Internet and UK Tourism Industry Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 8000 words

Internet and UK Tourism Industry - Coursework Example It has been used for various transactions from information transfer to interpersonal communications. Businesses have greatly improved with the onset of internet usage. The utilization of internet has come to the point of it becoming a necessity rather a luxury. The popularity of the internet usage has made it a subject of various studies not only in the academe but including industries that nowadays depend on it. The properties, advantages as well as the disadvantages have been the focus of these studies. The introduction of internet as one of the modes of communication has made significant changes in the lifestyle on the people. It began in the 1980s as the Computer Revolution and now it became the Computer and Internet Revolution. During the computer revolution, the computer usage has increased rapidly and between 1985 and 1999, the usage of computers at work or at home increased from 30 percent to 70 percent as the increase in computer ownership rose from 15 percent to 60 percent (Kim, 2001). Consequently, these factors have made businesses change their strategies. They introduced e-commerce in which consumers can exchange goods and avail themselves of the services offered by companies thru the internet. E-commerce follows the same basic principles as traditional commerce that, buyers and sellers come together to exchange goods for money. But unlike traditional commerce in which the consumers go to a particular place to avail necessary products, they can visit the web sites of multiple vendors anytime, any day to compare prices and make purchases online. But this does not only benefit the consumers, the sellers as well can cut costs and expand their market. Because they sell over the internet, which can be accessed globally, they have the potential to market their products or services worldwide and are not limited by the physical location of a store. At the same time, internet technologies also permit sellers to track the interests and preferences of their customers with the customer's permission and then use this information to build an ongoing relationship with the customer by customizing products and services to meet the customer's needs. Nielsen (2005) wrote that there is an upward trend in global online shopping. Popular items purchased on the internet are books at 34%, videos and games at 22%, airline tickets and reservations at 21% and clothing and accessories at 20%. The study also showed that even one percent of the total population purchase using the net does not necessarily mean successful online sales but it is still important for retailers big and small to understand the factors that drive brand equity and site usage. It also shows that sites and brands with higher brand equity attract higher visitation and sales. But e-commerce has also its downside; some costumers are reluctant to buy products which need actual assessment such as furniture and appliances. Some also consider shopping a social experience; they may be going to a store with family or friends. Security and assurance of transactions are also some factors why some consumers are apprehensive to use the internet for purchases (Microsoft Encarta 200 7). According to a survey by HM Revenue and Customs, web users especially in the UK are using the internet to make their lives easier. The surveys shows that the top three uses of internet are researching

Cultural Elements in Translation Essay Example for Free

Cultural Elements in Translation Essay Different languages result in different world views. Different languages direct their speaker to a certain way of thinking and paying attention to certain aspects of the world around them. So translation is not only finding the best equivalent but also finding appropriate ways of saying things in another language. The main problem for a translator is to maintain the local color of source text (foreignization) or to adjust the text according to the culture of the target audience (domestication). One of the main goals of literary translation is show the sensibilities of the source-language culture to the target-language audience. Transmitting cultural elements is not an easy task. The translator should not only be a bilingual but also a bicultural. S/he should be familiar with the author’s intentions and readers’ expectations. S/he should study the history, social structure, religion, traditional customs and norms of both source and target texts which s/he is going to translate. Some of the problems which an Indian translator (or maybe any translator) faces during translating culture-specific items are as follows: * Translating proper names * Translating grammatical forms which show respect and euphemism * Translating social relationships * Translating life-style and values * Translating symbols * Translating habits * Translating national or religious ceremonies * Translating customs and traditions * Translating religious acts, myths and legends * Translating geographical and environmental phenomena So the translator should not stick to word-by-word translation but s/he should substitute certain elements in the work. S/he should attempt to transmit cultural quality from one language to another.

Essay on Dramatic Effects in Shakespeares The Tempest -- Tempest essa

The Importance of Dramatic Effects in The Tempest      Ã‚   It has been said that the function of drama is to confront and then engage the audience.   This is certainly the approach taken by Shakespeare in his play, The Tempest.   When the play begins, the audience is immediately confronted by the sheer ferocity of the tempest, and from the time that the unfortunate passengers land on the island, the audience is engaged by the fantasy of the island of Prospero.    At the start of the play, we see the action on board the ship which is ferrying the King and some members of the upper class back home. They are in the midst of a great storm, the likes of which mariners of those times would have prayed not to meet. The state of nature, at this point, is very much in disorder. This becomes important after the action inn the ensuing calm, as many different binary opposites are set up, such as fate against free will, human versus non human, and order conflicting with disorder. Prospero, the ruler of the island, is actually both parts of the opposition 'power of kings' versus supernatural power, being both the rightful Duke of Milan and the leader of his island, and also being a magician with a spirit as a servant. Through his 'art', he also shows us again the order/disorder opposition. He created the storm at the start of the play, the great disorder. Towards the end, however, he is responsible for the masque scene, a great order - the culminating of p erfection for that culture, in fact.    In Elizabethan times, dramatists used the thrust stage as the standard for all of the plays performed. The thrust stage, as distinct to the later used Proscenium arch, was a large raised platform that reached out into the audience. In fact,... ...on. It is important to note that you do not get the full effect of a play just from reading it, but in The Tempest, these effects work as well as in another masterpiece from Shakespeare.    Works Cited and Consulted: Garnett, Richard. "Irving Shakespeare" The Tempest (and selected criticism). Charlotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke (eds.) Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. 1903. Knight, G. Wilson. "Shakespearian Superman" The Tempest D.J. Palmer (ed.) Macmillan & Co. 1968 Murray, J. Middleton. "Shakespeare's Dream" The Tempest D.J. Palmer (ed.) Macmillan & Co. 1968 Palmer, D.J. Shakespeare's Later Comedies: An Anthology of Modern Criticism. Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1971. Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. 1611. Ed. Stephen Orgel. New York: Oxford UP, 1994. Tillyard, E.M. "The Tragic Pattern" The Tempest D.J. Palmer (ed.) Macmillan & Co. 1968   

Clinical Reasoning: Combining Research and Knowledge to Enhance Client Care

Making sound and client-centered clinical decisions in an area that demands accountability and evidence-based practice requires not only scientific knowledge, but also a deep knowledge of the practice of one’s profession and of what it means to be human in the world of combined strength and vulnerability that is health care. Every clinician must understand the importance of applying best research evidence to client care, the essence of evidence–based practice, to improve the overall quality of healthcare. Research continues to find that using evidence-based guidelines in practice, informed through research evidence, improves patients’ outcomes (Dykes et al, 2005). The literature is replete with definitions of evidence-based practice. Simply stated, evidence-based practice is the process of applying research to practice. Originating from the medical field in 1991, the term evidence-based medicine was established to ensure that medical research was systematically evaluated in a manner that could â€Å"inform medicine and save lives and that is superior to simply looking at the results of individual clinical trials† (Wampold & Bhati, 2004). An evidence-based practice is considered any practice that has been established as effective through scientific research according to a set of explicit criteria (Drake, et al, 2001). The term evidence-based practice is also used to describe a way of practicing, or an approach to practice. For example, evidence-based medicine has been described as â€Å"the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients† (Sackett, Rosenberg, Gray, et al, 1996). Evidence-based medicine is further described as the â€Å"integration of best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values† (Sackett, Straus, Richardson, Rosenberg, & Haynes, 2000). Rather than a relationship based on asymmetrical information and authority, in evidence-based practice the relationship is characterized by a sharing of information and of decision-making. The clinician does not decide what is best for the client, but rather the clinician provides the client with up-to-date information about what the best-evidence is regarding the client’s situation, what options are available, and likely outcomes. With this information communicated in culturally and linguistically appropriate ways clients are supported to make decisions for themselves whenever and to the extent possible. According to Burns and Grove evidence-based practice is nothing more than a problem-solving approach to the care that we deliver that takes into consideration the best evidence from research studies in combination with clinical expertise and the patient’s preferences and values (Burns & Grove, 2004). Pierce described in â€Å"Evidence-Based Practice in Rehabilitation Nursing† that â€Å"making patient-care decisions with current information and one’s clinical expertise enhances the ability to provide the best practice†. The author added that â€Å"evidence-based practice is a process that begins with knowing what clinical questions to ask, how to find the best evidence, and how to clinically appraise the evidence for validity and applicability to the particular care situation†. Then, the best evidence must be applied by a clinician with expertise in considering the patient’s unique values and needs. As stated by Law& MacDermit, â€Å"evidence for practice is not only about using research evidence, but using it in partnership with excellent clinical reasoning and paying close attention to the client’s stated goals, needs, and values†(Law & MacDermit, 2008). Although the terms best practices and evidence-based practice are often used interchangeably, these terms have different meanings. Evidence-based practice can be a best practice, but a best practice is not necessarily evidence-based; best practices are simply ideas and strategies that work, such as programs, services, or interventions that produce positive client outcomes or reduce costs (Ling, 2000). In order to bring research and knowledge into someone’s practice, it’s necessary to think critically. Becoming a critical thinker is a prerequisite of becoming an evidence-based clinician. But what is critical thinking? Critical thinking involves the application of knowledge and experience to identify patient problems and to direct clinical judgments and actions that result in positive patient outcomes. Critical reflection requires that the thinker examine the underlying assumptions and radically question or doubt the validity of arguments, assertions, and even facts of the case. Critical reflective skills are also essential for clinicians; however, these skills are not sufficient for the clinician who must decide how to act in particular situations and avoid patient injury (Wheatley DN, 1999). Critical reasoning is a process whereby knowledge and experience are applied in considering multiple possibilities to achieve the desired goals (Noll et al, 2001) while considering the patient’s situation (Fowler, 1997). According to Simmons it’s a process where both inductive and deductive cognitive skills are used (Simmons et al, 2003). Each client’s problem is unique, a product of many factors, including the client’s physical health, lifestyle, culture, relationship with family and friends, living environment, and experiences. Thus, a health care professional does not always have a clear picture of the client’s needs when first meeting a client. Because no two clients have identical problems, a clinician is always challenged to observe each client closely, search for and examine ideas and inferences about client problems, consider scientific principles relating to the problems, recognize the problems and develop an approach to client’s care. When clinicians make healthcare decisions for a population or group of clients using research evidence, this can be described as evidence-based healthcare practice. Another prerequisite to becoming an evidence-based clinician is to be a reflective professional. Reflection is an important aspect of critical thinking. As described by Miller & Babcock reflection is â€Å"the process of purposefully thinking back or recalling a situation to discover its purpose or meaning. With reflection, a clinician seeks to understand the relationships between theoretical concepts and real-life situations. The importance of reflecting on what you are doing, as part of the learning process, has been emphasised by many researchers. The concept of reflective practice was introduced by Donald Schon in his book named â€Å"The Reflective Practitioner† edited in 1983, however, the concepts underlying reflective practice are much older. John Dewey was among the first to write about Reflective Practice with his exploration of experience, interaction and reflection (Dewey, 1933). Schon described the concept as a critical process in refining one's artistry or craft in a specific discipline. The author recommended reflective practice as a way for beginners in a discipline to recognize consonance between their own individual practices and those of successful practitioners. He also stated that reflective practice â€Å"involves thoughtfully considering one's own experiences in applying knowledge to practice while being coached by professionals in the discipline† (Schon, 1996). As it was earlier said, there are a few steps toward evidence-based practice and rehabilitation. The first and the most important step in evidence-based practice is to determine a well-designed question that not only affects quality care but is of interest to the rehabilitation clinician and is encountered in practice on a regular basis. A useful ramework for formulating an appropriate clinical question is suggested by Sackett & colleagues. (Sackett, 2000). They proposed that a good clinical question should have at least three and sometimes four components: Patient or Problem; Intervention; Comparison (not mandatory); Outcome of interest. This has been referred to as the PICO (Patient /Problem, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome) or PIO (Patient / Problem, Intervention, Outc ome) approach. The question usually comes from diverse sources. As stated by Pierce, â€Å"the most common source is the rehabilitation practice itself†. Once the question in searching of evidence was formulated, the next and probably the most important step is to find the relevant evidence in the literature that will help in answering the question. It can be difficult to distinguish relevant from irrelevant information and to decide which source contains the most credible information and research data. Using research findings in practice improves care. Research utilization occurs at three levels—instrumental, conceptual, and symbolic: 1. Instrumental utilization is the direct, explicit application of knowledge gained from research to change practice (Gills & Jackson, 2002). 2. Conceptual utilization refers to the use of findings to enhance one’s understanding of a problem or issue in nursing (Gills & Jackson, 2002). 3. Symbolic utilization is the use of evidence to change minds of other people, usually decision makers (Profetto-McGrath, Hesketh, Lang, & Estabrooks, 2003). According to Hameedullah & Khalid, â€Å"all evidence must be appraised in the following areas: validity, importance and applicability to the clinical scenario† (Hameedullah & Khalid, 2008). Performing the previous steps will result in the appearance of a concrete piece of evidence which should be valid and important for the question in consideration. Now is the time to combine the clinical expertise and experience with the evidence generated to improve the outcome of specific client scenarios. It is also important to remember client’s values and circumstances while making such decisions. The evidence regarding both efficacy and risks should be fully discussed with the client in order to allow them to make an informed decision. This approach allows the formation of a decision in consultation with the client in the presence of good evidence and is consistent with the fundamental principle of evidence-based practice i. e. ntegration of good evidence with clinical expertise and patient values (Hameedullah & Khalid, 2008). Whether the intervention was appropriate and resulted in good clinical outcome for a certain group of clients, in a particular clinician’s hands, will only be answered by careful prospective outcome research. As Strauss and Sackett have suggested, we need to ask whether we are formulating answerable qu estions, finding good evidence quickly, effectively appraising the evidence, and integrating clinical expertise and patient’s values with the evidence in a way that leads to a rational, acceptable management strategy (Straus & Sackett, 1998). Although the importance of research-based practice was identified decades ago and has gradually been adopted by rehabilitation professions, there are a number of challenges for clinicians who are attempting to be use research to aid in clinical decision-making. According to Bohannon and Leveau most challenges can be grouped under one of three areas: research methods, clinicians’ skill, and administrative factors (Bohannon & Leveau, 1998). The research procedures of randomly assigning patients to an experimental or control group, using standardized outcomes measures that may not have real-world relevance, and the difficulty of blinding investigators and clients to the research procedures all make research results difficult to be implemented, interpreted and utilized clinically (Ritchie, 2001). Evidence-based practice requires clinicians to read current research literature, understand research methodology, and incorporate best evidence into practice as appropriate. As Sumison noted in one of his studies, it may be difficult to use in client-centered practice. The research literature may be difficult to access and relevant information is often not compiled in one place (Sumison, 1997). Interpreting and implementing research evidence also requires clinical skill, judgement, and experience. Deciding what constitutes evidence that justifies a change in practice can be challenging and the opportunity for bias exists at every stage of the process as Pomeroy observed in one of his articles from 2003 (Pomeroy, 2003). There are many other factors that present challenges to clinicians who are attempting to use evidence to guide their practice. Time constraints are almost universally identified as a primary limiting factor. Schreiber and Stern stated that â€Å"clinicians refer to pressures of today’s health care environment and administrators’ emphasis on productivity as factors that directly inhibit their ability to seek out, gather, read, and integrate cientific information relevant to daily practice† (Schreiber and Stern, 2005). The concept of evidence-based practice is of great importance for rehabilitation and physiotherapy to allow for increased insight for all involved including patients, clinicians, third-party payers, and government and health care organizations, into the clinical decision-making processes. The purpose of promoting this paradigm is optimum quality of care with conservation of professional autonomy.

Proverbs Essay

Proverbs Essay A Man of Wisdom The book of Proverbs describes what a wise man is and what his behavior grants him. A man of wisdom has many characteristic aspects that make him ‘wise’, these are made very clear in the book of Proverbs. King Solomon, being granted the wisest man, was the author to most of the proverbs that offer the descriptions of both a wise and unwise man. Some of the aspects to a wise man are hard to honor, but that is what makes a man wise, and gives him the benefits and good fortune in his life. The beginning of Proverbs gives general advice and guidance for children.These are known as Solomon’s Wise Lessons. In this section of the book the verses are aimed at children being taught a lesson by his or her elders. The few stories consist of rejecting wisdom, benefits of wisdom, and warnings against adultery/adulteresses and folly. If you reject wisdom, then you chose not to fear the Lord as well, and will be filled with your own ways. â€Å"Si nce they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. (NIV, Proverbs 1:29-31) The other main point in the beginning of the book was the warnings against adultery. A wise man is to keep just to his wife, and only his wife, even though the adulteress is very persuasive and crafty. â€Å"Say to wisdom â€Å"you are my sister,† and call understanding your kinsman; they will keep you from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words. † (NIV, Proverbs 7:4-5) The men that did subdue to the adulteress were throwing their lives away. The second section of the book of Proverbs is all proverbs from King Solomon. In these proverbs he describes a wise man and an unwise man.A lot of the time he refers to them as simple and righteous. He demonstrates how a righteous man would act compared to a simple or unrighteous man in lots of different situations. These situations include ones like â€Å"The wise in heart accept commands, but the chattering fool comes to ruin. † (NIV, Proverbs 10:8) â€Å"A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret. † (NIV, Proverbs 11:13) â€Å"A mocker seeks wisdom and finds none, but the knowledge comes easy to the discerning. † (NIV, Proverbs 14:6) These are just a few of them; I could keep going and going.Proverbs 10:8 means that the wise people will listen and be obedient to the Lord. This obedience will be shown through God, and will bring them good fortune. If you refuse God’s commands then that shows your true character. Those that choose not to obey, and instead rebel, while thinking that they are standing up for their proud heart, will be going against their best interests. Proverbs 11:13 is saying that we should not trust people who gossip or spread stories about other people. And, if we do trust these gossip ing people then we can be considered to be fools because we could not trust them with the secrets that we tell them.Basically, choose your friendships carefully, and make sure they have the same values as you do. Proverbs 14:6 means that those seeking for wisdom without the right reason, lets say for pride or only when they need it instead of for the glory of God don’t receive wisdom. God doesn’t want to reveal the wisdom to anyone unless they are there to serve him and are humble. Someone who has an attitude that is bashful against the spiritual truth and that only picks which truth he wants to hear in order to profit himself is the scorner, and will not be granted his wishes.According to Providence Baptist Ministries, â€Å"The right attitude makes learning easy. † That is very understandable to me. As children, most people would say that their parents taught them the ‘golden rule’. The golden rule being, ‘treat others as you would like to b e treated’. I think that this rule applies a lot to the book Proverbs in the Bible. If you act well and not in sin then you get good fortune and a good afterlife, but if you don’t act in such a way, then you will get bad fortune and a bad afterlife.The book of Proverbs is known as a book of wisdom and is taught as in a classroom setting, as if you are learning valuable life lessons while reading these books. It’s this setting and perspective that allows this book to be so effective in teaching what the characteristics are and how to become a ‘wise man’. If you just follow these simple tasks that are outlined for you then you can live a happy life in prosperity and health. Works Cited â€Å"Bible Study Courses. † Proverbs Chapter 10. Providence Baptist Ministries, 2004. Web. 16 June 2012. . â€Å"Bible Study Courses. † Proverbs Chapter 14. Providence Baptist Ministries, 2004. Web. 18 June 2012. . Linda. â€Å"Proverbs-A Bible Study. â €  : Proverbs 11: 13 Gossip vs. A Faithful Spirit. N. p. , 17 Sept. 2009. Web. 16 June 2012. . â€Å"New International Version of The Holy Bible. † The Book of Proverbs. Published in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1984. Print. June 16-18, 2012.

Free Essays on Entrepreneurship

â€Å"Know yourself and know your product †¦ be true to both.† I decided to look up each one of the entrepreneurs and see who was the most interesting to me. I decided that Lillian Vernon was an interesting lady. I was so impressed that this lady became an entrepreneur when women didn’t even work. I was impressed with her, because she had a vision and she ran with it. Lillian’s story was very inspiring to me. The fact that she was young, pregnant, an immigrant, and a newlywed was what caught my eye the most. She wanted to help her husband pay the bills. This is exactly the same reason I want to become an entrepreneur. Lillian Vernon was born Lilly Menasche in Leipzig, Germany, moved with her family to Amsterdam because of the dangerous climate for Jews, and finally fled to the United States in 1937 as the Nazi threat escalated. Her family was desperately trying to escape the perils of World War II. She came to this country as a young girl at the age of 10; she knew perhaps more than others how special freedom and opportunity were. She grew up in America believing in her ideals, a land of opportunity. At age 14 Lillian’s first jobs were working in a candy store and as a movie theater usherette. She attended New York University for two years, but like many women at the time, left after two years to get married. In 1951, she was 4-month pregnant with her first child. Lillian Vernon started her Mail Order business. She used $2,000 of wedding money to advertise a leather bag and belt she had designed. She placed a $495 sixth-of-a-page ad for a personalized handbag and belt in ! Seventeen magazine and filled orders from her suburban Mount Vernon, New York apartment using her kitchen table as her office. The ad was a tremendous success, bringing in more than $32,000 in ordersand her business was launched. With two mail-order items, a belt and a purse personalized with the customer’s in... Free Essays on Entrepreneurship Free Essays on Entrepreneurship â€Å"Know yourself and know your product †¦ be true to both.† I decided to look up each one of the entrepreneurs and see who was the most interesting to me. I decided that Lillian Vernon was an interesting lady. I was so impressed that this lady became an entrepreneur when women didn’t even work. I was impressed with her, because she had a vision and she ran with it. Lillian’s story was very inspiring to me. The fact that she was young, pregnant, an immigrant, and a newlywed was what caught my eye the most. She wanted to help her husband pay the bills. This is exactly the same reason I want to become an entrepreneur. Lillian Vernon was born Lilly Menasche in Leipzig, Germany, moved with her family to Amsterdam because of the dangerous climate for Jews, and finally fled to the United States in 1937 as the Nazi threat escalated. Her family was desperately trying to escape the perils of World War II. She came to this country as a young girl at the age of 10; she knew perhaps more than others how special freedom and opportunity were. She grew up in America believing in her ideals, a land of opportunity. At age 14 Lillian’s first jobs were working in a candy store and as a movie theater usherette. She attended New York University for two years, but like many women at the time, left after two years to get married. In 1951, she was 4-month pregnant with her first child. Lillian Vernon started her Mail Order business. She used $2,000 of wedding money to advertise a leather bag and belt she had designed. She placed a $495 sixth-of-a-page ad for a personalized handbag and belt in ! Seventeen magazine and filled orders from her suburban Mount Vernon, New York apartment using her kitchen table as her office. The ad was a tremendous success, bringing in more than $32,000 in ordersand her business was launched. With two mail-order items, a belt and a purse personalized with the customer’s in...

Why They Extend Contest Deadlines

Why They Extend Contest Deadlines I have a writing friend who gets downright angry when a contest extends the deadline. He considers it an insult, or that the editors are looking for specific people who didnt make the deadline. In reality, contests are run Heres how I see it when a contest announces a later deadline for submissions: 1. The obvious. They didnt receive enough quality submissions.   Keep in mind that their reputation is based upon what they publish as a result of contest entries. So, if they extend the deadline in order to obtain better material, is that so wrong? However, if I had entered on time and saw an extended deadline, admittedly, I would interpret that as my work not being acceptable enough. Professionally, however, I see this as the contest not being organized enough to get the word out properly. Just my two cents. 2. They received fewer entries than expected.   Contests like to grow over time. When I ran the FundsforWriters Essay Contest for nine years, the submissions grew in number each year. . . such that I could not manage it any longer and write novels at the same time. That number is representative of a contests success in reaching the masses the talented writers out there. If last year a contest brought in 325 entries, and this year, a week before the deadline, theyve only received 150, something went awry. The contest doesnt want it known that the numbers dropped, so they extend the deadline. 3. They need more money to cover prize money. This reason isnt as common as one might think, but Im sure it happens. Lets say a journal promotes a $1,000 prize and publication. The entry fee is $15. The first prize figure merits a need for 67 entries to break even. Thats not considering the cost of publication and paying a judge . . . maybe advertising. Even in the world of the arts, budgets are a factor. But again, I read this as poor planning. 4. Crisis management.   You never know if something happened that sabotaged the event. Maybe the ads didnt make it out in time. Maybe the judge got sick. A sponsor may have backed out. What if the online entry form was down for a week prohibiting entries? So, you can look at deadline extensions as tricks

8 Top Tips for Crushing Your PhD Oral Defense

8 Top Tips for Crushing Your PhD Oral Defense 8 Top Tips for Crushing Your PhD Oral Defense Once you’ve submitted your PhD dissertation, most of the hard work is done. The one big thing standing between you and your shiny new doctorate is your oral dissertation defense. The exact format this takes will depend on your grad school, but the general idea is that you present your thesis to a committee who have read your dissertation. The committee members then ask questions about your work, which you have to defend to prove your academic credentials. You may be asked to make revisions to your dissertation based on the discussion. This might sound a bit like a scholastic Spanish Inquisition, but as long as you prepare thoroughly, your oral defense doesn’t have to be a stressful experience: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ask Around The first thing to do when preparing for your oral defense is to ask your PhD advisor what to expect and check your grad school’s requirements. You could also ask colleagues who have already completed their defense. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Practice Makes Perfect If you get the chance, sit in on other people’s oral defense sessions. Even better, if you have some willing friends available, try practicing your defense presentation in front of them, including having them ask you questions. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Re-read Your Dissertation You don’t have to memorize every detail, but re-familiarizing yourself with your work before your oral defense is definitely a good idea. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Arrive Early On the day, make sure you know where and when your oral defense is scheduled to take place. Get there at least fifteen minutes early so you have time to set up and settle down. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Your Thesis Statement Make sure you have a clear thesis statement to begin your presentation. This will usually include the problem you’re addressing, why it’s important and what your research has achieved. 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Use Visual Aids Having handouts or a PowerPoint slideshow to accompany your talk is pretty much standard these days and can enhance your presentation. 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Don’t Fear the Committee It’s easy to feel like the committee members are out to get you once the questions start flying, but try not to panic. It’s perfectly fine to ask for clarification if you’re unsure about something. Likewise, be honest if you don’t have an immediate response; it’s far better to say you’d need to do more research before answering than it is to try and bluff your way through the conversation. Similarly, don’t feel like you have to rush. Taking a moment to think before answering a question will help you to formulate a considered answer. 8.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Believe in Yourself! The most important thing to remember is that your advisor will not have let you submit your dissertation unless they thought it was a good piece of work. As such you have every reason to be confident, which will make your presentation more convincing. Try to dress smart too, as you want to make a good first impression.

Financial Exclusion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial Exclusion - Essay Example Now while no bank advertises that it will not extend it's banking facilities to mothers on welfare , there are various barriers which would present that. The income level of that person may be so low that banking guidelines would not permit giving them credit facilities . They may not have any established credit because they pay everything in cash, or they may even have bad credit , because they just may not have given too much thought to payment on time and they just pay when they have the money. Or simply they may not just know , how the financial and credit system works. So a certain group of people are excluded from the financial system , so how is this bad and most importantly , how does this effect you and me After all we are not a socialist or a communist country where everybody should have access to everything and we besides we already know that system has failed. This is not about trying to establish a socialist welfare society. There are real damaging consequences to a modern free market economy from lack of financial inclusion of a certain group of people. First of all a whole group of people have been excluded from the mainstream economy , that cannot be good for the economy. The people themselves will enter a vicious cycle of paying high interest rates for credit and since these people are already in varying degrees of poverty it just pushes them further into it. Finally poverty breeds instability , violence and crime. The inner cities, slums and ghettos all of this in common that they consist of financially excluded people and are breedin g ground of poverty and crime. But should Financial Institutions take the burden of providing credit facilities to people who do not meet their credit guidelines Don't they have a responsibility to make sound investment decisions on behalf of their shareholders Certainly they do. In fact the current sub prime crisis may not have happened if a few banks had behaved in a prudent manner in lending. You cannot and should not lend to the unlendable. But understand this , these people already borrow money , they pay a very heavy interest for it. So the banks must design products to capture this market rather than asking this group of people to meet their existing guidelines which may be difficult , if not impossible. If Bangladesh can have a successful micro loan program with Grameen bank , why could U.K. which has a much smaller problem with financial exclusion not come up with solutions. Indeed An interesting feature which emerges from the international practice is that the more developed a society is, the greater is the thrust on empowerment of the common person and low-income groups. In U.K The first review of the problems of financial exclusion in 1999 stimulated both debate and development. The government set out its strategy, Promoting financial inclusion, in 2004, identifying three priority areas - access to banking, access to affordable credit, and access to free face-to-face money advice for people who are financially excluded. UB or Universal banking was setup partly because of this effort , this opened up access to bank accounts at post offices. And this was a very good idea , because bank may look

Current state of the U.S banking industry Research Paper

Current state of the U.S banking industry - Research Paper Example It is also responsible for issuing the dollar (J. P. Morgan 12). Basically the US is dominated by three types of banks and these are; Commercial banks, credit unions and savings and loans associations. These institutions present a full variety of services to persons, companies and governments. Commercial banks vary in size ranging from global to local and even small society banks with ATM locations. lately, online banks which presents services by means of the internet have surfaced (J. P. Morgan 43). Are also referred to as thrift institutions, and are the next major faction of depository organizations. They were primarily established as society footed organizations to fund mortgages for the community. Eventually, the difference linking savings banks and commercial banks has vanished. Credit unions are another form of a depository organization. They are created by a group of persons who share a general interest. Loans and savings accounts are only limited to associates or members. They are not meant to make profit and they are headed by members who are elected as the board. These are government organizations dealing with numerous economic services like controlling banking business, making and applying the state’s monetary plans. They use monetary policies to encourage financial development and border inflation. During phases of slower financial activity, the Federal Reserve might augment the supply of money by buying government securities plus additional assets. It as well encourages financial enlargement by lowering interest costs for loans. It may fight inflation through sale of securities and increasing interest rates (Zhang 45). Interest from advances is the main cause of returns for the majority banks. Money loaned by banks comes mainly from customer plus company deposits. These deposits frequently make interest for the proprietor by ways such as online payments cheques. The U.S. government regulates the money in banks by

Early literacy Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Early literacy - Article Example 2), and the top of these other things is an orderly household. b. In-depth critical analysis Whalen has discussed a report in support of his arguments and tried to convey to the reader why he thinks that an orderly house assists in the development of early reading skills in young children. She mentions a study by researchers at Columbia University’s Teachers College and Ohio State University, which says that parents can help their children to read by doing much more than just providing them with books. They can provide them with a well-managed and orderly household in order to assist them in reading. This research was done on 455 kindergarten and first-grade twins. It was concluded that â€Å"mothers who are above-average readers are also those who are more likely to keep a tidy home and to implement daily household routines†, and these mothers are better teachers for their children. The subject matter of the article very well goes with the title the author has suggeste d and has good scholastic importance. The problem can be well understood by an average reader and the research is not limited to the author’s own aptitudes and ideas. However, the author has not been able to provide enough evidence to support his claim and has only discussed one study. The article lacks proof and sound arguments and the reader is not convinced as to how an orderly home can help a child in developing reading skills. It would have been better if Whalen had discussed multiple researches to back up her claim. It is only the last paragraph that is convincing enough for the reader because it discusses the important role of book reading in the development of reading skills. 2. Review of the Literature/ Comparison with other Researches We cannot deny the significance of an orderly home in the early literacy skills. We are just arguing that Whalen did not provide much evidence. To back up the article’s argument, we compared it with some other writings provided by profound scholars. Lee and Croninger (1994) assert in their writing that â€Å"variations in the home environments of poor and middle-income children affect their literacy development, which leads to substantial differences in reading ability and behavior† (p.286). Now, this research more clearly describes what the main causes of inequity of home environments of children are and how their literacy gets affected by the disorderliness of their homes. Other researchers like Morrow and Weinstein, and Rasinski and Fredericks (as cited in U.S. Department of Education, 2011) affirm that a literate home environment is vital if the aim of the parents is to enable their children develop literacy skills. A literate home environment is a complement of the school. According to the article, a literate home environment does not mean that the parents should be able to read and write in English; instead, it means that they must be able to provide their children with a lot of reading materi al and a good study location inside the house. This article supports Whalen’s arguments in his last paragraph, that parents must support their children’s reading abilities through provision of books, anywhere and anytime. Connor (2007) conducted a study regarding the influence of school and home environments upon the literacy skills of children, and states in his research that, â€Å"Home learning environments and parenting, along with preschool opportunities in the community, have been shown to directly relate to children’

How the American media influenced Japan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

How the American media influenced Japan - Essay Example as well as political effects on a society, and thus, a huge number of scholars and experts are putting efforts to understand the influence and effects of media on its own society, as well as societies around the globe. In particular, this paper will be endeavor to analyze the role of American media in the Japanese society, and will attempt to identify different aspects of the American media that is playing a crucial role in altering the Japanese culture and society. In sociology, experts (Richardson, pp. 23-25) consider American media as a powerful body that has the command of influencing nations globally, and they often term American media as ‘pop culture.’ In specific, American media is a wide sector involving huge range of components, such as television, films, newspapers, and radio; however, experts believe that only television and films have the ability to influences masses due to their long-ranging availability as compared with newspapers and radio that confront limitation of national, as well as educational boundaries. Interestingly, the two components of the American media: television and films have yet been successful in promoting individuals in other countries to think, behave, act, and respond in an American way, and that is visible in most of the countries, especially the Asian countries that are already under influence of American politics and power. It is an observation that sociologists (Porter, pp. 12-13) in Japan are now afraid of cultural homogenization in the country due to increment in the influence of American pop culture globally. In this regard, they are putting efforts to prevent such cultural deterioration in a significant manner by putting barriers. Still, the American media has been successful in acquiring mass audience in Japan, and nowadays, MTV, Star World, Hollywood, etc have now become a part of Japanese society, especially young members of Japan that will be the future leaders of Japanese culture and society. A number of

Does The Use Of Technology Specifically Phones And Facebook Diminish Essay

Does The Use Of Technology Specifically Phones And Facebook Diminish Real Life Interactions - Essay Example A good example is the development of internet, which despite it being very useful brought forth cybercrime that, is affecting all persons either directly or indirectly. The phones are very essential in communicating with others who are not around us. This is very good for human development either politically or economically. Despite this, phones produce electromagnetic waves, which are not good for human health. Furthermore, the phones reduce physical interaction between persons as all transactions are completed without face-to-face interaction. This paper seeks to give an in-depth analysis of technology, specifically the use of phone and internet and they diminish real life interactions based on personal observation and interview results from five individuals.Due to the nature of the society we are today, the use of the phones has been on the increase. In the past, access to phone was limited and thus those who did not have phones had to travel to meet others. In such case, the huma n face-to-face interaction was common and had benefits attached to it. The face to face-to-face interaction reduced the chances of lying, which was very good for human social development. The duration a person spends on his phone in a day, depend on the nature of work he is undertaking. For example, businesspersons spend a lot of time on their phones to ensure that all transactions are carried out as planned despite them being absence.... The interference with their normal brain functioning affects various activities they are involved in, human face-to-face interaction included. Some people use phones for leisure and pleasure activities. This is well demonstrated by people who spend quantitate period playing various games available in the phone. In most cases, these games usually require one player. As a result, the addicts of such games spend a quantitative period of lime alone. Without the phone, the person would have interacted with other persons face to face in his recreation activities. In the children and youth development, learning from others not only the academic knowledge but also the general knowledge is mainly learned through interaction and observation of other people. Thus, the uses of phone impair face-to-face interaction of people, which may have adverse effect on child development. This does not mean that children should be denied access to phones. Consideration is necessary in ensuring those phones a re availed to children at the age of about fourteen years when it would not have much adverse effect on their development. Despite this, they should be advised and monitored. It is evident that people are involved in various activities in order to satisfy their needs. The activities may require their presence or not. In order to ensure that they effectively undertake them, people usually have more than one phone, each dedicated to a particular purpose. Using the phone, they are able to coordinate various activities in their absence. This makes it one of the most preferred methods of communication, as the response to the conversations is real time through calls. There are also methods of communication such as emails and messages. Their choice

How the American media influenced Japan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

How the American media influenced Japan - Essay Example as well as political effects on a society, and thus, a huge number of scholars and experts are putting efforts to understand the influence and effects of media on its own society, as well as societies around the globe. In particular, this paper will be endeavor to analyze the role of American media in the Japanese society, and will attempt to identify different aspects of the American media that is playing a crucial role in altering the Japanese culture and society. In sociology, experts (Richardson, pp. 23-25) consider American media as a powerful body that has the command of influencing nations globally, and they often term American media as ‘pop culture.’ In specific, American media is a wide sector involving huge range of components, such as television, films, newspapers, and radio; however, experts believe that only television and films have the ability to influences masses due to their long-ranging availability as compared with newspapers and radio that confront limitation of national, as well as educational boundaries. Interestingly, the two components of the American media: television and films have yet been successful in promoting individuals in other countries to think, behave, act, and respond in an American way, and that is visible in most of the countries, especially the Asian countries that are already under influence of American politics and power. It is an observation that sociologists (Porter, pp. 12-13) in Japan are now afraid of cultural homogenization in the country due to increment in the influence of American pop culture globally. In this regard, they are putting efforts to prevent such cultural deterioration in a significant manner by putting barriers. Still, the American media has been successful in acquiring mass audience in Japan, and nowadays, MTV, Star World, Hollywood, etc have now become a part of Japanese society, especially young members of Japan that will be the future leaders of Japanese culture and society. A number of

Saudi arabia cultuer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Saudi arabia cultuer - Essay Example The government in Saudi Arabia is focusing on encouraging womens education, and putting controls and conditions that contribute to teach all the necessary matters in women’s life and the community things of these women (Al-Rasheed, 2010). There are two types of schools in the different levels of education; the first type is a private school, and the second type is a public school. There are also two systems to study at the university; the first system is full time study, and the second system is distance learning. 1. The aim of girls’ education is breeding true Muslim behavior to carry out its mission in life that assists girls in being successful housewives. This makes them to be an ideal wife and a good mother, and become prepared to do what fits to the innate as a teachers, nursing and doctors. . 2. The state manages girls education by providing the necessary resources as much as possible to accommodate all students that are able to study. It also gives students the opportunity to learn different types of education that are appropriate to the nature of women and cover the country needs. In Saudi Arabia, girl’s education has different challenges that are faced in the education movement. The educational process aimed at women has become a competitor to other countries in the world. According to the official statistics report, the number of girls schools exceeded the number of boys schools, while the numbers of girls’ students of public education were more than two million students in various stages of public education (Al-Rasheed, 2010). That figure is nearly close to the number of male student. The official statistics issued by the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia revealed that the number of parameters exceeded 250 thousand teachers in Saudi Arabia. This is an increase of 40 thousand teachers. This parameter is the number of male teachers in general education schools. These estimates shows that the rates of girls students was growing in

Family and Consumer Behavior Essay Example for Free

Family and Consumer Behavior Essay Therefore, not only do we have to study and do research about individual consumers but we also have to consider groups of people such as families and the influence of their members on others within the group. â€Å"Today in the United States, 68 percent of the 111. million household are families. According to many sources, the family remains the central or dominant institution in providing for the welfare of its members and is the major household consumer and consuming unit† (Schiffman and Kanuk 2007, 347). This means the family is a notable consuming unit if not the most important one. â€Å"Although families sometimes are referred to as households, not all households are families. For example, a household might include individuals who are not related by blood, marriage, or adoption, such as unmarried couples, family friends, roommates or boarders. However, within the context of consumer behavior households and families usually are treated as synonymous, and we will continue this convention† (Schiffman and Kanuk 2007, 347). Consequently, groups of people who interact to accomplish either individual or mutual goals may be considered as a unique consuming unit even if they are not related by blood, marriage or adoption. Thus, The research process would be the same. Families can be divided in three main types: the married couples, the nuclear family and the extended family.

Factors for MRI Image Quality

Factors for MRI Image Quality Title: MRI Image Quality TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION 2.0 SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO (SNR) Figure 1 3.0 CONTRAST TO NOISE RATIO (CNR) 4.0 RESOLUTION AND SCAN TIME 5.0 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MRI PARAMETERS AND IMAGE QUALITY Table 1: MRI parameters trade-offs (Proprofs.com, 2015) 6.0 CONCLUSION REFERENCES 1.0 INTRODUCTION Image quality is the most important element in imaging radiography. According to Courses Washington Education, (2015) image quality must be assessed on the basis of average performance of some task of interest by some observer or decision maker. It was stated that image quality must be defined in terms of a task on what information to be retrieved from an image; and the observer on how the information will be extracted from the image. Since MRI image is a digital image, it is greatly depends on image contrast and its spatial characteristics. Nevertheless, one of the disadvantages of this flexibility is a greater difficulty in terms of the choice of scanning parameters. In general scan times are not negligible and there is a certain tendency towards artefact. However, the most fundamental limitation in MRI is the signal-to noise ratio (SNR) which is dependent upon the hardware, mostly the main field strength and radiofrequency (RF) coils, upon the relaxation properties of tissue and upon the choice of sequence parameters. Good image quality depends upon making good scanning parameter choices (McRobbie, 2007). 2.0 SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO (SNR) The signal to noise ratio can be defined as the ratio of the amplitude of the signal received to the average amplitude of the noise whereas the signal is the voltage induced in the receiver coil by the precession of the net magnetic vector in the transverse plane (Westbrook et al. 2011, pp.104). Noise can be defined as an undesirable backgroundinterferenceor disturbance that affects image quality (Mr-tip.com, 2015). According to Weber (2015), noise is caused by two factors which are the electromagnetic noise in the body due to movement of charged particles; and small anomalies in the measurement electronics, which depends on the size of the RF coil and the bandwidth of the pulse sequence. In addition, noise occurs at all frequencies and is also random in time and space. On the other hand, the signal is cumulative, and occurs at time TE, depends on many factors and it can be altered. The signal is therefore can be changed in relation to the noise. Increasing the signal increases the SNR, while decreasing the signal decreases the SNR. Therefore, any factor that affects the signal amplitude in gives effect to the SNR. The factors that affect the SNR include magnetic field strength, the proton density, voxel volume, repetition time (TR), echo time (TE), flip angle, number of excitations (NEX), receive bandwidth and coil type (Westbrook et al. 2011, pp.104). According to McRobbie in his book, MRI from Picture to Proton (2007), images with a poor SNR will appear fuzzy. An important aspect of image optimization is to certify that there is a high enough SNR for the images to be diagnostically valuable yet low SNR may result in losing small details or the obscuring of subtle contrast changes. Therefore, contrast to noise ratio (CNR) is always taken into consideration in the aspect of image quality. Figure 1: Increasing the basic resolution will increase the image quality. However, increasing the resolution more than the acceptable range will produce grains in the image due to low SNR and reducing it will produce a blurry image due to high SNR. Increasing basic resolution will result in prolonged time. (Image adapted from Mrimaster.com, 2015) 3.0 CONTRAST TO NOISE RATIO (CNR) CNR can be defined as a measure to assess the ability of an imaging procedure to generate clinically useful image contrast. However, the image contrast itself is not precise enough to qualify an image, because in a noisy image it is uncertain where the contrast originates. It depends on two factors either due true tissue contrast, or it may be due to noise fluctuations. The human ability to distinguish between objects is proportional to contrast, and it decreases linearly with noise (KTH, 2015). By improving CNR the perception of the distinct differences between two clinical areas of interest will be increased. In a simple word, acontrasttonoiseratio is a summary ofSNRandcontrast. It is the difference inSNRbetween two relevant tissue types (Mr-tip.com, 2015). CNR is controlled by the same factors that affect SNR. However, it is considered as the most critical factor affecting image quality (scrsl.weebly.com, 2015). 4.0 RESOLUTION AND SCAN TIME In MRI imaging, the scan time is advisable to be as short as possible. This is because the longer the patient lies on the table; the more likely it is that they will move. Moreover, if the patient has moved during the scan, the image produced will have a great SNR (Westbrook et al. 2011). The minimum scan time in MRI imaging is affected by TR, matrix size and NEX while the spatial resolution is determined by matrix size, FOV and slice thickness. By increasing matrix size or decreasing FOV and slice thickness increases spatial resolution at the expense of either decreased signal-to-noise or increased scan time. In order to obtain images of high resolution with high signal-to-noise requires longer scan times. All of the scan parameters affect signal-to-noise ratio. However, the signal within an image can be enhanced either by increasing TR, FOV, slice thickness and NEX or by decreasing TE and matrix size. The most direct way to increase signal is by increasing NEX, but increasing NEX from two to four which doubles the scan time, increases the signal by only the square root of two. Lastly, TE does not affect scan time; however, it does determine the maximum number of slices in multi-slice mode. Increasing the TE or shortening TR decreases the number of slices that can be obtained with one pulse sequence (Spinwarp.ucsd.edu, 2015). 5.0 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MRI PARAMETERS AND IMAGE QUALITY An image that is obtained in a short scan time, with a good spatial resolution and high SNR is preferable yet is hardly to achieve as increasing one factor certainly reduces one or both of the other two (Westbrook et. al, 2011). Trade-offsexists when changing imaging parameters to obtain the best images possible. For instance, the SNR, resolution, and acquisition time, are all interconnected. Changing one will affect the others. It is important to decide what factors are more important for an examination of a particular body part, patient and suspected abnormality. For example, when looking at the pituitary or cranial nerves, some SNR may need to be less considered or use longer acquisition time to improve the spatial resolution. However, in a claustrophobic of patient in pain who may be moving around, both resolution and SNR for the shortest possible examination time need to be considered to produce better image quality and preventing motion artefact (Ballinger, 2015). Thetable below summarizes the trade-offs in MRI between SNR, resolution, time, maximum number of slices and distance covered. Table 1: MRI parameters trade-offs (Proprofs.com, 2015) 6.0CONCLUSION In conclusion, the quality of an MR image depends on several factors which include the spatial resolution and image contrast, SNR and CNR and also artefacts. An MR examination is cooperation between scan time and image quality and its sequence parameters will have to be optimized in function of the organs and pathology. Moreover, the signal intensities and contrast are determined by the timing parameters TR and TE and also the flip angle. Besides, to produce a good image in MRI the scan time should always be as short as possible to avoid patient movement by using the shortest TR possible, select the coarse matrix possible and reduce the NEX to a minimum. REFERENCES Ballinger, J. (2015).Trade offs | Radiology Reference Article | Radiopaedia.org. [online] Radiopaedia.org. Available at: http://radiopaedia.org/articles/trade-offs [Accessed 3 May 2015]. Barrett, H. and Myers, K. (2004).Foundations of image science. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Interscience. Courses Washington Education, (2015).Image Quality. [online] Available at: http://courses.washington.edu/bioen508/Lecture1_partC.pdf [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015]. KTH, (2015).Point Spread Function. [online] Available at: http://medim.sth.kth.se/6l2872/F/F9.pdf [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015]. McRobbie, D. (2007).MRI from picture to proton. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Mrimaster.com, (2015). MRI resolution and image quality | how to manipulate mri scan parameters. [online] Available at: https://mrimaster.com/index.4.html [Accessed 4 May 2015]. Mr-tip.com, (2015).MRI Database : Contrast to Noise Ratio. [online] Available at: http://www.mr-tip.com/serv1.php?type=db1dbs=Contrast+to+Noise+Ratio [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015]. Mr-tip.com, (2015).MRI Database : Magnetic Resonance Imaging MRI. [online] Available at: http://www.mr-tip.com/serv1.php?type=db1dbs=Magnetic Resonance Imaging MRI [Accessed 28 Apr. 2015]. Mr-tip.com, (2015).MRI Database : Noise. [online] Available at: http://www.mr-tip.com/serv1.php?type=db1dbs=Noise [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015]. Nde-ed.org, (2015).Image Considerations. [online] Available at: https://www.nde-ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/Radiography/TechCalibrations/imageconsiderations.htm [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015]. Proprofs.com, (2015).Flashcards Table on MRIImaging Parameters. [online] Available at: http://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/tableview.php?title=mriimaging-parameters [Accessed 3 May 2015]. scrsl.weebly.com, (2015).Parameters and Trade-offs. [online] Available at: http://scrsl.weebly.com/uploads/5/1/3/0/5130772/magnetic_resonance_imaging_6parameters__trade_offs.ppt [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015]. Spinwarp.ucsd.edu, (2015). [online] Available at: http://spinwarp.ucsd.edu/neuroweb/Text/br-100.htm [Accessed 3 May 2015]. Spinwarp.ucsd.edu, (2015). [online] Available at: http://spinwarp.ucsd.edu/neuroweb/Text/br-100.htm [Accessed 3 May 2015]. UChicago, (2015).How does MRI work?. [online] Available at: http://wiki.ci.uchicago.edu/pub/HNL/DifficultQuestion/howdoesmriwork.pdf [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015]. University of Bergen, (2015).Contrast (CNR) in MRI. [online] Available at: https://wikihost.uib.no/mriwiki/images/5/5c/MRCourseLectures_Oct2011_ContrastTheory.pdf [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015]. Weber, D. (2015).MRI Quality. [online] Psdlw.users.sourceforge.net. Available at: http://psdlw.users.sourceforge.net/career/dweber_docs/mri_quality.html [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015]. Westbrook, C. and Kaut-Roth, C. (2011).MRI in practice. Oxford: Blackwell Science. 1

Coffee Crisis Essay -- BTEC Business Marketing GCSE Coursework

Coffee Crisis The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe , and the Economist as well as many other media outlets of record were all in consensus when they declared the onset of coffee crisis in October 2001; farmgate prices had sharply dropped reaching a thirty-year low of $0.39 per pound in This price was below the cost of coffee production at the time, listed at USD 0.60 per pound.(Economist 2001) Price declines are not such an uncommon occurrence, but what is more troubling is that the cash market for coffee suffers from high price volatility. For a more detailed look please see Appendix 1: Cash Price Variation. Coffee producers , who are mainly located in developing countries , are highly vulnerable to price risk in the cash market , yet their profits in relation to their risk exposure has been steadily declining. In a 2001 study conducted by the European Fair Trade Association (EFTA)- an organization that promotes the sale of products that ensure price security for marginalized commodity produ cers- the general finding was a declining share of trade revenues from coffee remained in the coffee producing countries. Although the international coffee market has grown from $30 billion annually in the 1980s to $55 billion in 2001, in aggregate coffee producers have seen their share drop from $10 billion to $7 billion in 2001 (Renkema 59). From the perspective of the small producer, their received cash prices have not always been this volatile and had been stable up until 1989 ;although the data does not fully support this. Please see Appendix 2) Measures of Volatility. A price regime devised in 1962 by the International Coffee Association setup an agreement between coffee producing countries and coffee consuming countries.... ...//www.nybot.org> Pennings, Joost M.E. Research in Agricultural Futures Markets: Past Present and Future. Presentation Paper: Wageningen Agricultural University: Netherlands. 8 June 2001. Renkema, David. (2001). ¡Ã‚ ± Chapter 4:Coffee:The Speculator ¡Ã‚ ¯s Plaything ¡Ã‚ ± Fair Trade Yearbook..European Fair Trade Association: Amsterdam. World Bank International Task Force on Commodity Risk Management in Developing Countries.  ¡Ã‚ °Dealing With Commodity Price Volatility In Developing Countries: A Proposal For A Market-Based Approach. ¡Ã‚ ± Discussion Paper for the Roundtable on Commodity Risk Management in Developing Countries. World Bank. Washington, DC: 24 September 1999. United Nation Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretariat.  ¡Ã‚ °Farmers and Farmers Associations In Developing Countries And Their Use of Modern Financial Instruments. Geneva: 10 January 2002.

Good Will Hunting Essay

Sometimes our past can cause pain that doesn’t allow us to trust others. People we trust can cause us to put up a wall and look to other things for comfort. In the movie, Will Hunting found his comfort in books. Will Hunting needed a real friendship to help him open up his mind in order to discover that there is more to life than living through the books he reads. In the movie, there are four main characters, each different in many ways, that form individual friendships in the movie. One of the characters, Will Hunting works as a janitor at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is a foster child and is living life through his experience in books and lacks real life knowledge. This is holding him back from becoming intimate with anyone. While working there he sometimes writes on the school’s math department blackboard and is soon discovered as a genius. Will gets caught fighting and is arrested and in leau of incarceration is put under the supervision of Gera ld Lambeau, who attended and is now a professor at MIT. Under his supervision, per court order he must see a therapist and stay out of any trouble. Sean Maguire is a professor at a local community college and also grew up in the same town as Will and went to MIT. He is Will’s therapist and in the sessions challenges him to open up and stop living life through a book. A friendship develops and Sean tries to guide him to break his fear of intimacy. Chuckie Sullivan is a character in the movie that Will refers to as his brother. Chuckie is a nice guy with an aggressive attitude from being brought up in the rough side of Southie, Boston. Then there is a girl named Skylar, cute with a British accent and goes to Harvard University. She gets involved with Will Hunting and soon asks him to move with her to California where she will be attending at Stanford’s medical school program. Unfortunately, fear of intimacy prevents him from forming a relationship with her and breaks this friendship apart. Eventually, Will starts to see his true friendships with Chuckie, Sean and Skylar and starts to open up. He begins to trust others and takes a risk at experiencing life first hand outside the covers of a book. Will Hunting came from poverty, raised as a foster child in Southie. He didn’t trust people because he always looked at every angle of the relationship and assumed that in the end they wouldn’t be there for him. Professor Gerald Lambeau, who took pride in himself because of a Field Medals award which granted him public status, comes around to try to build a friendship with Will. Will soon realizes that Gerald is using him to gain social status, public recognition and to solve his difficult math problems. He then ends his relationship with Gerald because of his intensions. Then Sean, seeing what his former classmate, Gerald, was up to, soon becomes more than just Will’s therapist. Sean becomes a friend and tries to prevent Will from taking the same path as Gerald by only wanting social recognition. As Will’s Friend, Sean didn’t want him to fail. He wanted Will to succeed in life and take a chance and not just live it through a book. The doctor-patient relationship soon becomes a very close friendship. Towards the end of the movie Will leaves a note for Sean, â€Å"I had to see about a girl,† this was a quote from Sean’s story of his courtship with his wife. This lets Sean know he had decided to take a chance on life and to attempt to form a lasting relationship with someone he could trust. Will’s â€Å"brother† Chuckie, who is really Will’s best friend, also wanted him to succeed in life. He tries to encourage Will to take a chance in living a real life and tells Will, â€Å"You know what the best part of my day is? It’s for about ten seconds when I pull up to the curb to when I get to your door. Because I think maybe I’ll get up there and I’ll knock on the door and you won’t be there. No goodbye, no see you later, no nothing. Just left. I don’t know much, but I know that.† Will then sees that Chuckie might have a point and takes his friend’s advice. A few people come into Will’s life, some for real friendships and some just to gain public status. After discovering his true friendships, Will begins to enjoy their company and wants them in his life. He begins to build relationships he can count on. He is willing to take a chance and succeed in life and relationships, no longer needing books to fulfill this for him. He finally decides to trust and to look at the positive things life has to offer. On his 21st birthday, with the car, Chuckie and his other friends gave him, he packs up to head to California to pursue life. In the end, Will finds true friendships and decides to live his life outside of just a book.

Country Lovers Essay

The farm children play together when they are small; but once the white children go away to school they soon don’t play together any more, even in the holidays. Although most of the black children get some sort of schooling, they drop every year farther behind the grades passed by the white children; the childish vocabulary, the child’s exploration of the adventurous possibilities of dam, koppies, mealie lands and veld—there comes a time when the white children have surpassed these with the vocabulary of boarding-school and the possibilities of interschool sports matches and the kind of adventures seen at the cinema. This usefully coincides with the age of twelve or thirteen; so that by the time early adolescence is reached, the black children are making, along with the bodily changes common to all, an easy transition to adult forms of address, beginning to call their old playmates missus and baasie—little master. The trouble was Paulus Eysendyck did not s eem to realize that Thebedi was now simply one of the crowd of farm children down at the kraal, recognizable in his sisters’ old clothes. The first Christmas holidays after he had gone to boardingschool he brought home for Thebedi a painted box he had made in his wood-work class. He had to give it to her secretly because he had nothing for the other children at the kraal. And she gave him, before he went back to school, a bracelet she had made of thin brass wire and the grey-and-white beans of the castor-oil crop his father cultivated. (When they used to play together, she was the one who had taught Paulus how to make clay oxen for their toy spans.) There was a craze, even in the platteland towns like the one where he was at school, for boys to wear elephant-hair and other bracelets beside their watch-straps; his was admired, friends asked him to get similar ones for them. He said the natives made them on his father’s farm and he would try. When he was fifteen, six feet tall, and tramping round at school dances with the girls from the ‘sister’ school in the same town; when he had learnt how to tease and flirt and fondle quite intimately these girls who were the daughters of prosperous farmers like his father; when he had even met one who, at a wedding he had attended with his parents on a nearby farm, had let him do with her in a locked storeroom what people did when they made love—when he was as far from his childhood as all this, he still brought home from a shop in town a red plastic belt and gilt hoop ear-rings for the black girl, Thebedi. She told her father the missus had given these to her as a reward for some work she had done—it was true she sometimes was called to help out in the farmhouse. She told the girls in the kraal that she had a sweetheart nobody knew about, far away, away on another farm, and they giggled, and teased, and admired her. There was a boy in the kraal called Njabulo who said he wished he could have bought her a belt and ear-rings. When the farmer’s son was home for the holidays she wandered far from the kraal and her companions. He went for walks alone. They had not arranged this; it was an urge each followed independently. He knew it was she, from a long way off. She knew that his dog would not bark at her. Down at the dried-up river-bed where five or six years ago the children had caught a leguaan one great day—a creature that combined ideally the size and ferocious aspect of the crocodile with the n an interview published in Women Writers Talk (1989), edited by Olga Kenyan, Nadine Gordimer had this to say about the political evolution of South Africa: [TJhere are some extraordinary black and white people who are prepared to take a Pascalian wager on the fact that there is a way, that there must be a way. It goes be’ yond polarisation, it cannot happen while the situation is what it is. It can only be after the power structure has changed. But the fact is that if whites want to go on living in South Africa, they have to change. It’s not a matter of just letting blacks in— white life is already dead, over. The big question is, given the kind of conditioning we’ve had for 300 years, is it possible to strike that down and make a common culture with the blacks? Since 1953, when she published her first novel, The Lying Days, Nadine Gordimer has been aligned with the liberal white consciousness of South Africa. She was born in the Transvaal in 1923. Her father was a shopkeeper, her mother a housewife. A childhood illness kept Gordimer out of school until she was 14, by which time she was already an avid reader. By 15 she had published her first short story. It was not until she was somewhat older that she became aware of the South African political situation, and it was not until she was 30 that her first novel was published. Beginning with A World of Strangers (1958), Gordimer’s novels focus directly on the South African racial situation. The most famous of these works include A Guest of Honor (1970), The Conservationist (1974), Burger’s Daughter (1979), July’s People (1981), A Sport of Nature (1987), My Son’s Story (1990), None to Accompany Me (1994), and The House Gun (1998). Gordimer has also published 10 volumes of short stories, as well as several volumes o/non/iction. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1991. Asked by Olga Kenyan what it means to be a white South African, Gordimer responded as follows: You have to shout that you support change. In my case that you support a complete revolution, if possible a peaceful one. I use revolution in a broad sense, a complete change of the whole political organisation, from grass roots. It’s not enough for a white to say â€Å"Right, I’ll be prepared to live under black majority rule,† and sit back, waiting for it to come. Yow.also have to work positively, in whatever way you can, as a human being.

Sandpiper by Ahdaf Soueif , Setting’s Role in Identity

*†What role does ‘place' play in forming one's identity? How does this affect the narrator in her life? † The narrator's life and her identity is shaped by this foreign land that she has moved to. Coming from a western world, as a woman, into an Arabic country, there are certain cultural perceptions that will ultimately alter her identity. The foreignness felt by the narrator is conveyed throughout the story. â€Å"My husband translated all this for me and said things to her which I have come to understand meant that tomorrow I would get used to their ways. This quote represents her inability to conform to the cultural and social acceptances. â€Å"If I tried to do the shopping the prices trebled. † indicates that even the local merchants tried to take advantage of her ‘foreignness' as she was incapable of altering herself to meet their demands or expectations. Perhaps the most apparent portrayal of the result of the setting on the narrator is the â₠¬Å"fading love† experienced between her and her husband. The flashbacks present within the story, â€Å"My second summer here was the sixth of our love – and the last of our happiness. allude to the vast differences between their relationship at various times. This foreshadowing as well as an imminent doom, relationship wise, allows the reader to sense the regret and deep emotional state experienced by the narrator. The narrator was from Europe and her marriage to an Egyptian man has cross-cultural implications. Even though â€Å"the inferior status of women† was explained to her, she still went through with this marriage. One could presume that the narrator's ethnocentrism was evident in assuming that her marriage would be more like a western one. â€Å"My foreignness, which had been so charming, began to irritate him. indicates that once he had returned home, the narrator's inability to change her to her setting, her ‘place' affected their relationship. This is backed by, â€Å"He was back home, and he needed someone he could be at home with, at home. † indicates that the narrator herself is aware of the implication her inability to conform is having on her relationship. Lucy, is the daughter she gave birth to yet she refers to Lucy as ‘his daughter' indicating that even though they are both her parents; the narrator identifies Lucy as belonging to him since she was born and raised in this foreign land. My treasure, my trap† allows the reader to notice that the narrator, this woman, wants to escape, to leave, but she is held back by the maternal love she has for her daughter. The place or setting is the biggest factor in this short story, it is a reason for the couple's fading love and growing estranged. The setting places the narrator in a foreign land, whose cultural values have a negative impact on her causing her to fade from blissful love to saddening regret and hurt. Her identity is altered to that of a fo reigner as perceived by those around her and this changes her mind set, perceiving herself differently, as a different person.

Saudi EFL Learners Awareness of World Englishes-(Second Language Essay

Saudi EFL Learners Awareness of World Englishes-(Second Language Varieties) - Essay Example The primary means by which these flows and networks are established and maintained is through the use of a common contact language. English, the most widely diffused contact language, is the primary linguistic channel through which these flows take place†¦ English is thus a globalized phenomenon that is continuously being LOCALIZED during its countless interactions. The fact that globalization is a very fast process prescribes that children need to be proficient in the English language to be competent in their international dealings (Doman, 2005). Due to the wide proliferation of learning English language, various cultures have adopted the language and integrated their own cultural flavor in it. World Englishes are forms of the English language that non-native English speakers use with native English being American and /or British English. Members of a certain culture use English to suit their own communication styles. Considering the variety of cultures in the world, there are now more non-native English-speakers than native speakers (Jenkins, 2006; Canagarajah, 2007). This includes Saudi Arabian nationals. 1.2 Aims and Objectives 1.3 The Field of World Englishes 'New Englishes' or 'World Englishes' is usually used to refer to the new varieties of English. Mesthrie and Bhatt (2008) state that "it has become customary to use the plural form 'Englishes' to stress the diversity to be found in the language today, and to stress that English no longer has one single base of authority, prestige and normativity." The authors clarify that World Englishes "represents all varieties except the L1 varieties of places like the UK and USA" (Mesthrie and Bhatt, 2008). Accrdoging to Hoffmann and Siebers (2009), "what is often referred to as "the" English language is in fact a heterogeneous and linguistically fascinating group of first (L1), second (L2) and foreign language varieties. A more appropriate cover term is thus World Englishes, which highlights the diversity and world-wide distribution of these varieties" (Hoffmann and Siebers (2009). Salikoko S. Mufwene refers to the notion of ecology, which is the concept borrowed from biology to provide a clear insight into the formation of New Englishes. Focussing on the indigenization of English in North America, Mufwene claims that American English emerged as a variety distinct from British English dialects due to an interaction of several ecological factors (fauna, flora, and socio-economic structures as well as the speaking habits and communicative needs of some of its speakers). Hoffmann and Siebers (2009). Therefore; the specific vernacular of English that arose in Northern America is a result of the universal ecological mechanisms of language contact. Mesthrie and Bhatt emphasise that sociolinguists need to acknowledge that community attitudes and expectations are important. Kachru himself acknowledged that there are many ambiguities, where language attitudes are concerned: The non-native speake rs themselves have not been able to accept what may be termed the 'ecological validity' of their nativised or local Englishes. One would have expected such acceptance, given the acculturation and linguistic nativisation of the new varieties. On the other hand, the non-native models of English (such

Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 26

Art - Essay Example The man is shown standing naked, covered by only a piece of cloth that is wrapped around his private part, with the end of the cloth anchored to his left arm. He holds a staff on his left hand and a vvfukupolk on right hand. The image reflects the Roman culture shown through the man’s way of dressing. The man is portrayed standing on a branch where an eagle sits, looking toward him. Most of the lines used are curved to trace the natural lines and curves of the images. For instance, the rod and the branch are made up of straight lines that follow the thickness of the subjects in proportion to the other figures. With the material used, the lines are long and continuous, giving details to the shapes of the subjects. However, the artist also used short lines to define the shoulder, chest, rib and abdominal parts of the man. Short, curved lines are used on the feather parts of the bird as well as the cloth wrapped around the man. The clothing and the bird are created in a manner th at they show seemingly real three-dimensional features that make the images look like they have rough textures. However, since the material used to create the images is sardonyx, the images are actually smooth. The artwork has a dark background that creates no sense of depth for the picture. Aside from the dark hue, the artist also used the natural color of sardonyx and bronze-like color for some parts of the bird’s feather and the cloth which is emphasized by the color of the frame that is made from gold, enamel and pearls. Another artwork in the exhibit is the â€Å"Bust of Silenius† which is a three-dimensional sculpture showing the head and chest parts of a man whose one breast is uncovered. The artwork is made from bronze and it definitely shows some historical information during the time of its creation just like the artwork discussed above. Contrary to the portrayal of the emperor, Silenius looks like an aged and stout

Elderly as a vulnerable population Research Paper

Elderly as a vulnerable population - Research Paper Example Recent reports such as the Health Ombudsman’s Care and Compassion report and the revelations about care at hospitals in Staffordshire have highlighted shocking examples of failings in NHS and care services. The new guidelines have been produced in collaboration with the Care Quality Commission, ADASS and Royal Colleges of Nurses and GPs as well as frontline staff to develop practical guidance for staff across the NHS. â€Å"This guidance has been developed with staff and stakeholders to ensure they address the day-to-day safeguarding issues facing staff and managers. Small changes like ensuring all staff are aware of the full range of all the safeguarding procedures in place at their organisation can make a real difference to patients.† â€Å"As the professional regulator for nurses and midwives we are committed to strengthening the safeguarding of adults and welcome this new material to further support the professionals who care for them. â€Å"Having contributed to the work of this health advisory group, we are confident these newly published materials will be of interest to a wide range of professionals and will support them in their understanding, practice and decision-making in relation to safeguarding

None Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

None - Essay Example Moreover, the research also concluded that carbon monoxide produced by private automobiles was 95% higher; production of dangerous organic compounds is 92% greater, two times more emission of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide as compared to public transportation for each person travelling per mile. There was another study conducted in 2004 by Lancaster University, which suggested that switching to train system from the private car or airlines travelling has no significant advantages in terms of environment protection. However, there was an environmental group â€Å"friends of the earth†, who had opposite views regarding the shift and they were not satisfied with the findings of the study conducted by the university (Marston, 2004). They made another study, which revealed that the train system lacked in the modern advancement that had been made for the vehicles and airline industries in terms of better fuel consumption and efficient use of the fuel. A train that travels from London to Edinburgh uses 11.5 liters excess fuel per person as compared to the latest cars working on diesel; and similarly, the trains of Pendolino consumed more fuel per person than the airbus A380 (ABD, 2012). There are some other detailed studies that have concluded that there is a negative and opposite relation between the urban population density and energy consumption per capita. With the help of public transit system, the high urban population densities can be benefited easily and as an inverse relation the use of energy to run the system will be low and the travelling distance will be reduced. Green movements members always are in favor of public transportation because of high benefits in term of less contamination and low pollution than any other travelling system. In 2004, there was a study carried out in the city of Milan, Italy that unveiled the impact of mass transportation on the environment on a day of public transportation strike. The air during 8 days in

What were the causes of the Second World War Essay

What were the causes of the Second World War - Essay Example Hitler desired the living space to be self-reliant. He wanted to overpower the world and Europe. The Treaty of Versailles had to be invoked if Hitler had his ways, paving the way to the Second World War. The aggression of Allied forces also led to the Second World War. In Italy, Mussolini propagated Fascism and wanted to establish a Roman Kingdom in the Mediterranean and Africa, to quote his attack on Abyssinia in 1935. Another Allied power Japan desired a Nipponese rule in the Pacific, leading to China and Australia, as is evident from Japan’s attack on Manchuria in 1931. All the three Allied nations, namely Germany, Italy, and France were against Communism of the USSR, thus, sowing the seeds of war among nations. Another cause of the Second World War was the passivity of the Democratic powers. USA was detached while France was not willing to stand in opposition to Germany. France could not depend on Britain and America for support. Britain had a soft corner for recuperation of Germany between 1934 and 1937 and pacified Germany between May 1937 and March 1939. The Democratic powers could have hindered the path of Fascism before 1939 but preferred to remain in low-profile. The League of Nations failed in distancing the warring nations. Not a single factor could be blamed for the Second World War, as stated above but Hitler’s expansionism was the sole reason to cause the Second World War. Fascism was also a leading reason, as bent on expanding and the inability of democratic countries to stop Mussolini from his beliefs in Fascism. There were 9 causes of the Second World War, which are discussed in detail below. 1. The Rearmament of Germany It happened during the Geneva Disarmament Conference held in 1932-4 wherein Hitler made it clear that because other countries were not reducing their military strength to that of Germany, Germany would increase its military power to their level. Till 1935 the process of rearmament of Germany was ongoing by establ ishing conscription and munitions factories. France reacted to the rearmament of Germany by strengthening the Maginot line built earlier between 1929 and 1934 because rearmament of Germany created insecurity in the region. The Maginot line was made of steel and concrete mixture for added strength from Belgium to Switzerland; it was known as ‘a gate without a fence’, which Germany would not crossover and attack France through Belgium. Without the support of Britain, France never appeared on the front foot. Britain, on the other hand, was friendlier towards Germany than it was with France to actively support it. The Anglo German naval Treaty (June 1935) was the result of the sympathetic behavior of Britain towards Germany, which permitted the German Navy to be 35% of the size of the British Royal Navy. Hitler supported Franco in the Spanish Civil War (1936-9) with the ammunition at its disposal. Hitler sent the Condor Legion of the Luftwaffe to attack Guernica on 26th Apr il, 1937. Guernica was eliminated and Franco marched ahead winning the Basque areas of Spain. Hitler had used Spain as a testing ground. 2. The Remilitarization of the Rhineland (1936) Hitler attempted breach of the Versailles Treaty once again after committing a breach once by marching to Cologne on 7th March 1936 with 30,000 soldiers. France could not gather the courage to come face-to-face with Germany militarily although amassing troop strength of 250,000 because Britain was not at its support. Britain expressed the opinion that Germany was ‘marching into her own back yard.’ Hitler held a plebiscite on remilitarization to prove the support of its people, which was vehement to 98.8% in favor of Hitler’s policy on militarization. This prompted Hitler to create his own defensive fortification, the Siegfried Line. 3. The

Watergate Scandal Essay Example for Free

Watergate Scandal Essay The Watergate Scandal is one of the most crucial and controversial moments in United States history, proving to be extremely influential in both constitutional and political concerns. What began as a seemingly simple burglary turned out to be a revelation of the abuse of power of the Chief Executive and the violations of the rights of the citizens. It eventually resulted in the first resignation of an American president. The name Watergate is the term designated to collectively identify the scandal and controversy that surrounded the Nixon administration (Patterson 64; â€Å"Watergate†). The scandal began with the burglary which occurred on June 17, 1972, as five men forced entry into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The DNC office was situated at the Watergate building in Washington, D. C. In the beginning, the burglary was not highly publicized. However, there were two reporters from the Washington Post that persistently followed the story; they were Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward (Washington Post; â€Å"Watergate†). Woodward soon learned that the burglars were from Miami; they used surgical gloves in the burglary and left with a significant sum of money (Washington Post). Bernstein and Woodward soon worked on other reports which began to reveal more about the nature of the burglary (Washington Post). It was later revealed that one of the burglars was James McCord; he was involved in the Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP) (Patterson 64; Washington Post). Afterwards, President Richard Nixon and his chief of staff H. R. Haldeman began planning ways in which the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) can persuade the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to discontinue the investigation regarding the burglary (Washington Post). Some weeks after, the two reporters discovered that the grand jury responsible for the burglary investigation had tried to obtain the testimony of two officials that previously worked in the Nixon White House (Washington Post). These men were E. Howard Hunt, who used to work for the CIA, and G. Gordon Liddy, who used to work for the FBI. Hunt and Liddy participated in the burglary through the use of walkie-talkies; situated in one of the hotel rooms across the building, they used the said device to guide the burglars. In September 1972, Hunt, Liddy, McCord and the four other burglars were charged with burglary, conspiracy and wiretapping (Patterson 64). District Court Judge John J. Sirica was the presiding judge for the case, and he convicted all seven men who received prison term sentences (Patterson 64). The Washington Post reporters continued their thorough inquiry into the burglary issue. Bernstein proceeded to Miami, wherein he discovered that a check worth $25,000 that was intended for the reelection campaign of Nixon was deposited in one of the burglars bank account (Washington Post). According to the report, the check was received by Maurice Stans; he was the former Secretary of Commerce which also became the chief fundraiser for Nixon. This is the first time that a direct link between the burglary and the reelection campaign funds of Nixon was discovered. All the important details that Washington Post used in their reports were taken from a reliable anonymous source that was referred to as Deep Throat (Washington Post; â€Å"Watergate†). The identity of this source was only revealed in 2005; it turned out to be W. Mark Felt, the deputy director for the FBI during the Watergate scandal (Washington Post; â€Å"Watergate†). The Washington Post stories continued its investigation, and soon it brought to light the involvement of several of Nixons closest aides (Washington Post; â€Å"Watergate†). These included John N. Mitchell, a former U. S. Attorney General and assistant to the CRP director; John W. Dean III, a counsel to the White House; John Ehrlichman, a White House Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs and Haldeman. In February 1973, the U. S. Senate created a committee to be lead by North Carolina Senator Sam Ervin, to investigate the issue at hand. On April 30, 1973, as the reports regarding the White House involvement with Watergate burglary intensified, Nixon made public the resignations of Haldeman and Ehrlichman, as well as the dismissal of Dean (Washington Post; â€Å"Watergate†). Richard Kleindienst, the U. S. Attorney General, also submitted his resignation (â€Å"Watergate†). The Senate investigation also intensified (Patterson 64). Aside from the Committee, the investigation now included Judge Sirica, Bernstein and Woodward, and Archibald Cox. Elliot Richardson succeeded Kleindienst as attorney general, and Cox was the special prosecutor assigned by Richardson (â€Å"Watergate†). In May 1973, the hearings of the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Activities began. Dean told the committee that the burglary was the brainchild of Mitchell. He also claimed that Nixon himself released money to silence the burglars (â€Å"Watergate†). However, the most crucial step in the investigation was the testimony of Alexander Butterfield (â€Å"Watergate†). Butterfield was a former staff member in the White House (Patterson 64). On July 16, 1973, he testified that Nixon ordered for a system to be installed which enabled all conversations to be tape recorded (â€Å"Watergate†). Immediately, the Senate Committee sought to acquire the tapes (Patterson 64). The former subpoenaed eight tapes as included in Deans testimony (â€Å"Watergate†). Nixon used Executive Privilege as an excuse to not to release the tapes; he also attempted to have Cox fired (Patterson 64). On October 20, 1973, Richardson resigned in protest of Nixons efforts to have Cox fired (Patterson 64; â€Å"Watergate†). Even William Ruckelshaus, the Deputy Attorney General, resigned. In the end, it was Solicitor General Robert Bork who fired Cox. The series of events was later known as the Saturday Night Massacre (Patterson 64; â€Å"Watergate†). On November 1, Leon Jaworski became the new special prosecutor (Patterson 64; â€Å"Watergate†). Nixon did submit the tapes to Judge Sirica, but some conversations were missing while one tape had an 18-minute gap caused by erasures (â€Å"Watergate†). In March 1974, seven men, including Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Mitchell, were indicted for conspiracy to obstruct justice with regards to the Watergate cover up (Patterson 64; â€Å"Watergate†). Soon, the House Judiciary Committee held its own investigation; in April that same year, the tapes of 42 conversations in the White House were subpoenaed by the committee. Later that month, Nixon released instead â€Å"edited transcripts† (â€Å"Watergate†). The transcripts were not accepted by the committee, as it was not what they were asking for in the subpoena. Afterwards, Judge Sirica also subpoenaed for another set of tapes. This time, it was those which contained the 42 conversations in the White House. The said tapes were to be used as evidence against the seven aforementioned officials. One again, Nixon failed to do so. This forced Jaworski to appeal to the Supreme Court (Patterson 64; â€Å"Watergate†). On July 24, The Supreme Court unanimously voted that Nixon release the tapes (Patterson 64; â€Å"Watergate†). The last few days of July 1974 was characterized by the efforts of the Judiciary Committee to impeach Nixon (â€Å"Watergate†). The grounds for impeachment were the following: â€Å"obstruction of justice, abuse of presidential powers, and trying to impede the impeachment process by defying committee subpoenas† (Patterson 64). On August 5, 1974, Nixon finally released the tapes in public (Patterson 64; â€Å"Watergate†). One of the said tapes revealed how Nixon was indeed guilty in attempting to hinder the FBI in investigating the Watergate burglary (Patterson 64). On August 9, 1974, President Richard Nixon resigned as chief executive (Patterson 64; â€Å"Watergate†). The Watergate scandal had extremely shattered the belief of the American community in their own president (â€Å"Watergate†). Even the U. S. Constitution was tested in this situation. However, the scandal proved that indeed the system of checks and balances was effective enough to detect the abuse in power. It also taught everyone a lesson: regardless of the ones position in society, the law applies to all (â€Å"Watergate†). Hence, the Watergate scandal brought the downfall of an abusive president and the peoples belief in the presidency. However, it was also a victory for the American people, as justice was served to those at fault as justice was attained by those who fought for it. Works Cited Patterson, James T. â€Å"Watergate. † Lexicon Universal Encyclopedia. 21 vols. New York: Lexicon Publications, 1992. â€Å"Watergate. † Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. 2007. 20 May 2008 http://encarta. msn. com/encyclopedia_761553070/Watergate. html. Washington Post. â€Å"Part 1: The Post Investigates. † The Watergate Story. 20 May 2008 http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-srv/politics/special/watergate/part1. html.