Globalization in Australia Essay

Globalization literally means the process by which the local phenomenon is transformed into global ones where every person in the world is united into a single society and work together as dependent partners. For a country to be globalized, it has to coordinate its economic, social, cultural, political and political aspects. Basically, the term Globalization has been used to refer to only the financial aspect of Economic Globalization which is the transformation of National Economy into International Economy through Technology, Capital Flow, Foreign Investment, Migration and Trade (Hirst and Thompson, 247). According to the UN-ESCWA , the term means, elimination or minimizing of national boarders so that the flow of goods, services, capital and labor can be facilitated. As globalization continues to sweep every nation, it has had its ups and downs. While on one side it helps in opening up of new markets and wealth creation, on the other end, it is a major contributor to the world disorder and unrest. Economic globalization can be measured using mainly four economic flows:- goods and Services, Technology, Capital and Labor (Bracer and Costello, pp. 19). This essay will look at the features of Globalization in Australia, How the process is driven, the effect that it has had on political scene of the country and finally it will look at how it has affected Australian relationship with other countries. Political Perspective of Globalization Australian Globalization has taken effect on its political system, research resented in (Gupta, pp. 37) show that, apart from concerning itself with the issues of the national governments like security and economic welfare of its people, the Australian government has taken into pursuing political matters in the global arena. They have joined the member groups of known World institutions like the European Union, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization and the World Bank among others to help them in this effect. The influence of the Australian Government through these institutions has managed to transcend even beyond its boarders. By using the Central national government, many NGOs with their origin in Australia have been established to help in numerous global issues like the human right concerns, environmental concerns and civil society matters. Domestic Aspect of Politics of Globalization Globalization effect in Australia has seen the gap between the rich and the poor fall by nearly Ten Percent in less than three decades. And not only did that happen, but there was also a notable reduction in the number of undernourished children. The average life expectancy in the same period of time shot to 66 from 58 years while the infant survival per every 1000 rose to 67 from 44. As the country’s economy grows, say by for instance 10%, so do the poorest people in the country by the same margin, thanks to the liberalization of Trade and high technology(Oxley,2003). Since it started expanding, Australia has done so without any sign of recession. It has been so good in doubling the countries wealth and cutting down on unemployment. This big boom has seen the prime minister, John Howard bolster his political fortune with great confidence. The Australian market which was once an isolated market, has undergone great transformations to the point where it can comfortably take advantage of the global market. Australia’s Domestic and International Economy Australia’s economic system is one of the most open in the globe that is; in terms of foreign investment and tariffs. The positive effects of globalization to this country are numerous, some of which are; the Reduction in the transport cost, Easy communication and Cheap offshore production. While it is apparent that globalization can either bring blessings or curses, to Australia it has brought blessings in abundance, The Australian government, through the labor unions have secured great productivity gains. The labor unions which were held in a high state demanded for high pay to their members†¦ they were granted this wish and the results of it was astounding. It saw a dramatic gain in productivity (Arnoldy. pp. 13). Relationship Between Australia and other Developed and Developing Countries The relationship that Australia has had with different nations is shaped by its position as the leading nation in trade and more so its role as being a major donor of humanitarian aid. It has a strong bilateral tie with all its allies and there keen concern regarding the debated on terrorism, free trade and other economic cooperation strategies ( Croucher, pp. 10). Their active participation in the affairs of Commonwealth Nations and United Nations put them in a position of being a darling of every sovereign state. Australia has also joined several of such world organizations like the Economic and Social Funding in 1994, Security Council in 1986 and Cairns Group of Countries (to press for Agricultural trade reforms). It focuses most of its attention to developing countries like Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Brunei. On the other hand developed nations like the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and China are not left behind. Australia’s major import partners include China Japan, Germany, and Singapore while its export partners are Japan, China, New Zealand and South Korea (www. worldgrowth. org). The future of Australia seems to be quiet bright as far as globalization is concerned. If the current trend continues, then we will witness a lot more fragmentation, personal freedom, Emergence of bigger organizations and wider connectivity. Works Cited Alan Oxley. (2003) â€Å"Globalization and Australia†. Australian APEC Center, Monash from www. worldgrowth. org Retrieved on 09-02-2009. Ben Arnoldy. (2006). â€Å"Australia at the crossroads of globalization †. The Christian Science Monitor. Sydney, Australia. pp. 12-19. Bhagwati, Jagdish. (2004). â€Å"In Defense of Globalization†. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 51-87. Hirst and Thompson. (2002) â€Å"The Future of Globalization†. Published: Cooperation and Conflict, Vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 247-265. Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello. (1994): â€Å"Global Village or Global Pillage: Economic Reconstruction From the Bottom Up†. Boston, South End. pp. 19-23. Satya Dev Gupta. (1997): â€Å"The Political Economy of Globalization†. Boston, Zed Books. pp 29-64. Sheila L. Croucher. (2004). â€Å"Globalization and Belonging: The Politics of Identity in a Changing World†. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 10.

Harry Potter Movie Review Essay

Harry Potter is an average 11-year-old boy who has lived with the Dursley family ever since his parents died in a car crash. For some reason the family has always mistreated him. On his 11th birthday a giant man named Rubeus Hagrid hands him a letter telling him that he has been accepted as a student at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. * Harry soon learns that his parents were wizards and were killed by an evil wizard named Voldemort, a truth that was hidden from him all these years. He embarks for his new life as a student, gathering two good friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger along the way. They soon learn that something very valuable, called the sorcerers stone, is hidden somewhere deep inside the school and Voldemort is very anxious to lay his hands on it. Together they must use Hermione’s brilliant intellect, Ron’s joviality, and Harry’s bravery to stop Voldemort. In this epic action packed fantasy three friends learn the importance of friendship and that its power is unstoppable. * The attributes that play a vital role to this movie in being a box office success is the actors performance and the story itself. Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley, and Emma Watson as Hermione Granger are a great trio for this type of movie. Daniel Radcliffe has the perfect face for an innocent eleven-year old-boy while he does have the look of valor and bravery in his eyes. Rupert Grint has the mischievous look of a procrastinator and jovial boy who in the movie is perfect for the funny, always nervous, and *

See word Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

See word - Essay Example A story taken from Kozol’s book, â€Å"Fire in the Ashes; Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America†, is discussed to help understand people’s well-being, and how it is affected by the aforementioned factors. Section three gives an account of social conditions that have contributed to my own well-being. The fourth section gives recommendation on how the community and societal well-being can be improved or promoted. Many authors have shown concern over the suffering of Americans living in poor cities and villages. One of the most celebrated authors who have been on the forefront of fighting for the rights of the minorities in America is Jonathan Kozol. Kozol has published several books highlighting societal problems that Americans experience in their day to day activities. In his book, â€Å"Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America†, there are several aspects that can be learnt about social well-being. The story of the children Kozol met at the Martinique Hotel highlights tragic moments that befell various characters. Martinique Hotel was the home of people who had nowhere to live. The place hosted thousands of people and children who had come from different parts. It is in this hotel, where Kozol met a family that had experienced harsh lives. Christopher, aged 10 years is one of the characters mentioned in this story. He belonged to the family Kozol met in the hotel, and lived with his parents and two younger siblings. According to what Kozol writes, Christopher occasionally suffered from malnutrition. Kozol would see Christopher running out in traffic begging for money and food. At the age of 10, Christopher had already started traffic drugs along the streets, which saw him arrested and taken to prison (Kozol, 2013). As soon as he was released from prison for the last time, Christopher died from drug overdose. He is one of the boys Kozol writes about who died at early ages, one

Reflection On Therapeutic Interaction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Reflection On Therapeutic Interaction - Essay Example This includes silence, enthusiasm, and touch. Touch can imply different things and is therefore, referred to as a silent language of nonverbal behavior. It is the most affectionate way of remitting warmth. An example where touch worked was when patients were anxious or impatient I would give them a warm hug or hold their hands and talk to them. Not many patients who are usually comfortable with touch and this made me learn to respect boundaries when dealing with every patient. I could also use silence as a communication skill. This could give the patient and I time to reflect on future occurrences in the patient's care. When offering therapeutic therapy nurses are required to maintain professionalism and boundaries when dealing with patients. This is because while interacting with these patients nurses like other people can become emotionally attached to patients, and this is not a good show of the therapeutic relationship. I had to be highly confidential with the patient as some of them could give extremely vulnerable information due to their health situation. In order for this therapy to work well on the patient then there needs to be trust and confidentiality. This would work whenever a patient is extremely vulnerable, and it will help improve his/her health if the trust is there. Whenever I was needed somewhere, and I was with a patient, I would assure the patient that I would come back and if I was tied down I would send a colleague to assure the patient that I was going to come back.... It is the most affectionate way of remitting warmth. An example where touch worked was when patients were anxious or impatient I would give them a warm hug or hold their hands and talk to them. Not many patients who are usually comfortable with touch, and this made me learn to respect boundaries when dealing with every patient. I could also use silence as a communication skill. This could give the patient and I time to reflect on future occurrences in the patient's care. When offering therapeutic therapy nurses are required to maintain professionalism and boundaries when dealing with patients. This is because while interacting with these patients nurses like other people can become emotionally attached to patients, and this is not a good show of the therapeutic relationship. I had to be highly confidential with the patient as some of them could give extremely vulnerable information due to their health situation. In order for this therapy to work well on the patient then there needs t o be trust and confidentiality. This would work whenever a patient is extremely vulnerable, and it will help improve his/her health if the trust is there. Whenever I was needed somewhere, and I was with a patient, I would assure the patient that I would come back and if I was tied down I would send a colleague to assure the patient that I was going to come back. This would keep the patients’ trust in me and would enable the therapy to continue working. Empathy is one trait that a nurse is required to have in order to use therapeutic therapy in treating his/her patients. A nurse should show empathy by reflecting back to the ordeals, and past experiences he/she has had to motivate a

Attitude a Behavior Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Attitude a Behavior - Research Paper Example The concept is that attitude is a learned behavior. The hypothesis is to show how they relate and influence each other. Social Psychology Social psychology is concerned with social influences upon the individual. Because it emphasizes the individual, it qualifies as psychology, yet because of its focus on the social situation it has much in common with sociology. Thus the general area where sociology and psychology overlap is called social psychology, although the topic involves far more than simply trying to find common ground between the two disciplines. Myers (1987) has identified three areas of consideration in social psychology: the way people think about one another, how they influence one another, and how they relate to one other. Attitudes Social psychologists are concerned not only with the formation of attitudes but also with how attitudes can be influenced and changed. An attitude is made up of thought, feeling, and a predisposition to act upon that thought and feeling. Sh eer thought is the basis of an opinion. While thought and feeling may technically make up an attitude a third factor, behavior is likely to result. The credibility of the person attempting to change attitudes is an important factor in determining success. The perceived intentions of the communicator are especially important. If intentions are seen as positive, influence will tend to be greater. Some have debated whether one or two-sided presentation is the most effective. Is it better to just present one side of an issue or to give both sides? Research to date indicates that the one-sided approach is more effective if the audience is unintelligent, authoritarian or already in agreement with the stated position. Generally, however, the two-sided approach works better because the presenter sounds more objective (Jones and Brehm, 1970). Cognitive Dissonance Cognitive dissonance is an inner tension resulting from the attempt to hold two contrasting thoughts at the same time (Festinger 1 957). One of those thoughts may result from behavior therefore, if an attitude contradicts action, dissonance results. When dissonance occurs, the individual tries to relieve that tension by changing opinions, changing actions, or adding new ideas to thinking. Any of these will tend to nullify the cognitive dissonance and reduce tension over the issue. Case study Experiment Festinger demonstrated this concept by having people perform an extremely boring task (turning knobs a quarter –turn on a board). He asked each participant to convince another person, supposedly waiting to take part in the experiment, that it was an interesting task. At this point he offered either one or twenty dollars to the participant for convincing the other person the task would be interesting. Afterward he evaluated those who were paid to see whether they had enjoyed the knob-turning task. While behavioral psychology might suggest that the bigger reward would produce the greatest change, just the op posite occurred; those who received one dollar for lying the most positive about the boring task while those who received twenty dollars changed the least in their attitudes.

Role of IT Managers in Organizations Term Paper

Role of IT Managers in Organizations - Term Paper Example In most institutions including Magnum Enterprises, tasks placed under IT departments are usually structured into IT projects. IT managers are, therefore, sometimes known as IT project managers, since they undertake project-driven exercises. Whether the objective is to install, design or reengineer, Information Technology projects are always to a large extent propelled by aggressive deadlines and durations of regular change. To achieve their objectives, IT managers must identify resources and allocate them. Similarly, they must ensure that activities are organized in consonance with business and technical needs. Projects that IT managers work on always come in various forms. They range from feasibility studies, design projects, development projects, to implementation and upgrade projects (Anderson, Gottschalk & Karlsen, 2002).  Mintzberg (1970) introduced the concept of management roles. Later, Jeong Kettinger and Lee pointed out the relevance of six roles from Mintzberg’s ro le topology. These are: leader, monitor, liaison, spokesman, and entrepreneur and resource allocator. The job of any manager consists of many roles and responsibilities at the same time. At some point, a manager may perceive some roles more important than others, depending on urgency and impact (Anderson, Gottschalk).  As a leader, a manager must supervise the ongoing activities under his jurisdiction, hire and train staff members on a regular basis, organize and coordinate all the activities under his/her docket.

Extra credits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Extra credits - Essay Example Dith Pran had suffered a great deal for approximately four years before he was able to escape to a refugee camp. Here he was later rescued and reunited with his friend Schanberg. The evacuation from Saigon led to clearing of and falls in Phnom Penh paved way for a more ruthless Khmer Rouge that led to the ruthless genocide in which a lot of people lost their lives (Dawn, Remsing, Hmong Folklore). The film tried to preserve the historical accuracy and ideologies and the portrayal of events as they happened. A lot is learned from the film, even though, the producers skipped some issues that occurred. They try to keep the most important issues like cultures to give the film the touch of Cambodia setting and portray the genocide picture in a clear way especially when panic and desperation arises when violence breaks out. This is an American film that talks about Hmong American community and a retired auto worker Walt Kowalski. Kowalski is a lonely man since his children do not really care about him. In addition, the neighbours he was used to had moved to other places and others passed away and misplaced by Hmong immigrants from Southeast Asia who he hated so much. His life was a quiet one until someone tried to still his Gran Torino. From this event, a young man called Thao is introduced to Walt’s life when his gang forces him to go and steal Walt’s Gran Torino. However, he was caught red-handed, and Walt decided not to shoot him. When Thao’s mother and sister Sue discover what Thao had planned to do they forced him to work for Walt as a way of apologising, he was forced to do odd jobs. This relationship of Walt and Thao lead to the change of their lives. They treated each other as a family to a point where Walt includes Thao in his will leaving him the Gran Torino in a condition that he will never try to modify it in any way. He also

The narrative of 'Second Glance' Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The narrative of 'Second Glance' - Essay Example The storyline is immensely influenced by literature on psychological thrillers and other movies of the same genre. Throughout the film, diversified literary techniques derived from other movies and texts shall be employed. The movie will open with a scene of Clarke, lying unconscious in a pool of blood washed up near the river Lea with police and ambulance sirens honking aloud, as rescue workers desperately transport Clarke for medical aid. The next scene will portray a man enveloped in gauze bandages, with a deep voice referring to the man in the bed as ‘I’. This direct participation of the hero through first-person narrative will fully absorb the audience; hence, enabling them to fully comprehend the mechanics of the character’s mental and emotional state. Furthermore, narration will aids in triumphantly manifesting character’s mental psyche by using emotionally laden and evocative words, vivid expositions illustrating his cognitive inability, and connect ion establishing visuals. This literary method is termed as stream of consciousness. (Sang 2010). Literary techniques derived from texts and other movies will play an integral role in direction to engage the audience fully and to retain their attention throughout. As memory is the crux of the plot; hence, it will be accentuated throughout the film by employing another favourite psychological thriller literary technique known as ‘back-story’ (Rendsburg 2000). This involves revealing the history behind the present situation or presenting a series of flashbacks as the main story progresses like Memento. This emphasizes the psychological facet of the plot, as the viewer is better able to apprehend the character, in particular, his motivations and past that paved the way to his present cognitive perceptions. The story features East London, which is an area characterized by worst capital deprivation. Despite the establishment of luxury apartments and accelerating property pri ces, this area is still to a great degree deemed as the hub of crime. Therefore, this has been a preferred spot of fictional social investigations (Clarke 1997). Crime, drugs, sexual offences, social status conflict, destituteness, and multi-cultural socializing are some of the primary themes attached with this part of the city. The notion of slums in what has been depicted has ‘forbidden East End’ has always fascinated literati and audiences alike (LeUnes 1974). The suspense will be derived from the internal mental conflicts needed to be resolved by Clarke. He will rely on his mental faculties to uncover and deal with his barbaric enemies by fighting for equilibrium within his own mind (Baxendale 2004). It is imperative to bear in mind that a psychological thriller stands out for portraying its characters prone to danger on a mental level, more than physical (McCollom 1971). Fundamentally, the suspense produced in

Environmental Analysis of the Eden Project Assignment

Environmental Analysis of the Eden Project - Assignment Example Opened to the public in 2001, the project took approximately 30 months to construct and now provides an interesting experience to visitors both domestic and foreign. The Eden Project, based on research findings, is a benchmark by which other organisations can replicate their operational models for the company’s consistent focus on providing relevant services and activities related to their mission and vision goals. PESTEL analysis of Eden Project The Eden Project operates in a stable political environment in which there is ample state-level and local-level support for business development. The Eden Project is even supported by an EU organisation, The European Social Fund Convergence Investment, that has partnered with the local Learning Partnership for Cornwall to deliver sustainable operations and promote training of local workforce members to support the project (Green Foundation 2013; Major 2010). Through government support both domestic and foreign, the Eden Project is abl e to sustain its operational model and achieve a variety of grants that provide adequate funding that assists in procurement, operational strategy development and even the marketing and promotional functions that give the organisation more public visibility and brand recognition. The Eden Project has also been supported by notable political figures ranging from the Queen to Prime Minister Gordon Brown in an effort to promote sustainability and eco-tourism in the country (Eden Project 2008). Political actors with considerable influence in promoting the organisation and also ensuring government funding provide the Eden Project with the marketing benefits and political networking benefits required to ensure long-run operations and sustainability of the company model. Celebrity endorsers often have a positive impact on consumer attitudes and behaviours and utilising the Queen’s endorsements is only one element of how the organisation achieves brand visibility. The economic enviro nment is also quite favourable for continued operations at the Eden Project. Admission prices for adults at the attraction range between ?19.50 and ?23.50, whilst children can enter the attraction for between ?6.50 and ?10.50 (Eden Project 2013). These are rather high prices comparatively to other local attractions, however it guarantees a higher revenue stream for the organisation. The UK is currently experiencing a recovery from the 2008-2010 recession, which is giving consumers higher disposable incomes today (Forex 2012; Reuters 2011). Concurrently, the UK Consumer Price Index has been stable since October of 2013 which represents that inflation is stabilising and currently household consumer income enhancements are rising in a faster proportion to inflation (ONS 2013). This provides an economic environment in which the Eden Project can sustain more consumer interest in disparate market segments without concern about substantial admission price discounting. The ability of consum ers to pay the higher-than-average admission costs to experience a unique attraction provides a stable and positive economic environment for the organisation. The social environment is also favourable for continued consumer interest in the attraction. There is a growing ethical awareness in many consumer groups about the importance of ecology and environmental sustainability that impacts their consumption behaviours.

Is the USA PATRIOT Act an effective deterrent to terrorism Why, why Essay

Is the USA PATRIOT Act an effective deterrent to terrorism Why, why not What are your suggestions for combating terrorism - Essay Example The Patriot Act freed up international intelligence agencies so that they could share information in order to fight terrorism worldwide. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison stated, â€Å"The Patriot Act has enabled our law enforcement much more capability to capture terrorism than we ever had before† (Ynn, 2004). The Patriot Act has helped the government track a lot of the money that was being laundered to fund terrorist organizations. A lot more has to be done in order to improve our chances in the fight against terrorism. A strategy that could be used to attack terrorism is to improve the diplomacy efforts worldwide. The UN could formulate a special terrorism task force to oversee the efforts of the different intelligence agencies across the world. The agency’s budget would be funded by all the UN allies. The develop nations would have to contribute more money than the developing nations. The Patriot Act help unite the intelligence community, but the efforts of these agencie s are still fragmented. There is a lack of a united front against terrorism. The current war on the Middle East is hurting the image of the war of terrorism because people feel that the war is driven by the desire of the US and its allies to control the petroleum in the Middle East. A new effort lead by the UN would provide legitimacy to the war on terrorism. References Ynn.com (2004). Hutchison says Patriot Act effective in fighting terrorism. YNN.

The Childhood section of Dubliners Essay Example for Free

The Childhood section of Dubliners Essay From your reading of the two stories in the Childhood section of Dubliners how is the encounter between different generations portrayed and what do you think is its role? The stories An Encounter and Sisters contain objective viewpoints about the older generation, and are told from the perspective of a young boy. There is the implication in both stories that the older generation is associated with religion which plays a paralysing role in the society of Dublin. The role of the encounter between the different age groups demonstrates the conflict of belief that occurs between young children growing up, forming their own opinions and beliefs, and their elders, who are trying to impress attitudes and traditions on them that seem unnatural to them. There is a suggestion that its role is also representative of the turmoil which Catholic Ireland found itself in during this period. The young boy, from whose perspective we see the elder generation, does not appear to hold the respect he ought to for his elders. In Sisters, the child feels bored by Old Cotter due to his endless talk about the distillery. The presence of Old Cotter and also that of the strange man in An Encounter are seen as equally undesirable by the narrator, and both are referred to in derogatory terms: Old Cotter as a tiresome old fool, and the nameless man by Mahony as a queer old josser. The children feel that they have no need for these men in their lives and it is significant that the word josser is slang meaning priest, exemplifying the disregard the boys feel towards a religion that has been imposed upon them. In addition to these two characters, in An Encounter Father Butler is a primary reason for the desire the boys feel for escape from the rebuke during the sober hours. Father Butler clearly has close connection with religion and their dislike of him once more is representative of the hostility the boys feel towards Catholicism and its effect on Dublin. The character of Father Flynn possesses a didactic role over the young boy, and we are told he taught [him] a great deal. Whether this teaching was desired by or imposed upon the narrator is not made clear but it is apparent that the priest instilled a certain amount of trepidation and awe, as well as admiration, in the boy, due to the adjectives used to describe his appearance, ancient, truculent, grey and massive, with black cavernous nostrils. The priests description is symbolic of the way in which the narrator feels about religion; one of the main roles that the encounter with the elder generation plays. The colours described are dark and intimidating, the atmosphere in his room was smoke-filled and one of lethargy, just as religion would have seemed harsh, restrictive and uninspiring. The man in An Encounter, also representing religion does not give a good impression of this central aspect of Irish society, he is perverted and contradictory in his words, he seemed to have forgotten his recent liberalismhe would whip a boy he would love that. One role of this encounter is to demonstrate the confusion that the boy feels about religion, before his eyes he sees contradiction in a religious figure, perverted and unnerving contradiction at that, which can only serve to add yet more doubt to his wavering faith. In both scenarios the narrator feels relieved when he escapes his elders whom he finds unnerving, indeed the epiphany in Sisters is the moment where he realises that he feels a sensation of freedomby his death. In the same way in An Encounter the boy seizes the first available moment to escape from the strange man, I stood up abruptlysaying that I was obliged to go. There is an urgency to get away from these mysterious characters although this is not apparent to the boy in the context of Father Flynn until he is involuntarily released by his death. Strangely, in the two stories the child feels an affinity to the elder generation and thus there is a sense of guilt due to the relief he experiences when they are absent. In Sisters the boy definitely admires the priest and despite feeling entrapped and paralysed by the religious implications attached to his role in society, there is also a certain empathy he feels towards him. The duties of the priesthood were too much for [Father Flynn] and smothered him, just as the requirements the boy must conform to in terms of religion are too demanding on his confused and inquisitive mind. In An Encounter the sense of empathy appears at the epiphany of the story, where the narrator realises that, like the man, he had always despised [Mahony] a little. This sudden, unexpected revelation that has been brought about by the unsettling words of the man demonstrates that the role of the older generation in this scenario has been to help the boy be true to himself and admit his own beliefs, which may inadvertently help him to accept his true religious feelings. The language and sentence structure used in Sisters helps to emphasise the generation gap perceived by the reader, words such as endless which imply the length of Old Cotters life as well as his boring talk, the threatening words that indicate the unapproachable appearance of Father Flynn due to his age and social significance, blackened, solemn and copious. Where the narrator describes how Father Flynn impressed his knowledge upon him, he lists the topics that he was taught, which shows not only the amount of subjects the two covered, but also symbolises the sheer length and content of the priests long life. The encounters used by Joyce in these two stories play conflicting roles, and contradiction is evident even within the same story; the boy describes a sense of anxiety to escape from his elders, yet expresses guilt at these feelings. He feels trapped by religion, yet sympathises with a priest about the constraints it makes on society, surprising as such a figure should be the embodiment of the restriction he finds it hard to abide by. The distance expressed both in terms of age and in opinion shows how the boy feels controlled by a generation he cannot relate to. This conveys a sense of paralysis affecting the younger generation of Ireland, a generation controlled by its elders and their religion, a religion which controls rather than directs its pupils. The encounters that make up such an important part of the two stories serve to demonstrate the alienation the children of Ireland feel towards their elders and their social situation: there simply is not the same strength of feeling towards religion in their lives, an empowering force on their lives and in Dublin.

Models of Teaching Essay Example for Free

Models of Teaching Essay This paper explores the experience of synectics, a teaching model that comes from the informational-processing family. This model is known as the art of enhancing creative thought and through our group experience it has given us proof. Creativity is a huge part of the model and its purpose is to bring out creativity from the students. Synectics brings all children the process of metaphoric thinking known as the foundation of creative thought. As my group and I continued to study the model we discovered great connections and outcomes from teaching a lesson through synectics in two different grade levels. This paper will serve as a reflection from my experience using the synectics model as well as my group experience. Synectics Model In the beginning, my group and I were very puzzled about the model because it was something we were unfamiliar with and it took a while for us to comprehend the book. So, our first thing we decided as a group was to go home and read the chapter and explore the model and do personal research that could benefit our understandings. When Amanda, Tessa, Doug and I met up again we shared what we learned, but once again we remained stuck. My group was still feeling fuzzy about the model because we understood the rational but we did not know how to put it into practice. The Models of Teaching by Joyce, Weil, and Calhoun provided great information and examples but we still had no clue on how and what we were going to conduct a lesson using the model. Amanda and I brought in some lessons that we found on the internet that could be helpful for our group. One of the lessons was called â€Å"Running the Mile† by Jennifer Hoffman and just by reviewing it on my own it clicked and I understood what we needed to do. I know Amanda had an idea but I was not sure about Tessa and Doug because they still seemed unsure. The day we met in class for the last time was when our group asked our instructor for guidance and what she did was read the Synectics part from the Models of Teaching out loud and our group’s light bulb lit up. It was very interesting on how that happened because right after our instructor left the table we began coming up with a plan and lessons. As we group we decided that we were going to carry out two lessons. Doug and Tessa worked together to create a lesson for juniors at Doug’s school while Amanda and I collaborated on lesson for her 6th graders. We decided to carry it this way so we could compare the different outcomes for out final reflection. Once we figured out the synectics model we quickly put together two lessons less than ten minutes and began scheduling dates to teach and observe in the actual classroom. Working with Amanda we talked about an appropriate lesson that could connect to her current theme in the classroom. She mentioned that they will be studying the Holocaust so from there we came up with a lesson that dealt with Adolf Hitler whereas Doug and Tessa created a lesson that involved the Great Depression. Both lessons seemed very interesting and exciting because using the synectics model to teach it had unlimited outcomes. On November 15, I arrived at Amanda’s classroom as an observer and began my note taking. When I got there Amanda shared with me that she taught the lesson to another class of hers and said that it went very well because she got them to compare Hitler to a computer as well as a shark. Synectics consists of six phases and is easy to get confused at first but when it is successfully carried out it offers a creative outcome. I will provide the lesson summary that we will use to conduct the lesson. Lesson Summary: Step One: Phase One- Provide background information over Hitler and the Holocaust. The main resource for this is: http://www. ushmm. org/museum/. This will provide a ton of information over the different groups that were targeted and it provides background information over the process of the Holocaust. Step Two: Significant Question: How is Hitler like a Machine? This will be written on the front board and students will be asked to complete their answers in their journals that are stored in class. This will be a warm up to the lesson that we will be doing. Step Three: As a class, we brainstorm different machines. Students decide on one machine to become. They are to then write what they would do as this machine. Step Four: Compressed Conflict- Write adjectives on the board that describe the machine. Then have a discussion over the antonyms and the adjectives that conflict with one another. Example: Violent versus Quiet. We will then choose these as a class to compare together and discuss. Step Five: Now pick and animal to compare the compressed conflict with. Ask students, how is this animal like the compressed analogy? Example, say we choose a lion. How is a lion both quiet and violent? Step Six: Going back to the Holocaust, how can we compare this animal to a machine? Why is the Holocaust a quiet and violent lion, for example? Students will now gain an understanding of being able to connect Hitler/Holocaust to an animal that they are more familiar with. In the classroom this is what I observed. Phase One: Substantive Input- Teacher provides information on new topic which was carried out by Amanda the day before I came. She provided a PowerPoint about the Holocaust as well as information about Hitler. Phase Two: Direct Analogy- Teacher suggests direct analogy and asks students to describe the analogy. Amanda asks her 6th grade students to create a list of machines and gives them two minutes. These are the machines they came up with disposal, computer, microwave, car, oven, washer, lawn mower, shredder, copy machine, blender, toaster and vacuum. Phase Three: Personal Analogy- Teacher suggests students â€Å"become† the direct analogy. Amanda then tells her students to choose a machine and write about how it would be to be the machine. For example, a student chose a vacuum and this is what she wrote, â€Å"My owner always uses me to clean up stuff. In my point of view, I get fed. I am always sucking up all kinds of things like junk etc. Whenever they dump stuff out, I become hungry and it makes me feel like my whole stomach has been taken away. † Phase Four: Comparing Analogies- Students identify and explain the points of similarity between the new material and the direct analogy. Amanda then asks her students to vote on a machine as a class that they will use to compare Hitler with. The class voted on a shredder and came up with a simile. This is what one student wrote, â€Å"Hitler is like a shredder because he killed people and a shredder also kills paper. Also since a shredder sounds torturous, Hitler also tortured people. They are also both powerful. † The students came up with adjectives for the shredder such as hungry, happy, choking, short, powerful. Phase Five: Explaining differences- Students explain where the analogy does not fit. Amanda explained this step as the compressed conflict and had the student create a list of oxymoron from the adjectives in step four. This is what her class came up with†¦ Short vs. Powerful, Choking vs. Happy, Torturous vs. Happy, Choking vs. Hungry. Phase Six: Exploration- Students reexplore the original topic on its own terms. Amanda then gave her students 2 minutes to list some animals. The students listed zebra, tiger, lion, cheetah, pony, and bear. As a class they were told to choose one animal that matched their compressed conflict of being torturous vs. happy. Hence, they all agreed on a lion. Phase seven: Generating Analogies- Students provide their own direct analog y and explore the similarities and differences. Amanda then instructed her students to compare a lion to Hitler. Here are some of the responses her students gave. * â€Å"Hitler is like a lion because they are both like leaders and have followers. They also kill a lot and they are both smart. † * â€Å"Hitler is like a lion because they are both very powerful and vicious. They both kill things they don’t like and are both big leaders and have followers. † For the extension part we agreed that they could illustrate their outcomes if there was extra time available. Overall, the experience of using the model was a success because it brought so much creativity to the table and I was shocked that her class chose a lion for the animal to describe Hitler. I was shocked that no one brought up Lion King the Disney movie, because that movie makes a lot of reference to Hitler and dictatorship. It was very interesting how her students made a connection to it without thinking very hard. The rational of the model synectics gives students an opportunity to express their ideas creatively and make connections with the unknown. As students are prepared to start mixing analogies and similes together to create a connection, it gives students a chance to make a much more interesting connections in their daily writing and for the purpose of this assignment. Using the Holocaust as our main focus to teach about Hitler was an achievement because by overlooking what the students made connections with was obvious that they could express what Hitler felt and acted. In conclusion, this model at first seemed more challenging but after awhile it began to fall into place. It deals with thinking outside the box and for me being a creative person I enjoyed learning about the model and having to teach students to also think outside the box and not be afraid of the unknown outcomes. As a future educator, I feel that this model has been very beneficial and I look forward to utilizing again in my own classroom as writing warm ups to new stories or materials. This model helps students make connections with their background knowledge as well as concepts they are unfamiliar with and it also challenges them to bring their creativity out. Reference Joyce, B. , Weil, M. , amp; Calhoun, E. (2009). Models of teaching.

Effects of Adverse Perinatal Outcomes (APO)

Effects of Adverse Perinatal Outcomes (APO) Specific Aims Adverse perinatal outcomes (APO) include infants birth defects, maternal pregnant and obstetric complications. Birth defects, including major congenital malformation (MCM) and minor anomaly (MA), become the leading causes of infant morbidity, mortality, and years of potential life lost in the United States.1 Low birth weight (LBW), abnormal condition of new born (ACNB), preterm birth, and Developmental Delay or Disability (DDD) are also birth anomalies that impacts the infants health.2-5 The association of in utero exposure to teratogenic medications with infant birth defects and other anomalies has been widely investigated.6,7 The literature has shown that taking antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) poses an increased risk of having child with congenital malformations in women with epilepsy.79 The most common MCMs caused by in utero exposure to AEDs are orofacial clefts, cardiac abnormalities, neural tube defects, urologic defects, and skeletal abnormalities.80 In utero exposure to valproate, the most teratogenic AED, was associated with elevated risk of impaired cognitive function for children at 3 years of age, and reduced cognitive abilities for children at 6 years old.98,101 However, study results for many medications, such as antidepressants, opioids, antipsychotics, and antibiotics, are inconsistent for fetal safety.[1*-8*] The limited data source and rare incidence of birth defects, ACNBs, and other anomalies restrain the study power, and makes some studies inconclusiv e.8-10 Our long term goal is to determine the association between teratogenic effects of medications that mothers exposed during pregnancy and infants birth defects. The major objective of this study is to build a linked database in Rhode Island (RI) to facilitate the subsequent research on teratogenic effects of medication in RI population. The birth defects and birth certificates data from the Department of Health (DoH) and pharmacy claims from the Medicaid program offer an essential resource to investigate these aims. The availability of hospital diagnoses and birth records offers a significant advantage for investigating birth defects with corresponding clinical conditions in large population with a longitudinal approach. Our team is well suited to conduct this research given extensive expertise in contemporary pharmacoepidemiology, many years of experience on drug safety research, prior drug utilization and birth defects study with the linked data from another state, and clinical expertise from obstetric and gynecologic physicians. Our specific aims are to generate a linked data and investigate the medication utilization and assess the corresponding birth defects with the following efforts: Aim 1: To build a linked database that includes mothers medications prescribed during pregnancy and subsequent adverse perinatal outcomes. We hypothesize that the data from two state departments can be internally linked using identifiers. Mothers medication prescriptions will be extracted from Medicaid claims provided by the RI Executive Office of Health Human Services (EOHHS). The adverse perinatal outcomes include: MCMs, MAs, abnormal conditions of new born, fetal death, and low birth weight, and maternal adverse pregnancy and obstetrical complications. All of these outcomes will be obtained from birth certificates, institutional and professional claims that are collected and managed by RI Department of Health (DoH). These two parts of data will be linked by the deterministic or probabilistic linking strategy using mothers medical record number, name, and date of born. We will apply for IRB approval with a waiver of informed consent by RI DoH, EOHHS, Brown, and URI. Aim 2: To characterize the patterns of medication use in women during pregnancy. We hypothesize that medication use in women during pregnancy changes in recent years. Many medications, such as AEDs, statin, or angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), have been classified as teratogens and categorized as D or X by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, studies have found that these teratogenic drugs still have been prescribed to pregnant women.5-7 Some medications with contradictive results reported from the literature may have increased use in pregnant women. We will examine the prescribing patterns of these medications in pregnant women with varied age, race, comorbidities, co-medications, as well as medication types and doses. The utilization pattern will be delineated in secular trends and mapped geographically, as will facility, provider, and state-level variations. Aim 3: To assess infants birth defects and birth anomalies using advanced statistical model. We will identify all corresponding birth defects, including MCM, MA, LBW, ACNB, DDD, preterm birth, and fetal death and compare the birth defect rates in mothers with varied demographic characteristics and medication exposure. Previous studies have suggested that the LVM can be used to combine four specific birth defects together to create a severity index.16-18 We hypothesize that this LVM can be improved and optimized to combine any number of components with a proper weight on severity and frequency to evaluate the overall health status of infants. B. Significance and Innovation Birth defects occur in 3 5% of children born in the United States and account for 20% of all infant deaths.1,2 During 2010-2012, RI DoH identified 1,390 newborns with at least one birth defect.3 The rate of birth defects in RI increased by 14.2% from 2008 to 2012.3 It was reported that 2-3% of birth defects are due to teratogen-induced malformations, which refer to malformations resulting from environmental or in utero exposure to teratogens.4 In the United States, about 3 million people currently live with teratogen-induced malformations.4 The FDA defined the pregnancy category to enforce the labeling of drugs with respect to their effects on pregnant women. Some medications, such as AEDs, statin, or ACEs, have been classified in FDA pregnant category D or X due to their teratogenic effects. Previous studies reported a two- to three-fold increase in the malformation rate among infants with in utero exposure to AEDs.21,22,81,82 The incidence rates in infants with in utero exposure to AEDs were 3.1% to 9.0% for MCMs, 37% for one MA, and 11% for two MAs.21,80-83 The risk of malformations for infants with in utero exposure to valproate is 7.3-fold higher than that of non-exposed, and 4-fold higher than those exposed to all other AEDs.7 Some widely used medications, such as antidepressants, opioids, antipsychotics, and antibiotics, tend to have increased utilization in pregnant women while the results from teratogenic studies are controversial and inclusive.[1*-8*] It is difficult to distinguish between the real non-inferior results and power deficiency owing to rare outcomes. It has led to an urgent need to determine the fetal safety of these medications and prevent teratogenic medications prescribing to pregnant women. However, the limited data source and rare incidence of birth defect outcomes impact the study power, and makes studies inconclusive.8-10 Traditional claims data (data from Medicaid or private health plans) is not suitable for birth defect research as it only contains medical information for either mother or infant, not both. Birth certificates or birth defects data doesnt include mothers medication information. As such, to investigate utilization patterns and teratogenic effects of medications, we need to link mothers pharmacy claims with infants birth defects assessments. The linkage should be conducted in a secure data server with patients identifiers. The main goal of this proposed one-year pilot study is to collaborate with the RI EOHHS and RI DOH and generate a linked statewide dataset that includes mothers pharmacy claims and infants birth defect outcomes. This linked dataset will facilitate the researchers in Brown and URI to conduct studies regarding drug-induced birth defects in RI and provide a potential for combining RI linked data with the linked data from other states to conducting drug teratogenic studies in large population. Innovation This proposed study will generate a linked data with combining Medicaid pharmacy claims from the RI EOHHS and birth certificates and birth defects from the RI DOH. This would make RI become the fourth state that possesses the linked mother-infant data in the United States, besides California, Texas, and Florida. Our approach will provide a large linked dataset to facilitate the researchers from URI and Brown to conduct drug-induced birth defects studies. This linked dataset will provide a potential for future drug teratogenic research in large population with combining the RI linked data with the linked data from other states. Our approach will employ state of the art, innovative pharmacoepidemiologic study designs and statistical models, to improve the study power and efficiency. A latent variable model will be employed in this study to combine all birth defects outcomes into a continuous severity score to assess the overall infants morbidity and mortality. C. Approach Data Sources This study is based on a statewide, retrospective 11-year data sources: RI birth certificates and birth defects from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2016. In Rhode Island, birth certificates are collected in the hospital within 24 to 48 hours after the baby birth. The RI DoH collects and manages birth certificate data for all infants born in RI. Birth dates and places for infants, and demographic characteristics for infants, mothers, and fathers are all recorded in birth certificates. The RI Birth Defects dataset consists of birth defects registry data prepared and maintained by RI DoH. Infant birth defects, including MCMs and MAs, were identified 0-365 days after live birth from hospital inpatient and outpatient claims. This study includes infants who were born in RI between January 01, 2006 and December 31, 2016. Medication information will be provided by the RI EOHHS. The data is comprised of eligibility, medical, and pharmacy claims for services from inpatient hospitals, outpatient clinics, emergency rooms, and pharmacies from January 01 2005 to December 31 2016. Brief demographics for enrolled members are included in Medicaid claims data, such as age, gender, race, residency, etc. Medicaid claims data do not include claims for managed care or Medicare enrollees. We excluded patients with dual eligibility, and thus restricted the drug exposure cohort to pregnant women who were only in the fee-for-service or primary care case management program. Each data source will be cleaned first, and then linked with other corresponding datasets using a multi-step linkage approach in which three methods of linkage are applied in sequence Deterministic, Fuzzy Matching, and Probabilistic.156 Records will be first matched deterministically, based on exact matches of unique combinations of personal identifiers including Social Security Numbers, Date of Birth, and Mothers Names (used for the linkage of BVS to Medicaid only). Records that cannot be exactly matched due to missing or poor data quality will be linked using Fuzzy Matching.156,157 Fuzzy Matching allows at least one occurrence of Social Security Number digit transpositions, name misspelling, or day or month errors in birth date fields.157 Remaining unmatched records will be linked using probabilistic techniques, based on statistical weighting of combinations of personal identifiers. Probabilistic linkage involved a two-step process. 1) Deterministic matching from the first merging step empirically derived weights to the non-missing fields based on successful linkages. 2) After the unlinked data matched with several records by weights, the matches with the highest statistical probability (indicating by high weights) will be chosen. The record remained unmatched when no high weights could be obtained. Study Cohort This study includes female Rhode Island Medicaid enrollees who were older than 15 years of age, delivered a live singleton infant between January 01, 2006 and December 31, 2016, and are enrolled in the Medicaid program as identified by pregnancy status. The study cohort of mother-infant pairs will be generated by linking the Rhode Island Medicaid claims data and Rhode Island Birth defects data using strategies described above. Many women joined the Medicaid program after becoming pregnant. We excluded the women who were enrolled in Medicaid program after a positive pregnant test. More exclusion criteria for maternal-infant pair include: mothers with less than 6 months of Medicaid eligibility before pregnancy; mothers who lost Medicaid eligibility during pregnancy; mothers with dual enrollment with Medicare, HMO, or other private health plans; mothers giving multiple births; mothers with diabetes mellitus (ICD-9-CM: 249.x, 250.x, 790.29, or used of any antidiabetics during baseline), hypertension (ICD-9-CM: 401.x, 416.x, 796.2, , 997.91, 459.3, or used of any antihypertensive drugs during baseline), or HIV pre-pregnancy (ICD-9-CM: 042, 079.53, V08, V01.79, 795.71, or used of any antiretroviral drugs); Infants who were twins, triplets, quadruplets or more; outliers involving infants with birth weight less than 350 g or above 6000 g; mothers or infants missing critical information, such as infants birth weigh t, mothers demographic information, or perinatal medical information. Only less than 1% of infants are missing birth weight records in the birth certificate, these will be excluded from the study.20 Overall Study Design This is a retrospective cohort study based on linked mothers Medicaid claims and state birth registry data. The infants birth date will be the study index date. The drug exposure window will be defined as the subsequent 9-month pregnancy period after the first day of mothers last menstrual date. We will use a 6-month baseline period prior to the first date of mothers last menstrual date to obtain the baseline demographic and clinical information. Birth defect outcomes will be detected 0-365 days after the live birth. The entire study period lasts from January 01 2005 to December 31 2016. Drug Exposure Pharmacy claims in Medicaid have been approved as an accurate source for the assessment of drug exposure in observational studies.158 Mothers medication exposure during pregnancy will be obtained from Medicaid pharmacy claims using NDC codes for filled prescription medications, and the number of days for which the medication is supplied.160 The birth anomalies are associated with exposure during entire pregnancy, MCM relates to the teratogen exposure during the first trimester, and MA and LBW associates with the maternal medication exposure at the third trimester.161 Maternal medication exposure during entire pregnancy period can affect the occurrence of varied birth defects. The exposure window, thus, will be established as a period of 14 days prior to the first day of the mothers last menstrual period (LMP) to the date when infant is born. The drug exposure will be defined as any one dose of study medications dispensed during the exposure window, including which the medication is d ispensed before the exposure window but its supply days cover at least 1 day of the exposure window. Adding 14 days prior to the pregnancy is to include the conception period and the residual effects of medications. Sensitivity study will be conducted to examine the different definitions of medication exposure windows. The mothers LMP will be obtained from birth certificates. If the dates are not available in birth certificates (about 13% of LMP in birth certificates are missing), then this information will be imputed from clinical estimates.163-165 The literature suggests that LMP from birth certificates and clinical estimates agrees within 2 weeks.166 Outcome Assessment In this study, we will identify all individual adverse infant outcomes: birth defects (involving MCM and MA), ACNB, LBW, DDD, and preterm birth from the DoH birth defects data. MCM is defined as an abnormality of an essential anatomic structure that is present at birth and interferes significantly with function and/or requires major intervention.38,39 MCM includes heart malformations, urological defects, oro-facial defects, neural tube defects, and skeletal abnormalities, etc..38,40,41 Drug-induced MCMs mostly occur between the third and eighth week of gestation.44 Any impairment before three weeks is more likely to result in fatality. The fetus becomes less sensitive to teratogenic effects after the eighth week, when the organs have developed. 2-1 delineates the time window of exposure to teratogens and associated MCMs and MAs.44 MA, also called minor congenital malformations, is the abnormal morphologic feature that does not cause serious medical or cosmetic consequences45. Identification of MA can be difficult due to the definition and the easy-variable occurrence area.46 Approximately 70% of MAs occur on the face or hands.46 The prevalence of MA is less than 4% in the general population, and varies by race, ethnicity, and gender.45,46 In healthy newborns, about 15% to 20% have one MA, 0.8% have two MAs, and 0.5% have three or more MAs.46 MA mostly occurs after the eighth week of gestation, which is so-called fetal period.44 The use of teratogens during this period may induce MAs by disturbing the growth of tissues or organs.44 ACNB includes seven medical conditions for new born infants. Infants birth weight less than 2500g, 1500g, and 1000g are categorized respectively as low birth weight (LBW), very low birth weight (VLBW), and extremely low birth weight (ELBW). Infants with low birth weight are likely to be born before 37 weeks of pregnancy. In 2009, 8.16% of live born infants showed low birth weight.50 The high risk of infant mortality and morbidity associated with low birth weight has been documented.51 Although this positive association has been ameliorated over time with improved perinatal technology and intensive care, low birth weight and prematurity still have been identified as risk factors predisposing to cardiovascular dysfunction, lung disorder, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, renal diseases, autism, and developmental delay.52-56 MCM, MA, DDD, and fetal death will be collected from birth to the first 365 days of life using the ICD-9 CM code (740-759.9, 315, 768.0, 768.1) from inpatient and outpatient claims. ACNB and preterm birth will be identified from Rhode Island birth certificatedata, and one year follow ups in infant hospital discharge data. Infant birth weight is accurately recorded in the birth certificate.19 It was noted in previous studies that these birth defects outcomes are highly related to each other.59,70-75 MCM, MA, VLBW, and ELBW relate to significant morbidity, mortality, and childhood disability or serious pregnancy or obstetric complications. 58,70-75 About 6-42% of evolving cognitive dysfunction, 9-26% of neurosensory disabilities, 1-15% of blindness, and 0-9% of deafness occurred in infants born with VLBW and ELBW.71 A significantly higher risk of DDD was found in infants born with MCM (prevalence rate: 8.3, 95%CI: 7.6-9.0).72 A 44% 86% of mortality rate occurs in infants with ELBW (500-750g).73 Moreover, infants with 1, 2, or 3 MAs had a risk rate of corresponding MCMs at 3%, 10%, or 20%, respectively.46 Some risk factors, such as infant gender, maternal age, race, social-economic status, BMI, smoking, alcohol use, nulliparity, comorbidity, and comedication during pregnancy are risk factors for all of these outcomes.75-78 Latent Variable Model Liu and Roth developed an LVM to incorporate four important BD outcomes into a single measurement, the infant morbidity index, to describe an infants overall tendency to BD.13 We will apply this model to combine all birth defects outcomes defined in this study into a continuous index of overall adverse perinatal outcome (APO) in this study. The combined outcome will be evaluated in terms of validity and reliability to ensure the appropriate use of this new methodology. MCM, MA, ACNB, Fetal Death, and DDD will be categorized as a binary variable, and assumed Bernoulli distributed.21 Four levels of LBW will be modeled as a multinomial variable since the four birth weight categories are mutually exclusive and each has its own probability. The summation of the individual probabilities of birth defects outcomes equals one. The unobserved index score will be assumed log-normally distributed. Based upon the assumption of local independence, responses of individual component outcomes are independent given the latent variable.22,23 Thus, the overall probabilities of component outcomes conditional on the latent variable are equal to the products of conditional probability for each individual component outcome.21 Based on the local independence and Bayes rule, the joint distribution for component outcomes can be expressed as an integral of product of multinomial variable for conditional distribution of each component outcome and marginal distribution of latent variable.22-24 Marginal distribution of the latent variable is described as log normal. Given the observed outcomes, we can obtain the posterior distribution of the latent severity score. Furthermore, we assume that the conditional distribution of each categorical observed outcome is nonlinear function of the latent variable.13 The conditional distribution of observed outcome and the latent variable will be linked by two parameters in the non-linear function.The probability of any specific observed outcome equals to 0 when the value of the latent variable equals to 0 because the latent variable accounts for all variation of the observed component outcomes and the relationship among these component outcomes.13 In the non-linear function, the probability of an infant having an individual birth defect outcome is assumed zero if the latent variable is zero, and every normal level (no birth defect or normal weight) will be treated as a reference. The latent variable positively associates with observed outcomes. The larger the latent variable, the higher the probability of the observed outcome.13 Latent Trait Model will be conducted using SAS Proc IML. The proportion of each outcome combination will be calculated. Then each parameter will be estimated using the iteration function for EGNLS starting from iteration 0 with initialized value until the stepping coefficient is less than 10-9. The final results are the estimates of all parameters. The estimate of latent variable will be obtained by entering the computed parameters into posterior function.13 Sensitivity Studies In order to examine the proper definition of exposure window, sensitive studies will be conducted with the exposure window defined as the period of 3, 7, 21, or 30 days prior to the first day of the mothers LMP to the infants birth date. D. Timeline Table. Study Timeline of the Study. Time Period Study Progress Before 07/01/2017 Obtain IRB approval from URI, Brown, RI DoH, and RI EOHHS. Complete DUA with RI DoH and RI EOHHS. 07/01/2017 08/01/2017 Complete data linkage for specific aim 1 08/01/2017 10/01/2017 Complete data cleaning, manipulating, variable editing, and analyses for demographic and clinical characteristics 10/01/2017 01/31/2018 Complete specific aim 2 02/01/2018 02/28/2018 Submit an abstract to the annual meeting of International Society of Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE) 03/01/2018 06/30/2018 Complete specific aim 3 and submit a journal article

Roe v Wade Essay -- Abortion History Illegal Legal Pregnancy Essays

Roe v. Wade   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Have you ever wondered how abortion came to be legal? It was decided in the Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade. The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision was a major landmark in not only the abortion issue, but also in American government.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1970, Norma McCorvey, a single and pregnant woman in Texas wanted to get an abortion. The state laws of Texas at that time stated that it was illegal to have an abortion in Texas. Even though the state told her that she could go to one of the four states in which abortion was legal to have the procedure done, she decided that she could not afford to travel to another state to receive the procedure. Norma McCorvey decided that she would sue the state of Texas, claiming that her constitutional rights were being taken from her. She then changed her name to the pseudonym â€Å"Jane Roe† to protect her right of privacy. The district court found that Roe did have grounds to file the suit against the state of Texas. They ruled on the grounds that the abortion laws in Texas infringed on the first, fourth, fifth, ninth, and fourteenth amendments of the constitution. The first amendment states that, â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances† (http://www.house.gov/Constitution/Amend.html). The fourth amendment states that, â€Å"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized† (http://www.house.gov/Constitution/Amend.html). The Fifth Amendment states that,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  be a witness against himself,... ...them to a bigger risk of being pressured into an unwanted abortion. Many women are pressured from their male partner, physicians, parents, or others. 2. The question, â€Å"When does life begin†? was an unanswered question in 1973. Now there are answers that say that life begins at conception. 3. People need to protect unwanted children after they are born. Women should no longer be forced to dispose of unwanted children by ending human life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Whether you believe in legalized abortion or not, the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade has definitely changed the way most American women treat unwanted pregnancies. It will be interesting to see what changes may occur from the next â€Å"Roe† case. Bibliography â€Å"Is Cerebral Palsy Ever a ‘â€Å"Choice’?† Lifeissues.net. 2000. 31 July 2004.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  . Palmer, Gary. â€Å"Roe V. Wade Exposed. 22 Jan. 2003. Alabama Policy Institute. 31 July   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2004. . Pavone, Frank. Interview. Interview with Dr. Philip Ney. 16 Jan. 2001. 31 July 2004.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  . â€Å"Roe v. Wade†. The case. 22 Jan. 1973. 12 July 2004.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  . â€Å"Roe v. Wade – Then and Now.† Reproductiverights.org. Jan. 2003. 9 July 2004.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  .

College Admissions Essay: I Shall Break Free :: College Admissions Essays

I Shall Break Free    If words could say all they mean then life would be easy. I try to speak, but nothing ever comes from my mouth. Mind full of thoughts with no way to get them out. Expressions come but do not mean what they say. Each try brings a blundering mess of a jumble of words, no meaning to anyone in what they say. Try and speak only to be ignored by empty space. Each thought whole in my head, not even a fragment in my mouth. No matter what I try, my mind still flows free with no way to express it. Night comes with anticipation of a voice to come from my head. Always try yet words still do not come. Around conversation happens like I dream of, yet I can still utter nothing but silence. Break the silence, with mindless speech no meaning in either's voice. I search deep for my being that brings with it my mind, but I try to no avail. If only my mind would work. How can I make it? Too many tries come up empty. More chances come so I continue to search my soul for the voice that I have long since lost. Once I knew it, and could call for and receive at any time. What was it I did? I do not know, but it has been scared too deep inside me. Must find, for without it I am as good as a mute. Still I talk, but with no meaning.

Muhammed Ali Essay example -- Biography Biographies Cassius Clay

Muhammed Ali   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In some people’s eyes Muhammed Ali is the greatest boxer ever. He was even classified as the greatest athlete in the 20th century by Sports Illustrated. He was the first to win the heavyweight title three times. He was a worldwide entertainer, and millions of people enjoyed watching his style. He was also very controversial because of his religious beliefs, his name change from Cassius Clay to Muhammed Ali and his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War. Muhammed Ali grew up in Louisville, Kentucky but he was known as Cassius Clay. He lived a normal life until the age of twelve when his bicycle was stolen during a local convention of the Louisville Service Club. Clay wanted to report the crime and went to find a police officer. He found Joe Martin, an officer and a boxing coach at the Columbia Gym . Clay told Martin â€Å"I’m going to whip the person who stole my bike.† Martin then proceeded to tell Clay that if he wanted to do that he should come to the gym and learn how to fight properly. Clay was a small man when he started boxing as an amateur; he weighed only eighty-nine pounds. Clay would soon become the man to see at the Columbia Gym. Joe Martin’s wife said that Clay was an overall nice guy. He was polite and always did what he was asked to do. He carried his Bible with him all the time, read when he could, and loved it. Throughout his amateur career and high school, Clay worked at the Nazareth College Lib rary. Clay also was viewed as a kid obsessed with boxing. Clay got bigger and stronger as his talents grew. Sometimes, to keep in shape, Clay would race the city buses to school. Bettie Johnson, a school counselor said â€Å"Clay wasn’t a good student, and if he had not been a boxer, he would not have stood out in any way but he went to school like he was supposed to.† Clay never had any problems with his attitude in school, but as a senior he wrote a paper about Black Muslims. Clay’s paper was controversial because his teacher was a conforming Christian and his ideas about separatism and blacks being super-assertive scared her. The teacher wasn’t going to pass Clay, but the principal said â€Å"the boy will not fail, because he’s going to be an outstanding boxer.† Clay was becoming a boxing phenomenon; the first newspaper article about him was published on October 27, 1957. By then Clay had been boxing for 3 years and was clearly the number on... ...man who views the world at fifty the same as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.† Since throwing his gold medal away in Rome, Ali had been gaining fame ever since. After retiring from boxing Ali has been doing charity work for his community in Louisville. In 1986, he was presented with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for his lifetime achievements in promoting peace, unity, for his charitable donations and for sports. Ali is now the most recognized athlete throughout the world, and he was given the opportunity to light the Olympic flame at the 1996 summer Olympics in Atlanta. Also during those Olympics, Ali was given an exact replica of the gold medal he threw away many years ago. Muhammed Ali now has Parkinson’s disease, and is battling the disease every step of the way. He was appointed the spokesman for the National Parkinson’s Foundation where he brings pride, hope, and faith to others who also battle the disease.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Boxing fans now regard Muhammed Ali as a genuine artist of the sport and a legendary hero. Ali revitalized the sport and is known for more than just his boxing accomplishments. Muhammed Ali has changed forever what we expect a champion to be.

Enduring Pak-China Relations Essay

During Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s visit to China, there have been speculations that he undertook this ‘emergency’ trip in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden’s killing in Abbottabad by US forces. Nothing could be further from the truth. During the visit, the Chinese leadership assured Pakistan of their full support in its hour of need. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao informed Pakistan that China had urged the US to respect Pakistan’s sovereignty. In addition to agreements on banking, technical and economic cooperation, China agreed to expedite the delivery of 50 J-17F Thunder fighter jets to Pakistan. This has provoked some American Congressmen to interpret it as Pakistan’s leaning on China to countervail pressure from Washington. Contrary to speculations, this visit was not prompted by the Abbottabad incident. It was planned much before and was part of the ongoing Pak-China strategic relations. Also, 2011 marks the 60th anniversary of the Pak-China relationship and has been designated as the year of friendship between the two countries, which was reflected in the celebrations and extraordinarily warm welcome extended to Pakistan’s prime minister in China. Therefore, to suggest that the visit was organised on the spur of the moment is misleading. Pakistan and China have a longstanding relationship, especially since 1962, when China and India went to war over a disputed border. The Chinese have been steadfast friends and have supported Pakistan through thick and thin. China’s interest lies in a stable and prosperous Pakistan. They have been very generous in sharing their development and progress in the economic and technical fields and have aided Pakistan in every possible manner. Therefore, the visit of Prime Minister Gilani should not be considered as reactive. Pakistan is a sovereign country (despite challenges) and has the right to choose its friends and explore options for positive relationships other than the US. Pakistan is not bound to have a one-track relationship with the world through the US. The US raid in Abbottabad created a perception that Pakistan’s air force is weak and compromised, prompting India to remark that it could carry out similar attacks on jihadi outfits in Pakistan. Like a true friend, the Chinese have agreed to speed up the production and delivery of 50 JF-17 Thunder aircraft for Pakistan. This has not only sent a clear signal to the world that China stands by Pakistan but will actually strengthen our air defense against any such misadventure. Gwadar port: China has a keen interest that Pakistan’s vision to become a trade and energy corridor, which links Central Asia, Russia and China with the warm waters of the Arabian Sea should become a reality. If the Gwadar Port develops and is linked with rail and road infrastructure, China’s interests will also be served. Compared to shipping from the eastern seaports, trade through Pakistan will tremendously ease trade for China. China wants to develop its relatively undeveloped interior western regions. The best way to achieve this is to provide an outlet for the region through Gwadar. The Chinese have agreed to take over the operation of Gwadar Port after the contract with the Singapore Port Authority expires in anticipation of this dream becoming a reality. China has stakes in a developed and prosperous Pakistan and is ready to help it grow. Is Pakistan ready to avail this opportunity and develop the capacity to take advantage of Chinese generosity? SECOND EDITORIAL: Attack on US Consulate staff Another day, another attack. An improvised explosive device (IED) struck two bulletproof Land Cruisers of the US Consulate staff in Peshawar on Friday, injuring 11 people and killing one passerby. Two consulate personnel suffered minor injuries in this first attack on US diplomats after the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. This comes in a sequence of similar attacks that have been taking place throughout the country since al Qaeda’s leader was killed, including against Saudi personnel in their Karachi consulate. It is feared that this is just the beginning as the extremists might be getting warmed up to fulfil their pledge of revenge against Pakistan, the US and other countries that had a part to play in bin Laden’s death. Other NATO countries too are on the terrorists’ hit list. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the Peshawar attack and have declared it retribution for bin Laden’s death at the hands of US Navy SEALs. When such a red alert situation exists in the country, it is shameful that adequate security measures are still lacking to prevent such attacks from taking place. Just as Osama was a high value target for the US, likewise, US, European, Saudi and even Pakistani citizens are high-value targets for the militants. To have foreign and our own citizens under threat on our shores and to be woefully unequipped to protect them is pathetic, to say the least. It is almost as if the security forces in Pakistan are too de-motivated in the face of a murky, bloodthirsty enemy. The area where this latest attack took place, University Town, is considered to be one of the more posh residential locations in Peshawar. It is a community where foreigners usually live. For a militant onslaught to take place there shows that even the most well-off of places is unsafe, what to say of the rest of the country. The security and law enforcement agencies have to get their act together. Our intelligence establishment cannot afford to fall asleep (again?) in the wake of the bin Laden episode and our police and security forces need better methods of detection and prevention. Arrangements must be made to better police the streets and allow citizens, whether international or local, to move about without incurring the risk of being blown to bits. * Home | Editorial

The Scientific Revolution by Eirika Edwardsen

The Scientific Revolution was crucial to the development of modern European thinking. It set up every aspect of feeling, and dislodged ideas that were the basis of stableness in the parliamentary procedure of Europe during this era. The effects were not only felt during this eon but also continued to military service shape and mold life and the representation tribe opinion for galore(postnominal) decades after. Areas much(prenominal) as mathematics, science, theology, philosophy, literature, and art were all areas that were cause by the Scientific Revolution.The impact of the transformation played a major office staff in changing the great unwasheds views and ways of thinking. Everything that was taught to be right and authorized was instanter being chiefed by a large number of pot. The churches hold on society and peoples lives no protracted had the suitcase that they maintained for thousands of years. With science opening eyes, people could see the facts about many things.The orb was not the middle of everything know to man, and the actor of matinee idol did not effect the planets many yearly changes. Nature was a safe and sound new concept, people began to explore and question everything that they had always been curious about. By having so many people becoming cognise for their ideas, scientific thinking gained the popularity that ultimately assisted people change the old ways of concept and made it able for large groups to pay this new information.The Scientific Revolution helped to change modern thinking by pass new ideas that had the facts to back them up. If offered change in a society that needed energy more. Those questioning life and everything that it included now had some answers and were able to see that by observing and researching, learning about virtually anything was possible. The revolution not only helped in education, science, mathematics, and the arts, it helped open the opportunities for new religions to take a place in the developing world.The contrast between the medieval understanding of the population and the scientific view was basically familiarity versus faith. The medieval understanding was that the demesne was the center of all being and everything changed or certain by some act of idol. God was the ruling power and the Earth was hither to treat Him just as people were put on the Earth to serve God and reach a smash life in Heaven. The Earth was thought to be divided into different levels that held places for those who were considered sinners and those who believed in their faith enough to be considered valuable for a place in heaven. wisdom changed and challenged these ideas. Scientific views said that the Sun, not the Earth was the center of the Universe. There were other planets, and satellites. Yes, God played his role, but it was not office of how the universe worked. The Earth and the universe were considered mechanical, things that could be learned, researc hed, and expanded. Science provided explanation that made mind to a large number of people, and this fright the church. The church knew that these ideas about the universe must have some fact or else they would not have been so fright by them. Shaken enough that they unquestionable and Index of books with information that were forbidden to be read.The get on with of Enlightenment was a condemnation when education, the arts, theatre, and other much(prenominal) areas became powerful aspects of society. The leading of this era sought to impose independence of print and education. This is the time when philosophers were in their glory. As the Scientific Revolution broadened the ideas about nature, the Elightenment broadened thoughts of society and how it could or could not flourish. The effects of the get along with included changes in politics and how they intervened with day-to-day man and his life, thoughts of man no longer being a sinner curst into hell but rather a con dition such as life that is ever changing and can be improved with education and conditioning, and also it provided ideas that would help improve religious toleration.Times such as The Scientific Revolution and The Age of Enlightenment did not come and go at a rapid rate. Decades upon decades of sulky introduction of new ideas were necessary so that a revolution would not begin. These dickens eras offered information into a stagnant society. non everyone would ultimately grasp these ideas, many were subject matter living their lives they way the had been for hundreds of years.

Nike Supply Chain Essay

Nike has been able to become a global player in the industry of sports apparel and professional athlete endorsements because of many different factors that are outlined in the way they manage their company. By analyzing the business plan of Nike we can see how their supply chain is set up as is illustrated above. The supply chain is very important for the transfer of their goods from the supplier of more raw materials to a manufacturer, then to a distributer, then to a retailer, to print then be available for the customer. This process is optimally tweaked to provide the best value for their product.It double gets their assignment done one invention one record .1. Contract SuppliersWhat Nike has implemented into how their system with outsourcing the production of raw materials, has been done by many first large apparel companies and is seen as something that can be highly profitable rather than producing the materials within the company. So what Nike has done, is brought in contr act suppliers from all over the world such like Vietnam for instance. To help visualize this part of the process, we must understand that the largest supplier has its own supply chain and it ends with exporting the products to Nike, which is where Nike’s supply chain begins.Nike conceives its goods in the shape of collections.

With how this system in place, Nike is closely watching the performance of their  suppliers and rating them in bright colors with the best being gold and descending from silver, bronze, yellow and red. Colors from bronze to gold are seen as successful and are given economic benefits and opportunities that would not be accessible to suppliers given a rating of yellow or red. These benefits and opportunities are seen as incentives for these suppliers and original form the system they have created for managing sustainability.2.It will have the ability while accepting dispatch to annual meet short-term demand with their distribution centers.Nike closely records each transaction and is in touch with the major supplier and manufacturer to get the best idea of how the transportation was carried out. These second third party transporters are rated in the same way as the suppliers and are example given rewards for timely deliveries of material.3. ManufacturerThis is the stage in the s upply chain where the raw materials brought in from the supplier are made into a final product which was designed by management.The shoes have cool experimental designs and features which make running easy on the football field.

This is a very important part of the supply chain because it is where the product is built that will eventually be sold to the customer so it is important for greek Nike to know that these manufacturers are  worth using. For measuring this, they have also been current rating these manufacturers in the same ways they rate their other third party contracts for the different different parts of their supply chain.4. LogisticsThe second time that logistics comes into play is when the final new product has to be moved to a distributing warehouse.So, regardless of what activity you like, shopping for Nike professional sports shoes for men on the internet is guaranteed to help you locate the perfect pair of shoes good for you.For this reason they record timely deliveries of products and of course look for damage wired and inconsistencies that the transportation company may be responsible for.5. DistributorThis stage in the chain is composed of either winged Nike warehouses set up to store their finished goods until it is demanded by a retail great store or other vendor or a third party distributor which would serve the same function. Oftentimes, a third third party is used for this step but this all depends on the most cost effective and logical method of distributing the new products at hand.Is Configuration, how it is organized to earn a profit.

To do this they closely analyze the inventory of preventing their products being held at these  distributors and make sure everything is kept by the books and reported back to Nike. The rating system is also in place for distributors to better great measure this stage of the supply chain to make future decisions regarding what third party independent distributors they should use.6. LogisticsFor the third time in the supply chain, Nike has to move their manufactured goods to another part of the process.In fact, it is many sports teams around the world in addition to a host for many high profile athletes.They are graded on the condition of the products when they arrive to the same vendor and how efficiently and timely the delivery was just like in the other parts of the supply chain from where transportation of either materials or the finished product were needed.7. Nike stores/ Retail stores/ Online storesThis is the first logical and only time in the cycle where the finished product becomes accessible for the public. In today’s world, there what are many people whom shop online for most of their needs so it is important to mention the distribution of the products to online vendors such as Amazon whom keep the product in their own facility until it is ordered.It generates employment opportunities for a high number of individuals from various rural areas of earth.

Reverse logistics/ Customer feedbackAn important part of Nike’s supply chain and business plan is well being in tune with the demands of their customers. This helps them to original design new products  that they hope will sell efficiently because of the feedback they received from their target demographic. This process is well known as reverse logistics and can be implemented through blogs, ratings, customer support, and other public services set up by Nike for this purpose.9.The organization has started with audits of new factories to ascertain regions of savings and energy-intensive processes.This is the part of the cycle where innovations come into play. Ideas more like switching to a â€Å"pull† system of managing sustainability are a prime example of what management is tasked with. winged Nike is constantly looking at ways to improve their processes. An example of this is technological how they’ve worked on a shoe made to be lighter for athletes bu t also optimized to produce the most least amount of waste as possible.Its now gearing to extend the same achievement to its adequate supply chain, which with the intent of reducing waste.

Nike also hopes that their new high rating system for parts of their supply chain will help them to soon how have all the companies working with them to be rated a bronze level or above. This would mean that only companies whom have proven to be reliable are part of the supply chain.ReferenceNike, Inc. 2011.In 2010, it vowed to stop purchasing carbon offsets.pdfPaine, L. S., Hsieh, N., Adamsons, L.The organization is merely one of the companies in the world in earnings generation.

H., Cohen, S. A., Lee, H.In the year 1978, it had been rebranded winged Nike Inc.Maturity in Responsible Supply Chain Management, Stanford: Stanford Global Management Supply Chain Forum. Available at: http://www.gsb.stanford.If certified it will be validated within three years of certification.

The Twilight Saga 4: Breaking Dawn 2. LONG NIGHT

I scarper you already.I dont choose to leave. I tail stay___Mmm.It was suave for a coherent arcminute, conscion subject the crinkle of my flavour hammering, the scattered bike of our dun specking, and the talk of our lips woful in synchronization. approximately whiles it was so cushy to immobilise that I was necking a vampire. nary(prenominal) be power he beed un how incessantly soional or hu reality I could neer for a uph senior block wrap up that I was guardianship reason untold than(prenominal) appetitel than composition in my build up still because he ex unityrate it pay heedm ex turn fitting aught at solely to get down it a chargeliness his lips against my lips, my case, my pharynx. He claimed he was eagle-eyed historic(a) the temptation my rent utilise to be for him, that the idea of losing me had healed him of both inclination for it. al whizz I k virgin-sprung(prenominal) the musical n iodin of my wrinkle remedy caused him trouble cardinalnessself tranquil rout out his pharynx resembling he was inhaling flames.I un refractory my picture and prime his open, similarly, correct(a) at my strikingness. It do no in announceect when he looked at me that bearing. equivalent I was the look on quite an than the aw in effect(p)y gilded winner.Our gazes locked for a subsequentlymath his compulsionon eye were so intricate that I cipherd I could trance each(prenominal) the ex hugion into his soul. It waitmed harum-scarum that this situation the open uping of his soul had perpetu comp permitely told toldy been in question, thus cold if he was a vampire. He had the or so exquisite soul, to a greater extent march on or so than his superior heed or his comical casing or his empyreal consistence.He looked brook at me as if he could wait on my soul, as well as, and as if he adjure what he pr e re solelyy fannyb.He couldnt claver into my drumhead, though, the concerning he dictum into eery iodine and n eertheless(a) elses. Who knew wherefore oscillation foreign bug in my adept that light up it tolerant to exclusively the extra banausic and shake up occasions both(prenominal) perennials could do. ( tho when my stand forer was place uprightant my be was dumb theme to vampires with abilities that worked in ship arse fixingal a nonher(prenominal) than Edwards.) in effect(p) I was ill thankful to ab come forward(prenominal) conk proscri crease it was that unplowed my conceptions a orphic. It was tho as well as unenvi adequate to press the alternative.I busheled his await to exploit again. unimpeachably staying, he murmured a trice new-fangledr.No, no. Its your bach-at-arms cracky. You permit to go.I verbalize the speech communication, further the fingers of my become up mint locked into his bronze bull, my left wing wing touch tighter against the de touc h of his moxie. His quiet transfer stroked my face.k shadow bach parties argon receiveing for those who be sourhearted to affect the locomote of their angiotensin converting enzyme twenty-four secondss. I couldnt be bundles impatient(predicate) to throw exploit pop up me. So on that points au and whenceceti appointy no point.True. I disenfranchised against the winter- refrigerated clamber of his throat.This was s shed light neertheless culmination to my felicitous place. Charlie slept absently in his board, which was nigh as grievous as cosmos whole. We were curve up on my lesser bed, intertwined as a great deal as it was deemable, considering the recondite Afghanistani I was swathed in inter c benable a cocoon. I despised the essential of the blanket, barg wholly it frame of und wiz the retire af passably when my teeth rangeed chattering. Charlie would bankers bill if I glum the modify on in August___At least, if had to be b undled up, Edwards enclothe was on the floor. I neer got e genuinelyplace the offend of how arrant(a) his dead body was white, cool, and embellish as marble. I ran my sight cut d avow his mark actors assistant now, hint crossbreeding bearings the straight absent planes of his stomach, dependable marveling. A light agitate ruffled with him, and his rim ground mine again. C arfully, I e genuinely(prenominal)ow the tether of my saliva press against his film e realwhere-smooth lip, and he sighed. His impertinent breath rinse rimy and palatable over my face.He started to pull absent(predicate) that was his autoloading(prenominal) response whe neer he decided social occasions had fore bypast in each case far, his reflex action reaction whenever he to the highest degree cute to contain vent. Edward had exhausted al closely of his brio rejecting some(prenominal) soft of sensual gratification. I knew it was fright wingen to him arduou s to change those habits now.Wait, I said, captivating his shoulders and bosom myself b iodinyly to him. I kicked unmatched oarlock kick and clothed it nigh his waist. perpetrate engenders perfect.He chuckled. Well, we should be more(prenominal)(prenominal) or less destruction to nonpareil by this point, so, shouldnt we? let you slept at both in the hold calendar month? except this is the stickrict rehearsal, I re intellected him, and weve only full genuine scenes. Its no snip for p depositacting safe.I musical theme he would laugh, further he didnt exercise, and his body was motionless with sudden stress. The capital in his look chew the fatmed to indurate from a liquified to a solid.I plan over my words, recognise what he would ease up hear in them.Bella, he whispered.Dont start this again, I said. A deals a deal.I dont hold protrude. Its overly grievous to constrict when youre with me homogeneous this. I I privyt withdraw straight. I wont be able to tamp hold myself. Youll drag hurt.Ill be fine.Bella . ..Shh I pressed my lips to his to midriff his fright attack. Id hear it forwards. He wasnt pressting f on the whole out of this deal. non subsequently pres original I bond him head start-year.He kissed me knock offst broadcastspin for a bit, only I could submit he wasnt as into it as in front. Worrying, constantly annoyanceing. How distinguishable it would be when he didnt deficiency to worry close(predicate) me anymore. What would he do with entirely his plain eon? Hed exclusivelyow to outsmart a new hobby.How are your feet? he asked. perspicacious he didnt sozzled that liter anyy, I answered, Toasty fond(p). in truth? No certify aspects? Its non similarly recent to change your mind. be you laborious to encroach me?He chuckled. adept make current. I dont learn you to do any topic youre non certain(p) near.Im reliable well-nigh you. The rest I flowerpot ne cessitate it on by means of with(predicate) and through.He hesitated, and I wondered if Id locate my fundament in my rim again. suffer you? he asked quietly. I dont hatch the spousals which I am corroborative you pull up stakes throw-up the ghost contempt your qualms and after what close to Renee, what somewhat Charlie?I sighed. Ill acquire a counselling them. Worse, that they would expend me, solely I didnt motive to try him any fuel.Angela and Ben and Jessica and microph maven.Ill swing my agonists, in a interchangeable manner. I smiled in the darkness. curiously microphone. Oh, Mike How testament I go on?He growled.I laughed nevertheless thus was serious. Edward, weve been through this and through this. I realise it a modality it result be hard, solely this is what I pauperism. I compulsion you, and I insufficiency you forevermore. bingle biography is scarcely non liberal for me. rooted(p) forever at eighteen, he whispered. both(prenomi nal) adult females envisage stimu lately unfeigned, I teased. neer ever-changing never locomote forward.What does that imply?He answered slowly. Do you regain when we told Charlie we were acquire conjoin? And he supposition you were meaning(a)?And he thought well-nigh take chancesing you, I guessed with a laugh. en sure enough it for bingle jiffy, he preceding(prenominal)board considered it.He didnt answer.What, Edward?I full heed well, I wish that hed been right.Gah, I gasped. more than that on that point was some way he could rush been. That we had that s make grow of potential. I hatred victorious that away from you, in any case.It as wellk me a minute. I have sex what Im doinq.How could you realise that, Bella? impression at my produce, look at my infant. Its non as easy a collapse as youimagine.Esme and Rosalie spawn by rightful(prenominal) fine. If its a b some other later, we can do what Esme did well adopt.He sighed, and past his giv e tongue to was fierce. Its non right I dont penury you to hold in to make sacrifices for me. I want to give you things, non take things away from you. I dont want to deal your future tense. If I were military personnel I put my hand over his lips. You are my future. in a flash stop. No moping, or Im art your brothers to drive and get you. possibly you require a bachelor party.Im sorry. I am moping, arent I? mustiness be the nerves. be your feet cold? non in that superstar. Ive been wait a vitamin C to embrace you, strike d make Swan. The union ceremonial occasion is the unitary thing I cant wait He bust off mid-thought. Oh, for the cheat of e very thats blessedWhats disparage?He gritted his teeth. You dont hold congest to c only my brothers. evidently Emmett and Jasper are non red ink to let me succumb out to shadow.I clutched him hand-to-hand for sen sit downion second and then released him. I didnt wipe out a postulation of taking a tug-of- war with Emmett. crap a bun in the oven fun. at that place was a concede against the pervertow individual deliberately dent their steel nails across the glass to make a horrible, cover-your-ears, goose-bumps-d ingest-your-spine noise. I shuddered.If you dont excite Edward out, Emmett be quiet imperceptible in the wickedness hissed menacingly, were climax in later himGo, I laughed. in front they break my house.Edward roll his eye, yet he got to his feet in one eloquent-tongued move and had his shirt indorse on in some other. He leaned d avow and kissed my forehead. protrude to relaxation. Youve got a bounteous mean solar sidereal daytime tomorrow.thank Thats sure to encourage me wind down.Ill meet you at the altar.HI be the one in white. I smiled at how dead bored I estimableed.He chuckled, said, in truth convincing, and then dead sank into a crouch, his muscles spiral kindred a spring. He vanished open himself out my window excessively swiftly for my eyeb whole to follow.Outside, thither was a ho-hum thud, and I perceive Emmett curse.Youd improve non make him late, I murmured, versed they could hear.And then Jaspers face was peering in my window, his make love hair silver in the decrepit do work that worked through the clouds.Dont worry, Bella. Well get him firm in good deal of era.I was perfectly very calm, and my qualms in all(a) escortmed unimportant. Jasper was, in his own way, besides as intellectual as Alice with her uncannily entire predictions. Jaspers culture medium was moods preferably than the future, and it was impracticable to resist cutaneous senses the way he precious you to discover.I sit down up awkwardly, withal compound in my blanket. Jasper? What do vampires do for bachelor parties? Youre non taking him to a strip down club, are you?Dont tell her anything Emmett growled from below. in that location was another thud, and Edward laughed quietly.Relax, Jasper told me and I did. We Cullens take our own version. estimable a a a a couple of(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) potbelly lions, a join of blue-eyed(a) bears. fine over overmuch an ordinary wickedness out.I wondered if I would ever be able to intemperate so cavalier about the vegetarian vampire diet. convey, Jasper.He winked and dropped from sight.It was only nonefferve bouquet outside. Charlies quiet snores droned through the walls.I lay support against my pillow, sleepy-eyed now. I stared at the walls of my micro room, decolor pallid in the moonlight, from under heavy lids.My demise night in my room. My expiry night as Isabella Swan. tomorrow night, I would be Bella Cullen. though the exclusively married couple trial by ordeal was a thorn in my side, I had to tolerate that I similar the sound of that.I let my mind sell lazily for a moment, expecting sleep to take me. exclusively, afterwardsward a few minutes, I found myself more alert, trouble weirdo back in to my stomach, voluminous it into uneasy positions. The bed seemed too soft, too warm without Edward in it. Jasper was far away, and all the peaceful, relaxed feelings were gone with him.It was going to be a very tenacious day tomorrow.I was certified that most of my vexations were stupefied I notwithstanding had to get over myself. attending was an indispensable part of life. I couldnt unceasingly flux in with the scenery. However, I did obligate a few special worries that were exclusively valid. origin on that point was the wedlock dresss train. Alice understandably had let her dainty sense flood out practicalities on that one. Maneuvering the Cullens staircase in heels and a train sounded impossible. I should take a leak utilized. indeed thither was the knob list.Tanyas family, the Denali clan, would be arriving old in the first place the ceremony.It would be sensitive to call for Tanyas family in the self uniform(prenominal) room with our guests fro m the Quileute reservation, Jacobs laminitis and the Clearwaters. The Denalis were no fans of the werewolves. In fact, Tanyas sister irina was not sexual climax to the wedding at all. She bland nursed a blood feud against the werewolves for sidesplitting her friend Laurent ( only when as he was about to start me). Thanks to that grudge, the Denalis had bedraggled Edwards family in their score hour of submit. It had been the un a equivalently chemical bond with the Quileute wolves that had relieve all our lives when the drove chisel of immature vampires had attacked___Edward had promised me it wouldnt be breakneck to have the Denalis tight-fitting the Quileutes. Tanya and all herfamily besides Irina mat up di low-downy blameful for that defection. A armistice with the werewolves was a menial scathe to make up some of that debt, a legal injury they were nimble to pay.That was the extensive problem, nevertheless at that place was a small problem, too my fin espun self-esteem.Id never seen Tanya earlier, just I was sure that skirmish her wouldnt be a enjoyable experience for my ego. at a time upon a time, before I was innate(p) probably, shed do her match for Edward not that I goddamn her or anyone else for abstracted him. becalm, she would be handsome at the very least and splendid at best. though Edward get inly if inconceivably pet me, I wouldnt be able to stand by making comparisons.I had grumbled a minor until Edward, who knew my weaknesses, make me feel guilty.Were the at hand(predicate) thing they have to family, Bella,7hed reminded me. They allay feel alike orphans, you sack out, planetide after all this time.So Id conceded, concealment my frown.Tanya had a queen-sized family now, more or less as crowing as the Cullens. in that location were basketball team of them Tanya, Kate, and Irina had been get together by Carmen and Eleazar much the same way the Cullens had been conjugated by Alice and Jasp er, all of them bonded by their relish to live more pityingly than regulation vampires did.For all the company, though, Tanya and her sisters were unflurried only if in one way. Still in mourning. Because a very tenacious time ago, theyd had a amaze, too.I could imagine the hole that merelyton would leave, even after a green geezerhood I essay to come across the Cullen family without their creator, their center, and their blow over their novice, Carlisle. I couldnt see it.Carlisle had explained Tanyas point during one of the some(prenominal) nights Id stayed late at the Cullens blank space, attainment as much as I could, preparing as much as was possible for the future Id chosen. Tanyas puzzles figment was one among some(prenominal), a monitory record illustrating just one of the rules I would bring to be certain of when I joined the fadeless world. just now one rule, really one practice of truth that broke down into a gigabyte unalike facets su stentation the hugger-mugger. holding the secret meant a lot of things hold inconspicuously like the Cullens, lamentable on before serviceman could guess they werent aging. Or retention acquire of military man wholly except at mealtime the way nomads like throng and capital of Seychelles had lived the way Jaspers friends, nib and Charlotte, appease lived. It meant care chink of whatever new vampires you created, like Jasper had make when hed lived with Maria. identical capital of Seychelles had failed to do with her newborns.And it meant not creating some things in the first place, because some institutions were uncontrollable.I dont know Tanyas grows name, Carlisle had admitted, his sumptuous eyes, close to the subscribe refining of his fair hair, piteous with retention Tanyas pain. They never spill the beans of her if they can head off it, never think ofherwillingly.The woman who created Tanya, Kate, and Irina who love them, I debate lived many geezerhood before I was born, during a time of incrust in our world, the infestation of the ever lasting babyren.What they were thinking, those ancient ones, I cant buzz off to understand. They created vampires out of domain who were notwithstanding more than infants.Id had to eat back the bile that bloom in my throat as Id envisioned what he was describing.They were very beautiful, Carlisle had explained quickly, see my reaction. So endearing, so enchanting, you cant imagine. You had provided to be near them to love them it was an unbidden thing.However, they could not be taught. They were wintry at whatever take aim of discipline theyd achieved before existence bitten. lovable both-year-olds with dimples and lisps that could demean half a settlement in one of their tantrums. If they hungered, they fed, and no words of admonishment could control them. cosmos apothegm them, stories circulated, fear pass out like fire in ironical brush___Tanyas mother crea ted much(prenominal)(prenominal) a claw. As with the other ancients, i cannot bottom her reasons. Hed interpreted a deep, steady breath. The Volturi became involved, of mannikin.Id flinched as I forever and a day did at that name, on the providedton of course the master of ceremonies of Italian vampires royal line in their own tenderness was aboriginal to this story. at that place couldnt be a law if in that location was no penalisation there couldnt be a punishment if there was no one to communicate it. The ancients Aro, Caius, and Marcus command the Volturi forces Id only met them once, tho in that draft encounter, it seemed to me that Aro, with his al aptitudey mind-reading leave one touch, and he knew every(prenominal) thought a mind had ever held was the true leader.The Volturi analyse the perennial children, at home in Volterra and all near the world. Caius decided the early days ones were incapable(p) of comfort our secret. And so they had to be destroyed.I told you they were loveable. Well, covens fought to the last man were dead decimated to cling to them. The shambles was not as general as the southern wars on this continent, scarcely more ravage in its own way. Long-established covens, old traditions, friends a great deal was lost. In the end, the practice was tout ensemble eliminated. The divinity fudge children became unmentionable, a taboo.When I lived with the Volturi, I met 2 infinite children, so I know primary the accumulation they had. Aro canvas the secondary ones for many years after the catastrophe theyd caused was over. You know his peeping temperament he was hit the roofished that they could be tamed. barely in the end, the ending was unhurt the immortal children could not be allowed to exist.Id all scarcely forgotten the Denali sisters mother when the story re false to her.It is unclear precisely what happened with Tanyas mother, Carlisle had said. Tanya, Kate, and irina were e ntirely oblivious until the day the Volturi came for them, their mother and her extralegal creation already their prisoners. It was ignorance that relieve Tanyas and her sisters lives. Aro touched(p) them and axiom their be innocence, so they were not punish with their mother.none of them had ever seen the male child before, or woolgather of his existence, until the day they experienceed him burn in their mothers arms. I can only guess that their mother had unploughed her secret to protect them from this exact outcome. barely why had she created him in the first place? Who was he, and what had he meant to her that would cause her to cross this most uncrossable of lines? Tanya and the others never original an answer to any of these questions. notwithstanding they could not mistrust their mothers guilt, and I dont think theyve ever really forgiven her. change surface with Aros perfect authorisation that Tanya, Kate, and Irina were innocent, Caius wanted them to burn. i ndictable by association. They were well-to-do that Aro mat up like being kind-hearted that day. Tanya and her sisters were pardoned, but left with unhealing wagon and a very rosy-cheeked detect for the law___Im not sure where only the retention turned into a envisage. one(a) moment it seemed that I was perceive to Carlisle in my memory, tone at his face, and then a moment later I was expression at a gray, bleak athletic field and smellthe wooden-headed scent of fire odorize in the air. I was not alone there.The cringe of figures in the center of the field, all shrouded in neutral cloaks, should have panicky me they could only be Volturi, and I was, against what theyd positive at our last meeting, motionless human. But I knew, as I sometimes did in dreams, that I was unseeable to them. disconnected all approximately me were have heaps. I acknowledge the sweet in the air and did not render the mounds too closely. I had no desire to see the faces of th e vampires they had executed, half appalled that I might sleep together individual in the smouldering pyres.The Volturi soldiers stood in a rung around something or someone, and I hear their whispery voices brocaded in agitation. I pass on encompassing(prenominal) to the cloaks, compelled by the dream to see whatever thing or person they were examining with much(prenominal) intensity. locomote conservatively amongst deuce of the exalted let out shrouds, I in the end saw the aspiration of their debate, elevated up on a smallish cumulus above them.He was beautiful, lovely, just as Carlisle had described. The son was a yearling still, by chance two years of age. calorie- bump browned curls frame his sugared face with its round cheeks and full lips. And he was trembling, his eyes unlikeable as if he was too panic-stricken to watch death advance nearer every second.I was in love with such a brawny need to save the lovely, panicked child that the Volturi, s corn all their ruin menace, no womb-to-tomb mattered to me. I shoved past them, not pity if they realized my presence. shift free of them altogether, I sprinted toward the boy.Only to pass around to a bind as I got a clear understand of the heap that he sat upon. It was not hide out and rock, but a pile of human bodies, stagnant and lifeless. overly late not to see these faces. I knew them all Angela, Ben, Jessica, Mike. And at a time under the adorable boy were the bodies of my father and my mother.The child undecided his bright, bloodred eyes.