Pick a topic based on the assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pick a topic based on the assignment - Essay Example This he meant a spiritual and perhaps political leader who guides and instructs his Muslim brothers to fulfill the tasks given by Allah. In essence, it was a question of his morality. The life he had in the United States -- full of racial slur, anti-Islamic sentiment, etc. -- drove him to ponder the most important riddle that involves his humanity, religion, and conscience. Lippman was correct to say that man’s conscience grows with his social condition (101). Opposed to static, hard, or vessel-like morality, Qutb’s conscience was radically changed when he witnessed the decline of faith and virtue in the highly urbanized society. With that experience, he was transformed in spirit and mind. Qutb was also a writer. He wrote doctrines that created a significant ripple in the Muslim world. Qutb’s writing basically reflects his ideas and reflections about life, faith, and spirituality. Further, his personal journal substantially shows the ever changing content and deg ree of passion of his mindset and belief. The writings of Qutb, especially his diary entries, were meant for himself: the evaluation of the self. Confusion and chaos were not alien to the Islamic scholar. Immersed in a somewhat â€Å"sinful† world, Qutb’s mind was not a solid vessel but a fluid matter -- requiring himself to form and reform his ideals and perspective.

Article summary Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Summary - Article Example Humor and laughter are closely related however these are not synonymous. One can laugh without a humorous stimulus and similarly one can experience humor without laughter. Historically humor history is perceived to be 35000 years old. Almost every culture spends appreciable time communicating in a humorous context. No single humor theory is universally accepted however, three essential themes, are repeatedly observed in the majority of humor theories: 1) humor reflects a set of incongruous conceptualizations, 2) humor involves repressed sexual or aggressive feelings, and 3) humor elevates social status by demonstrating superiority or saving face. It has been discussed that animals also show response to humorous behavior. With respect to genetics, it has been observed that women laugh 126% more than men during conversations with each other. Brain damage, particularly in the frontal lobes, causes deficits of humor appreciation. The elucidation of the neurobiology of humor has benefited from two approaches: 1) observing the effects of various brain lesions on humor perception and 2) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, which monitor brain activity in normal subjects while perceiving humor. Despite language and cultural barriers, humor in traditional societies is generally comprehensible to visiting anthropologists. Two humor phenomena especially standout in the anthropological literature: joking relationships and clowns. There is no way to know with certainty when humor evolved relative to language although it would appear that at least sophisticated humor must have succeeded language. The credible range for the origins of language lands between a few hundred thousand years to about 2-4 million years ago. There is increasing evidence that a new level of symbolic thought was achieved around 50,000 years ago. A figurine integrating the head of a lion with the legs of a person dated around 32,000 years old is among the earliest evidence for symbolic art. Humor can perhaps be framed as an incongruent social concept â€Å"violating† the essence of a congruent social concept. Dunbar (1993) has put forward a theory that, in primates, neocortical size is proportional to group size and that language ultimately replaced grooming as the primary social bond .Humor is a fascinating cognitive function. The relative ease in how we use it belies its considerable complexity. To conclude humor appears to be a function of Homo sapiens’ augmented social abilities and as an extension of language, could perhaps be the most complex cognitive function in the animal kingdom. The origins of language, spirituality, hominid group size and animal teasing may have particular relevance to humor. A number of humankind’s higher cognitive functions could well be inextricably rooted in humor’s evolutionary history, thus making this subject worthy of further exploration. Works Cited Polimeni & P.Riess , â€Å"The First Joke: Explor ing the Evolutionary Origins of Humor†, Evolutionary Psychology human-nature.com/ep – 2006. 4: P347-366,JPReiss@cc.umanitoba.ca Web 23 Mar 2011, http://www.epjournal.net/filestore/ep04347366.pdf [Professor’s Name] [Writer’s Name] [Course Title] [Date] Laughter; A scientific investigation Laughter is part of universal human vocabulary, produced and recognized by all people of all cultures. Laughter is instinctive behavior programmed by our genes, not by vocal community in which we grow up. Laughter can

Assessment and process of medical education

Assessment and process of medical education Assessment plays an important role in the process of medical education as it is an effective tool which detect quality in students training to motivate and direct them to what they must learn(1). Assessment drives learning this statement focus on the essential role of assessment as well planned and implemented assessment has an important steering effect on learning because it transfers what is important to learn and motivate students for learning(2). Many people argued that as the curriculum should be the key which motivate learning while assessment should be designed to be sure that learning outcomes have occurred, So assessment tool must has clarity of the learning purpose and must be designed to drive educational intent and maximize learning(3). Constructive alignment is an important influential idea in which the students construct meaning from related learning activities and teachers apply learning environment which support planned learning activities to achieve the intended learning outcomes(4). So constructive alignment makes the teaching systems consistent when curriculum, learning activities and assessment methods are aligned with intended learning outcomes(5) . Moreover, assessment may reveal learning outcome which isnt expected but it is recognized as important outcome, so it must be integrated into the intended learning outcome as emergent outcome(6). Formative assessment promotes deeper learning as it provides students with feedback to encourage them to know their strength and weakness which reinforce students internal motivation to learn and improve their knowledge and skills(7). Summative assessment is a final assessment which determine the rank-order students and decide grades(1). Wass et al(7) argued superficial learning which aim mainly on passing the examination and they emphasized on the importance of feedback on students assessment which encourage student reflection and deep learning. However, Epstein(8) showed that summative assessment influence learning even in the absence of feedback as students study what they expect to be tested on. Although formative and summative assessment are stark in contrast, they are both necessary and distinction between them should be made to detect which assessment is suitable only for formative use or have sufficient rigorous for summative use(7). Van der Vleuten and Schuwirth(9) emphasize d that formative and summative assessment can be used with little difference with focusing on the development of comprehensive assessment programme in which both encourage learning and right decision about learners. I will focus my writing on written assessment as I am involved in assessing written examination of MSc of Radiology scince 5 years. According to Miller pyramid we use written assessment to assess the domain of cognition, either factual recall of knowledge knows or application of knowledge and problem solving knows how. We use written assessment in the form of essays and multiple choice questions in formative assessment of the residents and in summative assessment of final exam. Our final written exam formed of two papers of essays, each one formed of four essay questions with three hours duration for each, and third paper of 20 multiple choice questions with one hour duration. When we prepare a written exam we identify the level of residents training to apply test which assess knowledge appropriate to students experience. Essay questions are effective method for assessing cognitive skills as they can assess ability of students to form answer and measure their attitude and opinions, also they can give students effective feedback on their learning(10,11). But it has the disadvantage of being time-consuming test to grade and its test doesnt cover a wide domain. Newble and Cannon(11) stated that essay is either extended response questions which are useful in assessing higher cognitive skills like analysis, synthesis , problem solving, and restricted response questions used for testing knowledge of lower level but it has the advantage of being more reliable as scoring variation can decreased with it. Epstein(8) stated that well structured essay with clear framework can eliminate cueing and maintain more cognitive process with context rich answers. We usually used extended response questions by which we assess students higher level of knowledge, but I think for improving essay test utility, we must make mix of the two essays types with using clear words on constructing questions like using describe, criticize and compare instead of discuss to direct students to desired answer, as I find some poor structured essay questions in our exam, for example discuss radiological imaging of breast mass which I can change it to be compare between ultrasoun d and mammography for differentiating breast mass. Van der vleuten(12) stated five criteria to assess assessment tool utility which are reliability, validity, educational impact, acceptability and cost effectiveness. Reliability measures consistency of the assessment test and it is often described as reliability per hour of testing time as time is a limiting factor during exam, so essays are low reliable than MCQ because it require longer time to answer(13). Schuwrith and Van der Vleuten(14) stated that inter-case correlation of different essays in certain test is low as the essays numbers which can be asked in a certain test is limited. Chase(15) stated that essay scoring is a complex process as it has many variables which are essay content, writer, rater and other colleague variability with their significant writing effect. The most important type of reliability for rater-type assessment is inter-rater reliability, single inter-rater reliability (which mean correlation between two raters) ranges from 0.3 to 0.8 as this depend on topic of the essay, the essay length, the rater experience and the level of rater training(16). But Munro(17) et al stated that single inter-rater reliability can be regularly obtained as 0.7 if there is continuous extensive rater training. On agreement with those authors about increasing inter-rater reliability we already use double markers for assessing essays question and the mean of their score is calculated to be the end score. Essays are poor objective test for assessing learning outcomes as there is variability in the assessment scores through different examiner with variation of perfect answer (18,19). Norman et al(20) stated that providing structured marking of the essay may improve its reliability but it may cause process trivialization. Schuwrith and Van der Vleuten(14) emphasized that using one marker for each essay for all students is more reliable than one marker for all essays of the same student. Davis(18) stated that using double marking for the same question is mandatory to reduce variation incidence between the markers. Beattie and James(21) suggested using checklist in marking essay to reduce subjectivity and improve objectivity of essay as it provides the examiner with key point of each item and its allocated marks. As mentioned before, double markers are applied in our radiology department for assessing each question but we dont use checklist in marking the essay question, so I think this m ake our examination less reliable with poor objectivity and we have to use checklist with specific marks on each part of the question. Validity is the ability of assessing method to measure what is purported to(19). The valid method will reflect what the students achieved from intended learning objectives of the course, so increasing the test item is essential for more valid test, therefore the validity of the essays is limited(6). Brown(22) advises using large numbers of short essays to improve its reliability and validity and to reduce sampling errors. However, Davis(18) argued that as this may cause more time consuming to mark. As we begin to apply a test blueprint to determine the main content of the test which must have high content validity to cover intended learning objectives, we have to use larger number of shorter essays to be eight to ten short essays instead of four long essays according to test blueprint. Van der Vleuten(23) stated that assessment methods should have content validity which must be designed and mapped on a blueprint. Modified essay questions was initially produced by the Royal College of General Practitioners in London and are widely used now(11). Davis(18) stated the importance of using context rich scenario which will direct the students to answer with precise data and increase exam reality. Schuwirth and Van der Vleuten(14) showed that written case-simulation essay appeared to be more valid as its questions focus on history taking, diagnosis, investigation and examination findings which are closely related to real practice. However Swanson et al (24) argued that as these essays arent suitable for assessing problem solving questions. Newble and Cannon(11) showed that certain skills is needed for constructing modified essay questions to avoid giving idea about answers of a previous question or punshing the student on question constructing error. Also, Schuwirth and Van der Vleuten(13) emphasized that considerable structure of essay question is necessary but over-structuring may lead to limited i ncrease in its reliability, As we use essays in both formative and summative assessment we have to use modified essays instead of traditional essays especially in resident formative assessment as we returned it to students with its model answer for discussing during the tutorial, as this will encourage student critical thinking and reflection, but also we must take training about constructing modified essay questions to avoid poor form which may cause assessment error. Schuwirth and Van der Vleuten(13) advised using essays in limited occasions when objective tests are not suitable, Objective written tests like short answer question, matching exercise and multiple choice questions ( MCQ) have the advantage of being economic, rapidly scoring, high reliable and evaluate the student in large content(25). There are two major format of MCQ which are True/False format and single best answer. True/False format can cover a broad amount of the topics and are easily marked but they mainly measure definitions and simple facts(26). Case and Swanson(27) explained why using True/False format is markedly reduced as it is not only difficult to construct but it mainly used to assess recalling of isolated fact to avoid ambiguous items, also they cant detect if the student who identify correctly the false statement knows the right answer or not. Another disadvantage of true/false format is their high probability of guessing(28). To overcome guessing, negative marking was achieved in which there is deducing marks for the wrong answer, but these may produce negative psychometric results(25). We sometimes use true/false format instead of single best answer, as we think it covers a broad items in the curriculum and can measure complex outcomes but we dont apply negative marking for MCQ correction as we think that is stressful to the students, also I have bad memory about using negative marking when I was medical student at 2nd year I got 19/50 in physiology MCQ test and this caused to me poor willingness to MCQ risk. When, I read carefully a previous exam of True/False format, unfortunately I find some unambiguous questions which may cause a critical failure for these questions. So I think we must limit using these types only for assessing definitions and facts identifications and apply other types of objective tests to avoid the guessing probability of true/false format. This is in agreement with Schuwrith et al(13) who stated that True/false questions are only suitable when the question purpose is to evaluate if the student is able to determine the correctness of hypothesis. MCQ are able to evaluate broad range of learning outcomes within a short time and limited human intervention, also they have low guessing probability with free question of ambiguity(29). In the tutorial of decembrer 2010, there is a debate about effect of MCQ guessing on test reliability, but I learn from the discussion an interesting concept which emphasized that guessing doesnt change test reliability as good student is a good guesser. For constructing good MCQ items it is essential to have a good idea about the content, study the objective of the assessment and apply high quality form for items writing(27). MCQ consist of stem and several options, stem is formed of sentence or question and may be accompanied by diagrams or tables, while the correct option is defined as keyed response and the wrong options are called distracters(29,30). Case and Swanson(27) stated that MCQ must be well structured to be simple, easily understood with using plausible distracters, also grammatical errors especially using negative and inaccurate words like never, sometimes, frequently and usually should be avoided as they may lead to examinees confusions(31). Lowe(32) stated that the useful distracters should demonstrate a misconception between the students about the right option, so writing many plausible distracters is a difficult part for MCQ construction with more time consuming. The flaws of writing distracters which include using more than correct answer, using all of the above or none of the above, or making the right option is the longest one should be avoided(33). MCQ reliability increase with removing non plausible distraction(34,35). Although we choose MCQ from question banks or MCQ books to reduce the examination preparation time , unfortunately I find many drawbacks in our last MCQ exam, firstly one question contains doubl e negatives, also in another question I find it was easily to eliminate some distracters, while other questions contain inaccurate words which are sometimes and always. So I think we must take care during choosing MCQ distracters which should appear to the students as a valid answer while it is incorrect, also we must avoid apparent incorrect or plain distracters. So, we need to take training courses for MCQ preparation and writing MCQ stems and distracters to avoid MCQ flaws and constructing good items. Collins(30) showed that MCQ have the disadvantage of being test knowledge recognition rather than constructing answer. Mcaleer(31) argued that as MCQ are an objective test which doesnt allow students the chance for giving additional information and doesnt apply examiner to put judgment on student answer quality. I agree with Mcaleer(31) as we use MCQ as an objective test to assess understanding knowledge of a broad range of learning objectives within a short time. Reliability is refered to reproducibility of the assessment score and it is expressed as a coefficient which range from 1 for perfect reliability and 0 for no reliability. MCQ are widely used due its high reliability which is attributed to its ability to assess broad amount of knowledge by providing large number of items which address areas of context specificity within a short time(7,30). Downing(36) stated that written test especially MCQ has high internal consistency reliability as the test score would be near the same if exam is repeated at later time. Van der vleuten and Schuwirth(9) showed that the predominant factor which affect reliability is domain as competence depend on context specificity. While McCoubrie(25) argued that and he stated that the assumption of MCQ as a reliable test is weak as they are only reliable because they maintain a time efficient test with wild sampling of topics. Van der vleuten and Schuwirth(9) stated that the reliability of MCQ test in one hour is 0.62 which is increased to 0.93 for four hours test due to using more items number. Wass etal(37) stated that for important exam in which stakes are high a high reliability of 0.8 or more is essential to determine pass-fail decision but for formative assessment lower reliability can be accepted. Our final MCQ exam contain 20 questions with examination time of one hour, s has low reliability due to small number of items within short time which miss many objectives of our curriculum, So I think we have to increase the question numbers to cover more knowledge of context specificity and consequentially increase the test time to improve the test reliability. A criticism of MCQ validity as it measures the factual knowledge and doesnt integrate skills, attitude and communication skills(25). Downing and Yudkowsky(38) emphasized that knowledge is the single best domain which determine expertise, so MCQ is a valid competence method which assess cognitive knowledge. Collins(30) stated that MCQ have a high validity if it represents a wide sample of content that serve the objective learning outcomes. However, Shumway and Harden(1) critic that as MCQ asses discrete superficial knowledge not deep understanding as they designed to detect what students know or dont know. Blooms taxonomy of educational objectives is a hierarchy of knowledge for different cognitive level which are knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation(39). While educators simplified Blooms taxonomy into three levels which are knowledge recalling, comprehension and analysis, and problem solving(11). Case and Swanson(27) and Mcaleer(31) showed that well-structured MCQ can assess the taxonomic higher cognitive process like interpretation, application and analysis rather than assessing recalling of facts. Peitzman et al(40) argued that as they stated using higher-order MCQ doesnt improve MCQ validity but it makes them more real and acceptable to students and examiner. Also, Frederiksen(41) stated it is difficult to construct MCQ with rich context as item writers tend to escape from topics which cant be easily asked. In agreement with Case and Swanson(27) and Mcaleer(31), we try to choose MCQ level with different cognitive level, and when I revise our MCQ tests I find some questions which can assess recalling of knowledge(Q*) and other assess problem solving(Q**) for the same topic, example of this is: Q*:what is the effective measure which reduce radiation of CT chest? a-120 mA b-150 mA c-200 mA d-250 mA Q**:what of the following will reduce dose of radiation for CT chest? a-reducing mA from 250 to 150 b- reducing KVp from 160 to 120 c-reducing the pitch to be 1 instead of 2 d-reducing scanning time to be 1 instead of 2 Blueprint is an important powerful tool for integrated curriculum as it maintain assessing all its intended learning objectives.(42). Our faculty assessment centre members work in progress and they make many orientation about blueprint construction and its importance, also they asked all departments to finish their blueprint, but until now we evaluate our exams retrograde according to our ILOs, but unfortunately in some written exam we found that the items dont cover all topics of the curriculum and missed many ILOs, also in other written exam we find a focus on certain system rather than other systems which may produce bias of examination results as the questions sample doesnt represent a big domain of knowledge. So, I think we are urgently in need to use test blueprint which cover the learning objectives and assessing methods to identify the key topics which must be tested according to our objectives and determine the questions numbers according to their corresponding weight in the context. This is in agreement with Downing and Haladyna(43) who stated that blueprint reduce two validity threats which are under-sampling bias of the curriculum and constructing irrelevant items. Consequential validity is referred to the real impact of an assessment method on learning which appropriately drive students learning(25). Wass et al(7) stated that consequential validity refers to the educational consequence of the test as it produce the desired educational outcomes, which means that students should study subject rather than studying the test. Although consequential validity is an important process, it is ignored by many examiners(44). I think our written exam has significant educational impact on how our students study, as from my experience students study what they need to pass rather than studying the whole integrated information. To improve this, we have to use different forms of written assessment which must cover the important content of the curriculum, and it should be mixed with continuous formative assessment and feedback to steer our students to determine what they study and how they learn. This is in agreement with Van der Vleuten(12) who stated that asse ssment can drive learning through four ways: assessment content and structure, the question which asked and the frequency of repeated examination. Newble and cannon(11) advice using computerized optical mark reader to score and analyze MCQ tests as the computer programmed has the advantage of applying statistical data of the test which include reliability coefficient, standard deviation and test item analysis . In our exam we use a hand marking sheet of answers to correct MCQ. But recently our faculty bought a new computer machine for correcting the MCQ test, so we need to learn how to use it for interpreting the test information as these may help us to improve next exam. Shumway and Harden(1) emphasized that practicability of an assessment method depends on resources, expertise availability and their costs. Resource intensiveness is determined by cost of constructing and correcting the test items(45). Cost includes beginning and continuing resources which are needed for test implantation(1). Essay questions appear to be easily constructed items but specific answer key is needed which may cause more time-consuming for preparation(18). MCQ seem to be easy to grade especially with using computer machine but for good structured items more time is needed for construction(30). Shumway and Harden(1) stated that it is important to consider the relation between the assessment method cost and its benefit. Van der Vleuten(12) critics that as he considered investment in an assessment methods is an investment in teaching and learning process. I think we must take care about the criteria of each method and balanced them against each other as the outcome may change according to the assessment context specificity. Also, In agreement with Van der Vleuten, I think we must use different assessment tools especially for summative assessment for high stakes exam to obtain more reliable and valid assessment. Schuwirth et al(45) explained that students can answer correct MCQ by detecting the right answer but they arent able to answer it in the absence of MCQ options. Graber et al(46) explained the problematic effect of MCQ cueing which may cause diagnostic errors especially if diagnostic reasoning is assessed. Schuwirth et al(14) advise using extended matching items and short-answer question as they can reduce the cueing effect. Extended matching questions (EMQs) are good authentic test as they use real clinical scenario which need sufficient clinical knowledge and can test a wide range of topics for knowledge application and problem-solving ability like diagnosis, investigation and management(47). Beullens et al(48) emphasized that EMQs are able to assess extended learning and minimize recognition effect rather than memorizing facts which is needed for MCQ solving. McAleer(31) critics that as EMQs with its many different items and long list of suitable answers are difficult to construct. However, Schuwrith and Van der Vleuten(13) advice using EMQs as they are good reliable test with short time scoring. We dont have experience in EMQs, but after knowing its importance and its significant role for improving written assessment reliability, I think before applying this form we need training of how construct these questions and how practice them to avoid bad representation of some items. Short answer questions is an important assessing tool because they are objectively scored test as they need clear sets of answer with little guessing incidence(3). McAleer(31) critics that as he stated, although short answer questions are easy constructed item, it is used only to measure recalling of information as they cant measure complex learning outcomes like synthesis and information analysis. Epstein(8) stated that short answer questions can be used for summative and formative assessment but its reliability depend on mainly training the students how they answer these items. We dont apply short answer questions in our exam, but I think we can use in certain situation when we want to cover broad area of content and be sure that the students are able to supply an answer rather than choosing it from many options. Score determines the number of correct answers of an assessment but it doesnt represent the quality of students performance(49). Norcini(50) stated standard setting is the process by which pass mark of exam is determined to distinguish competent from non-competent students as it allows for variation according to the level of test difficulty. There are two types of standard setting: relative (Norm-refrenced) and absolute (criterion-refrenced) standard, in relative standard setting fixed number of students will pass the exam irrespective to their level of competence as it is related to peer performance and fixed percentage of success(50). In our faculty we use relative standard setting to select students with highest score for admission to postgraduate course when fixed number is determined. In the tutorial of , I gain a new information which is supposed from one of our peer who advice using relative standard setting for choosing lower achiever in formative assessment who need extra-training. Absolute standard setting is more suitable for competence test as accurate standard should be determined below which the candidate wouldnt be fit for particular purpose(7). Absolute standard setting may be test-centered method or examinee-centered method, in test-centered method (like Angoff method) the examiner evaluate every item to hypothetically determine how the candidate will get in each item(51). While in examinee-centered method (like contrast group method), panelists decide the pass score by detecting it on the score scale which should be most fit to the exam purpose(52). In our faculty we dont use any forms of standard setting as we use 60% as an ideal setting for pass/fail decision for all test types, But as we recently apply assessing centre in our faculty, I think we must use standard setting in our assessment, in my opinion I prefer applying modified Angoff method as an example of absolute standard setting as it is widely used in medical assessment and it can be used fo r many assessment types. This is in agreement of Smee and Black(53) who stated that modified Angoff method reduce the difficulties of traditional Angoff method ,for examlple the difficulty of detecting hypothetical borderline candidates in Angoff method which is facilitated by supplying the examiners with real test scores of previous assessment of the candidates. Norcini etal(50) stated that absolute standard setting is applied either as conjunctive or compensatory standard, In conjunctive standard the candidate must exceed each item separately to pass the total test, while in compensatory standard the test scoring permit the candidate to compensated poor performance in one item by high performance in another item. In our written assessment we use compensatory method in which the standard is achieved according to total test performance, but now I think we can use conjunctive method in assessing essay paper by which the candidates must pass each essay separately as this will improve their studying to pass in each item. Case and Swanson(27) stated that many medical schools provide their faculty with item analysis of their test before test results are announced by which a useful information about the quality of each item separately and the whole test quality are obtained. Items analysis will be valuable when it maintains effective feedback to test writers as this will improve their skills in further test construction, also it would be helpful in discarding poor items and detecting certain areas of the content which may need more clarity(30). Item difficulty is detected from the proportion of students who answered each item correctly, Items are considered difficult if 50% of students or less answered them correctly and low difficulty if 85% or above of students answer the item, while moderate difficulty which have 60-80% discriminating index are the most discriminating items(30). In the tutorial of December 2010, I gain an important information about the value of applying difficult items in the exam a s these will encourage students towards excellent and to study to get more marks, so I think we must apply certain percentage of difficult items in the exam to drive learning of our students. Item discrimination is determined by the difference of the percentage of correct response between two students group (top third and lower third) with discrimination ratio lie between +1 and -1 and acceptable index is in the range of -0.5 to +0.5(27). Good item has discrimination index closer to +1 as it can distinguish good student from poor one but if poor student can answer more item correctly than good students, this indicate negative discriminating item which should be excluded (30). Downing(36) emphasized that items of MCQ test represented sample of all questions which could be tested, so for test with good internal consistency the test score should be an indicator for the student score on any other set with relevant items. Although our faculty recently develop assessment centre, we dont apply item analysis to any exam, So I think before applying it, we are in need to orient our faculty members about the importance of item analysis and how we use its statistical data to detect c auses of low discriminations , discard poor question, and identify gaps in curriculum. Finally, we use written assessment to assess the major domain of cognition in its low level of knowledge recalling to its high level of knowledge application and problem solving, but as mentioned before, I think our written assessment has low reliability and validity as we use limited number of essay questions, and the percentage of essays marks are more than MCQ marks in our assessment, so we must apply using more objective tests of well structured MCQ, extended matching questions and short answer questions with more essays question especially modified essay, also we must determine the questions numbers according to their corresponding weight in the context and according to test blueprint, as these will facilitate sampling a broad range of relevant contents and constructs of our learning objectives. Although I finish my essay about written assessment, During studying this course I was interested in OSCE assessment and how apply it in our department, but I cant write about it as I dont have experience on applying it because we dont use it in clinical assessment and we use two long cases for applying report and ten short cases for radiological diagnosis for. Now I think we must apply using OSCE in our clinical assessment by using 10-20 stations, some of them are procedure stations like carrying ultrasound examination under observation and other pictorial stations on analyzing radiologic image like conventional, CT, MRI images, and answering context-rich questions related to images. Refrences Shumway JM, Harden RM. AMEE guide No 25: The assessment of learning outcomes for competent and reflective physician. Med Teach.2003;25:569-584. Wass V, Van der Vleuten C,Shatzer J,Jones R. Assessment of clinical competence. Lancet.2001;357:945-949. Dixon H.Candidates views of the MRCGP examination and its effect upon approaches to learning: a questionnaire stu

Gender and Society :: essays research papers

Gender is one of the universal dimensions on which status differences are based. Gender is a social construct specifying the socially and culturally prescribed roles that men and women are to follow. Men have subordinated women. All other discriminations are insipid by construct. Why does society segregate the workforce by gender? Women have been single out against in the workforce as minorities, not as women, because they are relatively powerless. Men see women as less profitable. Society stereotype that women are less capable, less productive, and less dedicated to their employers. Women therefore are assigned jobs that are more mind numbing and are paid less. Women are place in the underpaid and underutilized pool of marginal labor works. Women have always had a lower status than men have, but the extent of the gap between genders varies across cultures and time. American women in 1999 earned approximately 77% of what men made, in 2000, according to the Department of Labor. Societies do not consistently define most tasks as either feminine or masculine. With industrialization the importance of muscle power is declining, thus leaving more options and gender differences to further condensed (Nolan & Lenski, 1999). Women do confront barriers in the marketplace, and in some industries, marginal pools of labor are profitable. Gender stratification is unequal distribution of wealth, power, and privilege between men and women. Women were denied the right to vote because many believe that women lacked sufficient intelligence and political interest. (1848) Most people in 1925, doubted that the best women runners could ever finish a marathon anywhere near the time men could. Only ten minutes separate the current world marathon records for women (set in 2003) and for men (set in 2002). This shows most differences between men and women or gender turn out to be socially created. Even the military has an issue with gender. At the outset of World War II, 1940, only two percent of armed forces personnel were women. The War in Iraq by 2003, women represented seven percent of all deployed U.S. troops. Out of that seven percent eight were casualties leaving 452 male casualties. The Coast Guard is the only branch that all assignments are open to women, whereas, the Marines denies women access to two-thirds of their jobs.

Bag of Bones CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I climbed the stairs to the deck instead of going around to the front door, still moving slowly and marvelling at how my legs felt twice their normal weight. When I stepped into the living room I looked around with the wide eyes of someone who has been away for a decade and returns to find everything just as he left it Bunter the moose on the wall, the Boston Globe on the couch, a compilation of Tough Stuff crossword puzzles on the end-table, the plate on the counter with the remains of my stir-fry still on it. Looking at these things brought the realization home full force I had gone for a walk, leaving all this normal light clutter behind, and had almost died instead. Had almost been murdered. I began to shake. I went into the north-wing bathroom, took off my wet clothes, and threw them into the tub splat. Then, still shaking, I turned and stared at myself in the mirror over the washbasin. I looked like someone who has been on the losing side in a barroom brawl. One bicep bore a long, clotting gash. A blackish-purple bruise was unfurling what looked like shadowy wings on my left collarbone. There was a bloody furrow on my neck and behind my ear, where the lovely Rogette had caught me with the stone in her ring. I took my shaving mirror and used it to check the back of my head. ‘Can't you get that through your thick skull?' my mother used to shout at me and Sid when we were kids, and now I thanked God that Ma had apparently been right about the thickness factor, at least in my case. The spot where Devore had struck me with his cane looked like the cone of a recently extinct volcano. Whitmore's bull's-eye had left a red wound that would need stitches if I wanted to avoid a scar. Blood, rusty and thin, stained the nape of my neck all around the hairline. God knew how much had flowed out of that unpleasant-looking red mouth and been washed away by the lake. I poured hydrogen peroxide into my cupped palm, steeled myself, and slapped it onto the gash back there like aftershave. The bite was monstrous, and I had to tighten my lips to keep from crying out. When the pain started to fade a little, I soaked cotton balls with more peroxide and cleaned my other wounds. I showered, threw on a tee-shirt and a pair of jeans, then went into the hall to phone the County Sheriff. There was no need for directory assistance; the Castle Rock P.D. and County Sheriff's numbers were on the IN CASE OF EMERGENCY card thumbtacked to the bulletin board, along with numbers for the fire department, the ambulance service, and the 900-number where you could get three answers to that day's Times crossword puzzle for a buck-fifty. I dialed the first three numbers fast, then began to slow down. I got as far as 955-960 before stopping altogether. I stood there in the hall with the phone pressed against my ear, visualizing another headline, this one not in the decorous Times but the rowdy New York Post. NOVELIST TO AGING COMPU-KING: ‘YOU BIG BULLY!' Along with side-by-side pictures of me, looking roughly my age, and Max Devore, looking roughly a hundred and six. The Post would have great fun telling its readers how Devore (along with his companion, an elderly lady who might weigh ninety pounds soaking wet) had lumped up a novelist half his age a guy who looked, in his photograph, at least, reasonably trim and fit. The phone got tired of holding only six of the required seven numbers in its rudimentary brain, double-clicked, and dumped me back to an open line. I took the handset away from my ear, stared at it for a moment, and then set it gently back down in its cradle. I'm not a sissy about the sometimes whimsical, sometimes hateful attention of the press, but I'm wary, as I would be around a bad-tempered fur-bearing mammal. America has turned the people who entertain it into weird high-class whores, and the media jeers at any ‘celeb' who dares complain about his or her treatment. ‘Quitcha bitchin!' cry the newspapers and the TV gossip shows (the tone is one of mingled triumph and indignation). ‘Didja really think we paid ya the big bucks just to sing a song or swing a Louisville Slugger? Wrong, asshole! We pay so we can be amazed when you do it well whatever â€Å"it† happens to be in your particular case and also because it's gratifying when you fuck up. The truth is you're supplies. If you cease to be amusing, we can always kill you and eat you.' They can't really eat you, of course. They can print pictures of you with your shirt off and say you're running to fat, they can talk about how much you drink or how many pills you take or snicker about the night you pulled some starlet onto your lap at Spago and tried to stick your tongue in her ear, but they can't really eat you. So it wasn't the thought of the Post calling me a crybaby or being a part of Jay Leno's opening monologue that made me put the phone down; it was the realization that I had no proof. No one had seen us. And, I realized, finding an alibi for himself and his personal assistant would be the easiest thing in the world for Max Devore. There was one other thing, too, the capper: imagining the County Sheriff sending out George Footman, aka daddy, to take my statement on how the mean man had knocked li'l Mikey into the lake. How the three of them would laugh later about that! I called John Storrow instead, wanting him to tell me I was doing the right thing, the only thing that made any sense. Wanting him to remind me that only desperate men were driven to such desperate lengths (I would ignore, at least for the time being, how the two of them had laughed, as if they were having the time of their lives), and that nothing had changed in regard to Ki Devore her grandfather's custody case still sucked bogwater. I got John's recording machine at home and left a message just call Mike Noonan, no emergency, but feel free to call late. Then I tried his office, mindful of the scripture according to John Grisham: young lawyers work until they drop. I listened to the firm's recording machine, then followed instructions and punched STO on my phone keypad, the first three letters of John's last name. There was a click and he came on the line another recorded version, unfortunately. ‘Hi, this is John Storrow. I've gone up to Philly for the weekend to see my mom and dad. I'll be in the office on Monday; for the rest of the week, I'll be out on business. From Tuesday to Friday you'll probably have the most luck trying to reach me at . . . ‘ The number he gave began 207-955, which meant Castle Rock. I imagined it was the hotel where he'd stayed before, the nice one up on the View. ‘Mike Noonan,' I said. ‘Call me when you can. I left a message on your apartment machine, too.' I went in the kitchen to get a beer, then only stood there in front of the refrigerator, playing with the magnets. Whoremaster, he'd called me. Say there, whoremaster, where's your whore? A minute later he had offered to save my soul. Quite funny, really. Like an alcoholic offering to take care of your liquor cabinet. He spoke of you with what I think was genuine affection, Mattie had said. Your great-grandfather and his great-grandfather shit in the same pit. I left the fridge with all the beer still safe inside, went back to the phone, and called Mattie. ‘Hi,' said another obviously recorded voice. I was on a roll. ‘It's me, but either I'm out or not able to come to the phone right this minute. Leave a message, okay?' A pause, the mike rustling, a distant whisper, and then Kyra, so loud she almost blew my ear off: ‘Leave a HAPPY message!' What followed was laughter from both of them, cut off by the beep. ‘Hi, Mattie, it's Mike Noonan,' I said. ‘I just wanted ‘ I don't know how I would have finished that thought, and I didn't have to. There was a click and then Mattie herself said, ‘Hello, Mike.' There was such a difference between this dreary, defeated-sounding voice and the cheerful one on the tape that for a moment I was silenced. Then I asked her what was wrong. ‘Nothing,' she said, then began to cry. ‘Everything. I lost my job. Lindy fired me.' Firing wasn't what Lindy had called it, of course. She'd called it ‘belt-tightening,' but it was firing, all right, and I knew that if I looked into the funding of the Four Lakes Consolidated Library, I would discover that one of the chief supporters over the years had been Mr. Max Devore. And he'd continue to be one of the chief supporters . . . if, that was, Lindy Briggs played ball. ‘We shouldn't have talked where she could see us doing it,' I said, knowing I could have stayed away from the library completely and Mattie would be just as gone. ‘And we probably should have seen this coming.' ‘John Storrow did see it.' She was still crying, but making an effort to get it under control. ‘He said Max Devore would probably want to make sure I was as deep in the corner as he could push me, come the custody hearing. He said Devore would want to make sure I answered â€Å"I'm unemployed, Your Honor† when the judge asked where I worked. I told John Mrs. Briggs would never do anything so low, especially to a girl who'd given such a brilliant talk on Melville's â€Å"Bartleby.† Do you know what he told me?' ‘No.' ‘He said, â€Å"You're very young.† I thought that was a patronizing thing to say, but he was right, wasn't he?' ‘Mattie ‘ ‘What am I going to do, Mike? What am I going to do?' The panic-rat had moved on down to Wasp Hill Road, it sounded like. I thought, quite coldly: Why not become my mistress? Your title will be ‘research assistant,' a perfectly jake occupation as far as the IRS is concerned, I'll throw in clothes, a couple of charge cards, a house say goodbye to the rustbucket doublewide on Wasp Hill Road and a two-week vacation: how does February on Maui sound? Plus Ki's education, of course, and a hefty cash bonus at the end of the year. I'll be considerate, too. Considerate and discreet. Once or twice a week, and never until your little girl is fast asleep. All you have to do is say yes and give me a key. All you have to do is slide over when I slide in. All you have to do is let me do what I want all through the dark, all through the night, let me touch where I want to touch, let me do what I want to do, never say no, never say stop. I closed my eyes. ‘Mike? Are you there?' ‘Sure,' I said. I touched the throbbing gash at the back of my head and winced. ‘You're going to do just fine, Mattie. You ‘ ‘The trailer's not paid for!' she nearly wailed. ‘I have two overdue phone bills and they're threatening to cut off the service! There's something wrong with the Jeep's transmission, and the rear axle, as well! I can pay for Ki's last week of Vacation Bible School, I guess Mrs. Briggs gave me three weeks' pay in lieu of notice but how will I buy her shoes? She outgrows everything so fast . . . there's holes in all her shorts and most of her g-g-goddam underwear . . . ‘ She was starting to weep again. ‘I'm going to take care of you until you get back on your feet,' I said. ‘No, I can't let ‘ ‘You can. And for Kyra's sake, you will. Later on, if you still want to, you can pay me back. We'll keep tabs on every dollar and dime, if you like. But I'm going to take care of you.' And you'll never take off your clothes when I'm with you. That's a promise, and I'm going to keep it. ‘Mike, you don't have to do this.' ‘Maybe, maybe not. But I am going to do it. You just try and stop me.' I'd called meaning to tell her what had happened to me giving her the humorous version but that now seemed like the worst idea in the world. ‘This custody thing is going to be over before you know it, and if you can't find anyone brave enough to put you to work down here once it is, I'll find someone up in Derry who'll do it. Besides, tell me the truth aren't you starting to feel that it might be time for a change of scenery?' She managed a scrap of a laugh. ‘I guess you could say that.' ‘Heard from John today?' ‘Actually, yes. He's visiting his parents in Philadelphia but he gave me the number there. I called him.' He'd said he was taken with her. Perhaps she was taken with him, as well. I told myself the thorny little tug I felt across my emotions at the idea was only my imagination. Tried to tell myself that, anyway. ‘What did he say about you losing your job the way you did?' ‘The same things you said. But he didn't make me feel safe. You do. I don't know why.' I did. I was an older man, and that is our chief attraction to young women: we make them feel safe. ‘He's coming up again Tuesday morning. I said I'd have lunch with him.' Smoothly, not a tremor or hesitation in my voice, I said: ‘Maybe I could join you.' Mattie's own voice warmed at the suggestion; her ready acceptance made me feel paradoxically guilty. ‘That would be great! Why don't I call him and suggest that you both come over here? I could barbecue again. Maybe I'll keep Ki home from VBS and make it a foursome. She's hoping you'll read her another story. She really enjoyed that.' ‘That sounds great,' I said, and meant it. Adding Kyra made it all seem more natural, less of an intrusion on my part. Also less like a date on theirs. John could not be accused of taking an unethical interest in his client. In the end he'd probably thank me. ‘I believe Ki might be ready to move on to â€Å"Hansel and Gretel.† How are you, Mattie? All right?' ‘Much better than I was before you called.' ‘Good. Things are going to be all right.' ‘Promise me.' ‘I think I just did.' There was a slight pause. ‘Are you all right, Mike? You sound a little . . . I don't know . . . a little strange.' ‘I'm okay,' I said, and I was, for someone who had been pretty sure he was drowning less than an hour ago. ‘Can I ask you one question before I go? Because this is driving me crazy.' ‘Of course.' ‘The night we had dinner, you said Devore told you his great-grandfather and mine knew each other. Pretty well, according to him.' ‘He said they shit in the same pit. I thought that was elegant.' ‘Did he say anything else? Think hard.' She did, but came up with nothing. I told her to call me if something about that conversation did occur to her, or if she got lonely or scared, or if she started to feel worried about anything. I didn't like to say too much, but I had already decided I'd have to have a frank talk with John about my latest adventure. It might be prudent to have the private detective from Lewiston George Kennedy, like the actor put a man or two on the TR to keep an eye on Mattie and Kyra. Max Devore was mad, just as my caretaker had said. I hadn't understood then, but I did now. Any time I started to doubt, all I had to do was touch the back of my head. I returned to the fridge and once more forgot to open it. My hands went to the magnets instead and again began moving them around, watching as words formed, broke apart, evolved. It was a peculiar kind of writing . . . but it was writing. I could tell by the way I was starting to trance out. That half-hypnotized stare is one you cultivate until you can switch it on and off at will . . . at least you can when things are going well. The intuitive part of the mind unlocks itself when you begin work and rises to a height of about six feet (maybe ten on good days). Once there, it simply hovers, sending black-magic messages and bright pictures. For the balance of the day that part is locked to the rest of the machinery and goes pretty much forgotten . . . except on certain occasions when it comes loose on its own and you trance out unexpectedly, your mind making associations which have nothing to do with rational thought and glaring with unexpected images. That is in some ways the strangest part of the creative process. The muses are ghosts, and sometimes they come uninvited. My house is haunted. Sara Laughs has always been haunted . . . you've stirred em up. stirred, I wrote on the refrigerator. But it didn't look right, so I made a circle of fruit and vegetable magnets around it. That was better, much. I stood there for a moment, hands crossed over my chest as I crossed them at my desk when I was stuck for a word or a phrase, then took off stirr and put on haunt, making haunted. ‘It's haunted in the circle,' I said, and barely heard the faint chime of Bunter's bell, as if in agreement. I took the letters off, and as I did found myself thinking how odd it was to have a lawyer named Romeo (romeo went in the circle) and a detective named George Kennedy. (george went up on the fridge) I wondered if Kennedy could help me with Andy Drake (drake on the fridge) maybe give me some insights. I'd never written about a private detective before and it's the little stuff (rake off, leave the d, add etails) that makes the difference. I turned a 3 on its back and put an I beneath it, making a pitchfork. The devil's in the details. From there I went somewhere else. I don't know where, exactly, because I was tranced out, that intuitive part of my mind up so high a search-party couldn't have found it. I stood in front of my fridge and played with the letters, spelling out little pieces of thought without even thinking about them. You mightn't believe such a thing is possible, but every writer knows it is. What brought me back was light splashing across the windows of the foyer. I looked up and saw the shape of a car pulling to a stop behind my Chevrolet. A cramp of terror seized my belly. That was a moment when I would have given everything I owned for a loaded gun. Because it was Footman. Had to be. Devore had called him when he and Whitmore got back to Warrington's, had told him Noonan refuses to be a good Martian so get over there and fix him. When the driver's door opened and the dome-light in the visitor's car came on, I breathed a conditional sigh of relief. I didn't know who it was, but it sure wasn't ‘daddy.' This fellow didn't look as if he could take care of a housefly with a rolled-up newspaper . . . although, I supposed, there were plenty of people who had made that same mistake about Jeffrey Dahmer. Above the fridge was a cluster of aerosol cans, all of them old and probably not ozone-friendly. I didn't know how Mrs. M. had missed them, but I was pleased she had. I took the first one my hand touched Black Flag, excellent choice thumbed off the cap, and stuck the can in the left front pocket of my jeans. Then I turned to the drawers on the right of the sink. The top one contained silverware. The second one held what Jo called ‘kitchenshit' everything from poultry thermometers to those gadgets you stick in corncobs so you don't burn your fingers off. The third one down held a generous selection of mismatched steak knives. I took one, put it in the right front pocket of my jeans, and went to the door. The man on my stoop jumped a little when I turned on the outside light, then blinked through the door at me like a nearsighted rabbit. He was about five-four, skinny, pale. He wore his hair cropped in the sort of cut known as a wiffle in my boyhood days. His eyes were brown. Guarding them was a pair of horn-rimmed glasses with greasy-looking lenses. His little hands hung at his sides. One held the handle of a flat leather case, the other a small white oblong. I didn't think it was my destiny to be killed by a man with a business card in one hand, so I opened the door. The guy smiled, the anxious sort of smile people always seem to wear in Woody Allen movies. He was wearing a Woody Allen outfit too, I saw faded plaid shirt a little too short at the wrists, chinos a little too baggy in the crotch. Someone must have told him about the resemblance, I thought. That's got to be it. ‘Mr. Noonan?' ‘Yes?' He handed me the card. NEXT CENTURY REAL ESTATE, it said in raised gold letters. Below this, in more modest black, was my visitor's name. ‘I'm Richard Osgood,' he said as if I couldn't read, and held out his hand. The American male's need to respond to that gesture in kind is deeply ingrained, but that night I resisted it. He held his little pink paw out a moment longer, then lowered it and wiped the palm nervously against his chinos. ‘I have a message for you. From Mr. Devore.' I waited. ‘May I come in?' ‘No,' I said. He took a step backward, wiped his hand on his pants again, and seemed to gather himself. ‘I hardly think there's any need to be rude, Mr. Noonan.' I wasn't being rude. If I'd wanted to be rude, I would have treated him to a faceful of roach-repellent. ‘Max Devore and his minder tried to drown me in the lake this evening. If my manners seem a little off to you, that's probably it.' Osgood's look of shock was real, I think. ‘You must be working too hard on your latest project, Mr. Noonan. Max Devore is going to be eighty-six on his next birthday if he makes it, which now seems to be in some doubt. Poor old fella can hardly even walk from his chair to his bed anymore. As for Rogette ‘ ‘I see your point,' I said. ‘In fact I saw it twenty minutes ago, without any help from you. I hardly believe it myself, and I was there. Give me whatever it is you have for me.' ‘Fine,' he said in a prissy little ‘all right, be that way' voice. He unzipped a pouch on the front of his leather bag and brought out a white envelope, business-sized and sealed. I took it, hoping Osgood couldn't sense how hard my heart was thumping. Devore moved pretty damned fast for a man who travelled with an oxygen tank. The question was, what kind of move was this? ‘Thanks,' I said, beginning to close the door. ‘I'd tip you the price of a drink, but I left my wallet on the dresser.' ‘Wait! You're supposed to read it and give me an answer.' I raised my eyebrows. ‘I don't know where Devore got the notion that he could order me around, but I have no intention of allowing his ideas to influence my behavior. Buzz off.' His lips turned down, creating deep dimples at the corners of his mouth, and all at once he didn't look like Woody Allen at all. He looked like a fifty-year-old real-estate broker who had sold his soul to the devil and now couldn't stand to see anyone yank the boss's forked tail. ‘Piece of friendly advice, Mr. Noonan you want to watch it. Max Devore is no man to fool around with.' ‘Luckily for me, I'm not fooling around.' I closed the door and stood in the foyer, holding the envelope and watching Mr. Next Century Real Estate. He looked pissed off and con-fused no one had given him the bum's rush just lately, I guessed. Maybe it would do him some good. Lend a little perspective to his life. Remind him that, Max Devore or no Max Devore, Richie Osgood would still never stand more than five-feet-seven. Even in cowboy boots. ‘Mr. Devore wants an answer!' he called through the closed door. ‘I'll phone,' I called back, then slowly raised my middle fingers in the double eagle I'd hoped to give Max and Rogette earlier. ‘In the meantime, perhaps you could convey this.' I almost expected him to take off his glasses and rub his eyes. He walked back to his car instead, tossed his case in, then followed it. I watched until he had backed up to the lane and I was sure he was gone. Then I went into the living room and opened the envelope. Inside was a single sheet of paper, faintly scented with the perfume my mother had worn when I was just a kid. White Shoulders, I think it's called. Across the top neat, ladylike, printed in slightly raised letters was ROGETTE D. WHITMORE Below it was this message, written in a slightly shaky feminine hand: 8.30 P.M. Dear Mr. Noonan, Max wishes me to convey how glad he was to meet you! I must echo that sentiment. You are a very amusing and entertaining fellow! We enjoyed your antics ever so much. Now to business. M. offers you a very simple deal: if you promise to cease asking questions about him, and if you promise to cease all legal maneuvering if you promise to let him rest in peace, so to speak then Mr. Devore promises to cease efforts to gain custody of his granddaughter. If this suits, you need only tell Mr. Osgood ‘I agree.' He will carry the message! Max hopes to return to California by private jet very soon he has business which can be put off no longer, although he has enjoyed his time here and has found you particularly interesting. He wants me to remind you that custody has its responsibilities, and urges you not to forget he said so. Rogette P.S. He reminds me that you didn't answer his question does her cunt suck? Max is quite curious on that point. R. I read this note over a second time, then a third. I started to put it on the table, then read it a fourth time. It was as if I couldn't get the sense of it. I had to restrain an urge to fly to the telephone and call Mattie at once. It's over, Mattie, I'd say. Taking your job and dunking me in the lake were the last two shots of the war. He's giving up. No. Not until I was absolutely sure. I called Warrington's instead, where I got my fourth answering machine of the night. Devore and Whitmore hadn't bothered with anything warm and fuzzy, either; a voice as cold as a motel ice-machine simply told me to leave my message at the sound of the beep. ‘It's Noonan,' I said. Before I could go any further there was a click as someone picked up. ‘Did you enjoy your swim?' Rogette Whitmore asked in a smoky, mocking voice. if I hadn't seen her in the flesh, I might have imagined a Barbara Stanwyck type at her most coldly attractive, coiled on a red velvet couch in a peach-silk dressing gown, telephone in one hand, ivory cigarette holder in the other. ‘If I'd caught up with you, Ms. Whitmore, I would have made you understand my feelings perfectly.' ‘Oooo,' she said. ‘My thighs are a-tingle.' ‘Please spare me the image of your thighs.' ‘Sticks and stones, Mr. Noonan,' she said. ‘To what do we owe the pleasure of your call?' ‘I sent Mr. Osgood away without a reply.' ‘Max thought you might. He said, â€Å"Our young whoremaster believes in the value of a personal response. You can tell that just looking at him.† ‘He gets the uglies when he loses, doesn't he?' ‘Mr. Devore doesn't lose.' Her voice dropped at least forty degrees and all the mocking good humor bailed out on the way down. ‘He may change his goals, but he doesn't lose. You were the one who looked like a loser tonight, Mr. Noonan, paddling around and yelling out there in the lake. You were scared, weren't you?' ‘Yes. Badly.' ‘You were right to be. I wonder if you know how lucky you are?' ‘May I tell you something?' ‘Of course, Mike may I call you Mike?' ‘Why don't you just stick with Mr. Noonan. Now are you listening?' ‘With bated breath.' ‘Your boss is old, he's nutty, and I suspect he's past the point where he could effectively manage a Yahtzee scorecard, let alone a custody suit. He was whipped a week ago.' ‘Do you have a point?' ‘As a matter of fact I do, so get it right: if either of you ever tries anything remotely like that again, I'll come after that old fuck and jam his snot-smeared oxygen mask so far up his ass he'll be able to aerate his lungs from the bottom. And if I see you on The Street, Ms. Whitmore, I'll use you for a shotput. Do you understand me?' I stopped, breathing hard, amazed and also rather disgusted with myself. If you had told me I'd had such a speech in me, I would have scoffed. After a long silence I said: ‘Ms. Whitmore? Still there?' ‘I'm here,' she said. I wanted her to be furious, but she actually sounded amused. ‘Who has the uglies now, Mr. Noonan?' ‘I do,' I said, ‘and don't you forget it, you rock-throwing bitch.' ‘What is your answer to Mr. Devore?' ‘We have a deal. I shut up, the lawyers shut up, he gets out of Mattie and Kyra's life. If, on the other hand, he continues to ‘ ‘I know, I know, you'll bore him and stroke him. I wonder how you'll feel about all this a week from now, you arrogant, stupid creature?' Before I could reply it was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that even at her best she still threw like a girl she was gone. I stood there with the telephone in my hand for a few seconds, then hung it up. Was it a trick? It felt like a trick, but at the same time it didn't. John needed to know about this. He hadn't left his parents' number on his answering machine, but Mattie had it. If I called her back, though, I'd be obligated to tell her what had just happened. It might be a good idea to put off any further calls until tomorrow. To sleep on it. I stuck my hand in my pocket and damned near impaled it on the steak knife hiding there. I'd forgotten all about it. I took it out, carried it back into the kitchen, and returned it to the drawer. Next I fished out the aerosol can, turned to put it back on top of the fridge with its elderly brothers, then stopped. Inside the circle of fruit and vegetable magnets was this: d go w 19n Had I done that myself?. Had I been so far into the zone, so tranced out, that I had put a mini-crossword on the refrigerator without remembering it? And if so, what did it mean? Maybe someone else put it up, I thought. One of my invisible roommates. ‘Go down 19n,' I said, reaching out and touching the letters. A compass heading? Or maybe it meant Go 19 Down. That suggested crosswords again. Sometimes in a puzzle you get a clue which reads simply See 19 Across or See 19 Down. If that was the meaning here, what puzzle was I supposed to check? ‘I could use a little help here,' I said, but there was no answer not from the astral plane, not from inside my own head. I finally got the can of beer I'd been promising myself and took it back to the sofa. I picked up my Tough Stuff crossword book and looked at the puzzle I was currently working. ‘Liquor Is Quicker,' it was called, and it was filled with the stupid puns which only crossword addicts find amusing. Tipsy actor? Marion Brandy. Tipsy southern novel? Tequila Mockingbird. Drives the DA to drink? Bourbon of proof. And the definition of Down was Oriental nurse, which every cruciverbalist in the universe knows is amah. Nothing in ‘Liquor Is Quicker' connected to what was going on in my life, at least that I could see. I thumbed through some of the other puzzles in the book, looking at 19 Downs. Marble worker's tool (chisel). CNN's favorite howler, 2 wds (wolfblitzer). Ethanol and dimethyl ether, e.g. (isomers). I tossed the book aside in disgust. Who said it had to be this particular crossword collection, anyway? There were probably fifty others in the house, four or five in the drawer of the very end-table on which my beer can stood. I leaned back on the sofa and closed my eyes. I always liked a whore . . . sometimes their place was on my face. This is where good pups and vile dogs may walk side-by-side. There's no town drunk here, we all take turns. This is where it happened. Ayuh. I fell asleep and woke up three hours later with a stiff neck and a terrible throb in the back of my head. Thunder was rumbling thickly far off in the White Mountains, and the house seemed very hot. When I got up from the couch, the backs of my thighs more or less peeled away from the fabric. I shuffled down to the north wing like an old, old man, looked at my wet clothes, thought about taking them into the laundry room, and then decided if I bent over that far, my head might explode. ‘You ghosts take care of it,' I muttered. ‘If you can change the pants and the underwear around on the whirligig, you can put my clothes in the hamper.' I took three Tylenol and went to bed. At some point I woke a second time and heard the phantom child sobbing. ‘Stop,' I told it. ‘Stop it, Ki, no one's going to take you anywhere. You're safe.' Then I went back to sleep again.

Food memoir Essay

For all of us, there are several kinds of food in our deep memories. These foods are different from others because they are not only what we eat but also what we experience. Last week, when my teacher asked us which food existed in our deep memories, the first one came to my mind was Mung rice noodle. Each time mentioning Mung rice noodle, I will think of my wonderful childhood and sweet home. IbelongtoTujia,oneoftheChineseminorities. Mungricenoodlehasbeen produced by Tujia people, and most of us are used to make it our breakfasts. Simply, from the name, it comes from the marriage of mung and rice. However, Tujia people are used to add soybeans into the mixture of mung and rice. To be honest, I have never made it by myself, instead, I saw my grandmother made it when I was in the primary school. Firstly, my grandmother soaked the soybean, mung and rice in the water one day before using them. After one day, she grinded them into slurry by the millstone. Then, she brushed little colza oil in the iron pan and circled the slurry evenly in the pan. That was my first time knowing how to make Mung rice noodle and I can still remember that the fresh smell of it jumped out just in one second. After it was done, my grandma put it in the hot water and added ginger, scallion, garlic, peper, chilli oil and meat sauce. She smiled at me: â€Å"babe, you gonna finish it! † After eating it up, I understood why my grandma was so confident that I could finish it at the beginning. ThereisasweetstoryrelatedtoMungricenoodle. WhenIwasintheprimary school, my mother usually got up half an hour earlier than me to make Mung rice noodle as my breakfasts. She could always make new flavors to surprise me. I was extremely curious that why she could make so many flavors, and I asked her. She looked at me mysteriously: â€Å" if I make the same flavor all the way, you will be bored at breakfasts, that is not a good habit†. At that time, I did not think too much on her answers. But gradually, especially after studying abroad, I realize that the primary reason she made different flavors is that she loves me. Up to now, in my life, my mother is the only one who genuinely cares how is my breakfast. Eating istheeasiestwaytomakeussatisfiedandfoodistheeasiestthingwewill remember. They may be a certain birthday cake, the dishes we ate with our first love, or the party dinner in a special holiday. No matter what it is, the memory for that moment will exist in our whole life. When we are old, we may forget the flavor itself at all. However, we will remember the feeling of surprise, warm, satisfied, happy and even pain till the end. 2nd draft Food memoir: Mung rice noodle Ifyoucanchooseonlyonefoodasyourlife-longfood,whatisit? Forme,itis definitely the Mung rice noodle. IbelongtoTujia,oneoftheChineseminorities. Mungricenoodlehasbeen produced by Tujia people and most of us are used to make it our breakfasts. Simply, from the name, it comes from the marriage of mung and rice. However, Tujia people usually add soybeans into the mixture of mung and rice. Mostly, we buy original Mung rice noodle and add flavors as we like at home. To be honest, I have never made it by myself, instead, I saw my grandmother made it when I was in the primary school. Firstly, she soaked the soybean, mung and rice in the water one day before using them. After one day, she grinded all ingredients into slurry by the millstone and mixed them with the potato starch. Then, she brushed little colza oil, similar to the corn oil, in the iron pan and circled the slurry evenly in the pan. Imagine what! Just in one second, the fresh smell of caramelized starch jumped out. After taking a breath, I touched the beans aroma in the air. Grandma was excited: â€Å"Come on, Joey, look at the grey-green circle lines here, are they like tree’s growth rings. † Yes, it really was! That was my first time knowing how to make fresh Mung rice noodle. After it was done, grandma put it in the hot water and added sliced ginger, scallion, garlic powder, white pepper, chilli oil and meat sauce. She smiled at me: â€Å"girl, you gonna finish it! † After eating it up, I understood why my grandma was so confident that I could finish it at the beginning. Frankly, I cannot describe the flavor correctly now. However, one thing I am sure about is that, when eating it, I felt nothing else matters. Similartomanyyoungsters,Iliketogotobarsandenjoyhavingfunwithmy friends in the night. However, no matter how late I sleep, I will get up the next day to eat the breakfast. This habit is related to the Mung rice noodle. When I was in the primary school, my mother usually got up half an hour earlier than me to cook Mung rice noodle as my breakfasts. She could always create new flavors to surprise me. Gradually, the new flavor of the Mung rice noodle became my impetus to get up. Even more, I deem a tasty breakfast as the beginning of a great day. Once, I was extremely curious that why mom could create so many flavors, and I asked her. She looked at me mysteriously: â€Å" if I make the same flavor all the way, you will be bored at breakfasts, that is not a good habit†. At that time, I did not think too much on her answers. But gradually, I have realized that the real reason she made variable flavors is that she loves me. After studying abroad, the most frequent questions from my mom is: what is your breakfast. Up to now, in my life, my mom is the only one who genuinely cares how is my breakfast. For all of us, there are some foods in our deep memories. These foods are unique and unforgettable because they are not only what we ate but also what we experienced. Eating is the easiest way to make us satisfied and food is the easiest thing we will remember. They may be a certain birthday cake, the dishes we ate with our first love, and the party dinner in a special holiday. When we are old, we may forget the flavor itself at all. However, we will keep in mind the feeling of surprise, warmth, satisfaction, happiness and even pain related to these foods because they are part of our lives.

What is an Anti-Hero Definition †Plus 10 Examples!

What is an Antis! What is an Antis! There’s something comforting about a protagonist who always does the right thing for the right reasons, like Superman. But there’s something compelling about a morally ambivalent protagonist who sometimes does the right thing, and only sometimes for the right reasons - like Tyrion Lannister.While Superman is a traditional take on a heroic protagonist, Tyrion is a decidedly skewed version. In other words, he’s an anti-hero.Let’s dig a little deeper into exactly what an anti-hero is, and why they’ve become so prevalent in stories. Learn all about the morally grey protagonists that readers love: the anti-hero Anti-Hero DefinitionAn anti-hero is a protagonist who lacks some of the conventional attributes of a traditional hero - like courage or morality. While their actions are ultimately noble, they don’t always act for the right reasons.For instance, they might save someone from a dangerous situation because it furthers their interests, not because they actually care about helping others.How is an anti-hero different from an anti-villain?While the two types of characters can be easily confused, the difference boils down to this:The anti-hero (or AH) does the right thing, but maybe not for the right reasons - and they lack a lot of the characteristics we’ve come to expect of tradition heroes.The anti-villain (or AV) does the wrong thing, but their motives are often noble - or, at least, sympathetic. Anti-villains typically have some characteristics we don’t commonly associate withâ€Å"bad guys.†At the end of the day, if you’re not quite sure whether a character is an anti-hero or an anti-villain, ask yourself this: who does the story ask readers to root for? If that character is morally grey, they’re likely the anti-hero. The morally grey character who opposes them is probably the anti-villain.Check out our post full of anti-villain examples to learn more.How is an anti-hero different from a villain-protagonist?Few books have been successfully written from the perspective of a completely irredeemable, morally reprehensible character. Readers want to be able to root for the protagonist at least a little bit. Exceptions include Humbert Humbert from Lolita, Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, and Tom Ripley from The Talented Mr. Ripley. By the end of these books, you’re likely waiting on tenterhooks for the protagonist to be brought to justice.These characters are classified as â€Å"Villain Protagonists.† They’re different from anti-heroes because the author purposefully avoids giving readers a reason to cheer for them. An anti-hero is a morally grey character we’re still encouraged to root for. But a villain protagonist is a â€Å"bad guy†- who happens to be the main character in the story.5 Types of Anti-HeroesNot all anti-heroes are created equally. In fact, TV Tropes classifies a â€Å"sliding scale† of these morally ambiguous protagonists. Unsurprisingly, the first type is†¦1. The Classic Anti-HeroTypical qualities of a fictional hero include confidence, bravery, stoicism, intelligence, handsome looks, and superb fighting capabilities. The Classic Anti-Hero is the inverse of these things: self-doubting, fearful, anxious, and lacking in combat skills. In general, the character arc of this AH follows them overcoming their â€Å"weaknesses† in order to vanquish the enemy.This type of AH is not necessarily on the grey scale of morality, they simply defy readers’ preconceived notions of heroism. id=attachment_18919 style="width: 1290px" class="wp-caption aligncenter">Olivia Pope from Scandal, V from V for Vendetta, Deadpool, Dexter, Nancy Botwin from Weeds, Arthur Dent from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Selina Meyer from Veep - once you know what an anti-hero is, there is no shortage of opportunities to spot them.If you’re looking to write your own controvertible protagonist, check out the following in-depth blog posts aimed at helping authors develop compelling characters.Character Development: How to Write Characters Your Readers Won't Forget 9 Common Types of Fantasy Characters (With Examples) How to Write a Compelling Character Arc 12 Character Archetypes Every Writer Should Know How to Create a Character Profile: the Ultimate Guide (with Template)Did we miss any anti-heroes who deserve a mention? Drop their name - or any other thoughts or questions - in the comments below!

How To Connect Your Favorite Tools With Zapier (Demo Video)

How To Connect Your Favorite Tools With Zapier (Demo Video) Managing a marketing team with multiple  tools is more than tough its chaos.You end up spending a majority of your day jumping from screen to screen, commenting on the same updates in a hundred different places, and wasting a huge portion of your day on mundane tasks. Remove this trouble with s new integration Zapier. How To Connect Your Favorite Tools and Automate Your Workflow With ZapierIn this demo, you will learn: Automatically sync all your productivity tools in ONE place. No more jumping from screen to screen to manage multiple applications! With Zapier, you can easily sync all your events, tasks, projects AND campaigns from other tools directly into your calendar. Eliminate mundane tasks + duplicative efforts! With the Zapier integration, you can easily set up automatic workflows that put time back on your calendar so you can focus on finishing projects that *actually* grows your business AND increases profits. Want more information? Check out Zapier With .

Shark Facts

Shark Facts There are several hundred species of sharks, ranging in size from less than eight inches to over 65 feet, and native to every marine environment around the world. These amazing animals have a fierce reputation and fascinating biology. Fast Facts: Sharks Scientific Name: ElasmobranchiiCommon Name: SharksBasic Animal Group: FishSize: 8 inches to 65 feetWeight: Up to 11 tonsLifespan: 20–150 yearsDiet:  CarnivoreHabitat: Marine, coastal and oceanic habitats worldwideConservation Status: 32% are Threatened, with 6% as Endangered and 26% as Vulnerable on a global basis; 24% are Near Threatened Description A  cartilaginous fish  has a body structure formed of cartilage, instead of bone. Unlike the fins of bony fishes, the fins of cartilaginous fish cannot change shape or fold alongside their body. Even though sharks dont have a bony skeleton like many other fish, they are still categorized with other vertebrates in the Phylum Chordata, Subphylum Vertebrata, and Class Elasmobranchii. This class is made up of about 1,000 species of sharks, skates, and rays. Sharks teeth don’t have roots, so they usually fall out after about a week. However, sharks have replacements arranged in rows and a new one can move in within one day to take the old one’s place. Sharks have between five and 15 rows of teeth in each jaw, with most having five rows. A shark has tough skin that is covered by dermal denticles, which are small plates covered with enamel, similar to that found on our teeth. Stephen Frink/Iconica/Getty Images Species Sharks come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and even colors. The largest shark and the largest fish in the world is the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), which is believed to reach a maximum length of 65 feet. The smallest shark is thought to be the dwarf lantern shark (Etmopterus perryi), a rare deep-sea species which is about 6 to 8 inches long. Habitat and Range Sharks are found from shallow to deep sea environments, in coastal, marine and oceanic environments the world over. Some species inhabit shallow, coastal regions, while others live in deep waters, on the ocean floor and in the open ocean. A few species, such as the bull shark, move easily through salt, fresh and brackish waters. Diet and Behavior Sharks are carnivores, and they primarily hunt and eat fish, sea mammals like dolphins and seals, and other sharks. Some species prefer or include turtles and seagulls, crustaceans and mollusks, and plankton and krill in their diets. Sharks have a lateral line system along their sides which detects water movements. This helps the shark find prey and navigate around other objects at night or when water visibility is poor. The lateral line system is made up of a network of fluid-filled canals beneath the shark’s skin. Pressure waves in the ocean water around the shark vibrate this liquid. This, in turn, is transmitted to jelly in the system, which transmits to the shark’s nerve endings and the message is relayed to the brain. Sharks need to keep water moving over their gills to receive necessary oxygen. Not all sharks need to move constantly, though. Some sharks have spiracles, a small opening behind their eyes, that force water across the shark’s gills so the shark can be still when it rests. Sharks that do need to swim constantly have active and restful periods rather than undergoing deep sleep like we do. They seem to be â€Å"sleep swimming,† with parts of their brain appearing less active while they remain swimming. David Jenkins/Robert Harding World Imagery/Getty Images Reproduction and Offspring Some shark species are oviparous, meaning they lay eggs. Others are viviparous and give birth to live young. Within these live-bearing species, some have a placenta just like human babies do, and others do not. In those cases, the shark embryos get their nutrition from a yolk sac or unfertilized egg capsules filled with yolk. With the sand tiger shark, things are pretty competitive. The two largest embryos consume the other embryos of the litter.   While nobody seems to know for certain, it has been estimated that the whale shark, the largest shark species, can live up to 150 years, and many of the smaller sharks can live between 20 and 30 years. Some sharks actually lay eggs while others give birth. Cludio Policarpo / EyeEm  / Getty Images   Sharks and Humans Bad publicity around a few shark species has doomed sharks in general to the misconception that they are vicious man-eaters. In fact, only 10 out of all the shark species are considered dangerous to humans. All sharks should be treated with respect, though, as they are predators, often with sharp teeth that could inflict wounds (especially if the shark is provoked or feels threatened). Threats Humans are a greater threat to sharks than sharks are to us. Many shark species are threatened by fishing or bycatch, which lead  to the deaths of millions of sharks each year. Compare that to shark attack statistics- while a shark attack is a horrifying thing, there are only about 10 fatalities worldwide each year due to sharks. Since they are long-lived species and only have a few young at once, sharks are vulnerable to overfishing. Many are caught incidentally in fisheries targeting tunas and billfishes, and a growing market for shark fins and meat for restaurants is also impacting different species. One threat is the wasteful practice of shark-finning, a cruel practice in which the sharks fins are cut off while the rest of the shark is thrown back in the sea.   The shark fin trade is one of the threats humans pose towards sharks.   IN2 Focus Media/Getty Images   Conservation Status The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed over 60 species of pelagic sharks and rays. About 24 percent are classed as Near Threatened, 26 percent are Vulnerable, and 6 percent Endangered on a global basis. About 10 are classed Critically Endangered. Sources Camhi, Merry D. et al. The Conservation Status of Pelagic Sharks and Rays: Report of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group Pelagic Shark Red List Workshop, Oxford, IUCN, 2007.Kyne, P.M., S.A. Sherrill-Mix, and G. H. Burgess. Somniosus microcephalus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T60213A12321694, 2006.Leandro, L. Etmopterus perryi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T60240A12332635, 2006.Pierce, S.J. and B. Norman. Rhincodon typus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T19488A2365291, 2016.Shark Facts. World Wildlife Fund.Simpfendorfer, C. Burgess, G.H. Carcharhinus leucas. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T39372A10187195, 2009.

Return to haifa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Return to haifa - Essay Example The, fleeing home of Said and Safeyya in Haifa during the 1948 Nakba can be equalled to the detaining of Nelson Mandela in 1962.   However, 20 years later, Said and Safeyya returned home only to find out that a Jewish family had actually adopted their son who entered Haifa (Suganda web). Likewise, for Nelson Mandela, he found out that many things had changed in his mother country South Africa when he was released from prison. Indeed, Mandela had to take time to adapt to his own country, which he had missed after many years in detention. Whereas Said and Safeyya find their home occupied by Miriam, Mandela found that the whites had indeed occupied the good parts of his country. The theme of regaining political identity after many years of detention for many political leaders shares the same story line with â€Å"Return to Haifa.† Although Mandela has been provided as an example, many political detainees all over the world experienced the same

Marketing research Statistics Project Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing research - Statistics Project Example To evaluate the significance of the test, I formulated the hypotheses: In order to decide which t-value to adopt, I checked over the results of the Levene’s test for equality of variances (Allingham & Rayner, 2011; Wuensch, 2014). The significance level (p-value = 0.002) of the F-statistic (9.847) is less than the 0.05 level of significance adopted for the entire test. Therefore, taking a default hypothesis that the variances are equal, these results confirm that this hypothesis should be rejected (Lee, 2013). Consequently, the variances are not equal. This advises my option to adopt the t-value -2.762 which has a p-value 0.007. Since 0.007 is less than the default p-value (0.05) adopted for the test, I reject the null hypothesis. There is significant difference between the scores of domestic and international students. The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was carried out to establish whether there exists significant statistical difference between the students’ responses to item 5 of the survey based on their year of admission. All students in the survey were admitted into courses in the years 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007. The hypotheses: The significance level (p Correlation analysis was carried out to determine whether any of the units 1 – 19 are related to item

Case Analysis of CUP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Case Analysis of CUP - Essay Example As an advisor to Derrick Westmuller, I would gladly advice him to use the CCC or Customer Care Center. A company won’t be able to function once the flow of the customer is not good. So it is just to protect the interest, satisfaction and happiness of the customer. With this great idea, many issues will be settled and would be very helpful for the company. Though at the start, this may be tough for every branch to adopt with, the expected result is very profitable for them. In fact there will be less work for the agent and the name of company will receive good feed backs. Remember that it is not the name of the Manager, members of the board or the agents, names that are on stake but the name of the company. It is true that most clients inquire on the same issues commonly normal issues. The price or fee that people pay in acquiring contacts from the insurance company is already expected or predicted but certain matters like not being contented with the service given by the agent and not giving immediate action to complains are very critical for the company. There may be a lot of negative speculations that may come from other employees of the firm but the focus must still be in the whole company and for its good. It may be that it can create undesirable misunderstanding between the duties of the agents and the call center employees if there would be specification of work.

Crimonal law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Crimonal law - Essay Example This free exchange of word and expression was recognized by our fore fathers as one of our fundamental rights. They recognized, all those years ago, the importance of protecting Freedom of Speech and Expression. The importance of Free Speech has not diminished, and it is not for any individual entity to limit any citizen’s right to express himself peacefully save by amending the Constitution itself. That being said let us turn to the case at hand. Upon reading the circumstances surrounding the scenario provided I decided that I would evaluate the merits of the case based on the perspective of that of a defense attorney. In reviewing the case provided, the fundamental question that needs to be addressed is: Did the defendant in this case break any law? The prosecution’s entire case is based on the defendant being arrested for being a public nuisance and causing injury, although indirectly, to Gloria Trek. The state’s entire case rests on the constitutionality of the public nuisance statue and whether or not it infringes on the defendant’s right to free speech, which I will prove it does. Title 46 of the Florida Criminal Statues 823.01 which defines Nuisances states â€Å"All nuisances which tend to annoy the community or injure the health of the citizens in general, or to corrupt the public morals, are misdemeanors of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.083, except that a violation of s. 823.10 is a felony of the third degree.† (Public Nuisance, 2000, n.p.) This statute is very vague in nature and is by this very ambiguity subject to wide interpretation as to what constitutes being ‘annoying’. The phrasing of the statute in that manner allows for far too much discretionary power by individual law enforcement officers in deciding when and whom to arrest which brings into question the equal enforcement of the law and the discriminatory

Electron Microscopes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Electron Microscopes - Essay Example But, unlike the ordinary microscopes, the electron microscope uses a ray of electrons (Miller and Levine, 2003) which is shorter in wavelength, traveling through a vacuum, and focused by magnets to very thin objects whose sizes needs to be magnified. Also, the electron microscopes can only magnify specimens that have been properly killed, processed, and mounted for viewing (Engelkirk and Burton, 2007). There are two types of electron microscopes. These are the transmission electron microscope (Figure 1) and the scanning electron microscope (Figure 2). The transmission electron microscope allows the viewer to see the internal parts of a microorganism at 1 million times size magnification (Figure 3). On the other hand, the scanning electron microscope allows the viewer to see the external surface parts of a microorganism at approximately 20 nano meter resolution (Figure 4). These two types of electron microscopes have each a built-in camera that can take pictures of images under study. So, besides visibility reasons, specimens are usually stained for more accurate observations, but the micrographs or pictures are black and white (Engelkirk and Burton, 2007. The basic parts of... nsmission electron microscope are high voltage electrical supply line, electron gun, first condenser lens, condenser aperture, second condenser lens, specimen holder, with air-lock, objective lenses and aperture, and fluorescent screen with camera (Figure 5). On the other hand, the basic parts of scanning electron microscope are Control console, electron guns, thermo ionic electron gun, field ionic gun, thermal field emitters, Schottky emitter, and vacuum system: vacuum pumps, roughing pump/mechanical pump, diffusion pump, turbo pump, ion pump (CEMS) (Chemical Engineering and Material Science, 2003). Biologist use transmission microscope to emit a ray of electrons from side to side of a thin sample that has to be examined for its internal structure. In contrast, biologist use scanning electron microscope to emit a fiber-thin electron ray across the surface of the sample producing a clear picture of the surface structure (Miller and Levine, 2003). Conclusion Electron microscopes are biomedical laboratory instruments that enable biologist to accurately configure the internal and external structure of microorganism which were considered in the past as invisible organisms. Photo by: Ernst Ruska. 1980, Berlin Figure 1: Transmission electron microscope Source: Epner Technology Inc. ISO 9001. 2000,NADCAP Figure 2: Scanning electron microscope Title: General Cytology; Publisher: W.B. Saunders; Publication Date: 1960 Figure 3: The transmission electron microscope allows the viewer to see the internal parts of a microorganism at 1 million times size magnification Title: General Cytology; Publisher: W. B. Saunders; Publication Date: 1960 Figure 4: Scanning electron microscope allows the viewer to see the external surface parts of a

Annotated Bibliography Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Annotated Bibliography - Assignment Example They say that it occurs in any healthy people and also in any age group. It is sometimes accompanied by staphylococcal infection.For type 3, they explain Gram-negative monomicrobial infection. They say it includes marine organisms like Aeromonashydrophila and Vibriospp that occur after wounds have been contaminated by infected water. They also explain treatment and prevention methods of the disease. Taviloglu, et al., (2006) focus on the symptoms of the disease majorly. Initially from page 1, they give the definition of the disease. They also highlight the causal agents of the disease and highlight that the disease is mostly caused when the skin contaminated by things that are infected such as water. In addition, they talk of the prevention measures such as seeing doctors, keeping the skin intact always, among others. Taviloglu, et al., (2006) also highlight diagnosis for the disease where they recommend carrying out surgery at the infected areas as being the surest way. Also, they have classified the disease into four types as given from page 253. The types have been extensively explained and types such as four pointed as the most lethal. Elliot, Kufera& Myers (2000) have given very extensive facts on the disease in their article. In this article, they have majored on the types of necrotizing tissue infections, diagnosis, prevention and treatment. For the types, they have given type 1 to type 4. Additionally, type 4 has been singled out as the most fatal of all the types. On Page 47, they give the mortality rate associated with the disease to be 34%. The article also highlights prevention measures as keeping the screen intact, avoiding contaminated areas and visiting the doctor for medical checkup. Elliot, Kufera & Myers (2000) propose the best treatment method for the disease to be surgery although normal clinical diagnoses can be also be carried