High School and Different Political Changes Essay

In chapter 9 of Assault on Paradise Kottak discusses the different political changes that Arembepe went through as well as how it affected the villager’s everyday life, and how it could possibly change the way Arembepeiros live in the future and effect their future generations. Throughout the chapter Kottak discusses many things, but he hits on about 4 main topics, Welfare and Education, Public Health, Marriage and the State, and the sex Ratio and Female status. In the beginning of the Chapter Kottak describes that the Arembepian government lowered the age that people needed to be to be eligible for government pensions. They lowered the age from 65 to 60. This may seem like a small change but it actually can have a large effect on the government’s ability to pay for it. When looked at in comparison to the United States’ social security, one could see that 5 years could add a large amount of people taking away from the â€Å"pot† essentially. This could cause serious problems in the United States, so this is surprising to see this type of change in such a small and not so wealthy ethnic group. This is an example of Arembepe becoming a larger, more contributing society, or it even becoming a state of its own. The second political change that Arembepe went through was a national census. This was something that was very big for Arembepe; this pretty much solidified it as a state. Kottak explained that â€Å"the head of statistical services for the municipality told [him] about the plans for the national census. Scheduled to begin in September 1980.† (Kottak 130) In the early 1960s Arembepe was just a small tribe it seemed like, they had come so far. They now had town centers, one-way and two-way streets, supermarkets, a commercial center, several pharmacies, doctors’ offices, labs, and even other medical services! This was a completely different place than it had been just a few decades earlier. Another politic al change that occurred was that people now had to pay licensing fees to the municipality for their stores, bars, and restaurants. This was also a big deal, it seemed that all of the things Kottak states in the chapter up to this point all solidify the validity of Arembepe as a state, and even a nation. This new licensing was also a big contrast from the 1960s when only the owners of the two largest stores had to pay those fees. â€Å"Municipal officials inspected weights and measures, and there was regular mail delivery. The streets had formal names, street signs, and house numbers.† (Kottak 131) All of these are examples of just how much Arembepe had grown and how legitimized it was becoming. Now the rest of Brazil was seeing it in a different light. They were â€Å"pulling their own weight† now, essentially. They were being a contributing member, or a contributing band, to a much larger state. Documents that were never required before were, and are not required. â€Å"Full names were used in legal documents, and people were more familiar with the last names of fellow villagers. Most adults now had identity papers.† (Kottak 131) They were becoming a much more organized and legitimate society. Kottak even explained in the chapter that once they started using these documents that you could in fact be penalized, and even jailed if they were stopped by police and did not have a valid ID. Another pattern that the Arembepe people were doing was joining the armed forces. It was almost like â€Å"the thing to do,† or at least it was becoming that. Kottak explained that â€Å"after junior high school, many local boys now presented themselves to the army, air force, or navy.† (Kottak 131) He also explained that joining the military was almost something that was just done, almost an unsaid thing. Like getting married, or wearing socks. You just do it because your parents did it, and your friends do it. It is just part of their culture. It is almost like a diffusion of American culture. Or at least how American culture used to be. Kottak also explains that when you do join the armed forces in Arembepe and you are released, or leave. You have a better chance of getting a job, sometimes even a better job than those who weren’t in the armed forces. The fourth, and possibly the most important political change Arembepe went through was the Basic Education Reform Law of 1971. This law was extremely important to Arembepe because it mandated 8 years of education (in primary and junior high school). â€Å"The new law also set a national core curriculum of general studies, including practical courses to determine vocational aptitudes in grades five through eight,† Kottak explained on page 131. Kottak also describes that the main reason that they instituted this because they wanted to prepare these children, or young adults, for the workforce and employment. They had a new junior high school and two elementary schools, which had five competent teachers. By 1980, Arembepe had really buckled down on education. It was taken much more seriously and was given much more money. By this time they had to wear uniforms, pay fees, and buy books and supplies. Public health is the fifth political change Arembepe went through. They had improved a little bit but not by much. There was a clinic that was set up in Arembepe but the practicing doctor was only there 2 days a week. There were 2 nurses that were staffed. If there was an emergency the Arembepe people had to go to the Tibras, the city hospital. Sanitation problems still existed although they were trying to make it better. Arembepe was just very far behind in many things, but still had come a long way. Overall they were becoming a much more valid city, and state. From reading the beginning chapters to what they had changed they have been successful in many things. Although they still had a long way to go, they had come a long way from where they had started. When the government became more involved in Arembepe it really did a lot for the people there.

Statistics and Psychology

There are numerous applications of statistical reasoning and research methods in the field of psychology. From simple aspects of reading and interpreting psychology articles, to completing personal research, statistics is a necessary concept to understand. The scientific method is essential to research, and many of the concepts cross the lines into statistics. It is also imperative for us to compare and contrast the characteristics of primary and secondary data. Ultimately, the focus of these topics centers on the application of statistical reasoning in psychology.Statistics in Psychology One might ask themselves how mathematical concepts could possibly apply to psychology. The answer is simpler than many imagine, all one has to do is focus on the interpretation. Reading psychology research articles is a common occurrence for anyone in the field. Without the ability to understand the jargon, tables, graphs, and other aspects at the heart of statistics, one is unable to truly process the findings of research (Aron, Aron, & Coups, 2009). Research is an iatrical part to nearly every field of psychology, but especially those who seek to answer questions and gain insight to problems.Most fields of psychology –including counseling and clinical focuses- require answers to questions (Aron, Aron, & Coups, 2009). Answering questions requires some form of research, which uses statistics on some level. To answer many of these questions, research is done with some application of the scientific method. Research and the Scientific Method When searching for the answer to a problem, most go about it in an orderly way. The research done in the scientific method is simple application of systematic and logical steps to problem solving (Cowens, 2006).Using the five-step process allows researchers to examine any inquiry. The Five-Step Approach The first step is to determine a problem to solve, or make an observation (Cowens, 2006). This can be a simple question or a more comp lex desire to understand how or why something works. For instance, a psychologist seeks to understand why certain object triggers rage in a patient. Step two is to determine a hypothesis (Cowens, 2006). A hypothesis is usually a speculation or idea about how or why something happens. This step seeks to predict the outcome or reasoning of the problem.The psychologist may form the hypothesis that the object triggers rage because the patient associates the object with past trauma. Now it is time to test the hypothesis. Experimentation and research enters the picture for this step (Cowens, 2006). To test the hypothesis, the psychologist may use sessions or questions as research. They may also try other objects, or use hypnosis to recall the trauma. Recording the observations is an essential step in the scientific method (Cowens, 2006). All observations are important, and frequency tables, graphs, and charts explore the statistical application of the scientific method.In addition to thes e, psychologists may use notes to explore the reasoning. The final step is drawing a conclusion (Cowens, 2006). The purpose of this step is the interpretation of the findings. The results may either support the hypothesis, or raise new questions to explore. The psychologist may find no past trauma, and determine that all purple objects trigger both rage and fear. They then will seek a new hypothesis to begin a new search for answers. Primary and Secondary Data In any aspect of research, it is imperative to consider the validity of results.Primary data is described as data observed or collected directly from first-hand experience (Triola, 2010). Secondary data is published data, or data collected by others (Triola, 2010). Primary data is preferred in research because the knowledge is obtained first-hand, where secondary relies on the observations of others. For instance, more accurate results in a weight study will come from the direct weighing of the patients than asking them their weight. Statistics in Research Psychologists use univariate principles when they measure only one variable and multivariate procedure when using variables to ascertain relationships (Chow, 2002).Psychologists often use statistics to identify areas of research interest. In testing a hypothesis, many researchers need to turn questions into testable numerical data. One of the most common statistics applications is the testing of the null hypothesis. The null hypothesis involves the original claim –like 50 out of 100 patients see success in regression techniques to overcome phobias- and turning it into a mathematical claim (Â µ = 50). The alternative hypothesis represents the difference of a claim, or the probability that it is untrue because the test statistic is outside the given range (Â µ ? 50).These claims are tested, and if it is found that less than 50 patients saw success with regression techniques, then researchers are able to use statistical reasoning to disprove the statement. Overall, statistical reasoning is extremely important in the interpretation of research results obtained through the scientific method. Personal Application The concepts discussed throughout this paper have focused on many answers this author hopes to find in her professional life, and has pursued in her personal life. The author cited the example of rage and fear caused by purple, because her nine-year-old sister suffers problems with this concept.After many trials, tests, and visits to therapy, we were able to determine that she associated the color with Barney the dinosaur, and she cross-associated Barney with a fear of dinosaurs coming back to life in an old movie. Although a simple study, it had great impact on this author’s life, and her future pursuit of psychology. Conclusion Statistical reasoning in psychology may seem like a contradiction to many. However, any pursuit of answers requires research –which employs the scientific method and statistics. We have determined primary data to be more beneficial and reliable than secondary data.We have also applied the concept of hypotheses to statistics and basic research. In conclusion, even simple understanding in psychology is often related to statistical reasoning. ?References Aron, A. , Aron, E. N. , & Coups, E. J. (2009). Statistics for psychology (5th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall Chow, S. L. (2002). Statistics and its role in psychological research. Methods in Psychological Research. Retrieved October 3, 2010 from ProQuest database. Cowens, J. (2006, August/September). The scientific method. Teaching PreK-8. (37)1. 42. Triola, M. F. (2010). Elementary Statistics. (11th Ed. ). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Characterizing Mrs. Bennet

Who is Mrs. Bennet? While Mrs. Bennet speaks to her husband we can see many of the same characterizations through what he says in response. As far as the Mrs. being a gossip, it is clear that Mr. Bennet has heard his fair share of it from her. When asked if he wants to know who is moving into Netherfield he replies that he knows that she wants to tell him, but that he does not particularly â€Å"want† to hear it. We also see that Mr. Bennet knows his wife is somewhat of a drama queen and he is constantly poking fun at her with his sarcasm, which she never seems to understand as such. Yet another example of Mr. Bennet’s experience with his wife’s personality is his seemingly un-caring behavior towards his daughters getting married. Mrs. Bennet is convinced that Mr. Bingley could be her new son-in-law, Mr. Bennet points out that Bingley is not necessarily there to find a wife. Through all these ways we can see a bit of Mrs. Bennet’s personality through the words of another character in the book. We can get even more information through words not necessarily spoken in the book, but spoken to us through the voice of the narrator. Even the simplest of comments can show a huge personality trait. The simplest way the narrator shows us that Mrs. Bennet loves to gossip and talk is when Mr. Bennet says he has no objection to hearing her story, the narrator points out that â€Å"That was invitation enough,† showing us that Mrs. Bennet is very eager to get her information out. Although we can gather much of Mrs. Bennet’s character through the entirety of the page, the narrator makes sure we have gathered what we need to about her by giving us a summary at the very end of the page. The narrator tells us that â€Å"She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper. When she was discontented she fancied herself nervous. The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news. † So, once again we gather that she loves â€Å"visiting and news,† or gossip, and that the business of her life is to get her daughters married. Mrs. Bennet is not hard to figure out with Jane Austen’s excellent characterization techniques. With her great narration techniques we have the author there to tell us much of what we need to know. Even better is that much of the time we don’t even need the narrators help, through the speech in the book; whether it be Mrs. Bennet herself, or somebody speaking to her or about her. Through either the character itself, the characters around it, or the author herself, Jane Austen manages to use all three â€Å"characters† excellently to show us the personality of Mrs. Bennet, as well as the rest of her characters.

Reflection On Therapeutic Interaction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Reflection On Therapeutic Interaction - Essay Example This includes silence, enthusiasm, and touch. Touch can imply different things and is therefore, referred to as a silent language of nonverbal behavior. It is the most affectionate way of remitting warmth. An example where touch worked was when patients were anxious or impatient I would give them a warm hug or hold their hands and talk to them. Not many patients who are usually comfortable with touch and this made me learn to respect boundaries when dealing with every patient. I could also use silence as a communication skill. This could give the patient and I time to reflect on future occurrences in the patient's care. When offering therapeutic therapy nurses are required to maintain professionalism and boundaries when dealing with patients. This is because while interacting with these patients nurses like other people can become emotionally attached to patients, and this is not a good show of the therapeutic relationship. I had to be highly confidential with the patient as some of them could give extremely vulnerable information due to their health situation. In order for this therapy to work well on the patient then there needs to be trust and confidentiality. This would work whenever a patient is extremely vulnerable, and it will help improve his/her health if the trust is there. Whenever I was needed somewhere, and I was with a patient, I would assure the patient that I would come back and if I was tied down I would send a colleague to assure the patient that I was going to come back.... It is the most affectionate way of remitting warmth. An example where touch worked was when patients were anxious or impatient I would give them a warm hug or hold their hands and talk to them. Not many patients who are usually comfortable with touch, and this made me learn to respect boundaries when dealing with every patient. I could also use silence as a communication skill. This could give the patient and I time to reflect on future occurrences in the patient's care. When offering therapeutic therapy nurses are required to maintain professionalism and boundaries when dealing with patients. This is because while interacting with these patients nurses like other people can become emotionally attached to patients, and this is not a good show of the therapeutic relationship. I had to be highly confidential with the patient as some of them could give extremely vulnerable information due to their health situation. In order for this therapy to work well on the patient then there needs t o be trust and confidentiality. This would work whenever a patient is extremely vulnerable, and it will help improve his/her health if the trust is there. Whenever I was needed somewhere, and I was with a patient, I would assure the patient that I would come back and if I was tied down I would send a colleague to assure the patient that I was going to come back. This would keep the patients’ trust in me and would enable the therapy to continue working. Empathy is one trait that a nurse is required to have in order to use therapeutic therapy in treating his/her patients. A nurse should show empathy by reflecting back to the ordeals, and past experiences he/she has had to motivate a

Writer's choose Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Writer's choose - Research Paper Example He had been expelled from two schools before he finally joined his elder brother in Art Students League, where they became Thomas Hart Benton’s students. Jackson was not highly influenced by Benton’s theme of the American countryside and instead relied mostly on his dynamic style of painting and his sense of freedom (Potter 43). Jackson also struggled with alcoholism to an extent that he had to attend physiotherapy classes. In 1945, he married an American painter, Lee Krasner, and they moved together to the Springs area in East Hampton. They bought a house and a barn. Jackson then converted the barn into a studio, and it is in that room where he produced some of his greatest works. He continued practicing the drip painting technique to a point that the Time magazine dubbed him as â€Å"Jackson the Dripper† (Engelmann 72). His career was cut short on August 11, 1956, when he had an accident when driving in an intoxicated state. He succumbed to severe injuries and died the same day. In 1943, Jackson painted a mural on a canvas for Peggy Guggenheim on the floor to make it easily portable. One art critic, Marcel Duchamp, saw the mural and wrote: â€Å"I took one look at it and I thought, ‘Now that’s great art’ and I knew Jackson was the greatest painter this country had produced† (Landau 40). It is said that most of his paintings expressed Jungian concepts and archetypes. Historians say that his work might have had bipolar disorder meaning that it was hard for someone to understand exactly what Jackson Pollock had in mind when making a certain painting. David Alfaro Siqueiros, a Mexican muralist, is the man who introduced Jackson to the use of liquid in 1936. Some of the most famous paintings by Jackson are the Male and Female and Composition with Pouring I. He preferred to use household paintings, adding that they were much better compared to artist’s paints because they represented â€Å"a natural growth out of a need† (Potter

Risks and Optimal Capital Structure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Risks and Optimal Capital Structure - Essay Example USA being a relatively efficient and informed market environment. Risks tend to be closely correlated with returns expected. The components of risks that are unique to US alone include: 1. Inflation risk._ inflation can provide a way to keep up with or stay ahead of inflation. It is defined as the rise in general levels of prices. During high period of inflation, there is a risk that the financial return of an investment will not keep pace with the inflation rate. It reduces the purchasing power, besides; this risk varies form one investment to the other. Small businesses can be seriously affected because this risk can not be insulated against such risk. 2. Market risk: _ the prices of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and various commodities and even services may fluctuate because of the behaviour of investors in the market place. As a result, economic growth is not as systematic and predictable as most investors might believe. Periods of rapid expansion are followed by periods of recession; it may be quite difficult to sell investments like real estate. Fluctuations in the market price for stocks and bonds may have nothing to do with the fundamental changes in the financial health of small businesses. Common causes of such fluctuations can be caused by political or social conditions. 3. 3. Interest rate risk _ this risk is associated with a fixed return investment in preferred stocks or government bonds. It is the result of changes in the interest rates in the economy. The value of these fixed investment securities and borrowed investment funds decreases when overall interest rates increase. 4. Global investment risk__Nowadays small businesses have become global hubs, as the world has become increasingly interconnected into a global village. Small traders keep their investments in foreign companies and other global players and this creates additional risks due to exchange rate in international currencies as exchange rates directly affect returns. 5. Business failure risk_ this is associated with the possibility of bad management, unsuccessful products, competition, or many other factors that can cause the business to be less profitable than originally anticipated. Lower profits would mean lower dividends or no dividends at all. Businesses can also close down due to bankruptcy too. Optimal capital structure means that businesses decide on what the best ratio is, between equity or owners capital and borrowed or debt should be. When such is carefully done, businesses should minimize borrowings as much as to avoid paying high interest on them. Incases from capital contributed from outsiders, corporations should first pay them (obligatorily) before paying themselves .this posses the question of maintaining an optimal capital structure to businesses regardless of their magnitude. REFERNCES 1. Financial management journal vol.33, 2004. 2. www.fma, 2007 3. Geoffrey A.Hirt and Stanley block, fundamentals of investment management 2003. 4. Kapoor Dlabay, personal finance 6th edition 2001. 5. Richard loth, www.investopedia.com, evaluating a company's capital structure, Oct

Exploring Theme in August Wilsons Fences Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Exploring Theme in August Wilsons Fences - Essay Example Many of these restrictions and attitudes might have gone unnoticed and unremembered except for the black playwrights and authors who revealed their effects on the community as a whole. In his play Fences, August Wilson uses the concept of a fence as both a theme and a symbol to reveal the hidden boundaries his characters encounter as they attempt to achieve a modest version of the American dream in the 1950s North. The concept of invisible boundaries blocking one’s ability to reach the American Dream is the central theme of this play. The story begins on a random Friday afternoon. The play’s main character, Troy Manxson, is waiting for his latest paycheck from the city’s waste removal services department where he works somewhat unwillingly because his dreams of being a big baseball star were thwarted when he was younger by rules that prevented black men from playing in the major leagues. As the play progresses, it becomes clear that all the characters featured once had big dreams that were thwarted by the generalized lack of opportunity that applied to anyone with darker skin. In this opening scene, Troy immediately addresses the theme of the play when he tells Bono about the invisible ceilings that are constantly placed over his head, such as the boss’s reaction when Troy asked why only white men were allowed the position of garbage truck drivers. Troy’s fru stration is clear as he obviously realizes that playing for a professional team would have afforded him and his family an entirely different kind of life, and he is even held down in this lowly position working on a garbage truck. His response to the idea that things are changing and he was just born too young, Troy says, â€Å""There ought not never have been no time too early† (Wilson, Act 1, Scene 1). In spite of knowing his limitations were externally set, Troy feels he has failed

Snow White Laundry & Drycleaners Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Snow White Laundry & Drycleaners - Case Study Example This essay discusses that the presence of Snow White Laundry & Drycleaners in Sydney has been a welcome phenomenon over the past few decades. Established in 1990, the business has proved to stand the test of time as it is among the most outstanding businesses in the area. The reason behind its inception during that time was to provide a healthy environment through the provision of clean apparels. The business has a staff of 9-10 employees who work to serve the customers that are coming from that area, or visiting from other areas. The growth of the business is determined by the manner in which they advertise their products and services. One crucial area in the running of the business is the incorporation of technology in the company. Engaging actively with customers on most media fronts is what keeps the company on its toes. The management and sales strategies the business employs are among the most crucial aspects that assist in its management and governance. By engaging in all clea ning and laundry operations, the company has something to offer most of its customers. Laundromat and laundry services make it easy for customers to choose what they want, and go for it through different avenues. The conducting of different analysis in the environment where the business is situated provides the company with sufficient information as to what best suits the company. Issues that arise are addressed as the small number of employees and suppliers can be handled, unlike with bigger businesses. Snow White Services offered and the pricing strategy Snow White Laundry & Dry cleaning offers most of the services that other laundry services offer. However, it does not deal in coin-operated services. This probably means that there is no self-service for customers looking to have their garments washed and cleaned. Snow White is located in Sydney 58 Terrace Street, and the business employs 9-10 employees who are capable of handling the number of customers that come in regularly. Th e pricing strategy that is employed by Snow White is based on the amount of time required to do laundry, and the quantity of laundry being done. After-service delivery is also among the business’s repertoire, where laundry can be taken to the respective owners. This is also done for a specified fee that is included in the price of conducting services. This strategy works to increase the service rate and increase the profits they receive (Lynn, 2010). Promotion and the situational analysis surrounding the business Offering deluxe services to some of their regular customers is a worthwhile promotion strategy. The discerning and hand finishing process makes customers’ garments receive extra attention from the employees in the company. This gives the whole process of giving already done laundry a human touch. Moreover, the hour-express service ensures that customers who might be in a hurry can get their garments after an hour. This makes it easy for the business to attract customers from the area, and away from competition. Examining the external and

Challenges in Containing Health Care Costs Essay - 1

Challenges in Containing Health Care Costs - Essay Example payments to Medicare Advantage plans will be reduced or how pharmaceutical companies will have to pay rebates to Medicaid plans, among other revenue-generating schemes (Cutler, 2010, p.1131). The question that begs to be addressed, however, is whether they will suffice. Cutler raised the feasibility of the cost reduction requirements, stressing that it is difficult to sustain (p.1131). He pointed out, for instance, how some reductions can only be made once such as how "overpayments" cannot be eliminated twice. It is clear, hence, that there is a need for an effective savings scheme that is consistent and long-term in scope. One of these is the elimination of unnecessary expenditures incurred in erroneous medical practice. According to Chiapelli (2010), medication errors, particularly in the area of patient safety issues affect 1.5 million people and incur billions of dollars in expenses (p.56). In order to treat patient infections resulting from erroneous practices, for instance, an estimated figure of $30 billion is already incurred every year (Scott 2009). Addressing this challenge, thus, can yield huge potentials in terms of savings and the realignment of resources, wherein funds are allocated to areas that need it the most. The current strategies involves variations of mandatory and voluntary regulations such as those implementing process measures, the use of information technology, attention to hygiene, along with performance measures and standards of safety in patient care. Then, there are also mechanisms in place that monitor, maintain, evaluate and improve medical practices. These include public quality reporting and performance benchmarks, including those requirements and evaluation tools in approaches such as incentives-based or pay-for-performance schemes. It is imperative that policymakers are aware of this strategy, especially the benchmarks and their results because they will effectively inform decisions that make public policy. The information

Mineral Physical Properties Essay Example for Free

Mineral Physical Properties Essay A mineral refers to an inorganic element or compound that is naturally occurring in a solid state and has a specific chemical composition and a regular, internal crystalline structure. A mineral has a highly ordered structure and particular physical properties. Some of the varying physical characteristics of mineral include color, lustre and habit. Color is the first physical property of minerals that varies between same mineral. Color is an apparent aspect in minerals but it proves unreliable in identifying minerals. It occurs due to the minerals light absorbing and reflecting properties. The variability of color between the samples of the same mineral exists because color mainly comes about as a result of electronic alterations. For instance, quartz is found in different colors such as black, white, purple, pink, blue or clear. It is observable that completely varying materials may have the similar color. Secondly, lustre is a mineral physical property that varies among the same mineral. This refers to the amount of light that it reflects from its surface. A mineral may appear differently depending on the quality, intensity or quantity of light that it reflects. The mineral for instance may appear metallic or sub metallic or may appear splendent, shining or dull. Finally, the habit is another varying physical property. It refers to the crystal’s shape of the mineral. The habit is usually shaped by the conditions under which the metal grew. It is common for a mineral to have many varying habits. The habit of a mineral may be described as the habit of crystals or the habit of crystal aggregates (Ernest, 1995). Conclusion Mineral physical property can be relied on during identification of mineral. However, certain physical properties show a range of characteristics making them less reliable in the identification process. Reference Ernest, Nickel. (1995). Mineral Resources: The Definition and Properties of a Mineral. New York: Hill and Wang.

Literacy As Social Practice To Aid In Teaching Education Essay

Literacy As Social Practice To Aid In Teaching Education Essay The world has changed profoundly over the last two decades, and many of our longstanding notions about literacy need to be challenged. As a result, the definition of literacy is neither a singular or universal one, and it is often defined in contradictory ways. It is recognised that the teaching and learning of literacy is a major responsibility of the schools. While some children have some knowledge of literacy acquired before formal schooling, all will need the opportunities for learning to read and write that school provides. The term literacy has often been associated with the reading and writing stage of learning and it is no surprise that the way the community views how literacy is learned in schools can take vastly different viewpoints. It is important to note that the way in which it is defined will shape the kinds of policies and approaches to teaching and learning that are adopted by the field of education. Olsons definition focuses on literacy as a cognitive model, which is needed for work, education and social interaction. This view prevails that literacy is a simple, learned cognitive skill that one learns to read and write just as one learns to kick a ball, ride a bicycle or make a cake. It is clearly perceived, once the skill has been mastered. Street (1985) refers this view of literacy as the autonomous literacy where those who master this skill can use it to advantage of influence and prestige. In contrast, Street contemplates that literacy should have a more social focus, such as the assumption of it contributing knowledge according to social-cultural contexts. He defines this alternative notion as ideological literacy which refers to the social conceptions and uses of literacy. This viewpoint suggests that literacy is an aspect of defining framework of society. Street (1997) extents this notion by arguing that literacy not only varies with social context and with cultural norms and discourses, but that its uses and meanings are embedded in relations of power. This suggests that literacy is what society achieves, and society is, to some extent, what literacy contributes to it. Furthermore, another view of literacy is that of critical literacy that is informed by the work of Paulo Freire (1972), who conceptualizes literacy not as reading the word but as reading the world. This advocates the emphasis of the empowering role that literacy can and should play in reshaping the way in which one lives and works. Wallace (2001) explains that the empowering potential of literacy is articulated in difference ways to encourage new literates to use literacy as a means for educational change and for the literate person to reflect on what is wrong in their world and use the enabling power of literacy to change that world. Furthermore, Wallace views this potential as a means to reshape approaches to English language teaching, not just for first language learners, but for the majority of users of English who are second language English speakers. She proposes that the variety of labels given to English in its worldwide role be replaced by what she calls literate English, one with which it is not a reduced or simplified model of English which restricts communication to basic patterns of interaction, but a global English that should be elaborated to serve global needs. Luke and Carrington (2002) discuss this further with the notion of literacy as cultural capital by suggesting how to construct a literacy education that addresses new economic and cultural formations providing our students with the ability to think critically and globally in a world that, increasingly, will require a politically and socially active citizen (NOTE, 2007). Models of Literacy In the minds of many in the community, an important function of schooling is that it teaches literacy with the teaching of literacy this is often held to be the most important thing that schooling provides. As a result, literacy remains high on the educational and political agenda at national and international levels and continues to be contested and debated. There appears to be three main models of literary which have implications for policy-making, teaching and learning; autonomous, social and critical literacy. The first is the cognitive or autonomous model, which has dominated educational policy for the last two decades especially in the UK with the introduction of the National Curriculum which then was preceded by the National Literacy Strategy (NLS) in the late 90s. Both of which attempted to transform literacy teaching in the primary and secondary school. Goodwyn and Findlay (2003) are encouraged by the aim of the NLS to demystify subject teaching and to involve all subject specialist in helping pupils become literate within each subject. However, the emphasis on the autonomous literacy model is a failure to acknowledge the ever changing nature of literacy. This skills-based view of a universal or aptitude represents the meaning of literacy in terms of limited mental operations. Therefore, if we view literacy teaching and learning as a matter of mastering certain important, but essentially basic technical skills in control of such things as the spelling and writing system, and perhaps h ow to shape simple written sentences. Literacy becomes a relatively simple and unproblematic matter, learned in the early years and then used and reused in whatever ways appear appropriate. According to Street (1995), such traditional definitions of literacy are based an autonomous model, autonomous because it is extracted from its social, cultural, and historical context. When treated as a technical skill or mental operation independent of social context, literacy is associated with consequences that have no relation to the social situations in which it is embedded. In addition, Street (1995) explains, it gives limited attention to social structures within which the concepts and specific cultures are forms. Therefore, in an autonomous model, literacy is separated from its social context and considered an independent variable making it possible to associate literacy with symbolic elements such as progress, social mobility and economic stability (Gee, 1996). In our society, the benef its for being literate has taken on mythic qualities as Street suggests this literacy myth raises false expectations for those who do become literate in comparison to the illiterate who are branded as too lazy or, even worse unable to learn. This situation enables government to shift focus away from social problems onto individual shortcoming (Street, 1996) The second model of literacy is one that avoids the pitfalls of the literacy myth by capturing the complexity of literacy practices in the social contexts that make them meaningful. Street (1996) calls this an ideological model of literary, which concentrates on the social practices of reading and writing and the ideological and culturally embedded nature of these practices. In addition, the ideological model maintains a wariness of claims for literacy and distinguishes between these claims and the actual significance of literacy for the people involved. Literacy in the ideological model looks beyond a technical definition of literacy to consider literacy practices. Rather than limiting literacy to events that involve reading and writing, Street broadens the scope to literacy practices which take into account the behaviour and the social and cultural conceptualizations that give meaning to the uses of reading and writing. This concept of literacy practices gets us away from the liter acy myth by re-inserting social and cultural context and arguing that whatever benefits come from literacy also come from the contexts in which it is embedded. The third model critical literacy is one that as Wallace (2001) explains is powerful to the extent that it offers a vantage point from which to survey other literacies. Like the ideological model, critical literacy is understood as social action through language use that develops us as agents inside a larger culture. However, it takes us beyond this in providing an active, challenging approach to reading and textual practice by the analysis and critique of the relationship among texts, language, power, social groups and social practice. It shows us ways of looking at written, visual, spoken, multimedia and performance texts to question and challenge the attitudes, values and beliefs that lie beneath the surface. It has been suggested that critical literacy links with our modern lifestyles of a rapidly changing globalised world. Changing societal structures, increasing social and cultural diversity and the marketing of ideas and products through multimedia mean that we need to think a bout literacy for lifelong learning in new ways. The way that information is received today hadnt been invented twenty years ago. The world is becoming increasingly accessible because of instantaneous communications; the corpus of print literature is expanding almost exponentially because of the number of works either being written in English not just by authors from United States or the British Commonwealth but by major authors outside these regions. The consequence is that the technology is not only bringing global English (Wallace, 2004) into daily contact, the nature of digital communication is aiding in the demise of a standard English.   Instant messaging, text messaging, and other technological forms of communication are creating new writing practices that often undermine traditional, standard English for the sake of faster, more effective communication. English is becoming more complex than ever, and our students will need to be flexible and efficient users of a vast array of discourses that isolated, drill-oriented grammar lessons simply will not teach. We need to be able to make meaning from the array of multimedia, complex visual imagery, music and sound, even virtual worlds that confront us each day in addition to written and spoken words. Changes in society are occurring so rapidly that we need to take time to think about whether they will have positive or negative effects upon our ways of living. Conclusion Lonsdale et al (2004) imply that the meaning of literacy has changed over time from an elementary decoding of words to a range of more complex and diverse skills and understandings. There is a need for these changes to be understood, against a background of economic, social, political and cultural. Literacy as a social practice should be considered in context, rather than the convention of literacy as an individual, cognitive skill. The new skills are premised on the idea that much higher order skills such as critical thinking are now needed by all students. Goodwyn et al (2003) suggest that students once needed literacy to be told what to do; now they need it to know what to do without being told. Street (1985) implies that Ideological literacy requires that we view literacy as much more than the ability to decipher or encode messages on paper. We have to view literacy in the dynamic contexts of politics, social change, development, education, religion, philosophy, confrontation, and even war. Practitioners of critical literacy have forcefully made the point that literacy is a mechanism of political control as well as a tool for liberation. These views of literacy are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they represent points on a continuum between action and system. At one extreme, autonomous literacy is viewed as something isolated from everything else, as a personal skill or characteristic. At the other extreme, it is seen almost as a primal element in the construction of reality. (SIL, 1999) The teaching of critical thinking plays a central role in the teaching of critical literacy. As the world becomes more complex, increasingly flattened, and, one might argue, ever more interesting and challenging, our students must be prepared to enter it as competent, thoughtful, and agentive readers and communicators. In order to prepare them effectively, we as literacy educators must make changes to literacy curricula that traditionally view knowledge making and communication as straightforward, text-based, and individualized, a perspective that was only appropriate before the recent explosion in communicative technologies and resulting economic, social, and cultural realities. To prepare students who can be active and effective world citizens able to make thoughtful decisions and solve global problems, we must first help them to be critical, meta-aware thinkers and communicators. (NOTE, 2007) A consequence of these views of literacy has been that specialists in the field have become more aware that literacy, in both theory and practice, is more than a simple technical skill. Literacy, by itself, does not lead to health, wealth, happiness, and national development. Literacy is but one element in the development process. The other elements must be included if developmental aspirations are to be attained. (SIL, 1999) Word count: 2063

W.H. Audens Poems and Homosexuality Essay -- Auden Gay Homosexual Poe

W.H. Auden's Poems and Homosexuality W. H. Auden published â€Å"This lunar beauty† in 1930; he published â€Å"Now through night’s caressing grip† in 1935, and he published â€Å"Lay your sleeping head, my love† in 1937 (Auden 16; 41; 51). â€Å"[I]t has been argued that the first part of the twentieth century’s culture is dominated by attempts to keep homosexuality hidden, †¦ [and a] number of homosexual writers in the period maintain public silence about their sex lives, and dramatize homosexual themes indirectly, if at all† (Caserio). While it’s unclear whether Auden’s abovementioned 1930s poems dramatize homosexual themes, they do share obscure settings and references to wandering, clandestine lovers who seek healing, safety, and freedom. The lovers find what they seek both in the obscurity of the night and in the obscure diction of the poems’ speakers who don’t even identify them by gender. The speakers act as the mediators of the exper ience of clandestine love and they invite readers to travel to places where illicit love occurs, empathize with clandestine lovers, and see the beauty in their love. Because genders are carefully obscured, the poems serve as pieces of coded propaganda that advocate for the freedom of clandestine, and possibly homosexual, lovers. First, all three poems share obscure, nighttime settings and references to wandering, clandestine lovers who seek healing, safety, and freedom. â€Å"This lunar beauty† is described in the following manner: This like a dream Keeps other time And daytime is The loss of this; For time is inches And the heart’s changes Where ghost has haunted Lost and wanted. (8-15) Da... ... Transgender, and Queer Culture. Ed. Claude J. Summers. 5 Apr. 2005. New England Publishing Associates. 10 May 2005 . Grimshaw, Tammy. â€Å"The Sexual Offences Act, 1967.† The Literary Encyclopedia. 16 Aug. 2004. The Literary Dictionary Company Limited. 10 May 2005 . Hammelmann, H. A. â€Å"Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution.† The Modern Law Review 21.1 (1958): 68-73. Rousseau, George S. â€Å"Travel Literature.† glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,Transgender, and Queer Culture. Ed. Claude J. Summers. 23 Nov. 2002. New England Publishing Associates. 10 May 2005 . â€Å"Succubus.† Def. 1. The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 10 May 2005 . Ten, C. L. â€Å"Enforcing a Shared Morality.† Ethics 82.4 (1972):' 321-329.

Effects of Absent Fathers on Adolescents Essay -- Social Issues, Divor

The role of the father, a male figure in a child’s life is a very crucial role that has been diminishing over the years. An absent father can be defined in two ways; the father is physically not present, or the father is physically present, but emotionally present. To an adolescent, a father is an idolized figure, someone they look up to (Feud, 1921), thus when such a figure is an absent one, it can and will negatively affect a child’s development. Many of the problems we face in society today, such as crime and delinquency, poor academic achievement, divorce, drug use, early pregnancy and sexual activity can be attributed to fathers being absent during adolescent development (Popenoe, 1996; Whitehead, 1993). The percentage of adolescents growing up fatherless has risen from 17% to 36% in just three decades between 1960 and 1990 (Popenoe, 1996). Dr. Popenoe estimates this number will increase to approximately 50% by the turn of the century (Popenoe, 1996). The US Census Bureau reported out of population of 24 million children, 1 out 3 live in a home without a father (US Census Bureau, 2009). The role of a father is more than just another parent at home (Popenoe, 1996). Having a father, the male biological parent in a child’s life is important because it brings a different type of parenting that cannot be replicated by anyone else (Stanton, 2010). Fathers who are present and active in a child’s life provide great benefits to a developing child (Popenoe, 1996). Having a father brings a different kind of love. The love of the father is more expectant and instrumental, different from the love of a mother (Stanton, as cited in Pruett, 1987). The effect of an absent father can be quite devastating to the developing ad... ...istics, 1999). McBride, Brent A., Sara K., Sullivan, and Ho-Ho (2005) reported about the achievement levels in a adolescent who grows up with a father, â€Å"A study of 1330 children from the PSID showed that fathers who are involved on a personal level with their child schooling increases the likelihood of their child's achievement. When fathers assume a positive role in their child's education, students feel a positive impact.† (p. 201-216). Children who do not grow up in a two parent homes, are more likely to fail and repeat a grade in school. It is also important to note that children who grow up in single parent families are less likely to have parents involved with the school, 62% of children with two parent homes have parents that are involved in school, while children from single parent homes have half of them involved in school (Nord, Winquist, West, 2001).

Prisoners Normative Reintegration into Society Essay -- Social Issues,

Normative reintegration into society and the resocialization of released prisoners has long been a prominent problem in society. With recidivism rates in the United States upwards of 69% it is quite clear that released prisoners are having difficulty readjusting and returning to normative lives in society (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2008). Prison aims to serve retribution, incapacitate, deter, and rehabilitate offenders, but much of the research on recidivism rates criticize the idea that â€Å"prison works† (Dhami, 2006). However, it seems with so many prisoners returning to prison within a year of being released, the prison system is not providing inmates with the rehabilitation and therapy needed to function once they return to society. In the past many studies have shown that inmates who take place in vocational and therapy based programs are more successful with reintegration into everyday life upon their release. Additionally, there have been numerous studies that h ave shown the healing and therapeutic abilities of animals when used in programs with deviant, sick, or mentally ill individual(Deaton, 2006) (Dell, 2011) (Field, 1951). So it would seem that the combination of vocational programs with the use of animals would be the next logical step in prison programs. While animal therapy programs are relatively new in the justice system, there are quite a few currently in use in prisons around the United States (Furst, 2006). The proposed study would be exploratory in nature and seeks to answer the following question; are prisoners that complete animal therapy programs while incarcerated more successful with normative reintegration into society when released? The researcher proposes that inmates who complete animal th... ...olees who experience homelessness are far more likely to return to prison than parolees that have a place to live (Visher, 2003). The emotional health, well being, and social comfort of a parolee is very important to reintegration into society as well. Many parolees have a difficult time controlling anger, relating to people, adapting to new situations, and maintaining friendships and family relationships. Programs with animals teach prisoners social and emotional skills that may help ease the transition for a parolee into society upon release. According to a study done on an animal therapy program in Virginia women’s correctional facility, in the last three years the prisoners that completed the program have a 0% recidivism rate and 100% employment rate, which is a far cry from the statistics of prisoners who did not participate in like programs (Deaton, 2005).

The Positive and Negative Effects of Technological Advancements

Cez Danielle M. Lagbas Technological advancement, with no doubt, is such a huge impact in shaping the world. As humans, unlike any other living creature, we have the ability to use our mind for reasoning. Reason is the capacity for consciously making sense of things, for establishing and verifying facts, and changing or justifying practices, institutions, and beliefs based on new or existing information. [1] With this power, we are able to imagine things, and with our clever minds, we are also able to create these imaginations.Creators, inventors, experimenter, maker, founder, innovator, pioneer – these are what we call the people behind every technology existing at present. Invention has made the world what it is today. It absolutely helped our society develop into a much better world. This whole aspect of invention is what we see as technology. Technology  is the making, modification, usage, and knowledge of  tools,  machines, techniques,  crafts,  systems, methods of organization; in order to solve a problem, improve a pre-existing solution to a problem, achieve a goal or perform a specific function.It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, modifications, arrangements and procedures. Technologies significantly affect human as well as other animal species' ability to control and adapt to their natural environments. [2] Technological advancement is responsible for many changes as well in world population, life expectancy, education levels, material standards of living, and the nature of work, communication, healthcare, war, and the effects of human activities on the natural environment. Not just these conditions are affected, but also our society and our individual selves. [3]I. Medical Technology Technological Advancements have been a really huge help to the field of medicine. Technology has cured and healed millions of people all around the globe. It has affected the living of humans in a good way, and if abused, affects us in a bad way. This field deals with the maintenance, prolongment, and restoration of human health through the study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease and injury. Research in this field has allowed doctors and researchers to discover many new treatments, drugs, medicines, and solutions that have helped lengthen the human life span. 3] This aspect of technology ensures the survival of humanity. Without technology, people would have been struggling with their health. Medicine has saved numerous innocent lives, and today it is much safer for people and for the environment. Medical technology instruments include contact lenses, wheelchairs, stethoscopes, prosthetic limbs and any other instrument that can help in diagnosing or treating an ailment. Filipinos with tumors can get a scan from a machine and this can already cause them accurate results for their surgery.Transplants also involve a very modern technology which has also helped lives. Pregnant women can check if t heir baby has abnormalities at a young stage of their pregnancy with the aid of technology. Neuroprosthetics have been invented so that people with paralyzed body parts can move again like they used to. Neuroprosthetics are implants placed on a nerve, or onto the central nervous system, in order to replace mobility lost by accident or disease. Motor functionality in the body reacts to outside stimuli, whether it is natural or un-natural.Neuroprosthetics could not only one day allow people with lost limbs to replace those limbs, but also may serve as a replacement parts directory for most functions of the human body. [5] Some other examples of the current advances of medical tools are CAT (Computerized Tomography) scanners , MRIs (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), defibrillators (electronic devices that are used to rescue patients who go into cardiac arrest or who are experiencing irregular heartbeats), laser cutters and medical robots. There are many benefits of using medical robots duri ng surgery.First of all, medical robots require smaller incisions to operate, which typically mean shorter hospital stays, lesser pain, and quicker recoveries. Also, many robots eliminate the problem of hand tremors machines can be calibrated to translate relatively large motions at the controller’s console into tiny, ultrafine actions by the instruments. Doctors do not even always have to be in the same room as a patient to operate using a robot. Furthermore, robots limit blood loss in an open procedure it is not unusual for the patient to lose a liter of blood, but robots lessen this amount drastically.Additionally, robots are more precise, with arms that can rotate 360 degrees. Finally, the robotic cameras offer a clear, magnified view of surgical fields that surgeons often did not see by themselves they had to feel around for the correct parts, because fingers often obstructed their line of sight. [4] You can really see that medicine is advancing rapidly and as it advance s more people are saved from diseases and sicknesses, but of course these advances would not have been made because of the previous technology they had before.In present, medical technology is already well-developed and still is developing. II. Environmental Technology Now, that our world is over populated and our resources are getting smaller, we need to preserve and save our environment. Advances in technology are helping us in doing so. Some parts of the world have a shortage of water supply. Desalination, basically removing salt and minerals from seawater, is one way to provide potable water in those parts of the world. Hydrogen fuel usage has also been experimented as a way to using pollution free fossil-fuels.With this kind of technology, cars will be running in the streets emitting nothing but clean water. As we all know, the sun is one big ball of energy, and can be converted into heat or electricity. There are two widely known solar collectors, but researchers are pushing t he limits to convert the sun’s energy into electricity by using mirrors and parabolic dishes. Someday, this technology will be able to create electricity for the whole Earth and will help in preserving our resources. There is also another way to create electricity, and that is by the ocean waves and tides.People have created turbines to collect the energy from the waters, which can turn this mechanical energy into electrical energy. Carbon dioxide is the most striking greenhouse gas contributing to global warming. Researchers are trying to fix this huge problem, and they have thought of a way already. Experts suggest a method that can solve this problem, and it is by injecting the carbon dioxide into the ground before it can reach the atmosphere. [6] Today, it is very clear that man is harming the Earth. Scientists have thought of these ways to stop the harmful practices. These are the emerging nvironmental technologies of the modern world, and these technologies can save the Earth from doom. III. Gadgets, Home Electronics and Communication Communicating with different people is a great need in the life of a person. Advancements in technology have made it super easy to communicate with people who are near and afar. Gadgets like the cell phone, personal computers, telephones, the Apple Products, etc. are great examples of communication gadgets. The earliest forms of communication are the pictograms, signal, and, of course, language. Communication has advanced so much through the years.The 20th and 21st centuries have been the most rapid advancement in communication technology. The greatest advancements today is the internet, wireless free internet (Wi-Fi), E-mail, smart phones, and social networking. With just one tap of a finger, a message can already go a very long way. [7] The internet is a remarkable technological innovation that represents humanity today. The internet is the world wide, publicly accessible network of interconnected computer networks that transmit data between themselves. The internet is created for the purpose of somehow making the world smaller.It allows the people all around the globe, in modern day, to interconnect and promote globalization and information sharing. [3] Social Networking is one service from the Internet. Examples are; Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and etc. These social networks provide men and women everywhere means to interact with each other despite the distance between them. They are able to share ideas, have a meeting, chat, and talk with the use of the Internet. With just the internet connection itself and the social network you are able to see different people in your own computer screen, you can also hear them.You don’t need to meet with other people in the real life, because it already feels as if that person is with you at that particular time. With these networks too, you can go online shopping. You can buy things off the Internet and have them shipped to your house the next d ay. It is so easy to do, and is much affordable because the retailers don’t have to pay a rent. You don’t need to go outside your house and search for the things you need to buy. With just one click, materials are sold with the use of this technological advancement. Social networking isn’t just for these purposes though.It is also for education. There are actually schools which are online. Teachers and students also use it as a communication tool. Teachers have observed that students are frequently on the net, so they have also familiarized this trend to extend their discussions in chat forums, and to post assignments, quizzes, and tests outside the school. College students also use the Internet to apply for jobs and internships. Many schools have implemented online alumni directories which serve as makeshift social networks that current and former students can turn to for career advice. [8]Before, people need to fire some wood to cook or heat something up. Now, we have different electronics that can heat something up in seconds. Television sets back then, were large and fat. Now, they’re as thin as paper, and the visuals are amazing. Your plasma TV can also be your own computer, how incredible is that? There are also these gadgets called the iPod where in you can enter a thousand songs inside a little device. How can anyone ever expect such a small thing hold so much memory. Tablets like the Apple iPad is somehow like a laptop already. You can download numerous applications in it to use.You can even make it your own library of books. It is like an all in one gadget, which is very useful to a person’s daily life. There are still various gadgets that have been invented, which have made life easier for everyone. In the year 2006, South Korea has invented Robots that say, relay messages to parents, teach children English, and sing and dance for them when they get bored. This developed in the year of 2007. These robots help famil ies in their homes and outside of their homes. If according goes all to plan robots will be in every South Korean household between 2015 and 2020.This plan will really change the daily habits of man and it can affect the whole world. [9] IV. Occupational/ Career Call centers use a wide variety of different technologies to allow them to manage the large volumes of work that need to be manages by the call center. These technologies ensure that agents are kept as productive as possible, and that calls are queued and processed as quickly as possible, resulting in good levels of service. Call centers have been a huge help in job applications here in the Philippines. Thousands of Filipinos have jobs because of call centers.This is one branch of technology that has promoted the economy and society to rise. [10] Technology has allowed millions of people in the world to get a job. Buildings, offices, hospitals, malls, schools everywhere involve some kind of technology somehow, and this has o pened opportunities for a lot of lives. V. Effects of Technology in the World With the advancement of technology today, it is clear that it has changed the way people live their lives. Filipino families have been reaping the best out of technology in keeping their own families intact.The Filipino family still embraces traditional values with the family remaining as a person’s number one priority. Families have given 10. 9 hours of their day in the consumption of media and 14 hours for technology. Filipinos spend 6. 1 hours with their families and almost 1. 9 hours with their friends while 23. 2 hours are spent for every day essentials like sleeping, school, or work. Technology enhanced Filipinos’ Social lives. 76% said that they have friends in different countries and cities because of the internet. Also, 53% said that the technology provided them a platform in overcoming their shyness. 11] The advancements are also accompanied by the reduction in the time, effort, cos t, for production of any materials from those tiny microchips to the huge machines or from the modern futuristic devices to the mega structures, they have been made with ease in design and development with the help of technology. These advancements also lead to the development of the economy due to the right use of technology which reduces the material production cost and the overhead charges which create savings and thus starts national development.When we look at the effects of technological advancement, even though there are a lot of good effects to be named, we must not forget the side effects and risks involved with technological advancement. Making a lot of processes digital does not only increase the comfort of the people using it, it also increases the risk of people being spammed or scammed. [12] Technology can provide us with comfort and ease, but it can make us very lazy as well. The higher risk of being scammed is also something to be constantly aware of. 1. So We Need S omething Else for Reason to Mean†,  International Journal of Philosophical Studies  8: 3, 271 — 295. 2. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Technology 3. http://www. academia. edu/346486/Technological_Advancements_and_Its_Impact_on_Humanity 4. Shannen Lambdin, Lillian Bornstein, Kaitlyn Reichwaldt, Jaquelin Garcia, and Holly Lombard, http://cse. unl. edu/gem/essays/10-11/HS_1st_TheSpontaneousCombustions. pdf 5. http://www. toptenz. net/top-10-ways-sci-fi-could-help-you-live-1000-years. php 6. Sara Goudarzi, â€Å"Top 10 Emerging Environmental Technologies†, www. livescience. om/11334-top10-emerging-environmental-technologies. html 7. Michelle L. Cramer, â€Å"Advances in Communication Technology†, www. ehow. com/about_5347491_advances-communication-technology. html 8. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Social_networking_service 9. Philippine Daily Inquirer, South Koreans Ready For Life With Robots, April 3, 2006 10. Philippine Daily Inquirer, Call Centers: From Office Basics to Global Impact, March 26, 2006 11. Philippine Daily Inquirer, Research Claims Technology Good For Filipino Families, May 21, 2007. 12. http://wiki. answers. com/Q/What_are_the_effects_of_technological_advancement

Culture and Globalization Essay

INTRODUCTION Identity is a question that may be expressed by an anxiety and a hope at the same time. The anxiety lies in the sense of the existence of our Moroccan identity in all its dimensions, Arabo-berber, Muslim negro-African and modern. It also lies in our existence in the world in different parts of the planet where we have decided, voluntarily or not, to assert our existence; a planet that has become a finished space, a global village, surrounded by all kinds of flows, economic, human, electronic, and cultural, which are aspects of globalization; a globalization that could not only be a kind of interdependence among the national spaces which existence is still alive but also an internal phenomenon in these spaces. The advantages and disadvantages of this multiform process can diverge from one partisan to another. Some see in it the chance of a new world and others see in it the risk of an incomparable oppression. The problem of the Arabo Islamic identity or Arab identity occupies the front of the scene. The Islamic world has never been so active in the sense of the expression of identity, maybe because of the more and more enigmatic character of this identity because as Dryush Shayagan reminds, more than the ethnic and the religious identities, we find a third one in addition that emerges from modernity. He adds that the three identities fit one into the other, create more and more complex fields of interference, and exploit territories that remain most of the time incompatible with each other. He goes on declaring that today, these identical cultures are situated between the â€Å"not yet† and the â€Å"never ever†: not yet modern and never ever traditional. These identities that live henceforth, in â€Å"between the two† are totally burst according to Dryush.[1] At first glance, this triple identity raises obstacles to communication, but on the condition of succeeding in fitting out their respective spaces, it offers on the other hand, new possibilities of communication. The assertion of a reactive and massive Arabian Islamic identity was the adequate answer to the colonial dominion. Today, however, the reflection has to fit and adapt itself to the requirements of a situation namely, globalization, that orders that identity becomes seen as open, diverse and it has to be attentive to pluralism in the internal as well as the external places. We can think that the new network of information and communication will favour the emergence of new forms of citizenship susceptible to fill the current democratic deficit. Media permanently present information in the different parts of the world. With the means of information which the internet network prefigures today, the individual can have a more active role in the search for information. One can also contact a multitude of people of different nationalities, discuss problems of public interest, and express his/her opinions in public forums. GLOBALIZATION, CULTURE, AND THE MOROCCAN IDENTITY It is crucial to see globalization from an academic point of view as there is a strong link bounding globalization and culture. The global culture belongs to what Simon During calls â€Å"transnationalization.†[2] This latter is the process by which cultural products extend their actual space to emerge in a global area. Cultural studies are a kind of reaction to this process. Going deeper in this perspective, we come across many points that may link globalization to culture if we consider that culture is a local issue that may be influenced by the global market, the global sight, or may itself influence the global sphere if it is considered as a tradition or a way of life. Culture, from another view, maybe considered as the basis of the construction of one’s identity but once influences by globalization, the identity may change and we may adopt some practices and beliefs that may be no more appropriate to the local culture. Education is another point where globalization and culture meet. Students nowaydays, are no more interested by some issues tackling family or social events, but rather opt to get aware of the global economic and capitalistic changes that the actual world witnesses. Culture is a part of our identity. If we change culture, we change our identity. Stewart Hall argues that in a changing history, identity should remain the same though it is far from being the case of the modern world we’re living in and where identities are in a permanent process of change and transformation and this is the result of globalization. Always according to Hall, the construction of identity is made by the sight of the other. In other words, the negative view on the other makes of our identity a positive one. The process of constructing identity then is based on opposition. If the sight of the other makes of us who we really are, we are then no more free to chose according to our own tastes but rather chose according to others’ reactions[3]. This may seem ambiguous in a sense and annoying in another. How can globalization affect our own sense of belonging? Belonging to a particular nation and adopting a specific culture is not a matter of choice, it is because we belong to a certain ethnic group that has its own tradition, culture and religion. Once we find ourselves involved in a pre-created world, the acceptance becomes an automatic reaction, but when our sense of belonging to a cultural space or another becomes guided by the global pressures, our identity gets hurt and our mind fragmented and confused between what is ours and what is theirs (what is local and what is global). â€Å"The global popular† is the means of communication that occupies an important place in the projection of visual images to spread information (TV, satellite, internet†¦). If I insist on citing the global popular as one of the links between globalization and culture, it is because I judge it of a high importance and necessity to remind the idea that Simon During came with and which expresses the impossibility to separate the global popular from the global culture. He kept arguing that the reason was not only that both of them belong to a single globalizing system but also because the relation between various forms of cultural products are changing and transacting.[4] Similarly, Arjun Appadurai cited in his essay â€Å"Modernity at Large† one of the most important means of the circulating forms which is the â€Å"mediascape†. Like the global popular, mediascapes allow any information to become local through all kinds of the modern media. By this way the local culture may be adopted by different societies and consequently be global.[5] GLOBALIZATION AND MEDIA Today globalization arouses number of controversies. The term by itself condenses anxieties: it evokes, quite at the same time, the shrinkage of the planet bound to technological innovations and the massive impact of the triumphant capitalism that imposes its extreme dominance. Appadurai approaches, in a frontal way, the question of globalization. He put in the centre of his analysis the notion of flows. For him, what defines the contemporary world is much more circulation than structures and stable organizations. The proof is quite clear when we see people constantly moving from one place to another and the extraordinary development of mass communication with images transited throughout the planet. Until then, the individual lived and conceived himself in certain limits. From a simple geopolitical point of view, the nation state was considered as a stable referent: within it, the dimension of the local used to have a great importance conferring to each individual in a given society their privileged points of anchoring. In this context, the identical constructions occur in a permanent game of opposition between the self and the other, between the inside and the outside. But migrations on the one hand, and the media flows on the other hand, disrupted the spreading order until then. What interests Appadurai is the way this situation not only alters the material life of people but also tends to give an incomparable role to imagination. This does not mean that previously societies have not abundantly, neither in their mythological, literary nor artistic productions, appealed to this faculty. Henceforth, imagination is no more limited in some specific domains of expression, but it changes the daily practices, notably the migratory situations where migrants find themselves obliged to create in their exile a world of them by using all the images that media allow them to receive.[6] The technological progress: Internet The cable and internet offer multiple means to reconstitute communities including migrants and those who stayed in their countries. When we come across globalization of communication we inevitably think of internet. Internet is considered to be the symbol of and at the same time, a vehicle for the development of the future mediatic landscape. As a polymorphic tool spread everywhere, internet is actually inescapable in the study of the actual communication processes. If we consider internet as a media, we automatically notice that it is a quite particular one. Among modern mass media, internet is characterized by a potentially or at least virtually wide broadcasting. It is one of the facets of the internet ideology: everybody can have access to messages, everywhere and so to speak with no constraints, and at the same time, internet presents specific characteristics that make of it an exceptional media. Unlike press or radio-television that necessitate material and financial means, licenses, and a diffusion and distribution network, by internet everything is easier. Everybody can be a transmitter and everybody is potentially provider of contents but not everybody can create his/her own television station contrary to internet by which each one –or almost– can create a web site with only an online computer. All this is almost free more than the accommodating of private individuals that is also, more or less, free. If we consider internet as a media, it is then the time in the history of mass communication when each citizen and each association has the ability to play in the same ground as that of the wide mediatic groups or the big companies. Yve Thiran states that from this point of view, internet is a means of communication par excellence and it is not surprising that the excluded traditional media were the first to use it.[7] What seems to be new in the case of internet is not really the fact that it facilitates the emergence of multiple forms of sites and more or less alternative means of information, but rather the fact that the local structuralizations have voluntarily or not, reached the world as a whole. The neighbouring radio station’s diffusion is limited in the neighbourhood, while the expression on the Net may give the impression to address the whole planet. A neighbouring radio station, once installed in the web, can be heard by the whole world. Contrary to the press of radio-television, internet still looks for its place in the media landscape[8] grouping sites together, contents, services and very (too) diverse possibilities to aspire to a real unit of speech (but it is not probably the purpose of internet neither), in a social gratitude other than the connotations that can be socially planed on the new technologies of information and communication in general. In other words, as we find everything on internet, it is still its strict technical dimension that allows an observer to apprehend it, to seize it mentally and conceptually and to succeed in defining it differently. What is internet then? It is a media, a commercial space, a means of information, a shop window, and a place for exchange and expression; that is to say, so many activities where the interlocutors position themselves differently. The telephone is not a newspaper; nevertheless, internet can be at the same time a telephone and a newspaper, an advertisement hoarding and a room of debate. CONCLUSION Born Jamaican, the English cultural theorist Stuart Hall argued that identity must be understood in terms of politics of localization, of location and statement –not as a process of discovery of lost roots but as the construction of a new or emergent shape of ourselves, linked at the same time to the actual social relations and to the contemporary power relations–. While most of us clearly wish to respect most of the aspects of our tradition and history, Hall suggests that we also need, for speaking, to understand languages which we were not taught. We need to understand and revalue the traditions and inheritances of cultural expressions in a new and creative way as the context in which they are produced evolves constantly.[9] ———————– [1] Shayagan Dryush,  « La Lumià ¨re vient de l’Occident,  » Paris : l’Aube, 2001, Entretiens du XXI Sià ¨cle,  « Oà ¹ Vont les Valeurs,  » UNESCO, Abbin Michel, Paris, 2004. [2] Simon During,  « Postcolonialism and Globalization,  » Culture, Globalization and the World System, ed., Anthony King, Dinghamton, 1991. [3] Stuart Hall,  « Old and New Identities, Old and New Ethnicities,  » Culture, Globalization and the World System, Current Debates in Art History 3, State of New York: Bihghamton, 1991, pp. 41-68. [4] Arif Dirlik,  « The Local in the Global,  » Global/Local: Cultural Production and the Transnational Imaginary, eds., Rob Wilson and William Dissanayake, Durham: Duke UP, 1996. [5] Arjun Appadurai,  « Modernity at Large,  » Cultural Dimensions of Globalization, Public Worlds, Vol. 1, London: University of Minnesota Press, 1996. [6] Arjun Appadurai, Aprà ¨s le Colonialisme, Paris : Payot, 2001. [7] Yve Thiran, Sexes, Monsenges et Internet, Bruxelles : Castells-Labor, Coll.  « quartier Libre,  » 2000, p. 42. [8] Yve Thiran shows that the internet needs traditional media such as television to be able to claim the impact that it had notably during the Clinton-Lewinsky affaire. (Thiran, p. 43) [9] Stuart Hall,  « Old and New Identities, Old and New Ethnicities,  » Culture, Globalization and the World System, Current Debates in Art History 3, State of New York: Bihghamton, 1991, pp. 41-68.

Independence Day Essay

Independence Day, observed annually on 15 August in India commemorating the nation’s independence from Kingdom of Great Britain on 15 August 1947. India attained independence following an independence movement noted for largely nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience led by the Indian National Congress (INC). Independence coincided with the partition of India, in which the British Indian Empire was divided along religious lines into the Dominions of India and Pakistan; the partition was accompanied by violent riots and mass casualties, and the displacement of nearly 15 million people due to sectarian violence. On 17 Aug 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru, who had become the first Prime Minister of India that day, raised the Indian national flag above the Lahore Gate of the Red Fort in Delhi. On each subsequent Independence Day, the Prime Minister has raised the flag and given a speech. The holiday is observed throughout India with flag-hoisting ceremonies, parades and cultural events. Indians celebrate the day by displaying the national flag on their attire, accessories, homes and vehicles; by listening to patriotic songs, watching patriotic movies; and bonding with family and friends. Books and films feature the independence and partition in their narrative. Separatist and militant organizations have often carried out terrorist attacks on and around 15 August, and others have declared strikes and used black flags to boycott the celebration. History of our Independence Day: European traders had established outposts on the Indian subcontinent by the 17th century. Through overwhelming military strength, the British East India company subdued local kingdoms and established themselves as the dominant force by the 18th century. Following the Rebellion of 1857, the Government of India Act 1858 led the British Crown to assume direct control of India. In the decades following, civic society gradually emerged across India, most notably the Indian National Congress, formed in 1885. The period after World War I was marked by British reforms such as the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms, but it also witnessed the enactment of the repressive Rowlatt Act and calls for self-rule by Indian activists. The  discontent of this period crystallized into nationwide non-violent movements of non-cooperation and civil disobedience, led by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. During the 1930s, reform was gradually legislated by the British; Congress won victories in the resulting elections. The next decade was beset with political turmoil: Indian participation in World War II, the Congress’s final push for non-cooperation, and an upsurge of Muslim nationalism led by the All-India Muslim League. The escalating political tension was capped by Independence in 1947. The jubilation was tempered by the bloody partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan. How do we celebrate it? Independence Day is observed in all Indian states and union territories. On the eve of Independence Day, the President of India delivers the â€Å"Address to the Nation†. On 15 August, the prime minister hoists the Indian flag on the ramparts of the historical site Red Fort in Delhi. Twenty-one gun shots are fired in honour of the solemn occasion. In his speech, the prime minister highlights the past year’s achievements, raises important issues and calls for further development. He pays tribute to the leaders of the Indian independence movement. The Indian national anthem, â€Å"Jana Gana Mana† is sung. The speech is followed by march past of divisions of the Indian Armed Forces and paramilitary forces. Parades and pageants showcase scenes from the independence struggle and India’s diverse cultural traditions. Similar events take place in state capitals where the Chief Ministers of individual states unfurl the national flag, followed by parades and pageants. Flag hoisting ceremonies and cultural programmes take place in governmental and non-governmental institutions throughout the country. Schools and colleges conduct flag hoisting ceremonies and cultural events. Major government buildings are often adorned with strings of lights. In Delhi and some other cities, kite flying adds to the occasion. National flags of different sizes are used abundantly to symbolize allegiance to the country. Citizens adorn their clothing, wristbands, cars, household accessories with replicas of the tri-color. Over a period of time, the celebration has changed emphasis from nationalism to a broader celebration of all things India. The Indian diaspora celebrates Independence Day around the world with parades and pageants, particularly in regions with higher concentrations of Indian  immigrants. In some locations, such as New York and other US cities, 15 August has become â€Å"India Day† among the diaspora and the local populace. Pageants celebrate â€Å"India Day† either on 15 August or an adjoining weekend day. South Korea is a country which celebrates its Independence Day on fifteenth august. Independence Day before Independence At the 1929 Lahore session of the Indian National Congress, the Purna Swaraj declaration, or â€Å"Declaration of the Independence of India† was promulgated, and 26 January was declared as Republic Day. The Congress called on people to pledge themselves to civil disobedience and â€Å"to carry out the Congress instructions issued from time to time† until India attained complete independence. Celebration of such an Independence Day was envisioned to stoke nationalistic fervour among Indian citizens, and to force the British government to consider granting independence. The Congress observed 26 January as the Independence Day between 1930 and 1947. The celebration was marked by meetings where the attendants took the â€Å"pledge of independence†. Jawaharlal Nehru described in his autobiography that such meetings were peaceful, solemn, and â€Å"without any speeches or exhortation†. Gandhi envisaged that besides the meetings, the day would be spent â€Å"in doing some constructive work, whether it is spinning, or service of ‘untouchables,’ or reunion of Hindus and Mussalmans, or prohibition work, or even all these together†. Following actual independence in 1947, the Constitution of India came into effect on and from 26 January 1950; since then 26 January is celebrated as Republic Day.

Behavioural Approach Essay

The behavioural approach suggests that all behaviour is learnt. This includes abnormal behaviours. Behaviours can be learned through classical conditioning, operant conditioning or modelling. Ivan Pavlov discovered classical conditioning, where learning results from the association of stimuli with reflex responses. Classical conditioning can be used to explain the development of many abnormal behaviours, including phobias, anxiety disorders and taste aversions. An example of how classical conditioning might result in a phobia is the case of Little Albert. In an experiment carried out by Watson and Rayner, a 11 month old boy called ‘little Albert’ was taught to fear a white rat through associating it with a loud noise, a symbol behind his head. Each time he played with the rat the symbol would be hit which caused him to cry. Eventually he would do so even without the noise due to the classical conditioning theory. This research however, would not receive approval from an ethics committee today because it would be seen as unethical. Making the baby cry deliberately and teaching him to fear the rat would be seen as wrong because it could cause distress and would go against ‘little Alberts’ human rights. The theory of operant conditioning was proposed by Skinner. Operant conditioning involves learning from the consequences of actions. Actions which have a good outcome through positive reinforcement (reward) or negative reinforcement (removal of something bad) will be repeated. Actions which have a bad outcome (punishment) will not be repeated. Operant conditioning explains how abnormal behaviours might be maintained. This could be through positive reinforcement; behaviours which have a good outcome by bringing some sort of reward are said to be positively reinforced. On the other hand it could be down to negative reinforcement which is behaviours which have a good outcome by removing something unpleasant are said to be negatively reinforced. Finally, abnormal behaviours could also be learnt through modelling or social learning, which is learning through observation of an individual. What happens is simply an individual models the behaviour and the observer imitates the model. A strength of the behavioural approach is that it can be experimentally tested. The principles of learning have been and continue to be tested empirically in a laboratory. The focus on observable behaviour means it can be objectively measured. A further strength is that unlike the psychodynamic approach, it doesn’t require delving into the past, which is problematic because it could unearth traumatic experiences which can produce unreliable data. However, those who support the psychodynamic approach suggests the behavioural model only focuses on symptoms, not on the underlying causes of abnormal behaviour. Freudians claim it treats the symptoms while ignoring the root cause of the problem. Therefore it cannot work as the problem will just represent itself with different symptoms. Whereas, the biological approach cannot explain cultural differences in abnormality such as culture-bound syndromes, a strength of the behavioural approach is that it can account for this because It accounts for cultural differences because it recognises the importance of the environment in shaping behaviour. While behavioural treatments are often effective for certain disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and phobias, they have not been found to be effective for many other disorders and have also often been criticised for being unethical because treatment is often painful and uncomfortable and is sometimes imposed on individuals without their consent. The behavioural approach is accused of being reductionist and simplistic. This is because it’s a simple approach with connections of stimulus. It neglects the influence of cognitions (The mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought and experience). A further limitation is that much behaviourist research involves animal studies. While behaviourists argue that humans are fundamentally the same as non-human animals, others would argue that the greater complexity of the human mind makes it difficult to generalise findings from animal studies to humans. Overall the behaviourist approach shows all behaviour to be learnt through our experiences. It states that this learning can either be learnt through classical or operant condition and also the social learning theory. It can be experimentally tested and proven which makes the approach credible however it can be seen just to treat the symptoms of a abnormal behaviour rather than looking at the cause.

Research Methods for Business Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Methods for Business - Research Proposal Example This paper is aimed at providing a proposal analysis of the importance of stress management in organisations. In the recent years organisations have provided much importance to the stress management of the employees. Efforts are taken by the employers to reduce the stress from the employees by incurring huge cost in this aspect. Almost every multinational organisation has a dedicated stress management team to provide relief to the workers (Hit, et al, 2006, p.259). The growing importance of the issue makes it an important matter to study in the present business environment. Considering the importance of the stress management, organisations are incurring huge amount of cost towards prevention of the issues. In this context it is important to investigate whether providing importance to this aspect is improving the profitability of the business. It is to be noted that the organisations also provides various financial incentives to the employees in order to improve their efficiency and to make them feel that they are not being over burdened with their work. In this context, the causes of stress developing among the employees are also an important matter of study. The consequence of stress, on the organisation also needs to be highlighted in order to carefully analyze the importance given to stress management. The programs undertaken by organisations in the stress management activities, needs to be investigated to underline the factors which finally help the employees to overcome their stress. The study of stress management will help in providing a clear analysis of the different factors which contributes towards the development of stress among different set of workers. The consequence of such stress on the workers will actually help us to determine how the organisational productivity is being hampered if a large set of workers in an organisation becomes the victim of stress. The study of the stress management

Chemistry and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Chemistry and Society - Essay Example In the ancient time, spiraea and willow bark plant extract of which the active ingredient was salicylic acid had been used to ease pain, headaches and fevers. In the year 1763, Edward Stone isolated the active element of aspirin when he discovered salicylic acid. Charles Frederic Gerhardt who was a French chemist prepared the first acetylsalicylic acid in the year 1853. During Charles Frederic Gerhardt's work, on the property and synthesis of different acid anhydrides, Charles Frederic mixed acetyl chloride with a sodium salt (Edubillacom, 2015). After a vigorous reaction, the resulting melt was then solidified, and the compound obtained was named salicylic-acetic anhydride.In the year 1859, von Gilm obtained acetylsalicylic acid through the reaction of acetyl chloride and salicylic acid (Watson, 2011). In the year 1897, Bayer AG chemists produced a version of synthetically altered salicin. The product was derived from Filipendula ulmaria species which had a less digestive upset as c ompared to the pure salicylic acid. Bayer AG named the new drug Aspirin (May & Cotton, 2014). By the year 1899, the drug was sold around the world (SchröR, 2009). The drug became popularly known due to its effectiveness in the first half of the 20th century. Synthetic fabrics are from synthetic polymers which are created using polymerization of different chemical inputs. Polymerization refers to the process of combining various smaller molecules to form larger molecules.

Sexual Deviance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Sexual Deviance - Essay Example Kraft-Ebbing in Psychopathia Sexualis regarded deviance as arising out of disease processes. Freud who used the term perversion discussed sexual aberrations in Three Essays on Sexuality and he used the term perversion. Sexual perversions are conditions in which sexual excitement or orgasm is associated with acts or imagery that are considered unusual within the culture. Paraphilias differ from what some people might consider "normal" sexual activity in that these behaviors cause significant distress or impairment in areas of life functioning. They do not refer to the normal use of sexual fantasy, activity or objects to heighten sexual excitement where there is no distress or impairment. We can enumerate these forms of sexual deviance here. They are: homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, sadomasochism (s-m), masturbation, fetishism, paedophilia (pedophilia), voyeurism, exhibitionism, transvestism, zoophilia and other paraphilias. There are a lot of these listed in books and encyclopedias, but we have listed some of the common ones. Paraphilias include fantasies, behaviors, and/or urges which involve human and nonhuman sexual objects, such as shoes or undergarments, some requiring suffering or humiliation of oneself or partner, and may involve children or other non-consenting partners. There are well over 40 types of paraphilias which have been identified and defined (Money, 1986). Only eight of them are listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 1987), where the remainder are subsumed under, "not otherwise specified." Given the socio-cultural-religious-political climate, some paraphilias are legally considered to be sex crimes which are punishable by law. In legal codes, crimes against nature and affronts to socially acceptable sexual behavior are criminalized and are regarded as sex offenses. These crimes have included statutory rape, violent rape, child molesting, exhibitionism, voyeurism and incest. Common forms of Sexual Deviance A. Masturbation Technically, masturbation is not a deviation because it is a majority activity and its portrayal as a perversion pathologizes most of the human population from their teens onwards. It is very likely that the people who performed this characterization were pathologizing themselves. Some works, such as that by Kinsey, indicate that virtually all males masturbate during adolescence, being in the region of 95% to 98%. This is to say that among males masturbation is statistically more normal than heterosexuality. There are some revelations about so-called shared masturbatory experiences, involving two or more young males. Masturbation is less common among women, with an incidence of about 60%. Many mammals engage in self-stimulation of the