Saturday, August 31, 2019
Evils of War Essay
There is no doubt that war is an evil one. It is the greatest catastrophe that can befall human beings. It brings death and destruction, merciless slaughter and butchery, disease and starvation, poverty and ruin in its wake. A particularly disturbing side of modern wars is that they tend to become global so that they may engulf the entire world. But though war is an evil, we must recognize the fact that it is a necessary, inescapable evil. A glance at the past history of the world will show war has been a recurrent phenomenon in the history of nations. We have had wars of all types wars lasting for a year or so and a war lasting for hundred years. Clashes of arms have always occurred. In a world war has ways been waged. War has indeed, been such a marked feature of every age and period. This has come to be regarded as part of The normal life of nations. Poet and prophets have dreamt of a millennium ââ¬â an utopia in which war will not exist and eternal peace will reign on earth, but these dreams have not been fulfilled. The occurrence the Second World War however, conclusively proved that to think of an unbroken peaceââ¬â¢s to be unrealistic and that no institution or assembly can ever ensure the presence of peace. The United Nations Organisation, with all the good work that it has seen doing, is not proving as effective as was desired. A large number of wars, The most recent ones behind the one in Vietnam, the other between India and Pakistan, or Ind-China war, Iran-Iraq war or Arab Isreal war. The fact of the matter is that, fighting is a natural instinct in peace. It is, indeed, too much to exact so many nations to live in a state of eternal peace. Besides, there will always be wide differences of option between various nations, different angle of looking at matters that have an international importance, radical difference in policy and ideology and they cannot be settled by mere discussion so that resort to war becomes very necessary in these cases.
Courtroom Participants Professional Standards Essay
For the purpose of this paper I will be discussing the questions posed in the course syllabus by my professor: * Prosecutorial Misconduct à * Prosecutorial misconduct is best described as illegal acts utilized by a prosecutor to persuade a jury to wrongly convict an individual accused of a crime or securing a severe sentence that may not be justified towards the actual crime. Often times there are occurrences of individuals that are wrongfully convicted, many of these individuals are incarcerated for extended periods of time before their cases are even heard or brought before a jury. * Ineffective assistance by criminal counsel An attorney providing ineffective assistance can be considered as those occurrences when the service provided by an attorney to a defendant proves to be ineffective and in doing so, would be a violation of the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution. Ineffective assistance of counsel is defined in the Supreme Courtââ¬â¢s ruling surrounding the landmark case of Strickland v. Washington (1984). In order for a defendant to prove ineffective assistance, the individual would first have to provide proof that demonstrates that his counselââ¬â¢s performance was inefficient due to the attorney make a large number of errors. Secondly, the defendant must demonstrate that the attorneyââ¬â¢s errors directly impacted the defendantââ¬â¢s case prejudicially. In this instance prejudice takes on the meaning ofâ⬠¦.the trial would have resulted in a different outcome it not for the fact of the attorneyââ¬â¢s errors resulting in the sentencing be affected. * Judicial misconduct Judicial misconduct refers to the judgeââ¬â¢s conduct and the fact that they are constantly in the view of the public, so they are held to a higher standard in the area of respecting the individuals they interact with on a daily basis as well as all defendants that appear before them in court. * Real life stories My real life story on prosecutorial misconduct focuses on the case of Raymond Towler, who was convicted on the charge of rape of an eleven year old girl and completed 30 years of a sentenced life sentence trying to convince the courts of his innocence. Assistant District Attorney Bill Mason motto of ââ¬Å"win no matter whatâ⬠resulted in him eliciting testimony that he knew, or had been advised was in accurate. Mason interviewed a police detective who stated in court that Towler never denied raping the eleven year old; however, notes written by the detective himself during his investigation supported Towlerââ¬â¢s claims to not having raped the child. In responding to Masonââ¬â¢s questions, a police officer provided testimony that Towler had some form of an indecent communication with the child prior to the rape. Yet police records indicated that it was Chris Towler, Raymondââ¬â¢s brother, who had communication (which was appropriate) with the child. Even with a variety of inconsistencies present, a misled jury still convicted Towler. The mistake the prosecutor made was that he did not utilize sufficient evidence in the case or the fact that Towler wasnââ¬â¢t nowhere near the area or the fact that he never even came in contact with the child, physically or verbally. He also failed to utilize the statement taken by the officer concerning to it being Towlerââ¬â¢s brother that was in the area where the act supposedly occurred and had the documented conversation with the child. Without these little pieces of evidence being presented Towler was sentence to life in prison and had spent 30 years incarcerated. How do you replace the time that individual lost? What form of immunity provides protection to the prosecutor pertaining to consequences of misconduct? By the guidelines set forth in the legal dictionary ââ¬Å"Prosecutors are afforded totally immunity for any actions committed before a Grand Jury or a trial. However, while conducting the investigatory phase, only qualified immunity is granted to them. In the case of Kalina v. Fletcher, (1997), it was ruled by the United States Supreme Court that absolute immunity was not a right entitled to prosecutor in regards to his/her actions of allegedly submitting false statements of facts in an Affidavit supporting the application document for an arrest warrant. Consideration of policies regarding merited absolute immunity contains interest of both protection of the prosecutor of harassing litigation that would disrupt the required time or the attention allocated for official duties and the interest towards providing him/her the ability to utilize independent judgment pertaining to decisions on which suits to file and pursue in court. Another example of a real life story pertaining to judicial misconduct would be the case involving Samuel Kent, Mr. Kent served as a judge for over 18 years, but was now being sentenced to three years inside a federal prison for lying about inappropriate conduct towards his staff, of which two provided physic al evidence as to number of years they both endured various assaults by the judge who was for the most part intoxicated. The pattern of sexual misconduct directed at the judges co-workers along with constant violations of workplace intoxication are obvious wrongdoings committed by the judge. It is my opinion that performing elections would be better suited process for judicial selection due to its ability to allow the citizens to make their own choice as to who should represent them through the process of researching them first. While certainly recognizing these acts of misconducts occurring within our criminal justice system, how we propose deter criminal acts on the streets when itââ¬â¢s evident we can not deter it inside of our courts and legal system. Then when you factor in the occurrences of individuals being incarcerated and then being found innocent and having to be compensated through local and state funds that we other citizens are responsible for not to mention the lost of time these individuals lose from their life, friends, and family; which honestly begs the question how could any amount of money replace this time. In my opinion, we as a society really need to make ourselves more aware to the fact that these issues require addressing in our criminal justice system. We really need the accessibility of additional resources required to fill more jobs with truly qualified individuals versus our penchant for sacrificing ourselves to individuals with recognizable names or higher government officials who claim to have or best interest at heart when certain decisions they make appear to be the complete opposite. References Schmalleger, F., & Hall, D. E. (2010). Criminal Law Today. Upper Saddle River, NJ. Siegel, L. J., Schmalleger, F., & Worrall, J. L. (2011). Courts and Criminal Justice in America. Upper Saddle River, NJ. www.Lawlibrary.com http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/immunity
Friday, August 30, 2019
The Lost Duke of Wyndham Chapter Eighteen
Three minutes,â⬠Jack said, the moment he pulled the door shut. Because truly, he did not think he could last any longer than that. Not when she was dressed in her nightgown. It was an ugly thing, really, all rough and buttoned from chin to toe, but still, it was a nightgown. And she was Grace. ââ¬Å"You will never believe what has happened,â⬠she said. ââ¬Å"Normally an excellent opening,â⬠he acknowledged, ââ¬Å"but after everything that has happened in the last two weeks, I find myself willing to believe almost anything.â⬠He smiled and shrugged. Two pints of fine Irish ale had made him mellow. But then she told him the most amazing story. Thomas had given her a cottage and an income. Grace was now an independent woman. She was free of the dowager. Jack lit the lamp in his room, listening to her excitement. He felt a prickle of jealousy, though not because he did not think she should be receiving gifts from another man ââ¬â the truth was, she'd more than earned anything the duke chose to portion off to her. Five years with the dowager ââ¬â Good God, she ought to be given a title in her own right as penance for such as that. No one had done more for England. No, his jealousy was a far more basic stripe. He heard the joy in her voice, and once he'd banished the dark of the room, he saw the joy in her eyes. And quite simply, it just felt wrong that someone else had given her that. He wanted to do it. He wanted to light her eyes with exhilaration. He wanted to be the origin of her smile. ââ¬Å"I will still have to go with you to County Cavan,â⬠Grace was saying. ââ¬Å"I can't stay here by myself, and I wouldn't want Amelia to be alone. This is all terribly difficult for her, you know.â⬠She looked up at him, so he nodded in response. Truthfully, he hadn't been thinking very much of Amelia, selfish as that was. ââ¬Å"I'm sure it will be awkward with the dowager,â⬠Grace continued. ââ¬Å"She was furious.â⬠ââ¬Å"I can imagine,â⬠Jack murmured. ââ¬Å"Oh, no.â⬠Her eyes grew very wide. ââ¬Å"This was extraordinary, even for her.â⬠He pondered that. ââ¬Å"I am not certain if I am sorry or relieved that I missed it.â⬠ââ¬Å"It was probably for the best that you were not present,â⬠Grace replied, grimacing. ââ¬Å"She was rather unkind.â⬠He was about to say that it was difficult to imagine her any other way, but Grace suddenly brightened and said, ââ¬Å"But do you know, I don't care!â⬠She giggled then, the heady sound of someone who can't quite believe her good fortune. He smiled for her. It was infectious, her happiness. He did not intend that she should ever live apart from him, and he rather suspected that Thomas had not given her the cottage with the intention that she live there as Mrs. Jack Audley, but he understood her delight. For the first time in years, Grace had something of her own. ââ¬Å"I'm sorry,â⬠she said, but she could not quite hide her smile. ââ¬Å"I should not be here. I didn't mean to wait up for you, but I was just so excited, and I wanted to tell you, because I knew you'd understand.â⬠And as she stood there, her eyes shining up at him, his demons slipped away, one by one, until he was just a man, standing before the woman he loved. In this room, in this minute, it didn't matter that he was back in Ireland, that there were so many bloody reasons he should be running for the door and finding passage on the next ship to anywhere. In this room, in this minute, she was his everything. ââ¬Å"Grace,â⬠he said, and his hand rose to touch her cheek. She curled into it, and in that moment he knew he was lost. Whatever strength he'd thought he possessed, whatever will to do the right thing ââ¬â It was gone. ââ¬Å"Kiss me,â⬠he whispered. Her eyes widened. ââ¬Å"Kiss me.â⬠She wanted to. He could see it in her eyes, feel it in the air around them. He leaned down, closerâ⬠¦but not enough so their lips touched. ââ¬Å"Kiss me,â⬠he said, one last time. She rose on her toes. She moved nothing else ââ¬â her hands did not come up to caress him, she did not lean in, allowing her body to rest against his. She just rose on her toes until her lips brushed his. And then she backed away. ââ¬Å"Jack?â⬠she whispered. ââ¬Å"I ââ¬â â⬠He almost said it. The words were right there, on his lips. I love you. But somehow he knew ââ¬â he had no idea how, just that he did ââ¬â if he said it then, if he gave voice to what he was certain she knew in her heart, it would scare her away. ââ¬Å"Stay with me,â⬠he whispered. He was through being noble. The current Duke of Wyndham could spend his life doing nothing but the right thing, but he could not be so unselfish. He kissed her hand. ââ¬Å"I shouldn't,â⬠she whispered. He kissed her other hand. ââ¬Å"Oh, Jack.â⬠He raised them both to his lips, holding them to his face, inhaling her scent. She looked at the door. ââ¬Å"Stay with me,â⬠he said again. And then he touched her chin, tipped her face gently up, and laid one soft kiss on her lips. ââ¬Å"Stay.â⬠He watched her face, saw the conflicted shadows in her eyes. Her lips trembled, and she turned away from him before she spoke. ââ¬Å"If I ââ¬â â⬠Her voice was a whisper, shaky and unsure. ââ¬Å"If I stayâ⬠¦Ã¢â¬ He touched her chin but did not guide her back to face him. He waited until she was ready, until she turned on her own. ââ¬Å"If I stayâ⬠¦Ã¢â¬ She swallowed, and shut her eyes for a moment, as if summoning courage. ââ¬Å"Can youâ⬠¦Is there a way you can make sure there is no baby?â⬠For a moment he could not speak. Then he nodded, because yes, he could make sure there was no baby. He had spent his adult life making sure there would be no babies. But that had been with women he did not love, women he did not intend to adore and worship for the rest of their lives. This was Grace, and the idea of making a baby with her suddenly burned within him like a shining, magical dream. He could see them as a family, laughing, teasing. His own childhood had been like that ââ¬â loud and boisterous, racing across fields with his cousins, fishing in streams and never catching a thing. Meals were never formal affairs; the icy gatherings at Belgrave had been as foreign to him as a Chinese banquet. He wanted all of that, and he wanted it with Grace. Only he hadn't realized just how much until this very moment. ââ¬Å"Grace,â⬠he said, holding her hands tightly. ââ¬Å"It does not matter. I will marry you. I want to marry you.â⬠She shook her head, the motion fast and jerky, almost frenzied. ââ¬Å"No,â⬠she said. ââ¬Å"You can't. Not if you are the duke.â⬠ââ¬Å"I will.â⬠And then, damn it all, he said it anyway. Some things were too big, too true, to keep inside. ââ¬Å"I love you. I love you. I have never said that to another woman, and I never will. I love you, Grace Eversleigh, and I want to marry you.â⬠She shut her eyes, looking almost pained. ââ¬Å"Jack, you can't ââ¬â ââ¬Å" ââ¬Å"I can. I do. I will.â⬠ââ¬Å"Jack ââ¬â ââ¬Å" ââ¬Å"I am so tired of everyone telling me what I cannot do,â⬠he burst out, letting go of her hands to stalk across the room. ââ¬Å"Do you understand that I don't care? I don't care about the bloody dukedom and I certainly don't care about the dowager. I care about you, Grace. You.â⬠ââ¬Å"Jack,â⬠she said again, ââ¬Å"if you are the duke, you will be expected to marry a woman of high birth.â⬠He swore under his breath. ââ¬Å"You speak of yourself as if you were some dockside whore.â⬠ââ¬Å"No,â⬠she said, trying to be patient, ââ¬Å"I do not. I know exactly what I am. I am an impoverished young lady of impeccable but undistinguished birth. My father was a country gentleman, my mother the daughter of a country gentleman. We have no connections to the aristocracy. My mother was the second cousin to a baronet, but that is all.â⬠He stared at her as if he hadn't heard a word she'd said. Or as if he'd heard but hadn't listened. No, Grace thought miserably. He'd listened but he hadn't heard. And sure enough, the first words from his mouth were: ââ¬Å"I don't care.â⬠ââ¬Å"But everyone else does,â⬠she persisted. ââ¬Å"And if you are the duke, there will be enough of an uproar as it is. The scandal will be amazing.â⬠ââ¬Å"I don't care.â⬠ââ¬Å"But you should.â⬠She stopped, forcing herself to take a breath before she continued. She wanted to grab her head and press her fingers into her scalp. She wanted to make fists until her fingernails bit into her skin. Anything ââ¬â anything that would eat away at this awful frustration that was pulling her inside out. Why wasn't he listening? Why couldn't he hear that ââ¬â ââ¬Å"Grace ââ¬â â⬠he began. ââ¬Å"No!â⬠She cut him off, perhaps more loudly than she ought, but it had to be said: ââ¬Å"You will need to tread carefully if you wish to be accepted into society. Your wife does not have to be Amelia, but it must be someone like her. With a similar background. Otherwise ââ¬â ââ¬Å" ââ¬Å"Are you listening to me?â⬠he cut in. He grasped her shoulders, holding her in place until she looked up at him, directly into his eyes. ââ¬Å"I don't care about ââ¬Ëotherwise.' I don't need for society to accept me. All I need is you, whether I live in a castle, a hovel, or anything in between.â⬠ââ¬Å"Jackâ⬠¦Ã¢â¬ she began. He was being naive. She loved him for it, nearly wept with joy that he adored her enough to think he could so thoroughly flout convention. But he didn't know. He had not lived at Belgrave for five years. He had not traveled to London with the dowager and seen firsthand what it meant to be a member of such a family. She had. She had watched, and she had observed, and she knew exactly what was expected of the Duke of Wyndham. His duchess could not be a nobody from the neighborhood. Not if he expected anyone to take him seriously. ââ¬Å"Jack,â⬠she said again, trying to find the right words. ââ¬Å"I wish ââ¬â ââ¬Å" ââ¬Å"Do you love me?â⬠he cut in. She froze. He was staring at her with an intensity that left her breathless, immobile. ââ¬Å"Do you love me?â⬠ââ¬Å"It doesn't ââ¬â ââ¬Å" ââ¬Å"Doâ⬠¦youâ⬠¦love me?â⬠She closed her eyes. She didn't want to say it. If she did, she would be lost. She would never be able to resist him ââ¬â his words, his lips. If she gave him this, she would lose her last defense. ââ¬Å"Grace,â⬠he said, cradling her face in his hands. He leaned down and kissed her ââ¬â once, with aching tenderness. ââ¬Å"Do you love me?â⬠ââ¬Å"Yes,â⬠she whispered. ââ¬Å"Yes.â⬠ââ¬Å"Then that is all that matters.â⬠She opened her lips to try one last time to talk sense into him, but he was already kissing her, his mouth hot and passionate on her own. ââ¬Å"I love you,â⬠he said, kissing her cheeks, her brows, her ears. ââ¬Å"I love you.â⬠ââ¬Å"Jack,â⬠she whispered, but her body had already begun to hum with desire. She wanted him. She wanted this. She did not know what tomorrow would bring, but at this moment she was willing to pretend that she did not care. As long as ââ¬â ââ¬Å"Promise me,â⬠she said urgently, grasping his face firmly in her hands. ââ¬Å"Please. Promise me that there will be no baby.â⬠His eyes shuttered and flared, but finally he said, ââ¬Å"I promise you I will try.â⬠ââ¬Å"You will try?â⬠she echoed. Surely he would not lie about this. He would not ignore her plea and later pretend that he'd ââ¬Å"tried.â⬠ââ¬Å"I will do what I know how to do. It is not completely foolproof.â⬠She loosened her grip and showed her acquiescence by allowing her fingers to trail along his cheeks. ââ¬Å"Thank you,â⬠she whispered, leaning up for a kiss. ââ¬Å"But I promise you this,â⬠he said, sweeping her into his arms, ââ¬Å"you will have our baby. I will marry you. No matter who I am, or what my name is, I will marry you.â⬠But she no longer had the will to argue with him. Not now, not when he was carrying her to his bed. He laid her down atop the covers and stepped back, quickly undoing the top buttons of his shirt so he could pull it over his head. And then he was back, half beside her, half atop her, kissing her as if his life depended upon it. ââ¬Å"My God,â⬠he almost grunted, ââ¬Å"this thing is ugly,â⬠and Grace could not help but giggle as his fingers attempted to do their magic on her buttons. He let out a frustrated growl when they did not comply, and he actually grasped the two sides of her nightgown, clearly intending to wrench it apart and let the buttons fly where they might. ââ¬Å"No, Jack, you can't!â⬠She was laughing as she said it; she didn't know why it was so funny ââ¬â surely de-flowerings were meant to be serious, life-altering affairs. But there was so much joy bubbling within her. It was difficult to keep it contained. Especially when he was trying so hard to complete such a simple task and failing so miserably. ââ¬Å"Are you sure?â⬠His face was almost comical in its frustration. ââ¬Å"Because I am fairly certain that I do a service to all mankind by destroying this.â⬠She tried not to laugh. ââ¬Å"It's my only nightgown.â⬠This, he appeared to find interesting. ââ¬Å"Are you saying that if I tear it off, you will have to sleep naked for the duration of our journey?â⬠She quickly moved his hand from her bodice. ââ¬Å"Don't,â⬠she warned him. ââ¬Å"But it's so tempting.â⬠ââ¬Å"Jackâ⬠¦Ã¢â¬ He sat back on his heels, gazing down at her with a mixture of hunger and amusement that made her shiver. ââ¬Å"Very well,â⬠he said, ââ¬Å"you do it.â⬠She had been intending to do just that, but now, with him watching her so intently, his eyes heavy-lidded with desire, she felt almost frozen in place. How could she be so brazen as to strip before him? To peel her clothing from her body ââ¬â to do it herself. There was a difference, she realized, in taking off her own clothing and allowing herself to be seduced. Slowly, fingers trembling, she reached for the top button of her nightgown. She couldn't see it; it was far too high, almost to her chin. But her fingers knew the motions, knew the buttons, and almost without thinking, she slipped one free. Jack sucked in his breath. ââ¬Å"Another.â⬠She obeyed. ââ¬Å"Another.â⬠And again. And again, until she reached the one that lay between her breasts. He reached down then, his large hands slowly spreading the two sides of her gown open. It did not reveal her to him; she'd not unbuttoned enough for that. But she felt the cool air on her skin, felt the soft tickle of his breath as he leaned down to place one kiss on the flat plane of her chest. ââ¬Å"You are beautiful,â⬠he whispered. And when his fingers moved this time to the buttons on her nightgown, he mastered them with no difficulty at all. He took her hand and gave it a gentle tug, indicating for her to sit up. She did, closing her eyes as the nightgown fell away. With her vision dark, she felt more keenly, and the fabric ââ¬â nothing but a plain, serviceable cotton ââ¬â raised shivers of sensation as it slid along her skin. Or maybe it was just that she knew he was looking at her. Was this what it had felt like for that woman? The one in the painting? She must have been a woman of some experience by the time she'd posed for Monsieur Boucher, but surely there had to be a first time for her, as well. Had she, too, closed her eyes so she could feel a man's gaze upon her body? She felt Jack's hand touching her face, the tips of his fingers softly trailing along the line of her neck to the hollow of her shoulder. He paused there, but only for a moment, and Grace sucked in her breath, waiting for the intimacy that awaited her. ââ¬Å"Why are your eyes closed?â⬠he murmured. ââ¬Å"I don't know.â⬠ââ¬Å"Are you afraid?â⬠ââ¬Å"No.â⬠She waited. She gasped. She even jumped, just a little, when his fingers slid along the outer curve of her breast. She felt herself arching. It was strange. She'd never thought about this, never even wondered what it might be like to have a man's hands stroking her in this way, but now that the moment was upon her, she knew exactly what she wanted him to do. She wanted to feel him cupping her, holding her entirely in his palm. She wanted to feel his hand brushing against her nipples. She wanted him to touch herâ⬠¦dear God, she wanted him to touch her so badly, and it was spreading. It had moved from her breasts to her belly, to the hidden spot between her legs. She felt hot, and tingly, and searingly hungry. Hungryâ⬠¦ there. It was without a doubt the strangest and most compelling sensation. She could not ignore it. She didn't want to ignore it. She wanted to feed it, indulge it, let him teach her how to quench it. ââ¬Å"Jack,â⬠she moaned, and his hands moved until he was cradling both of her breasts. And then he kissed her. Her eyes flew open. His mouth was on her now, on the very tip, and she actually clasped one of her hands to her mouth, lest she scream with the pleasure of it. She hadn't imaginedâ⬠¦She'd thought she'd known what she wanted, but thisâ⬠¦ She hadn't known. She clutched at his head, using him for support. It was torture, and it was bliss, and she was barely able to breathe by the time he dragged his mouth back up to hers. ââ¬Å"Graceâ⬠¦Graceâ⬠¦Ã¢â¬ he murmured, over and over, his voice sliding into her skin. It felt as if he was kissing her everywhere, and maybe he was ââ¬â one moment it was her mouth, and next her ear, and then her neck. And his hands ââ¬â they were wicked. And relentless. He never stopped moving, never stopped touching her. His hands were on her shoulders, and then her hips, and then one of them started sliding down her leg, tugging at her nightgown until it slipped off her entirely. She should have been embarrassed. She should have felt awkward. But she didn't. Not with him. Not when he was gazing down at her with such love and devotion. He loved her. He'd said he did, and she believed him, but now she felt it. The heat, the warmth. It shone from his eyes. And she understood now how a woman might find herself ruined. How could anyone resist this? How could she resist him? He stood then, breathing hard, working at the fastenings of his breeches with frantic fingers. His chest was already bare, and all she could think was ââ¬â He's beautiful. How could a man be so beautiful? He'd not led a life of leisure; this, she could see. His body was lean and firm, his skin marred here and there with scars and calluses. ââ¬Å"Were you shot?â⬠she asked, her eyes falling on a puckered scar on his upper arm. He looked down, even as he pushed off his breeches. ââ¬Å"A French sniper,â⬠he confirmed. He smiled, rather lopsidedly. ââ¬Å"I am fortunate he was not better at his craft.â⬠It should not have been so amusing. But the statement was soâ⬠¦ him. So matter of fact, so understated and dry. She smiled in return. ââ¬Å"I almost died, too.â⬠ââ¬Å"Really?â⬠ââ¬Å"Fever.â⬠He winced. ââ¬Å"I hate fevers.â⬠She nodded, pinching the corners of her lips to keep from smiling. ââ¬Å"I should hate to be shot.â⬠He looked back at her, his eyes alight with humor. ââ¬Å"I don't recommend it.â⬠And then she did laugh, because it was all so ludicrous. He was standing there naked, for heaven's sake, clearly aroused, and they were discussing the relative unpleasantness of gunshot wounds and fevers. He crawled onto the bed, looming over her with a predatory expression. ââ¬Å"Grace?â⬠he murmured. She looked up at him and nearly melted. ââ¬Å"Yes?â⬠He smiled wolfishly. ââ¬Å"I'm all better now.â⬠And with that, there were no more words. When he kissed her this time, it was with an intensity and fervor that she knew would carry them through to completion. She felt it, too ââ¬â this desire, this relentless need ââ¬â and when he nudged his leg between hers, she opened to him immediately, without reservation, without fear. How long he kissed her, she couldn't possibly have known. It seemed like nothing. It seemed like forever. It felt like she had been born for this moment, with this man. As if somehow, on the day of her birth, this had all been preordained ââ¬â on October the twenty-eighth, the year of our Lord 1819, she would be in Room 14 of the Queen's Arms Inn, and she would give herself to this man, John Augustus Cavendish-Audley. Nothing else could possibly have happened. This was how it was meant to be. She kissed him back with equal abandon, clutching at his shoulders, his arms, anywhere she could gain purchase. And then, just when she thought she could handle no more, his hand slipped between her legs. His touch was gentle, but still, she thought she might scream from the shock and wonder of it. ââ¬Å"Jack,â⬠she gasped, not because she wanted him to stop, but because there was no way she could remain silent amidst the onslaught of sensation brought forth by that simple touch. He tickled and teased, and she panted and writhed. And then she realized that he was no longer just touching her, he was inside of her, his fingers exploring her in a manner so intimate it left her breathless. She could feel herself clench around him, her muscles begging for more. She didn't know what to do, didn't know anything except that she wanted him. She wanted him, and something only he could give her. He shifted position, and his fingers moved away. His body lifted off hers, and when Grace looked up at him, he seemed to be straining against some irresistible force. He was holding himself above her, supporting himself on his forearms. Her tongue moved, preparing to say his name, but just then she felt him at her entrance, pressing gently forward. Their eyes met. ââ¬Å"Shhh,â⬠he murmured. ââ¬Å"Just waitâ⬠¦I promiseâ⬠¦Ã¢â¬ ââ¬Å"I'm not scared,â⬠she whispered. His mouth moved into a lopsided smile. ââ¬Å"I am.â⬠She wanted to ask what he meant and why he was smiling, but he began to move forward, opening her, stretching her, and it was the strangest, most amazing thing, but he was inside of her. That one person could enter another seemed the most spectacular thing. They were joined. She could not think of any other way to describe it. ââ¬Å"Am I hurting you?â⬠he whispered. She shook her head. ââ¬Å"I like it,â⬠she whispered back. He groaned at that, and thrust forward, the sudden motion sending a wave of sensation and pressure through her. She gasped his name and grabbed his shoulders, and then she found herself in an ancient rhythm, moving with him, as one. Moving, and pulsing, and straining, and then ââ¬â She shattered. She arched, she moaned, she nearly screamed. And when she finally came down and found the strength to breathe, she could not imagine how she could possibly still be alive. Surely a body could not feel that way and live to repeat it. Then, abruptly, he pulled out of her and turned away, grunting and groaning his own satisfaction. She touched his shoulder, feeling the spasms of his body. And when he cried out, she did not just hear it. She felt it, through his skin, through her body. To her heart. For a few moments he did not move, just lay there, his breathing slowly returning to normal. But then he rolled back over and gathered her into his arms. He whispered her name and kissed the top of her head. And then he did it again. And again. And when she finally fell asleep, that was what she heard in her dreams. Jack's voice. Soft, whispering her name. Jack knew the exact moment she fell asleep. He was not sure what it was ââ¬â her breathing had already softened to a slow, even sigh, and her body had long since stilled. But when she fell asleep, he knew. He kissed her one last time, on her temple. And as he looked down at her peaceful face, he whispered, ââ¬Å"I will marry you, Grace Eversleigh.â⬠It did not matter who he was. He would not let her go.
Thursday, August 29, 2019
Did the Framers of the constitution intend that a corporation be Research Paper
Did the Framers of the constitution intend that a corporation be classified as a person for the purpose of being sued and suing - Research Paper Example 208). Persons, according to Roman law, do not have any kind of existence outside that of the legal sphere, and the law recognizes entities, regardless of whether or not they have a biological status. This view is called the ââ¬Å"fiction theoryâ⬠ââ¬â this means that the personality of a corporation is a fiction, and that the corporation owes its very existence to the state (French, 1979, p. 208). Rivaling this theory in American jurisprudence is that of the ââ¬Å"Legal Aggregate Theory of the Corporationâ⬠ââ¬â this means that the corporate body is a shield or an umbrella for the individual persons that make up that corporation. In this theory, biological status is what matters, and has legal priority. In this theory, the corporation is synonymous with the board of directors and other leaders of the companies, while employees are generally ignored (French, 1979, p. 209). Another competing theory is that of the Germans, who regard corporations as having a de jarte personality, ââ¬Å"which the law only declares to be a judicial factâ⬠(French, 1979, p. 209). ... What is needed is a Reality Theory that identifies a de facto metaphysical person not just a sociological entityâ⬠(French, 1979, p. 210) While these are the popular theories about corporate personhood, the focus of this paper is whether or not the Framers meant for a corporation to be considered a person for the purposes of suing and being sued is a question that has a confused answer. The answer is confused because Supreme Court decisions have contradictory analysis on whether or not a corporation is considered to be a person under the Constitution as written. One case indicated that a corporation can sue in its own name, but that the corporation itself is not a citizen, but, rather, is composed of individual citizens, and that these individual citizens are what a court must look to when deciding if a court has jurisdiction over corporation lawsuits. Another case says, no, a corporation is an entity of its own, and the individual members of the corporation are not what matters ââ¬â what matters is the corporation itself. The differences between these two cases is that the former was a case involving corporate lawsuits and the latter involved a corporationââ¬â¢s ability to make contracts. Then along came a case whose dicta established that a corporation is a person, but did not give any kind of reasoning behind why it believes this to be so. Nevertheless, this is considered to be a landmark case in that the case affirmatively established that a corporation is indeed a person. But, since the reasoning behind this is unclear, it is likewise unclear as to whether this court decided that the Framers intended this to be so. In other words, the Supreme Court cases that have dealt with the issue of corporate personhood,
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Fiber Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words
Fiber - Research Paper Example (Whole Grains and Fiber, 2010, para. 1) What is the difference between soluble and insoluble fiber? Fiber can be ââ¬Å"characterized by its solubility in the intestines. Soluble fibers have a high water holding capacity while insoluble fibers do not. ââ¬Å"Despite the potential confounding of these classifications, both soluble and insoluble forms of fiber are important and appear to have different health properties in at least some settingsâ⬠(Van Horn, 1997, para. 3 and 5). What are the fiber recommendations for children versus adults, according to the article? Van Horn (1997, para. 17) indicates that children should get the majority of calories from complex carbohydrates. However, because of concerns relating to growth and energy it has been suggested by Pediatricians that the ââ¬Å"age plus 5â⬠rule be observed. This means that if a child is five years old then he or she should consume 5 + 5 = 10g of fiber per day. Once the childââ¬â¢s intake of calories approache s that of an adult (1500 calories or more) then a total of no more than 25g is recommended (Van Horn, 1997 para. 18). A recent article suggests that children 1 ââ¬â 3, 4 to 8, 9 to 13 and 14 to 18 should have 19g, 25g, 26 to 31g; and 29 to 38g respectively (Fiber & Childrenââ¬â¢s Diet (n.d). para. 2). The recommended intake of fiber for adults is 25 to 30g per day.
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Biology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3
Biology - Essay Example Adaptation, is the accommodation of a living organism to its present or to a new environment, is fundamental to the process of evolution and is determined by the individuals heredity. The division of one cell to form two new cells is reproduction; usually the term is applied to the production of a new individual (either asexually, from a single parent organism, or sexually, from two differing parent organisms.) Taxonomy1 may refer to either a hierarchical classification of things, or the principles underlying the classification. The root is the Organism (as this applies to all living things, it is implied rather than stated explicitly). Below this are the Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species, with various other ranks sometimes inserted. The atom consists of a central, positively charged core, the nucleus, and negatively charged particles called electrons that are found in orbits around the nucleus. Molecules are made up of two or more atoms, either of the same element or of two or more different elements, joined by one or more covalent chemical bonds. In biology, it is the unit of structure and function of which all plants and animals are composed. The cell is the smallest unit in the living organism that is capable of integrating the essential life processes. Cells can be separated into two major groupsââ¬âprokaryotes, cells whose DNA is not segregated within a well-defined nucleus surrounded by a membranous nuclear envelope, and eukaryotes, those with a membrane-enveloped nucleus. Within cells there is an intricate network of organelles ( nucleus, nucleolus, cytoplasm, mitochondria, golgi apparatus etc.) that all have unique functions. These organelles allow the cell to function properly. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or deoxyribose nucleic acid1 is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions specifying the biological development of all cellular forms of life (and many viruses). DNA is often
Monday, August 26, 2019
The policy regime that governed the expansion of the electricity Essay
The policy regime that governed the expansion of the electricity system in the last century is a barrier to decarbonisation - Essay Example In Ontario, several policy regimes were created in the effort of achieving decarbonisation. In this essay, I will examine the policy regime that was enacted by the Ontario government, as well as, how they have helped and diminished the achievement of clean electric energy in the province. In Ontario to ensure that there were appropriate regimes to run the introduction of the clean energy and to avoid competition, the government enacted the Ontario Power Authority in 2004. The Act was enacted to conduct autonomous electricity system planning and to procure electricity resources. Although the policy regimes were meant to end decarbonisation in Ontario, some of the policy makers were main profit out of the regimes (Winfield,à 2012). Instead of focusing on measures to decarbonize Ontario and ensure that there is clean environment focused on the market discipline and competition on renewable energy. In that, according to the Advisory Committee on Competition in Ontarioââ¬â¢s Electricity System, the policy that was created was not intended to encourage renewable energy. The Committee further argued that Ontario customers needed electricity that was genera ted by renewable resources where they would choose it in a new market that would be introduced. The politics in en ergy have been a great barrier in the achievement of decarbonisation. Therefore, to ensure that political polarization on renewable energy is reduced proper measures should be given to ensure that debates on renewable energy were not based on politics. Secondly, the policy regimes that were created in the last decade were a barrier to decarbonisation. Because instead of supporting renewable energy in Ontario the government was delaying the opening of electricity by maintaining the introduction of market and competition forces, which were all needed to promote renewable energy (Pond,à 2009). The government did not consider that by delaying the regimes in the province they were causing many
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Cmplaint letter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words
Cmplaint letter - Essay Example I then went to my home country to start my process of applying for a graduate school scholarship from the government. In addition, my application to be a non-business degree student in Business school for one semester was approved. Moreover, I was planning to start my GMAT course as full student in Bridge English center as I waited for my official transcript and completion letter to get the scholarship considering the fact that my non-degree course as well as my GMAT course would be catered for. On 11 August 2010, I checked smart system and to my surprise , I learnt that I got an ââ¬Å" I â⬠in Organizational Design, MGMT 4370. This was because my instructor had no grade recorded for the three case studies. However, I had done all the three case studies, two of which she marked and gave back to me. In fact, I have them with me. As for the third case study, we were supposed to have completed and handed it in on the last day of the class, which I did. Unfortunately, I did not make my own copy ââ¬â I just printed it and handed it in. Attached are all emails, the two case studies that she marked and the transcript. I am aware that she changed the grade later, but she did it so late that I lost the aforementioned opportunities. I now cannot get acceptance in graduate school next spring, owing to a fault that I never committed. I am extremely disappointed! I would greatly appreciate if you would kindly address this
Saturday, August 24, 2019
Targeted Messaging Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words
Targeted Messaging - Essay Example )Based on this assumption, if we analyze the messages of these two magazines, they are more titled towards women prima facie however; underlying themes or objectives of these messages are based on attracting men and playing with their psychology. Studies indicate that media messages flashed across to the target audience help gender related activities to become prominent. A study based on women indicated that women even learn before their marriage, the overall mechanics of the wedding and how this is going to affect them. (Daws, 2009). This clearly indicates that media plays significant role in shaping the personal identity in relation with the messages portrayed regarding gender roles. My own personal identity, if viewed within the perspective of the advertisements and messages depicted in both the magazines, therefore is largely shaped by the way I am portrayed i.e. as the way how my gender is portrayed within these messages. They tend to reinforce my personal identity because it allows me to view myself as a person with diverse range of abilities with strong appeal to attract my opposite sex. Daws, L. , 2009-11-11 "Itââ¬â¢s Just One Day: Engaged Womenââ¬â¢s Sense-making of Media Messages about Weddings"à Paper presented at the annual meeting of the NCA 95th Annual Convention, Chicago Hilton & Towers, Chicago, IL Online . 2010-07-29 from
Friday, August 23, 2019
OJ Simpson's Rise to Fall Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
OJ Simpson's Rise to Fall - Essay Example However, despite this acquittal, his name had been tarnished and there were few people that believed in his innocence. In fact, in interviews that followed the trial, several of the jurors even voiced their opinions that they believed Simpson had probably committed the murders but due to errors in evidence handling they had produced a verdict of innocence. Though, Simpson was found innocent in the criminal trial this was not the last time he would appear in court regarding the murders. In 1997, after being sued for damages in a civil trial by both the Brown and Goldman families, Simpson was found liable for wrongful death and was ordered to pay $33.5 million dollars to the two families. After both the criminal and civil trials Simpson went on to live life as a free man. Snapshots were often taken of him enjoying time with friends, spending afternoons on the golf course, or picnicking with his children. Photos lead some to believe that Simpson had resumed living a normal life but this was not the case. The public had turned against him. He found it difficult to find work. His career, as he knew it, was over. His endorsements were gone. He was no longer a person people admired, and few people wanted to have their names attached to anything to do with Simpson. He owed large amounts of money to lawyers, the families of the victims, and his children. The type of stardom Simpson had become accustomed to in prior years had ended. The only type of publicity he now received was negative. He became an embarrassment and a mockery of the judicial system. He lost his fan base and had very few valuable supporters. With little income he could no longer make ends meet and eventual ly filed for bankruptcy. Simpson became a mere, shameful, and pathetic shadow of the famed athlete and actor that he once was. His legal issues did not cease after the murder but instead he found himself under the microscope time and time again.
Managing the employment relationship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 1
Managing the employment relationship - Essay Example mmunicated down to the employees and workers is affected by line managers who lack effective communication skills and the information is ultimately relayed in an untimely way. Small and medium scale enterprises depend on relations between owners and employees. This level of informality fosters positive social relations of production and helps develop close team working, and facilitate rapid and direct communication channels. On the other hand, this same informality situation also presents the problem for subjective, highly-discretionary, ill-informed and unjust managerial approaches. The negative outcome of this set-up can lead to a poor firm performance and consequently, presents a poor safeguard for the protection of employee rights. Smaller companies tend to ignore important labour rights of workers. Hence, there are calls for improving employee participation and employee grievance procedures in small firms such as SMEs. Generally, smaller organisations like the SMEs adopt varying degrees of informality in their labour management practices, hence the adoption and incorporation of any formal employment regulation to these firms can be challenging in the area of compliance. A distinct possibility is to encourage these firms by way of specific government regulations to set up alternative systems for addressing employee rights and grievances. basic right for workers to extend a degree of control over managerial decision making in a Small and Medium Scale Enterprise (SME). Economic efficiency emphasizes that it makes sense for employers to encourage closer employee participation in the business as it creates more understanding and commitment. These practices actually mean a lot to the participants and these schemes fosters organisational effectiveness and employee well-being. (Dundon et al. 2004) Direct employee participation takes on renewed forms. Direct participation involves individual techniques such as written and electronic communications, face-to-face
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Civil Disobedience Essay Example for Free
Civil Disobedience Essay Civil Disobedience is the act of disobeying authority but in a legal and civilized manner. It was introduced by writer Henry David Thoreau in his work named ââ¬Å"Civil Disobedience. â⬠This legal and orderly method of rebelling is often used in hope that a change will be made such as an unjust law. Many people often wonder whether Civil Disobedience still holds true in the day and age. Everyday civil disobedience is used. Whether it is aginst the governmentBack in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, many civil rights leaders and other men and women, young old have demonstrated notable acts of Civil Disobedience, which have changed many unjust laws and treatment. For example, during the 1950s and 60s, blacks were not allowed to sit in the front of the bus just because they were black. A woman named Rosa Parks saw this rule as unjust and unfair to African Americans. One day she decided to rebel against this law, so she remained in the front of the bus. She was asked to remove herself and move in the back and she refused. By civilly rebelling, she was arrested and put in jail for courage to stand up against the discrimination. Now today, it doesnââ¬â¢t matter where blacks sit on a bus. Her act of civil disobedience has diminished bus laws against blacks and other discriminative laws towards African Americans. Many people may say that now in this day and age, if the media believes that a certain law is just, civil disobedience will not work. This assertion sounds very convincing, but just because it is in the media, doesnââ¬â¢t make it just. In newspapers and throughout the most of the south, you saw nothing but African American discrimination. Martin Luther King and the rest of the civil right activists stood up to this in a civilized manner and now you donââ¬â¢t see that anymore. Even in recent news, look at what was going on Egypt. Citizens were fighting against their tyrannical leader and he was overthrown. So the media canââ¬â¢t stop people from feeling a certain way no matter who advertises it. Civil disobedience has been used all over the world for many different reasons and by many different people, ranging from Gandhi in India to Martin Luther King Jr in the United States. With that being said, we should all understand that Thoreauââ¬â¢s theory of civil disobedience still holds true today. Without the theory of civil disobedience, where would we all be? How would anything progress?
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
The Effective Learning Strategy In English
The Effective Learning Strategy In English Speaking is considered to be one of the most difficult skills in English learning. As one of the receptive skills, speaking is the foundation to develop other language skills. For a long period of time, the teaching of English in China has mainly focused on the teaching of reading and writing in the early stage of learning and neglected the teaching of listening and speaking. Many teachers are puzzled at the situation in the English class: though many students can get a good mark in English test, not all of them can perform well in listening and speaking. But the primary function of language is for interaction and communication. So how to improve learners oral communicative competence is a significant problem that each language teacher has to face, especially for the 12 to 15-year-old junior middle school students. But as their teachers, their oral English is very important. In China, oral English learning has been the weak point. It is of necessity to investigate factors which may o bstruct or enhance oral English acquisition. They reflect on what was wrong with the teaching and try to find out the solutions to these problems. And it is obvious that the learners do not have enough and effective listening and speaking practice in a scientific way. Through our research, we know that the students are mainly influenced by the affective learning strategies. This article starts from the affective learning strategies, analyses the relations between the learners oral English ability and the affective learning strategies. At last, this article also gives some suggestions for the English learners in junior middle school. 1 Introduction With the rapid development of the society, frequent communication among different nations and the rapid development of the international trade, more and more English majors will be needed. So to teach the students to be excellent English talents is an important and difficult task. In recent years, more and more scholars and researchers have paid much attention to the learning methods in order to improve their learning ability and achievement. In my own school and university experience, I found that students learning ability and achievement has much to do with the language learning strategies, especially the affective learning strategies. As we know, language learning strategies are what the teachers and students should know in their teaching and studying. In my middle school time, it reminds me that most of my English teachers did not view learning strategies as a priority and even the few who did care about them knew little or nothing to apply them to their teaching or to help the s tudents to learn English. Due to this fact, I set down to do some researches and write an article to make a study of the learning strategies. 1.1 Problems In the past decadesà ¯Ã ¼Ã
âmuch progress has been made in English teaching in China, but there are still some problems that we have to face .One of them is that in spite of consistent practice and hard workà ¯Ã ¼Ã
âmany junior high school students can t use English properly after three years of learning, especially their oral English is very poor. They still use the old learning methodsà ¯Ã ¼Ã
âand are passive in English learning. Although teachers always make their students change learning strategiesà ¯Ã ¼Ã
âthey cant yet change this kind of embarrassing situation . And there is another phenomenon, many a students can do well in reading and the examinations, but when they are called to give a speech or do some oral exercises, they just can not open their mouth. It seems that there are something stuck in their throat. Both the teachers and students do not know how to solve this problem, so they dont know how to improve their speaking ability. 1.2 Theoretical significance This article mainly discusses the influences of the affective learning strategies on English speaking. So, before we start those points, let us know something about the theoretical significance of studying the learning strategies and oral communication. 1.2.1 The importance of studying the learning strategies It is meaningful and important for us to learn how to employ efficient ways in English learning. Firstà ¯Ã ¼Ã
âautonomous learning is the ultimate goal for English teaching. And one of the most important ways to achieve this is to motivate students to develop their own thinking strategies and learning strategies. In junior high schoolsà ¯Ã ¼Ã
âbecause of the traditional teaching methodsà ¯Ã ¼Ã
âstudents cannot develop their own learning strategies .Therefore, it is becoming more and more important to study how to help students develop and use efficient learning strategies. An old proverb tells us what to do in English teaching .It goes Give a man a fish and he will eat it up for a day à ¯Ã ¼Ã
âbut teach him how to fish and he will have fish to eat. So to help students to develop their own affective learning strategies is just like teaching them how to fish. So in English teaching it is very important to teach students how to develop learning strategies .If they master the ways to develop learning strategies and use them freely and correctly ,students can not only improve their English fastà ¯Ã ¼Ã
âbut also enhance their sense of responsibility in learning English . 1.2.2 The importance of oral communication In peoples daily lives most of them speak more than they write, so speaking is fundamental to human communication. Many students equate being able to speak a language as knowing the language and therefore view learning the language as learning how to speak the language, or as Noonan (1991) wrote, success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the target language. Therefore, if the students do not learn how to speak or do not get any opportunity to speak in classroom they may soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning. With Chinas entry into WTO and successful bidding for holding 2010 EXPO in Shanghai, the need for proficient English speakers is surely increasing, which means more opportunities for those who can speak fluent English in their own fields. In order to meet this challenge and seize the opportunity, the students not only want to have profound knowledge for English reading and writing, but also need the ability to have oral communication with foreigners in English. So to improve the students ability of oral English is becoming an important task. 2. A General Review of Affective Learning Strategies In the September of 2000, the new English Course Standard for the Basic Education Stage was issued and tried out. Its greatly different from the past syllabus. The teaching contents and goal of the course standard includes skills, knowledge, culture, affective strategies and so on. Both The Syllabus for Junior Middle School English Course of the Nine year Fulltime Compulsory Education (Revised) and The Syllabus for Full-time Senior Middle School English Course mentioned To help the students develop the effective English learning strategies as the teaching goal. The problem here is that we failed to get proper affective learning strategies organized in teaching and learning practice. So the brief review of the foreign and Chinese applied linguists researches about the affective learning strategies in the latest years should be taken at first. And it starts from the following aspects: 2.1 The definition of affective learning strategies Affective strategies concern the ways in which learners interact with other learners and native speakers or take control of ones own feelings on language learning. Examples of such strategies are cooperation and question for clarification. The term affective refers to emotions, attitudes, motivations, and values. It is impossible to overstate the importance of the affective factors influencing language learning. Language learners can gain control over these factors through affective strategies. The affective domain is impossible to describe within definable limits, according to H.Douglas Brown. It spreads out like a fine-spun net, encompassing such concepts as self-esteem, attitudes, motivation, anxiety, culture shock, inhibition, risk taking, and tolerance for ambiguity. The affective side of the learner is probably one of the very biggest influences on language learning success or failure. Good language learners are often those who know how to control their emotions and attitudes about learning. Negative feelings can stunt progress, even for the rare learner who fully understands all the technical aspects of how to learn a new language. On the other hand, positive emotions and attitudes can make language learning far more effective and enjoyable. Teachers can exert a tremendous influence over the emotional atmosphere of the classroom in three different ways: by changing the social structure of the classroom to give students more responsibility, by providing increased amou nts of naturalistic communication, and by teaching learners to use affective strategies. Self-esteem is one of the primary affective elements. It is a self-judgment of worth or value, based on a feeling of efficacy-a sense of interacting effectively with ones own environment. Low self-esteem can be detected through negative self-talk, like boy, am I a blockhead! I embarrassed myself again in front of the class. The three affective strategies related to self-encouragement help learners to counter such negativity. A mount of anxiety sometimes helps learners to reach their peak performance levels, but too much anxiety blocks language learning. Harmful anxiety presents itself in many guises: worry, self-doubt, frustration, helplessness, insecurity, fear, and physical symptoms. Tolerance of ambiguitythat is the acceptance of confusing situations-may be related to willingness to take risks (and also reduction of both inhibition and anxiety). Moderate tolerance for ambiguity, like moderate risk taking, is probably the most desirable situation. Learners who are moderately tolerant of ambiguity tend to be open-minded in dealing with confusing facts and events, which are part of learning a new language. In contrast, low ambiguity-tolerant learners, wanting to categorize and compartmentalize too soon, have a hard time dealing with unclear facts. Again, self-encouragement and anxiety-reducing strategies help learners cope with ambiguity in language learning. 2.2 Classification of affective learning strategies There are two kinds of classifications: Chamot and OMalleys and Oxfords a: Chamot and OMalley (1990) recognized three affective/social strategies: cooperation, questions for clarification, and self-talks. b: Oxford (1990), otherwise, gave some more detailed items: lowering your anxiety, encouraging yourself, and taking your emotional temperature for affective strategies; and asking question, cooperating with others, and empathizing with others for social strategies. In this paper, I mainly talk about Oxfords classification of the affective strategies. As shown in Figure 1 A. Lowering your anxiety (Using progressive relaxation, deep breathing, or meditation, Using music, Using laughter) Affective strategies B. Encouraging yourself(Making positive statements, Taking risk wisely, Rewarding yourself) C. Taking your emotional temperature(Listening to your body, Using a checklist, Writing a language learning diary) 2.2.1 Lowering your anxiety Three anxiety-reducing strategies are listed here. Each has a physical component and a mental component. Firstly, using Progressive Relaxation, Deep Breathing, or Meditation: Use the technique of alternately tensing and relaxing all of the major muscle groups in the body, as well as the muscles in the neck and face, in order to relax; or the technique of breathing deeply from the diaphragm; or the technique of meditating by focusing on a mental image or sound. Secondly, using Music: Listen to soothing music, such as a classical concert, as a way to relax. Thirdly, using Laughter: Use laughter to relax by watching a funny movie, reading a humorous book, listening to jokes, and so on. 2.2.2 Encouraging yourself This set of three strategies is often forgotten by language learners, especially those who expect encouragement mainly from other people and do not realize they can provide their own. However, the most potent encouragementand the only available encouragement in many independent language learning situationsmay come from inside the learner. Self-encouragement includes saying supportive things, providing oneself to take risks wisely, and providing rewards. Making Positive Statements: Say or write positive statements to oneself in order to feel more confident in learning the new language. Taking Risks Wisely: Push oneself to take risks in a language learning situations, even though there is such a chance of making a mistake or looking foolish. Risks must be tempered with good judgment. Rewarding Yourself: Give oneself a valuable reward for a particularly good performance in the new language. 2.2.3 Taking your emotional temperature The four strategies in this set help learners to assess their feelings, motivations, and attitudes, in many cases, to relate them to language tasks. Unless learners know how they are feeling and why they are feeling that way, they are less able to control their affective side. The strategies in this set are particularly helpful for discerning negative attitudes and emotions that impede language learning progress. Listening to Your Body: Paying attention to signals given by the body. These signals may be negative, reflecting stress, tension, worry, fear, and anger; or they may be positive, indicating happiness, interest, calmness, and pleasure. Using a Checklist: Use a checklist to discover feeling, attitudes, and motivations concerning language learning in general, as well as concerning specific language tasks. Writing a Language Learning Diary: Writing a diary or journal to keep track of events and feeling in the process of learning a new language. Discussing Your Feeling with Someone Else: Talking with another person (teacher, friend, relative) to discover and express feelings about language learning. 3. The Influence of Affective Learning Strategies on Speaking This article focuses on discussing about the influences of the affective learning strategies on oral English for junior high school students, which is also the researching point. We want to find out how does them influence the junior high school students oral English, and then according to what we found we can make some suggestions. The following paragraphs will talk about the influences of three different affective strategies on speaking in detail. 3.1 The influence of lowering your anxiety As we all know in recent years, more and more foreign language researchers have taken learner variables, especially affective factors into consideration. Among the affective factors influencing language learning, especially oral English speaking, anxiety ranks high. Psychologically speaking, anxiety refers to the intense and enduring negative feeling caused by vague and dangerous stimuli from the outside as well as the unpleasant emotional experience involved, such as anticipation, irritation and fear. While language anxiety is the fear or apprehension occurring when a learner is expected to perform in the second language learning, it is associated with feeling such as uneasiness, frustration, self-doubt, apprehension and tension. In my own experience, I and also my friends and classmates have anxiety problems, when we participate in the English corner or give a speech; they impede us to carry on. There are many other similar cases can be found. So lowering your anxiety becomes very important. Lowering your anxiety can help you accomplish your learning tasks more peacefully and more efficiently. 3.2 The influence of encouraging yourself Confidence, also called as self-confidence, is a kind of optimistic emotion that language learners firmly believe they can overcome troubles to gain success. It is also a kind of active and upward emotional inclination that their real values can be respected by other people, collective, and society. Confidence is an important quality formed in the process of peoples growth and success, and was built on the basis of their right cognition. Setting confidence is to evaluate correctly himself, look for his merits, and affirm his capability. People often say that it is important for them to know themselves wisely. This wisdom embodies in not only seeing their merits, but also in analyzing their shortcoming. In fact, everyone owns great potentials, and everyone possesses his advantages and strong points. If we can objectively evaluate ourselves and on the basis of knowing our disadvantages and weak points to encourage ourselves, our strong sense of self-esteem and confidence can be stimula ted. Confidence is to be a kind of active affective factor. As for foreign language learners, if you want to succeed, you should possess the major quality confidence. It often plays a decisive role in foreign language learning. Confidence is just like catalyst of foreign language learners competence and can make all potentials be transferred, and let their potentials bring into play. However, foreign language learners who are lacking in confidence often hold suspicion on their competence. They often embody negative weakness, or lack stability and initiative. They should change their attitudes on the foreign language learning, build enough confidence. As a matter of fact, encouraging yourself is a very important way to gain confidence. So we can know how significant role does encouraging yourself play in improving the learners speaking ability. 3.3 The influence of taking your emotional temperature Emotion, as we know plays a very important role in our life as well as in our language learning. Good emotions can help you lead a happy life and it also can help you do an excellent job when you are communicating with the others or making a speech to the public. On the contrary, bad emotions can help you nothing but ruin you instead. This strategy taking your emotional temperature helps learners to assess their feelings, motivations, and attitudes and, in many cases, to relate them to language tasks. Unless learners know how they are feeling and why they are feeling that way, they are less able to control their affective side. The strategies in this set are particularly helpful for discerning negative attitudes and emotions that impede language learning progress, and especially oral English learning progress. Through this set of strategies, the English learners can improve their speaking ability in a short time. 4. Findings and Analysis In order to make this article more persuadable and authoritative, I made a questionnaire and also make an analysis. The aim of making findings and analysis is also to find the factors which impede the junior school students oral English ability, and then according to what we have found we can give some useful and effective suggestions to them. 4.1 Data collection 30 questionnaires were distributed and 27 were returned. All incomplete questionnaires were discarded because the results could not be described and analyzed unless all items were answered. In total, the data from 27 fully completed questionnaires were analyzed. All the questions are designed according to the affective strategies I mentioned in this thesis. 4.2 Data analysis According to the questionnaires, I made a date analysis. I analyzed the proportion of students, who choose these options. And also I analyzed the proportion of them who had the speaking obstacles and who failed to adopt the useful ways to help them to train their affective strategies. These will be shown in the following two tables. 4.2.1 Application of affective learning strategies in a junior middle school The table below shows that in general students sometimes use the affective strategies, although the level of use by strategy category differs in one way or another. The capitalized letter A, B, C, D, E orderly meansà ¯Ã ¼Ã
¡I never or almost not do that, I usually dont do that, I sometimes do that, I usually do that and I always or almost always do that. The items from 6 to 16 refer to the questions about the affective strategies. The figures in the blanks are the percent of how many students choose the items A, B, C, D, and E. The appendix at the end of this article will give you a more detailed explanation. From the table, a conclusion can be drawn that almost half of the students feel nervous or shy when they speak English, and the most important thing is that 51.9% of them cannot get rid of being nervous and 85.2 of them face the affective factors by themselves. They seldom talk about these things with others. And 70.4% of the students do not use music to lower their anxiety before they give a speech, when it refers to writing English diaries, it is even more serious. In all, the reason why this phenomenon occurs is that the students have a short cognition on the affective learning strategies. If they wanted to improve their speaking ability, the teachers should help them to have a comprehensive knowledge about them and help them apply them to their study. So the affective strategies should be paid attention to. 5 Suggestions From the above analysis, besides the learners specific difference, social condition and learning task also greatly influence and restrict the students learning motivation and their learning strategy applications. The middle school students in our country need a better condition for their foreign language learning, which includes the richer understandable language input, especially the oral input; they also need more chance for practicing and using the foreign language. An ancient proverb says: Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish and he eats for a life-time. I think that guiding the students to improve some effective English learning strategies is a kind of approach to give a man a fish in order to expect him to eat for a life-time. So it is very important to teach the students the learning approaches and the learning strategies in order to develop their foreign language learning ability. If the students master the strategy knowledge and use the strategies f reely and correctly, they can not only accelerate the foreign language learning, but also strengthen their learning sense of responsibility, autonomy, independence, and self-guiding and self- efficiency. Then the students inner learning motivation is aroused, so they can elaborate the facial role in the learning process, accelerate the English acquisition. Based on the above analysis and discussion, I want to give the following suggestions: 5.1 Improving speaking ability This article has just presented the definition and the classification of the affective strategies in the first few parts. We know the functions of these affective strategies, but that is not enough. If we want to improve our speaking ability, we should know how to apply them to speaking. The following parts will talk about it in detail. a). As it mentioned above, anxiety is a big negative factor which impede the English learners speaking. So we must lower our anxiety before we make a conversation. And there are some ways to help us to do that. Use progressive relaxation, deep breathing, or meditation, music, and laughter. When we are going to make a speech or do some oral exercises we can use these strategies. b). Encourage yourself is also a very important strategy to help you to improve your speaking ability. And there are also three ways to encourage yourself. When we are studying, we can make some positive statements to remind us that we can do it, we can accomplish the tasks successfully. Here are some examples: I understand a lot more of what is said to me now. I am confident and secure about my progress. I can get the general meaning without knowing every word. And also when we train our speaking, we can take some risks wisely. May be we are always do the easy speaking tasks which may not be effective to us anymore, so we can challenge ourselves and do some difficult ones. The last way is that give yourself a reward when you gain something. But you should remember the rewards need not be tangible or visible. They can also come from the very act of doing a good job. Students can learn to relish their own good performance. c). Taking your emotional temperature is one of the affective strategies. This set of strategies for affective self-assessment involves getting in touch with feelings, attitudes, and motivations through a variety of means. Language learners need to be touch with these affective aspects, so that they can begin to exert some control over them. The strategies described here enable learners to notice their emotions, avert negative ones, and make the most of positive ones. When the learners use this set of strategies they should take the following aspects into consideration. First, they should listen to their body. One of the simplest but most often ignored strategies for emotional self-assessment is paying attention to what the body says. Second, use a checklist. A checklist helps learners in a more structured way to ask themselves questions about their own emotional state, both in general and in regard to specific language tasks and skills. Third, discuss your feeling with someone else. 5.2 Training affective learning strategies At the first of this article, it mentions the importance of studying affective learning strategies. According to that, we know it is important and necessary to study them. So the training of affective learning strategies is a must. 5.2.1 Goals of learning strategy training The goal of strategy training is to teach students how, when and why strategies can be used to facilitate their efforts at learning and using a foreign language. By teaching students how to develop their own individualized strategy systems, strategy training is intended to help students explore ways that they can learn the target language more effectively, as well as to encourage students to self-evaluate and self-direct their learning. The first step is to help learners recognize which strategies theyve already used, and then to develop a wide range of strategies, so that they can select appropriate and effective strategies within the context of particular tasks. Carrell (1983) emphasizes that teachers need to be explicit about what the strategy consists of, how, when, why it might be used, and how its effectiveness can be evaluated. A further goal of strategy training is to promote learners autonomy and learners self-direction by allowing students to choose their own strategies, without continued prompting from the language teacher. Learners should be able to monitor and evaluate the relative effectiveness of their strategy use, and more fully develop their problem-solving skills. Strategy training can thus be used to help learners achieve learning autonomy as well as linguistic autonomy. Students need to know what their abilities are, how much progress they are making and what they can do with the skills they have acquired. Without such knowledge, it will not be easy for them to learn efficiently. The strategy training is predicted on the assumption that if learners are conscious about and become responsible for the selection, use and evaluation of their learning strategies, they will become more successful language learners by improving their use of classroom time, completing homework assignments and in-class language tasks more efficiently, become more aware of their individual learning needs, taking more responsibility for their own language learning, and enhancing their use of the target language out of class. In other words, the ultimate goal of strategy training is to empower students by allowing them to take control of the language learning process. 5.2.2 Models for affective learning strategy training Before talking about the models for affective learning strategies, I want to emphasize that learning environment is very important for training strategies. When the students meet some difficult problems, they should turn to advanced teaching facilities. It is not just a good way to study but also a very good learning strategy. So the school should take it into consideration. By now, at least three different instructional frameworks have been identified. They are Pearson and Dole model, Oxford model, and Chamot and OMalley model. They have been designed to raise student awareness to the purpose and rationale of affective learning strategy use, to give students opportunities to practice the strategies that they are being taught, and to help them understand how to use the strategies in new learning contexts. Each of the three approaches contains the necessary components of explicit strategy training: it emphasizes discussions about the use and value of strategies, encourages conscious and purposeful strategy use and transfer of those strategies to other contexts, and allows students to monitor their performance and evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies they are using. (1) Pearson and Dole model The first approach to strategy training has been suggested by Pearson and Dole (1987) with reference to first language, but it can also be applied to the study of second and foreign languages as well. This model targets isolated strategies by including explicit modeling and explanation of the benefits of applying affective , extensive functional practice with the strategy, and then an opportunity for transfer of the strategy to new learning contexts. Students may better understand the applications of the various strategies if they at first modeled by the teacher and then practiced individually. After a range or a set of affective strategies have been introduced and practiced, the teacher can further encourage independent strategy use and promote learners autonomy by encouraging learners to take responsibility for the selection, use, and evaluation of the affective strategies that they have been taught. Pearson and Doles sequence includes: 1. Initial modeling of the strategy by the teacher, with direct explanation of the strategys use and importance; 2. Guided practice with the strategy; 3. Consolidation , teachers help students identifiy the strategy and decide when it might be used; 4. Independent practice with the strategy; and 5. Application of the strategy to new tasks. (2) Oxford model As for the second approach to strategy training, Oxford et al. (1990) outline a useful sequence for the introduction of the affective strategies that emphasizes explicit strategy awareness, discussion of the benefits of strategy use, functional and contextualized practice with the strategies. This sequence is not prescriptive regarding strategies that the learners are supposed to use, but rather descriptive of the various strategies that they could use for a broad range of learning tasks. The sequence they is the following: 1. Ask learners to do a language activity without any strategy training; 2. Have them discuss how they did it, praise any useful strategy and self-directed attitudes that they mention, and ask them to reflect on how the strategies they selected may have facilitated the learning process; 3. Suggest and demonstrate other helpful strategies, mentioni
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
The Yellow Wallpaper Symbolism
The Yellow Wallpaper Symbolism The Yellow Wallpaper written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892 is a collection of journal entries written by a woman who suffers from the mental disorder, namely temporary nervous depression. All of the entries constitute an account of the woman who is taken by her physician husband to the country in order to regain mental stability. More importantly, it portrays the protagonists preoccupation with the ugly wallpaper in her sickroom. The work is filled up with plenty of symbols, but the most important and prevailing one is the mentioned above wallpaper. The protagonist is engrossed in it and feels an uncanny connection to it. This seemingly irrelevant and ordinary element of decoration represents many arguable issues in the story, making the interpretation of the text more complex and meaningful at the same time. The yellow wallpaper stands for state of mind, restrictions placed on women as well as for the racial problems in the late 19th century particularly in the United States o f America. Firstly, let me have a look on the wallpaper as a symbol of the protagonists state of mind. The very colour of it is yellow. The most universal connotations with it are bodily fluids, sickness or uncleanness. In the case of The Yellow Wallpaper it would mirror a mental illness and the process of the downfall of the human mind. Moreover, the pattern of the wallpaper is illogical and chaotic just as the narrators shaken sanity. As her disease confuses her mind and contradicts logic, the paper parallels her psychological state at this point. She is confused and unstable just as the decoration. At first, the wallpaper is a source of an immense irritation to Jane as she cannot find any, even the smallest sign of consistency in it. I never saw a worse paper in my life (Gilman 4). However, she becomes gradually obsessed with deciphering its meaning. As her mental disorder progresses, she starts suffering from hallucinations and finally concludes that actually there is a logic in the papers pattern. I have finally found out. () The front pattern does move and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it! (Gilman 16). The wallpaper portrays a woman who is ambushed in this illogical system. It is only her who can see the woman, and therefore, the womans only chance to set her free. Jane slowly looses the contact with reality, retreats into her obsessive fantasy. As the time passes by, she becomes the woman within the paper who simultaneously loses her identity. She disconnects herself from Jane and assumes new personality as well as perception of herself. The subsequent deterioration of the protagonists mental state reaches the climax when she locks herself in the room to finally tear all of the wallpaper in order to set the woman free from imprisonment. When John finds her, with all the decoration torn to pieces, the woman vigorously shouts out: Ive got out at last () in spite of you and Jane. And Ive pulled off most of the paper, so you cant put me back! (Gilman 21). The nar rator is finally free and there is no power which would imprison her again. She got rid of all chains, societal norms and constraints by total descent into insanity which surprisingly, turned out to be her only salvation. Secondly, the wallpaper may be a metaphorical equivalent for all restrictions imposed on women in the 1800s. In those times, women were condemned from intellectual work, forced to conform to the dependence of males and all rules of decent woman behaviour. It goes without saying that as a result women were helpless and oppressed. The title wallpaper is a confusing and complicated pattern in which the fictional woman appears. This may represents womens feeling of being lost in the oppressive and strongly hierarchical society and living in the world which does not appeal to them. The historically shaped division of the roles within family and marriage leaves its unbearable mark on womens lives. As the time passes by, our protagonist starts to identify herself with the imaginary woman. At this point, all the narrators fears and inner emotions are projected on the wallpaper. Societal constraints and norms overwhelm her and deprive of any chance to live her life to the full. The only way t o know peace is a complete fall into insanity. The last and probably the most outrageous interpretation of the wallpaper is the one proposed by Susan Lanser. She set the story in the political and ideological context of racial anxiety and nativism. Her immensely provocative thesis that the yellow wallpaper is a reflection on Yellow Peril questioned the common perception of it and triggered out a wave of surprise and consternation. The main symbol of the story with its colour which stands for dirt, urine, inferiority and uncleanness, seems to signify the racial otherness. The racism is in a way encoded in the wallpaper. In the late 19th century Western countries, especially the United States of America, faced with a massive immigration of East Asians. This process evoked the conviction that new comers would be a threat for the Whites job market and may change standards of living (Frost). Due to that Americans were so obsessive and hostile towards the representatives of the yellow race. On the basis of this information, we may inte rpret the protagonists tearing of the wallpaper from the wall as an act of getting rid of all unwelcome immigrants as well as an expression of hostility and racism. Moreover, to prove this thesis more reliable and feasible there is evidence that the author was personally an active supporter of racial uniformity. She belonged for a time to eugenics and nationalist organizations; opposed open immigration; and inscribed racism, nationalism, and classism into her proposal for social change (Lanser 429). Therefore, according to Horvitz, we may state that the narrators descent into nervous depression is in metaphorical terms a kind of escape to an utopian word in which there is no yellow, stained and smelly wallpaper, and in consequence no presence of other race. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a perfect example of the symbolism in the literature. It plays a soul part of The Yellow Wallpaper. The main ideas, points are presented across it making the text more complex, intricate and interesting. The story is overfilled with various symbols such as the window, nursery and obviously the most influential one the wallpaper. It may be a clear reflection of the protagonists state of mind, indication of societal suppression and its principles or as Susan Lanser pointed out, the metaphor of racial discrimination. In my paper I presented only three of the possible interpretations of this particular symbol, but it goes without saying that one may come up with as many ideas and conclusions as possible.
Monday, August 19, 2019
Annexation Of Texas Essay -- Texas Independence
Thesis: The nine years of Texasââ¬â¢s independence were long and seemed to be dragged out. Were those nine years unnecessary and could it have been done in a shorter period of time? 13 October 1834 was the first revolutionary meeting of the American citizens whoââ¬â¢d settled in Mexico, in the area soon to be known as Texas. The people attempted a movement that soon was laid to rest by the Mexican Congress. Attempts at independence were silenced for the time being and the elections of 1835 proceeded forward. With Santa Anna moving to control Mexico, and taxes increasing, Texans grew restless and rowdy. A Texan, William B. Travis and a small group of Texans attacked a squad of Mexican troops in Anahuac with the motive that ââ¬Å"taxes should not thus be collected from them to support a standing army in their own countryâ⬠(SOS 1) and soon drove them back. Travis retreated to San Felipe and were assisted to Bexar. Skirmishes and the threat of war with Mexico soon followed. Come 1835, the idea of independence was extremely popular within the territory of Texas. Assemblies were held in the later months of 1835 and soon the revolution had spread like wildfire. From the interior of Mexico, Stephen Austin returned with news from Santa Anna (the Mexican President) and stated Anna wanted nothing better than Texasââ¬â¢ prosperity and would promote the idea everywhere. Texans felt these words to be hollow, and rallied to the idea of independence and annexation to the United States. Within months, the nation was on the edge of war. With the smallest little spark enough to explode into chaos. Mexico saw the fire of revolution in the Texans and acted quickly. They soon sent spies in to observe the actions of the Texans and slowly started to move troop... ... pro or an antislavery state? It took nine dragged out years to be annexed to the US. So with the new US president James K. Polk being inaugurated in 1845 and one of his priorities being to claim texas, it seemed to set things in motion. 12 April 1844 was the Treaty of Texasââ¬â¢ Annexation into the United States of America. We take note that Texas was accepted into the ââ¬Å"Union Statesâ⬠as an anti-slave state, as were all the territories annexed from the Mexican War. So finally, on 29 December 1846, the 29th Congress met and concluded in the Joint Resolution of Congress that the Republic of Texas was to be accepted as a new state in the United States under a republican government, equal to all of the original states before it and in every respect. Texas was entitled to two representatives in the House of Representatives until the government did a census of Texasââ¬â¢s people.
Sunday, August 18, 2019
Was Parliament Justified In Killing the King? :: essays research papers
Despite the simplistic fact that King Charles I was the legally lawful leader of England, Parliament was more than justified in executing Charles I due to the divergent and passionate views of law and life between the people and the king in politics, society, and religion. Parliament never desired a position where they could control England with full-fledged power. They simply wanted enough limitations on the kingà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s power that would guarantee the people certain rights that the king cannot take away, which juxtaposes the belief of divine right. Parliament tried numerous ways to create a structured administration where the kingà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s power was restricted and Parliament, including the people that they represented, was given a voice in government but their countless tries were futile and a disappointment. Preceding the Civil War and many times after it, Parliament tried to approach the king to present to him their ideas of how power should be distributed and used. They came up with laws and regulations to resolve political problems with the king, such as the Petition of Rights, Nineteen Propositions, and Grand Remonstrance. The king declined to acknowledge these laws as genuine laws. He either signed and disregarded it or he a bsolutely refused to bother himself with the minor complaints of Parliament. This eventually led to the conclusion that King Charles I was the type of man who could not be trusted with the legal promises he made to his people. The worries of Parliament were not seen as a major concern of his and he repudiated to consider any negotiations with whatever Parliament had to say. The kingà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s intractable ways caused Parliament to break away from his power before England became a place of political disaster. Although the obstinate king refused to recognize Parliamentà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s authorized power and influence, he turned his back on his Protestant country to form foreign alliances against his own people. If that wasnà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢t ghastly enough, the king acted in an outrageous and appalling way when he put religion into the conflict and made it worse. He asked for military assistance from the Catholic pope and agreed to certain terms that could have shattered his already-destabilized country. The king denied the fact that he had been defeated by his own subjects, and he did anything he could do in his power to prevent the loss of his throne. It is not right of a true and legitimate king to overlook his people and betray them in such a horrendous and unthinkable way as to destroy the pride of his countryà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s religion.
Saturday, August 17, 2019
Electronic Case (Corporate Finance) Essay
1. Tom believes the company should use the extra cash to pay a special one-time dividend. How will this proposal affect the stock price? How will it affect the value of the company? Electronic Timing, Inc. (ETI) needs to be careful on how it dispenses the extra cash as a dividend. Issuing the extra cash as a dividend would mean that the shareholders collectively will probably drop by the same amount because of the transfer of wealth from the company to the shareholders individually. Hence, the economic value of the company will also decrease. 2. Jessica believes that the company should use the extra cash to pay debt and upgrade and expand it existing manufacturing capability. How would Jessicaââ¬â¢s proposals affect the company? Jessicaââ¬â¢s proposal will support an expansionary policy for the company which can result to a higher growth rate for ETI. As to the companyââ¬â¢s dividend policy, not issuing the extra cash as a dividend signals to the market that there are still better and more efficient uses of the cash than using it for dividends. 3. Nolan is in favor of a share repurchase. He argues will increase the companyââ¬â¢s P/E ratio, return on assets, and return on equity. Are his arguments correct? How will a share repurchase affect the value of the company? A share repurchase if done correctly should be equivalent to the issuance of a cash dividend with the same amount as regards to effects on shareholdersââ¬â¢ wealth. The way the share repurchases should be done in a way that it does not diminish or create shareholder wealth. Hence, Nolanââ¬â¢s argument that the companyââ¬â¢s return and assets and return on equity will increase is not correct. However, the P/E ratio might go upwards for a time until the market corrects it. 4. Another option discussed by Tom, Jessica and Nolan would be to begin a regular dividend payment to shareholders. How would you evaluate this proposal? A plan to issue a regular dividend to shareholders is a start in establishing a dividend payout policy. A dividend policy signals to the market that the company is making a commitment to its shareholders and hence the company strategies will have to be aligned with that commitment. Therefore I would evaluate the proposal as regards the companyââ¬â¢s ability to stick to it. For example, it adopts a stable dividend policy ââ¬â will it be able to have cash to honor such policy year on, year off? Another factor would be does a regular dividend matter to ETIââ¬â¢s shareholders? Or do they prefer a different method of transferring wealth to them aside from a cash dividend? 5. One way to value a share of stock is the dividend growth, or growing perpetuity, model. Consider the following: The dividend payout ratio is 1 minus b, where b is the ââ¬Å"retentionâ⬠or ââ¬Å"plowbackâ⬠ratio. So, the dividend next year will be the earnings next year, E1, times 1 minus the retention ratio. The most commonly used equation to calculate the sustainable growth rate is the return on equity times the retention ratio. Substituting these relationships into the dividend growth model, we get the following equation to calculate the price of a share of stock today: What are the implications of this result in terms of whether the company should pay a dividend or upgrade and expand its manufacturing capability? Explain. The substituted dividend growth model is Dt=Dt-1(1+rb). This equation implies that the future dividends of the company are directly related to the amount of earnings it retains and the rate of return if makes from its investments. However, in order to attain the companyââ¬â¢s targeted rate of return it also needs to retain more of its earnings in the company for upgrading or expanding its manufacturing plant rather than using it for cash dividends. In the expansionary phase, the company has to make trade offs ââ¬â lower dividends for higher growth. 6. Does the question of whether the company should pay a dividend depend on whether the company is organized as a corporation or an LLC? No, an LLC can distribute earnings to its owners; however that distribution is not called a dividend, but rather distribution of cash or property to the partners. It is still a dividend in a different name.
What Are the Sources of External and Internal Motivation for People?
What are the sources of internal and external motivations for peopleââ¬â¢s action? Xu Zhijun 24087 Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities Motivation is the reason of people starting, directing and maintaining activities, not the result (Zimbardo, Johnson & Weber, 2000). The reason why people take action can be different; basically there are two big aspects: internal and external motivation. Internal motivation is to do something for your own sake. It can be your personality interest or the value which you pursue; itââ¬â¢s very similar with intrinsic motivation.The external motivation is to do something for otherââ¬â¢s sake. It sounds similar with extrinsic motivation, but it is a different concept which I will present precisely. I suggest if people want to change or maintain some particular behaviors, the best way is to transfer the external motivation into internal motivation. According to Maslowââ¬â¢s humanistic theory (1943), there is a pyramid of needs wait p eople to fulfill. The first level: biological aspect, needs for food, water, oxygen, rest, sexual expression, release from tension.People look for food to eat when they are hungry or they are under big pressure, food can help them release the tension at the moment. And people choose dance, sing or talk to their close people to release their tension as well. People sleep when they are tired. People have sexual life because they have sexual drive. Each organism seek a state of balance ââ¬â homeostasis. (Hull, 1943, 1952). The second level is safety. It means needs for security, comfort, tranquility, freedom from fear.When facing threaten, may hurt, people will automatically try to avoid. Seeing a sharp blade falling down, people will evade. Anthony Robin said, ââ¬Å"Iââ¬â¢m scared, so I have to take action right now ââ¬â run to the direction which I want. â⬠The third level is attachment. It means needs for belong, to affiliate, to love and be loved. Human are social animals, thatââ¬â¢s the reason people donââ¬â¢t want loneliness. When people feel lonely, they meet friends, talk to others or even will make more effort to keep in contact with others.People need love others and in turn they need to be loved. The forth level is esteem. It means needs for confidence, sense of worth and competence, self-esteem and respect of others. People need othersââ¬â¢ acceptance. People need confidence. Without confidence, people couldnââ¬â¢t accomplish any goals. So people are seeking ways to be confidence. People positively take action to prove they are not worthless in this world. The fifth level is self-actualization, it means needs to fulfill potential, have meaningful goals.When people meet all four levels described above, they pursue the value of life by self-actualization. These are the nature of human being. These points we can call internal motivation; people are born with this priority oriented character. People take action for pursuing th e pleasure and avoiding the pain(Epicurus 341BC), and avoiding the pain can be more influential on peopleââ¬â¢s action. The reason of people cannot be motivated to act is just his need for happiness is not big enough; he can still hold the pain of threatens. (Mood Story, August 30th, 2007).Consider how the self influences our memory, a phenomenon known as the self-reference effect: when information is relevant to our self-concepts, we process it quickly and remember it well (Higgins & Bargh, 1987; Kuiper & Rogers, 1979; Symons &Johnson, 1997). The more self-relevant, we connect outside with ourselves, the more effectively on our behaviors. Whatever the reinforcement is, if we take it to our mind, analyze it, and then digest it, it would work efficiently next time, and we may be more motivated. Based on locusââ¬â¢ control (Rotter 1973), people are divided into two aspects, one is internal and the other one is external.The internal people believe they control their own destiny. They contribute the fault to themselves and more self centered. The external people feel chance or outside forces determine their fate . The external people attribute the error to the environment. Those who see themselves as internally controlled are more likely to do well in school, successfully stop smoking, wear seat belts, deal with marital problems directly, earn a substantial income, and delay instant gratification to achieve long-term goals (Findley & Cooper, 1983; Lefcourt, 1982; Miller & others, 1986).Previous research has shown that internals to have better mental health than externals (in terms of being less likely to be suffering from neuroses or psychoses), to have more self control, and to be more achievement oriented (Lefcourt, 1966; Joe, 1971). And employees who are internal locus of control are more motivated to work than externals , performance better, and see working hard as being instrumental in obtaining what they want(Lauri, 1975). In other words these internal s, who see themselves as controller, or we can say they connect outside more with themselves than externals.External motivation here I regard it as doing something for outside world. Any rewards, punishments, pressure, responsibility and obligation from others can motivate people, cause peopleââ¬â¢s action as well. Through the rewards and punishments, what we get is more about the subjectsââ¬â¢ emotion, is about their expectation for us. A reward can be a compliment, praise, an ice-crime, or bonus for hard-working employee. This is the way they give and try to influence us. But how we understand it and whether we get the essence are not certain, and couldnââ¬â¢t be easily predict.In October, 2008, there was a thirteen-year boy, couldnââ¬â¢t bear the pressure from both school and family, went to suicide just because of being frightened to get physical punishment. He left a letter and poisoned himself. ( ââ¬Å"Anhui Court Net, â⬠2008). It was a very sad news, but on the other hand, we realized that if we only give stimulation without central route persuasion, and no object relevant explanation, the result may go to another direction which we donââ¬â¢t want to see. When people donââ¬â¢t know about new things, they learn from the others.It is one aspect of learning theory called classical conditioning. When people were young, all of us may experienced that if we did a good job, parents would give us some benefits as reward, this method may encourage us to do the same thing again in order to get the reward which we want from parents; or we didnââ¬â¢t do well on which parents requested, we would get punishment soon. The general thesis here is that internal motivation activates that subject sufficiently to produce a wide range of responses. If one of these responses leads to a reward, i. e. a reduction of drive, the tendency to repeat that response will be increased. The wide range of irrelevant activities is gradually narrowed as the tend ency to make the rewarded response is increased, until the subject is directly and efficiently performing the response that leads to the reward (Kendler, 1952). In Chinese society, small childrenââ¬â¢s parents are discussing intensely about whether reward is more effective or punishment on teaching their child. There is a very famous saying which many parents take it as a mottoââ¬âspare the rod and spoil the child.It emphasizes the negative reinforcementââ¬â¢s importance. We can understand it in the sense that punishment can bring the good result. It happens. In 2005, there was an Asian Youth Piano Competition; a thirteen- year girl won four champions, two silver medals. Her father said he slapped his daughter over 400 times during her training. It was so terrible to hear that. Maybe in the US, this father would definitely be arrested. However, this father then regretted, and this small girl became love piano by her real heart. I think here is a very important element duri ng the transformation, which is time.Non-stop stimulation can change peopleââ¬â¢s inner interests to keep some particular behaviors. This tortured girl gradually fell in love with piano. Time allows her to think about the piano playing and within her grown up, she may got confidence, high self-esteem, respect from playing or even self actualization, she has love for piano now. Thatââ¬â¢s why she still holds onto it. If not, she would either quit or just work less productively. If the reinforcement has nothing to do with peopleââ¬â¢s embedded life interests or innate outlook, it will lose its effectiveness soon.A highly salient, task contingent reward is more detrimental to intrinsic interest than a relatively non-salient was investigated (Ross, 1975). Such stimulation would make the subject confused his real interest, his inner motivation ââ¬â love for doing something. We may experience that when we do something in which we are interested, we just do it for fun, for our own sake. Like leisure activities, such as cycling, playing the guitar, play the music. This point has similarity with intrinsic motivation. We can hold these activities for long time.We donââ¬â¢t play for others; itââ¬â¢s like our own free choice. We do it because we like it, we are good. I help you because I do it for my own pleasure, I didnââ¬â¢t expect anything from you, and you donââ¬â¢t have to give any substantial reward to me. I am on diet, just because I want to be more healthy, more energetic, I am not losing weight for pleasing others. I study because I want to get the knowledge from the book rather than follow the tendency to go to college. If anyone gives a feedback like a gift, some bonus which doesnââ¬â¢t match our inner embedded life interests, it will change the way we used to be.It may confuse the real motivation of our behaviors. Once the stimulation stops, the source of motivation will disappear too. Motivation is not a donation from the public, i tââ¬â¢s a game, and the only player is you. Behaviorsââ¬â¢ source is internal, all the stimulation from outside works by inside transformation. Social psychologists agree that our actions influence our attitudes. (David G. Myers2009 P98), thoughts decide actions (Diao, 2004). Behavior and thoughts interact in mutual ways. Behavior can change the thoughts, and the thoughts will lead the behavior.Baker and Brownell (2000) suggested that exercise may play a key role in long term weight management by influencing psychological aspects like self-efficacy, body image, or mood. And increased general self-determination and exercise motivation seem to facilitate improvements in eating self-regulation during weight control in women. (Mata, Silva &Vieira2009) Persuasion researchers Richard Petty and John Cacioppo(2005) and Alice Eagly and Shelly Chaiken (1993) report that persuasion is likely occur via either a central or peripheral route. (Zimbardo et al. ) Focusing on the arguments, exp lain clearly about the issue, this is central route to persuasion; focusing on the cues that trigger acceptance without much thinking is the peripheral route to persuasion. As for central route, the audience is analytical and motivated; the processing is elaborate, with high effort, the result is agree or counter argue; persuasion is cogent arguments evoke enduring agreement. The other way goes peripheral route, the audience is not analytical or involved; the processing, with low effort by using peripheral cues; cues trigger liking and acceptance but often only temporarily.So I can assume that in order to maintain some sort of particular behaviors in a long term, we need a transformation in our mind. Transform those information which conveyed by others. Change the way we think that we want not you want. I do it for myself not for others. Whatever the value which you pursue, intellectual challenge, a comfortable lifestyle, prestige or even money, try to make that as your own desire. Stimulation can change peopleââ¬â¢s behavior, but may not help keeping the behavior.Only if people realize by his heart he need to do for his own good, the stimulation matches with his inner pleasure, the action will maintain for long term. Perseverance derives from love, the very inner true feeling. This internal feeling will create passion, and willpower to support you taking action and keeping it. References 1, Guthrie,E. R(1934). Reward and Punishment. Psychological Review, Vol. 41, No. 5, pp. 450-460. 2, Mildred A. Hoge& Ruth J. Stocking(1912). A Note on the Relative Value of Punishment and Reward as Motives. Journal of Animal Behavior, Vol. 2,No. 1, pp. 43-50. 3, Michael Ross(1975).Salience Reward and Intrinsic Motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1975, Vol. 32, No. 2, 245-254 4, Eisenberger, R. , Pierce, W. D. , & Cameron, J(1999). Effects of Rewards on Intrinsic Motivation-Negative, Neutral, Positive: Comment on Deci, Coestner, and Ryan(1999). Psycholo gical Bulletin 1999, Vol. 125, No. 6, 677-691 5, Zimbardo, P. G. , Johnson, R. L. , & Weber, A. L. (2008). Psychology: Core Concepts (Fifth Edition, 2008), Allyn and Bacon: the United States of America Press 6, Myers, D. G(2000). Exploring Social Psychology(Second Edition, 2000). US: McGraw-Hiller Press 7, Cameron, J. Pierce, D. W. , Banko, K. M. , & Gear, A. (2005). Achievement-Based Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation: A Test of Cognitive Mediators. Journal of Educational Psychology 2005, Vol. 97, No. 4, 641-655 8, Gong, T. & Gu, T (2003). Being Afraid of Not Finishing Homework, A Teenager Went to Suicide. Retrieved from: Anhui Court Net (2003). http://www. ahcourt. gov. cn/gb/ahgy_2004/fczs/sy/userobject1ai15932. html 9, Diao, Jianwei(2004). Directing Thoughts and Executing Thoughts-another interpretation of the relationship between thoughts and behavior. The Science of Social Psychology 2004, Vol. 19, No. 5, 74-76, 117
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