Norse vs. Greek Mythology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Norse vs. Greek Mythology - Essay Example A comparison of creation myths can be very enlightening regarding the values and needs of the people who hold it. Two major cultures that had a great deal in common regarding their creation myths despite great differences in climate were the Greeks and the Norse. Overall, the creation myths and deity structure of the Greeks and the Norse served to place importance on the same basic elements of life. Both societies held a strong belief in the idea of fate. This concept was represented in both cultures by three female deities. In Norse mythology, these women were called the Norns and were considered demi-goddesses. They also had individual names including Urd (fate), Verdandi (necessity) and Skuld (being) (Lindemans, 1998). Together, they had the primary duty of caring for Yggdrasil, the world tree, which connected all the worlds together, but they also assisted with childbirth and helped determine the course of a person’s life path. The Greeks called their corresponding demi-goddesses the Fates and these women were more directly linked with the lives of men. Their individual names were Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos (Saunders, 2009). Clotho spun the thread of life, so she was associated with birth and beginnings. The length of the yarn C lotho spun was decided by Lachesis and thus measured the path of a man’s life. However, it was up to Atropos to make the final cut that ended that life. Although the Norns and the Fates are considered lesser goddesses in both cultures, they are each given power over everything that exists and thus are considered a part of the grand scheme of creation. This importance can be seen in the myths of these cultures such as in the Voluspa in which the Norns come to Earth for the betterment of mankind and in the plays produced in Greece as characters.

Ethics Game & Reflective Journal Essay Example for Free

Ethics Game Reflective Journal Essay This journal contains the reflection of the Ethics Game simulation assignment. The purpose of this paper is to describe the steps and process that I used to answer the ethical questions involved in two simulation games: The case of the troubled Teen and Policies and Politics. In addition I will also discuss how these concepts relate to my workplace. The case of the Troubled Teen: This case describes the case of an unmarried, 16 year old pregnant patient (RB) admitted to the labor and delivery, accompanied by her parents. Parents chose to limit medication citing personal reasons. The primary nurse (YN) is concerned that the situation may become critical for the patient and unborn baby. The nursing staff is also concerned that the parents may not understand the consequences of their action. The ethical issue in this case is how to ensure safe delivery of the baby and to provide adequate medical care to both mother and baby. The case of Policy and Politics: This case describes one of the ICU patients AT, who is unconscious for few days, was brought to the hospital by his domestic partner. YM, his partner was beside him in the ER but he was not allowed to be with the patient after transferring to ICU. The day supervisor CB prevented Yves from visiting AT. Her actions violated current hospital same sex domestic partner policy. The question her is if the rights of the patient and the significant others have been violated here. Decision making steps I used an organized process to make this ethical decision called the Baird Method, which consists of four steps. Step 1: Identify the issue in the ethical dilemma, and evaluate the evidence. I need to be attentive as to gather all data to determine which issue has to be resolved. Step 2: Identify the primary stakeholders. I have to be intelligent and identify the real issue in the case. Step 3: Use my knowledge, be reasonable, fair, and understand my duty, which focus on the equal rights and remember my role on the impact on stakeholders. Step 4: Develop a situation that has balance and meets the needs of all stakeholders and communicate the decision to everyone involved. Applying these steps to issue of the Troubled teen I gathered all the information from the patient’s chart, went over the care  plan, medical plan and received the bedside verbal report from the outgoing nurse. She was not given adequate pain medicine nor seen by the physician on call because she/he was attending an emergency elsewhere. The stakeholders in this situation are as follows: †¢RB, the patient †¢LB, RB’s unborn child †¢RB’s parents †¢Shift supervisor †¢YN, RN caring for RB †¢The Shareholders Applying these steps to the issue of Policy and Politics: First of all here, I have to identify the problem. There are two issues here. One is allowing the domestic partner to visit the patient and the second one is to make sure that the hospital staffs follow the policy of the hospital. The stakeholders are †¢AT, the ICU patient †¢YM, the domestic partner †¢Staff nurse, M †¢CB, the shift supervisor †¢AF, the director of nursing †¢The Shareholders Ethical Lens used that influenced decisions Lens used in Troubled Teen case: Using the rights and responsibility lens, I could identify my duties as to assure that the care of the pregnant teen is not compromised and for those who cannot speak for themselves. I want to ensure that there is a safe delivery of the mother and the baby is safe. Result lens considers focus on the results we want in our community and how it contributes to the greater good in our community and to greater number of people. I used the action that tilted towards sensibility because I honored the need in this situation to consider parental wishes and aftercare of mother and baby. In the first situation the rights and responsibility lens was first and foremost in my mind. My duty made me to assure that the care of the patient and her unborn baby was not in danger nor the care was compromised especially when someone can’t speak for themselves. I used the result lens to make the care plans and involve the parents in the care of  their child and grandchild with the help of chaplain. In the second situation, it focused on the system and allowed me to incorporate what is best for the system and community, however protecting the rights of both. Lens used in the Policies and Politics case: In this case the use of relationship lens and reputation lens was used. The relationship lens focuses on the processes that systems need an ethical organization. The ethical lens tries to protect the basic liberties of everyone and this situation the domestic partner is to be treated like any other person. However, the reputation lens focuses on assuring that the hospital protocols are consistently followed and in this situation the partner should be allowed to visit his other partner. How concepts relate to the workplace In my workplace I face difficult ethical decisions associated with patient care and the policies set forth by the care agencies. This simulation helped me to recognize my own personal values, such as equality, fairness, compassion, which influences my decision in various decisions. This game helped me to examine the decision making process when faced with the difficult situations and how to make the right decision during any dilemma. The process set up in our workplace might not be ethical one for that particular situation but in this scenarios they were not followed blindly, but the best option was picked to solve them. Identifying my personal values and gaining knowledge of the ethical lenses allowed me to minimize necessary conflict at work and deal directly with the situation. CONCLUSION Ethical issues at work place associated with the patient care can add stress and increased burden on the nurses. The ethical game simulation allowed me to identify the issues and guided me through a systematic approach to solve the dilemma. This exercise helped me to prepare for a situation which will help me to reduce stress and make a sound judgment. The lenses allowed me to gain knowledge and insight to solve the problems.

Overview of Green Wireless Networks

Overview of Green Wireless Networks Abstract: Traditional mobile networks largely focus on availability, variety, stability and large capacity. Due to the rapid development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry whose major constituent are the mobile networks, CO2 emissions have been increasing rapidly. This shows the need for energy efficient wireless networks or green wireless networks which will put emphasis on saving the energy and environmental protection. The current wireless networks concentrates mainly on non-energy related factors such as Quality of Service (QoS), throughput and reliability. So these factors have to kept in mind while transitioning to green wireless networks. The techniques that need to be implemented are aimed at improving energy efficiency but not compromising the QoS, throughput and reliability.   In this paper the various metrics which help in evaluating performance of wireless networks are reviewed. Also different approaches to improve energy efficiency in wireless networks an d how to combine them for higher energy efficiency are discussed. Introduction: The latest mobile phones provide multiple services which led to rise of ICT traffic. ICT constitutes for 2% of total Green House Gas (GHG) and CO2 emissions worldwide. Within the ICT sector, mobile sector was responsible for 43% of emissions until 2002 while studies suggest that this number would go up to 51% by 2020 [1]. The predominant energy consuming part in a wireless network is the Radio Access Network (RAN). This comes from the fact the RF power amplifier within the RAN consumes a lot of input power for operation and releases a lot of heat contributing to energy wastage. In addition to this, the inconsistent distribution of real world mobile traffic among the BSs leads to underutilization of supplied energy [1]. These two reasons give us an idea of where the energy is being wasted or not utilized, helping us in formulating new techniques for energy efficient wireless networks. While discussing about various techniques for energy efficiency, we have to keep in mind that the QoS is not compromised at all. Because if an operator uses a technique, they should be able to serve the users by utilizing less energy but not by compromising users service. The various parts of a mobile network that consume power are data centers in backhaul, macro cells, femtocells, mobile stations or end hosts and their services. But the major part that consumes the highest power is the power amplifier section and Base station or RAN section. Hence the various techniques presented in this paper are aimed at energy efficiency in these sections only. Section II of the paper outlines various metrics which can be used to evaluate the energy performance of systems. Section III discusses cell layout adaptation techniques for reducing energy consumption and is divided into 3-subsections that outline various cell shaping algorithms. Section IV explains some challenges and research directions for energy efficient networks like Cognitive Radio (CR), M2M communication etc. Metrics for measuring energy performance: Energy efficiency can be achieved by employing better techniques. But in order to measure the energy consumption or utilization, metrics are needed. Energy efficiency metric can be defined as ratio of output to the input power supplied [1]. The output here may correspond to how much the distance of transmission is, number of bits transmitted or output power etc. The metrics for energy efficiency are broadly categorized into 3 levels: Component level metrics, Access node level metrics and network level metrics. Component level metrics mainly focus on power amplifier section, Access node level metrics focus on RAN or Base station, and network level metrics focus on performance of RAN [1]. These metrics help to quantify energy efficiency of various devices and therefore it becomes easier to compare which technique is better. Firstly, at the component level, where we focus on power amplifier section, there are 2 possible types of metric categories. One is Analog and the other is digital. The two important metrics of analog RF transmission are Power Amplifier efficiency (PA efficiency) and Peak to average power ratio (PAPR). PA efficiency is the ratio of PA output power to the input power supplied to it. Higher value of PA efficiency is desired, but in reality this is the part where most of the input power is wasted. PAPR, as the name suggests is the ratio of Peak power to average power. Lower value of PAPR is desired, as higher values tend to reduce the amplifier efficiency. The significant digital metrics in component level are millions of instructions per second per watt (MIPS/W) and millions of floating point operations per second per watt (MFLOPS/W). Higher value of MIPS/W and MFLOPS/W are desired as they refer to digital output generated for a given power input [1]. Secondly, at access node level there are 2 major metrics. Power efficiency and radio efficiency. Power efficiency refers to transmitted data rate over a given bandwidth and input power supplied. It is measured in bits per second per hertz per watt (b/S/Hz/W). Radio efficiency refers to transmitted data rate and transmitted distance over a given bandwidth and input power supplied. It is measured in bits meters per second per hertz per watt (b-m/S/Hz/W) [1]. Higher values of power and radio efficiency are desired as they measure the data rate and distance of transmission which are always desired to be a higher value for a given power input. Finally, at the network level also there are 2 metrics which measure the number of subscribers served during peak hours and coverage area respectively. The first metric measures the number of subscribers served during peak hour to the supplied input power and is measured in number of subscribers per watt (Subscribers/W) and the second metric measures the coverage area of the radio signal to the supplied input power and is measured in square meters per watt (m2/W) [1]. Higher values for both these metrics are desired as they signify serving more number of subscribers or a larger coverage area for a given power input. Hence when evaluating various techniques for wireless energy efficiency, it is better to know at whether energy efficiency is augmented in component level or access node level or network level. That way it would become easier to compare the efficiency in terms of various levels individual metrics. Reducing Energy consumption through Cell Layout Adaptation: Cell layout adaptation (CLA) techniques focus on energy efficiency at network level. But for these techniques to improve energy efficiency, it is important to improve efficiency in component level and access node level as well, because all these 3 levels are inter-related to each other and one works on the basis of another. Power is first supplied from power amplifier and then to RAN and at last to the network level, that means it is possible to save more energy in component level and access node level and the remaining energy that is used by the network can be efficiently utilized by implementing these cell layout adaptation techniques. CLA techniques are basically divided into 3 major categories. First part consists of cell shaping techniques like Base Stations (BSs) turning off and cell breathing, second part consists of hybrid macro femtocell deployments and the final part consists of relaying techniques [1]. A. Cell Shaping Techniques: As mentioned earlier, base stations turning off and cell breathing techniques encompass cell shaping techniques. The basic idea behind the former is turning off BSs and redistributing the remaining traffic to neighboring base stations. Here we need to make sure that we are turning off BSs which are idle or the ones which have very less traffic that can be taken up by neighboring cells. This way energy consumption is reduced and only the BSs that have traffic will operate and consume energy. Cell breathing scheme goes one step further by not actually turning off BSs, but by reducing the power consumption of a cell. This can be achieved by covering a low distance depending on the traffic. That means BSs experiencing higher traffic operate in full power mode while the BSs with medium traffic operate in medium power mode and cells with very less traffic operate at low power mode, thereby reducing the coverage area depending on subscriber traffic. This is analogous to a cell breathing acc ording to traffic patterns. As these cell shaping techniques are based on network level, number of subscribers served and coverage area metrics should be maintained in order to ensure good QoS and less call drop rate when implementing these techniques. The broader explanation of cell shaping techniques is mentioned above, but to implement those techniques there are 2 major algorithms: switching-off network planning algorithm and cell breathing coordination algorithm [1]. Firstly, switching-off network planning algorithm works on the basis of 3 factors, number of BSs to turn off, number of BSs to operate, and time period for which BSs are turned off. The ratio of number of BSs to turn off and BSs to operate and a specific time period for which turn-off is implemented based on the low traffic pattern is calculated. Once these values are calculated, it is made sure that the blocking probability limit is not exceeded, which means definite QoS is maintained. Cell breathing coordination algorithm works on the basis of a central node called a cell zooming server. The cell zooming server analyzes the incoming traffic and tries to turn of the BSs which do not have any traffic at all. Then it tries to distribute the traffic from less active BSs to busy BSs. It also makes sure to distribute traffic based on input traffic and turns on the sleep mode BSs when required. This centralized approach works good in smaller networks and when it comes to large scale networks, it would be very ineffective. The same applies to switching off network planning algorithm because there is no centralized node to turn on the BSs if needed, as the turn -off time if fixed based on traffic patterns [1]. The cell shaping techniques also bring up a new trade-off, i.e. SE-EE tradeoff (spectral efficiency-energy efficiency) [3]. SE-EE trade-off focuses on network level characteristics like number of subscribers served and coverage area for input power supplied. By implementing these cell shaping techniques although energy efficiency is obtained, there is always chance where coverage area is reduced and some subscribers are ignored. Ideally, higher the energy efficiency lower is the spectral efficiency. But in reality, because of component level energy issues, transmission distances, coding schemes the relationship between SE and EE is not inversely proportional, but it is of the form of a bell curve. So it is better to apply cell shaping techniques until the point where spectral efficiency is not compromised. B. Hybrid macro femtocell deployment: Femtocell deployment in combination with macro cells is a second method under cell layout adaptation. Femtocell deployments provide coverage in the order of 10 meters and utilize a small BS, which requires less power to operate. Femtocell deployment is advantageous as it provides good coverage and QoS to a set of users within its range with less operating expenses when compared to a macro BS [1]. Although femtocell deployment is a good concept, it is not desirable to have too many femtocells as it increases the power consumption and utilizes more network resources for a lesser coverage area. A better way of deployment is having hybrid macro and femtocell deployment. In the case of hybrid deployment, the macro BS provides coverage to users who are evenly spread over a long distance and the femtocell provides coverage to users who are located in a dense region. This way the energy is utilized efficiently, as a new macro BS is not being deployed to provide coverage to those dense set of users. The hybrid macro cell and -femtocell deployment poses a new challenge for handoffs, as macro BS and femtocell BS might have same signal strength in the others coverage region. The handoffs issue can be solved by defining a clear boundary between the macro and femtocell BS. Within the dense region, the femtocell should have higher signal strength and it should properly handoff at the bounda ry of macro BS. Also within the coverage area of macro BS, the femtocell BS should have very less signal strength [1]. This would give a clear idea to define a boundary. A better way of implementing this hybrid deployment is by utilizing the cell shaping techniques like BS turning off and cell breathing coordination. If there are a set of femtocells, and one of the coverage area is totally idle, then that femtocell BS can be turned off and basic coverage is provided by the macro BS at that location. Similarly, if incoming traffic is analyzed, femtocells and macro cells can use the cell breathing techniques to lower their power utilization [1]. Also the hybrid macro and femtocell deployment leads to a DE-EE tradeoff (deployment efficiency-energy efficiency) [3]. Ideally energy efficiency increases when more femtocells are deployed and deployment efficiency goes down because of increase in deployment expenses, network utilization and energy consumption. In a practical scenario, the relationship between DE and EE is more like a bell curve, with a peak point where deployment and energy efficiency are in good standing. Hence it is a good idea to use hybrid deployment until the point where it does not degrade the deployment efficiency and energy efficiency. C. Relaying techniques: Energy efficiency can be achieved through 2 types of relaying techniques. The first technique uses repeater stations or green antennas for relaying and the second technique uses mobile stations for relaying. In the first technique, a repeater station or a green antenna with receiver capability is connected to the macro BS through a coax cable or optical fiber, with the latter utilizing less energy. These green antennas are placed very near to the mobile stations, which helps to reduce the energy consumption in uplink by the mobile stations. Although this technique improves energy efficiency for mobile stations, it increases operating expenses for the service provider. In the second technique, the mobile stations work in coordination and perform the relaying operation. This way the transmission distance for the macro BS is reduced and it consumes less energy. Although this technique assumes mobile stations as relays which work selflessly. Practically, the mobile stations may not work in coordination which would break the link for relaying. One more drawback of this technique is that for maintaining coordination between the mobile stations, more energy is consumed [1]. Challenges and directions for energy efficient wireless networks: Cognitive Radio (CR) and M2M (Machine to Machine) communication systems provide new opportunities in the field of green wireless networks, but also pose significant challenges at the same time. Cognitive Radio can be defined as a RF transceiver that is used to switch users from a very busy spectrum to an unused one and vice versa if needed. The origin for this topic came from the fact that many RF spectrums are congested with several users and some other spectrums are underutilized. Hence the concept of CR would efficiently manage users in various spectrums and help to deliver better QoS. Indirectly this switching of spectrums or utilizing unused spectrums is resulting in energy efficiency as spectrums with more users will not utilize additional energy as users are transferred to other spectrum. Also underutilized spectrums which were consuming energy for operation, now serve the new users efficiently resulting in energy and spectrum utilization. The only disadvantage of CR technique is that monitoring various RF spectrums and switching users from one spectrum to another requires significant energy. Hence this technique would be energy efficient only if more energy is saved by intelligently switching users than that is utilized for monitoring spectrums or users [2]. M2M wireless communication systems are aimed at connecting various wireless devices directly. This approach also helps in reducing energy consumption from the point of view of a mobile station. M2M helps to reduce the computation required by various physical devices and also tries to offload them to the network itself. This way the mobile stations consume less energy as the number of computations is reduced. The major disadvantage with this approach is that if more computation is offloaded to the main network, it might consume more energy that that is being saved by mobile stations by utilizing this approach. Hence this technique would be energy efficient if the main network does not consume a lot of energy for some additional computations [2]. Conclusion and Future Scope: The rise in carbon footprint, especially the contribution to it from the ICT sector and consequently mobile sector led to interest in energy efficient wireless networks. Energy efficiency can be achieved at various levels such as power amplifier, RAN and network. The techniques proposed in the paper focus on energy efficiency in RAN and network levels. But they also have trade-offs like DE-EE and SE-EE, which can be vanquished by emerging techniques like CR and M2M communications. These emerging techniques can be improved in a way where they consume less energy for monitoring in comparison with the prevailing levels. Alongside that, at the power amplifier level, the current solution for energy efficiency is to use expensive components which would trade off the gains achieved by energy savings. Hence a future research direction would be addressing energy efficiency at power amplifier level and improving CR and M2M techniques. VI. References: [1] Luis .S, Nuaymi .L, and Bonnin .J, An overview and classification of research approaches in green wireless networks. Eurasip journal on wireless communications and networking 2012.1 (2012): pp.1-18. [2] Xiaofei .W, et al. A survey of green mobile networks: Opportunities and challenges. Mobile Networks and Applications 17.1 (2012): pp.4-20. [3] Yan Chen; Shunqing Zhang; Shugong Xu; Li, G.Y., Fundamental trade-offs on green wireless networks, in Communications Magazine, IEEE , vol.49, no.6, pp.30-37, June 2011.

Acid Rain :: essays research papers

Acid Rain If you have ever wondered why precious monuments are fading away, or the reason your car starts to look old, or if you can't understand why the bricks on the side of your house are breaking, look up the term Acid rain in your encyclopedia. Acid rain is the cause of all of this and much more. Acid rain is a widespread term used to describe all forms of acid precipitation (rain, snow, hail, fog, etc.)( ). Precipitation is naturally acidic because of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Acid rain begins with the production of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas, oil, and from certain kinds of manufacturing. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides react with water and other chemicals in the air to from sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and other pollutants ( ). What was once a local problem for towns and cities is now an international problem. The spread of this problem originated from tall chimneys dispersing pollutants high into the atmosphere, which then traveled with the wind for thousands of kilometers until once again reaching the ground in an invisible state. The effect of acid rain when it reaches the ground reacts chemically with any object it comes in contact with. Acids are corrosive chemicals that react with other chemicals by giving up hydrogen atoms ( ). The acidity of a substance comes from the abundance of free hydrogen atoms when the substance is dissolved in water ( ). Acidity can be measured using a "pH" scale with units from 0 to 14. Rain (snow, fog, etc.) measured at a pH below 5.6 is considered acid rain. Acid rain is responsible for a widespread of environmental damage. Such examples of this include soil and plant degradation, depleted life in lakes and streams, and erosion of man-made structures( ). When acid rain enters the soil it dissolves and washes away the nutrients needed by plants. It can also dissolve toxic substances, such as aluminum and mercury, which are naturally present in some soils, freeing these toxins to pollute water or to poison plants that absorb them ( ). After events like this take place animals and humans are soon effected. If one plant or animal is adversely affected by acid rain, animals that feed on that organism may suffer and animals that feed on that animal may suffer also (usually humans).

Family Law

Family Law Essay Introduction * As societies become more diverse and complex; the law needs to reflect these changing social values in order to remain just. * State something relating to given question. * State thesis: Thus, family law is very effective/only effective to an extent in †¦ * This is due to the success of law reforms that effectively address †¦ * However, this effectiveness is hindered by the limited changes made to include same-sex marriage within current legislation. Effective] Divorce Divorce is the legal dissolution of a marriage. The Australian family law system has implemented significant law reforms that redress the matter of divorce in accordance to changing societal values. * Prior to 1974, divorces applied under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1959 were on the ground of ‘fault’, which included 14 grounds such as infidelity, cruelty and desertion; whereby one or both spouses had to admit to their wrongdoing that undermined their divorce. Such s ubmissions for divorce were perceived as socially immoral and thus those who took these actions were negatively judged by the community.* However, in 1975, a major reform to family law occurred whereby the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) was passed and introduced ‘no fault’ divorce, where the only ground was ‘irretrievable breakdown’, which allowed couples to divorce after separation. * This idea of a 12 month separation period with the intention to divorce was established in the Tye v Tye case. Ultimately, the reform increased the accessibility of divorce and reduced the stigma attached with it. This fundamental change to divorce law was clearly a reaction to changing social values, where society has accepted that people should not be left trapped in an unhappy marriage, reinforcing the basic right to live in freedom. [Effective] Domestic violence Domestic violence has been recognised as an ongoing social issue and community-wide problem, rather than just a â₠¬Ëœprivate matter’. Hence legislative reforms have effectively reflected these changing attitudes in he community through introducing further protection for victims of domestic violence as a means of improving previous legislation. * In the 1800s, domestic violence against women was acceptable as they were under ownership of men.* Over time the legal system has overcome these injustices in order to reflect the importance of individual’s rights, through the introduction of the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (NSW) which amended the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) as it provided extensive protection children and adults victims of domestic violence. Such protection predominately include Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders (ADVOs) which are an effective means in reducing the incidence of domestic violence as they are a quick, inexpensive and accessible form of protection which is supported by full weight of the criminal law if breached. * The effectiveness of ADVOs is highlighted in the article, â€Å"Girl died of starvation, neglect: doctor† (21/05/09, SMH) as this legal instrument had protected the lives of two children from suffering the same neglect as their deceased sister, at the hands of their parents. [Ineffective] Recognition of same-sex relationshipsAs society diversifies, there is an increasing acceptance of same-sex relationships; which, however is not accurately reflected within the family legislation. * Initially, there have been progressive improvements to family law including the introduction of the Property (Relationships) Legislation Amendment Act in 1999 which changed the definition of de facto relationships to non-gender specific and the Same-sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws – General Law reform) Act 2008 removed discrimination in areas such as tax, superannuation, child support and social security. However, in 2004, the Commonwealth Government reaffirmed the traditional concept of marr iage in the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth) as the union of man and woman, which automatically forces same-sex marriage to be void in Australia.* The exclusion of same-sex marriage within family law demonstrates that there are still changes needed to be made in order to meet the injustices of current law. This demand for change is evident in the media article â€Å"Gay marriage advocates rally around nation† (12/05/12, AAP) which reports thousands of peaceful protestors across Australia rallied in support of same-sex marriage. From this article, it shows the family law’s lack of improvements from previous laws that similarly failed to meet the values of society as communities are force to take extreme measures just to voice their basic right. Therefore, the exclusion of same-sex marriages in family law deems it as highly ineffective in improving previous laws as it indicates the lack of initiative made to meet changing social values.

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver essays

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver essays There seems to be a buzz going around about Barbara Kingsolver's indifference towards men. Much of that, though, is generated by one of her first novels, The Bean Trees. It does ring true, for this particular story, that only one man out of many plays a laudable part. But that novel fails to represent Kingsolver's entire spectrum of stories. Another one of her just as successful novels, Animal Dreams, highlights a major male character, and a few others, with a positive sheen. The two novels, so similar in the way of a woman's self-journey, are also quite different when it comes to outlooks on men. The reason Taylor Greer, the main character in The Bean Trees, leaves her hometown is because there is nothing for her there. Mainly, she has seen pretty much every woman in the town "get hogtied to a future as a tobacco farmer's wife", or some equal/worse fate. The men in her life, including her father, have instilled a bad feeling in Taylor, either by being lazy and boring, leaving their spouses, or even beating the women who "love" them. By the time the cute northern high school teacher comes along, Taylor isn't even "moony" over him and he would be the one to like. So as a young girl, she learns not to be easily impressed by members of the male species. As the novel rumbles along her path of discovery, it refuses to introduce any positive men except for Estevan, the unattainable. It only brings in more reasons to dislike them, actually, with Taylor's best friend left heartbroken by her husband, and with Taylor's success in a virtually all-female close-knit circle of friends. Nothing in this novel suggests a positive feeling towards men. A couple of years after The Bean Trees, Kingsolver introduced a new novel called Animal Dreams. This one goes against any "male-bashing" that readers may have picked up from her previous work. In fact, it uses a man to help the main character, Codi, feel most at home with herself and her town. ...

William Shakespeares Macbeth Plot Summary

William Shakespeares Macbeth Plot Summary Macbeth, the play which is considered  Shakespeare’s most intense tragedy, is condensed into this plot  summary, capturing the essence and important plot points of the Bard’s shortest play. Macbeth Summary King Duncan hears of Macbeth’s heroics at war and bestows the title Thane of Cawdor on him. The current Thane of Cawdor has been deemed a traitor and the king orders that he be killed. The Three Witches Unaware of this, Macbeth and Banquo meet three witches on a heath who predict that Macbeth will inherit the title and eventually become king. They tell Banquo that he will be happy and that his sons will inherit the throne. Macbeth is then informed that he has been named Thane of Cawdor and his belief in the witches’ prophecy is confirmed. King Duncans Murder Macbeth contemplates his fate and Lady Macbeth encourages him to act to ensure the prophecy is realized. A feast is organized to which King Duncan and his sons are invited. Lady Macbeth hatches a plot to kill King Duncan while he sleeps and encourages Macbeth to carry out the plan. After the murder, Macbeth is full of regret. Lady Macbeth scorns him for his cowardly behavior. When Macbeth realizes that he has forgotten to leave the knife at the scene of the crime, Lady Macbeth takes over and completes the deed. Macduff finds the dead King and Macbeth accuses the Chamberlains of murder. King Duncan’s sons flee in fear of their lives. Banquos Murder Banquo questions the witches’ predictions and wants to discuss them with Macbeth. Macbeth sees Banquo as a threat and employs murderers to kill him and his son, Fleance. The murderers botch the job and only manage to kill Banquo. Fleance flees the scene and is blamed for his father’s death. Banquos Ghost Macbeth and Lady Macbeth host a feast to lament the death of the King. Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost sitting in his chair and his concerned guests soon disperse. Lady Macbeth urges her husband to rest and forget his wrongdoings, but he decides to meet with the witches again to discover his future. Prophesies When Macbeth meets the three witches, they concoct a spell and conjure apparitions to answer his questions and predict his fate. A bodiless head appears and warns Macbeth to fear Macduff. Then a bloody child appears and assures him that â€Å"none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.† A third apparition of a crowned child with a tree in his hand tells Macbeth that he will not be vanquished until â€Å"Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him.† Macduffs Revenge Macduff travels to England to help Malcolm (King Duncan’s son) avenge his father’s death and overthrow Macbeth. By this time, Macbeth has already decided that Macduff is his enemy and kills his wife and son. Lady Macbeths Death The doctor observes Lady Macbeth’s strange behavior. Every night she acts out washing her hands in her sleep as if trying to wash away her guilt. She dies shortly after. Macbeths Final Battle Malcolm and Macduff have assembled an army in Birnam Wood. Malcolm suggests the soldiers each cut down a tree in order to advance on the castle unseen. Macbeth is warned that the wood seems to be moving. Scoffing, Macbeth feels confident that he will be victorious in battle as his predicted invincibility that â€Å"none of woman born shall harm him† will protect him. Macbeth and Macduff finally confront each other. Macduff reveals that he was ripped from his mother’s womb in an untimely manner, so the â€Å"none of woman born† prophesy does not apply to him. He kills Macbeth and holds his head aloft for all to see before declaring Malcolm’s rightful place as king.

102 Week 2 Journal Response Professor Ramos Blog

102 Week 2 Journal Response Find an article that relates in some way to the things we have been talking about in class. Summarize the article, then respond to it in some way. Agree, disagree, or other. Why did you pick it? How does it connect to our class? One paragraph summary of source. One paragraph response to source. Include a link to the text. Should be about 250 words in length.

Has the introduction of tuition fees reduced the demand for higher Essay

Has the introduction of tuition fees reduced the demand for higher education - Essay Example In Australia, where income contingent loans have been introduced to cover tuition fees and maintenance support, up until 1995 there had been no fall in demand either as a result of reduced entry or increased drop-out rates. Higher education has proven to be an attractive investment for individuals, generating a return of 5-15% in OECD countries. In addition to the benefits derived by the individual, society also benefits largely when the population is well educated. In many OECD countries, the burden of higher education has gradually shifted from the government or the taxpayer to the students and their parents. Australia reintroduced the tuition fees for higher education in 1989 through the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS).In the Netherlands, tuition fees for full-time students are determined by the Minister of Education and are uniform for all subjects in higher education programs. Tuition fee as a percentage of the total direct cost of higher education has remained stable at 20% for the past few years. A change in funding pattern is likely to influence the student community in various ways. While an immediate reaction to discontinuation of State sponsorship for higher education might be one of disappointment, it might also lead students and their parents to appreciate the of value higher education better if they are to be made to pay for it from their own pockets. This way, only students serious about research in that particular field would take up higher studies. However, without primary research or econometric testing of behaviour, it very difficult to assess the net effect of changes to the funding structure and cost of higher education to students. The theory of human capital explains the economic approach to students demand for higher education as an investment. Human capital theory suggests that

Community of Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Community of Practice - Essay Example panics lack access to health care services because of low personal income, poor geographic access to health providers and cultural factors that focuses on traditional methods in terms of healthcare. In terms of using family and community resources there is a great link between schools and Hispanic families and the community in terms of using the available resources of computers in accessing various health information (Koton, 2001). Religion is considered as the most outstanding aspect of the Jewish community. Hypertension is most prevalent in the Jewish society. Religion is regarded as a major community and family stressors in the access of healthcare services in dealing with such disease such as diabetes that is common in the Jewish society. Despite the Jewish territory being endowed with various natural resources, the constant conflicts within the region has contributed to low level of access of health services. In addition, the conflicts have further led to lack of employment for the population resulting into poverty (Green,

South Africa and the end of Apartheid (CASE) Module3 Essay

South Africa and the end of Apartheid (CASE) Module3 - Essay Example In this case, the whites, who had financial influence retorted to discrimination in that, some neighborhoods were out of bound to blacks. This meant that the nation was separated into two, black and poor versus white and rich. In this case, the nation could not function as a democracy as the whites, how took all the power did not allow African leaders to claim any form of leadership position. Additionally, the country’s economic situation was deteriorating for the blacks as all important resources were acquired by the whites who had invested in manufacturing companies. With reflection to the resources that have been reviewed and taught for this module, it is seen that South Africa compares with other nations such as German and Korea. However, while there is East and West Germany as well as North and South Korea, South Africa is similar to these nations as it has suffered period of political and social divide (History of Apartheid in South Africa, 2011). On the other hand, the situation in South Africa is different from the situations portrayed in Germany and Korea. While Germany and Korea have distinct boundaries that separate different political regimes, communist and democratic, South Africa is a solid nation which suffered from racial discrimination. With reference to British influence on the country, various executions of black people were a common trend within the nation. However, while Korean Peninsula, under contest between North and South Korea remains subject to conflict, South Africa has entered a democratic system of governance that has unified the conflicting sides (Knight, 2006). The German unification applied the concept of two-nations-one people while the Korean applies the one-nation-two-regimes. In this case, Germany has been able to sideline her political and physical differences for the sake of national and regional development. On the other hand, Korea unification has separated North and South Korea

Marijuana Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marijuana - Research Paper Example It contains delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a chemical that effects brain functioning. Marijuana statistics depict that the drug is highly abused in United States. Approximately 69 million people, above 12 years of age have used marijuana at least once. In 2006, according to the survey conducted by National Survey on Drug use and Health (NSDUH) it was the most common addictive drug in America. Around 14.8 million people widely used Marijuana as per the NSDUH survey. It is widely used by young adults in the age group ranging from 18 years to 25 years of age. The data emphasizes college students who at large fall under this category as reported by Centers for Disease Control. (CDH) This is most likely due to the low cost of the drug. The recent statistics illustrates that marijuana was accounted for 16 % of all admissions to health care facilities among which the ratio of males over female was higher (Fernandez & Allison, 2004). Even with such a high popularity, the rate of abuse of marijuana is decreasing. According to the Monitoring Future survey, the rate declined from 6.7% in 2006 to 5.7% in 2007 among eighth graders. Above all, around 74.3% eighth graders perceive the use of marijuana as detrimental for health. However, this drastic fall in the rate is probably due to other drugs that are also easily obtainable. Anyways the hallmark of this decline is that people are abandoning its usage but they might suffer withdrawal symptoms. Comparatively, marijuana has mild withdrawal symptoms than any other drug. The most common symptom is craving for the drug. It is reported that around 75.7% people abstaining from marijuana desperately craved for it. Mood swings are followed by craving. It is estimated that around 50.5% people trying to quit marijuana went through mood swings, petulancy or anxiety while other suffered from restlessness, aggression, nervousness and a lack of concentration. Insomnia

Tourism in Bulgaria Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Tourism in Bulgaria - Essay Example The method of investigation The class had been divided into groups of 3-4 students with diverse languages. The groups came to an agreement that the research be conducted with respect to the international tourism in Bulgaria. As such, three different locations in the country were selected that are likely to be tourist attraction centers. These include Sofia (as the countries capital city), Burgas (one of the large coastal towns), and Sunny Beach (a beach resort at the coast that is likely to attract international tourists). The selection of the geographical locations applied the principles of judgmental sampling, as it was considered that these regions would have the highest number of international tourists. The group designed a questionnaire that was translated into different languages that are applicable in Bulgaria (English, Bulgarian, French, Russian, and German) in order to capture a wide category of the tourists. The use of questionnaire in a face-to-face interview was preferred in order to avoid/minimize cases of non-response and inaccurate data. This is because it would enable a clarification to be made in the event that something was not clear. The questionnaire sought responses like the place of origin of the individual, the reason for visit, demographic information (gender, age, nationality), the size of the visiting group (an individual, a couple, family, or larger group), the previous visits to the country, the opinions on tourism’s effect on developments in Bulgaria, and the activities of the tourists while in the country. The response to the last question in the questionnaire is of particular importance in... The research indicates that the international male tourists and their female counterparts engage/participate in almost similar activities at comparable degrees. In fact, the females appear to be engaged in more different activities than the male tourists are. There is not a single activity included in the study that had male participants and no female participants. The different in the scores that measure the individuals’ engagement in these activities also had close ranges for nearly all the activities. Besides, there is a positive relationship between the degree by which the males engage in a given activity during the vacation and the females’ engagement in those particular activities. This means that if male participants have engaged highly in a given tourist activity, then chances are high that females are also highly engaged in the activity. Thus, our hypothesis that the male international tourists in Bulgaria engage in more different activities than the females is not supported. The cheap cost of transport, different categories of accommodation facilities, and proper accessibility of most of tourist attraction sites in the country encourages more tourists (men and women) into the country. The social centers have a range of activities that loosely fit both males and females. The study was facilitated by the strategic choice of the geographical location in which it was conducted. Even though it was based on judgmental principles, it was likely to provide more relevant information since this project had nothing to do with data on the Bulgarians.

Discuss how attitude gender in Shakespeare's play Othello affect the Essay

Discuss how attitude gender in Shakespeare's play Othello affect the outcome of the play - Essay Example e bed is at the very heart of the tragedy of Othello; offstage but dramatically the center of attention in the first scene and again in the first scene of the second act, it is literally and symbolically at the center of the last scene and is explicitly hidden from sight at the conclusion. Whether the marriage is consummated, when it is consummated, and what the significance of this consummation is for Othello and Desdemona have all been an important source of debate about the play. Throughout its critical history, Othello, like the other problem plays, has generated passionate and radically conflicting responses--responses that are invariably tied to the critics emotional responses to the characters and to the gender relations in the play. Othello, Iago, and Desdemona have been loved and loathed, defended and attacked, judged and exonerated by critics just as they are by characters within the play. "Almost damned in a fair wife" is Leslie Fiedlers alternate title for his chapter on Othello in The Stranger in Shakespeare. In it he asserts of the women in the play: "Three out of four, then, [are] weak, or treacherous, or both." Thus he seconds Iagos misogyny and broadens the attack on what Leavis has called "The sentimentalists Othello," the traditional view of the play held by Coleridge, Bradley, Granville-Barker, Knight, Bayley, Gardner, and many others. These "Othello critics," as I shall call them, accept Othello at his own high estimate. They are enamored of his "heroic music," affirm his love, and, like him, are overwhelmed by Iagos diabolism, to which they devote much of their analysis. Like Othello, they do not always argue rationally or rigorously for their views and so are vulnerable to attacks on their romanticism or sentimentality. Reacting against these traditionalists, "Iago critics" (Eliot, Empson, Kirschbaum, Rossiter, and Mason, as well as Fiedler and Leavis) ta ke their cues from Iago. Like him, they are attracted to Othello, unmoved by his

Marijuana Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marijuana - Research Paper Example It contains delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a chemical that effects brain functioning. Marijuana statistics depict that the drug is highly abused in United States. Approximately 69 million people, above 12 years of age have used marijuana at least once. In 2006, according to the survey conducted by National Survey on Drug use and Health (NSDUH) it was the most common addictive drug in America. Around 14.8 million people widely used Marijuana as per the NSDUH survey. It is widely used by young adults in the age group ranging from 18 years to 25 years of age. The data emphasizes college students who at large fall under this category as reported by Centers for Disease Control. (CDH) This is most likely due to the low cost of the drug. The recent statistics illustrates that marijuana was accounted for 16 % of all admissions to health care facilities among which the ratio of males over female was higher (Fernandez & Allison, 2004). Even with such a high popularity, the rate of abuse of marijuana is decreasing. According to the Monitoring Future survey, the rate declined from 6.7% in 2006 to 5.7% in 2007 among eighth graders. Above all, around 74.3% eighth graders perceive the use of marijuana as detrimental for health. However, this drastic fall in the rate is probably due to other drugs that are also easily obtainable. Anyways the hallmark of this decline is that people are abandoning its usage but they might suffer withdrawal symptoms. Comparatively, marijuana has mild withdrawal symptoms than any other drug. The most common symptom is craving for the drug. It is reported that around 75.7% people abstaining from marijuana desperately craved for it. Mood swings are followed by craving. It is estimated that around 50.5% people trying to quit marijuana went through mood swings, petulancy or anxiety while other suffered from restlessness, aggression, nervousness and a lack of concentration. Insomnia

Discuss how attitude gender in Shakespeare's play Othello affect the Essay

Discuss how attitude gender in Shakespeare's play Othello affect the outcome of the play - Essay Example e bed is at the very heart of the tragedy of Othello; offstage but dramatically the center of attention in the first scene and again in the first scene of the second act, it is literally and symbolically at the center of the last scene and is explicitly hidden from sight at the conclusion. Whether the marriage is consummated, when it is consummated, and what the significance of this consummation is for Othello and Desdemona have all been an important source of debate about the play. Throughout its critical history, Othello, like the other problem plays, has generated passionate and radically conflicting responses--responses that are invariably tied to the critics emotional responses to the characters and to the gender relations in the play. Othello, Iago, and Desdemona have been loved and loathed, defended and attacked, judged and exonerated by critics just as they are by characters within the play. "Almost damned in a fair wife" is Leslie Fiedlers alternate title for his chapter on Othello in The Stranger in Shakespeare. In it he asserts of the women in the play: "Three out of four, then, [are] weak, or treacherous, or both." Thus he seconds Iagos misogyny and broadens the attack on what Leavis has called "The sentimentalists Othello," the traditional view of the play held by Coleridge, Bradley, Granville-Barker, Knight, Bayley, Gardner, and many others. These "Othello critics," as I shall call them, accept Othello at his own high estimate. They are enamored of his "heroic music," affirm his love, and, like him, are overwhelmed by Iagos diabolism, to which they devote much of their analysis. Like Othello, they do not always argue rationally or rigorously for their views and so are vulnerable to attacks on their romanticism or sentimentality. Reacting against these traditionalists, "Iago critics" (Eliot, Empson, Kirschbaum, Rossiter, and Mason, as well as Fiedler and Leavis) ta ke their cues from Iago. Like him, they are attracted to Othello, unmoved by his

The Pros And Cons of Boot Camps Essay Example for Free

The Pros And Cons of Boot Camps Essay Boot Camps came into prominence in the 1980s. It was initially conceived as an effective tool for resolving behavioral problems of teens. This approach was derived from the military style of correcting the behavior of erring members of the military. Boot Camps are short programs that may last from 3 to 6 months. The youth offender is housed in a facility along with other youth offenders. This paper will delve on the effects, pros and cons, and background of juvenile boot camps. The Pros And Cons of Boot Camps An Overview of Boot Camps Juvenile delinquency is one of the more glaring issues facing the youth of today. At present, the number of juvenile defenders all over the world has grown into alarming proportions. Juvenile delinquency takes place during adolescence, a period which is marked by a transition from childhood to adulthood. At this stage of their lives, they start to become independent and away from the guidance of their parents. Although the youth is acknowledged as the holder of the key to the future, it is a sad fact that most adolescents are now confronted by many issues that can put their future in peril – violence, drug abuse, prostitution. Juvenile delinquency is regarded as more of a social than political problem. It stems from various factors such as peer pressure and family influence. However, realizing that there is a need to help these youth offenders, the government has stepped in and implemented several measures by setting up facilities that will save the future of these young people. What are Boot Camps? Otherwise known as â€Å"shock incarceration,† boot camps became prevalent in the 1980s. The concept was patterned after the military boot camps and was grounded on the principle of using military discipline in shaping youth offenders to become productive members of the society. Compared to the overcrowded detention centers, boot camps offered reduced per-bed cost (Hanusa, 2006). Boot camps are facilities that are designed to reform delinquents by employing a military type of correction. The main purpose of these boot camps is to teach the delinquent how to respect authority, adhere to rules, and shape up their behavior at home and school. In these facilities, therapy and psychological intervention is non-existent. Instead, military exercises, discipline, and rigid physical training are used to reform the offender (Boot Camps Info, n. d. ). There are many kinds of boot camps. Some of them are run by the state as an alternative for juvenile jail. Others are privately owned with tight security. Guards are placed in boot camps for no reason than to make sure that the inmates will follow the rules. The punishment for breaking the guidelines in the facility includes extended runs and obstacle courses. The idea of boot camps is to break the â€Å"spirit† of the adolescent and lead to corrective actions (Boot Camps Info, n. d. ). The History of Boot Camps Due to the increasing number of adolescent youths who got imprisoned in the last ten years, as well as the different opinions regarding the role that punishment and treatment play in correcting offenders, boot camps have emerged as an alternative to incarceration. Boot camps started in Georgia in 1983. Since then, they have expanded to twenty five states and have gained fame for their military-type approach. In a survey spearheaded by the General Accounting Office, it was revealed that during its first ten years, there were 29 boot camps offering their programs in 29 states with a total population of 10,065. Since then, Michigan and Texas have shown a drop in their population. New York and Georgia own the largest boot camps in the country. Their combined population comprises fifty percent of the national total (Parent, 2003). While the focus of first-generation boot camps centered on the military-type approach involving â€Å"discipline, physical training, and hard work,† second-generation facilities utilized rehabilitation through â€Å"alcohol and drug treatment† (Parent, 2003). Likewise, second-generation boot camps introduced new treatment methods such as pro-social skills training, electronic monitoring, and home confinement, to name a few. By the middle of the 1990s, boot camps existing in the country started to decline. At the dawn of the 21st century, only 51 boot camps are left operating. Likewise, the population of boot camp inmates has considerably dropped more than 30 percent. Reasons Behind Boot Camps Because of the escalating number of youth offenders in the United States, more and more states are now setting up boot camps. These facilities take the place of youth correctional facilities. Most of them adopt the military type of approach in improving the behavior and attitude of the youth offender. They use physical training and conditioning and follow a structured program. However, it is interesting to note that these facilities or barracks are not entirely for problem teenagers. There are facilities designed for the youth without any criminal record. They are no different from other camps, except that they follow strict procedures. How Do Boot Camps Work? Boot camps are patterned after military-type minimum-security prisons. The conditions are not similar to a regular prison facility and the duration of stay is much shorter which could range from three to six months. While majority of the strategy are modeled after military training, juvenile boot camps vary considerably with a standard prison set-up. These facilities provide â€Å"intermediate sanction† in the jargon of juvenile justice. The punishment in a boot camp is more restrictive compared to probation, but not as severe as imprisonment or detention (Begin, 2002). Boot camps in the United States accept male and female delinquents between 17 to 25 years old. Some inmates were admitted to the program through the â€Å"back door† (Begin, 2002). They were chosen by correctional officers from other offenders who were sentenced to serve a regular prison term. Other inmates came from the â€Å"front door† after the court sentenced them to one term in a boot camp (Begin, 2002). When the offender has already completed their sentence, boot camp officials would determine the method of after-care support that the community would provide. Offenders would either receive regular probation, intensive probation supervision, or electronic monitoring (Begin, 2006). The Effects of Boot Camps According to a study conducted by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, there is no evidence that boot camps indeed reduce the rate of recidivism. Usually, staying in a boot camp is much cheaper than detention in a juvenile center. However, the amount of money that will be saved by the offender will be determined by the length of sentence, which is commonly shorter than incarceration (Hanusa, 2006). Boot camps have shown both positive and negative effects on the individual. The approach in boot camps is simple and that is reward for good work and punishment for violations. Most of the inmates admitted in boot camps are troubled teenagers who are either drop outs in the school where they are studying or teens who have behavior problems at home (Troubled Teens Guide, n. d. ). The concept of boot camps started in the military. All the major sectors of the armed forces run their own boot camp programs. In the military, the purpose of these facilities is to train new recruits in several aspects such as physical conditioning, using weapons, comradeship, being a leader, and others. The participants of the boot camps stay in the facility for two weeks without sleep, communication, and food. Aside from that, the participants are made to live in diverse conditions in order to test how far they can go (Tobey, 2006). Since the inmate experience a new environment and share the facility with other participants, they learn to adapt themselves with the new surrounding away from the company of previous friends, old habits and behaviors. Since the old environment has disappeared from their system, the inmate starts to incorporate new attitudes and behaviors. Likewise, he or she learns to mingle with a new set of friends. This is a positive aspect of boot camps (Troubled Teens Guide, n. d. ). The MacKenzie Study Recognized as the most intensive and systematic study on the effects of boot camps, Doris MacKenzie conducted a research in 1994. It incorporated programs which emphasized on supplementary programming and increased supervision when released. The research utilized control groups to make way for comparison of effects in connection with other sanctions. Likewise, the study measured recidivism in order to determine its effects on the attitude and behavior of the community (Bilchik, 1997). The MacKenzie-Souryal study reached the following findings: 1. Although the boot camp participants concluded their term with a positive result compared to standard inmates, there was no difference between the participants and sample population as to objectively measuring the changes towards anti-social behavior while serving their term (Bilchik, 1997). 2. Boot camp graduates had a hard time coping up with community assistance when looking for a job, pursuing an education, finding a home, or being financially secured and treated (Bilchik, 1997). Even though they served their sentence in the boot camps, the amount of recidivism in the United States did not decrease. In the three states were the incidence of recidivism reflected a drop in the rate, the program centered on rehabilitation and intensive supervision upon release ((Bilchik, 1997). In addition, the Mackenzie study proved that boot camps contribute to the possibility of extending incarceration if the charge is life imprisonment in order to take part in the boot camp program. Using intensive supervision after completion of sentence will most likely lead to re-incarceration ((Bilchik, 1997). National Institute of Justice A team of six researchers under the National Institute of Justice also conducted their own study (Bourque, Cronin, Pearson, Felker, Han, Hill, 1996). The research involves three demonstration boot camp projects for young re-offenders aged 15 to 18 years old. Likewise, they evaluated boot camp inmates who are in the after-case program. No control groups or long-term follow up were provided to the survey participants. After the study, it was revealed that although there were promising results at the end of boot camp, the programs used in the study reflected increased rates of attrition as a result of non-compliance, absenteeism, and re-offense while in the aftercare phase (Bourque, Cronin, Pearson, Felker, Han, Hill, 1996). . Moreover, the NIJ study yielded the following findings: 1) With careful planning and implementation, boot camp programs will be able to meet their desired goal (Bourque, et al. , 1996). 2) The success rate of first year boot camps were high ranging between 80 percent and 94 percent (Bourque, et al. , 1996). 3) The boot camp programs involved in the study showed a marked improvement in the educational performance, overall behavior, and physical fitness of the inmates. Likewise, the rate of improvement in the aspect of self-discipline, respect for authority, personal appearance, and teamwork (Bourque, et al. , 1996). 4) Inmates who completed the boot camp program within 3-months and continued to receive supervision from the program for a minimum of 5 months showed positive improvement in their attitude and behavior (Bourque, et al. , 1996). 5) Boot camps are most likely more affordable than prisons found in the State or local prison facilities (Bourque, et al. , 1996). During the early part of the 1990s, some boot camp programs started taking in female inmates. However, a study conducted in 1992 revealed that since these facilities were programmed to admit men, accepting female inmates can become a dilemma. The study revealed the following findings about female inmates (Bourque, et al. , 1996, p. 3): †¢ They face the possibility of becoming single parents †¢ They are prone to experiencing physical or sexual abuse †¢ They are inclined to exhibit a different â€Å"history and pattern of drug use† (Bourque, et al. , 1996, p. 3) †¢ They face the possibility of becoming out of job after discharge from the boot camp What Boot Camp Proponents Say Despite of the many questions that the opponents of boot camp hurl at the program, people who are in favor of boot camps as a correction method raise several points that will prove that this kind of program helps participants become productive members of society upon their release from the camp. In her article, Hanusa (2006) stated some of the arguments in support of the program: 1. The atmosphere pervading in the camp is ideal for fostering positive growth and change (Hanusa, 2006). 2. The program structure and control personnel foster a secured atmosphere where fighting between inmates would be avoided and would not fall victims of other youths than when they are in regular correctional centers (Hanusa, 2006). 3. The addition of military structure can foster camaraderie as well as respect for staff (Hanusa, 2006). What Critics Say About Boot Camps On the other hand, critics of the program also raised several arguments about boot camps: 1. The confrontational nature of boot camps violates the kind of positive interpersonal relationships that the offender needs in order to achieve positive growth. They claim that this is against the aim of therapeutic treatment. The stringent policies implemented by the camp may cause the inmates to develop fear against the personnel of the camp (Hanusa, 2006). 2. The boot camps focus on group activities does not provide room for addressing individual problems of the youth (Hanusa, 2006). According to Susan Colling, a former juvenile programs Director in Colorado, one of the reasons why boot camps are a failure is because it does not provide aftercare assistance. An inmate may do well inside the boot camp but once they graduate from the program and sent back to their community, they will most likely find a hard time coping up with the new situation because they got used to an environment that is controlled and structured (Hanusa, 2006).

Andy Goldsworthy: Concepts of the Landscape

Andy Goldsworthy: Concepts of the Landscape Title: ‘Travel constructs a fictional relationship between gaze and landscape’ (M. Auge, â€Å"Non-Places,† 1995; p86). Does this statement seem to you to express a central insight about landscape and travel in the 20th century? Please discuss in relation to the work of Andy Goldsworthy. The Earthworks art of Andy Goldsworthy challenges, firstly, a classical art-historical conception of the landscape, and can also be implicitly responsive to the ‘supermodern’ sense of landscape and place, theorised by Marc Auge, in which â€Å"Vocabulary†¦ educates the gaze, informs the landscape[1].†. Goldsworthy captures the essence of place through texture, allusion to process and a mutual dependability on nature, as if to transform both the materials of the objects and the meaning of their often banal contexts. It is immediately evident that Goldsworthy’s works, in general, strongly accentuate texture and shape. Goldsworthy describes the working process as a tactile expression, implying the involvement of a multi-sensory extension of the body, a recurring artistic intention, especially through cues signifying touch and vision. â€Å"For me, looking, touching, material, place and form are all inseparable from the resulting work. It is difficult to say where one stops and another begins[2].† This obsession with recurring forms in nature using different materials has a ritualistic edge, where the earthworks have lost the purpose and functionalism of the commercial product. This tactile gaze, used as the central way of identifying the object, is further evoked through the use of text. For example, in a photograph of a spherical ice ball positioned aside a bleak Autumn bridge, his texts connotes the image not only in terms of its visual impact but also the texture implied by its aural qualities: â€Å"Stacked ice – sound of cracking.[3]† The shape and texture of the river in the 1988-9 Leadgate and Lambton Earthworks[4] symbolizes its sensual form in a way which still identifies it as relating to a river, but without the non-abstracted seamless visual art representation of a river. Goldsworthy describes this process: â€Å"The snake has evolved through a need to move close to the ground, sometimes below and sometimes above, an expression of the space it occupies[5].† Similarly, rather than use the language of signposts to designate a river (in its non-place), the use of more tactile cues reclaims the spectator’s newness of vision: in Auge’s words, the traveller (AG) is recapturing the landscape like it is â€Å"the first journey of birth†¦the primal experience of differentiation[6].†While Auge asserts that non-places â€Å" exist only through the words that evoke them,[7]† AG’s words work to clarify the gaze rather than condense it to a unified vision. But what constitutes this gaze? When we refer to his earthworks, are we referring only to the symbolic object, or the whole space inside the photo frame? Like a travel writer, a heightened perception or rediscovery of the landscape is the central tenet of Goldsworthy’s working process: â€Å"Some places I return to over and over again, going deeper- a relationship made in layers over a long time.[8]† There is a suggestion by AG that site or context affects and, to an extent, has a significant role in generating the features of his objects: When I work with a leaf, rock, stick, it is not just that material in itself, it is an opening into the processes of life within and around it†¦The energy and space around a material are as important as the energy and space within[9] While the train, for Auge, is one of the greatest culprits behind the spectator’s fleeting vision of space, Goldsworthy’s immobilization and transposition of the train track and its practical function to a snaking †¦in the Lambton earthworks?, is a way for AG to recapture the essence of the landscape, to shift its perceptual status from non-place to place: â€Å"Staying in one place makes me more aware of change[10].† However, part of this awareness is awareness that the land itself is fleeting and transforming according to environmental ‘whim,’ and that the photograph merely represents a certain moment in a process. His emphasis on spontaneity and change according to environmental and climactic conditions, as well as his own sense of navigation, is significant because he is able to evoke the history of the object through capturing a synchronic moment in its processes. If we look at several of his works in which piles of material are neatly centred with a hollow hole[11], we sense their impermanence and a foreboding decay from seeing their present formal cohesion. A Cambridge earthwork with leaves is accompanied by this awareness in text, where a materialistic description of the object is transformed into a narrative of it: â€Å"Torn Hole/horse chestnut leaves stitched with stalks around the rim/moving in the wind[12].† Perhaps more than these smaller-scale earthworks, the earthworks in County Durham most forcefully use the concept of environmental process to allude to the movement of travel, not only through their obvious association with trains, but through the movement implied by the object, as â€Å" ripples from a thrown stone[13]†. Freezing these processes is a way of reawakening the senses, by both seeing the object statically without moving too fast and by being aware of its continuing narrative, rather than being driven by the â€Å"perpetual series of presents[14]† of those unrecognised non-places, exaggerated in Thomas Gursky’s digital photos . According to Auge, the language of signposts etc. does not heighten the spectator’s perception of a place, but merely substitutes their relationship to it as a mere passing acknowledgement.[15] Goldsworthy’s works seem to reclaim that historicity of the natural object that is lost in the immediacy of the commercial product[16], including the signs that describe and name features and punctuations in the land, trying to give it a sense of place. Challenging the prescriptions of discourse on our subjectivity, however, has always been a preoccupation in landscape art. Constable’s landscape paintings, for example, could represent a different challenge to the supermodern construction of landscape into a fleeting ‘non-place,’ through his holistic, static, formalist and panoramic vision of the land. While Goldsworthy reconfigures the landscape’s gaze beyond the static to an awareness of its morphology, materiality, unpredictability and precariousness, Constable and the landscape painters of the 18th century synchronized these natural irregularities, painting the clouds and sun simultaneously and consciously at different periods and freezing the movement of the Hay wain into a stance.[17] In Goldsworthy’s work, therefore, landscape is no longer a site, implying static, but a process, implying diachronic, in which the object and its place are interdependent. Throughout the earthworks photographs and their accompanying text, two main interconnected subjectivities emerge, both of which seem threatened by the dislocation through the â€Å"non-place:† organic nature and Goldsworthy, who is simultaneously a conscious manipulator of nature’s autonomous processes as well as driven by the manipulations of nature itself. The larger scope of his County Durham Leadgate and Lambton Earthworks, encourages a more structural and slightly cartographic gaze. A disused railway track becomes the site for a snaking sand track photographed aerially alongside rows of monotonous houses. Their juxtaposition, their mutual encroachment on one another and the snaking imprint’s echo of movement, in one sense seem to re-establish the inter-dependency of urban structures and nature, and the similarities in the way we perceive them despite serving different functions. In this sense, it allows greater insight to its organic qualities by its association. In a technical sense, it could be argued that there is a tension between Goldsworthy’s organic creations and their technological control by the intrinsic features of the photograph. However, any hint of the artist’s exploitation, evoked in works such as â€Å"Snowball in trees†[18] or in references to the name of the excavator driver in the Leadgate and Lambton Earthworks, is balanced out, in exchange, by their precarious existence in nature, where a rock could be precariously balanced on a boulder.[19] This relationship between nature and its manipulations is significant because it represents a reappropriation of our relationship with those places, designated by the artist’s symbols rather than the symbols of industry with which â€Å"individuals are supposed to interact only with texts, whose proponents are not individuals but ‘moral entities’ or institutions[20]†. Goldsworthy navigates and finds his non-prescribed place, by being led by climactic and environmental factors rather than such ‘moral entities.[21] Auge defines non-place in detail against the anthropological concept of place, where the traveller occupies a non-communicative, solitary space with the language of ticket machines and train timetables.[22] Accordingly, these public facilities and structures give the spectator an image of their individuality, or a ‘distanced’ simulated familiarity,[23] by discursively framing and displacing the ‘gaze’ and the individual ‘essence’ towards a simultaneous collective individuality, through the â€Å"individualization of references[24].† In contrast, by allowing the serendipitous influence of nature to produce a unique result on each object, each of the processes in the Earthworks produces individual objects, which, not over-prescribed by images and signs, evolve in partial autonomy. BIBLIOGRAPHY Auge, Marc, Non-Places: introduction to an anthropology of supermodernity, London: Verso, 1995. Baudrillard, Jean, The ecstasy of communication, trans. Bernard Caroline Schutze, ed. Slyvere Lotringer, Brooklyn, N.Y. : Autonomedia, 1988 Goldsworthy, Andy, Andy Goldsworthy, London: Penguin Group, 1990. Hand to Earth, Ed. Andy Goldsworthy. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1993. Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Post-Contemporary Interventions. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1991. Rosenthal, Michael, Constable, London Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1987 Rosenthal, Michael, â€Å"The Victorians and Beyond,† British Landscape Painting, Oxford: Phaidon Press Ltd., 1982 Footnotes [1]Marc Auge, Non-Places:introduction to an anthropology of supermodernity, 1995: Verso, London , p108 [2]Andy Goldsworthy, Andy Goldsworthy, 1990:Penguin Group, London , p1 [3]Andy Goldsworthy, â€Å"Stacked ice sound of cracking,† Hampstead Heath, 28 December 1985 [4] Andy Goldsworthy, â€Å"Leadgate and Lambton earthworks,† County Durham, Winter-Spring 1988-9 [5] Goldsworthy, p3 [6] Auge, p84 [7] opcit, p95 [8] Goldsworthy, p1 [9] ibid [10] ibid [11] For example, â€Å"Bracken,† Borrowdale, Cumbria, 13 February 1988; â€Å"Slate,† Stonewood, Dumfriesshire, Summer 1987, â€Å"Plane Leaves,† Castres, France, 19 October 1988. [12] Cambridge, 24 July 19886 [13] AG, p4 [14] Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Post-Contemporary Interventions. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1991. [15] Auges, p97 [16] Jean Baudrillard, The ecstasy of communication, trans. Bernard Caroline Schutze, ed. Slyvere Lotringer, Brooklyn, N.Y. : Autonomedia, 1988 [17]Michael Rosenthal, Constable, London Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1987 [18] [19] Rock on boulder work [20] Auge, p96 [21] AG, p1 [22] Auge, p107-8 [23] Auge, p106 [24] Auge, p109

Whoops Essay -- Analysis, John Lanchester

The book â€Å"Whoops! Why everyone owes everyone and no one can pay† by John Lanchester, will be analyzed in this essay in order to look at the wider geopolitical banking strategy, the roles and development of international institutions and strategies that have lead to the current economic crisis. At the beginning of the book, the author identifies two key events which created the environment for such a crisis to occur: the Cold war and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. These two events are pointed out because as he sees it, the cold war provided the capitalist nations with an opposite system to compare to, and its advantages in terms of social justice and peoples rights were incomparable. However after the fall of the Berlin Wall, â€Å"capitalism began a victory party that lasted twenty years† (J.Lanchester, p15), and as at its core capitalism is not an equal distributor of wealth, in addition to many countries after the fall abandoning their focus on social justice and focusing on growth, which was not sustainable. Here the author starts to lead the reader to considering how the strategies of society as a whole and key agent of the financial industry were formation of the environment in which they were. A proportion of the blame must lie with certain agents of the industry and their lack of actions. Deregulation had gone too far and governments were too slow or unwilling to act on time. An example given is when five major banks (Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns, and Morgan Stanley) in 2004 were allowed to cut the amount of capital they had to hold as a reserve against potential loses. (J.Lanchester, p.163). The author points out how successful lobbying had become and that those banks at one point wer... ...100). These three banks had to all be bailed out. This situation incorporates the key four elements of the author’s argument, and is one of many. The book’s prevailing theme is how the strategy adopted by various agents of the financial industry has trickled down to the society. The author upon mentioning the creation of securitization, several times notes that this is what â€Å"broke banking†. This change in strategy of banks and the society as a whole led to many changes. The lender and the borrower being separated and the loan sold-off is a key flaw and arguably, speaking in general terms can be largely attributed to the systematic errors existence which played a large role in the most recent crisis. Throughout the book there is a feeling that the author sees the system as not being beneficial to the end consumer when fundamentally this should be the opposite.

Robbery of Freedom: The Ultimate Injustice :: history

Robbery of Freedom: The Ultimate Injustice WRONGFULLY CONVICTED AND IMPRISONED IN ALABAMA My story is told to you as honestly and as accurately as can be. Over the years, I have felt like I've had to 'defend' something, but I have realized that, as bizarre as it is, just tell the truth and let that be it! I was released in April 10,2001, and my quest for justice has only gained momentum. I am the victim of small town politics where the locals have met very little resistance in doing things their own way, regardless of the law. In fact, I am the first one who has ever been known to challenge that state court of Bullock County, Alabama (City of Union Springs) for their misconduct and gross miscarriage of justice. I feel that I must preface my story with events that led up to the conspired, bogus lie, and malicious accusation against me. My accuser, John Will Waters, whom I was never allowed to face in court, is a king pin drug lord. He operates out of that small town, but reaches as far as Colombia, South America. My parents grew up in that same town. Waters was from a long line of moonshiners and crooks. He is very liberal and seems to think money will do anything. He and my parents have always been on the opposite side of issues, i.e., they opposed the building of a state prison there, Waters was for it. They are Republicans, he's a Democrat. My father started, owned and operated a tire business there for 45 years. During the latter years, he depended strictly on out of town business, because the locals prevented county vehicles, school vehicles, and any other county business to be done there. Nevertheless, the business did very well. In 1993, my father had double knee replacement surgery. The business fell behind a few payments on a mortgage loan from a local bank. My father had done business with that bank since 1951. After very few months, the bank began foreclosure proceedings. My father immediately sold a large inventory of tires, raised $10,000. He offered the bank the $10,000 to pay the arrearage plus a few payments in advance to show good faith. Every possible attempt was made to satisfy the bank, but everything was turned down except the $50,000 required to pay the loan off in full.

Hamlet and Horatio Best Friends for Life: an Analysis of Hamlet

3 November 2009 Hamlet and Horatio Best Friends for Life: an Analysis of Hamlet In Hamlet, two characters I believe to be important are Hamlet and his friend, Horatio. Horatio is the second most important character in the play. Horatio is Hamlet’s best friend and advisor. Horatio never keeps anything from Hamlet. In Act one, scene one; Horatio, Bernardo, and Marcellus see the ghost of king Hamlet who was killed by his brother, Claudius. After the ghost disappears, Horatio tells Marcellus and Bernardo to reveal to Hamlet what they have seen. †¦Let us impart what we have seen tonight Unto young Hamlet; for upon my life, This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him†¦. † (Act 1, Scene 1). Hamlet reveals to Horatio what the spirit reveled to him about Claudius. â€Å"†¦But know, thou noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father’s life Now wears his crown. † (Act 1, scene 5). Horatio tells no one, of what Hamlet has told him, and he plays along with Hamlet’s idea of pretending to be mad or insane. I believe this exhibits that Hamlet trusts Horatio more than the other characters. I believe that Hamlet can go to Horatio for anything. †¦There is a play tonight before the king. One scene of it comes near the circumstance Which I have told thee of my father’s death. I prithee, when thou seest that act afoot, Even with the very comment of thy soul Observe my uncle†¦. † (Act 3, Scene 2). I believe that Horatio is able to understand Hamlet better than the other characters do. In Act five, scene two, Hamlet tells Horatio to tell his story to everyone. The only reason that Hamlet would tell Horatio this; is if he was the only one left that could tell his story, and because Horatio is his friend. Let us face it, if we were on our deathbed, would we not want our best friend to tell our story? In Act one, scene two, we get a glimpse of Hamlet’s resentment over his mother’s marriage, to his uncle, which follow hard upon the funeral of his father. â€Å"†¦Within a month, Ere yet the sale of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her galled eyes She married. O most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It is not, nor it cannot come to good. But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue. † ( Act 1, Scene 2). In Act two, Scene one, we see a hint of Hamlet’s love for Ophelia. In Act two, scene two, Hamlet doubts the spirit of his father, and thinks that his father could be telling the truth or telling a lie. He is not quite sure which is truth and which is false. We see that Hamlet has many questions as to what he could do to see if the ghost is telling the truth. He decides to put on a play with a scene that he has added. In Act three, scene one, we get a peek of how he seems to know everything. â€Å"Let the doors be shut upon him [Polonius], that he may play the fool nowhere but in’s own house. Farewell. † In this Act, he says things to Ophelia that I believe he does not mean, such as, â€Å"Get thee to a nunnery. ’’ I believe he is saying what he says for the benefit of Polonius, Ophelia’s father. Polonius believes that Hamlet is mad, or insane. â€Å"Your noble son is mad. † Hamlet is abhorrent toward Claudius because Claudius killed his father. In act three, scene four we see Hamlet’s reluctance to kill his uncle, but this time he is unwilling to kill Claudius because he is praying or that is what it seems like to Hamlet. Let us face it, who in their right mind would kill someone while they are praying? However, I believe that Hamlet should have killed Claudius in this scene because if he did then the other characters that die would not have died and his father’s spirit would be able to rest in peace. At the end of Act three, Hamlet kills Polonius believing him to be Claudius. â€Å"I took thee for thy better. † It was so easy for Hamlet to kill Polonius because he believed him to be Claudius. Hamlet then hides the body because he does not want anyone to know what he has done, or maybe he hides the body ecause he wants people to believe that he is insane. At the end of the play, Hamlet forces Claudius to drink from a cup of poison thus killing him. Horatio knowing that Hamlet was dying decides to drink from the cup so he would not be alone, but Hamlet stops him. Hamlet then tells Horatio to tell his story to the world. Hamlet also dies from the same poison. Throughout the play, Hamlet ha s been at war with Claudius because Claudius killed his father and then married his mother. At the same time, he is at a constant battle with his feelings. He asks questions that are difficult to answer or even understand, but he always comes up with an answer. Horatio’s part in the play is the second important part. Without Horatio, I believe that Hamlet would have killed himself, because he would not have any one to share his burden of killing his uncle. Horatio keeps helping Hamlet every chance he gets. Horatio also tries to take poison because Hamlet is dying; if this is not true friendship then I do not know what is. Shaksper's Hamlet

Psychoanalytic Analysis on the Black Cat

A Psychoanalytic Analysis on The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe First of all, let us go into the world of â€Å"The Black Cat† and delve into the inner workings of the dark side of the human mind. ‘The Black Cat' is a story that leaves the reader perplexed to some extent. It certainly contains all the ingredients necessary to satisfy the appetite of any Poe enthusiast – an enigmatic narrator, alcohol , mutilation, strangulation, murder, and, last but not least, one of Poe's slight obsessions, perversity In the story, The Black Cat, there is a lot of symbolism regarding hidden attributes of his life.The black cat itself represents not only a hidden meaning but a meaning the narrator wished to keep hidden. The black cat symbolizes the narrator's or Poe's alcoholism. Edgar Allen Poe has been accused of being an alcoholic throughout his life and it may have actually lead up to the cause of his death. The short story may give a subtle view at Poe's fight with the disease and the disease's eventual triumph. The black cat may not only be a symbol of the alcoholism that Poe faces but perhaps just his conscious in general regarding most anything deviant.By depicting mental conflict, Poe reveals the theme that the human mind would be healthy and alive if it were incapable of thought, but since it is a mind and does possess the power of introspection and self-knowledge, then that very power and knowledge spell its death. From this protagonist with conflicting thought, we may experience more or less Poe’s inner world of himself in which his mind is half mad and full of horror like the narrator of â€Å"The Black Cat†. Poe was afraid of the fits of temper that came over him while he was drinking. When sober he was a gentleman, courteous in any situation, and the very soul of gentility.When he was affected by alcohol, however, the suppressed rage that he felt for what he considered the injustices of a gross and unfeeling would expressed itself in vituperation and violence. In creating the narrator of â€Å"The Black Cat†, Poe distorted and exaggerated all the faults of his personality while drunk. Even though the narrator denies this, we becomes increasingly aware of his superstitious belief as the story progresses from the fact that he calls his cat, Pluto, who in Greek and Roman mythology was the god of the dead and the ruler of the underworld.One moment he will be in a perfect frenzy of violence, with nothing but curses and vituperation even for those he loves. Very quickly, however, he is overcome with remorse and is sorry for all that he has said and done. We can prove this by reading the following sentences: Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or a silly action, for no other reason than because he knows he should not? Have we not a perpetual inclination, in the teeth of our best judgment, to violate that which is Law, merely because we understand it to be such? This spirit of perver seness, I say, came to my final overthrow.It was this unfathomable longing of the soul to vex itself—to offer violence to its own nature—to do wrong for the wrong’s sake only—that urged me to continue and finally to consummate the injury I had inflicted upon the unoffending brute. The narrator is not Poe, but Poe used details of his own experience in the character of the narrator. Indeed, Poe places the subconscious condition of the mind under investigation and probes beneath the surface of normal existence. What interests him most is the deep abyss of the unconscious and subconscious mental activity of the people, the subterranean recesses of the mind at work. Psychoanalytic Analysis on the Black Cat A Psychoanalytic Analysis on The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe First of all, let us go into the world of â€Å"The Black Cat† and delve into the inner workings of the dark side of the human mind. ‘The Black Cat' is a story that leaves the reader perplexed to some extent. It certainly contains all the ingredients necessary to satisfy the appetite of any Poe enthusiast – an enigmatic narrator, alcohol , mutilation, strangulation, murder, and, last but not least, one of Poe's slight obsessions, perversity In the story, The Black Cat, there is a lot of symbolism regarding hidden attributes of his life.The black cat itself represents not only a hidden meaning but a meaning the narrator wished to keep hidden. The black cat symbolizes the narrator's or Poe's alcoholism. Edgar Allen Poe has been accused of being an alcoholic throughout his life and it may have actually lead up to the cause of his death. The short story may give a subtle view at Poe's fight with the disease and the disease's eventual triumph. The black cat may not only be a symbol of the alcoholism that Poe faces but perhaps just his conscious in general regarding most anything deviant.By depicting mental conflict, Poe reveals the theme that the human mind would be healthy and alive if it were incapable of thought, but since it is a mind and does possess the power of introspection and self-knowledge, then that very power and knowledge spell its death. From this protagonist with conflicting thought, we may experience more or less Poe’s inner world of himself in which his mind is half mad and full of horror like the narrator of â€Å"The Black Cat†. Poe was afraid of the fits of temper that came over him while he was drinking. When sober he was a gentleman, courteous in any situation, and the very soul of gentility.When he was affected by alcohol, however, the suppressed rage that he felt for what he considered the injustices of a gross and unfeeling would expressed itself in vituperation and violence. In creating the narrator of â€Å"The Black Cat†, Poe distorted and exaggerated all the faults of his personality while drunk. Even though the narrator denies this, we becomes increasingly aware of his superstitious belief as the story progresses from the fact that he calls his cat, Pluto, who in Greek and Roman mythology was the god of the dead and the ruler of the underworld.One moment he will be in a perfect frenzy of violence, with nothing but curses and vituperation even for those he loves. Very quickly, however, he is overcome with remorse and is sorry for all that he has said and done. We can prove this by reading the following sentences: Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or a silly action, for no other reason than because he knows he should not? Have we not a perpetual inclination, in the teeth of our best judgment, to violate that which is Law, merely because we understand it to be such? This spirit of perver seness, I say, came to my final overthrow.It was this unfathomable longing of the soul to vex itself—to offer violence to its own nature—to do wrong for the wrong’s sake only—that urged me to continue and finally to consummate the injury I had inflicted upon the unoffending brute. The narrator is not Poe, but Poe used details of his own experience in the character of the narrator. Indeed, Poe places the subconscious condition of the mind under investigation and probes beneath the surface of normal existence. What interests him most is the deep abyss of the unconscious and subconscious mental activity of the people, the subterranean recesses of the mind at work.