Personal Branding

â€Å"I've come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that's as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you. † Oprah Winfrey Most of us know how important our brand is but we don’t always consider all the components that constitute our brand. When birthing your brand, you must consider the total user experience. Your personal brand should be extended into all aspects of your business. As image professionals, we are walking advertisements of our services so our business brand begins with us. A personal assessment should be the first step in building your brand. There are numerous ways to conduct a personal assessment. Consider and honestly answer the questions: What am I good at? How do I want others to describe me? What do I have to offer others? In other words, what is your value proposition that adds measurable, remarkable, distinctive value? You have to understand what makes you unique and what you have to offer then exemplify that in your business in every way. Once you take inventory and understand what it is you bring to the table as an individual you can work on bringing out the positives and improving the negatives. Continuously perfect your craft by participating in educational seminars, meetings, webinars, and other networking events. It has been said that it takes at least 10 years to be considered an expert at anything. Start as early as possible honing your skills and continue to sharpen them by regularly reading and trying new things. Just being the best is not good enough if you can’t communicate why this makes a difference to others. If you cannot articulate your brand effectively to the world, it will overlook you so careful communication of your brand is paramount. This is done in many ways, including verbally telling people and by writing about your brand or unique selling proposition in the form of articles or online postings. Online and social media are vital forms of communicating your message and should certainly be a part of your personal branding strategy. But be careful that the information you put out is aligned with your goals, audience needs, and your genuine style. All elements of your personal image have to be consistent in all aspects of your life to have the strongest effect. The final part of the process will be a matter of applying your brand in all areas of your life. Not only with your appearance, communication, and etiquette but also in the other extensions of your own personal brand, which include the house you live in, the car you drive, the company you keep, the events you attend, the work space you maintain, to the documents you disseminate. All of these represent you and make an impression, good or bad. Remember that personal branding refers to the images and ideas evoked when you think of a particular person. It is the purposeful method of shaping those images and ideas people have of you. The term personal branding has become more popular in the last decade but as Tom Peters, management guru, famously wrote â€Å"Big companies understand the importance of brands. Today, in the age of the individual, you have to be your own brand. †

Heaney as a Modern Poet

Seam's Haney as a poet of Modern Ireland Seam's Haney epitomizes the dilemma of the modern poet. In his collection of essays ‘Preoccupations' he embarks on a search for answers to some fundamental questions regarding a poet: How should a poet live and write? What Is his relationship to his own voice, his own place, his literary heritage and his contemporary world? In ‘Preoccupations' Haney imagines ‘Digging' itself as having been ‘dug up', rather than written, observing that he has ‘come to realize that It was laid down in me years ago'.In this sense, the poetic act is one of ‘retrieval'-of recovering something that already exists-rather than of creating something entirely new from whole cloth, Plagued by the moral dilemma of sympathizing with the school of thought that wanted to destroy the Protestant supremacy, and being a poet, he could not condone violence. This dilemma tore him apart and gave way to a sense of fragmented Identity and an Inevit able nihilism. It Is this sense of the repetition of cycles rooted deep in the past that attracted Haney to Glob's book on The Bog People.What Glob offers is an image off pre-Christian, northern European tribal society in which ritual violence is a necessary part of the structure of life. Most of the Iron-Age bodies recovered from the Jutland Bogs and documented by Glob had been the victims of ritual killings, many of them having served as human sacrifices to the Earth Goddess Nervous. Haney detected a kinship between the Pagan civilizations of Jutland and Ireland's own Celtic traditions.Haney in a conversation affirms â€Å"Irish Catholicism is continuous with something older than Christianity†. Honey's first extended attempt at conflating his understanding of Glob's Jutland rituals with his own sense of mythic and modern history comes in the ‘Tolland Man'. The Tolland Man is one of the recovered bodies by Glob in this book. He was a victim sacrificed to Nervous, In th e hope of securing a good crop from the land, and It Is In this sense that he is, as Haney describes him as ‘Bridegroom to the goddess'.Haney imagines the killing of the Tolland Man and his subsequent burial in the Bog as a kind of violent love making between victim and goddess, In which Nervous , ‘opening her fen' reserves the victim's body by immersing it in her sexual ‘dark juices'. When the Tolland Man is dug up, many centuries later the turf cutters discover ‘His last gruel of winter seed/caked In his stomach'. Ever since Haney placed as a child In a moss- hole, Haney realized that the Bog represented for him a repository of memories of his childhood. He also recognized the Bog as being literally a storage place which held objects preserved for decades beneath It.Just as Haney believed that Ireland's history lay beneath the Bog he also began to use the Bog to project her future. The fact that poetry is a kind of continuous and complex stream of thoughts, a composite of memories In which what we have experienced in the past Is constantly merging with our experience of the moment best embodied by Eliot;s ‘Time present and time past/are both perhaps present in time future/and time future contained in time past'. Haynes poems are laced with a strong sense of alienation In the modern world and the need to negotiate the distance between origins and present circumstances.In the poem ‘Digging' learning and the privileges to which it provides access are what operates the speaker trot his tamer. The speaker sits inside looking out at his father working beneath his window. If he cannot literally dig, he can ‘dig metaphorically unearthing the detail of the life of his family and community and honoring them by preserving them in his verse. As Hellene Vender puts it, these early poems memorial ‘a life which the poet does not want to follow, could not follow, but none the less recognizes as forever a part of his inner land scape'.The language evokes a strong sense of the sight and sound of the world being described which indicates the early influence on Haney of this near contemporary English poet Ted Hughes. Language is thus deployed here with enormous precision in the impressionistic manner in order to evoke a detailed image of a very specific world with Haney describing it as the rustle of language itself. In the true modernist vein Haney takes a descent into his past which becomes analogous to his subconscious, ‘digging' out memories. The land of Ireland itself is, the object of resentment for those who endured the terrible suffering of the Great Hunger.In ‘Ata Potato Digging the ultra collective of ‘a people hungering from birth' takes on a political dimension as well as a purely descriptive one. The degradation of having to grub ‘like plants' makes the people seem worth no more than weeds so it is unsurprising that they should feel that their land is the ‘bitchy ear th'. Honey's subject matter and imagery become stark and astringent filled with death and dying and rooted firmly in his world. However, the irony becomes evident when the essence of profligacy is contrasted with famine victim could afford to throw away tea dregs or crusts.As the workers stretch out in their rest they are describes lying on faithless ground'. This reminds us of the fact that nature can set its face against humanity and behave in an unpredictable manner. It can also be argued that although Honey's work is full of images of death and dying, it is at the same time deeply rooted in life endlessly metaphorical. It holds out an offer of endlessness of cynical history of eternity. Honey's poems are ultimately peace poems intensifying the sense of beauty in contrast to the horror of violence and the pathos of needless death.

Brutus’s Speech vs. Antony’s

The Speech That Changed Everything In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Brutus and Mark Antony must win the support of the Romans by making a speech to them. The two former friends become enemies. They share different beliefs in what is right in their eyes. Brutus wants to take the place of Caesar and become powerful. Antony wants justice for his best friend, Caesar. However, Shakespeare pits Mark Antony’s speech against Brutus’ speech. Antony’s speech is persuasive, and heartfelt. He understands the Romans unlike Brutus. Brutus’ speech is brief and not heartfelt.Mark Antony becomes victorious in winning the hearts of the Romans by having his speech be more rhetoric and effective than Brutus’ speech. Brutus’ â€Å"Romans, Countrymen, and Lovers† speech is brief, precise, and gets to the point. He tells the people of Rome that Caesar is ambitious even though he does not prove that he was ambitious. Brutus also tells the Romans that Caesar w ill mostly likely be corrupt because all the other rulers before him were corrupt. For example, Brutus says, â€Å"Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men? (3. 2. 3-24)† He tells the people of Rome that if Caesar was ruler, everyone would be slaves. Brutus tells them that he actually did them a favor. Brutus convinced the Romans, but he didn’t convince them for long. If he understood how they felt he would have fully convinced them. Mark Antony’s â€Å"Friends, Romans, Countrymen† speech is more rhetoric, persuasive and he put a lot of thought into it. After Brutus called Caesar ambitious, Antony gave excellent reasons on why he actually wasn’t ambitious. For example, Mark Antony says, â€Å"When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept. Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honorable man (3. 2. 94-97). † Mark Antony was ab le to turn the word honorable around to mean dishonorable. He put it in a respectful, but sarcastic way. Antony understands how the Romans feel about the death of Julius Caesar. They are angry, confused, and sad just like Antony. Antony relates to the Romans by saying, â€Å"My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me (3. 2. 108-109). † By saying these powerful words the Romans and Antony share the same amount of suffering towards Caesar’s death.Mark Antony was able to convince an audience, who at first were against him, to be on his side. Mark Antony and Brutus both tried to make their speeches convincing and persuading. Mark Antony’s speech was very successful unlike Brutus’. His speech is also better than Brutus’. The people of Rome rooted for Brutus until Antony made his speech. If Brutus went after Antony, he might have been the more successful one. The people of Rome will follow anyone which is why th ey rooted for Antony because he spoke last. As Cassius puts it, â€Å"the Romans are but sheep (1. 3. 106). Mark Antony used more rhetorical questions in his speech to help persuade the Romans and Brutus did not. Brutus was less persuasive than Antony. He also treats the Romans like they are nothing but peasants. Antony calls the Romans his friends. Shakespeare does pit Mark Antony’s speech against Brutus’ speech. Even though Brutus gained the support of the Romans, it was not for long. Brutus just wanted power so he didn’t really have a passion in his speech. Mark Antony wanted justice for Caesar who made him passionate and sincere in his speech. Overall, Mark Antony’s speech won the hearts of the Romans.

Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 13

Response - Essay Example It does not associate the art directly with the female gender except where it mentions that it’s the domain of women (Ingolo 25) which is explicitly done in the other two writings. The creation of femininity uses imagery to bring about the struggles of women. It uses embroidery; an art associated with women to point out issues in the women’s lives. It explores the existence of gender roles deeply engraved in the society. This is a mentality fostered right from the family level when one is growing up until adulthood (Parker 3). There seems to be a struggle amid the men who are so keen to maintain the status quo and the women who are out to assert their rightful position in the society (Parker 2). Speaking through Cloth: Teaching Hmong History and Culture through Textile Art by McCall also looks at the oppression of women. The art work produced by women in their culture portrays their lives, struggles, and the plight to the world (McCall 235). We can see the unfair treatm ent of women through exploitation of their work by getting half the price their work fetches. We also get to see how the boys are favored to acquire education while the girls are supposed to remain at home to engage in embroidery work (McCall 231). It is evident that the embroidery is a complex form of art. Women try to assert their place in society by creating pieces of art that speak volumes about the need to be recognized. The struggle seems far from over, but they are determined to keep on despite the numerous hurdles placed on their way by a male dominated

Should conscientious objection be a defence to breach of equality law Essay

Should conscientious objection be a defence to breach of equality law - Essay Example Anti-Racism laws, which are a reflection of the equality law were designed to provide a remedy to the failure by the State to not do enough to protect disadvantaged member of the society.2 The United Kingdom’s Equality Act of 2010, which is part of the wider anti-discrimination laws of Great Britain, is based on the premise of the State impacting upon the UK society through legislation to educate and instruct individuals as well as institutions on how to act during public interactions.3 The Equality Law simply requires citizens to be blind on differences to do with sexuality, race, gender, and age. Secondly, it requires citizens to be deaf on differences arising from belief or religion. However, under the concept of conscientious objection, there are seemingly exceptions to the adherence of the equality law.4 Conscientious objection has been described as â€Å"a refusal on religious or moral grounds to engage in military conflict or even serve in the armed forces.†5 A conscientious objection is normally based on religious beliefs that are obtained from trainings and must be highly upheld. A conscientious objector must prove that the newly acquired ethical and moral convictions are what direct his or her life choices. Under the English law, there are only three instances where there are legal rights to objections based on conscientious objections. These instances comprise of abortion cases, application of technological process in achieving conception/ pregnancy, and in services of the armed forces.6 Other cases examples on the application of conscientious objections are when a pharmacists declines to administer emergency contraceptives owing to his religious beliefs or when an employee breaks health and safety rules or dress codes or displays religious symbols at the work place, wh ich is an infringement upon the rights of others. Based on the above review, conscientious objection should not be used as defence for breaching the equality law since it will provide

Football speech Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Football speech - Coursework Example This will enable them to comprehend how the professional sport is actually played, as well as apprise them of the global nuances, changes and aspirations that are shaping up with the passage of time. I am sure that the England team can rise way above my expectations if the young ones of today are given a chance to showcase their true talents as the country is filled with immense talent, skills and abilities. Why not tap the same? I ask you, why? Let’s go ahead with it and achieve success at full throttle. This is indeed possible, my dear ladies and gentlemen! The professional coaching in schools will allow us to succeed as and when we wish to have it within our ranks. I am certain that this professional football education would pave the way for talented stars to come up in the near future. The forming up of training academies would be a better initiative that the English football authorities can undertake because this will resolve quite a few issues. There is a dire need to se t things right and that too within the shortest time frame possible, so that success can be attained quickly. The youth training academies should be such that these inculcate pure value more than anything else. There is this shortfall of professional players coming on the English horizon and this can only be met with adequate levels of coaching and professionalism, and I am sure if steps are taken in the right direction, positive results will arrive sooner rather than later. I am sure that the academies must be given the resources that are required by them. If these academies are given the resources, they will come up with solid and long-lasting results. These results would win immense happiness for all of us, who want to see the sport of football thrive and our crowds roar whenever our team is playing well. My dear ladies and gentlemen, I may add here again that the professional coaching domains could only be harnessed upon if the right mix of coaches are employed, so that they can make sure that the players who are the most talented amongst the lot get selected and represent the different clubs so that they can make it to the top echelon, i.e. the England football team. Many stars within the England team represent pure talent and variety in the sheerest form and I am sure if given a proper chance to the up and coming players, there is no reason why they cannot be hailed as the very best, in fact even the greatest, in the times to come. Only thing lacking is an understanding that commitment and professionalism are inter-linked, and both of these tangents need to be touched upon deeply so as to extract maximum value. The football starting line-up within the clubs must have at least three English youth players so that their essence has a long-lasting value on building up the other players who are there within the clubs. These players will feel that they are playing on the big stage and are thus a part of something big (Sutherland, 1996, 45). They will even be g rateful if the English youth players take the time out to represent them, so that success for the sake of these clubs is manifested at the end of the day. This is such an important proposition that one can only wish for this to happen. And happen for the right reasons too, without any doubt let me tell you. I believe that the English youth players would bring with them the much required experience and

Test study guide Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Test study guide - Assignment Example He painted accurately the body and nature, instead of exaggeration. In Lamentation a 3-d feel becomes apparent. The viewer can almost become part of the painting. This fresco depicts humans holding the dead body of Christ, while angels hover above. 3 Recognize the style of Italian Renaissance sculpture and painting. (You do not need to visually distinguish between Early, High or â€Å"Mannerism†). The Italian Renaissance style was more of a realistic approach. Proper proportions and scenes that depicted nature as real were the style of this period. 4 What is the meaning of the word â€Å"Renaissance?† From lecture information, describe the context in which the â€Å"Renaissance† emerged in Italy. Renaissance means rebirth or revival. The Renaissance was a renewal or birth of Latin and Greek classic thinking and studies. 5 What is â€Å"Humanism†? How did artists and intellectuals reconcile Christianity with Humanism? Humanism centers around human thoughts and knowledge. Artists and intellectuals reconciled Christianity with Humanism by studying the relations of humans to spirituality and divine issues. 6 How did Renaissance ideas about the role of human beings differ from the medieval period? The Renaissance focused more on logic and human thought in life, whereas the medieval period focused more on religion and the afterlife. 7 What was Albertis contribution to the Italian Renaissance painting style? According to him, what should good paintings include (what were his â€Å"rules† for painting)? Albertis contribution was the rules for painting three dimensional subjects on a flat surface. Good paintings â€Å"will include all ages of man and both sexes as well as animals of all sorts.† 8 What is mathematical (or linear) perspective? What is a vanishing point? A perspective in drawing and painting where parallel lines are converging so as to give the illusion of depth and distance. The

Article Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Article Summary - Essay Example It is evident that these companies exploit loopholes to avoid taxes even when Britain and Germany have announced their plans to get fair share of taxes from them. The article then analyses the case of each of the companies separately. Starbuck’s share of contribution to UK taxes over 13 years was only 8.6 millions even though the worlds biggest coffee company recorded sales of 3.1 billion pounds during the period. The most shocking fact reported by Reuters is that the company has not paid any income tax in the nation during the past three years. However, the company delegates hold that they always follow the tax rules correctly and are ready to pay their fair share of taxes. In the case of Google, even though the company had a sale of $4 billion in 2011 the tax paid by the company was only 3.4 million pounds and it has been identified that the company â€Å"avoids UK tax by channeling non-U.S. sales via an Irish unit† (Bergin). In the same way, the filings by Amazon als o show that the company paid just less than 1 million pounds of tax the previous year even though it had sales worth $5.3-7.2 billion in UK. It is thus evident that the company also avoids taxes through unfair means. The author concludes the article by emphasizing the need for new revenue-based tax to ensure that such international companies pay their fair share of taxes to the UK economy without

Should Animals Be Used In Medical Research Essay

Should Animals Be Used In Medical Research - Essay Example According to the paper ‘morality’, ‘rights’ and ‘ethics’ are part of philosophy and not of ‘survival instinct’. Millions of people would have either died or would have lived ill lives if the progress in the medical field was not made. Hence, even though use of animals in medical research is violation of animal rights, it is nothing but a different form of ‘fight or flight’ instinct used by human beings to survive the threat to their lives through diseases and health problems. Hence, human beings have every right to use animals in medical research as they are genetically programmed to ‘survive’ any threat and through any means, as they are the part of the natural system where ‘survival of the fittest’ is an accepted law of nature. This paper gives a strong opinion that a healthy body, mind and a soul are foundation of healthy and happy life of human beings. With advent of machines and computers, the physical exertion of human beings have reduced to a great extend. People have become lethargic, physically inactive and dependent on machines to do most of their work. It concluded that humans would have replaced the animals in laboratories for medical research and would have died unnecessarily. The number of the inventions and the discoveries that were made in the medical world with the help of animals shows how important the use of animals is in the medical research. Sadly, most of the discoveries and inventions were possible only because animals were used in the laboratories and researches. Improvement In Quality And Quantity Of Human Life The development of different methods to cure and prevent diseases in humans and animals, in last 100 years, has been possible because of animal experiments in medical research (Giridharan, Kumar & Muthuswamy, 2000, p.1). In last four centuries, major advances in basic research and medical treatments have been achieved only because of the experiments on animals (Giridharan,

Black on the Block Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Black on the Block - Essay Example   Ã‚   Question 1 Mary’s main idea in the book, Black on the Block mostly focuses on the middle class people who were living a middle class lifestyle in Chicago. High percentage of the people who were in this group comprised of the blacks who were struggling to keep their standards as those of most Europeans who had high class lifestyle. These efforts were also aimed at reducing discrimination on the blacks due to their race. Mary claims that the blacks were not given equal chances as the whites but she forgot that this was not their land of origin. Mary therefore focuses mostly on the poverty of the blacks and the challenges the faced as a result of this poverty. An area in Chicago by the name North Kenwood-Oakland was the resident for both the rich and the poor. However, the number of the rich was highly increasing in the area. That was a great challenge to the people in the middle class level since it subjects them to a risk of being pushed away and looses their houses to the rich. Mary believed that that would subject them to more poverty but they had no alternative. Mary claimed that financial institutions would loan them but that could not be right since they owned nothing as they were in a foreign country. This discrimination blocked them from borrowing a loan from financial institutions that could have helped them in coming up with projects which could have initiated profit generation. They thought that the main reason for the discrimination of the black was as a result of their race and skin color but it was their home origin. The blacks did all they could to see to it that their rights as human beings were respected. They wanted to be given equal privileges like the fellow citizens. This led to riots in the streets of Chicago.    Question 2 Mary takes the reader through several things that were done to the black community living in Chicago and the problems they faced. She talks a lot of negative things concerning Chicago some of them being on how the whites were going to better schools than the blacks. She exaggerates this story so much on the negativity of Chicago. As she approaches the end of the story, she focuses mostly on the on the unity of the black community and how they worked together on fighting the discrimination that was subjected to them. This shows that she was very happy for the black since she was in their support. This proves that the research she did was not recommendable since she was biased and she favored the blacks. The reason for this was because she was also in the middle class as the African-America community.   What the blacks were going through was not discrimination since Chicago was not their land and that was the result for the ir poverty. However they were lucky to be treated as the whites after their demonstrations. Question 3 For an individual to be in a position of writing such a book, a lot of information is required. This can be easily proved by a lot of history that is contained in this book.   For instance, as Mary continues with her story, she gives a information in form of numerals and ratios to show the progress that the blacks were making in order for them to win this battle of discrimination. Within duration of twenty years, the black’s community increased from 21% to 99%, which was through interactions within themselves and also with the white. This increase helped them to be

Smoking and Lung Cancer Essay Example for Free

Smoking and Lung Cancer Essay What is lung cancer? Well, lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in both men and women in the United States. Lung cancer has greater mortality rates than the next three most common cancers combined (colon, breast and prostate). An estimated 157,300 Americans were expected to die from lung cancer in 2010, accounting for approximately 28 percent of all cancer deaths (American Lung Association). Lung cancer is very difficult to treat, depending on the size and stage in which the cancer is detected. The earlier the cancer is discovered, the better. For example, if the cancer is found earlier than later, more types of treatment can be administered to the patient. These treatments may vary from surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Although lung cancer is rarely cured completely, if detected and treated early, survival expectancy can increase substantially. Despite the difficulties of this deadly disease, the number of cases in which people have lung cancer is unnecessary, and can be greatly lowered. The risk of developing lung cancer can be reduced by 90% in people who quit smoking before the age of 35. Smoking is greatly related to lung cancer. Smoking, a main cause of small cell lung cancer, contributes to 80 percent and 90 percent of lung cancer deaths in women and men (American Lung Association). Men that smoke are 23 times more likely to develop lung cancer than men who don’t, and women who smoke are 13 times more likely to develop lung cancer than nonsmoking women. The lung cancer types found in people who smoke mostly differ from those in non-smokers. Small cell lung cancers, which account for approximately 20 percent of lung cancers, occur almost always in people who smoke or have smoked in the past. Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a disease in which cancer cells are found in the tissues of the lungs. Inside the chest, lungs take up much of the room inside and usually are a pair of cone-shaped organs. The characteristic of this type of cancer is that it grows mor e rapidly and is more likely to spread to other organs inside your body. Starting with any one of the larger breathing tubes, small cell lung cancer grows quickly and at the time of diagnosis attains larger size. Most common cause of lung cancer is cigarette smoking. Small cell lung cancer risk factors include smoking cigarettes, cigars, or pipes now or in the past, exposure to second hand smoke, and exposure to asbestos or radon. Non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) is the type found more commonly in non-smokers, but the majority of cases still  occur in people who have smoked in his or her lifetime. There is one broad general cause to lung cancer that is the Constant prolonged introduction and exposure of a variety of carcinogens into the lungs. A carcinogen is any ingredient that has the potential to cause cancer. One deadly carcinogen is radon gas. Exposure to radon is estimated to be the second leading cause of lung cancer, responsible for an estimated 15,000 to 22,000 lung cancer deaths every year (American Lung Association). Radon is a tasteless, colorless and odorless gas that is produced by decaying uranium and occurs naturally in soil and rocks. Lung cancer can also be caused by occupational exposures, including asbestos, uranium, and coke (an important fuel in the manufacture of iron in smelters, blast furnaces, and foundries). Amongst all of these factors that cause lung cancer, cigarette smoke, with its concoction of highly concentrated carcinogens, inhaled by both smokers and nonsmokers is the foremost cause of lung cancer. In addition to the causing of lung cancer, smoking puts a person in increased risk of the pancreas, kidney, bladder, esophagus, oral cavity, and larynx cancers. Since there is a great association between smoking and lung cancer, there is also an increased risk of developing other smoking related cancers. These types of cancers and lung cancer incidences depend initially on the overall lifetime exposure to cigarette smoke, the number of years a person has smoked cigarettes, and the age at which the individual was introduced into cigarette smoking. Now that we know the causes of lung cancer, let’s explore the contents of a cigarette. What are the ingredients and chemicals that are manufactured into cigarettes, have you ever wondered? There are approximately 600 ingredients in cigarettes (American Lung Association). When these ingredients are burned, they create more than 4,000 chemicals. At least 50 of these chemicals are known to cause cancer, and many are very poisonous. A lot of these chemicals are also found in many consumer products, but these products have warning labels on them. While the public is warned and advised about the danger of the poisons in these products, there is no such warning for the toxins in cigarettes. Here are a few of the chemicals in tobacco smoke, and other places they are found in: Acetone found in nail polish remover, Ammonia a common household cleaner, Methanol – a main component in rocket fuel, Butane – used in lighter fluid, and Carbon Monoxide – released in car exhaust fumes. That’s just a very short  list of extremely dangerous chemicals that are incorporated into cigarette smoke. It’s no surprise that the constant inhalation of these hazardous substances over time can result in a variety of serious health problems such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, and even chronic diseases. It is critical and essential to know how smoking causes lung cancer because there is a great relationship between smoking and lung cancer. Your lungs air passages are lined with millions of tiny hairs called cilia. The cilia act like little brooms protecting the air tubes by sweeping dusts, tar, and other foreign materials gradually upward, like escalators, until they can be spit out. Every time a blast of tobacco smoke hits these cilia, however, they slow down, and soon stop moving. As a result, the trapped tars from the tobacco smoke begin seeping into the cells lining the air tubes. Over time, this constant irritation turns some of the cells cancerous. This transformation usually takes many years. But once it begins, the cancer steadily eats its way deeper into the lung. By the time it is discovered, its usually too late. When cigarette smoke is inhaled, the tissue cells of the lungs are exposed to the host of carcinogens contained in the smoke. Carcinogens have the unique potential to damage and change the DNA of cells in the body. The DNA is responsible for functions including how fast the cells reproduce and grow. Once a cell has been exposed to carcinogens for an extended period of time and the DNA has been affected, the cell can become cancerous. A cancerous cell is defined as any cell in the body who’s DNA has been reprogrammed to grow at an accelerated and unstoppable rate. As the affected cells continue to grow, they cause the formation of blood vessels to supply the cells with the needed nutrients to continue growing. These cells grow into masses called tumors. Eventually these tumors grow to such a size that they begin to crowd out other cells in the lungs. The added mass of the tumor makes it difficult to breathe, which decreases the amount of oxygen being transported throughout the body. Eventually the tumor can become so large that the lungs can no longer function. If a small amount of the tumor manages to break off and enter the bloodstream, or lymph system, the cancer can spread to other parts of the body. Here the process continues as the cells make new homes in organ tissues, such as the heart, liver or brain. This eventually causes these organs to no longer function over time as well. If you think you’re safe just because you are not a smoker,  think again, because you’re wrong. Passive smoking, or also known as second hand smoke can also be a risk factor for lung cancer. Breathing in the smoke of others can increase your risk of developing lung cancer. A non-smoker who lives with a smoker has about a 20 percent to 30 percent greater risk of developing lung cancer. Workers who have been exposed to tobacco smoke in the workplace are also more likely to get lung cancer. Secondhand smoke involuntarily inhaled by nonsmokers from other people’s cigarettes is classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a known human carcinogen, responsible for approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 46,000 heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers annually in the United States (American Lung Association). Smoking by parents is associated with a wide range of adverse effects in their children as well, including exacerbation of asthma attacks, increased frequency of colds and ear infections, and sudden infant death syndrome. Secondhand smoke causes an estimated 202,000 asthma episodes, 790,000 physician visits for buildup of fluid in the middle ear (or middle ear infection), and 430 sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) cases each year. Nicotine is a very addictive drug, and when it’s inhaled, cigarette smoke reaches the brain faster than drugs that enter the body intravenously. Smokers not only become physically addicted to nicotine; they also connect smoking with many social activities, making smoking an even more difficult habit to break. Quitting smoking often requires multiple attempts. Using counseling or medication alone increases the chance of a quit attempt being successful; the combination of both is even more effective. Perhaps the best motivation for an individual to quit smoking would be the thought of the serious health complications down the road if smoking is continued. If you stop smoking before a cancer develops, your damaged lung tissue gradually starts to repair itself. No matter what your age or how long youve smoked, quitting may lower your risk of lung cancer and help you live longer. There are some people that will try to tell you that the medical establishment is lying to you. They will argue that it’s not proven that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, that the statistics have been twisted to make the case against cigarette smoking stronger and worse than it actually is. There are a number of things that doctors and researchers don’t yet understand, such as there is no development of lung cancer in those people that can smoke for years, while  others who have never smoked do. There is one thing to keep in mind, risk of developing lung cancer increases due to smoking- this isn’t a claim, it’s a fact. Remember, it’s never too late to put down that cancer stick!

Improving FCAT sScores of students Essay Example for Free

Improving FCAT sScores of students Essay Since the first task is to find students who are willing to ask questions and seek help, it is imperative to build a working and trusting relation with the students. Knowing students and understanding their learning style should help them and the proponents of the study in meeting the collective obligation towards acquiring knowledge and preparing both parties for any challenge which include school testing or the state required Standard Testing. Further, it is expected to find cooperative teachers who are willing and able to work together to meet all of the student goals and the curriculum requirements. As mentioned before, if no cooperative work will take form among students, teachers, administrators and parents, the chances for students to be successful may diminish. There is an easy way for every teacher to help their students in preparing for the FCAT. In essence, teachers can include FCAT-like questions into the regular class lectures, activities as well as assessments. Primarily, teachers can use questions that necessitate students to elucidate their responses to the questions. Teachers can also have the students to relate their Reading and Mathematics skills utilizing challenging content from the various subject areas. The test questions included in the FCAT employ the content areas prescribed by the SSS which include the Arts, Language Arts and Mathematics, Science, Health and Physical Education, Social Studies as well as School-to-Work areas. Hence, every student must be handed the chances to apply their reading and mathematics skills in the content fields other than the plain customary mathematics as well as language arts. The majority of the text students after Grade 6 are needed to read and understand on FCAT is informational text which does not necessarily imply it as literature. Another way is for teachers to employ questions in which their formats are open-ended which are similar to the ones identified in the FCAT. AT least three distinct types of open-ended questions are used on the FCAT. These include the extended-response format, short-response type, and the gridded-response type. The first two formats (ER and SR) are applied only on the students of Grades 4, 8 and 10 Reading and Grades 5, 8, and 10 Math. The tests from Grades 5 to 10 in the Mathematics part of the FCAT apply the gridded-response format in the questions. The real amount of questions for every type differs a bit annually. Nevertheless, the percentage of the questions will fall just within the range illustrated in the table below: Percent of Questions for the FCAT Question Formats Subject and Grade Question Format Percent of Questions Read. — 4, 8, 10 Multiple Choice (MC) 85-90% ER and SR 10-15% Reading — 3, 5, 6, 7, 9 MC 100% Math — 3 4 MC 100% Math — 5 MC 60-70% GR 20-25%. ER SR 10-15% Math — 6, 7, 9 MC 60-70% GR 30-40% Math — 8 10 MC 50-60% GR 25-30% ER SR 10-15% In the Reading section of the ER questions in the FCAT, students are provided an answer space which consists of 14 lines. On the other hand, students are provided with a blank workspace for Mathematics where the students are required to illustrate their work and a few lines provided for their explanation part. Every student is required to write answers or illustrate their work in the spaces yet it is not a requirement to completely fill the spaces. Next, in the SR questions, students in reading are provided with another answer space which consists of eight lines. Students are provided with a blank workspace in Mathematics for their explanation or illustration of their work. Filling up the spaces completely is, again, not a requirement. In the GR format, every student is provided with an answer grid to fill. Students are required to fill the grid with the right answer with the use of one of the few right formats. Numerical answers resulting from specific questions can be solved by the use of a response grid and not mere questions of mathematics. In essence, the constant use of these formats of questions in every regular activities and appraisals within the classroom and will aid students become familiar to answering in the same manner they will be asked to answer in the actual FCAT. Teachers can also opt to grade and rate the work of the students using the rubrics based on the FCAT as well as the rubric from Florida Writes. By employing this approach, students can become more accustomed to what is expected from them on the actual test in FCAT. Aiding students comprehend what is expected of them on FCAT is perhaps one of the most effective approaches in helping these students to prepare for the actual FCAT. Most of the time, students ask â€Å"will I have to perform this one on the actual FCAT? † If the teacher considers using the FCAT rubrics in scoring the responses to the classroom test questions, subject papers, reports, projects among many others, students will harness a clearer comprehension of the degrees of performance expected of them during the FCAT. Last but not the least, teachers can opt to utilize and develop questions for classroom discussions and tests that are of similar cognitive firmness as the ones presented in the FCAT test rubrics. The SSS contains standards for the content as well as benchmarks that are challenging for every learner as it also includes the expectation that these learners become more creative as their critical thinking capabilities are likewise developed further. Every class has the size of approximately 32 students with a various degree of academic levels. Most students come from a lower socio-economic class and many of their parents speak another language apart from English and cannot provide enough help the proponents with any of the homework. With the help from other teachers, a â€Å"Mock FCAT Test† will be conducted which is going to be based on the materials the students have covered for the year. The test will consist of a multiple choice section, a true or false part, and several essay type questions. One of the co-teachers in the science classes will have to modify the test for the ESE students just as it has been practiced during regular test or quizzes. Some of the ESE students have a modification clause in their Individual Education Plan or IEP and the test questions have to be read to them so that they will be able to understand better the test questions and answer them to the best of their knowledge. Further, it will provide the students with the guidance for studying and preparing for the real FCAT test. Two periods per week can be used for the test preparation which serves as a review time and after four weeks the test will be given. The teachers should make themselves available before and after school for students who feel they need some help. Also, letters must be sent to the parents of the students which will serve as letters asking for their help, if possible, with students’ practice work. In addition to the help that is to be obtained from both the teachers and the parents, the students themselves will also participate and cooperate in order to further advance the help they can receive. That is, students will be paired, carefully selecting their pairs according to their academic level. All of these activities will be conducted in the regular classroom during the third quarter of the school year. A journal will be maintained which will serve as the record for all of the observations obtained as well as the progress of the students throughout the course of the scheme. Dates will be analyzed in order to predict any changes in the students’ progress so that it will be easier to identify where help is most needed for the students. The journal will also include information gathered from parents on the progress of the time spent with their children who are studying at home. Moreover, the journal will contain a comparison column to see the results from all of the quizzes and serve as a guide for intervention when needed. The information that will be obtained will be thoroughly shared with the students so that they ca follow their progress and pinpoint any deficiencies in which they have to work on. Lastly, the journal will provide information on what and where the needs are to be reviewed, revisited, or reinforced. This is to keep a sustained check on the progress of the project. With the cooperation of the other teachers, information will be shared and concerns will be exchanged concerning the progress of the students. The members of the project will be involved in monitoring, discussing, and helping students to stay on track. There will be daily discussions with the students about the difficulties of the study material or to share the successes and ideas about the methods of studying. Student’s input is most important as their suggestions will be shared with every student in both class periods. Also, students who have already taken the FCAT and have successfully passes the test will be introduced into the group of students in order for the former to be able to relate to the students their previous experience with FCAT. The techniques used by these previous students who have already successfully passed the FCAT will be shared to the current students so that the latter will be able to obtain any important information or insights into the FCAT. The data will be interpreted in terms of an analysis of all the information obtained before, during, and after the project has culminated. Input from the teachers involved will be greatly considered inasmuch as the conference with the parents and the participating students will provide the data that will be analyzed. Students will be given a self-survey to assess their own progress from their personal viewpoint and provide guide for reviewing the material for the test. Also, with the cooperation of the other teachers, notes will be compared and pinpoint the relation of time, the involvement of the parents and the scores obtained from the test. All obtainable manpower will be used in completing the project. The findings of the study or project will be shared with the entire staff of the school, specifically the administrators and the teachers, as well as with the parents and the students. The success of the project will be shared with other schools as it will be important and useful information in preparing their students for testing via the regular curriculum. The goal presented is to make the students aware of the possibilities of learning through organized effort and the learning intelligence that most befits each student. Also, the information obtained from the project will be shared with other teachers in order to reinforce the methods and styles and teaching practices that will be used. The parents will realize that their involvement with their children in learning is of great significance as they keep in contact with the teachers and monitor the progress of their children. The next phase is to work on continuous cooperation with the parents and other teachers and to provide the maximum help to the students. An open relationship with students will also be developed through an action plan where everybody is involved in the educational process working together for a common goal. This will help and encourage students in their future study as they will be able to comprehend the positive outcome of their efforts and the cooperation they maintain with their fellow students and with their parents and teachers. The bulk of the critical colleagues in the entirety of the project will be comprised of fellow teachers as well as the assistant principal of the school who will provide the support and approval for the implementation of the project. Permission will be sought after the school principal as well as from the parents of the students as both parties will have to invest time and a few other resources for the initiation and completion of the project. The permission of the other teachers will also be obtained primarily because classes will be conducted in their respective classrooms and class sections that they handle. CONCLUSION By monitoring the test results obtained from the FCAT and comparing these results with the previous years, the knowledge of the students can be relatively increased specifically in the domain of science. By guiding the teachers find the specific areas where the students needs some room for improvement especially their weaknesses as well as their strengths that need reinforcement, teachers can correspondingly adjust their lesson plans. Further, since the work aims at expanding the skills and knowledge of students based on FCAT results, the work also shares a relevant contribution to the overall academic and holistic development of the student as relationships are established and strengthened between students, parents, teachers, and the school administrators. References FCAT Fact Sheet. (2005, August 24, 2005). Retrieved August 5, 2007, from http://fcat. fldoe. org/pdf/fcatfact. pdf. FCAT Myths vs. Facts. (2005, August 24, 2005). Retrieved August 6, 2007, from http://fcat. fldoe. org/pdf/myths-facts. pdf. What every teacher should know about FCAT. (2005, August 24, 2005). Retrieved August 6, 2007, from http://fcat. fldoe. org/pdf/fcatguid. pdf.

Mechanisms and Effects of Plant Hormones in Organogenesis

Mechanisms and Effects of Plant Hormones in Organogenesis Abstract Plant tissue culture plays important roles in agriculture field by improving the production and quality of crops using recombinant DNA technology. The mechanisms and effects of plant hormones in promoting organogenesis in different types of plants are only partially understood. Using petunia leaves and carrot, the effects of auxin and cytokinin were investigated by carrying out organogenesis. The leaves and carrots were placed in NAA, kinetin and BAP in few combinations of different ratio for 5 weeks and were observed for any growth of roots and shoots. The results showed that petunia leaves and carrot slices placed in high NAA formed roots but no shoots were formed while only callus and shoots were formed for those in high kinetin or BAP. The petunia leaves in BAP also formed shoots while no shoots were found for those placed in kinetin. This indicated that NAA promotes root formation while kinetin and BAP stimulates shoot emergence and balanced composition of auxin and cytokinin wi ll initiate both roots and shoots formation. Also, BAP was found to be more effective in promoting shoot formation as compared to kinetin. Further research has to be carried out using different auxin and cytokinin on more plant species with longer period of time. Keywords: Plant tissue culture, Auxin, Cytokinin, NAA, BAP, kinetin, petunia leaves, carrot, roots, shoots Introduction: Plant tissue culture is a set of laboratory procedures that involve in-vitro growing of plant cells, tissues and organs using the nutrient medium in sterile conditions (Chawla, 2009). Plant tissue culture plays important roles in crop improvement as it improves the quality of plants by exploiting the genetic information of the plants through genetic engineering (Brown Thorpe, 1995). Advantageous traits can also be screened and inserted to the plants with this method to make the plants resistant to herbicide and pesticide and even more tolerant to the harsh environment. This in turn increases the production of crops with lesser input of cost and energy. Besides that, plant tissue culture also plays important roles in biodiversity conservation. This is because with recombinant DNA technology, endangered species of plants can be cloned and prevented from extinction. It also helps in studying the plant evolution as it allows the genetic relationship of distantly related species to be id entified. According to Thiel et al. (2008), plant hormones are largely involved in influencing the cellular differentiation in plant tissue culture. They are organic compounds that regulate the growth and development of target cells. There are five main types of plant hormones which are the auxin, cytokinin, gibberellins, abscisic acid and ethylene. Auxin is the hormone that causes the plants to carry out cell division and elongation (Chawla, 2009). It also involves in differentiation of callus which causes the emergence of roots first meanwhile inhibiting shoot formation. It is found to inhibit the abscisic acid activities but stimulate the synthesis of ethylene. In contrast, cytokinin promotes shoot formation but suppress the formation of roots (Chawla, 2009). Gibberellins involves in the elongation or regeneration of existing meristems. Besides that, abscisic acid influences the embryogenesis but suppresses growth. In seeds, abscisic acid often plays roles in retaining the seeds in dormancy . Ethylene is a gaseous chemical produced by amino acid and diffuses in the air to promote fruits ripening and abscission (Chawla, 2009). In this experiment, the carrot and petunia leaves were excised from the explants and were cultivated with plant tissue culture by carrying out organogenic differentiation in the MS media containing auxin (NAA) and cytokinin (kinetin or BAP). The purpose of this experiment is to investigate the effects of auxin and cytokinin in different concentrations ratios on the organogenesis of petunia leaves and carrots. The differences between kinetin and BAP on the growth of petunia leaves and carrots were also studied and compared. Materials and methods: In this experiment, two different types of plants were used which are the petunia leaves and carrots. For the petunia leaves, 18 robust and healthy leaves were excised using the sterilized forceps and scalpel. These leaves were soaked in the 10% (v/v) sodium hypochlorite for not more than 5 minutes and were rinsed thrice with sterile water in a laminar flow cabinet. Meanwhile, 8 petri dishes containing the Murashige-Skoog (MS) media for tissue culture supplemented with different combination of cytokinin and auxin concentration which were the NAA: Kinetin and NAA: BAP with ratio 2:0, 0.5:1, 1:0.5 and 0:2 respectively were labeled. Besides that, a control petri dish with MS media without supplement of any plant hormones was also set up. For each of these 9 petri dishes, 2 petunia leaves were placed with the abaxial surface in contact with the MS media. The procedure was repeated with carrots slices which were cut from the carrot with sterilized forceps and scalpel. 3 carrot slices were placed on each of the petri dishes. The effects of the plant hormones on the petunia leaves and carrot slices were checked every three days for 5 weeks and the results were recorded. Any leaves or carrot slices contaminated with fungi were eliminated by transferring the uncontaminated leaves to the new petri dish MS media during the experiment. Discussion: From the result, it was shown that all the petunia leaves and carrot slices in all petri dish with NAA, kinetin or BAP formed callus. As proposed by Che et al. (2006), when the explants are transferred to culture media, plant hormones such as auxin and cytokinin will initiate callus formation. This shows that the NAA, kinetin and BAP have caused the leaves or carrot slices to differentiate into callus. As for the control petri dish without auxin and cytokinin, there should not have any callus, roots or shoots formed as plant hormones are needed in order to have callus formed from cell differentiation. The petunia leaves have no callus and roots but shoots were formed while the carrot slices form callus but not roots and shoots. This may due to the contamination of plants hormones during the excision and transferring of leaves to the MS media as the forceps and scalpel may not be sterilized properly. Roots were formed on the petunia leaves in 2:0 NAA and kinetin and 2:0 NAA and BAP. This appeared to be the same for the carrot slices in 2:0 NAA and kinetin and 2:0 NAA and BAP as there were also roots formed. This is due to the high level of auxin which stimulates the transcription of auxin-responsive gene to promote root formation from the callus (Moubayidin et al., 2009). However, there was no shoot formed on all these leaves and carrot slices. This may due to the reason that the formation of shoot requires cytokinin and this hormone was absent. Hence, no shoots were formed. Also, the high level of auxin will suppress the shoot formation of the callus (Shimizu-sato et al., 2009). The petunia leaves in 1:0.5 NAA and BAP formed shoots and roots. The auxin induces the formation of roots while the cytokinin induces the formation of shoots. However, the petunia leaves in 1:0.5 NAA and kinetin did not form shoots and roots. This is because BAP is more effective than kinetin in initiating shoot formation as it is the most active form of cytokinin (Khandel et al., 2011). Similarly, the carrot slices in 1:0.5 NAA and kinetin and 1:0.5 NAA and BAP did not form shoot and roots. According to Moubayidin et al. (2009), only balanced composition of auxin and cytokinin will causes the explants to form roots and shoots. Since the ratio of auxin and cytokinin used was 1:0.5 at which the concentration of cytokinin was lesser, the absence of shoots may due to low concentration of cytokinin which is insufficient to induce the formation of shoot on the leaves. Also, the presence of cytokinin which suppresses the differentiation in root meristematic cells may also inhibit the root from emerging (Moubayidin et al., 2009). The time taken for the experiment is also one of the reasons as the time may not be enough to see the shoot and root formation. As for the 0.5:1 NAA and kinetin, roots were found to form on the petunia leaves and carrot leaves in respectively as auxin which induces root formation was present. However, the leaves and carrot slices in 0.5:1 NAA and BAP did not have roots formation. Besides that, shoots were also formed on the petunia leaves placed on 0.5:1 NAA and BAP but this did not appear to be the same for leaves in 0.5:1 NAA and kinetin. As stated by Chawla (2009), cytokinin promotes the cell division and elongation of shoots. As compared to the leaves in 0.5:1 NAA and kinetin at which no shoots are formed, it can be seen that BAP than the kinetin is better in inducing shoot formation (Buah et al., 2010). The carrot slices in 0.5:1 NAA and kinetin or BAP did not form shoot. One possible reason for the absence of roots and shoot on petunia leaves and carrot slices is that there was not sufficient time for the shoot and root formation to be observed and longer time is required. It can also be seen that only the petunia leaves in 0:2 NAA and BAP showed the emergence of shoot. This indicated that cytokinin in the form of BAP acts in stimulating the cell division and differentiation to form shoot. The absence of shoots for the petunia leaves in 0:2 NAA and kinetin showed that kinetin is weaker in initiating shoot formation as compared to BAP. The rest of the petunia leaves and carrot slices in 2:0 NAA and kinetin and 2:0 NAA and BAP did not have shoots. This is because the time taken for the observation of the leaves and carrot was too short and the shoots were yet to emerge. All the leaves and carrot slices in 0:2 auxin to cytokinin did not have roots as NAA was not added to the media to promote root initiation and elongation. In this experiment, carrot slices and petunia leaves were used to study the effects of auxin and cytokinin. This was to allow comparisons of effectiveness of tissue culture using different types of explants to be done. As stated by Akin-Idowu et al. (2009), carrot is the root of a plant with actively-dividing meristematic cells and it provides advantages to successful tissue culture with higher mass of differentiated cells. Petunia leaves on the other hand contain less actively-dividing cells. Thus, the callus, root and shoot formation of carrot slices should be more as compared to that of petunia leaves. One of the leaves was removed in petri dish with 1:0.5 and 0:2 NAA and kinetin respectively. This is because the leaves were found to be infected with micro-organisms such as fungi due to contamination. This may cause the petunia leaves to die off, leading to unnoticeable effects of the kinetin and NAA on the growth of the leaves. According to Odutayo et al. (2007), the presence of microbes in the plant tissue culture retards shoots and roots formation. Thus, in order to get accurate results, the contaminated leaves were removed to prevent the spreading of the microbes to the other leaf on the petri dishes. The contamination of the tissues culture may due to insufficient sterilization of the forceps and scalpels used. Also, the petri dishes containing the MS media with the leaves may also not fully enclose which creates passage for the microbes to enter. Conclusion: In conclusion, high amount of NAA promotes root formation while inhibiting shoot formation. On the other hand, kinetin or BAP in high concentration initiates shoot formation but suppressing root formation. The absence of NAA causes no roots to be formed while the absence of kinetin or BAP causes no formation of shoots. The absence of roots on leaves or carrot slices with NAA or absence of shoot on leaves and carrot slices with kinetin or BAP may due to the reason that insufficient time was given to observe the plants and the roots and shoots were yet to emerge. BAP is more effective in stimulating the emergence of shoot as compared to kinetin as it is the most active cytokinin. Also, carrot is more effective than petunia leaves in tissue culture as it contains actively dicing meristematic cells.

Neurobiological Correlates of Mental Imagery to Sensory Perception :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Neurobiological Correlates of Mental Imagery to Sensory Perception Understanding the brain's function in the human body involves examining how inputs are processed and outputs are generated. On a reductionist, neuronal level it is often difficult to conceive how such processes lead to our experience of the world. While sensory perception and motor output can be directly traced along neuronal pathways, science is still struggling to understand the roots of such internal, intangible processes as thinking, memory, I function and ultimately consciousness. It seems possible that these phenomena emerge through the complex integration of lower level processes, but our knowledge is far from being able to comprehend how this might occur. Until recently, these abstract concepts have been the domain of cognitive psychology and philosophy. Relying on introspection to get at the nature of our experience, the early philosopher's excursions into these realms were necessarily highly subjective and were not concerned with biological or anatomical functionality. With the popularity of behaviorism in the early 1900's, mainstream psychologists avoided reference to such issues. The development of cognitive psychology pushed internal processes to the forefront, and examined them by utilizing behavioral indicators to theorize about the underlying concepts of thinking and consciousness (1). However, only in the last two decades have psychologists been able to take advantage of technology which reveals the activity of the brain during cognitive tasks. This new approach, dubbed cognitive neuroscience, has attempted to corroborate theories on mental processes with empirical evidence of brain activity (2) . These scientists are now beginning to understand how the brain is responsible for such processes. One of the prime candidates for neurobiological inspection is the phenomenon of mental imagery. Introspectively, this ability seems closely tied to perception, of which we have a firm biological grasp. Furthermore, mental imagery has implications regarding memory, thought, reasoning and emotion, which often seem intrinsically tied to imagery. Mental imagery is an interesting phenomenon because it blurs the line between inputs and outputs. On the one hand, imagery can be considered an input such as vision because we can observe elements of shape, size and color. On the other hand, we can actively manipulate mental imagery, which resembles a behavioral output of sorts. Either way, mental imagery is generated internally without any necessary external prime. Psychologists and philosophers have long pondered our ability to obtain, examine and manipulate a picture in our head without utilizing actual sensory input.

Environmental Engineering :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Engineering is defined as the science based profession by which the physical forces of nature and the properties of matter are made useful to mankind in the form of structures, machines, and other products or processes at a reasonable cost of money and time. An engineer is a person trained or skilled in designing and planning the performance of such equipment as machines and structures and in supervising their performance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  An Environmental (or sanitary) Engineer is concerned with the water and sewage treatment as well as the resi- dential and industrial wastes. Environmental engineers are trained in preventing, evaluating, and solving environmental problems. To be successful, environmental engineers must combine technical knowledge with effective communication skills in day-to-day work and be able to communicate effictively with people of all types if they are to succeed in solving all of the problems facing them. The protection of rivers and lakes is part of their responsibility. In this profession, a know- ledge of chemistry and biology must be added to the engineering base. There are many different jobs that the enviorn- mental engineers have to do. First, there is Water Quality. Protecting the quality of water required for human use and environmental protection is an important role for environmental engineers. Increasingly severe quality standards for drink- ing water, wastewater, pollutant, and groundwater require engineers and scientists trained in the theory and practice of water and wastewater treatment. In addition, environmental engineers must be able to predict the fate of contaminants in multimedia enironments in order to measure the effects of pollution on humans and ecosystems. Water quality engineering involves the application of environmental chemistry, microbiology and physics together with modeling and process engin- eering to address these areas.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Second, there is Hazardous Waste Managment. Many industrial societies produce and dispose of significant amounts of hazardous materials. In sufficient treatment, storage and disposal have resulted in many uncontrolled contami- nant releases to the environment. Innovative engineering solutions are needed for liquid, gaseous and solid hazardous waste streams as well as for contaminated site remediation. It is the job of environmental engineers to understand and solve these waste problems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Third, there is Air Quality. Air pollution is a big problem in society today. Environmental engineers solve air pol- lution problems across a range of scales, with particular focus on indoor environments and urban air basins. They also have to understand the physical and chemical processes that determine the concentrations, fates, and effects of air pollutants; they

Letter of Resignation :: essays research papers

Dear Father Mavis: This letter is to inform you that I am resigning as Director of the Life Teen Music Ministry effective June 30, 2001. I have not reached this decision easily, but I feel this is an appropriate one at this time. My position with the Life Teen Music Ministry has been challenging and a true learning experience. Looking back to the beginning of this year, I truly believe the music ministry has achieved quite a turn-around when compared past programs. This was made possible by the few committed choir members and by the support of my former elementary music teacher, Nancy Rehner. I feel that I need to further explain how I reached my decision to resign. When I initially decided to accept the position as Director of Life Teen Music Ministry in early September, 2000, it was decided that Mikal Gonzales and Mary Stephenson would participate at Tuesday rehearsals and on Sunday Masses for this first year that I was hired. On Tuesdays, Mikal was to assist with teaching new music to the choir members. Mary was to do the same along with playing guitar. Within approximately 4-6 weeks, Vicki Hando and possibly others involved with Life Teen requested a meeting with the music ministry because of concerns with the musical format. As a result of this meeting, Mary and Mikal left their positions with Life Teen Music Ministry. Shortly before the Christmas season, Mikal did return to assist with the music ministry at my request. It was agreed that Mikal would attend every rehearsal and help to teach the music. He was also to attend every Sunday Mass, missing only for understandable reasons. As far as I know, everyone was happy with the music format during the Christmas season. Complications again arose toward the end of February, 2001. Mikal began to sporadically miss rehearsals and several Sunday Masses. At times, I had no prior notice of his absence. I would have to not only plan the musical format with the choir members, but also teach the music on those Tuesdays Mikal was absent. He would then show up for the Sunday Mass and change the format. This abrupt change of schedule caused tension to build within the choir and frustration on my part. The full responsibility for teaching and directing was placed on my shoulders, but this is not what was originally agreed upon. In reference to the music, Vicki Hando was reportedly becoming upset because too much music was being used from the Heritage Missal and not from the Life Teen Book. Letter of Resignation :: essays research papers Dear Father Mavis: This letter is to inform you that I am resigning as Director of the Life Teen Music Ministry effective June 30, 2001. I have not reached this decision easily, but I feel this is an appropriate one at this time. My position with the Life Teen Music Ministry has been challenging and a true learning experience. Looking back to the beginning of this year, I truly believe the music ministry has achieved quite a turn-around when compared past programs. This was made possible by the few committed choir members and by the support of my former elementary music teacher, Nancy Rehner. I feel that I need to further explain how I reached my decision to resign. When I initially decided to accept the position as Director of Life Teen Music Ministry in early September, 2000, it was decided that Mikal Gonzales and Mary Stephenson would participate at Tuesday rehearsals and on Sunday Masses for this first year that I was hired. On Tuesdays, Mikal was to assist with teaching new music to the choir members. Mary was to do the same along with playing guitar. Within approximately 4-6 weeks, Vicki Hando and possibly others involved with Life Teen requested a meeting with the music ministry because of concerns with the musical format. As a result of this meeting, Mary and Mikal left their positions with Life Teen Music Ministry. Shortly before the Christmas season, Mikal did return to assist with the music ministry at my request. It was agreed that Mikal would attend every rehearsal and help to teach the music. He was also to attend every Sunday Mass, missing only for understandable reasons. As far as I know, everyone was happy with the music format during the Christmas season. Complications again arose toward the end of February, 2001. Mikal began to sporadically miss rehearsals and several Sunday Masses. At times, I had no prior notice of his absence. I would have to not only plan the musical format with the choir members, but also teach the music on those Tuesdays Mikal was absent. He would then show up for the Sunday Mass and change the format. This abrupt change of schedule caused tension to build within the choir and frustration on my part. The full responsibility for teaching and directing was placed on my shoulders, but this is not what was originally agreed upon. In reference to the music, Vicki Hando was reportedly becoming upset because too much music was being used from the Heritage Missal and not from the Life Teen Book.

How is sound and setting presented in The Great Gatsby, King Lear, Death of a Salesman

Fitzgerald, Shakespeare and Miller explore both setting and sound within their writing to mirror the current thoughts and feelings of the character which then allows the audience to understand and sympathise the characters. It could be argued that through the use of setting and sound, the authors dramatically present the extent to which the protagonists have ‘fallen’ mentally. Likewise, with the combination of both sound and setting, the erotic imagery stimulated presents a mirror image of the intense thoughts and emotions of the characters which then allows for the audience to attach themselves emotionally to the characters.It could be interpreted that the reason behind the authors focus on both sound and setting was to convey their own individual thoughts and feelings of the society and its morals, through the use of the characters introduced in their texts. The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald’s modernist novel, explores certain traits that the characters carry through the use of the surrounding setting.Through the use of prosperous connotations when describing Gatsby’s ‘colossal mansion’ and ‘enormous garden’, Fitzgerald establishes the protagonist to be royal and perhaps even optimistic as the excessiveness of his parties could symbolise his elaborate plans for himself and Daisy. A magical element is conveyed when the guests ‘whisper’ among ‘the golden food’ and ‘the champagne and the stars. ’ The noun ‘golden’ further portrays Gatsby’s supremacy and could be interpreted that all his possessions are excessive in every way.The verb ‘whispering’ could be explored as the guests being extremely excited yet curious at the aspect of meeting this mysterious and powerful character, Gatsby. Similarly, Shakespeare’s tragic play King Lear, explores the aristocracy of a King through describing his palace as a place of order and elegance, ‘m y fair kingdom, no less in space, validity and pleasure’. The term ‘fair kingdom’ enforces the idea that like Gatsby, King Lear also takes pride in his possessions and wealth and it could be argued that both protagonists share the same characteristic of intense pride towards the superficial and physical items in life.As both The Great Gatsby and King Lear were written in societies where materialism controlled the citizens, the audience would have interpreted this one-dimensional attitude as traditional and in some senses valuable as it represented wealth and authority. Since The Great Gatsby was written during the domination of the American Dream, it would be fair to say that Gatsby achieved his dream in terms of his financial stability. On the other hand, many critics argued that ‘Gatsby's dream was unattainable because it didn't really exist.He was in love with a memory†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ In the same way that Gatsby was classified as not having attainted his spiritual dream of gaining the love of Daisy, ‘Willy’ in Death of a Salesman didn’t reach his American Dream financially despite his efforts. Due to both Gatsby’s and Willy’s failure in achieving the dream, it could be argued that they both share the same unsuccessful nature. On the other hand, their efforts of trying to achieve the dream could also embrace their brave nature due to their determination.All three texts present how the authors convey characteristics through the use of setting and by this, the audience are immediately welcomed to exploring the character on a personal and more individual level. In all three texts, the setting described by the authors mirrors the protagonist’s broken mind set. In Death of a Salesman, Miller portrays the character of Willy Loman as one whose mental health is fractured by his hunger to achieve the American Dream and through the use of setting; Miller heightens the building of dramatic tension as Wil ly's mental health deteriorates.From the first stage directions, it is evident that Willy is trapped both physically and mentally as he is surrounded by a, ‘†solid vault of apartment houses around the small, fragile-seeming home. † Through the use of the word ‘around’, Miller implies that Willy’s escape is highly unlikely and this increases the sympathy that the audience has for the character of Willy. It could also be interpreted that the word ‘around’ metaphorically symbolises a trap or a cage which completely dehumanises Willy as his freedom is being eliminated from him.The declarative description of ‘small, fragile’ parallels Willy’s emotional state thus creates the image of Willy being close to destruction. Furthermore, the use of the comma emphasises how much of a struggle it is for him to carry on, helping heighten his mental and physical brittleness. It could be argued that this also foreshadows the idea that if anything else triggers his emotions; his mental state will completely destruct. Ironically, Willy himself believes to be a ‘great man’ who is ‘known’ therefore this juxtaposition between ‘great’ and ‘fragile’ helps heighten the extent of his mental dysfunction.Equivalently, Fitzgerald explores Gatsby’s mental deterioration through the use of exploring the theme of loneliness, ‘trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, undespairingly, towards that lost voice across the room. ’ This creates irony as the character of Gatsby is known for the extravagant events he hosts therefore physically he is always kept company. The rule of three emphasises the extremity to which he has been broken mentally as he is imagining a ‘lost voice. ’ The ‘lost voice’ could also metaphorically symbolise the idea that Gatsby has been left soulless as all that remains of him is his physically body.On the other hand, the ‘lost voice’ could also represent Gatsby’s mind telling him to give up on chasing Daisy as he is deluded in believing that he can recreate the past, hence the adjectives of ‘struggling, unhappily’. Opposed to both The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman, King Lear immediately informs the audience that he’s ‘not in my perfect mind’ which therefore comes as no surprise when the atmosphere is described as chaotic, ‘as though he’d burst heaven†¦ the string of life began to crack.’The onomatopoeic sounds of ‘crack’ and ‘burst’ symbolise Lear’s sanity expiring as his mind now becomes a catastrophe which Edgar refers to as ‘reason in madness’. Furthermore, the angelic imagery of ‘heaven’ contrasted with the vulgar sound of ‘burst’ creates a juxtaposition that could symbolise his sanity being on the vir tue of defeat. All three texts exploit the tragic yet honest mind-set that the characters hold and this enables the audience to empathise with those characters as to some extent their mental self-destruction could be classed as relatable.Despite all the characters being of different social status’ and backgrounds, they all have one thing in common; their insanity. This implies that regardless of your significance in society, you are the conduct of your own down fall and this is seen through the character of Lear as he became broken due to his hunger for status, Willy for his longing of being wealthy and attaining the American Dream and lastly, Gatsby for fooling himself into believing that he was able to retain Daisy’s love through a materialism approach.Many would argue that within all three texts, the weather enforced pathetic fallacy which allowed the audience to have an insight to the characters emotions and thoughts. In the Era that King Lear was written, writers and poets put a lot of emphasis on the natural world therefore it comes as no surprise when Shakespeare conveys nature as an uncontrollable elemental force consisting of ‘cataracts and hurricanes’, ‘sulphurous fire’ and ‘all-shaking thunder. ’ The sibilance in this instance has been affected by the linguistic technique of hyperbole which then emphasises the anger that Lear was feeling.A C Bradley states ‘’the storm in ‘King Lear’ coincides with the storm in the human affairs and also with the storm which is present in the heart and soul of ‘King Lear. ’’ Through the emphasis of a ‘heavy’ and ‘black wind’ storm that a ‘cub-drawn bear would couch, the lion and the belly-pinched wolf kept their fur dry’, Shakespeare portrays that this storm isn’t ordinary and could severely damage even the most powerful ‘kings of the jungle’. The dark and gothi c imagery of the storm could mirror Lear’s empty soul as his one love, his daughter, was killed.Furthermore, the storm could be interpreted as the symbol of madness within Lear’s heart and head however it could also imply his anger towards society and all those who had betrayed him. Ironically enough, towards the ending of the play, Shakespeare included more severe weather conditions in contrast to the beginning. Perhaps this indicates that now Lear is neither no longer in reign nor an ideal product of society, he has developed emotions like the rest of the citizens.On the other hand, it could be interpreted that because he has become an ordinary man, he is feeling anger towards the situation and those around him. Adverse to King Lear, The Great Gatsby doesn’t refer to weather as much however when it is mentioned, ‘there was a pink and golden billow of foamy clouds above the sea’’, it directly correlates with the mood and atmosphere of that c urrent moment. The description of ‘foamy clouds’ presents child-like and innocent imagery which could mirror how naà ¯ve his love for Daisy makes him.On the other hand, ‘foamy’ could too present unsteadiness as the structure of this gas-like substance is rather weak. Furthermore, through the use of the colour ‘pink’, Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby’s romantic lust towards Daisy and the colour ‘golden’ could convey the idea of his love towards her as being precious and is worthy of treasuring. This could be interpreted as emphasising the depth to which Gatsby’s heart is set on Daisy however at the same time, it could imply Gatsby’s high ego as he believes she should be grateful of his efforts to try and secure her heart.Conversely Miller uses the same technique of colour imagery within weather to parallel Willy’s thoughts and feelings, ‘’the surrounding area shows an angry glow of orange. â€℠¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ The colour ‘orange’ holds many connotations, one of which is the expression of happiness. This completely differences to the emotion of ‘anger’ which could convey Willy’s emotional volatility. Many would argue that through this contrast, Fitzgerald foreshadows the character of Willy as one who is rather unpredictable, thus his suicide could affect the audience emotionally due to its randomness.The technique of pathetic fallacy attributes human qualities and emotions to inanimate objects of nature. This helps the audience to explore the protagonist’s sincere feelings and thoughts which further establishes a more personal relationship between the audience and characters. Another literary device used to reflect feelings and emotions of the characters is each author’s use of sound, both musical and vocal. Fitzgerald and Miller focus more on the musical sounds produced by instruments whereas Shakespeare explores the technique of so und through vocals.In Death of a Salesman and King Lear, both authors present the idea that as nature evolves; people tend to forget about the tragic deaths of the protagonists which present their true feelings and thoughts of the protagonists themselves. Fitzgerald embraces the character of Nick as the narrator to explore other characters feelings such as Daisy, Wilson and Jordan Baker etc. This is presented when he states, ‘I could still hear the music and the laughter, faint and incessant, from his garden’ right after the death of Gatsby.This declarative sentence could be interpreted as a metaphor of people being the ‘music and laughter’ and as life progresses; they tend to become more ‘faint’ as they move on. It could be argued that this quote mirrors the disrespect other characters had towards Gatsby as they only used him for his glamorous parties. However due to this sound being heard in the ‘garden’ which presents nature, it could also be interpreted that mourning wasn’t very natural/common in the 1920’s thus the characters weren’t actually disrespecting Gatsby.The nature imagery combined with the ‘faint’ laughter creates a very mellow yet pleasant atmosphere as though the characters are accepting his death and positively reminisce of the past. Similarly, in Death of a Salesman, Miller presented ‘a melody heard, played upon a flute, it is small and fine, telling of grass and trees in the horizon’. Like Fitzgerald, Miller uses nature imagery of ‘grass and trees’ alongside the sound of the ‘flute’ to explore the setting being rather calming and pure.Furthermore, this is an anaphoric reference as at the end of the play Miller uses stage directions to explore ‘only the music of the flute is left on the darkening stage as over the house the hard towers of the apartment buildings rise into sharp focus. ’ The same melody of the flute could symbolize the fact that Willy is still the same failure as he was in the beginning. However, the contrast between the nature imagery and the ‘hard towers†¦apartment buildings’ could parallel Willy’s superficial nature and the idea that through the duration of the play he was only brought deeper into the American Dream.Perhaps through this quote, Miller portrays his own opinion on the American Dream and the character of Willy as being idiotic in a sense that it can only lead to destruction as the American Dream would never be achievable for anyone. In contrast to this, Shakespeare uses the technique of sound; however he explores it focusing mainly on the vocal aspect to it. King Lear is a gothic tragedy and this is shown through the tone Shakespeare enforces. The powerful language of Lear cursing alongside with the ‘loud’ and ‘demanding’ dynamics of his tone, further explores the extent of rage that he is feeling towa rds what seems to be the world.Frequently throughout the play, Shakespeare uses onomatopoeic sounds such as ‘clattering’ to further heighten the mad atmosphere as well as the emotions the protagonist is feeling. The sound of ‘clattering’ has some connotations to the game of dominoes as it would be heard when an item tips over. This sound could metaphorically mirror Lear’s deterioration both mentally as well as physically and the idea that he is aware of this cyclical cycle of negative events.It could also be argued that this sound of ‘clattering’ foreshadows how rapidly everything will clatter downhill for the King himself. As a critic stated ‘’Lear’s final cry of grief that his daughter will never breathe again, ‘’never, never, never, never, never,’’ is the bleakest line of iambic pentameter ever written. ’’ The use of sound is explored very effectively by Shakespeare, Miller and Fitzgerald as it heightens the dramatic atmosphere, foreshadows upcoming events and reconnoiters the feelings and emotions felt by both characters in the text and the authors themselves.To conclude, all three authors embrace the techniques of sound and setting to allow the audience to explore the characters feelings and thoughts which help build a relationship between the two. It could also be argued that the authors themselves portray their own individual thoughts on the society they wrote about and the characters. Both techniques also heightened the tension within texts and allowed for aesthetic pleasure for the reader. Shakespeare, Miller and Fitzgerald used setting and sound very effectively throughout their texts as it created a realistic atmosphere within their work which allowed the audience to relate to.

Mhr Individual Case Study Essay

The textbook defines profit sharing plan as â€Å"A system whereby an employer pays compensation or benefits to employees, usually on an annual basis, in addition to their regular wage, on the basis of the profits of the company† (Page 352). This plan can either be a really great plan or a terrible plan because it ultimately depends on the profits earned by the company in a given time period. Let’s say for a certain month the company is doing really great in profits and business is good than the employees will be really happy and earn a lot more than they’ve earned in the past, But if the company fails to generate a lot of profit the next year than wages for the employees will decrease and be more lower than it was before which will make employees upset and earn less money. The idea of imposing a PS plan is so that employees are motivated to work hard so that they can make money as possible and the company can be profitable. It’s a drive to get employees to help the business become successful so ultimately it’s a win-win situation between the employees and company. I would tell Robert Clark to continue with his plans on proposing this idea of making a PS plan. This PS plan will be great for this Maple Shoes Company because it will motivate employees to work hard and become more productive in their work field so that Maple Shoes can make as much money as possible and results to a good company image. 2. Do you see a possibility of convincing Maple Leaf Shoes’ unions to buy in on a PS plan? I believe the union members will not buy into the PS incentive plan because it ultimately depends on how much the company makes over a certain period of time. There is always a possibility that there will be no profits or low profits during a period of time. The amount of profit Maple Leaf Shoe is making is highly unstable but one moment you might be getting a lot of money and another moment you will be getting paid under what you used to get paid. This plan has a lot of ups and downs but it’s really like gambling because you can win a lot of money and lose a lot also. I can see how this plan might be able to increase production of employees because it will motivate employees to work harder to help the company earn more profits. But sometimes the employees will do everything their supposed to do and maybe the company doesn’t make profits because of other reasons like competitions or other factors that employees can’t control. Also Maple Leaf Shoe production costs are steadily increasing which means they need to make a lot more money to cover their high costs. There is a low possibility that Union will accept this PS plan because there is too much gamble and risk. 3. What other incentive plans are suitable for Maple Leaf Shoes? The three incentive plans that will be more beneficial to the Maple Leaf Shoes company is production incentive plans, employee stocks ownership plans (ESOPs), and Scanlon plan. Production incentive plans are plans that â€Å"allow groups of workers of workers to receive bonuses for exceeding predetermined levels of output† (Page 351). This will motivate employees to work harder and be more productive than they were before. Employees would want to work more than there supposed to so that they earn more money and the company benefits because it will have a lot of employees that will do a lot more for them that will ultimately generate more profits. Employee stocks ownership plans (ESOPs) is a plan that gives employees ownership of the company and gives them voting rights within the company. This is advantageous because it allows employees to feel that they are part of the company instead of being related to as an asset to the company. Employees would want to work for a company that they represent and have ownership in because they will treat the company as their own and do whatever it takes to get the company more profits. The two plans previous are all determined on factors that employees can’t control with is the profit the company makes. Scanlon plans as stated in the textbook is â€Å"An incentive plan developed by Joseph Scanlon that has as its general objective the reduction of labour costs through increased efficiency and the sharing of resultant savings among workers† (Page 352). This plan is great for employees because it rewards them based on the labour costs, a factor they can control. Works Cited List Schwind, H. F. , Das, H. , ;amp; Wagar, T. H. (2010). Canadian human resource management: a strategic approach (9th ed. ). Whitby, Ont. : McGraw-Hill Ryerson.

Troy v, Iliad

Guidelines for the Comparative analysis of the movie â€Å"Troy† and â€Å"The Iliad† Your comparative essay should be typed in single space paragraphing (font 12 Times New Roman) and it should be at least 500 words. (I will use the â€Å"word count† feature in Microsoft Word to check the number of words. ) Try not to exceed 1000 words at most. Your essay should be the result of your own contemplations, observations and conclusions. You can read other sources for this assignment but you should not copy at any form or to any degree the sources you have read. You can just use the ideas gained through sources in your own words. If you do so, however, you should definitely cite the references to your sources. In case you use a source and forget to cite it or even worse if you copy from a source the score for your paper will be zero. So please beware of intentional or unintentaional plagiarism. In writing up the paper first watch the movie completely and if needed take notes. (The DVD of the movie is provided to you. )Then, compare what you have seen with what you have read and try to find out the reasons for the differences. The followinig notes may help you: ?Note the changes in value systems in the past and present ?Note the reasons for the changes and modifications that have taken place in the creation of the movie. (including commercial, political, values, †¦) ?Focus on justification premises for the atrocities and savagery that is depicted as valor and courage in the Iliad. ?Explore the contributions (messages) that the two works make to human culture in their own context. Iliad vs. Troy Movie. Neither Athena with her matchless wisdom, nor Apollo with his talent of prophecy, could foretell that someday Prometheus’s fragile creature, human, would become rude in a scale that not only would turn his back to the gods, but also would distort their presence and effects in the human history. â€Å"Briseis: Well, then your men did. The sun god will have his vengeance. Achilles: What's he waiting for? Briseis: The right time to strike. Achilles: His priests are dead, and his acolyte's a captive. I think your god is afraid of me? Briseis: Afraid? Apollo is master of the sun, he fears nothing. Achilles: Where is he? †(Troy) The movie â€Å"Troy†, which is an adaptation of Homer’s Iliad, is an obvious twist of it, both historically and literarily. There are numerous differences between them that can be observed and revealed. Here, I am going to highlight some of inordinate modifications of Homer’s Iliad in Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy; and, then, try to go beyond the surface to discover the reasons for such changes. The movie duration is about 163 minutes; and it takes 50 minutes to reach to the starting point of the Iliad. Although there are, also, several rotations of the classical myths events in the first 50 minutes that even an amateur classic mythology reader can remark it fallacies, I will not enter that domain. I will just refer to the changes that are in contrary with the Iliad and can be retrieved by the information that Homer presents. For instance, in the Iliad we see that it was Paris’s doom to go to Sparta and fall in love with Helen. But the movie gives no account for the background of the story and the destination’s role. Another incident which is not mentioned in the Iliad is Achilles’s rapid action to siege the beach of Troy and invading Apollo’s temple. The major modification of the Iliad is the absence of Gods in the movie. There is no information about them but some names that elder characters mention and some statues. The only Goddess that we can see in the movie is Thetis, Achilles’s mother, who is a nymph according to the Iliad, half human, half fish. But the director of the movie does not want to put emphasis on the divinity part and although Achilles meets her in the water, picturing her fish part is cleverly avoided by the director. Apollo in the movie is just a wretched God who is not able to avenge the offence that Myrmidons have done to him. In the minute 42 of the story, Achilles beheads Apollo’s statue. While in the Iliad, Achilles respects Gods and makes sacrifices for them. In another scene, in the minute 29, while Hector is urging Priam, his father, to return Helen to Sparta to avoid a war, Priam tells him not to worry because, â€Å"Apollo watches over us. Even Agamemnon is no match for the Gods. †(Troy) But Hector replies, â€Å"And how many battalions does the Sun God command? †(Troy) This is not the only place in the movie that Hector, who is protected and respected by gods in the Iliad and highly believes in them, mocks the gods. It happens again in minute 54 of the movie when the high priest announces that two farmers have seen an eagle with a serpent in its talons, a good sign from Apollo. Hector mocks the priest and saying, â€Å"you want to plan a strategy based on bird signs? He concludes from Apollo’s inability to take vengeance on Achilles for insulting his statue and says, â€Å"The gods won’t fight this war for us† (Troy). The whole story is in contrary with the Iliad, because it is indicated that the Trojans see that sign while trying to push back the Achaean host to their ships, and predict it as a bad omen from Zeus who is the owner of the eagle, though. Moreover, in the Iliad, it is g ods’ war more than human’s. It seems that there is an intention beyond these manners of mocking gods by two of the best characters who the audience would love best and sympathize with. First assumption would be that the director of the movie wanted to make a realistic shot of the Iliad. But, after deepening in the story, another assumption may be that the director does not believe in God’s or divinity at all and try to inject his view through his best characters and he is doing this cleverly. Almost in the first scene that we see Achilles, when the messenger boy asks if the stories about him is true and if he cannot be killed, Achilles responds, â€Å"I wouldn’t be bothering with the shield then, would I? (Troy) a very logical and clever way to wipe out tendencies of believing in divinity from audiences mind in the beginning of the story and to appeal the skeptic generation of 21st century! Another major difference between Iliad and the movie is again in the process of adaptation of the Iliad according to the appetite of the audience. Every Iliad reader can understand in a glance that the honor codes and bravery values of those days is in contrary wi th todays. The most devouring and slaughtering characters were the most praised heroes of the Iliad. Achilles, Hector, Ajax and Diomede were a few samples of ancient world heroes. But, is it possible to picture those animalistic brutalities within Iliad these days and expect to attract people to pay for watching it? Of course not! Instead, we need to show a sentimental view of our heroes, heroes who despise war; heroes who are sorry for killing people. For instance, Hector while returning from Sparta provokes Paris who wants to fight with Menelaus and says that, â€Å"there is nothing glorious about it, nothing poetic† (Troy). But it is indeed glorious in the Iliad to fight. In fact Homer calls Hector the pair of bloodthirsty Mars as an honor. On the other hand, we need a kind, loving and caring Achilles with a masculine attractive figure to attract more audience. What about softening the violence with some romance scenes to guarantee our investment, no matter what was the story and what was the truth. So, let’s dismiss Diomede who is a brutal killer, kill Ajax and Menelaus at the beginning, and omit Aeneas and so many other valiant heroes to make the story more appealing and brief. But, let’s picture Agamemnon as he was to make people despise him. So tricky! Simply put, it seems that cinematographs own a mightier weapon that Zeus’s thunder bolt and Poseidon’s trident by which have sent myth gods and their offspring to the underworld. But, what if someday, they claim war against Semitic or early religions’ God? What if they twist the reality and feed that in a colorful tempting way to the people? (As Islamic Republic of Iran does it in regard to Baha’i faith). Do the audiences of those movies would accept what is being presented or investigate after the truth?