English commentary creative writing Essay

I based the beginning of my story on a physical but also mental journey a man goes on while he is on his own hitchhiking home. I felt this was suitable for the topic journeys and pilgrimages which also liked in with the book Chaucer. As it is the beginning of a story the audience could really be any age. As it is a piece to entertain I would say it is suited better for the young. The purpose of my story was to entertain people, but also informing people about how one man is able to hitchhike. In order for me to write a story about hitchhiking I had to do some research into the topic. I found a book called â€Å"round Ireland with a fridge† by Tony Hawks which really inspired me and helped me grasp the language technique to use in order to entertain. To think in with Chaucer and the way he writes I have used stereotypes in my writing, for example I have does the typical blond as being stupid and naive. I have also used the idea about how the people in Chaucer went on a journey. The man I write about goes on a journey by himself from Lancashire back to Bristol, in which he also finds himself and learns a lot more about the world around him. I wanted to portray the man as a typical Bristol lad, with a slight arrogant edge. In order to do this I had to use a slight sarcastic tone of voice which I hoped would also entertain the readers. I also used phonetic lexis to help create an idiolect of the man. I used a Bristol accent and changed words like â€Å"alright† to â€Å"ite† and also â€Å"ya† instead of â€Å"you†. Which changing his dialect to fit his accent I also done this with other characters in the story, for example the Yorkshire girl he meets. For instance when she says â€Å"Wheor are yee headin† creates a sense of her accent to the readers. The language I used was very informal and personal. It was from the point of view from a man writing himself so the tone was very calm but at times comical. The structure was the usual story telling layout, with several small and large paragraphs, with a wide range of short sentences to add emotion and feeling to the man. â€Å"Okay, maybe not.†(after a line about wanting to fulfil his life) is an example of the idiolect I used from him, and shows the way he comes across as a simple man but with a funny entertaining side. I also linked my writing to The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I did this by using the disaster of the father in the road as a starting point of describing the man and his journey hitchhiking with so little and all by himself.

Phonic Instruction

Reading and writing are the fundamental skills of learning. Our formal education is anchored to these basic learning steps. It is crucial for children to learn how to read and write at an early age in order to become capable and competent in their education. Kids acquire and learn the language through exposure, like how children copy words based from what they hear around their environment. Schools developed various methods and modes of instruction on how to teach children to read and write effectively.This teaching method is often referred to as phonic instruction which is a way of teaching children how to read, which emphasizes the acquisition of sounds, corresponding letter and its use in reading and writing (National Reading Panel, 2000). The phonic instruction shows the children the relationship between the written and spoken language by associating sounds to letters (National Institute for Literacy, 2009). The phonic instruction is not a standard device used for beginning reade rs but many teachers are utilizing such program to aid them with their instruction.The phonics that the teachers teach is not relatively important, but rather what students actually learn and use in decoding a new word whether reading or writing them is more necessary (Cunningham, 2005). As such, the aim of phonic instruction is for children to learn how to read and write effectively. Phonic instruction affects the whole process of children’s learning process of reading. It helps students understand how it can be successfully integrated into an effective classroom reading program (Savage, 2007).I personally agree that phonic instructions develop the ability to read and write. It does not matter what modes and methods of learning is integrated in the phonics instruction but how children may be able to learn how to read and write effectively. Teachers should develop balanced reading programs which incorporate a wide array of learning strategies in order to prepare children in h igher levels of education which require such skills. References Cuningham, P. M. (2005).Phonics they Use: Words for Reading and Writing, 4th edition. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. National Institute for Literacy. (2009, January 9). Phonics Instruction. Retrieved February 11, 2009, from http://www. nifl. gov/partnershipforreading/publications/reading_first1phonics. html. National Reading Panel. (2000). Phonics Instructions. Reading Rockets. Retrieved February 11, 2009, from http://www. readingrockets. org/article/254. Savage, J. (2007). Sound It Out! Phonics in a Comprehensive Reading System. New York: McGraw-Hill.

The Exeter Story's Organizational Structure Term Paper

The Exeter Story's Organizational Structure - Term Paper Example The Exeter has a new manager, he wants to have full control on every aspect of the company, He wants to have a major revamped on what requires renewing in the organization but it also has a great impact to the whole company and its operation (Fowler, 2005). A major change is a right phrase here, and change is not as simple as it is perceived and not a slice of cake. When a company is undergoing change, different aspects of the organization are turned around and things are not done like before.            Having power absolutely gives complete control. The relationships between the superior and the employees come into the picture. At the same time, getting rid of company employees just to have full control of the company is unethical (Heene and Sanchex, 1997). Then, moral values come in. Getting rid of the Finance staff and the HR staff would result to chaos in the organization since there are people engaged in the decision that they might lose their job. The employees are working hard before the General Manager entered the company, this would create criticisms.   The new General Manager would also like to focus on the conventional organizational structure that would limit free communication among the management and employees rather than motivating.          Thus, in view of all the actions of the new managers need proper analysis and considerations especially regarding ethics and moral values in order to In this paper the author demonstrates how to avoid company loss, creating a firm organization wherein employees can work freely, equally delegated workload, smooth operation and harmonious work relationship among employees. Injustice to everyone in the company, each of the employees and their tasks should be examined and investigated who among that are doing their job well.   This would be hassle-free for the new General Manager to identify who goes and who stays (Mclagan, 2002). That way, there will be no chaos. This would be the time wherein the finance employees and the HR employees would merge with another department so they would not lose their job.

Seven brides of seven brothers Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Seven brides of seven brothers - Movie Review Example ies of the world by different names, such as, ‘Satte Pe Satta’ by the Indian film industry, which proves the worldwide success and reception of the film. 2. The history of westward expansion and settlement of the United States links with the theme of the play. In Oregon 1.3 km2 was allocated to each unmarried individual and 2.6 km2 was allocated to married couples during the time of settlement. It seems like every person living at that time had in mind that living in the form of a couple would be in huge benefit for them not only for fulfilling their sexual desires legally but also to get ownership of a large piece of land. 3. After watching the play, it seems like it is the world of men and women are supposed to live under the shadow of men either voluntarily or involuntarily. For example, in the play, the women first opposed their kidnapping but then they agreed to the circumstances and eventually fell in love with their new suitors. This shows that males dominate women and women have somewhat learned and agreed to this. 4. The production as staged at the Ellen Eccles Theatre is an attempt to perform the play the same way as it has been played in original. However, live musical can never match the filmed musical because filmed musicals are free of acting and production flaws. For instance, live musicals such as Seven Brides for Seven Brothers show staged at the Ellen Eccles Theatre gave some signs of coordination, direction, and music management flaws regardless of with how much attention the play was

Medicare Fraud Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Medicare Fraud - Essay Example As a problem of major concern, Medicare fraud needs a qualitative and quantitative investigation approach. Thus, a mixed method study will effectively evaluate the extent of Medicare fraud and the factors that contribute to Medicare fraud. This draft proposal outlines strategies that can be used to evaluate the problem and possible solutions through a mixed method approach. Problem Statement Medicare fraud is one of the overarching problems in the healthcare industry resulting in losses of billions of dollars each year. It is actually claimed, â€Å"Medicare fraud costs the U.S. government approximately $80 billion a year (Stefanacci, 2010). Through quantitative approach, the researcher will be required to estimate the loss of revenue through Medicare fraud. Secondly, the researcher will be required to establish variation of involvement in Medicare fraud across different societies. The quantitative aspect of the study will establish the reasons or the social factors that contribute to Medicare fraud. Patterns of fraud cases across different population settings will also be interesting aspect of the research. Finally, the study will require establishing how medical and legal professionals contribute to Medicare fraud and d the factors that contribute to the involvement. ... What are the views of the people concerning the criminalization of Medicare fraud? (a) Do people consider Medicare fraud as a criminal activity? (b) Do people blame the authority for their misfortunes? 5. What is the role of medical and legal professionals in Medicare Fraud? Research Design The study will be conducted through a mixed method approach whereby the researcher will be interested in quantifying and interpreting different parameters related to Medicare fraud (Creswell, 2008). Choice for mixed methods was inspired by the nature of the problem and the expectations of the audience. For instance, the audience is interested in determining the extent of the problem and the factors that contribute to the problem. In addition, the researcher will be required to develop an explicit mathematical model that defines the relationship between various research parameters such as level of income and Medicare fraud. The qualitative aspect of the study will involve observing the problem and finding relevant literature that correspond to the research problem (Creswell, 2008). On the other hand, the quantitative approach will enable the researcher to quantify different research parameters. Population and Participants From an ideal point of view, healthcare industry needs a near-perfect system of tracking Medicare fraud for there to be meaningful results. Fraud in healthcare industry affects all taxpayers. The problem has also affected other sectors of the economy making it an overall economical problem. The problem becomes even more complicated due to lack of harmonized reimbursement formulas and implementation of information in the healthcare sector (Krause, 2010). The study will attract two sets of population. Firstly, the

Decision Making Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Decision Making Assignment - Essay Example Value refers to what one visualizes significance in life that is, what is right or valuable in life. Values provides priorities setting base for deciding worthwhile actions and goals and less important ones and thus gives meaning to the life’s of people. By knowing the values of a family for example, the members of the family can decide on the goals, make the required and critical decisions and subsequently take the needed action which can meet the predetermined goals. Some differences and individual conflicts have to be resolved by establishing the best way while forming a basis for the family values using the individual values. A decision maker must be acquitted on the environment on which the decisions are being made. The environment comprises of opportunities, limitations and change possibility. Where there is presence of only one course of alternative, there can be no decision to be made. One possible alternative can not constitute a decision making process. In existence of limited choice, where one has a choice of selecting to undertake an action or to decline taking action, there is involvement of decision making in such a situation. Primarily, the decisions can concern personal or individuals while others can involve the community wholly or the society at large. The other decisions may engage group members. A group of members carry easily, acceptable decisions more efficiently if involved in the process of decision making. If there is suggestion of more available alternatives and options that are not productive as identified earlier, group decisions are always better. Decisions may be reached through dominance that is, submission where the situation is dominated by one person and others consent with the decision as it is made. This is however, given the name to as win-lose situation. A win-win situation can also be adopted through what is called conversions. Additional points of facts are brainstormed, presented, and the person persuades the othe rs members of the group. Through integration, decisions can be reached through synthesis of the developed ideas which can be agreed upon and supported by everyone. They are many types of decisions which can be differentiated by their content. These types includes social and in other terms human decisions which involves goal setting and the various priorities that determine and influence the individuals general roles and the relationships of the group individuals. Decisions involving allocation of resources and distribution of these available resources among the various set goals are economic and in other term can be called allocation decisions. Another type of a decision is technical decisions which describes what, how, who, when, and why to accomplish a specific task and also regarding the efficient allocation of resources to attain a single goal. The other type of a decision relates to social economic and technical matters. They can be called coordination and interaction decisions because they deal with family communications and also the larger community and the kind of the needed information, while making other decisions, and way of motivating people to carry out their roles. Decisions are not dependent and also interrelated among each other. This makes the decision making process to be termed as dynamic. Decisions are often affected by and affects other decisions at appoint in time. There are models used

Business Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Business Ethics - Essay Example Since they are morally responsible, there is a greater need for them to act in ethical manners than if their actions caused no harm to anybody. One example could be international trade and the food industry. Ethically speaking, a lot of food from third-world countries is problematic because it is farmed using slave or child labor, or both. So if there were a major food company like Hershey’s which bought their cocoa through unethical channels, that company would be having a very negative effect on people who were being forced to farm cocoa beans. This would be an unethical act, and one that would effect society at large as well. On the positive side, though, there are many companies who sponsor elementary schools when purchases or made, or who sponsor community-oriented events and initiatives. In this case, the organizations can be good moral agents, as well as â€Å"top corporate citizens† who have made sure that they act ethically as well as just out of a sense of what is economically good for their company (Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell

The Art of Frida Kahlo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Art of Frida Kahlo - Essay Example The essay "The Art of Frida Kahlo" examines Frida Kahlo and her art. Kahlo skillfully but unabashedly reveals herself topless in this painting, wrapped in a brace and adorned with pins in her flesh. Kahlo pays particular attention to the element of both her femininity and her physical pain in this piece. We see her bare breasts but more obvious is the fact that she is riddled with pins all over her body. As a woman, Kahlo experienced the gravity of love (the love of her life was Diego) but also the betrayal of that love. Her marriage to Rivera was turbulent as Rivera was unfaithful throughout their relationship. Kahlo herself dabbled in extramarital relationships as well as bisexuality. Kahlo expresses this side of her in one particular piece where she dresses as a man. She challenges the assigning of gender roles within society. Kahlo also lets her work tell a rich story detailing her inner most feelings and struggles. This is particularly apparent in the famous piece entitled The T wo Frida’s. Kahlo is able to materialize the inner struggle experienced by so many woman, making her an icon in feminist art. In another piece by Kahlo, Tree of Hope, Kahlo is illustrating herself in a colorful landscape back drop. At first glance, Kahlo appears to be something of a goddess or royalty. This piece perhaps irradiates some of her other work that may allude to self loathing or self perceived deficiencies. In much of Kahlo’s work, she used herself as a focal point making it a true and honest expression of herself.

China; a dangerous superpower; responding to debate Assignment

China; a dangerous superpower; responding to debate - Assignment Example The military size is not shrinking but growing, this indicates there is more to it than meets the eye. China is gradually establishing its self as an economic giant, and this is the best place to mitigate its threat of becoming a super power. China mostly focuses on virgin markets that are thought to have been neglected by the west. United States of America and it allies should focus on tapping into the markets before China. That will ensure that the countries grow their GDP at a rate similar to China’s and be one step ahead. I agree with the answer and strongly advocate for the United States allies to review their laws in regard to combat and military matters. Japan adopted laws that regulated its military to duties that are close to the ideal ceremonial in combat matters. China with its quest to have a firm grip in the region decided to claim regions that are clearly Japans sole possession. The act violets international law and threaten Japans sovereignty. The region under contention is a joined military training field for both the United States of America and Japan. That might be the main reason China invaded the region. Japan should review its laws and wake up to what its neighbor is doing. The country should invest more into military equipment. The action may make China slow on its pursuit for the territory. China continued expansion economically, and investment into carriers signify that the country is more a threat now and looking to becoming a super power. The USA should assist Japan in strengthening it military both in terms of more combined training and equipment. The act will deter China from invading Japan and help America as a nation have an ally where it can launch an offensive should there be a need for such action. I strongly agree with the author and see China as a growing super power and threat. United States of America has many trade agreements with China making its

An entrepreneurial viewpoint ( F ) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

An entrepreneurial viewpoint ( F ) - Essay Example Since I am a normal human I used intuition to execute decisions daily, however, as noted Flora (2007:68) this can lead to risk blindness and complacency. Besides, I came to learn that I could clearly utilize rule based reasoning which is characterized to being logical, deliberate, and being used to justify to other persons what needs to be done. Since I was a risk taker I did not experience problems with lateral thinking. This is because I had the capability to solve problems by means of indirect and creative approach, by making use of reasoning that is not directly obvious and incorporating ideas that may not be obtainable when using only traditional step-by-step logic. Flora (2007) asserts that a view shared by de Bono asserts that lateral thinking on purposefully distances itself from standard perceptions of creativity as either vertical logic or horizontal imagination. What I have learnt about myself is that since I exhibit appropriate entrepreneurial attributes. I am better suit ed to working in a conventionally structured organization, with conventional management

Personal Statement to Win a Scholarship Essay Example for Free

Personal Statement to Win a Scholarship Essay An experienced and fully qualified registered nurse who is efficient, thorough and passionate about delivering the best levels of care to patients. I possesses extensive healthcare experience in a wide range of key nursing fields and has the required physical, mental and emotional strength to stand up to the rigours of this demanding profession. Able to work autonomously and has vast knowledge of using the latest state of the art medical equipment to treat, observe and record the conditions of patients. As a driven individual who wants to progress she is now looking for a suitable nursing position with a reputable, exciting and modern healthcare provider. See more: how to write a scholarship essay Employment History Emena Hospital Assistant Superviser Sept 2011- current Duties Caring for patients who are suffering from acute and long-term illnesses and diseases. Administering drugs, medication and injections to patients. Treating patients with respect and dignity, and giving attention to individual needs and wishes. Kj Prioritising workloads and allocating patients appropriately. Maintaining high clinical standards and high levels of quality care delivery Providing information, emotional support and reassurance to patients and relatives. Nursing Skills Implementing and participating in vaccination and immunisation programmes for both adults and children. Taking patient samples, pulses, temperatures and blood pressures. Experience of Chronic Disease management i.e. diabetes and asthma, etc. Responding calmly to emergency situations. Reviewing and evaluating the effectiveness of nursing interventions. Organising junior staff and prioritising busy workloads. Able to liaise with social services and other care agencies. Preparing beds, rooms, sterilising instruments, equipment and supplies, and ensuring that an essential stock of supplies is maintained.

The Use Of Brainstorming In Stages Information Technology Essay

The Use Of Brainstorming In Stages Information Technology Essay Brainstorming is usually the first crucial creative stage of the project management and project planning process. See the brainstorming method in detail and explained separately, because it many other useful applications outside of project management. Fishbone diagrams are chiefly used in quality management fault-detection, and in business process improvement, especially in manufacturing and production, but the model is also very useful in project management planning and task management generally. Within project management fishbone diagrams are useful for early planning, notably when gathering and organising factors, for example during brainstorming. Fishbone diagrams are very good for identifying hidden factors which can be significant in enabling larger activities, resources areas, or parts of a process. Fishbone diagrams are not good for scheduling or showing interdependent time-critical factors. Fishbone diagrams are also called cause and effect diagrams and Ishikawa diagrams, after Kaoru Ishikawa (1915-89), a Japanese professor specialising in industrial quality management and engineering who devised the technique in the 1960s. Ishikawas diagram became known as a fishbone diagram, obviously, because it looks like a fishbone: A fishbone diagram has a central spine running left to right, around which is built a map of factors which contribute to the final result (or problem). For each project the main categories of factors are identified and shown as the main bones leading to the spine. Into each category can be drawn primary elements or factors (shown as P in the diagram), and into these can be drawn secondary elements or factors (shown as S). This is done for every category, and can be extended to third or fourth level factors if necessary. The diagram above is a very simple one. Typically fishbone diagrams have six or more main bones feeding into the spine. Other main category factors can include Environment, Management, Systems, Training, Legal, etc. The categories used in a fishbone diagram should be whatever makes sense for the project. Various standard category sets exist for different industrial applications, however it is important that your chosen structure is right for your own situation, rather than taking a standard set of category headings and hoping that it fits. At a simple level the fishbone diagram is a very effective planning model and tool especially for mapping an entire operation. Where a fishbone diagram is used for project planning of course the Effect is shown as an aim or outcome or result, not a problem. The Problem term is used in fault diagnosis and in quality management problem-solving. Some fishbone diagrams can become very complex indeed, which is common in specialised quality management areas, especially where systems are computerised. This model, and the critical path analysis diagram are similar to the even more complex diagrams used on business process modelling within areas of business planning and and business process improvement. project critical path analysis (flow diagram or chart) Critical Path Analysis sounds very complicated, but its a very logical and effective method for planning and managing complex projects. A critical path analysis is normally shown as a flow diagram, whose format is linear (organised in a line), and specifically a time-line. Critical Path Analysis is also called Critical Path Method its the same thing and the terms are commonly abbreviated, to CPA and CPM. A commonly used tool within Critical Path Analysis is PERT (Program/Programme/Project Evaluation and Review Technique) which is a specialised method for identifying related and interdependent activities and events, especially where a big project may contain hundreds or thousands of connected elements. PERT is not normally relevant in simple projects, but any project of considerable size and complexity, particularly when timings and interdependency issues are crucial, can benefit from the detailed analysis enabled by PERT methods. PERT analysis commonly feeds into Critical Path Analysis and to other broader project management systems, such as those mentioned here. Critical Path Analysis flow diagrams are very good for showing interdependent factors whose timings overlap or coincide. They also enable a plan to be scheduled according to a timescale. Critical Path Analysis flow diagrams also enable costings and budgeting, although not quite as easily as Gantt charts (below), and they also help planners to identify causal elements, although not quite so easily as fishbone diagrams (below). This is how to create a Critical Path Analysis. As an example, the project is a simple one making a fried breakfast. First note down all the issues (resources and activities in a rough order), again for example: Assemble crockery and utensils, assemble ingredients, prepare equipment, make toast, fry sausages and eggs, grill bacon and tomatoes, lay table, warm plates, serve. Note that some of these activities must happen in parallel and crucially they are interdependent. That is to say, if you tried to make a fried breakfast by doing one task at a time, and one after the other, things would go wrong. Certain tasks must be started before others, and certain tasks must be completed in order for others to begin. The plates need to be warming while other activities are going on. The toast needs to be toasting while the sausages are frying, and at the same time the bacon and sausages are under the grill. The eggs need to be fried last. A Critical Path Analysis is a diagrammatical representation of what needs done and when. Timescales and costs can be applied to each activity and resource. Heres the Critical Path Analysis for making a fried breakfast: This Critical Path Analysis example below shows just a few activities over a few minutes. Normal business projects would see the analysis extending several times wider than this example, and the time line would be based on weeks or months. It is possible to use MS Excel or a similar spreadsheet to create a Critical Path Analysis, which allows financial totals and time totals to be planned and tracked. Various specialised project management software enable the same thing. Beware however of spending weeks on the intricacies of computer modelling, when in the early stages especially, a carefully hand drawn diagram which requires no computer training at all can put 90% of the thinking and structure in place. (See the details about the most incredible planning and communications tool ever invented, and available for just a tiny fraction of the price of all the alternatives.) project critical path analysis flow diagram example gantt charts Gantt Charts (commonly wrongly called gant charts) are extremely useful project management tools. The Gantt Chart is named after US engineer and consultant Henry Gantt (1861-1919) who devised the technique in the 1910s. Gantt charts are excellent models for scheduling and for budgeting, and for reporting and presenting and communicating project plans and progress easily and quickly, but as a rule Gantt Charts are not as good as a Critical Path Analysis Flow Diagram for identifying and showing interdependent factors, or for mapping a plan from and/or into all of its detailed causal or contributing elements. You can construct a Gantt Chart using MSExcel or a similar spreadsheet. Every activity has a separate line. Create a time-line for the duration of the project (the breakfast example shows minutes, but normally you would use weeks, or for very big long-term projects, months). You can colour code the time blocks to denote type of activity (for example, intense, watching brief, directly managed, delegated and left-to-run, etc.) You can schedule review and insert break points. At the end of each line you can show as many cost columns for the activities as you need. The breakfast example shows just the capital cost of the consumable items and a revenue cost for labour and fuel. A Gantt chart like this can be used to keep track of progress for each activity and how the costs are running. You can move the time blocks around to report on actuals versus planned, and to re-schedule, and to create new plan updates. Costs columns can show plan and actuals and variances, and calculate whatever to tals, averages, ratios, etc., that you need. Gantt Charts are probably the most flexible and useful of all project management tools, but remember they do not very easily or obviously show the importance and inter-dependence of related parallel activities, and they wont obviously show the necessity to complete one task before another can begin, as a Critical Path Analysis will do, so you may need both tools, especially at the planning stage, and almost certainly for large complex projects. gantt chart example A wide range of computerised systems/software now exists for project management and planning, and new methods continue to be developed. It is an area of high innovation, with lots of scope for improvement and development. I welcome suggestions of particularly good systems, especially if inexpensive or free. Many organizations develop or specify particular computerised tools, so its a good idea to seek local relevant advice and examples of best practice before deciding the best computerised project management system(s) for your own situation. Project planning tools naturally become used also for subsequent project reporting, presentations, etc., and you will make life easier for everyone if you use formats that people recognize and find familiar.

Pulmonary Rehabilitation and QoL in Lung Cancer Patients

Pulmonary Rehabilitation and QoL in Lung Cancer Patients PULMONARY REHABILITATION AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN LUNG CANCER PATIENTS (Abstract):The quality of life in patients with lung cancer is determined both by factors related to the patient (stage of disease, comorbidities) and the factors related to treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy). Since the impact of treatment on survival of patients with lung canceris quite low, quality of life is a goal increasingly important. Until now, quality oflife was properly assessed in few studies and the results can be influenced by the use of non- validated methods. The most usedtools adapted for measuring the quality of life for lung cancer are the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) LC-13 questionnaire, the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT-L) questionnaire and the Lung Cancer Symptom Scale (LCSS). Keywords:LUNG CANCER, QUALITY OF LIFE, REHABILITATION. Lung cancer is one of the most common types of cancer, with a 5-year survival rate of approximately 15 %. Given the evolution of long asymptomatic lung cancer in contrast to other tumor types, it is often diagnosed at an advanced stage. Symptoms include cough, hemoptysis, dyspnea, chest pain, weakness, loss of appetite.Therefore, treatment goals for these patients are relief of symptoms and increased overall survival [1]. Therapies that improve the survival rate are often accompanied by severe side effects. Due to the increasing number of alternative lines of therapy and treatment, the decrease differences in the clinical effectiveness and drug development costs, the importance of estimating the parameters of quality of life (QOL) increases both health and economic reasons. So little time, the inclusion of these parameters in lung cancer clinical trials was generally neglected [1-3]. During 2001-2011, there were 43 studies conducted to measure health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients with lung cancer, 27 of which had as main objective HRQoL. Most publicationsillustrate the results of phase III clinical trials, 38 included patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), especially in stage III/IV, two studies included patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) in all stages and three studies included both patients with NSCLC and SCLC. Most studies have investigated the impact of platinum based drug combinations, 6 studies have investigated the effect of gefitinib and 2 studies concerns of erlotinib. Between the questionnaires used to assess quality of life in patients with lung cancer are mentioned questionnaire of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC QLQ C30) questionnaire, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT G) questionnaire, FACT-L (Lung) questionnaire, Lung Cancer Symptom Scale (LCSS), Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Brief Pain Index (BPI). The most commonly used is the EORTC QLQ-C30 contains 30 criteria, available in 60 languages à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹[4]. FACT-G questionnaire containing 27 physical elements, emotional, social, functional, available in more than 50 languages à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹[5] and the FACT-L is suitable for lung cancer and contains 37 items assessing quality of life [6]. Due to the homogeneity characteristics of the patients and treatment regimens, it is not possible to compare all of the studies on the HRQoL. Most studies include comparing different chemotherapy regimens did not show significant differences in HRQoL between treatment arms [7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. Another group of studies report cautious assumptions to improve HRQoL [15,16,17]. Only Belani et al. and Reck et al. indicates HRQoL superiority of paclitaxel or docetaxel compared with vincristine or vinorelbine/cisplatin [18,19]. Regarding EGFR inhibitors, Gelibter et al., Mu et al., And Zhang et al. been shown to improve HRQoL in patients with highly advanced NSCLC treated with gefitinib [20,21,22]. Cella et al. and Natale et al. reported improvements in HRQoL after administration of gefitinib and correlate these improvements with tumor response [23,24]. Regarding erlotinib, Lilenbaum et al. could not demonstrate significant improvement in progression-free survival, median survival and HRQoL compared to standard chemotherapy regimen [25]. Bezjak et al. HRQoL showed significant improvement, where erlotinib is administered in the second line of treatment [26]. LUX- Lung 3 study conducted on a population of patients with advanced NSCLC with EGFR mutation positive, showed an unprecedented improvement in cancer-related symptoms and increase quality of life when treated first line with afatinib, an irreversible inhibitor of the ErbB receptor family, compared to chemotherapy with pemetrexed and cisplatin, considered the standard of care in this population of patients with NSCLC [27]. Lung cancer or lung metastases often have symptoms for which palliative radiotherapy is effective [28,29] and improves or maintains quality of life, for about one-third of affected patients [30]. There are forty-three studies that are assessed in at least one arm of the study, use of palliative thoracic radiotherapy that evaluated QOL or symptoms palliation a primary or secondary. Thirty studies have evaluated the treatment of patients with NSCLC. Four studies involved patients who were treated with endobronchial brachytherapy alone or in combination with external radiotherapy. Other nine studies have evaluated the use of palliative radiotherapy in patients with lung cancer other than NSCLC histological type. Clinical trials that compared different regimens of palliative radiotherapy fractionation showed improved quality of life and survival in patients with good performance status who received high doses of radiation (TD = 30Gy/10fractions/3Gy/fraction) compared with lower doses (TD = 20Gy/5fractions/4Gy/fraction, 17Gy/2fractions, 10Gy/1fraction), which are mainly used in patients with reduced performance status and may be interspersed between the series of chemotherapy without causing delay in chemotherapy administration [31,32]. Impact of new radiotherapy techniques (IMRT intensity modulated radiotherapy, IGRT guided radiotherapy imaging) and PET -CT imaging integration in the palliative treatment of patients with pulmonary cancer is not clearly defined. Relative to the palliative role of endobronchial brachytherapy, recent analysis of 13 clinical trials concluded that external radiotherapy is superior endobronchial brachytherapy and brachytherapy added to external radiation has no advantages over external radiotherapy alone [33]. So far, not demonstrated an advantage of concomitant radio chemotherapy to sequential administration for symptoms palliation in patients with lung cancer [34,35,36,37]. First programs of pulmonary rehabilitation have been developed in The United States of America in the 1970’s .Since then, several specialists tried to define better the term of â€Å"pulmonary rehabilitation â€Å": ‘’Pulmonary rehabilitation is a multi-dimensional continuum of services directed to persons with pulmonary disease and their families, usually by an interdisciplinary team of specialists, with the goal of achieving and maintaining the individuals maximum level of independence and functioning within the community’’(1) Pulmonary rehabilitation may be defined as an art of medical practice wherein an individually tailored, multidisciplinary program is formulated which through accurate diagnosis, therapy, emotional support, and education, stabilizes or reverses both the physio and psychopathology of pulmonary diseases and attempts to return the patients to the highest possible functional capacity allowed by his pulmonary handicap and overall life situation.(2) The definition given by the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR), the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and European Respiratory Society (ERS) â€Å" an evidence-based, multi-disciplinary, and comprehensive intervention for patients with chronic respiratory diseases who are symptomatic and often have decreased daily life activities. Integrated into the individualized treatment of the patient, pulmonary rehabilitation is designed to reduce symptoms, optimize functional status, increase participation, and reduce health care costs through stabilizing or reversing systemic manifestations of the disease.†(3) The most recent definition Pulmonary rehabilitation is a comprehensive intervention based on a thorough patient assessment followed by patient-tailored therapies which include, but are not limited to, exercise training, education, and behavior change, designed to improve the physical and psychological condition of people with chronic respiratory disease and to promote the long-term adherence to health-enhancing behaviors.(4) To understand better the importance of these rehabilitation programs, here are some statements of some patients with pulmonary diseases: -â€Å"It can be extremely upsetting because I can’t find the breath of life that we all need.â€Å" -â€Å"My legs ached, my shoulders ached, my arms ached .I couldn’t continue with my hobbies. I lost hope completely. I literally wanted to die.† -â€Å" This is very depressing ; this makes me very anxious!â€Å" Over time pulmonary rehabilitation has been an important part in the management of COPD and of other chronic lung diseases. Rehabilitation in lung cancer has not been studied so extensively as the rehabilitation in COPD but the results from various studies indicate clearly the importance of pre and post surgery rehabilitation. Patients who had or have to go through a lung cancer surgery may have breathlessness, pain, fatigue, anxiety, poor physical condition and low quality of life.For oncology patients, pulmonary rehabilitation is not just about how the patient learns to breathe properly and respiratory muscle training, but a multitude of factors that together help the patient to support more easily the surgery or chemo-radiotherapy , to have an early recovery and to increase quality of life. Judging by the motto There are no diseases, but sick people, pulmonary rehabilitation for patients with lung cancer , also has to be personalized . It may be regarded as the tailoring of the rehabilitation programme to the patient’s needs and characteristics and also, to the evolution of his oncological disease. How pulmonary rehabilitation helps people with lung cancer? -helps the patient to carry out his daily activities -increases the quality of life helps to improve general health -decrease the number of postsurgical complications -hastens the postoperative recovery -prevents respiratory tract infections Pulmonary rehabilitation is a complex process and may include the following: Breathing techniques (diaphragmatic breathing, pursed-lip breathing) Energy conservation techniques Aerobic (to increase pulmonary capacity) Respiratory muscle strengthening techniques Nutrition tips Counseling and relaxation techniques Group therapy Before establishing a pulmonary rehabilitation program must be identified that baseline what the patient can do easily, what kind of daily activities is able to do and what kind of activities are done with difficulty. Pulmonary rehabilitation can and pre and / or post surgical. Rehabilitation period is decided by an interdisciplinary team consisting of pneumologist, oncologist and thoracic surgeon. Preoperative rehabilitation can decrease the number of postoperative complications, speed recovery and may also have an economic impact, reducing the number of days of hospitalization, postoperative morbidity. Studies have shown that postoperative rehabilitation is good to be started after about 3 or 4 months after surgery. The minimum duration of a pulmonary rehabilitation exercise program has not yet been widely established. Pulmonary rehabilitation should be taken into consideration for all the patients with lung cancer no matter what stage .Rehabilitation is beneficial for all stages of lung cancer, even for inoperable cases. Moreover, we could say that pulmonary rehabilitation is an essential aspect of the palliative measures in patients with lung cancer. Pulmonary rehabilitation also has it’s riscks, for example, it can cause arrhythmias or cardiac arrest in patients with cardiac pathology, it can cause bone lessions or muscle injuries. Education The patient must learn what he has to do to take care of himself better and to maximize quality of life. The most important thing is that the patient must practice and continue for a lifetime everything he learnt during the medical rehabilitation program conducted at the hospital. Nutrition is an important aspect of the rehabilitation programs because, in most cases, lung cancer patients already have a poor nutritional status which can be caused by the consumptive syndrome, the treatment or because of the depressive syndrome that is often encountered in patients with cancer. The effects of malnutrition in patients with lung cancer: increased fatigue vulnerability to infections -decreases compliance to treatment -delay recovery -affects quality of life Recommendations on nutrition in lung cancer: -eat frequent small portions -eat high-protein and high-calorie foods -avoid fast food and carbonated drinks -do not take vitamins without doctor recommendation use spices to get a better taste of the food -the meat will be cooked at high temperatures -no fried foods -cooking will be done in stringent conditions of cleanliness -adequate hydration, at least 2 liters of fluid per day Counseling Finding the diagnosis of malignancy, the disease and the multitude of investigations and treatments applied to patients with cancer are sources of psycho-emotional stress. Through psychological counseling, the patient finds new ways to adopt a lifestyle as healthy as it can and receives the necessary power to replace negative emotions.. Oncology patients are special patients that require special attention and support from the whole multidisciplinary team and also from their families. In the cases where palliative care is the only solution, the pulmonary rehabilitation team must prepare the patient for a dignified end. Pulmonary rehab is a chance for people with lung cancer to get help, to have a better quality life, to understand better their disease and to feel much confident.

Criticism is Much More Valuable than Praise Essay -- Personal Narrati

Criticism is Much More Valuable than Praise It is often said that being a rock star is not as easy as it looks. In a book devoted to music appreciation, it says: The rise of rock and roll and its offspring rock is the most important music phenomenon of the past half-century. Economically, rock music has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry; socially, it had a far-reaching impact on the way people live, dress, talk, and even think; musically, it has dominated the popular scene for some forty years, and influenced virtually every other style of music. (443) Sadly, this statement is undoubtedly true. Since I first began playing music at age nine, being a rock star was my only wish. I saw it everyday on the TV and heard it on the radio. They made millions of dollars having fun and rocking out concerts. I always wanted to do that. Now that I am eighteen, one major event has taken place in my life that altered one of my only dreams as a child. My band and I were given an opportunity to have a chance to make it big in the music business. I was absolutely certain my band would have a good shot at it, but I believe that I was wrong. A few years ago my comrades, Joey, Michael, and I started a rock band in hope of writing industry-worthy music. First, we began with a slow and hard start. Equally, there were a lot of important things to consider about being in a commercial-oriented band. There were such things as the bands: name, appearance, instrumentation, music style, and songwriting. Finally, the decision was that I would be the front man by playing guitar and singing simultaneously, while Joey would play bass, and Michael would play the drums. The goal at the time was to try and outplay the looks (which weren’t th... ...t though it lacked a few things. We were told that we were too young and that more time was necessary to create such a good vibe within the group. The second representative from Talent 2K said the drumming was not as it could be, but it could be something great one day. He even took the time to write down some notes for us. From this event I have learned that taking criticism is much more valuable than taking praise; for when you take praise, it deems that there is no room for improvement. When criticism is in place, there is room to grow and become better. Even though my childhood dream was put on hold at this time, in a since I suppose I am thankful because it helped me to let go and open my eyes to the real world. An ethic that I learned is that you can’t always expect everything in life to turn out as you plan and should leave room for rejection.

Parking on Campus :: essays research papers

Parking on campus needs improving. Students entering the university are allowed to have a car on campus. With every new freshmen class entering parking posses a problem on campus. The campus is already limited in its parking on campus and since freshmen are allowed to have cars, the students before them are faced with the dilemma of how many new freshmen will be bringing a car to school.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Parking by the dormitories is almost impossible. Students who live at particular dorms find themselves faced with the problem of having to park on the other side of campus. Those who live in Brown Hall, which is behind the Thompson center, have the most parking problems on campus. This is because the Thompson center is a very large building housing various departments on campus. Therefore it receives a lot of traffic all day. Visitors to the campus are taking over the parking lots around the Thompson center, which is forcing students to park other places on campus and some students chose to disregard the signs posted for reserved parking.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There needs to be additional parking on campus made for those visiting the campus and also for students, faculty already has reserved parking; however the limited amount of parking on campus is forcing students and visitors to reserved faculty lots. Our school is limited in funding for certain projects such adding additional parking to solve the parking problem on campus. The student body should take responsibility for the raising of these funds to build additional parking on campus. The rising sophomore class should organize fund raising events to build additional parking on campus.

Criticism of Capitalism in The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald Essay

Criticism of Capitalism in The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald      Ã‚  Ã‚   In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald creates an artificial world where money is the object of everyone's desire.   The characters, the setting, and the plot are very deeply submerged in a Capitalism that ends up destroying many of them.   Fitzgerald's criticism of Capitalism can be seen as a move to subtly promote Socialism, an ideology in which value is placed on the inherent value of an object rather than its market value.   In a late collection of notes, Fitzgerald himself proclaims that he is "essentially Marxist." [i]  Ã‚   Marxism is a specific branch of Socialist theory.   Fitzgerald makes Gatsby a novel that is not inherently Marxist or even Socialist, but one that is imbued with Marxist theory.   He does this by denouncing nonhumanitarianism, reification, and market value.   Fitzgerald implies that the Capitalist system does not work because at the end of the novel, all of the characters that represent typical American Capitalism end up eit her dead or completely unhappy.   Fitzgerald's criticisms work to warn 1920's Americans of their behavior and how destructive it can be.       Marxists believe very firmly in humanitarianism; they believe that as humans, we should look out for each other and care for each other, because we are all essentially on the same level.   All of the characters in Gatsby nullify this idea, because they all use each other.   For instance, Gatsby uses Nick to set up a meeting between he and Daisy.   The characters also place very little value on individual human beings or on humanity as a whole.   Each character is too wrapped up in him/herself that he/she does not take the time to care for others.   Class levels are pr... ... Fitzgerald, F. Scott.   The Great Gatsby.   New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996. Lewis, Roger.   "Money, Love, and Aspiration in The Great Gatsby."   New  Ã‚   Essays on The Great Gatsby.   Ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli.   New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985.   41-57. Posnock, Ross.   " 'A New World, Without Being Real': Fitzgerald's Critique of Capitalism in The Great Gatsby."   Critical Essays on Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.   Ed. Scott Donaldson.   Boston:   GK   Hall and Co., 1984.   201-213.          Notes [i] Fitzgerald, F. Scott.   The Crack Up.   [ii] Lewis, Roger.   "Money, Love, and Aspiration in The Great Gatsby."   P. 51 [iii] Posnack, Ross.   "'A New World, Material without Being Real': Fitzgerald's Critique of Capitalism in The Great Gatsby." P. 202. [iv] Ibid., p. 203. [v]  Ã‚   Ibid., p. 206. [vi]  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ibid., p. 208.   

Advertising Analysis

Advertisements often find ways to sell their products by psychologically manipulating people. The advertising industry makes us envious of others and convinces us to be unhappy with what we have (Valko). Steve Madden ads usually feature women with absurdly large heads and hourglass bodies which try to force the audience to wonder what the ad is about. One of these odd ads appears in the March/April 2001 issue of Twist Magazine. It features a young woman with a big head helplessly running, as an airplane zooms over her at an abandoned airport. There are three characteristics within the ad that contribute the whole idea that Steve Madden shoes, clothes and accessories will improve your self image. The main purpose of Steve Madden ads is to suggest to its viewers that they will feel good about themselves by wearing his products. The model’s big head conveys self-esteem and self-pride and she challenges the consumer to look as good as she does. The young woman wears a face of apprehension and is running away from her old self to start her new confident life with Steve Madden products. The sleek black leather jacket on top of a sexy white shirt, short enough to reveal her stomach and curvaceous hips together with her tight low rider blue jeans, black pointy high boots, and trendy black bag complete her fashionable outfit. The embellished woman’s physique is aimed to appeal to women and girls between the ages of 16 through 25 in search of funky, hip, sexy clothes. Steve Madden likes to think of his clothes of as being distinctive and he illustrates his idea by setting an abandoned airport as the background for the ad. There is not a body in sight as the model runs across the old gum stained pavement. This calls attention to the idea that by wearing Steve Madden buyers isolate themselves from everyone else. She is too proud and conceited and cannot imagine being compared to anyone else. The Steve Madden logo in the ad also contributes to the main idea of the ad. It could have been anywhere on the page, why the sky. Steve Madden ads always have their logos imprinted on the sky to imply that the â€Å"sky is the limit† with Steve madden products (Liza). Steve Madden’s use of the airplane flying across the model’s head are to let his consumers know that the only thing to stop them from accomplishing the look they have in mind is the limit the set upon themselves. Steve Madden will help its buyers attain the appearance they have always envisioned. Furthermore, it can be said, in Bertrand Russell’s words that â€Å"Good advertisements will either make the audience envious of the lifestyle being advertised, or will generate within the audience the desire to be envied by others† (Harris). Many advertisers aren’t as successful but Steve Madden manages to persuade his buyers to buy his products through his eccentric ads.

A Critique of the Lin Article Essay

Lin, Mack, Enright, and Baskin (2004) state that prior to the writing of this article anger and related emotions have already been associated as triggers within the realm of substance abuse. As way of illustration the authors cite the Project Match 12-step facilitation therapy manual which states that â€Å"Anger and resentment are pivotal emotions for most recovering alcoholics† (Nowinski, Baker, & Carroll, as found in Lin et al, 2004, p. 1114). The traditional therapeutic method of choice within treatment settings has been that of anger management. The focus of this form of treatment is in establishing surface level coping mechanisms by â€Å"attempting to teach patients to more effectively manage or express anger rather than actually decrease their anger† (Dakken et al, 1995 as found in Lin et al, 2004 p. 1114). The authors present that there is insufficient documentation related to the efficacy of this approach. An alternative approach has been developed by a number of researchers titled Forgiveness Therapy (FT). FT states that while anger, resentment and other accompanying related emotions are correct responses to severe violations, harmful results are attributed to the same on a daily basis. The therapeutic goal, therefore, is in assisting the client in working towards educating the client regarding healthy forgiveness as a choice. The authors advise that â€Å"Robust results have been found when FT has been applied to certain populations† and â€Å"has been shown to decrease the frequency and severity of anger, anxiety and depression rather than simply improving individuals’ ability to cope with these emotions† (Lin et al, 2004, p. 115). Lin et al, (2004) chose support for the validity of FT by presenting the hypothesis that inpatient clients for substance abuse treatment who received FT would demonstrate â€Å"less anger, depression, anxiety, and vulnerability to substance abuse† than similar clients who received traditional anger management treatment. Subjects were randomly chosen within a treatment center to receive either FT or Alcohol and Drug Counseling (ADC) treatment from a group of suggested participants. All were diagnosed as substance abusers. Each participated in four instruments: The EFI, which is a sixty item self-report measure of self forgiveness, the BD1-11, which measures symptoms related to depression, the CSE1 which evaluates attitudes towards self, and STAI which assesses anxiety. Each participant also became involved in a 12 week program, either within the FT procedure or the ADC procedure. The ending result verified the original hypothesis for the researchers in that the FT group â€Å"demonstrated significantly greater improvement from pretest to posttest† (Lin et al, 2004, p. 117), as well as a marked difference in retention of improvements between the two therapeutic groups after four weeks apart from the therapy sessions. The authors did present five cautions. The first was the lack of being able to generalize the findings of the study due to the size of the testing. The second is the degree to which resentments are the norm within client’s treatment histories. The third caution is related to the need for the client to persevere within the therapy due to the length and depth of the therapy involved. The fourth caution is related to providing time for follow up data beyond the initial four month time frame which was provided for the purposes of this study. The fifth caution is that there may have possibly been some unforeseen effects by the therapist involved within the experiment since only one therapist conducted therapy for both groups. The authors summarize their findings by stating that chemical dependency issues may be linked to or are a result of unresolved negative emotional issues such as anger and resentment, and that future study of comparing and contrasting FT with more traditional anger management may continue to reinforce the advantage of therapeutically engaging in root issues rather than simply reinforcing traditional anger management daily coping methods. Critique of the Title From this researchers perspective the overall title is effective and appropriate. It is sufficiently specific while remaining properly concise. The wording provides a descriptive picture of the contents of the article while remaining under twenty words. The title also properly identifies the type of participants in the study, as well as the variables which are analyzed. The authors remain clear of utilizing jargon and acronyms which â€Å"might be unknown to the audience† (Pyrczak, 2008, p. 20). Pyrczak advises that it is normally unwise for the title of an article to reveal the results of the study (Pyrczak, 2008, p. 16). The authors of this article prove to be careful to not reveal the ultimate findings, while still causing interest by the use of their description. It is clear that the authors of this article took careful consideration in the formatting of this preliminary descriptor. Critique of the Abstract Overall this abstract is effective and appropriate. It clearly presents the purpose of the article in a clear and concise manner. The authors reveal the foundational underpinnings, the resulting hypothesis as well as the study group utilized for the overall experimentation. Highlights of the study are provided in the form of mentioning a general overview of the Forgiveness Therapy as well as indicating a favorable outcome linked to the hypothesis. The abstract did not become encumbered with titles of specific measures, except to indicate that there was a 12 week time frame of counseling sessions. While not giving specific statistics, the abstract was clear in concluding that not only were the results of this research positive, but that the authors felt confident to advise that this study substantiated the role of FT as a viable alternative for residential drug treatment. Critique of the Literature Review Overall, the literature review portion of this article is appropriate as well as informative. The purpose of the article along with the stated hypothesis logically flows from the abstract. For example, while reading the article the specific problem area which the authors are addressing is identified within the first paragraph, and this topic of concern is carried throughout the course of the article. Not only do the authors identify the problem area, that of â€Å"levels of anger and violence observed among alcohol and other substance abusers† (Lin et al, 2004, p. 114); but they also emphasize the gravity of the situation by providing specifics regarding the correlation between said negative emotions and the inability of addicts to remain sober. This provides the reasoning behind why greater development in this area within therapy needs to be addressed. In so doing the authors were also careful to properly cite sources for factual statements which reinforced their supposition. In so doing, they were careful to not inundate the article with an over abundance of cited material, leaving sufficient room for their own findings. While drawing out the concerns related to the anger and resentment issues at hand, the authors provide a well developed summary of both the Forgiveness Therapy model as well as the Anger Management Modules. The authors also provided clear and concise definitions of the instruments utilized within the study as well as providing well illustrated table in cooperation with the results of the study, and how those results can be interpreted with each instrument, and how they correlate with each other. For example not only does the article provide a Topic List for each group, (Lin et al, 2004, p. 1117 Table 1) it also provides a significant breakdown of the Means and Standard Deviation for Dependent Variables related to both study groups (Lin, Table 2, p. 1118). The only area in which this researcher may see the Literature Review as somewhat weak is in the fact that the latest research which is available within the article is from the year 2004, due to the age of the article in question. That being said, however, over all this is a well crafted review. Critique of Research Questions The hypothesis stated in this article leaves no room for questioning what it specifically entails. After providing a detailed foundation of why FT is a viable alternative in various counseling arenas as opposed to ADC, the authors then clearly state that they hypothesized that individuals in residential treatment for alcohol and drug dependence after receiving treatment augmented by FT, would demonstrate less anger, depression, anxiety and vulnerability to substance use and more self esteem than those receiving ADC treatment†¦. Lin et al, 2004, p. 1115). This hypothesis clearly provides not only a reference and a background of a therapy; it also provides specific measurable goals, and goals which can be contrasted by other measurable goals, within and on behalf of a specific demographic. Each of the specific parts of the hypothesis are logically developed within the literature review, and the developed research proves to be appropriate for the investigation at hand, albeit with specific concerns related to limitations which naturally apply due to the limited nature of the study in regards to amount of participants, limited amount of time for follow up study for the initial research, and some concern over possible biases inherent due to the fact that one therapist facilitated both study groups.

Sales and Inventory Systems

Yakult was introduced to the Philippines in 1978. Its popularity among Filipinos has significantly grown in the past 33 years. There are two main companies in the Philippines, the Yakult Philippines Incorporated (YPI) and Yakult Marketing Corporation (YMC). Yakult Philippines Incorporated (YPI), an independent company, is a manufacturer and wholesale retailer of Yakult products from Yakult Honsha Co. LTD Japan with a joint venture and shares of investment of 60% for Filipinos and 40% for the Japanese investors.The factory is located in Barrio Makiling, Calamba, Laguna. They have twenty-five distributors from Luzon to Mindanao, supplying the whole country especially wholesale clients. The Yakult Marketing Corporation (YMC) retails their products and incorporates the Yakult Lady System that started in Metro Manila and NCR, then adapted by distributors all over the country. The Prohealth Sales Distributor Corporation which is the exclusive Yakult distributor in La Union started its oper ation in March 15, 2004.The Company orders its stocks from the Yakult Philippines Incorporated (YPI) and also adapted the Yakult Lady system of the Yakult Marketing Corporation (YMC). There are three branches in La Union and the Main Office is located in Bauang, La Union. The other branches are in Agoo which started in 2005 and Bangar that recently opened last 2011. The Main office receives the stocks ordered from YPI, and then distributes it to the other two branches.For the wholesale, the main office sells the product to all establishments that intend to resell the product. They deliver the products depending on the order or demand of the client. Every day, the main office deliver stocks to the Yakult Ladies, some just go directly to the main office to pay the stocks unpaid so that they can order again. There is an official receipt issued by the main office to the Yakult Ladies that is being manually recorded in order to make the daily sales and collection report at the end of the day.Making the sales report for the Yakult Ladies is a part of the motivational factor, for them to know how much they profit or loss of income and why their sales are going down. It will also become the basis of the company for how much promotional support they will give on the month of December in terms of gifts and other benefits. All the three branches make the daily sales report, the branch in Agoo and Bangar upload and send its reports in the main office in order to be compiled in the Main office. The sales report is made by the company’s secretary, and then thoroughly checked y the supervisor. The computation of the sales report is made in order to compute the sales and profit of the company. The inventory count of stocks must tally onto the sales report in order for the company to monitor the number of stocks distributed day by day. If the sales report and inventory count did not tally, then the processes must be repeated until they meet tally. Hence, the study was p roposed to help the processes in Prohealth Distributor Sales Corporation easier, faster and to refrain from human error.Due to growing number of employees, the sale monitoring system if done manually was a lot to handle and time consuming. They need a computerized sales monitoring and inventory system that will make the computation tasks faster. Aside from its accuracy, the proposed system also aims to enhance and provide a better way to store information in a secured manner. The study will be implemented first in the Main Office of the Prohealth Sales Distributor Corporation La Union in order to pilot test the system software being proposed.

Beer Commerical Essay

When you cork off the top of a Guinness beer you inhale the smell of unroasted malted Marley. The smell and taste you experience gives you sense of satisfaction. The video persuades you that the types of individuals that drink this beer are ones who care and respect others. Individuals that believe that â€Å"The choices we make reveal the true nature of our character. † The introduction is the most important feature of this commercial. Because there is no dialog, the visuals are what tell the story. The commercial begins with the song playing right on cue of the ball missing the goal. If you notice, the video is in slow motion at this point. When the ball comes down and is rebounded the camera is repositioned on the guys rolling down the court to symbolize how strenuous these guys are working. Their dedication is displayed not only by the looks on their faces when the camera is zoomed in, but by the sweat dripping aimlessly down their brows. Consequently, the announcer comes on and states dedication when one of the men fall down in the wheelchair trying to retrieve the ball but instantly gets back up to get back in the game This is not only emotionally appealing to the audience because they are playing the diligent game of basketball, but because these guys have to work even harder due to the fact that they are paraplegics. The final goal is made and all but one of the guys gets up from their wheelchair which visualizes the devotion these guys demonstrate to the one guy who actually is handicap. Once again this an attempt from the creators of this commercial to emotionally appeal to its audience by representing the loyalty of playing basketball in the most unbiased way possible to a paraplegic friend. The music in the background plays an important role in this commercial. The Cinematic Orchestra – To Build a Home is very inspirational to the visuals to this commercial. The tempo perfectly aligns with the events in this storyline. It begins with this slow tempo to signify the sadness in the events but then climaxes when the goal is made and shows that not everyone in this video is actually in a wheelchair and it finalizes when the tempo becomes lowered and constant symbolizing a calm and collectiveness that we are all the same despite our differences. Guinness consumers alone are not the only intended audience of this commercial. This was meant to appeal to younger and older audiences. The younger audiences benefit from the choice of music which is The Cinematic Orchestra. The older audiences benefit from a beer commercial. This commercial is very simple. Its intent is not for you to focus on the fact that paraplegics have it harder in life, or the intensity from the sport of basketball. It’s merely about the three main principles these individuals exhibit. It’s about the Dedication, Loyalty, and Friendship. This character is defined as the type of people who drink Guinness Beer.

The Personal and Professional Development of Students Essay

The Personal and Professional Development of Students - Essay Example My decision to appeal is mainly motivated by the fact that it has always been my cherished desire to pursue my higher academic qualifications from the university. The university is renowned for its personalized and excellent academic programs that significantly contribute to the personal and professional development of students. I strongly believe that my consistent high grade of 3.89 GPA in the academic programs and nomination to the Dean’s list would be a vital element in the reconsideration process. Moreover, last fall, I was not able to complete pre-calculus class (Math 43) due to ill health which was probably an important factor in my rejection. The calculus sequence would be completed by the summer, thus fulfilling all major requirements for the transfer. I am a self-driven individual with a passion for learning and tend to use paradoxical thinking to seek an innovative solution to mundane problems. I have actively participated in the Honors Program and Phi Theta Kappa t o push myself to a higher limit and motivate peers. Most importantly, the various modules of the course curricula are designed to provide persons with a strong knowledge-based degree which would facilitate more efficient and accurate decision-making process in the professional field in the area of economics and management. This would considerably complement my basic inquisitive nature and empower me with skills and information that can be applied to current situations and areas within personal and professional lives. I sincerely believe that the degree programs would be the right choice for me and help me realize my dreams and meet the challenges of time with great success.

The Arrangement of the Genes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Arrangement of the Genes - Essay Example The only thing keeping us safe from them is our immune system. Our innate immune system (e.g. skin, mucous membranes, sneezing, blinking, excretion of waste, etc.) is the first responder and is responsible for most of the pathogens we encounter everyday. For the uncommon pathogens, we rely on our adaptive immune system to quickly develop and combat new and rare pathogens that the innate immune system cannot handle. That aside, it also changes itself to be prepared for a repeated attack by the same organism. It is amazing to think about how many harmful organisms are repelled again and again by this system that continuously changes to keep us safe. Some of the key players in our adaptive immune system are our T cell antigen receptors (TCR). They are ‘highly variable antigen-recognition structures’1 whose job is to recognize antigens and activate the appropriate lymphocytes to combat them. Since the TCRs are antigen-MHC compound specific and insoluble at the same time, iso lating them was very difficult until scientists started using clonotypic monoclonal antibodies.2 With this method, they were able to determine that the TCRs were heterodimers of 2 sets of chain genes: the ?:? and the ?:? chains. The two have similar structures, but they detect different antigens. The ?:? is the most common (90-99%) while the ?:? is the minority (1-10%). 3 The former detects antigens presented with Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) while the latter doesn’t need MHC to detect certain antigens. The genetic structure of the TCR is similar to that of the immunoglobulins (Ig) in B cells. It is composed of Variable (V) and Constant (C) regions. The variable region contains Variable (V), Joining (J) and Diversity (D) segments depending on whether the chain is a light or heavy immunoglobulin (or an ? or ?, or a ? or ? chain for a TCR). In heavy immunoglobulin chains, VDJ gene segments join together randomly, while in the light chains (Lambda and Kappa), they only have V and J segments to join. Combinatorial association in B cells further increases variability by giving the ability to create ‘any one possible heavy chain and any one possible light chain’ in all individual B cells.4 Because of the large number of possible gene rearrangements, the structure of Ig or TCR genes is virtually unique for each B or T lymphocy te.5 Figure 1 T-cell receptor ?- and ?-chain gene rearrangement and expression6 Since T cells also have antigen receptors like the immunoglobulin, they also have a similar process of gene rearrangement and expression. In Figure 1, we can see an ?- and ?-chain rearranging and coming together to form a TCR. The ?-chain gene rearrangement is similar to the light chain because they do not have a D? to combine. The ?-chain is also similar to the heavy chain because it combines V?, D? and J? gene segments. The less common ?- and ?-chains are structurally similar to the TCR?- and ?-chains, but with a few changes. The ? chain is found inside the TCR? chain, between the V? and the J? gene segments. This arrangement causes a loss of ? chain whenever the TCR?-chain rearranges, since any segments in between V? and J? will be deleted. The ?-chain is similar to the TCR?-chain in that it has V, D, and J segments. The ?:? receptors are largely a mystery to scientists as of the moment.7 One of the f ew things determined to be true is the fact that they can detect non-classical major histocompatibility complex class I molecules T10 and T22.8 Combinatorial association further increases the variability, making it possible to have a unique genetic arrangement for every T cell receptor. Figure 2 The numbers of human T-cell receptor gene segments and the sources of T-cell

You choose the topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

You choose the topic - Essay Example In effect, I offered the organization with outstanding service to enable it to engage all the stakeholders in order to solve the hunger problem in the communities. The volunteering service at Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin used to start at 9 A.M and end at 4 P.M with breaks between the tasks. My primary task was to assist in sorting and labeling of various foodstuffs in the warehouse to distribute to the hungry people in the community. I used as heavy at fifteen-pound foodstuffs. My objectives were to meet the community needs and learn how organizations address them while gaining practical skills to apply and effect a positive change in the real world. In the course of the community service, my objective evolved according to the demands of different tasks. I constantly applied leadership skills that I mastered during the execution of tasks in the warehouse. Largely, I met my objectives of serving the community and bringing a positive change to the people’s lives. It was a pleasure to learn that apart from donating and volunteering at Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin an individual can hold food drives. I did not know that the organization invites such drives aimed at collecting foodstuffs to assist in alleviating hunger. In fact, I can now hold food drives in my learning institution to help the organization get enough foodstuffs. In effect, the Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin exercises a high level of social responsibility in issues central to humanity. Notably, the organization collaborates with other agencies to ensure that the hunger stricken communities live a pleasant life. The level of interaction between the organization and the community aims at enhancing the quality of the society. Similarly, the interaction between the volunteers and the organization’s workforce is remarkable and allows individuals to dedicate their efforts towards alleviating poverty. The harmonious relationship enabled me to contribute positively to the organization.

Creating shared valued Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Creating shared valued - Essay Example It is a shame that the responsibility of improving the social, economic problems has fallen on to the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). As companies are sole concentrating on profit maximization, these organizations are getting involved in activities that elevate the social, economic activities of the society. Because companies have failed to take up worthy causes, it has prompted the government to implement policies that force these companies to take up proactive measures to support the society. The government`s actions cause friction between them and the companies, who accuse the government of interfering with their activities. The best method to approach this problem lies in the principle of shared value. It entails the creation of economic value, which in turn addresses the society`s needs and challenges. It is good to remember that shared value is not a form of social responsibility, but a new and innovative way to bring success back to the society. When a society`s needs and challenges are addressed, the society can now fully focus on more productive ways to improve on their economic positions. It gives rise to the next major transformation in business

The Ethics of Surveillance Cameras Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Ethics of Surveillance Cameras - Essay Example From when you walk out of your house, in most cities, you are being watched (Parenti, 2003). This is because the cameras are now installed in major city streets, gas stations, retail shops and transport systems such as trains. The use of surveillance cameras doubled in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City. These prompted frantic efforts, to curb terrorism, a major threat to security in this century. We are seeking to look at the ethics of surveillance cameras. Historically, the idea of watching the public by a select few, especially those who control us politically and economically can be traced to the Panoptical (Foucault, 1977). This was a kind of prison design, built in such a way that a single guard could watch the prisoners in a single gaze. This is a big way induces prisoners in a state of conscious and permanent knowledge that they are being watched. Foucault saw surveillance as productive machinery of continuous mind control, which is somehow what current surveillance cameras represent. Therefore, what we seek to argue here is that we need new ethics in the surveillance camera industry, because of the reasons below. This is because surveillance when done correctly and for the right reasons and people, then we can surrender apart of our civil liberty to privacy, for the sake of public security. Closed -circuit televisions when placed in public areas, give people a sense of security, reduce crime by up to five percent. Up to ninety percent of respondents saw no problem in having such surveillance in public areas. Surveillance done in the above manner, by the correct agencies, can be said to be ethical and legal. On the other hand, we can seek to look at the ethics of surveillance cameras, by looking at who does it and for what they will be  used to do, therefore the ethics of surveillance cameras. Ethics is defined by the BBC online, as a system of moral principles. This is what is good for the individual and society, therefore is responsible for holding the society together.  

Organizational Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Organizational Analysis - Essay Example This strategy comes into play whenever any organization has a certain aim or objective to reach as otherwise the entire strategy becomes an ineffective one. This strategy is used in order to be incorporated in the entire strategic planning model. For any company to be competitive, efficient and at par with the market, it has to be able to scan the internal and the external environment at that results in the fulfillment of the corporate aims. This analysis would allow the organization, to have valuable information resulting in the matching of the firm's resources and its capabilities to the sort of competition that exists in the market in which that company is operating and functioning in at present. For all companies in the present times, this tool has become highly important as it results in the strategy formulation and selection. The above diagram depicts all the four aspects which make up this analysis framework and which are used in order to scan the environment as well. The company that would be analyzed for the purpose of this paper would be done in a manner which would allow its internal and external factors to be highlighted while at the same time looking at the best possible strategy that could be used by this organization in order to achieve its corporate aims and all. Hill, T. & R. Westbrook (1997). The company that would be analyzed would be the ALDI which stands for Albrecht Discount; a discount supermarket chain which is based in Germany. It would be viewed in terms of the different areas which make it one of the biggest supermarket chains of Germany. This organization operates on a global level and delivers world class services to its global clients. This organization falls within the commercial sector which has recently had had to take a severe hit due to the recession and yet this particular organization has remained strong and steady enough-it even managed to score highly on the list of top companies operating within the European region proving that his chain has the strength which has allowed it to gain a good and strong position in the market despite such a strong setback. This organization's business services are made up of the provision of a range of goods which are available at discounted prices. The global strength of this organization can be gauged from the fact that it has over eight thousand stores worldwide and almost a new store opens up in Britain every week. The strengths of this supermarket have been this very ability to deliver quality services to a wide range of clients who have access to a number of in-house products and the outside products are unusually quite limited in number... The fact that this organization has always stressed on maintaining a low price policy which has allowed it to keep itself on its toes and hence, the ability to sustain itself during one of the worst financial scenarios to have ever existed. The innovative ideas such as having weekly special offers on more expensive products and by having a wide range of stores has translated into a strong and confident clientele. The ability of this chain to listen to the customer and value the feedback, efficient

Personal Statements Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Statements - Personal Statement Example In flight instruction, where evaluating and documenting risk can be real time or anticipated for the future, my ability to recognize and evaluate the risk at every conceivable instant allows me to complete each flight safely; in flight instruction, there is no room for errors. In real time, I evaluate and identify risks from the pre-flight briefing through the post-flight briefing of every lesson. By documenting the flight lesson in the student’s records, I anticipate potential risks that must be addressed until I am satisfied that the risk can be managed and mitigated by the student when I no longer unsupervised their development and risk management. This is a complicated process that requires I document flight lessons in both my and the student’s records to pinpoint dysfunctions and areas that require further evaluation and improvement. The goal that is achieved provides a viewfinder for identifying, and eliminating risk within program parameters. I also managed risk while flying freight. One risk that constantly required monitoring was icing potential. I would perform a pre-flight evaluation to review the route of flight. I would evaluate the weather using documented and approved sources, and I would evaluate the potential for icing. I would assess the type of aircraft required for the flight and based on these risk evaluations request the appropriate aircraft to control the risk. Simply stated, if I was going into icing, I would demand an aircraft useable for known icing. If the appropriate aircraft was not available, I would explain the risk involved with the flight, provide the information I had obtained while assessing the risk and explain how that risk would be mitigated by using appropriate equipment. I was never denied an aircraft after explaining my documented, risk-assessment evaluation. 2. In this text area, please provide a brief explanation of your

Quantum Computing the Future Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Quantum Computing the Future - Research Paper Example This paper presents a detailed analysis of quantum computing. Quantum computing is a significant area of present-day research aimed at establishing computer related tools and machines based on the rules and regulations of quantum theory In this scenario, the quantum theory outlines the environment and performance of material and energy on the quantum, both at the atomic and subatomic level. . In addition, the quantum computing is not a new idea since it was first emerged in the 1970s. Moreover, the quantum computing is basically based on the ideas of quantum physics. For instance, it utilizes the properties of atoms offered by definite quantum physics theories to allow them to get together in form of quantum bits, which can be used for computer's processing (Stewart, 2011; Pawliw, 2010; Webopedia, 2011). This paper discusses the role of quantum computing, its history and future developments. The basic purpose of this research is to explain the role and importance of quantum computing in modern day information technology. Introduction The large volume of computing processing capabilities has been produced by high speed processing machines; however makers of these machines have not so far been capable to satisfy our desires for speed as well as processing competence. During 1947, American computer engineer Howard Aiken stated that only 6 electronic digital computers would convene the computing requirements of the U.S. Others have prepared comparable bad forecasts regarding the power of computing power that would facilitate their rising hi-tech requirements of processing capabilities (Bonsor & Strickland, 2000), (Spector, 2007) and (Spector, Quantum computing, 2008). Additionally, the developments have evolved since individuals found novel methods of using a variety of substantial resources like that forces, supplies as well as energies. In this scenario, the narration of computer and information processing technology has engaged a series of transformations of phy sical comprehension from mechanism to regulators to transistors to ICs and much more. Additionally, nowadays superior lithographic methodologies are able to compress portion of micron, broad logic gates as well as wires onto the exterior of silicon technology chips. In addition, quickly they will produce even lesser portions as well as certainly arrive at a level where logic gates are very short sized that they are created out of simply a small number of atoms (Bakir, 2011), (Franklin & Chong, 2004) and (Hughes & Williams, 2000). Furthermore, while working at atomic level that follows the policies of quantum mechanics is fairly dissimilar from the traditional policies that decide the characteristics of traditional logic gates. Consequently, if computers are to turn out to be smaller in the upcoming period, quantum technologies have to put back or add-up with what we are using at present. Here, the main idea is that the quantum technology is able to present a great deal more than cra mming increasingly bits to silicon chip as well as increasing the clock-speed of computer technology microprocessors. Moreover, it is as well able to help in latest type of calculations by providing qualitatively novel algorithms foundational upon quantum theory based standards (Bakir, 2011), (Franklin & Chong, 2004) and (Hughes & Williams, 2000). This paper presents a detailed overview of quantum computing. This research will cover the historical background of quantum comput

Problem of Evil Essay Example for Free

Problem of Evil Essay The traditional problem of evil emerges when people believe in and argue for the existence of a God who is both omnipotent and wholly good. According to Mackie’s study (1955), few of the solutions to the problem of evil could stand up to criticism. Today, someone suggests an alternative: God is not perfectly good, but maximally cool. By cool he means to be free from tension or violence. Since God is maximally cool, he is not so much concerned about either eliminating evil or maximizing goodness than promoting coolness. This God appears to be logically valid, but this essay will show that the existence of such God is impossible. First, we should ask this: if God aims to promote coolness, why would he bother to create evil? It is clear that evil is not cool, given that evil creates tension and violence. It may be replied that God is maximally cool and therefore creates anything based on his will and is not concerned with what happens to his creation afterwards. This reply is arguing that God created some cool thing which later then turned into the uncool evil. Then, the fact that uncool evil exists implies that God cannot make this uncool evil to be cool again, which contradicts with the premise that God is omnipotent. Secondly, good is also uncool. According to most theists, good is defined to be opposite to evil and thus always fights to expel evil (Mackie, 1955), so that good is in constant tension and possible violence with evil. Though the God in argument is claimed to be not perfectly good, this God is still good to a certain degree. Then he will still fights against evil and therefore is not always cool. This leads us to conclude that this God cannot be maximum cool. This guy in defense of the existence of a maximally cool God might argue that uncool is necessary as a counterpart to cool. It seems natural and necessary to consider why there should be uncool things if God is maximum cool. He might argue that if there were no uncool, there could be no cool either, in that if there were no violence or tension to be created and involved in, there could be no violence or tension to be free from. It might be that out of randomness, God created evil that generates tension and good that engages in tension against evil. To detach from involvement in tension or to destroy tension might create another tension and may incur violence. If God were to eliminate uncool things that he created, he would enter a tension between cool and uncool. Then, it would be uncool to make uncool things cool. Because God is maximally cool, he will not enter such tension and therefore he leaves good and evil as uncool as they are. By claiming that cool cannot exist without uncool, this guy shows that God cannot create cool without simultaneously creating uncool. This sets a limit to what God can do, which involves two possibilities: either God is not omnipotent or that omnipotence has some limits. If it is the first case, then we can deny the existence of a God who is omnipotent and maximally cool. If it is the second case, one may argue that these limits are logically impossibility. However, according to Mackie (1955), some theists hold the view that God can do what is logically impossible, while many theists maintain that God created logic. This leads us to the paradox of omnipotence, where we consider whether an omnipotent being can bind himself. According to Mackie, although we can avoid the paradox of omnipotence by putting God outside time, we cannot prove that an omnipotent God binds himself by logical laws. Therefore, it is a fallacious approach to prove the existence of a maximally cool and omnipotent by claiming that cool and uncool are counterparts to each other. To summarize, if a God is omniscience, then he must know the existence of uncool. If he is omnipotent and maximum cool, he will promote coolness to the maximum. However, we observe that there are uncool things which are against God’s will to promote coolness and which God cannot make them cool. Therefore, a God that is omniscience, omnipotent and maximally cool cannot exist. Works Cited J. L. Mackie, Evil and Omnipotence, Mind, New Series, Vol. 64, No. 254. (Apr. , 1955), pp. 200-212. In Pascal’s Wager, Pascal concludes that rationality requires people to wager for god. He bases his argument on mainly three premises. The first premise is his construct of the decision matrix of rewards. The second premise suggests that we are required by rationality to assign positive and not infinitesimal probability to God existing. The third premise states that we are required by rationality to perform the act of possible maximum expected utility. This essay will argue that Pascal’s Wager does not demonstrate solid prudential reasons for us to believe in God, by showing the third premise is not necessarily true. We consider that it is not in all cases that we are required by rationality to maximize expected utility. In Pascal’s Wager, we pay ‘one life’ to wager for God and obtain infinite expected utility. Paying finite amount to play a game with infinite expectation appear to be at our interests and can therefore serve as a prudential reason for us to wager for God. However, in certain cases, this action could be regarded as absurd and alternatively, and to the contrary, taking intuitively sub-optimal actions would actually maximize the expected utility. For example, the St. Petersburg paradox could be representative of this kind of situations. In the St. Petersburg game (Martin, 2011), we keep flipping a coin until we get a coin. The total number of flips, n, yields the prize which equals $2n. There are infinite sum of flips possible, so we have infinite number of possible consequences. The expected payoff of each consequence is $1 and therefore the ‘expected value’ of the game, which equals the sum of the expected payoffs of all the consequences, will be an infinite number of dollars. Then, intuitively we will be willing to play the game as long as we only need to pay a finite number of dollars, given that the ‘expected value’ of the game is infinite. However, Hacking (1980) suggested that â€Å"few of us would pay even $25 to enter such a game. † If we were to pay $25 for the game, half of the time we receive $2 and one quarter of the time the game pays $4, so the probability to break-even is less than one in twenty five. Still, because of the very small possibility of the number of flips to be greater than $25, the expected payoff of the game is larger than the $25 payment. According to standard Bayesian decision theory (Martin, 2011), we should play this game. Then again, because of the very small possibility of getting high enough payment, it is very likely that we will need to flip a coin longer than our physical possibility. In that sense, it will be absurd to pay this finite amount and flip longer than physical constraints for the infinite expected payoff. Therefore, it is not always true that rationality will require us to perform the act that yields maximal expected utility. In the St. Petersburg game we experiment infinitely many trials which yield infinite expectation. In Pascal’s wager, we have a single-trial which also yields infinite expectation. It seems natural for Pascal to assume that expectation is a good guide to solve this decision problem. However, according to Hajek (2012), we need to take variance into consideration to make better decision, because in this one-time shot, a large variance could lead us to an outcome which is much worse than the expectation. When the variance is small, it is probable to get an outcome close to the expectation. However, the further the distribution of outcomes spreads out, the more likely it is to get a bad outcome, and the less compelling the third premise seems to be. Assuming that the expectation of wagering for God is infinite, we can calculate the variance of the outcomes of the wager. Given the infinitely good of the good outcome and the status quo of the bad outcome, the variance is infinite. In the case of an infinite variance, due to our risk-aversion, we might be better off choosing to minimize variance than maximizing our expected utility. Indeed, if f2 is made as low as possible, the variance of wagering for God would be much greater than wagering against God. If the probability of the probability of receiving infinite good, is made as low as possible, the resulted variance might make we deviate much further away from the expected utility in an undesirable direction. Both cases above could happen, and if they do, we would feel less compelled by our rationality to maximize our expected utility because the large variance could lead us to a situation that is much worse than expectation. To summarize, Pascal’s premise three is not necessarily true. This premise says that we are required by nationality to maximize expected utility where there is one available. However, the St. Petersburg paradox suggests that rationality does not always require us to maximize our expected utility. Furthermore, in consideration of large variance, expectation might not be a good measure of choiceworthiness (Hajek, 2012). Without the validity of premise three, we cannot draw the conclusion that rationality requires us to wager for God. Therefore, Pascal’s wager does not solidly demonstrate that we have prudential reasons to believe in God. Works Cited Hajek, Alan, Pascals Wager, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed. ), URL = http://plato. stanford. edu/archives/win2012/entries/pascal-wager/ Martin, Robert, The St. Petersburg Paradox, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = . Hacking, Ian, 1980, â€Å"Strange Expectations†, Philosophy of Science 47: 562-567. According to Pollock (1986), you might be a brain floating in a vat filled with nutrient fluid. You do not realize that you are a brain in a vat because this brain is wired to a computer program that produces stimulation in brain to cause experiences that are qualitatively indistinguishable from normal experiences of being a human being. The problem lies exactly in that whether you are a brain in a vat or not, everything seems to be the same to you. Many philosophers have attempted to prove that you are not a brain in a vat and their approaches seem to be valid. Among those, Moore’s argument and Putnam’s argument are two influential but different approaches. This essay tries to show that you cannot use either of these arguments to prove that you are not a brain in a vat. While going through Moore’s argument seems to be an easy way to show that you are not a BIV (brain in a vat), it is not difficult to show how this approach is flawed either. By Moore’s argument, first you open your eyes and form perceptual knowledge that you have hands. Then you deduce that you are not a BIV which does not have hands and thereby you come to know that conclusion. However, it should be argued in the first place that your senses are not reliable. As Descartes argued in Meditations (1986), while you might form the perception that you are wearing a dress in the dream, you are actually undressed in your bed. The flaw in the logic of this approach can be demonstrated in the following analogous story. You see an empty glass on a table. The glass looks orange and in fact it is. You form perceptual knowledge that the glass is orange. You deduce that it is not colorless and filled with orange juice. You thereby come to know that the glass does not appear orange to you because it is colorless with orange juice filled in it. By assuming that there is orange juice in the glass, you establish that the glass does not appear orange to you because it is colorless with orange juice filled in it. Here the problem is that there is no orange juice and you are trying to prove there is orange juicy by assuming its existence. For the same token, if you are a BIV, then the hands that you perceive are hands* produced by one feature of the computer program. The premise asserting that you form a perception of hands is assuming that you are not a BIV and therefore can form a perceptual knowledge of hands. This is begging the question because we want to prove that we are not BIV. Therefore, you cannot prove that you are not a BIV by going through Moore’s argument. Another famous discussion is Putnam’s semantic arguments. One problem of this approach is the narrow scope of the arguments. Putnam started his arguments by drawing analogy between the mental image of a Martian and that of a BIV. Claiming that Mars does not have tree, Putnam established that BIV’s utterance of ‘tree’ has a different referent from the referent of a non-BIV speaking of a tree. While it is possible that you have always been a BIV since you come into being, so you have never seen a tree that a non-BIV sees. It is also possible that you have lived certain part of your life as a non-BIV and then at some point you are made into a BIV. For example, if you recall in The Problems of Knowledge (Pollock, 1986), by the time that Margot tells Mike that he is a brain in a vat, he has been a brain in a vat for three months. According to Margot, Henry, or the brain in a vat that Mike sees, receives a fictitious mental life that merges perfectly into Henry’s past life. To merge perfectly, the language and its referents that the computer generates for Henry must be indistinguishable from those before his envatment. Similarly, if Mike has been speaking English up until three months ago when he was envatted, his utterance of ‘Margot’ after envatment must have the same referent as the one he had before. It must be that now his words retain the same English referents to the same contents in order to achieve a perfect merge (Brueckner, 2012). This perfect merge makes brain* in a vat* the same as BIV, which means whether you are BIV or not, you always speak English rather than vat-English. Because there are no differences in the languages between BIV and non-BIV, the semantic arguments have nowhere to start in this case. Unless you know with certainty that all BIVs have been BIVs since they came into beings, you cannot use semantic arguments to prove that you are not a BIV. To summarize, Moore’s arguments appear to be an easy solution to the problem of knowledge, but these arguments are begging the question and therefore cannot refute the brain-in-a-vat hypotheses. It seems that Putnam’s arguments are more compelling, but still they fail to rule out all possible versions of the brain-in-a-vat hypotheses. Therefore, you cannot prove that you are a non-BIV by using either of these arguments. Works Cited Descartes, Rene. Meditations on First Philosophy. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1960. Print. Pollock, John L. Contemporary Theories of Knowledge. Totowa, NJ: Rowman Littlefield, 1986. Print. Brueckner, Tony, Skepticism and Content Externalism, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed. ), URL = .