Sarnath

The Buddha went from Bodhgaya to Sarnath about 5 weeks after his enlightenment. Before Gautama (the Buddha-to-be) attained enlightenment, he gave up his austere penances and his friends, the Pancavaggiya monks, left him and went to Isipatana. [4] After attaining Enlightenment the Buddha, leaving Uruvela, travelled to the Isipatana to Join and teach them. He went to them because, using his spiritual powers, he had seen that his five former companions would be able to understand Dharma quickly.While travelling to Sarnath, Gautama Buddha had to cross the Ganges. Having no money with which to pay the ferryman, he crossed the Ganges through the air. When King Bimbis ¤ra heard of this, he abolished the toll for ascetics. When Gautama Buddha found his five former companions, he taught them, they understood and as a result they also became enlightened. At that time the Sangha, the community of the enlightened ones, was founded. The sermon Buddha gave to the five monks was his irst sermon, called the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta.It was given on the full-moon day of Asalha PuJa. [5] Buddha subsequently also spent his first rainy season at Sarnath[6] at the Mulagandhakuti. The Sangha had grown to 60 in number (after Yasa and his friends had become monks), and Buddha sent them out in all directions to travel alone and teach the Dharma. All 60 monks were Arahants. Several other incidents connected with the Buddha, besides the preaching of the first sermon, are entioned as having taken place in Isipatana.Here it was that one day at dawn Yasa came to the Buddha and became an Arahant. [7] It was at Isipatana, too, that the rule was passed prohibiting the use of sandals made of talipot leaves. [8] On another occasion when the Buddha was staying at Isipatana, having gone there from R ¤Jagaha, he instituted rules forbidding the use of certain kinds of flesh, including human flesh. [9] Twice, while the Buddha was at Isipatana, M ¤ra visited him but had to go away discomfited. [10]

History of the Hunley Essay

The concept of underwater endeavors has been around since the ancient times, the Egyptians used reeds to hunt in the water. The first time the concept was used in a military manner was by Alexander the Great’s army to clear obstructions during the siege of Syracuse in about 413 BC. Both of these instances were very primitive underwater developments, but held the basic concepts of a modern day submarine. They used underwater concealment to achieve a goal and that is the overall main concept of a modern day submarine. In the modern era our idea of underwater boats became a lot more refined and more practical. Many submarine designs started popping up around 1578. The first modern submarine was built in 1605 by Magnus Pegelius his submarine was lost in mud. The first successful submarine was propelled by oars and was invented by Cornelius Jacobszoon Drebbel many say its design was based on that of an Englishman William Bourne who designed a prototype submarine in 1578. Drebbel was a Dutchman in the service of King James I whose submarine was redesigned two more times from 1620 to 1624. In 1775 the first propelled self reliant submarine was invented in Connecticut and funded by the United States. It was named Turtle due to its resemblance to a turtle. David Bushnell inventor of Turtle was an American patriot and had his designs approved by George Washington. Turtle was the world’s first submarine to be used in battle. Turtle’s design was simple yet very efficient, it consisted of two wooden pieces secured with two metal bands and was covered in tar. It submerged by allowing water into a bilge tank at the bottom of the vessel and ascended by pushing water out through a hand pump, and was propelled vertically and horizontally by hand-cranked propellers. Turtle was the first recorded use of the screw propeller for ships. It also had two hundred pounds of lead which could be released in a moment to increase buoyancy. It was manned and operated by one person. It contained enough air for about thirty minutes and had a speed in calm water of about three miles per hour. Six small pieces of thick glass in the top were the only source of natural light. After Bushnell pondered the problem of lighting the inside of the ship and after learning that using a candle would hasten the use of the limited oxygen supply of the air inside, he solicited the help of Benjamin Franklin who cleverly hit upon the idea of using bioluminescent foxfire to provide illumination for the compass and depth meter. Foxfire is a glowing light given off by several species of fungi. The light given by the material was said to be sufficient at night, though likely dimmer than expected, because the ship was cooled by the surrounding sea water and the metabolic rate of poikilothermic, heterotrophic organisms, such as the mushrooms used in Turtle, is temperature-dependent. Turtle was designed as a naval weapon, and it’s method of attack was to drill into a ship’s hull and plant a keg containing 130 pounds of gunpowder. Then a fuse would be attached and ignited when the Turtle was a safe distance away. Much testing was done by the inventor’s brother, Ezra Bushnell, in the waters of the Connecticut River to ensure the structural fastness of the ship as well as to figure out the abilities of it. During the night of September 7, 1776, to support the upcoming Battle of Kip’s Bay, Turtle, under the guidance of army volunteer Sergeant Ezra Lee, attacked the English’s flagship HMS Eagle, which was moored off what is today called Governors Island, which is due south of Manhattan. A common misconception was that Lee failed because he could not manage to bore through the copper-sheeted hull. In practice, it has been shown that the thin copper would not have presented any problem to the drill. A more likely scenario is Lee’s unfamiliarity with the vessel made him unable to keep the Turtle stable enough to work the drill against the Eagle’s Hull. When he attempted another spot in the hull, he was unable to stay beneath the ship, and eventually abandoned the attempt. Governors Island is the place where the Hudson River and the East River merge. The currents at this point would have been strong and difficult. The Turtle would only be able to attack ship moored here during the short period of time when the incoming tide balanced the river currents. It is possible that during the attack the tide turned and Lee was unable to compensate. He released the keg of gunpowder when some British in row boats tried to pursue him. The British, suspecting some trick, gave up the pursuit. This was the beginning of a new era of naval battle. After several years of innovations and refinements to submarines designs and the building of many other successful ships such as France’s Nautilus and the US Navy’s Alligator, there came along a man named Horace Lawson Hunley who designed and created the Confederate States of America’s first successful submarine, the CSS H. L. Hunley. The Hunley and two earlier submarines were privately developed and funded by Horace Lawson Hunley, James McClintock, and Baxter Watson. The three men first built a small submarine named Pioneer at New Orleans, Louisiana. Pioneer was tested in February 1862 in the Mississippi River, but the Union advance towards New Orleans caused the men to abandon development and scuttle Pioneer the following month. The three inventors then moved to Mobile and joined with machinists Thomas Park and Thomas Lyons. There they soon began development of a second submarine, American Diver. They were supported by the Confederate States Army. The men experimented with electromagnetic and steam propulsion for the new submarine, before falling back on a simpler hand-cranked propulsion system. The ship was ready for harbor trials by January 1863, but proved too slow to be practical. One attempted attack on the Union blockade was made in February 1863, but was unsuccessful. The submarine sank in Mobile Bay during a storm later the same month and was not recovered. After the disappointment of the American Diver the construction of Hunley began soon. At this stage, Hunley was variously referred to as the â€Å"fish boat†, the â€Å"fish torpedo boat†, or the â€Å"porpoise†. Legend long held Hunley was made from a cast-off steam boiler, maybe because a cutaway drawing by William Alexander, who had seen the real boat, showed a short and stubby machine. In fact, the Hunley was purpose-designed and built for her role. Hunley was designed for a crew of eight. The eight man crew consisted of seven to turn the hand-cranked propeller and one to steer and direct the boat. Each end was equipped with ballast tanks that could be flooded by valves or pumped dry by hand pumps. Extra ballast was added through the use of iron weights bolted to the underside of the hull. In the event the submarine needed additional buoyancy to rise in an emergency, the iron weight could be removed by unscrewing the heads of the bolts from inside the vessel. Hunley was equipped with two watertight hatches, one forward and one aft, atop two conning towers with small portholes. The hatches were very small, making entrance to and egress from the hull very difficult. The ship had a hull height of 4 ft 3 in. By July 1863 Hunley was ready for a demonstration. Supervised by Confederate Admiral Franklin Buchanan, Hunley successfully attacked a coal flatboat in Mobile Bay. Right after this demonstration, the submarine was shipped to Charleston, South Carolina, by train. The Hunley arrived in Charleston August 12, 1863. The Confederate military seized the vessel from its private builders and owners soon after its arrival in Charleston and turned it over to the Confederate Army. The submarine would operate as a Confederate Army vessel from that point forward. Horace Hunley and his partners remained involved in the submarine’s further testing and operation. Confederate Navy Lieutenant John A. Payne volunteered to be Hunley’s skipper, and a volunteer crew of seven men was assembled to operate the submarine. On August 29, 1863, Hunley’s new crew was preparing to make a test dive to learn the operation of the submarine. Then the fatal moment came when Lieutenant Payne accidentally stepped on the lever controlling the sub’s diving planes while the crew was rowing and the boat was running. This caused Hunley to dive with hatches still open, flooding her. Payne and two other men escaped; the remaining five crewmen drowned. The Confederacy did not give up hope on the Hunley. Within 72 hours of the fatal accident, General Beauregard sent the following order: â€Å"Fish Torpedo still at bottom of bay, no one working on it. Adopt immediate measures to have it raised at once. Work quickly began to salvage the submarine from the harbor’s bottom and exhume the crew from their iron casket. For the submarine’s second outing, Hunley convinced the Confederate Navy to man the sub with a crew from Mobile who were familiar with the Hunley’s operations. Hunley went straight to where the submarine was built, Park and Lyons machine shop in Mobile, to enlist a new crew to man the vessel. Eve n their experience proved futile. On October 15, 1863, the Hunley again sank while performing a routine diving exercise. All eight men on board, including Hunley, succumbed to the depths. Although Hunley was in charge of the sub’s operations, he was not part of her crew. It is not known why he was at the helm when the sub sank for the second time. It is uncertain what caused the fate of the Hunley the second time. But if the crew had been able to close the forward sea valve which caused the ship to dive nose first, the freezing water that had already entered the ballast tank and spilled over the top could have been bailed back into the compartment and pumped into the sea. Although it would have been extremely difficult to do so in the darkness and confusion that followed the impact with the ocean floor, the valve handle must have fallen off the stem and become lost beneath the bodies that had been thrown into the forward area. Causing icy water and internal pressure to steadily rise within the vessel, panic would have gripped the terrified crewmen. As they were beneath nine fathoms it would have been a hopelessly miserable way to die. Hunley having now sunk twice, both times killing some of her crew including Hunley himself. Even so, the desperation of the times kept hope alive that the Hunley could save Charleston from the strangling blockade. Though Beauregard had grave concerns over the twice-fatal Hunley, at the urging of Lt. George Dixon, he nevertheless approved her to be to be salvaged by divers and pulled up by ships so that she could again attempt a strike at the Union blockade. Another new and courageous crew had already quickly assembled after the second sinking. Until the final resurrection of Hunley, little was known about members of the final crew. Since the Hunley was a venture with close ties to the Confederate Secret Service, many records were intentionally destroyed at the end of war to protect the identities of those involved. After months of repairs, re-modification and practice missions, the Hunley was ready to attack again. Finally on the night of February 17, 1864 Lt. Dixon and his new crew took Hunley out for its final voyage. The target was the Union Navy’s largest ship, the USS Housatonic. The Housatonic was also the main body of the Union’s naval blockade of Charleston. As Hunley came close to the ship, Housatonic’s lookout rang the alarm and the Hunley came under small arms fire, even though the Housatonic had six cannons aboard they were not built to be able to be aimed that low in the water. The Hunley then rammed its barbed charge into the hull of the Housatonic and then began to reverse away from the ship. It is uncertain how far Hunley got away from the Housatonic before the charge went off. After the explosion, which caused the first successful submarine attack on an enemy ship in wartime, the Housatonic sunk within four minutes killing five of its crew. After the attack Hunley signaled the men back at shore of the successful attack by means of a blue signal lantern. After the signal the men back on shore awaited the return of the Hunley, but sadly it never did return. Instead it sank to the bottom of the sea not to be seen again for another 137 years. Even though the Hunley itself sank more times than it sank other ships, it was a major naval innovation. It showed just how vulnerable ships were to submarines and how something so small and discreet can do so much damage to something as very large and discerning as the USS Housatonic. Since the Hunley military innovations and modern technology have continued to evolve and has provided the world with extremely deadly, accurate, reliable, fast, and stealthy submarines. But it all started with an American in a tar covered barrel trying to drill a hole in the bottom of a ship, and then led to success with human powered submarines such as the Hunley. Although the history of the creation of the Hunley and its military campaign is extremely interesting, the search and finding and preservation of the ship is equally intriguing. Two different individuals have claimed The Hunley discovery. Underwater Archaeologist E. Lee Spence, president, Sea Research Society, reportedly discovered Hunley in 1970, and has an impressive collection of evidence to validate the claim. On September 13, 1976, the National Park Service submitted Spence’s location for H. L. Hunley for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. Spence’s location for Hunley became a matter of public record when H. L. Hunley’s placement on that list was officially approved on December 29, 1978. Spence’s book Treasures of the Confederate Coast, which had a chapter on his discovery of Hunley and included a map complete with an â€Å"X† showing the wreck’s location, was published in January of 1995. A few months after Spence’s book with the location of the Hunley marked, Diver Ralph Wilbanks, claims to have discovered the wreck in April of 1995 while leading a NUMA dive team. Ralph Wilbanks claims to have located the submarine buried under several feet of silt, which had concealed and protected the vessel for over a hundred years. The divers exposed the forward hatch and the ventilator box, which is the air box for the attachment of a snorkel, to identify her. The submarine was resting on her starboard side at about a 45-degree angle and was covered in a ? – to ? -inch encrustation of ferrous oxide bonded with sand and seashell particles. Archaeologists exposed part of the ship’s port side and uncovered the bow dive plane. More probing revealed an approximate length of 40 feet, with the entire vessel preserved under the sediment. On September 14, 1995, at the official request of Senator Glenn F. McConnell, Chairman, South Carolina Hunley Commission, E. Lee Spence, with South Carolina Attorney General Charles M. Condon signing, gifted the Hunley to the State of South Carolina. Shortly thereafter NUMA disclosed their location for the wreck. Spence claims that he discovered the Hunley in 1970 and verified the discovery in 1971 and again in 1979, and that he expected NUMA to verify the discovery, not claim it. This is an ongoing dispute involving allegations of political manipulation, judicial misconduct and other questionable behavior. On August 8, 2000 an Archaeological investigation and excavation culminated ith the raising of Hunley. A large team of professionals from the Naval Historical Center’s Underwater Archaeology Branch, National Park Service, the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, and various other individuals investigated the vessel, measuring and documenting it prior to removal. Once the on-site investigation was complete, harnesses we re slipped underneath the sub and attached to a truss designed by Oceaneering, Inc. After the last harness had been secured, the crane from the recovery barge Karlissa B hoisted the submarine from the harbor bottom. Despite having used a sextant and hand-held compass, thirty years earlier, to plot the wreck’s location, Dr. Spence’s accuracy turned out to be within the length of the recovery barge. On August 8, 2000 at 8:37 a. m. the sub broke the surface for the first time in over 136 years, greeted by a cheering crowd on shore and in surrounding watercraft. Once safely on her transporting barge, Hunley was shipped back to Charleston. The removal operation concluded when the submarine was secured inside the Warren Lasch Conservation Center, at the former Charleston Navy Yard, in a specially designed tank of freshwater to await conservation. History has a very interesting way of reminding us of how our past affects our future. With something as magnificent as the discovery and resurrection of the Hunley it just goes to show us what hard work and dedication can bring us. As well as all the mysteries still unsolved about artifacts found in the Hunley as well as what really happened the night that the Hunley never returned home. I believe some things should stay mysteries; it makes it more fun to think about.

Discussion 6 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Discussion 6 - Assignment Example The opinion poll is generally conducted as an attempt to measure and depict some broader conclusions about its audience. The poll which I found online is a representation of 1000 US citizens. I dare to think that 1000 people can be representative of the overall US population which is around 813 million. After a careful research I understand that actually collecting a 1000 opinions is the standard for any poll which I found. I dont think a sample of 1000 people can be representative to form a general opinion on an important matter. And I do believe that very often polls are biased in terms of how the question is asked and what answers the interviewees have to choose from. The limited answer options in the poll may influence how people project their opinion and may produce biased results. 2. According to the textbook, a hypothesis is â€Å"a causal explanation offered for further investigation or testing.† The book provides several methods for testing the quality of a hypothesis. Choose one of the statements below and use one or more of the tests provided in the textbook to evaluate the quality of the hypothesis. Identify the hypothesis in the statement, and then say why it is or is not a good one. b) Crop circles are complicated, symmetrical designs formed in grain fields through depressing grain stalks. Because of their complexity and symmetry, they cannot be natural phenomena. These crop circles appear overnight. Since it would take far too long and too much complex planning for one or two people to make these designs, which can be seen only from above, aliens from outer space must be making them. c) The other day, I was walking in the mall and suddenly remembered an old school friend whom I had not spoken to in years. Not five minutes later, there I was face to face with my old friend. There must have been some deep karmic connection that drew us together that day. The hypothesis here is the statement that 2 people must have karmic

Reggae into the contemporary American society Essay

Reggae into the contemporary American society - Essay Example The culture of a particular community refers to the way of life of the community. It consists of the beliefs, traditions, and customs that are unique to a given community and the achievements that are associated with and valued by the community. It also entails the incorporation of ethical codes of conduct in coexisting with the others in the society. The culture of a community is actually, what portrays their human nature and distinguishes them from other animals in nature. It is thus of some value and the community has the responsibility of ensuring that it is preserved so that the due respect is accorded to it. Regardless of the culture from which and individual hails, the common point is that a desirable culture should provide an individual with a sense of identity and the individual should be able to understand the dynamic nature of the world and be able to adjust to the changes encountered. Folk culture refers to the natural way of life that is defined by an ideal culture in a given community. This culture emphasizes on the human values like honor and the principle of reasoning and a view that the natural setting should be valued and considered wholesome. The spirit of hard work, self-discipline, and excellence are some of the aims of a folk culture, and which have currently lost grounds in the majority of the modern culture. Others include individual responsibility and loyalty to the authority. There are various ways through which communities preserve their cultural heritage to uphold their identity. The traditional cultural preservations include some ritual practices, traditional folk dances, folk tales, and folk music (Jankee, 2). The themes of the folk songs pointed out the cultural values like brevity, loyalty, and hard work. They often contained information on peaceful coexistence among the individuals in a given society. These traditional folk cultural expressions developed into the modern expressions with some deviations. Much of the human values that were emphasized by the traditional folk songs are not stressed in the modern Western cultures. The modern culture happens not to view nature as it was viewed earlier and neither does it allow nature to take control of life as in the olden days. There has also emerged a relation between the cultural expressions and grass root developments especially in the developing nations. The development of folk cultural expression in the Modern American society The different cultural expressions that are witnessed in different parts of the world are all concerned with the issue of defining the identity of the community. The need to answer the questions â€Å"Who am I?†, â€Å"Where do I come from?† or â€Å"Where I am going to?† provides an insight to the earlier developments of the folk cultural expressions. The folk tales that were used were creative tales that had symbolic meaning that reflected on the values of a given cultural community. The developments of such fo lk tales often emerged when the community was faced with some difficult situations. As they pondered to develop a solution to problems, pictures and illusions of what would work best ran across the minds of the old legends. Continuous focus on these images helped develop a complete folk tale characterized by imagery (Kleymeyer, 25). The contents of nature were often used to describe certain characters that can be of help during difficulties. For instance, in must of the traditional folk tales, a hare was often portrayed as being weak but very intelligent (Kleymeyer, 25). It would always use its wits to influence the mightier animals in the jungle or to escape some danger. On the other hand, larger animals like elephants and hippopotamus were portrayed as having a lot of energy but not intelligent enough to realize the crafty nature of hare. The picture that was

Chinese Civilization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Chinese Civilization - Essay Example Both these men were subordinate only to their Emperors in terms of power and influence, and played pivotal roles in the events unfolding in China during their lifetimes. Li Si and Guan Deyu show marked differences in their backgrounds and personalities, but share many similarities in achievement, both of which are reflective of the particular period of Chinese history to which they respectively belonged. Li Si and Guan Deyu come from markedly different backgrounds of birth. Li Si was born to â€Å"a family of commoners† (Goldin, 16), and went on to become an insignificant government functionary. His vast ambition and single-minded determination to rise above his circumstances, lead him to deliberately master the skills required to â€Å"prepare himself for a more glorious political career† (Goldin, 16), using every means, ethical or otherwise, within his reach. Li Si’s political rise to the position of Chancellor, one to the two most powerful posts in Qin China, is remarkable for a man of his humble origins, and is obviously a reflection of the tumultuous times in which he lived, in which the former nobility was divested of all its power and transplanted to the capital, leaving a void that many commoners, such as Li Si and Zhao Gao, came to fill. In marked contrast, Guan Deyu belonged to a family of provincial elites, who, although they were not aristocrats, wer e distinguished government servants, and had influential social connections. Guan Deyu’s rise to power is the result of a methodical rise through the bureaucracy, and is a telling example of the changing social structure in the Tang Dynasty, which included prominent provincial families in the administration, and the well-regulated bureaucratic hierarchy, which was one of the significant causes of the prosperity which marked this ‘golden age’ of Chinese civilization. Guan Deyu was a product of the Tang Dynasty’s deliberate attempt to stabilize its rule by co-opting the services of the

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 53

Assignment Example Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis: Andreas was initially sent as expatriate to New York branch to work as corporate banking manager but on arrival is shocked to know that the only position available is in the credit department. Later he is promoted to managerial cadre after working for few years. But the problem arises when his wife expresses her desire to go back to Germany in view of her children’s education and to look after her parents. Upon this when Andreas addresses his problems and requests repatriation, the organization expresses its inability to provide similar position initially but after few months offers job which is comparatively lower to the present job executed by Andreas giving a big jolt to his expectations. Decision: Andreas was wise enough to accept the international assignment because it promised higher salary and better position. But the management’s decision of going back on its promises and not providing competitive position on repatriation hurts any hardworking employee. Now Andreas is in dilemma whether to go back to Germany so that he can stay with his family and accept the position awarded by the headquarters or to stay back and work in the same level. Action Plan: Basing on the current situation, it is advised that Andreas leave the job and go back to Germany to look after his parents and also for the better future of his children. Or he could wait for the recession to disappear completely and then ask for repatriation in the parent company. It is not a big deal for Andreas to find a new competitive job with similar salary in other organization and this could be easily possible with his experience which he gained while working in New

Theories on crimes Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Theories on crimes - Case Study Example Harvey Robinson was a teenager serial killer who killed and raped Charlotte Schmoyer - another fellow teenager- in 1993, he also assaulted numerous women. According to Ramsland (2012), there was evidence of blood and abandoned shoes where it was later discovered that the girl had also been stabbed in the woods. In committing the crime of rape and murder, Harvey had gone back to the scene of a previous crime scene when he chanced upon Charlotte who was the ‘perfect’ victim in an isolated place. Serial killers who rape and kill are a rare kind as evidenced by the involvement of the FBI in most of the cases. This theory explains the prevalence of criminal behavior in that the criminal makes rational choices when committing crimes. The reasons behind committing crimes could be due to personal needs like anger, lust or greed. This theory basis its ideas on the classical school of thought in criminology, which posits that individuals have a free will to choose their actions both good and bad while threats of punishment and sanctions deter criminal acts (Siegel, 2009). Furthermore, the choice theory points out that there are three actors of criminal behavior; rational actor, predestined actor, and the victimized actor. For rational actors, there is a choice on whether to commit a criminal act which is manageable with an imposition of penalties. The predestined actor commits crime without any control over their desire and surroundings. These actors are stimulated before they commit crimes. In order to enhance deterrence, there is a need to change the psychological, social, and biological environment. The victimized actor appears since there are disparities in the society; this ought to be addressed through enacting laws. The choice theory is useful in explaining the crimes given that Robinson stalked other victims then he made rational

Compare and contrast Jade Snow Wong and Richard Rodriguez as learners Essay

Compare and contrast Jade Snow Wong and Richard Rodriguez as learners and users of two languages(chinese vs spanish) - Essay Example There are different ways that Jade Snow Wong and Richard Rodriguez have learned different languages (Chinese and Spanish) in shaping their relationships and world view. This is manifested in their books Fifth Chinese Daughter by Jade Snow Wong and Hunger of Memory-Aria by Richard Rodriguez (Gudykunst). It is essential to observe that both writers grew up in foreign lands from their original nations. For example, Richard Rodriquez narrates his experiences in Sacramento, California, in family that only spoke Spanish. During this period of growing up, the young Rodriguez experiences several setbacks caused by language because he had a Mexican history that is different from that of his new place (Gudykunst 66). The author notes that he attends a Catholic school in Sacramento that speaks only English thus causing a language barrier for his young life. In other words, the writer implies that he got inculcated into a culture that was different from one he had witnessed in his childhood. On the other hand, Jade Snow Wong speaking in the third person aspect in her book The Fifth Chinese Daughter observes that she came from a conservative family in San Francisco. The author notes that their first generation family was poor with a lot of discrimination upon girls being a part of the culture. In that aspect, there are tales of domination of the female by the male in the family of Jade Snow Wong that is an indication of stigma against in society. Therefore, the author observes that because of such prejudices against, it was hard for girls such as her to acquire education (Gudykunst 69). This means there was no means of learning a language of overcoming the culture barrier. However, the author narrates her resilience to overcome insurmountable odds of by proving her abilities and talents in various fields. The above two authors are similar in the aspect of growing up under a foreign language that did not resemble that of their childhoods. Similarly, both of them made determi nations of learning the new languages by overcoming the barriers of family and culture shock as noted in their respective books. However, there differences in terms of gender and the superseding advantages that followed for the writers. For instance, while Richard Rodriguez found it a little easy in Sacramento, California during his learning period, that was not the case for Jade Snow. She laments that her family treated females as inferior hence there no need to challenge authority if you were a girl. In other words, the writer attempts to highlight the challenges of learning a new language under the yoke of a conservative culture that treats women with contempt. Therefore, while Rodriguez only faces the challenge of distorted childhood in a new place, Jade Snow grapples with gender inequality that is ingrained their first family that started living in San Francisco before the eruption of World War Two. Alternatively, there is the issue of the cultural divide that is prevalent in t he lives of the two authors in terms of forcing their varying cultural inclinations to those of other nations (Gudykunst 74). Another interesting distinctive feature concerning how the authors learned their two languages and their growth in English entails the sound of the foreign language. For example, according Rodriguez in Hunger of Memory-Aria, the author concurs that the application of varying languages in terms of sounds is paramount in shaping

Cooking Is My Hobby Essay Example for Free

Cooking Is My Hobby Essay I enjoy cooking because it keeps me happy in my life. Whenever I feel sad or upset, cooking ease that for me in a big way. I started cooking when I was 6, but it was as simple as putting ham and cheese between 2 slices of bread and used my favorite condiment of maynaise and let it heat up for about 30 seconds. When I grew older, my knowledge of food grew to new depths when I learned how to cook American food on the grill when I was 13 and my dad was the sole reason why I got better since he explained to me how to use temperature control. The 1st dish I made on my own without any kind of assistance was Alaskan Cod with Lemon Pepper which I enjoyed very much when it was baked in an oven. Now, in my college years, I evolved into making cursine in many cultures such as tacos from Mexico, crepes from France, peking duck from China, and pizza from Italy using my ingredients I purchased from HEB, Fiesta, or Chinatown in my hometown. Cooking is the only thing in which I know how to do best and I usually cook for my family, relatives, friends, or people whom I do not know. Sometimes, I cook multiple of one thing for homeless people and disturbute them across the city. My least favorite thing to cook is vegetables since I do not like them, but if someone requests them on their plate, I will not be unwilling to cook them. Instead, I would embrace their desires and make it for them. I have invested hours of my time per day to be more knowlegable about different cooking methods from various chefs instead of just one in order to be prepared for different styles of cooking and perferences from guests. My signature dish is pork and leek dumplings with either soy sauce or vinegar or my orange chicken with basil and coconut broth so if you are ever in my area, I will be willing to cook for you.

Nature vs Nurture Essay Example for Free

Nature vs Nurture Essay Abstract The discussion surrounding Stephen Pinkers book The Blank Slate: the Modern Denial of Human Nature has sparks some rather interesting arguments as to whether our being is a result of nature, genetics or is it learned through nurturing. The discussion revolved around Pinkers idea that there is no such thing as the Blank Slate theory, when it comes to human nature. He believes that the human mind, like the human body, has been designed by natural selection through the process of biological evolution (Bailey Gillespie, 2002, p. 2). The Blank Slate theory derived from John Locke, a great philosopher who lived in the 16th century. In John Lockes philosophy, tabula rasa was the theory that the (human) mind is at birth a blank slate void of all characters, without any ideas or rules for processing data, and that data is added and rules for processing it formed solely by our sensory experiences. As understood by Locke, tabula rasa meant that the mind of the individual was born blank, and it also emphasized the individuals freedom to author his or her own soul. Each individual was free to define the content of his or her character but his or her basic identity as a member of the human species cannot be so altered. Implicit in this theory is the belief that individuals are infinitely and arbitrarily malleable by society: by changing the individuals environment, and thus sensory experiences, one can shape the individual with few, if any, restrictions. Steven Pinker challenges the Blank Slate theory. He thinks, we are genetically coded to be whatever we are. The experiences we encounter only have a minuscule impact on how we grow. Pinker argues about the idea of which nurture plays a more important role than nature in the development of the human mind. He believes a child is born with a personality, and parents cannot cause their children to have a different personality to that which is given. Pinker states in an interview by Bailey and Gillespie that: Blank slates do not do anything they just sit there. Human beings do things. They make sense of their environment they acquire language they interact with one another. They use reasoning to bring about things that they want. Even if you acknowledge, as you have to acknowledge, that learning, socialization, and culture are indispensable aspects of human behavior you have to admit that you cant have culture unless you have some kind of innate circuitry that can invent and acquire culture to begin with. (p. 5) Pinker also has an interesting notion, that there is no such thing as intelligence as we know it. If everyone is born void of everything, how do we explain intellectual difference among humans? One of his ways to solve the difference, because it is given to us genetically is to have its checks and balance. We have to match social structure to genetics. Pinker stated that the Blank Slate theory made divisions among humans socially, intellectually, racially and by gender. Method Participants Research participants stemmed from his research with twins where Pinker with the help of Jennifer Ganger, PhD. They gathered data. On the development of words, sentences and past tense forms in a large sample of identical and fraternal twins. In the research he looked at there gradual development of their language, if it looked like the development appear in closer synchrony in identical twins (who share all their genes) than in fraternal twins (who share half their genes, among those that vary), it would suggest that language development is paced in part by a genetically influenced maturational timetable. (Pinker research 2002 p. 1) Pinker also conducted research studies on Neuroimaging of inflection where he used (functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neural organization of language. He also used a set of projects that focused on inflections such as the past tense and plural to understand the psychology of language. I have studied how past tense forms develop in children. I studied this processed in real time during speech productions. How they vary and do not vary? and how their details, quirks and exceptions are explained by linguistic theory. (Pinker ? research, 2002 p. 1) My view of this topic is that I think to some extent we are born with some kind of personality but our experiences molds what we truly become. I do not believe that nature give us, by genetics all the things we need in life. I think we are born with some intellectual capacity and by nurturing that, we improve our knowledge. I saw an example of nurturing on an interesting episode of CBS 60 minutes. A little boy was born severely brain damaged and was blind. He could barely walk, talk or move his hands. At the age of two, his parents gave him a piano, he began playing it, and by age five, he was already playing classical music. The gene found in this child is found, is found in one in ten thousand people and it allows him to read music. He just needs to hear a sound once in its entirety and he can play it on piano minutes later. No everyone with this gene has this ability. His parents nurtured him and invoked the intellectual part of his brain that allows him to be an extraordinary musician. Our experience in life and the way we are nurture plays a vital roll in the individuals we become. In closing, I think we do learn a great deal from nurturing and we are born with a gene that gives us certain personalities. Therefore, a human being cannot be completely void. References Bailey, R Gillespie, N (2002). Reason: Biology vs. the blank Slate. http://reason. com/0210/fe. rb. biology. shtml Pinker, S (2005) http://pinker. wjh. harvard. edu Wikipedia. Org http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Tabula_rasa http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Nature_versus_nurture http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/The_Blank_Slate.

Hybrid Pharmacophores as Anti-inflammatory Agents

Hybrid Pharmacophores as Anti-inflammatory Agents CHAPTER VII SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION The Synthesis of molecules that are important in the control of ageing diseases is very important in the present decades. The compounds like Diarylsulfonylurea-chalcone may act as anti-inflammatory agents that may be linked as network to several diseases. The synthetic compounds have the abilities to act as preventive compounds having therapeutic action. In the present decade, one can consider synthetic products in preventing aging diseases via anti-inflammation. Hence there is a need to discover novel synthetic compounds that are deemed in prevention and treatment of diseases showing tremendous impact on health care systems. As a part of our research program aimed at search for new hybrid pharmacophores as anti-inflammatory agents, we are interested to have ÃŽ ±,ÃŽ ²-unsaturatedketone linker to the diarylsulfonylurea basic nucleus to give a series of diarylsulfonylurea-chalcone hybrids. Therefore, in the present study an attempt has been made to design, synthesize and characterize some new diarylsulfonylurea-chalcone hybrids. Drug Discovery and drug development is a knowledge base, expensive and time intense method. Scientific advancements throughout the past 20 years have modified the manner pharmaceutical analysis generate novel bioactive molecules. Advances in machine/computer aided techniques and in parallel support of hardware have enabled in silico strategies, and particularly structure-based drug style technique, to speed up new target choice through identification of hits for the optimization of lead compounds within the drug discovery method. Genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and, chemo informatics have gained vast quality Associate in development became an integral a part of the commercial and educational analysis, directive drug style and discovery. Virtual screening emerged as a crucial tool in our quest to access novel drug like compounds (Wermuth et al., 1998, Allen, 2002). Rational in silico drug style are often tired 2 ways in which ligand-based or structure-based are analyzed for compound activity. With the supply of the 3D structure of a biological target, its possible to use a structure-based approach to judge and predict the binding mode of a matter inside the situation of the receptor with tying up strategies. Currently it’s a well-liked technique used for increasing the speed of drug coming up with method. This was created attainable by the supply of the many super molecule structures that helped in developing tools to know the structure operate relationships, machine-controlled tying up and virtual screening. Moreover, once no 3D structural data regarding target proteins with their receptor website is obtainable ligand-based style is applied. The ligand-based approach starts with a bunch of ligands binding to a similar receptor with a similar mechanism. These four completely different methods supported the previous information of the tar gets 3D structure and therefore the ligands binding to that square measure predominant (Van, 2007; Kier, 1967). Chalcones are considered as precursors of flavonoidsand isoflavonoids in edible plants thatshowa variousarray ofmedical specialtyactivities. Chalcones are new class of glycosidase (ÃŽ ±-amylase, ÃŽ ±-glucosidase, and ÃŽ ²-amylase) inhibitors that shows non-competitive inhibition acts against ÃŽ ±-glucosidase. The effect of chalcones in hyperglycemic-normal rats on serum glucose-lowering properties highlighting the novel compounds showing strong anti-hyperglycemic properties (Damazio et al., 2009). Sulfonylureas were only drugs used to stimulate the insulin secretion in patients with type 2 diabetes or D2M. Diarylsulfonylurea (DSU) is a novel anticancer molecule because has unique chemical structure with broad-spectrum antisolid-tumor activity in preclinical models. The sulfonylurea inhibits the eosinophil survival in a method similar to lidocaine. Anti-inflammation is the biological process of the diseases that links to the pathways related to aging diseases. A substance that reduces inflammation are linked to cancer, diabetes, etc., are anti-inflammatory compounds used to reduce the risk of age related diseases. In the present investigation, the LPID approach is now applied to the database of 25 compounds virtually designed for finding ‘best fit’ (hit identification) against selected anti-inflammatory protein drug target (5-Lipoxygenase (5-LO)). The compounds appear out of these molecular docking studies with least binding energy against target protein were prepared by using standard conventional methods of synthesis and subjected for corresponding in vitro and in vivo studies. By this means, it is possible to understand how the compounds interact with the selected anti-inflammatory target protein. The results promising out of this study can be used to identify a new class of potential anti-inflammatory agents with selective 5-LO inhibitory activity. A set of 25 diarylsulfonylurea-chalcone hybrids 4a-4y were subjected to ligand-protein inverse docking simulation using software Molegro Virtual Docker v 5.0. These compounds were docked against selected anti-inflammatory drug target (i.e. Human 5-Lipoxygenase PDB Code: 3V99). The results of these studies could help in preliminary confirmation of inhibitory activity against 5-lipoxygenase. The result of the docking interactions between the selected compounds and protein target, data in shows that compound 4g was accomplished best binding efficiency against 5-lipoxygenase with Moldock Score (-193.641) with 3 hydrogen bond interactions and the corresponding interacting residues are Asn 554, Ser 608 and Ala 606 these hydrogen bonds not only relevant for the binding 4g to 3V99 to exhibit highly selective and potent binding affinity. Moreover, from the data given in it appears that the co-crystallized ligand arachidonic acid and positive standard abietic acid showed no hydrogen bond inter actions with the active binding site residues indicating the importance of steric interactions and electrostatic interactions for their observed 5-lipoxygenase inhibitory activity. The key intermediary in the current study 1-(3-acetylphenyl)-3-tosylurea was synthesized by reaction of 3-aminoacetophenone with methylchloroformate under basic conditions at 0 Â °C temperature to give methyl-3-acetylphenylcarbamate followed by the reaction with toluene sulphonamide and on the other hand subsequent Claisen-Schmidt condensation of the intermediate with appropriate aromatic/heteroaromatic aldehydes in ethanolic KOH solution to give the corresponding diarylsulfonylurea-chalcone hybrids (4a4y) in good yield The investigation of the compounds(4a-4y) in vitro 5-LO inhibitory activity screening data revealed that the compounds 4r and 4o demonstrated comparatively the most potent inhibitory activity, with IC50 values of 7.88Â ±0.14 Â µg/mL and 11.77Â ±0.21 Â µg/mL, respectively. An in silico toxicity tests can be conducted for diarylsulfonylurea-chalcone hybrids 4o, 4q, 4r, 4t, 4y and standard (Aceclofenac) to predict the toxicity nature using Lazar server. All the compounds are predicted as non-toxic. From the in vitro 5-LO inhibitory activity data, five potent diarylsulfonylurea-chalcone hybrids compounds (mentioned above) which displayed significant activity has been selected for further anti-inflammatory activity studies by using in vivo bioassay model i.e. Carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema method. The results of the assessment have been viewed by taking Aceclofenac as the standard drug. Finally the work concludes that all the compounds displayed were shown remarkable anti-inflammatory activity.

Cloning: Is It Ethical? Essay -- Cloning Science Biology Essays Papers

Cloning: Is It Ethical? Science today is developing at warp speed. We have the capability to do many things, which include the cloning of actual humans! First you may ask what a clone is? A clone is a group of cells or organisms, which are genetically identical, and have all been produced from the same original cell. There are three main types of cloning, two of which aim to produce live cloned offspring and one, which simply aims to produce stem cells and then human organs. These three are: reproductive cloning, embryo cloning and therapeutic cloning. The goal of therapeutic cloning is to produce a healthy copy of a sick person's tissue or organ for transplant, and the goal of both reproductive cloning and embryo cloning is to produce and actual living breathing organism. There have been many debates on the issue of cloning, but the main question that we have to ask ourselves is, is cloning ethical? I believe that cloning is totally immoral, but I feel that in order to understand its morality and our obligations we have to first look at both sides of the argument, as in most cases, to fully understand the whole picture. In this essay I will examine the pros and cons of cloning and then I will unpack the morality of cloning. As I stated and as we all know there are pros and cons to almost everything. Cloning is not exempt from this. In the eyes of some cloning is perfectly acceptable. Some people argue that cloning is the logical next step in reproductive technology. Identical twins are natural clones, so reproductive cloning can be regarded as a technological version of a natural process. If couples are infertile, why shouldn’t they be able to produce clones of themselves? If a couple lost a child, why shouldn’t they... ... in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. In conclusion cloning in any way shape or form is not moral. Although There have been many debates over the issue of cloning we need to look at the big picture, and that is what would God say about it. The fact that there may be some good about cloning means nothing. If the cons outweight the pros why continue? Scripture clearly shows us that the means to cloning is sinful, and will lead to more sin. It is hard to look at any of this evidence and say that God is blessing this and that it will help humanity, when everything about it is contrary to the word of God. We need to know and be happy that God made us unique and special for a reason, and that is to bring honor and glory to him. Know this, â€Å"that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.†

Twelve angry men Essay -- essays research papers

An examination of the quantitative and qualitative paradigms will help to identify their strengths and weaknesses and how their divergent approaches can complement each other. In most cases, researchers fall into one of the two camps--either relying exclusively upon "objective" survey questionnaires and statistical analyses and eschewing warm and fuzzy qualitative methods, or using only qualitative methodologies, rejecting the quantitative approach as decontextualizing human behaviour. However, social researchers recognise that each approach has positive attributes, and that combining different methods can result in gaining the best of both research worlds. Quantitative research uses methods adopted from the physical sciences that are designed to ensure objectivity, generalizability and reliability. These techniques cover the ways research participants are selected randomly from the study population in an unbiased manner, the standardised questionnaire or intervention they receive and the statistical methods used to test predetermined hypotheses regarding the relationships between specific variables. The researcher is considered external to the actual research, and results are expected to be replicable no matter who conducts the research. The strengths of the quantitative paradigm are that its methods produce quantifiable, reliable data that are usually generalizable to some larger population. Quantitative measures are often most appropriate for conducting needs as...

Respiration & Homeostasis

RESPIRATION * The release of energy from food * All living cells need energy to carry out M R S G R E N, contraction of muscles, build up of larger molecules (e. g. proteins), maintains steady body temperature (homeostasis) * Aerobic: * needs oxygen * only occurs when a certain amount of oxygen is available * C6H12O6 + 6O2 6CO2 + 6H2O + Energy * releases large amount of energy (2900 KJ) * Anaerobic: * without oxygen * [glucose lactic acid] C6H12O6 2C3H6O3 * releases small amount of energy (120 KJ) * poisonous waste (lactic acid) removed to produce joined with O2, H2O + CO2 BREATHING Inhalation: taking air in lungs * muscles contract – diaphragm, intercostal muscles * volume increases * outside of lungs: high atmospheric pressure; inside lungs: low pressure * air flows into the lungs because of the difference in pressure * Inhalation: taking air out of lungs * muscles relax – diaphragm, intercostal muscles contract – internal intercostal muscles * volume decreases * outside of lungs: low pressure; inside lungs: high pressure * air flows out of the lungs because of the difference in pressure * GASES EXCHANGED INHALED EXHALED * Carbon Dioxide: 0. 4% 4% * Nitrogen: 79% 79% * Oxygen: 21% 16% * Water: Variable High * Temperature: Variable High * Alveoli are the site of gas exchange. Adaptations: * large surface area * good supply of oxygen and blood (surrounded by capillaries) for rapid diffusion of gas * thin walls * moist lining for dissolving gasesHOMEOSTASIS * the maintenance of a constant internal environment in the body * Conditions that are kept the same: 1. Body Temperature 2. pH 7. 4 (Blood) 3. water content 4. oxygen 5. glucose concentration * thermoregulation: maintaining a constant temperature (370C) * enzymes work best at 370C * temperature is monitored by hypothalamus (thermoregulatory centre) as the blood passes * BODY TEMPERATURE RISES: 6. hairs lie flat: less air trapped (less insulation) more heat is lost from the skin 7. weat i s produced: water in swear evaporates taking away heat from the skin 8. vasodilation: blood vessels near the surface of the skin dilate to increase blood flow from the capillaries so more heat is lost * BODY TEMPERATURE FALLS: 9. hairs stand up on end: air is trapped for body insulation 10. less/ no sweat is produced 11. vasoconstriction: blood vessels near surface of skin constrict to decrease blood flow to capillaries so less heat is lost 12. shivering: muscles produce heat by respiration

The Vampire Diaries: The Fury Chapter Fourteen

White owl†¦ hunting bird†¦ hunter†¦ tiger. Playing with you like a cat with a mouse. Like a cat†¦ a great cat†¦ a kitten. A white kitten. Death is in the house. And the kitten, the kitten had run from Damon. Not out of fear, but out of the fear of being discovered. Like when it had stood on Margaret's chest and wailed at the sight of Elena outside the window. Elena moaned and almost surfaced from unconsciousness, but the gray fog dragged her back under before she could open her eyes. Her thoughts seethed around her again. Poisoned love†¦ Stefan, it hated you before it hated Elena†¦ White and gold†¦ something white†¦ something white under the tree†¦ This time, when she struggled to open her eyes, she succeeded. And even before she could focus in the dim and shifting light, she knew. She finally knew. The figure in the trailing white dress turned from the candle she was lighting, and Elena saw what might have been her own face on its shoulders. But it was a subtly distorted face, pale and beautiful as an ice sculpture, but wrong. It was like the endless reflections of herself Elena had seen in her dream of the hall of mirrors. Twisted and hungry, and mocking. â€Å"Hello, Katherine,† she whispered. Katherine smiled, a sly and predatory smile. â€Å"You're not as stupid as I thought,† she said. Her voice was light and sweet-silvery, Elena thought. Like her eyelashes. There were silvery lights in her dress when she moved, too. But her hair was gold, almost as pale a gold as Elena's own. Her eyes were like the kitten's eyes: round and jewel blue. At her throat she wore a necklace with a stone of the same vivid color. Elena's own throat was sore, as if she had been screaming. It felt dry as well. When she turned her head slowly to the side, even that little motion hurt. Stefan was beside her, slumped forward, bound by his arms to the wrought-iron pickets of the gate. His head sagged against his chest, but what she could see of his face was deathly white. His throat was torn, and blood had dripped onto his collar and dried. Elena turned back to Katherine so quickly that her head spun. â€Å"Why? Why did you do that?† Katherine smiled, showing pointed white teeth. â€Å"Because I love him,† she said in a childish singsong. â€Å"Don't you love him, too?† It was only then that Elena fully realized why she couldn't move, and why her arms hurt. She was tied up like Stefan, lashed securely to the closed gate. A painful turning of her head to the other side revealed Damon. â€Å"Which one do you like better?† Katherine asked, in an intimate, confiding tone. â€Å"You can tell me. Which one do you think is best?† Elena looked at her, sickened. â€Å"Katherine,† she whispered. â€Å"Please. Please listen to me†¦ â€Å"Tell me. Go on.† Those jewel blue eyes filled Elena's vision as Katherine leaned in close, her lips almost touching Elena's. â€Å"I think they're both fun. Do you like fun, Elena?† Revolted, Elena shut her eyes and turned her face away. If only her head would stop spinning. Katherine stepped back with a clear laugh. â€Å"I know, it's so hard to choose.† She did a little pirouette, and Elena saw that what she had vaguely taken for the train to Katherine's dress was Katherine's hair. It flowed like molten gold down her back to spill over the floor, trailing behind her. â€Å"It all depends on your taste,† Katherine continued, doing a few graceful dance steps and ending up in front of Damon. She looked over at Elena impishly. â€Å"But then I have such a sweet tooth.† She grasped Damon by the hair, and, yanking his head up, sank her teeth into his neck. â€Å"No! Don't do that; don't hurt him any more†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Elena tried to surge forward, but she was tied too tightly. The gate was solid iron, set in stone, and the ropes were sturdy. Katherine was making animal sounds, gnawing and chewing at the flesh, and Damon moaned even in unconsciousness. Elena saw his body jerk reflexively with pain. â€Å"Please stop; oh, please stop-â€Å" Katherine lifted her head. Blood was running down her chin. â€Å"But I'm hungry and he's so good,† she said. She reared back and struck again, and Damon's body spasmed. Elena cried out. I was like that, she thought. In the beginning, that first night in the woods, I was like that. I hurt Stefan like that, I wanted to kill him†¦ Darkness swept up around her, and she gave in to it gratefully. Alaric's car skewed on a patch of ice as it reached the school, and Meredith almost ran into it. She and Matt jumped out of her car, leaving the doors open. Ahead, Alaric and Bonnie did the same. â€Å"What about the rest of the town?† Meredith shouted, running toward them. The wind was rising, and her face burned with frost. â€Å"Just Elena's family-Aunt Judith and Margaret,† Bonnie cried. Her voice was shrill and frightened, but there was a look of concentration in her eyes. She leaned her head back as if trying to remember something, and said, â€Å"Yes, that's it. They're the other ones the dogs will be after. Make them go somewhere-like the cellar. Keep them there!† â€Å"I'll do it. You three take the dance!† Bonnie turned to run after Alaric. Meredith raced back to her car. â€Å"Go back in! Get everybody inside and shut the doors!† he yelled at the sheriff's officers. But there wasn't time. He reached the cafeteria just as the first lurking shape in the darkness did. One officer went down without a sound or a chance to fire his gun. Another was quicker, and a gunshot rang out, amplified by the concrete courtyard. Students screamed and began to run away from it, into the parking lot. Alaric went after them, yelling, trying to herd them back. Other shapes came out of the darkness, from between parked cars, from all sides. Panic ensued. Alaric kept shouting, kept trying to gather the terrified students toward the building. Out here they were easy prey. In the courtyard, Bonnie turned to Matt. â€Å"We need fire!† she said. Matt darted into the cafeteria and came out with a box half-full of dance programs. He threw it to the ground, groping in his pockets for one of the matches they'd used to light the candle before. The paper caught and burned brightly. It formed an island of safety. Matt continued to wave people into the cafeteria doors behind it. Bonnie plunged inside, to find a scene just as riotous as outside. She looked around for someone in authority but couldn't see any adults, only panicked kids. Then the red and green crepe paper decorations caught her eye. The noise was thunderous; even a shout couldn't be heard in here. Struggling past the people trying to get out, she made it to the far side of the room. Caroline was there, looking pale without her summer tan, and wearing the snow queen tiara. Bonnie towed her to the microphone. â€Å"You're good at talking. Tell them to get inside and stay in! Tell them to start taking down the decorations. We need anything that'll burn-wood chairs, stuff in garbage cans, anything. Tell them it's our only chance!† She added, as Caroline stared at her, frightened and uncomprehending: â€Å"You've got the crown on now-so do something with it!† She didn't wait to see Caroline obey. She plunged again into the furor of the room. A moment later she heard Caroline's voice, first hesitant and then urgent, on the loudspeakers. It was dead quiet when Elena opened her eyes again. At the hoarse whisper, she tried to focus and found herself looking into pain-filled green eyes. â€Å"Stefan,† she said. She leaned toward him yearningly, wishing she could move. It didn't make sense, but she felt that if they could only hold each other it wouldn't be so bad. There was a childish laugh. Elena didn't turn toward it, but Stefan did. Elena saw his reaction, saw the sequence of expressions passing across his face almost too quickly to identify. Blank shock, disbelief, dawning joy-and then horror. A horror that finally turned his eyes blind and opaque. â€Å"Katherine,† he said. â€Å"But that's impossible. It can't be. You're dead†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Stefan†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Elena said, but he didn't respond. Katherine put a hand in front of her mouth and giggled behind it. â€Å"You wake up, too,† she said, looking on the other side of Elena. Elena felt a surge of Power. After a moment Damon's head lifted slowly, and he blinked. There was no astonishment in his face. He leaned his head back, eyes wearily narrowed, and looked for a minute or so at his captor. Then he smiled, a faint and painful smile, but recognizable. â€Å"Our sweet little white kitten,† he whispered. â€Å"I should have known.† â€Å"You didn't know, though, did you?† Katherine said, as eager as a child playing a game. â€Å"Even you didn't guess. I fooled everyone.† She laughed again. â€Å"It was so much fun, watching you while you were watching Stefan, and neither of you knew I was there. I even scratched you once!† Hooking her fingers into claws, she mimicked a kitten's slash. â€Å"At Elena's house. Yes, I remember,† Damon said slowly. He didn't seem so much angry as vaguely, whimsically amused. â€Å"Well, you're certainly a hunter. The lady and the tiger, as it were.† â€Å"And I put Stefan in that well,† Katherine bragged. â€Å"I saw you two fighting; I liked that. I followed Stefan to the edge of the woods, and then-† She clapped her cupped hands together, like someone catching a moth. Opening them slowly, she peered down into them as if she really had something there, and giggled secretly. â€Å"I was going to keep him to play with,† she confided. Then her lower lip thrust out and she looked at Elena balefully. â€Å"But you took him. That was mean, Elena. You shouldn't have done that.† The dreadful childish slyness was gone from her face, and for a moment Elena glimpsed the searing hatred of a woman. â€Å"Greedy girls get punished,† Katherine said, moving toward her, â€Å"and you're a greedy girl.† Distracted, Katherine stepped back. She looked surprised, then flattered. â€Å"Well-if you really want me to,† she said. She hugged her elbows with her hands and pirouetted again, her golden hair twisting on the floor. â€Å"No,† she said gleefully, turning back and pointing at them. â€Å"You guess. You guess and I'll tell you ‘right' or ‘wrong.' Go on! Elena swallowed, casting a covert glance at Stefan. She didn't see the point of stalling Katherine; it was all going to come out the same in the end. But some instinct told her to hang on to life as long as she could. â€Å"You attacked Vickie,† she said, carefully. Her own voice sounded winded to her ears, but she was positive now. â€Å"The girl in the ruined church that night.† â€Å"Good! Yes,† Katherine cried. She made another kitten swipe with clawed fingers. â€Å"Well, after all, she was in my church,† she added reasonably. â€Å"And what she and that boy were doing-well! You don't do that in church. So, I scratched her!† Katherine drew out the word, demonstrating, like somebody telling a story to a young child. â€Å"And†¦ I licked the blood up!† She licked pale pink lips with her tongue. Then she pointed at Stefan. â€Å"Next guess!† â€Å"You've been hounding her ever since,† Stefan said. He wasn't playing the game; he was making a sickened observation. â€Å"Yes, we're done with that! Go on to something else,† Katherine said sharply. But then she fiddled with the buttons at the neck of her dress, her fingers twinkling. And Elena thought of Vickie, with her startled-fawn eyes, undressing in the cafeteria in front of everyone. â€Å"I made her do silly things.† Katherine laughed. â€Å"She was fun to play with.† Elena's arms were numb and cramped. She realized that she was reflexively straining against the ropes, so offended by Katherine's words that she couldn't hold still. She made herself stop, trying instead to lean back and get a little feeling into her deadened hands. What she was going to do if she got free she didn't know, but she had to try. â€Å"Next guess,† Katherine was saying dangerously. â€Å"Why do you say it's your church?† Damon asked. His voice was still distantly amused, as if none of this affected him at all. â€Å"What about Honoria Fell?† â€Å"Oh, that old spook!† Katherine said maliciously. She peered around behind Elena, her mouth pursed, her eyes glaring. Elena realized for the first time that they were facing the entrance to the crypt, with the ransacked tomb behind them. Maybe Honoria would help them†¦ But then she remembered that quiet, fading voice. This is the only help I can give you. And she knew that no further aid would come. As if she'd read Elena's thoughts, Katherine was saying, â€Å"She can't do anything. She's just a pack of old bones.† The graceful hands made gestures as if Katherine were breaking those bones. â€Å"All she can do is talk, and lots of times I stopped you from hearing her.† Katherine's expression was dark again, and Elena felt an acid twinge of fear. â€Å"Yes! That was funny. You all came running out of the house and started moaning and crying†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Katherine evoked the scene in pantomime: the little dog lying in front of Bonnie's house, the girls rushing out to find his body. â€Å"He tasted bad, but it was worth it. I followed Damon there when he was a crow. I used to follow him a lot. If I wanted I could have grabbed that crow, and†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She made a sharp wringing motion. Bonnie's dream, thought Elena, icy revelation sweeping over her. She didn't even realize she'd spoken aloud until she saw Stefan and Katherine looking at her. â€Å"Bonnie dreamed about you,† she whispered. â€Å"But she thought it was me. She told me that she saw me standing under a tree with the wind blowing. And she was afraid of me. She said I looked different, pale but almost glowing. And a crow flew by and I grabbed it and wrung its neck.† Bile was rising in Elena's throat, and she gulped it down. â€Å"But it was you,† she said. Katherine looked delighted, as if Elena had somehow proved her point. â€Å"People dream about me a lot,† she said smugly. â€Å"Your aunt-she's dreamed about me. I tell her it was her fault you died. She thinks it's you telling her.† â€Å"Oh, God†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I wish you had died,† Katherine went on, her face turning spiteful. â€Å"You should have died. I kept you in the river long enough. But you were such a tramp, getting blood from both of them, that you came back. Oh, well.† She gave a furtive smile. â€Å"Now I can play with you longer. I lost my temper that day, because I saw Stefan had given you my ring. My ring!† Her voice rose. â€Å"Mine, that I left for them to remember me by. And he gave it to you. That was when I knew I wasn't just going to play with him. I had to kill him.† Stefan's eyes were stricken, confounded. â€Å"But I thought you were dead,† he said. â€Å"You were dead, five hundred years ago. Katherine†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Oh, that was the first time I fooled you,† Katherine said, but there was no glee in her tone now. It was sullen. â€Å"I arranged it all with Gudren, my maid. The two of you wouldn't accept my choice,† she burst out, looking from Stefan to Damon angrily. â€Å"I wanted us all to be happy; I loved you. I loved you both. But that wasn't good enough for you.† Katherine's face had changed again, and Elena saw in it the hurt child of five centuries ago. That must have been what Katherine looked like, then, she thought wonderingly. The wide blue eyes were actually filling with tears. â€Å"I wanted you to love each other.† Katherine went on, sounding bewildered, â€Å"but you wouldn't. And I felt awful. I thought if you thought I'd died, that you would love each other. And I knew I had to go away, anyway, before Papa started to suspect what I was. â€Å"But then†-Katherine's face twisted in grief-â€Å"you did everything all wrong. You were supposed to be sorry, and cry, and comfort each other. I did it for you. But instead you ran and got swords. Why did you do that?† It was a cry from the heart. â€Å"Why didn't you take my gift? You treated it like garbage. I told you in the note that I wanted you to be reconciled with each other. But you didn't listen and you got swords. You killed each other. Why did you do it?† Tears were slipping down Katherine's cheeks, and Stefan's face was wet, too. â€Å"We were stupid,† he said, as caught up in the memory of the past as she was. â€Å"We blamed each other for your death, and we were so stupid†¦ Katherine, listen to me. It was my fault; I was the one who attacked first. And I've been sorry-you don't know how sorry I've been ever since. You don't know how many times I've thought about it and wished there was something I could do to change it. I'd have given anything to take it back-anything. I killed my brother†¦Ã¢â‚¬  His voice cracked, and tears spilled from his eyes. Elena, her heart breaking with grief, turned helplessly to Damon and saw that he wasn't even aware of her. The look of amusement was gone, and his eyes were fixed on Stefan in utter concentration, riveted. â€Å"Katherine, please listen to me,† Stefan said shakily, regaining his voice. â€Å"We've all hurt one another enough. Please let us go now. Or keep me, if you want, but let them leave. I'm the one that's to blame. Keep me, and I'll do whatever you want†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Katherine's jewel-like eyes were liquid and impossibly blue, filled with an endless sorrow. Elena didn't dare to breathe, afraid to break the spell as the slender girl moved toward Stefan, her face softened and yearning. But then the ice inside Katherine crept out again, freezing the tears on her cheeks. â€Å"You should have thought of that a long time ago,† she said. â€Å"I might have listened to you then. I was sorry you'd killed each other at first. I ran away, without even Gudren, back to my home. But then I didn't have anything, not even a new dress, and I was hungry and cold. I might have starved if Klaus hadn't found me.† Klaus. Through her dismay, Elena remembered something Stefan had told her. Klaus was the man who'd made Katherine a vampire, the man the villagers said was evil. â€Å"Klaus taught me the truth,† Katherine said. â€Å"He showed me how the world really is. You have to be strong, and take the things you want. You have to think only of yourself. And I'm the strongest of all now. I am. You know how I got that way?† She answered the question without even waiting for them to respond. â€Å"Lives. So many lives. Humans and vampires, and they're all inside me now. I killed Klaus after a century or two. He was surprised. He didn't know how much I'd learned. â€Å"I brought you here, both of you. I put the thought in your mind, Stefan, the way you put thoughts into a human's. I guided you to this place. And then I made sure Damon followed you. Elena was here. I think she must be related to me somehow; she looks like me. I knew you'd see her and feel guilty. But you weren't supposed to fall in love with her!† The resentfulness in Katherine's voice gave way to fury again. â€Å"You weren't supposed to forget me! You weren't supposed to give her my ring!† â€Å"Katherine†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Katherine swept on. â€Å"Oh, you made me so angry. And now I'm going to make you sorry, really sorry. I know who I hate most now, and it's you, Stefan. Because I loved you best.† She seemed to regain control of herself, wiping the last traces of tears from her face and drawing herself up with exaggerated dignity. â€Å"I don't hate Damon as much,† she said. â€Å"I might even let him live.† Her eyes narrowed, and then widened with an idea. â€Å"Listen, Damon,† she said secretly. â€Å"You're not as stupid as Stefan is. You know the way things really are. I've heard you say it. I've seen things you've done.† She leaned forward. â€Å"I've been lonely since Klaus died. You could keep me company. All you have to do is say you love me best. Then after I kill them we'll go away. You can even kill the girl if you want. I'd let you. What do you think?† Oh, God, thought Elena, sickened again. Damon's eyes were on Katherine's wide blue ones; he seemed to be searching her face. And the whimsical amusement was back in his expression. Oh, God, no, Elena thought. Please, no†¦ Slowly, Damon smiled.

Global local fashion

The jackets has elements of a suit collar with peaked lapels, which indicates a tailored easing as well as a crinoline assisting with the shape of the dress which is originally a Western fashion element. (Radon, 2009) Hampton is one of the Japanese designers best understood in the West as he never deviates far from Western culture context. (AFAIK 2005: 23) â€Å"The image that exotic cultures have of themselves is often determined by the dominant West. † (Tennessee 2005:11) Countries that are non- Western have an auto-exotic gaze about their own culture and what constitutes as their own tradition.An â€Å"exotic† product is created by these non-western countries by coking through the eyes of the Western society to see what is perceived as being traditional and exotic to them and then offered back to the West. (Tennessee 2005:11) Abandoning color in favor of monochrome shades in the designs of both Mistake and Hampton in an expression of Japanese aesthetic roots known as â€Å"WBI Saba. † (AFAIK 2005:19) This Japanese tradition as well as dominantly making use of black in their designs is evident in Hammock's autumn/ winter 2010 collection.This expression of WBI Saba led to the minimalist trend of the asses which is still visible n their collections of 2010 for Hampton considering the lack of color and Mistake's 2011 collection due to the very simplistic design of the black undergarments and the clean lines of the paper folded architectural designs as the main focus. (AFAIK, 2005) The models were even styled in a minimalist manner with pulled back hair and white faces with no makeup applied. Mistake creates a different authentic milieu by commenting on the reclassification of the kimono through his work.While it keeps the continent in style, click ©s are inevitable. † Innings, 2011:14) European designers choose elements of African fashion for example fabrics or colors without necessarily having knowledge of the value. African designe rs have now been contributing to the evolution of their culture by using their own heritage as design inspiration and they have been recognized for this by creating contemporary versions of their traditional crafts. Innings, 2011: 14) Western styles being used in African designs today can be seen as a creative adoption rather than a capitulation. Roving, 2009: 135) Western elements in the Black Coffee fashion installation includes the use of fabric to create a Victorian sass's bustle as well as accentuated waists – commenting on Western corset, giving these designs a Western inspired feel. (McGinnis, 2010) Western aesthetics consists of making use of drapes to mask imperfections of the body. Flawless drapes are used in creating a perfect, beautiful skin. (AFAIK 2005:23) Black Coffee mastered the art of draping fabric perfectly with no flaw or overlap in his 2009 design, contributing to the Western idea of fashion aesthetics.An Imaginary idea of African fashion in the Black Co ffee 2009 collection can be found in the Jewelry insisting of long necklaces made out of bulky, round objects which resembles African beads. These beads showcase the imaginary perception of African Jewelry. (Aquanaut, 2013) The Indian design industry caters for the modern Indian women who can be seen as dressing in â€Å"fusion style† by mixing traditional Indian clothing items like the Sari and current trends.They have their own tradition embedded in their style but are interested in following international trends at the same time which can be seen in color, style as well as details. This fusion style will however still be noninsured ethnic by the West. (Tennessee 2005:11) Mannish Roar is an example of an Indian designer who recognized this need for global-local fashion and creates designs as a global brand which consists of Western tastes and international trends with Indian detailing, patterns and design elements giving the designs an â€Å"exotic aura. (Tennessee 2005:11 ) Roar incorporated the global-local notion in his autumn/ winter 2009 collection by referencing the plains of Africa, Amazonian rainforest's as well as the Indian Jungles. Roar exaggerates the perception of an exotic product which is offered back to the West, by making use of super-sampling which is known as creating a random collection of styles into one eclectic collection as he incorporates different cultures. (AFAIK, 2005) Tennessee cites that India is an excellent example of a combined fashion relationship between indigenous culture and Western fashion.Roar has often been referred to as â€Å"the Gilligan of the East† as he also draws inspiration from different cultures all over the world. (Tennessee 2005: 19) Mistake, renowned for his research in textile technology, strongly supported he technological Japanese textile industry concerning the usage of â€Å"lightweight, wrinkle-free and reasonably priced† fabric. (AFAIK 2005:25) Mistake goes to say that: â€Å"T here are no boundaries of what clothes can be made of. Anything can be clothing. † (English, 2005) Japanese designers put great emphasis on fabric technology.

“Health Disparities” in Uninsured Americans Essay

According to (Kilbourne, Switzer & Fine, (2006), Health disparities are significant differences that are needed and viewed clinically and statistically in health care and health outcomes. These differences between groups of people can affect how often an illness(disease) have group affects, the number of people who have gotten sick and how many times do this particular disease or problem ends up with death occurring. There are a number of populations that can be affected by health disparities. ( Felton, (2013). Some of these differences are: Ethnic and racial minorities Rural area residents The elderly, children and women People with disabilities. (Medline Plus.com., (2013). Health disparity can also be defined as differences of populations in health care access, environmental exposures, health status, quality or utilization and outcomes involving your health. Health disparities are related generally to social issues and healthcare systems. The worldwide web coming in existence in the mid – 1990’s also can lead to health disparities since some ethnic groups would not be able to afford the internet. One of the objectives of Healthy People 2010 was to provide more internet services to the home. (Gibbons, (2005). Since this study will be a quantitative study it will focus on the total number of uninsured or underinsured Americans who didn’t have health insurance by the end of 2012. Another focus of this study will be coming up with possible solutions to this growing trend in healthcare. In this study we will also seek to discover how the uninsured or underinsured individuals or families are being effected positively and negatively by gaining feedback from these individuals. There are several ways to obtain this feedback for this study in which we will be conducting surveys and questionnaires to get the answers we need. These ways are: the reasons why they do not have insurance to determine how this may affect their access to care, to determine whether the cost of care is directly affecting the reason why these individuals may not be insured and in this study we need to try to find the problems, come up with solutions and look for ways to get rid of any barriers to persons so that they can find affordable health care policies. Since the Affordable Care Act of 2010 is in effect we need to study how the introduction of a new healthcare law to totally replace the healthcare system that has been in place for years will effect uninsured and underinsured Americans. According to the article by (parkdatabase.org.,(2012). For the surveys we will be conducting our survey samples will be coming from males and females  who are American citizens, all races or ethnic groups, 200 participants will be equally divided by gender. In order to cover a wide variety of people that are being effected by health disparities in quantitative research usually will require a large sample size in order to quantify the research. (Felton, 2013). Background of the Study There are several factors that join together populations to influence someone’s health and health status which results into health disparity. According to the Healthcare Fairness Act of 2000 House Resolution #3250, populations that have health disparities suffer from numbers that are significant as it relates to the total rate of incidence of disease, mortality, survival and morbidity when compared to the population in general. The most contributing factor to health disparities most often mentioned when watched in the United States population is Socioeconomic status (SES). Other factors related to health disparities include: physical and cultural environment, lifestyle, working and living conditions, and community and social networks. Socioeconomic status can be defined as how persons, households, families, and aggregates and census contracts as it relates to the size to consume or create goods that our society values. (Shavers, (2007). The quality of healthcare experienced by our patients may be related to issues of disparity, socio-environmental determinants of health, practice variation, and substandard of care as scientific evidence seemed to show by the late 1990’s. (Gibbons,(2005). Since Disparities in the United States can be caused by rather a mixture that is complex, historic injury intertwined with problems with access along with systematic quality. Health disparities have many sides which include ethnicity, status, geography and race. For policymakers it is critically important to give meaning to the problem in the correct way to make sure any solutions that are goal-related will be able to address the solutions reached. The goal is to provide health security for everyone no matter what your socio-economic characters are. Even though the United States goal is to completely get rid health  disparities there will be efforts to become a part of a broader effort to change health care and by doing so, there must be focus on improving the quality of care delivered to patients individually first and foremost. (Frist, (2005). We can now ask the question, Why the study of health disparity should be pursued and for whom is the study important to? The study of health disparity should be pursued because if nothing else but to determine if the research into health disparity will show any differences in organizational features that are specific. Furthermore the idea that organizational factors may play a significant role in health disparity has brought about more of a deep research on the role of organizational processes that are mutable when you look across the treatment setting. (Kilbourne, Switzer & Fine, (2006), Purpose of the Statement The purpose of this study will be to test the framework that is conceptual that will cover health disparities in 3 phases. Detection Reducing and/or Eliminating Understanding The survey will include 200 male and female divided equally on uninsured Americans adults 18 years and older to gain feedback on why they do not have health insurance. (Felton, 2013). Viable Research Questions and Hypotheses What role if any how access to care directly affected your health status because you don’t have health insurance? How has the cost of healthcare affected you individually, your families  health status because of no health insurance? How do you think your health status would change if you could afford health insurance? Do you think the new health care law will positively or negatively affect your ability to purchase health insurance? What factors do you believe are directly associated with the uninsured status as it relates to health insurance access? (Felton, (2013). Hypotheses Having no health insurance is directly impacting my access to care. Also the cost of care while having no health insurance is directly affecting my general health of me as well as my family. Also, if I had no cost for health insurance or low cost this would positively affect my health status as well as my family. With the Affordable Care Act of 2010 partially enforced, how do you believe this law will be directly associated with your uninsured status when it comes to access to health insurance. (Felton, 2013). Nature of the Study Design The strengths of Experimental Designs research according to the textbook, (Frankfort-Nachmias, & Nachmias, (2008), designs begins with the understanding of the 4 components of research design which are: _comparison(correlation of two variables), manipulation(control over), control, (removal of other factors(, and generalization(different settings, larger populations can be use)._ (Frankfort-Nachmias, & Nachmias, (2008).  The strengths of experimental designs is it will help a researcher understand the logic behind all other research designs, another strength is that an experiment lets the researcher observe and draw inferences that are casual with less difficulty no matter what type of variable is used and it allows researchers to be able to understand other design limitations. (Felton, (2013). According to the author,( Bhattacherjee, (2012). The limitations of Experimental Design research can be in the world of experimentation, the situation in the real world may not always relate, in situations where you have to randomly assign the persons to groups this may be impossible and unethical and another limitation would be getting rid of variables that are extraneous may not even be possible. (Felton, 2013). According to textbook by, (Frankfort-Nachmias, & Nachmias, (2008). When I consider the quantitative research plan I am developing and my research questions, hypotheses, and variables, I would recommend the classic experimental design for research. The reason is my research plan involves, â€Å"Health Disparities,† which is a topic that can touch on several specific groups whether it be based on race, gender, insured, uninsured. In the classic experimental research design as the researcher you do have more control over the intrinsic and extrinsic variables for your research which is an advantage for me. Also in experimental design it allows the researcher to have control to introduce the variable that independent to help determine which direction the causation is being led to. Since Health Disparities will need to cover several areas in order to be effective I feel that experimental research design offers me the best chance of reaching the goal of my research which are three phases: 1. Detection, 2. Understanding of the problem and 3. getting rid of or eliminating health disparities all together. ( Felton, 2013). Since there are so many issues that are affecting â€Å"Health Disparities in our world today, I feel I need to choose a research design plan that offers flexibility to the researchers which allows them to properly research the  issue, look at all sides to the issues to help come up with valid and ethical conclusions. Also, since I want to focus on uninsured Americans, just like me, and a hot topic in our world today, I will need an research design that will aid in my success to properly research this issue fully. iii. Instrumentation and materials According to the authors, (Keppel, Pamuk, Lynch, Carter-Pokras, Kim, Mays, Pearcy, Schoenbach, & Weisman, (2005). S The levels of measurement that will be important for my study in Health Disparities can involve at the nominal level, ordinal level and ratio level. Health disparities can be measured according to six issues that are between populations and groups: 1. a reference point will need to be selected in order to measure disparity. 2. Disparity need to be measured in either relative or absolute terms. 3. Measurements for health disparities need to be in terms of adverse or favorable events. 4. Health disparity needs to be measured in summary fashion or pair-wise. 5. In health disparity you need to choose whether to weigh groups according to the size of the group. 6. In health disparity there needs to be a decision whether to order the groups in a inherent way. (Felton, (2013). According to the textbook, (Frankfort-Nachmias, (2008). The nominal level will be important to my study on health disparity because at this level you can measure a different symbol that will represent each symbol. For example: ethnicity, gender, nationality, martial status, religion, and where you live. According to Messer, (2008). The ratio level is also another level of measurement that can be used in my research study on Health disparities  because variables at this level have fixed natural zero points and absolute because these variable can be based on length, time, weight and area. Frankfort-Nachmias, (2008). Ratio measurement are the most common level of measurement used in disparity due to the scale of measurement. At the ratio level when measuring disparity it can be used in both as an absolute measure as well as a level of ratio. (Felton, (2013). Validity in research is concerned with whether you are measuring what you really need to or intend to measure for your research. There are three kinds validity in research: content, empirical and construct validity. I will ensure content validity, empirical validity, and construct validity for my study in health disparity in uninsured Americans by first understanding what each of the three types of validity mean: 1. Content validity is when your measurements are actually covering all areas you are intending to measure. In other words, nothing is left out. According to the textbook authors (Frankfort-Nachmias, (2008). Under content validity we have what is called face validity or the researcher’s evaluation that is subjective in their research. Another content validity is called sampling validity which is concerned about whether the population given in the research is sampled adequately. (Frankfort-Nachmias, (2008). Since health disparity covers a large area to be sampled, as a researcher I will have to find one area to focus on such as â€Å"uninsured Americans, covering persons 18 years and older, male and females, all ethnic groups will all be a part of the sample. (Felton, 2013). According to authors (Hidalgo & Goodman, (2012). Empirical validity refers to the relationship that is between an instrument that needs to be measured and the outcomes of the measurements. Construct validity relates the issues you are measuring to theoretical framework that is general. In disparities research it will be important to assess the standard criteria needed for the research to do what it is intended to do, especially if you are using different populations. In some cases, questionnaires may be needed to create validity in the study, but not in all studies. If in your disparities  research for uninsured Americans, where things like racism, race, ethnic groups which are considered constructs that are social can be hard to measure. (Felton, 2013) According to the article from (Active Campaign, (2009). In order to ensure validity in my research using content research which will be requiring all areas in my research I want to cover as it relates to health disparities for the uninsured American I would need to use a subjective form of measurement.(Felton, 2013). In the textbook, (Frankfort-Nachmias, (2008). The strengths and limitations in the reliability and validity I chose Construct validity strengths are based on how many dimensions and measures construct validity has, construct validity can be operated in a number of ways. (Felton, 2013). In order to ensure reliability for the measurement in my study, first I need to understand as a researcher the importance in the degree of reliability. Reliability is when your measuring instrument contain variable errors or mistakes that appear not all the time between your observation of your research for one time only or every time a variable is measured. So measurements contain two components which are called error component and true component. To further explain reliability which is measured on a ratio between true-score variance and variance in the total score measured. To ensure that my research study on health disparities is reliable for the measurement I will need to be able to distinguish that the results of the research may not be the exact same each time it is done. (Felton, (2013). The strengths and limitations when it comes to health disparities in the terms of reliability and validity can be linked to the fact that there are several components by which health disparities can be measured. Empirical validity and reliability are part of the research that deals with health disparities. One strength of empirical validity is relationships between prediction and results. According to the authors, (Ogden and Lo, (2011). The scale that is most appropriate to use for researching health disparities in uninsured America  Likert scale (tests attitudes) since it requires the researcher build a list of items that needs to be scaled, random research, then total of results. In using Likert scales there will be some limitations in the research involving health disparities. Some limitations are due to the debate on the role of comparisons socially and the impact it would bring on how the scales are completed and the results of the data being researched. ( Felton, 2013). According to authors Lobo and Mateus, (2013). Since in health disparities there are so many areas that need to be measured even access to health care and scales for measurement can help to achieve the needed results for the researcher if you take into account the aspects of the scale that you can enhance and you will continue to need to validate scales in your other populations. (Felton, (2013). According to ( Nowjack-Raymer, (2013), the test that is appropriate for my health disparities research plan would probably looking to better understand inequalities as well as health disparities, another test could involve developing testing with interventions that would be targeting people living in poverty, and we could also consider testing implementation and dissemination approaches for exploration to findings that would be effective in order to assure translation that is fast that could be put into practice, bring about some policies with action within communities. (Felton, (2013). The populations used for the scale and test as it relates to health disparities according to the NIDCR authors (Nowjack-Raymer, (2013), will involve research that will be focused on the vulnerable and disadvantaged population in subgroups. The testing population could include: Elders All ethnic and racial populations that are considered to be under health disparities, this will include Hispanic(Mexican, Puerto Rican, South and Central America, Cuban, and all Spanish speaking nations), African Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islander, and Alaskan Rural low income persons, urban dwellers, including Appalachians Persons who are unable leave their homes due to disabilities and persons who are in institutions  the special needs populations that includes persons living with AIDS, developmental or acquired intellectual or physical disabilities. (Nowjack-Raymer, (2013) Data analysis plan: Since in program research there a number that is limited in the efforts to evaluate and create health disparities involving new strategies with the health care system. Here are some of these program that are being supported by the AHRQ – Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for example: (EXCEED) or Excellence Centers to Eliminate Ethnic/Racial Disparities, this is a grant program that looks for ways to eliminate health disparities. (Gillian, (2004). Sampling According to website (HHS.gov.,(2013), For my Quantitative Research Plan on Health Disparities using ratio measurement because it is the most common level used to measure disparity. The population (units of analysis that are relevant) for this research will include all uninsured African Americans in the United States today. Statistically according to the new Health Care Law or the Affordable Care Act there are 6.8 million African Americans eligible for benefits under the ACA. (Felton, 2013). The population for my study includes all uninsured African Americans in the United States according to the ACA. Population: 6.8 million – African Americans (including male and female), almost half of this number of young adults. This population need to be defined on the basis of: A. Content, B. Extent, and C. Time. Size: 6.8 million. (HHS.gov.,(2013). I have made a  change in my population for research which will be first finding a reference point which is critical when doing research on disparity. According to the authors, (Keppel, Pamuk, Lynch, Careter-Pokras, Kim, Mays, Pearcy, Schoenbach, and Weissman,(2005). I will also need to measure disparity in relative or absolution terms. Disparity is very obvious when you realize that disparity occurs when the amount that separates a group from a reference point that is specified on a measure that is particular to health that is expressed in the terms of percentage, rate, means or some other measure that is quantitative. (Felton, 2013). . According to authors, (Keppel, et al, (2005) Sampling: an individual within the Population such as for example the young adult population size of 3.2 million or 47% don’ t have health insurance from the ages 18 to 35 years of age. Type of Sampling used: Probability sampling. A sample need to be able to represent the population it will be used for. When you want to measure a sample and your objective is to work from individual groups in a certain domain then use comparisons that are pair-wise. When you summarize the measures used in your disparity this will quantify all the groups in opposition and any conclusions based on your summary results should be joined and interpreted using all groups. (Felton, 2013) How the sample will be drawn? When disparities are measured, first the reference point need to be identified, next if any two groups need to be compared the reference point with the favorable group need to be used(lowest rates). When using disparities samples it should be measured in both relative and absolute terms and when you are measuring disparities over various of health indicators it should be shown in terms of events that are adverse. Why did you choose this sample size and why it was chosen in relation to the size of your population? I initially chose this sample size since I had 3 populations to choose from  for the uninsured African American population which were male, female, or young adults and I chose the young adult population since I had a solid statistical number of how many of young adults between the ages of 18 to 35 who are uninsured. I am not totally convinced that choosing a sample size representing millions of people will be the correct course for me to take and I had a terrible time trying to create a graph or chart to show my numbers and I could not get the graph to show. Since the number of uninsured Americans is very high even with the Affordable Care Act being in place, I may have to consider working in another area in health disparity. I was attempting to doing a basic line graph chart showing the age of young adults with no health insurance. Since health disparities covers such a wide range of issues I will have to reconsider what area under health disparity I want to cover and research. Ethical Concerns Health Disparities research has emerging advances which include comparative effectiveness studies and controlled trials that are often conducted at academic sites and multiple communities. The institutional review boards (IRBs) has presented a impediment that is major to the effective and timely conduct of health disparity research. When the research involved the underserved communities and minority along with institutional requirements, ethical standards interpretation may be different. These differences can cause complications in the research protocol and informed consent process and may have a negative effect on how the participants will respect this type of research and the quality of the trials. Also the IRB or institutional review board, can also lead to delays that are unnecessary, jeopardizing the capacity to perform collaborative projects and funding. The Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI), Translational Research Network (TRN) have created a community-partnered approach to run side by side with the IRB review directly across the 18 RCMI institutions grantees that make sure compliance while making it better quality of health disparity research. (Hammatt,. and Nishitani, Junko and Heslin, Kevin and Perry and Szetela, and Jones, and Williams, and Antoine-LaVigne, and Forge, and  Norris, Keith C, (2011). Even though Americans are living longer and are healthier, health disparities still exist. However, policymakers are making a response to the health disparity issue by putting together and introducing legislation that are geared toward getting rid of health disparities. (ncsl.org., (2014). The Uninsured Americans as a health disparity There is about 44 million Americans total without health insurance and another 38 million Americans who do not have enough health insurance to meet their healthcare needs. If persons do not have health insurance it will usually mean putting also necessary care such as: Childhood Immunizations Preventive care Routine check-ups no Primary care doctor no access or limited access to prescription drugs being hospitalized for a condition that otherwise would not have led to a hospital stay that could have been avoided if you had health insurance Because of fear of medical bills you may choose to delay care which will usually lead to more cost to you, especially if you have to go to the emergency room. We must also understand that when the uninsured persons face a health crisis because they can’t pay the burden of the cost will be to the insured population. (Glied, (2014). References: Active Campaign, ( 2009). Validity in Research Design. Retrieved from website http://www.activecampaign.com/blog/validity-in-research-design/ Bhattacherjee, A.,(2012). SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH: PRINCIPLES, METHODS, AND PRACTICES. Retrieved from website http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=oa_textbooks Felton. (2013). _An analysis of personality theory._ Unpublished manuscript, Walden University. Frankfort-Nachmias, C., & Nachmias, D. (2008). Research Methods in the Social Sciences 7th Ed. New York: Worth Frist, W., (2005). Overcoming Disparities in U. S. Healthcare. _Health Affairs. Retrieved from website http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/24/2/445.short._ Gibbons, M., (2005). A Historical Overview of Health Disparities and the Potential of eHealth Solutions. _Journal of Medical Internet Research. Retrieved from website http://www.jmir.org/2005/5/e50/_ Gillian, S., (2004). Addressing Unequal Treatment: Disparities in Healthcare. _The Common Fund. Retrieved from website http://www.commonwealthfund.org/usr_doc/SteelFisher_unequaltreatment_cong2004_70 9.pdf?section=4039_ Glied, S., (2014). The Uninsured. Retrieved from the website http://www.pbs.org/healthcarecrisis/uninsured.html HHS.gov(Health care.,. The Affordable Care Act and the African Americans. Retrieved from website http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts/factsheets/2012/04/aca-and-african- americans04122012a.html012). (HAMMATT,. AND NISHITANI, JUNKO AND HESLIN, KEVIN AND PERRY AND SZETELA, AND JONES, AND WILLIAMS, AND ANTOINE-LAVIGNE, AND FORGE, AND NORRIS, KEITH C, (2011). PARTNERING TO HARMONIZE IRBS FOR COMMUNITY-ENGAGED RESEARCH TO REDUCE HEALTH DISPARITIES. PUBMED.GOV. 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