Children and young people’s development Essay

Learning outcome 2: Understand the kinds of influences that effect children and young people’s development. We can all be influenced by different things through life, a child’s emotional, physical, social, intellectual development can be affected by different influences, bullying, death, divorce and many more. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA 1.2 There are many different examples of how different aspects of development can have an affect on one another, here are a few examples. If a child speaks a foreign language as their first and they and their family have just moved to this country to live, this may lead to them having a language barrier, the child may be very shy, find it very hard to communicate with others and isolate themselves and finding it difficult to make friends. All of these can affect the child emotionally, socially, possibly creating behavioural problems and lowering their self-esteem, all having an effect on their development. A child who finds it difficult to interact with other children due to reasons such as bullying, may find it difficult to express how they feel, and unable to tell anyone what is happening to them. This can affect the child, emotionally they may become very upset easily or even aggressive at times, they may be affected socially, thinking that all children are going to bully them and so isolating themselves from others, and losing confidence. These may all affect their ability to concentrate in the classroom and may in turn start affecting their levels. A child who may have a disability may find that not being able to participate with certain lessons for example PE, may leave them feeling that they are being isolated and that they are different to the others, this may affect their social, behavioural and emotional development. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA 2.1 Children and young people can be affected by different kinds of influences and these can have an effect on their development. Background We all come from different backgrounds whether it be ethnic, cultural, our  environment or just circumstances. It may be that the child speaks a foreign language and is finding it difficult to communicate with others. A child may have different cultural needs to those children within the school environment. The child may come from a deprived home where there is little money and the child is not getting sufficient nutrients to sustain them during a school day. Causing lack of concentration. Also the child’s parents may be going through a divorce or separation, this can be very traumatic for a child. All of these can have an effect on the development of a child, and their ability to learn. Health Development can be affected if the child suffers with poor health or a physical disability. Low income and not being able to afford the right foods and nutrients will have an effect, physically and intellectually the child may be affected. A child with a physical disability may be emotionally and socially effected because of not being able to participate. It’s important that they are supported and included as much as possible. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA 2.2 Recognising and responding to children’s and young people’s development is important, it ensures the child or young person receives the right help and support. As soon as it is recognised that a child has a problem then the right action can be taken to ensure the child gets any help or support with their learning and they can also be monitored. If a child was ignored or the problem was not detected then their development may suffer, causing them to fall behind, or not reach their goals. You may have started to notice that a particular child is quieter than normal and isn’t their normal happy self, this could be a cause of concern, you may feel that you are able to ask the child if there is anything bothering them. They may respond by telling you that their mum and dad are not getting along and dad has left the home. This may affect the emotional behaviour of the child as well as their social as they feel they can’t talk to any of their friends about it. You may feel it’s necessary to speak to their teacher, but it’s important that this is kept as confidential. It would then be necessary to monitor the child’s development and behaviour. Being able to recognise and see a concern with a child can make all the difference to their development in the future. Being able to listen, understand and help is an important role to play as a TA.

About Hemja Villege Resort

Hemja Village Resort is newly organized service oriented business venture in the tourist sector (Pokhara). The proposed resort is located at Hemja, Pokhara. The resort is situated at the middle part of Hemja, near of Tibetian Camp near of the Pokhara city. It is spread over 2 biga with full of the facility HVR is a partnership organization, comprising of two business partners. The total investment would be around 5 million. Each business partners would invest 2. 5 million each.The Hemja Village Resort was envisioned to be Nepal’s most luxurious and exclusive property, offering amenities that a modern world-weary traveler can desire. The proposed schemes are very good, reliable, and qualitative service with reasonable price. The main objective of the resort is to establish a small-scale resort to provide the good lodging and food services to internal and external customer with full availability of recreational activities and ultimately achieve the large pie of the marketplace.T hat â€Å"Quality Service for all† would be our slogan. The management committee vision three types of customers Nepali, Indian, and foreign (from different countries like Japan, German, America, Australia, Korea, china). The resort is estimating near about 3,000 customers in the first year with the incremental of 20% each year. This resort is thinking to attain an average growth in service revenue of about 10% per year and to increase market share by 10% annually. HVR reaches breakeven point in the second year of operation and earn profit thereafter.The special promotional tools would be used such as FM, Newspaper, TV channels, banners, and news journal, e. t. c. customers can gain information and book their services from our website: www. hemjavillegeresort. com. np. During the first few years, HVR uses the low cost advantage strategy and differentiation strategy to attract the more customers and then after few years of operation it uses the growth strategy for the developm ent of resort as the marketing strategy.In its marketing mix 7 Ps are analyzed. These are product, price, place, promotion, people, process, physical environment. HVR will use a set of action programme to achieve its marketing objectives. The financial projection is based on the implementation of the action programme, which gives the detail information about the income and expenses of the resort. To evaluate overalls performance of the resort it implements the monthly, quarterly or annual evaluation and control syste

Appropriateness, Reinforcement, Preferences and Transformation Essay Example for Free

Appropriateness, Reinforcement, Preferences and Transformation Essay According to Eunson (2006, p.15) there are four main criteria to be considered when choosing the medium/s of communication to best articulate an argument: Appropriateness, Reinforcement, Preferences and Transformation. Select one of the criteria and discuss its importance to a communication situation. Any successful communication process requires the presence of a message, appropriate medium   and the desired message’s effect on the receiver.   Ã‚  To effect success in communication, it is important to use a suitable medium based on the Preferences criterion. Modern technologies have greatly facilitated human communication. However, as Priestley’s Paradox illustrates, people get to actually communicate less as communication technologies further advance (Eunson 2006, p.4). Hence, for effective communication, it is more important to consider the message and the effect of that message on the receiver (Eunson 2006, p.7). The successful transfer of message and its effect, however, largely depends on the communication mode used or â€Å"preferred†. The medium is crucial to the effect of a message because as emphasized by Marshall McLuhan (Lister 2003), â€Å"societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media† . In other words, the medium is the message. A case in point would be a Human Resource Department in an office where the HR Manager normally ‘prefers’ communicating with his staff through memos and e-mail notifications. But being a smart manager, he or she will not hesitate to utilize other media as needed, according to the importance of the message and the desired effect to the recipients. He or she may ‘prefer’ to personally discuss an individual’s unsatisfactory ‘Performance Assessment Report’, earlier sent as is via individual e-mail, through   one-on-one review. The richness of media (Daft & Lengel 1986, p.557) effected by direct face-to-face discussion is ‘preferred’ to the e-mail channel, which in this case plays a secondary role as preparatory medium of documentation. Herein, interpersonal communication appropriate to a small group (Baker, Barrett & Roberts 2002, p.11), is considered and selected to amplify the Report’s â€Å"warning† content with the goal of effecting the desired change in the staffer’s behaviour. Exploring â€Å"Preferences† in choosing media is vital to effectively convey the message. Since the medium, which helps shape the content, is mostly the message itself and that the message’s effect on the receiver is affected by the medium, selecting the suitable channel from a range of Preferences becomes crucial to any effective communication. Baker, E. Barrett, M. & Roberts, L 2002, Working Communication , John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd., Milton Qld. Daft, R. L. and Lengel, R. H. 1986 â€Å"Organizational Information Requirements, Media Richness and Structural Design,† Management Sci. , Vol. 32, No.5, pp. 554–571. Eunson, B . 2006, Communicating in the 21 st Century , John Wiley & Sons, Australia Ltd., Milton Qld. Lister, M 2003, New Media: A Critical Introduction , Routledge, London. Appropriateness, Reinforcement, Preferences and Transformation. (2017, Mar 01).

The New Republics by Chris Hughes Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The New Republics by Chris Hughes - Case Study Example It might have portrayed a callow and incompetent image of him in public. (Lizza, â€Å"Inside the Collapse of The New Republic†). The eruptive exit of most of the senior editorial staff and critics in a masthead, following the sudden resignation of Frank Foer and Leon Wieseltier, made the atmosphere of TNR turbulent. Many interpreted this as the revamp of magazine-style long reporting structure to follow a Silicon style way of going digital, with the advent of Vidra at TNR (Lizza, â€Å"Inside the Collapse of The New Republic†; Calderone, â€Å"Owner Chris Hughes and CEO Guy Vidra Say the New RepublicIsn’t Dead Yet†). In order to break shackles from the impending management pressures at TNR, Foer and Hughes started looking for a new CEO. Though there was an initial round of disagreement on getting someone hired from the magazine industry, Hughes welcomed Guy Vidra, a person with a strong corporate background for the position. With Vidra, the working climate in NR started changing. The traditional institutional model was fast changing and a separate investment vehicle was launched in the name of New Republic Fund. TNR started proclaiming itself as a vertically-integrated digital-media company of its kind (Calderone,† Owner Chris Hughes and CEO Guy Vidra Say The New Republic Isn't Dead Yet†; Horowitz,† David Brooks Calls New Republic Owner Chris Hughes Callow And Incompetent†). Hughes, joining hands with Vidra, was contemplating means of making more money and preventing wastage overcomplicated things. Hughes is conscious of the financial bloopers and has been always aware of the mistakes (Snyder, â€Å"The new Republic- A Letter from the Editor†). While, on the one hand, going digital might be the fashion trend, but on the other hand, a high level of competition causing immense impact in the journalism industry is unavoidable.

Is the information society a coherent concept Essay

Is the information society a coherent concept - Essay Example Virtually, there are no segments of human life which are unaffected by information. In political, social, and economic circles, information is vital. The growth of computer and internet related technologies increased the importance of information on human life. These technologies help human life in many ways at present. The term information society has gained popularity only in recent times, after the developments of computer and internet related technologies. An information society is one that makes the best possible use of ICTs. It is a society in which the quality of life, as well as prospects for social change and economic development, depend increasingly upon information and its exploitation. In such a society, living standards, patterns of work and leisure, the education system, and marketplace are all influenced by advances in information and knowledge (Ogbomo & Ogbomo, 2008, p.1). Life without computers or internet is unimaginable at present. Any problems occur to computers or internet may cause huge damages to human life. It should not be forgotten that humankind was under tremendous pressure when Y2K problem aroused early in the beginning of the twenty-first century. â€Å"Everyone has his or her more or less well formed opinion about the information society, the Internet and its influence on our everyday lives even if they have never used a computer or surfed the Internet†(Pinter, 2008, p.12). Even a layman understands the importance of computers, internet and information at present. Under such circumstances, the concept of information society should be considered as a coherent one. An information society can be built if the people and the government have the will to do so. A development oriented information society is a society in which everyone ‘can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable

How did Paul universalize Christ Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

How did Paul universalize Christ - Essay Example Though this was the life-changing and decisive moment in his life that made him commit himself to preach the message of the Christ, Paul believed that the calling to serve God came much earlier while he was in his mother’s womb. He believed that this revelation was given to him to continue to work of the prophets who spread the message of the lord in nations across the world. He believed that he was also an apostle who was directly chosen by Christ to preach the message of the lord. Thus following his divine encounter with Christ Paul set out on this missionary task. He was chosen to be a missionary for all people including non-Jews and others living in nations around the world (Edart). Paul began his missionary work by addressing the Jews and later decided to spread the Gospel to non-Jews living around the world and where it had never been heard. He believed that God would guide him along his journey as he had chosen him in the first place to be his messenger. In his travel Paul preached Jews and the non-Jew population in several nations around the world moving from one town to another and having planned his journeys in order to accomplish his mission. In all the places that he visited Paul chose urban cities and towns, areas under Roman administration and with a predominant Greek culture and higher number of Jews as it was easier to relate to these sects of people. He believed that they in turn could carry forward his message to people from other communities. In every city Paul spread the message of the Gospel by participating in the service of the local synagogue where he would address the crowd and announce about the Risen Christ. Apart from places of worship P aul generally chose public places and private homes to give his sermon. Paul addressed members from every sector of the society and his contacts with those belonging to the elite classes helped him conduct discourses to a larger audience and also provided the much needed

Reducing Juvenile Delinquency Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Reducing Juvenile Delinquency - Essay Example This paper seeks to illustrate various aspects associated with juvenile delinquency and measures taken to lower the prevalence rates. Juvenile delinquency illustrates a violation of the law committed by a person under the legal age, but surpasses parental control, and thus is subject to legal action. Such violations of the law are not punishable by death or life imprisonment, but dwell on rehabilitating the offenders to become law-abiding citizens. Institutions such as juvenile detention centers and courts assist in dispensation of legal interventions based on specified procedures in the legal system. Furthermore, a juvenile delinquent is an under aged person who has been found guilty of a crime, and is protected by the law as a minor; hence cannot bear the responsibility for the crime (Snyder and Sickmund, 2006). The age of criminal responsibility may be lowered in accordance with the nature and seriousness of the crime. This would imply that the individual could be tried as an adult. Negative behaviors among children and young adults translate into juvenile delinquency. Juvenile delinquency has the potential of creating significant social disorder. Past and recent surveys have indicated that a high percentage of children and adolescents engage in activities that are in violation of the law. The reality of the situation is illustrated in the drop in the average age of first arrests made among young people. This can be attributed to the common notion that juvenile offences are normative adolescent behaviors. However, repeated or chronic offenders are most likely to carry on with the trend away from adolescence and turn into criminal elements or outlaws. At a tender age, delinquent behavior involves minor theft, but can evolve to violent acts involving the use of weapons as the individual nears the statutory age. Other delinquent behaviors include bullying, truancy,

Criminal Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Criminal Justice - Essay Example Recent studies have revealed however, that the law did not only fail to meet its purposes but it has, at times, became a tool of injustice. The idea of a Three Strikes Law became compelling in the early 1990s because of the proliferation of serious crimes and several widely publicized cases. The cases of Polly Klass, a 23-year old girl, who was abducted and murdered in California and Diane Ballasiotes, a Washington resident who was raped and murdered served as catalysts to the adoption of the law. In both cases, the culprits were parolees. Thus, in 1993, Washington adopted the Three-Strikes Law and a year later California passed and ratified theirs. The fundamental feature of this law is that it increases the penalty of convicted offenders on their third conviction (Samaha 2005 p. 376). To date, thirty-six states, in addition to the earlier two, have three-strike laws (Other States 2002). In 2002, the Justice Policy Institute conducted a research on the impact of the law. The study which covers the period from 1993-2002 shows that California had imposed the law four times the number of those of the other striking states, combined. Yet, as shown on Table 1, there is not much significance in the change of crime rates between striking and non-striking states (Schiraldi et al pp 9, 13-16). The study also compared the crime rate decline in California and the state of New York, a non-striking state, in the same given period. Surprisingly, New York outperformed California both in Index Crime Rate and Violent Crime Rate decline, as shown in Table 2 (Schiraldi p 10). The Criminal Defense Clinic of the Stanford Law School recently reviewed cases of incarcerated offenders under California’s Three Strikes Law (Three Strikes Sanity 2009). To date, four offenders have been freed after judges were persuaded to take a second look at their cases. Most of these convicts had prior convictions in drug and theft, as well

What higher food prices mean for both consumers and producers at your Essay

What higher food prices mean for both consumers and producers at your own country Which are the factors that drive the food prices higher What, and for whom, are the costs and benefits of such an increase - Essay Example Consequently, the producers’ increases food prices to the consumers so that they can manage continuous food production. This paper will discuss the impacts of increasing food prices to both the producers and consumers. Additionally, it will discuss the factors that drive the food prices high and what or for whom, the cost and benefits of such increase are. Increase in food prices may affect producers positively or negatively. High food prices may affect the demand of food negatively. When the food prices goes high, the demand may go low since consumers may decide to go for cheaper substitutes or may decide to entirely forego that kind of food. For instance, increase in soft juice prices, meat and juices reduce their consumption, since people will opt for alternative food that is cost friendly2. On the other hand, producers may benefit directly from the high prices of food since they will be making more profit. Food prices hikes due to increase in demand hence producers will be able to produce in bulk which will also earn them a lot of sales which in turn increases their profits. To the consumers higher food prices have detrimental effects since some people will be spending more money on food in such a way that they will not have money to spend on non-food items. People who are below average financially, might not afford some food if the prices are hiked hence they might opt to skip some meals which is dangerous to human health. Additionally, the chronic diseases will be in the rise since consumers cannot meet the required dietary needs3. Most people will buy food for general satisfaction without looking into the nutritional value of food. High food prices interfere with the consumer preference. If the consumers visits the market and find that the preferred food is expensive than usual, they shift their preference towards the

An oil dependent economy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

An oil dependent economy - Research Paper Example Brown points out many aspects in his article to support the fact that the rising cost of fossil energy is driving the American economy back into its local communities. Every product produced that ends up in the hands of the consumer is directly effected by the use of fossil fuels. Past decades of inexpensive oil has created this dependency which in turn has given rise to the way our society lives. There is virtually no limit to the distance that food can travel to the consumer. Many of the products that we consume daily travel from China, an emerging country, also, have seen a growing dependency on fossil fuels. In their effort to become more capitalistic, backward agricultural methods have been replaced with modern machinery dependent on oil. Dependency on oil not only creates higher cost in food; it also creates a constant flow of filthy air back into the environment. Therefore, with these notable factors, should the government make policies that drive the consumer back toward the local economy? It’s a question of individual initiative in most instances, but most of us look to the government for guidance just as a child looks to its parents. Should the government be involved at all in the daily lives of the consumer? Policy is not treated in the same fashion, as are laws. Policies put forth to a society as a whole give suggestions and positive influences that are more readily accepted by the majority. A policy is a more tactful way of achieving an end result without the rigors of law. Consider our food safety! Where do our foods originate? What are the safety factors involved in transporting foods from such long distances? What are the positive factors of focusing more on local grown foods? The Food and Water Watch states, â€Å"Our current food system is broken, and it didn’t happen by accident.†

A research proving that the act of abortion is not immoral Essay Example for Free

A research proving that the act of abortion is not immoral Essay Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy. Since 1969, abortion has been legal in Canada. However, it was only allowed under special circumstances which included, high-risk pregnancies and pregnancy as a result of rape. Abortion without federal restrictions has been legal since 1988 in Canada. With the advanced technology of today, abortion can be done both surgically and non-surgically. Furthermore, many today may believe that abortion should be illegal as it is considered to be â€Å"inhumane†. Nevertheless, because of the time the abortion takes place, the situations that make abortion the only option and avoiding birth defects, one can come to the conclusion that abortion is not immoral. This fact can be proven throughout the research done by medical professionals and people who have had to get an abortion done. The universal definition of abortion states that abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by either a surgical or non-surgical method before the fetus is able to sustain independent life (up to 24 weeks). Abortion ranges in two different forms, surgical and non-surgical. There are 2 types of surgical procedures which are Vacuum Suction Curettage (VSC)  and Manual Vacuum Aspiration (MVA). Throughout the first twenty weeks of pregnancy, the fetus has now developed the entire skeletal figure, all major organs are functioning, and this would include the heart, stomach, liver, kidney, and brain. By twenty weeks, the fetus can now kick, grasp with his or her hands, hair is visible and vocal cords are working. Stated by Dr. Paul Ranali, a neurologist studying at the University of Toronto, there is evidence of the fetus feeling pain during the abortion procedure (Pollitt, 2011). Although it is unusual that one would have an abortion this late in the pregnancy, abortion can take place any time during the first trimester of pregnancy which is up to 24 weeks, the fetal brain is completely developed at the age of 20 weeks. The brain has the full complement of brain cells as an adult would have therefore made the fetus ready to receive pain signals from the body (Johnson, 2011). Overall, many still allow the abortion to take place after knowing this information. Because the abortion process takes place at such an early stage in the pregnancy, many do not seem to consider the fetus as a human, therefore, disregarding the slurs (murdering the fetus) that are typically said. The main cause for abortions would be the fact that they are unplanned pregnancies. As stated in the Annual Abortion Survey in the United States (AAS), â€Å"on average, women give at least  3 reasons for choosing abortion: 3/4 say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or other responsibilities; about 3/4 say they cannot afford a child; and 1/2 say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner† (Annual Abortion Survey- USA, 2013). Because of these reasons, it is unfair to bring an innocent child into the world where they would not receive the care that is needed. Also stated in the AAS, twenty-one percent of women included a physical problem with their health among reasons for having an abortion  and eleven percent admitted that they went along to get an abortion due to the fact that they were victims of rape. Those who do not wish to have a child because of financial situations can be understood by those who believe abortion is immoral because raising a child in today’s time is known to be expensive to those who make an average salary of $34,000. While considering having a child, one must be able to provide basic necessities such as diapers and formula. The costs of diapers can range from $10.00 $50.00. The costs of baby formula can range from $15.00 $50.00 (Evers, 2013).   If one cannot provide their child with the essential needs, they should not bring them into the world. If one cannot provide for their child, it can also cause a strain on the mother and father’s relationship due to overwhelming stress and pressure. Also, studies in the United States have shown, those who are not financially stable and continue with their pregnancy, are more likely to become unemployed, to be on public welfare, to be below the poverty line, and to later on in life, become victims of domestic violence (Evers, 2013). Because many do not want to be placed in a situation where they are in danger or not capable of raising a child, they choose to abort the potential child. A birth defect is defined as a health problem or physical change which is present in a baby at the time he or she is born. Birth defects can occur either from genetic factors or even environmental factors. The genetic causes could be inheritance, single gene defects, multifactorial inheritance, teratogens or a chromosome abnormality.   Luckily, only three out of every one-hundred babies are born with a birth defect (Williams, 2007). Many birth defects can be diagnosed before birth with specialized prenatal diagnosis test. Birth defects that are considered as chromosomal abnormalities such as Downs Syndrome can be diagnosed before birth by examining the amniotic fluid from the placenta. A commonly used test that screen for birth defects and mainly Downs Syndrome would be Alpha-fetoprotein. Alpha-fetoprotein measures the levels of alpha-fetoprotein in the blood. This screening may be included as one part of a two, three, or four-part screening, often called a multiple marker screen. The other parts may include the following: Human Chorionic Gonadotropin and Estriol (Williams, 2007). Human chorionic gonadotropin is a hormone that is extracted from the placenta cells. High levels may indicate a fetus with Down Syndrome. Estriol is  a hormone produced by the placenta and by the fetal liver and adrenal glands. Low levels may indicate a fetus with Down Syndrome. Other birth defects that are a leading cause of infant mortality would be heart defects and missing organs and limbs. These birth defects are noticed through ultrasounds just before the pregnancy goes to twenty weeks. It was founded that roughly two percent of all pregnancies are complicated by a major birth defect. Of that two percent, ninety-three percent of the women decided to terminate the pregnancy before the child is born into a life of suffering (Williams, 2007). Thus concluding that women mainly resort in abortion in order to protect a child from being born with a disability that could lead them i n a life where it would be difficult for them to survive. In conclusion, one can say that abortion is not an immoral act due to the fact that at the time abortion takes place the fetus has not yet become a human, the situations that make abortion the only option which shields the unborn child from being born into a world where they cannot be taken care of and avoiding birth defects. This fact has been proven throughout this essay by the research done by medical professionals and people who have gone through this experience. Bibliography Abortion Laws Worldwide. (n.d.). Retrieved March 2, 2015, from https://www.womenonwaves.org/en/page/460/abortion-laws-worldwide Annual Abortion Survey-USA. (n.d.). Retrieved March 3, 2015, from http://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/ Childrens Health. The  Ã‚  Ã‚   Nemours Foundation, 1 Apr. 2014. Web. 8 Mar. 2015. http://kidshealth.org/parent/system/medical/genetics.html?tracking=P_RelatedArticle. Description of Types of Abortions, Abortion Procedures, How They Work, What to Expect. Description of Types of Abortions, Abortion Procedures, How They Work, What to Expect. Web. 6 Mar. 2015. http://www.birthmothers.org/extras/types-of-abortions.htm. Evers, J. (2013, February 1). Religious views on abortion. Retrieved March 4, 2015, from https://www.spuc.org.edu/youth/student_info_on_abortion/religion Guralnick, M. J. (2010). Early intervention approaches to enhance the peer-related social competence of young children with developmental delays: A historical perspective.  Infants and Young Children, 23, 73–83. Hirsch, L.(2010). Genetic Testing. KidsHealth the Webs Most Visited Site about Johnson, M. (2011, January 1). Abortion. Retrieved March 4, 2015, from http://www.cfsh.ca/your_sexual_health/abortion/ Pollitt, K. (2011). Pro: Reclaiming abortion rights (pp. 29-43). Religious views on abortion. (2012, January 1). Retrieved March 4, 2015, from https://www.spuc.org.uk/youth/student_info_on_abortion/religion Sanghavi, D. (2013, January 1). Texas’ Bill Would Ban Abortions at the Time Testing Reveals Fetal Defects. Retrieved March 2, 2015, from http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/07/texas_ Williams, M. (2007). Abortion (pp. 34-59). Detroit: Greenhaven Press.

World Religions Report HUM-130 Essay Example for Free

World Religions Report HUM-130 Essay The religion that I have chosen to discuss is the Jewish religion, or Judaism. In seeking information about Judaism, I conducted an interview at the Beth Israel Congregation near downtown Fayetteville, North Carolina. The synagogue is located at 2204 Morganton Rd., only a few miles from downtown Fayetteville and only a few miles from a major shopping mall in the area. Upon arriving at the synagogue in the afternoon heat of nearly 90 degrees, I was surprised to see the plush gardens to one side of the building. There is a beautiful walking path through a well-manicured lawn. The concrete path leads to a rectangular gazebo overgrown with vine. The small to medium trees and bushes on the property are perfectly maintained and are arrayed in vibrant colors. As I made my way to the front entrance, I noted the light colored brickwork and matching stonework on the front of the building. The building itself gives the appearance of a two story structure with its abstract sculpture, but upon further investigation, the highest part of the building is simple a raised inner ceiling. When I entered the building, I was greeted by Rabbi Yosef Levanon and conducted to his office for my interview after a brief look around the synagogue, which did not include . The Rabbi seems to be a pleasant man who showed a great deal of patients in setting up and carrying out the interview. Through conducting the interview, I found that the Fayetteville, NC Beth Israel congregation had originally been given a charter as an Orthodox Jewish Faith. The Beth Israel Congregation was established in May of 1917. The first brick of foundation was not laid until 1922. This original Beth Israel Synagogue was at a location on Cool Spring Street in Fayetteville, NC. The building that is now the Beth Israel Congregation worship center was constructed on Morganton Rd. in 1950, and dedicated in December of that year. Growth through the years prompted expansion with the addition of classrooms and a sanctuary. In October of 1972, the congregation changed its by-laws and became a Conservative Congregation. In approximately 1995 or 1996, they began to include women in the aliyahs. This is the Law of Return in which any Jew may claim the legal right to assisted migration and settlement in Israel. This includes automatic citizenship (Wikipedia, 2008). In 1998, the congregation began including women in the minyan (a quorum of 10 men required for certain prayers) (Y.  Levanon, personal communication, August 6, 2008). My interview with Rabbi Levanon covered a number of other issues. When asked what the important holidays and traditions of Judaism are, the rabbi responded that the Sukkot, Purim, Passover, Sabbath, Shavot, Rosh Hashanah, and the Day of Atonement were all important to the Jewish faith. I then asked which he felt were the most important of these. He responded that the Passover and Day of Atonement were probably the most important. The rabbi maintains the position that Judaism has shaped his life in that it guides the way that he behaves, his thoughts, and how he relates to other people in everyday life. The biggest challenge that he or other Jews face is maintaining their own identity. The rabbi states, Like any other minority in a bigger culture, it is not easy for the minority to maintain their identity apart from the bigger culture. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that even though they struggle to maintain their distinct identities in a nation surrounded by other religions and influences, neither the rabbi nor and his family have experienced discrimination because of their religious preferences or practices. Rabbi Levanon seemed a little confused as to the specific identity of the Jewish people. When asked if he considers Judaism to be a religion, a race, a nationality, or a Jewish state, the rabbi stated that Judaism is a religion and a nationality. I again asked him if he considered Judaism to be a race, to which he replied, No. I then asked what race he would consider himself to be. He stated that he considers himself a Jewish Caucasian, meaning that he views Jewish is a race as well. In determining that the rabbi considers Judaism to be a race, I asked what his thoughts are on religious pluralism and if it has influenced members of the Jewish community. Considering that Jews are exposed to people of many different religious backgrounds all throughout the world, rabbi Levanon believe that such exposure may lead to some Jewish people being assimilated into the societies and religions to which they are exposed. Assimilation is something that the rabbi endeavors to avoid in order to main tain his own identity as a Jew. In order for the Jewish people to maintain their identity in the modern world, they must remain steadfast in their faith and practices. Another challenge to this is the interfaith movement. The rabbi supports the interfaith movement because it is a †¦good idea to have a dialog among people of different races to remove prejudice, to remove indifference, to remove misunderstandings. He does not believe that the interfaith movement requires that people of different faiths find a common religious ground, however. The rabbi states that, If you are a good person, you should be tolerant of other opinions (and) religious faiths. The interfaith movement provides for people of different faiths to come together in discussion to promote understanding, not commonality. Rabbi Levanon believes that there are many paths to the Divine, not a single path found by following any particular religion. The effect that the interfaith movement has on Jewish teachings deny the icons of other religious faiths, such as Jesus Christ or Muhammad, is to encourage members to be respectful of all religious beliefs and maintain open-mindedness about the opinions of others. They also teach that the Jewish people should respect the opinions carried by other faiths. As a testament to this open-mindedness, the Beth Israel Synagogue encourages interfaith marriage and has many such unions within its congregation. The congregation and leadership of the Beth Israel Synagogue in Fayetteville, NC feel a very close connection to Israel. In addition, they fully support the nation of Israel and believe strongly that the political climate in the United States can directly affect the national security of Israel. This is because Israel needs the international political support of the United States in order to maintain a positive image and protect itself from unprovoked attacks by its enemies. This is a true analysis considering that Israel is surrounded by 22 Arab or Islamic nations (Brumfield, n.d.), many of them hostile towards Israel. The tiny country of only 8,000 square miles is in a very precarious position. Clearly, Israel could not survive without strong Western allies. Since some of the most radical Islamic organizations and countries surround the nation of Israel, it seems fitting that Islam be the subject of comparison to Judaism. Islam, like Judaism and Christianity, is an Abrahamic  religion (Brumfield, n.d.). This means that all three religions can trace their roots to Abraham. Islam teaches that Allah (the God of Islam) revealed His word to certain prophets. These prophets were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, with Muhammad being the last prophet of Allah. Muslims also believe that the Quran is flawless, indisputable, and the final revelation of Allah. Brumfield also states that Muslim teaching includes the belief that parts of the Gospels, the Torah, and the Jewish prophetic books have been forgotten, misinterpreted, or distorted by their followers. Therefore, the original message has been corrupted over time, making the Quran a correction of Jewish and Christian Scriptures.Islam and Judaism are similar in many of their basic tenants. Bo th religions teach that there is only one God. In addition, both teach that God is strictly monotheistic being only one divinity and not plural. Both religions have similar teachings that God is all-powerful and non-corporeal, non-physical, and eternal. The Muslim faith states eternal as He never begot, nor was begotten. (Brumfield, n.d.). In addition, Islam and Judaism share the teachings that none is worthy of the offering of prayer except God. Both Judaism and Islam believe that there can be no intermediary to communication with God. Both religions teach that the word of the prophets are true, though they disagree on whom Gods final prophet was. Judaism holds the belief that Moses was the last prophet and the five books of Moses, known as the Torah, is the primary book guiding their faith, along with the written Talmud. Islam teaches that after Moses, Jesus Christ was a prophet, followed by the final prophet, Muhammad. Islam also teaches that the Quran is the final word of God, which they use to guide their faith. The Muslim and Jewish faiths have more differences in teachings than which book to follow, or what prophet(s) to believe in. Muslims also pray five times per day, as compared to the Jewish tradition of praying three times per day. The Muslim faith teaches that they are the chosen people of God. The Jewish faith teaches that they are the chosen people of God and there will come a Jewish Messiah (moshiach) to Earth, possibly to initiate a messianic era. The Jewish faith also teaches that each persons soul is pure at birth, but humanity is born with the propensity to do both good and evil. In contrast, Islam seeks to forbid what is evil (Nahi-anil-Munkar). Both  religions believe in a resurrection and pursuing the approval of God. While Judaism allows conversion to other religions, Islamic law forbids this and is punishable by death in many Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, Iran, Sudan, Pakistan, and Mauritania. Another major point of contrast between Judaism and Islam is the multiple times the Jewish people have been subjugated multiple times by other nations. After the reign of King Solomon ended in 927 BC (Schoenberg, 2008), Israel split into two separate kingdoms, the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south. At separate times after this split, outside forces conquered both kingdoms. The Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians in the eighth century BC, and the Kingdom of Judah was conquered by Babylonia in the sixth century BC. 70 years after this occurred, some Jews returned to Jerusalem following the downfall of Babylonia. The Romans later conquered them. During this time, the Roman Empire defeated two revolt attempts by the Jewish people. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD (Trueman, 2008), the Jews were again able to retake Jerusalem. In all, ownership of Jerusalem changed 17 times throughout the citys history. The nation of Israel itself was not established until three years after the end of World War 2. Before and during World War 2, the Jewish people were being imprisoned, tortured, then slaughtered by the millions by the Nazis of Germany as they sought to cleanse their territories of the so called non-Aryans who they believed to be lesser human beings than true Germans (Aryans) (Bankier, 2008). Repeated subjugation and near extermination. By the end of World War 2, German forces had killed an estimated 5.6 million to 5.9 million Jews, 1.2 million of which were children. The followers of Islam have not suffered anything remotely similar to this near genocide or the multiple conquerors that the Jewish people have endured. Another difference between Islam and Judaism is the radical factions within Islam that sponsor and conduct terrorist actions, bombing and rocket attacks on Israeli soil, and the goal of destroying Judaism altogether. Islamic nations such as Iran and Syria have dedicated resources towards the destruction of Israel. Despite the thousands of years of subjugation of the  Jewish people throughout history, and the near extermination of the Jewish race, Judaism has grown into one of the three largest religions in the world. The nation of Israel has become one of the strongest countries in the Middle East. Judaism is one of the most peaceful of the major world religions, only using military force to defend itself. In addition, much of the Jewish leadership has embraced the practice of working to foster understanding and respect between their religion and other religions throughout the world. Though Islam and Judaism share several common beliefs and a common root founder in Abraham, the religions are very different in terms of suffering by its people and levels of aggression by radical factions and governments alike. References Aliyah, (2008). Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 6, 2008, from Wikipediawebsite: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AliyahBankier, D. (2008). Holocaust. In MSN Encarta [Web]. Retrieved August 6, 2008, fromhttp://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761559508/holocaust.htmlBrumfield, B. (n.d.). Islam. Retrieved August 6, 2008 from Israels Messiah website:http://israelsmessiah.com/religions/islam/beliefs.htmBrumfield, B. (n.d.). Palestinians: Israel, politically and geographically. Retrieved August 6,2008 from Israels Messiah website:http://www.israelsmessiah.com/palestinian_refugees/israel_vs_arabs.htmSchoenberg, S. (2008). Jewish virtual library: Solomon. Retrieved August 7, 2008 from theJewish virtual library website:http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Solomon.htmlTrueman, C. (2008). History Learning Site, A History of Ancient Rome: The fall of AncientRome. Retrieved from the History learning site website:http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/fall_of_ancient_rom e.htm

An Examination Of Explosive Compaction Environmental Sciences Essay

An Examination Of Explosive Compaction Environmental Sciences Essay 1.0 Introduction Explosive compaction has been used in various projects throughout the world over the last 80 years. Explosive compaction involves placing a charge at depth in a borehole in loose soil (generally sands to silty sands or sands and gravels), and then detonating the charge. Several charges are fired at one time, with delays between each charge to enhance cyclic loading while minimizing peak acceleration. Often several charges will be stacked in one borehole with gravel stemming between each charge to prevent sympathetic detonation. Explosive compaction is attractive, as explosives are an inexpensive source of readily transported energy and allow densification with substantial savings over alternative methods. Only small-scale equipment is needed (e.g. geotechnical drill or wash boring rigs), minimizing mobilization costs and allowing work in confined conditions. Compaction can be carried out at depths beyond the reach of conventional ground treatment equipment. Most explosive compaction has been driven by concerns over liquefaction, and has been on loose soils below the water table (and to depths of nearly 50 m). (W. B. GOHL, 2000) However, compaction also increases ground stiffness and strength, and explosive compaction has wide application for general ground improvement . 1.1 Backgrounds on explosive compaction In 1936, explosive compaction was first used for the densification of a railway embankment at the Svirsk hydroelectric power project in the former Soviet Union (Ivanov, 1967). Ivanov notes that up to 44cm of settlement occurred as a result of 3 blasting coverage, but the blasting caused extensive cracking of the overlying unsaturated soils and was not considered successful. The first successful application of explosive compaction was performed in the late 1930s to dandify the foundation soils for the Franklin Falls dam in New Hampshire (Lyman, 1940). Soon following the work at Franklin Falls dam, the effectiveness of this technique was confirmed by its successful performance for compaction an hydraulic fill dike on the Cape Cod Canal and by several tests at the Dennison Dam in Texas and the Almond Dam in New York. These cases concluded that blast densification could be widely used for compaction loose cohesionless soils that are substantially saturated. In 1967, Ivanov presented a ma nual on explosive compaction which provides guidelines for the placement and sizing of the explosive charges used in compaction. However, in most explosive compaction projects several short columnar charges are placed in each blast hole, and neither set of available guidelines appears valid. More importantly, these guidelines present no method to estimate the impacts from the blasting or final soil properties achieved. (Mitchell, 1995) 2.0 Cohesionless soil Explosive Compaction is conducted by setting off explosive charges in the ground often applicable to cohesionless soil. The explosive energy will caused cyclic straining of the soil. This strain process, repeated over many cycles caused by the sequential detonation of explosives, induces a tendency for volumetric compaction of looser sub soils. It is thought that shearing strains are responsible for this volumetric compaction, particularly at distances more than a few meters from a blast hole. In saturated soils, the overburden pressures are thrown onto the pore fluid and excess pore pressures develop during blasting, which caused a shakedown settlement of the soil. If strain amplitudes and number of cycles of straining are sufficient, this will caused liquefaction of the soil mass (i.e. pore water pressures temporarily elevated to the effective vertical overburden stress in the soil mass so that a heavy fluid created). The reconsolidation of the soil mass caused by the dissipation of water pressures is time dependent, generally happens within hours to days. This depends on the permeability of the subsoils and drainage boundary conditions, and is reflected by release of large volumes of water at the ground surface. Immediate volume change can happen and is caused by passage of the blast-inducted shock front through the soil mass. 2.1 Disadvantage Issue associated with explosive compaction is it results in large amount of gas being released into the soil water system, in the form of nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Release of carbon dioxide may lower the PH of the ground water and this may increase the ammonia level. Both nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide are both poisonous substance in the air and venting is necessary if blasting is carried within confined areas. Hence, the chemical make-up of a particular explosive and its by-product should be reviewed for every project in order to assess its suitability for use at a particular area. 2.2 Blast hole pattern The blast hole pattern generally use a staggered rectangular grid of boreholes at spacing of 4 to 9 metres. This pattern is used to provide a pattern of two or more phases within the treatment area. The initial phase will destroyed any bonds existing between the cohesionless soil particles. Subsequent passes cause additional settlement after pore pressure dissipation. Once the area has been shot and pore pressures have largely dissipated, repeated applications of blast sequences will cause additional settlement depending on soil density and stiffness. Bore holes are drilled over the full depth of soil deposit to be treated, and 75 to 100 millimetres diameter plastic casing is installed. The casing will support the loaded explosive at one or more levels within the boreholes, with each charge separated by gravel stemming. The stemming will reduce the back blast and encourage the crater effect. The number of holes detonated in any shot will depends on vibration control considerations an d the effect of liquefaction and settlement on adjacent slopes and structures. The advantage of using multiple blast phases is the increase of settlement and more uniform densification. This is because local soil loosening can occur immediately around a charge, subsequent passes of blasting from surrounding boreholes are designed to re-compact these initial loosened zones. Therefore at least two phases are usually recommended for explosive compaction. 2.3 Instrumentation The instruments used for an explosive compaction projects generally includes the following: Surface geophones to measure vibration response at critical location. Pore pressure transducers to measure residual pore pressures generated by blasting. Hydrophones installed in water-filled casings near blast zones used to identify charge detonations. Sondex tubes to measure settlements with depth in a soil profile after blasting. Ground surface settlement measurements Inclinometers where blasting is carried out near slopes to measure slope movement. In some projects, additional confirmation of explosive detonations is required, electronic coaxial cables are installed down the blast holes and used to measure firing times of explosive deck using high speed data acquisition systems. Alternatively, high speed filming of the firing of non-electric delays can also be employed to monitor charge detonations. Standard Penetration Testing (SPT), Becker Penetration Testing (BPT) or electronic Cone Penetration Testing (CPT) is commonly used to assess the improvement in soil density after explosive compaction. For sand and silt areas, CPT is considered to provide the most reliable and reproducible results. 3.0 Cohesive Soil Explosive Compaction has been a method used in past decades for the compaction of loose granular soil. However, the use of explosive compaction for cohesionless soil, such as clay, is rare. A new explosive method for replacing soft clay with crushed stones by blasting has been development by Yan and Chu[8], which is called explosive replacement method. Meanwhile, this method has been used in conjunction with a highway construction in China. 3.1 Outline of the method There are three main steps described by Yan and Chu [6] to achieve the replacement method, which are: The explosive replacement is set up as shown in fig1. The explosive charges are first installed in the soil layer, and then crushed stones are piled up next to it on the side of the site that has been improved. When the charges are detonated, the soft soil is blown out and cavities are formed. At the same time, the crushed stones collapse into the cavities. In this way, the cohesive soil is replaced with crushed stones in rapid manner. The soil that is blown into the air will form a liquid and flow away after it falls to the surface. The crushed stones after collapsing from a slope of 1V:3H or 1V:5H, as shown in fig1(b). The impact of the explosion also causes an instantaneous reduction in the shear strength of the soil below the level of explosion so that the crushed stones can sink into the soft clay layer. The stones help the soil at the bottom to consolidate, and the clay itself will also remain part of its original strength after explosion. The explosion also has a densification effect on the gravel layer below the clay layer. More crushed stones are backfilled to from a leveled ground and steeper slope, as shown in fig1(c). Fig 1.(a)Before explosion; (b) After explosion; (c) After backfill 3.2 Ground-probing radar(GPR) tests GPR test is used to detect the distribution of the crushed stones in the soft clay. The radar system transmits repetitive, short pulse electromagnetic waves into the ground from a broad bandwidth antenna. Some of the waves are reflected when they hit discontinuities in the subsurface, and some are absorbed or refracted by the materials that they come into contact with. The reflected waves are picked up by a receiver, and the elapsed time between wave transmission and reception is automatically recorded.[Koerner R.M. Construction and geotechnical methods in foundation engineering. McGraw-Hilll, New York,1984] 4.0 Explosive Compaction Design Explosive Compaction Design is based on empirically methods, which had been presented by Narin van Court and Mitchell (refer 1). Wu (refer 2) developed the explosive compaction design by using the finite element model. His model applies dynamic cavity expansion theory and assumes that a charge detonation may be idealized by assuming a blast pressure-time input applied normal to the surface of a spherical cavity. The charge weight per delay is proportional to the size of the spherical cavity, thus larger charge weight could result in larger cavity size and larger detonation effect. Wus model also considers the non-linear shear stress- strain response of the soil and rate dependent viscous damping. Parameters used in the Wu model are calibrated based on initial estimates of the relative densities of the granular soils and analysis of single and multiple-hole test blasts at a site. Cavity expansion theory indicates: a) multiple cycles of blasting will be more effective than single cycles; (b) the zone of influence of a given charge detonation increases as the size of the cavity increases (c) charge weight should be increased as the depth increases. (Refer 3 Gohl et al, 2000). The design of explosive compaction often begins with Hopkinsons number (HN) and Normalised Weight(NW) as: Where Q is the charge weight in kilogram and R is the effective Radius in plan (metre). However, due to the infinite combinations of charge weight with radius, a suitable HN can be difficult to select. Meanwhile, explosive compaction typically uses columnar charge and a good correlation of energy attenuation by the square root method is demonstrated, so this attenuation function is used in the following analyses, and the energy input attenuation is derived as: where Wi is the weight of individual charges around a point in the soil mass(g), and Rvi is the minimum vector distance from a charge to a point in the soil mass(m). The distance between charges can be estimated as: Where, to allow some overlapping, should be taken to be less than 2. In those equations, HN, NW and E are constants. However, for a given value of HN, NW or E, the above relationships may provide infinite combinations of charge weight with radius. Furthermore, it is difficult to select suitable values of HN, NW or E1 in practice. Based on blasting mechanics, a new set of equation has been derived by Yan and Chu (2004) [6], and the finally radium could be govern as follow : Where Pk is a pressure constant in Pascal, is the density of the explosive in kilogram per cubic metre, D is the velocity of the explosive in metre per second, Pa is the atmospheric pressure in Pascal, Qis the mass of the explosive,is the unit weight of soil in Newton per cubic metre and hc is the thickness of the soil above a cavity in meter. The distance between charges can be estimated as: Where, to allow some overlapping, should be taken to be less than 2. In addition, Gohl has developed an equation to approximate the charge effectiveness in a given soil type and it is derived based on the Hopkinsons Number and it is given as the following: Where e is the fraction of maximum achievable vertical strain and k is a site factor related to the soil properties and damping. From past project, k was found to be 81 to 143. 5.0 Conclusion Explosive compaction uses the energy released by completely contained detonations within the soil mass to rearrange the particles into a denser configuration. This technique offers several advantages over other soil improvement techniques. especially with regard to the cost, soil type, and depth effectively treated. Moreover, explosive compaction is an effective and predictable method for both cohesive and cohesionless soil. In which explosive replacement method for cohesive soil is newly developed. Although this compaction method has been used for decades, under a variety of site and environmental conditions, explosive compaction has not achieved general acceptance in civil engineering. Therefore, further development is encouraged and due to the physical testing restrains, possibly numerical simulation will develop in future.

The Benefits of Teaching Foreign Language in Elementary School Essay

The Benefits of Teaching Foreign Language in Elementary School The ultimate goal in many classrooms is to communicate in meaningful and appropriate ways (Slavit 1998). In the United States, American students get the opportunity to learn a second language in high school, yet it has been proven that children learn better when they are young. Some schools are taking this opportunity to teach a foreign language to elementary students. The United States may be the only nation where it's possible to complete elementary and secondary schooling without completing any foreign languages (Schulz 2001). In some countries, such as Lebanon, Asia, teachers within public elementary schools are required to teach two or three different languages, usually English and French, to their students. Many schools within European and Asian countries teach two languages to their students before they enter high school. In America, students are introduced to a foreign language in high school where it is difficult for them to master a second language (Naserdeen 2001). Newsweek ran an edition that was mainly about the importance of early learning experiences on brain development. They said that within the first three years of a child's life, there is a "window of opportunity", and second language learning should start taking place around one year of age. They also said that after ten years of age, a person is unlikely to ever speak like a native of the language would (Why 2001). Mantrel explains this as "Synapses or avenues in the brain are opened up by foreign language instruction when it is introduced at an early age. If languages are not introduced at an early age, these synapses are not accessed, and language learning is much more difficult to ac... ...ferent language have increased cognitive ability and exceed normal classroom expectations. This will also come in to play later on in their lives, and it will benefit the global economy, as everyone will better understand each other. It provides the learners with a competitive edge in the work force (Naserdeen 2001). When interviews were done at randomly selected elementary schools in the 2000/2001 school year, the students had positive things to say about learning another language. All of them said that they wanted to continue with their studies in languages. By bringing language studies to the elementary schools, this is helping society and the kids too. They will later benefit in life from this; also as one of the results, we will teach them to respect other cultures. Overall, teaching a second language in elementary education will definitely benefit everyone. The Benefits of Teaching Foreign Language in Elementary School Essay The Benefits of Teaching Foreign Language in Elementary School The ultimate goal in many classrooms is to communicate in meaningful and appropriate ways (Slavit 1998). In the United States, American students get the opportunity to learn a second language in high school, yet it has been proven that children learn better when they are young. Some schools are taking this opportunity to teach a foreign language to elementary students. The United States may be the only nation where it's possible to complete elementary and secondary schooling without completing any foreign languages (Schulz 2001). In some countries, such as Lebanon, Asia, teachers within public elementary schools are required to teach two or three different languages, usually English and French, to their students. Many schools within European and Asian countries teach two languages to their students before they enter high school. In America, students are introduced to a foreign language in high school where it is difficult for them to master a second language (Naserdeen 2001). Newsweek ran an edition that was mainly about the importance of early learning experiences on brain development. They said that within the first three years of a child's life, there is a "window of opportunity", and second language learning should start taking place around one year of age. They also said that after ten years of age, a person is unlikely to ever speak like a native of the language would (Why 2001). Mantrel explains this as "Synapses or avenues in the brain are opened up by foreign language instruction when it is introduced at an early age. If languages are not introduced at an early age, these synapses are not accessed, and language learning is much more difficult to ac... ...ferent language have increased cognitive ability and exceed normal classroom expectations. This will also come in to play later on in their lives, and it will benefit the global economy, as everyone will better understand each other. It provides the learners with a competitive edge in the work force (Naserdeen 2001). When interviews were done at randomly selected elementary schools in the 2000/2001 school year, the students had positive things to say about learning another language. All of them said that they wanted to continue with their studies in languages. By bringing language studies to the elementary schools, this is helping society and the kids too. They will later benefit in life from this; also as one of the results, we will teach them to respect other cultures. Overall, teaching a second language in elementary education will definitely benefit everyone.

why parrot repeat :: essays research papers

Why Parrots Repeat A long, long time ago before human even roamed the earth animals here alone. There were all different types of them, from big to small, fat to skinny and brave to cowardly. There were also groups of animals, based upon there personalities just like us today. The way that you look made no difference, just the way you acted. For example, the lions were very brave and loyal and the turtles were cowardly and shy. Then there were the parrots. They were also like the turtles because they were cowardly but not shy. They love to make fun of others. They had huge mouths. Every time they could insult one of their fellow animals they would. In this one incidence the warthogs we just minding their own business while playing soccer out in the fields (the warthogs were a sort of uneducated animal, but nice at the same time, as long as you were kind to them they would do anything for you). They parrots saw them playing as they were and immediately started to make fun of them. They called them names like â€Å"fatty† and â€Å"slowpoke.† This upset the warthogs so much that they went to the mammoth, the king animals, and told him what the parrots had done. So at the next town meeting the mammoth talked to the parrots about their behavior towards their fellow animals. The mammoth said â€Å"Parrots why must you be so cruel to all of the animals?† all the parrots did was laugh and then told the mammoth to take it easy because they were just having a little fun. Then the mammoth replied back quickly and said that next time they insulted their fellow animals that he would go straight to Zaron, the god of all the animals. The parrots could only imagine what would happen to them if Zaron found out about this, because all knew about he was the same god would made the flies attracted to feces. After hearing this they seemed to be afraid. The parrots held back their comments for a while but eventually it came back out.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On one rainy day the sloths were trying to get to there homes as fast as they could but we know that it would take them a while. Even when all the other animals were safely in there homes the sloth’s still had miles to go before they could get dry.

The Primacy of Poetry: On Tita Chico’s The Arts of Beauty: Women’s Cos

On Tita Chico’s The Arts of Beauty: Women’s Cosmetics and Pope’s Ekphrasis In â€Å"The Arts of Beauty: Women’s Cosmetics and Pope’s Ekphrasis,† Tita Chico contends that ekphrastic representations of women in The Rape of the Lock and Epistle to a Lady indicate Pope’s privileging poetic artistry over the art of cosmetics. In both poems, Pope exploits the humiliation of a â€Å"cosmetically constructed woman† in an effort to assert the supremacy of his own artistic authority (Chico 4). Chico uses other scholars―Laura Brown, Christa Knellwolf, and Felicity Naussbaum chief among them―to anchor the origins of her argument, but she immediately addresses their respective limitations. She gently criticizes other scholars for privileging the purely social aspects of Rape, thereby neglecting the implications of Pope’s aesthetic form. Exploring poetic form with particular attention to ekphrastic representation and the mock-epic genre enables Chico to extrapolate social significance and assert that aesthetic c hoice signifies Pope’s concern regarding the inherent value of different arts. That is, Pope’s heavily ekphrastic method of female representation effectively demeans cosmetic artistry, while lionizing his art of the masterfully crafted poem. Pope sought to keep the art of beauty in check—alleges Chico—as the power of cosmetic beauty â€Å"[threatened] to emasculate the viewer† (11). Chico offers a compelling evaluation of the relationship between Pope and his subject, particularly in her discussion of To a Lady, where the primacy of poetry over physical beauty is most evident. Rather than looking at female portraits, reading Pope’s poetry is the best way to seek â€Å"truth† about women (18). Chico shrewdly asserts t... ...Chico reiterates in her conclusion that Pope scorned cosmetics on account of their capacity to grant women artistic agency and render them evermore beautiful. And, as Chico most successfully maintains, Pope repeatedly conveyed the limitations of physical splendor—artificial pretense and transience chief among them—while privileging the power of his own poetic capabilities. [1] Chico discusses the following works: John Gauden, seventeenth century author of A Discourse of Artificial Beauty and In Point of Conscience between Two Ladies, argued that cosmetics enabled women to display their piety and goodness; The Art of Beauty, a 1719 poem by J.B., borrows Belinda as a character and satirizes the utter fatuity of the cosmetic realm; Joseph Addison and Richard Steele’s 1711 Spectator 11 chastises cosmetics and derisively labels these artificial women â€Å"Picts† (5).

Sports Consumer Behavior

Taking a survey of all types of sports equipment around my house I see a variety of different things that my family and I tend to buy depending on the type of sport or activity anyone is into at the time. At first thinking of the this assignment and reading the instructions I did not think that I had any sports equipment in my household but once I started looking around I noticed that there are a lot of things that can be considered sports equipment like exercise equipment and clothing that I very frequently spend money on.Lately I had been getting into working out a lot because I want to lose weight for the summer which is right around the corner, and I have had these spurts a lot and have not gone through with the whole thing but each time I always buy something new that will help me to lose weight. I also took into account all the things that my boyfriend buys because most of the time we both buy stuff for his football. Currently he is playing semi-professional football locally fo r the city we live in and he is constantly buying new things from clothing to balls and pads for his games.The National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA) has a listing of all the different sports categories and the difference each made every year in sales. The sports category I chose to look at is the hunting and firearms category because it seems to show the most significant changes out if all of the other categories. The significant difference I see in the hunting and firearms category is in increase in sales of about $354 million dollars from 2008 to 2009.Looking at the history of hunting and firearms sales I can see that throughout the years it has continually been a significant increase each year. The only reason I can suggest that there is so much of an interest and increase in this category would be that more and more people are becoming interested in hunting and activities that include the use of firearms, and not to mention the hunters that have been hunting for years alway s upgrading to the newest and best equipment and firearms.A different category that is extremely high in value and the highest one of the forecast is exercise. I can identify with this category because I am one of the reasons that industry is so high, I know that there are a lot of people out there like myself that want to lose weight and will try any new thing that comes out for weight loss to see if it works. Looking at the amount that I spend on exercise equipment from the video’s and DVD’s to the weights and he bands and the sneakers and clothes I can see why the exercise industry is so big. People want the next best thing that is going to help them lose weight. A category that is the complete opposite from exercise is the Racquetball category where in the past few years it has had both increases and decreases in sales, but in 2009 was significantly lower than all of the other categories. I think that racquetball is so low in sales because not many people play this sport or for that matter are not too sure of what it is (like me).These are not one of the mostly popular sports that are played around the United States and for that reason I think is why this category is one of the lowest on this forecast. I think that the more popular a sport is and the more people know about it and have interest in it the more the public is willing to spend on the items for the sport or activity. One of the categories that definitely surprises me in terms of value is football, I know that this is a sport played all around the United States and is very popular but I didn’t realize how low the amount of sales for football equipment.The only reason I can think of that would make football so low in terms of value would be the fact that the manufacturers make football products so durable and sustainable that they wouldn’t need to be replaced as frequently as other sports and products. Knowing that most of these products are made to stand the toughness of this contact sport is a reason I guess I am not that surprised that the sales are low, these companies are making the best product to with stand everything and takes a lot to break them therefore customers do not have to replace them.Self-Survey of sports equipment purchased on a yearly basis: Weights -$60 Resistance bands- $30 P 90 X DVD – $125 Other workout videos and DVD’s- $100-$150 Workout sneakers – $200-$300 Workout clothes – $300 Miscellaneous workout equipment- $100 Football cleats- $200 Pads- $100-$200 Jerseys- $150 Footballs – $70 Football tights – $45 Football practice clothing -$200

Storm Born Chapter Twenty-Eight

About two days passed before I had enough of a grip on consciousness to get out of bed. I had dim recollections of a commotion outside Aeson's stronghold after returning to my body that night but little more. Shaya had cradled me in her arms. Dorian had yelled for a healer. But best of all, beside me I'd seen Kiyo stir. Now I woke up in one of Dorian's many guest rooms. It was smaller than his but as opulently decorated as everything else around there. I'd come to a few times before this but only now found the strength to stay up. Nia, who had hovered by my side the entire time, remained less convinced. â€Å"You shouldn't†¦you need to sleep more†¦.† I was stripping off the long chemise they'd put me in, trading up for my recently laundered clothes. â€Å"If I sleep any more, I'll be dead, and I've already come too close to that. Where's Dorian? I need to talk to him.† â€Å"I'm sure he'd come to you, your majesty.† I winced at the title. â€Å"No. Just take me to him.† Despite her protests, her sense of duty couldn't disobey the order. She led me through the maze of corridors where I earned a number of curious looks from the various occupants. Since my initial arrival, I'd become sort of a common fixture around here, accepted and ignored. Now people regarded me with the same frightened curiosity I'd first received. Outdoors, we found Dorian in one of the gardens, standing over a small, fluffy dog. Muran hovered nearby, and between them, they tried unsuccessfully to coax the dog to lie down and roll over. It merely sat looking at them, tail thumping. Dorian noticed me first, his face breaking into a wide smile. The healers had been at work on him too; no trace of the burns remained. â€Å"Queen Eugenie, lovely to see you out and about.† Muran nearly fell all over himself to bow. â€Å"Y-your majesty.† â€Å"We need to talk,† I told Dorian firmly. â€Å"Alone.† â€Å"I never tire of being alone with you. Nia, take this unreasonable beast away with you. And take the dog too.† He waved them off. Once alone with him, I demanded, â€Å"What the hell were you thinking?† â€Å"There are so many incidents to which you could be referring, I don't even know where to start.† â€Å"Yes, you do. You made me queen of Aeson's kingdom.† â€Å"Your kingdom now, my dear.† I paced around in the grass irritably. It was the middle of the day, crisp and sunny. â€Å"I didn't want it. You had no right to do it.† â€Å"It's done. Besides, if I hadn't, someone else might have snatched it up. Would you have liked to see your charming little sister on the throne?† That stopped me. Extensive searching had found no trace of Jasmine. She seemed to have gotten away cleanly during the yeshin fight. â€Å"Give it to someone else. There has to be a better choice than Jasmine or me.† â€Å"Give it away?† He laughed his wondrous melodic laugh, the one that declared all the world was a joke. â€Å"The land recognized you. You can't go back on that. It's yours forever†¦well, at least until you die. Or pass it on to an heir.† â€Å"Great. Here we go again. I might have known you'd start pushing that.† â€Å"I did no such thing, but†¦since you brought it up†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I stopped pacing and glared at him. â€Å"Quit it. I don't want to talk about it. I don't even want to think about it.† Some of his humor faded. â€Å"Maybe you should. Jasmine certainly will be. If she has a son first, all your good intentions won't matter. You say you don't want it, but you know†¦it could all turn out differently if you beat her to it.† It was so alarmingly close to what Storm King had told me in the Underworld that I didn't even know what to say at first. Was this a coincidence? I felt pretty sure that all I'd seen there had been an illusion, meant to test my resolve and make me face my fears. â€Å"What's wrong?† Dorian asked, seeing my face. There was nothing sly or knowing in his expression, only worry. â€Å"Nothing. Look, forget about the prophecy for a minute. Go back to the Alder Land thing. If you were so worried about it falling into the wrong hands, why didn't you just seize it for yourself?† â€Å"Why, Eugenie, do you think me so power hungry?† â€Å"Yes. I do. I've heard and seen as much. When these kingdoms were formed, you wanted more. And you had your chance when Aeson died.† He didn't answer, and I pushed on, knowing I was right. â€Å"But that would have upset a lot of people, wouldn't it? Maiwenn and the others might have turned against you. But by making me Alder Queen†¦you got a placeholder. No one can say anything because I defeated Aeson fairly in battle, and now you have easy access to the same power. You plan to use me and this fucking title to extend your control.† â€Å"You have a very low opinion of me. No wonder you're so upset.† â€Å"Come on. Why else would you have done it?† He stared in astonishment. â€Å"Why, because I love you.† He said it as though it was the most reasonable thing in the whole world. Like I should have known this already. â€Å"You barely even know me.† â€Å"We've known each other almost as long as you've known the kitsune, and I daresay you think you're in love with him. Your little foray that night demonstrated as much. By the gods, that was one of the most foolish things I've ever witnessed. You stopped breathing. I thought you were dead.† I heard the catch in his voice, and it really struck me that he just might love me after all. It gave me a strange feeling, one I didn't know how to cope with. Dorian loving a person was almost incomprehensible. I thought of him as loving only his own amusements and ambitions. â€Å"I do love Kiyo,† I said in a low voice. â€Å"And if we can work it out†¦I'm going to – â€Å" He shrugged, carefree and lax again. â€Å"It doesn't matter. I don't mind sharing you.† â€Å"You told Aeson you don't share.† â€Å"As a general rule, no – and certainly not with the likes of him – but I don't think you'll give me exclusivity, so I must compromise.† â€Å"There isn't going to be any exclusivity or compromise.† â€Å"So you say. You also said you'd never come to my bed in the first place. Or that you'd ever use magic. You probably said a dozen other things too. We all saw how those turned out.† â€Å"Stop it. I'm serious about this.† â€Å"And so am I. You're a queen now. You control part of this world. Ally with me, and we'll be the greatest power since your father.† â€Å"I don't want the power or the Alder Land.† â€Å"It's the Thorn Land now.† â€Å"I – what?† â€Å"The land conformed itself to you. The Alder Land was Aeson's domain. Yours is the Thorn Land. You're the Thorn Queen.† â€Å"The smokethorn,† I recalled. If someone tried to force a crown of thorns on me, that was going to be seriously fucked up. â€Å"Very fitting actually. A tree covered in beauty yet possessing a sharp and deadly core.† I shook my head. â€Å"I don't care about metaphors. I don't want to rule this kingdom.† He moved into my space, something passionate kindling in those gold-green eyes. â€Å"So what? You think you can just ignore it? Pretend it'll go away? The land conformed itself to your will! You can't turn away from that. Its survival depends on you – particularly since, for reasons only the gods know, you turned it into a wasteland.† I faltered. â€Å"Well†¦I'll get one of those people†¦you know, someone who rules in your place†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"A regent? That'll only work for so long. You can't avoid the land. You have to come back and visit it, or it will die. You're connected now.† â€Å"I didn't want this, Dorian.† I felt tired. Maybe getting up hadn't been such a good idea after all. â€Å"You shouldn't have done it.† â€Å"We'll have to agree to disagree on that, but I'll do what I can to make amends. Take Shaya. She'd make an excellent regent. And I'll give you Rurik and Nia and any other servants you seem to like reasonably well.† â€Å"I don't really like Rurik.† â€Å"No, but he'll be as loyal as that dog I just had. More so, actually, considering what an unreasonable little bastard it was. Rurik will sift through what's left of Aeson's guard and keep only those who'll support you.† â€Å"You mean who support Storm King.† â€Å"It's the best I can do,† he said with a shrug. â€Å"You may take it or not. And you'll still have to fill other positions yourself. Nia will do nicely for a lady-in-waiting, but she's not quite up to being a seneschal. You'll need one of those. And a herald too.† He spoke like he was reciting things I needed to pick up at the grocery store. â€Å"Oh, God. I'm trapped in the fucking Chronicles of Narnia.† â€Å"I'm sure that would be an amusing reference, if I understood it. For now, I can do no more. I'm giving up some of my favorites for you. The rest is in your hands.† There was a smile on his face, but his eyes were serious. â€Å"No matter what you think of me and my motivations, I swear to you I wouldn't have had you seize Aeson's land if I didn't think you were worthy. There's power burning inside of you, Eugenie. I meant it when I said you'd surpass us all.† I shook my head and turned away, unable to hear this. â€Å"I'm leaving now. I really don't want to see you again. Nothing personal. Well, yeah, actually it is.† I started walking toward the door. â€Å"What about your magic lessons?† I froze. â€Å"What about them?† â€Å"Don't you want to continue them?† I slowly turned around. â€Å"I have some control now. Not great control, but enough to keep me from doing something stupid.† â€Å"And that's good enough for you?† He took a few steps toward me. â€Å"You killed one of this world's greatest magic users with a novice's control of water. Imagine when you master it – and the other elements.† â€Å"No. I'm not going to. I don't need to.† â€Å"I thought you liked the way it made you feel.† The ghostly memory of power flared up in my mind, and I swallowed, willing it to go away. I shook my head at him. â€Å"Goodbye, Dorian.† I started to turn again, but he caught my shoulder and pulled me into a kiss. He deserved to be slapped, but the kiss was exquisite, just like all his kisses. And feeling him against me reminded me of our night together, how he'd brought me to a wildness I didn't think myself capable of. â€Å"That's the last time you're going to kiss me,† I warned when it ended. He smiled knowingly, and in his eyes, I could see his own memories of that night. â€Å"So you say.† I left him and returned to my own world. Kiyo found me a few days later, as I'd know he would. I'd been out running errands and came home to see him sitting on my doorstep, in human form. He wore a white cotton shirt, tucked neatly into khakis. The black hair was brushed away from his face, and his dark eyes were as smoky and sensual as ever. He looked good – and healthy. Like Dorian, he'd enjoyed the benefits of gentry healing magic. In fact, Kiyo had received the very best: Maiwenn had tended him during his recovery. â€Å"Come on in,† I said, unlocking the door. He entered wordlessly, following and waiting as I put away my keys and purse. I offered him iced tea and then sat down with him on the couch, wanting to say so much and not knowing where to start. â€Å"You look better than the last time I saw you,† I finally said. His teeth flashed in a lovely smile. â€Å"Wouldn't take much.† I looked away. â€Å"Maiwenn did a good job.† I felt his hand reach out and turn my face toward him. Those fingers held the same warmth I remembered, the same electric tingle. â€Å"The way I hear it, it was more you than her.† â€Å"I didn't do so much.† He tsked me. â€Å"Honesty, Eugenie.† â€Å"All right, it was bad. Really bad. But I'd do it again.† â€Å"You're a crazy, wonderful woman. I can't repay what you did.† I started. â€Å"There's nothing to repay. Why on earth would you think that?† â€Å"Because I didn't deserve it. Not after the way – â€Å" â€Å"No. Forget it. I†¦I shouldn't have freaked out over it. Not over something that happened before you even met me.† What I didn't add was that I could suddenly empathize with how dangerous certain bits of information could be to a relationship. Like, say, revealing how a gentry king had initiated you into sexual bondage. â€Å"I still should have told you.† â€Å"Yeah,† I conceded, â€Å"you should have. But it's done. I can live with it.† His arm had snaked around me in that subtle way he had. â€Å"What are you saying?† â€Å"You know what I'm saying. There's too much between us†¦I'm not ready to give that up yet.† The arm pulled me closer, and there was a slight tremble in his voice when he spoke. â€Å"Oh, God, Eugenie. I've missed you so much. You're like a part of me.† â€Å"I know.† We held each other for a quiet moment, and then I heard him say in carefully measured tones, â€Å"I hear you're a queen now.† â€Å"That's what they say.† â€Å"How do you feel about that?† â€Å"Use your imagination.† â€Å"Dorian had no right to do that.† There was a growl in Kiyo's voice. â€Å"You're preaching to the choir here. I already had that argument with him. He doesn't see it as wrong. He thinks I should keep progressing in magic too.† The hand stroking my face stopped moving. He pulled away slightly so he could look me in the eyes. â€Å"That's an even worse idea. You aren't going to, are you? I mean, you got what you needed from him, right?† â€Å"Right.† He visibly relaxed, again touching my cheek with a sensual languor. â€Å"We'll get you through the queen thing. I won't let anything happen to you.† â€Å"There you go again with the macho protectiveness thing. Who brought who back from the dead?† â€Å"Fair point.† I gave voice to something I'd wondered about for a while now. â€Å"How†¦how did you know when I was at Aeson's anyway? Did you really stake out his place and wait for me?† His eyes crinkled with seductive mischief. Moving his hands to my back, he let his fingers trace the still-healing scars from where he'd scratched me. â€Å"There's no place you can go that I can't find you.† I groaned. I'd forgotten about that. â€Å"Those damned things are going to heal one of these days.† â€Å"I'll make more.† We leaned into a kiss, and like that, things were solved between us. We didn't need many words to get across how we felt. Maybe that's how it is with someone you really love, someone you're connected to. That wasn't to say we didn't have reams of communication to hash through in the future, not if we were going to attempt some sort of relationship. But for now, the kiss conveyed enough. It was an exchange of heat, an exchange of love, and it felt like coming home. â€Å"I've still got to make amends,† he told me, his lips only a fraction of an inch from mine, â€Å"no matter how magnanimous you're feeling. You know, the usual. Chocolate. Flowers.† â€Å"Whatever. I don't need the covert signs to know you want to have sex with me. There are plenty of more obvious ones.† â€Å"Like what?† â€Å"Like your hand on my breast.† â€Å"No. This is still subtle.† He pulled my body to his, melding us together. â€Å"Now, when my mouth is there, then you'll know – â€Å" â€Å"You're such a freak. Sex got us into this mess. I don't know that it's healthy to rely on it to fix everything.† â€Å"Only one way to find out.† Queenly authority or no, I didn't do a very good job of protesting. And when he pushed me down on the couch, I didn't do a very good job of protesting that we should go to the bedroom. Fortunately, Tim never came home, so I didn't shock his sensibilities again. Whatever words he'd withheld in our conversation came out as Kiyo made love to me, telling me he wanted me, would love me forever, and would do anything in the world for me. They were the sort of promises all people make when they're falling in love, but that didn't make them any less powerful. I floated on them long after he left that evening, awash in emotion and contentment and residual lust. I was getting dressed in my bedroom when a voice behind me said: â€Å"He's a mistake, you know. So is the Oak King. You're better off without either of them.† I jumped and spun around angrily on Volusian. â€Å"Don't sneak up on me like that! Christ. Were you watching me out there? What is it with you Otherworldly types and your fetishes? Exhibitionists and bondage and voyeurism. Good grief.† His red eyes regarded me levelly as I finished pulling on my shirt. â€Å"I was not joking, mistress.† â€Å"About Dorian and Kiyo? What's the matter with them? Well, Dorian's kind of obvious, but Kiyo's all right.† He shook his head. â€Å"Hardly. He is a fox, and part of him thinks like one. He regards you as his mate, and that is a dangerous thing. He and Dorian are both zealots in their way. They sit at different ends of the spectrum, perhaps, but both are fixed in their beliefs. Each will have his own agenda for you – even the kitsune, whose views you tend to agree with. They will each try to dominate you and make you think it was your idea.† For one uneasy moment, I thought about how sex had been with each man. Aggressive. Controlling. I'd had small pieces of control, but in the end, I had always been pushed to submission, a submission I welcomed. There was only the one night with Kiyo – the night I'd woken up in the afterglow of remembered power – that I had truly been the dominant one. â€Å"You would do better to find someone milder and more malleable. Someone less ambitious.† I considered his words. Maybe he was right. Maybe. â€Å"Men without ambition are boring.† â€Å"And that attitude, mistress, is why the females of your kind continue to struggle for equality. And why they continue to fail.† I sat on the bed and clasped my hands in front of me. â€Å"I didn't summon you. Was that all you came to tell me, Dr. Love?† â€Å"No. I came to tell you that you need to visit your kingdom sooner rather than later. The people are nervous and restless. You are their queen, and that means something, no matter how much you loathe it. Your people need to see a strong monarch right away.† â€Å"I was hoping to put that off.† My people, huh? â€Å"I wouldn't recommend it. Not unless you want a disaster on your hands.† â€Å"So should I appoint you as one of my advisers now?† â€Å"You may do anything you like. As for me, I tend to share Finn's view. If I cannot rip you apart yet and must be enslaved to someone, I would rather it be to someone more important than a human shaman.† I'd been teasing him, but my feelings sobered at the thought of Finn and poor Nandi. â€Å"You're the last man standing, Volusian. Who would have seen that coming?† â€Å"I did, mistress.† The incredulous look on his face resembled Dorian's when he'd told me he loved me. â€Å"There was never any question. They were inferior.† I laughed. â€Å"I never thought I'd say this, but after everything that's happened, you're the only normal thing I can rely on.† He didn't reply. â€Å"Go back to the Otherworld and stay with Shaya. Tell her I'll be there soon. Only cross over if there's a message I need to hear.† â€Å"As the Thorn Queen wishes.† â€Å"Oh, be quiet.† I spoke the banishing words and sent him on. After that, I stretched out on my bed and tried to assess my life thus far. I was still a shaman, one of the most powerful around if the stories were true. I possessed human means of working and controlling magic, using it to fight and banish anything nasty that slipped into this plane. But I was also gentry, the daughter of one of the Otherworld's biggest tyrants, and I could supposedly be the one to bring about a terrible prophecy – provided my woman-child sister didn't do it first. I was dating a guy who could turn into a fox and who might very well turn on me if I ever got pregnant. I had the love of a king who could tie damned good knots and wanted my help to take over his world and my own. Somehow I'd developed the power to call storms and blow up people. I'd been to the land of death and returned. And finally, I was a queen: the Thorn Queen, which didn't exactly sound flattering. Why couldn't I have been the Violet Queen or s omething? Why trees and not flowers? There was no accounting for Otherworldly tastes. I needed tequila and Def Leppard right away. I walked out to the kitchen, hoping to uncover one or the other but found neither. Instead, I settled for water from a large glass pitcher we kept chilled in the refrigerator. I poured a cup for myself and then set to refilling the pitcher while my mind spun. Why had everything turned so confusing lately? I didn't want any of this. I just wanted Kiyo and the occasional exorcism. Love and a way to pay the mortgage. That was it. I didn't need all this Otherworldly entanglement or the gentry and their games. They offered me nothing. I didn't want anything from any of them. Angrily, I slammed the faucet off and turned toward the refrigerator. I didn't realize how wet my fingers were until the glass pitcher slipped from my hands. Everything after that happened in the space of a heartbeat. The pitcher fell. It hit. It shattered. Without thinking, my senses reached out and seized the water, ordering it to stay where it was. There was nothing to be done for the glass – Yet, it didn't move. The shards hung frozen in midair, just like the water, suspended in the pattern created from the impact. I stared, dumbstruck, until a faint breeze brushed my skin and I realized the fragments trembled slightly. Cautiously, I reached out to that air with my mind and felt its answering resonance. Stretching further, I could sense the currents of power running from me to the space around the glass. The air shifted there as its molecules fought to keep the pieces from falling. Somehow, without even knowing how, I'd made the air obey me, just as I had the water. Only this was a lot more difficult. I gradually became aware of exactly how I affected the air molecules, and the longer I did it, the harder it was. The pieces of glass felt like bricks, their weight heavy on my senses as I kept holding them up. With a casual thought, I sent the water away to my sink. Forcing all of my attention to the glass gave me a little more strength, but I knew my control would give out soon. Still, I held on. I suddenly wanted to dominate the air, understand how it worked and what I needed to do to command it. Imagine when you master it – and the other elements. As I connected to the air, I felt that burning, glorious feeling start to run through me. It still had yet to ever come close to the levels in the dream-memory, but the surge I felt now was stronger and sweeter than anything else I'd felt from controlling water alone. Tim walked in just then, freezing midstep when he saw me. â€Å"Eugenie?† Fatigue beat at my muscles, and sweat broke out along my brow. The glass would fall any moment now, and when it did, the magical high would disappear. I fought as long as I could, but when the glass started to shake violently, I hastily ordered the air to carry the pieces to a nearby garbage can. My control was clumsy; only some of the glass made it. I thought you liked the way it made it made you feel. Gasping, I sat down in a chair, staring at the glass on the floor. Tim was staring at me. â€Å"Eug†¦what just happened?† The euphoria of power flickered briefly as I desperately tried to summon the air again. No luck. That achingly wonderful glory drained out of me, like embers fading from orange to gray. Some part of my soul screamed for it as it disappeared, begging it to come back, swearing that I would do anything at all for it to return. I closed my eyes and swallowed. â€Å"Eugenie,† Tim tried again, â€Å"what was that?† I opened my eyes and followed his gaze to the glass that still lay on the floor. It took me a moment to find my voice, and when I did, it came out soft and husky. â€Å"I don't know. But I think I want it.†