Fame and Celebrity - Snoop Dogg Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Fame and Celebrity - Snoop Dogg - Essay Example The process of producing a celebrity undergoes a different kind of ‘commodification’. Celebrityhood, as it is specifically called, is a process in which people are transformed into ‘commodities’, that is, to be manufactured and consumed. The production of celebrities is facilitated by various forms of media, such as television, film, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and others (Couldry 2003). The objective of this study is to analyze the mechanism of celebrityhood through an inclusive examination of one contemporary celebrity; for this case, the gangsta rapper Snoop Dogg. The study will attempt to discuss how Snoop Dogg was ‘celebritized’ across a range of media by applying the fundamental theories and concepts covered in the discussion on the sociology of celebrity. Primarily, the paper will examine the systems of celebrity production relevant to Snoop Dogg’s rise to fame. Then, the concepts of cultural industries and cultural intermediaries will be taken into account so as to thoroughly analyze the various components that facilitated the production and consumption of Snoop Dogg as a celebrity. The next section will discuss the production of fame mechanism, involving the rise of celebrity journalism, tabloidization, and celebrity scandal. Finally, the paper will wrap up the discussion by providing sociological analyses of the ‘celebritization’ of Snoop Dogg, using the relevant theories of sociological imagination by C. Wright Mills and the ‘powerless elite’ by Alberoni. The production of Snoop Dogg as a celebrity was facilitated by a variety of medium, namely, stardom and the movies, magazines, newspapers and tabloids, reality television and most importantly, the popular music’s star system. Snoop was introduced to stardom through the assistance of other famous rappers, such as Dr. Dre, who gave Snoop’s biggest musical break (Haggins 2007). However, stardom presented Snoop differently as a rising celebrity to the public.

Original Cases Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Original Cases - Research Paper Example One such issue became prominent in 2010, when the government of Singapore made changes in their policies related to the employment of foreign people. The government eased regulations on hiring foreign workers in order to ensure local people get the opportunity to fill up the vacancies. However, before 2010, the government of Singapore was very much enthusiastic in recruiting foreign employees. This created a number of issues within the country regarding the approach of the government to hiring people. Nevertheless, the policy change brought gaiety and cheer among the local people of Singapore (â€Å"Eight Reasons†). This case will, however, focus on the scenario of the UAE, where the government relies on the foreign talents to hold vital positions of the organizations. The case can be further elaborated with the example of the Abu Dhabi Police Institution and Training Center, which is a government organization. The Abu Dhabi Police Institution and Training Center is one of the most important divisions of the UAE police department. This department is responsible for providing training to the General Directorate of the Abu Dhabi police. According to adpolice.gov.ae, "The General Directorate of Abu Dhabi Police in Abu Dhabi Emirate operates with other agencies to achieve a safer society. It seeks to preserve the stability, the reduction of crime and the removal of a sense of fear, as well as contributing to the achievement of justice among the general public" (â€Å"Director General Welcome Message†). The Abu Dhabi Police Institution and Training Center

Social Media and Employment Issues

Social Media and Employment Issues SOCIAL MEDIA TRANSPARENCY AND EMPLOYMENT Introduction One can apply the old saying, never judge a book by its cover to many applications in life, but today’s environment of instant social media updates provides personal transparency never experienced before. Social medias arrival on the scene has completely changed the way we interact as a society and technologies such as portable devices and wireless connectivity allows us to communicate faster and to a more massive crowd than we ever thought possible. Social media is the most significant difference in personal or business transparency and has merged into an indistinguishable haze of likes, links, and posts, making transparency an everyday issue. Complete strangers can now view someone’s daily activities without the context of knowing them personally. These strangers can easily be potential employers seeking employees to fill vacant positions. That is precisely what is occurring today; employers are examining beyond applicants resumes to make the best hiring decision by r eviewing prospective employees social media sites to learn more about their applicants and employees.  Alternatively, employers are experiencing legal issues with their new social media tool, and the courts are just beginning to unravel them. Correctly used, social media can be a powerful means of candidate identification, selection, and retention. However, employers must have comprehensive and compliant social media policies that are not overly broad, and which address privacy, lawful access, accuracy, equal protection, and conduct of employment practices. An analysis of the social media transparency regarding employment reveals an employers review of applicants and employees social media sites can be a valuable tool but must do such in a manner consistent with legal hiring and separation practices. This article is designed to review essential aspects employers should consider when using social media to make hiring or termination decisions for their company. Argument There has been an explosive growth in the use of social media over the past decade and has allowed a vast part of the worlds population instant, quick, and convenient communication to a broad network of people. According to Statista.com, known as the portal for statistics, Facebook had 100 million monthly active users in 2008, and that number has skyrocketed to 2.07 billion monthly active users as of the third quarter of 2017. LinkedIn has over 467 million members worldwide, and it is one of the most popular social networks regarding active users (Statista.com, 2017). These top growing websites allow their users to share lots of information about themselves and can give potential employers data in just a few clicks that would be impossible to know about someone decades ago. Social media has forged a path into our culture that has brought us all closer, but it has also opened many questions about the issues of modern expression and privacy. Getting at the center of this network involves untangling multiple layers of complex statutes, case law, and agency guidance in a way that balances the pillars of freedom of speech and the at-will employment doctrine. For edification, the employment-at-will doctrine states employees without a written employment contract and an indefinite term of employment, the employer can terminate the employee for good cause, bad cause, or no cause at all (Ballam, 2000). Although a perfect application of the law on societys new technologies like social media is complicated, there are many considerations employers must make based on privacy, accuracy, and lawful access during the hiring, employment, and termination periods. Moreover, employers need to understand there is a potential negative impact with the use of social media when recruiting employees, and conversely, the termination of employees based on decisions issued by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Last, employers must relate legal guidelines to their company’s use of social media policies. The First Amendment to the Bill of Rights explains our rights as Americans very clearly: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.† The Bill of Rights, 2017 Strict libertarians or constitutionalists may notice, the words right to privacy are absent from the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. Under the First Amendment, there is no right to privacy, but there are certain privacy protections afforded to every citizen. Pawel Laidler, author of Basic Cases in U.S. Constitutional Law: Rights and Liberties, references Griswold v. Connecticut and suggests, Specific guarantees of the Bill of Rights have penumbras of privacy extending to specific areas and situations (Laidler, 2009, p. 102). The courts have started to make their decision on what is the reasonable expectation of privacy for applicants or employees, but employers and the public at large are still making their own conclusions. Most social media websites include privacy settings and controls to allow users to reduce exposure to those whom they wish to exclude from seeing their social media information. However, specific information such as their name, profile picture, and networks is typically always publicly available, and social media sites often provide notice to users that they do not guarantee the privacy of the information (Facebook, 2016). LinkedIns privacy policy includes wording for users about their inability to ultimately secure any information submitted to their website, nor can they guarantee users information will not be accessed or disclosed by physical or electronic methods (LinkedIn, 2017). Despite these numerous warnings about privacy disclosure, users should expect a certain level of privacy when they correctly use the privacy controls. When social media was still in its infancy, employers would ask applicants or employees for their social media login information to allow the employer direct access. This practice quickly died as social media websites, legislators, and privacy rights activists alike actively discouraged the practice (Dame, 2014). Today, most states have passed laws preventing employers from requesting social media login credentials. For example, Vermont State Law (H.B. 462) prohibits an employer from requiring or requesting that an employee or applicant disclose personal social media account information (NCLS.org, 2018, para. 26). Overall, the only reasonable access employers should have to an applicant or employees social media is what they allow them to access via privacy controls. A social media user who selects open public access to their accounts or invites or accepts potential employers to friend or connect allow an additional level of access and substantially reduces the expectation of privacy with an employer or organization. Naturally, employers can take criminal actions such as hacking or using anothers authorized login credentials to gain access to personal social media pages fraudulently, but the courts would not view these tactics favorably if it were a part of a more significant case. Beyond the concern of personal privacy, employers must also ensure the information found on a private social networking site is accurate, and it is the correct person who applied for the position or the employee who works for the company. Employers must ensure the James Smith Facebook profile they find is the same James Smith who applied for the job and not one of the other 38,312 James Smiths in the United States (Chen, 2015). Employers must also consider whether the person portrayed on the social media site established the account himself or herself or if someone else created the page without their knowledge or permission. Employers can outsource an applicant or employees social media information review to a third party Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) to help overcome some of the challenges listed above. The Consumer Fair Trade Commission (FTC) outlines particular information regarding the search of a persons character or reputation on a social media site. The FTCs stance is that when companies use a CRA to conduct a background check on an applicant or employees social media sites, that it complies with applicable provisions of the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection (FTC.gov, 2016). Additionally, Tony Rodriguez and Jessica Lyon from the FTC explain companies must be vigilant because a CRA may comply with all expressed provisions of the bureau and still violate other laws, such as equal employment opportunity violations (Rodriguez & Lyon, 2013). With the understanding of privacy and accuracy, employers have two significant concerns when deciding to use social media for recruitment. The first concern is the influence social media has on candidate sourcing and statistics and the second is the limitations of viewing candidate or employee information on a social media site. It is essential to understand that for the first time in the Pew Research Centers surveys history, the results in 2017 showed 55% of Americans ages 50 or older use social media sites for everyday tasks such as getting news updates. This increase in usage is a 10% spike over 2016 allows employers to see and contact a more substantial part of the population, but there is still a disconnect between race and between gender demographics use of social media (Shearer & Gottfried, 2017). The Pew Research Center shows employment social media websites such as LinkedIn have equal shares of whites (29%) and blacks (28%), but only 18% of Hispanics use the network. Gender has improved over the years, but there is still a gap of almost 10%. A staggering 72% of women in the United States use some sort social media contrasted with 66% of men. The most dramatic difference between demographics is in education. Only 59% of people with a high school education or less use social media, but 78% of college graduates use at least one social media website (Pew, 2017). Recognizing the disparities with using social media to decide employment is critical because the gaps could potentially fuel cases of discrimination even when the employers had no subjective intent to discriminate.  In addition to traditional avenues of attracting and finding diverse applicant pools, employers should use a variety of sourcing strategies across multiple social media outlets to avoid the potential statistical traps and pitfalls. The limitations of viewing candidate information on social media sites is also essential to consider when deciding hiring or during employment.  A social recruiting survey by Jobvite, a recruiting platform for the social web, reports from their survey of recruiters that 92% of U.S. companies are using social networking sites for hiring purposes (Jobvite 2012).  Employers should be forewarned and take reasonable steps to ascertain accurate information and to be aware a picture can be worth a thousand words, but it can paint an inaccurate picture. An employer using social media as a primary tool may be left with skewed data and a false narrative.  Knowing this and the above information, employers must understand that making decisions from viewing social media posts can unintentionally make those decisions appear demographic based rather than merit-based.  Unfortunately, these perceptions, true or false, may be enough to flag a particular hiring practice that could end in a cost ly course of litigation. Knowing the two primary concerns of using social media for employment decisions is essential, but so are the possible legal implications of using these methods.  Communication at work and home has transformed dramatically over the years, but the legal theories behind established employment policies have not changed.  Todays challenge is to apply traditional laws to todays instant, casual, broadcast style of social media communication and activities.  For many years, courts were not concerned with how many likes an employees Facebook work-related comment received.  Moreover, the courts did not have to consider the average employee might have the ability to convey their opinions to an average of 634 people with one click of a button on Twitter (Leonardi, 2017).  Social media transparency can easily create situations where employers terminate employees because of posts or comments employers find on their social media pages. Employers must look carefully to both an employees conduct as well as their company policies in determining whether circumstances legally warrant termination.  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is a long-standing government agency that is inexplicably involved ensuring the correct implementation of the law to social media caused terminations (NLRB.gov, n.d.). Employers need to be aware of protected activity on social media before taking any adverse action against employees who post on a social media website.  For example, the federal whistleblower protection law provides legal remedies for employees or job applicants who face retaliation for making protected disclosures of fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, or substantial and specific danger to public safety or health (OPM.gov, n.d. para. 2).  Outside of protected reporting, using social media for collective dialog and shared concerns about essential terms and conditions of employment are also protected activities (NLRB.gov, n.d.). An employee, however, otherwise engaged in a protected activity, can lose that protection by abusive conduct (Stewart, 2017).  Michael Greens journal article titled, Protecting Unhappy Worker Outbursts from Discriminatory Treatment, does a great job of explaining the method used for determining if the employees conduct is enough to cause them to lose protection.  Green (2017) explains, the NLRBs Atlantic Steel doctrine to assess the inappropriateness of an employees angry outburst by first analyzing four factors before deciding the employees actions warrant discipline (para. 5).  The four factors include where the discussion occurred, the subject matter of the discussion, the nature of the employees outburst, and whether the outburst was, in any way, provoked by the employers unfair labor practice.  Green does caveat the Atlantic Steel doctrine does have its limits.  Employees who engage in threatening behavior or conduct acts exceeding what a reasonable employer should tol erate can lose their protections under the law (Green, 2017).  Social media compounds these issues because its reach has far more impact than the typical breakroom outbursts and is immediately heard by everyone on ones feed. Recommendations A business’ decision to use social media as a tool among many when choosing employees is a good idea.  The best way to properly use social media for hiring, employment, and termination is to set clear company policy and guidance.  A companys social media policies will not protect employers if they are overly broad or restricts employees constitutional rights.  When limiting an employees right to communicate on social media (or otherwise), the terms and conditions regulating their comments to being professional or appropriate need to be clearly defined in the policy. Employers should specify in their policies about what constitutes appropriate manners in which employees are allowed to discuss subjects to include criticism of labor policies, treatment of employees, and terms and conditions of employment.  (SHRM.org, 2016).  Employers should specifically articulate their definition of actions that constitute insubordinate actions, inappropriate conversation, or other disrespectful conduct.  Additionally, the policy should include their plan of disciplinary action when employees engage in such actions.  Companies should carefully draft their social media policies to avoid broad or ambiguous terms.  A court can easily deem policies unlawful if employees reasonably believe the policy prohibits constitution freedoms. Conclusion All employers should take their time when deciding to terminate current employees employment due to their conduct or comments in general, but especially when considering social media websites.  This article reviewed relevant aspects employers should consider when using social media as part of the hiring or termination process.  Protected activity and overly broad social media policies can create liabilities for employers and employers who recruit and select employees through social media sites should carefully monitor their processes and outcomes for disparate impacts. Employers should take care when using information gained from social media and establish a process by which applicants, candidates, and employee have an opportunity to dispute potentially inaccurate information published online.  Adhering to statutory, regulatory, and agency guidance allows employers to use social media anywhere along the employment timeline to maximize information about applicants and current em ployees while protecting them from the potential social media use pitfalls. References Ballam, D. A. (2000). Employment-At-Will: The Impending Death of a Doctrine. American Business Law Journal, 37(4), 653-687. doi:10.1111/j.1744-1714.2000.tb00281.x Background Checks. (2016, November). Retrieved January 28, 2018, from https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0157-background-checks Boyd, D. M., & Ellison, N. B. (2007, December 17). Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. Retrieved January 21, 2018, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x/full Chen, S. A. (2015, February 07). Calling James Smith! 10 Most Common First and Surname Combinations. Retrieved January 16, 2018, from https://blogs.ancestry.com/cm/calling-james-smith-10-most-common-first-and-surname-combinations/ Dame, J. (2014, January 10). Will employers still ask for Facebook passwords in 2014? Retrieved January 15, 2018, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/01/10/facebook-passwords-employers/4327739/ Facebook Data Policy. (2016, September 29). Retrieved January 15, 2018, from https://www.facebook.com/full_data_use_policy Green, M. Z. (2017, February 13). Protecting Unhappy Worker Outbursts from Discriminatory Treatment. Retrieved January 25, 2018, from https://worklaw.jotwell.com/protecting-unhappy-worker-outbursts-from-discriminatory-treatment/ Jobvite. (2014). Social Recruiting Survey.  Retrieved January 20, 2018, from http://www.jobvite.com/wp-content/ uploads/ 2014/10/Jobvite_SocialRecruiting_Survey2014.pdf Laidler, P. (2009). Basic Cases in U.S. Constitutional Law: Rights and Liberties. Krakà ³w: Jagiellonian University Press. Leonardi, P. M. (2017). The Social Media Revolution: Sharing and Learning in the Age of Leaky Knowledge. Information and Organization, 27(1), 47-59. doi:10.1016/j.infoandorg.2017.01.004 LinkedIn Privacy Policy. (2017, June 7). Retrieved January 15, 2018, from https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy Managing and Leveraging Workplace Use of Social Media. (2016, January 19). Retrieved January 26, 2018, from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/managingsocialmedia.aspx National Conference of State Legislatures. (2018, January 2). Access to Social Media Usernames and Passwords. Retrieved January 16, 2018, from http://www.ncsl.org/research/telecommunications-and-information-technology/employer-access-to-social-media-passwords-2013.aspx NLRB.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2018, from https://www.nlrb.gov/ Our Inspector General Whistleblower Protection Information. (n.d.). Retrieved January 28, 2018, from https://www.opm.gov/our-inspector-general/whistleblower-protection-information/ Pew Research Center. Social Media Fact Sheet. (2017, January 12). Retrieved January 20, 2018, from http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-media/ Rodriguez, T., & Lyon, J. (2013, January 10). Background Screening Reports and the FCRA: Just Saying Youre Not a Consumer Reporting Agency Isnt Enough. Retrieved January 16, 2018, from https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2013/01/background-screening-reports-fcra-just-saying-youre-not Shearer, E., & Gottfried, J. (2017, September 07). News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2017. Retrieved January 20, 2018, from http://www.journalism.org/2017/09/07/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-2017/ Statista.com. Number of Facebook Users Worldwide 2008-2017. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15, 2018, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/ Stewart, D. R. (2017). Social Media and the Law: A Guidebook for Communication Students and Professionals. New York, NY: Routledge. The Bill of Rights: A Transcription. (2017, June 26). Retrieved January 15, 2018, from https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript#toc-amendment-i

Shakespeares Psalm 46 :: psalm

Shakespeare's Psalm 46 William Shakespeare is still suspect. A rough overview of the debates surrounding the author, or partial author, or non-author, reveals that: (a) Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare's plays, (b) Ben Jonson did, (c) the Earl of Oxford penned some of them and died shortly thereafter, and then the bard (or non-bard) stole the batch, (d) nobody knows for sure, and (e) it doesn't matter. Shakespeare's corporeal existence is not in debate. More interestingly, the possibility that he, or the person or persons posing as him, might have had a hand in polishing the King James version of the Bible is also not hotly debated -- that possibility stands as the core of this essay. Shakespeare and the King James version share a curious synchronicity, which the authors of The Story of English, point to: the bard started wrote his last play at the same time the King James Bible was released. Also important is Shakespeare's success and favor with the court in the first decade of the 17th century: "The young actor-playwright quickly caused a sensation with his plays," the authors say -- something of an understatement. A few odd facts need to be thrown in: the Authorized Version was published in 1611 and was heavily revised for nine months before publication, so that "it would not only read better but sound better." The revision took place mostly in 1610. The committee in charge of revising the initial translation was headed by John Bois and Dr. Anthony Downes, who had also coordinated the initial team of 47 translators, give or take a few. Shakespeare was not among the chosen 47, and he is not credited as one of the revisers. Nothing other than time and place links him to the Authorized Version revision -- nothing readily apparent to the eye. Shakespeare was recognized as a gifted artist in his own time. He was favored by the same court that commissioned the Authorized Version. And the peculiar power of this Bible's prosody certainly lends itself to speculation. And then there is Psalm 46. I first stumbled upon the strange nature of Psalm 46 in Anthony Burgess's autobiography, You've Had Your Time. The argument that Burgess makes, as an aside on composing a musical on the life of Shakespeare, is not meant to be conclusive but is offered as a curio.

Julius Caesar

Then fall, Caesar! † These last words of Caesar show the heartbreak and betrayal that he felt inside. The relationship between Brutes and Caesar is bitterly ironic in such a way that the audience can feel the characters emotions. However, it Is somewhat difficult to choose whether you can Justify the actions of the conspirators, or if you fall into the sorrow and anger that is inside those who loved and supported Caesar. Going back to Career's last words, â€Å"Et TU Brute?Then fall, Caesar! † you can start to put an image In your head. Imagine that you were randomly Ewing stabbed by the people you thought liked you so much that they actually wanted to king you. Not only were you stabbed once, but a painful 33 times. And to really put the cherry on top, the last person to stab you was supposedly one of your closest friends. Torturous much? It doesn't stop yet. You dedicate your last words of the feelings of defeat and utter betrayal to your close friend.It almost seems a s If Caesar was reaching out to the morality of Brutes, Caesar desperately wanted Brutes to know that he was important to him, and that there is almost nothing else that loud have pained him so much than to be stabbed lastly by someone that he thought was so close. Once again, bringing it back to Caesar last words, â€Å"Et TU. Brute? † is just the English what the translator decided to write. Different translations say something like, muff too, young man? Or â€Å"You too, my son? † A popular belief is that Brutes is actually Caesar illegitimate son, as some say there is historical proof that Brutes' mother and Caesar once intimately loved each other. For this to happen Caesar would have to be only 15 when Brutes was born, so it is found unlikely by any. Whether or not Brutes and Caesar were kin by blood, it is still known that they had an in depth relationship with each other. After Career's death, there are oodles of complications.After Antonym had given his speech, the crowd rioted and burned down the houses of the conspirators. Antonym, Octavia, and Lipid's had taken charge of Rome. Both Antonym and Octavia agreed to have Lipid's to be the third person in power because of his willingness to agree with what he's told. Such an act reveals the characters of Antonym and Octavia as loaches and avaricious. Before a war has started, Brutes encounters the ghost of Caesar. Some believe that the ghost was lust a dream, but if this were so, then it shows how Brutes really feels towards Caesar.Caesar was once his close friend, and even though he believed he was participating in the assassination for a cause, he seems to question his motives when he feels convicted by the ghost. War has begun between Antonym and Octavia against Brutes and Cassias. The armless set out, and Antonym army beats Cassias' army, but Brutes' army beats Activation's army. Cassias then sends out Taluses, of his friends, to Investigate. Cassias thought that Taluses was captured, an d out of his own guilt and cowardliness to see what was going on for himself, his friend would pay the price.Cassias committed suicide, even though Taluses wasn't actually captured. Once again, the armies fight. Brutes loses the war this time, and before he is captured and paraded around the streets of his enemy in shame, he decides to commit an honorary suicide by running onto a sword while having one of his soldiers holds it. Ablest Roman of them all: [All the conspirators, save only he, [Did that they did in new of great Caesar; [He only, in a general-honest thought [And common good to all, made one of them. His life was gentle; and the elements [So mixed in him that Nature might stand up [And say to all the world, â€Å"This was a man! † Even Antonym, the enemy of Brutes, calls him noble, in which he realizes that Brutes was not in the same reasoning as Cassias. Brutes actually cared about Rome, and even though his viewpoints did not match up with Antonym's, he still was genuine. Throughout the text it is plain to see that Brutes is open minded, but he makes mistakes.Brutes is human, and relatable. Through his moral, the reader can forgive Brutes' bluntness. In my opinion, Brutes is the one that most people tend to favor because of his realistic and thoughtful character. Viewing the conspirators and how they Justified their decision in killing Caesar is somewhat of a confusing manner. Brutes feels like he's in the right place, he says he loves Caesar well, so this kind of shows Brutes sacrificing is friend for the good of Rome.Cassias, on the other hand, went on with the murder for purely out of the negativity he feels towards Caesar, rather than doing it for the benefit of Rome. So when choosing a side between the people for and against Caesar, you cannot exactly pick the conspirators as a whole. Instead, one could break it down into three main sides: The people in favor of Caesar, such as Antonym and Octavo's, the positive conspirators, such as Br utes, and lastly the negative conspirators, such as Cassias. Julius Caesar Then fall, Caesar! † These last words of Caesar show the heartbreak and betrayal that he felt inside. The relationship between Brutes and Caesar is bitterly ironic in such a way that the audience can feel the characters emotions. However, it Is somewhat difficult to choose whether you can Justify the actions of the conspirators, or if you fall into the sorrow and anger that is inside those who loved and supported Caesar. Going back to Career's last words, â€Å"Et TU Brute?Then fall, Caesar! † you can start to put an image In your head. Imagine that you were randomly Ewing stabbed by the people you thought liked you so much that they actually wanted to king you. Not only were you stabbed once, but a painful 33 times. And to really put the cherry on top, the last person to stab you was supposedly one of your closest friends. Torturous much? It doesn't stop yet. You dedicate your last words of the feelings of defeat and utter betrayal to your close friend.It almost seems a s If Caesar was reaching out to the morality of Brutes, Caesar desperately wanted Brutes to know that he was important to him, and that there is almost nothing else that loud have pained him so much than to be stabbed lastly by someone that he thought was so close. Once again, bringing it back to Caesar last words, â€Å"Et TU. Brute? † is just the English what the translator decided to write. Different translations say something like, muff too, young man? Or â€Å"You too, my son? † A popular belief is that Brutes is actually Caesar illegitimate son, as some say there is historical proof that Brutes' mother and Caesar once intimately loved each other. For this to happen Caesar would have to be only 15 when Brutes was born, so it is found unlikely by any. Whether or not Brutes and Caesar were kin by blood, it is still known that they had an in depth relationship with each other. After Career's death, there are oodles of complications.After Antonym had given his speech, the crowd rioted and burned down the houses of the conspirators. Antonym, Octavia, and Lipid's had taken charge of Rome. Both Antonym and Octavia agreed to have Lipid's to be the third person in power because of his willingness to agree with what he's told. Such an act reveals the characters of Antonym and Octavia as loaches and avaricious. Before a war has started, Brutes encounters the ghost of Caesar. Some believe that the ghost was lust a dream, but if this were so, then it shows how Brutes really feels towards Caesar.Caesar was once his close friend, and even though he believed he was participating in the assassination for a cause, he seems to question his motives when he feels convicted by the ghost. War has begun between Antonym and Octavia against Brutes and Cassias. The armless set out, and Antonym army beats Cassias' army, but Brutes' army beats Activation's army. Cassias then sends out Taluses, of his friends, to Investigate. Cassias thought that Taluses was captured, an d out of his own guilt and cowardliness to see what was going on for himself, his friend would pay the price.Cassias committed suicide, even though Taluses wasn't actually captured. Once again, the armies fight. Brutes loses the war this time, and before he is captured and paraded around the streets of his enemy in shame, he decides to commit an honorary suicide by running onto a sword while having one of his soldiers holds it. Ablest Roman of them all: [All the conspirators, save only he, [Did that they did in new of great Caesar; [He only, in a general-honest thought [And common good to all, made one of them. His life was gentle; and the elements [So mixed in him that Nature might stand up [And say to all the world, â€Å"This was a man! † Even Antonym, the enemy of Brutes, calls him noble, in which he realizes that Brutes was not in the same reasoning as Cassias. Brutes actually cared about Rome, and even though his viewpoints did not match up with Antonym's, he still was genuine. Throughout the text it is plain to see that Brutes is open minded, but he makes mistakes.Brutes is human, and relatable. Through his moral, the reader can forgive Brutes' bluntness. In my opinion, Brutes is the one that most people tend to favor because of his realistic and thoughtful character. Viewing the conspirators and how they Justified their decision in killing Caesar is somewhat of a confusing manner. Brutes feels like he's in the right place, he says he loves Caesar well, so this kind of shows Brutes sacrificing is friend for the good of Rome.Cassias, on the other hand, went on with the murder for purely out of the negativity he feels towards Caesar, rather than doing it for the benefit of Rome. So when choosing a side between the people for and against Caesar, you cannot exactly pick the conspirators as a whole. Instead, one could break it down into three main sides: The people in favor of Caesar, such as Antonym and Octavo's, the positive conspirators, such as Br utes, and lastly the negative conspirators, such as Cassias. Julius Caesar Then fall, Caesar! † These last words of Caesar show the heartbreak and betrayal that he felt inside. The relationship between Brutes and Caesar is bitterly ironic in such a way that the audience can feel the characters emotions. However, it Is somewhat difficult to choose whether you can Justify the actions of the conspirators, or if you fall into the sorrow and anger that is inside those who loved and supported Caesar. Going back to Career's last words, â€Å"Et TU Brute?Then fall, Caesar! † you can start to put an image In your head. Imagine that you were randomly Ewing stabbed by the people you thought liked you so much that they actually wanted to king you. Not only were you stabbed once, but a painful 33 times. And to really put the cherry on top, the last person to stab you was supposedly one of your closest friends. Torturous much? It doesn't stop yet. You dedicate your last words of the feelings of defeat and utter betrayal to your close friend.It almost seems a s If Caesar was reaching out to the morality of Brutes, Caesar desperately wanted Brutes to know that he was important to him, and that there is almost nothing else that loud have pained him so much than to be stabbed lastly by someone that he thought was so close. Once again, bringing it back to Caesar last words, â€Å"Et TU. Brute? † is just the English what the translator decided to write. Different translations say something like, muff too, young man? Or â€Å"You too, my son? † A popular belief is that Brutes is actually Caesar illegitimate son, as some say there is historical proof that Brutes' mother and Caesar once intimately loved each other. For this to happen Caesar would have to be only 15 when Brutes was born, so it is found unlikely by any. Whether or not Brutes and Caesar were kin by blood, it is still known that they had an in depth relationship with each other. After Career's death, there are oodles of complications.After Antonym had given his speech, the crowd rioted and burned down the houses of the conspirators. Antonym, Octavia, and Lipid's had taken charge of Rome. Both Antonym and Octavia agreed to have Lipid's to be the third person in power because of his willingness to agree with what he's told. Such an act reveals the characters of Antonym and Octavia as loaches and avaricious. Before a war has started, Brutes encounters the ghost of Caesar. Some believe that the ghost was lust a dream, but if this were so, then it shows how Brutes really feels towards Caesar.Caesar was once his close friend, and even though he believed he was participating in the assassination for a cause, he seems to question his motives when he feels convicted by the ghost. War has begun between Antonym and Octavia against Brutes and Cassias. The armless set out, and Antonym army beats Cassias' army, but Brutes' army beats Activation's army. Cassias then sends out Taluses, of his friends, to Investigate. Cassias thought that Taluses was captured, an d out of his own guilt and cowardliness to see what was going on for himself, his friend would pay the price.Cassias committed suicide, even though Taluses wasn't actually captured. Once again, the armies fight. Brutes loses the war this time, and before he is captured and paraded around the streets of his enemy in shame, he decides to commit an honorary suicide by running onto a sword while having one of his soldiers holds it. Ablest Roman of them all: [All the conspirators, save only he, [Did that they did in new of great Caesar; [He only, in a general-honest thought [And common good to all, made one of them. His life was gentle; and the elements [So mixed in him that Nature might stand up [And say to all the world, â€Å"This was a man! † Even Antonym, the enemy of Brutes, calls him noble, in which he realizes that Brutes was not in the same reasoning as Cassias. Brutes actually cared about Rome, and even though his viewpoints did not match up with Antonym's, he still was genuine. Throughout the text it is plain to see that Brutes is open minded, but he makes mistakes.Brutes is human, and relatable. Through his moral, the reader can forgive Brutes' bluntness. In my opinion, Brutes is the one that most people tend to favor because of his realistic and thoughtful character. Viewing the conspirators and how they Justified their decision in killing Caesar is somewhat of a confusing manner. Brutes feels like he's in the right place, he says he loves Caesar well, so this kind of shows Brutes sacrificing is friend for the good of Rome.Cassias, on the other hand, went on with the murder for purely out of the negativity he feels towards Caesar, rather than doing it for the benefit of Rome. So when choosing a side between the people for and against Caesar, you cannot exactly pick the conspirators as a whole. Instead, one could break it down into three main sides: The people in favor of Caesar, such as Antonym and Octavo's, the positive conspirators, such as Br utes, and lastly the negative conspirators, such as Cassias.

Odysseus’ story Essay

SOME ARE monsters, some are slaves, some are beautiful and cunning women and some are powerful kings. In Homeric literature, a character is either good or bad depending on their xenia or shape (e.g. Charybdis). However, from reading ‘The Odyssey’, one can see the admirable characters and the not so admirable characters. Such characters have either good or bad xenia, old or young, male or female, some can be a menial as a slave (such as Eumaeus) and some can be as great as a Troy hero and king (such as Nestor). This is an exploration of whether or not Eumaeus is the most admirable character in ‘The Odyssey’ or not. We first meet Odysseus’ swineherd in Book Fourteen in the porch of his hut. He had been caring for Odysseus’ property during his absence. Odysseus appears to him as a beggar and despite the status that such person has, Eumaeus being but a servant understands xenia and entertains Odysseus by preparing a feast for him.  In Book Fourteen, Eumaeus grieves not only for the loss of Odysseus but also for Telemachus who had gone to find his father. It is clear from Book Sixteen, that Eumaeus loves Telemachus like a father loves a son as when he returns he drops everything and kisses Telemachus and cries with pleasure of his safe return to Ithaca. He shows respect for his masters in Book Fourteen, another admirable trait, when he says to the disguised Odysseus that servants can’t give admirable gifts when they work in fear of their overpowering masters. This shows that Eumaeus understands his place an Odysseus and Telemachus both recognise this and treat Eumaeus with great respect. One could argue that Homer created Eumaeus as the most admirable character as there is a not in Book Fourteen that claims that Homer loved his created character and sometimes the literature speaks directly to Eumaeus.  After Eumaeus’ prayer that Odysseus may return, Odysseus feels that it is right that he should reveal his scar and prove that he is with them. The text says that Eumaeus is overwhelmed to see his master again and is weeping and kissing him so much, that if Odysseus hadn’t stopped them, it would have gone on all day and all night! This shows a great and respecting love for the King of Ithaca. Eumaeus speaks out, bravely (or foolishly some could argue) against the Suitors. This shows bravery in his character as well as loyalty and love. He is truly characterised as a noble and respectable person. He also helps in the execution of the maidservants and the mutilation of Melanthius.  All of the above describe how admirable Eumaeus is and there is not a point in the text when he is not admirable, loving, kind or brave. However, there are other admirable characters in ‘The Odyssey’. I would argue that King Nestor of Pylos, a hero against Troy with Odysseus, is an admirable character in ‘The Odyssey’. He is a very generous host and actually is so generous and so loyal to xenia that in Book Fifteen, Telemachus pleads with Nestor’s son, Peisistratus (Telemachus’ Patroclus type character) to not let him see Telemachus, as he will keep him against his will with his passion for hospitality! Some could argue that this in its self is an abuse of xenia. Nestor also stops Telemachus from sleeping on his ‘hollowed ship’ and says that he should sleep in the palace. This shows true loyalty to xenia. Before this however, Nestor believes that Telemachus even looks like Odysseus and tells Telemachus of his faith in him. This shows a caring for his friend’s family. Nestor is even kind enough to let his son act as a friend and guardian to Telemachus on his journeys.  Nestor’s character is one of great caring and compassion and he looks out for Telemachus as a father would look out for a son and I think that this is a truly admirable trait of King Nestor. Another admirable character is Antinous and Arete’s daughter, Nausicaa, princess of Phaeacia. She meets Odysseus when he has been washed up on the shore of the island and is wearing no more than a fig leaf over his genitalia. Anyone would have thought him mad or overly promiscuous, however, despite her first impressions, the young woman hears of Odysseus’ story and shows pity on the great man in his miserable state. She orders her ladies to bathe him and even tells him how to get into the city and speak with her father, Antinous through his wife Arete). With all this guidance she shows mercy on a man in a state where others would have either ran or jeered at him. This shows a merciful character in Nausicaa and for such a young girl she has an understanding of xenia. She falls in love with Odysseus and she is even offered by Antinous as a wife for Odysseus, but Odysseus is having none of it and just wants his presents and one of their good ships to go home in.  Nausicaa demonstrates mercy on Odysseus in the only time we see him as being so disparate and needy for help. The only time when he loses face and the only time really when all he has are his articulate words to help him out of situation. This shows that Nausicaa probably knew that Odysseus was a great man and that his state would have de-motivated him so the very fact that she shows such compassion towards him shows that she sympathises with his situation. This I believe is a very admirable thing to do and shows great intelligence for someone so young. Therefore, Eumaeus is one of the most admirable but not the most. Nestor and Nausicaa, both explored above are equally as admirable but in slightly different ways. Eumaeus’ admiralty comes from his loyalty to Odysseus and his want to defend his right to be loyal. Nestor is admirable for his hospitality and the way he speaks of Odysseus and the help that he gives to Telemachus on his journey to track down his father. Lastly, Nausicaa is admirable as she is able to trust a man that others would have thought bonkers. He appears to her naked and she accepts his honesty and mercifully helps him due to his articulate speech. Homer has truly created some of the greatest characters in the world of literature and these good and admirable persons are part of the huge enjoyment one has when one reads his ‘Odyssey’.

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin as a Claim for Originality

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin as a Claim for Originality The main idea of the essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction is that the traditional ritual meaning of art can be lost due to the modern technical facilities and chaotic print of the works. I consider this statement as a valid and well-grounded. For Benjamin, every work of art should be unique in order to create the spiritual connection with the audience. In the age of mass-products, the real value of art is neglected. Although reproducible works are popular and accessible, only original art has the ritual ground.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin as a Claim for Originality specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Although, in general, I agree with Benjamin, it would be wrong to insist upon the statement that all products of the mass-culture are empty and meaningless. The successful life of the reproductions, different interpretations of well-known works of art demonstrate a tendency of simplification of our life. It is the basic of modern civilization. It is obvious that, seeing the authentic work, we can have more profound experience. However, in case if someone cannot visit the famous galleries, one has a possibility to become acquainted with the works of art by observing the reproductions. I think that the geographical distance is one of the key moments which should be taken into account, talking about the negative side of reproductions. Benjamin says that all human artifacts can be repeated by other humans. However, the process of mechanical reproduction led to the enormous print. It is difficult to argue with the author, as today we are witness of the chaotic production of the famous pictures, for instance, Mona Lisa or Sunflowers of van Gogh on the paper, clothes, glasses, etc. But, also we can see that the mass-production became iconic for the whole population. Therefore, it would be absolutely wrong to i nsist on the statement that modern art is something outlive and soulless. Perhaps, reproductions do not contain the same aura as the authentic works, but they still can inspire people. I do not agree with the fears that reproduction can reduce a creation of the original works. In all times, people were appreciating the authentic works of great masters. Although, the mechanical print of the works of art have a significant influence, today, the originality is still essential and people of all nationalities admire the best examples of the world heritage that cannot be out-of-date, in spite of the world-wide prevalence of the secondary works and reproductions of the famous artifacts.

Example of a Permutation Test

Example of a Permutation Test One question that it is always important to ask in statistics is, â€Å"Is the observed result due to chance alone, or is it statistically significant?† One class of hypothesis tests, called permutation tests, allow us to test this question. The overview and steps of such a test are: We split our subjects into a control and an experimental group.  The null hypothesis is that there is no difference between these two groups.Apply a treatment to the experimental group.Measure the response to the treatmentConsider every possible configuration of the experimental group and the observed response.Calculate a p-value based upon our observed response relative to all of the potential experimental groups. This is an outline of a permutation.  To flesh of this outline, we will spend time looking at a worked out example of such a permutation test in great detail. Example Suppose we are studying mice.  In particular, we are interested in how quickly the mice finish a maze that they have never encountered before.  We wish to provide evidence in favor of an experimental treatment.  The goal is to demonstrate that mice in the treatment group will solve the maze more quickly than untreated mice.   We begin with our subjects: six mice.  For convenience, the mice will be referred to by the letters A, B, C, D, E, F. Three of these mice are to be randomly selected for the experimental treatment, and the other three are put into a control group in which the subjects receive a placebo. We will next randomly choose the order in which the mice are selected to run the maze. The time spent finishing the maze for all of the mice will be noted, and a mean of each group will be computed. Suppose that our random selection has mice A, C, and E in the experimental group, with the other mice in the placebo control group. After the treatment has been implemented, we randomly choose the order for the mice to run through the maze.   The run times for each of the mice are: Mouse A runs the race in 10 secondsMouse B runs the race in 12 secondsMouse C runs the race in 9 secondsMouse D runs the race in 11 secondsMouse E runs the race in 11 secondsMouse F runs the race in 13 seconds. The average time to complete the maze for the mice in the experimental group is 10 seconds. The average time to complete the maze for those in the control group is 12 seconds. We could ask a couple of questions. Is the treatment really the reason for the faster average time? Or were we just lucky in our selection of control and experimental group?  The treatment may have had no effect and we randomly chose the slower mice to receive the placebo and faster mice to receive the treatment.  A permutation test will help to answer these questions. Hypotheses The hypotheses for our permutation test are: The null hypothesis is the statement of no effect.  For this specific test, we have H0: There is no difference between treatment groups.  The mean time to run the maze for all mice with no treatment is the same as the mean time for all mice with the treatment.The alternative hypothesis is what we are trying to establish evidence in favor of. In this case, we would have Ha: The mean time for all mice with the treatment will be faster than the mean time for all mice without the treatment. Permutations There are six mice, and there are three places in the experimental group. This means that the number of possible experimental groups are given by the number of combinations C(6,3) 6!/(3!3!) 20. The remaining individuals would be part of the control group. So there are 20 different ways to randomly choose individuals into our two groups. The assignment of A, C, and E to the experimental group was done randomly.  Since there are 20 such configurations, the specific one with A, C, and E in the experimental group has a probability of 1/20 5% of occurring. We need to determine all 20 configurations of the experimental group of the individuals in our study. Experimental group: A B C and Control group: D E FExperimental group: A B D and Control group: C E FExperimental group: A B E and Control group: C D FExperimental group: A B F and Control group: C D EExperimental group: A C D and Control group: B E FExperimental group: A C E and Control group: B D FExperimental group: A C F and Control group: B D EExperimental group: A D E and Control group: B C FExperimental group: A D F and Control group: B C EExperimental group: A E F and Control group: B C DExperimental group: B C D and Control group: A E FExperimental group: B C E and Control group: A D FExperimental group: B C F and Control group: A D EExperimental group: B D E and Control group: A C FExperimental group: B D F and Control group: A C EExperimental group: B E F and Control group: A C DExperimental group: C D E and Control group: A B FExperimental group: C D F and Control group: A B EExperimental group: C E F and Control group: A B DExperimental group: D E F and Control group: A B C We then look at each configuration of experimental and control groups. We calculate the mean for each of the 20 permutations in the listing above.  For example, for the first, A, B and C have times of 10, 12 and 9, respectively.  The mean of these three numbers is 10.3333.  Also in this first permutation, D, E and F have times of 11, 11 and 13, respectively.  This has an average of 11.6666. After calculating the mean of each group, we calculate the difference between these means. Each of the following corresponds to the difference between the experimental and control groups that were listed above. Placebo - Treatment   1.333333333 secondsPlacebo - Treatment   0 secondsPlacebo - Treatment   0 secondsPlacebo - Treatment -1.333333333 secondsPlacebo - Treatment 2 secondsPlacebo - Treatment 2 secondsPlacebo - Treatment 0.666666667 secondsPlacebo - Treatment 0.666666667 secondsPlacebo - Treatment -0.666666667 secondsPlacebo - Treatment -0.666666667 secondsPlacebo - Treatment 0.666666667 secondsPlacebo - Treatment   0.666666667 secondsPlacebo - Treatment -0.666666667 secondsPlacebo - Treatment -0.666666667 secondsPlacebo - Treatment -2 secondsPlacebo - Treatment -2 secondsPlacebo - Treatment 1.333333333 secondsPlacebo - Treatment 0 secondsPlacebo - Treatment 0 secondsPlacebo - Treatment -1.333333333 seconds P-Value Now we rank the differences between the means from each group that we noted above. We also tabulate the percentage of our 20 different configurations that are represented by each difference in means. For example, four of the 20 had no difference between the means of the control and treatment groups. This accounts for 20% of the 20 configurations noted above. -2 for 10%-1.33 for 10 %-0.667 for 20%0 for 20 %0.667 for 20%1.33 for 10%2 for 10%. Here we compare this listing to our observed result. Our random selection of mice for the treatment and control groups resulted in an average difference of 2 seconds. We also see that this difference corresponds to 10% of all possible samples.  The result is that for this study we have a p-value of 10%.

College Board ACT Release Official Concordance Tables

If you’re planning to apply to most colleges in the United States, you’ll need to take at least one of the two major standardized tests of college readiness: the ACT and the SAT. Since most colleges accept both tests and treat them equally, a typical applicant pool will consist of students who took either test, or even both. These variations in testing present a problem for colleges evaluating applicants, especially since the two tests have completely different scoring systems. If one student takes only the SAT and receives a score of 1400, for example, and another student takes only the ACT and receives a score of 32, how is a college to decide which student had the stronger test performance? That’s where concordance tables become important. The overarching ACT organization and the College Board (which administers the SAT) come together regularly to create these tables, which offer an official basis for comparison between SAT and ACT scores. As of June 14, 2018, this newest edition of the ACT/SAT concordance tables has been released to the public, and you can view the report online here . In this post, we’ll cover the differences between the SAT and the ACT, how to read the official concordance tables, and what you need to know about how this report might affect your college admissions process. As you probably know, the ACT and the SAT are both standardized tests that are intended to measure your readiness for college on a scale that allows for comparisons with high school students throughout the United States. While the two tests have the same basic purpose, they go about it in slightly different ways. We’ve covered this before in our post   SAT vs ACT: Everything You Need to Know , but we’ll go over a few of the most notable differences here. One visible difference between these standardized tests is that the ACT has a science section, while the SAT does not. Another is that your answers on the ACT are translated into a scoring scale that goes up to 36, while the SAT’s scoring system goes up to 1600. You may have heard that the SAT’s approach to testing is more about logic and problem-solving, while the ACT is more focused on learning specific content. In the past, this has been true, but after many years of changes, the current versions of the two tests don’t show much of a difference in this area. Historically, the ACT has been more popular in the Midwest and Southern regions of the U.S., while the SAT was more often preferred by students and colleges on the East and West Coasts. Nowadays, however, colleges in the U.S. will generally accept either test to meet application requirements, and many students choose to take both. Since colleges consider the SAT and the ACT equally, your choice of which test to take won’t in itself give you an advantage in the admissions process. However, you may find that you’re better suited to one test’s approach than to the other’s, and can achieve a comparatively higher score. The ACT/SAT concordance tables can help you make this comparison, or simply estimate how well you’re likely to do on the other test. Concordance tables are exactly what they sound like: tables where you can look up your score on either the SAT or the ACT and find out what score would be roughly equivalent on the other test. This is an estimate, based on the average performance of a large number of past test-takers, but it can provide you with some useful information about your test performance. The ACT/SAT concordance tables are updated every time changes are made to one of the tests involved. This 2018 report was triggered by changes made to the SAT in 2016. In the past two years, the College Board and the ACT have gathered and analyzed data from real test-takers and come to an updated set of conclusions about how, on average, the two tests compare. Our students see an average increase of 250 points on their SAT scores. All colleges have access to these concordance tables and are encouraged to use them in the admissions process. Colleges can use concordance tables to compare students who only took the SAT to students who only took the ACT as one of many factors in making admissions decisions. The tables are officially sanctioned by both testing organizations, which also helps to ensure consistency in how different colleges across the U.S. evaluate your scores. Official concordance tables are available broken down by test section, but most students will primarily be interested in the table that compares overall ACT composite scores (out of 36) to total SAT scores (out of 1600). Since the scales are so different, a range of corresponding SAT scores is given for each ACT composite score. We’ve reproduced part of that concordance table below for your convenience. As you can see, in most cases, an increase of one point on the ACT scoring scale typically corresponds to an increase of about 30 points on the SAT scoring scale. However, the concordance table shows that this isn’t consistent across the entire score range, so it’s important to refer back to the chart for the most accurate comparison. The Guide to the 2018 ACT/SAT Concordance from the College Board and the ACT also includes more detailed concordance tables for specific ACT and SAT test sections as well as information and instructions for interpreting and using these results. For the full report as posted on the College Board’s website, click here. There are a few different ways that you as a student can use concordance tables during the college admissions process. Concordance tables can be helpful as a predictive tool; if you know your score for one test, the table can show you roughly what to expect for the other test. Finding the score that corresponds to what you’ve already received on one test can also help you set score goals for an upcoming testing session. When you’re researching colleges, concordance tables can help you understand how you compare to the average applicant. If, for example, you can only find information on the average SAT score of successful applicants to a particular school, but you took the ACT, you can easily convert your score to roughly determine where you stand. You can also use concordance tables to recognize if you perform markedly better on one test over the other after taking both. Since the vast majority of colleges accept either or both, this can help you decide which test scores to submit to colleges. (Remember, certain scholarship and recognition programs are still tied to specific tests, so always do your research in advance to figure out what tests you’ll need to take.) While concordance tables can be helpful, it’s also important that you recognize their limitations. They are only estimates based upon the average test performance of students across the U.S., and if you actually sit down and take both tests, you may very well find that your own results don’t match up exactly to the official table. It’s very difficult to make exact comparisons between two entirely different tests developed by entirely different organization. In addition to the structural differences, your individual testing experiences will vary in ways that may affect your performance. How you feel the day of the test and what exact questions you happen to receive may sway your score in either direction. Finally, you should keep in mind that standardized test scores are only one of many different factors that colleges use to make their admissions decisions. Scoring well on these tests is a necessity for admission to many top schools, but it won’t get you in on its own; your scores must be part of a competitive and cohesive overall application that showcases all your best qualities and engages admissions officers. Preparing and studying for standardized tests is a must, and it’s well-established that doing so raises scores. However, your attention shouldn’t be focused solely on your test scores. If you balance your test prep with work on other areas of your applicant profile and application form, you’re much more likely to catch a college’s eye—and to find a college that’s truly a good fit for you. For more guidance about understanding your SAT and ACT scores and deciding which test(s) to take, check out these posts from the blog. Looking for more personal assistance in preparing for your standardized tests? ’s experienced tutors are here to help you improve your scores and get ready for test day. To learn more about the services we offer, visit ’s Online SAT Tutoring Program on our website.

Distributive Justice (M4C) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Distributive Justice (M4C) - Essay Example However reasonable this might appear in the light of economic yardsticks, it will always remain a futile attempt in achieving medical ethics, if profit takes the center stage. Quality of healthcare may necessitate medical plans that require certain medical plans in the modern age. The sustainability of integrated health care plans designed in the modern era attracts a lot of complications that go far beyond cost issues (Frangenberg, 2011). Medical management will increasingly find it invaluable to rely on the provisions of medical ethics if the core responsibility of ensuring patients’ health is not to be compromised. Future medical systems will only veer off the controversy of inappropriate practices by conducting prior considerations of the underlying ethical issues before celebrating when it is too early. Distributive justice criteria is applied in the determination of where and how to allocate resources and is entirely guided by fairness principles (Maddox, 1998). Ach of the criteria must be thoroughly and critically dissected to determine implications on the basic ethics expected. It is therefore illogical to implement a blanket policy where the uninsured patients pay higher charges for the same procedure given to the insured. Maddox, P.J. (1998) â€Å"Administrative Ethics and the Allocation of Scarce Resources.† Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 3(3) Retrieved from:

Tourism and Hospitality Businesses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6250 words

Tourism and Hospitality Businesses - Essay Example In this regard, an effective brand positioning strategy will be formulated for the company through identifying the current scenario of the industry in the respective industry in this study. Furthermore, the report will also incorporate the roles of different stakeholder groups along with the significance of marketing audit process in Thomas Cook. 2.0. Analysing the Fundamental Structure and Goals of Thomas Cook Group Plc Thomas Cook Group Plc (TCG) is recognised as one of the renowned and most successful brands in the global tourism and hospitality industry. The organisation has been performing with a consistent growth marketing its wide range of exceptional tourism and hospitality facilities to the global clients. In relation to the business structure and strategic goals of the company, it is widely accepted that the organisation highly seeks to develop its growth through complying with its fundamental guiding principles (Thomas Cook Group Plc, 2013). The fundamental structure of TC G has been thus considerably focused on empowering customer experiences through its exceptional leisure travel facilities and practices. In this context, the business structure of the company can be regarded as one of the major and crucial parts which ensure to accomplish its desired business goals in the global tourism and hospitality industry. The business structure of TCG also tends to comply with numerous groups and individuals who are highly committed to abide by the strategic direction of the company deciphering extensive stakeholder engagement (Thomas Cook Group Plc, 2010). Fig: Board Composition structure of TCG Plc. Source: (Thomas Cook Group Plc, 2009) The major divisions in the organisational... This essay approves that the Human Resource Management division of TCG can also be regarded as one of primary contributors which have empowered the organisation to meet its ultimate financial and operational goals. In this regard, the HRM division of the company tends to follow well-structured and specific as well as transparent principles which are likely to improve the performance of the employees and ensure to increase the ultimate productivity of the organisation. Moreover, the HRM department of the organisation comprises adequate measure throughout the organisational structure that enables the employees to continuously reinforce their capabilities. This report makes a conclusion that TCG has been recognised as one of the major dominant and reliable tourism and hospitality organisations which intend to reinforce its performance through developing its business structure and its predetermined business goals in accordance with the external market changes. The business structure of the organisation is highly authenticated in accordance with its stipulated business objectives and goals which further indicate long term sustainability of TCG in the fiercely growing tourism and hospitality industry. In this regard, adequate significant of TCG towards the analysis and compliance of the organisational policies with the current industrial circumstances can provide adequate support to TCG in terms of increasing its efficiency of delivering exceptional tourism and hospitality packages to the global clients. In this context, the company should highly emphasise on preserving effective balance between the internal and external groups of stakeho lders.

Personal Statement for Graduate Admissions in Art History

For Graduate Admissions in Art History - Personal Statement Example My request for a chance to undertake a postgraduate program in Art History is not based on a yearning for a title of a postgraduate, but rather on my fervor of delving into Art History, thereby actualizing my career objective of working at a gallery, in the management and art niche. I have always been interested in Art. My mother reinforced my propensity for creativity and music and from childhood, I liked creating things, embroidering and painting and did various kinds of art. As I tried to understand Art, I developed interest in Art History. This interest influenced my choice of undergraduate program: I chose to pursue Bachelor of Arts with a double Major in Art History/Management and a Minor in German, which is perhaps the main strongest facet of my application. This academic program not only related to my career interest directly but also constituted a significant basis for me, providing me with tools for further working in the management niche in an art gallery where I am curren tly. My academic background has provided me with significant fundamental knowledge, which, on my enrolment for this program, will be of great help. As aforementioned, I possess a Bachelor of Arts with a double Major in Art History/Management, and a Minor in German. I decided to minor in German for several reasons: it being a requirement for graduate schools and my intention of holding a position as an Art Historian and Researcher at one of the art galleries in Germany, where I am currently located. This was in the view of the fact that in the field of art history, German is deemed essential. German film classes including ‘From WWII to Unification’ and ‘Rise/Fall of Germany’ as well as reading German literature in ‘Advanced German Conversation’ course have boosted me in broadening my horizons in German literature and culture, thus improving my German. Other academic qualifications include a Certificate in

Bobs Meltdown Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Bobs Meltdown - Case Study Example As the discussion outlines the first alternative that Singer could take is to fire Dunn, who is the senior Vice President and General Manager, Services. However, the case study identifies that Dunn is the best manager and the profitability of the company probably rides on his shoulders. This alternative will make the company lose revenue, and probably end up insolvent. The other alternative that Singer could take is to severely reprimand Dunn and make him apologize to Ms. Annette over his behavior. Organizational behavior ethos dictate that the best functioning of an organization as a team requires the cohesion that can only be achieved by a unity between the managers. The third alternative would be to assume that Dunn was under a lot of pressure from the responsibility entrusted to him. Therefore, this alternative would require that Mr. Singer talks to Dunn and tells him to calm down, and that Annette would be made to understand the importance of the services department. From this study it is clear that all the alternatives proposed above their own limitations and strengths, mainly because of the deep ethical and professional implication of Dunn’s actions. The first alternative is the first consideration, because of the unprofessional nature of Dunn’s reaction. However, this alternative would result in a loss in profitability for the company before another manager as good as Dunn is found. The second alterative, a reprimand and no other action being taken, is not very advisable for the firm. This is because of the interpretations that the action would elicit from the other employees. This alternative would imply that the company does not care about some employees, especially the female employees, and that the performance record by Dunn gives him more leeway than the other employees.

Childhood Obesity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Childhood Obesity - Essay Example I am mentoring my kid to follow a healthy lifestyle as her parents do to avoid weight gain (Overweight and Obesity 2010). Some of the other causes for obesity among children are attributed to complex interactions between several environmental, social and policy context that impact eating habits and physical activity. In the past decades, these factors have collectively contributed to create an adverse environment that is against the environment to maintain health and weight. The unhealthy environment has evolved as a result of suburban and urban designs that do not encourage physical activities and walking. Pressure on families to reduce the cost of food and preparation time has resulted in frequent consumption of readymade food rich in fat and calories. Obesity has become a menace to the society due to less affordability and access to vegetables, fruits and nutritious food for some communities. There is less opportunity for physical activity after school and at school since students opt to reduce walking by using bikes from and to school. Children prefer to follow a sedentary lifestyle by spending time before the screen without spending leisure time outdoors. Psychosocial problems: Young people are likely to develop issues like self-blame, foster shame and have low self esteem that impairs social and academic functioning. These problems will be carried by the child to adolescence and adulthood. Approximately, sixty percent of overweight children are in the age five to ten with a minimum of one cardiovascular risk like insulin, hyper cholesterol, blood pressure or triglycerides. Around 25 percent children have two or more of these risks factors. For a child born in the US, the lifetime risk of having type 2 diabetes is 40 percent for girls and 30 percent for boys and the risk is higher for children in specific ethnic minority

IP Internetworking Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

IP Internetworking - Assignment Example It also concerns with ensuring that the wide area network at Houston is in a position of accommodating the traffic in the entire network. Whereas using static addresses has its advantages, the biggest downside is high administrative demands even when minor changes occur in the network. To cater for this, the new phase will use dynamic addressing system so that the hosts acquire Internet protocol automatically. As a result, this lowers the administrative overhead. The virtual local area network is from the departments available in XUM. Consequently, the VLANs are sales vlan2, finance vlan3, human resources vlan4, research and development vlan5, default vlan1 and management vlan6. The creation of the VLAN at XUM results from the departments available. Therefore, there are four data VLANs namely sales VLAN2, finance VLAN3, human resource VLAN4, Research, and development VLAN5. In addition, a native VLAN is the default VLAN1. Furthermore, there is a management VLAN VLAN6 that gets IP addresses to enable the management to manage the switch. It has been possible with remote control tools that allow management to ssh or telnet the switch through the management VLAN. To allow for communication of personal computers on similar VLANs but separated by a switch or a number of switches, a trunk link now exists between the switches. The manager sets the range of virtual local area networks that can communicate via the trunk link (Ahmad, 2002). Trunking is the best method. It was in comparison to creating physical relationships of various VLANs among the switches. In this case, between one switch and another there would have been six links, which would have wasted twelve ports. Further, it means that each of the individual links has different port numbers that make their management extremely difficult in case the network expands to accommodate twice or more the number of VLANS already existing. Use of dynamic trunking protocol has enabled

Childhood Obesity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Childhood Obesity - Essay Example I am mentoring my kid to follow a healthy lifestyle as her parents do to avoid weight gain (Overweight and Obesity 2010). Some of the other causes for obesity among children are attributed to complex interactions between several environmental, social and policy context that impact eating habits and physical activity. In the past decades, these factors have collectively contributed to create an adverse environment that is against the environment to maintain health and weight. The unhealthy environment has evolved as a result of suburban and urban designs that do not encourage physical activities and walking. Pressure on families to reduce the cost of food and preparation time has resulted in frequent consumption of readymade food rich in fat and calories. Obesity has become a menace to the society due to less affordability and access to vegetables, fruits and nutritious food for some communities. There is less opportunity for physical activity after school and at school since students opt to reduce walking by using bikes from and to school. Children prefer to follow a sedentary lifestyle by spending time before the screen without spending leisure time outdoors. Psychosocial problems: Young people are likely to develop issues like self-blame, foster shame and have low self esteem that impairs social and academic functioning. These problems will be carried by the child to adolescence and adulthood. Approximately, sixty percent of overweight children are in the age five to ten with a minimum of one cardiovascular risk like insulin, hyper cholesterol, blood pressure or triglycerides. Around 25 percent children have two or more of these risks factors. For a child born in the US, the lifetime risk of having type 2 diabetes is 40 percent for girls and 30 percent for boys and the risk is higher for children in specific ethnic minority

Shawshank Redemption Essay Example for Free

Shawshank Redemption Essay The literary works such as novels, plays and short stories, have long inspired moviemakers to create films. Films based on these literary works usually draw more attention of the movie audiences or critics than the one not based on them. If a literary work is not well adapted into a film, a number of critics and viewers willingly rise to fulminate at its filmmakers for degrading the essence of its literary work. Also, a lot of people who read a book first usually have a certain bias that a movie inspired by it would not be any better than the book. Even though a film does achieve a superb adaptation from a literary work, many of them still tend to be more loyal to the book than the movie. Certainly, in order to dramatize the literary work and deliver its essence to the audiences in a limited time, a filmmaker has to change many of its detail settings and eliminate unnecessary characters. In addition, a screen writer has to simplify emblazoned descriptions of the book and rewrite it as dialogues to fit in the film through the process of the adaptation. In this process, there is the transformation from the language of words to the language of images. So, what is lost, and what is gained? A good way of finding an answer to this is to compare the film adaptation of the book with its original literary work that is the basis for the film. Novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank and Movie, The Shawshank Redemption Stephen King’s short story, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank, in Different Seasons, one of his collections published in 1982, is what the film, The Shawshank Redemption produced in 1994, is based upon. The movie, directed by Frank Darabont, is presented as if it is Ellis Boyd Redding’s (Morgan Freeman) story telling about Andy Dufresne (Tim Robins) convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. Ellis Boyd Redding, simply called Red, is a lifetime convict of Shawshank prison, telling you about Dufresne’s stay at Shawshank from his arrival to his escape. On the other hand, the novella is a little bit different format from that of the film. It is presented as a form of a document written by Red. He is looking back over twenty-five-year period of time, while writing, so the things that he described in the document have already happened. Due to this, the story is written as if it is told from someone. Basically, both the film and the book are very similar in terms of the story line. Even though there is the similarity of the plot, the film captivates the viewer more than that of the novella that seems to drag out for quite a bit. In fact, Frank Darabont’s adaptation of Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption seems to convert an ordinary literary work into a cinematic masterwork. There are several elements that make it possible. The movie eliminates inessential characters to position major characters better, slightly modifies the story line and dialogue to strengthen the essence of the novella. In addition, it changes the role of certain characters to solidify their views. Overall, in The Shawshank Redemption, Darabont accomplishes a resplendent adaptation from the novella. Now, I would like to analyze what is gained and lost in the process of adaptation, comparing the both works in terms of these elements. Solidification of the Role of Certain Characters by Eliminating Inessential Characters If you read the book and watched the film, you would notice that there were many characters excluded from the book because they were simply not taking essential parts of the movie. They are only mentioned for a couple of times to explain a certain situation from the view point of Ellis Boyd Redding, who tells the story about Andy Dufresne and left behind the story soon. Darabont takes a resolute action to cut out these characters. In the book, while Andy’s serving in Shawshank, there is a constant change of different wardens who control the prison. By eliminating all the wardens, he removes a group of unnecessary characters at the same time. For example, there are several cruel, merciless wardens in the book; George Dunahy, Greg Stammas, and Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton). However, Dunahy does not even exist in the film, and neither does Stammas who was also a former guard in Shawshank. During Andy’s stay in the prison, the role of all wardens transformed and solidified into the last warden Norton. In the movie, Darabont only uses one warden, Norton to superintend Andy for the whole time of his stay in the Shawshank. If there was a frequent change of wardens in the film during Andy’s stay it would have confused the audiences, providing different focus to new wardens with their different characteristics. Another example is a brutal, cold-blooded guard, Byron Hadley (Clancy Brown). His role in the book seems obtrusive only in the part that Andy dare tries talking to him to save his tax payment when there is the roof sealing project on the rooftop of the prison. Then, soon later, he is retired from the prison in the middle of the story. Byron Hadley had gone two years earlier. The sucker had a heart attack and took an early retirement. (55) In the film, however, his role has always been a captain of the all guards during Andy’s stay, substituting for all chief guards from the book. Furthermore, his overall role of the film is much more prominent than that of the book. In other words, his role represents the Shawshank as a severe, notorious prison where cold-hearted guards watch over every movement of each prisoner. Instead of showing a number of vicious wardens and guards from the book, Darabont focuses on only these two major villainous characters, eliminating unnecessary characters. In addition, it ultimately provides the audiences time to develop the hatred and indignity against warden for numerous, evil and immoral deed they do. Not only wardens and guards but also some inmates in the book are eliminated as well in the film. For instance, there are three different prisoners, Sherwood Bolton, Ernie, and Brooks Hatlen, in the book. Unfortunately, Sherwood Bolton is gotten rid out of the film. He is a person who raises a crow named Jake until released from the prison. Maybe they set you loose someday, but†¦ well, listen: I knew this guy, Sherwood Bolton, his name was, and he had this pigeon in his cell. From 1945 until 1953, when they let him out, he had that pigeon. He wasn’t any Birdman of Alcatraz; he just had this pigeon. Jake, he called him. (26) Ernie, a sweeper of the cellblock, is another prisoner who used to do Red a favor only in the book by delivering contrabands such as a rock hammer which Andy asked Red for. Early the next morning, twenty minutes before the wake-up horn went off, I slipped the rock-hammer and a package of Camels to Ernie, the old trusty who swept the Cellblock 5 corridors until he was let free in 1956. He slipped it into his tunic without a word†¦ (31) The last person, Brooks Hatlen, has been a librarian in the prison for about 25 years. When he is paroled, Andy takes over his position in the library. A year later he is out from the Shawshank, he died in his home according to the book. He was working in the library then, under a tough old con named Brooks Hatlen. Hatlen had gotten the job back in the late twenties because he had a college education†¦ In prison, Brooksie had been a person of some importance. He was the librarian, an educated man†¦ I heard he died in a home for indigent old folks up Freeport way in 1953. (49) However, in the film, all three characters are taken the role of one person, Brooks Hatlen (James Whitmore), who eventually enables Darabont to eliminate first two characters as well as place more weight on the character of Hatlen in the film. In fact, the book makes him a headstrong person with no dialogue and no depth. On the other hand, the movie alters his character into a gentle, emotional person to make the audiences sympathize with him. After released, he hangs up himself, dramatizing it to be one of the grievous scenes in the film as well as emphasizing on what Red means by â€Å"institutionalized†: â€Å"First you hate them, then you get used to them. Enough time passes you get so you depend on them. That’s â€Å"institutionalized. They send you here for life. That’s exactly what they take. Part that counts, anyway. † There is also a very distracting character in the book, among various inessential characters eliminated in the film; Normadden. But in all that time Andy never had a cellmate, except for a big, silent Indian named Normaden (like all Indians in The Shank, he was called Chief), and Normaden didn’t last long. (54) Normaden was moved out, and Andy was living in solitary splendor again. 55) In the book, Andy shares a room with Normadden, a native Indian cellmate for a short period of time. If his character was appeared in the film, it would detract the view of the audiences from the mysterious character of Andy who spends most of his time enjoying being alone. In the film, moreover, he might have been left as a latent character which no one would pay attention to. Modification of Certain Plots and Dialogues Fat-Ass keeps blubbering and wailing. Total freak-out. Hadley draws his baton, gestures to his men. Open it. A GUARD unlocks the cell. Hadley pulls Fat-Ass out and starts beating him with the baton, brutally raining blows. Fat-Ass falls, tries to crawl. The place goes dead silent. All we hear now is the dull THWACK-THWACK-THWACK of the baton. Fat-ass passes out. Hadley gets in a few more licks and finally stops. This is what happens on the first day of Andy’s stay in the prison. It almost delivers the audience an infernal atmosphere of the Shawshank prison. In the book, on the other hand, almost nothing about Andy’s first day in the prison is presented although Red later mentions how new comers cry in tears at first night. First-timers usually have a hard time adjusting to the confinement of prison life. They get screw-fever. Sometimes they have to be hauled down to the infirmary and sedated a couple of times before they get on the beam. It’s not unusual to hear some new member of our happy little family banging on the bars of his cell and screaming to be let out†¦ and before the cries have gone on for long, the chant starts up along the cell-block: â€Å"Fresh fish, hey little fishie, fresh fish, fresh fish, got fresh fish today! † Andy didn’t flip out like that when he came to The Shank in 1948, but that’s not to say that he didn’t fell many of the same things. (93) Even though this scene of Hadley beating a fat new prisoner to death is not in the book, but only created in the film, it seems a good representation of the Shawshank. Another example is the way Andy is getting out of gang rape from Bobs Diamond (Mark Rolston) and their â€Å"Sisters. † In the film, when Diamonds fails to let Andy submit to him, Andy rather contempt his ignorance, so he ends up with being beaten. After the mobbing, when Diamonds returns to his cell, a captain guard Hadley clubs him to severe injury because he cannot save his tax without Andy. Eventually, Diamonds is transferred to another prison for serious injury, which gives the audiences some sort of a justice at the moment. In the book, however, Red describes Andy might bribe guards to gets rid of Bogs. Bogs Diamonds left off that summer, all at once. That was strange thing. Bogs was found in his cell, badly beaten, one morning in early June, when he didn’t show up in the breakfast nose-count. He wouldn’t say who had done it, or how they had gotten to him, but being in my business, I know that a screw can be bribed to do almost anything except get a gun for an inmate†¦ A guard could have been bribed real easy to let someone – may be two or three someones – into the block, and, yes, even into Diamond’s cell†¦ I’m not saying it was Andy Dufresne, but I do know that he brought in five hundred dollars when he came, and he was a banker in the straight world- a man who understands better than the rest of us the ways in which money can become power. 35) Although this part in the book may be more realistic to the truth, if it was directly adapted into the movie, it would not have the same impact to the audiences. There is a dramatic example of plot and dialogue change; when Tommy Williams (Gil Bellows) is killed by Hadley on the Norton order. Williams is happened to tell Andy that the Elmo Blatch (Bill Bolender) is the guy who murdered his wife and her lover. Although Andy has a chance to get a new trial with his testimony, Norton rather put him into the solitary, not giving him a chance for a new trial. In the meantime, Norton transfers Williams to the light security prison in a different county for concealing the information that can give Andy a new trial and release him. â€Å" This is a dialogue that Norton and Andy have in Norton’s office after Andy is done with a month of solitary stay that Norton ordered. It is because Andy mentioned a word â€Å"obtuse† to the attitude of Norton who does not concern his chance of new trial. However, in the film, the sequence is a little bit transformed into a different place. In other words, this is not what happened to Williams. Norton tries to let him forget about his hope and chance of new trial and release. The similar dialogue scene in the book is shot at a solitary where Andy has already been served for a month in the movie. Even though Norton orders Hadley to shoot Willams at the prison yard when he does not notice it, he lies to Andy that he is killed because of his escape. â€Å"I’m sure by now you heard. Terrible thing. A man that young, less than a year ago trying to escape, broke Captain Hadley’s heart to shoot him. Truly it did. We just have to put it behind us. Move on. † This scene makes the audience harden their hatred for the warden and loathe brutality of his character more. Transformation of this part eventually strengthens the vicious character of Warden and Hadley, making the audience impossible to feel sympathy for them. This sequence in the film is significant because it leads Andy to feel extremely resentful, igniting him to escape whereas the dialogue in the book simply does not carry such an allusion of his escape at the moment. As the story towards the ending, there is more heart-twisting in the film than in the book, especially when the audiences make an assumption that Andy commits suicide. It is because Andy talks strangely, bringing up Mexico, Red is told Heywood gave Andy a length of rope, and a guard is walking up to look for Andy in the next morning roll call. Then, when the guard finds that Andy escaped, it almost feels like the load off. A MAN is meticulously stripping the old paint and varnish by hand, face hidden with goggles and kerchief mask. Red appears b. g. , a distant figure walking out across the sand, wearing his cheap suit and carrying his cheap bag. The man on the boat pauses. Turns slowly around. Red arrives with a smile as wide as the horizon. The other man raises his goggles and pulls down his mask. Andy, of course. They hug each other. Ending with a panorama view of the blue vast ocean, the audience is finally able to feel relieved and happy for Andy and Red meeting up together. As other examples of plot changes, this scene is also never described in the book. At the end of the book, Red writes, like he says in the film, â€Å"I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope. † (107) In fact, the Pacific is only as blue as the reader thinks and as beautiful as Red expects it to be. In other words, the end of the novella makes the reader hope more that Red makes it to Zihautanejo and meets Andy, ending with â€Å"I hope. † This is absolutely what is gained in the film, but lost in the book. Like many other films inspired by their original literary works, the film, The Shawshank Redemption, is also inspired by the novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption written. Basically, the movie is based on the language of Stephen King, but through Frank Darabont’s adaptation of the novella, we see the transformation from the language of words to the language of images in his film. As for the question earlier, â€Å"what is gained and lost? † in the process of this transformation, Darabont answers through his movie. His adaptation presents some changes that strengthen the movie without any digression from the original literary work. In fact, the overall essence of the story is described better by the movie. Elimination of unnecessary characters, alteration of the role of certain characters, and modification of certain plots and dialogues make it possible. As a matter of fact, despite these alterations, the differences between both works do not seem much disturbing in terms of the story line after all. Maybe this is what Robert Altman means by â€Å"Cinematic equivalents of literary material manifest themselves in unexpected ways. †

Anti C1q Antibodies and Phagocytosis of Apoptotic Cells

Anti C1q Antibodies and Phagocytosis of Apoptotic Cells The complement system is one of the major effector mechanisms of the innate immune system and it plays an important role in immune defense. The biological functions of complement are opsonization and phagocytosis, stimulation of inflammatory reactions by anaphylatoxins and complement-mediated cytolysis of microbes, especially encapsulated bacteria. The complement system is formed by an enzymatic cascade composed of plasma proteins that, once stimulated, can achieve tremendous amplification and effectively fight the invading microorganisms (Abbas et al., 2009). Under certain conditions, a pathological immune reaction may develop against complement components, which on one hand reflects an underlying autoimmune process and may lead to inflammation and tissue injury on the other (Potlukova and Kralikova, 2008). The first component of the classical pathway of complement activation, C1q, plays a crucial role in the clearance of immune complexes and apoptotic bodies from the organism. Autoantibodies against C1q (anti C1q) have been found in a number of autoimmune and infectious diseases. They have been best described in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, where they are thought to play a pathogenic role in lupus nephritis (LN). Their high negative predictive value for the occurrence of active proliferative LN, as well as their possible ability to indicate a renal flare as soon as 6 months in advance, have rendered anti C1q antibodies a novel non-invasive tool in the detection of active LN (Potlukova and Kralikova, 2008). The Complement C1q and Its Antibodies C1q is the first component of the classical pathway of complement activation. Together with the enzymatically active components C1r and C1s, C1q forms the C1 complex. Binding of C1 to immunoglobulins in the form of immune complexes leads to activation of protease function of C1r and C1s and further activation of the classical pathway of complement (Schumaker et al., 1986). C1q is a glycoprotein belonging to the collectin family with a molecular weight of about 410-462 kDa. It is a hexamer composed of globular heads attached to collagen-like triple-helix tails (Fig. 8). The globular heads of C1q specifically bind to the constant heavy (CH2) domain of IgG molecules or the CH3 domain of IgM. Each heavy chain of the immunoglobulin molecule contains only one binding site for C1q. Since C1q must bind to at least two heavy chains in order to change its conformation and activate C1r and C1s, its activation ensues only after binding to immunoglobulins in the form of immune complexes bound to multivalent antigens (Schumaker et al., 1986). Most complement proteins are synthesized in the liver by hepatocytes. However, macrophages can synthesize early complement components of both the classical and alternative pathways and can provide sufficient local tissue complement for opsonization without recruiting plasma complement (Colten et al., 1986). C1q is unusual, for a complement protein, that it is synthesized by tissue macrophages but not hepatocytes (Loos et al., 1989). In addition to being the first component of the classical pathway of complement activation, C1q has many physiological roles. C1q can directly opsonize apoptotic cells (AC) for phagocytosis. In vitro, C1q binds to surface blebs on AC but not normal host cells (Korb and Ahearn, 1997). C1q binds to calreticulin (CRT) in AC blebs and opsonizes AC for enhanced phagocytosis through C1q interaction with CD91. C1q can opsonize AC also indirectly through complement activation (Lu et al., 2008). Consistent with this, the finding that C1q-deficient mice have been shown to have an accumulation of apoptotic bodies in the kidneys (Botto et al., 1998); and macrophages of C1q-deficient mice and humans have a decreased ability to clear apoptotic bodies in vitro (Botto, 1998; Taylor et al., 2000). In this way, C1q promotes the clearance of autoantigens, preventing stimulation of the immune system and disruption of this process may lead to development of autoimmunity (Botto, 2001). C1q-opsonized AC also regulates DC production of cytokines, but data from different studies are not entirely consistent (Lu et al., 2008). Apparently, most studies report C1q inhibition of IL-12 production from DCs and that AC stimulated macrophages produce more IL-10 and less IL-12. This suggests a tolerogenic property of C1q which is consistent to the development of autoimmunity at C1q deficiency (Botto et al., 1998). C1q has also miscellaneous roles in regulation of multiple macrophage activities, in DC differentiation, activation and antigen presentation and in granulocytes, mast cells and fibroblasts regulation (Lu et al., 2008). There are several autoantibodies to complement proteins that interfere with the physiological regulation of complement activation in vivo, and each of these has been associated with the development of SLE. These antibodies are C3 nephritic factor, anti-C1 inhibitor autoantibodies, and anti C1q antibodies. In each of these cases, there is a chicken and egg dispute, since it could be argued that development of the anticomplement autoantibody is itself part of the SLE process. However, in the case of C3 nephritic factor, which stabilizes the C3bBbC3 convertase enzyme of the alternative pathway, 8 cases of SLE have been described )Sheeran et al., 1995; Walport et al., 1994). In each of these, the onset of SLE occurred many years after the development of the main clinical phenotypes associated with the presence of C3 nephritic factor, supporting the idea that the C3 nephritic factor was the egg rather than the chicken. History and epidemiology of anti C1q antibodies: Binding of monomeric IgG to C1q was first described in 1971, in sera from patients with SLE with hypocomplementemia (Agnello et al., 1971), and in 1978, precipitation of C1q by monomeric IgG was documented in the hypocomplementemic urticarial vasculitis syndrome (HUVS) (Marder et al., 1978). In 1984, anti C1q antibodies were found in patients with SLE (Uwatoko et al., 1984). Since then, occurrence of anti C1q antibodies has been described with varying prevalence in patients with autoimmune and also some infectious diseases (Wisnieski and Jones, 1992). Anti C1q antibodies were mostly of the IgG subtype with IgG1 and IgG2 being the predominant subclasses (Siegert et al., 1990). The prevalence of anti C1q in the general population varies between 2% and 8% (Potlukova et al., 2008). As is the case with other autoantibodies, the occurrence of anti C1q increases with age (Ravelli et al., 1997; Siegert et al., 1993). The mere positivity for anti C1q antibodies in an otherwise healthy individual does not appear to bear any pathological or prognostic significance (Potlukova and Kralikova, 2008). Pathogenic role of anti C1q antibodies: Anti C1q antibodies have high negative predictive value for active lupus nephritis (LN) suggesting a pathogenic role in SLE patients. In addition, the elimination of anti C1q antibodies from circulation by repeated plasmapheresis or C1q immunoabsorption brought alleviation of the patients symptoms (Berner et al., 2001; Grimbert, et al., 2001). The binding of anti C1q antibodies to C1q is mediated via Fab fragments and in contrast to immune complexes, anti C1q antibodies do not bind to globular heads of the C1q molecule but to its collagen-like tail (Fig. 8). The binding is very weak in the liquid phase, but achieves high affinity in the case of a conformationally changed C1q in the bound state exposing new antigenic determinants. Thus, any possible pathogenic role of anti C1q antibodies probably remains confined to local deposits of C1q in tissues (Potlukova and Kralikova, 2008). Another intriguing mechanism of the pathogenicity of anti C1q antibodies might be a switch from non-inflammatory recognition of apoptotic bodies by C1q and its receptors to inflammatory recognition when C5a and other complement activation fragments are generated during enhanced complement activation due to anti C1q antibodies at sites where C1q is recognizing nuclear antigens (Holers, 2004). Fig. 8: A simplified scheme of the binding of anti C1q antibodies to the molecule of C1q. Anti C1q antibodies per se do not seem to activate complement; however, their binding to C1q may amplify complement activation by increasing the amount of the bound IgG in a vicious circle manner. Furthermore, they might attenuate the physiological functions of C1q, including the capacity to activate the classical pathway of complement and to clear immune complexes and apoptotic bodies. Taken together, several different mechanisms seem to be involved in the pathogenicity of anti C1q antibodies (Potlukova and Kralikova, 2008). The presence of anti C1q antibodies in lupus is typically accompanied by a number of clinical and serological features. The complement profile is similar to that seen in HUVS, with very low levels of C1q, C4, and C2, and, to a lesser extent, C3. Anti C1q antibodies tend to remain positive in SLE for prolonged periods, and there is associated prolonged hypocomplementemia. This differs from anti-double-stranded DNA antibody levels, which tend to fluctuate in concentration, together with inverse changes in complement levels (Pickering et al., 2000). Â   Â   Anti C1q antibodies in infectious diseases Anti C1q antibodies have also been found in some infectious diseases Prohaszka et al. (1999) have found an increased occurrence of anti C1q antibodies in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus: 13% of infected patients were positive when compared with 5% controls. Furthermore, the levels of anti C1q antibodies significantly decreased during a follow-up period of 65 months. Interestingly, sera with detectable anti C1q antibodies were more likely to neutralize HIV than sera without them in in-vitro experiments. Saadoun et al. (2006) have reported an increased prevalence of anti C1q antibodies in patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), with 26% being positive. Contrary to expectations, the occurrence of anti C1q antibodies did not differ between HCV-infected patients with and without mixed cryoglobulinemia indicating that immune complexes do not cross-react with the anti C1q assay and proving also the abundant presence of immune complexes in the circulation does not seem to be sufficient to provoke generation of anti C1q. Further studies are needed to elucidate their role and clinical relevance in other diseases. Measurement of anti C1q antibodies In the past, radioimmunoassay based on the binding of immune complexes to C1q fixed to a solid phase was mainly used to determine the concentration of immune complexes (Hay et al., 1976). Later, the solid-phase C1q binding assay was modified into an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). For this purpose, either whole C1q or the collagen-like region of C1q was employed. However, the use of individually prepared ELISA kits with differently set cut-off limits for positivity led to a rather large disparity between the results of clinical studies. Nowadays, measurement of anti C1q antibodies in serum has become easier; thanks to commercially available and standardized ELISA kits using the whole C1q molecule as antigen (Potlukova and Kralikova, 2008). The main pitfall in the measurement of anti C1q antibodies consists in a possible binding of circulating immune complexes to the solid-phase bound whole C1q. However, it has been shown that the use of high ionic strength conditions in the incubation media inhibits any similar unwelcome binding and it renders the ELISA reliable for clinical use (Kohro-Kawata et al., 2002).