A comparative analysis of French and other local languages in Conde's Essay

A comparative analysis of French and other local languages in Conde's Traversee de la Mangrove and Chamoiseau's Chronique des sept miseres - Essay Example Condà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Traversà ©e de la Mangrove and Chamoiseau’s Chronique des sept misà ¨res will be closely analysed in this essay in order to provide a comparative analysis of the use of French and other local languages in both novels. Firstly, the narrative technique of both novels will be analysed in order to determine how the French language is presented and the message that each author wishes to portray to the reader as a result. The presentation of local languages will also be considered so that insight can be gained into how each author wishes to represent their place of birth and its culture through linguistic technique. Finally, the use of myth and fantasy will be examined so that a clear form of usage can be defined, in order to decipher its function within the portrayal of the French language. By representing a collection of different opinions, all of which question each other’s motives, Condà © provides a way of presenting collective accounts as a means of several possibilities and ways to write a novel. This free and somewhat disorderly structure may suggest that Condà © wishes to counteract typical order and demands. An argument for this case can be put forward as Condà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s female characters speak in the first person. In Mira’s first account, the first person is employed from the beginning as she explains to the reader about times during her childhood when she spent time at the river. She informs the reader that, The use of the first person is important, out of all the men represented in the novel, it is only Loulou’s son, Joby who is  «Ã‚  un garà §onnet pà ¢lot  Ã‚ »2, a description, which is rather emasculating and Xantippe who Condà © permits to speak in the first person. It is interesting to note on this point that during the classical period of ancient Greece, Xantippe was in fact a woman and wife to Socrates, a

Changes in Children- Birth Essay Example for Free

Changes in Children- Birth Essay Before six months the main reason why a child’s emotion and emotional expression is different is due to the brain not being fully mylinated. As the child ages past the first month, their frontal cortex begins to advance as increasing neurological development is starting and beginning to modify and transform the operations of the in-built emotional expressions (Wilson, 2003, p. 55). Suffering, pain, joy, fear and interest are among the first emotions that an infant express. These primary emotions are important as this is a child’s first way of showing and communicating with adults their needs. It is for the reason of communication we must look at our primary emotions as a human survival mechanism, as these are involuntary and in- built features all children are born with (Wilson, 2003, p. 55). All primary emotions are all expressed in the same manner, which raises the question as to whether emotions are all universal; that emotions are genetic, or that all cultures share mutual background features. There are 2 main theories on emotional development; discrete emotions theory and a structural approach (Wilson, 2003, p. 48). Izard, Tomkins, Ekman are the leaders of discrete emotions theory. These theorists proclaimed that emotion had 3 components; physiological, behavioural and subjective. These emotions where present from birth and could be seen by studying facial expressions of infants. The results and information these theorists where gaining agreed with Darwin that these expressions where the same in all culture and must be an in-built neural feature. As humans age our primary emotions network with cognition and form ‘cognitive affected structures’, this is how secondary emotions are developed discrete emotions theory (Wilson, 2003, p. 49). This theory can be applied to my own family, as recently there was a sudden death of my aunt, as a result we had family members calling from different parts of Australia and the world calling to offer their condolences and support to our family. This reaction to a death of a family member is universal. The structural development approach see’s development as holistic. This approach states that all systems interact with each other and the environment with emphasis on the social environment. The environment play a large factor in the development of children, but theorists cannot deny genetic is also a large contributor. Sroufe a theorist states that all emotions have antecedent. In Sroufe’s theory in the first 6 months of an infant’s life emotional ancestor can also be physiological states and not recognised as emotions, and that secondary emotions build from there (Wilson, 2003, p. 50). By the age of two, a toddler’s brain contains more neurons than an adult and has twice the amount of connections between these cells. It has been linked that that as a toddler’s brain contains more neurons that they need more rest then adults for their brain’s to function fully. During this time more neurons die and more connections are pruned throughout brain in the first three years of life than other stage of life. The leading element of the development of expressions of emotion in the child’s environment is the carer and the care the child receives. Emotional deprivation occurs when children who are not had consistent warm emotional relationships as a young child, this leads to their secondary emotions being weak. Children who have suffered from emotional deprivation are targets for exploitation and paedophiles as they have ‘affection hunger’ (Wilson, 2012 slide, 8) A child in the toddlerhood has additionally reached a point where they have developed a sense of self. The maturation of the frontal lobes and the limbic circuit in the brain is the cause for the development of a toddler achieving a sense of self. As a result of the toddlers sense of self they are able to show empathy and can affectively communicate and label their emotions to their peers and adults. This allows a child to say ‘I am mad or sad’ instead of crying and having a tantrum, although toddlers still react in this manner they can communicate there emotions more effectively (â€Å"Emotional development†, 2006,. ara 7). From two to six years of age is early childhood. It is at this stage in a child’s life they have developed motor skills that enable them to become more self-sufficient and self-controlled. Children are creating friendships and being more engrossed in playtime such as; painting pictures which creates symbolic expression. There is an incr easing need for the carer to engage with the toddler by conversing and meeting the child’s social, cognitive and emotional needs, their perspectives, and interests. The child’s ability to tell stories is a way of understanding their perspectives (â€Å"Hearing young children’s voices,† nd, p. 19). Through a greater understanding of the world around them a child develop and understanding that the world didn’t revolve around them and that nothing was as simple as they one thought it was. During the age of 2-6 most children attend preschool, which gives young children a great understand about display rules. By attending preschool it gives young children an understanding about how to express their emotions in an appropriate way in all contexts of life ranging from family, school and society. Toddlers may learn how to appropriately express their emotions but influences from their family still have a great impact on their expression. The preschool is a system, with rules, boundaries, and expectations. It is important for children to know where they stand and by placing them in a system such as preschool whilst they are developing their emotional expression allows them to shine. For children in good environments the control of emotional expression accelerates from 3 to 5 years (Wilson, 2003, p132). From the age of six to eight children become aware of the difference between expressing emotion and feeling it. This affectively allows the child to manage their emotional expression by reflecting on their emotions; this is an emotional coping skill children learn in order to avoid negative attention or experiences such as bullying. Although, school age children are becoming more exposed to the wider world new challenges are arising such as, fears of failing or poor academic result in school as many children are put under presser from parents to achieve high grades (Berk, 2009, p. 410). When the child reaches ten years of age their expression of emotions is likely to have significantly enhanced. At this age most children have developed a set of techniques for controlling their expressions of emotion. General strategies are problem centred coping, they are able to identify the challenge, asses and solve issues that may arise. If problem solving is not successful the child may adopt emotion-centred coping that is private and internal (Berk, 2009, p. 410). An external influence has also been heightened during this period such communicating with their peers on how to deal with the situation. Children at this age are able to justify circumstances and actions or â€Å"reconstruct scenarios to make them seem less upsetting emotionally† (â€Å"Emotional development†, 2006,. para. 11). By age eleven, the child has began to integrate inner standards of excellence and good behaviour with self-conscious emotions; their internal strategies are starting to be utilised for self-regulating, and a shift from problem centred and emotion centred coping has taken place and there social etiquette of expressing emotions has improved (Berk, 2009, p. 416). In adolescents emotions are still forming. Most children reach adolescence rom eleven to twenty years. During this time an adolescent is trying to create distance from their family and form their independence. Peer pressure may appear to be irresistible regardless of the adolescence’s inner feelings, as it full fills their need for acceptance and desire to ‘fit it’. Emotional expression and even the adole scence’s inner feelings may alter on the way they react to certain stimuli or events, when in the context of groups, this can be seen in how a adolescent reacts on a school excursion to how they react out with their peers on the weekend at a movie theatre. Wilson, 2003, p. 176-77). Young adolescences’ endure peer group contexts where their expression of emotion is displayed in the environment of peer norms. Each child is an individual as they have been brought up in different backgrounds. In turn their fundamental feelings have been restricted although they have acquired the display associated with emotion. In example some adolescences may display in anger in what they have seen of anger, with the increase in aggression used television shows and in movies adds to the range of anger an adolescent cane use (Wilson, 2003, pp176-77). In certain circumstances some adolescences exhibition emotions that they may not feel or more emotions than felt, this is present in children of younger age groups but, is more dominant in adolescences. Adolescence is known as a period of storm and stress. Social, cognitive and environmental factors are a large contribution of how the adolescences expression of emotion will inevitably mature. During adolescence the social problems become more complex and they chose to talk to their peers to offer help to overcome this situation (â€Å"Emotional development†, 2006,. para. 12). Children who have been deprived have complex expressions of emotions, and on top of the struggle with complicated emotions that arise during adolescents put’s these children at greater strain. Adolescents according to Piaget are self- focusing. Piaget believed that during adolescence a new form of egocentrism formed as adolescents could not separate the difference between their thoughts and others thoughts. There were 2 main ways this could be explained, through self-audience and personal fable. Self -audience is when an adolescent believes they are the emphasis of everyone’s attention. It is through self-audience that adolescents may feel extremely self-conscious and aware of themselves. Self fable is when an adolescent feels that people are always giving them attention and watching them, this is similar to what a toddler may think but by this stage an adolescent should know that they can not always be the centre of attention. When an adolescent is not receiving they believe is due it leads to them being upset and moody. (Berk, 2009, p. 252) As human beings everyone develops their emotion expression at various time of their life. As we age and mature so do our emotions and expressions, how an infant reacts to a range of emotions compared to a 20 year old will be absolutely different, this may be due to the culture they have been brought up in or they have learned display rules. As seen throughout this essay emotional development does not occur in isolation but in some rare circumstances it does, there are many cognitive, neurological and behavioural influences interact with emotional, social and cultural influences. References Berk, L. (2009). Child development (8th ed. Person International Edition Colman,A. (2009), Oxford Dictionary of Psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press Emotional development . (2006). Retrieved from http://www. education. com/reference/article/emotional-development/ Hearing young children’s voices, (n. d). Retrieved from http://www. children. act. gov. au/documents/PDF/under5report. pdf Wilson, L. (2003), The Emotional Life of Children. National Library of Australia: Charles Sturt University. Wilson, L. (2012). Lecture3: dependence needs of children [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from in class on the 17/07/2012

Essay --

IMPAIRMENT AWARE ROUTING In WDM technology, the capacity of a fiber is divided into several subscribers by using light paths. In these paths traffic flows. Traffic between a pair of nodes may not fill up the available bandwidth of a light path. The network performance is affected by the transmission impairments which are due to the non ideal optical components. Since we have optical amplifier, optical switches and other optical devices and soon we have all optical equipments with the time and it is possibility that the entire network will be optical network. Transparent Optical Network Opaque Network There are two types of networks. These are opaque network and transparent network. In opaque network we have to do Optical-Electrical-Optical conversion at all nodes in the path. This type of network is costly because if we make a nationwide network then we will have to use a large no. of routers. But to make it less expensive we can use translucent network. In translucent network the regeneration is done only on a few nodes instead of all nodes. Transparent Network The other network that is transparent is less costly because there is no need of OEO conversion at the intermediate nodes. We can send analog signal in the transparent network. The size of transparent network is determined by impairments effects such as Chromatic dispersion (CD), attenuation, crosstalk, noise etc. Effects of Transmission Impairments on Routing and Wavelength Assignment When signal travels from source to destination then it may be ruined by linear and non-linear impairments. Linear impairments are amplifier noise, Group velocity dispersion (GVD), polarization mode dispersion (PMD), component crosstalk. The nonlinear impairments are self-phase modulation... ...s called Physical layer blocking. Advantages ïÆ'Ëœ Network load decreases by using IABP and IAFF ïÆ'Ëœ About 30 % reduction in blocking ïÆ'Ëœ Call admission criteria not only depends on the resource availability but also on quality of light path’s signal ïÆ'Ëœ A light path with good signal quality ïÆ'Ëœ Network resources are in intelligent control ïÆ'Ëœ Network used more efficiently Disadvantages ïÆ'Ëœ This technology cannot compute a route with minimal impairments ïÆ'Ëœ To find a qualified route path for the connection request it needs more than one trial ïÆ'Ëœ Algorithm does not consider residual-dispersion accumulation, power divergence, polarization-dependent loss gain (PDLIPDG), filter concatenation, signal transient, fiber nonlinearities. ïÆ'Ëœ When the data rate increases to 40 Gbps and furthermore, impairments become even more difficult ïÆ'Ëœ As load increases the call blocking increases

How Stevenson Explores the Nature of Good and Evil in the Strange Case

How Stevenson Explores the Nature of Good and Evil in the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde The story is about a doctor called Jekyll who has an alternate identity called Hyde. Until the last two chapters it is told from the view point of Mr Utterson; a friend of Jekyll’s who is trying to piece together the story. It uses features of gothic novels such as doppelganger which is an alternate identity. It also uses multiple narratives to make the reader think, it also helps the reader solve the case themselves, and piece the story together, from the evidence given. To a certain extent Stevenson also uses the monster feature in the form of Edward Hyde. In this novel, Stevenson was trying to show that good and evil are not separate within us but are a combined part of us so instead of trying to split them we should except the unity and only then will we be able to make our good side prevail in the struggle of good and evil. One of the features of a gothic novel used is the haunted house. Authors of gothic novels use a character’s house to reflect the characters psychological manner. In this story Jekyll’s house is described as being â€Å"grand and having an air of wealth and comfort†. This mimics Jekyll’s personality as he is portrayed for the reader,† a large, well-made, smooth-faced man†. The description â€Å"smooth-faced man† gives the impression that he is not only hiding his age but also the secrets that come with age. We get the impression that he has something to hide right at the beginning of the story; I believe that through this Stevenson gives us a hint that Jekyll has some thing that he wants to keep hidden. His house however has a backdoor which is described as â€Å"blistered and distained†. This, .. ...mic society by using the split personality of Jekyll and Hyde, which is emphasized by the two entrances to his house, to show the mixed views of people from that time period. He also voiced the fear of most of the society through his monster Hyde, who is created through science but cannot be controlled. I believe not only does he express the fear of science going wrong, he also expresses the view of not playing God, by showing that man might not be able to permanently control what he creates, which is shown by Jekyll loosing control of the transformation to Hyde. He also tries to explain that the good and evil parts of us are what make us who we are and instead of trying to separate them and risk losing control we should embrace them and try through our actions, to let the good side prevail instead of using science to destroy us while trying to do well.

Shadow Kiss Chapter 29

Twenty-nine NEARLY A WEEK LATER, I showed up at Adrian's door. We hadn't had classes since the attack, but our normal curfew hours were still in effect, and it was almost bedtime. Adrian's face registered complete and total shock when he saw me. It was the first time I'd ever sought him out, rather than vice versa. â€Å"Little dhampir,† he said, stepping aside. â€Å"Come in.† I did, and was nearly overwhelmed by the smell of alcohol as I passed him. The Academy's guest housing was nice, but he clearly hadn't done much to keep his suite clean. I had a feeling he'd probably been drinking nonstop since the attack. The TV was on, and a small table by the couch held a half-empty bottle of vodka. I picked it up and read the label. It was in Russian. â€Å"Bad time?† I asked, setting it back down. â€Å"Never a bad time for you,† he told me gallantly. His face looked haggard. He was still as good-looking as ever, but there were dark circles under his eyes like he hadn't been sleeping well. He waved me toward an armchair and sat down on the couch. â€Å"Haven't seen much of you.† I leaned back. â€Å"I haven't wanted to be seen,† I admitted. I'd hardly spoken to anyone since the attack. I'd spent a lot of time by myself or with Lissa. I took comfort from being around her, but we hadn't said much. She understood that I needed to process things and had simply been there for me, not pushing me on things I didn't want to talk about – even though there were a dozen things she wanted to ask. The Academy's dead had been honored in one group memorial service, although their families had made arrangements for each person's respective funeral. I'd gone to the larger service. The chapel had been packed, with standing room only. Father Andrew had read the names of the dead, listing Dimitri and Molly among them. No one was talking about what had really happened to them. There was too much other grief anyway. We were drowning in it. No one even knew how the Academy would pick up the pieces and start running again. â€Å"You look worse than I do,† I told Adrian. â€Å"I didn't think that was possible.† He brought the bottle to his lips and took a long drink. â€Å"Nah, you always look good. As for me †¦ well, it's hard to explain. The auras are getting to me. There's so much sorrow around here. You can't even begin to understand. It radiates from everyone on a spiritual level. It's overwhelming. It makes your dark aura downright cheerful.† â€Å"Is that why you're drinking?† â€Å"Yup. It's shut my aura-vision right off, thankfully, so I can't give you a report today.† He offered me the bottle, and I shook my head. He shrugged and took another drink. â€Å"So what can I do for you, Rose? I have a feeling you aren't here to check on me.† He was right, and I only felt a little bad about what I was here for. I'd done a lot of thinking this last week. Processing my grief for Mason had been hard. In fact, I hadn't even really quite resolved it when the ghost business had started. Now I had to mourn all over again. After all, more than Dimitri had been lost. Teachers had died, guardians and Moroi alike. None of my close friends had died, but people I knew from classes had. They'd been students at the Academy as long as I had, and it was weird to think I'd never see them again. That was a lot of loss to deal with, a lot of people to say goodbye to. But†¦ Dimitri. He was a different case. After all, how did you say goodbye to someone who wasn't exactly gone? That was the problem. â€Å"I need money,† I told Adrian, not bothering with pretense. He arched an eyebrow. â€Å"Unexpected. From you, at least. I get that kind of request a lot from others. Pray tell, what would I be funding?† I glanced away from him, focusing on the television. It was a commercial for some kind of deodorant. â€Å"I'm leaving the Academy,† I said finally. â€Å"Also unexpected. You're only a few months out from graduation.† I met his eyes. â€Å"It doesn't matter. I have things to do now.† â€Å"I never figured you'd be one of the dropout guardians. You going to join the blood whores?† â€Å"No,† I said. â€Å"Of course not.† â€Å"Don't act so offended. That's not an unreasonable assumption. If you're not going to be a guardian, what else are you going to do?† â€Å"I told you. I have things I have to take care of.† He arched an eyebrow. â€Å"Things that are going to get you into trouble?† I shrugged. He laughed. â€Å"Stupid question, huh? Everything you do gets you in trouble.† He propped his elbow up on the couch's arm and rested his chin in his hand. â€Å"Why'd you come to me for money?† â€Å"Because you have it.† This also made him laugh. â€Å"And why do you think I'll give it to you?† I didn't say anything. I just looked at him, forcing as much womanly charm as I could into my expression. His smile went away, and his green eyes narrowed in frustration. He jerked his gaze away. â€Å"Damn it, Rose. Don't do that. Not now. You're playing on how I feel about you. That's not fair.† He gulped more vodka. He was right. I'd come to him because I thought I could use his crush to get what I wanted. It was low, but I had no choice. Getting up, I moved over and sat beside him. I held his hand. â€Å"Please, Adrian,† I said. â€Å"Please help me. You're the only one I can go to.† â€Å"That's not fair,† he repeated, slurring his words a little. â€Å"You're using those come-hither eyes on me, but it's not me you want. It's never been me. It's always been Belikov, and God only knows what you'll do now that he's gone.† He was right about that too. â€Å"Will you help me?† I asked, still playing up the charisma. â€Å"You're the only one I could talk to †¦ the only one who really understands me†¦.† â€Å"Are you coming back?† he countered. â€Å"Eventually.† Tipping his head back, he exhaled a heavy breath. His hair, which I'd always thought looked stylishly messy, simply looked messy today. â€Å"Maybe it's for the best if you leave. Maybe you'll get over him faster if you go away for a while. Wouldn't hurt to be away from Lissa's aura either. It might slow yours from darkening – stop this rage you always seem to be in. You need to be happier. And stop seeing ghosts.† My seduction faltered for a moment. â€Å"Lissa isn't why I'm seeing ghosts. Well, she is, but not in the way you think. I see the ghosts because I'm shadow-kissed. I'm tied to the world of the dead, and the more I kill, the stronger that connection becomes. It's why I see the dead and why I feel weird when Strigoi are near. I can sense them now. They're tied to that world too.† He frowned. â€Å"You're saying the auras mean nothing? That you aren't taking away the effects of spirit?† â€Å"No. That's happening too. That's why this has all been so confusing. I thought there was just one thing going on, but there've been two. I see the ghosts because of being shadow-kissed. I'm getting†¦ upset and angry†¦ bad, even†¦ because I'm taking away Lissa's dark side. That's why my aura's darkening, why I'm getting so enraged lately. Right now, it just sort of plays out as a really bad temper†¦.† I frowned, thinking of the night Dimitri had stopped me from going after Jesse. â€Å"But I don't know what it'll turn into next.† Adrian sighed. â€Å"Why is everything so complicated with you?† â€Å"Will you help me? Please, Adrian?† I ran my fingers along his hand. â€Å"Please help me.† Low, low. This was so low of me, but it didn't matter. Only Dimitri did. Finally, Adrian looked back at me. For the first time ever, he looked vulnerable. â€Å"When you come back, will you give me a fair shot?† I hid my surprise. â€Å"What do you mean?† â€Å"It's like I said. You've never wanted me, never even considered me. The flowers, the flirting †¦ it rolled right off you. You were so gone for him, and nobody noticed. If you go do your thing, will you take me seriously? Will you give me a chance when you return?† I stared. I definitely hadn't expected this. My initial instinct was to say no, that I could never love anybody again, that my heart had been shattered along with that piece of my soul that Dimitri held. But Adrian was looking at me so earnestly, and there was none of his joking nature. He meant what he said, and I realized all the affection for me he'd always teased about hadn't been a joke either. Lissa had been right about his feelings. â€Å"Will you?† he repeated. God only knows what you'll do now that he's gone. â€Å"Of course.† Not an honest answer, but a necessary one. Adrian looked away and drank more vodka. There wasn't much left. â€Å"When are you leaving?† â€Å"Tomorrow.† Setting the bottle down, he stood up and walked off into the bedroom. He returned with a large stack of cash. I wondered if he kept it under his bed or something. He handed it to me wordlessly and then picked up the phone and made some calls. The sun was up, and the human world, which handled most Moroi money, was also up and awake. I tried to watch TV while he talked, but I couldn't concentrate. I kept wanting to scratch the back of my neck. Because there was no way of knowing exactly how many Strigoi I and the others had killed, we'd all been given a different kind of tattoo instead of the usual set of molnija marks. I'd forgotten its name, but this tattoo looked like a little star. It meant that the bearer had been in a battle and killed many Strigoi. When he finally finished his calls, Adrian handed me a piece of paper. It had the name and address of a bank in Missoula. â€Å"Go there,† he said. â€Å"I'm guessing you have to go to Missoula first anyway if you're actually going on to anywhere civilized. There's an account set up for you with †¦ a lot of money in it. Talk to them, and they'll finish the paperwork with you.† I stood up and stuffed the bills in my jacket. â€Å"Thank you,† I said. Without hesitating, I reached out and hugged him. The scent of vodka was overpowering, but I felt I owed him. I was taking advantage of his feelings for me in order to further my own devices. He put his arms around me and held me for several seconds before letting go. I brushed my lips against his cheek as we broke apart, and I thought he might stop breathing. â€Å"I won't forget this,† I murmured in his ear. â€Å"I don't suppose you'll tell me where you're going?† he asked. â€Å"No,† I said. â€Å"I'm sorry.† â€Å"Just keep your promise and come back.† â€Å"I didn't actually use the word promise,† I pointed out. He smiled and pressed a kiss to my forehead. â€Å"You're right. I'm going to miss you, little dhampir. Be careful. If you ever need anything, let me know. I'll be waiting for you.† I thanked him again and left, not bothering to tell him he might be waiting a long time. There was a very real possibility that I might not be coming back. The next day, I got up early, long before most of campus was awake. I'd hardly slept. I slung a bag over my shoulder and walked over to the main office in the administrative building. The office wasn't open yet either, so I sat down on the floor in the hallway outside of it. Studying my hands as I waited, I noticed two tiny flecks of gold on my thumbnail. They were the only remnants of my manicure. About twenty minutes later, the secretary showed up with the keys and let me in. â€Å"What can I do for you?† she asked, once she was seated at her desk. I handed her a stack of papers I'd been holding. â€Å"I'm withdrawing.† Her eyes widened to impossible size. â€Å"But†¦what†¦you can't†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I tapped the stack. â€Å"I can. It's all filled out.† Still gaping, she muttered something to me about waiting, and then scurried out of the room. A few minutes later, she returned with Headmistress Kirova. Kirova had apparently been briefed and was looking at me very disapprovingly down her beaklike nose. â€Å"Miss Hathaway, what's the meaning of this?† â€Å"I'm leaving,† I said. â€Å"Quitting. Dropping out. Whatever.† â€Å"You can't do that,† she said. â€Å"Well, obviously I can, since you guys keep withdrawal paperwork in the library. It's all filled out the way it needs to be.† Her anger changed into something sadder and more anxious. â€Å"I know a lot has gone on lately – we're all having trouble adjusting – but that's no reason to make a hasty decision. If anything, we need you more than ever.† She was almost pleading. Hard to believe she'd wanted to expel me six months ago. â€Å"This wasn't hasty,† I said. â€Å"I thought a lot about it.† â€Å"Let me at least get your mother so we can talk this out.† â€Å"She left for Europe three days ago. Not that it matters anyway.† I pointed to the line on the top form that said date of birth. â€Å"I'm eighteen today. She can't do anything anymore. This is my choice. Now, will you stamp the form, or are you actually going to try to restrain me? Pretty sure I could take you in a fight, Kirova.† They stamped my packet, not happily. The secretary made a copy of the official paper that declared I was no longer a student at St. Vladimir's Academy. I'd need it to get out the main gate. It was a long walk to the front of the school, and the western sky was red as the sun slipped over the horizon. The weather had warmed up, even at night. Spring had finally come. It made for good walking weather since I had a ways to go before I made it to the highway. From there, I'd hitchhike to Missoula. Hitchhiking wasn't safe, but the silver stake in my coat pocket made me feel pretty secure about anything I'd face. No one had taken it away from me after the raid, and it would work just as well against creepy humans as it did with Strigoi. I could just make out the gates when I sensed her. Lissa. I stopped walking and turned toward a cluster of bud-covered trees. She'd been standing in them, perfectly still, and had managed to hide her thoughts so well that I hadn't realized she was practically right next to me. Her hair and eyes glowed in the sunset, and she seemed too beautiful and too ethereal to be part of this dreary landscape. â€Å"Hey,† I said. â€Å"Hey.† She wrapped her arms around herself, cold even in her coat. Moroi didn't have the same resistance to temperature changes that dhampirs did. What I found warm and springlike was still chilly to her. â€Å"I knew it,† she said. â€Å"Ever since that day they said his body was gone. Something told me you'd do this. I was just waiting.† â€Å"Can you read my mind now?† I asked ruefully. â€Å"No, I can just read you. Finally. I can't believe how blind I was. I can't believe I never noticed. Victor's comment†¦ he was right.† She glanced off at the sunset, then turned her gaze back on me. A flash of anger, both in her feelings and her eyes, hit me. â€Å"Why didn't you tell me?† she cried. â€Å"Why didn't you tell me you loved Dimitri?† I stared. I couldn't remember the last time Lissa had yelled at anyone. Maybe last fall, when all the Victor insanity had gone down. Loud outbursts were my thing, not hers. Even when torturing Jesse, her voice had been deadly quiet. â€Å"I couldn't tell anyone,† I said. â€Å"I'm your best friend, Rose. We've been through everything together. Do you really think I would have told? I would have kept it secret.† I looked at the ground. â€Å"I know you would have. I just†¦ I don't know. I couldn't talk about it. Not even to you. I can't explain it.† â€Å"How†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She groped for the question her mind had already formed. â€Å"How serious was it? Was it just you or – ?† â€Å"It was both of us,† I told her. â€Å"He felt the same. But we knew we couldn't be together, not with our age†¦and, well, not when we were supposed to be protecting you.† Lissa frowned. â€Å"What do you mean?† â€Å"Dimitri always said that if we were involved, we'd worry more about protecting each other than you. We couldn't do that.† Guilt coursed through her at the thought that she'd been responsible for keeping us apart. â€Å"It's not your fault,† I said quickly. â€Å"Surely†¦there must have been a way. †¦ It wouldn't have been a problem†¦.† I shrugged, unwilling to think about or mention our last kiss in the forest, back when Dimitri and I had thought we'd figured out a solution to all of our problems. â€Å"I don't know,† I said. â€Å"We just tried to stay apart. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn't.† Her mind was a tumble of emotions. She felt sorry for me, but at the same time, she was mad. â€Å"You should have told me,† she repeated. â€Å"I feel like you don't trust me.† â€Å"Of course I trust you.† â€Å"Is that why you're sneaking off?† â€Å"That has nothing to do with trust,† I admitted. â€Å"It's me†¦well, I didn't want to tell you. I couldn't bear to tell you I was leaving or explain why.† â€Å"I already know,† she said. â€Å"I figured it out.† â€Å"How?† I asked. Lissa was full of surprises today. â€Å"I was there. Last fall when we took that van into Missoula. The shopping trip? You and Dimitri were talking about Strigoi, about how becoming one makes you something twisted and evil†¦how it destroys the person you used to be and makes you do horrible things. And I heard †¦Ã¢â‚¬  She had trouble saying it. I had trouble hearing it, and my eyes grew wet. The memory was too harsh, thinking of sitting with him that day, back when we were first falling in love. Lissa swallowed and continued. â€Å"I heard you both say you'd rather die than become a monster like that.† Silence fell between us. The wind picked up and blew our hair around, dark and light. â€Å"I have to do this, Liss. I have to do it for him.† â€Å"No,† she said firmly. â€Å"You don't have to. You didn't promise him anything.† â€Å"Not in words, no. But you †¦ you don't understand.† â€Å"I understand that you're trying to cope and that this is as good a way as any. You need to find another way to let him go.† I shook my head. â€Å"I have to do this.† â€Å"Even if it means leaving me?† The way she said it, the way she looked at me †¦ oh God. A flood of memories flitted through my mind. We'd been together since childhood. Inseparable. Bound. And yet†¦Dimitri and I had been connected too. Damn it. I'd never wanted to have to choose between them. â€Å"I have to do this,† I said yet again. â€Å"I'm sorry.† â€Å"You're supposed to be my guardian and go with me to college,† she argued. â€Å"You're shadow-kissed. We're supposed to be together. If you leave me †¦Ã¢â‚¬  The ugly coil of darkness was starting to raise its head in my chest. My voice was tight when I spoke. â€Å"If I leave you, they'll get you another guardian. Two of them. You're the last Dragomir. They'll keep you safe.† â€Å"But they won't be you, Rose,† she said. Those luminous green eyes held mine, and the anger in me cooled. She was so beautiful, so sweet†¦ and she seemed so reasonable. She was right. I owed it to her. I needed to – â€Å"Stop it!† I yelled, turning away. She'd been using her magic. â€Å"Do not use compulsion on me. You're my friend. Friends don't use their powers on each other.† â€Å"Friends don't abandon each other,† she snapped back. â€Å"If you were my friend, you wouldn't do it.† I spun back toward her, careful not to look too closely into her eyes, in case she tried compulsion on me again. The rage in me exploded. â€Å"It's not about you, okay? This time, it's about me. Not you. All my life, Lissa †¦ all my life, it's been the same. They come first. I've lived my life for you. I've trained to be your shadow, but you know what? I want to come first. I need to take care of myself for once. I'm tired of looking out for everyone else and having to put aside what I want. Dimitri and I did that, and look what happened. He's gone. I will never hold him again. Now I owe it to him to do this. I'm sorry if it hurts you, but it's my choice!† I'd shouted the words, not even pausing for a breath, and I hoped my voice hadn't carried to the guardians on duty at the gate. Lissa was staring at me, shocked and hurt. Tears ran down her cheeks, and part of me shriveled up at hurting the person I'd sworn to protect. â€Å"You love him more than me,† she said in a small voice, sounding very young. â€Å"He needs me right now.† â€Å"I need you. He's gone, Rose.† â€Å"No,† I said. â€Å"But he will be soon.† I reached up my sleeve and took off the chotki she'd given me for Christmas. I held it out to her. She hesitated and then took it. â€Å"What's this for?† she asked. â€Å"I can't wear it. It's for a Dragomir guardian. I'll take it again when I †¦Ã¢â‚¬  I had almost said if, not when. I think she knew that. â€Å"When I get back.† Her hands closed around the beads. â€Å"Please, Rose. Please don't leave me.† â€Å"I'm sorry,† I said. There were no other words to offer up. â€Å"I'm sorry.† I left her there crying as I walked toward the gate. A piece of my soul had died when Dimitri had fallen. Turning my back on her now, I felt another piece die as well. Soon there wouldn't be anything left inside of me. The guardians at the gate were as shocked as the secretary and Kirova had been, but there was nothing they could do. Happy birthday to me, I thought bitterly. Eighteen at last. It was nothing like I had expected. They opened the gates and I stepped through, outside of the school's grounds and over the wards. The lines were invisible, but I felt strangely vulnerable and exposed, as if I'd leapt a great chasm. And yet, at the same time, I felt free and in control. I started walking down the narrow road. The sun was nearly gone; I'd have to rely on moonlight soon. When I was out of earshot of the guardians, I stopped and spoke. â€Å"Mason.† I had to wait a long time. When he appeared, I could barely see him at all. He was almost completely transparent. â€Å"It's time, isn't it? You're going†¦you're finally moving on to†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Well, I had no clue where he was moving on to. I didn't know anymore what lay beyond, whether it was the realms Father Andrew believed in or some entirely different world that I'd visited. Nonetheless, Mason understood and nodded. â€Å"It's been more than forty days,† I mused. â€Å"So I guess you're overdue. I'm glad †¦ I mean, I hope you find peace. Although I kind of hoped you'd be able to lead me to him.† Mason shook his head, and he didn't need to say a word for me to understand what he wanted to tell me. You're on your own now, Rose. â€Å"It's okay. You deserve your rest. Besides, I think I know where to start looking.† I'd thought about this constantly over the last week. If Dimitri was where I believed he was, I had a lot of work ahead of me. Mason's help would have been nice, but I didn't want to keep bothering him. It seemed like he had enough to deal with. â€Å"Goodbye,† I told him. â€Å"Thanks for your help I †¦ I'll miss you.† His form grew fainter and fainter, and just before it went altogether, I saw the hint of a smile, that laughing and mischievous smile I'd loved so much. For the first time since his death, thinking about Mason no longer devastated me. I was sad and I really would miss him, but I knew he'd moved on to something good – something really good. I no longer felt guilty. Turning away, I stared at the long road winding off ahead of me. I sighed. This trip might take awhile. â€Å"Then start walking, Rose,† I muttered to myself. I set off, off to kill the man I loved. As always, I can never express enough gratitude to the friends and family who hang with me through the ups and downs that go along with writing a book – let alone one as powerful as this. Many thanks to David and Christina for their speedy beta reading; to LA. Gordon and Sherry Kirk for their help with Russian; to Synde Korman for her help with Romanian; to my agent Jim McCarthy who is wise and does all the hard stuff for me; to editors Jessica Rothenberg and Ben Schrank for all of their guidance; to the Team Seattle authors for their distraction and good cheer; and to Jay for being infinitely patient†¦and even making a good joke once in a while.

African Nobel Prize Winners

African Nobel Prize Winners 25 Nobel Laureates have been born in Africa. Of those, 10 have been from South Africa, and another six were born in Egypt. The other countries to have produced a Nobel Laureate are (French) Algeria, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Morocco, and Nigeria. Scroll down for a full list of winners. The Early Winners The first person from Africa to win a Nobel Prize was Max Theiler, a South African man who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1951. Six years later, the famed absurdist philosopher and author Albert Camus won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Camus was French, and so many people assume he was born in France, but he was in fact born, raised, and educated in French Algeria. Both Theiler and Camus had emigrated out of Africa at the time of their awards, however, making Albert Lutuli the first person to be awarded a Nobel Prize for work completed in Africa. At the time, Lutuli (who was born in Southern Rhodesia, which is now Zimbabwe) was the President of the African National Congress in South Africa and was awarded the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize for his role leading the non-violent campaign against apartheid. Africas Brain Drain Like Theiler and Camus, many African Nobel Laureates have emigrated from their countries of birth and spent most of their working careers in Europe or the United States.   As of 2014, not one African Nobel Laureate has been affiliated with an African research institution at the time of their award as determined by the Nobel Prize foundation. (Those winning awards in Peace and Literature are not typically affiliated with such institutions. Many winners in those fields were residing and working in Africa at the time of their award.)  Ã‚   These men and women provide a clear example of the much-discussed brain drain from Africa. Intellectuals with promising research careers frequently end up living and working at better-funded research institutions beyond Africa’s shores. This is largely a question of economics and the power of institutions’ reputations. Unfortunately, it is hard to compete with names like Harvard or Cambridge, or the facilities and intellectual stimulation that institutions like these can offer. Female Laureates Including the 2014 awardees, there have been 889 total Nobel Laureates, meaning that individuals from Africa make up only about 3% of Nobel Prize winners. Of the 46 women to ever win a Nobel Prize, however, five have been from Africa, making 11% of female awardees African. Three of those awards were Peace Prizes, while one was in Literature and one in Chemistry. African Noble Prize Winners 1951   Max Theiler, Physiology or Medicine1957   Albert Camus, Literature1960   Albert Lutuli, Peace1964   Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, Chemistry1978   Anwar El Sadat, Peace1979   Allan M. Cormack, Physiology or Medicine1984   Desmond Tutu, Peace1985   Claude Simon, Literature1986   Wole Soyinka, Literature1988   Naguib Mahfouz, Literature1991   Nadine Gordimer, Literature1993   F.W. de Klerk, Peace1993   Nelson Mandela, Peace1994   Yassir Arafat, Peace1997   Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Physics1999   Ahmed Zewail, Chemistry2001   Kofi Annan, Peace2002   Sydney Brenner, Physiology or Medicine2003   J. M. Coetzee, Literature2004   Wangari Maathai, Peace2005   Mohamed El Baradei, Peace2011   Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Peace2011   Leymah Gbowee, Peace2012   Serge Haroche, Physics2013   Michael Levitt, Chemistry Sources Used in this Article   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Nobel Prizes and Laureates†, â€Å"Nobel Laureates and Research Affiliations†, and â€Å"Nobel Laureates and ​Country of Birth†all from Nobelprize.org, Nobel Media AB, 2014.

The Brief History of Smartphones

The Brief History of Smartphones In 1926, during an interview for Collier magazine, legendary scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla described a piece of technology that would revolutionize the lives of its users. Here’s the quote: When wireless is perfectly applied, the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. Not only this, but through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles; and the instruments through which we shall be able to do his will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket. While Tesla might not have chosen to call this instrument a smartphone, his foresight was spot on. These future phones  have, in essence, reprogrammed how we interact with and experience the world. But they didn’t appear overnight. There were many technologies that progressed, competed, converged, and evolved toward the fairly sophisticated pocket companions we have come to rely on. The Modern Smartphone So who invented the smartphone? First, lets make it clear that the smartphone didn’t start with Apple - though the company and its charismatic co-founder Steve Jobs deserve much credit for perfecting a model that has made the technology just about indispensable among the masses. In fact, there were phones capable of transmitting data, as well as featured applications such as email, in use prior to the arrival of early popular devices, such as the Blackberry. Since then, the definition of the smartphone has essentially become arbitrary. For example, is a phone still smart if it doesn’t have a touchscreen? At one time, the Sidekick, a popular phone from carrier T-Mobile, was considered cutting edge. It had a swiveling full-qwerty keyboard that allowed for rapid-fire text messaging, LCD screen, and stereo speakers. In modern times, few people would find a phone remotely acceptable that cannot run third-party apps. The lack of consensus is muddied even further by the concept of a â€Å"feature phone,† which shares some of the smartphones abilities. But is it smart enough? A solid textbook definition comes from the Oxford dictionary, which describes a smartphone as â€Å"a mobile phone that performs many of the functions of a computer, typically having a touchscreen interface, internet access, and an operating system capable of running downloaded apps.† So for the purpose of being as comprehensive as possible, let’s begin with the very minimal threshold of what constitutes â€Å"smart† features: computing. Who Invented Smartphones? The first device that technically qualifies as a smartphone was simply a highly-sophisticated (for its time) brick phone. You know one of those bulky, but fairly exclusive status-symbol toys flashed in 80s movies like Wall Street? The IBM Simon Personal Communicator, released in 1994, was a sleeker, more advanced, and premium brick that sold for $1,100. Sure, a lot of smartphones today cost about as much, but remember that $1,100 in the 1990s was nothing to sneeze at. IBM had conceived of the idea for a computer-style phone  as early as the 70s, but it wasn’t until 1992 that the company unveiled a prototype at the COMDEX computer and technology trade show in Las Vegas. Besides placing and receiving calls, the Simon prototype could also send facsimiles, emails, and cellular pages. It even had a nifty touchscreen for dialing numbers. Extra features included apps for a calendar, address book, calculator, scheduler, and notepad. IBM also demonstrated that the phone was capable of displaying maps, stocks, news, and other third-party applications, with certain modifications. Tragically,  the Simon ended up in the heap pile of being too ahead of its time. Despite all the snazzy features, it was cost-prohibitive for most and was only useful for a very niche clientele. The distributor, BellSouth Cellular, would later reduce the price of the phone to $599 with a two-year contract. And even then, the company only sold about 50,000 units. The company took the product off the market after six months. The Early Awkward Marriage of PDAs and Cell Phones The initial failure to introduce what was a fairly novel notion of phones having a multiplicity of capabilities didn’t necessarily mean that consumers weren’t keen on incorporating smart devices into their lives. In a way, smart technology was all the rage during the late 90s, as evidenced by the widespread adoption of stand-alone smart gadgets known as Personal Digital Assistants. Before hardware makers and developers figured out ways to successfully merge PDAs with cellular phones, most people simply made due by carrying two devices. The leading name in the business at the time was Sunnyvale-based electronics firm Palm, who jumped to the fore with products such as the Palm Pilot. Throughout the generations of the product line, various models offered a multitude of pre-installed apps, PDA to computer connectivity, email, messaging, and an interactive stylus. Other competitors at the time included Handspring and Apple with the Apple Newton. Things started to come together right before the turn of the new millennium, as device makers began little by little incorporating smart features into cell phones. The first notable effort in this vein was the Nokia 9000 communicator, which the manufacturer introduced in 1996. It came in a clamshell design that was fairly large and bulky but allowed for a qwerty keyboard, along with navigation buttons. This was so that the makers could cram in some of the more sellable smart features, such as faxing, web browsing, email, and word processing. But it was the Ericsson R380, which debuted in 2000, that became the first product to be officially billed and marketed as a smartphone. Unlike the Nokia 9000, it was small and light like most typical cell phones. Remarkably, the phones keypad could be flipped outward to reveal a 3.5-inch black and white touchscreen from which users could access a litany of apps. The phone also allowed for internet access, though no web browser was available and users weren’t able to install third-party apps. The convergence continued as competitors from the PDA side moved into the fray, with Palm introducing the Kyocera 6035 in 2001 and Handspring putting out its own offering, the Treo 180, the following year. The Kyocera 6035 was significant for being the first smartphone to be paired with a major wireless data plan through Verizon, while the Treo 180 provided services via a GSM line and operating system that seamlessly integrated telephone, internet, and text messaging service.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Smartphone Mania Spreads From East to West Meanwhile, as consumers and the tech industry in the west were still tinkering with what many referred to as PDA/cell phone hybrids, an impressive smartphone ecosystem was coming into its own across the way in Japan. In 1999, local upstart telecom NTT DoCoMo launched a series of handsets linked to a high-speed internet network called i-mode. Compared to Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), the network used in the United States for data transfers for mobile devices, Japan’s wireless system allowed for a wider range of internet services such as e-mail, sports results, weather forecasts, games, financial services, and ticket booking - all carried out at faster speeds. Some of these advantages are attributed to the use of â€Å"compact HTML† or â€Å"cHTML,† a modified form of HTML that enables full rendering of web pages. Within two years, the NTT DoCoMo network had an estimated 40 million subscribers. But outside of Japan, the notion of treating your phone as some sort of digital Swiss army knife hadn’t quite taken hold. The major players at the time were Palm, Microsoft, and Research in Motion, a lesser-known Canadian firm. Each had their respective operating systems. You might think that the two more established names in the tech industry would have an advantage in this respect. Yet, there was something more than mildly addictive about RIM’s Blackberry devices that had some users calling their trusty devices Crackberries. RIM’s reputation was built on a product line of two-way pagers that, over time, evolved into full-fledged smartphones. Critical to the company’s success early on was its efforts to position the Blackberry, first and foremost, as a platform for business and enterprise to deliver and receive push email through a secure server. It was this unorthodox approach that fueled its popularity among the more mainstream consumers.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Apple’s iPhone In 2007, at a heavily-hyped press event in San Francisco, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs stood on stage and unveiled a revolutionary product that not only broke the mold but also set an entirely new paradigm for computer-based phones. The look, interface and core functionality of nearly every smartphone to come along since is, in some form or another, derived from the original iPhone’s innovative touchscreen-centric design. Among some of the groundbreaking features was an expansive and responsive display from which to check email, stream video, play audio, and browse the internet with a mobile browser that loaded full websites, much like what’s experienced on personal computers. Apple’s unique iOS operating system allowed for a wide range of intuitive gesture-based commands and eventually, a rapidly-growing warehouse of downloadable third-party applications.  Ã‚   Most importantly, the iPhone reoriented people’s relationship with smartphones. Up to then, they were generally geared toward businesspeople and enthusiasts who saw them as an invaluable tool for staying organized, corresponding over email, and boosting their productivity. Apple’s version took it to a whole other level as a full-blown multimedia powerhouse, enabling users to play games, watch movies, chat, share content, and stay connected to all the possibilities that we’re all still constantly rediscovering. Sources Chong, Celena. The inventor that inspired Elon Musk and Larry Page predicted smartphones nearly 100 years ago. Business Insider, July 6, 2015. Smartphone. Lexico, 2019.

Free Essays on Why Americans Dont Vote

The acquisition of political rights- including voting rights- has been a vital tool for every disempowered group in American’s history to achieve economic, social and civil rights and equality (Williamson, 1960; Porter, 1971). Because legislative bodies confer rights and make public policy, it is critical to possess the capacity to influence and/or select representatives. Legal barriers to political participation, however, have hampered the attainment of such rights by distinct classes of citizens, including African-Americans, women, and youth. Previously excluded groups have gained access to the franchise principally through political struggle. They fought their way into the polity through political agitation, sometimes using the courts as a tool. Ultimately they needed the support of other sectors in society to win political rights. The agitation of the property-less encouraged sectors of the propertied to extend the franchise; the abolitionist movement and civil rights movements led whites to enfranchise blacks; the suffragettes compelled men to include women among the voting citizenry; and younger adults, whose participation in the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s, were granted voting rights by older adults. Why not for immigrants too? Although noncitizen immigrants behave in much the same ways as citizens, they possess fewer rights and benefits.1 Immigrants are subject to all laws and pay taxes, work in and/or own businesses, send their children to schools, serve in the military and can be drafted, and participate in all aspects of daily social life. Nevertheless, noncitizen immigrants are precluded from selecting those who fashion public policy and represent them at every level of governance. As Salvador Hernandez, a 40 year old immigrant from El Salvador who works for an organization called Centro Presente that promotes and supports immigrant civic â€Å"Non-Citizen Voting: Pipe Dream or Possibility† by Ron Hay... Free Essays on Why Americans Don't Vote Free Essays on Why Americans Don't Vote The acquisition of political rights- including voting rights- has been a vital tool for every disempowered group in American’s history to achieve economic, social and civil rights and equality (Williamson, 1960; Porter, 1971). Because legislative bodies confer rights and make public policy, it is critical to possess the capacity to influence and/or select representatives. Legal barriers to political participation, however, have hampered the attainment of such rights by distinct classes of citizens, including African-Americans, women, and youth. Previously excluded groups have gained access to the franchise principally through political struggle. They fought their way into the polity through political agitation, sometimes using the courts as a tool. Ultimately they needed the support of other sectors in society to win political rights. The agitation of the property-less encouraged sectors of the propertied to extend the franchise; the abolitionist movement and civil rights movements led whites to enfranchise blacks; the suffragettes compelled men to include women among the voting citizenry; and younger adults, whose participation in the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s, were granted voting rights by older adults. Why not for immigrants too? Although noncitizen immigrants behave in much the same ways as citizens, they possess fewer rights and benefits.1 Immigrants are subject to all laws and pay taxes, work in and/or own businesses, send their children to schools, serve in the military and can be drafted, and participate in all aspects of daily social life. Nevertheless, noncitizen immigrants are precluded from selecting those who fashion public policy and represent them at every level of governance. As Salvador Hernandez, a 40 year old immigrant from El Salvador who works for an organization called Centro Presente that promotes and supports immigrant civic â€Å"Non-Citizen Voting: Pipe Dream or Possibility† by Ron Hay...

CPOE Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

CPOE - Assignment Example This way, the implementation of CPOE makes the process of giving care to patients more efficient and effective. Additionally, the implementation of CPOE helps in making cost-conscious decisions by the physicians (Sittig & Stead, 1994). This is because, they already have all the entries regarding patients treatment requirements in a computer, which makes it easier to base their decisions on such information, as opposed to arbitrary or uninformed decision making (Sittig & Stead, 1994). Most significant is the fact that, the implementation of CPOE strategy helps in the optimization of the physicians time (Sittig & Stead, 1994). While recording information on other media takes more time, as does searching and retrieving such information, the case is different with computer made entries. Computer made entries enhance the speed of recording and retrieving information, thus allowing the physician to concentrate on patient care. This way, the implementation of CPOE helps to ensure that a med ical practitioner spends more time addressing the patients, as opposed to perusing through books and files in search for information and medical instructions (Sittig & Stead,

Breast Cancer Treatments Lumpectomy vs. Mastectomy Essay

Breast Cancer Treatments Lumpectomy vs. Mastectomy - Essay Example Consequently, both are the main choices of patients and physicians in treating the disease. Both procedures are also found to have equal survival rates. However, with the increasing awareness of women afflicted with breast cancer on the impact of surgery on their psychological state related to loss of their breast, more and more women are resorting to a less invasive treatment which is lumpectomy and adjuvant therapies. Added to this is the notion that mastectomy is over used. Lumpectomy is a surgical removal of the breast lump including some normal tissues. Although, lumpectomy and adjuvant therapies are preferred methods of treatment for most women with breast cancer, their use is bombarded with several controversies. Body One distinct issue with lumpectomy includes the inadequate outcome data to the extent of its use and efficacy. Clinical trials included insufficient size to establish a convincing result of its application. Although, there had been multiple randomized trials of l umpectomy in patients with or without radiation, it was found out that the survival rates are based solely on unpublished analysis. In addition, participants in several studies were over treated producing a bias result. This was revealed in the study by Cumming (n.d) where he added that using a meta- analysis pose a risk on grounds that methods might be a concern. Cumming also found out that in the case of ductal carcinoma alone, data is limited to show importance of lumpectomy and other treatments following it. Consensus among pathologists on pathologic staging is also a question because there is no recommendation as to the exact stage lumpectomy is effective. It was further revealed that studies on radiation therapy after lumpectomy had no uniform techniques in using different radiotherapy agent such as iridium, electron beam, and cesium needle brachytherapy. Added to the above problem is controversy surrounding the falsified claim that lumpectomy with adjuvant therapy was as effe ctive as mastectomy. The lead investigators are found to commit misconduct with the result of their study of not providing the correct result of their study. Although, lumpectomy has been found to be effective with the early stages of cancer, its credibility was damaged because of the controversy which ruined the trust not only of patients but the public in general towards lumpectomy and adjuvant therapies. This shows that not only the lack of data on the efficacy of lumpectomy combined with adjuvant therapies is a problem but is accompanied with several other problems. Interestingly though, the study published in the Journal of National Cancer Institute ( 2004) reported that there is a significant decrease in the recurrence in the number of patients who went through lumpectomy with radiotherapy however not in lumpectomy alone. There is also no survival advantage even with the addition of radiotherapy. Similar with the study of Cumming, the JNCI reported that information from curren t and previous studies are found to be deficient in attesting that lumpectomy in combination with adjuvant therapy is more promising. Whether lumpectomy is a choice of the patient or the physician, cost is also an issue for the choice of therapy among women with breast cancer. Lumpectomy with radiation therapy is more costly than mastectomy. Munoz and company (1986) found out in their

Personal Professional Ethical Code Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Personal Professional Ethical Code - Essay Example Therefore, organizational ethics refers to the principles and standards that guide the operations and interactions in an organization. This expresses the values that an organization holds to its employees and its other entities regardless of government laws. In making my ethical decisions, the process would have six core components – problem recognition, identification of alternatives, evaluation of alternatives, decision making, decision implementation and decision evaluation. The first is problem recognition where I evaluate moral standards and analyze to identify where discrepancies exist. This indicates areas with problems. It would be followed by identifying possible alternatives. These would be options adopted to ensure observance of moral obligations. Thirdly, these alternatives would be evaluated where the strengths and weaknesses of each option would be considered. The fourth core component in this process would be decision making where the decision that needs to be made would be given a thought. The critical component of implementing the decision would then follow where the decision would be made into action. Finally, the evaluation of the decision would cap the process, determining whether the implemented decision was effective and whether there would be need to start the process all over again. My professional code of ethics regards the code of ethics observed in a plastic manufacturing firm, particularly under product management. Plastics are known to be an environmental menace if not handled properly. As such, respect for environment forms one of the basic code of ethics for my profession. This would promote efforts towards designing and manufacturing products that have minimal impact to the environment. Going by the argument by Pojman and Fieser (2008), environment is an example of intrinsic good as it is just good by nature. Through the Environment, Health and Safety policy, this

Family and Consumer Personal Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Family and Consumer Personal Finance - Essay Example It looks for social factors, governmental, and economical factors that have contributed to such changes within the previous generation. Social economic mobility in United States does refer to movement of the Americans from a social class or level of economy to another may be through job changing or even marriage. Vertical mobility could be socio economic status changes between children and parents (â€Å"intergenerational†) or even over a life time course (â€Å"intra-generational†). Typically it refers to relative mobility, which is a chance that income status of Americans will fall or raise in comparison to the others or rather another income/status group. It also can be absolute, which means whether as well as by how much American living standards have increase. In the recent past years studies have discovered that vertical intergenerational mobility has been lower. Less higher in the United States than in other countries. Studies do differ in whether social as well as economic mobility in the recent years has gotten lower. In 2013, income inequality was getting to be more permanent reducing social mobility sharply. In 2014 income mobility had changed appreciably at least in the previous 20 years. Economic issue or financial crisis had wide ranging as well as long term economic implications in United States and the world, and it was much media attention focus over years. The crisis also did have a significant effect on many United States citizens personal finance. Some effects felt by U.S citizens in the previous generation were the direct consequences for financial crises which did produce the crisis for instance sub-prime mortgages provision to individuals who did struggle to pay back their debts. As a result, most people lost their homes they had bought within the years leading to the crisis. Other part in the U.S experienced incredibly for closure high rates. Governmental factors have contributed critically to changes in family and personal finances

Sampling Plans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sampling Plans - Essay Example In this type of sampling the population will be numbered and thus a person to participate in the research will be chosen after every given interval. The method is used because different healthcare providers are going to be considered and thus in each of those groups, a few people will be selected randomly for study (Sharp, Peters, & Howard, 2002). In this study any healthcare provider, be it nurses, doctors, health insurance providers will is eligible for participating in the study. An educational forum will be called from which the groups will be identified and a number of people selected from each group. A total of 5 people will be used for each group or category of healthcare providers who will be available. The seminar or workshop should bring together many people and this will make it easier to get the participants. In protecting the participants, an independent study will be carried out to ascertain the risks and benefits of the study on the population before the study can begin. The participants will be asked to give consent before being selected for participation and confidentiality will be maintained at all times as no names or personal details of the participant will be mentioned. In this study the sampling design to be used will be simple random sampling in which hospitals will be identified in the whole country. After being identified, they will be categorized on the basis of counties and thus five hospitals will be selected for study in each of the counties across the nation. In the county, the total number of hospitals will be taken however selection will be done after every two hospital of the total number of hospitals selected. All the large and the small in size hospitals will be considered for the study with a total number of 100 hospitals expected to be used in the study. They will only be surveyed such that they will not be invited but the researcher will

Family and Consumer Personal Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Family and Consumer Personal Finance - Essay Example It looks for social factors, governmental, and economical factors that have contributed to such changes within the previous generation. Social economic mobility in United States does refer to movement of the Americans from a social class or level of economy to another may be through job changing or even marriage. Vertical mobility could be socio economic status changes between children and parents (â€Å"intergenerational†) or even over a life time course (â€Å"intra-generational†). Typically it refers to relative mobility, which is a chance that income status of Americans will fall or raise in comparison to the others or rather another income/status group. It also can be absolute, which means whether as well as by how much American living standards have increase. In the recent past years studies have discovered that vertical intergenerational mobility has been lower. Less higher in the United States than in other countries. Studies do differ in whether social as well as economic mobility in the recent years has gotten lower. In 2013, income inequality was getting to be more permanent reducing social mobility sharply. In 2014 income mobility had changed appreciably at least in the previous 20 years. Economic issue or financial crisis had wide ranging as well as long term economic implications in United States and the world, and it was much media attention focus over years. The crisis also did have a significant effect on many United States citizens personal finance. Some effects felt by U.S citizens in the previous generation were the direct consequences for financial crises which did produce the crisis for instance sub-prime mortgages provision to individuals who did struggle to pay back their debts. As a result, most people lost their homes they had bought within the years leading to the crisis. Other part in the U.S experienced incredibly for closure high rates. Governmental factors have contributed critically to changes in family and personal finances

Is Ethical Soucing Souce of Competitive Advantage Literature review

Is Ethical Soucing Souce of Competitive Advantage - Literature review Example This discussion declares that  evironmental friendliness and its protection are also considered an essential element of ethical sourcing of goods and services.   Ethical sourcing is all about making right decisions at right time. Infact, it is regarded as an integral part of Corporate Social Responsibility in the modern business regime.This paper discusses that  after analyzing the various aspects of implementing ethical sourcing in various organization such as Starbucks, Nike etc the common benefits that one can attain from adopting the means of ethical manufacturing sourcing generally relate to a wider market audience and conformance with pre-defined ethical standards and principles that facilitate an organization to create brand image and adhere to the corporate social responsibility. Risk management is better managed through ethical sourcing right at the source or the grass root level that creates a sense of responsibility among the suppliers in terms of organizational comm itment towards ethical challenges and future goals.  Ethical sourcing saves an organization from the anguish of its customers and negative image that it can create in future, for instance Nike hires child to saw the football, because they simply have no consideration for social ethics but only profit. Such kind of an attitude certainly has a negative impact on the customers. Adopting ethical norms and protocols can save the organization of such embarrassment.... acilitator in reducing exorbitant costs by adopting supply chain sources that focus on developing supplier relationship management and attain benefits of compliance management. Moreover organizations are self motivated to monitor their actions and carry on regular self assessment. Ethical sourcing is an effective medium to reward positive and constructive suppler behavior that consistently drives for growing business and at the same time a means to penalize negative and unpleasant conduct as well. Disadvantages of Ethical Sourcing Ethical sourcing however is a hindrance that suppliers face in their normal course of business for instance organizations hold varied perception issues that suppliers hold in terms of the tools and equipments that might need for ethical sourcing, thus they prefer to avoid it. Organizations find it expensive to adopt ethical supply chain and distribution networks thus generally face lack of coalition among business and individual objectives (Wrobleski & Oza 2011) Many authors have given varied viewpoint regarding ethical sourcing. For instance Cathy Mejia said that it is highly important for an organization to adopt ethical sourcing as it helps in communicating the strong ethical values an organization upholds for its stakeholders. Economists like Davies and Crane, 2003, Wadha (2009), have also commented on the significance of Ethical sourcing saying that fair trade policies of an organization can actually help to shape up the organization structure to achieve long term goals and positive company image. For instance in a research done by Gennarwilson (2009), it was found that child slavery exists in cocoa industry where children are made to work for long hours and parents avoid sending them for education. Almost 90 million bunnies, 27 million

Education in Barbados Essay Example for Free

Education in Barbados Essay Barbados had one of the oldest and most advanced education systems in the Eastern Caribbean in the late 1980s. Education dated back to 1686, when private funds were used to build the first school. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, education was controlled by the Anglicans, who were later joined by other religious groups. By 1962 education was free for all nationals and administered primarily by the state. This trend continued, so that by 1984 only 4 percent of the primary and secondary schools were managed by churches. Barbados longstanding emphasis on education was evident in the values and goals of contemporary society. Education has traditionally been associated with success and upward mobility. In 1970 Barbados officially claimed to have achieved a 99-percent literacy rate, a figure that was questioned by some observers. Despite these doubts, observers generally agreed that in the 1980s literacy in Barbados exceeded the rates of other Caribbean societies. In 1984 Barbados had 126 primary schools, 110 of which were administered by the state. Approximately 1,350 teachers were available to instruct the 35,000 students. There were sixty-four secondary schools, five of which prepared students for technical careers. A total of 6,000 students attended secondary-school programs. Postsecondary education consisted of seven institutions that awarded degrees or certificates. Four schools offered specific vocational training: the Barbados Institute of Management and Productivity, the Erdiston Teachers Training College, the Tercentenary School of Nursing, and the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytecnic. Academic programs at the university level were conducted at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the Barbados Community College, which offered vocational and technical classes as well. The UWI also included Codrington College, a local theological seminary. In 1979 the government created the Skills Training Programme to augment existing education programs. It was designed to fulfill the need for short but intensive training in vocational subjects and to prepare students for careers in mechanics, electronics, horticulture, masonry, plumbing, and other technical and vocational occupations. Although the educational infrastructure was designed to meet both the nations academic and vocational needs, observers seriously questioned Barbados ability to provide quality instruction in fields related to tourism,  agriculture, and manufacturing, the major economic undertakings in the 1980s. Few courses were actually offered in agricultural science and commerce; as a result, an inadequate number of Barbadians were being prepared to take on the responsibilities inherent in a growing economy. The education system was also criticized for being stratified along socioeconomic lines. In general, upper-class Barbadians prepared for university studies at the best primary and secondary schools, received a disproportionate number of scholarships, and had the best records for entering the professional disciplines. On balance, however, most Barbadians felt that the education system still afforded opportunities to achieve at least limited upward mobility. The government appeared to be attempting to address specific criticisms of its educational policy; its goals for Barbadian education in the 1980s included the promotion of equal educational opportunity and enhanced technical and vocational programs in all schools. In spite of its shortcomings, the Barbadian education system remained the best in the Eastern Caribbean in the 1980s.

Music Essays English Music Hall

Music Essays English Music Hall A Short History of the English Music Hall. The term ‘Music Hall’ is used to refer to a venue, or to a form of entertainment taking place at that venue, typically featuring a number of miscellaneous acts, possibly including musical turns, comedy and acrobatics, in a relatively formalised programme. It is also often termed ‘variety’. This essay considers the early roots of Music Hall, its growth in the late 19th century, and its subsequent loss of popularity in the face of competition from other media in the 20th century. Taken into account are the socio-economic environment and also the development of musical styles within the Music Hall context. It will be shown that the influence of Music Hall is still widespread in popular culture today. Background Music Hall developed from a range of entertainments, some of which had been part of English culture for centuries. Broadsides first appeared in the 1500s (Gammond 1991: 82): they were an early equivalent of the newspaper. News stories and satire were printed in verse form with the instructions ‘To the tune of†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢, with the intention that the text should be sung to a well-known musical theme, typically a folk-ballad. The music itself was rarely printed, and so broadsides relied on the tradition of passing tunes on orally. In later broadsides, tunes were often popular songs from plays, with the intention of promoting shows in return for sponsorship – an early form of advertising revenue. The ballad was engrained in culture, but the demand and resources of the populus were not yet sufficient to support the growth of a performance industry. Also influential were the many fairs which were trading and entertainment events. In his diary, Samuel Pepys mentions attending Bartholomew Fair in 1661 and â€Å"seeing the monkeys dance† (Pepys 1661), and a number of Music Halls in the late 19th century featured animal acts (Gillies 1999: 31). One-man shows, such as those offered by Charles Dibdin (1745-1814), show elements of entertainment that were later developed in Music Halls. Dibdin can be seen as a key link between earlier folk-art traditions and the increasingly commercialised musical world of the 19th century (Gammond 1991: 153-5). He was a prolific song-writer, who had considerable success with light operas and by selling rights to his songs. These were the early days of copyright law, which developed in the late 19th century firstly to grant exclusivity of performance rights to singers and subsequently to effect a royalties system for composers. Two types of venue preceded Music Halls and had a particular influence on them: taverns and song-and-supper rooms. In taverns, a working-class clientele participated in singing along with their drinking. In song-and-supper rooms, the middle-class man-about-town (no women were admitted) could enjoy a meal while singers entertained. Song-and-supper rooms typically opened around midnight, and entertainment could be bawdy. Some of the early stars of Music Hall began their careers in taverns and song-and-supper rooms. Sam Cowell (1820-1864) is an example, and can be considered one of the first professional singer-songwriters. By 1850, he was earning a good living from the song-and-supper rooms, but had begun his career as an actor and had also performed in opera. In ‘Villikins and his Dinah’, regularly performed by Cowell, we see characteristics that were to become widespread in Music Hall songs, in particular the use of ‘commentary’ between sections of the song to increase its drama. Thus prior to verse 8, where the ghosts of Villikins and Dinah appear to Dinah’s father, the performer sets the scene: â€Å"Now this is the superlatively supernatural wisitation [sic] which appeared to the parient [sic] at midnight after the disease of his only progeny.† (Davison 1971: 23) The affectations in the language and pronunciation suggest the creation of the narrator as a character in his own right, and characterisation is another important element of the Music Hall song, as will be seen shortly. The growth of Music Hall was dependent on an audience able to pay for it, and with an interest in what it had to offer. The growth of a potential market is evident by the mid-19th century, when a number of Music Halls were opened (Sadie 1980: XII/832). In the mid-1840s, Evans’, a former song-and-supper room was reopened as a Music Hall. In 1849, Charles Morton, a pioneer of Music Hall, took over the Canterbury Arms in Lambeth and developed it as a venue. He enlarged it in 1856, and in 1861 opened the Oxford Music Hall in Oxford Street (Sadie 1980: XII/832). This idea of having a chain of venues gained ground in the latter part of the century. Early Developments 1850-1870 The 1850s and 60s can be considered as a first phase of Music Hall. Programmes were varied, with classical and popular music appearing on the same bill. Extracts from Gounod’s opera Faust (1859) performed in Music Halls provided the first hearings of the work for English audiences. A number of early Music Hall songs use old musical themes with new texts: for example, ‘Sam Hall’ can be traced back to a ballad about Captain Kidd. Harry Clifton’s ‘Polly Perkins of Paddington Green’ (1863) uses what appears to be a folk-tune (possibly ‘Nightingales Sing’), but its lyrics possess a humour not seen in folk music: Polly doesn’t marry a ‘Wicount’ or a ‘Nearl’, but in the punchline of the song, weds a â€Å"bow-legged Conductor of a twopenny bus† (Gammond 1991: 411). The same tune is used for another well-known Music Hall song, ‘Cushie Butterfield’, which was particularly popular in the Newcastle area. Tyneside had its own strong Music Hall tradition, giving rise to songs such as ‘The Blaydon Races’ and ‘Keep Your Feet Still Geordie Hinney’ and all three songs display a similar humour to ‘Polly Perkins’. The lyrics draw on local diale ct – Cushie is â€Å"a young lass in Gyetsid [Gateshead]† who â€Å"likes hor beor [her beer]† (Davison 1971: 31). With ‘Champagne Charlie’ (1868), the development of the character song is evident. Performed and co-written by George Leybourne, the Champagne Charlie character is described as a ‘swell’: a well-to-do man-about-town with a taste for Moà «t. Unlike ‘Villikins’, the text is in the first person, Leybourne becoming the Champagne Charlie character in performance. The song is perhaps the first advertising jingle, and was used to promote Moà «t, with Leybourne rumoured to partial to the drink (he died prematurely of alcoholism). His salary at this time was around  £30 a week – certainly adequate to indulge in the Champagne Charlie lifestyle. However, the character was an act: Leybourne was not a ‘toff’, but a former mechanic who remained illiterate and spoke with a strong Black Country accent (Gammond 1991: 334) Concern was growing over the activities in Music Halls. Articles in The Tomahawk focus on the quality of the entertainment: it had been suggested that the Music Hall would â€Å"exercise a beneficial influence over the progress of music amongst the lower classes† but â€Å"Music Hall†¦is mischievous to the art which it pretends to uphold† (Anon 1867).   At the time, improvement of the working classes through access to the arts was promoted among some thinkers. Two years later, Music Halls are criticised for being dens of vice: â€Å"I am positively assured†¦that on certain recognised nights loose women are admitted to these places without payment.† (Greenwood 1869). The often poor reputation of the Music Halls contributed to later attempts by the authorities to regulate their activities. Heyday 1870-1900 The development of Music Halls should be seen in context of wider developments in the social and economic environment of Victorian England. Following the Industrial Revolution, workers migrated from rural communities to cities, and this pattern accelerated in the 1870s. By the mid-1880s, around half the population of London had been born elsewhere (Harris 1994: 42-3). Simultaneously, leisure time increased. In the late 1860s, a half-day holiday was introduced on a Saturday, and in the 1870s, the 9-hour working day was introduced (Harris 1994: 139). Leisure time became a larger part of life for the working classes, and Music Hall was one activity that benefited from this. Drinking had always formed an element of the Music Hall entertainment, but the ruling classes had sought to control this. In 1878, London County Council restricted the consumption of liquor to the back of the halls (Sadie 1980: XII/833), also demanding that a proscenium arch and fire curtain be installed at all venues (there had been a number of fires at Music Halls). A number of smaller operators were forced to shut down, while the larger operators built up chains of venues, with Music Halls growing in size and number. In June 1888, a House of Lords debate quoted a figure of 473 Music Halls in London alone (Gillies 1999: 23). Larger halls meant that some of the intimacy of earlier venues was lost. Instead of a Chairman introducing acts and enjoying banter with the audience, venues identified performers by use of an indicator board, with each act having a number. In this environment of larger audiences, the most successful performers were able to command substantial fees, and some became internationally famous. Up to this point, Music Hall stars had been almost exclusively male, but from around 1880, women appeared regularly at Music Halls and were among the most successful Music Hall stars. Marie Lloyd is probably the best known: by 1891, she was appearing at several venues each night and earning  £100 a week. At this time, a 2-up, 2-down house in Oldham cost  £150-180 (Harris 1994: 113). In 1911, twenty years later,   only just over 2% of the population earned over  £160 in a year (Harris 1994: 107). In comparative terms, therefore, Lloyd’s earnings were on a par with a Premiership footballer today. In her early career, she infamously fell foul of performing rights by adopting ‘The Boy I Love Is Up In The Gallery’ as a key song in her repertoire, and she is still strongly associated with it. However, Nelly Power, another singer of the day, had exclusive performance rights for the song, and Lloyd was forced to stop singing it (Gillies 1999: 18 et al). At this time, exclusive association with a particular song enabled a performer to generate bookings, as nobody else was allowed to perform it. Songwriters sold a song with performing rights to a singer, and were thereafter not entitled to any further income. They relied on writing more songs on the same basis, but campaigned for further payments and the royalties system of today developed.   Pantomime was also an outlet for Music Hall stars, who would appear singing the songs for which they were most famous. This had a profound influence on the development of pantomime, with traditional characters such as Harlequin and Columbine dropped in favour of interpretations of fairy tales built around the Music Hall personalities and their repertoires. The music publishing industry had grown alongside the development of Music Halls. By the 1830s, songs such as ‘He was such a nice young man’ and ‘All round my hat’ (a folk tune) were produced for sale at Pleasure Gardens or song-and-supper rooms. The music catalogues of publishers typically included a range of material including songs, operatic arias, hymns and dances. Charles Sheard was publishing Music Hall material from around 1852 as part of its Musical Bouquet series (Gammond 1991: 410). From 1850-1900, the price of a piano dropped and some manufacturers introduced monthly payment schemes, making the instrument more accessible (Gillies 1991: 66). This helped the Music Hall songs become firmly engrained in the popular musical culture of the time. Songs had an air of respectability about them until around 1860, after which many started to display more vulgarity. This was still subtle by modern standards: Dan Leno’s trademark song ‘The Swimming Master’ (by Herbert Darnley) makes much of the need for bodily contact with the ladies being taught to swim – if they feel they’re sinking, then â€Å"To my manly chest they cling† (Davison 1971:69) – but goes no further than suggestion. Some venues decreased the classical element of their music programmes. Dickens (1879) comments that â€Å"the operatic selections which were at one time the distinguishing feature of the Oxford have of late years been discontinued†, and evidence from Music Hall programmes from this time onwards shows a focus on popular idioms. However, other Music Halls continued to offer what might be considered as more ‘highbrow’ entertainment. The Alhambra in Leicester Square specialised in ballet, and Evans’ in Covent Garden offered â€Å"songs, glees, and part songs, executed by a well-trained choir† (Anon 1867). The ballets at the Alhambra continued to at least the turn of the century and it also staged a number of operettas. Decline 1900-1920 In its early days, Music Hall had been seen as a largely lower-class entertainment. In the early 1900s, it gained respectability, with knighthoods for some of its key personalities and the first Royal Command Performance, featuring Music Hall acts, taking place in 1912 (Sadie 1980: XII/833). A number of developments led to the decline of Music Halls. In 1914, eating and drinking in the auditorium was banned (Gammond 1991: 409 et al) and Music Halls in effect became theatres. Many continued to offer seasons of variety performances, and there was still great interest in the entertainment, but it was now required to compete with new media: first the cinema, then radio. New music styles such as jazz were also gaining in popularity. Its influence is evident in some later Music Hall songs: ‘Lily of Laguna’ (1898) uses syncopation and describes an idealised world of African Americans living in the Southern States of the US. Its use of language such as ‘nigger’ and ‘coon’ would be considered offensive today, but reflects the very different attitude to race at the time (Davison 1971: 95). The song was written by the English songwriter Leslie Stuart for Eugene Stratton, an American performer who appeared regularly ‘blacked up’ : this practice was widespread within the Music Hall, and continued for many years with The Black and White Minstrels a popular TV show as late as the 1970s. By the 1940s, Music Hall had largely disappeared. Gramophones provided musical entertainment in the home. The stars of variety diversified: Gracie Fields developed firstly a film career then focused on radio broadcasts in addition to appearances in variety (Gammond 1991: 189), and George Formby appeared in a number of films as well as continuing the work of his father (also George Formby, a popular variety singer at the turn of the century) in Royal Command performances and other revues (Gammond 1991: 203). The Legacy of the Music Hall The influence of the Music Hall is still very much evident in British culture. It played a major part in the development of stand-up comedy, and the Comedy Club, which has seen a revival in recent years with chains such as Jongleurs, owes an obvious debt to the Music Hall tradition. The variety show featured regularly on TV well into the 1970s on shows such as ‘The Good Old Days’, and the annual Royal Command Performance, with a range of acts, is still televised. Pantomimes too feature many characteristics of those in the late 19th century, with TV personalities taking the roles that Music Hall celebrities enjoyed a hundred years ago. The musical styles seen in Music Hall continue to influence artists. ‘Obladi, Oblada’ (Lennon and McCartney, recorded by the Beatles 1968) features a fourline verse with sequence-based melodies and a simple refrain, with a line repeated, reminiscent of the choruses inviting audience participation in Music Hall. More recently, Blur’s ‘Parklife’ (1994) uses the concept of performer taking on a personality, with club- and concert-goers joining in with the ‘Parklife’ motif at the end of each line, much like a Music Hall audience would have joined in with choruses. Music Hall should therefore be seen not just as a cultural phenomenon in its own right, but as a development in a long history of popular song and entertainment. Bibliography Clarke, Donald (Ed) (1989) Penguin Encyclopaedia of Popular Music (Viking, London) Davison, Peter (1971) Songs of the British Music Hall (Oak Publications, New York) Dickens, Charles Jnr (1879) Dickens Dictionary of London ‘Music Halls’, reproduced on www.arthurlloyd.co.uk Frith, Simon and Marshall, Lee (2004) Music and Copyright (2nd Edition, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh) Frow, Gerald (1985) Oh Yes It Is! A History of Pantomime (BBC, London) Gillies, Midge (1999) Marie Lloyd: The One and Only (Gollancz, London) Gammond, Peter (1991) The Oxford Companion to Popular Music (Oxford University Press, Oxford) Harding, James (1990) George Robey and the Music Hall (Hodder and Stoughton, London) Harris, Jose (1994) Private Lives, Public Spirit: Britain 1870-1914 (Penguin, London) Kilgariff, Michael (Compiler) (1998) Sing us One of the Old Songs: A Guide to Popular Song 1860-1920 (Oxford University Press, Oxford) Middleton, Richard (1990) Studying Popular M usic (Open University, Milton Keynes) Price, Richard (1999) British Society, 1680-1880 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge) Sadie, Stanley (1980) New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Vol. 12 pp831-834 (McMillan, London) Thompson, F M L (1988) The Rise of Respectable Society: A Social History of Traubner, Richard (1984) Operetta: A Theatrical History (Gollancz, London) Victorian Britain 1830-1900 (Fontana, London) Waites, Bernard, Bennett, Tony and Martin, Graham (Eds.) (1982) Popular Culture: Past and Present (Croom Helm, London, in Association with the Open University) Weightman, Gavin (2003) What the Industrial Revolution Did for Us (BBC, London) Websites www.arthurlloyd.co.uk Anon (1867) Extracts from ‘The Tomahawk, 14th and 21st September 1867   Dickens, Charles Jnr (1879) ‘Music Halls’ from Dickens’s Dictionary of London Greenwood, James (1869) The Seven Curses of London www.pepysdiary.com Pepys, Samuel (1661) Diary extract from 31st August 1661 Recordings Blur ‘Parklife’ (From the album ‘Parklife’, 1994, Food Records) The Beatles ‘Obladi, Oblada’ (From the White Album, 1968, Parlophone)