Karl Marx and Emile Durkheimcitizens Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Karl Marx and Emile Durkheimcitizens - Essay Example He believes that the individual understands and fits into their society through "Their understanding of religious origin; they are social affairs and the product of collective thought" (Giddens). While the two philosophers had differing opinions on how a society is formed, they are similar in that they both studied how the individual fits into and reacts to their societies. Marx's theory of "fetishism of commodities" first introduced in his main work Capital, focuses on the capitalist society's obsession with goods and its devaluing of labor. He believes, "Commodities are seen as having power over the people who produce them" (Tucker). Therefore members in a capitalist society begin to function in a cycle of laboring for goods. They strive for more and more commodities and work harder and harder to get them, losing focus on the true value of the commodities. This kind of society loses the relationship between the producer and the consumer because the producer only sees the commodity according to the work that he put in to produce it while the consumer values the commodity at face value since they are unaware of what kind of labor went into producing it. Marx's theory reveals a society that is formed out of and run by commodities.

Poverty, Education and Health Care Essay Example for Free

Poverty, Education and Health Care Essay Abstract Poverty and education play an important role in access to health care. A low socioeconomic status influences the health of people. This paper provides a general overview of how poverty and education determines access to health care. It provides a description of the consequences of poverty and education on health care accessibility. Finally it provides solutions as how to address the issue. The link between poverty, education and access to medical care has received considerable attention. Health influences all the activities of an individual. All societies are concerned with varying levels of health among their members. They are also concerned about marginalized sections of society have access to health care. Poverty and its effects on society People belonging to poor communities have poorer health outcomes. They have less access to primary care as compared with more affluent residents. They are also less likely to have health insurance and regular doctor. They are more likely to have chronic health problems. They are more likely to get hospitalized for conditions which can be detected and treated at an early stage. Despite an expansive public insurance program these health problems remain. At least 18 percent of Americans are without medical insurance. This means a total of 44 million are without health insurance out of a population of 300 million. An estimated 87 percent of people are covered by government or employee based health care insurance (Cutler, 2004). People with low socioeconomic status face many challenges in maintaining their health. They have a high mortality rate. They are more likely to be suffering from some disease. They have limited health care resources. They live in poor environmental situations. The United States has one of the world’s most impressive standards of living. At least 32 million Americans live below the poverty line. In addition to poor people an estimated 50 million people live in poverty like conditions. Health risk factors like smoking, obesity and sedentary lifestyle are found in poor Americans (Cutler, 2004). They have a higher prevalence of disability and chronic illness. They have a shorter life expectancy. Children belonging to poor families are more likely to be malnourished. Many poor Americans live in houses which have lead paint. This can cause growth problems in children. Poor people eat inexpensive food which is fatty and lacks important nutrients. Poor people cannot afford health insurance coverage. Patients postpone their medical care and they are more likely to go without prescription medicines. Low income workers are at the highest risk of being uninsured because they are ineligible for Medicaid coverage. They work in low wage jobs that do not offer insurance. They cannot afford the high premiums associated with health care insurance. The lack of a usual source of care is another barrier to seek adequate health care. The challenges associated with poverty create conditions that can diminish lifesavings, lower learning ability and reduce physical, mental and emotional well being. All of these factors are a threat to people’s health. Urban areas in the United States have many health care facilities. However poor people cannot make use of these services. The major challenge is the high cost of visiting doctors, medicine and hospital care. Social factors like language barriers and prejudice by providers also hinder the accessibility of health care by poor people. The government also faces challenges in trying spreading health education in poor communities. Health care services are vital for the survival and livelihood of poor people. Illness persists in poor people. It stops people from working and forces them to sell assets. They fall into debt and are lead into a vicious cycle of dependency and poverty. Failure to treat themselves leads to illness and disability. This further reduces the ability to work in poorer households. People living in rural areas are forced to bear high transport costs. This is difficult and expensive for them. The lack of local health centers in rural areas further hinders the ability of poor people to access adequate health care (Crichton, 1997). The huge time that takes for poor people to obtain treatment is one of the greatest barriers which they face. Time away from jobs results in lost income. Health services run by governments are usually inefficient and are characterized by neglect. The quality of service is low. There is shortage of staff. There is no proper medicine and equipment. In many countries there is no safe water to drink. In developing countries there are high costs to health care. Besides the official fees there are corrupt staff members who demand bribes and fees in return for ordinary services. These services can include registration, tests and being given medicine. They can also pressurize a sick person to make unnecessary visits to the hospital. Payment methods are not flexible in many developing countries. Payment usually has to be made in advance and in cash. This causes considerable hardship for poor people (Crichton, 1997). Â  Education and its effects on society Education also plays an important role in health care. Many people with low literacy cannot read and understand directions written on medications. They cannot complete medical consent forms. They have problems in accessing health care and dealing with health related issues. Health literacy is the ability to read and understand words and procedures related to health care. It consists of comprehension, communication and appropriate action. The direct effects of low health literacy are medication errors. The indirect issues can include insurance issues, accessibility to health care and poor health behavior (Shi, 2003). Low health literacy affects people of all ages, races, educational levels and social classes. It is driven by a variety of factors. It is a multidimensional issue. Understanding written materials has been part of extensive health literacy in the past few years. Sensitivity to culture has also become part of health literacy due to the diverse population of the world. Messages and images have to be tailored to meet the diverse beliefs and values of people. Health literacy is concerned with understanding the information necessary to manage health (Shi, 2003). It is estimated that at least 90 million people in the United States cannot read. The health of such people is at risk. Ethnic minority groups are also affected by low health literacy. Older patients, recent immigrants, people with chronic diseases and those with low income are also vulnerable to having low health literacy. Many people with average or strong literacy skills have found medical terminology and concepts confusing. There are many health consequences associated with a low literacy level. Research has found that at least one third of patients have health problems because of failure in taking prescription medication correctly. People with low health literacy cannot comply with prescribed treatments and self care routines. They also have a high rate of failure in seeking preventive care. They are more at risk for hospitalization. They lack the skills to successfully move in the complex healthcare system (Shi, 2003). Patients with low health literacy have glycemic control. They are also more likely to report eye problems caused by diabetes. The annual health care costs for individuals with low health literacy are five times higher than those with higher health literacy skills. People with low health literacy are more likely to use health care services. Additional health care expenditures result from low health literacy skills. People cannot feel part of the social structure. They are also vulnerable to anxiety and other mental disorders. They can also alienate other people. Research has also found that people with low literacy levels are more vulnerable to die. While federal and state lawmakers continue to debate about how to increase access to health care, some of them are thinking of reinsurance system which might be affordable for poor people. In order to understand the concept of insurance it is essential that policy makers understand the concepts, benefits and limits of reinsurance mechanism. Reforms in Health care Reinsurance in health care refers to risk transfer or risk pooling arrangements. These are designed to remove the barriers which low income workers and minorities face when accessing health care. Risk transfer arrangements can help in this matter but they cannot lower health care costs. Policy makers must design policies which encourage participation from insurers and remove incentives to transfer costs to taxpayers. Reinsurance is defined as an insurance company buying insurance itself. The primary insurer is protected against the rare set of circumstances which might produce losses that it cannot fund on its own. Property and casualty insurance are the areas where reinsurance has been successfully implemented. Companies working in these areas can take heavy losses due to natural disasters in a short time period. This induces insurers to buy reinsurance on the commercial market. Poor people cannot afford health insurance coverage. This directly affects their ability to access medical care. Patients postpone their medical care and they are more likely to go without prescription medicines. Low income workers are at the highest risk of being uninsured because they are ineligible for Medicaid coverage (Kling, 2004). Public health plays a vital role in countering the effects of poverty on health care. It also minimizes the disparities in health by income. Public health policies protect the health of the population. It also plays an important role in reducing contagious diseases and providing low cost health services to marginalized sections of society. There are many examples of public health functions. Immunizing babies, improving sanitation, combating sexually transmitted diseases, protecting the environment and containing tuberculosis are some of the public health functions. Public health focuses on reallocating resources to communities which have low incomes. The US government has a network of community health centers, public clinics, school based clinics and health clinics for low income workers, migrants, minorities and homeless people. The National Health Service Corps is an organization which provides services and places physicians in vulnerable communities. Public health services also focus on specific diseases like tuberculosis. They also increase immunization efforts against this disease. They provide services which improve the health of low income families. Neighborhoods are cleaned from lead paint, pollution control and nutrition programs are launched. Women and children are fed through special programs. Poor people with low income and education have poorer health outcomes. They have less access to primary care as compared with more affluent residents. They are also less likely to have health insurance and regular doctor. They are more likely to have chronic health problems (Kling, 2004). Medicaid is the largest public programs that have improved access to health care. It provides health services to low income population. It finances health and long term care insurance for over 40 million low income Americans. Before Medicaid the poor people were essentially without any medical care. They relied on charity of physicians and hospitals. Public hospitals and clinics were also visited by poor people. Medicaid has made health services available to poor people. It has improved their health status and access to quality care. It has also created satisfaction amongst the poor people. Uninsured poor people lag well behind those people who have coverage with Medicaid. People with Medicaid have even fared comparably with private insurance (Kling, 2004). Despite the fact that these programs offer valuable assistance to low income populations, the deficits in access and coverage faced by low income population cannot be easily overcome. Increase in income does produce a substantial contribution to removing health differentials. However this is the need for insurance coverage and support for community based resources to eliminate health disparities by income. Poverty is hazardous for the physical and mental well being of an individual. Low income and homeless people are poor physical functions. They have a high prevalence of health risk factors and chronic health conditions. They also are more vulnerable to depression and other mental disorders. Research has shown that people living in vulnerable communities have a higher rate of being diagnosed with mental disorders as compared with more affluent communities (Kling, 2004). There is a need for prevention, intervention and treatment of diseases for poor people. Welfare reform cannot succeed without taking into account the special health problems of poor people and children. Poverty is associated with depression and other symptoms. It contributes to depression. People with insufficient personal support have no assistance in raising children. They live under the chronic stress of having children but little money to support them. They are at a higher risk for depression. There is a strong link between single-parent status, responsibility for young children, social isolation, and lack of social supports as well as to poverty. Welfare recipients have many barriers towards employment. They have low skills, substance abuse, health limitation or children with chronic medical conditions. They have serious forms of barriers. They have also high level of distress. They seek help from general medical, specialized and human service sources. Poor people with low income and education have poorer health outcomes. They have less access to primary care as compared with more affluent residents. They are also less likely to have health insurance and regular doctor. They are more likely to have chronic health problems. They are more likely to get hospitalized for conditions which can be detected and treated at an early stage. Despite an expansive public insurance program these health problems remain. At least 18 percent of Americans are without medical insurance. This means a total of 44 million are without health insurance out of a population of 300 million. An estimated 87 percent of people are covered by government or employee based health care insurance. Rising health care costs have become unbearable in the world. This is a problem for poor people in the Western countries and the situation is even worse in developing countries. There is a need for reform in the health care system. Many poor people are not covered by health insurance. Critical care medicine in high technology hospitals are only for a small group of patients (Ham, 2004). The first step should be rationing in containing health care costs. Public health care resources are limited. It is not possible to satisfy all medical needs for all people at all times. An appropriate goal for developing countries is to provide basic health care for the people. Some luxury medical procedures must be left for individuals to purchase with their own resources. Â  A basic level of health care must be provided for all people. Providing the best care is practically impossible. The government can however provide a basic level of care. Prevention oriented and ordinary treatment oriented goals must be set for developing countries and their health care systems. Inexpensive medical prevention is more effective and appropriate for poor people. Finally there should be a system of support which should help people with special expensive medicine care. Special foundations should come to the rescue of poor people for emergency and life saving procedures (Cundiff, 2005). Conclusion The health and well being of poor communities is an issue confronting both developed and developing countries. Research has found links between poverty and the health of people. Inside the United States many poor people do not have health insurance. Some of them can’t even think of affording health insurance. They are more concerned with the basic amenities of life. People in developing countries are even worse off. They have access to state hospitals and clinics which do not have trained staff, prescription medicine and advanced hospital care (Cundiff, 2005). A low health literacy rate is also dangerous for the well being of people. It can have adverse negative economic and social impacts. They can die at from treatable causes and get hospitalized because of their lack of health literacy skills. They are also prone to suffering from mental diseases like anxiety and depression. Â  There is the need for health reform in the entire world. Governments must provide a basic level of health care to all citizens. Advanced hospital care must be made available by foundations and donations. Governments working in coordination with community support groups can effectively counter the affects of poverty and low education on the health care of poor people. Some health responsibilities and policies should be transferred to community groups. The international community must help poor countries in developing basic and adequate health care system. References Cutler, David M. (2004). Your Money Or Your Life: Strong Medicine for Americas Health Care System. US: Oxford University Press. Crichton, Anne (1997). Health Care: A Community Concern?. US: University of Calgary. Shi, Leiyu (2003). Delivering Health Care in America: A Systems Approach. US: Jones and Bartlett. Kling, Arnold S. (2004). Crisis of Abundance: Rethinking How We Pay for Health Care. US: Cato Institute. Ham, Christopher (2004). Health Care Reform: Learning from International Experience. US: McGraw-Hill Education. Cundiff, David E. (2005). The Right Medicine: How to Make Health Care Reform Work Today. US: Humana Press.

Yeti, Myth or Not myth :: essays research papers

YETIS, MONSTER OR MYTH? â€Å"Yetis are as pure and white as snow...   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yetis have a soft side that they don’t show...   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Yeti this Yeti that, Yetis rule and u know that† - Capt. Terpin Timins   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Introduction:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yetis are creatures supposedly created from myth and fiction. They are large tempestuous creatures. Yetis can be classified in the same family as the Sasquatch and Big Foot. Many people believe that Yetis aren't real and are illusions of men who have claimed to have seen them. After researching them I want to say that Yetis are warm and cuddly but do not try to hug a Yeti.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I have chosen to write about Yetis because they are interesting and they seem to be magical. There is so little belief in magic and wonderment these days that the Yeti is one of the only characters that people believe in. I have spoken to many people about their opinions on Yetis and the Yeti way of life. Atleast half of the people who I have talked to deny the truth behind these indiginous nomad species. What is a Yeti?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Contrary to popular belief Yetis are not carnivorous, they do not attack people unless provoked as many animals do to protect their territory, their food and their families. The highest population of Yetis is in the arctic or in cold climates. The Yeti civilization keeps itself hidden and camouflaged with layers of white fur and cave like homes. Like humans they nurture and raise their offspring until they are able to find their own prey and take care of itself. Yetis are omnivores and eat many different plants as well as meat, the impression that Yetis eat people has been derived from the fact that in the arctic there aren't many plants that cater to the Yeti food chain. Yetis have evolved from human like hominids. Yetis are human like in the characteristics that we share like the opposable thumb, a large brain, and the ability to stand erect. Is there proof of Yeti life?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yes, although it is not common knowledge there is proof of the Yeti, Yeti fossils have been recovered from many regions that were covered in ice at some point in time millions of years ago. Although the fossils were not complete and the Yeti body structures were obviously missing pieces there is no denying the Yeti presence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In developed parts of the northern or southern arctic regions many locals claim to have had Yeti encounters.

First Semester In College

To many people, starting college is something they are really afraid of because college is where things get serious. It is like a whole different level of education. High school is nothing compared to college. This scenario was the complete opposite to my thinking. After graduating from High school, I really wanted to go to college to take another, huge step towards my career. I had a decent amount of friends who were going to Middlesex county college and they told me that this college is good to start off with. So, now I find myself in this college.Although I was looking forward to go to college, my first semester was hard time to go by because of new people, new classes and new teachers as well. In my life, I continuously meet new people every now and then, and college was no different. Even if I had friends from high school going to the same college, I didn’t have the same classes that they had. So the first day of college I walked into a class completely full of strangers. I had no idea how old they were, where they were from or what kind of personality they had.But I eventually got to know some of them as weeks passed by. It was nothing like high school, people are actually really nice to you even if you do not know them. In high school there is a lot of criticism depending on what you look like. Your race, your gender and many other things. College was a complete opposite. Along with having new people in my classes, the classes itself were really different. Classes in college differ a lot from classes in high School. There is no reason one should say that classes in college are similar to the classes in high school.Subjects that you get in colleges are way more advanced than the ones in high school. The material is made in a way that you know it is trying to say that I need to know more about a lot of things. A person may think they know enough to be in the class but once you start getting into more things, you will know how much you think you know and how much you actually know. On top of all this, new people, classes, the teacher are new too but that is not the only reason. I have had new teachers in high school mostly every year but it is totally different than having teachers in college.Teacher in high schools know what you already know and what you need to know. They know what you are capable to do and how much work you can take and be able to accomplish it. If you are in college, that means you know a lot and you should be capable of accomplishing nay task given by your teacher. This is definitely true because in my math class my teacher gave our class a lot of work and expected to us finish everything without any help. Teachers really expect a lot from me. This is called college it might be exactly what you think it is or completely different than your imagination.For conclusion, First semester of college was hard because of new environment with new people and a whole different place. But on the bright side I successfu lly completed my first semester. People are usually stressed about college but even if everything is different once you are used to it you will like it. It is like a kid going to kindergarten for the first time and he or she doesn’t like it but eventually it becomes your daily life routine and you will blend into it. College is the biggest step you will take forward towards your career.

Comparison of the Man He Killed, the Send-Off and Dulce Et Decorum Est Essay

The Send-Off, by Wilfred Owen, is an ironic and dark humoured description of how the soldiers we’re sent off to the battlefront, during World War I. In this poem, Owen conveys to us that the soldiers are being sent to their doom. From the very start we sense the soldiers’ lost fate. The soldiers go to the train, they are singing joyfully, as if they are being sent to a country picnic, but of course the narration is omniscient, we know what lies ahead of them, and so simultaneously the lanes are darkening around them. This poem actually conveys a message that war is not as glorious and honourable as it is always portrayed as. Even the title, The ‘send-off’ could mean two things. Firstly, it could mean that the soldiers were being sent off to war. However, it could also mean that the soldiers were being â€Å"sent off† to their deaths. This emphasizes the fact that war actually is not what it is portrayed to be. It is not glorious and honourable to fight in war but the people and soldiers going through it suffer greatly and most do not survive. Similarly, â€Å"The Man He Killed† also portrays war negatively which is reflected through the poets choice of words describing war such as, â€Å"quaint and curious war is!†. However, ‘The Man He Killed’ focuses on the senselessness and futility of war, where a man has killed another quite simply because they were fighting on opposing sides in a war. Likewise â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† illustrates the harsh reality and brutality of war but in this poem the poet writes about an actual event in war that he has witnessed. ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ describes a mustard gas attack on a group of war-weary soldiers. Owen’s painfully direct language combines gritty realism with an aching sense of compassion.

Understanding human rights The WritePass Journal

Understanding human rights Introduction Understanding human rights IntroductionHuman Rights Act in the UKImportance of human rightsCriticisms against human rightsConclusionRelated Introduction Human rights are defined as those inalienable and universal rights and freedoms which all individuals enjoy simply because they are human, they are entitlements which we all share regardless of age, gender, race, sexuality, class or culture (Henry 2009: 1). Human right are rights inherent to all human beings, irrespective of the nationality, place of resident, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. Human rights are entitlement gotten outside/without discrimination. these rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible   in the sense that most states have the same human right laws that govern the security of individual and group with brings about equality before the law and freedom of expression; economic, social and cultural rights, such as the rights to development and self-determination. Most human rights are expressed and supported by law, in terms of treaties, customary international law, general principles and other sources of international law. infact, these human right laws lay down obligations of Governments to act in certain way in order to promot and protect human rights. Human rights entail both rights and obligations. States assume obligations and duties under international law to respect, to protect and to fulfil human rights. The obligation to respect means that States must refrain from interfering with or curtailing the enjoyment of human rights. The obligation to protect requires States to protect individuals and groups against human rights abuses. The obligation to fulfil means that States must take positive action to facilitate the enjoyment of basic human rights. At the individual level, while we are entitled our human rights, we should also respect the human rights of others. Universal Declaration on human rights in 1948 contains 30 articles. but the most important of these are considered as follows: the right to life, liberty, property and security of person, the right to an education, the right to employemtn, paid holidays, protection against unemployment and social security, the right to participate fully in cultural life freedome from torture or cruel, inhumane treatement   or punishment, freedome of expression and opinion freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Vienna World conference on human rights 1993 noted that it is the duty of states to promoted and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms, regardless of their politica, economic and cultural systems. Human Rights Act in the UK The Human Rights Act was brought about as a result of the European Convention on Human Rights, which was set up by the Council of Europe. This was to ensure that the violations of human rights under the reign of Hitler during the Second World War, would not be able to happen again. The act however, was only passed into UK law in October 2000. individual now have the right to seek redress in a UK court instead of having to visit the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which covered the act of: the right to life, prohibition of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, Freedom from forced labour, Right to liberty, Right to a fair trial, Retrospective penalties, Right to respect for private and family life, Freedom of thought, conscience and religion, Freedom of expression, Freedom of assembly and association, Right to marry, Prohibition of discrimination. The Human Rights Act 1998, has affected the lives of British Citizens, for example recently a law allowing terror suspects to be detained for up to 90 days without charge, but this was dropped as it was deemed to breach the rights of those being detained for such a long period of time. Importance of human rights Human rights help everyone to have a secured and safe life. it educates people to be directed to the full development of human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. Criticisms against human rights Human rights as a principle is always positive. They should be the basis for evaluating any regime, aid program, etc.  The criticism can arise when human rights are written down as laws, as they are almost impossible to police and there can be very blurry edges when defining everyday practicalities, such as a bill of rights. Some sociologists also see a problem with western countries defining human rights in a way that makes sense to westerners, yet is at odds with another culture. An example is child education. we see it as a human right and wish to enforce it globally. Many poor countries depend on working children in order for the family to eat and survive. When the child is forced to go to school, they lose a breadwinner, and a parent can also be forced to cease work in order to now attend to a child who is not working at home like they used to. Costs are also astronomical in developing countries to school a single child, and many families are large. end result is deepening of impoverishment before the fruits of the childs education kick in decades later. So is this still an easily recognisable human right? Human Rights is a much used and abused term today, and is used extensively for political gain. The term is used to defend Human freedom as well as destroy it. People tend to attach importance to particular human rights issue according to ideology and political convenience. if a man is not to have recourse or rebellion against tyranny and oppression, taking law into their own hands,Human Rights should be built into the society as a natural rule. As a last resort only, law should be applied as a protection. Desite the fact human right laws are in existence, there is still racism and discrimination  which has criticised human right in a way that it can no longer make any impact to individual in some societies. Conclusion Human rights are the rights of individual men and women to   basic freedoms such as freedome of association, freedom speech, etc. one should note that the improvement fo one right facilitates advancement fo the others, likewise, the deprivation of one right adversely affects the others.

The Difference Between e-Learning and Distance Learning

The Difference Between e-Learning and Distance Learning The terms e-learning, distance learning, web-based learning and online learning are often used interchangeably. But, a recent eLearn Magazine article explains how important it is to recognize their differences: ...These terms represent concepts with subtle, yet consequential differences....A clear understanding of these concepts and their fundamental differences is important for both the educational and training communities. Applying each of these terms adequately is key to assuring reliable communication between clients and vendors, members of technical teams, and the research community. A thorough familiarity with each concept and its distinctive characteristics is a critical factor in establishing adequate specifications, evaluating alternative options, selecting best solutions, and enabling and promoting effective learning practices. See Also: The 7 Mistakes Online Learners Make

3 Types of Errors in Treatment of Numbers

3 Types of Errors in Treatment of Numbers 3 Types of Errors in Treatment of Numbers 3 Types of Errors in Treatment of Numbers By Mark Nichol When expressing numbers in writing, take care to avoid erroneous styling of number ranges, mixed fractions, and multiple references to categorically similar numbers. The following examples, each of which is followed by a discussion and a revision, exemplify these three categories of style issues. 1. He said there are between 10-15 billion such devices online. Three ways to express a number range are â€Å"from (first number) to (second number),† â€Å"between (first number) and (second number), and â€Å"(first number)–(second number).† The third choice features an en dash, though some publications, for the sake of simplicity, use a hyphen, and many writers do so because they are unaware of the distinction. More significantly, that option is appropriate only for numerals, while the first and second choices apply to both numerals and spelled-out numbers. However, do not mix from or between with an en dash (or a hyphen) when expressing a number range; to correctly format the given sentence, choose from among the following treatments: â€Å"He said there are from 10 to 15 billion such devices online,† â€Å"He said there are between 10 and 15 billion such devices online,† and â€Å"He said there are 10–15 billion such devices online.† 2. The pitchers combined for 32/3 shutout innings. When, in a mixed fraction, the fraction is set as a case fraction (with small upper and lower numbers separated by a narrow horizontal line), the letter space is unnecessary, but for clarity, it is essential when the fraction is expressed vertically, as here: â€Å"The pitchers combined for 3 2/3 shutout innings.† 3. The process should be documented over a six- to 24-month period. The Associated Press Style Book recommends spelling out numbers up to nine and (with some exceptions) using numerals for larger numbers, even when two or more numbers in each category appear in proximity in a reference to related amounts or values. However, Chicago puts the breaking point at more than one hundred, so in this example, both numbers would be spelled out: â€Å"The process should be documented over a six- to twenty-four-month period.† (But if the numbers are unrelated, as in the following sentence, there is no need for consistency: â€Å"Even as recently as 200 years ago, a fifty-mile journey was a major undertaking.†) (Both style manuals are helpful to writers, but I favor Chicago as a more comprehensive resource that encourages a more sophisticated approach to writing than the AP Style Book, which models a simple, more functional prose style.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:60 Synonyms for â€Å"Walk†20 Words Meaning "Being or Existing in the Past""To Tide You Over"

The Parking Lot Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Parking Lot - Essay Example This issue should be urgently addressed to address the disorganization and disturbance that it causes in the campus. This is an informational analysis. The authority responsible for this issue is the security department at the campus because they are mandated to handle issues of car parking and issues of disorganization and confusion created. As such, this complaint is directed to the head of the security department at the campus. The lack of ample parking space is a problem in different areas (Arbatskaya, Mukhopadhaya and Rasmusen 4). In campus, it has been an ongoing issue for a long time and has created a nuisance. The numbers of students increase in the campus every year meaning that the numbers of cars, motorcycles and bicycles also increase. Despite the increase, the parking spaces are left unmanaged and the people who own cars, motorcycles and bicycles are left struggling on where to park and as a result of this decide to park anywhere they want. This issue has brought about several unpleasant experiences. First, there have been accidents involving cars, motorcycles and bicycles. Because people decide to park their cars, motorcycles and bicycles anywhere and anyhow they want, it becomes difficult for them to move from places where they have parked, for instance when other cars, motorcycles or bicycles have parked behind them or on the sides. There have been several cases where people have complained that those who had parked either side of their cars had hit and damaged their cars or bikes when getting out and ran away without reporting or helping them repair their cars. The security has been unable to solve such issues because of lack of evidence or information to apprehend the culprits in addition to the fact that it would be difficult to solve such issues when no one knows who had parked the right way. Next, students as well as other people have

Displaying Communications Between Pilots and Air Traffic Controllers Research Paper

Displaying Communications Between Pilots and Air Traffic Controllers in Digital Readouts - Research Paper Example The ultimate objective of Able Flight program is to assist the disabled or handicapped individuals to acquire the aptitude to fly an airplane. This is because different types of disabilities needs distinct solutions to assist them fly airplanes. Note that despite the fact that the program fundamentally helps the disabled people, it also assists normal people who have passion and interest of flying airplanes but do not have the ability. The ultimate aim of this context is to examine how Able Flight program helps the disabled individuals to fly airplanes as well as to provide solutions following the difficulties encountered in flight training. It winds up by examining the implementation process of a voice recognition technology in pilot’s communication (Karat, Vergo and Nahamoo 2007). How Able Flight Helps Disabled People to Fly Airplanes Just as mentioned, the Able Flight program does not offer flight training or classes. However, it is involved in teaching flight related life lessons that make the participants good pilots and flight attendants. The organization corporate with different flight schools among them being Purdue University campus. Able Flight has been associating with this university for two years in a row where it has brought four scholars to the campus to be educated on how to fly. Each of them has physical disability that, up to present day, has prevented them from undertaking an interest or career in aviation. Nevertheless, with the assistance from special aircraft and scholarships from Able Flight, the scholars have been able to acquire light sport pilot certificates after exhaustive five-week training period. According to Geoff Aschenberger, â€Å"The most interesting part of it is that these scholars are able to cover the whole package in one month while the Purdue flight scholars take five to six months to cover†. Due to the density of the schedule at Purdue, the scholars and flight instructors take most of their time at the ai rport in the classroom and in their specially modeled aircraft. A partial day engross an early morning arrival, 90 minutes of flying, debate, more flying and landings, lunchtime meals, even intense flying and ground institute lessons. Note that all these things take place at the Purdue University campus flight school. That does not mean the Able Flight has no role that it plays. As far as those disabled scholars are concerned, Able Flight must participate or take part in ensuring that they obtain exactly what they went to acquire. The organizational program is developed in a way that it has to follow up the students’ progress, know their strong points and motivate them to keep it up; identify their weak points and help them both find permanent solutions to them in order to make sure they progress. Generally, Able Flight makes follow up on all the disabled students it gives scholarships and makes sure they are safe and healthy. The school included time for social time where so me of the Able Flight staff goes there to spend sometimes with them as well as join them with the other flight students so that they can feel accepted and embraced in the community. The school’s training personnel also help the disabled students to participate in school’s activities and to mingle with others so that they do not feel lonely or rejected. Besides, the school’s staff and Able Flight made it possible for the students to live together in First Street Towers, which is a university’s owned dwelling hall. Whereas the Able Flight scholars

Do Entrepreneurs have Taits or Cognitive Biases that make them Essay

Do Entrepreneurs have Taits or Cognitive Biases that make them different from other Individuals - Essay Example It is hard to specify a personality pattern for the entrepreneurs. Probably, the varieties of personality among the entrepreneurs are just as many as the number of entrepreneurs. However, there are certain characteristics that are common in most of the entrepreneurs. â€Å"[E]ntrepreneurs are business creators that are characterized by the following cognitive aspects: they have a creative and knowing cognitive style, use intuition to make decisions, develop expert scripts, are self-ef?cient in the perception and development of opportunities, create an innovative environment, cope with unexpected challenges, develop investor relations, de?ne business goals, develop human resources, and are prone to innovation and risk taking† (Sanchez, Carballo, and Gutierrez, 2011, p. 436). Research conducted by David McClelland revealed a distinct cluster of personality traits typical of the founders of companies that exhibited rapid growth. McClelland found a high need for achievement among these entrepreneurs. The growth-oriented entrepreneurs have a strong need to succeed and accomplish tough tasks. These entrepreneurs derive the desire for independence from the very desire for achievement. Their need for achievement makes the growth-oriented entrepreneurs to keeping moving from one firm to another. They need constant recognition. Growth-oriented entrepreneurs are very articulate in their manner. They have a low need to conform. This means that although they listen to others, yet they are able to do as they wish. They may go out of the way to do a thing if they consider it right. These entrepreneurs normally work for anywhere between a sixty to eighty hours per week in order to achieve their goals irrespective of the amount of stamina it requires. Growth-oriented entrepreneurs accept risks. The risk involved in the work is too little as compared to the courage and confidence, and the need for achievement of these entrepreneurs. These five personality traits i.e. high need for achievement, low need to comply, persistence, high level of energy and immense tendency to take risk can be condensed into four basic attitudes that are typical of the successful entrepreneurs. These four basic attitudes are optimism, commitment, focus, and drive. Entrepreneurs are generally very optimistic in their approach of thinking and are opportunists (Keh, Foo, and Lim, 2002). The very optimism helps them deal with failures in the rational way. They are confident about the rightness of their cause. Entrepreneurs generally have an external locus of control. â€Å"The concept of locus of control refers to a generalized belief that a person can or cannot control his or her own destiny and individuals are classified along a continuum from very internal to very external† (Oben et al., 2011. p. 112). Pessimists consider failure a consequence of their personal mistakes and think that it would last long whereas optimistic entrepreneurs consider that failure occurs fr om a cause that is beyond their control and that it is short-lived. One of the most fundamental personality traits that entrepreneurs require to succeed is commitment. A business is not made successful overnight. It might take years for a business to reach a level wherein the entrepreneur can become successful. In the time that is spent in between, the entrepreneur

Electric Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Electric Industry - Essay Example The competition in the electricity industry is not as complex as it seems. What has happened is players have always believed that one electricity firm can supply the entire demand at a considerably lower cost than multiple electric firms serving the appropriate market. From this basis they conclude that electric transmission and distribution must always be to be regulated, since in the absence of energy regulation, transmission and effective electricity distribution owners may not face enough competition in the industry to ensure prices are kept low to consumers and to attain economic efficiency in electricity transmitting and distributing. This is, however, the case with many other natural monopolies in the industry. Natural monopolies exists where the largest supplier in an electricity industry, often also the first supplier in a market, has a significant cost advantage over other real or potential competitors; this has always tended to be the case making competition in electricity industry seem complex. The same is the case in the same industry where fixed costs prevail, generating economies of scale that are huge in relation to the market size, as is the case in water and electricity services. This has led to complexity as these electricity firms take advantage of economies of scale and causes problems of bureaucracy and inefficiency. As with all monopolies in electricity market, monopolies who have gained their position on natural monopoly effects could be involved in behavior that abuses their market position, which always leads to calls from various consumers for government regulation. Encouraging competition in the electricity industry is not as complex but requires massive investment by private sector investment as the initial capital is many times massive thus discouraging players and this minimized competition. This would especially start with deregulation that normally lacks monopoly, and these go a long way in encouraging new

International retailing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

International retailing - Essay Example On the 28th of July in 2006 Wal-Mart sold its 85 chain German outlets to Metro AG, which is a diversified cash and carry retail chain that has Germany's largest market share (Clark, 2006)1. 1997 marked the year that Wal-Mart entered Germany when it completed negotiations to acquire 21 outlets belonging to the Wertkauf hypermarket chain (Wal-Mart Facts.com, 2007)2. This was following by Wal-Mart acquiring 74 stores of the Interspar hypermarket chain that is a subsidiary of Spar Handels AG (Wal-Mart Facts.com, 2007)3. The preceding represented Wal-Mart's entry into the European market, using Germany as the launch point. Listening to customers represents one of the first and most important aspects in entering a foreign market as the nuances of consumers differs in their respective countries, thereby requiring adjustments in marketing, presentation, operational and other procedures. Wal-Mart's extraordinarily successful American operations that meshed leading edge marketing, a new approach to its corporate culture as well as organisational structures, resulting in the company being vaulted into the largest and most successful retailer in the world. ... The preceding success in the United States does not necessarily represent an effective, and or workable game plan in other markets. Given Wal-Mart's reputation and successes, the company only entered the international market in 1991 that pales in comparison to Carrefour, which has been retailing in foreign markets for in excess of thirty years (Incandela et al, 1999)4. The international market represents a different set of challenges, experiences as well as internal operating dictates that need to be understood and incorporated into a retailer's operational mode, a lesson that Wal-Mart learned in Germany. This study shall delve into Wal-Mart's entry into the German market to determine the reasons as to why it was not successful there. Wal-Mart and Germany Wal-Mart's lack of success in Germany is a classic example of using a business model that is not applicable in terms of the market it is applied in. A look into the facets that represented a contribution to the foregoing entails delving into the market entry strategies as well as operational tactics that were employed, with the foregoing compared with market entry and expansion theories as well as practices. Wal-Mart's entry into Germany represented the fact that it has the largest market in Europe as represented by its population, strong economic underpinnings, affluence of its citizens as well as the awareness of products made in the United States (United States Department of Agriculture, 2004)5. Germany ranks third internationally in terms of consumer food expenditures (United States Department of Agriculture, 2004)6. Critical recommendations as offered by the United States Department of

How has the debt problem in Europe envolved Essay

How has the debt problem in Europe envolved - Essay Example The EU market was lending to Ireland, Greece and Portugal at a rate that was at par with the one offered to Germany in 2008. The assumption at this point in time being that the Euro could never at any one given point break up and as a result, each and every country within the region was taken to be as safe as Germany- which had been considered to be the safest. For a very long time, Germany benefitted from the Euro zone crisis. The country had very low interest rates that made it even easier for the government to borrow more, thus creating a demand for more personal loans. The European Commercial Bank (ECB) even purchased German government bonds. Germany was seen to be the safe haven in European economics. Interest rates in the country had been going down since the start of the first symptoms of the crisis (Broyer, Peterson and Schneider 2012, p.2). . This was a part crisis how had the country performed before? Was it over heating? If no why? Following this assumption, Greece did acc umulate almost 145% of its gross domestic product (GDP) as gross debt, a figure that was by far beyond what the country was capable of producing within a period of about one year and six months. As the crisis was progressing into its third year, it was not clear whether or not it would culminate in bringing to an end the straightening out or further accelerate the continent’s six-decade progress toward slow but sure confederacy, as Europe staggered between the currency’s (Euro) break up and the measurably stouter measures that would pave way for tighter political and fiscal bonds (Ernst & Young 2012, p.1). The move towards a single economic region, as adopted by the European Union in the unveiling of the Euro currency is informed by the optimum currency area theory. Presented by Robert Mundell, the theory outlines the features of a new currency developed after several currencies have merged. It deals with the currency of a region as opposed to that of a country; a part icular region, larger than a particular country has to share a currency (Mundell 1961, pp. 658). In essence, the theory seeks to set out the maximum number of currencies that can be used in one particular region. The theory has enabled the close study of the many economic features that are key pillars in monetary unions. What does the theory say should happen? In spring 2010, Greece was not in a position of borrowing on the open markets at reasonably priced interest rates; a bailout package amounting to 110 billion Euros was devised by the European Union, International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. As an act of pay back Greece was required to cut down on its public spending by a quantifiable amount. In May 2010, the European countries’ government leaders made an approval of a contingency fund totalling to 500 billion Euros for the Union at large. In November 2010, Ireland did wrack a banking crisis after the collapse of a housing bubble and was in receipt of a bailout amounting to 6 billion Euros. Portugal, on her side, received 78 billion Euros as a result of a long-term economic laggard (Wharton 2012,

International retailing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

International retailing - Essay Example On the 28th of July in 2006 Wal-Mart sold its 85 chain German outlets to Metro AG, which is a diversified cash and carry retail chain that has Germany's largest market share (Clark, 2006)1. 1997 marked the year that Wal-Mart entered Germany when it completed negotiations to acquire 21 outlets belonging to the Wertkauf hypermarket chain (Wal-Mart Facts.com, 2007)2. This was following by Wal-Mart acquiring 74 stores of the Interspar hypermarket chain that is a subsidiary of Spar Handels AG (Wal-Mart Facts.com, 2007)3. The preceding represented Wal-Mart's entry into the European market, using Germany as the launch point. Listening to customers represents one of the first and most important aspects in entering a foreign market as the nuances of consumers differs in their respective countries, thereby requiring adjustments in marketing, presentation, operational and other procedures. Wal-Mart's extraordinarily successful American operations that meshed leading edge marketing, a new approach to its corporate culture as well as organisational structures, resulting in the company being vaulted into the largest and most successful retailer in the world. ... The preceding success in the United States does not necessarily represent an effective, and or workable game plan in other markets. Given Wal-Mart's reputation and successes, the company only entered the international market in 1991 that pales in comparison to Carrefour, which has been retailing in foreign markets for in excess of thirty years (Incandela et al, 1999)4. The international market represents a different set of challenges, experiences as well as internal operating dictates that need to be understood and incorporated into a retailer's operational mode, a lesson that Wal-Mart learned in Germany. This study shall delve into Wal-Mart's entry into the German market to determine the reasons as to why it was not successful there. Wal-Mart and Germany Wal-Mart's lack of success in Germany is a classic example of using a business model that is not applicable in terms of the market it is applied in. A look into the facets that represented a contribution to the foregoing entails delving into the market entry strategies as well as operational tactics that were employed, with the foregoing compared with market entry and expansion theories as well as practices. Wal-Mart's entry into Germany represented the fact that it has the largest market in Europe as represented by its population, strong economic underpinnings, affluence of its citizens as well as the awareness of products made in the United States (United States Department of Agriculture, 2004)5. Germany ranks third internationally in terms of consumer food expenditures (United States Department of Agriculture, 2004)6. Critical recommendations as offered by the United States Department of

Femininity in American Cinema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Femininity in American Cinema - Essay Example Most Hollywood pictures were based on scripts which had a plainly obvious adherence to the tried and tested formula of the attraction between the sexes, where the feminine element played centre stage. The female was largely seen to be responsible for the occurrence of the various events in the plot, which were unfailingly the result of the male-female chemistry prevalent in the perception of society. A classic example of the feminine element in American cinema would be the 1998 romantic comedy â€Å"You’ve Got Mail†. Meg Ryan portrays Kathleen Kelly who is involved with Frank Navasky (Greg Kinnear), while maintaining the fact that the two were otherwise acquainted in business. While Frank, as a newspaper writer for the New York Observer, is devoted to the typewriter, Kathleen prefers her laptop and logging into her AOL e-mail account [1]. This maybe interpreted as a portrayal of the sense of adaptation of the modern female as opposed to the modern male who maybe seen as sticking to the traditional path of existence. A further shade of thought may lie in the storyline where the hero runs a considerably large bookstore with commercial values taking the forefront, while the heroine runs a small corner shop book store. This may be a subtle allusion to the subordination supposedly meted out from one gender to the other, in the backdrop of a long online courtship without either party being aware of the other’s identity. Yet another 1998 film, â€Å"Savior†, portrays a different shade of the feminine element. The film portrays a Serbian woman and her newborn child being escorted by an American soldier to a safe house during the Bosnian War. This may well be an allusion to the primitive idea of the protection warranted by the fairer sex. The portrayal of the feminine element here, as with most of the citable examples, is largely an instrument to emphasize the different shades of the masculine form.

The Most Dangerous Game Essay Example for Free

The Most Dangerous Game Essay What if it the issue about the important idea in the story? The most important idea is about the character Rainsford versus nature, Rainsford versus himself, and Rainsford versus Zaroff. In the story â€Å"The Most Dangerous Game† by Richard Connell the main character, Rainsford, experiences both have internal and external conflict. Rainsford experiences have the external conflict. For example, when he fell in the ocean and had a tough battle with the water â€Å"He struggle up to the surface and tried to cry out †¦ him gag and strangle†. Rainsford barely have enough energy to swim to the Ship-Trap Island. He were had struggle with the water and trying to fight back for his life. In addition, when he on the ship with his friend and talk about the weather† ‘Nor four yards’, he admitted Rainsford. ‘Ugh! It’s like moist black velvets’ †. The weather is really bad, and it so dark even he has good eyes but he can’t see anything if it kind of far. The weather is an effect to how Rainsford fell in the ocean. Rainsford external conflict show that how he versus the nature and himself. Rainsford’s internal conflict created many mental challenges for him. For example, when he fell out of the ship, in the ocean he had to stop panicking or he would drown â€Å"A certain cool headedness had come to him it was not the first time he had been in a tight place†. He had been danger place many times so he had more experience and know what to do. He is a very brave person, if it was someone else may be the will be really scared and don’t know what to do. In addition, when in the jungle he keeps telling himself that he will not lose his nerve â€Å"I will not lose my nerve. I will not†. He had to control himself to go through all the game. If he being scared and don’t know do anything he may lose the game. In Rainsford internal conflict it show he is a brave person, how can he control his thinking to be life. Connell has written a story about hunted people, a serious game in the world. There is a lot of people get lost, have to play the game, and got killed by a man. Nobody knows who they are. But one day, a man comes to the island. He also has to play the it. â€Å"The Game†. And he win.

Negative Priming Experiment

Negative Priming Experiment Negative Priming: The effect of inhibitory mechanisms on the probe of a pair of trials in a Stroop style ink identification task. Abstract The investigation was based on the work of Dalrymple-Alford and Budayr (1966), who investigated the phenomenon of negative priming in relation to the Stroop task. In the original experiment by Dalrymple-Alford and Budayr (1966), it was discovered that if in a trial, the ink colour was the same as the word on the previous trial; subjects were slower to respond. This effect has been termed negative priming. The aim of this experiment was to partly replicate the work of Dalrymple-Alford and Budayr (1966), and to further investigate the phenomena of negative priming. The experimenter hypothesised that in an ink colour identification task, when the target in the probe trial matched the distractor in the prime, then reaction times would be significantly slower in comparison to conditions where the prime and probe were unrelated. To test the hypothesis, the researcher created four conditions; congruent, neutral, ignored repetition and attended repetition. The condition of interest was ignor ed repetition. Participants reaction times were recorded for the primes and probes of each condition. The effect of condition was shown to be significant using a two way repeated measures ANOVA [F(3,57) = 13.09; p = 0.001]. The significance of the results means the hypothesis was accepted, and it was concluded that negative priming is prominent in conditions where the target in the prime becomes the distractor in the probe, supporting the work of Dalrymple-Alford and Budayr (1966). Introduction Attention is a vital and complex function of cognition. One of the earliest definitions of attention came from James (1890), who defined it as â€Å"the taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thoughtIt implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with other.† This early definition from James (1890) highlighted the issue of the selective nature of attention. This feature of attention is essential for organisms to be able to be successful in a search for a target; to select and process only the information they need. It is therefore vital that during this search there are certain mechanisms that suppress distracting information and prevent the return of attention to previously attended objects or events. The mechanism responsible for this important feature is inhibition- the suppression of unwanted or distracting information to ensure movement of attention to novel l ocations. The role of inhibition has been theorised through a variety of concepts. One such concept is Inhibition of Return (IOR). IOR was proposed as an inhibitory mechanism, which reduces the prominence of the previously inspected item in a scene. IOR was first observed by Posner and Cohen (1984) in their simple cuing experiment and refers to the relative suppression of stimuli (object and events) that had recently been the focus of attention. This inhibition of return effect is thought to make visual search more efficient as it ensures that previously examined objects are not searched again, thus facilitating the search for the target (Wright Richard, 1996). Further evidence of inhibitory mechanisms in attention comes from the visual marking mechanism; proposed by Watson and Humphreys (1997) as a goal-directed process that enhances visual search through the inhibition of ‘old objects. When new objects are added to a visual scene, they take priority during search, because old objects are ‘marked for non search. Also, the discovery of the ‘attentional blink provides some clear evidence that in tasks using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP), a method of displaying information very briefly in sequential order, perception of a target presented 200-500ms after the first target is impaired (Raymond, 1992). This attentional blink occurs because of interference caused by the presentation of stimuli after the target but before the target-identification process is complete, causing the temporary suppression of inhibitory mechanisms. In other words, inhibition of distracting stimuli does not occur, causing a failure in identif ication. Mechanisms such as IOR and visual marking are evidence for inhibitory mechanisms in selective attention, and the attentional blink demonstrates just how important these mechanisms are. This process of inhibition however, is not without consequences. It has been discovered that after a stimulus has been ‘ignored, processing of that ignored stimulus shortly afterwards is impaired. This effect has been termed negative priming (Tipper, 1985). In recent years, numerous studies have looked at negative priming as evidence of an inhibitory component within selective attention. An important study which was vital in the discovery of negative priming is the Stroop task (Stroop, 1935). The standard Stroop colour-word test involved participants being required to name the ink colour of a printed word. When the word was incongruent with the colour ink- such as the word ‘red written in green ink- then interference occurred, resulting in slower response times and more errors in comparison to control conditions. In congruent conditions, where the colour written matched the colour of ink it was written in, reaction times were faster. The interference observed in this study can be attributed to automaticity as reading is an automatic process. According to Shiffrin and Schneiders (1977) model of automaticity, automatic processing makes no demands on attentional resources, has no capacity limitations, and is unavoidable. Automatic processing thus provides a liable explanation of why the Stroop effect occurs, as when seeing a word we unavoidably read it, causing a delay in the process of naming the ink colour of the word. Whilst investigating the effect of stimulus sequencing on Stroop interference, Dalrymple-Alford and Budayr (1966), came across what is now known as negative priming. What they found was that there was a greater delay and an increased error rate when an item appeared in the colour ink which was required to be ignored in the previous stimulus. Similar findings come from Tipper (1985), who presented participants with overlapping line drawings, in either red or green. The participants were required to identify only the red items in each set of stimuli. When the ignored drawing (green) became the required response (red) in the next set of trials, response times slowed. This suggests it is harder to identify and selectively attend to what was previously rejected. A key question in regards to selective attention and negative priming is at which point of sensory processing can incoming signals first be selected or rejected by attention- does this happen early in the process or late? Early selection models, such as Broadbents (1958) filter theory, argue that as sensory processes are limited, they require attention to initially select the stimuli that are required for further processing and discarded irrelevant stimuli. Therefore, attentional selection should occur early; implying a ‘bottleneck in the brain protecting processing systems from being overloaded by irrelevant information. The late selection models (Deutsch Deutsch 1936) however, claim that all stimuli, both attended and unattended, can be processed automatically in parallel- thus without a need for early selection. Therefore, selection should occur late, after the semantic analysis of the stimuli. Negative priming has generally been interpreted as evidence for late selection as the phenomenon shows that distracting/ irrelevant stimuli are in fact processed at the same time as the attended stimuli, hence the interference that occurs. Negative Priming is clearly a well studied phenomenon, and there have been numerous variations on the original experiment by Dalrymple Alford and Budayr (1966). The explanations behind the effect have generally focused on the effect being caused by increased interference due to the suppression of the word during naming of the ink colour- resulting in temporary unavailability of that response (MacLeod MacDonald, 2000). The majority of evidence supports the idea that if a probe in a pair of stimuli has the same target as the prime, then reaction times will be slowed for that probe; suggesting that internal representations of the ignored object may become associated with inhibition during selection. Therefore this experiment hypothesises that, in concordance with the previous evidence, in an ink colour identification task, the probe in the ignored repetition condition will take significantly longer to identify than the prime, in comparison to other conditions. Method Design The design was repeated measures with 2 within factors; condition with 4 levels (Congruent, Neutral, Ignored Repetition and Attended Repetition) and pairing with 2 levels (prime and probe). The experiment was a part replication of the work of Dalrymple-Alford and Budayr (1966), as an investigation into negative priming. The experiment consisted of 4 conditions. Condition 1 was ‘Congruent, where the target and distractor matched in both prime and probe, for example blue in blue ink followed by red in red ink. Condition 2 was ‘Neutral, where the normal Stroop style format was used and the prime and probe bore no intentional resemblance to each other; for example blue in red ink followed by yellow in green ink. Condition 3 was ‘Ignored repetition. This condition was where negative priming was presumed to take place, as the distractor in the prime became the target in the probe, for example, blue in yellow ink followed by red in blue ink. The final condition, condition 4, was ‘Attended repetition, where the target was repeated in the probe, for example blue in red ink followed by green in red ink. For each condition, there were 30 pairs of trials (120 pairs in total, 240 individual trials). Within each pair was a prime (1) and a probe (2) The trials were split into two identical blocks. To control for order effects, the conditions were randomised such that no condition/ pair was presented in succession. This resulted in 15 pairs of each condition per block. A total of 240 responses (reaction times, in milliseconds) were collected for each participant. Participants The sample selected was a group of 20 undergraduate students at the University of Lincoln, with a mean age of 21.35 years, and a standard deviation of 6.51. This target population was relevant because it was the most easily accessible group of people of similar age and status. Participants were selected by opportunity sampling. This method was used because it is a quick, practical and efficient way of generating data through using participants available and willing at the time of the experiment. Materials In order to carry out the experiment certain materials were necessary. The researcher used a Dell Optiplex 745 computer with a monitor size 15inches, 150HP. Also used was a button box (Credus Corporations) and voice recorder (TTC Quality Electronics). The 6 colours used were randomly selected from a bag of various coloured cards. The chosen colours were then created from a standard Microsoft windows palette. These were; Blue (red: 0, green: 0, blue: 225), Green (red: 0, green: 225, blue: 0), Red (red: 225, green: 0, blue: 0), Yellow (red: 255, green: 255, blue: 0), Pink (red: 225, green: 0, blue: 225), Black (red: 0, green: 0, blue: 0). All colour words were presented in Aerial font, size 58, bold. In addition to the colour words presented, there was also a welcome message (Arial font, size 48, bold, in Black ink), and a fixation cross (Arial font, size 58, bold, in Black ink). Further necessary materials included a checklist for Type I and Type II errors. Procedure The participants were approached and asked if they would like to take part in the experiment. If they agreed they were taken to a quiet area chosen for the experiment to take part in. Then the researcher explained to the participant what they would need to do, and gave them a set of standardised instructions (appendix 1). The participants were then asked to read and sign the consent form (appendix 2) if they agreed to take part. Following this, the participants were seated in front of the computer screen and shown how to hold the microphone. They were then told there would be an initial practice run of the experiment, and asked to begin when they were ready. Following the practice run, the participant was once again asked if they were happy to continue with the experiment. If they agreed, they were instructed to begin when they were ready. During the experiment, two researchers were present at all times. The researchers each had a list of the order of trials and correct responses, as they were pseudo-randomised. One researcher marked type I errors on one sheet, and the other marked type II errors on another. Block one consisted of a series of 60 trials followed by a 30second break before the remaining 60 trials in that block. The experiment began with a welcome message which instructed the participant to press the left key on the button box when they were ready to start. After they had pressed this, a fixation cross was presented on the screen for 1500ms, followed by a blank which lasted 1000ms. Each trial was presented for 1500ms, trials were presented in pairs according to condition. Between each pair was a blank of 1000ms. After the first block of trials, the experiment closed, and one researcher started block two, which was identical to block one. Once again any and all errors were recorded. After the completion of this second final block, the experiment automatically closed. The participant was then thanked for their cooperation and given a debrief form to read (appendix 3) they were also encouraged to ask any questions, and assured that their results would remain private and anonymous. Ethical Considerations A number of ethical issues were identified in the experiment in line with British Psychology Society (BPS) guidelines. A consent form was given to participants which explained what the experiment was researching into, what they had to do during the testing and it also requested the participants age and gender. The form explained that any participant with aversion to flashing lights or rapidly presented stimuli should not continue on with the experiment, and asked participants to report if they had any back problems. Participants also had the right to withdraw themselves and their results from the experiment at any time, and this was stated in both the consent form (appendix 2) and debrief (appendix 3). After the participants had taken part in the experiment, the experimenter explained what they were investigating and the implications to the research, and answered any questions asked. It was the experimenters responsibility to make sure that participants left in the same psychological state that they started the experiment with. Participants were informed that their identity would be kept anonymous and that their results would be treated in confidence and destroyed after the experiment. To ensure protection of participants, no physical or mental harm came to them while taking part in the experiment as the consent form included a brief health check to eliminate those individuals who may be at slight risk from participating in the experiment. The room was an empty, calm setting, in order to minimise any stress to the participant, and to avoid any eye strain, a break was given, splitting the trials into two blocks. No deception took place in this experiment. An ethical approval form was completed by researchers prior to the experiment (appendix 4). Results The results were recorded and analysed for each condition in the experiment- 1 (Congruent), 2 (Neutral), 3 (Ignored Repetition) and 4 (Attended Repetition). Any errors, either cognitive (type I), or human/computer (type II), were excluded from the data. Both prime and probe trails were removed regardless of where the error occurred. Error analysis will be discussed later. A table to show a comparison of the mean and standard deviation of the difference between reaction times of prime and probe per condition Condition Mean Standard Deviation 1 (Congruent) 21.250 98.63002 2 (Neutral) 12.950 111.55149 3 (Ignored Rep) -69.350 66.52287 4 (Attended Rep) 35.450 94.73424 A table to show a comparison of mean standard deviation for reaction times of prime and probe per condition Condition Mean Standard Deviation 1 (Congruent ) Prime 1 (Congruent ) Probe 744.3 723.0 156.4 122.3 2 (Neutral) Prime 2 (Neutral) Probe 822.9 809.9 170.7 129.0 3 (Ignored Rep) Prime 3 (Ignored Rep) Probe 782.7 852.0 138.6 132.7 4 (Attended Rep) Prime 4 (Attended Rep) Probe 775.9 740.5 142.1 140.4 See appendix 5 for full SPSS data. The mean difference between prime and probe for condition 3 (Ignored Repetition) was -69.35, which was significantly greater than for any of the other conditions (21.25 for Congruent; 12.95 for Neutral, and 35.45 for Attended Repetition). It also shows that the condition with the smallest difference in reaction time between prime and probe was condition 2 (Neutral). 2 shows that for condition 3 (Ignored repetition) the mean reaction time for the prime (782.7) was smaller than the mean reaction time for the probe (852.0). This stands out when compared to all of the other conditions, where the mean reaction time for the prime was greater than for the probe. This suggests that for conditions 1 (Congruent), 2 (Neutral) and 4 (Attended Rep), the probe generated a quicker response than the prime, yet for condition 3 this effect was reversed and the probe generated a slower response. To further analyse the data, a Two-way Repeated Measures ANOVA was carried out to analyse the reaction times and look at any effect between conditions. The results of the ANOVA shows that the main effect of Condition was significant [F(3,57) = 13.09; p = 0.001]. The following bar chart ( 3) presents a visual representation of this significance and shows the variation between conditions: The second ANOVA was concerned with the difference in reaction times between prime and probe. The ANOVA showed that the main effect of Pair is not significant [F(1,19) = 0.001; p = 0.996], suggesting that the pairing did not significantly affect reaction times. Although the effect was not found to be significant, the plot below ( 4) clearly shows that condition 3 (Ignored Repetition) was the only condition where response time was slower in the probe than in the prime: Thirdly, the interaction effect between Condition and Pair was analysed. This was found to be significant [F(3,57) = 6.6; p = 0.001]. As the interaction effect between ‘Pair and ‘Condition was significant, a post-hoc Bonferroni was carried out to find where the significances lay. The Bonferroni showed significant differences between the following conditions; (1) Congruent and (2) Neutral (p= 0.001) (1) Congruent and (3) Ignored Repetition (p= 0.002) (2) Neutral and (4) Attended Repetition (p= 0.001) (3) Ignored Repetition and (4) Attended Repetition (p= 0.014) Error analysis Errors were recorded per type I and II for each condition. The table below ( 5) shows the number of errors of each type that occurred in each condition. A table of sums of errors per condition and error type Condition Error Type I Error Type II 1 (Congruent) 11 26 2 (Neutral) 21 33 3 (Ignored Rep) 35 35 4 (Attended Rep) 26 24 A table to show the mean rank of errors per condition Condition Mean Rank 1 (Congruent) 2.15 2 (Neutral) 2.70 3 (Ignored Rep) 2.93 4 (Attended Rep) 2.23 The condition with the lowest number of errors was condition 1 (Congruent), with a mean of 2.15. The condition with the highest number of errors condition 3 (Ignored Repetition), with a mean of 2.93. A Friedmans test was used to analyse the errors and look for any significances in their distribution. Application of Friedmans test showed that there were no significances in the distribution of errors over the four conditions; X2=5.71; df = 3; p = 0.127. Discussion The results obtained show that the mean difference between prime and probe for condition 3 (Ignored repetition) was -69.35, which was notably greater than for any of the other conditions (21.25, 12.95 and 35.45). This suggests that something different is happening in this condition, as the difference is not only a lot greater but also in the opposite direction. The plot ( 4) shows a visual representation of this effect. From this it is possible to infer that in the Ignored repetition condition, negative priming did occur as the probe took longer to respond to than the prime in comparison with all other conditions. After carrying out a two way repeated measures ANOVA, it becomes clear that this is in fact the case. The results of the ANOVA showed that the main effect of Condition was significant [F(3,57) = 13.09; p = 0.001], and that the interaction effect between Condition and Pair was also significant [F(3,57) = 6.6; p = 0.001]. The ANOVA concerning the difference in reaction times between prime and probe showed that the main effect of Pair was not significant [F(1,19) = 0.001; p = 0.996]. Analysis of errors found them not to be significant; however the mean ranks showed that there were more errors in the ignored repetition condition (Mean rank 2.93). This is consistent with previous research; that in the ignored repetition condition, more interference occurs causing slower response times and more mistakes to be made. These findings mean that the hypothesis can be accepted: in an ink colour identification task, when the target in the probe trial matches the distractor in the prime, then reaction times will be significantly slower in comparison to conditions where the prime and probe are unrelated. Thus the experiment supports and confirms the previous research such as that of Dalrymple-Alford and Budayr (1966). The negative priming effect observed in this experiment can be explained as an inhibitory mechanism of attention. The differences in reaction times between conditions infer that for condition 3 (Ignored Repetition), at the point of the probe something different happened in than in the other conditions. In line with previous research, we can assume that due to the suppression of the word in the prime trial, when that colour word then becomes the ink colour in the probe trial, then there is a problem with retrieving that response as it had just been suppressed. One limitation of this experiment was the methodology. The design involved a set of two blocks in a Super Lab program, each containing 15 pairs of each condition, in a randomised order. Between each pair of trials was a blank screen presented for 1000msc. This quick succession of pairs means it may not have been obvious for the participants that the stimuli were in fact presented in pairs. This therefore may be able to explain why the probe condition 1 (Congruent) was fastest; when it was expected that condition 4 (Attended Repetition) would be. To overcome this limitation, future experiments could use separate blocks for each condition- thus making it more obvious that the trials were in certain pairs. In addition to the above adjustment, it would also be interesting to consider individual differences in a future extension of this experiment. There has been numerous past studies that suggest for certain individuals, the effect of negative priming is actually less robust. An example of this is Schizophrenics, who seem less able at inhibition- hence are less susceptible to negative priming (Beech et al 1989). A future investigation could build on the evidence of individual differences playing an important role in the effect of negative priming, and possibly look into more general differences such as cultural background or occupation. For example, it would be interesting to look for any differences in the effect of negative priming between people in creative careers- such as artists, compared with those in writing careers such as journalists. Would someone who is used to looking at words be more prone to negative priming than someone who would be more interested in the colour and form of the word? To summarise, this experiment has shown clear negative priming, consistent with the majority of existing studies, thus supporting the notion of inhibitory processes in attention. References Beech, A., Powell, T., McWilliam, J., Claridge, G. (1989). Evidence of reduced cognitive inhibition in schizophrenia. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 28, 109-116. Broadbent, D. E. (1958). Perception and communication. New York: Pergamon. Deutsch, J. A., Deutsch, D. (1963). Attention: some theoretical considerations. Psychological Review, 70, 80-90. Dalrymple-Alford, E.C., Budayr, B. (1966). Examination of some aspects of the Stroop color-word test. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 23, 1211-1214. James, W. (1890). The Principles of Psychology. New York: Henry Holt. MacLeod, C. M., Masson, M. E. J. (2000). Repetition priming in speeded word reading: Contributions of perceptual and conceptual processing episodes. Journal of Memory and Language, 42, 208-228. Pashler, H. (1998). The psychology of attention. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Posner,M.I., Cohen, Y. (1984) . Components of visual orienting. In H. Bouma D.G. Bouwhuis (Eds.), Attention and performance X: Control of language processes. Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Ltd. Raymond J.E., Shapiro K.L., Arnell K.M. (1992). Temporary suppression of visual processing in an RSVP task: an attentional blink?. Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance, 18, 849-60. Shiffrin, R.M., Schneider, W. (1977). Controlled and automatic information processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending, and a general theory. Psychological Review, 84, 127-190. Stroop, J.R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18, 643-662. Tipper, S.P. (1985). The negative priming effect: Inhibitory priming with to be ignored objects. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 37A, 571-590. Tipper, SP (2001) Does negative priming reflect inhibitory mechanisms? A review and integration of conflicting views. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 54A: 321-343. Watson, D. G., Humphreys, G. W. (1997). Visual marking: Prioritizing selection for new objects by top-down attention inhibition of old objects. Psychological Review, 104, 90-122. Wright, R.D Richard, C.M. (1996) Inhibition-of-return at multiple locations in visual space. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 50, 324-327.

Essay on the Dilemma of Billy Budd -- Billy Budd Essays

The Dilemma of Billy Budd    Herman Mellville's Billy Budd is and extremely divisive novel when one considers the dissension it has generated. The criticism has essentially focused around the argument of acceptance vs. resistance. On the one hand we can read the story as accepting the hanging of Billy Budd as the necessary ends of justice. We can read Vere's condemnation as a necessary military action performed in the name of preserving order aboard the Indomitable. On the other hand, we can argue that Billy's execution as the greatest example of injustice.    The question has been asked if Vere's conduct is right or wrong. In either case, since Billy Budd is an ethical text, it is very odd that there is an absence of the emotion guilt.   Billy Budd is a story about two murders. Billy kills Claggart and Vere (although indirectly, the decision is ultimately his) kills Budd. Neither of the murderers demonstrate guilt in the form of remorse. For a narrative that tries to put the reader in a moral and ethical position, it is ironic that the characters themselves don't exhibit what would seem most ethical.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  ... ... To read the story as either accepting or resisting an ethical dilemma is perhaps debatable. The point of the story may be to state man's need to punish and retaliate with injury through means that may be befogged. The reader may be upset with the death of Billy Budd not for the seemingly unjust killing of a sympathetic character, but for its illustration of a society coming apart at the seams; one which doesn't necessarily make sense considering human nature, but one that is so closely linked to social systems, it is doubtful that it could ever be changed.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Discussion of the Dispossession of Lolita’s sexuality in Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita

In the novel Lolita, the concept of sexuality is greatly emphasized by the author. It is apparent in the character of Lolita and Humber that one is in control over the other. Humbert possesses greater power over Lolita to make all her needs possible.On the other hand Lolita uses sex as her way of gaining things that she desires. There is a big complex relationship between the tow since Lolita is in dispossession of her sexuality and Humbert is in possession of it.The sexual relationship of the two main characters can be considered unnatural because Lolita is only on her 12 years. But since Lolita is in dispossession of her sexuality she agreed to the consummation of their relationship although giving the consent to sexual relations with an old man is really no consent.She can by no means what so ever be held accountable for, or be said to legitimately consent to, the sexual relationship between the two.   The question of power and control between the two main characters in Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita is crucially linked to the fundamental weakness and vulnerability of both the erotically obsessed Humbert Humbert and the childish object of his obsession, Lolita herself.The first instance of Humbert’s attempting to bribe and pacify Lolita with material offerings occurs at the point in the narrative where she first learns of her mother’s death.   This is also the point, following their first full-fledged sexual encounter, where Lolita initiates the practice of sardonic reference to the immorality and illegality of their relationship.   She has actually suffered internal injury from their intercourse and does not yet seem to have a manipulative purpose for verbally goading her stepfather/lover.â€Å"You chump,† she said, sweetly smiling at me.   â€Å"You revolting creature.   I was a daisy-fresh girl, and look what you’ve done to me.   I ought to call the police and tell them you raped me.   Oh, you dirty, dirty old man.† (Nabokov 141)Humbert then informs her of Charlotte Haze’s death.   Lolita’s grief and indignation are announced by the fact that in their next lodging they take separate rooms.   Humbert has already cited a list of purchases he has made in hopes of mollifying her—everything from a box of candy to a travel clock to a new wardrobe of summer dresses.   But it is her complete childish dependency and vulnerability that bring her to him.â€Å"At the motel we had separate rooms, but in the middle of the night she came sobbing into mine, and we made it up very gently.   You see, she had absolutely nowhere else to go† (Nabokov 142)Lolita â€Å"works† hard in order to get her allowance. It is atypical for her to do a work like that at her age because it means that she needs to have sex with him to get everything that she needs and wants.   Humber will ask Lolita to perform sexual favors for him so that he can give him allowance in retur n.This is one of the visible proofs that he is in control over her sexuality. The control is not only based on a psychological level but also on a physical level. Everything that she needs, from a simple candy or cartoon magazine and a visit to a movie house will not be easily granted if she will not perform any sexual encounter with Humbert. Although there are several times that she gains fulfillment by getting her desires, she is still in no control of the situation or her sexuality.â€Å"Her weekly allowance, paid to her under condition she fulfill her basic obligations, was twenty-one cents at the start of the Beardsley era-and went up to one dollar five before its end.This was more than generous arrangement seeing she constantly received from me all kinds of small presents and had for the asking any sweetmeat or movie under the moon-although, of course, I might fondly demand an additional kiss, or even a whole collection of assorted caresses, when I knew she coveted very badly some item of juvenile amusement† (Nabokov 183-184).Lolita becomes, in effect—and as a result of forces brought relentlessly to bear on her essentially vital and resilient nature, she is a live-in prostitute of the most venal nature. â€Å"O Reader!   Laugh not, as you imagine me, on the very wrack of joy noisily emitting dimes and quarters, and great big silver dollars like some sonorous, jingly and wholly demented machine vomiting riches; and in the margin of that leaping epilepsy she would firmly clutch a handful of coins in her little fist† (Nabokov 184).That understated â€Å"little fist† line is the moral center of this passage.   Lolita is still a child.   Whatever her learned capacity for degenerate bargaining, what she loses—and what she knows she is losing—by her required performance of sexually â€Å"paradisal philters† is the carefree childhood to which she is entitled by the developmental norms of her society.Even in school. Lolita experiences great trouble connecting with the boys in the way her teachers feel she should. She displays behavior that is really differently from the other girls. This also strengthens the fact of the argument that Humbert is in possession of her sexuality, and she cannot do anything about it.   â€Å"Dolly Haze, she said is a lovely child but, the onset of sexual maturing seems to give her trouble† (Nabokov 193).  Humbert deprives Lolita of every possibility of salutary contact with males her own age.   In fact he deprives her of performing any and all activities that will drive her away from his desires for addictive gratification.   Part of this is his fear that Lolita will tell other people the kind of life thay have whenever they are together.Participation in school theatricals becomes a particular source of tension for Humbert.   This issue is resolved, in typical fashion, by an unusually exciting favor.   During a visit to her school, Humber t comes to a classroom where Dolly is quietly studying in the company of another girl. â€Å"I sat beside Dolly†¦and unbuttoned my overcoat and for sixty-five cents plus the permission to participate in the school play, had Dolly put her inky, chalky, red-knuckled hand under the desk† (Nabokov 198).

In Cold Blood Theme Essay

There are many prominent themes in the novel In Cold Blood, and they cover a wide spectrum of topics. They include the effects (if any) caused by environment in childhood, how a person of any of locale can be a victim of hostility, and the presence of contrasting personalities. Truman Capote gives the reader a detailed account of Perry Smith’s and Dick Hickock’s childhoods. Smith’s childhood was very problematic and scarred by years of abuse. He witnessed beatings of his mother by his father; as a result of the domestic violence, his parents divorced. Due to these problems he rans away from home, and he was â€Å"in and out of detention homes many times† (277). He is severely beaten and humiliated by a cottage mistress because of a mixuration malfunction. These violent episodes compelled his bitterness toward other humans. When Smith entered adulthood, he commited acts of thievery and acts of battery. While in the merchant marines, he once threw a Japanese policeman off a bridge and into the water. All these events had an impact on Smith, and his adulthood provided him with the opportunity to avenge the experiences that enraged him. Hickock’s childhood was marked by no horror stories. His years of childhood showed no signs of abuse or neglect, but his parents were a little overprotective. He showed no real contempt for his parents or his childhood. Dick’s inception into adulthood reveals his abnormal â€Å"tendencies,† (Reed 115) and in the novel proof is given by Hickock: â€Å"I think the main reason I went there [the Clutter home] was not to rob them but to rape the girl† (278). The two killers’ childhoods were obviously dissimilar, and their differences bring to question the formation of a killer’s mind. Is it childhood that affects the criminal mind’s mentality? Smith’s lack of companionship during his childhood led him to search for companionship in Hickock. Hickock took advantage of Smith’s need by promoting Smith’s fantasies. Hickock truly felt that Smith’s fantasies were ludicrous, but he supported his fantasies because he needed Smith’s aid to commit the murders. A second theme of In Cold Blood is the randomness of crime. The Clutter family lived in rural Kansas hundreds of miles from a major city, and people of this small community felt a sense of security. The Clutter family murder made national headlines because this crime fit no stereotype. The Clutter family was well loved and respected by the people of Holcomb, who would have never seriously considered a such a crime happening in their own backyard. The Clutter family was successful financially; they lived as well as any other family in town. However, there was no jealousy of the family’s success. This is another one of many reasons why this murder consternated the inhabitants of Holcomb, the investigators, and the rest of the nation. Another theme throughout In Cold Blood is the attraction of opposite personalities and what they can become once united. The reader sees these opposing personalities in Hickock and Smith. The first scene of Perry Smith is with a guitar and a set of road maps. The guitar appears to function as a feminine image and symbol. The reader also learns that part of what attracts Hickock to Smith is that Hickock fells â€Å"totally masculine† by this association. In one scene the contents of the criminals’ automobile is mentioned. One of Perry’s possessions is the guitar, and the â€Å"instrument that typifies his combative companion Dick†¦ a twelve gauge pump-action shotgun.† Another instance of Smith’s feminism is Hickock’s constant addressing of him as â€Å"sugar,† â€Å"honey,† and â€Å"baby.† Smith’s feminine qualities are evident; however, the reader is left to interpret their importance (Reed 113-114). In conclusion, there are many different themes throughout the novel. In Cold Blood discusses the issues of childhood influences, the randomness of a crime, and opposing personalities. These themes are unique in that they they can be molded into a nonfiction novel such as In Cold Blood.