Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Maybelline vs. Mary Kay

Mary Kay vs. Maybelline Mary Kay has been one of America’s most trusted global names in skin care,  makeup  & body care for many years, as well as Maybelline cosmetics. Both provide America and the rest of the world with astonishing beauty products like make up, lip stick, and lip gloss. When American women and teenagers go out to buy their cosmetics, they are bombarded with different ads and different products saying that what they make is the best thing out there.Mary Kay and Maybelline cosmetics are always going back in forth with their many different cosmetics and it is leaving women and teenagers clueless which one is better all across the United States. The newest lip gloss that Mary Kay has come out with is NouriShine Plus. NouriShine Plus has a new NouriShine formula that nourishment the lips right when being applied. It comes in 6 irresistible colors all enhanced with super shine sparkles to give your lips the perfect shine. The Lip Gloss, unlike other lip glosses has good for you ingredients that will not stick to your lips, but will wear away over time.The model who is modeling the product has no pores on her face what so ever, a smooth face, is applying the lip gloss with a relaxed and confident look on her face, and has perfect red lips that shine with the NouriShine Plus Rockin-Red Lip Gloss. The model also has a photo shopped check and chin line, perfect eyebrows, and bright shining red jewelry that matches the lip gloss to a T. Mary Kay put there Facebook page and website name on the bottom of the add so that viewers of the add can look further into the different types of Mary Kay cosmetics.On the add itself it says this about their new Lip Gloss â€Å"Drench your lips in irresistible colors. In finishes that go from supershine to shimmering sparkle. And pamper lips with good-for-you ingredients. To color your lips incredible, contact your Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant or connect with one at MaryKay. com. † Obviously M ary Kay is happy about their product enough to go into that much detail and say that many good things about their NouriShine Plus Lip Gloss. The Purpose of the argument is to convince the audience to buy Mary Kay NouriShine Plus Lip Gloss.The Audience that Mary Kay’s products are for are teenager and women ranging from the young age of 12 to the old age of 65. The age range needs to be big because Mary Kay wants to sell as many products as possible, so to be able to do that; they need to have a wide range of age. The technique the augment uses is the emotional technique. It uses emotional because it makes the buyer/user of the product feel better about herself, and makes the product user feel more comfortable or better looking than what they felt like before using the product.The maker of the argument is the Mary Kay companies themselves and their model. The model is making the argument by showing herself using the product, while Mary Kay is the company that is providing the model with the lip gloss, and there are the ones that made and are trying to sell their product. The facts that the argument relies on is that their lip gloss has long lasting shine and good for you ingredients. The authorities that the argument relies on are making the user prettier and more attractive because her lips gloss has more shine than any other.What claims are being used? Their product outlasts and outshines the competition with six irresistible colors that don’t stick because they have healthier ingredients. The social conflicts are that in public a woman’s lips will still shine even though she put the lip gloss on over 7 hours ago. The historical conflicts are that Mary Kay has been around for 65 years and had provided American citizens with quality cosmetics ever since they became about. The argument is arranged with a model in the center of the ad, applying the lip gloss with a relaxed look on her face.With small text describing what their new NouriShine Plus lip gloss is, and were to contact Mary Kay at. The ad persuades that audience to buy their product because there isn’t another product that is out there similar to it, will make a women feel more beautiful and a better self esteem because she doesn’t have to worry if her lips are still shinning on a Saturday night. Maybelline is known around the world as one of the most premiere cosmetics suppliers around. From their catchy catch phrase ‘Maybe she’s born with it, Maybe its Maybelline†, to their beautiful products and models.The newest lip gloss that hit the market with Maybelline’s name on it is their new Super Stay 10 Hour Lip Gloss. Their new lip gloss has lasting color, super stay formula that won’t dry out, glides on wet and smooth, and a feel fresh all day feel. The text describing their new lip gloss is â€Å"New Super Stay 10 Hour Stain Gloss, A whole new wear; vibrant & shiny, never flat. A whole new feel; feels fresh all day, never dry. A whole new application; glides on wet & smooth, never drags. Available in 10 long lasting colors, the new lip gloss is guaranteed never to dry out or to drag when being applied.The Maybelline model that is modeling the product, has perfect white teeth, straight eyebrows, photo shopped cheek line, no pores and a baby skin face, and ruby red lips that have just been drenched in the new lip gloss Maybelline’s secret that they put on the ad is â€Å"Unlike traditional lipstains, our shine enhancing, formula glides on for a lightweight layer of color that wont dry out. † No other product lists their so called secret on their ad, it is because Maybelline is so confident that their product will sell that they don’t need to lie to their customer, they will just tell them the truth.The Purpose of the argument is to convince the audience to buy Maybelline’s 10 hour lip stain. The Audience that Maybelline’s products are made for are teenager s and women ranging from the young age of 12 to the old age of 65 just like Mary Kays. The technique that the argument uses is the emotional technique. It uses emotional because it makes the buyer/user of the product feel better about herself, and makes the product user feel more comfortable or better looking than what they felt like before using the product. The maker of the argument is the Maybelline companies and their model.The model is making the argument by showing herself using the product with a big smile, and with the new lip stain fresh on her lips. Maybelline is making the argument because they are the company that is providing the model with the lip gloss, and there are the ones that made and are trying to sell their new product. The facts that the argument relies on is that their lip gloss has a 10 hour super stay formula. The authorities that the argument relies on are making the user prettier and more attractive because her lips gloss will outlast the competition.The claims that are being used is that Maybelline’s product outlasts other competition because of their new 10 hour super stay colors that don’t drag or dry. The social conflicts are that in public a women usually has to go to the bathroom to apply more lip gloss, but with the new 10 hour super stay, she only needs to apply it once a day. The historical conflicts are that Maybelline is the most trusted name in cosmetics, and that they have never made a product that the buyer was not happy with.The argument is arranged with a model on the far left side of the ad, smiling with a fresh layer of lip stain that she just applied. With bigvtext describing what their new 10 hour stay lip gloss is. The ad persuades that audience to buy their product because there isn’t another product that is out there similar to it, will make a women feel more beautiful. When you put these two different products side by side, the Maybelline 10 hour stay, and Mar Kay’s Super stain, th ey are almost identical on every aspect of their ad.The difference in the product is only what the product does in terms of long lasting shine or 10 hour stay formula, and also the only other difference would be the companies that make them and the different looking bottles that they come in. Both are trying to sell their new type of lip gloss, both have a beautiful model modeling their lip gloss, both stated the positive side of the lip gloss, and both didn’t say anything negative or the side effects of taking their product.If myself was to go out and buy lip gloss I would be undecided on the quality of Mary Kay vs. Maybelline’s lip gloss, but the only thing keeping me from spending my money, sit the price of beauty. The external aspect that would draw me more toward one or the other product would have to be the healthier lip gloss that has the â€Å"good for you ingredients†, because nobody wants to put things on themselves that makes their lips feel like they are being dragged down by so much lip gloss.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Ancient Egypt vs. Canada Essay

Ancient Egyptians are very interesting people. They were very successful and very powerful. Life in ancient Egypt was not easy. They grew their own food and made their own clothes. They did as best they could with what they had. Life in Canada seems easy compared to ancient Egypt. Their cuisine, clothing, language, government, schooling and contributions to their society were different from ours. For my essay I have written about each of these and seen the differences and similarities between ancient Egypt and Canada. The Egyptians made their clothing from plant fibers, linen, and sometimes cotton. Because of the hot and sunny climate in Egypt, people had to wear thin lightweight clothes. The ancient Egyptians loved all forms of jewelry including necklaces, rings, anklets, and bracelets. Men usually dressed in short linen kilts, sometimes with a band of cloth over their shoulder. Women wore long fitted linen dresses. Ordinary Egyptians wore coarse linen while the richer Egyptians dre ssed in lighter finer cloth. Children did not wear clothes until the age of maturity, which was around twelve. Once they turned twelve they wore the same clothes as men and women. The ancient Egyptians were barefoot most of the time but wore sandals for special occasions or if their feet were getting sore. The clothing in Canada varies because of the weather. The temperature in Canada ranges from +40 degrees to -40 degrees. Some materials used to make clothes are wool, nylon, cotton, leather, and synthetic. In the summer, people wear light clothing made from cotton like shorts, t-shirts, runners or sandals. In the spring, it would be a bit cooler so more layers would be worn. In the winter, people wear insulated jackets or parkas. To keep our head and hands warm we would wear toques, mittens, gloves and scarves. We wear insulated boots or shoes in very cold weather. In the fall, people wear leather coats or lighter jackets. The difference between these two lifestyles is that the Anc ient Egyptians have one type of weather all year round while we have four different seasons. A similarity would be that we both wear light clothing in the summertime. Ancient Egyptian cuisine covers a span of over three thousand years. It has been assumed that the wealthy would have two to three meals a day. Food could be prepared by stewing, baking, boiling, grilling, frying or roasting. Spices were added for flavor. Foods such as meats were mostly preserved by salting, and raisins could be dried for long-term storage. Honey was the main sweetener but was expensive. Honey could be collected from the wild or from domesticated bees kept in pottery hives. Barley was grown to make bread and beer. The vegetables they ate were lettuce, celery, cucumber, gourds, turnips, peas, beans, olives and even papyrus. The most common fruit were dates. Other fruits included figs, grapes, raisins, palm nuts and certain species of berries. Meat came from domesticated animals, game and poultry. This included partridge, quail, pigeons, ducks and geese. The most important were sheep, cattle, goats and pigs. Poultry and fish were available. Canadian cuisine varies widel y from region to region. The traditional cuisine of Canada is closely related to British and American cuisine. The cuisine includes baked foods, wild game and gathered goods. Some examples of Canadian foods are roast beef with Yorkshire pudding (popular with Anglo-Canadians), pea soup from Quebec and toutins from Newfoundland. Wild game are still hunted and eaten by many Canadians. Seal meat is eaten, particularly in the Canadian North, the Maritimes and Newfoundland. Wild fowl like partridge and ptarmigan are also regularly hunted. People also eat seafood, which includes salmon, lobster, mussels, pickerel and halibut. We also consume fruits like blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, apples and bananas. Sweets like pies, cakes, cookies and pudding and other baked goods are eaten as dessert. The main beverages of Canadians are water, tea, coffee, juice, milk and alcoholic beverages. A comparison between these two cuisines would be that both Egyptians and Canadians eat the same gam e animals and meats, and we both have the same main beverages. A difference would be that Canada has multicultural foods while Egypt has only one cuisine. Ancient Egyptian Government was dominated by a single man, the Pharaoh. The position was inherited and was passed down to the eldest of the king’s chief wife. The people believed that the king was more than a man, however, but that he was a god. This gave him absolute control over the affairs of the Empire and its people. Ancient Egypt was also a theocracy, which meant that it was controlled by the clergy. The Pharaoh’s advisors and ministers were almost always priests, who were considered the only ones worthy and able to carry out the god-king’s commands. As in most religious ancient societies, priests had special status above the rest of the citizens, forming a kind of nobility. The governmental officials included the vizier (or the prime minister), the chief treasurer, the tax collector, the minister of public works, and the army commander. These officials were directly responsible to the Pharaoh. The land itself was divided up into provinces called nomes. Each nome had a governor, who was appointed by the Pharaoh and responsible to the vizier. Taxes were paid in goods and labor. Citizens were drafted into the army and into forced labor for periods of time to pay what was called a corvà ©e (the labor tax). Slaves, mercenaries, and draftees were often used in the army. It is believed, however, that Egyptian slaves were not used to construct sacred monuments such as the Pyramids. Egyptologists were led to this conclusion by recent findings of worker burial grounds near such monuments. The workers received proper Egyptian burials whereas slaves did not. The majority of Egyptian people were peasants who worked the land along the fertile Nile flood basin. These people had no voice in their government and accepted this fact because it was backed by their religion. This mingling of religion and government is probably what kept Egypt so powerful and centralized during its high points. In Canada, the government is controlled by the prime minister. He/she is the person likely to command the confidence of the elected House of Commons. The prime minister is the leader of the political party that wins the most seats in the House of Commons in an election. He/she is head of the executive branch of the Canadian federal government. The Canadian prime minister provides leadership and direction to the government. A difference between these two governments is that being a pharaoh is an inherited role whereas in Canada people elect their prime minister. A similarity would be that both are leaders of their entire country. Ancient Egyptians communicated through writing and language. The history of hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt is believed to date back as far as 3000 B.C. Ancient Egyptian writing uses more than 2,000 hieroglyphic characters. Each character represents a common object in Ancient Egypt. The Egyptian language is a Northern Afro-Asiatic language that is closed related to the Berber and Semitic languages. A multitude of languages are spoken in Canada, but English and French are the most common. About 67% speak English while 22% speak French. About 20% percent of Canadians have a language other than English or French as their first language. The top five languages in Canada are English, French, Chinese, Punjabi, and Spanish. A similarity would be that both countries have written and oral language. A difference would be that their writing is made by using pictures while we use letters. There were schools in ancient Egypt, but hardly anyone went to them. Girls were not allowed to go to school at all. They learned everything they needed to know at home from their mothers. Boys in wealthy families started school at the age of four. Before a child started school, his father decided what his career would be in the future. Children at school were only taught the subjects that would be useful in their career. Education in Canada is generally divided into elementary, secondary, and post-secondary. Education is compulsory up to age 16 in most provinces. You start school at the age of four or five and continue up to age eighteen. Major subjects in school are language arts, mathematics, science, social studies and physical education. The school systems of most provinces have twelve grades. One similarity would be that in both countries you start at age four or five. A difference would be that in Egypt you go to school for about five years whereas in Canada you attend for abou t thirteen years. Second, Egyptian parents choose careers for their sons. In Canada students choose their own careers. Third, both boys and girls go to school in Canada while only boys went to school in ancient Egypt. One of the ways Egyptians contributed to society was building better houses. The earliest inhabitants of Egypt lived in huts made from papyrus reeds. However, they soon discovered that the mud left behind after the yearly flooding of the Nile could be made into bricks, which could be used for building. Another contribution would be that the ancient Egyptians made dams. Before the dams were built, the Nile River flooded each year during the summer. These floods brought high water plus natural nutrients and minerals that continuously enriched the fertile soil along the river. As Egypt`s population grew and conditions changed, there became a need to control the flood waters to both protect and support farmland and economically important cotton fields. With the reservoir storage provided by these dams, the floods could be lessened and the water could be stored for later release. Pyramids marked the introduction of engineering and architecture. They represented a new way of building large r structures. Knowledge of astronomy was necessary to orient the pyramids to the cardinal points. Canadians contribute to their society in many ways. CANADARM, which was invented in Canada, is used in space exploration. Canada has also manufactured some communications satellites. The Blackberry cell phone was invented in our country and has become a big success in communication. Canadian technology has played an important role in the extraction of crude oil from the tar sands in Northern Alberta. I think that Canada contributed more to our common way of living because we have more freedom to think, experiment, and be creative. If you have freedom, you can learn new skills and contribute to society. Our educational system provides equal opportunity for males and females. I believe that Canada is more successful than Egypt because its immigration policy has allowed highly skilled people to move here and contribute to society. Immigrants bring new ideas to our country, which helps make Canada more successful.Overall, I think life in Canada is better because we now have the knowledge and technology, which helps us make our lives easier. However, I also believe that the Egyptians worked hard for what they had and deserve great credit to the huge success of their compelling and powerful country. By Christine Rehaluk

Monday, July 29, 2019

A Study on Religious Believes of Anglo-Saxon Society based on The Seafarer, The Wanderer, and The Wifes Lament

A Study on Religious Believes of Anglo-Saxon Society based on The Seafarer, The Wanderer, and The Wife's Lament Synthesis Essay on the Anglo-Saxons The Anglo-Saxons were a religious group of people as other generations of people were. Religion played a role in the Anglo-Saxon people’s lives and as a result it reflected in their writings. Poems written by the Anglo-Saxons have shown significant signs of religious influence including â€Å"The Seafarer,† â€Å"The Wanderer,† and â€Å"The Wife’s Lament.† Each writer of each poem gives their own testament regarding God’s influence on their situation. The Anglo-Saxon practiced their belief beyond religious establishments by writing of them within their poems. The Anglo-Saxons seemed to have correlated their everyday lives to their religious beliefs as shown in â€Å"The Seafarer.† The poem is written by a man fond of the sea and mentally drained by dwelling on the land. He understands the hardships of travelling by sea but simply cannot stay away. â€Å"Grown so brave, or so graced by God, That he feels no fear as the sails unfurl†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The writer is fearless of what the sea offers and correlates his bravery to being graced by God. Religion may have motivated many actions amongst the Anglo-Saxons as they believed to be protected and thus fearless. The Anglo-Saxon people being religious had no conflicting ideals of evolution instead pointing to God for it all. The writer goes on to talk about how God essentially created the Earth and life itself. â€Å"We all fear God. He turns the Earth, He set it swinging firmly in space, Gave life to the world and light to the sky. Death leaps at the fools who forget their God.† Scientific beliefs such as evolution may have been non-existent to the Anglo-Saxons as the writer of â€Å"The Seafarer† notes on how everyone fears God and how He gave life to the world. Religion played a key role to everything the Anglo-Saxons believed in from their everyday activities to basis of life itself. The Anglo-Saxon’s often looked to religion and God in times of distress to mediate the best of a bad situation. As shown in â€Å"The Wanderer,† the writer finds himself alone following the slaughter of many people he had once knew. With nowhere else to turn, the speaker turns to his religion for comfort. â€Å"This lonely traveller longs for grace, For the mercy of God†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The speaker falls to God in his lonesome travels to remedy the hardships he had just experienced. The Anglo-Saxons believed and stood by God’s impact on their lives despite what they’ve been through. The Anglo-Saxon people went to God and religion as a reason behind everything they do. â€Å"It’s good to find your grace In God, the heavenly rock where rests our every hope.† The speaker goes on to state how giving your life despite hardships to God is good as religion holds all the hope in the world. â€Å"The Wanderer† gives example of one dweller of many who may have found themselves in a lonesome situation who in turn, turned to God. The Anglo-Saxon people believed in religion greatly as their only source of hope through hardships such as war. As supported by â€Å"The Wanderer† speaker, the Anglo-Saxon’s sought after religion during times of distress. â€Å"The Wife’s Lament† is a poem written by the ‘wife’ of a man who seemingly is exiled himself and the speaker seeks him. The speaker in the poem however is exiled herself and forced by her husband’s kinsman to remain in the woods â€Å"in the den of the earth.† â€Å"Blithe was our bearing often we vowed that but death alone would part us two naught else.† The speaker motions towards her marital vows towards her husband to counteract his decision to hold her in the woods against her will. Marriage often seen as a lifelong relationship established by God, the speaker feels her Lord betrayed both her and God by abandoning her and their commitments. As with all religions, the Anglo-Saxons consisted of individuals who had went against their beliefs. â€Å"May on himself depend all his world’s joy.† The speaker wishes upon the â€Å"curse† that her husband depend on everything given to him on Earth rather than what awaits him later in the afterlife. The speaker in â€Å"The Seafarer† notions at how the wealth of the world does not reach the Heavens nor does it remain important when you die and thus the wife wishes her husband depends heavily on the joys he experiences now. Religion to the Anglo-Saxon’s explained every aspect to their life including marriage and those who opposed it were seen as deserters as noted in â€Å"The Wife’s Lament.† Religion explained many aspects within the Anglo-Saxon’s lives through the three poems, â€Å"The Seafarer,† â€Å"The Wanderer† and â€Å"The Wife’s Lament.† The three speakers of the poems noted God’s ability to guide them through times of distress and as a result gave their life to their faith. The three poems reflected the impact of religion to Anglo-Saxon people’s lives and thus this was reflected in their writings.

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Case study for the Nutrition Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

For the Nutrition - Case Study Example Subcutaneous fats insulate the body against the adverse effects of cold temperatures while carbohydrates are normally broken down in the cell to readily provide energy for bodily functions. Question 4: Olive oil has various therapeutic qualities which include reduction or prevention of diseases such as blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, reduce the probability of stroke and certain cancers. Research also proves that it counters aging and promotes positive immune and inflammatory responses to certain conditions such as stroke hence reducing risk of occurrence. Question 7: Since it is winter I would suggest a steamy bowl of macaroni and cheese; brightly coloured fruits, vegetables and healthy fats such as the ones found in nuts and fish which can actually strengthen the body to fight the seasonal depression. He may also microwave frozen raspberries and eat with topping for yogurt; he may also prepare vegetables and a change to whole-grain pasta as healthy alternative. Question 8: You avoid saturated fats found primarily in red meat and dairy products. Eliminate trans-fat which is generally found in fried foods and commercial product such as snack cakes, crackers and

Decision Analysis for the US Army Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Decision Analysis for the US Army - Essay Example Analytical decisions are undertaken when there is ample time to compare the facets, in order to choose the most profitable course of direction. The best module amongst the alternatives is taken (See appendix). In this case the supply of weapons is done from the highest bidder and of the best quality. Decision trees This is a tool that allocates data for decision making in form of tree in order to analyze the variable hence make the decision. The tool breaks down the data in logical and simple manner thus easy to understand. Any mistakes made in the data translate to the tree model. Each nodule of the tree represents an attribute, the branches corresponds to an attribute while each leaf assigns a classification. The module is very simple to use and interpret and it can handle both numerical and categorical data. The decision trees can be used for validation analysis as other statistical approach follows (Andrew, 2005). The simple illustration below describes the case of buying or maki ng weapons. A decision is made after thoroughly considering all the uncertainties involved then a decision is made. Cost factor can be used to make the decision and the manufacturing option would be adopted. Nonetheless, other factors need to be considered in real situation analysis e.g. quality, time taken etc. Illustration one: A variable is an element of a problem that is being predicted or determines it. They may change depending on the scope of the problem being analysed. Predictable variables are used to assess the certain conditions while unpredictable variables follow uncertainties hence probability is used. Variables are used in decision analysis to represent value or symbol of the actual attribute being determined. A variable denoted by Y may represent the cost estimates, overheads, revenues etc. When one value of a variable is related to another value of a variable, then the case is said to a correlation between the two variables. Correlation means an inter-relationship. A simple linear regression model is a statistical technique that explores the inter-relations between two or more variables. Linear regression tools have applied in many organisations to forecast for the observed variables. The military may want to determine whether there is a relationship between warring period and weapons use. To do so, the observed data is analysed and the simple line equation is used. Y=a+bx Y in this case represents number weapons used during war X variable shows the number the war reoccurs A and b are constants Table one weapons Time period lasted during the Wars 100000 1 year World war I 300000 1 year World war II 250000 2 years’ War in Afghanistan 85000 1 year War in Kuwait The equation is then extend to determine a and b i.e. 100,000= a+ 1b 250,000=a+2b -150,000= -b 150,000= b Then a=100,000-1b = 100000-150,000 = -50,000 If we were to determine the occurrence of world war III will take 3 years, then the number of weapons needed are: Y=a+bx = -50,000 + 150,000*3 =400,000 weapons The simple regression analysis can be determined by plotting a graph using the same variable to obtain the line of best fit. This can be then be used to forecast on future needs of weapon acquisition for the military. The relationship between the period the war takes the higher the number of weapons needed. The relationship is linear. This model works best when there are two variables under consideration. Scatter diagrams are used to analyze

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Business Plan Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business Plan Analysis - Assignment Example 2. What are sections-in-common in these plans? Describe the style used in the business plans, and discuss what you believe to be an appropriate style for a business plan (i.e., first-person narration, contractions, level of formality, citing references, etc.) In the two business plans, the following sections were common: Executive Summary General Company Description Products and Services Marketing Strategy Operating Plan Management & Organization Financial statements and financial plan Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow, Break Even Point, Capitalization Required The writing styles that were used were formal, direct to the point and business like. It also adhered to the academic style of writing that avoided using contractions, euphemisms and figures of speech. Numbers were also utilized through a financial statement to illustrate a point. There is, however, noticeable difference between the referencing of a business plan and an academic essay. Compared to an academic essay wh ich requires data to be referenced by any of the writing styles (Harvard, APA, MLA, etc.), business plan is not that strict about it. Instead, it uses appendix such as the business plan of Fresin Fried Fast Food Restaurant (â€Å"Fast Food Restaurant Business Plan: Fresin Fries†) where the details of sales forecast, personnel expense and cash flow were enumerated to provide clarity in the financial statements of the business plan. It can also be skipped if it is not deemed necessary in a business plan such as in the case of American Management Technology (AMT) sample business plan (â€Å"Sample Business Plan for American Management Technology (AMT)†). I believe that this is the appropriate writing of a business plan. It is direct, simple, clear and formal. Business plans should be written in this manner because they are intended to serve as a blue print on how a business can make money and not to show literary genius. Writing directly and concisely is also an efficient way of utilizing the time of the one who prepared it and the people who would read and implement it. The saved time and energy in deciphering a complicated business plan can be used in other money making activities of a business. Furthermore, a clearly written business plan avoids confusing interpretation that would render the plan ineffective. In addition to general description, numbers shown in financial statements are equally important if not more important than the written texts. It is because these numbers determine whether a business can make money or not, when and what is the needed capital, and the break-even point where the business can start making money. These numbers can also serve as targets and benchmarks when a business is already operational to ensure that the business plan will profit according to plan and schedule. 3. What are the critical ideas/plans that must be communicated in a business plan? The critical ideas/plans that must be communicated in a business pla n are the following; First are the vision and mission of a company. They serve as a signpost or a compass of where a business is going and what it intends to do. It is the idea or any intangibles that animate or motivate a business to be profitable. Second are the objectives. Having a plan without a goal is pointless. The very essence of a business plan is to achieve certain goals which should be enunciated in the objectives section. A brief

Friday, July 26, 2019

Summarize the arguements for and against plea bargaining Essay

Summarize the arguements for and against plea bargaining - Essay Example In this type of bargaining, the defendant pleads guilty to get fewer counts on the offense they are charged with. The bargaining processes are usually voluntary and it does not always result to an outcome that is desired by both parties. The plea bargaining practice is widely supported by the American judicial system due its importance in terms of saving costs incurred during trails alongside its many benefits on the court system. The plea bargaining practice benefits many stakeholders in the courtroom. First, it assists the prosecutor in disposing off a busy and complex caseload. Many prosecutors have limited resources within their access. It is therefore very hard to prosecute all the cases that come before them. Due to this fact, these prosecutors may decide to push forward the cases that have public elements through the rigorous court procedure while going for plea-bargaining on the ones that do not look very promising and do not have much public significance. The defense attorney also benefit from the plea-bargaining. Most of these defense attorneys are public attorneys who offer their services to defendants of criminal cases. They also face resources constraints such as the ones prosecutors face. This implies that plea-bargaining benefits this type of attorneys by facilitating quick disposal of cases. The outcome of this process is more payment by the defense for less work done by the defense attorneys. The plea-bargaining process benefits the defendant more than it does to both the prosecutor and the defense attorney. This is because it results to the defendant getting a lesser charge as compared to the one that they could get. The plea-bargaining processes also benefits the court since it saves its resources. The reviewing of plea bargaining is simpler and easier as compared to the full trial of a case. There are several problems associated with plea bargaining process. First, the prosecutor will always start the bargaining process on

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Strategic management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Strategic management - Essay Example Unilever was one of the first to recognize the importance of strategic knowledge management, having accumulated extensive evidence on its development and implementation in a wide organizational context. The idea of knowledge creation and knowledge transfer is central for the whole paper. The literature on strategic knowledge management identifies these two key processes to be major components of knowledge management process. Both significantly influence organisation’s success. â€Å"All managers must manage knowledge. Knowledge must not only be gained, but shared throughout the organization. This ability to create and transfer knowledge will be the key to competitive success† (Higgins & Vincze, 1993). Both knowledge creation and transfer became even more indispensable to companies operating in modern global markets, as knowledge management and accelerated innovation emerged to be crucial success factors for global competition in the 21st century. (Cumming & Wilson, 2003 ) Von Krogh, Nonaka & Aben (2001) identified that the primary purpose of knowledge creation is to advance the company’s potential of creating innovation and to reduce the time span to the market success of new products / services introduced by the company. Usually knowledge creation is pursued using small-sized groups of 5-15 specialists that actually develop collective tacit knowledge through an extensive experience and discussion of new business processes, products, use of technologies, etc.

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Aeschylus and the Oresteia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Aeschylus and the Oresteia - Essay Example In order to clearly depict this play writer divided it into three elements including the society, courts and the norms of the society. In the play the characters insist on the need to suffer in order to obtain truth and justice in the society. This play depicts a society that has been living on misery for a long period of time especially during the Trojan War that brought with it a murderous house of Atreus1. The play depicts the continued violence that has been experienced in the country and at the end of it is women and children that are harmed. This is attributed to the fact that being a society that is driven mostly by the norms of the society, women are forced to be submissive in all aspects and events that happen in the society. They are left homeless, without food and psychologically tortured by the aftermath of the war. For instance in the play, Agamemnon had to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia some ten years ago in order to advance his political interests. This depicts a soc iety that views the female gender as a lesser being and one that has to suffer in order for the male gender to prosper. Orestes also killed his own mother in order to revenge against the killing of Iphigenia. The play therefore questions the intentions of the two characters when they decide to murder their close relatives in order to fulfill their personal interest This is a society that is strongly tied together by the belief in the different gods they have and do not have to go against what they say as it is valued as the absolute truth. For instance the two characters who murder their closer relatives attribute this to the requirements of their gods an issue that could not have been accepted by the legal setting of a country. Several symbols and metaphors are used in the play to depict the varying characters of both the society and the individuals in it. There is the use of the solar and lunar cycles, day and night and the storms. People who are not human in the society have been animated and are referred to as beasts in the play. Blood crimes are on the increase in the play an indication of how the society values the idea of shading blood as a form of sacrifice to their gods2. The sad part of the play is that those that are mostly killed are the women and children an indication of a society that suffers from a poor sexual orientation. There is a belief that blood has to be paid back with blood an indication of sacrifice and this makes them never to reach a decision between what is wrong and right. This resulted in a conflict between the new and old gods since with civilization people started to adopt a new form of religion in which they would worship only one supreme God. This is because primitive laws always demanded blood vengeance as a form of punishment yet this was not the case with the form of justice which insisted on the rule of law. This created a conflict of interests between the traditionalists and modernists and there was an increase in rates o f murder and those that were mostly murdered were the modernists who adopted law as a form of justice. The play is therefore a product of the classical Greece in the sense that the writer went ahead to come up with the use of two characters in a play as opposed to the initial use of one character. This brought with it a richer interplay between the speech and action. Initially most of the plays had a main theme as one of tragedy but with time he began to shift his interests by writing on political standings and how they had an effect on the state. This was best depicted through the Oresteia play that combined a transition from a society that believed in bloodshed to one

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Kants Ethical Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Kants Ethical Theory - Essay Example A number of great philosophers presented their views in the field of ethics. This paper intends to analyze only one of them, Kan Immanuel. (Hunt, 2009) As stated by Banham (2003), Immanuel Kant was a famous deontologist and holds a famous status during 18th and 19th centuries. Kant was a moderate rationalist, who based his ethical conclusions on reason rather than on empirical research or on introspection into the actual workings of the mind. He refused previous theories and attempted to find a middle way between the empiricists, who thought that all true judgments were either probable or analytic (true by definition), and the extreme rationalists, who thought that all true judgments were analytic. He argued in the Critique of Pure Reason (1781) for the existence of a class of judgments that were synthetic rather than analytic and also a priori rather than a posteriori. Synthetic a priori judgments played a large role in all his thinking. Kant held a theory of value according to which the only thing good in itself and without qualification is a good will. That will is good which acts out of a sense of duty. When we turn to his theory of obligation we find that an act is not judged right by virtue of its consequences, actual or intended; rather it is right if it is done out of respect for moral law. (Banham, 2003) Dickerson (2003) affirms that during 1785 in his Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant claimed to be seeking "the supreme principle of morality." This he discovered in the "Categorical Imperative": "Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." This principle is called an imperative because it tells us what kinds of actions we should perform, and it is called categorical rather than merely hypothetical because it commands actions of a certain kind without any regard for the practical effects they will have. For example, we should not make a deceitful promise to extricate ourselves from a difficulty not because we are likely to be found out or because lying causes harm to ourselves, but because it is logically impossible to will that everyone in such a situation should behave in the same way. It is logically impossible because universal adherence to the maxim to lie under such circumstances would destroy the institu tion of promise keeping. (Dickerson, 2003) Another formulation of the Categorical Imperative, which Kant called the "universal imperative of duty," is this: "Act as if the maxim of your action were to become through your will a universal law of nature." A third formulation, based on the assumption that rational nature exists as an end in itself, is the following: "Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any others, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end." Kant identified the Categorical Imperative as an a priori, synthetic, practical proposition that is, a proposition that is necessarily true, though not true by definition, and that pertains to conduct. (Dickerson, 2003) Kant presented two types of free will; 'Autonomy' and 'heteronomy'. Autonomy is the liberty to operate autonomously without any

Good Country People Essay Example for Free

Good Country People Essay This essay will delve into the life of Flannery O’Connor not only as it is told biographically but as her life relates and is reiterated in the stories she writes. By using O’Connor’s fiction as a backdrop to her life, the essay will focus on the bizarre characterization of the protagonists of O’Connor’s stories as much as O’Connor herself was a very unique person. Thus, O’Connor will be exemplified as being explained through her characters such as in the story Good Country People. O’Connor was a great user of allegory in her stories. As O’Connor in her life was an introvert most of her characters are gregarious such as in Good Country People and the character Hulga. Hulga denies herself first in the story by the changing of her name from Joy to Hulga which signifies O’Connor’s own contempt of falsities. She is stating through the character Hulga that people are prone to be blind in areas in which they should be keeping both eyes open. She states this in regard to events in her own life such as growing up Catholic in a mostly Protestant neighborhood. Hulga is blind to her own personality and what she is capable of doing and by changing her name she is trying to rewrite her own history. O’Connor as a write can sympathize with this notion as through her characters O’Connor is trying to find her own identity. O’Connor’s true niche in writing lay with the creation of the tragic hero. She felt that she herself was a tragic hero since she at once had to overcome a physical malady as well as remain static because of that malady and thereby not enjoy the world nor prove to the world the capabilities of the self; herself. Her second belief was that the world is charged with God (Wikipedia). She was unapologetic in her writing style and the ‘grotesque’ characters with which she filled her stories. Each character of O’Connor’s fiction brought on a fundamental change for the character. When Hulga changes her name and then meets Manly Pointer and goes through a very quick transformation. The rejection of the name Joy to the embrace of the name Hulga reveals for the audience that Hulga does not enjoy herself but expects life to be filled with disappointment and in fact has been taught as much from family and neighbors. Upon meeting Manly Pointer Hulga, Hulga is contemptuous and sees herself as better then him whom she describes as simple and dim witted yet agrees to go on a picnic with him in order to show him a deeper meaning to life (Hulga is hung up on suffering and sadomasochistic fantasies). In fact, Hulga is the one who is ignorant about the world as Manly Pointer demonstrates a series of hoodwinking events in which he seduces Hulga and leaves with her wooden leg. This is where Manly Pointer reveals his true self and where the reader is exposed to the true Hulga. O’Connor was brilliant at recognizing the validity of a person in key moments. Hulga had to be stripped of her dignity in order to be humble and recognize some truths about herself. This parlays to the fact of O’Connor’s illness and her attempting to make sense and assign some sort of purpose to the disease in which she could see none as a Catholic expect to think of it as a way in which it allowed herself to remain humble before God. As O’Connor states in Good Country People, Everybody is different, Mrs. Hopewell said. Yes, most people is, Mrs. Freeman said. It takes all kinds to make the world. I always said it did myself. (OConnor 181 -82) Thus, O’Connor is exemplifying that diversity is the key to the enjoyment of life and that ascertaining to the idea of perfection is unconscionable. O’Connor’s niche in literature was the writing of tragedy. This is seen not only when Manly Pointer steals Hulga’s leg and she must wait for assistance up in the tree house. O’Connor wanted her characters to be presented through a dichotomy of good and bad or through their capabilities of violence paired with their being touched by divine grace (Wikipedia). This change then is painful; for Hulga it is pride and the fact that she is faced with her own ineptitude and country ways. Each character falls in the story, tragically and ironically. Thus, O’Connor is not sentimental in her stories which reveals a character trait of her own; the absence of pity from her life as it is from her stories. This plays into the concept of identity which relates to most of O’Connor’s characters; the self journey and the eventual finding of the self at the end of the journey no matter who the self truly is. O’Connor for her part led a very sheltered life so the theme of a journey is prevalent in most of her stories, especially in Good Country People. O’Connor liked to write about displaced people because she herself felt out of place or even she felt this theme got to the truth of humanity faster than a character that already has sought redemption at the beginning of the story. O’Connor wrote about the journey just as much as she wrote about the metamorphoses of the characters since for O’Connor it was in the change of character, the switch from sin to asking for forgiveness that marked her life. Work Cited O’Connor, Flannery. Good Country People. Harcourt Company, Noonday Press, 1977.

Monday, July 22, 2019

The play - A Dolls House Essay Example for Free

The play A Dolls House Essay This play is about a womans marriage and how it is altered by the lie she has told. The supporting characters in the play enhance the emotional effect of the play and cause us (the reader) to have various emotions which, range from annoyance to sympathy for all characters in the play. The play is about relationships in particular a picture perfect marriage, which is not all as it seems. From a more social point of view it is about womens role in society during Ibsens (the author) lifetime. The play is a reminder to modern day women that the things we take for granted now (our independence i. e. taking out a loan without father/husbands authorisation. ) were very difficult if not impossible to achieve then. The play reaches its climax in three acts, and uses its acts to get the point of the story across. Act one is the introduction to the story. It is where we (the reader) find out about Noras (the main character) secret. It sets the scene very well, as this is where we really get to know Noras personality, which is not at all as it first seems. Act two develops the story, this is where the supporting characters really add their personalities to the play and bring another image of Nora to the forefront and also add more depth to the story. Act three is the conclusion. This is where all the drama from the first two acts is thrown together to form a very dramatic end. A Dolls House builds up tension and atmosphere like a pressure cooker. Towards the end of the play it explodes into a surprising but excellent finale, but although it has a dramatic end it is not frantic or hurried, it is actually rather to the point. Torvald is married to the central character of the play, Nora. Torvalds complete ignorance of his wifes true nature only builds up the tension and atmosphere once you begin to understand Nora. Torvald is a petty and arrogant man; this contributes towards the tension for the reader because we soon begin to dislike his character. He appears to be very patronising and sexist and treats his wife as a possession, cant I look at my most treasured possession? At all this loveliness thats mine and mine alone, completely and utterly mine. However in Ibsens time (1879 the Victorian period) this was the acceptable, if not expected behaviour of a husband. Torvald thinks that the more unintelligent a woman is the lovelier she is. But do you think I love you any the less for that; just because you dont know how to act on your own responsibility I wouldnt be a proper man if I didnt find a woman doubly attractive for being so obviously helpless

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Visual Cortex Involvement in Memory

Visual Cortex Involvement in Memory Is visual cortex involved in memory? Essay type Option 1 [REVIEW OPTION] Là ³pez-Aranda et al. 2009. Role of Layer 6 of V2 Visual Cortex in Object-Recognition Memory, Science 325, 87 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19574389 Cattaneo et al., 2009. Contrasting early visual cortical activation states casually involved in visual imagery and short term memory http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19788574 Though a lot of information enters the brain, retention does not occur for all of it, and it is considered to be a selective process. One of these retentions is short term memory, also known as working memory. In vision, working memory is interpreted as the maintenance of a whole object, instead of the components of the objects image: orientation, texture, etc. (Super, 2003). Memory retention and formation is typically associated with increased activity in mammalian prefrontal and parietal cortex, with little evidence for activity in sensory areas, beyond of the initial sensory stimulation (Pasternak and Greenlee, 2005). The Multiple Memory Systems is a widely accepted view that sustains that the brain is divided into sections in respect of their own specific function. In this interpretation, the Medial Temporal Lobe (MTL) has a role in memory, particularly in explicit memory function, and includes structures such as the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, parahippocampal cortex, and perirhinal cortex, in addition to the prefrontal cortex (Bussey and Saksida, 2007). However, recent findings have suggested a role of sensory cortex in memory processing: increased brain activity in visual cortex has been found during the short-term retention of visual information after stimulus presentation (Kà ¡ldy and Sigala, 2004). It therefore has been more common to say that visual cortex role goes beyond encoding sensory information and also participates in memory consolidation. This essay reviews two papers in which evidence of the role of visual cortex in memory consolidation is presented by the use of different techniques: 1) Cellular techniques as protein overexpression and immunocytochemistry (Là ³pez-Aranda et al., 2009) and 2) Transcranial magnetic stimulation (Cattaneo et al., 2009) Role of Layer 6 of V2 Visual Cortex in Object-Recognition Memory Using rats as a model, Là ³pez-Aranda et al. (2009) tried to elucidate the specific role of layer 6 in V2, in regards to memory processing and retention. To do this, they utilised two methodologies in a paired-sample experiment (same group tested on two different occasions). One addressed the problem by analysing the overexpression of a certain G-protein regulator (RGS-14) in layer 6 of V2, that acted as a protease, and which permitted rats do better in Object recognition memory (ORM) tests. ORM tests consisted on evaluating the exploration time after an object was presented for 3 minutes, and presented again after a delay period of 30 minutes, 45 minutes or 60 minutes. Rats could recognise the object after 30 or 45 minutes had passed, but failed to do it after the 60 min delay. A group of these rats was then injected with a lentivirus coupled with the RGS-14 gene into layer 6 of V2, at 2/3 of V2 (dorsal to layer 6 of V2), at CA1 and at the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus (both ven tral to layer 6 of V2). This permitted the overexpression of RGS-14 at those sites. Rats were ORM tested again 3 weeks after the injection was done. What was found was that rats improved in their ORM tests when they were injected exactly at layer 6 of V2, whereas the rest of the rat groups (injected at other sites), did not show any difference in performance, and their activity was similar to that of the initial non-injected rats. The layer 6 injected rats were ORM tested again, to see how much retention they could support, showing up to 6 object retention (in comparison to the 2 object retention non-injected rats showed), and increasing its retention time to about 24 weeks. They then proceeded to make immunocytochemistry analysis to localize protein expression, which showed that RGS-14 was primarily being expressed at layer 6 of V2. The other methodology used focused on presenting the result of layer 6 of V2 destruction, by the injection of Ox7-SAP into this layer in non-injected rats and RGS-14 injected rats, and later doing the ORM test to both groups. Non-injected rats showed an increased reduction in retention time, not being able to perform equally as they did when layer 6 of V2 was not ablated. RGS-14 lentivirus injected rats also showed a reduction in their ORM test performance. A group of rats, either injected or non-injected, were tested again, only that before having layer 6 of V2 ablated by Ox7-SAP an object was presented for three minutes. Rat performance was not reduced when ORM test was done with object that was previously presented, but did showed reduction when the ORM was done with a new object, presented after layer 6 removal. The results showed an involvement of layer 6 of V2 in memory trace, though not storage. It is not explicitly said if the RGS-14 G protein regulator is naturally expressed in layer 6 of V2. As far as the obtained results, it is possible to say that RGS-14 could act as treatment option for short memory disorders or impairments, though more trials are possibly needed. Contrasting early visual cortical activation states casually involved in visual imagery and short term memory With the use of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), Cattaneo et al., (2009) evaluated the role of early visual areas in memory and visual imagery. They essentially established two similar experiments involving two tasks, the imagery task and the memory task, in subjects who were either undergoing occipital TMS (over V1/V2), Vertex TMS (as a control) or No TMS. In the imagery task of the first experiment, subjects had to create a mental image of something. It consisted on presenting a black dot in the middle of a white screen, followed by a series of digits (that represented an hour, e.g. 10.10, 6.50, etc.), for about 1000 ms. Then this digits disappeared and a black circle showed up. Subjects were then asked to imagine the clock hands in the position that would describe the digits they had just seen. After a 2 second period passed, a single pulse of TMS was applied, depending on the condition previously defined for them. Next, a black dot was shown (inside the black circle) and subjects were asked to tell if this dot had appeared inside or outside the area the clock hands were supposed to be, by either pressing 1 or 2 on a keyboard for either inside or outside the area. In the memory task in the same experiment, subjects also had to fix their eyes at a black dot in the white screen. Then, the clock hands (describing an hour) inside a circle appeared for about 1000 ms. When this period had passed, the hands disappeared but the circle remained, and subjects were asked to continue on thinking on the clock hands for about 2 s. TMS was applied at the end of this 2 s (retention) period, in the same mode as in the imagery task. A block then appeared inside the circle and subjects were asked to describe whether the dot was inside or outside the area the clock hands formed. By doing ANOVA, they found no relevant differences between the mean detection accuracies between TMS conditions: Occipital TMS, Vertex TMS and No TMS, in both imagery and memory tasks. However, the mean reaction times did show relevant differences between those conditions, in both tasks. A Post hoc comparison showed that performance was better in the Occipital TMS than when condition were Vertex TMS or no TMS. There was also no significant variation when the analysis was done between Vertex TMS and no TMS. Experiment two was fairly similar to the one described above. It also involved a memory and imagery task, with the only difference being when was TMS applied: at the beginning of the 2 s period after subjects had seen the digits and were asked to imagine the clock hands inside the circle, for the imagery task, and at the beginning of the 2 s period when they were asked to continue on thinking on the clock hands, for the memory task. By performing ANOVA they found no significant difference between conditions for the mean detection accuracies and reaction time, in the imagery task. Conversely, in the memory task, ANOVA showed a relevant effect in mean detection accuracy and mean time, as well as the Post hoc analysis showed occipital TMS had an effect in comparison to the other conditions, both of which was impairment in performance. Discussion MTL structures have been presented as the major components in perception and working memory, and it is seen as a domain where ORM is thought to be processed (Kà ¡ldy and Sigala, 2004). Là ³pez-Aranda et al, (2009) results of the role of layer 6 neurons in the formation of both normal (short-term) and long-term ORM highlight the importance of V2, an area placed outside of MTL. Not much is known about the protein overexpressed at V2, RGS-14. It is integrated by a Regulators of G protein Signaling domain, as well as by a motif that permit its binding to inactive GDP; and by a tandem Rap1/2–binding domain. Acting as a GTPase activating protein, the protein increases the rate of conversion of the GTP to GDP. This allows the G alpha subunits to bind subunit heterodimers, and eventually ending a signal (NCBI, 2013). It would be interesting to know what made the authors determine to test this protein in that specific layer of V2, as it is not fully stated in the article, and because RGS14 was found to be expressed naturally/primarily in CA2 hippocampal neurons and to show memory â€Å"obstruction† when expressed in mice (Lee et al., 2010). Perhaps difference s between species (as both studies were done with model animals: rats and mice) are more relevant than thought, and should be taken in account before making any definite conclusion or investigate of how the signaling process occurs and affects a cognitive behavior, such as memory. However, findings involving TMS analysis in humans by decrease of activity, as the one presented by Cattaneo et al. (2009), in which there was a noted decrease in subject performance in the memory task when TMS was applied in the beginning of the â€Å"retention period† at V1/V2, indicate that memory of visual information involves activity in early visual cortex that goes further than the periods of sensory perception. In early visual cortex, memory of visual content is topographically organized. These results are possibly due to less vulnerability to interference after the retention period, and a possible interaction with higher order areas activity with visual cortex activity (van de Ven and Sack, 2013). The previous results can be paired with Harrison and Tong (2009) results, were they used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in conjunction to Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) analysis, to monitor cortical activity while participants did a delayed orientation discrimination task, where 2 gratings were shown to the subjects, followed by a cue that indicated which grating to remember (first or second) and an 11 s period (delay period). Then the grating was showed again and subjects had to say if the image was rotated in a sense or antisense (clockwise) matter. They examined the role of visual areas in working memory through different experiments; fMRI decoding was specifically used to evaluate the patterns in brain activity, in areas corresponding to V1 to V4 (to the 120 most responsive voxels) to try to predict its representation in working memory. The accuracy of predicted orientation that was held in memory reached 83%, which is considered to be very high, one of the ex periments where subjects had to fix its eye to a letter, and not the grating, showed high prediction to those gratings in areas V1, V2 and V3. Ultimately, their findings suggest that memory related information may be encoded in these structures (showing increased activity in areas V1/V2) and that early visual areas can hold up information, not only displaying sensory processing functions. Different approaches can be taken to evaluate visual cortex relation with memory, as the ones reviewed in this essay: TMS, protein overexpression, fMRI among others. Evidence that sensory cortical areas are an active element of the circuitry that underlies short term retention of sensory signals is emerging and improving our understanding of memory. It can be concluded that not only the MTL is important for visual memory processing, but also early visual cortex and evidence of what is happening at the cellular level needs to be improved in order to eventually delimit its potential in cognitive treatments. References Bussey TJ, Saksida LM (2007) Memory, perception, and the ventral visual-perirhinal-hippocampal stream: thinking outside of the boxes. Hippocampus 17:898-908. Cattaneo Z, Vecchi T, Pascual-Leone A, Silvanto J (2009) Contrasting early visual cortical activation states causally involved in visual imagery and short-term memory. The European journal of neuroscience 30:1393-1400. Harrison SA, Tong F (2009) Decoding reveals the contents of visual working memory in early visual areas. Nature 458:632-635. Kaldy Z, Sigala N (2004) The neural mechanisms of object working memory: what is where in the infant brain? Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews 28:113-121. Lee SE, Simons SB, Heldt SA, Zhao M, Schroeder JP, Vellano CP, Cowan DP, Ramineni S, Yates CK, Feng Y, Smith Y, Sweatt JD, Weinshenker D, Ressler KJ, Dudek SM, Hepler JR (2010) RGS14 is a natural suppressor of both synaptic plasticity in CA2 neurons and hippocampal-based learning and memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 107:16994-16998. Lopez-Aranda MF, Lopez-Tellez JF, Navarro-Lobato I, Masmudi-Martin M, Gutierrez A, Khan ZU (2009) Role of layer 6 of V2 visual cortex in object-recognition memory. Science 325:87-89. NCBI (2013) RGS14 regulator of G-protein signaling 14 [ Homo sapiens (human) ]. In. USA. Pasternak T, Greenlee MW (2005) Working memory in primate sensory systems. Nature reviews Neuroscience 6:97-107. Super H (2003) Working memory in the primary visual cortex. Archives of neurology 60:809-812. van de Ven V, Sack AT (2013) Transcranial magnetic stimulation of visual cortex in memory: cortical state, interference and reactivation of visual content in memory. Behavioural brain research 236:67-77.

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Trip to Japan Essay -- essays research papers

It was May 25, 2001. What was clear however, was the fact that I was soon going to be on my own in a country where I did not know the language or the people that I would be meeting there and staying with. The adrenaline rushed through me as I packed the last of my things and ran out of the door. I closed the door to my house and jumped in the car. The idea of leaving America and going to Japan seemed to really not have hit me yet, but now that I look back I know that I had to feel it. I think that the things that I was feeling was such a blob of mixed emotions that I really did not know how to feel so I will just say that I was excited. At the airport I met my best friend and two other friends of mine from school. We would all be traveling together, most all the time. The only things th...

Affirmative Action needs to be Changed not Ended Essay -- Affirmative

Affirmative action: Should it be mended or ended? Affirmative action is an attempt to correct unequal distribution of benefits (status, income and wealth, power and authority), and burdens associated with ethnic and gender differences. Affirmative action has been promoted by the Federal government since the mid 1960's, when president Lyndon B. Johnson ordered federal contractors to adopt affirmative action plans. (Congress and the Nation, 748). This paper will focus on the relevance of affirmative action in the American society. It is important to acknowledge the truth of affirmative action's main claim: historically, African Americans and women have been victims of discrimination. Theoretically speaking, African Americans enjoy the same citizenship rights and protections as white Americans. While ground has been gained, the reality is that discrimination and racism are still very much a part of American culture and institutional practice. For instance, during the 19th century, women were barred from many professions like doctor, lawyer, etc. Predominantly, these positions were for white males. Women were in a crucial position because upon marriage, they often lost title to whatever pittance they were allowed to earn! (McElroy, 1 of 2). We must remember that affirmative action was established to address the continuing, real problems of discrimination. Minorities and women remain economically disadvantaged. The black unemployment rate for instance remains more than twice the white unemployment rate (Do Racial preferences count, 1 of 2). In the United states, affirmative action has been a hot debate for quite a while. There have been both positive and negative thoughts concerning affirmative action in the American society.... ...nthropoloty Newsletter. Sept. 1998: 3. * Anderson, N. Charles. "Do Racial Preferences Help?: Affirmative Action Rights wrongs, Aids Economy." Detroit News. 25 Jan. 1998: 4-5B. * O'Connor, Preimesberger, & Tarr (eds.). Congress and the Nation: A Review of Government and Politics. Vol. IX, 1993-1996. Washington DC: Congressional Quarterly Inc. 1998. * De Han, Martin. Negative Aspects of Affirmative Action. October 1999. http://www.sru.edu/depts/cisba/comm/awalters/smgr/marteen/maxhpneg.htm. * Singer, Peter. Practical Ethics 2nd edition. New York: Cambridge University Press. 1993. * The Civil Rights Project. Harvard University. October 1999. http://www.law.harvard.edu/groups/civilrights/publications/index.html. * McElroy, Wendy. What Does Affirmative Action Affirm? October 1999. http://www.zetetics.com/mac/affirm.htm. Affirmative Action needs to be Changed not Ended Essay -- Affirmative Affirmative action: Should it be mended or ended? Affirmative action is an attempt to correct unequal distribution of benefits (status, income and wealth, power and authority), and burdens associated with ethnic and gender differences. Affirmative action has been promoted by the Federal government since the mid 1960's, when president Lyndon B. Johnson ordered federal contractors to adopt affirmative action plans. (Congress and the Nation, 748). This paper will focus on the relevance of affirmative action in the American society. It is important to acknowledge the truth of affirmative action's main claim: historically, African Americans and women have been victims of discrimination. Theoretically speaking, African Americans enjoy the same citizenship rights and protections as white Americans. While ground has been gained, the reality is that discrimination and racism are still very much a part of American culture and institutional practice. For instance, during the 19th century, women were barred from many professions like doctor, lawyer, etc. Predominantly, these positions were for white males. Women were in a crucial position because upon marriage, they often lost title to whatever pittance they were allowed to earn! (McElroy, 1 of 2). We must remember that affirmative action was established to address the continuing, real problems of discrimination. Minorities and women remain economically disadvantaged. The black unemployment rate for instance remains more than twice the white unemployment rate (Do Racial preferences count, 1 of 2). In the United states, affirmative action has been a hot debate for quite a while. There have been both positive and negative thoughts concerning affirmative action in the American society.... ...nthropoloty Newsletter. Sept. 1998: 3. * Anderson, N. Charles. "Do Racial Preferences Help?: Affirmative Action Rights wrongs, Aids Economy." Detroit News. 25 Jan. 1998: 4-5B. * O'Connor, Preimesberger, & Tarr (eds.). Congress and the Nation: A Review of Government and Politics. Vol. IX, 1993-1996. Washington DC: Congressional Quarterly Inc. 1998. * De Han, Martin. Negative Aspects of Affirmative Action. October 1999. http://www.sru.edu/depts/cisba/comm/awalters/smgr/marteen/maxhpneg.htm. * Singer, Peter. Practical Ethics 2nd edition. New York: Cambridge University Press. 1993. * The Civil Rights Project. Harvard University. October 1999. http://www.law.harvard.edu/groups/civilrights/publications/index.html. * McElroy, Wendy. What Does Affirmative Action Affirm? October 1999. http://www.zetetics.com/mac/affirm.htm.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Frederick Douglass Influence on the Anti-Slavery Movement Essay

Frederick Douglass' Influence on the Anti-Slavery Movement Frederick Douglass was one of the most influential men of the anti-slavery movement. He stood up for what he believed in, fought hard to get where he got and never let someone tell him he could not do something. Frederick Douglass made a change in this country that will always be remembered. Born Frederick Baily, Frederick Douglass was a slave, his birthday is not pin pointed but known to be in February of 1818. He was born on Holmes Hill Farm, near the town of Easton, Maryland. Harriet Baily was Frederick's mother. She worked the cornfields surrounding Holmes Hill. As a boy, he knew little of his father except that the man was white. As a child, he had heard rumors that the master, Aaron Anthony was his father. Frederick's mother was required to work long hours in the fields, so he lived with his grandmother, Betsey Baily. Betsy Baily lived in a cabin a short distance from Holmes Hill Farm. Her job was to look after Harriet's children until they were old enough to work. "Frederick's mother visited him when she could, but he had only a hazy memory of her." He did not think he was a slave during the years with his grandmother. When Frederick was six he was put to work on the Lloyd Plantation. This was the last he saw of his grandmother as he realized that he was now a slave. He learned that the master, Aaron Anthony, would beat his slaves if they did not obey order. Luckily for Frederick he was picked to be Daniel Lloyd's friend, the youngest son of the plantation's owner. Frederick also found a friend in Lucretia Auld, the master's daughter. One day in 1826 Lucretia told Frederick that he was being sent to live with her brother-in-law, Hugh Auld, who managed a ship building company in Baltimore. When Frederick got to the Auld home his only duties were to run errands and care for the Auld's infant son, Tommy. Frederick liked the work and grew to love the child. Sophia Auld was the master's wife, she often read the bible to her son and Frederick. She started to teach Frederick to read and write but soon after the master learned of this and forbid it. Frederick only learned the abhalbit and some words. So he learned the rest by himself. Soon Frederick bought a local paper and learned about abolitionist. This changed his views on many things but was soon sent back to work on a plan... ...ass was given the ceremonial position of marshal for Washington, DC. He enjoyed this post that had a large staff responsible for the overseeing the criminal justice system in Washington D.C. As he got older Douglass settled down doing fewer speeches each year and concentrated on being Marshall. This was until he was appointed to the post of recorder of deeds for Washington, D.C., after the election of 1880. He held the job for 5 years over seeing the department that made records of property sales for the capital. This job left him time to write. He was with his wife until she died in August of 1882. He married again in 1884 to Helen Pitts who was 20 years younger than him. They remained together for 9 years, that was until his sudden death of a heart attack on February 20, 1895. He was 77. Frederick Douglass was laid to rest in Rochester, New York. All of the black public schools closed for the day that he died. Frederick Douglass was a man that touched the hearts of millions and spoke out when no one else would. He fought for the freedom of the black man and stride for the basic human rights they deserved. Frederick Douglass was truly a great man who cried out for freedom.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Carrie Chapter Nine

‘Playing match' ‘Something like that.' ‘And Tommy went along with it?' This was the part that most fascinated her. ‘Yea,' Sue said, and did not elaborate. After a pause: ‘I suppose the other kids think I'm stuck up.' Helen thought it over. ‘Well †¦ they're all talking about it. But most of them still think you're okay. Like you said, you make your own decisions. There is, however, a small dissenting faction.' She snickered dolefully. ‘The Chris Hargensen people?' ‘And the Billy Nolan people. God, he's scuzzy.' ‘She doesn't like me much?' Sue said, making it a question. ‘Susie, she hates your guts.' Susan nodded, surprised to find the thought both distressed and excited her. ‘I heard her father was going to sue the school department and then he changed his mind,' she said. Helen shrugged. ‘She hasn't made any friends out of this,' she said. I don't know what got into us, any of us. It makes me feel like I don't even know my own mind.' They worked on in silence. Across the room, Don Barrett was putting up an extension ladder preparatory to gilding the overhead steel beams with crepe paper. ‘Look,' Helen said. ‘There goes Chris now.' Susan looked up just in time to see her walking into the cubby-hole office to the left of the gym entrance. She was wearing wine-coloured velvet hot pants and a silky white blouse – no bra, from the way things were jiggling up front – a dirty old man's dream, Sue thought sourly, and then wondered what Chris could want in where the Prom Committee had set up shop. Of course Tina Blake was on the Committee and the two of them were thicker than thieves. Stop it, she scolded herself. Do you want her in sackcloth and ashes? Yes, she admitted. A part of her wanted just that. ‘Helen?' ‘Hmmmm?' ‘Are they going to do something?' Helen's face took on an unwilling masklike quality. ‘I don't know.' The voice was light, over innocent. ‘Oh,' Sue said noncommittally. (you know you know something: accept something goddammit if its only yourself tell me) They continued to colour, and neither spoke. She knew it wasn't as all right as Helen had said. It couldn't be; she would never be quite the same golden girl again in the eyes of her mates. She had done an ungovernable, dangerous thing – she had broken cover and shown her face. The late afternoon sunlight, warm as oil and sweet as childhood, slanted through the high, bright gymnasium windows. From My Name Is Susan Snell (p. 40). I can understand some of what must have led up to the prom. Awful as it was, I can understand how someone like Billy Nolan could go along, for instance. Chris Hargensen led him by the nose-at least, most of the time. His friends were just as easily led by Billy himself. Kenny Garson, who dropped out of high school when he was eighteen, had a tested third-grade reading level. In the clinical sense, Steve Deighan was little more than an idiot. Some of the others had police records; one of them, Jackie Talbot, was first busted at the age of nine, for stealing hubcaps. If you've got a social-worker mentality, you can even regard these people as unfortunate victims. But what can you say for Chris Hargensen herself? It seems to me that from first to last, her one and only object in view was the complete and total destruction of Carrie White †¦ ‘I'm not supposed to,' Tina Blake said uneasily. She was a small, pretty girl with a billow of red hair. A pencil was pushed importantly in it. ‘And if Norma comes back, she'll spill.' ‘She's in the crapper,' Chris said. ‘Come on.' Tina, a little shocked, giggled in spite of herself. Still, she offered token resistance: ‘Why do you want to see, anyway? You can't go.' ‘Never mind,' Chris said. As always, she seemed to bubble with dark humour. ‘Here,' Tina said, and pushed a sheet enclosed in limp plastic across the desk. ‘I'm going out for a Coke. If that bitchy Norma Watson comes back and catches you I never saw you.' ‘Okay,' Chris murmured, already absorbed in the floor plan. She didn't hear the door close. George Chizmar had also done the floor plan, so it was perfect. The dance floor was clearly marked. Twin bandstands. The stage where the King and Queen would be crowned (i'd like to crown that fucking snell bitch carrie too) at the end of the evening. Ranged along the three sides of the floor were the prom-goers' tables. Card tables, actually, but covered with a froth of crepe and ribbon, each holding party favours, prom programmes, and ballots for King and Queen. She ran a lacquered, spade-shaped fingernail down the tables to the right of the dance floor, then the left. There: Tommy R. & Carrie W. They were really going through with it. She could hardly believe it. Outrage made her tremble. Did they really think they would be allowed to get away with it? Her lips tautened grimly. She looked over her shoulder. Norma Watson was still nowhere in sight. Chris put the seating chart back and rifled quickly through the rest of the papers on the pitted and initialwarred desk. Invoices (mostly for crepe paper and hapenny nails), a list of parents who had loaned card tables, petty-cash vouchers, a bill from Star Printers, who had run off the prom tickets, a sample King and Queen ballot Ballot! She snatched it up. No one was supposed to see the actual King and Queen ballot until Friday, when the whole student body would hear the candidates announced over the school's intercom. The King and Queen would be voted in by those attending the prom, but blank nomination ballots had been circulated to home rooms almost a month earlier. The results were supposed to be top secret. There was a gaining student move afoot to do away with the King and Queen business all together – some of the girls claimed it was sexist, the boys thought it was just plain stupid and a little embarrassing. Chances were good that this would be the last year the dance would be so formal or traditional. But for Chris, this was the only year that counted. She stared at the ballot with greedy intensity. George and Frieda. No way. Frieda Jason was a Jew. Peter and Myra. No way here, either. Myra was one of the female clique dedicated to erasing the whole horse race. She wouldn't serve even if elected. Besides, she was about as good-looking as the ass end of old drayhorse Ethel. Frank and Jessica. Quite possible. Frank Grier had made the All New England football team this year, but Jessica was another little sparrowfart with more pimples than brains. Don and Helen. Forget it. Helen Shyres couldn't get elected dog catcher. And the last pairing. Tommy and Sue. Only Sue, of course, had been crossed out, and Carrie's name had been written in. There was a pairing to conjure with! A kind of strange, shuffling laughter came over her, and she clapped a hand over her mouth to hold it in. Tina scurried back in. ‘Jesus, Chris, you still here? She's coming!' ‘Don't sweat it, doll,' Chris said, and put the papers back on the desk. She was still grinning as she walked out, pausing to raise a mocking hand to Sue Snell, who was slaying her skinny butt off on that stupid mural. In the outer hall, she fumbled a dime from her bag, dropped it into the pay phone, and called Billy Nolan. From The Shadow Exploded (pp. 100- 10 1): One wonders just how much planning went into the ruination of Carrie White – was it a carefully made plan, rehearsed and gone over many times, or just something that happened in a bumbling sort of way? †¦ I favour the latter idea. I suspect that Christine Hargensen was the brains of the allair, but that she herself had only the most nebulous of ideas on how one might ‘get' a girl like Carrie. I rather suspect it was she who suggested that William Nolan and his friends make the trip to Irwin Henty's farm in North Chamberlain. The thought of that trip's imagined result would have appealed to a warped sense of poetic justice, I am sure. .. The car screamed up the rutted Stack End Road in North Chamberlain at a sixty-five that was dangerous to life and limb on the washboard unpaved hardpan. A low-hanging branch, lush with May leaves, occasionally scraped the roof of the '61 Biscayne, which was fender-dented, rusted out, jacked in the back, and equipped with dual glasspack mufflers. One headlight was out; the other flickered in the midnight dark when the car struck a particularly rough bump. Billy Nolan was at the pink fuzz-covered wheel. Jackie Talbot, Henry Blake, Steve Deighan, and the Garson brothers, Kenny and Lou, were also squeezed in. Three joints were going, passing through the inner dark like the lambent eyes of some rotating Cerberus. ‘You sure Henty ain't around?' Henry asked. ‘I got no urge to go back up, ole Sweet William. They feed you shit.' Kenny Garson, who was wrecked to the fifth power found this unutterably funny and emitted a slipstream of high-pitched giggles. ‘He aint around,' Billy said. Even those few words seemed to slip out grudgingly, against his win. ‘Funeral.' Chris had found this out accidentally. Old man Henty ran one of the few successful independent farms in the Chamberlain area. Unlike the crotchety old farmer with a heart of gold that is one of the staples of pastoral literature, old man Henty was as mean as cat dirt. He did not load his shotgun with rock salt at apple time, but with birdshot. He had also prosecuted several fellows for pilferage. One of them had been a friend of these boys, a luckless bastard named Freddy Overlock. Freddy had been caught red-handed in old man Henty's henhouse, and had received a double dose of number-six bird where the good Lord had split him. Good ole Fred had spent four raving, cursing hours on his belly in an Emergency Wing examining room while a jovial interne picked tiny pellets off his butt and dropped them into a steel pan. To add insult to injury, he had been fined two hundred dollars for larceny and trespass. There was no love lost between Irwin Henty and the Chamberlain greaser squad. ‘What about Red?' Steve asked. ‘He's trying to get into some new waitress at The Cavalier,' Billy said, swinging the wheel and puffing the Biscayne through a juddering racing drift and on to the Henty Road. Red Trelawney was old man Henty's hired hand. He was a heavy drinker and just as handy with the bird-shot as his employer. ‘He won't be back until they close up.' ‘Hell of a risk for a joke,' Jackie Talbot grumbled. Billy stiffened. ‘You want out?' ‘No, uh-uh,' Jackie said hastily. Billy had produced an ounce of good grass to split among the five of them – and besides, it was nine miles back to town. ‘It's a good joke, Billy.' Kenny opened the glove compartment, took out an ornate scrolled roach clip (Chris's), and fixed the smouldering butt-end of a joint in it This operation struck him as highly amusing, and he let out his highpitched giggle again. Now they were flashing past No Tresspassing signs on either side of the road, barbed wire, newly turned fields. The smell of fresh earth was heavy and gravid and sweet on the warm May air. Billy popped the headlights off as they breasted the next hill, dropped the gearshift into neutral and killed the ignition. They rolled, a silent hulk of metal, toward the Henty driveway. Billy negotiated the turn with no trouble, and most of their speed bled away as they breasted another small rise and passed the dark and empty house. Now they could see the huge bulk of barn and beyond it, moonlight glittering dreamily on the cow pond and the apple orchard. In the pigpen, two sows poked their flat snouts through the bars. In the bar, one cow lowed softly, perhaps in sleep. Billy stopped the car with the emergency brake – not really necessary since the ignition was off, but it was a nice Commando touch – and they got out. Lou Garson reached past Kenny and got something out of the glove compartment. Billy and Henry went around to the trunk and opened it. ‘The bastard is going to shit where he stands when he comes back and gets a look,' Steve said with soft glee. ‘For Freddy,' Henry said, taking the hammer out of the trunk. Billy said nothing, but of course it was not for Freddy Overlock, who was an asshole. It was for Chris Hargensen, just as everything was for Chris, and had been since the day she swept down from her lofty collegecourse Olympus and made herself vulnerable to him He would have done murder for her, and more. Henry was swinging the nine-pound sledge experimentally in one hand. The heavy block of its business end made a portentous swishing noise in the night air, and the other boys gathered around as Billy opened the lid of the ice chest and took out the two galvanized steel pads. They were numbingly cold to the touch, lightly traced with frost ‘Okay,' he said. The six of them walked quickly to the hogpen, their respiration shortening with excitement. The two sows were both as tame as tabbies, and the old boar lay asleep on his side at the far end. Henry swung the sledge once more through the air, but this time with no conviction. He handed it to Billy. ‘I can't,' he said sickly. ‘You.' Billy took it and looked questioningly at Lou, who held the broad butcher knife he had taken from the glove compartment. ‘Don't worry,' he said, and touched the ball of his thumb to the honed edge. ‘The throat,' Billy reminded. ‘I know.' Kenny was crooning and grinning as he fed the remains of a crumpled bag of potato chips to the pigs. ‘Doan worry, piggies, doan worry, big Bills gonna bash your fuckin heads in and you woan have to worry about the bomb any more.' He scratched their bristly chins, and the pigs grunted and munched contentedly. ‘Here it comes,' Billy remarked, and the sledge flashed down. There was a sound that reminded him of the time he and Henry had dropped a pumpkin off Claridge Road overpass, which crossed 495 west of town. One of the sows dropped dead with its tongue protruding, eyes still open, potato chip crumbs around its snout Kenny giggled. ‘She didn't even have time to burp.' ‘Do it quick, Lou,' Billy said. Kenny's brother slid between the slates, lifted the pig's head toward the moon-the glazing eyes regarded the crescent with rapt blackness – and slashed. The flow of blood was immediate and startling. Several of the boys were splattered and jumped back with little cries of disgust. Billy leaned through and put one of the buckets under the main flow. The pail filled up rapidly, and he set it aside. The second was half full when the flow trickled and died. ‘The other one,' he said. ‘Jesus, Billy,' Jackie whined. ‘Isn't that en-‘ ‘The other one,' Billy repeated. ‘Soo-ee, pig-pig-pig,' Kenny called, grinning and rattling the empty potato-chip bag. After a pause, the sow returned to the fence, the sledge flashed, the second bucket was filled and the remainder of the blood allowed to flow into the ground. A rank, coppery smell hung on the air. Billy found he was slimed in pig blood to the forearms. Carrying the pails back to the trunk, his mind made a dim, symbolic connection. Pig blood. That was good. Chris was right. It was really good. It made everything solidify. Pig blood for a pig. He nestled the galvanized steel pails into the crushed ice and slammed the lid of the chest. ‘Let's go,' he said. Billy got behind the wheel and released the emergency brake. The five boys got behind, put their shoulders into it, and the car turned in a tight, noiseless circle and trundled up past the barn to the crest of the hill across from Henty's house. When the car began to roll on its own, they trotted up beside the doors and climbed in panting. The car gained speed enough to slew a little as Billy whipped it out of the long driveway and on to the Henty Road. At the bottom of the hill he dropped the transmission into third and popped the clutch. The engine hitched and grunted into life. Pig blood for a pig. Yes, that was good, all right. That was really good. He smiled, and Lou Garson felt a start of surprise and fear. He was not sure he could recall ever having seen Billy Nolan smile before. There had not even been rumours. ‘Whose funeral did ole man Henty go to?' Steve asked. ‘His mother's,' Billy said. ‘His mother?' Jackie Talbot said, stunned. ‘Jesus Christ, she musta been older'n God.' Kenny's high-pitched cackle drifted back on the redolent darkness that trembled at the edge of summer.

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Natural Law and Sexual Ethics by Janet Smith Essay

I am honored to be among the lecturers in this series on essential fair play. umteen of the treaters argon among my heroes and friends. atomic number 53 of my heroes, Alasdair MacIntyre, used whizz of his favorite terms in his c exclusively on the carpet he spoke of mere(a) persons and their handgrip of lessonity and infixed uprightness in contradistinction to the experts and professional philosophers and their grasp of these matters. A a couple of(prenominal) years ago in D allas he gave a talk entitled Do plain persons pick up to be uncorrupted philosophers? When I was asked to indue the response to his talk, I was or so honored because I considered Prof.MacIntyre hotshot of the foremost deterrent exampleistic philosophers in the man genial and it was a thrill to comment on his survey. I felt dreadfully underqualified I felt like rough senior high school kid going up against Larry Bird until I realized that I need non respond as an expert, as a moral p hilosopher of his caliber, merely that I could respond as the quintessential plain person for that is what I am. afterward all, I am Janet Smith, daughter of lav and Anne Smith I grew up at 5 Hill Street and went to billet Street School I could go on hardly it is all very(prenominal) plain.The point I am reservation here(predicate) is non merely a flip cardinal designed to hush us into more serious matters by an attempt at humor. on that point is a serious point here intrinsic constabulary, is the plain persons godliness in a sense it is solely if plain angiotensin-converting enzyme-time(a) common sense. on that point be profound and sophisticated ship gital at explaining congenital justness, but the pr executioniceof debate in agreement with inwrought rectitude principals, ji beingness to the theory itself, is intrinsic to plain persons that is, natural to all mankind for natural legality constructs that several(prenominal)(prenominal) of the most wakeless prescripts of moral flat coating be obvious, that is comfortably kn pee by all.Yet, in offend of the plain commonsensicalness of natural law, it drop hold the appearance _or_ semblance shocking and provocative in m any(prenominal) instructions, for like natural law, plain old common sense does not command a lot of followers these eld and piece of tail be shocking when juxtapose to the values of our time. My talk is going to be very radical in several(prenominal) evaluates. It go discover reassessment some of the elementary beliefs that new(prenominal) speakers have covered, some in depth, some more in passing. It get out also be very basic in being the wholeness talk that attempts to settle an application of natural law to concrete moral issues issues in the dry land of familiar ethics.My job is not to beg off natural law ethics but to explain it and apply it. As did many of the earlier speakers I allow by and large be followers the vox populi of doubting Thomas doubting Thomas on these matters and of Aristotle from whom doubting Thomas in condition(p) many of the principles that informed his t to each superstaring on natural law. I shall also unified into my arguments the thought of an separate stellar natural law theorist, still alive and substantially I shall make use of the execute of Karol Wojtyla, right off make don as pope John Paul II.I will refer to him as Wojtyla simply because I do not want to be thought to be invoking his authority as Holy Father I call forth him simply as a philosopher who has make cracking advances of our mete out of natural law, specially in regard to intimate ethics. So let me begin with a re hear of the principles of natural law. As several another(prenominal)wise speakers have noted, Aquinas maintains that the startle principle of natural law is do slap-up, subdue wretched. As he notes, that is a self-evident principle and obvious to all if we want to be moral we should do ripe and suspend evil.No fray here. The question is, of course, what is broad(a) and what is evil and how to we cut to know which is which? Some think we pilet know what is exhaustively and evil so the topper we loafer do is live by the conventions of our times. Others think it best to let our ruts be our pass away to whatsoever we want to do. Others think only revealed godliness lav cede us absolutes. These terce positions capture the predominant views of our times. Aquinas holds n bingle of these positions.He argues that land should be our guide to morality. Not only does he hold that the first principle of natural law, do estimable, avoid evil is self-evident, he argues that thither be other self-evident first principles, much(prenominal) as harm no man. These he labels atomic number 18 imprinted in the minds of all by God I believe other precepts such as let responsibly for your offspring, give birth to each man his due and strain knowledge wo uld qualify as precepts that Aquinas thinks all men know.Men (and I use the term generically here and throughout) may motion against these precepts out of passion or because ignorance of some f title shamus in a situation, but all would agree that such principles be moral truths. Aquinas goes on to say that what he calls ancient precepts of natural law argon naturally and immediately known by man he cites the 10 commandments as examples of these types of precepts. These precepts ar justified by the primary principles.From the most widely distributed principle give to each man his due, from an understanding of what one owes to ones overprotect and father, it is clear that one should honor ones father and mother. Now this is not to say that one discovers the moral law by discovering these precepts in a deductive manner moving from the most general to the more particular(prenominal). Rather, it checkerms that often moral discovery, as the discovery of other general truths, mo ves from the particular to the universal.That is, an several(prenominal) could witness or record in a trans achievement and sort of immediately make the moral imagination that the answer is good or bad. That is, for instance, an individual could witness someone honoring or dishonoring his pargonnts and judge the action to be good or bad from this action and others of the homogeneous sort one may lie with to speculate the law that one should give each man his due. But it is because we already naturally know in an unuttered and unformulated way that one should give each man his due, that we atomic number 18 suitable to see readily that honoring ones pargonnts is good.Much in the same way that we, without musical training, can judge original tones to be off pitch, we have moral perceptions that some actions are good and some bad, without having any explicit training close such kinds of actions. I speak of these as moral perceptions not because they are analogous to sen se perceptions, but because of their immediacy and their unformulated spirit indeed, I believe them to be logical in several important respects, not least because they are cognitive acts and they are in agreeance with naive realism. allow me speak now nearly cerebrality and the Thomistic deed that one should act noeticly. Indeed, one could formulate the first principle of natural law not only in the most basic formula do good, avoid evil in Thomistic terms, several formulas facilitate to express the same truth for Aquinas, the following phrases are synonymic act in grant with disposition act in accord with drive or act residualalitynally act in accord with virtue act in accord with the dignity of the humanity person act in accord with a comfortably formed conscience indeed, act in a loving way, powerful understood, serves as well.While it would be of great profit to elaborate how each of these phrases is synonymous with the other, I want to devote most of my effo rts here to explaining how act in accord with spirit and act in accord with reason are synonymous and congruous guides to moral bearing. First we must get wind to get as clear as we can what it means to say act in accord with reason or act balancenally. In our day, reason often gets a bum rap. This is a fault not of Aristotle or Aquinas but of Descartes and Kant and their followers.Since they retreated into the mind and decrepit the senses and emotions and personality as guides to truth, they made reason seem like something coldly logical, impersonal, abstractedness and all in all devoid of experiential and f raveic content. In their view, mathematics and geometry are seen as the quintessential rational acts to be rational is to operate totally within ones mind and to be completely unemotional. Another view of reasonableness that dominates fresh times is the view that only that which can be pulsed scientifically deserves any recognition as objective truth.No truths othe r than those substantiated by scientific demonstrations truths that can be quantified largely in the science lab count as truth. No proof other than scientific proofs count as truth only science and that which approximates to scientific truth is truly rational. Neither view is the view of reason and reasonableness held by the ancients and medievalists those who defined the view of natural law I am defending here. The ancients and medievalists did not think tenableness was possible without the senses and the emotions for both(prenominal) are tools to reading reality they provide the spirit with the material needed to make a good judgment.The etymology of the discussion rational is rooted in the word ratio which means measure or proportion. One is being rational when ones thought and action are measured to, are proportionate with, or when ones thought and action chequer with reality (which itself is measured or controled by discernable laws more active this momentarily). The thought that leads to playing in accord with reality is called rational. Now this thought need not be and perhaps only rarely will be the kind of abstract, cold, logical reasoning of a Descartes, Kant, or research scientist.This thought can be intuitive, creative, poetic, inductive, deductive, indeed, whatever human thought can be. It is all called rational thought not because it proceeds by syllogism or because it is worst to received scientific tests it is called rational because it corresponds with reality and this includes all of reality, the spiritual and the transcendental as well as the logically incontrovertible and the scientifically measurable reality. Such thought cannot proceed without abundant data from our senses and our emotions.The intellect processes such data and ordinates it it determines what values are important in the data and decides on the appropriate response. If one acts rationally, one accordingly acts in accord with the ordering through with(p ) by the intellect. While the intellect should govern the emotions, it is not a natural law teaching that all rational expression will be devoid of emotion. Again, the emotions can provide essential data to the intellect. Emotions that are well-habituated may lead one quite spontaneously to respond correctly to situations.One may spontaneously get idle at witnessing some act of damage and, if one knows ones emotions to be well-ordered, one could respond quite immediately and correctly to the situation and even angrily to the situation. Indeed, at times it may be an appropriate response to reality to rant and rave. One doing so, is properly called rational, in appall of our common parlance. This talk of the mind and of rationality as something that is measured to reality suggests, as mentioned above, that reality is a thing that can be grasped. inbred law depends upon such.It catch ones breaths upon the declare that things have dispositions and essences that we can know and correspond our actions to. There are many reasons for making this claim. One is the fact that things act in a predictable fashion when we describe the properties of oil and water, for instance, we can predict received things most their behavior. The fact that we build bridge over which stand, that we make artificial hearts that work, that we rig men on the moon, also indicates we are able to measure our thoughts to the external terra firma and to act in accord with it.Moreover, natural law operates on the premise that temperament is good that is, that the way things naturally are is good for them to be it holds that the operations of things and part of things contribute to the good of the whole. The wings of antithetical birds are shaped in certain fashions because of the sort of flying that they must do to survive different digestive systems work in different ways because of what is being digested. Indeed, natural law holds that the natural instincts of natural things are good they lead them to do what helps those things give out well and helps them survive.Since natural things have an order there is said to be a ratio or order to them not one of which they are assured but one that is written into their functioning. Natural law holds that we live in a universe of things that have a ratio to them and that we shall get the best out of these things if we act in accord with the ratio or nature that is written into them. Now, man is a natural thing. He, too, has parts and operations and instincts that modify him to function well and to survive.Man differs from other creatures in that he has free will that is, he can either foster with his nature or act against his nature, whereas other natural things have no such freedom. What enables man to be free is his reason, his rationality he is able to weigh and measure different courses of action and to determine which actions are good or bad. According to natural law, those actions are good which accord with his nature and with the nature of other things. Since man is by nature a rational animal, it is good for him to act in accord with his reason.By playing rationally he is acting in accord with his own nature and with a reality that is also ordered. When he acts rationally, he acts in accord with his own nature and reality and in accord with the nature and reality of other things. Now, lets get concrete. Lets talk about acting in accord with the nature of a fewer specific things. Take tomato plant plants, for instance. tomato plants have a certain nature. In order to have good tomato plants one must act towards these plants in accord with their nature one must water them, give them sunlight and good soil if one wants to stimulate good tomato plants.Such is acting in accord with nature in respect to tomato plants, such is rational behavior in respect to tomato plants. If ones tomato plants fail to produce tomatoes, one knows that one is doing something wrong if ones tomato plants produce good tomatoes, one knows one is doing something right. Prof. Charlie Rice, whose book lambert Questions on Natural Law that I understand several of you are reading, speaks of the rationality of putting oil and not molasses in the engine of a car. One demand to act in accord with the nature of things if one wishes them to perform well.So now let us, moving quickly, move to human nature. If a human being wishes to function and perform well, what does his nature require of him? Let us begin with his corporal nature. There is a considerable consensus about what makes for physical health and what is conducive to physical health. Those who simulatet get sick, who are able to function well in their day-to-day activities, who are not overweight, we call healthy. We know how to produce such individuals. We are regularly and rightly advised to eat well, knead regularly, and to get plenty of sleep.Those who do so generally flourish physically because they are acting in accor d with nature, with reason, and with reality. psychological health is also understood to some extent we know we need friends and rest and interests to sustain our psychological health that is our nature that is reality. Nor are we in the dark about what makes for moral health or moral goodness. We recognize the goodness of the various virtues such as self-discipline, reliability, justice and fairness, kindness, truthfulness, loyalty, etc. those who debunk these qualities we generally recognize to be good that is morally good human beings.Parents who have children who display such qualities are rightly proud of them their tomato plants turned out well. So, in regard to sexual behavior, to sexual moral health, so to speak, what qualifies as acting in accord with nature, with reason? How do we determine what it is? Now, for Aquinas, these are not knotty questions, though, apparently, they are extremely difficult questions for modern-day times. We are terribly confused about what p roper sexual behavior is.College newspapers are filled with news of campuses that are excogitate codes of moral sexual behavior codes that are designed primarily to stop or reduce the incidence of date cocker on campus. These codes suggest, mandate, require I am not certain what is the correct word that in sexual activity neither individual proceed to the next level of sexual activity without obtaining the permission of the other individual.These codes reflect what has been the principle governing sexual behavior in modern times for sometime whatever one feels contented with and whatever one agrees to is morally o. . This is fundamentally what we are teaching to our young hoi polloi and they are doing much what one would stand given that teaching. As long as it feels good, and they have consented to it, there is no reason for them not to do it. Is this working is this principle leading to moral health or moral sickness? What can we say about the moral sexual health of our s ociety? What does the fact that 68% of African-American babies are born out of pairing suggest? The figure is now 22% in the white community and chop-chop growing.