Egypt vs Saudi Arabia Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words - 1

Egypt vs Saudi Arabia - Term Paper Example b. Egypt, it has a better history in political parties’ formation and practice, than Saudi Arabia. The existence of Liberation Rally, Nation Union, Arab Socialist Union and National Democratic Parties provided a better platform for the political leadership to introduce change in Egypt. a. Earlier networks of political groups and social formations that had carried traditions of resistance through the period of repression became mobilized beneath the surface of dictatorial order (Paulsen n.d.). 3. With the leadership of the country limited to one Royal family, there may lack instabilities in the governance, but active and talented leadership skills within the communities will always be left out. a. Most of the Middle East countries have large deposits of petroleum oil, and gases which attracts powerful nations, if not forcefully getting involved in the commotions of these Arab countries, in the name of providing a solution, but rather their intentions are to keep them closer for future reasons. a. The army leaders in Egypt realized that that their establishments could present a valuable role under new administration, and thus were willing to dare throwing out the old guard as they were not personal instruments of the ruler (Gause III 2011). A. The System and rule of governance between Egypt and Saudi Arabia’s leadership, international relations, countries’ security structure and role, and the law reform give the explanation for Saudi Arabia and Egypt divergence in outcomes. B. Egypt uprising was strongly supported by protestors in conjunction with political parties presence.

John Locke Short Introduction Essay Example for Free

John Locke Short Introduction Essay John Locke, who is widely known as the Father of Liberalism, is a great writer, philosopher and physician of the 17th century. He was born on 29 August 1632 and died on 28 October 1704 when he was 72. He was baptized on the same day as he was born. He was a gifted man and David Hume once described him as â€Å"wrote like a water-drinking local councilor, his style ungainly, his idioms commercial, his imagination puritanical, his humor labored, his purposes wholly practical. † As he is a talented thinker and uses different perspectives to see and think on certain things, he revolutionized the Theory of Mind to the world in his masterpiece, â€Å"An Essay Concerning Human Understanding†. On the other hand, he also developed the idea of liberty among people in society. His contributions to the world are incredible as his ideas of social contract and state of nature laid the theoretical foundation of the Constitutions of the United States of America. In Locke’s life, he came from a very intelligent and faithful Baptist family that gave him a good education and took him to a good school Christ Church, Oxford. Though he studied medicine but not philosophy or other critical thinking courses, he met prominent people (e. g. Robert Boyle, Thomas Wills) who inspired him immensely in every perspective. One eminent scholar was Thomas Sydenham, who imposed a huge impact on the idea of how man accumulates knowledge. Thanks to Sydenham, Locke wrote one of his famous works – â€Å"An Essay Concerning Human Understanding†. Thomas Sydenham gave advice to Locke in treating Shaftesbury’s liver cancer. Locke realized in the file of Shaftesbury that knowledge in a book could be different from the circumstances Locke was facing. Hence, he raised the pivotal question in his essay: â€Å"Is the foundation of knowledge based on theory or experience? † This essay stimulated several fresh ideas to philosophers in the 17th century. One of the famous philosophers who were greatly influenced by Locke was David Hume, who described John Locke as a magnificent man. After Shaftesbury survived from the liver cancer, he became Lord Chancellor and led Locke to be involved in the field of politics. In the political struggle of Shaftesbury, Locke assisted him by writing another famous work – â€Å"Two Treatises of Government. It is believed that the ideas mentioned in the essay were influenced by Hobbes’ thinking, but Locke never referred or mentioned the name of Hobbes. Locke countered the statements raised by Hobbes in the book of Leviathan that â€Å"everyone is living in terror† and â€Å"war of every man against every man†. Locke raised a counter statement that everyone is created equally and everyone in society has rights to fight for their life, freedom and property. To accomplish it, we shall hold together and grant greater power to protect ourselves. This also explains how civilization works. The original purpose of this piece is an argument to attack Shaftesbury’s opponents (supporters of Absolute Monarchy). However, the ideas of natural rights and a new reformation of government mentioned inside the essay are recognized as the most influential ideas on the political system in the 17th century. The basis of liberty was widely used by the founding fathers of the United States of America to write the American Declaration of Independence and the Constitutions. The influences of John Locke did not just stop in the 17th century. They still last today. Every time we hear about liberty and freedom, the basis of these concepts had been defined by Locke clearly. Besides, the issue of free religion which is still discussed nowadays was also originated by Locke. The theory of religious tolerance was one of the most controversial ideas during Locke’s lifetime. In this perspective, some historians even regarded the European War as the war between religions. In some statements made by Locke, he argued human knowledge was possibly false unless there was definite proof. By the same token, he considered that religion, which did not have clear proof, was possibly false. Because of this, religious tolerance was necessary. Religious tolerance is still being debated nowadays and it has greatly changed the outlook of modern society after this idea was promulgated. Locke’s life was a legend. He was born in a Baptist family and his writings are full of elements related to Christianity. From the statement of â€Å"All men are created equally†, it clearly shows Locke’s belief in the perspective of equality. Besides, he was also greatly influenced by the idea of knowledge. He questioned the fundamental of knowledge and questioned whether knowledge is true as always. I believe he wrote such ideas because of his experience in the treatment of Shaftesbury’s cancer that led him to start questioning that the things he had learned from the medical books were not really practical. Instead, to him, they were much more proper to be described as imaginary notions. From this perspective, he was inspired to write the essay concerning human understanding. Besides, Locke also influenced the world and created waves of revolutionary ideas in many fields. The great philosophers Voltaire and Rousseau were deeply inspired by Locke’s theories. Ultimately, Locke – Father of Liberalism – was not simply a gifted person born to be the father of liberalism, but also because of circumstances, situations which he encountered in his life to make him the father of liberalism.

Dead Poet’s Society :: Film Movies

Dead Poet’s Society The film, Dead Poet’s Society, is a story of a English professor who instructs a group of eager boys in a highly accredited and traditional boys academy. Professor Keatings, played by Robin Williams, introduces his students into the world of poetry. Throughout the school year, the professor inspires the students to â€Å"seize the day† and make their lives extraordinary. A group of students gets swept away by their teacher’s enthusiastic spirit, and they decide to reorganize â€Å"The Dead Poet’s Society†, a select club which used to meet in a cave when the professor attended school, to experience inspiration through poetry. The inspirational impact he has on his students backfires when the school’s board of trustees finds out about the unorthodox teaching methods that go on in the classroom. One of his students commits suicide after the boy’s father, a very controlling man, rejects his son and his enthusiasm for acting and the stag e. Professor Keatings doesn’t follow textbooks or the curriculum, but teaches from his heart. Unlike his conservative colleagues, Keating employs decidedly unorthodox teaching methods and strives to teach more than just his subject matter, which is poetry. His goal is to inspire his students to suck the bone of life to the marrow, to seize the day and to make their lives extraordinary. In Keating's class, you learn passion, courage, romanticism, and, of course poetry. You pass if you avoid conformity and find your own voice, and you fail if you neglect to live life to the fullest. The impact that professor Keatings has on his students is eternal. His spirit will probably always live in his students’ hearts. Any teacher who is like Keatings is priceless. He wasn’t just teacher of academics but a teacher of life. I have had some teachers similar to Professor Keatings, whom I will always remember.

Behavioural Finance Essay

Hypothesis and the extent to which they can be explained by behavioural finance theories Finance that is based on rational and logical theories, such as the  capital asset pricing model  (CAPM) and the efficient market hypothesis (EMH). These theories assume that people, for the most part, behave rationally and predictably. The Efficient market hypothesis assumes that financial markets incorporate all public information and assets that share prices reflect all relevant to the firm information (Fama, 1970). Relevant information includes past information, publicly available information and private information. Efficient market is divided into three categories. Weak form efficiency is when stock prices reflect only the past information, semi-strong form is when past information and all publicly available information is reflected and strong form is when all the past, publicly available and information only available to company insiders is reflected on the stock prices. However, there are some anomalies and behaviors that couldn’t be explained by EMH. Market participants often behaved very unpredictably. However there is a new study called behavioral finance that is trying to explain all these anomalies. Behavioral finance studies the irrational behavior of the investors. Weber (1999) makes the following observation: ‘Behavioral Finance closely combines individual behavior and market phenomena and uses the knowledge taken from both the psychological field and financial theory’. Behavioral finance attempts to identify the behavioral biases commonly exhibited by investors and also provides strategies to overcome them. Some of the main problems with EMH may be cause by heuristic responses to new information, psychological anchors, overconfidence, social fads, framing and regret avoidance and herd behavior. Overconfidence: According to Nevins (2004), overconfidence suggests that investors overestimate their ability to predict market events, and because of their overconfidence they often take risks without receiving commensurate returns. Odean (1998) finds that investors tend to overestimate their ability, unrealistically optimistic about future events, too positive on self-evaluations, over-weight attention getting information that is consistent with their existing beliefs, and over-estimate the precision of their own private information. Overconfidence about private signals causes overreaction and hence phenomena like the book/market effect and long-run reversals whereas self-attribution maintains overconfidence and allows prices to continue to overreact, creating momentum. In the longer-run there is reversal as prices revert to fundamentals. Psychological Anchors, Overreaction: Good news should raise a business’ share price accordingly, and that gain in share price should not decline if no new information has been released since. Reality, however, tends to contradict this theory. Oftentimes, participants in the stock market predictably overreact to new information, creating a larger-than-appropriate effect on a security’s price. Furthermore, it also appears that this price surge is not a permanent trend – although the price change is usually sudden and sizable, the surge erodes over time. Heuristic responses to new information: Availability heuristic is used to evaluate the frequency or likelihood of an event on the basis of how quickly instances or associations come to mind. When examples or associations are easily brought to mind, this fact leads to an overestimation of the frequency or likelihood of this event. Example: People are overestimating the divorce rate if they can quickly find examples of divorced friends. People tend to be biased by information that is easier to recall. They are swayed by information that is vivid, well-publicized, or recent. People also tend to be biased by examples that they can easily retrieve. ( Tversky and Kahneman, 1974) Confirmation bias  is a cognitive bias whereby one tends to notice and look for information that confirms one’s existing beliefs, whilst ignoring anything that contradicts those beliefs. It is a type of selective thinking. The reason for overconfidence may also have to do with hindsight bias, a tendency to think that one would have known actual events were coming before they happened, had one been present then or had reason to pay attention. Hindsight bias encourages a view of the world as more predictable than it really is (Shiller, 2000). This is the characteristic of investors, when looking back, seeing events that took place in the past as having been more predictable than they seemed before they happened. Likewise, things that didn’t happen seem, with hindsight, much less likely to have happened than they did beforehand. Self-attribution bias occurs when people attribute successful outcomes to their own skill but blame unsuccessful outcomes on bad luck (Shefrin, 1999). Availability bias is the availability deviation is a general rule or a mental shortcut which lets people guess the probability of a result and to what percent it may appear in their daily life. Those who commit such a deviation consider the easily recalled events more probable than those they can hardly imagine or perceive. Availability bias declares the person’s tendency toward deciding and judging based on available and easily accessible data (Tversky and Kahneman, 1982). Herd behavior which is the tendency for individuals to mimic the actions (rational or irrational) of a larger group. Blackmore (1991) states ‘Within an hour of birth , humans engage in imitation’. There are a couple of reasons why herd behavior happens. It’s unlikely that a large group could be wrong. After all, even if you are convinced that a particular idea or course or action is irrational or incorrect, you might still follow the herd, believing they know something that you don’t. Recency bias is the tendency for people to place greater importance on more recent data or experience. This is the problem of putting too much weight on current events or data and not enough weight on past, historic trends. Many investors expect the market to continue rising in a current bull market; likewise, these same investors often expect a current bear market to get worse. Recency is shown in momentum investing when investors buy â€Å"hot† stocks simply on the basis of their recent strong performance. Kahneman and Tversky (1973) find that people usually forecast future uncertain events by focusing on recent history and pay less attention to the possibility that such short history could be generated by chance. It is believed the net effect of the gains and losses involved with each choice are combined to present an overall evaluation of whether a choice is desirable. However, research has found that we don’t actually process information in such a rational way. In 1979, Kahneman and Tversky presented an idea called  prospect theory, which contends that people value gains and losses differently, and, as such, will base decisions on perceived gains rather than perceived losses. Thus, if a person were given two equal choices, one expressed in terms of possible gains and the other in possible losses, people would choose the former – even when they achieve the same economic end result. Regret avoidance is the tendency to avoid actions that could create discomfort over prior decisions, even though those actions may be in the individual’s best interest. Researchers have argued that one of the reasons that investors are reluctant to sell losing positions is because to do so is to admit a bad decision. This reluctance can be linked to both regret avoidance and belief perseverance. To avoid the stress associated with admitting a mistake, the investor holds onto the losing position and hopes for a recovery. According to prospect theory, losses have more emotional impact than an equivalent amount of gains. Prospect theory also explains the occurrence of the disposition effect, which is the tendency for investors to hold on to losing stocks for too long and sell winning stocks too soon. The most logical course of action would be to hold on to winning stocks in order to further gains and to sell losing stocks in order to prevent escalating losses. The flip side of the coin is investors that hold on to losing stocks for too long. Investors are willing to assume a higher level of risk in order to avoid the negative utility of a prospective loss. Unfortunately, many of the losing stocks never recover, and the losses incurred continued to mount, with often disastrous results. The January-Effect is where the average monthly return for small firms is consistently higher in January than any other month of the year; in the UK this is observed in April. This contradicts with EMH, as EMH predicts that stocks should move at a random walk. January returns are greatest due to yearend tax loss selling of shares disproportionally (Branch 1977). Another anomaly of this type is the Weekend-Effect, where Fama (1980) found that returns on Mondays tend to be negative if compared to any other week day, but this has disappeared in the UK by the 1990s. Some theories that explain the effect attribute the tendency for companies to release bad news on Friday after the markets close to depressed stock prices on Monday. Others state that the  weekend effect might be linked to short selling, which would affect stocks with high short interest positions. Alternatively, the effect could simply be a result of traders’ fading optimism between Friday and Monday. Index effect is a phenomenon where the addition to, or deletion from, a stock index causes a change in the price, trading volume, volatility or operating performance of the stock concerned. A stock entering an index will automatically receive increased demand from institutional investors – principally index tracker funds and exchange trade funds (ETFs) – while a deleted stock will experience reduced demand. The fact that a stock jumps in value upon inclusion is once again clear evidence of mispricing: the price of the share changes even though its fundamental value does not. Another anomaly is P/E effect from CAPM model; portfolios with low P/E ratios outperform those with high. The low price-earnings ratio effect occurs because stocks with low price-earnings ratios are often  undervalued and their prices eventually rise because investors become pessimistic about their returns after a bad series of earning or bad news. A company with high price to earning tends to overvalued (De Bondt and Thaler, 1985). Winner-Loser anomaly De Bondt and Thaler (1985) found that shares which initially earn extreme positive return (winners) or extreme negative returns (losers) experience extended reversals in their performance over long horizons. De Bondt and Thaler (1985) suggested the overreaction hypothesis as an explanation of their result. This hypothesis claims that the market overreacts to information. That is, the market overweights the most recent information and underweights earlier information. However, this phenomenon is reversed when it is recognized that the market’s expectations were indeed an overreaction to the information released. This hypothesis also offers an explanation of the P/E effect. Fama and French (1992) showed that a powerful predictor of returns across securities is the ratio of the book value of the firm’s equity to the market value of equity. After controlling for the size and book-to-market effects, beta seemed to have no power to explain average security returns. One explanation is that investors overreact to growth aspects for growth stocks, and value stocks are therefore undervalued. According to some academics, the ratio of market value to book value itself is a risk measure, and therefore the larger returns generated by low MV/BV stocks are simply a compensation for risk. Low MV/BV stocks are often those in some financial distress. All of these anomalies may be explained by behavioral finance. Behavioural finance is the study of the influence of psychology on the behavior of financial practitioners and the subsequent effect on markets. Behavioural finance is of interest because it helps explain why and how markets might be inefficient. There are series of  behavioural biases  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ strange twists in human nature that cause us to act irrationally and against our own interests. On the other hand all of these anomalies may instead be an artifact of data mining. After all, if one reruns the computer database of past returns over and over and examines stock returns along enough dimensions, simple chance will cause some criteria to appear to predict returns. May be this is why some anomalies appear to be lost at some point of time e. g. the weekend effect during the 90s.

Global Corporate Citizenship Essay

1. Do you think that apple has demonstrated global corporate citizenship, as defined in this chapter ? Why or Why not ? Global corporate citizenship means that companies must not only be engaged with stakeholders but stakeholders themselves alongside government and civil society. Since companies depend on global development, which in turn relies on stability and increased prosperity, it is in their direct interest to help improve the state of the world. When Apple investigated and found some violations of its supplier code of conduct, which it had introduced in 2005. The following year, the company published its first annual supplier responsibility progress report, I think Apple demonstrated global corporate citizenship. Apple admitted its violations and did everything in its power to correct them. By 2011, Apple had inspected nearly 400 suppliers and had terminated 11 for serious violations. 2. In its response to problems in its contract factories, do you think Apple moved through the stages of corporate citizenship presented in this chapter ? Why or Why not ? _ Corporate citizenship is a term used to describe a company’s role in, or responsibilities towards society. So in Apple’s situation, it has moved through the elementary stage because at first it seemed they were not concerned the citizenship. During peak production periods, all three factories had exceeded the mandated limit of 60 hours of work per day, and many employees had been required to work more than 7 days in a row not receiving fair pay for overtime, unsafe conditions. Then Apple went through engaged stage, it turned to Social Accountability International and announced it had joined the Fair Labor Association. This is because Apple became aware that they needed to change public expectations. To make sure all contractors abiding the code; at Apple’s request and with the company’ s financial support, the FLA immediately undertook the most extensive audit ever conducted of conditions in China’s electronics supply chain. 35,000 workers filled out anonymous questionnaires about their experiences. This process means that Apple is in the innovative stage and they continue in the process of auditing and tracking improvements. 3. What are the advantages and disadvantages to Apple of using its own company-specific supplier code of conduct, rather than a global code, such  as those discussed in this chapter? Apple’s Supplier Code of conduct was already one of the toughest in the electronic industry, but it have made it even stronger. And its ensure compliance by conducting hundreds of audits per year worldwide. Its efforts span the entire range of its supply chain – from the manufacturers of tiny components to the facilities that assemble its final products. 4. What are the advantages and disadvantages to Apple of using and independent third-party auditor, rather than rely on its own internal audits? The advantages of bringing in a third-party firm are numerous. Investigative auditing firms employ accountants who do this work on a regular basis. As such, they know what to look for. Another advantage is impartiality. An outside investigative auditor – who has no personal or professional relationship with your employees – is likely to conduct the audit in an impartial manner. This is important, as these investigations can lead to criminal prosecution. Thus, relying on an internal accountant to find fraud or theft might place him in an uncomfortable situation, which can affect morale. The FLA can certainly claim to be more independent. It conducts its own audits and requires members to disclose the results. And it also has a third-party auditor re-audit some of its own inspections to make sure progress is being made on fixing violations. If indeed you have an accountant trained in investigative auditing on staff, it makes sense to use your own forensic accountant in the investigative auditing process. The positive side of this is that it gives you more control over the dissemination of information. It is typically harder to control dissemination of information when an outside firm is involved. Another disadvantage is cost-related. Hiring an investigative auditing firm is typically far more expensive than using your own investigative accountant.

Free Essays on I Have A Dream

1 Martin Luther King’s â€Å"I have a Dream† Everyone has a dream. So did Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In his famous â€Å"I have a dream† speech. He addresses serious issues concerning the issues of civil rights. The reason this speech was so successful and memorable was because he addressed it to a mixed audience of more than 200,000 civil rights supporters. Anybody who agreed with what he stood for marched to the nations capital to hear this speech. Civil Rights supporters could not only understand what he was saying but also relate to the cause. Martin Luther King Jr. made his speech so easy to understand because a lot of his audience may have been victims of slavery and many of them were just learning or still didn’t know how to read. For that reason he had to put his speech into lament terms so that his audience could better understand his message. The devices that Martin Luther King used that made his speech such a success are repetition. For example, his use of â€Å"I have a dream† is const antly repeated. People often remember things that they hear over and over again. Not only did he repeat this phrase, but he also put it at the end of his speech, which is a very powerful tool in presenting an argument because people often remember most the last thing that they hear. It was not by accident that King, in writing this speech decided to repeat this particular phrase at the end of his speech. Another device he uses that was very effective, is quotes from other famous speeches that were also successful, for example â€Å"All men would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.† Is a quote from Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. His quote of Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence was also not a mistake, the reason for this was not only for the effectiveness, but because the march was planned to go from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgo... Free Essays on I Have A Dream Free Essays on I Have A Dream 1 Martin Luther King’s â€Å"I have a Dream† Everyone has a dream. So did Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In his famous â€Å"I have a dream† speech. He addresses serious issues concerning the issues of civil rights. The reason this speech was so successful and memorable was because he addressed it to a mixed audience of more than 200,000 civil rights supporters. Anybody who agreed with what he stood for marched to the nations capital to hear this speech. Civil Rights supporters could not only understand what he was saying but also relate to the cause. Martin Luther King Jr. made his speech so easy to understand because a lot of his audience may have been victims of slavery and many of them were just learning or still didn’t know how to read. For that reason he had to put his speech into lament terms so that his audience could better understand his message. The devices that Martin Luther King used that made his speech such a success are repetition. For example, his use of â€Å"I have a dream† is const antly repeated. People often remember things that they hear over and over again. Not only did he repeat this phrase, but he also put it at the end of his speech, which is a very powerful tool in presenting an argument because people often remember most the last thing that they hear. It was not by accident that King, in writing this speech decided to repeat this particular phrase at the end of his speech. Another device he uses that was very effective, is quotes from other famous speeches that were also successful, for example â€Å"All men would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.† Is a quote from Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. His quote of Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence was also not a mistake, the reason for this was not only for the effectiveness, but because the march was planned to go from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgo... Free Essays on I Have A Dream â€Å"I have a dream†¦Ã¢â‚¬  During the 1950’s, African Americans and many others faced discrimination in jobs, housing, and education. They began to have to struggle to earn rights that they should have been awarded already. This became known as the Civil rights movement. In one city, to help to gain their right, the African Americans and others produced an organization. They called it Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA). They chose Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as their leader. Dr. Martin was a very smart and religious person. He graduated from Morehouse College and later earned a PH.D from Boston University. Being very educated, Dr. Martin admired Mohandas Ghandi. He too believed that violence wasn’t the answer. So instead, he used civil disobedience, or non-violent protests against unjust laws. â€Å"We must use the weapon of love. We must have compassion, and understanding for those how hate us.†(Dr. King.) Dr. King also achieved many things. He achieved the Civil Rights Act. When he did this the congress ended Racial and Religious Discrimination by having President Johnson sign the act. (Doc. 5) Another achievement received by Dr. King was raising the percentage of African American voters. In 1960, percentages all across the south of America were greatly low, but by 1966 every southern state raised the percentage to almost have of what it was.(doc.6) In just six years Dr. King did so much, but within this time he helped the future generations a lot. By getting the Civil Rights Act signed, it protected the right of all citizens’ votes. It ended discrimination and segregation in public places. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act ended literacy tests. Making more African American’s eligible to vote. Dr. King also opposed many things, for example discrimination of color. In 1963, he gave a speech, known as â€Å"I have a Dream.† Within his speech he explained that he believes that people should be seen for whom they are, not fo...

Local scientists and their history.

Local scientists and their history. In 1939 it was realized that atoms could be split. By splitting a uranium atom in half, both halves of the atom would have a positive charge and would repel each other with powerful force.The German government took little notice of the finding at first. But others felt the implications were immediately clear. Niels Bohr brought news of Meitner's discovery to the United States in 1939. Several scientists, realizing that fission could be used to build a devastating weapon, wrote to President Roosevelt to inform him. He immediately set up a committee to research the matter.By the end of 1941, British studies had outlined the materials requirements for an atomic bomb and uranium research was going on at about 12 American universities. During 1942, the Manhattan District of the Corps of Engineers was formed to construct three secret "cities" for major portions of atomic bomb development. At Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico.Alpha Track Calutron at the Y -12 Plant at Oak Ridg...The cost of these Manhattan Project installations was $2 billion.The first atomic bomb is detonated1945Photo: Atomic bomb test explosion in Alamagordo, New Mexico, July 16, 1945. AP/Wide World PhotosIn 1932, James Chadwick discovered the neutron , a small atomic particle with mass but no charge. This turned out to be an extremely useful tool for bombarding atomic nuclei. Two years later, Enrico Fermi bombarded uranium with neutrons, hoping that it would cause the uranium to emit a beta particle and become a new, artificial element above uranium in the periodic table. It seemed he had done this and in the process showed that slow-moving neutrons were more effective than high-energy neutrons for the task. Fermi won the Nobel Prize for his work in 1938. He was a committed antifascist and when he and his wife...

The Case for Beta Readers

The Case for Beta Readers More authors are beta-ing their books than ever before. But many writers are asking the question, Why should I use beta readers? This question is usually followed To answer those questions, Id like to share some examples of how authors are utilizing betas as a key component of their authorial career. Market Feedback When you run a beta read, you receive the story feedback you need to help you spot problems and polish your story to fit your target market. Authors who have a beta-ready manuscript, give clear instructions, and engage with their readers, end up getting great feedback that they can incorporate into their edits, branding, and career development. Its the same idea as the test-screenings that are common in Hollywood, getting reactions from readers before you publish gives you a better chance of producing a bestseller. Building Your Brand   Beta readers in your target audience know what that audience wants and likes. Learning what your beta readers do and dont enjoy in your work gives you valuable insight into how to promote your books, target your ads, and develop your brand in a way that best speaks to your potential fans. Building Community A key part of building a fan base is making your readers feel like they are part of a community beyond themselves. The process of inviting a group of your most dedicated fans to give early feedback on a book ties them to you, but more importantly ties them to each other and lets them know their love of your work is something they share with other people. Building Buzz Thousands of books are published a month. Hundreds of reviews are written. Dozens of launch ads flash before readers eyes. The thing that reliably cuts through all that noise is personal recommendation. People talk about projects they helped with. Your beta readers are a part of your launch story, and they will share that story, building excitement for and awareness of your book. Selling Copies Smart authors not only develop strong groups of beta readers who make substantive comments on their book and help them produce better work, they thank them in their books. Those readers are often the first people in line when those books go on sale. They want to see what they helped create. Many leave reviews, especially if you encourage it. Who doesnt want an eager audience who has already read the book bumping your numbers on launch day and leaving honest reviews? My partner Andrew and I built BetaBooks, the first reader management software for professional authors. Since our launch in summer 2016, we have helped more than one thousand authors beta their books. BetaBooks lets authors privately share their book with their trusted readers, track their progress, collect feedback, and collate and sort that feedback for easy editorial passes. This saves authors time, making what used to be an organizational headache easy and fun. If you are looking for a better way to organize your betas, visit  BetaBooks.co  to try out our free demo tier and use the coupon code hopeclark to get 10 percent off when you upgrade to one of our paid plans. If you have any questions or want to tell us about your betas, get in touch at  hello@betabooks.co

Auditing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Auditing - Essay Example An auditor who works for a mid size firm takes on the assignment of auditing Telechubbies for the first time based on information that is provided to the auditor by Rachel Jones, the financial controller of Telechubbies. The basic information given to the auditor is that there is a requirement to maintain a 2:1 debt to equity ratio based on a loan contract. The provision for inventory obsolesces is 10% which is was cut 100 per cent from the previous year’s levels and the company wants another 100 per cent reduction this year to bring it down to 5%. A third piece of data given is that the long term receivables in the books belong to an R&D company owned by one of the directors. The auditor would start this audit by inspecting the balance sheet, income statement, annual report, code of ethics, and physical warehouse of Telechubbies. The balance sheet requires special attention. This financial statements has the data to calculate the debt to equity ratio. The auditor needs to inspect that the company is complying with the 2:1 requirement. After verifying the metric the auditor should go back a few years and compare the current debt to equity ratio level to the last three years results to find any tendency in the metric that might place the contract at risk in the near future. The company recently changed its inventory obsolescence provision to 10%. The auditor has to immediately verify if this changed was notified to the shareholders in the financial statements in the form of a note to the financial statements. This change represent a new discrepancy in the way the accounting methods thus it must be notified for purposes of following the accounting principle of consistency. The desired to cut the provision down to 5% requires certain numerical and physical auditing procedures. The long term receivable information is a worrisome sign since lending money to a company that is owned by a company director

English - Narrative Writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

English - Narrative Writing - Essay Example I then told her that I was not in the mood to go out, much more attend a party for the poor. The whole idea does not appeal to me. Jessica was insisting that it would be fun and that I will enjoy the activity. I thought to myself, why would an activity with the poor people be fun? I even asked her if there will be cute boys around. Jessica did not answer. I realized at that point that she really wanted me to come and that she felt bad that I would give so many excuses. After the brief silence on the phone, I thought I will just say yes to Jessica to make her feel good. When I agreed to come, Jessica told me that she will pick me up and we will go to the party together. The Christmas party was held in the community’s basketball court. There were lots of food on one table and another long table with numerous toys for children. Balloons, colorful trimmings and banners decorated the whole court. Christmas carols were being played in the background that gave a festive mood in the u sually drab basketball court. Looking around, I saw several children on wheelchairs, while others had crutches. In one corner was a toddler, obviously suffering from hydrocephalus, who was cradled by her mother. In the other corner of the court, I noticed a group of children who were doing sign language. They were deaf and mute. After a while, a group of blind children with canes entered the court. They were in one line and were being directed by their guide to sit on the chairs in front of the stage. Seeing all those people in the court, I approached Jessica and asked her why there were so many disabled children in the party. I thought all along it was a party for the poor. Jessica then explained to me that their parents were part of an organization which helped the disabled poor children of the community. In Jessica’s own words she said, â€Å"These are the poorest of the poor.† My heart sunk hearing those words. Yes, they were indeed the poorest of the poor. Being p oor is bad enough but being disabled at the same time is really unfortunate. Just seeing those kids made me feel so depressed. Jessica noticed the sudden change in my facial expression and she went towards the long table which contained the toys. She handed a doctor set toy and urged me to go to the boy on the wheelchair. At first, I was hesitant to go but something inside me was telling me to hand the toy over to the boy. I approached the boy and he smiled at me. He was a paraplegic and was unable to talk. I gave him the doctor set and told him, â€Å"Do you want to be a doctor when you grow up?† He nodded and grinned from ear to ear and accepted the toy. He hugged the toy as if it was his first time to receive a present. Oh, that smile! It was the most wonderful and genuine smile that I have seen. Not even the Mona Lisa can surpass that smile. I felt the joy that the little boy felt. My heart was leaping with joy. Now I know why the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta spent so m uch time with the poorest of the poor. The feeling is overwhelming that it encompasses your whole being. Suddenly, I was convinced that the saying, â€Å"It is better to give than to receive† is indeed true. Not long, the program started and in one part of the program a blind girl was asked to talk in behalf of the group of disabled children. She thanked everyone who made the event possible. Her speech was brief but very meaningful. She said that they are so blessed to have people like those in the organization who

Wired Equivalent Privacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Wired Equivalent Privacy - Essay Example Wired Equivalent Privacy, WEP is one of the options of providing security in such circumstances. WEP is the oldest security protocol specified by IEEE under the IEEE Wireless Fidelity Standard, 802.11b (Arbaugh, Shankar, Wan, & Zhang, 2002). The protocol is designed to give a level of privacy and security in a wireless local area network (WLAN), which is comparable to that available in the wired Local Area Networks. Generally, a wired local area network is protected from intrusion through physical barriers such as limited access to buildings or server rooms. Although these protection mechanisms are effective for physically controlled environment, the case is not the same for WLANs since the radio waves are not necessarily constrained by physical walls surrounding the network. WEP seeks to solve this concern by providing a similar protection as that in the wired networks through encryption of data transmitted in the WLAN. The encryption algorithm in WEP entails the use of security cod e selected at the network configuration phase. This code is usually referred to as WEP key and it uses defined hexadecimal digits such as 99D767BAC38EA23B0C0176D152 and1A648C9FE2. In order to allow for the transfer of information, the digital sequence should match in all the gadgets seeking to connect in a wireless network. Depending on the form of WEP encryption being used, WEP keys can be generated in different lengths. The overall functionality of WEP depends of the philosophy that data encryption shields the susceptible wireless links between access points and ‘client’. Once this protection is in place, other common mechanisms such as, end-to-end encryption, password protection, authentication, and virtual private networks (VPNs) come in handy to bolster privacy. How it Works The functionality of WEP security entails two parts being Authentication and Encryption. Whereas authentication is carried out at the introduction of a device in a network, encryption alters th e nature of data once they are available in the network. Authentication The process of authentication in a wireless network uses WEP to prevent a new gadget or station from joining a network if the WEP key is not known. The two authentication methods used in WEP are the Open System authentication and Shared Key authentication. In the Open System authentication, WLAN clients are not required to give any credentials at the network access point. This scenario would allow any user to authenticate themselves at the access point after which association may be established. In essence, there is no authentication taking place here. For the Shared Key authentication, the predetermined WEP key must be produced to authenticate a user and allow access to a network. This type of authentication comprises of a 4-way request and response mechanism. At the first stage of authentication, the client station, or device sends a request for authentication at the access point. The access point responds by replying a clear-text challenge. At the third stage, the client encrypts the text with the automatically configured WEP key and sends to the access point as a unique authentication request. Lastly, the access point decrypts the requested items and compares it against the clear-text sent previously. Depending on the outcome of the comparison, the access point initiates a negative response by denying access or positive response by granting the access. Encryption In WEP, RC4 stream cipher is used to encode the data in to a form that cannot be understood by third parties through a process called encryption. The data is encrypted at the transition phase between access

Piaget's theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Piaget's theory - Essay Example ntelligence was active; and that children are not passive recipients of information, rather that they actively construct and reconstruct their knowledge of the world. Cognitive disequilibrium and the child’s action and interaction with the physical environment fuel the development of the cognitive system towards more advanced psychological structures (Fisher & Lerner, 2004). This paper will evaluate Piaget’s theory of the four stages of cognitive evolution in child development. Further, similarities and differences will be identified between Erikson’s theory and Piaget’s theory of child development, with respect to the development of identity. According to Piaget’s theory, the development of intelligence and cognitive functioning in children progresses through a series of four stages based on age and concurrent biological changes and maturation. This leads to the child demonstrating a higher level of functioning at each successive stage, as compared to the previous stage (Videbeck, 2007). The stages of development are not universal, since cultural differences exist. However, the mechanisms that underlie cognitive development are considered to be universal (Pressley & McCormick, 2007). 1. The sensorimotor stage: This extends from birth to two years. The child develops a sense of self, differentiated from the environment, and develops the concept of object permanence. That is, a perception of the existence of tangible objects even when they are out of sight, that they do 3. The concrete operations stage: Between six to twelve years the child begins to apply logic to thinking, understands spatiality and reversibility, is increasingly social and able to apply rules; however, thinking is still concrete. 4. The formal operations stage: From twelve to fifteen years and beyond, the child learns to think and reason in abstract terms. Further, there is development of logical thinking and reasoning, and the achievement of cognitive maturity in the child

Research suggests comorbidity between dyslexia and dyscalulia. Discuss Essay

Research suggests comorbidity between dyslexia and dyscalulia. Discuss in light or recent research and examine the implications - Essay Example Beyond arithmetic difficulties, the abstract nature of mathematics means that dyscalculia sufferers can also have difficulty in spatial reasoning, and with comprehension of time. As mathematical reasoning is used in so many situations, it is important for educators to understand that management of dyscalculia is important for the individual in later life. As with many of the other SpLDs, the difficulties that children have when facing dycalculia in an educational environment is that they will often not understand why they are struggling. Peers may also acknowledge their difficulties, which can lead to feelings of failure, anxiety and stress. For this reason, it is important for educators to understand the needs of those with dyscalculia, which can often be overshadowed by dyslexia. The purpose of this paper is to examine the current research and government recommendations on dyscalculia to ascertain the implications that this SpLD has on classroom practice. It will also cover the evi dence for comorbidity between dyslexia and dyscalculia, and how classroom practice should be altered to deal with individuals who have specific learning needs. What is dyscalculia? Dyscalculia is an important SpLD because it affects mathematical and spatial reasoning for the affected individual. This is despite the fact that an individual has had mathematical education, and may be developing normally in other areas. The UK parliament report on dyslexia and dyscalculia suggests that mathematical problems are more likely to affect people in adulthood because the effects of dyscalculia are more long-lasting and mathematical reasoning skills are more valued by employers Reed & Warner-Rogers, 2009. Dyscalculia does affect those with other learning difficulties and is prevalent in those with a low (intelligence quotient) IQ, but dyscalculia can affect a wide range of individuals across the spectrum Reed & Warner-Rogers, 2009. Like dyslexia and the other SpLDs, there is evidence that dysca lculia is highly heriditary and has a strong genetic component. Twin studies suggest that, where one twin has dyscalculia, there is a 70% likelihood that the other will also have the SpLD (). Although twins are likely to share a similar environment and educational history, many twin studies do take this into account, and there is evidence that only 55% of non-identical twins will share dyscalculia. Despite the fact that dyscalculia is thought to affect up to 7% of UK residents (), it is only recently that it has been properly acknowledged and thoroughly researched. Many of the options available for those with dyslexia (for example) are not available for those with dyscalculia. The British Dyslexia Association does provide information about dyscalculia but it does not currently have its own charitable support organization (). Government interventions for educators who are dealing with dyscalculia are fairly new, and based on recent research. However, dyscalculia is recognized as a sp ecial educational need and therefore there are guidelines provided for those in primary school, secondary school as well as guidelines and advice for adults Reed & Warner-Rogers, 2009. These will be covered in more detail throughout this essay, but it is important to acknowledge the influx of interest in dyscalculia, which suggests that it is an important and prevalent problem for many in the UK. Causes of Dyscalculia As previously mentioned, much

Piaget's theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Piaget's theory - Essay Example ntelligence was active; and that children are not passive recipients of information, rather that they actively construct and reconstruct their knowledge of the world. Cognitive disequilibrium and the child’s action and interaction with the physical environment fuel the development of the cognitive system towards more advanced psychological structures (Fisher & Lerner, 2004). This paper will evaluate Piaget’s theory of the four stages of cognitive evolution in child development. Further, similarities and differences will be identified between Erikson’s theory and Piaget’s theory of child development, with respect to the development of identity. According to Piaget’s theory, the development of intelligence and cognitive functioning in children progresses through a series of four stages based on age and concurrent biological changes and maturation. This leads to the child demonstrating a higher level of functioning at each successive stage, as compared to the previous stage (Videbeck, 2007). The stages of development are not universal, since cultural differences exist. However, the mechanisms that underlie cognitive development are considered to be universal (Pressley & McCormick, 2007). 1. The sensorimotor stage: This extends from birth to two years. The child develops a sense of self, differentiated from the environment, and develops the concept of object permanence. That is, a perception of the existence of tangible objects even when they are out of sight, that they do 3. The concrete operations stage: Between six to twelve years the child begins to apply logic to thinking, understands spatiality and reversibility, is increasingly social and able to apply rules; however, thinking is still concrete. 4. The formal operations stage: From twelve to fifteen years and beyond, the child learns to think and reason in abstract terms. Further, there is development of logical thinking and reasoning, and the achievement of cognitive maturity in the child

Bullied Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Bullied - Essay Example Many innocent lives have been lost owing to this problem of bullying and these precious lives could have been saved if proper intervention and help was provided for these issues. Bullying can be defined as acts of aggression which tend to humiliate the victim through every possible mean. According to Olweus, ‘A student is being bullied or victimized when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other students’ (Olweus 2001 p 5-6). Thus, bullying is basically a means of degrading a person to an extent that he may lose his confidence and morale and tend to consider options like suicide as the only solution. Different incidents have marked the severity of this act of bullying. Innocent young teenagers have died due to being the victims of humiliation. The examples of Tylor Cementi who was an 18 year old boy and Phoebe Prince who was a 15 year old girl serve as eye openers to highlight the issue of bullying. Tylor Cementi was a bright and intelligent boy who enrolled new in his university. Cementi was a homosexual and his sexual orientation was used as a point to bully him. His colleagues plotted against him and made a video of his private encounter with his homosexual partner. They then posted it on the internet which served to publicize a private encounter of Clementi.

Characteristics of each of the 5 kingdoms and their meanings Essay Example for Free

Characteristics of each of the 5 kingdoms and their meanings Essay Every living creature on Earth belongs to a kingdom. Scientists debate how many kingdoms there are, but most agree there are five. Here is how the five kingdoms are organized. Monera Monera are single-celled organisms that dont have a nucleus. Bacteria make up the entire kingdom. There are more forms of bacteria than any other organism on Earth. Some bacteria are beneficial to us, such as the ones found in yogurt. Others can cause us to get sick. Protists Protists are mostly single-celled organisms that have a nucleus. They usually live in water. Some protists move around, while others stay in one place. Examples of protists include some algae, paramecium, and amoeba. Fungi Fungi are usually motionless organisms that absorb nutrients for survival. They include mushrooms, molds, and yeasts. Plants Plants contain chlorophyll, a green pigment necessary for photosynthesis, a process in which plants convert energy from sunlight into food. Their cell walls are made sturdy by a material called cellulose, and they are fixed in one place. Plants are divided into two groups: flower- and fruit-producing plants and those that dont produce flowers or fruits. They include garden flowers, agricultural crops, grasses, shrubs, ferns, mosses, and conifers. Animals Animals are the most complex organisms on Earth. Animals are multi-celled organisms, eat food for survival, and have nervous systems. They are divided into vertebrates and invertebrates and include mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds and fish. Actually, there are now six kingdoms. The five kingdom was during the 1969 and it included all the bacterias within one group. The five kingdom system is as follows: 1. Monera: Bacteria. They are prokaryotic and unicellular. They are mobile. 2. protista: Protists. They are eukaryotic. Either autotrophic, heterotrophic, or even mixotrophic. They live live as unicellular, multicellular, or even as a colony. Some are mobile while some are sessile. 3. animalia: Animals. Eukaryotic and are heterotrophic. They are all multicellular and are mobile. 4. plantae: Plants. Eukaryotic and mostly autotrophic (some parasitic plants are heterotrophic). They are multicellular and sessile. 5. fungi: Mushrooms, fungus, etc. Eukaryotic and heterotrophic. They are multicellular and sessile

Food and Nutritional Requirements for Dogs

Food and Nutritional Requirements for Dogs INTRODUCTION Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) are the most popular pet species in Britain, excluding fish (PFMA, 2014), and as such there are a wide variety of stakeholders in dog welfare, ranging from the owner and veterinarian to insurance companies and animal welfare charities (Buckland et al., 2013). The pet food business is a multi-million pound industry which aims to produce adequate foodstuffs for pets in terms of nutritional content, but also aims to turn a profit as in any other trade (Thompson, 2008; FEDIAF, 2012). As such, the nutritional quality of pet food varies between brands and the usage of non-meat sources of protein has been questioned (Hilton, 1987). This paper aims to highlight the carnivorous origins of domestic dogs, review their major protein, vitamin and mineral requirements including some of the issues pertaining to inadequate pet food nutrition and develop a conclusion to the hypothesis: dogs can survive on a ‘vegetarian’ diet. TAXONOMY AND EVOLUTION All dogs, Family Canidae, are members of the Order Carnivora and possess the enlarged carnassial teeth associated with the carnivorous diet characteristic of this taxon (Wang et al., 2004). Carnivora is split into two suborders: Feliformia, which includes felids, and Caniformia which includes canids. The Suborder Caniformia is then further divided into two sister subfamilies: Cynoidea, which includes Canidae, and Arctoidea which includes the Mustelidae, Procyonidae, Ursidae and Pinnepedia. Canidae is reported to be the earliest diverging family of the Caniformia, approximately nine million years ago (Wayne O’Brien, 1987) and currently hosts 34 extant species of wolf, dog and fox. Domestication of dogs has been traced back approximately 15,000 years, with the earliest known C. familiaris fossil dating back 14,000 years (Sablin Khlopachev, 2002). The grey wolf (Canis lupus) was almost certainly the precursor species of the domestic dog, based on mitochondrial DNA sequencing (Garcia-Moreno et al., 1996). Studies on grey wolf diet have shown it to be a primary carnivore which is highly adaptable to variations in prey, whereas domestic dogs have a much wider tolerance of different food types, facilitated by the adaptation of three genes involved in starch metabolism (Axelsson et al., 2013). Distinctive breeds appear to have diverged approximately 3000-4000 years ago (Harcourt, 1974; Clutton-Brock, 1984), with the greyhound being one of the most ancient breeds, however modern domestic dogs are known to exhibit similar foraging behaviours to their wild ancestors (Bradshaw, 2006). The variation in size and therefore energy requirements of breeds within dogs is the largest of any mammalian species (Lauten, 2006). Therefore pet food must accommodate not only differences in breed and size, but also other factors such as age, activity, reproductive status, environment and health (FEDIAF, 2013). PHYSIOLOGY Cats are described as obligate carnivores because protein is metabolised for energy as well as functioning in structural and synthetic processes (Zoran, 2002). In contrast, dogs can survive on an omnivorous diet by adjusting the catabolism of protein within the body when fed a low-protein diet, and can metabolise glucose from higher concentrations of carbohydrate thereby reducing the need for proteinaceous energy (Zoran, 2002). Dogs are unable to synthesise ten essential amino acids which are required for the synthesis of protein within the body for structural and metabolic processes (Lotspeich, 1949). Therefore protein is in essential component of the diet, providing a vital source of essential amino acids. NUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENTS For adult dogs, the minimum recommended level of protein within dry matter food is 18g/100gDM. For pregnancy and early growth stages, i.e. puppies under 14 weeks old, this requirement is increased to 25g/100gDM. Above 14 weeks old, but still before adulthood, a minimum of 20g/100gDM is recommended (FEDIAF, 2013). With every 1%DM increase in protein, an extra 0.01g of arginine is recommended (NRC, 2006). Pet food manufacturers are required to meet these minimum recommended amounts of dietary nutrition for the target consumer animal they are producing for (FEDIAF, 2013); this means that owners have peace of mind when choosing a diet for their dog, knowing that it is nutritionally balanced. However, constituents of pet food must meet optimal criteria for nutrition, palatability, digestibility and be economical (Thompson, 2008). If a food is too expensive, owners are likely to resort to a lower cost food or feed their dog upon scraps which increases the risk of an unbalanced diet and imp roper nutrition (Coffee et al., 1980). Table 1: Popular and premium dog food constituent comparisons. Prices with a sourced from Tesco (2015) or b from Petplanet (2015), dashes indicate no data. Dog Food Brand Dry/Wet Crude Protein (%) Fat (%) Crude Ash (%) Fibre (%) Moisture (%) Cost ( £/kg) Source Bakers Complete Tasty Beef Dry 21.0 10.0 8.0 2.5 2.66a Bakers (2015) Ceser Can with Chicken and Turkey Wet 9.0 5.0 0.3 83.0 3.73a Tesco (2015) Hi Life Feed Me with Turkey and Chicken Dry 21.0 7.0 3.0 21.0 2.50a Tesco (2015) Iams ProActive Health Adult Small Medium Breed Dry 26.0 15.0 7.4 3.0 8.0 2.50a Iams (2015) James Wellbeloved Adult Fish and Rice Dry 21.5 10.5 7.3 3.1 2.79b James Wellbeloved (2015) James Wellbeloved Adult Turkey and Rice Wet 6.5 4.0 1.5 0.5 81.0 4.66b Pedigree Complete Adult with Chicken Dry 21.0 13.0 3.0 12.0 2.50a Pedigree (2015) Pedigree Complete Puppy Nutrition Chicken and Rice Dry 28.0 16.0 2.5 12.0 2.33a Pedigree with Beef In Gravy Wet 7.0 5.5 0.5 81.0 1.50a Royal Canin Giant Adult Dry 28.0 20.0 5.2 1.8 8.0 2.93b Royal Canin (2014) Royal Canin Medium Adult Dry 25.0 14.0 5.9 1.2 9.5 2.93b Royal Canin X-Small Adult Dry 24.0 18.0 5.7 1.7 9.5 5.66b Tesco Everyday Value Beef Chunks in Gravy Wet 6.5 4.0 2.0 0.5 81.5 0.81a Tesco (2015) Tesco Everyday Value Complete Dog Food Dry 21.0 8.5 3.0 0.59a Wafcol Vegetarian Dog Food Dry 20.0 5.0 7.0 6.0 1.73b Petplanet (2015) DOG FOOD CONSTITUENTS Complete dog foods are those which are nutritionally balanced and suitable to be fed daily (FEDIAF, 2013). They meet the minimum FEDIAF standards and do not exceed maximal recommendations where stated (e.g. lysine during growth), although differences in protein, fat and carbohydrate ratios are seen among brands with cost typically increasing with protein content (Thompson, 2008), as described in table 1. Traditional dog foods use meat protein sourced from cuts of meat, viscera or meat meal and may be packaged in cans or within cereal based dry kibble which is treated with meat flavours to improve palatability (McGrane, 2006). Extrusion is a technique used in the production of about 95% of dry pet foods in order to improve the palatability and utilisation of protein through heat treatment (Bednar et al., 2000; Tran et al., 2008). Processing of soybeans is carried out to remove toxins such as lectin and protease inhibitors but also destroys the naturally high concentrations of B vitamins such a thiamine (Gregory, 1985; Hilton, 1987; LebiedziÅ„ska Szefer, 2006). Dietary protein may come from either animal or vegetable sources (NRC, 2006), with a huge increase in the usage of soybean products (ground soybeans, soy flour, soy hulls, soybean oil and concentrate) reducing production costs of pet food and facilitating the anthropomorphic ‘vegetarian’ diet which some owners are feeding their pets (McGrane, 2006). However, Kienzle Engelhard (2001) found that only two of the twelve commercially available foods investigated in their European study provided adequate nutrition according to recommendations set out by AAFCO, mainly on the basis of protein concentration. As shown in table 1, the vegetarian food had the lowest percentage of protein, and it has been suggested that the vegetable products those diets are made up of may not contain the correct balance of amino acids neccessary for a healthy dog (Coffee et al., 1980; Hilton, 1987). For example, arginine, which is required for optimal growth in young dogs and plays an intermediate role in the urea cycle (Burns et al., 1981; FEDIAF, 2013), cystine and methionine, both implemental in coat condition, are all naturally abundant in animal tissue (Wu Morris, 1998). The levels and source of dietary protein and the form it is delivered in can have significant effects on the health of a dog. For example, diets low in protein can cause hypoproteinemia (a low concentration of albumin and total protein in the blood) leading to edema (Weech et al., 1935) or pancreatitis in high-fat, low-protein diets (Lindsay et al., 1948). Zhao et al. (1997) demonstrated that assimilation of protein into the gut is limited by digestibility, which in turn is affected by the form of protein with a food. If the source of protein available within the food is intact, around 40% remains undigested but available within the ileum four hours after a meal. In comparison, hydrolysed proteins (those which have been broken down into constituent amino acids) have an absorption rate of over 70% within an hour in humans (Chung et al., 1979). EFFECTS OF A VEGETARIAN DIET Diets reduced in meat and fish are most often fed to dogs due to owner preference as opposed to health reasons; in studies recruiting pets fed vegetarian diets all owners report being vegetarian themselves (Kienzle Engelhard, 2001; Michel, 2006; Rothgerber, 2014). The reported effects of a vegetable-based diet for dogs are variable due to the low incidence of vegetarian dogs in the population and the lack of long term studies (Kienzle Engelhard, 2001). Some diets are strictly vegan and supplemented with vitamins and minerals, whereas others are more lenient and treated with meat-based products in order to increase palatability (Michel, 2006). In a study carried out across Germany, Switzerland and Belgium (Kienzle Engelhard, 2001), nutrient intake of 86 dogs fed a vegetarian diet was investigated through owner interviews and blood samples. The study found that protein intake was not sufficient in over half of those dogs tested, 62% showed sub-optimal calcium levels, 73% showed insufficient sodium intake and deficiencies in zinc, iron and vitamin D were also common. In a separate study, zinc deficiency caused by phytate, a zinc-binding molecule present in soybean meal, led to the development of skin conditions in puppies fed on a soy based diet (Sanecki et al., 1982). The high fibre content associated with vegetable and cereal foods can cause bowel irritation by affecting gastrointestinal motility and absorption of nutrients (Bueno et al., 1981; Earle et al., 1998). Proteins play a vital role in the condition of a dog’s coat, particularly those high in methionine and cystine amino acids because they synthesise keratin (Dethioux, 2008). Complete dog food diets contain these amino acids in suitable concentrations through meat protein, however vegetarian diets show a marked deficiency in these amino acids, and soy protein has a proven negative effect on serum lipids (Anderson et al., 1995); therefore the dog may suffer from alopecia and depleted coat condition when on a plant-protein diet (Dethioux, 2008). Thiamine is a vital part of carbohydrate metabolism and deficiency can severely affect parts of the body which have high energy requirements, such as the brain (Markovich et al., 2013). Clinical signs of thiamine deficiency may take weeks to develop, but will be characterised by a progressive loss of normal motor function such as a head tilt, falling and lack of coordination, ultimately ending in seizures and death if untreated (Markovich et al., 2013). Furthermore, soy has been identified in controlled studies as an important allergen, although incidences of soy allergies were significantly lower than those relating to beef and dairy (4.7% and 34.2% respectively) (Wills Harvey, 1994). Treatment for amino acid, vitamin and mineral deficiencies involve feeding a balanced nutritional diet appropriate for the dog’s size, age, activity level and health, which in a vegetarian diet is possible through the addition of supplements (Michel, 2006). CONCLUSION Proteins from non-meat sources are harder for dogs to digest and therefore are of less nutritional value than meat. While dogs can survive on this diet, the lack of sufficient protein and other dietary constituents such as vitamins and minerals will lead to improper nutritional value which can ultimately affect the health of the animal. From a manufacturer’s perspective, it is possible to create a vegetarian pet food which complies to AAFCO standards of nutritional content, however the economic savings of not using meat are offset by the need to add supplements and highly refined components to improve palatability and digestibility. For the owner, although they may feel less guilt by feeding their pet a vegetarian diet, they must feed a greater quantity to achieve similar levels of protein and nutrients within the animal (Rothberger, 2014) and the general healthy appearance of their pet is often diminished (Dethioux, 2008). Although dogs can survive on a diet of vegetarian-bas ed protein, the natural instincts of a hunting animal still exist from the ancestral wolf and given the opportunity a dog will forage for alternative sources of food (Bradshaw, 2006). The general literary consensus remains that dogs are opportunistic feeders within the Carnivora, and their physiology shows a preference for ingesting and digesting meat protein (Hilton, 1987).

Madness and Insanity in Shakespeares Hamlet Essay -- Essays on Shakesp

Madness and Insanity in Shakespeare's Hamlet         Ã‚   Shakespeare's Hamlet is a master of deception. Hamlet decides to make Claudius believe that he is insane, but the scheme backfires when everyone, except Claudius, falls for it. Ophelia is one of those who believes Hamlet lost his mind, and when he does not return her love, she is so brokenhearted that she commits suicide. Near the end of the tragedy, Hamlet plays the part so well, that he convinces himself he is insane. Clearly, Hamlet's plan to put on an antic disposition is a tragic error.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hamlet's plan for the antic disposition is to fool all the courtiers, especially Claudius. This way Claudius will not think that Hamlet is capable of killing him and usurping the throne. Hamlet clearly hates Claudius, and wants revenge for his father. "A little more than kin, and less than kind!" (I; ii; 65) Hamlet tries repeatedly to portray the image of insanity, but often Claudius sees through the antic disposition. "Love? his affections do not that way tend,/ Nor what he spake, though it lacked form a little,/ Was not like madness." (III; i; 159-161) After Claudius realizes that Hamlet is not actually insane, but playing the part for his antic disposition, he sends Hamlet to England to be executed.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught-   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As my great power thereof may give thee sense,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After the Danish sword, and thy free awe   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pays homage to us- thou mayst not coldly set   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  ... ...rol of his mind, but as the plot unfolds he is thrown into a fit of true madness.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Through examination, it is proven that Hamlet's choice of displaying an antic disposition is a tragic error on his part. Claudius was the only courtier who sees through the act, Ophelia fell into utter madness, and Hamlet convinces himself that he has lost his mind. As Claudius said, "Madness in great ones must not unwatched go." (III; i; 185)    Works Cited Bloom, Harold. Modern Critical Interpretations Of Hamlet. New York, NY: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Charney, Maurice. All of Shakespeare. New York, NY. Columbia University Press. 1993. Magill, Frank N. Masterplots. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1995. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The Riverside Shakespeare. ED. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston: Haughton Mifflin Company, 1974.

Reflection “The Boondock Saints”

Reflections on â€Å"The Boondock Saints† Directions: In three paragraphs write your reflections of the Movie â€Å"The Boondock Saints†, answering the following: 1) What are the ethical issues you see in the movie? List several and describe their ethical or moral concern. 2) How does the plot relate to â€Å"Utilitarian Ethics†? â€Å"Pluralism/Pragmatism†? â€Å"Social Contract Ethics†? Use examples from the movie and show a connection each (e. g. , Act vs Rule Utilitarianism and the value of consequences, Addressing multiple & conflicting values, Type(s)/theme(s) of Social Contracts evidencing, a la Hobbes, Rousseau, Locke, Gauthier). ) Utilitarian ethics, because people on the movie judge the rightness or wrongness of an act, so it produces consequences to the greatest balance of pleasure over suffering for everyone involved. Social contract, at the end of the movie people of the state agreed that boondock saints kill trash people, so their prim e motive being the desire for protection, which entails the surrender of some or all perosonal liberties. 2) The plot is related to utilitarian ethics, because we saw how the Boondock Saints judged people by making what they consider divine justice â€Å" kill people†.Pragmatism, because the Boondock Saints were putting their truths or beliefs in the term of action or parctical application by killing people. Social contract, because the society agreeded the Boondock Saint’s actions to get protection, to they the Boondock Saints were cleaning the society in the state. Act utilitarianism Vs. rule: the boondock saints did acts and rules judging rightness and wrongness that maximized pleasure and minimized suffering.An example of act utilitarianism is that when Connor and Morphy killed people from the mafia they were feeling pleasure judging wongness. An example of rule u. , they trusted that their own rules were right to God. Finally, this movie is an example of social co ntract and utilitarianism, during the movie we saw the boondock saints having conflicts values in the society when they killed the minister inside the church in front of many people. It created doubts for people about which is true righteousness from God or from the men.

Introduction to Working with Children Essay

E1 Describe three different types of setting which provide care and education for children in your area. This must include one example from the list: statutory sector, voluntary sector and private sector. The statutory sector involves all the organisations that are set up, controlled and funded by the government or local authority for example: St. Anthony’s Catholic Primary School. This type of sector is funded by people who pay tax or national insurance. Another type of setting which provides care and education for children in my area is sure start children’s centre. This is a voluntary sector and they are run by organizations. This type of sector is not designed to make a profit. ‘’Money for voluntary organisations comes from a variety of sources that include donations, fund-raising, grants from central or local government, lottery grants and fees for the services they provide.’’ (Thornes 2008 pg4) The private sector is owned by an individual or company and aim to make a profit which people will pay for their child to attend such as: Burnham Montessori School. E2 Describe how each of the types of settings indented in E1 aims to support children and their families. St. Anthony’s Catholic Primary School is a statutory sector that aims to support children and their families by involving parents fully in their children’s learning. They also support children and their families by providing them a safe positive environment. Every child is entitled to 15 hours a week of free education and they must follow the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum in their day plan and etc†¦ to support children and their families. Sure start is a voluntary sector that aims to support children and their families in many different ways. The first way they aim support children and their families is by providing good quality play, learning and childcare. The second way is by giving ‘’support for children and parents with special needs.’’ (Thornes 2008 pg9) Burnham Montessori School is a private sector that aims to support children  and their families by giving them registered care facilities which offer full or part time care for children. They also support them by offering them good quality play where they can learn from it. Another thing they do to support children and their families is by offering 15 hours a week of education which is delivered by the early year’s foundation for 36 weeks a year. It also provides a solid routine with long and flexible hours. E3 Describe the main legislation in your country that supports the rights of children. E4 Describe the recognised principles and values that underpin working with children. When working with children it is important to recognise the principles and values that underpin and guide professional standards and good practice. The cash statement of value states that equal opportunities help to respect the child individually. It would therefore be important to value and respect the children you work with as I have seen the stuff do in my work placement. It also states that health and safety should be having safety from crime and anti-social behaviour in and out childcare settings. This happens in my work placement by having policies and procedures that insure children stay safe. The cash statement of values states that partnership with parents; respecting parents and other cares. Admissions policy; respecting all children and giving them their rights at the setting. The stuff will carry this out in my work placement by taking all their view and opinions into account throughout the day. E5 Explain the importance of valuing and respecting all children in the setting. E7 Describe how study skills can support your learning during your training. Recognizing my own study skills is a way that can help support my learning during my training. This will help me to complete my training successfully because I can put what I have learnt into practice. In order for me to  complete my training, I will need to manage my time effectively and be organized. By doing this I will then be able to carry on the rest of my learning during the training. I will therefore use my listening skills and any other skills that I have learnt, into practice at work placement and apply them throughout the day activities. I can then also reflect on them and take on board and act upon the feedback from my assignments and non-assessed and assessed work, to ensure that the strategies are really helping me to succeed in my training. D1 Explain why the practitioner should develop and maintain appropriate relationships with parents and other professionals. Practitioners should develop and maintain an appropriate relationship with parents and other professionals. It is important to build a relationship with parents; an easy way to do this is to make sure you have good communication with them. For example make sure that you talk to them in the appropriate language such as using manners. Other way’s that you can build relationships with parent’s are that you would have regular contact with them for the best interests of the child. It is also important when building a relationship with parents that you understand what they think is best for the child. For example if the parents wanted the child to sit at a table all day and do work. It is also as important to build a relationship with the children in order to be able to work well with the children in the setting. For example if a child is not feeling well at nursery you would know in their best interest that they may want to be left alone. The last and also important relationship they should have is with colleagues; to work well with them to ensure the needs and safety of a child are put first and it would be easier for this to happen if there is a relationship. D2 Discuss the characteristics of working in a multi-agency team. There are many different services that work in a multi-agency team such as social services. They all have many characteristics that allow and help them to work with children and their families. One characteristic that helps and allows them to work with children and their families is cooperation because  it makes everyone in the setting feel needed and engaged by working together. Every person involved in the multi-agency team should feel belonged and this is a characteristic as it will make sharing information and problems easier. Having good listening skills will also help and make everyone in the team feel respected and valued that their point is being heard. C Explain why the early year’s practitioner should listen to children’s views and value their opinions. It is important to listen to children’s views and value their opinion. This is because it builds on the child’s self-esteem and well-being. They should be listened to by valuing their needs and accepting that every child has the right to be heard. The emotions and opinions that a child expresses during play can guide practitioners to identify their likes, dislikes and activity preferences. This will then help the practitioner to plan and implement activities of varied interests and learning needs. It will also make the child feel a sense of belonging in the setting. Hannah Mortimer, 2000, author of various early years’ books and education psychologist believed that young children should be having a say and be included in decisions making when planning and the practitioner can ensure the children have equal opportunities and feel involved in their daily routine. B Explain why it is important that practitioners understand the limits and boundaries of their role when working with children. Children are very sensitive and easily influenced. Practitioners need to know their boundaries so that their actions are not misconstrued as inappropriate. Having these limits will allow children and practitioners to know what the rules are or the expectations. The boundaries give the children and practitioners the freedom they have to work within any limits. When allowing a child to have freedom within the boundaries, they can then learn to choose for themselves and have the consequences. Practitioners teaching and giving the children opportunities to make choices in early life, and allowing them to make mistakes along the way will be helping them  develop into adult life. A Reflex on the importance of child centred approach in early years settings. I used a child centred approach to teach the child about the number 6. She likes to play with Peppa Pig, so I had 6 pictures of Peppa Pig on the paper and made her count them. When she was counting the 6 pictures of Peppa Pig she was able to count all of them and repeat the number after me. This theory and research shows the idea of using children current ability to support more advanced skills where the child follows the adult. In my current setting practitioners have a child centred approach many different ways. One way I have seen this happen is when staff see children interested in certain things or activities and they then plan around these interest for next weeks work and activities in the setting. Another way practitioners do this is by doing an observation on a child and learning about them to meet their needs through various task or activities. This show that in my setting practitioners work well with the children and help improve the quality of every child interest and needs in the setting to the principles of a child-centred approach. In placement I also saw a boy was pretending to put fires out with a hose, the practitioner helped him make. Within a few minutes I had helped him set up a load of chairs (a fire engine) and set up a phone on a chair for them to receive emergency calls. By listening to his interests and observing them I was able to extend what may have lasted a few minutes into half an hours child initiated play. Reference: * Beaver. M, et al (2008) Childcare and education Cache level 3 Cheltenham: Nelson Thorns * Hyacinth .M, et al (1998) A practical guide to equal opportunities Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes * www.workingwithkids.co.uk/childrens-act.html 12th October 2011 * http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky 14th October 2011 Bibliography: * Hannah Mortimer, 2000, author of various early years’ books and education psychologist

Carrie Chapter Two

‘I'm sure she'll be all right,' she said. ‘Carrie only has to go over to Carlin Street. The fresh air will do her good.' Morton gave the girl the yellow slip. ‘You can go now, Cassie,' he said magnanimously. ‘That's not my name!' she screamed suddenly. Morton recoiled, and Miss Desjardin jumped as if struck from behind. The heavy ceramic ashtray on Morton's desk (it was Rodin's Thinker with his head turned into a receptacle for cigarette butts) suddenly toppled to the rug, as if to take cover from the force of her scream. Butts and flakes of Morton's pipe tobacco scattered on the pale-green nylon rug. ‘Now, listen,' Morton said, trying to muster sternness, ‘I know you're upset, but that doesn't mean I'll stand for-‘ ‘Please,' Miss Desjardin said quietly. Morton blinked at her and then nodded curtly. He tried to project the image of a lovable John Wayne figure while performing the disciplinary functions that were his main job as Assistant Principal, but did not succeed very well. The administration (usually represented at Jay Cee suppers, P.T.A. functions, and American Legion award ceremonies by Principal Henry Grayle) usually termed him ‘lovable Mort.' The student body was more apt to term him ‘that crazy ass-jabber from the office.' But, as few students such as Billy deLois and Henry Trennant spoke at P.T.A. functions or town meetings, the administration's view tended to carry the day. Now lovable Mort, still secretly nursing his jammed thumb, smiled at Carrie and said, ‘Go along then if you like, Miss Wright. Or would you like to sit a spell and just collect yourself?' ‘I'll go,' she muttered, and swiped at her hair. She got up, then looked around at Miss Desjardin. Her eyes were wide open and dark with knowledge. ‘They laughed at me. Threw things. They've always laughed,' Desjardin could only look at her helplessly. Carrie left. For a moment there was silence; Morton and Desjardin watched her go. Then, with an awkward throat-clearing sound, Mr Morton hunkered down carefully and began to sweep together the debris from the fallen ashtray. ‘What was that all about?' She sighed and looked at the drying maroon hand-print on her shorts with distaste. ‘She got her period. Her first period. In the shower.' Morton cleared his throat again and his cheeks went pink. The sheet of paper he was sweeping with moved even faster. ‘Isn't she a bit, uh-‘ ‘Old for her first? Yes. That's what made it so traumatic for her. Although I can't understand why her mother†¦' The thought trailed off, forgotten for the moment. ‘I don't think I handled it very well, Morty, but I didn't understand what was going on. She thought she was bleeding to death.' He stared up sharply. ‘I don't believe she knew there was such a thing as menstruation until half an hour ago.' ‘Hand me that little brush there, Miss Desjardin. Yes, that's it.' She handed him a little brush with the legend Chamberlain Hardware and Lumber Company NEVER Brushes You Off written up the handle. He began to brush his pile of ashes on to the paper. ‘There's still going to be some for the vacuum cleaner, I guess. This deep pile is miserable. I thought I set that ashtray back on the desk further. Funny how things fall over.' He bumped his head on the desk and sat up abruptly. ‘It's hard for me to believe that a girl in this or any other high school could get through three years and still be alien to the fact of menstruation, Miss Desjardin.' ‘It's even more difficult for me, she said. ‘But it's all I can think of to explain her reaction. And she's always been a group scapegoat.' ‘Urn.' He funnelled the ashes and butts into the wastebasket and dusted his hands. ‘I've placed her, I think. White. Margaret White's daughter. Must be. That makes it a little easier to believe.' He sat down behind his desk and smiled apologetically. ‘There's so many of them. After five years or so, they all start to merge into one group face. You call boys by their brother's names, that type of thing. It's hard.' ‘Of course it is.' ‘Wait 'til you've been in the game twenty years, like me,' he said morosely, looking down at his blood blister. ‘You get kids that look familiar and find out you had their daddy the year you started teaching. Margaret White was before my time, for which I am profoundly grateful. She told Mrs Bicente, God rest her, that the Lord was reserving a special burning seat in hell for her because she gave the kids an outline of Mr Darwin's beliefs on evolution. She was suspended twice while she was here – once for beating a classmate with her purse. Legend has it that Margaret saw the classmate smoking a cigarette. Peculiar religious views. Very peculiar.' His John Wayne expression suddenly snapped down. ‘The other girls. Did they really laugh at her?' ‘Worse. They were yelling and throwing sanitary napkins at her when I walked in. Throwing them like.. like peanuts.' ‘Oh. Oh, dear.' John Wayne disappeared. Mr Morton went scarlet. ‘You have names?' ‘Yes. Not all of them, although some of them may rat on the rest. Christine Hargensen appeared to be the ringleader †¦ as usual.' ‘Chris and her Mortimer Snurds,' Morton murmured. ‘Yes. Tina Blake, Rachel Spies, Helen Shyres, Donna Thibodeau and her sister Fern, Lila Grace, Jessica Upshaw. And Sue Snell.' She frowned. ‘You wouldn't expect a trick like that from Sue. She's never seemed the type for this kind of a – stunt.' ‘Did you talk to the girls involved?' Miss Desjardin chuckled unhappily. ‘I got them the hell out of there. I was too flustered. And Carrie was having hysterics.' ‘Um.' He steepled his fingers. ‘Do you plan to talk to them?' ‘Yes.' But she sounded reluctant. ‘Do I detect a note of-‘ ‘You probably do,' she said glumly. ‘I'm living in a glass house, see. I understand how those girls felt. The whole thing just made me want to take the girl and shake her. Maybe-there's some kind of instinct about menstruation that makes women want to snarl. I don't know. I keep seeing Sue Snell and the way she looked.' ‘Um,' Mr Morton repeated wisely. He did not understand women and had no urge at all to discuss menstruation. ‘I'll talk to them tomorrow,' she promised, rising. ‘Rip them down one side and up the other.' ‘Good. Make the punishment suit the crime. And if you feel you have to send any of them to, ah, to me, feel free-‘ ‘I will,' she said kindly. ‘By the way, a light blew out while I was trying to calm her down. It added the final touch.' ‘I'll send a janitor right down,' he promised. ‘And thanks for doing your best, Miss Desjardin. Will you have Miss Fish send in Billy and Henry?' ‘Certainly.' She left. He leaned back and let the whole business slide out of his mind. When Billy deLois and Henry Trennant, classcutters extraordinaire, slunk in, he glared at them happily and prepared to talk tough. As he often told Hank Grayle, he ate class-cutters for lunch. Graffiti scratched on a desk in Chamberlain Junior High School: Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, but Carrie While eats shit. She walked down Ewin Avenue and crosssed over to Carlin at the stoplight on the corner. Her head was down and she was trying to think of nothing. Cramps came and went in great, gripping waves, making her slow down and speed up like a car with carburettor trouble. She stared at the sidewalk. Quartz glittering in the cement. Hop-scotch grids scratched in ghostly, rain-faded chalk. Wads of gum stamped flat. Pieces of tinfoil and penny-candy wrappers. They all hate and they never stop. They never get tired of it. A penny lodged in a crack. She kicked it. Imagine Chris Hargensen all bloody and screaming for mercy. With rats crawling all over her face. Good. Good. That would be good. A dog turd with a foot-track in the middle of it. A roll of blackened caps that some kid had banged with a stone. Cigarette butts. Crash in her head with a rock, with a boulder. Crash in all their hearts. Good. Good. (saviour Jesus meek and mild) That was good for Momma, all right for her. She didn't have to go among the wolves every day of every year, out into a carnival of laughers, joke-tellers, pointers, snickerers. And didn't Momma say there would be a Day of Judgment. (the name of that star shall be wormwood and they shall be scourged with scorpions) and an angel with a sword? If only it would be today and Jesus coming not with a lamb and a shepherd's crook, but with a boulder on each hand to crush the laughters and the snickerers, to root out the evil and destroy it screaming – a terrible Jesus of blood and righteousness. And if only she could be His sword and His arm. She had tried to fit. She had defied Momma in a hundred little ways, had tried to erase the red-plague circle that had been drawn around her from the first day she had left the controlled environment of the small house on Carlin Street and had walked up to the Baker Street Grammar School with her Bible under her arm. She could still remember that day, the stares, and the sudden, awful silence when she had gotten down on her knees before lunch in the school cafeteria-the laughter had begun on that day and had echoed up through the years. The red-plague circle was like blood itself-you could scrub and scrub and scrub and still it would be there, not erased, not clean. She had never gotten on her knees in a public place again, although she had not told Momma that. Still, the original memory remained, with her and with them. She had fought Momma tooth and nail over the Christian Church Camp, and had earned the money to go herself by taking in sewing. Momma told her darkly that it was Sin, that it was Methodists and Baptists and Congregationalists and that it was Sin and Backsliding. She forbade Carrie to swim at the camp. Yet although she had swum and had laughed when they ducked her (until she couldn't get her breath any more and they kept doing it and she got panicky and began to scream) and had tried to take part in the camp's activities, a thousand practical jokes had been played on ol' prayin' Carrie and she had come home on the bus a week early, her eyes red and socketed from weeping, to be picked up by Momma at t he station, and Momma had told her grimly that she should treasure the memory of her scourging as proof that Momma knew, that Momma was right, that the only hope of safety and salvation was inside the red circle. ‘For straight is the gate,' Momma said grimly in the taxi, and at home she had sent Carrie to the closet for six hours. Momma had, of course, forbade her to shower with the other girls; Carrie had hidden her shower things in her school locker and had showered anyway, taking part in a naked ritual that was shameful and embarrassing to her in hopes that the circle around her might fade a little, just a little- (but today o today) Tommy Erbter, age five, was biking up the other side of the street. He was a small, intense-looking boy on a twenty-inch Schwinn with bright-red training wheels. He was humming ‘Scoobie Doo, where are you?' under his breath. He saw Carrie, brightened, and stuck out his tongue. ‘Hey, ol' fart-face! Ol' prayin' Carrie!' Carrie glared at him with sudden smoking rage. The bike wobbled on its training wheels and suddenly fell over. Tommy screamed. The bike was on top of him. Carrie smiled and walked on. The sound of Tommy's wails was sweet, jangling music in her ears. If only she could make something like that happen whenever she liked. (just did) She stopped dead seven houses up from her own, staring blankly at nothing. Behind her, Tommy was climbing tearfully back on to his bike, nursing a scraped knee. He yelled something at her, but she ignored it. She had been yelled at by experts. She had been thinking: (fall off that bike kid push you off that bike and split your rotten head) And something had happened Her mind had †¦ had †¦ she groped for a word. Had flexed. That was not just right, but it was very close. There had been a curious mental bending, almost like an elbow curling a dumbbell. That wasn't exactly right either, but it was all she could think of. An elbow with no strength. A weak baby muscle. Flex. She suddenly stared fiercely at Mrs Yorraty's big picture window. She thought: (stupid frumpty old bitch break that window) Nothing. Mrs Yorraty's picture window glittered serenely in the fresh nine o'clock glow of morning. Another cramp gripped Carrie's belly and she walked on. But †¦ The light. And the ashtray; don't forget the ashtray. She looked back (old bitch hates my momma) over her shoulder. Again it seemed that something flexed †¦ but very weakly. The flow of her thoughts shuddered as if there had been a sudden bubbling from a wellspring deeper inside. The picture window seemed to ripple. Nothing more. It could have been her eyes. Could have been. Her head began to feel tired and fuzzy, and it throbbed with the beginning of a headache. Her eyes were hot, as if she had just sat down and read the Book of Revelations straight through. She continued to walk down the street toward the small white house with the blue shutters. The familiar hate-love-dread feeling was churning inside her. Ivy had crawled up the west side of the bungalow (they always called it the bungalow because the White house sounded like a political joke and Momma said all politicians were crooks and sinners and would eventually give the country over to the Godless Reds who would put all the believers of Jesus – even the Catholics – up against the wall), and the ivy was picturesque, she knew it was, but sometimes she hated it. Sometimes, like now, the ivy looked like a grotesque giant hand ridged with great veins which had sprung up out of the ground to grip the building. She approached it with dragging feet. Of course, there had been the stones. She stopped again, blinking vapidly at the day. The stones. Momma never talked about that; Carrie didn't even know if her momma still remembered the day of the stones. It was surprising that she herself still remembered it. She had been a very little girl then. How old? Three? Four? There had been the girl in the white bathing suit, and then the stones came. And things had flown in the house. Here the memory was, suddenly bright and clear. As if it had been here all along, just below the surface, waiting for a kind of mental puberty. Waiting, maybe, for today. From Carrie: The Black Dawn of T.K. (Esquire Magazine, September 12, 1980) by Jack Gaver: Estelle Horan had lived in the neat San Diego suburb of Parrish for twelve years, and outwardly she is typical Mrs California: She wears bright print shifts and smoked amber sunglasses; her hair is black-streaked blonde; she drives a neat maroon Volkswagen Formula Vee with a smile decal on the petrol cap and a green-flag ecology sticker on the back window. Her husband is an executive at the Parrish branch of the Bank of America; her son and daughter are certified members of the Southern California Sun ‘n Fun Crowd, burnished-brown beach creatures. There is a hibachi in the small, beautifully kept back yard, and the door chimes play a tinkly phrase from the refrain of ‘Hey, Jude.' But Mrs Horan still carries the thin, difficult soil of New England somewhere inside her, and when she talks of Carrie White her face takes on an odd, pinched look that is more like Lovecraft out of Arkham than Kerouac out of Southern Cat. ‘Of course she was strange,' Estelle Horan tells me. lighting a second Virginia Slim a moment after stubbing out her first. ‘The whole family was strange. Ralph was a construction worker, and people on the street said he carried a Bible and a .38 revolver to work with him every day. The Bible was for his coffee break and lunch. The .38 was in case he met Antichrist on the job, I can remember the Bible myself. The revolver †¦ who knows? He was a big olive-skinned man with his hair always shaved into a flattop crewcut. He always looked mean. And you didn't meet his eyes, not ever. They were so intense they actually seemed to glow. When you saw him coming you crossed the street and you never stuck out your tongue at his back, not ever. That's how spooky he was.' She pauses, puffing clouds of cigarette smoke toward the pseudo-redwood beams that cross the ceiling. Stella Horan lived on Carlin Street until she was twenty, commuting to day classes at Lewin Business College in Motton. But she remembers the incidents of the stones very clearly. ‘There are times,' she says, ‘when I wonder if I might have caused it. Their back yard was next to ours, and Mrs White had put in a hedge but it hadn't grown out yet. She'd called my mother dozens of times about â€Å"the show† I was putting on in my back yard. Well, my bathing suit was perfectly decent – prudish by today's standards – nothing but a plain old one-piece Jantzen. Mrs White used to go on and on about what a scandal it was for â€Å"her baby.† My mother..-. well, she tries to be polite, but her temper is so quick. I don't know what Margaret White did to finally push her over the edge – called me the Whore of Babylon, I suppose – but my mother told her our yard was our yard and I'd go out and dance the hootchie-kootchie buck naked if that was her pleasure and mine. She also told her that she was a dirty old woman with a can of worms for a mind. There was a lot more shouting, but that was the upshot of it. ‘I wanted to stop sunbathing right then. I hate trouble. It upsets my stomach. But Mom-when she gets a case, she's a terror. She came home from Jordan Marsh with a little white bikini. Told me I might as well get all the sun I could. â€Å"After all,† she said, â€Å"the privacy of our own back yard and all.† Stella Horan smiles a little at the memory and crushes out her cigarette. ‘I tried to argue with her, tell her I didn't want any more trouble, didn't want to be a pawn in their back-fence war. Didn't do a bit of good. Trying to stop my mum when she' gets a bee in her hat is like trying to stop a Mack truck going downhill with no brakes. Actually, there was more to it. I was scared of the Whites. Real religious nuts are nothing to fool with. Sure, Ralph White was dead, but what if Margaret still had that .38 around? ‘But there I was on Saturday afternoon, spread out ‘ on a blanket in the back yard, covered with suntan lotion and listening to Top Forty on the radio. Mom hated that stuff and usually she'd yell out at least twice for me to turn it down before she went nuts. But that day she turned it up twice herself. I started to feel like the Whore of Babylon myself ‘But nobody came out of the Whites' place. Not even the old lady to hang her wash. That's something else – she never hung any undies on the back line. Not even Carrie's, and she was only three back then. Always in the house. ‘I started to relax. I guess I was thinking Margaret must have taken Carrie to the park to worship God in the raw or something. Anyway, after a little while I rolled on my back, put one arm over my eyes, and dozed off. ‘When I woke up, Carrie was standing next to me and looking down at my body.' She breaks off, frowning into space. Outside, the cars are whizzzing by endlessly. I can hear the steady little whine my tape recorder makes. But it all seems a little too brittle, too glossy, just a cheap patina over a darker world – a real world where nightmares happen. ‘She was such a pretty girl,' Stella Horan resumes, fighting another cigarette. ‘I've seen some high school pictures of her, and that horrible fuzzy black-and-white photo on the cover of Newsweek. I look at them and all I can think is, Dear God, where did she go? What did that woman do to her? Then I feel sick and sorry. She was so pretty, with pink cheeks and bright brown eyes, and her hair the shade of blonde you know will darken and get mousy. Sweet is the only word that fits. Sweet and bright and innocent. Her mother's sickness hadn't touched her very deeply, not then. ‘I kind of started up awake and tried to smile. It was hard to think what to do. I was logy from the sun and my mind felt sticky and slow. I said â€Å"Hi.† She was wearing a little yellow dress, sort of cute but awfully long for a little girl in the summer. It came down to her shins. ‘She didn't smile back. She just pointed and said, â€Å"What are those?† ‘I looked down and saw that my top had slipped while I was asleep. So I fixed it and said, â€Å"Those are my breasts, Carrie,† ‘Then she said-very solemnly: â€Å"I wish I had some.† ‘I said: â€Å"You have to wait, Carrie. You won't start to get them for another †¦ oh. eight or nine years.†