A Qualitative Analysis on How Administrators Understand Learning Difficulties

Allington, Frazen and Schick (1997) in their qualitative analysis of â€Å"How administrators understand learning difficulties† tried to determine the different ways in which school administrators define learning difficulties and how they have respond to the needs of students with learning difficulties in their own schools.The researchers interviewed administrators and principals in six different school districts that had a record of increased retention and transitional grade placements as well as having at-risk students in learning disabilities classrooms. Previous literature on learning disabilities has showed that the trend of the identification of students as learning disabled had been increasing over the last 20 years and continues to do so at present. It has been found that the number of students identified as learning disabled have grown to alarming proportions.A number of researchers have proposed that the increase in the number of students identified as learning disab led have been due to the more valid and reliable assessment tools available to schools, the influence of special interest groups and the actual presence of students who do need special education services.Moreover, it has been observed that whenever funding for remedial programs decline, enrollment in special education classes increase indicating that some students identified as learning disabled may actually be placed in special education classes out of necessity. This study therefore attempted to provide evidence that school administrators and principals place at risk students to special classes for students with learning difficulties based on funding and tests scores.MethodThe researchers developed a system which enhanced the validity of the data gathered in this study considering that it is a qualitative design. The researchers conducted their data gathering procedure by prolonged and persistent fieldwork that included interim data analysis and collaboration to maintain the accur acy of research findings and participant reality by utilizing and analyzing a series of data sets generated as part of a larger study (Allington & McGill-Franzen, 1992a, 1992b, 1995; McGill-Franzen 1994; McGill-Franzen & Allington, 1993 found in Allington, Frazen & Schick, 1997).This was in response to the researcher’s observation that the internal validity of their data might be compromised since over the years principals and administrators have remained in their positions and the school system in general have remained unchanged while the social culture and economic status of their students have been transformed through the years.

Summary and Analysis of two EEOC laws

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is The United States Government enforcement mechanism for Federal legislation regarding discrimination in the workplace. Two recent Acts of Congress under the management of the EEOC have particularly wide-ranging effects and potential effects for the American people. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is considered a landmark Act and a platform for future legislation of its type. The Genetic Nondiscrimination Act 2008 is part of a continuing line of anti-discrimination legislation.Its full impact probably will not be seen for decades to come but its potential impact in closing a new avenue for discrimination is great. As Federal Acts these laws instantly have more impact than any pre-existing state laws. They set nationwide standards for businesses, labor unions and employment agencies. A business cannot relocate itself in a state where anti-discrimination laws are less strict or where enforcement is lax. Individuals can exp ect the same rights and protections nationwide, except in cases where certain industries have been granted exceptions for safety or national security reasons.Traditionally, the Federal government has been hesitant to regulate private business. In the case of discrimination it has made exceptions when it became clear that discrimination was either unconstitutional, hurting national productivity, or both. The Civil Rights Movement was a catalyst for much of the anti-discrimination legislation we regard as commonplace today. Background The social upheaval of the 1960s triggered substantial changes in American law. Those changes were mirrored in actions of the United States Congress and Judiciary.An increasing emphasis on the securing of individual rights for all Americans led to a series of new laws crafted especially to protect historically discriminated against minorities. Laws designed to even economic and societal playing fields for African-Americans and women were enacted in the 1 960s and 70s. In the 1980s and 90s new laws focused on the rights of the disabled. About the same time individual privacy concerns came to the forefront. In this scientific and technological age, personal information is more readily available than ever. Genetic information could be spread widely in the blink of an eye.This information could then be used in discriminatory ways. Researchers worry that a new spectrum of discrimination has been opened up based on a person's genetic potential to become ill. A perceived genetic black mark could effectively label a person in much the same way as minorities, women and the disabled have been labeled in the past. Three laws: The Civil Rights Act of 1964, The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the Genetic Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) are part of a continuum of nondiscrimination laws designed to mitigate the effects of such labeling or prevent it all together.The latter two laws were essentially a product of the first. Th ose two laws will be analyzed here. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) This Act came about from a growing cultural realization that people with physical disabilities have every right to full participation in American society. In many cases their contributions are equal or greater than able-bodied citizens. Instead of being seen as an embarrassment or a drag on society, they should be seen as valuable assets that should be cultivated rather than wasted.Historically speaking, the disabled were not accommodated in this purpose. Instead they were excluded from employment and many of the other functions of the American society. This exclusion was often based on erroneous assumptions about the capabilities of disabled people, the reticence of others to accept them, etc. Framed in the legal context, the question was whether American society and government were systematically violating the constitutional rights of the disabled by not guaranteeing an equal playing field.Disabl ed individuals already have much to overcome. Allowing discrimination to make their lives all the more difficult was morally wrong and, eventually, unconstitutional as well. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 piggybacked upon the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and several other laws. It attempted to codify, in clear terms, the rights of the individual disabled citizen as well as the rights and responsibilities of various agencies, governmental organizations and private businesses dealing with the physically disabled. Purposes (ADA)The Congress of The United States has determined that â€Å"Census data, national polls, and other studies have documented that people with disabilities, as a group, occupy an inferior status in our society and are severely disadvantaged socially, vocationally and educationally† (United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 1990). Given those realities the potential impact of anti-discriminatory legislation is enormous. In some cases pr eventing discrimination is as simple as removing physical barriers. In other cases it requires a long-term attitude readjustment in opinions about the disabled and what they can or cannot do.Discrimination has also occurred because businesses have irrational fears about what it will cost them to have employees with disabilities. This Act is designed to clarify what businesses can and cannot do in regard to the disabled. In a clarified landscape businesses can effectively keep costs down. The subtitle of the act describes its purpose this way: â€Å"To establish a clear and comprehensive prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability† (United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 1990).In its statement of Findings and Purposes the Congress concluded that disabled people have suffered unjust discrimination and needless denial of opportunity. This discrimination has effectively relegated the disabled to â€Å"second class citizen† status in the United States. Modern medicine and recognition of the accomplishments of disabled Americans has led to a shift in perspective. In the past, qualified students were excluded from education by outdated attitudes or because of something as simple as physical barriers. The same was true in employment.When disabled Americans were not plugged into these two critical facets of life, they would often end up excluded from society as a whole. In addition to being the â€Å"right thing to do†; this act is the result of a simple cost-benefit analysis. The cost of making attitude adjustments and simple accommodations pales in comparison to the potential societal benefits of having disabled people fully participating in society (Pickering, 2000). In addition to justifying the act based on evidence of past discrimination, the Congress also notes the financial toll of discrimination on the basis of disability.Individuals suffer the costs of not having an equal chance to make a living. Society then suffers as well because many become dependent on government and other aid when equal opportunity might have made this unnecessary. Thirdly, the nation loses the productivity that many disabled people are capable of. Provisions (ADA) This act regulates what companies may and may not consider in the hiring, firing and promotion of employees with disabilities. Disabled employees cannot be classified as such if it, in any way, unfairly hinders their chances of success at the corporation.The fact that the employee has a physical disability cannot be the deciding factor in whether or not an employee is hired or promoted, except under a very narrow set of criteria. Disabled employees are entitled to equal opportunity and equal pay for equal work. Reasonable accommodations must be made for the disabled employee wherever necessary. â€Å"Reasonable† is a term that is subject to ongoing interpretation. In some cases it can mean something simple as adding a wheelchair ramp or widening a bathroom door.In other cases it can mean an alteration in the job itself. Employers have some leeway in this area. Courts have ruled that when accommodations would cause a â€Å"disparate† hardship on the company it may be granted a waiver from the â€Å"reasonable accommodations† standard. During the application phase, the employer may not ask about disabilities except in the context of the applicant's ability to perform job-related tasks. If there is a pre-employment testing process the employer must make reasonable accommodations for each applicant to take the test.Medical tests can be done on a voluntary basis. The results can only be used for hiring/firing decisions when a clear inability to do the job is apparent. The employee also may not be coerced or retaliated against when requesting accommodations mandated under this act. This prohibition also applies to any employee or other individual who may have helped a disabled person exercise their rights. Notices of this act must be posted by emplo9yers agencies and labor unions in an easily accessible place for employees to read.Enforcement of the Act is handled by the Office of the Attorney General of the United States and The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Sub agencies like The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and others may become involved if a particular case warrants. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) By the turn of the twenty-first century a great deal of legislation aimed at securing the rights of minorities, women and the disabled had been enacted and had passed constitutional scrutiny. Meanwhile, a new technological age was emerging.The world was rapidly becoming more interconnected. The science of genetics was also experiencing explosive progress. A new and nearly infallible method of identifying specific people animals and plants was discovered and refined. Genetic testing of individuals has been around for a while. In recent years this testing has become more refined, more widely available and less expensive. This type of testing can identify genes or gene disorders that are associated with a wide array of health conditions. This does not mean that the person will get the condition; it only means that the potential is there.In 2008 Congress acted upon public worries that genetic testing and information could be used for discriminatory purposes. Employers might try to use genetic information for hiring, firing and promotion purposes. Insurers might also use that information for denial of coverage, rate changes or other purposes. In contrast with the ADA (1990), the Genetic Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 is an attempt to target potential discrimination before it becomes widespread. In addition to protecting the rights of individuals this Act is designed to create a friendlier environment for medical and scientific research.According to Hudson, Holohan and Collins, â€Å"Along with the benefits it provide s to individuals, the new law should have positive effects on the fields of clinical research and health care delivery† (2010). Purposes (GINA) The stated purpose of this Act is: â€Å"To prohibit discrimination on the basis of genetic information with respect to health insurance and employment† (United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2008). This is similar to the purpose stated in the ADA. Because of the nature of genetic science enforcement methods differ. Discrimination in this area can have wise-ranging effects.Hudson et al. Also believe that genetic discrimination has had a chilling effect on potential research subjects. â€Å"Fear of genetic discrimination has also put a damper on patients' willingness to consider genetic tests†¦ or to have the results of such tests included in their medical records† (Hudson, Holohan and Collins, 2010). After fourteen years of Congressional debate GINA was finally passed in 2008. During the time this Ac t was under consideration, a number of states enacted their own laws on genetic testing and the transfer and usage of genetic information.As the genetic science industry grew many of those laws have been repealed however. This triggered a renewed effort by the Congress to pass a set of uniform standards. In theory, genes are neutral indicators of human beings. In practice genetic information can be used for de facto discrimination against individuals. Provisions (GINA) In section 1 of the Act, The Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974 was amended to provide additional protection against genetic-based discrimination. Insurance companies may not set group premium rates based on disease potententiality identified through genetic testing.Insurers can take into consideration diseases that have already manifested themselves in the group population. Heath plans may not require genetic testing as a policy condition. Under a narrow set of circumstances they can request genetic testing if it can assist in clarifying the health situation of a certain individual. It cannot request or mandate testing of the entire group. A genetic test is defined as: â€Å"an analysis of human DNA, RNA, chromosomes, proteins or metabolites that detects genotypes, mutations or chromosomal changes† (United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2008).Fines for noncompliance begin at $100 daily for each employee. For example, if ten employees were mandated or coerced into genetic testing as a condition of maintaining insurance coverage, the federal government would levy a $1000 fine to the insurer retroactive to the time the coercion began. For violations more serious than de minims, the fines are higher. Genetic information may not be used for eligibility, maintenance of policy or as a pre-existing condition. Employers must comply with many of the same restrictions on genetic testing.Hiring, promotion and firing decisions cannot be based on genetic information. Also the em ployer may not acquire or purchase genetic information about an employee without specific written permission. Even when permission is given all other restrictions still apply. Similar requirements also apply to employment agencies and labor organizations. One notable exception exists for labor organizations. If the purpose is to monitor the effects of toxins in the workplace, the collecting of genetic information may be allowable if certain requirements are met.The employees must be notified and provided with individual results; and the actions must be compliant with OSHA, the provisions of this Act and any other federal laws. Section 206 of this Act addresses confidentiality, an issue of growing concern for many Americans. The Act strengthens confidentiality standards set forth in state and federal legislation, including the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Under this Act remedies and enforcem ent vary according to the type of violation and which statute the employee is covered under.Analysis and Conclusion These are two Acts of Congress which may appear different on their face. They were enacted nearly twenty years apart. One targets a legacy of past behavior while the other is preventive in nature. One is based on very human issues while the other is concerned with the cutting-edge of science. Despite their differences, the two laws boil down to one issue of concern to every American – discrimination. These acts are part of a continuum not to create equality but to ensure equal opportunity. These laws are recognition of two of the greatest strengths of America.This nation grew from humble seeds by expanding opportunity, over time, to those would not have received it before. The contributions of those citizens then fueled America's rise to power. Secondly, the Acts are indicative of a nation's willingness to right its past wrongs. This has been done many times in the history of the nation. Making these changes is not always easy, but it is necessary for the continued growth of the country. The impact of The Genetic Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 remains to be seen. It is very likely that as genetic science continues to grow the law will need to evolve.Its ability to do so will be the measure of its ultimate impact. It will be a challenge for the law to keep up. In 1995, there were about 300 genetic tests for diseases and conditions. Most of these tests were done in the context of scientific research and were not readily available to the public. Today over 1500 tests are available. They are much more widely accessible and cover a wide range of conditions from rare to commonplace. The Genetic Nondiscrimination Act puts the scientific community on notice by setting privacy and ethical standards and creating an enforcement apparatus.The safeguards in this Act may ultimately benefit science by making citizens more willing to participate in researc h. More importantly, it potentially closes doors to an entirely new and damaging form of discrimination. There are potential financial benefits as well. According to Hudson, Holohan and Collins â€Å"It will accelerate research†¦ and allow Americans to finally realize the benefits and health care savings offered by gene-based medicine† (2010). This act is an early step for preventing discrimination in a burgeoning field. It is not comprehensive though.The safety and reliably of genetic tests is one potential area for future regulation. Marketing of genetic testing services is another. When Congress considers regulatory acts of this nature there are many factors to take into consideration. It must consider effects and potential effects on a wide array of stakeholders. Preventing discrimination on one group without causing discrimination or undue hardship on another is a narrow line to walk. The ADA and GINA have made progress in preventing unjust and unnecessary discrimin ation.The ADA has brought a large population of people out of society's shadows. The Act will become all the more important as people can now live longer and be productive with disabilities. Our aging population also means that the law will impact an increasingly large group of people. The Genetic Nondiscrimination Act shares philosophical similarities with the ADA and The Civil Rights Act of 1964. Discrimination, whether based on race, disability or genetic makeup is not true to the United States' Constitution. As a result of these laws individuals and society will benefit socially and economically.America itself will benefit by having the contributions of the citizens' affected. The nation benefits when the largest possible majority of its citizens enjoy the individual right to maximize potential. In a dynamic society, Congress will need to revisit and amend these laws in perpetuity in order to fulfill their true promise. References Hudson, Kathy, M. K. Holohan and Frances Collins . (2010). â€Å"Keeping Pace with the Times: The Genetic Nondiscrimination Act of 2008†. NEJM. Retrieved May 29 from: http://content. nejm. org/cgi/content/full/358/25/2661Pickering, Francis. (2000). Americans with Disabilities: exploring implications of the law for individuals and institutions. New York: Routledge. United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). (2008). â€Å"The Genetic Nondiscrimination Act of 2008†. EEOC. Retrieved May 29, 2010 from: http://www. eeoc. gov/laws/statutes/gina. cfm United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). (1990). â€Å"Titles I and V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990†. EEOC. Retrieved May 30, 2010 from: http://www. eeoc. gov/laws/statutes/ada. cfm

The Difference Between the High School System and Graduate Research Paper

The Difference Between the High School System and Graduate Institutions - Research Paper Example One of the similarities of the different college-level paths is that each enhances the communication ability of the students in the level of advancement. However, the higher the level, the more advanced the communication. Students from graduate level have better communication compared to the other levels considering that it is the highest of all, therefore, the environment ensuring that individuals advance in their written and oral communication mechanics and techniques (Kis and Park, 2012). Additionally, the college and graduate levels usually offer specialized education system in which students in such institutions study in various fields and areas of specialization, making them more informed on the various study topics in which the students are specialized (Kis and Park, 2012). In the case of high school; however, students study many subject areas with little or no specialization in a particular field. The approach of education in such a perspective limits the aspect of identifyin g the strengths and weaknesses of a student in a particular field of study (McCauley, 2007). Advanced placement institutions usually offer a similar curriculum to that of the high school, only that the exemplary students get an opportunity to take examinations approved by the board. Such an aspect enhances the student’s understanding of the different subject areas examined. Despite being affiliated to the high school curriculum, Advanced Placement colleges offer specialized examinations to its students, bringing about an aspect of specialization as observed in the case of colleges and graduate institutions.

Final Exam News Story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Final Exam News Story - Essay Example America stood as a land of opportunities for Americans as well as immigrants and the only notion was struggle and hard work behind getting success. However, American dream in reality was only a dream. No matter how long and how hard people struggled for attaining the impossible, they never reached their destiny and failed the American dream. They faced unequal opportunities for attaining education, employment, status, economic prosperity, health and other survival concerns. Students such as Steward Michael, Oliver James and Tom Michael complain about increasing educational expenses. Education is getting expensive and the poor face issues in getting higher degrees. Students whether they are eligible or not attain admission in reputable private educational institutions if they are able to pay the expenses. Otherwise, many students have to earn for paying for the educational expenses. The students who are poor themselves or come from poor backgrounds have to work more for gathering the tuition fees and other college and university expenses. Deparle in his New York Times article, â€Å"For Poor, Leap to College Often Ends in a Hard Fall† narrates the account of Angelica Gonzales, a Mexican American girl along with two others, Melissa O’Neal and Bianca Gonzalez who came of lacking backgrounds. They were low-income students and as per the author of the article, the low-income students are a threat to the American dream because they end up in having incomplete education with debts to settle by earning for paying the debts (Deparle). For them, the American dream is really endangering, as they are not able to get to their destined future; however, instead, they get trapped in harsh circumstances for leading their lives. Economic and educational inequality and increasing expenses keep the low-income students in getting to their desired place. Michael Cohen in his article, â€Å"The American Dream is now just that for its middle classes – a

Democracy, latin america Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Democracy, latin america - Essay Example Lagos notes that, â€Å"†¦low levels of trust in other people constitute a defining feature of Latin American political culture† (Lagos, pg. 142). Latin Americans are characterized by a chronic passivity, where they develop the naive expectation that their problems will be solved by someone else, turning to the state, and democracy, to do so. The statistics show that as individuals move away from institutions such as political parties and government, and toward more domestic issues like television or church, levels of trust increase. These low levels, although not new, are relatively low compared to other regions of the world, and make it almost impossible for the liberalization which democracy entails. Lagos concludes: â€Å"†¦declining levels of interpersonal trust thus constitute an important barrier to†¦ the development of a civil society†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Lagos, pg. 144). Right now, the support for democracy in Latin America resides at about 62%, which masks wide differentials between countries like Brazil which have moved progressively farther to the Left. Lagos reports there has been a sharp decline in support for liberal democracy, which has been motivated almost exclusively by economic and political failures in certain countries. Although 62% of Latin Americans favor democracy, â€Å"only 37 percent of the public are satisfied with the way that democracy works† (Lagos, pg. 141). Thus, the situation in the region is that the public perception of democracy remains mixed, and the initial short-lived enthusiasm about democratic change has faded through the years. The lack of public trust in institutions and public perceptions about failures in democratic countries has fueled this ambivalence toward the form of government. In their paper â€Å"Democratization Backwards: The Problem of Third-Wave Democracies†, Richard Rose and Doh Chull Shin propose a distinction between â€Å"first-wave† and â€Å"third-wave† democracies, the

Financial derivatives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Financial derivatives - Essay Example While common types of derivatives include assortment of financial contracts which are; Future contracts, options, deposits, forward contracts and swaps. However, derivatives are categorized into three main parts including financial instruments, equities (stocks and shares) and debt (mortgages and bonds). Foreign exchange risk is the risk embodied to earnings or capital arising from change of foreign exchange rates. Foreign exchange risk is related to cross- border investing and operating activities. Position-taking and Market-making in foreign currencies should be placed under price risk. Foreign exchange risk is also branded as translation risk. The risk ascends from holding accrual accounts with foreign denomination currency, including bonds, debts and deposits. This also embodies foreign currency denominated derivatives such as structured deposits, synthetic investments, structured notes, and off-balance-sheet derivatives used to mitigate accrual exposures (Shim & Siegel, 2008). Accounting conventions need periodic revaluation of these accounts at current exchange rates. Periodic revaluation decodes the foreign- denominated accounts into U.S. dollar currency. Banks should record these accrual-based products under appropriate systems that detect, calibrate, monitor, and regulate foreign exchange exposure. This may be useful to banks in managing Foreign exchange risk (Shim & Siegel, 2008). Financial derivatives are used either for management of risk i.e. hedging risk by provision of compensation in case of unwanted situation arbitrage between markets. Derivatives can be used for speculation purposes i.e. making financial bet. This difference is vital because risk management is a discreet aspect of financial management and operations for a lot of companies across different industries while speculation purpose offers managers and investors a risky chance to increase profit, which may not be revealed appropriately to

Julias Food Booth case problem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Julias Food Booth case problem - Essay Example obsession with figures and data has led to the development of these methods and they are applied in multiple fields from applied physics to management sciences (Chen & Wang, 1997). Julia Robertson faces a challenge of knowing the probable number of units she should sell before making a profit of $1000. She is planning to sell one piece of hot dog and pizza for $1.50 while, she is looking to vend barbecue sandwich for $2.25 and her total budget is $1500. The pizza, hotdog and sandwich will cost her $0.75, $0.45 and $0.90 respectively. Following is the tentative linear model that will be applied in order to determine the number of units of each merchandise type that should be sold to make 1000 bucks in each game. According to the results obtained by running a solver â€Å"Add in† in Excel, it was found that Julia is required to sell 100,000 units of all merchandise before she can think about earning 1000 bucks. The goal of Julia is just too large for a business of vending edible products during a football match. The audience is going to be just more than the target number of customers and therefore, the opening of a booth will be a risky endeavor to say the least. The competition which Julia’s booth will be facing is also going to be immense in nature because Tech Athletic Department will also be selling drinks and food items in the stadium. The customers shall prefer to purchase items from the same install rather than wandering around seeking stalls of different natures (Baron & Tang, 2011). The Tech manages matches as events and it can be understandable that they must have obtained substantial sponsorships. The provision of food items is not a proper business but it is provid ed out of sponsors’ money. So opening a booth in order to sell food items is not a feasible business venture and Julia will be better off if she decides to knock the idea off from the table and search other options of financing for her studies. Julia’s consideration for taking loan from

IRAC Brief Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

IRAC Brief - Case Study Example lthy tycoons and political campaign donors Baxter-Simons and Nathaniel Simons, to manage the household expenses, including those of the household employees (Markay, 2015). The parties are to enter into an agreement through arbitration, which will be later notified to the court. Issue: Madalyn Garcia was recruited as a household worker to serve in the 6,700 square-foot home owned by the Simons’ family and located in Berkeley, in 2010, to serve as a housekeeper (Markay, 2015). Garcia was considered one of the best employees at the household, and thus she consequently received numerous bonuses on frequent basis, as an appreciation of her work. However, all this was to change in the April of 2012, when Garcia informed the home owner, Baxter-Simons, that she was pregnant, and thus requested for a 12-week maternity leave (Markay, 2015). Upon this request, Baxter-Simons was visibly upset, but still allowed Garcia to take only a 6-week leave. When Garcia reached 8 months of her pregnancy, she started experiencing tiredness and difficulties in undertaking her duties, thus requested for a rearrangement of her 2-off duty days, so she could have occasional rests (Markay, 2015). This upset Mrs. Baxter-Simons even more and she refused to grant that request, while starting to harass Garcia through asking her to do work that was difficult for her, such as carrying a crate of wine up and down the stairs. The relationship between Garcia and her employer would subsequently deteriorate, and on Aug. 6, 2012 Elan Household, LLC informed her that she had been fired (Markay, 2015). Analysis: The U.S. Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1964, under Title VII, provides that it is prohibited for an employer to treat a female employee â€Å"unfavorably because of pregnancy, childbirth or any other medical condition related to the regency or childbirth† (USA.Gov, 2015). Additionally, the law of California provides that a pregnant employee should be granted up to four months of maternity leave

How do girls measure up to boys in Mathematics Essay

How do girls measure up to boys in Mathematics - Essay Example Therefore, girl’s participation in higher or advance mathematics subjects were less which led to a conclusion that boys have higher scores. Nowadays, more girls opt to take advance mathematics which results to same performance level in state tests. Also, the female population taking up SAT tests increased over the years which can be a fertile ground in comparing the performance of boys against girls. According to the article in Discovery, the study revealed that there was not much difference in the performance in math tests between girls and boys ( 2008). Furthermore, the National Science Foundation statistics revealed that : â€Å"†¦.In 2004, women earned 58 percent of all bachelor’s degrees, 78 percent of bachelor’s degrees in psychology, 62 percent in biological sciences, 51 percent in chemistry, 46 percent in mathematics, 25 percent in computer sciences, 22 percent in physics, and 21 percent in engineering.† ( 2007 ) Therefore, females do not really underperform in Math and Sciences as compared to Males. However, there are factors that affect girls in learning Math and Sciences which will be discussed in this paper. Cultural Orientation. Result of the study was the argument of professor and psychologist Janet Hyde that the cultural orientation are â€Å" incredibly influential†( cited in Media Relations, 2008 ). This means that girls are often not expected by their own parents to excel in Mathematics or other masculine field such as Engineering and Sciences since these areas are only suited for the boys. No wonder, girls were stereotyped as underperformers when it comes to Mathematics. The importance of self- esteem plays a big role in encouraging girls to perform in Mathematics. In 2007, a guide titled Encouraging Girls in Mathematics and Science was published by the National Center for Education Research. The main thrust of the

Fair Is Foul and Foul Is Fair Essay Example for Free

Fair Is Foul and Foul Is Fair Essay â€Å"Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Hover through the fog and filthy air,† said the witches in the first act and scene of Macbeth. Pertaining to the story, I believe this quote sheds light to the audience on the evil the witches possess. Without even reading further into the book, the audience can feel the eerie aura that the witches give off. You can foreshadow that the witches are going to turn what is good, foul and maintain what is foul. The witches are saying that fair and foul are the same: to be fair, you must be foul and to be foul, you must be fair. The witches do foul things because they think it is the only fair way. The witches basically symbolize everything that the kingdom does not need to prosper. The witches are manipulative. They manipulate Macbeth simply because his downfall would bring them joy. Evil and foul prophecies will cloud Macbeth’s judgment, making him think that they are fair and what he needs to follow. They are foul in their motives but their words are fair and their wordplay cannot be defined as lying but they skillfully dance around the truth. To the witches foul is fair and vice versa. You can also say that what is foul to any normal human is what is fair and good to the witches because they embody everything that we believe is evil. You can relate the phrase to reality or just believe that this is the witches’ opinion. Relating to real life outside of the book, I believe that this quote can mean that sometimes do be fair and just you have to go about it in a way that isn’t fair and just. Justice has to be attained, sometimes, by unjust means. It can also mean that the truth hurts and life is not fair, also to be fair is not to be appealing. These two words are opposite of their meanings. Depending on a person’s definition of fair and foul, it can change its meaning. It is circumstantial, and the meaning can change frequently. Defining fair as benevolent and good and foul as evil and menacing, you can say that to be good, you have to be malicious and to malicious you have to go about it in a ‘good’ and nice way. Some things that are fair might not always be the best but things that are fair might always be what a person what a person wants. Also, it could mean that people and things aren’t as they seem. People who seem foul could be fair and people who seem fair could be foul.

Caring For The Elderly Essay

Caring For The Elderly Essay In general, society considers the elderly as persons above the ages of sixty or sixty-five. This is usually the beginning of old age as a person becomes less active in political, social and economic affairs. Though there are elderly persons who are in good health and active members of their communities, majority are the ones whose physical and mental functions are on the decline. Since they are not able to get along on their own, majority of the elderly persons require attention and care from their loved ones as well as friends. Consequently, psychologists use the term elderly care to refer to the personal as well as medical attention that this group of the population receives. It is evident that elderly care takes a variety of forms, ranging from personal care such as feeding and dressing, to medical attention. In addition, the care that a family chooses for its elderly persons will depend on their needs. This is because some of the elderly persons may still be in good health while others may be frail. Consequently, some of them may require home-based care while others may need specialized attention in a nursing home or in a hospital. Whatever the case, the elderly do need some form of care. In this study, I shall focus on the American culture and the Asian culture, and make comparisons between the two, in relation to the aspect of caring for the elderly. For the Asian culture, I shall examine the Japanese. In both United States of America and Japan, the number of elderly persons is on the increase. This means that both governments have to consider and put in place the best mechanisms to cater for this group of the population. Different communities accord the elderly different forms of care, depending on how their cultures dictate. The way a community perceives old age will therefore affect the manner in which it treats the elderly. The responsibility of caring for the elderly in Caucasian and Japanese cultures lies mainly with the woman, because these societies consider her as an innate caregiver due to her maternal abilities and instincts. However, this is also due to the fact that, over the years, the woman has fewer opportunities in the economic scene, and as a result, she remains at home most of the time to take care of her children and the elderly. On the other hand, when the woman is able to access the labor market, she finds herself in positions where she has to provide care for others. Most nurses, school and hospital matrons are women. However, in the above cultures, children also participate in elderly care, as a form of compensation for the nurture their parents gave them when they were young. The American society places a lot of emphasis on staying young. Consequently, as Samovar et. al. (2009) notes we find a culture that prefers youth to old age. (p.71). This negative perception of old age makes the young people avoid staying together with the elderly and caring for them. The older adult population rather than the young adults are the ones taking care of the elderly. This explains why some families in the United States give over their old relatives to nursing homes. This does not however mean that the young cut all their links with their elderly relatives. They do provide support and maintain contact with them. The nursing homes are an option for the elderly people who have no family or relatives to look after them at home. This is especially the case for those who are physically handicapped and require the help of another person to take care of them. Though the nursing homes have become the choice for most families with elderly relatives, they do have their limitations. Some of these institutions for the elderly have become money-making ventures, therefore reducing their emphasis on the needs of the elderly. Poor hygiene and lack of trained medical personnel and quality treatment as well as poor feeding programs are some of the problems the elderly face in these nursing homes. Moreover, placing the elderly in nursing homes limits their freedoms as they have to follow the stipulated program. They cannot choose when to feed, sleep, interact with their fellow housemates and cannot keep their belongings. However, nursing homes for the elderly still remain the option for most American families, as there has not been much success with home-based care. On a positive note, the elderly persons in American society have more groups of friends and neighbors whom they can go to for support, than the aged people in Japanese society. This means that the American elderly are likely to receive care from their friends and neighbors, apart from their immediate family members. However, the Americans usually tend to give special care to their elderly only after they learn that the latter are facing a medical problem. However, since the family is still the main caregiver for the elderly, some of the American families employ professional nurses to take care of their old at home, instead of sending them away to nursing homes. Another reason for this is that, institutions for taking care of the elderly are expensive, and some of these families are not able to afford them. Moreover, some families opt to take their elderly to day nursing institutions, where they receive care throughout the day and then return home in the evening. This is suitable for those people who are working and cannot stay with the elderly relatives during the day as they have to report to work. It is also convenient for working adults who cannot afford specialized care for their elderly ones, either at home or in a nursing institution. In some instances, the elderly person may be able to live in his or her own house, and may be strong enough not to require specialized attention and care. In such cases, the family members of such an elderly person find a house near other aged people, in areas where the amenities they need on a day-to-day basis are readily available. This form of elderly care appeals to the community and involves them in taking responsibility for this group of the population. On the economic front, some of the big corporate organizations have introduced benefit schemes for their employees, in order to help them in caring for their elderly relatives. This is because most companies want to avoid losses in production, due to having employees who have to work while at the same time take care of their elderly relatives. Some companies also provide home-based care services for the elderly, but as a profit-making venture. This however, has a negative side to it as these privatized services are costly and not many families are able to afford them. On the other hand, Asian culture of the Japanese has a positive perception of the elderly. It teaches the children to respect and care for the elderly. The Japanese consider the family as the prime caregiver for their elderly, and in this case, it is usually a female member of the family who carries out this duty. This is because the Japanese believe that it is not in order to take the elderly to a nursing home as this is equivalent to neglecting ones responsibility of taking care of ones parents. This also makes the Japanese families give the required care to their elderly relatives throughout their old age, rather than only when they are facing a health problem. In the case of aged people who are not related to the family, Japanese wives or their daughters are the ones who tend to give their elderly friends the care they need. Sometimes, the daughters-in-law also give care to the elderly, especially if the patient is female. However, if other friends and non relatives are living under the same roof with the elderly persons, they may provide the necessary care to the latter. This is in contrast to the case of the American elderly who receive care from their family as well as friends and neighbors. In Japan, the activity of giving care to the elderly is mainly as an act of duty, rather than voluntary will. The caregiver considers this act as one that he or she has to give, and in most cases, the Japanese wife will provide the elderly attention at her husbands request. The dependence of the Japanese elderly on their immediate family is also evident in the fact that most of them rely on their spouses and their children for financial support. Since the Japanese believe that giving the elderly care is a womans job, the men usually leave this task to their wives. However, though the Japanese men are away from home most of the time, they also contribute to elderly care by giving their spouses financial as well as emotional assistance. Again, by participating in looking after their children, they allow their wives to find time to take care of the elderly members of the family. Elderly care in Japan still remains largely in the hands of the family, especially for those who are not sickly and in need of specialized medical attention. However, caring for the elderly at home is no longer the only option, and families have begun taking the old to nursing homes. This is due to a number of reasons such as the aging of the family members providing the care as well as the increasing involvement of the Japanese women in formal training and employment. Moreover, Japanese families are not living in large numbers as they did in the past. However, the number of nursing homes for the elderly and professional caregivers is on the decrease because of the Japanese belief that it is the immediate family which bears the responsibility of taking care of their elderly relatives. The elderly who are in need of very little personal and health care remain at home, but get visits from personnel who attend to them. This happens either a few times a week or every day depending on the needs of the elderly person. Due to the rising demand for health caregivers for the elderly, Japan has sought the help of care personnel from the Philippines. These caregivers are more experienced and are willing to work at a low pay. Due to the increase in the elderly population, financial resources have not been enough to allow families to put their relatives under specialized care at home and in nursing institutions. It is due to this situation that hospitals in Japan have offered to accommodate the elderly who are in need of both personal as well as medical attention. This way, the elderly in Japan can access long-term care. Though on a small-scale, the Japanese elderly engage in volunteering programs where they offer services to the community and in turn, they receive personal as well as medical care. There are however some similarities in the aspects of elderly care in American and Japanese cultures. Care for the elderly is still one of the concerns of both the United States and Japanese governments, though they differ in their policies. America gives priority to provision of medical attention, pension for retirees and shelter, while the Japanese government came up with policies to put in place insurance for every citizen including the elderly, for a long-term period. In both countries, the increase in aging members of the population has put a lot of pressure on the medical as well as retirement schemes. However, technological advances in medicine have increased and they are being used to improve the life-expectancy levels of the American and Japanese aging populations. Again, since women are increasingly going into formal employment, the men in both countries are also becoming more and more involved in elderly care. In conclusion, due to lifestyle changes, many people have started living in smaller groups and families, and are also located far from each other. Consequently, caring for the elderly can no longer be the responsibility of the immediate family alone, but has to be a prerogative of governments, non governmental organizations as well as private institutions.

Bipolar Disorder :: essays research papers

The phenomenon of bipolar affective disorder has been a mystery since the 16th century. History has shown that this affliction can appear in almost anyone. Even the great painter Vincent Van Gogh is believed to have had bipolar disorder. It is clear that in our society many people live with bipolar disorder; however, despite the abundance of people suffering from the it, we are still waiting for definite explanations for the causes and cure. The one fact of which we are painfully aware is that bipolar disorder severely undermines its’ victims ability to obtain and maintain social and occupational success. Because bipolar disorder has such debilitating symptoms, it is imperative that we remain vigilant in the quest for explanations of its causes and treatment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Affective disorders are characterized by a smorgasbord of symptoms that can be broken into manic and depressive episodes. The depressive episodes are characterized by intense feelings of sadness and despair that can become feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. Some of the symptoms of a depressive episode include anhedonia, disturbances in sleep and appetite, psycomoter retardation, loss of energy, feelings of worthlessness, guilt, difficulty thinking, indecision, and recurrent thoughts of death and suicide. The manic episodes are characterized by elevated or irritable mood, increased energy, decreased need for sleep, poor judgment and insight, and often reckless or irresponsible behavior. Bipolar affective disorder affects approximately one percent of the population (approximately three million people) in the United States. It is presented by both males and females. Bipolar disorder involves episodes of mania and depression. These episodes may alternate with profound depressions characterized by a pervasive sadness, almost inability to move, hopelessness, and disturbances in appetite, sleep, in concentrations and driving.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bipolar disorder is diagnosed if an episode of mania occurs whether depression has been diagnosed or not. Most commonly, individuals with manic episodes experience a period of depression. Symptoms include elated, expansive, or irritable mood, hyperactivity, pressure of speech, flight of ideas, inflated self esteem, decreased need for sleep, distractibility, and excessive involvement in reckless activities . Rarest symptoms were periods of loss of all interest and retardation or agitation.

The Space Within :: Education Medicine Learning Papers

The Space Within My second-grade teacher was a second-rate poet. For one of our elementary school's semiannual pageants, our class was supposed to represent colored pencils. Definitely silly, but we were much better off than the kindergartners, who had to portray paste. All we had to do was wear different colored outfits and recite the little verses our teacher had written for us, one pertaining to each color. I was black. My stanza went something like this: "Black is the color of night,/And of the pupils in our eyes,/And our eyes are the windows to our souls." Not exactly earth-shattering poetry. I still remember it, though, because at the time it set me wondering. It was the last line, really. If souls have windows, knowing people is easy. Anyone can see into a window, if the light is right. I thought maybe, if I looked deep enough, I could see all the way to the bottom. I could know everything about someone just by looking. I could know everything. I'm not sure when I first became obsessed with knowing what was inside people. I remember that one of the first fictional characters I ever identified with was a man in my book of Aesop's fables. He complained that the gods should have made human beings with windows in their chests so that their thoughts could be easily read. I couldn't have agreed more. All I wanted was to know. It infuriated me to no end that I could see the world, and I could see what other people looked like, but I couldn't see what the world looked like to other people. I didn't care that everyone's eyes saw essentially the same things. The things themselves were not important. It was the way they were seen that mattered, the way they got twisted around inside other eyes. For Christmas, when I was nine, I asked my mother for telepathy. What I got was a book about palm reading and a trip to the movies. Before we walked into the movie theater, my mother told me she was going to test my telepathy. "I want you to look at the people in the movie. Look in their eyes," she said. "Look very closely. See if you can tell me what they're thinking." I did my very best, watching intently as set after set of two-foot eyes fluttered across the screen. I was surprised at how easy it was.

San Implementation Essay -- essays research papers fc

SAN implementation over Gigabit Ethernet A Storage Area Network is virtualized storage. A storage area network (SAN) is a dedicated, centrally managed, secure information infrastructure, which enables any-to-any interconnection of servers and storage systems. A SAN can be configured to provide a nearly infinite pool of storage that you can grow and move between servers as they need it. The storage can be added to and removed without requiring the server to be rebooted. The services provided by the server continue to operate without interruption. The primary purpose for implementing a SAN is to provide a large storage pool that multiple hosts could access. Common storage configurations involve direct attachment of storage to a host. This storage is only available for use by that host. If there were another host that needed storage, you would need to buy additional storage to install on that host. The host with excess capacity would not be able to share its storage with another host. In a SAN, all networked devices share storage capacity as peer resources; they are not the exclusive property of any one server. You can use a SAN to connect servers to storage, Servers to each other, and storage to storage through hubs or switches. A SAN carries only I/O traffic between servers and doesn’t carry any general-purpose traffic such as e-mail. Storage area networks remove data traffic, like backup processes, from the production network giving IT managers a strategic way to improve system performance and application availability. As SAN technology develops, it is growing beyond the use of any one kind of technology. A SAN can be configured to use a number of protocols such as IP or Fibre Channel over a network medium like Ethernet or ATM. FC over Ethernet supports up to 1.06 Mbps. Emerging standards that are still being defined include Gigabyte System Network(GSN) which promises full-duplex 6.4 Mbps over a 40 meter copper cable. Storage area networks improve data access. Using Fibre Channel connections, SANs provide the high-speed network communications and distance needed by remote workstations and servers to easily access shared data storage pools. IT managers can more easily centralize management of their storage systems and consolidate backups, increasing overall system efficiency. The increased distances provided by Fibre Channel technology make it easier to ... ... all of your different hosts and handle the conversion and routing of data between the servers and their virtual disks. The phrase SAN implementation over Gigabit Ethernet is a misnomer. You are using FC or SCSI disks at all times. The SAN is implemented using the common Fibre Channel or SCSI technology. The hosts however would use a variety of methods to attach to the storage pool. The usual connection methods try to avoid introducing bottlenecks between the server and the storage pool. If you combine the different links from the servers together over a 1000Base switch, you would make better use of the available bandwidth to the storage. Using Gigabit Ethernet in this way makes for an excellent low-cost connection to storage resources. Since many customers already have a Ethernet network in place the additional cost of the GSN capable switch is the only additional cost. Once the switch is attached to the SAN, the benefits of a SAN solution can be pushed out to more client computers in the company. Bibliography http://www.zdnet.com/eweek/reviews/1201/01gig.html#Reference http://www.iol.unh.edu/consortiums/ge/index.html http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/729/gigabit/index.shtml

Killings by Andre Dubus Essay

â€Å"Killings† by Andre Dubus is a short story about a father who seeks out vengeance for the murder of his twenty-one year old son only to learn that revenge will only make things worse. The father, Matt Fowler, is haunted by the tragedy that has befallen his youngest son. Retribution is a common human desire because people feel that it offers the truest form of justice; however, this action is against the law of the land and is thought of as reckless to pursue. The author uses foreshadowing, imagery, and dialogue to illustrate a tone of prudence when thinking of taking vengeance into one’s own hand. In the story the literary element of foreshadowing is used. The desire to get even is an emotion that is felt by all people and is not biased as to who feels it. That desire is displayed at the beginning of the story. This is shown when the author writes, â€Å"Matt’s older son, Steve, turned to him as the family left the grave and walked between their friends, and said: ‘I should kill him’† (1203). This ominous statement shows how the feeling of revenge causes the character to not think of the consequences when pursuing vengeance for what is thought of as true justice. The writer further establishes how the feeling of retribution clouds cautious thinking through foreshadowing when he writes, â€Å"‘I’ve got a . 38 I’ve had for years, I take it to the store now†¦She knows I started carrying it after the first time she saw him in town. She knows it’s in case I see him and there’s some kind of situation. ’† (1204). This indicates that not only is revenge to be sought out but also the means by which Matt Fowler plans to exact his vengeance without any thought of consequence. The author’s use of imagery creates a picture of how the father’s vengeance for his son’s murder takes place when Matt waits on the murderer to get off of work so that he can take the killer and his car back to the killer’s house. The author describes the scene with vivid detail when he writes, â€Å"†¦he stopped and aimed over the hood at Strout’s blue shirt ten feet away†¦They drove across the empty front lot and onto the road. Willis’s headlights shining into the car; then back through the town, the sea wall left hiding the beach, though far out Matt could see the ocean; he uncocked the revolver: on the right were the places, most with their neon signs off, that did so much business in summer†¦the street itself empty of traffic†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (1209). The description of the abduction of the killer creates a mental picture to the reader of how the father planned to obtain the murderer and exact his revenge. The use of magery is also evident when the author describes the preparations taken for getting even when the author writes, â€Å"Beyond the marsh they drove through woods, Matt thinking now of the hole he and Willis dug last Sunday afternoon†¦as they dug into the soft earth on the knoll they had chosen because elms and maples sheltered it† (1210). The prose writer not only creates a picture of how the father obtains the murder to exact retaliation but also where the killer would be disposed of. The author uses imagery to show that the character had plenty of opportunities to have second thoughts of seeking vengeance but used no caution and thought only of revenge. The author’s use of dialogue enhances the tone of caution when thinking of taking vengeance outside of the legal system. This is apparent in the father’s reply to the murderer when the author writes, â€Å"‘You’re not going to jail’† (1212). Matt Fowler’s response to the killer not going to jail through dialogue shows that he has no intentions of letting the justice system handle Strout’s punishment. The author further reinforces the tone through dialogue when he show’s the father’s distaste with the legal system. This is illustrated when the scribe writes, â€Å"‘I’ll do twenty years, Mr. Fowler; at least. I’ll be forty-six years old. ’ ‘That’s nine years younger than I am,’ Matt said†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (1214). The father’s response gives the reader insight to Matt’s thoughts of true justice and how no caution was used when pursuing this course of action. In conclusion, the author uses foreshadowing, imagery, and dialogue to set a tone of caution when thinking about taking vengeance outside of the legal system. This desire for reprisal is all too common, especially to those who have been victimized, to feel that if one wrong is committed that another wrong will cancel it out. Revenge is ill advised by most as people who say two wrongs don’t make a right and the memories will never fade. The story, â€Å"Killings† by Andre Dubus, illustrates how a father seeks out revenge for the murder of his twenty-one year old son and takes matters into his own hands only to discover that revenge only makes matters in his life worse.

Economic Crisis: Solutions Essay

Global crisis is clearly felt nowadays, not only by third world countries but also by the richer and industrialized countries. Uprisings are recurring in different parts of the world by people who want change and a better life. Even in our country, the crisis is getting heavier each day. But then the real question is not the â€Å"what†, but more so, the â€Å"how†. How do we really resolve this problem? It is not unknown to us that the Philippines is in fact a country rich in natural resources. Even if the worst comes, we can certainly sustain our living on our own. But what is happening now? Why are we poorer than we were before? One of the problems is our relationship with the country: United States of America. They are currently exploiting both our natural and human resources. In addition to that, we are trying to bail them out from their economic crisis by paying our debt to them, in turn ignoring the needs of our own. The government now is trying to â€Å"lessen† our debt by paying them little by little. But then who is suffering? The people. Right now, the rich countries are continuously becoming richer, and the poor, poorer still. They are feeding off of us. The solution: cut our dependence to them. Some might that the US is the major source of investments in the country. But the effect is short term only. Once they pull out the capital that they invested, our economy would instantly run down the negative slope. So evidently, we can’t immediately cut our connection to them. I say we start off small at first. For one, the government could redistribute the lands of the landlords to the farmers because small scale industries are much of a help in our economy. And also by doing this, we are not giving the control to our agricultural economy to few people only. Second, major companies in the country should be mainly owned by the Filipinos. It gives the people jobs, the country higher internal revenue and we prevent them from over-exploiting our cheap human resources. Third, as a student and a scholar, academics should learn how to give back to our country. The youth and the intellectuals should be utilized in our own country, not abroad. We have enough bright minds here in the Philippines to device plans and start companies that may be beneficial to our economy. We can undoubtedly stand on our own. It is just that we were born on a mindset that we can never be independent. We can live without the help of the United States. There should be change, no matter how small it is. We should start on our own selves. A million small changes when combined can definitely make a large difference.

The Return: Nightfall Chapter 27

When Damon woke up, he was wrestling with the wheel of the Ferrari. He was on a narrow road, heading almost straight into a glorious sunset – and the passenger door was waving open. Once again, only the combination of almost instantaneous reflex and perfectly designed automobile allowed him to keep out of the wide, muddy ditches on either side of the one-lane road. But he managed it and ended up with the sunset at his back, gazing at the long shadows down the road and wondering what the hell had just happened to him. Was he sleep-driving now? The passenger door – why was it open? And then something happened. A long, thin thread, slightly waving, almost like a single strand of gossamer, lit up as the reddish sunlight hit it. It was dangling from the top of the passenger window, which was shut, with the roof down. He didn't bother to pull the car to one side, but stopped in the middle of the road and went around to look at that hair. In his fingers, held toward the light, it turned white. But turned toward the dark of the forest, it showed its true color: gold. A long, slightly waving, golden hair. Elena. As soon as he had identified it, he got back into the car and began to backtrack. Something had ripped Elena right out of his car without putting so much as a scratch on the paint. What could have done that? How had he managed to get Elena to go for a spin anyway? And why couldn't he remember? Had they both been attacked†¦? When he backtracked, however, the marks by the passenger's side of the road told the entire grisly story. For some reason, Elena had been frightened into jumping out of the car – or some power had pulled her. And Damon, who now felt as if there were steam rising from his skin, knew that in all the woods there were only two creatures that could have been responsible. He sent out a scouting probe, a simple circle that was meant to be undetectable, and almost lost control of the car again. Merda!That blast had come out as a sphere-shaped killing strafe – birds were dropping out of the sky. It tore through the Old Wood, through Fell's Church, which surrounded it, and into the areas beyond, before finally dying out hundreds of miles away. Power? He wasn't a vampire, he was Death Incarnate. Damon had a vague thought of pulling over and waiting until the turmoil inside himself had stopped. Where had such Power come from? Stefan would have stopped, would have dithered around, wondering. Damon just grinned savagely, gunned the engine, and sent thousands of probes raining from the sky, all attuned to catch a fox-shaped creature running or hiding in the Old Wood. He got a hit in a tenth of a second. There. Under a black cohosh bush, if he wasn't mistaken – under some unspeakable bush, anyway. And Shinichi knew he was coming. Good. Damon sent a wave of Power directly at the fox, catching it in akekkai , a sort of invisible rope-barrier that he tightened deliberately, slowly, around the struggling animal. Shinichi fought back, with killing force. Damon used the kekkai to pick him up bodily and slam the little fox body into the ground. After a few of these slams Shinichi decided to stop fighting and played dead instead. That was fine with Damon. It was the way he thought Shinichi looked best, except for the bit about playing. At last he had to stash the Ferrari between two trees and ran swiftly to the bush where Shinichi was now fighting the barrier around him to get into human form. Standing back, eyes narrowed, arms crossed on his chest, Damon watched the struggle for a while. Then he let up enough on the kekkai's field to allow the change. And the instant Shinichi became human, Damon's hands were around his throat. â€Å"Where is Elena, kono bakayarou?† In a lifetime as a vampire you learned a lot of curse words. Damon preferred to use those of a victim's native language. He called Shinichi everything he could think of, because Shinichi was fighting, and was Calling telepathically for his sister. Damon had some choice things to say aboutthat in Italian, where hiding behind your younger twin sister was†¦well, good for alot of creative cursing. He felt another fox-shape racing at him – and he realized that Misao intended to kill. She was in her true shape as a kitsune: just like the russet thing he'd tried to run over while driving with Damaris. A fox, yes, but a fox with two, three†¦six tails altogether. The extra ones usually were invisible, he gathered, as he neatly caught her in a kekkai as well. But she was ready to show them, ready to use all her powers to rescue her brother. Damon contented himself with holding her as she struggled vainly within the barrier, and saying to Shinichi, â€Å"Your baby sister fights better than you do,bakayarou . Now,give me Elena. â€Å" Shinichi changed forms abruptly and leaped for Damon's throat, sharp white teeth in evidence, top and bottom. They were both too keyed up, too high on testosterone – and Damon, on his new Power – to let it go. Damon actually felt the teeth scrape his throat before he got his hands again around the fox's neck. But this time Shinichi was showing his tails, a fan that Damon didn't bother to count. Instead he stomped one neat boot on the fan andpulled with his other two hands. Misao, watching, shrieked in anger and anguish. Shinichi thrashed and arched, golden eyes fixed on Damon's. In another minute his spine would crack. â€Å"I'll enjoy that,† Damon told him sweetly. â€Å"Because I'll bet that Misao knows whatever you know. Too bad you won't be here to seeher die.† Shinichi, rabid with fury, seemed willing to die and condemn Misao to Damon's mercies just to avoid losing the fight. But then his eyes darkened abruptly, his body went limp, and words appeared faintly in Damon's mind. †¦hurts†¦can't†¦think†¦ Damon regarded him gravely. Now, Stefan, at this point, would release a good deal of the pressure on the kitsune so the poor little fox could think, Damon, on the other hand, increased the pressure briefly, then released it back to the previous level. â€Å"Is that better?† he asked solicitously. â€Å"Can the cute little foxie think now?† You†¦bastard†¦ Angry as he was, Damon suddenly remembered the point of all this. â€Å"What happened to Elena?Her trail runs out up against a tree. Is sheinside it? You have seconds left to live, now. Talk.† â€Å"Talk,† seconded another voice, and Damon barely glanced up at Misao. He'd left her relatively unguarded and she'd found power and room to change into her human shape. He took it in instantaneously, dispassionately. She was small-boned and petite, looking like any Japanese schoolgirl, except that her hair was just like her brother's – black tipped with red. The only difference was that the red in her hair was lighter and brighter – a truly brilliant scarlet. The bangs that fell into her eyes had blazing fiery tips, and so did the silky dark hair falling over her shoulders. It was striking but the only neurons that lit in Damon's mind in response were connected to fire and danger and deception. She might have fallen into a trap,Shinichi managed. A trap?Damon frowned.What kind of trap? I'll take you to where you can look into them,Shinichi said evasively. â€Å"And the fox can suddenly think again. But you know what? I don't think you're cute at all,† Damon whispered, then dropped the kitsune on the ground. Shinichi-as-a-human fountained up, and Damon dropped the barrier just long enough to let the fox in human form try to take his head off with one punch. He leaned away from it easily, and returned it with a blow that knocked Shinichi back into the tree hard enough to bounce. Then, while the kitsune was still dazed and glassy-eyed, he picked him up, slung him over one shoulder, and started back to the car. What about me?Misao was trying to curb furious and sound pathetic, but she really wasn't very good at it. â€Å"You're not cute, either,† Damon said, recklessly. He could get to like this super-Power thing. â€Å"But if you mean, when do you get out, it's when I get Elena back. Safe and healthy, with all her bits attached.† He left her cursing. He wanted to get Shinichi to wherever they had to go while the fox was still dazed and in pain. Elena was counting. Go straight one, go straight two – untangle crutch from creeper, three, four, go straight five – it was definitely getting darker now, go straight six, caught by something in hair,yank , seven, eight, go straight – damn! A fallen tree. Too high to scramble over. She'd have to go around it. All right, to the right, one, two, three – a long tree – seven steps. Seven steps back – now,sharp right turn and keep walking. Much as you'd like to, you can't count any of those steps. So you're at nine. Straighten yourself because the tree was perpendicular – dear heaven, it's pitch dark now. Call that eleven and – – she was flying. What had caused her crutch to slip, she didn't know, couldn't tell. It was too dark to go frisking around, maybe finding herself a case of poison oak. What she had to do was to think about things, to think so that this all-pervading hellish pain in her left leg would quiet down. It hadn't helped her right arm either – that instinctive windmilling, trying to catch something and save herself. God, that fall had hurt. The whole side of her body hurt so much – But she had to get to civilization because she believed only civilization could help Matt. You have to get up again, Elena. I'mdoing it! Now – she couldn't see anything, but she had a pretty good idea which way she'd been pointed when she'd fallen. And if she was wrong, she would hit the road and be able to backtrack. Twelve, thirteen – she kept counting, kept talking to herself. When she reached twenty she felt relief and joy. Any minute now, she'd hit the driveway. Any minute now, she'd hit it. It was pitch black out, but she was careful to scuff the ground so she would know, the minute she hit it. Any†¦minute†¦now†¦ When Elena reached forty she knew she was in trouble. But where could she have gone so far wrong? Every time some small obstacle had made her turn right, she'd turned carefully left the next time. And there was that whole line of landmarks in her way, the house, the barn, the small cornfield. How could she have gotten lost?How? It had only been half a minute in the forest†¦only a few steps in the Old Wood. Even the trees were changing. Where she had been, near the road, most of the trees had been hickory or tulip. Now she was in a thicket of white oaks and red oaks†¦and conifers. Old oaks†¦and on the ground, needles and leaves that muffled her foot-hops into soundlessness. Soundlessness†¦but she needed help! â€Å"Mrs. Dunstan! Mr. Dunstan! Kristin! Jake!† She threw the names out into a world that was doing its best to muffle her voice. In fact, in the darkness she could discern a certain swirling wispy grayness that seemed to be – yes – it was fog. â€Å"Mrs. Dunstaa – a-aan! Mr. Dunstaa-aa-an! Kriiiissstiiiinnn! Jaaa-aaake!† She needed shelter; she needed help. Everything hurt, most of all her left leg and right shoulder. She could just imagine what a sight she would make: covered in mud and leaves from falling every few feet, her hair in a wild mop from being caught on trees, blood everywhere†¦. One good thing: she certainly didn't look like Elena Gilbert. Elena Gilbert had long silky hair that was always perfectly coifed or charminglydishabille . Elena Gilbert set the fashions in Fell's Church and would never be seen wearing a torn camisole and jeans covered with mud. Whoever they thought this forlorn stranger was, they wouldn't think she was Elena. But the forlorn stranger was feeling a sudden qualm. She'd walked through woods all her life and never had her hair caught once. Oh, of course she had been able to see then, but she didn't remember having to step out of her way often to avoid it. Now, it was as if the trees were deliberately reaching down to catch and snag her hair. She had to hold her body clumsily still and try to whip her head away in the worst cases – she couldn't manage to stay upright and get the tendril torn out as well. But painful as the tearing at her hair was, nothing scared her like the grabbing at her legs. Elena had grown up playing in this forest, and there had always been plenty of room to walk without hurting herself. But now†¦things were reaching out, fibrous tendrils were grabbing at her ankle just where it hurt most. And then it was agony to try to rip with her fingers at these thick, sap-coated, stinging roots. I'm frightened, she thought, putting into words at last what all her feelings had been since she stepped into the darkness of the Old Wood. She was damp with dew and sweat, her hair was as wet as if she'd been standing in the rain. It was so dark! And now her imagination began to work, and unlike most people's imaginations it had genuine, solid information to workwith . A vampire's hand seemed to tangle in her hair. After an endless time of agony in her ankle and her shoulder, she had twisted the â€Å"hand† out of her hair – to find another curling stalk. All right. She would ignore the pain and get her bearings here, here where there was a remarkable tree, a massive white pine that had a huge hole in its center, big enough for Bonnie to get into. She would put that flat at her back and then walk straight west – she couldn't see stars because of the cloud cover, but shefelt that west was to her left. If she were correct, it would bring her to the road. If she were wrong and it was north, it would take her to the Dunstans'. If it were south, it would eventually take her to another curve of the road. If it were east†¦well, it would be a long walk, but it would eventually take her to the creek. But first she would gather all her Power, all the Power she'd been unconsciously using to dull the pain and give her strength – she would gather it and light up this place so she could see if the road was visible – or, better, a house – from where she stood. It was only a human's power but, again, the knowledge of how to use it made all the difference, she thought. She gathered the Power in one tight white ball and then loosed it, twisting to look around before it dissipated. Trees. Trees. Trees. Oaks and hickories, white pine and beech. No high ground to get to. In every direction, nothing but trees, as if she were lost in some grimly enchanted forest and could never get out. But shewould get out. Any of those directions would take her to people eventually – even east. Even east, she could just follow the stream until it led to people. She wished she had a compass. She wished she could see the stars. She was trembling all over, and it wasn't just from the cold. She was injured; she was terrified. But she had to forget about that. Meredith wouldn't cry. Meredith wouldn't be terrified. Meredith would find a sensible way to get out. She had to get help for Matt. Gritting her teeth to ignore the pain, Elena started off. If any of her wounds had happened to her in isolation, she would have made a big fuss about it, sobbing and writhing over the injury. But with so many different pains, it had all melted into one terrible agony. Be careful now. Make sure you're going straight and not tilting off at an angle. Pick your next target in your straight line of sight. The problem was that by now it was too dark to see much of anything. She could just make out deeply grooved bark straight ahead. A red oak probably. All right, go to it. Hop – oh, it hurts – hop – the tears washing down her cheeks – hop – just a little farther – hop – you can make it – hop. She put her hand out on shaggy bark. All right. Now, look straight in front of you. Ah. Something gray and rough and massive ahead – maybe a white oak. Hop to it – agony – hop – somebody help me – hop – how long will it take? – hop – not that far now – hop.There. She put her hand on the wide rough bark. And then she did it again. And again. And again. And again. And again. â€Å"What is it?† Damon demanded. He'd been forced to let Shinichi lead once they were out of the car again, but he still kept the kekkai loosely around him and he still watched every move the fox made. He didn't trust him as far as – well, the fact was, he didn't trust him at all. â€Å"What's behind the barrier?† he said again, more roughly, tightening the noose around the kitsune's neck. â€Å"Our little cabin – Misao's and mine.† â€Å"And it wouldn't possibly be a trap, would it?† â€Å"If you think so, fine! I'll go in alone†¦.† Shinichi had finally changed into a half-fox, half-human form: black hair to his waist, with ruby-colored flames licking up from the ends, one silky tail with the same coloration behind him waving behind him, and two silky, crimson-tipped twitching ears on top of his head. Damon approved aesthetically, but more important, he now had a ready-made handle. He caught Shinichi by the tail and twisted. â€Å"Stop that!† â€Å"I'll stop it when I get Elena – unless you waylaid her deliberately. If she's hurt, I'm going to take whoever harmed her and cut him into slivers. His life is forfeit.† â€Å"No matter who it was?† â€Å"No matter who.† Shinichi was quivering slightly. â€Å"Are you cold?† â€Å"†¦just†¦admiring your resolve.† More inadvertent quivering. Almost shaking his entire body.Laughter? â€Å"At Elena's discretion, I would keep them alive. But in agony.† Damon twisted the tail harder. â€Å"Move!† Shinichi took another step and a charming country cabin came into view, with a gravel path leading up between wild creepers that loaded the porch and hung down like pendants. It was exquisite. Even as the pain grew, Elena began to have hope. No matter how turned around she was, shehad to come out of the forest at some point. She had to make it. The ground was solid – no sign of mushiness or slanting downward. She wasn't headed for the creek. She was headed for the road. She could tell. She fixed her sights on a distant, smooth-barked tree. Then she hopped to it, the pain almost forgotten in her new feeling of certainty. She fell against the massive, peeling, ash-gray tree. She was resting against it when something bothered her. Her dangling leg. Why wasn't it bumping painfully against the trunk? It had knocked continually against all the other trees when she turned to rest. She pulled back from the tree, and, as if she knew it were important, gathered all her Power and let it go in a burst of white light. The tree with the huge hole in it, the tree she had started from, was in front of her. For a moment Elena stood completely still, wasting Power, holding the light. Maybe it was some different†¦ No. She was on the other side of the tree, but it was the same one. That washer hair caught in the peeling gray bark. That dried blood washer handprint. Below it was where her bloody leg had left a mark – fresh. She'd walked straight out and come straight back to this tree. â€Å"Noooooooooooooo!† It was the first vocalized sound she'd made since she'd fallen out of the Ferrari. She'd endured all that pain in silence, with little gasps or sharp breaths, but she'd never cursed and screamed. Now she wanted to do both. Maybe it wasn't the same tree – Nooooooo, nooooooo, noooooooooooo! Maybe her Power would come back and she'd see that she'd only hallucinated – No, no, no, no, no, no! It just wasn't possible – Nooooooo! Her crutch slipped from under her arm. It had dug into her armpit so deeply that the pain there rivaled the other pains. Everything hurt. But worst was her mind. She had a picture in her mind of a sphere like the Christmas snow globes you shook to make snow or glitter fall through liquid. But this sphere had trees all over the inside. From top to bottom, side to side, all trees, all pointing toward the middle. And herself, wandering inside this lonely sphere†¦no matter where she went, she'd find more trees, because that was all there were in this world she'd stumbled into. It was a nightmare, but something like it was real. The trees were intelligent, too, she realized. The little creeping vines, the vegetation; even now it was pulling her crutch away from her. The crutch was moving as if being passed from hand to hand by very small people. She reached out and just barely grabbed the end of it. She didn't remember having fallen to the ground, but here she was. And there was a smell, a sweet, earthy, resinous aroma. And here were creepers, testing her, tasting her. With delicate little touches, they wound into her hair so that she couldn't pick her head up. Then she could feel them tasting her body, her shoulder, her bloody knee. Nothing about it mattered. She squeezed her eyes shut, her body heaving with sobs. The creepers were pulling at her wounded leg now, and instinctively she jerked away. For a moment the pain woke her up and she thought,I've got to get to Matt , but the next moment that thought was dulled, too. The sweet, resinous smell remained. The creepers felt their way across her moving chest, across her breasts. They encircled her stomach. And then they began to tighten. By the time Elena realized the danger, they were restricting her breathing. She couldn't expand her chest. As she let out her breath, they only tightened again, working together: all the little creepers like one giant anaconda. She couldn't tear them away. They were tough and springy and her nails couldn't cut through them. Working her fingers under a handful, she pulled as hard as she could, scraping with her nails and twisting. Finally one fiber sprang loose with the sound of a harp's string breaking and a wild whipping in the air. The rest of the creepers pulled tighter. She was having to fight to get air now, fight not to contract her chest. Creepers were delicately touching her lips, swaying over her face like so many thin cobras, then suddenly striking and going taut around her cheek and head. I'm going to die. She felt a deep regret. She had been given the chance of a second lifetime – a third, if you counted her life as a vampire – and she hadn't done anything with it. Nothing but pursue her own pleasure. And now Fell's Church was in peril and Matt was in immediate danger, and not only was she not going to help them, she was going to give up and die right here. What would be the right thing to do? The spiritual thing? Cooperate with evil now, and hope she'd have the chance to destroy it later? Maybe. Maybe all she needed to do was to ask for help. The feeling of breathlessness was leaving her light-headed. She would never have believed it of Damon, that he would put her through all this, that he would allow her to be killed. Just days ago she had been defending him to Stefan. Damon and the malach. Maybe she was his offering to them. They certainly demanded a lot. Or maybe it was just that he wanted her to beg for help. He might be waiting in the darkness quite close, his mind centered on hers, waiting for a whisperedplease . She tried to spark the last of her Power. It was almost depleted, but like a match, with repeated striking she managed to get a tiny white flame. Now she visualized the flame going into her forehead. Into her head. Inside. There. Now. Through the fiery agony of not being able to draw a breath, she thought:Bonnie. Bonnie. Hear me. No answer – but she wouldn't hear one. Bonnie, Matt is in a clearing in a lane off the Old Wood. He may need blood or some other help. Look for him. In my car. Don't worry about me. It's too late for me. Find Matt. And that's all I can say, Elena thought wearily. She had a vague, sad intuition that she hadn't gotten Bonnie to hear her. Her lungs were exploding. This was a terrible way to die. She was going to be able to exhale one more time, and then there would be no more air†¦. Damn you, Damon, she thought, and then she concentrated all her thoughts, all her mind's reach on memories of Stefan. On the feeling of being held by Stefan, on Stefan's sudden leaping smile, on Stefan's touch. Green eyes, leaf green, a color like a leaf held up to sunlight†¦ The decency he had somehow managed to retain, untainted†¦ Stefan†¦I love you†¦. I'll always love you†¦. I've loved you†¦. I love†¦

Eve: Heroine of Paradise Lost Essay

Milton’s Eve in Paradise Lost is apparently the weakness of Adam and the tragedy of Eden; she was a mere reflection of him â€Å"whose image thou art (Milton, Book 4, Line 472)†; she is subject to Adam to whom she says â€Å"God is thy law, thou mine (Milton, Book 4, Line 637). † Lastly, Adam himself calls her â€Å"the inferior, in the mind and inward faculties(Milton, Book 8, Line 542). † This weakness becomes the strength to contradict the established order. Being a tenuous reflection allows for the willingness to change that evolutionary progress depends on. Her subjection to Adam, a creature with limitations, bestows on that servility the possibility of autonomy. Inferiority in mind, because it denotes a lack of a closed framework of thought, permits an openness that is characteristic of true wisdom. Adam’s Soul and the Catalyst of the Myth Eve was Adam’s soul by which he breathed his life to other humans, that part of him which made choices, the part of him which was not totally subject to God. She needed to face the serpent alone and choose between free will and absolute mandate. In this sense, she embodied the active content of the story. Eve brings about change, and the episode of the meal is a central example in the series of incidents where she is the principal actor (Gulden). † Without her, Adam would had been idling about Eden, lonely and without purpose forever. Eve’s Choice Was God’s Choice We know the consequences of her choice. But what would have happened if she had chosen blind obedience instead. Paradise would have never been lost, but everything else which followed the fall, all the great saints and heroes of mankind, the shining examples of virtue would never have lived. This, in itself, justifies Eve’s option for free will with all its consequences; it was in accordance with the divine plan that man should himself realize his own Divinity. The thinking human race as we know it today, struggling for and intensely aware of its dignity, would never have been. Price says that â€Å"we gradually learn that the hero of the poem is Eve†¦Milton sees that the human race could literally not have continued (or developed) without her(Price). Man would have been eternally happy and eternally without free will, divine and irresponsible and senseless. The Wisdom of Eve Eve’s acknowledged role in Paradise was to people it with beings on a higher level than the beast’s and the fowl. In an environment graced by the blissful predictability of mental subjugation to a benign dictator, the forbidden fruit represented the chance to gain the sense of responsibility and autonomy that man as a spiritual being craves. It is the lack of the divine order providing an adequate sense of identity and autonomy to Eve that precipitates both her and Adam to the fall (Mason). † Feeling this need inside her, knowing that she was Adam’s image and he was the image of God, she intuited that the fruit was not evil and was not meant so much as test of obedience but a challenge to make an individual’s choice and take responsibility for that choice. What we lost in Paradise was only given to us; what we hope to have after that we ourselves will have merited by our endurance and courage.

The concept of patriotism and pseudo-patriotism by Goldsmith and Essay

The concept of patriotism and pseudo-patriotism by Goldsmith and George Orwell - Essay Example According to Goldsmith patriots are individuals who love the very thought of this world and not only their country. A person who denies this fact is simply a pseudo-patriot as he is developing a national prejudice based upon simple borders that have been made by man. As quoted by Goldsmith "Is it not very possible that I may love my own country, without hating the natives of other countries?" (Goldsmith et al 223). Similarly, Orwell has also indirectly pointed out the aspects of patriotism in Marrakech by highlighting the fact that races do not denote the very nature of patriotism that one may think he has. He believes that races create boundaries that are not even justified in the sense of understanding. Pointing out the fact that the Negroes form an important aspect of the army is one point where he highlights the power of the Negroes over the other race. He believes that patriotism roots from within and races should not help define the boundary between these roots. As said by Orwe ll "But there is one thought.....if he calls himself a Socialist) thinks when he sees a black army marching past. "How much longer can we go on kidding these people? How long before they tum their guns in the other direction?".This quote clearly shows that he is advocating the rights of power for the blacks and wants the Whites to understand that no race is below par when compared to the other. He uses techniques through which he explores the life of lower-class individuals and discrimination that exists all around the world.

Accounting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Accounting - Assignment Example According to data revealed from the New York Stock Exchange, the company is traded under the ticker symbol of WMT. Currently it yields a price earnings ratio of 15.48 with a beta coefficient of 0.24. With 3,810,170,000 of outstanding shares, the company has a market capitalization of USD 202.47 billion. The performance of Wal-Mart has improved steadily over the last three years. In the year 2007 the company reported an annual turnover of $344759 million which has risen to $401211 million in the year 2009. This marks an increase of nearly 16 percent. The operating cost of the company has remained stable at approximately 95 percent for the last three years. Wal-Mart has been successful in managing the operating costs of the company. There has been a rise in the interest cost on debt of the company that has moved up from $1549 million in 2007 to $1896 million in 2009 which is a rise of nearly 22 percent. This is due to the rise in the debt component of the company. The net income of the company has steadily moved up over the years. In 2007 the company reported a net income of $11284 million that increased to nearly $13400 million in 2009, an increase of nearly 18 percent. The cash position of the company has improved significantly over the previous year. Cash and cash equivalents of the company was $5569 million in 2007 and this increased to $7275 million at the end of the financial year 2009. The current ratio represents the ability of a company to meet its short term liabilities out of its current assets. Investors view current ratio as a measure of the liquidity condition of a company. As per the theories this ratio should be 2:1 which means the company retains current assets which are double the amount of current liabilities, but the bench mark varies from industry to industry. Wal-Mart’s current ratio has improved in 2009 as compared to 2008, hence the company has enhanced its liquidity position and the risk associated with short term solvency

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE OF THE WRITINGS OF JOHN PIPER AND N.T Thesis Proposal - 1

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE OF THE WRITINGS OF JOHN PIPER AND N.T. WRIGHT ON THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH - Thesis Proposal Example The study of the doctrine of justification5 is considered the cornerstone of Christianity6 by many Christian scholars. It is, according to Luther, the article by which the church stands or falls,7 The challenge between Piper and Wright concerns the implication of their views on imputed or incorporated righteousness on justification8 to Christian faith, especially concerning Soteriology.9 On the one hand, Piper’s perspective is that imputed righteousness on justification does not consist merely of belief in Christ alone for salvation, but also submission of every area of one’s life to Christ’s Lordship.10 Thus, Piper unwittingly affirms both â€Å"faith alone† and â€Å"faith not alone† referring to justification, which according to Lybrand constitutes the intrinsic incongruence of these assertions in his (i.e., Piper’s) practical interpretations and teachings.11 This inconsistency could be explained in the way Piper distinguishes justification from sanctification,12 wherein he proposes that to man is given the right to stand with God on account of faith alone.13 Again, Piper maintains, this is something given. Nevertheless, Piper insists that man must live a life that he considers a deadly battle against sin.14 The manner by which he fights such a battle––according God’s will––constitutes s anctification.15 Also important on Piper’s position is the argument that sin has been fought, and won over with the death of Jesus.16 One might contend that if sin has been won over based on Christ’s sacrifice, Piper would not be able to justify his â€Å"faith not alone† portion of his argument. However, he maintains that the right to stand with God is only achieved by eliminating the sin––the one that was already won over on the cross––by way of dying â€Å"in Christ.†17 This is central to his righteousness imputation theory,18 and distinguishes his position from that of Wright’s who proposes, â€Å"incorporated righteousness† as a more