Stegomastodon Facts and Figures

Stegomastodon Facts and Figures Name: Stegomastodon (Greek for roof nippled tooth); pronounced STEG-oh-MAST-oh-don Habitat: Plains of North and South America Historical Epoch: Late Pliocene-Modern (three million-10,000 years ago) Size and Weight: About 12 feet long and 2-3 tons Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Moderate size; long, upward-curving tusks; complex cheek teeth About Stegomastodon Its name sounds impressive- like a cross between a Stegosaurus and a Mastodon- but you might be disappointed to learn that Stegomastodon is actually Greek for roof-nippled tooth, and that this prehistoric elephant wasnt even a true Mastodon, being more closely related to Gomphotherium than to the genus to which all Mastodons belonged, Mammut. (We wont even mention Stegodon, another elephant family to which Stegomastodon was only distantly related.) As you may already have guessed, Stegomastodon was named after its unusually complex cheek teeth, which allowed it to eat such un-pachyderm-like foods as grass. More importantly, Stegomastodon is one of the few ancestral elephants (besides Cuvieronius) to have prospered in South America, where it survived until historical times. These two pachyderm genera made their way south during the Great American Interchange, three million years ago, when the Panamanian isthmus rose up from the seafloor and connected North and South America (and thus allowed the native fauna to migrate in both directions, with sometimes deleterious effects on native populations). To judge by the fossil evidence, Stegomastodon populated the grasslands east of the Andes mountains, while Cuvieronius preferred higher, cooler altitudes. Given that it survived until shortly after the last Ice Age, 10,000 years ago, its almost certain that Stegomastodon was preyed on by the indigenous human tribes of South America- which, along with inexorable climate change, drove this pachyderm to complete extinction.

What Is the W Visa Program

What Is the W Visa Program Question: What Is the W Visa Program? Answer: One of the most contentious issues during the U.S. Senate’s debate over comprehensive immigration reform was the dispute over a W visa program, a new classification that would allow lower skilled foreign laborers to work temporarily in the country. The W visa, in effect, creates a guest-worker program that would apply to lower-wage workers, including housekeepers, landscapers, retail workers, restaurant staff and some construction workers. The Senate’s Gang of Eight settled on a temporary worker plan that was a compromise between Democratic and Republican lawmakers, industry leaders and labor unions. Under the proposal for the W visa program, which likely would start in 2015, foreign workers with lesser skills would be able to apply for jobs in the United States. The program would be based on a system of registered employers who would apply to the government for participation. Upon acceptance, the employers would be permitted to hire a specific number of W visa workers each year. The employers would be required to advertise their open positions for a period of time to give U.S. workers a chance to apply for the openings. Businesses would be prohibited from advertising positions that require a bachelor’s degree or higher degrees. The spouse and minor children of the W visa-holder is allowed to accompany or follow to join the worker and can receive work authorization for the same period. The W visa program calls for the creation of a Bureau of Immigration and Labor Market Research that will operate under U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security. The bureau’s role is to help determine the numbers for the annual cap of new worker visas and identify shortages of labor. The bureau also will help develop labor recruiting methods for businesses and report to Congress on how the program is doing. Much of the dispute in Congress over the W visa grew out of the unions’ determination to protect wages and prevent abuses, and business leaders’ determination to keep regulations to a minimum. The Senate’s legislation wound up containing protections for whistleblowers and guidelines for wages that guarded against sub-minimum pay. According to the bill, S. 744, the wages to be paid â€Å"will be either the actual wage paid by the employer to other employees with similar experience and qualification or the prevailing wage level for the occupational classification in the geographic metropolitan statistical area whichever is higher.† The U.S. Chamber of Commerce gave its blessing to the plan, believing the system for bringing in temporary workers would be good for business and good for the U.S. economy. The chamber said in a statement: â€Å"The new W-Visa classification features a streamlined process for employers to register job openings that can be filled by temporary foreign workers, while still ensuring that American workers get first crack at every job and that wages paid are the greater of actual or prevailing wage levels.† The number of W visas offered would be capped at 20,000 the first year and increase to 75,000 for the fourth year, under the Senate’s plan. The bill establishes a guest worker program for lower-skilled workers that ensures our future flow of workers is manageable, traceable, fair to American workers, and in line with our economy’s needs, said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. The modernization of our visa programs will ensure people who want to come legally – and who our economy needs to come legally – can do so.

GST style - partnership business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

GST style - partnership business - Assignment Example GST Style, a partnership business, was introduced by the three friends namely as Glenn, Stacey and Thomas officially on 1st January 2012. The business deals in retail fashion based products, which mainly includes clothing, apparels, shoes and related products. Due to the sophisticated nature of the business, the business was opened in the form of retail outlet such that the only retail outlet of the business is situated in the well off shopping arena of Birmingham city, i.e. Bullring Shopping Centre. Bullring is mainly famous for providing the customers those brands, which are highly rated and liked by the customers such as Apple in Information Technology based products, Vodafone in the field of telecommunication carrier industry and many other popular brands, which catch the attention of their respective customers. The elite class of UK is the target market of that business such that those people who can actually shop at Bullring are mainly catered and accordingly the products are d esigned especially to cater those customers. On demographical basis, the orthodox age group of teenagers and the early forty people are marked for the products that are being developed. Since the products are targeted to the elite and rich class, therefore a mild focused differentiation is strategy is adopted and mostly those products are offered which are not commonly available in rest of the UK market. The major quantity, designs and styles of the products are imported from the East Asian markets specifically Hong Kong and Thailand. History of Partners Glenn, Stacey and Thomas are not only the business partners who have formed this business but also they have been close friends for more than a decade. Since the time they got admission in the graduate program in the field of business studies at Birmingham University, they became good friends and shared their mutual thoughts of opening a partnership in the future time. After their graduation, all the three friends diverged into thei r respective fields but they remained in touch with a strong ambition of forming a partnership business. In the subsequent paragraphs, the details of each partner after his/her graduation are presented. Glenn After his graduation in good grades, Glenn got a job into a major textile firm who had a manufacturing plant in Bangkok, Thailand but had its retail outlets in UK. Glenn worked hard and became a regional marketing and brand manager of that company in hardly two years timeframe. Having earned good chunk of money in that company, Glenn decided to invest that money into some form of business in which he should also be having fair amount of knowhow. He rang up his other two friends Stacey and Thomas and discussed his idea of forming up of business of fashion-based products mainly for the rich class of UK. Stacey Stacey belongs to a family of rich entrepreneurs of Birmingham who mainly deals in kids clothing and other items related to kids. She worked herself as an entrepreneur of k ids clothing outlet for around three years. After then, she received a call from Glenn and discussed the possibility of entering up into such business. Glenn with his marketing and branding expertise behind him and Stacey with her entrepreneur skills behind her approached with their other old friend Thomas to discuss the likelihood of this opportunity. Thomas Thomas, the third person in the group tracked a rather different area and joined an investment bank as management trainee position. After a year of training, Thomas was promoted a formal position of investment banker. With the high level of competence and dedication, Thomas also earned handsome amount of money from the bank and showed her eagerness when approached by his other two old friends. After deep consideration and analysis of the business, he also showed his agreement to join the hands of his other two friends in pursuit of launching up a new business. Partnership Agreement The formation of the partnership busin

Criminal Justice Masters Program Comprehensive Exam Essay

Criminal Justice Masters Program Comprehensive Exam - Essay Example It is also otherwise referred to as ownership or proprietas (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2012). This indicates that even in the earliest versions of law in the West, it is recognized that a person has the right to protect and defend his dominium – his family, his property, and his well-being – from external aggression that harms or threatens to harm it. The right of self-defense is claimed by the aggressor or defendant charged with a violent crime. Some of these crimes include: battery (striking someone against his or her will), assault with a deadly weapon, assault with intent to commit serious bodily injury, manslaughter, and first or second degree murder (Bergman & Berman, 2009, p. 314). Self-defense is a justifying circumstance. It is an affirmative defense in that it justifies the use or threat of force exerted by an individual when he or she believes that there is a danger of an imminent, immediate, and unlawful infliction of serious bodily harm or death (Lippman, 20 10, p. 216). A criminal act, such as a homicide, is justified when it is resorted to in order to prevent a greater, imminent, and immediate harm, when there are no other equally effective alternatives possible. The court quoted: â€Å"all homicide is malicious, and of course, amounts to murder, unless†¦ justified by the command or permission of the law; excused on the account of accident or self-preservation; or alleviated into manslaughter, by being the involuntary consequence of some act not strictly lawful or (if voluntary) occasioned by some sudden and sufficiently violent provocation† (Blackstone, 1854, p. 201 in U.S. v Peterson, par. 14). In the modern application of the law, much of Blackstone’s commentaries are still relevant, although jurisprudence has enumerated the requisites that support a claim of self-defense. These are that the defendant: (1) must not have provoked or been the aggressor in the assault; (2) must have reasonable grounds for the belief that he is faced with imminent danger of serious bodily injury; (3) must not use more force than that which appears reasonably necessary; and (4) must do everything in his power consistent with his own safety to avoid the danger and must retreat if retreat is practicable (Lippman, 2010, p. 222). A special case when self-defense cannot be resorted to as a defense is when the accused invoking it is the very person who instigated or provoked the aggressive act. What this exactly means can only be explained by a perusal of case law where the principle was applied with varying premises and results. Case Law: United States v. Thomas, 34 F2. 44 (1994, 2nd Cir) The case concerned the fatal shooting of Wallie Howard, a Syracuse police officer who worked undercover for the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) during a â€Å"buy-bust† operation on 30 October 1990. In this instance, the suspected cocaine dealers decided to likewise rob Howard, who was seated in the front passen ger seat of a car. The perpetrators, Stewart and Lawrence, were each armed with .22 and .357 revolvers. Stewart tried to shoot Howard but failed because there was no bullet in the chamber. Howard gets off a shot and hits Stewart in the shoulder. Lawrence, standing at the rear passenger side of the car, shot at Howard, striking the rear of his head and instantly killing him. The two were arrested minutes later. The defendants, Lawrence and Stewart, claimed self-defense in that Howard was the first to draw his gun, and Lawrence believed that Howard

Animal Extinction Essay Example for Free

Animal Extinction Essay Animal Extinction the greatest threat to mankind In the final stages of dehydration the body shrinks, robbing youth from the young as the skin puckers, eyes recede into orbits, and the tongue swells and cracks. Brain cells shrivel and muscles seize. The kidneys shut down. Blood volume drops, triggering hypovolemic shock, with its attendant respiratory and cardiac failures. These combined assaults disrupt the chemical and electrical pathways of the body until all systems cascade toward death. Such is also the path of a dying species. Beyond a critical point, the collective body of a unique kind of mammal or bird or amphibian or tree cannot be salvaged, no matter the first aid rendered. Too few individuals spread too far apart, or too genetically weakened, are susceptible to even small natural disasters: a passing thunderstorm; an unexpected freeze; drought. At fewer than 50 members, populations experience increasingly random fluctuations until a kind of fatal arrhythmia takes hold. Eventually, an entire genetic legacy, born in the beginnings of life on earth, is removed from the future. Scientists recognise that species continually disappear at a background extinction rate estimated at about one species per million per year, with new species replacing the lost in a sustainable fashion. Occasional mass extinctions convulse this orderly norm, followed by excruciatingly slow recoveries as new species emerge from the remaining gene-pool, until the world is once again repopulated by a different catalogue of flora and fauna. From what we understand so far, five great extinction events have reshaped earth in cataclysmic ways in the past 439 million years, each one wiping out between 50 and 95 per cent of the life of the day, including the dominant life forms; the most recent event killing off the non-avian dinosaurs. Speciations followed, but an analysis published in Nature showed that it takes 10 million years before biological diversity even begins to approach what existed before a die-off. Today were living through the sixth great extinction, sometimes known as the Holocene extinction event. We carried its seeds with us 50,000 years ago as we migrated beyond Africa with Stone Age blades, darts, and harpoons, entering pristine Ice Age ecosystems and changing them forever by wiping out at least some of the unique megafauna of the times, including, perhaps, the sabre-toothed cats and woolly mammoths. When the ice retreated, we terminated the long and biologically rich epoch sometimes called the Edenic period with assaults from our newest weapons: hoes, scythes, cattle, goats, and pigs. But, as harmful as our forebears may have been, nothing compares to whats under way today. Throughout the 20th century the causes of extinction habitat degradation, overexploitation, agricultural monocultures, human-borne invasive species, human-induced climate-change increased exponentially, until now in the 21st century the rate is nothing short of explosive. The World Conservation Unions Red List a database measuring the global status of Earths 1. million scientifically named species tells a haunting tale of unchecked, unaddressed, and accelerating biocide. When we hear of extinction, most of us think of the plight of the rhino, tiger, panda or blue whale. But these sad sagas are only small pieces of the extinction puzzle. The overall numbers are terrifying. Of the 40,168 species that the 10,000 scientists in the World Conservation Union have assessed, one in four mammals, one in eight birds, one in three amphibians, one in three conifers and other gymnosperms are at risk of e xtinction. The peril faced by other classes of organisms is less thoroughly analysed, but fully 40 per cent of the examined species of planet earth are in danger, including perhaps 51 per cent of reptiles, 52 per cent of insects, and 73 per cent of flowering plants. By the most conservative measure based on the last centurys recorded extinctions the current rate of extinction is 100 times the background rate. But the eminent Harvard biologist Edward O Wilson, and other scientists, estimate that the true rate is more like 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate. The actual annual sum is only an educated guess, because no scientist believes that the tally of life ends at the 1. 5 million species already discovered; estimates range as high as 100 million species on earth, with 10 million as the median guess. Bracketed between best- and worst-case scenarios, then, somewhere between 2. 7 and 270 species are erased from existence every day. Including today. We now understand that the majority of life on Earth has never been and will never be known to us. In a staggering forecast, Wilson predicts that our present course will lead to the extinction of half of all plant and animal species by 2100. You probably had no idea. Few do. A poll by the American Museum of Natural History finds that seven in 10 biologists believe that mass extinction poses a colossal threat to human existence, a more serious environmental problem than even its contributor, global warming; and that the dangers of mass extinction are woefully underestimated by almost everyone outside science. In the 200 years since French naturalist Georges Cuvier first floated the concept of extinction, after examining fossil bones and concluding the existence of a world previous to ours, destroyed by some sort of catastrophe, we have only slowly recognised and attempted to correct our own catastrophic behaviour. Some nations move more slowly than others. In 1992, an international summit produced a treaty called the Convention on Biological Diversity that was subsequently ratified by 190 nations all except the unlikely coalition of the United States, Iraq, the Vatican, Somalia, Andorra and Brunei. The European Union later called on the world to arrest the decline of species and ecosystems by 2010. Last year, worried biodiversity experts called for the establishment of a scientific body akin to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to provide a united voice on the extinction crisis and urge governments to action. Yet, despite these efforts, the Red List, updated every two years, continues to show metastatic growth. There are a few heartening examples of so-called Lazarus species lost and then found: the wollemi pine and the mahogany lider in Australia, the Jerdons courser in India, the takahe in New Zealand, and, maybe, the ivory-billed woodpecker in the United States. But for virtually all others, the Red List is a dry country with little hope of rain, as species ratchet down the listings from secure to vulnerable, to endangered, to critically endangered, to extinct. All these disappearing species are part of a fragile membrane of organisms wrapped around the Earth so thinly, writes Wilson, that it cannot be seen edgewise from a space shuttle, yet so internally complex that most species composing it remain undiscovered. We owe everything to this membrane of life. Literally everything. The air we breathe. The food we eat. The materials of our homes, clothes, books, computers, medicines. Goods and services that we cant even imagine well someday need will come from species we have yet to identify. The proverbial cure for cancer. The genetic fountain of youth. Immortality. Mortality. The living membrane we so recklessly destroy is existence itself. Biodiversity is defined as the sum of an areas genes (the building blocks of inheritance), species (organisms that can interbreed), and ecosystems (amalgamations of species in their geological and chemical landscapes). The richer an areas biodiversity, the tougher its immune system, since biodiversity includes not only the number of species but also the number of individuals within that species, and all the inherent genetic variations lifes only army against the diseases of oblivion. Yet its a mistake to think that critical genetic pools exist only in the gaudy show of the coral reefs, or the cacophony of the rainforest. Although a hallmark of the desert is the sparseness of its garden, the orderly progression of plants and the understated camouflage of its animals, this is only an illusion. Turn the desert inside out and upside down and youll discover its true nature. Escaping drought and heat, life goes underground in a tangled overexuberance of roots and burrows reminiscent of a rainforest canopy, competing for moisture, not light. Animal trails criss-cross this subterranean realm in private burrows engineered, inhabited, stolen, shared and fought over by ants, beetles, wasps, cicadas, tarantulas, spiders, lizards, snakes, mice, squirrels, rats, foxes, tortoises, badgers and coyotes. To survive the heat and drought, desert life pioneers ingenious solutions. Coyotes dig and maintain wells in arroyos, probing deep for water. White-winged doves use their bodies as canteens, drinking enough when the opportunity arises to increase their bodyweight by more than 15 per cent. Black-tailed jack rabbits tolerate internal temperatures of 111F. Western box turtles store water in their oversized bladders and urinate on themselves to stay cool. Mesquite grows taproots more than 160ft deep in search of moisture. These life-forms and their life strategies compose what we might think of as the body of the desert, with some species the lungs and others the liver, the blood, the skin. The trend in scientific investigation in recent decades has been toward understanding the interconnectedness of the bodily components, i. e. the effect one species has on the others. The loss of even one species irrevocably changes the desert (or the tundra, rainforest, prairie, coastal estuary, coral reef, and so on) as we know it, just as the loss of each human being changes his or her family forever. Nowhere is this better proven than in a 12-year study conducted in the Chihuahuan desert by James H Brown and Edward Heske of the University of New Mexico. When a kangaroo-rat guild composed of three closely related species was removed, shrublands quickly converted to grasslands, which supported fewer annual plants, which in turn supported fewer birds. Even humble players mediate stability. So when you and I hear of this years extinction of the Yangtze river dolphin, and think, how sad, were not calculating the deepest cost: that extinctions lead to co-extinctions because most living things on Earth support a few symbionts, while keystone species influence and support myriad plants and animals. Army ants, for example, are known to support 100 known species, from beetles to birds. One of the most alarming developments is the rapid decline not just of species but of higher taxa, such as the class Amphibia, the 00-million-year-old group of frogs, salamanders, newts and toads hardy enough to have preceded and then outlived most dinosaurs. Biologists first noticed die-offs two decades ago, and, since then, have watched as seemingly robust amphibian species vanished in as little as six months. The causes cover the spectrum of human environmental assaults, including rising ultraviolet radiation from a thinning ozone layer, increases in po llutants and pesticides, habitat loss from agriculture and urbanisation, invasions of exotic species, the wildlife trade, light pollution, and fungal diseases. Sometimes stressors merge to form an unwholesome synergy; an African frog brought to the West in the 1950s for use in human pregnancy tests likely introduced a fungus deadly to native frogs. Meanwhile, a recent analysis in Nature estimated that, in the past 20 years, at least 70 species of South American frogs had gone extinct as a result of climate change. In a 2004 analysis published in Science, Lian Pin Koh and his colleagues predict that an initially modest co-extinction rate will climb alarmingly as host extinctions rise in the near future. Graphed out, the forecast mirrors the rising curve of an infectious disease, with the human species acting all the parts: the pathogen, the vector, the Typhoid Mary who refuses culpability, and, ultimately, one of up to 100 million victims. Rewilding is bigger, broader, and bolder than humans have thought before. Many conservation biologists believe its our best hope for arresting the sixth great extinction. Wilson calls it mainstream conservation writ large for future generations. This is because more of what weve done until now protecting pretty landscapes, attempts at sustainable development, community-based conservation and ecosystem management will not preserve biodiversity through the critical next century. By then, half of all species will be lost, by Wilsons calculation. To save Earths living membrane, we must put its shattered pieces back together. Only megapreserves modelled on a deep scientific understanding of continent-wide ecosystem needs hold that promise. What I have been preparing to say is this, wrote Thoreau more than 150 years ago. In wildness is the preservation of the world. This, science finally understands. The Wildlands Project, the conservation group spearheading the drive to rewild North America by reconnecting remaining wildernesses (parks, refuges, national forests, and local land trust holdings) through corridors calls for reconnecting wild North America in four broad megalinkages: along the Rocky Mountain spine of the contine nt from Alaska to Mexico; across the arctic/boreal from Alaska to Labrador; along the Atlantic via the Appalachians; and along the Pacific via the Sierra Nevada into the Baja peninsula. Within each megalinkage, core protected areas would be connected by mosaics of public and private lands providing safe passage for wildlife to travel freely. Broad, vegetated overpasses would link wilderness areas split by roads. Private landowners would be enticed to either donate land or adopt policies of good stewardship along critical pathways. Its a radical vision, one the Wildlands Project expects will take 100 years or more to complete, and one that has won the project a special enmity from those who view environmentalists with suspicion. Yet the core brainchild of the Wildlands Project that true conservation must happen on an ecosystem-wide scale is now widely accepted. Many conservation organisations are already collaborating on the project, including international players such as Naturalia in Mexico, US national heavyweights like Defenders of Wildlife, and regional experts from the Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project to the Grand Canyon Wildlands Council. Kim Vacariu, the South-west director of the USs Wildlands Project, reports that ranchers are coming round, one town meeting at a time, and that there is interest, if not yet support, from the insurance industry and others who face the reality of car-wildlife collisions daily. At its heart, rewilding is based on living with the monster under the bed, since the big, scary animals that frightened us in childhood, and still do, are the fierce guardians of biodiversity. Without wolves, wolverines, grizzlies, black bears, mountain lions and jaguars, wild populations shift toward the herbivores, who proceed to eat plants into extinction, taking birds, bees, reptiles, amphibians and rodents with them. A tenet of ecology states that the world is green because carnivores eat herbivores. Yet the big carnivores continue to die out because we fear and hunt them and because they need more room than we preserve and connect. Male wolverines, for instance, can possess home ranges of 600 sq m. Translated, Greater London would have room for only one. The first campaign out of the Wildlands Projects starting gate is the spine of the continent, along the mountains from Alaska to Mexico, today fractured by roads, logging, oil and gas development, grazing, ski resorts, motorised back-country recreation and sprawl. The spine already contains dozens of core wildlands, including wilderness areas, national parks, national monuments, wildlife refuges, and private holdings. On the map, these scattered fragments look like debris falls from meteorite strikes. Some are already partially buffered by surrounding protected areas such as national forests. But all need interconnecting linkages across public and private lands farms, ranches, suburbia to facilitate the travels of big carnivores and the net of biodiversity that they tow behind them. The Wildlands Project has also identified the five most critically endangered wildlife linkages along the spine, each associated with a keystone species. Grizzlies already pinched at Crowsnest Pass on Highway Three, between Alberta and British Columbia, will be entirely cut off from the bigger gene pool to the north if a larger road is built. Greater sage grouse, Canada lynx, black bears and jaguars face their own lethal obstacles further south. But by far the most endangered wildlife-linkage is the borderland between the US and Mexico. The Sky Islands straddle this boundary, and some of North Americas most threatened wildlife jaguars, bison, Sonoran pronghorn, Mexican wolves cross, or need to cross, here in the course of their lifes travels. Unfortunately for wildlife, Mexican workers cross here too. Men, women, and children, running at night, one-gallon water jugs in hand. The problem for wildlife is not so much the intrusions of illegal Mexican workers but the 700-mile border fence proposed to keep them out. From an ecological perspective, it will sever the spine at the lumbar, paralysing the lower continent. Here, in a nutshell, is all thats wrong with our treatment of nature. Amid all the moral, practical, and legal issues with the border fence, the biological catastrophe has barely been noted. Its as if extinction is not contagious and we wont catch it. If, as some indigenous people believe, the jaguar was sent to the world to test the will and integrity of human beings, then surely we need to reassess. Border fences have terrible consequences. One between India and Pakistan forces starving bears and leopards, which can no longer traverse their feeding territories, to attack villagers. The truth is that wilderness is more dangerous to us caged than free and has far more value to us wild than consumed. Wilson suggests the time has come to rename the environmentalist view the real-world view, and to replace the gross national product with the more comprehensive genuine progress indicator, which estimates the true environmental costs of farming, fishing, grazing, mining, smelting, driving, flying, building, paving, computing, medicating and so on. Until then, its like keeping a ledger recording income but not expenses. Like us, the Earth has a finite budget.

Are Looks Worth It? Essay -- Eating Disorders Anorexia Health Essays

Are Looks Worth It? I was recently coming back from Parris Island, SC on a Greyhound bus when I noticed a young girl around my age sitting next to the window across the isle; she looked a lot like me, tall and slim. I did not think anything of it because I have a very fast metabolism and I eat all the time but can not gain weight. Well we stopped to get food and I noticed that she got stuff from McDonalds and was quietly eating her food. About ten minutes after she got done she ran to the back of the bus and into the bathroom. As she was running back there I heard people shouting gwow she just had to smell the food to pukeh, or gthere are way too many anorexic girls now in the world.h As I was hearing those comments I really wanted to stand up for her, but then I just sat there and thought, what do people think of me when I am eating? I have been pegged as an anorexic person my whole life. After awhile it actually starts to sound like a cover up when I tell people, no, I am not anorexic I just have a fast metabolism. A metabolism is all the chemical reactions in the body. When you have a fast metabolism, it is like your body is doing a bunch of exercises with out even moving, so your body burns all the fat; the fat which makes you over weight. People who are overweight and resort to an eating disorder have a hard time loving the person that they really are. There are more people in that Meredith2 situation then you actually think. According to Pirtle, a writer from Health magazine, gAccording to conservative estimates, eating disorders affect between 5 million and 10 million young women in the Untied States. This year, at least 50,000 individuals will die as a direct result of an eating disorder.h In my opinion if socie... ...ersity. 2 Dec 2003 http://search.epnet.com Colino, Stacey. gFreaky New Eating Disorders.h Cosmopolitan 235.6 (Dec 2003): 150 -151 MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO host Camden- Carroll Library Morehead State University. 2 Dec 2003. http://search.epnet.com gNews Briefs: Disordered Eating Attitudes and Behaviors Among Teenage Girls.h Healthy Weight Journal 16.2 (Mar- Apr 2002): 18. FactSearch. Camden- Carroll Library Morehead State University. 2 Dec 2003 OfDea, Jennifer. gThe New Self- Esteem Approach for the Prevention of Body Image and Eating Problems in Children and Adolescents.h Healthy Weight Journal. 16.6 (Nov- Dec. 2002): 89-93 Fact Search. Camden- Carroll Library Morehead State University. 2 Dec 2003 Pirtle, Jennifer. gMind: eWhy Donft They Just Eat?f.h Health 16.2 (Mar. 2002): 96+. Fact Search. Camden-Carroll Library Morehead State University. 2 Dec 2003.

Phoenix Jones Character Analysis Essay

They say with age, comes wisdom. They say a tough life will build tough people. That the world, no matter how terrible it may seem or how bad things get, is only what you make of it. This has never been shown more so by Phoenix Jackson from Eudora Welty’s â€Å"A Worn Path†. Encumbered with age and poverty, Phoenix shows fortitude, cleverness, and a child-like view of the world while traveling to the city for medicine. Welty’s love of literature from her mother, and classic writing style with African American characters (Marrs) is clearly displayed in â€Å"A Warn Path†. Eudora Welty, whose life spanned most of the 20th century, represented the world of the deep American South in multiple genres. In stories, novels, and photography, the Pulitzer Prize winner was especially interested in the relationship of place to character. Her art explores the impact of place on the life of the individual depending on race, gender, and economic status, as well as the reverse influence of the individual character on environment, which is exeptionally displayed in â€Å"A Warn Path† (Marrs). In â€Å"A worn path† an elderly african-american woman, named Pheonix Jones, is up against the world on her way to town. Armed with nothing but her cane, she maneuvers through obstactle after obstacle, showing perseverence in the highest fashion through every disincentive that inhibits her journey. As such, her story depicts the Depression in the United States from the vantage point of a victim insufficiently represented in art—though a victim who, like the mythological phoenix her name evokes, resists annihilation, Phoenix transcends the abuse she experiences. This essay will explore Eudora Welty’s character Phoenix Jones’s most exemplary traits. It will shine light on her fortitude, ingenuity, and light hearted view of the world. Provided along with Phoenix’s traits is examples in which she shows each trait, with direct reference to â€Å"A worn path†. Imagine, having every bone in your body weakened with over seventy plus years of aging. You now have the bones of Phoenix Jones. Weakened, she struggles to get to town. Yet, still she keeps trecking over every obstacle thrown at her. This calls to merit her outstanding fortitude. At one point she encounters a barbed wire fence. With barbs glaring at her, hungry to put a halt to her journey, â€Å"There she had to creep and crawl, spreading her knees and stretching her fingers like a baby trying to climb the steps. But she talked loudly to herself: she could not let her dress be torn now, so late in the day, and she could not pay for having her arm or her leg sawed off if she got caught fast where she was. At last she was safe throught the fence and risen up out of the clearing,† (Welty 850). This is a fine example of her phenominal perseverance and fortitude, showing she was not only going to get through, but she refused to let that fence make even a scratch on her dress. And even before that, at the start of her journey, she already had shown her tremendous amount of determination. As she starts out on her journey she exclaims with a fiery attitude â€Å"Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbits, coons and wild animals! Keep out from under theses feet, little bob whites. Keep the big wild hots out of my path. Don’t let none of those come running my direction. I got a long way† (Welty 849-850). This shows that her mind is already set on getting to town and nothing is stopping her. These fine examples show the true, raw determination and fortitude within Pheonix Jones, showing that she may be frail, but she is anything but weak. There are few things that make true â€Å"good character†. Imagination is one of them. No one has better imagination than a child. A child sees the world as something different†¦ something better. Phoenix Jones clearly holds her inner-child within herself after all these years. After traveling a piece she decides to rest. â€Å"Up above her was a tree in a pearly cloud of mistletoe. She did not dare to close her eyes, and when a little boy brought her a plate with a slice of marble cake on it she spoke to him. â€Å"That would be exceptable,† she said† (Welty 850). Her imagination peeking forth, this shows even through her journey, she imagines a little boy giving her a slice of delicious cake, presenting that everything does not have to be serious. A little piece onward, she shows her enlightening imagination running wild again as she runs up on a menacing scarecrow that she gazes at from a distance. â€Å"Ghost,† she said sharply, â€Å"who you be the ghost of? For I have heard of nary death close by. †Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ She found a coat inside that an emtiness, cold as ice. â€Å"You scarecrow† she said†¦ †Dance, old scare crow† she said, â€Å"while I dancing with you. † She kicked her foot over the furrow, and with mouth drawn down, shook her head once or twice in a little strutting way,† (Welty 851). Her fun loving child-like nature is highlighted through this passage, showing that she took a fear, and enlightened it when she found out it was a scarecrow, dancing with it, showing the trophy of imagination and optimism. Welty shows through Pheonix that imagination will never die, and that it is a precious tool to get over any obstacle. Further down the warn path, Phoenix is greeted by a discourteous hunter helping her up after she fell in a ditch in the wake of a nosy dog coming to investigate this strange intruder. This point is where she shows her cleverness and wit. As she is talking to the hunter, â€Å" Without warning, she had seen with her own eyes a flashing nickel fall out of the man’s pocket onto the ground† (Welty 843), and she said nothing. As it continues the hunter runs off and she wittily bent over in his absence and â€Å"The yellow palm of her hand came out from the fold of her apron. Her fingers slid down and along the ground under the piece of money with the grace and care they would have in lifting an egg from under a setting hen†(Welty 843). As he later lies about having money to spare, this presents her wit, as she gained five cents from this brash traveller who has the audacity to later hold a gun to her head as a joke, which does not intimidate her, and only shows once again the fortitude previously stated in the last paragraph. As she gets to her destination, a clinic that she gets medicine from, she meets an attendant when she first walks in. She came to claim a bottle of medicine through charity for her grandson, which may just be a guise to get free medication, which in itself is a example of clever planning, the example I am using is of her interaction with the attendant. â€Å"It’s Christmas time, Grandma,† said the attendant. â€Å"Could I give you a few pennies out of my purse? † â€Å"Five pennies is a nickel,† said Phoenix stiffly† â€Å"Here’s a nickel,† said the attendant† (Welty 856). She persuades the attendant to give her a nickel, which in total gives her a dime, showing her witty resourcefulness. Whether she uses this ten cent for her grandson a windmill, or something else she wishes to buy, her adept skill and dexterity is presented as she uses wit and expierence to claim these precious boons. Pheonix Jones is a woman of many traits. From her perseverance to her sly inginuity, she uses all her characteristics to get through â€Å"A Warn Path†. She shows her child like perception in a way that eases the burdon of travelling. To the hills and back again seven times fold, her fortitude and will is an object of pure sovereinty over obstacles in her way and in her head. And with just a little bit of quick thinking and bamboozlement she was able to obtain a secondary reward from her journey, a skill that comes in handy throughout her life. Pheonix Jones is a pure, text book definition of strong.

Is There Still a Place for Recess? Essay

In an era where each passing time is becoming an instrument towards one’s progress, every hour is considered critical. But is this ideal appropriate for children especially those who are still in their first step towards learning? Break time, or recess as it is more commonly known, becomes an increasingly hot topic when it comes to a child’s learning activity and capability. In 1989, the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) surveyed state superintendents and found that 90% of schools grant their students at least one break period each day (Jarrett, 2002). However, during the same year, in the hopes of lengthening the students’ time for studying, many schools abolished break times. Most schools also reason out their increasing accountability for providing students with effective education pressures them to pack in more instructional time for children and thus, eliminating break times for the day. They also feel that break times have no effect on a children’s learning progress and in fact, can do more harm than good. More people believe that recess heightens unacceptable behaviour in schools. According to the Elton Committee when asked to describe the long lunch break period, recess is â€Å"the single biggest behaviour problem that [staff] face† (Department of Education and Science, 1989, as cited in Blatchford & Sumpner, 1998). Since children becomes more free during break times and are more often unsupervised during these times, most believe that it is during these times that bullying and violence occur. In this day and age where time is considered critical is there still a place for recess? Does recess assist in a child’s learning or does it just pose a problem to a child’s learning progress? This paper presents several recent studies on the said topic to discuss the relationship, and perhaps importance, of recess on a child’s learning progress, social development and health (Jarrett, 2002). The studies selected for this paper’s review are those that present the positive side of having recess at school. Presentation of the studies are in chronological order, that is, from the older studies conducted during 1998 to the more recent studies conducted until [year]. Furthermore, this paper hopes to determine or suggest some policies regarding recess and break times that can actually help in child’s learning capability. STUDIES ON RECESS AND ITS POSITIVE EFFECTS ON STUDENTS Blatchford and Sumpner (1998) conducted â€Å"a national survey examining the current situation and changes over the past 5 years† (Abstract, p. 79) because they think that break times, and its positive effects on children’s learning progress, are taken for granted. Moreover, they conducted the study because they believe that school staff members and parents alike lack the information, even the basic ones, on the characteristics of break times. Their sample included 1245 primary schools and 300 secondary schools. They found that majority of school staff members and parents have a negative view of break time but they seem to not notice the possible social value of break times to students. They also found students (16-year-olds) consider break time a big issue and think that this very issue should be taken seriously and considered throughout school life. In addition to this, students perceive that break times lets them take a break from ‘work’ and provide them with the opportunity to socialize and make friends. This is where the importance of break times comes in. Blatchford and Sumpner (1998) explain that as the students go from the primary to the secondary level of schooling, their social lives becomes more important and more critical. Thus, for the students, break times allow them to be sociable in deeper ways. For Blatchford and Sumpner (1998), this underlying principle should be considered by the school staff members so they can understand the importance of break periods. In 2002, Pellegrini and Blatchford discussed the importance of school recess to children’s development. They found that children become less and less attentive while their class lessons last. However, after they have taken their break time, they surprisingly become more focused on their class work. This is because recess serves as a break and relaxation period for a child’s tiring work of listening to his teacher. Children are more tired in the morning before the break since they have only just woke up and are still adjusting over the time. After the break, their body and mind become more relaxed and thus, they can focus more on their work. Pellegrini and Blatchford (2002) offered two educational theories that can explain why children become more alert after recess. According to one theory, the distribution of work and rest over the day helps in relaxing the mind and body and increasing the cognitive performance of any person regardless of age. Another theory explains that the longer time spent by a person working over one particular demanding decrease the cognitive performance of that person over that particular task. While adults may regain their focus on their work by switching to another less complicated work, children may regain their attention to the task at hand by providing them with break periods so they can have time to adjust. Pellegrini and Blatchford (2002) further contends the same argument as with Blatchford and Sumpner (1998) — that recess aid children in their social development. This particular argument is presented by the succeeding researchers as discussed in this paper. In the same year, Jarrett (2002) reviewed other researches on the effect of recess on children’s learning, social development and health. She also presented some of the negative connotations about recess. Relating recess to learning, Jarrett (2002) argues that since recess is a form of break from one’s daily routine, it becomes essential for children as it aids them to be satisfied and stay alert for the rest of the day. Jarrett also explains, as did Blatchford and Sumpner (1998), that recess becomes a tool for the social interaction of children. She explains that children become more socially active since during this time of the day, children learn to be independent by organizing their own games and deciding on the rules of the games they organize. Recess also becomes a tool for children to have physical activity in school since this is the time where children moves more freely and can decide on their own. Jarrett (2002) emphasizes the importance of break times with regards to physical activity since physical activities can significantly improve children’s health. In connection with Jarrett’s (2002) argument about physical activity during recess, Beighle et al. (2006) examined the physical activity of students during recess and outside of school (Abstract, p. 516) by studying pedometer-determined activities of 319 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students attending suburban elementary schools in southwest United States. According to them, it was during these times that children have more choices on which activity they want to participate in. They further contend that it is during these discretionary periods that children gain more â€Å"potential to make a significant contribution to children’s overall activity levels† (p. 516) since they experience these breaks everyday. They found that children engage in physical activity more during their recess period than in any other time of the day including outside of school and classes. Because of this, they suggested that schools should make more equipment available during these times to further encourage the children to engage in physical activities. Riley and Jones (2007) also reviewed some related studies on the positive effects of physical activity during recess. They strongly support Jarrett’s (2002) argument on the impact of recess on children’s social development. According to them, some children may start out as timid and apprehensive in their first days at school. Recess, however, gives them an opportunity to reach out to other children by playing and interacting with them. Moreover, conflicts between peers can be resolved during these times. It is also during these times that children learn what behaviours are expected of them. Adding to assisting in the social development of children, recess can also be an instrument to their language development. Recess provides opportunities for children not just to play with others but also to practice their conversation skills since it is during these times that children engage in conversations more freely with their peers without the fear of being reprimanded by their teachers. Riley and Jones (2007) also support others’ argument that recess can aid in children’s physical development. Kahan (2008), along with the others, supports the idea that physical activity, especially during childhood, helps children in more ways than one. He contends that schools should go beyond what physical education can offer in order to address the increasing reports of physical inactivity among children. According to him, physical educations in most schools are only offered with a cumulative duration of 85 to 98 minutes per week. However, the recommended daily physical activity of children each week should be more than 60 minutes. Moreover, not all schools have physical education in their curriculum. In fact, only 17 to 22 percent offer physical education to their students. Thus, physical education does not significantly contribute to a student’s physical activity. Kahan (2008) recommends that schools should provide children with sufficient break time periods along with other extracurricular activities since these are the times where children engage in more physical activities than in classrooms or physical education classes. According to him, recess contributes to one-third of the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity. Thus, Kahan (2008) purports that break times should not be abolished, but rather should be expanded. CONCLUSION Because of certain misconceptions about recess, more and more schools choose to abolish these periods due to their belief that recess can do more harm than good. Staff members and parents alike believe that inappropriate behaviors such as bullying and violence are mostly done during recess. Moreover, many schools believed that recess only distracts the focus of students from learning and that it only obstructs instructional time thus, posing a threat to their learning progress. However, researches contend that, in contrary to these beliefs, recess actually do more good to students than harm. Studies show that recess aid in children’s social, physical and even language development. During recess, children are freer to choose which types of activities they want to participate in, giving them a sense of independence and teaching them decision-making skills. They learn to organize their own activities during recess without the fear of rejection from their teachers. They also learn to interact with other children by playing with them or conversing with them, thus, increasing their ability to socialize with others. They can either make new friends or resolve conflicts with peers. Children’s language development is also aided by recess. Children do not just learn to interact with others; they also practice their conversation skills by talking or discussing with their friends no matter whatever their topic is. Thus, recess also contributes to children’s academic achievement. Moreover, recess acts as a cognitive interference for children so that they can regain their focus on their class work. Adding to the fact that it is during this time that children eat, recess also provides children to have more physical activities since this is the time where they can move and play free without fear of being reprimanded by their teachers. These physical activities which range from moderately vigorous to vigorous activities help children in becoming physical fit. All in all, it is safe to say that recess have more positive than negative effects. Thus, it is advised that such periods where children can develop in more ways than should not be abolished. REFERENCES Beighle, A. , Morgan, C. F. , Masurier, G. L. , & Pangrazi, R. P. (2006). Children’s physical activity during recess and outside of school. The Journal of School Health, 76(10), 516-520. Blatchford, P. , & Sumpner, C. (1998). What do we know about breaktime? Results from a national survey of breaktime and lunchtime in primary and secondary schools. British Educational Research Journal, 24(1), 79-94. Jarrett, O. S. (2002). Recess in elementary school: What does the research say? ERIC Digest. Kahan, D. (2008). Recess, extracurricular activities, and active classrooms: Means for increasing elementary school students’ physical activity. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 79(2), 26-39. Pellegrini, A. , & Blatchford, P. (2002). The developmental and educational significance of recess in schools. Early Report, 29(1), 1-7. Riley, J. G. , & Jones, R. B. (2007). When girls and boys play: What research tells us. Childhood Education, 84(1), 38-43.

Example Sentences of the Verb Pay

Example Sentences of the Verb Pay This page provides example sentences of the verb pay in all tenses including active and passive forms, as well as conditional and modal forms. Base Form pay / Past Simple paid / Past Participle paid / Gerund paying Present Simple Jack usually pays by credit card. Present Simple Passive The bill is paid at the end of every month. Present Continuous Tom is paying the bill now. Present Continuous Passive The bill is being paid now. Present Perfect Have you paid the telephone bill yet? Present Perfect Passive Has the telephone bill been paid yet? Present Perfect Continuous Jill has been paying their bills for years. Past Simple Tom paid for the vacation last month. Past Simple Passive The vacation was paid for by Tom last month. Past Continuous She was paying the waiter when the man walked into the restaurant. Past Continuous Passive The bill was being paid when the man walked into the restaurant. Past Perfect Peter had already paid the bill when I offered to get it. Past Perfect Passive The bill had already been paid when I offered to get it. Past Perfect Continuous She had been paying off all the accounts when her debt was forgiven. Future (will) Alice will pay him soon. Future (will) Passive He will be paid soon by Alice. Future (going to) Alice is going to pay him at the end of the week. Future (going to) Passive He is going to be paid at the end of the week. Future Continuous This time next week we will be paying off all the employees. Future Perfect He will have been paid over $100,000 by the end of the year. Future Possibility She might pay for dinner. Real Conditional If she pays for dinner, we wont eat very much. Unreal Conditional If she paid for dinner, we wouldnt eat very much. Past Unreal Conditional If she had paid for dinner, we wouldnt have eaten so much. Present Modal She must pay all her bills this week. Past Modal She cant have paid all her bills last month! Quiz: Conjugate With Pay Use the verb to pay to conjugate the following sentences. Quiz answers are below. In some cases, more than one answer may be correct. The bill _____ at the end of every month.Tom _____ for the vacation last month.The bill _____ when the man walked into the restaurant.Alice _____ him soon. I promise.He _____ over $100,000 by the end of the year._____ the telephone bill _____ yet?Peter _____ already _____ the bill when I offered to get it.If she _____ for dinner, we wouldnt eat very much._____ you p_____ the telephone bill yet?He _____ at the end of the week as scheduled.   Quiz Answers is paidpaidwas being paidwill paywill have been paidHas  been paidhad already paid  paidHavepaidis going to be paid

Stegoceras - Facts and Figures

Stegoceras - Facts and Figures Name: Stegoceras (Greek for roof horn); pronounced STEG-oh-SEH-rass Habitat: Forests of western North America Historical Period: Late Cretaceous (75 million years ago) Size and Weight: Up to six feet long and 100 pounds Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Light build; bipedal posture; extremely thick skull in males About Stegoceras Stegoceras was the prime example of a pachycephalosaur (thick-headed lizard)a family of ornithischian, plant-eating, two-legged dinosaurs of the late Cretaceous period, characterized by their extremely thick skulls. This otherwise sleekly built herbivore had a noticeable dome on its head made of almost-solid bone; paleontologists speculate that Stegoceras males held their heads and necks parallel to the ground, build up a head of speed, and rammed each other on the noggins as hard as they could. (They may also, secondarily, have used their heads to butt away the flanks of encroaching tyrannosaurs, though we have no objective proof of this behavior.) The sensible question is: What was the point of this Three Stooges routine? Extrapolating from the behavior of present-day animals, its likely that Stegoceras males head-butted each other for the right to mate with females. This theory is supported by the fact that researchers have discovered two distinct varieties of Stegoceras skulls, one of which is thicker than the other and presumably belonged to the males of the species. (However, some paleontologists dispute this theory, noting that such high-speed collisions would tend to be disadvantageous from an evolutionary perspectivefor example, a dizzy, concussed Stegoceras could easily be picked off by a hungry raptor!) The type specimen of Stegoceras was named by the famous Canadian paleontologist Lawrence Lambe in 1902, following its discovery in the Dinosaur Provincial Park formation of Alberta, Canada. For a few decades, this unusual dinosaur was believed to be a close relative of Troodon (which was actually a saurischian rather than an ornithischian dinosaur, and thus resided on an entirely different branch of the dinosaur family tree), until the discovery of further pachycephalosaur genera made its provenance clear. For better or for worse, Stegoceras is the standard by which all subsequent pachycephalosaurs have been judgedwhich is not necessarily a good thing, considering how much confusion still exists about the behavior and growth stages of these dinosaurs. For example, the presumed pachycephalosaurs Dracorex and Stygimoloch may have been either juvenile, or unusually aged adults, of the well-known genus Pachycephalosaurus and at least two fossil specimens that were initially assigned to Stegoceras have since been promoted to their own genera, Colepiocephale (Greek for knucklehead) and Hanssuesia (named after the Austrian scientist Hans Suess).

Regulatory, Legal, Ethical, and Accreditation Issues in Research Assignment

Regulatory, Legal, Ethical, and Accreditation Issues in Research - Assignment Example not tell what/when/why and how the situation been study came about .It is mainly used in calculating frequencies, mean and other statistical derivations. For the case of homeless people, the point-in-time count falls under this research method, as it will only give the number of homeless people in the streets and not how or why they are there. Analytical statistics on the other hand answers the questions why/how/when a characteristic happened. It shows co-relation between two events whose occurrence affects the other. It entails taking calculated action on the agent affecting the subject been studied. It focuses on coming up with ways to improve the future state of the subject matter (Clark, 2007). For instance in the case of the homeless, analytical research will come how they end up in the streets in the first place. It will also bring about an inter-relationship for instance why some people from certain background are more likely to end in the streets than the rest. Evaluative research on the other hand seeks to study whether measures or programs put in place are efficient in curbing the agent affecting the subject matter. It uncovers the effects of a process or agent on a population. Concerning the homeless, this research method will cover on the necessary programs put in place to ensure the homeless either are completely off the streets or are able to receive necessary