may be something of a hangover from

Clayton College Of Natural Health Essay Example for Free

Clayton College Of Natural Health Essay This thesis is an exploratory study which investigates the phenomena of holistic healing through a phenomenological approach and the potential of this process to reveal the importance of relying on the client as the most important information resource. Using qualitative design, this research chronicles the experiences of people for their impressions regarding their healing experiences and their search for wellness through traditional medical and complementary therapies. Objective data will be collected to validate the nature of this research through the completion of self-assessment forms, in addition to a subjective inquiry into the energetic process of each client through the art and narratives of this researcher. The discoveries that will be produced during the course of this research is expected to reflect the numerous implications of the holistic healing process. 3. Statement of Purpose and Background Holistic healing is on the edge of mainstream scientific thought. It is contrary to the accepted view that we will always be able to find a specific cause for any given disease. Holistic healing was described by Pelletier (1997). For him, all states of health were psychosomatic, each person representing a unique interaction of body, mind, and spirit. Illness was a disturbance in the dynamic balance of these relationships. The client and the practitioner shared the responsibility for the healing and both creatively learned about themselves during the healing process. This study seeks to add valuable information about the growing phenomena of holistic health. It strives to explore the process of holistic healing. In the process of investigating the studies hypotheses, this study hopes to discover novel, unanticipated themes that help further our understanding of holistic healing. In spite of its importance as a central phenomenon in medicine, the word holistic healing is rarely used in nursing or medical literature unless the authors are describing some form of indigenous healing ritual or in the context of purely physiological healing. A holistic healing perspective would imply that healing is much more than physiological change. In spite of a thorough search of the literature, no studies have been found that relate directly to the focus to this study, the experience of holistic healing. The literature review is not the theoretical foundation on which the study is based, but it is represented in order to illustrate the current state of the relevant literature. The initial review established the appropriateness of this study. The majority of the review will be accomplished after the data will be analyzed and will be guided by the findings. Literature from both the initial review and the later review will be combined and the connections between the literature and the results of this study will be explored in the later chapters. Topics will also be discussed that might relate to the experience of healing, such as health status, recovery, and survival. In this related literature the independent variables such as social support, optimism, and hardiness are often well defined with reliable and valid measures. The dependent variables such as â€Å"being healthy, having minor health problems, suffering from chronic disease, being disabled, and being dead are treated as equally-spaced points on a continuum† (Hobroyd Coyne, 1987, p. 364), and are not often well-defined or measured. Other measures sometimes defined as â€Å"healthy† are help seeking behaviours and compliance with medical recommendations. This research investigates these questions: 1. What does it mean to be holistically healthy? 2. What is the mechanism of the health creation process? Hence, this study hypothesized that: 1. Personal experiences will be a key contributing factor to participants` developing a holistic healing approach. 2. Participants will report healing experience with holistic health as key to developing their interests. This study assumes that holistic healing have an integrative theory that guides its process. Additionally, it assumes that holistic healing adhere to a theoretical orientation that promotes universal spiritual ideals as opposed to specific religious ones. The researcher believes that human existence is multidimensional. In addition, this study assumes that illness, whether physical, psychological or spiritual effect our all the levels of existence, body, mind, and spirit. Furthermore, the researcher believes those treatment regimens, regardless of the discipline of origin, increase their efficacy by addressing more of the levels-of-being thorough utilizing a holistic approach. Hence, involving human subjects in this research will be justified. 4. Subjects a. Subject Characteristics In this study a target number of ten participants will be chosen. Their ages range from 28-65. The participants are expected to come from a variety of occupations. Moreover, these participants are expected to demonstrate unique behaviors prior to surgery that appeared as if they might add important insight to the study. The researcher would like to have equal number of male and female participants (5 males and 5 females) to have an equal perspective from both genders. Further, in phenomenology it is important to choose participants who are able to speak with ease, express their feelings, and describe physical experiences (van Kaam, 1966). All the participants are expected to be verbal and expressive and should have little trouble discussing their healing experiences. b. Selection Criteria Participants to be chosen are those who: 1. had had recent surgery (first interviews will be conducted one week after hospital discharge); 2. were expected to return to their presurgical level of functioning. To insure that the participants would have a significant enough surgery to focus their attention on healing, they: 1. were in the hospital for at least three days; 2. were not expected to return to presurgical functioning for at least three weeks. Certain situations related to the surgery could have distracted the participants from focusing on healing. It was not assumed that these situations could not be healing experiences, but individuals with the following characteristics were not included: 1. external disfigurement from the surgery, beyond the incision; 2. an illness that was expected to be fatal. c. Special Populations No special group will be used in this study. d. Recruitment Source There are three surgeons known to the researcher that are the sources and they will be contacted by telephone and then by letter (see Appendix A). Nurses in surgical practice will also be contacted for help. Through the researcher’s own private practice she had many contacts with lawyers, personnel departments and other referring sources. The need for participants was expressed to many of them. Participants referred by professional friends are also good recruitment source. e. Recruitment Method All the participants will be given the researcher’s telephone number and a brief description of the study (see Appendix B). It will be up to the potential participants whether they would make the first contact. Their participation in the study will not be discussed with referring person. The researcher will assume that access to participants would be much easier this way. The resources who were able to provide participants all knew and trusted the researcher. This knowledge could have made it easier to believe that patients would not be harmed by participation in the study. More personal contact beyond telephone and written contact may help to build the necessary trust with potential providers of participants who have never met the researcher. f. Informed Consent Process Because of concern for protection of human subjects, potential participants will be the one responsible for contacting the researcher, not visa versa. This may add to the difficulty of finding participants. Perhaps more potential participants could have been contacted sooner to insure a less prolonged interview schedule. Phenomenological research is a relatively unknown methodology in the medical community and potential providers of participants may have been concerned about the validity of the research. After the potential participants called the researcher, a short interview will be conducted on the telephone to ascertain whether they met the requirements for the study. They will be told what would be expected of them and asked whether they will be willing to participate. Participants will be informed about the nature of the study verbally and through a written consent form (see Appendix C). The nature of the study will also be discussed over the telephone and at the start of the first interview. Questions about the study will be answered at this time, as well as later. As stated in the consent form interviews will be tape-recorded. The tapes will be transcribed by the typist. Pseudonyms will be substituted whenever the participant’s name is used on the tape. The tapes, transcriptions of the tapes, information sheets, and any other materials written by or about the participants’ actual names will not appear in any written reports, nor will they be used in any other way. A list of participants wishing information about the results will be kept separate and will be in no way connected with the data. Participants will be assured that they could withdraw from the study at any time, and that this would not affect their treatment in any way. g. Study Location Attempt will be made to interview all participants in their homes as it will be likely the place where they will feel comfortable and will be sufficiently relax to be able to talk about their experiences. The home is a more appropriate setting than the hospital. Although healing probably will not occur in the hospital, many factors are present which may influence the ability to focus on the process. Pain, recovery from anesthesia, lack of privacy, and immersion in the patient role are notable destructors which are expected to be less pronounces at home. Most of the interviews will be conducted in the home but if the participant will find it more convenient to be interviewed in their office or in other comfortable place (i. e. restaurant) then that will be granted. h. Potential Problems It is anticipated that some questions may cause emotional trauma, thus the participants’ emotional state will be assessed throughout the interview and time will be allotted to discuss any difficulty they will have. 5. Research Design and Methods a. Research Design A suitable design for exploring holistic healing from the perspective of the person in the mechanism of the health creation process is phenomenology. In phenomenology, the essence of human experience (Solomon, 1980) will be studied. It is based on careful consideration of rich complex data, using logic and insight (Cohen, 2001). Then careful interpretation will clarify this reality of human experiences. In the process of interpretation, data will not created, but they will be analysed with an attempt to discover their essence. So, in order to address the research questions posed in this study, select individuals will be asked to discuss their experience of holistic healing and the mechanism of their health creation process. Asking people directly seemed an effective way to study meaning, experience, beliefs, expectations, and perceptions of holistic healing. Benner (2002) pointed out that physiological aspects of healing can be studied readily with traditional quantitative research. Much of the research available on psychological, interpersonal, and personality dimensions of health has also been done using quantitative methods. But there is now a current interest in exploring holistic healing using qualitative means, but no qualitative studies have explored healing. As healing is a lived experience it seems appropriate to use a qualitative method to ask individuals who are in the process of healing to attempt to articulate what they believe is happening. The following is a list of the steps proposed by Colaizzi (1998) that will be followed in this study: 1. carefully interrogate presuppositions; 2. conduct pilot interviews; 3. integrate personal presuppositions and the thoughts about the pilot data, to generated a series of interview questions; 4. gather the data; 5. read all the transcriptions of the data and acquire a feeling for the whole; 6. underlie significant statements in the data; 7. try to formulate the meaning of the combined significant statements. Creative insights can be used to go from what the subjects say to what the researcher believes they might have meant; 8. organize formulated meanings from all the interviews into groups of themes. Validate these themes by asking whether there is anything in the original data that is not included in the themes, or whether the themes imply anything not in the original data; 9. write an exhaustive description of the results so far, including any discrepancies or themes that do not fit into a cohesive framework; 10. reduce the description to the fundamental structure of the phenomenon; 11. validate findings with selected participants. In a phenomenological study, oral interview is indispensable. The purpose of the interview is to elicit information about the participants’ experience in their own words, order of priority, and depth of emphasis. Hence, interviews will usually lasts from 60 to 90 minutes or even longer. Then, it is expected that there will be two interviews (first and a follow-up). The first interview is intended to be conducted approximately one week after hospital discharge. After the first interview with each participant, the data will be analyzed to discover whether any of this information needed clarification or expansion or whether any of these data pointed to the need for another area of questioning. A list of specific questions will be drawn from each participant to explore during the second interview. The second interview for each participant is planned to occur three weeks after the first interview to allow enough time to pass to have some additional thoughts on healing, yet to be early enough in the process that the participant will still focused on healing. The second will start with general questions before the more specific questions will be asked. Again, he purpose was to elicit the participants’ experience in the most uncontaminated way possible. The participants’ thoughts about the healing is expected to be stimulated during the first interview so that they will add new ideas to express during the second interviews and it will be validated as the emerging themes and interpretations of the researcher.

Renaisssance versus Baroque Periods Essay -- Comparison Contrast essay

The baroque and renaissance periods are two different periods. The renaissance period rolled into the baroque era. There were changes made over the years from the baroque to the renaissance period. Differences in style accumulated along with views of art and music. Baroque era covers the period between 1600 and 1750 beginning with Monte Verdi (birth of opera) and ended with deaths of Bach and Handel. The term baroque music is borrowed from the art history. It follows the Renaissance era (1400-1600). It was initially considered to be a corrupt way of Renaissance by conservatives. The dominant trends in Baroque music correspond to those in Baroque art and literature. Some features of Baroque art included a sense of movement, energy, and tension (whether real or implied). Strong contrasts of light and shadow enhance the effects of paintings and sculptures. Opera is one of the types of music in the Baroque era. It represented melodic freedom. Baroque era was usually referred to as the thorough-bass period. In early Baroque era no tonal direction existed, but experiments in pre-tonal harmony led to the creation of tonality. [1] Baroque genre included instrumental suite, ritornello, Concerto grosso and chant. There were important composers of the Bar oque period such as Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Antonio Vivaldi William Byrd Henry Purcell and George Phillip Telemann. Starting in northern Italy, the hierarchical state -- led by either the urban bourgeoisie or despotic nobles -- replaced the fluid and chaotic feudal system of the middle Ages. [2] For this reason, some historians refer to the Renaissance as the Early Modern Era. Sculptors, building on the techniques of artists such as Giovanni Bernini (1598-1680), found ways to create the illusion of energetic and even violent movement in their works. Painters created larger and more crowded canvases. Virtuosity was used in all the arts. The arts became an important measure of learning and culture. Music moved from the science of number to an expressive art viewed as an equal to rhetoric. The Renaissance means the rebirth of ancient learning. The renaissance can be divided into two parts Early Renaissance (1420-1500) and High Renaissance (1500-1520). The Renaissance era was one of the most productive time periods in history as far as the advancement of music goes. At first it was rigid, structu... ...ike today. The period between the baroque and renaissance paved a new way for not only music, but for art. The change that took place was gorgeous causing art to become so vivid and images are portrayed to be so real. I never was a fan of art nor music, but if one actually pays attention to the evolvement of it throughout time one would have great appreciation. References 1) Carter, Tim. Music in late Renaissance & early baroque Italy. Amadeus Press. 1992. 2) Bailey, Gauvin A. Between Renaissance and Baroque: Jesuit art in Rome 1565-1610. University of Toronto Press. 2003. 3) Huyghe, Rene. Larousse encyclopedia of Renaissance and Baroque Art. London, Hamlyen. 1967. 4) Mundy, James. Renaissance into Baroque. University Press. 1989. 5) Jaffe, Michael. Renaissance & Baroque drawings. Abrams Press.1995. Bibliographies Atlas, A.W. Renaissance Music: Music in Western Europe, 1400-1600. 1st ed. New York: Norton, 1998. Corrick, J.A. The Renaissance. San Diego: Lucent Brooks, 1998. Getzinger, Donna. Johnann Sebastian Bach and the art of baroque music. 1st ed. Greensboro: Morgan Reynolds, 2004 Lorenz, Hellmut. Baroque Art. New York: Plague, 1994. Renaisssance versus Baroque Periods Essay -- Comparison Contrast essay The baroque and renaissance periods are two different periods. The renaissance period rolled into the baroque era. There were changes made over the years from the baroque to the renaissance period. Differences in style accumulated along with views of art and music. Baroque era covers the period between 1600 and 1750 beginning with Monte Verdi (birth of opera) and ended with deaths of Bach and Handel. The term baroque music is borrowed from the art history. It follows the Renaissance era (1400-1600). It was initially considered to be a corrupt way of Renaissance by conservatives. The dominant trends in Baroque music correspond to those in Baroque art and literature. Some features of Baroque art included a sense of movement, energy, and tension (whether real or implied). Strong contrasts of light and shadow enhance the effects of paintings and sculptures. Opera is one of the types of music in the Baroque era. It represented melodic freedom. Baroque era was usually referred to as the thorough-bass period. In early Baroque era no tonal direction existed, but experiments in pre-tonal harmony led to the creation of tonality. [1] Baroque genre included instrumental suite, ritornello, Concerto grosso and chant. There were important composers of the Bar oque period such as Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Antonio Vivaldi William Byrd Henry Purcell and George Phillip Telemann. Starting in northern Italy, the hierarchical state -- led by either the urban bourgeoisie or despotic nobles -- replaced the fluid and chaotic feudal system of the middle Ages. [2] For this reason, some historians refer to the Renaissance as the Early Modern Era. Sculptors, building on the techniques of artists such as Giovanni Bernini (1598-1680), found ways to create the illusion of energetic and even violent movement in their works. Painters created larger and more crowded canvases. Virtuosity was used in all the arts. The arts became an important measure of learning and culture. Music moved from the science of number to an expressive art viewed as an equal to rhetoric. The Renaissance means the rebirth of ancient learning. The renaissance can be divided into two parts Early Renaissance (1420-1500) and High Renaissance (1500-1520). The Renaissance era was one of the most productive time periods in history as far as the advancement of music goes. At first it was rigid, structu... ...ike today. The period between the baroque and renaissance paved a new way for not only music, but for art. The change that took place was gorgeous causing art to become so vivid and images are portrayed to be so real. I never was a fan of art nor music, but if one actually pays attention to the evolvement of it throughout time one would have great appreciation. References 1) Carter, Tim. Music in late Renaissance & early baroque Italy. Amadeus Press. 1992. 2) Bailey, Gauvin A. Between Renaissance and Baroque: Jesuit art in Rome 1565-1610. University of Toronto Press. 2003. 3) Huyghe, Rene. Larousse encyclopedia of Renaissance and Baroque Art. London, Hamlyen. 1967. 4) Mundy, James. Renaissance into Baroque. University Press. 1989. 5) Jaffe, Michael. Renaissance & Baroque drawings. Abrams Press.1995. Bibliographies Atlas, A.W. Renaissance Music: Music in Western Europe, 1400-1600. 1st ed. New York: Norton, 1998. Corrick, J.A. The Renaissance. San Diego: Lucent Brooks, 1998. Getzinger, Donna. Johnann Sebastian Bach and the art of baroque music. 1st ed. Greensboro: Morgan Reynolds, 2004 Lorenz, Hellmut. Baroque Art. New York: Plague, 1994.

The Lost Generation

Both Remarque’s â€Å"All Quiet on the Western Front† and Hemingway’s â€Å"The Sun Also Rises† relate to the theme of hopelessness during the lost generation. Remarque’s story is set during the war from a younger German soldier, Paul, through him the suffering and difficulties are presented as fruitless and with out a main goal to look forward to when they return home. Throughout the military travels of the younger soldiers like Paul, Remarque’s view on wars disadvantages on people are clearly stated through the eyes of Paul. Towards the end of his life, he grows happy to die and is glad to pass away from all the pain emotionally and physically he and his comrades had to endure during the battle. Carrying on through the book is the sense of empty hopelessness that nothing will become good and there is nothing to look forward to after their arrival home. On the other side, Hemingway’s older veteran characters, Jake and Brett, play the role of two empty people who are looking for direction in life after the devastating war. Jake however becomes a redeemable character through his journey to overcome his psychological and physical damage from the war and gains sympathy. However Brett does not earn any more respect or accomplishes any growth in overcoming her war wounds. This takes its own path in the end when Jake moves on from Brett’s taunting attitudes and starts to gain his balance in life again. Hemingway’s hopelessness is conveyed more positively than Remarque’s critical outlook on war. Throughout both book the characters struggle with their emotional difficulties to stay attuned to their prewar lives and struggle with hope for the future. However Hemingway takes the path of a more positive ending while Remarque creates a happy doom for his brave, suffering characters. There are many parallels between the characters in each book enough though the themes and perspectives are entirely different. The main point serves the same purpose, whereas the lost generation was hopeless unless they rarely saw a glimpse of the future after recovery. The tone of the overall book has an almost empty and predictable attitude about it, the men have no hope for themselves, and they do not convey a sense of need to get home or to survive but merely to continue to take orders until the end. The hopelessness conveyed by the characters in â€Å"All Quiet on the Western Front† is the kind of hopelessness when you know you cannot personally change the outcome of your fate knowing the future results in death. Most of the reality of the brutal war is exposed through battles or bluntly stated by another distraught soldier. A sense of urgency is not present when knowing that at any moment a comrade could be returning with â€Å"screams of intolerable pain. [Knowing] every day that he can live will be howling [with] torture† (72). The lack of urgency communicates that death is a causal event during war and the witnesses are used to the terrible sight of mangled or dead bodies. Some even accept that they will one day become like those they see in pain and fear life over death. â€Å"Every face can be read† on the appearance of each soldier who knows they are subject to the â€Å"embrace† of â€Å"the front† (53). Faces can easily be read because the same fate awaits all the soldiers, death and no hope. The characters see no future and are trudging along in an empty cycle. The circle is completed with unfilled desires to keep living when the discovery of Paul with â€Å"his face [of calm expression] as though almost glad the end had come† establishes that he was happy to leave pain, suffering and damaged forthcoming opportunities to a peaceful afterlife (296). The lost generation shared a â€Å"common fate [which] ruined [them] for everything† upcoming in the future to better their lives such as a family or a job offer as mentioned by various characters but created disappointment at the realization their dreams would not come true. This contributed to the plummeting feelings the lost generation carried with them. Hemingway disguises his characters want for redemption and amount of hopelessness they feel. The book has a more up beat consistency than â€Å"All Quiet on the Western Front† and more is said in what the Jake is not saying than what he and Brett bluntly state. Brett cannot be with Jake because she would â€Å"tromper† or commit adultery since Jake cannot satisfy her needs sexually (62). Instead Jake secretively takes a prostitute out to dinner but ends up dumping her on his friends while he leaves with Brett. Jake did not sleep with the prostitute, Georgette, because he felt ashamed and helpless about his physical injury from the war. He does not feel man enough to sleep with a prostitute, he feels discouraged about his future plans and ability to gain happiness as part of the lost generation. To fill the void opened from war, Jake, Brett and their comrades drink to escape their persisting troubles and pains. Jake has a miserable life and to make it better he finds it easier to get drunk and not fix his problems. â€Å" ‘Don’t get drunk, Jake,’ she [Brett] said. ‘You don’t have to. ’†¦ ‘Don’t,’ she said. You’ll be alright. ’† Brett reassures Jake (245). The pain and emptiness ceases with alcohol and distracts from the wars wounds. Contrasting to Paul and the other lost generation soldiers in â€Å"All Quiet on the Western Front†, Jake proves he is able to redeem himself and looks to the future. Ja ke uses religion as a parallel to his emotional stability. When starting out Jake was not religious and just went through the movements of going to church and â€Å"being a good Catholic†, however as he progresses he finds that he should care more about religion and has a want to be more involved. The parallel of him wanting to be more involved is when he breaks away from Brett and starts off new; and for the first time believes in his future after he returned from the war. Jake’s break through occurred when he â€Å"stoop up, gripped with [his] toes on the edge of the raft as it tipped with [his] weight, and dove cleanly and deeply, to come up through the lightening water, blew the salt water out of [his] head, and swam slowly and steadily to shore† (242). As Jake comes out of the water, he symbolizes a baptism and the rebirth of himself into a more understanding and less negative man. Along with becoming less frightened of the future Jake was able to let go of Brett and her ability to draw men in. He finally cleansed himself of her and his past troubles and looks to days ahead. Rarely does Jake interact with a genuine character, more often does he associates with deceptive, greedy, manipulative or mean people of the lost generation. The main character that is sympathetic is Jake, he battles the most with his physical injury and because of that, Brett puts him through emotional misery. Even as Brett â€Å"kissed [Jake he] could tell she was thinking of something else† and finally understood that she just used him for her own personal benefit (245). After his â€Å"baptism† Jake was close to moving on from Brett and almost did until she pulled him back in again. The fact that Brett is thinking about someone else is the last straw for Jake and he is done with her. From this kiss on, Jake is cold and a little immature towards Brett. This signifies his final connection with her emotionally and he takes steps to begin a new life. Brett consciously talks bout her other men with Jake while she knows how he feels about her. She almost flaunts them in front of Jake by complimenting them saying â€Å"he’s my sort of thing† (247). Brett is attracted to the bad boys who show her attention but aren’t controlling. She disregards Jake as a candidate for her commitment and love since he cannot satisfy her sexually; she only uses him emotionally t hen ditches him when a better offer comes along. She is aware she cannot be with him and it hurts him to see her go off with men, however she does nothing to change this. She even goes as far as to bring the men over to Jake’s place to have a drink. Because of her blatant disrespect for anyone but herself she is not a redeemable character and no sympathy is given to her. Jake is the only character that deserves sympathy while Brett does not even deserve respect from Jake. Similar to sympathy, Jake becomes a redeemable character towards the end of his journey with Brett after the war. He clearly stands opposed to Brett who is neither sympathetic nor redeemable. During Jake’s baptism and revelation, he proves to want to redeem himself, if not to others at least to himself. He is aware that he is not the most religious man but tries to convince himself otherwise to morally feel better. Jake is Catholic and by the end of the book becomes more religious and understands the meaning of religion rather than just going through the motions at church. He values the importance of God when Brett states she does not really care for him or religion since it’s a waste of her time. Jake at least holds on to that the whole book and increases his religious activities and symbolism towards the end. Not only does Jake morally and mentally redeem himself but he also redeems his time wasted on Brett. One of their last interactions Jake unmistakably communicates his annoyance and irritation with Brett, â€Å" ‘You like to eat, don’t you? ’ she said. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I like to do a lot of things. ’ â€Å" (250). Jake becomes fed up with Brett’s constant lack of acknowledgement that he is always there for her and not some one to use when her love life is not thriving. He grows tired of constant games and realizes there is nothing left for them together. After more small talk is exchanged between the two, Jake is ready to let her go for good and finally gains enough confidence that everything will be okay with out Brett. Brett tries to make herself sound more appealing to Jake by explaining, â€Å"it makes one feel rather good deciding not to be a bitch† (249). Other than making the decision to not be a bitch, Brett makes no other attempt to redeem herself or acknowledge that she played with Jake’s feelings and ruined part of his life for holding on to him for such a long time. She cannot get over her self absorption to realize she messes with men for her own benefit whether it be money or sex, and doesn’t care who she hurts along the way, mainly Jake. There is no evidence that she is a redeemable, sympathetic or a caring character. Although she has issues because she, too, is considered the lost generation, that does not give her the right to act above everyone else and hurt Jake. Jake also traumatized by the war does not use women to make Brett jealous or ever hurts her. He is always there when he is needed to support her dramatic lifestyle. Brett has no compassion for anyone but herself therefore making her unredeemable and Jake redeemable. Although each stories have their differences in almost all aspects there is one overall main point: the lost generation was hopeless and it was a difficult time for those people. Each book expresses the same bigger picture but is differently executed. Jake’s tone which represents the overall feel of the book communicates the idea of a ghostly and missing man looking for a happier path in life to escape his sadness and pain. He rarely finds little pleasures and mostly describes scenes as dark or dark imagery, only a few times is light mentioned when redemption or renewal of a character is occurring. Paul’s description of the war gives off a more pessimistic tone as he always comes back to the idea that the lost generation has nothing to return to at home. However he finds simple pleasures more enjoyable and tries to make the most of them. Both characters portray a sense of despair and loss of direction in life but differently executed. Hemingway chooses to exhibit his characters as striving to change their lives while Remarque’s turns negatively towards death and meaninglessness. Hemingway does not refer to the war but instead barely mentions it or Jake will see military like actions between people symbolizing the war and the lost generation. The fact that Hemingway does not mention the war, yet the book is about war, further proves that in Hemingway’s writing, what is not being said is more important. The tone is important to both novels to relay the same message but entirely different outcomes and themes. The lost generation was a sad hopeless group of veterans who, if not killed, had to aimlessly go through life feeling like there was no purpose or they didn’t belong. Hemingway and Remarque’s classic novels illustrate the hard times during and after the war and the many similarities that are present.

Montessori Math

Montessori is an approach which many have adopted these days as a teaching method for children in preschool. The materials which they use create an environment that is developmentally appropriate for the children. Montessori believes that with the helped of trained teachers and the proper environment which the children are placed in, intelligence and different skills will be developed in the child (Casa Montessori, 1997-2009). In addition, one of the main aims of Montessori is develop children to become life long , independent learners. Instead of following the tradition teaching methods whereby teachers would present the students with all the facts and information that they need to know, the teachers trained in Montessori teaching would ask questions and direct the children in a way where they have to look for the answers themselves. In the learning process, the teachers would basically motivate the children to be actively engaged in their learning and to think independently (Seldin, 2010). The basis of the Montessori approach is that learning through experience and going through the process of investigating and discovery is one of the most effective ways for a child to learn. Montessori also believes that children do not learn by memorising information given to them but from concrete experiences that interests them. This is why Montessori focus on different creating different developmentally appropriate concrete learning tools and materials that stimulates the child into logical thinking and discovery for subjects such as mathematics, sensory development, language and so on (Seldin, 2010). With regards to mathematics, the Montessori approach sees sensorial training as a very important platform which aids in the learning of basic arithmetic. The wide variation of materials Montessori has to cater to mathematics allows children to familiarize themselves with numbers at an early age (Modern Montessori International, 2006). They focus on using sensorial materials because they are precise and exact. They believe that it is important for the children to work with materials that are exact and so that they can be exposed to isolated concepts, learn through repetition and rom there draw the main principle of each and have a clear abstraction. All these concepts would help the child to order his mind and enable him to classify different experiences. This is because having a clear perception and the ability to classify things help the child to learn how to be precise in their conclusions. Working with sensorial materials prepares the children for the study of progression and sequ encing as it builds up spatial representations of quantities and form imagines of magnitudes (Montessori Primary Guide). Montessori believes that before a child can start learning mathematics, he or she must explore and accept the notions of idealized things with isolated qualities and to practice the requisite intellectual skills (Modern Montessori International, 2006). First of all, exposing the child to early sensorial activities is used to introduce the idealization of things and isolation of qualities to them. This is because allowing the child to work with sensorial materials gives them the opportunity to deal with isolated qualities physically and hence acquire the sensibility of what mathematics is all about. Secondly, the child must be introduced to the intellectual skills needed for mathematics such as exactness, calculation and repetition. Practical activities such as pouring beans into a jug or sweeping the floor can help children acquire such skills. It is believed that when children reach age four, they are ready to start learning mathematics. However, prior to that, the children have to establish certain things such as internal order, precise movement, work habits, the child must be able to complete a work cycle, follow a process and are able to work with symbols (Modern Montessori Guide). That is why there are developmentally appropriate ways for the children to explore arithmetic. The material first begins with concrete experiences such as the number rods and cards where the children are able to work with such materials to learn the different concepts of numbers. This would also help the child as they work towards the abstract stage of solving mathematical sums. The mathematics in Montessori is organized into six groups. Group 1 is Introduction to Numbers, group 2 is the Introduction to the Decimal System, group 3 is the Introduction to Teen Board, group 4 is the Operation of Decimal System, group 5 is the Introduction to Recording and Arithmetic Tables and group 6 is Abstraction. Firstly, group 1 which is the Introduction to Numbers introduces the units of quantity up to 10. The focus group for this group is for children age 3 and a half onwards and the main aim of this group is to help children learn the names of numbers, understand the value of each number and to memorise the number sequence. Secondly, for the in group 2, The Introduction to the Decimal System, the children are given concrete experiences with units with tens, hundreds and thousands as tools to introduce them to the decimal system. As for the third group which covers the Introduction to Teen Board, it helps the children to understand the different numbers within a hundred. Fourthly, group 4 which covers the Operation of Decimal System gets children to work with beans when doing the operation and is usually done at a sensorial and group level. The fifth group is the Introduction to Recording and Arithmetic Tables. Children at this level work individually with the materials and area also introduced to recording at the same time. The children will use strips, boards and beads that help in giving them material demonstration of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. In addition, these board games do help them children to memorise tables. And lastly group 6 is covers Abstraction. This level is a transition to abstraction which helps the children to internalize the different functions of arithmetic. The materials used by Montessori are of progressing difficulty. The child would first be introduced to a quantity in isolation and then a name would be given for it. After which, the child would be given the opportunity to associate the quantity and the symbol. Using an example for the number rod exercise, we can see that the children are first introduced to the numbers by itself when they are asked to count the rods. Subsequently, the teachers would go on and teach the children how to match the numerals to its values by matching the number cards to the rods. The focus group for this group is for children age 3 and a half onwards and the main aim of this group is to help children learn the names of numbers, understand the value of each number and to memorise the number sequence. With regards to Montessori, sequence is always given in all of the work and the children are taught to establish a sequence in everything they do. I believe that is how the children learn how the numbers go in sequence (Modern Montessori Guide). The advantage of this exercise is that the units of each number rod are fixed. Therefore, this reduces any possibility of confusion that might arise. Moreover, the children will be able to absorb the concept into the unconscious easily and hence teach them the names of the numbers before the child grasp the abstract conception (Montessori Mom, 2009). The materials by Montessori give the children the experience that they need to arrive and progress to begin working independently. Some of the activities are directed by teachers but all these activities would have to be followed up with activities which allow the children to work on their own. The children are only allowed to progress to the next level when they have fully understood the previous stage (Modern Montessori Guide). Thus, the children will only be able to progress to the decimal stage when they have finished the first level. As mentioned above, the children will start to learn about the decimal system in group 2. This teacher directed exercise is done for children age 4 years and above. What the teacher will do first is that she will put beads on a tray and place it on a table with the unit on the right and the thousand on the left. After which, the teacher will bring the unit of bead from the tray and put it on the mat and say â€Å"this is a unit†, and put the bead back on the tray. Subsequently, the teacher will bring out the tens bars and indicate to the children that â€Å"this is a ten†. And the teacher will do likewise for the hundreds and thousands. After all these have been taught, the teacher will follow up with the second period where she will place all four materials (unit/ tens/ hundreds/ thousands) at random and get the child to show her the unit she wants. In the last period, the teacher will take a random unit out and ask the child what it is. So for example, the teacher will take a cube and get the child to name what it is. The main aims of this exercise is firstly, that the children will learn the terms â€Å"thousands, ten and unit†, that they can understand the decimal system and that the child will be able to understand the relative values of one, ten, hundred and thousand. Following that, in order to teach the children how to associate the quantities with the numerals from 11 to 10 and to teach the children how to count from 11 – 19, the teachers would use materials such as a sequin board, 9 ten bead bars and a set of short bead stair. The different boards would be arranged on the floor and teacher would arrange the 9 ten bars to the right of the board. She would then ask the child to lay the out the short bead stair to the right of the ten bars. After which, the teacher would stack the numeral cards n order going from 1 to 9 and place the stack to the right of the board. With that the teacher will ask the child what the first number on the board is. When the child says 10, she will ask him to place a 1 ten bead bar to the left of the board and when she asks the child what comes after ten, the child will have to make 11 by adding 1 to the 10 bead bar. After that, she will get the child to place the numeral card with the number. She will continue to do this until the number 19. In order to teach the children numbers up till 99, the steps that the teachers do will also be similar to what they do with teaching the children from 11 to 19. As we can see, just like what was mentioned above, the procedures that Montessori adopts is one that has sequence. The children would progress step by step slowing adding on to what they know. Many have criticized Montessori’s method of using strings of beads to teach numbers as being clumsy or materialistic. However, they believe that it is necessary for the children to understand numbers because it would be easier for a child to work with concrete materials patiently if he or she is unable to get a clear idea of abstraction (Montessori Mom, 2009). The beads chain is used to give the child an understanding of the relative value of 1, 10 and 100. The teacher would place the chain and the 100 square next to each other, telling the child that the bead chain and the 100 square are the same. She will then start the exercise by asking the child to pull the chain into a straight vertical line and ask the child to count every single bead in the first bar. When the child comes to the 10th bead, the child would be asked to place the first number label 10, next to the ten beada. He will continue for the rest of the tens (20, 30, 40) until 100. In the next level, the children would progress to the stage where the teacher will develop their understanding of working of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. For example, in the exercise for addition, the teacher will show the children how to lay the materials out. A large number card is laid out in column and the 2 sets of small number cards are laid side by side. The teacher tells the children that they are going to work with addition problems. After that, the teacher makes addends in small number cards and puts one in each tray. She will then get the children to go to the bank and get the appropriate beads. After the children have done so, she has to show the children how to put the beads and the different quantities on the mat. The teacher will then explain to the children how she is going to add the different quantities and units that are there. She will get one child to place the large number card and show him where to place the card. A second child will be asked to bring down the 10s, count them and bring the large number card. She will repeat all the steps with the 100s and 1000s. Following that, children will start to learn composition and de-composition of numbers 1 to 10. This is for children age 5 onwards. The teacher will ask the child to build the stairs with the number rods on the mat. She will bring down the rod number 10 and get the child to count it. After which she would bring down the rod number 9 and get the child to count it as well. She will then ask the child â€Å"how many more do we need to make the number 10? † and the child will be required to go and take down the appropriate number rod. The teacher will continue this exercise using different combinations given to the child. The main aims of this exercise are to show the child the working of addition and to provide further practice in addition. In addition, this would also give the idea that two quantities added together make one large quantity. At the last level, the children will learn individual sums using different materials. For example, in the addition without changing exercise, the children will be introduced to individual addition sums using the golden beads and work cards, they will learn how tor record answers as further practice, it serves as an intermediate stage in the progression from concrete to abstract and to practice changing whenever it’s necessary. For this case, the teacher will remind the children that the colored lines corresponds to the numbers of large numeral cards and get them to read the first number (e. 4675). The child will then have to look for the corresponding beads and place them on the mat. After which, the child will read the next sum and have to bring the corresponding beads out as well. The child will then be asked to add all the units and record his answer. The teacher will repeat this with the tens, hundreds and thousands. Once the child has down all 4 sums, he will have to chec k his answer at the back of the cards. It has been said that children will soon grow out of using manipulatives such as blocks and beads to learn mathematics. Once they have reached the stage where they are familiar and are confident in using that method, they will want to go on to something of a higher difficulty level. This is when the teachers can start teaching them numbers with concrete objects (Montessori Mom, 2009). As the materials used for the different groups are developmentally appropriate, the children are able to learn the different concepts at a progressively level. At each stage they would learn something new which adds on to their prior knowledge. This is how the Montessori curriculum works. We can see that it all starts with the children learning the concept of numbers with the number rods and number cards and soon start progressing to learn decimals, addition, subtraction and learning how to group numbers together into tens, hundreds and thousands (Montessori Mom, 2009). Therefore it is important to introduce the fundamentals of mathematics in the early years during preschool where it would be easier for the child to grasp the concepts easily using concrete materials. The foundation of mathematics would have impact the children’s academic growth in years to come (Montessori Mom, 2009).

Aldrin essays

Aldrin essays A pollutant is a very harmful substance. For example chemicals or waste products that contaminate the air, soil, or water. The pollutant of my choice is Aldrin. Its a pure white powder with a mild chemical odor. The less pure commercial powders have a tan colour. Aldrin is used as a pesticide for crops in field such as corn and cotton. The Aldrin pollutes the land by binding tightly to soil ad slowly evaporates into the air. The Aldrin also seeps into the water and pollutes it and gets into the systems of the underwater creatures. Aldrin turns to Dieldrin. Therefore Dieldrin is everywhere in the environment but in small amounts because it was banned. It contaminates water and soil and animals such as fish seafood, dairy products, fatty meats The accidental or intentional ingestion of high levels of Aldrin affect the central nervous system. It causes convulsions. The build up of Aldrin in body may cause death. There are tests available that measure the amount of Dieldrin in blood, fat, breast milk s most often used. The amount of Dieldrin in the body indicates how much Dieldrin you have been exposed to, but not when, since Dieldrin stays in the body a long time. Tests are not routinely performed at the doctors office. Some studies predict that levels above 0.2 milligrams of Dieldrin in a liter of blood may result in harmful affects such as convulsions or uncontrollable muscle movements. Aldrin is an extremely hazardous pollutant that not only affects the world around us but us as well and for all the above stated reasons Aldrin, one of the Dirty Dozen, has been banner and rightfully so. ...