Wednesday, December 25, 2019

The Upside to Compare and Contrast Essay Samples for Kids

The Upside to Compare and Contrast Essay Samples for Kids What You Must Know About Compare and Contrast Essay Samples for Kids You might also find the descriptive essay. You've got a guide and get ideas about what to do with your essay. Before writing a comparative essay, you should first arm yourself with the information which you need. To write this kind of essay is quiet hard thing and it ought to be carried out responsibly. You might take a look at our Essay Outline Template to find the structures that you could use in writing informative essays and other types of pieces. Thus, you must be quite careful whilst crafting your compare and contrast an essay. Writing is a skill that someone can learn. You might also be assigned with writing about many other distinctive topics. There are several essay writing services that think they're the very best, and therefore don't be cheated and check the legitimate collection of the very best. What you aspire to teach your reader will find out the sort of your essay. Whether there are words you don't know, grab a dictionary. An instance of the type of essay that lots of students would rather not need to write is a compare contrast essay. The Supreme Approach for Compare and Contrast Essay Samples for Kids In both instances, the outcome is a finished essay. What remains unchecked ought to be handled in the contrast paragraphs. The conclusion is the simplest part. It seals the comparison essay and tries to close the issue. It truly is simple, because all you need to do is simply find facts and compare them! Below you'll find specific instructions about how to compose a comparison essay on any topic, which is well written and are going to have fantastic opportunity to acquire a high grade. Regardless of what topic you're working on, you must try and understand it before you search for essay examples! First you discuss the very first subject. Creating an outline is a significant portion of writing. You could also enjoy the outline examples. You might also enjoy the outline templates. You can also understand the evaluation essay templates. For example if you're comparing or contrasting orcas and dolphins it is possible to observe that both are cetaceous and reside in water. Your capability to produce a great paper is dependent on structuring an ideal outline. Another point to take into account is the sharpness and contrast that every lens produces in and about the flared areas. You may choose to try out two or three unique formats for your topic as a way to choose which best suits your subject. On-line learning offers a whole lot more flexibility. There are various terms that are utilised to for computers. When you receive the title and aspects to compare but without a definite number of criteria to cover similarities and differences, you've got to brainstorm. It's possible to discover some info about various formats of accounts. What You Should Do to Find Out About Compare and Contrast Essay Samples for Kids Before You're Left Behind Comparable to the manner of the paper itself, the tutorial is going to be listed so as to reproduce it. You're not a computer and won't ever remember your thoughts if you don't write them down. The Tried and True Method for Compare and Contrast Essay Samples for Kids in Step by Step Detail Just follow courses with high ratings and many chances you'll wind up happy with results. If you would like to acquire high excellent research and thesis papers punctually and for a fair price, you should probably attempt using EssaySupply.com. Bas ed on the sort of work you're citing, you might have to include extra info. Also, there's a lot of helpful info on the website. The computer software may be used as additional essay help. You will discover information and a URL to a membership application. The classes are offered on a per diem basis, so there is not any demand for a month-to-month subscription or membership fee.

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

The Saga Of Oedipus By Sophocles - 1082 Words

The saga of Oedipus begins long before the setting of the play takes place. It begins with a prophet, who tells Jocasta and Laius—the king and queen of Thebes at the time—that their son is destined to slay his father and bear children with his mother. To keep this sinful event from happening, they sent the baby away to be abandoned and killed. However, the messenger took pity on the baby and gave it to a shepherd of King Polybus, and the boy was adopted into royalty. When the boy came of age he was told the same fate that had been told to his birth parents. Fearing his adoptive father’s life, he exiled himself from the land. On his journey, he met King Laius, though not knowing it him, at a symbolic location: a crossroad. This emphasizes that it was Oedipus’ decision to kill Laius and travel to Thebes, but was that decision out of free will? Throughout Oedipus Rex, Sophocles employs several examples of a theme of predestined fate determined by the gods suc h as Oedipus inevitably killing his father, marrying his mother, and then having children with her. On Oedipus’ journey after leaving his home in Corinth, he came to a point where three roads met. Crossroads are a symbol for a crucial decision or choice. Does he go left or right? â€Å"As I drew near the triple-branching roads, A herald met me and a man who sat In a car drawn by colts—as in thy tale—The man in front and the old man himself Threatened to thrust me rudely from the path†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Sophocles) At this point Oedipus isShow MoreRelatedSophocles Use of Social Commentary in Antigone1334 Words   |  6 Pagestheir origin. In Antigone, Sophocles does this by creating a fictionalized Thebes in which he reflects upon the politics, religion, and societal norms of his own world. He creates a ruler, Creon, whose tyrannical actions serve to promote the merits of democracy and criticize the contemporary government. He also creates a protagonist, Antigone, w ho challenges the validity of the social structure while upholding ancient traditions. This social commentary allows Sophocles to connect with his both theRead MoreAncient Greek Theatre and Drama1648 Words   |  7 PagesGreece was the development of choral songs. These songs were performed at festivals all over the country. Myths resulted from the songs, and soon became stories. According to Peter Arnott, author of An Introduction to the Greek Theatre, the Hercules saga is an example of one of these stories. Most tragedies began with a prologue that gives the audience an introduction. Then the chorus introduced the paradox, which is where characters are made. The paradox is also where the mood of the play is establishedRead More Pathetic vs Ethical1997 Words   |  8 PagesRecognition; the Pathetic (where the motive is passion); the Ethical (where the motives are ethical). The fourth kind is the Simple. Antigone is Sophocles Greek tragedy where we see a woman as the main character. Antigone is part of the â€Å"saga of Thebes† that deals with Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. Produced around 442 B.C., we see the children of Oedipus deal with what fate has brought them. Antigone deals with the conflict of her burying her brother which would be in defiance of an order givenRead MoreHAMLET AND ORESTES10421 Words   |  42 Pagesthe Greek stage; and he ^eight if we occurs in no less than seven of our extant tragedies count the Iphigenia in Aulis, where he is an infant whereas Oedipus, for instance, only comes in three and Agamemnon in — — four. I shall use all these seven plays as material : viz. Aeschylus, Choephori and Eumenides; Sophocles, Electra; and Euripides, And Electra, Orestes, Iphigenia in Tauris, and Andromache. before any of these plays was written Orestes was firmly fixed both

Monday, December 9, 2019

A StreetCar Named Desire free essay sample

Hence, blacks mingle with whites, and members of different ethnic groups play poker and bowl together. Stanley, the son of Polish immigrants, represents the changing face of America. Williamss romanticizing is more evident in his portrayal of New Orleans as a city where upper-class people marry members of the lower class, fghts get ugly but are forgotten the next day, and the perpetual bluesy notes of an old piano take the sting out of poverty. The play immediately establishes Stanley and Blanche as polar opposites, with Stella as the link between them. Stage directions describe Stanley as a virulent character whose chief pleasure is women. His dismissal of Blanches beauty is therefore significant, ecause it shows that she does not exude his same brand of carnal desire. On the other hand, Blanches delicate manners and sense of propriety are offended by Stanleys brutish virility. Stanleys qualities†variously described as vitality, heartiness, brutality, primitivism, lust for life, animalistic†lead him over the course of the play into an unrelenting, unthinking assault on the already crumbling facade of Blanches world. When Mitch, one of Stanley’s friends, was introduced to Blanche, she instantly inquired about marriage. Later, when Mitch rejected Blanche due to Stanley’s gossip about her reputation, Blanche immediately considered living in a fantasy world with the previous man, Mr. Huntleigh. Stella Kowalski not only dealt with issues between Blanche and her husband, but also her own. Stella was incredibly weak and passive. In the first poker night in the play, Stanley put his hands on a then pregnant Stella. We shortly find out that physical violence is common in not only the Kowalski household, but also upstairs at the Hubbells’. In the same night shortly after the chaos, Stella returned to bed with her husband. Stella refused to believe Blanche’s accusations that Stanley had raped her were true. Eunice Hubbell, the upstairs neighbor/landlady (also in an abusive relationship), forced Stella to deny reality and believe that sending Blanche to a mental institute was her only choice. Stanley represented a much more secure future than Blanche did.

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Never Trust A Man Who Wears Sunglasses At Night Essays - Dragaera

Never Trust A Man Who Wears Sunglasses At Night Vlad was dressed in his usual outfit of black denim jeans,? black silk shirt and sunglasses even though it was 12:00 am, well after dark. He had one thought on his mind, make the meeting on time. As he walked, he recalled the circumstances leading up to his midnight stroll. He had been contacted in the usual way. When he woke up that morning, he had seen a yellow chalk mark across the road on an adjacent building. It would seem someone had need of his specialized services. He certainly hoped so because money was tight at the moment. The yellow mark meant that he had a potential customer and should meet him/her in Central Park at 2:00 am. He was already moving two hours early...always get to the meeting first. Always be sure the area is safe. Always be sure its a customer you're meeting and not the police. He made his way towards the meeting place, stopping only twice. Once, to kick a stray cat he saw walking in front of him. Once, to grab a bottle of Jack Daniel's from the hands of a wino, take a few swallows and throw the bottle away. He finished his initial search of Central Park and found nothing unusual. he completed his second search of the area, again finding nothing out of the ordinary. Now the waiting began. Vlad was experienced in waiting, one had to be in this profession. exactly a black car rolls into the park. Punctual, Vlad thought, a good sign. Vlad watched as two men emerged from the front seat. Both men had large bulges under their arms. High caliber handguns Vlad thought, very nice, very efficient, very professional. The two man walked to the side of the car, one surveying the area, the other slowly opened the rear passenger door. A tall man in an expensive suit, Brooks Brothers, if Vlad wasn't mistaken, and Vlad rarely was. The man appeared calm as he began his wait. At 2:15 Vlad emerged from his hiding place to "greet" his visitors. No one heard him approach. When he appeared the two men reached for their weapons, Vlad was faster. By the time the two men's hands were just reaching into their jackets, Vlad had already drawn, and was aiming his own revolver at them. Laughing, Vlad said "come on boys, no need for those". Addressing the man in the well dressed suit, he said, "why don't you ask your friends to take a walk? The well dressed man smiled, waved his hand, dismissing his bodyguards and said, "they said you were the best"! Vlad replied "that's what I'm paid for". "Ah yes speaking of being paid", the man reached into his pocket for something, Vlad could barely restrain himself from blowing the man away, but he thought that would be bad for business. The well dressed man's hand emerged from his jacket holding a fat, white, unmarked envelope. He tossed the envelope. Vlad caught it deftly in one hand, still keeping his gun trained on the man in front of him. Vlad opened the envelope and saw two large bundles of hundred dollar bills. Also included, was a scrap of paper with a name scribbled on it. The man was watching Vlad intently, as Vlad seemed to ponder something. After a few seconds pause, Vlad said "I accept". Upon hearing these two words the well dressed man re?entered his car, waited for his bodyguards to rejoin him and left. Vlad returned to his building, waited for the elevator and went up to his apartment. Now that he had landed a job he had preparations to begin. After unlocking his door, he replacing the thin piece of hair he kept on the door to know if the door had been disturbed, he went to his bedroom. Vlad looked at his watch, six hours until show time. He pried a loose floor board up from under his bed, revealing a battered looking briefcase. Vlad took hold of the briefcase, lifted it out of the floor and replaced the board. After opening the case, he methodically checked and cleaned the contents. Once he was satisfied that all was in order, he repacked the case. Next, he went to his closet. He decided on a very ordinary looking black blazer, matching pants, and of course, his trademark sunglasses. Vlad smiled as the old adage "All dressed up and nowhere to go" flashed through his mind. "Oh well", he exclaimed "no

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Guide to Writing Argumentative Essays in Astronomy Easier Than You May Think

Guide to Writing Argumentative Essays in Astronomy Easier Than You May Think What is an Argumentative Essay in Astronomy? The main purpose of an argumentative essay lies in searching for articles and investigations concerning the chosen topic. The student should conduct his or her own research in order to collect detailed information and review the facts. Since the essay is argumentative, you should carefully explore literature and surveys with the opposing points of view or different theories in terms of the subject. Such a precise gathering of information is essential for the student to form an opinion and choose a viewpoint while reinforcing it with evidence provided by the research. Moreover, the essay should include an explicit thesis statement and rational argumentation. Speaking about peculiarities of the argumentative essays in astronomy, the main tip lies in selecting academic sources that deal with the recent astronomical news for the sake of receiving credible data. The student may choose reputable journals such as BBC News, The New York Times, and Nature or web sites of scientific organizations such as NASA, the American Astronomical Society, or the European Southern Observatory. What is more, the level of complexity in the articles may be high, meaning in both the selected subject and specific terminology. In order to embrace as much information as possible, the student may search for additional data published by scientists such as A Brief History of Time written by Steven Hawking. Such actions will result in a better understanding of the topic while demonstrating your knowledge to the professor. Since the student should provide logical reasoning, you will succeed in the former by describing data in his or her own words. For the sake of presen ting the argument, the student should paraphrase it in one or two sentences and provide a detailed explanation. Topics for Argumentative Essays in Astronomy Although astronomy seems to be complicated if the subject of the research concerns modern inventions and progress such as the launches of Space X spacecrafts, or simple if the investigations address well-known facts such as synchronous rotation of the Moon, there are several themes that are investigated on a regular basis. Therefore, such research always add recent information and attract the attention of scientific organizations. The First Image of the Black Hole; The Death of the Universe: Big Rip, Big Crunch, and Big Freeze; What is a Pulsar? What Is the Difference between a Pulsar and a Star? The Hubble, VLT, and FAST Telescopes; The Landing of Insight on Mars; Space X Launches of the Dragon Spacecraft. However, astronomy may also include some entertaining subject areas, for instance, theoretical reflections on the fascinating subjects: What if the Earth Stopped Rotating? The Giant Impact Hypothesis; Colonization of Asteroids; The Panspermia Theory. For example, if you choose the first topic Nature of the Black Holes, read the articles posted on the official NASA web site. First of all, you may introduce the subject starting with the main characteristics of a black hole. Secondly, you can choose the recent news about the first picture of the black hole and provide the facts such as a telescope, which was used to conduct investigation, the matter that was absorbed by the hole, information about the event horizon, and the processing of the image. The student should add precise information since the essay is argumentative. Speaking about the topic that considers Mars observations, the recent news provides the audience with data about marsquakes. You may use the web site Science Daily in order to extract detailed information about the above-mentioned phenomena. Moreover, the author compares earthquakes and marsquakes, which fills the article with sound argumentation and supporting facts. If the student chooses the topic about the Moon formation, he or she may consider the giant-impact theory that is described by the NASA scientists and the web site Space.com. In order to learn more about astronomy and make writing easier in the future, the student may read about the most frequently used recent terms such as EHT (Event Horizon Telescope), gravitational lens, marsquake, SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure), and heat probe. Prewriting Tips Even if you have an interesting topic, the students may often face such an obstacle as how to start writing the essay. First of all, in order to write a sound argumentative essay, you should decide which point of view you prefer to support. Confident position results in structured, sequential, and knowledgeable paper that demonstrates meticulous work. Moreover, professors appreciate it when students express their opinion while reinforcing it with scientific evidence. Conduct considerable investigation that involves contrary perspectives to be able to introduce persuasive facts for the supported point of view, along with the main points stated in the opposite opinion. The student should thoroughly read the articles and restate the main ideas in a subsequent manner. The third tip lies in gathering information about the topic from credible sources. What is more, the student should look through more than one scientific article as it will assist in choosing sound facts and broaden the com prehension of the subject. Sometimes, the person may face difficulties while reading and processing an immense amount of information. Therefore, some points may seem overly complicated, and the person starts to feel anxious. In order to avoid tension if you are not strong in the topic, choose an easier one. Furthermore, while reviewing the same text more than once, the student increases his or her understanding as it may be troublesome to notice every detail at the first attempt. If you have already chosen the standpoint in which you are convinced, but the ideas and words do not appear in your mind, you may start with making a list of the key points you need to cover in your essay. Writing the thoughts on the paper helps to concentrate and structure the arguments you want to mention. While looking at your written ideas, you can build the sequence in which your essay will provide the most reasonable objectives. For example, while writing about the marsquakes, the student may use the following list: Why detecting marsquakes is important to scientists? How does a marsquake differ from an earthquake? Which robot detected the first marsquake? Title/Thesis Statement/Body Paragraphs Since the title influences the decision of the reader whether he or she wants to read the essay or skip it, the student should pay a lot of attention to this issue. An outstanding title for an essay catches attention while summarizing the main subject of the paper. Moreover, it should be distinct from the plenty of other titles among which the reader would search for the fascinating one. The title should be brief but solid while transferring the sense of the essay. Right: ‘The First Image of the Black Hole’ Wrong: ‘Scientist Presented the First Image of the Black Hole’ A thesis statement is the crucial part of the essay as it summarizes its main points. While defining the primary aim of the paper, the thesis describes the topic concisely and generalizes its central issues. First of all, you should remember that the position of the statement is important as well. While reading the essay, the audience focuses on the introduction as it defines the topic of the research. Therefore, you should explain your purposes and arguments in the preface. The best position for a considerable thesis statement is the last sentence of the introduction. Therefore, the reader will get a general notion of the topic and its details and decide whether he or she is interested in the essay. You may structure the statement using the following words: although, therefore, because, and. Another advice for writing an outstanding thesis consists in combining two main points of the paper in one sentence. Right: ‘Therefore, the first picture of the black hole confirmed Einstein’s theory about the shadow cast by the abyss and well-known â€Å"event horizon† that encircled the hole.’ Wrong: ‘The Black Hole picture presented the â€Å"event horizon† – the circle of fire around the hole.’ In order to write consistent and argumentative body paragraphs, the argumentative essay should include a minimum of two arguments stated in the main body. The best way to write reasonable and detailed essay is to describe every argument in a separate paragraph. Such structure simplifies reading, and the audience will obtain a better understanding of the subject. Moreover, the paragraphs in the main body should be logically related to the thesis statement in the introduction. For example, the first paragraph of the body concerning the black hole should provide information about the shadow. The student may also briefly state the core idea of Einstein’s theory to support the evidence. The second paragraph should contain information about the â€Å"event horizon† – its form, matter, and interaction with the light. While indicating some numbers, such as the speed of light, the student makes the essay look more solid. One more advice lies in starting the paragraphs wit h the short summarized argument that is represented and uncovered in the main body. For example, the first paragraph of the body about the black hole may start the following way: ‘The shadow of the black hole was predicted by Albert Einstein in his famous theory of relativity.’ Outline The outline is the short plan of the essay where the student demonstrates the basis of his work. Such a scheme comprises the following parts: I. Introduction. In order to write a persuasive introduction, meaning the one which impresses the reader and catches his or her attention, you should explore the most fascinating matters in the topic. The reader will be interested in your investigation if you provide the reason that is essential and engaging enough to attract him or her to the topic of your essay. What is more, you should describe how your essay will assist in searching for the solution of the problem. The reader wants to know if the paper he or she considers provides needed information. For instance, if you are writing about the first image of the black hole, you may explain why this natural phenomenon interests scientists. After that, you may introduce the importance of the research and efforts of the scientific community as the reader should understand the significance of such an achievement as the picture of the black hole). II. Main body. You should start every new paragraph with the topic sentence that introduces the evidence or fact, which you want to develop in the particular passage. First argument (The shadow of the black hole was predicted by Albert Einstein in his famous theory of relativity). Further development of the topic. III. Main body. Second argument (The ring of light around the shadow is composed of fire, the matter that surrounds the black hole, and serves as a proof for space-time contortion). Further development of the topic. For example, you may refute the assertion that the image depicts the black hole itself, and add that in order to be more precise, the person should say that it is the image of the black hole’s shadow. VI. Conclusion (restate the thesis statement and core arguments). Post-writing Tips After the most fundamental part of the work had been finished, the student should always proofread the paper. Sometimes, he or she may gain inspiration and write the essay in one breath. However, you cannot control consistency, correctness, and relevance of the sentences perfectly all the time. Everybody makes mistakes, and you may reduce the number of errors by analyzing and proofreading your paper. Therefore, while scrutinizing the essay, the student would correct some inconsistencies and enhance the quality of the paper. The person should check the relevance of the information and its accuracy. The best way to review the essay lies in analyzing if it makes sense for the person who reads the paper for the first time. For example, in topics on astronomy, unfamiliar terminology may seem complicated to the reader. Therefore, the student should explain some notions in his or her own words or paraphrase definitions from the articles. Considering referencing, the student should know the format of the paper, for example, MLA, and read information about updates in formatting. However, the process may be time-consuming, especially if he or she writes about astronomy. Since the number of sources may be enormous, and the formatting differs for books, journals, and videos, the student may use such sites as BibMe.com or CiteThisForMe.com. He or she should remember that citations must be listed in the alphabetical order. In conclusion, the student should check the linkage between all the parts of the essay. Since the mistakes have been corrected, and the references have been written on the last page, the student may reread the essay after a short break. Such a pause will assist in refreshing the focus and reviewing the paper from a different perspective. â€Æ' References Castelvecchi, D. (2019). Black Hole Pictured for First Time - in Spectacular Detail. Nature. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01155-0. NASAs InSight Detects First Likely Quake on Mars. (2019). Science Daily. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190424095148.htm. National Science Foundation Announces New Diamond Achievement Award. (2019). National Science Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=298500org=NSFfrom=news. Redd, N. (2017). How Was the Moon Formed. Space.com. Retrieved from https://www.space.com/19275-moon-formation.html. Smith, H. (2018). What Is a Black Hole? NASA. Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-a-black-hole-k4.html. Soderman. (n.d.). NASA Scientist Jen Heldmann Describes How the Earth’s Moon Was Formed. NASA. Retrieved from https://sservi.nasa.gov/articles/nasa-scientist-jen-heldmann-describes-how-the-earths-moon-was-formed/. Witze, A. (2019). First ‘Marsquake’ Detected on Red Planet. Nature. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01330-3.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

The Distance Between Two Leagues

The Distance Between Two Leagues The Distance Between Two Leagues The Distance Between Two Leagues By Mark Nichol What does league, meaning â€Å"alliance,† have to do with league, meaning â€Å"a few miles†? An attempt to find kinship between these words by positing the notion of linking several similar entities or units is futile: The identical formation of the words is coincidental. The first sense of league stems from the Latin verb ligare, meaning â€Å"bind† and the basis of ligament, meaning â€Å"band† or â€Å"bond,† and ligature, which means, among other things, â€Å"something that binds or connects.† League originally referred to a confederacy of geopolitical units (such as the Achaean League of classical Greece and the Hanseatic League, an economic alliance established in the early Middle Ages, as well as the League of Nations of the early twentieth century) but later came to apply as well to political associations and athletic organizations. People or organizations that conspire are said to be in league with each other, and when someone outclasses someone else in terms of some characteristic, the first person is said to be out of the other person’s league, while â€Å"in a league of (one’s) own† means â€Å"superior skill or status.† By contrast, â€Å"in the same league† means â€Å"of comparative skill or status.† On a related note, the expression â€Å"Ivy League,† from the name of the collegiate athletic league populated by eight of the nation’s most prestigious universities, by extension denotes the schools themselves as well as high social and cultural status and elitism. (The reference to ivy pertains to the walls of venerable school buildings being covered in ivy over the years.) League is also a verb meaning â€Å"unite,† but the verb beleaguer, meaning â€Å"besiege,† is unrelated. Idioms pertaining to the â€Å"confederation† sense of league include â€Å"major league,† originating in the term for the highest level of professional baseball but by extension alluding to significant actors or entities in a realm of human endeavor (â€Å"in the big leagues† has the same sense); â€Å"minor league,† denoting something of inferior status (from the lower caliber of play in baseball’s minor leagues); and â€Å"bush league,† which, based on the slang term for semiprofessional baseball (from the expression â€Å"the bush,† referring to a rural area) suggests petty, unprofessional behavior. (The last term was not always pejorative, however.) The sense of league of a measure of distance derives from the Latin noun leuga and is primarily understood to refer to a distance of three miles, though it has applied to measures ranging from about two and a half to approximately four and a half miles. (It can also apply to a square measuring about three miles on a side.) A league, thought to originate as the distance traveled on foot in one hour, it is no longer an official distance. The French term banlieue, meaning â€Å"suburb† but increasingly connoting low-income housing projects (though banlieues diverge widely in economic status), is a geopolitical term, but it is distantly related to the latter sense of league: It is a compound ultimately derived from the Germanic terms ban, meaning â€Å"proclamation,† and leuca, meaning â€Å"league,† with the connotation of â€Å"area outside the city but within its legal jurisdiction.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:35 Synonyms for â€Å"Look†What to Do When Words Appear Twice in a Row50 Synonyms for "Song"

Thursday, November 21, 2019

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

Plato - Essay Example ?The Allegory of the Cave† is taken from â€Å"The Republic† where he deftly handles the lack of knowledge of human beings and he elicits his answer from the mouth of Socrates his mentor. In this particular piece of writing, Plato cuts a clear distinction between knowledge of reality and shadows of illusion (ignorance) To portray this fact he takes the example of a cave in which human beings are chained to a wall with only a tiny light that casts shadowy images which some of the inhabitants take for reality. Those who are freed from the cave have a true knowledge of reality. Plato’s masterly use of imagery of light to depict knowledge and darkness to depict ignorance gives his essay the excellence it deserves, making it one of the most memorable ones. In his explanation of â€Å"absolute knowledge† and the way it affects the â€Å"shadows of images of justice†, he gives us another example of a person who is asked to look straight at the light. In doing so, the person is dazzled and feels pain and hence is unable to see the reality for what it is. But if his eyes get accustomed to the light, his vision would be clearer and he is moves on from seeing the shadowy images, to seeing the real objects. Finally he is able to gaze upon the sun in all its brightness and judge himself rightly. He would then be in a position to look back on his fellow prisoners who still live in the shadows of images and feel pity for them. This is what Plato means by â€Å"absolute justice†. According to Plato, it is better to suffer anything, than to live a miserable life filled with false notions and ideas. If a person lives a life in the shadows of ignorance, he would never learn the realities in life. But on the other hand, if his vision is not blocked or marred by the shadows of images, his vision would be so clear and he would be able to lead others out of their ignorance. In other words, if a person attains this beatific vision, he is unable to draw himself down to a lower level of

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Bergquists four cultures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Bergquists four cultures - Essay Example Delaune and Ladner (2006) in their book on Fundamentals of Nursing defined culture as â€Å"knowledge, beliefs, behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, habits, customs, languages, symbols, rituals, ceremonies, and practices that are unique to a particular group of people† (p. 388). Simple folks ordinarily know culture as a way of life. Aretz (2007), in his article Managing Change in Health Professions Education -Experiences from the Trenches explored two definitions of culture as: â€Å"â€Å"the deeply embedded patterns of organizational behavior and the shared values, assumptions, beliefs, or ideologies that members have about their organizations or its work† (Petersen and Spencer) and culture is â€Å"Obedience to the Unenforceable†; â€Å"It is a realm in which not law, not caprice, but virtues such as duty, fairness, judgment, †¦ hold sway. In a word, it †¦ covers all cases of right doing where there is no one to make you do it but yourself.† (John Fletcher Moulton) (p. 22). In an academic research written by William H. Bergquist, an international consultant and professor in the fields of organizational psychology and management, he identified four cultures in higher education which are interrelated and have profound effects to an organization, to wit: collegial, managerial, developmental and negotiating. Walter (2007) distinguished between collegial and developmental as: â€Å"the collegial culture is one in which individuals find meaning primarily through their discplines and through the original research that helps to further knowledge in that discipline. The developmental culture, by contrast, is one in which individuals find meaning primarily through their participation in teaching, learning, and professional development activities† (pp. 11-12) Collegial culture emphasize the value of scholarship, governance, rationality and decision making as opposed to personal and professional growth as the focus of developmental

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Video game console and Nintendo Essay Example for Free

Video game console and Nintendo Essay Introduction Nintendo company,One of the most recognized names in the history of games. Even that was 120 years before and recent decades years, Nintendo begin company to making the playing card game,but creating video game. In the 60’s,Nintendo was going to produce video games, but after 1985 when Nintendo started to sell Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and the famous game Super Mario Brothers. Nintendo began to as being the only dominatition in video games,and remained through many years,before Sony had take over the dominatition position by launched the Sony PlayStation . and then Nintendo was being regarded as a recession proposition in the videogame business. As far as we can see,the turning point in 2005, Nintendo introduced the Nintendo DS with a big success. In 2006 Nintendo introduced the Wii and then launched it being the best-selling latest generation console system in the world. Nowdays, Nintendo in the position as being the worldwide leader in the creation of interactive entertainment† with Microsoft and Sony in world’s top3 videogame business. To date, Nintendo has sold more than one billion video games and created so many game console including Game Boy The best selling video game systemgame systems worldwide. 1. What is Nintendo’s strategy? Which of the five generic strategies discussed in Chapter 5 is Nintendo using? What are some of the recent offensive and/or defensive strategies that Nintendo has employed? Have these tactics been successful? Nintendos strategy is based on the customer premise, when other business-to-video game market has yet to be waited and see attitude, and Nintendo in the market demand for in-depth study, the firm entered the field. Nintendo was on the market only a profound understanding of the needs of customers’ game manufacturers. Because it can from the customer needs is the fun of the game This perspective of looking at problems, Nintendo game software was first recognized that the decisive position. This policy eventually develop into a Nintendo game software developers and strategic alliances to achieve this status, Nintendo has played a key role. After have a Nintendo Power books and counselors systems scheme, which are a combination of the two major consumers and Nintendos sticky and agents, but also Nintendos main method to grasp the pulse of customers. In fact, the Nintendo Companys product development plans and marketing strategies is almost entirely dependent from the customer information. We come up the idea that :The broad differentiation strategy is the newly products of Nintendos had generic used ,particularly for Wii ,the broad differentiation strategy that allowed Nintendo to compete with two giant Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo had focus on innovative control system,that leads to rising the fun level of games,instead of to attempting to catch up with the functional advantage concentrated by most competition in game industry . Nintendo focused on developing games and take their Key advantage – gaming fun to winning the battle of game industry. Recently, Nintendo has carried out some offensive strategies to resist with rivals and gain more market share. The company aimed to innovating products and introducing some of the industry’s most astoundingly inventive and financially lucrative gaming products. For instance, Nintendo introduced the Nintendo Dual Screen in 2004. The DS Lite was introduced in 2006 and Wii was introduced in 2008. Nintendo does a number of advertisements with creative advertisement, what make deeply impression on customers. Through the magazines, the company releases the products and attracts game players. Nintendo also has some defensive strategies. Rivals like Sony and Microsoft were calling attention to an assortment of technological capabilities and graphic features in their consoles. Nintendo’s two system including video game consoles and handheld system with light weight electronic devices and designed largely. Rivals required a part of target market. According to this situation, Nintendo attract older people and women as a new market to make sure the sales and reputation for the company. 2. Is it fair to characterize Nintendo’s introduction of the Wii as a blue ocean strategy? Why or why not? Yes,there’s a pure blue ocean strategy initiated in the Nintendo’s Wii,but the Wii’s introduction strategy can not necessarily be characterize as a blue ocean strategy that we considered. Wii’s introduction demonstrated is successful executed the Blue Ocean Strategy,that driven point is the unique interactive â€Å"motion-sensitive† controls,it based on an innovative gaming control system can sense movements and physical activity, gamers should to physically move around to guide the game character,this is an differentiate experience with instinct usability that may rising the fun of gaming,and creating an accessibility for every player of all ages and genders . This new values are created and focused by Wii which instead of the performance value defined by the industry. it allowed Wii to not only compete in the game console industry’s â€Å"red ocean† where has been dominated by Sonys PlayStation and Microsofts Xbox, but also to went after an untapped market,For consumers who are not consider as the typical gamers,as older females, seniors,who never think about gaming,even who consider gaming as a waste of time. it purpose at the entire family. so it as the allegory of name â€Å"wii†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s intended, we- everyone can enjoy it. Wii are also competitive to appealing the traditionally customer targeted by the games industry,we come up the opinion that the blue ocean strategy can reinforcing the competitive strategy acts as a supporting board differention competitive. Wii’s make games for a different purpose,In assessing the standard relative to Microsoft’s Xbox 360, and Sony’s PlayStation 3, and other developers , Wii‘s functional elements as graphics physics, processing power ,and supporting function (as Movie playing) are relatively rare . however it good-enough for moderate gamer,but their virtual controling raising gaming fun to a higher level ,that helps maintained its core gaming audience while aslo their purpose to changing the â€Å"couch-potato†gamer to into exerciser. As a matter of fact, Sony nor Microsoft try to imitated the Wii’s contoling function. to lure away Wiis new customer. All above evidence that it is almost self-explanatory the sucess for Wii’s blue ocean strategy’s. 3. What recommendations would you make to Nintendo to improve its competitiveness in the video game console industry and to maintain its favorable positioning vis-a-vis Microsoft and Sony? Our first recommendation is developing in the competition area that different from Microsoft and Sony. As we know, the main product of Microsoft and Sony is Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Xbox 360 can mainly fight and talk by the network. PS 3 mainly in high-definition video and audio quality as the characteristics. Therefore, we think Nintendo should be developed in other areas, such as game’s own characterized. They can develop some games that more suitable for players, life and era such as the classic Super Mario, Tetris and other games. Our second recommendations is developing more perfect handheld video game console. Because as Microsoft and Sony’s main game product are Home video game consoles. Many people know Nintendo is because of their product Game Boy. And more young people today do not like to play games at home, they are more like in the car, in the bedroom, or in other free time to relax. So, handheld game consoles is still a huge market, but also because Nintendo has the foundation of Game Boy. So in this regard the development and the customer base is inevitable better than the other competitors. Our third recommendation is to improve the skill of visual quality. What is the value of a game? Obviously, the main the player seeks for is the gameplay, is the creative point of a game that itself has. For this part the Nintendo make a good sense. Nintendos success lies in change and subversion of tradition. But, with the booming technology, the players who are familiar with Maya, 3DMAX are also pay high attention to the quality of the visual. Compare with Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo do not spend so much technology dealing with visual. However, the decoration of a game system such like visual and sound also will be a big attraction. People always enjoy a sense of realism. So if it wants to get a long-term development, it also needs to improve its visual skill even though Nintendo do not rely on visual to win the profit. Our final recommendation is expansion of market in China. As we see, China who has large number of population can be a Potential Unit for almost all industry, of cause for game. It can be a good market for Nintendo we believe. To extend the Chinese market, Nintendo can consider about increasing the Chinese language interface to get closer to Chinese people. They also need to offer a good after sale service in china. We recognize that the after sale service of Nintendo in Asia except Japan is limited. In order to fit the Chinas specific conditions, Nintendo can introduce more educational and recreational games and let the parents willing to buy. In a word, making more efforts in these recommendations, Nintendo may have a long term development in the future we believe.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Characters Contribute to the Dramatic Effect of Alan Bennetts Talking Heads :: essays research papers

"Talking heads" by Alan Bennett is a collection of monologues in which the audience are showed into the life of a character and given an insight into the character's personality and situation. People's lives are portrayed in comic ways leaving the audience feeling sympathy and guilt for the character in laughing at their misfortune. In the play a Chip in the Sugar Alan Bennett shows us a life of a very unconfident man who still lives with his mum. Graham is a middle-aged man with a history of mild mental health problems, living with his mother in Leeds. He is an absolutely stereotypical Guardian reader he wears flares, avoids deodorant, is environmentally conscious, likes date and walnut bread, and is very anti-Thatcher. It is also hinted that he is a closet homosexual. His life is dramatically disrupted when his mother, who he is effectively "married" to, meets her old flame Frank Turnbull after 52 years. Turnbull is bigoted, right-wing, and racist the opposite of Graham but he is also well-dressed and well off. Graham's father presumably died in hospital Graham refers to doctors "wheeling him into the theatre". Graham becomes increasingly jealous as Mr Turnbull takes an ever-growing hold on Mrs Whittaker's life, to the extent he proposes marriage simultaneously suggesting Graham moves out of the house to a ho stel. But Mr Turnbull is hiding a secret, and when Graham finds out he gets the courage to confronts his mother with the information, restoring the status quo and his comfortable life but destroying her hopes of happiness in the process. It seems like Graham has been seriously traumatized as he will not leave his mothers sight which is very unhealthy for a 52 year old to be doing. This play is not only based on graham and his relationship with his mother but it is also based on the different emotions shown within the monologue such as fear which Graham shows a lot of as he is constantly scared for his mother so this causes him to treat her like a child. There is also much anger shown towards the man that his mother is in a relationship with not only because he doesn?t trust him ,but because he wants to be the only man in his mothers life as he has been sic kingly close with his mother since a being a young child and she is always saying to Graham ? Characters Contribute to the Dramatic Effect of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads :: essays research papers "Talking heads" by Alan Bennett is a collection of monologues in which the audience are showed into the life of a character and given an insight into the character's personality and situation. People's lives are portrayed in comic ways leaving the audience feeling sympathy and guilt for the character in laughing at their misfortune. In the play a Chip in the Sugar Alan Bennett shows us a life of a very unconfident man who still lives with his mum. Graham is a middle-aged man with a history of mild mental health problems, living with his mother in Leeds. He is an absolutely stereotypical Guardian reader he wears flares, avoids deodorant, is environmentally conscious, likes date and walnut bread, and is very anti-Thatcher. It is also hinted that he is a closet homosexual. His life is dramatically disrupted when his mother, who he is effectively "married" to, meets her old flame Frank Turnbull after 52 years. Turnbull is bigoted, right-wing, and racist the opposite of Graham but he is also well-dressed and well off. Graham's father presumably died in hospital Graham refers to doctors "wheeling him into the theatre". Graham becomes increasingly jealous as Mr Turnbull takes an ever-growing hold on Mrs Whittaker's life, to the extent he proposes marriage simultaneously suggesting Graham moves out of the house to a ho stel. But Mr Turnbull is hiding a secret, and when Graham finds out he gets the courage to confronts his mother with the information, restoring the status quo and his comfortable life but destroying her hopes of happiness in the process. It seems like Graham has been seriously traumatized as he will not leave his mothers sight which is very unhealthy for a 52 year old to be doing. This play is not only based on graham and his relationship with his mother but it is also based on the different emotions shown within the monologue such as fear which Graham shows a lot of as he is constantly scared for his mother so this causes him to treat her like a child. There is also much anger shown towards the man that his mother is in a relationship with not only because he doesn?t trust him ,but because he wants to be the only man in his mothers life as he has been sic kingly close with his mother since a being a young child and she is always saying to Graham ?

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Bite Me: A Love Story Chapter 6~7

6. The Vampire Parrots of Telegraph Hill A flock of wild parrots lives in the city of San Francisco. They are South American cherry-headed conures-bright green with a red head, a little smaller than a typical pigeon. No one is quite sure how they came to the City. It's likely that they are the descendants of animals caught in the jungle, then released to the city skies when they proved too wild to be kept as pets. They fly over the northern waterfront of San Francisco, foraging for fruit, berries, and blossoms, from the Presidio at the entrance of the Golden Gate Bridge, over Pacific Heights, the Marina, Russian Hill, North Beach, and all the way to the Ferry Building near the Oakland Bay Bridge. They are social, squawky, silly birds that mate for life and advertise their presence with a cacophony of beeps and cheeps that inspire smiles from residents, bewilderment from tourists, and hunger in predators, mostly red-tailed hawks and peregrine falcons. The parrots spend their nights high in the trees of Telegraph Hill, beneath the great concrete phallus of Coit Tower, sheltered from attack from hawks by the evergreen canopy overhead, and from all but the most ambitious cats, by the sheer altitude. But still, they are sometimes attacked, and although gentle creatures, they will fight back, biting with their thick, built-for-seed-crushing beaks. Which is what happened. The next morning after he witnessed the cat attack in the SOMA, the Emperor of San Francisco was awakened from a nest he'd made in one of the little stair gardens on Telegraph Hill, to hear parrots squawking in the trees. The sun was just breaking the horizon behind the Bay Bridge, turning the water red-gold under a blue morning mist. The Emperor crawled out from under a pile of carpet padding, stood, and stretched, his great joints creaking in the cold like ancient church doors. The men, Bummer and Lazarus, poked their noses out of the gray cloak, snuffled the dawn, then, with the call of the parrots, resolved themselves to morning and emerged like urgent butterflies to search for the perfect spot for the first wee of the day. The three watched as fifty or so squawking parrots circled Coit Tower and headed out toward the Embarcadero, where, suddenly, they all stopped flying, burst into flames, and fell like a smoldering storm of dying comets into Levi's Plaza. â€Å"Well, you don't see that every day,† said the Emperor, scratching Lazarus's ears through the bandages. The retriever was a doggy version of The Mummy, wrapped ears to tail in bandages after his last encounter with the vampire cats. The vet in the Mission wanted to keep him overnight, but the retriever had never spent a night away from the Emperor since they had found each other, and the vet had no accommodations for a large and burly monarch, let alone a feisty Boston terrier, so the three had bunked together under the carpet pad. Bummer chuffed, which translated from dog to: â€Å"I don't like it.† As the famous frog sang, it's not easy being green. 7. The Fog Comes on Little Cat Feet and Whatnot FOO Stephen â€Å"Foo Dog† Wong's fully bombed Honda drift machine was full of rats. Not completely full, the passenger seat was filled by Jared Whitewolf, Abby's backup BFF. (BBFF, really.) â€Å"Did you have to get all white ones?† Jared asked. He was six foot two, very thin, and paler than Death shagging a snowman. The sides of his head were shaved and in the middle he sported an unlaquered Mohawk, which hung in his eyes unless he was lying on his back or looking up. In addition to a floor-length black PVC cenobite coat, he was currently wearing Abby's thigh-high red platform Skankenstein ® boots, which was completely within his rights, as her current BFF. What bothered Foo was not that Jared had on girl's boots, but that he had on the boots of a girl with distinctly small feet. â€Å"Don't those hurt?† Jared tossed his hair out of his eyes. â€Å"Well, it's like Morrissey said, ‘Life is suffering.'† â€Å"I think the Buddha said that.† â€Å"I'm pretty sure Morrissey said it first-like, back in the eighties.† â€Å"No, it was the Buddha.† â€Å"Have you ever even seen a picture of the Buddha with shoes on?† Jared asked. Foo couldn't believe he was having this argument. What's more, he couldn't believe he was losing this argument. â€Å"Well, I have some Nikes upstairs that might fit you if you need to change shoes. Let's get the rats unloaded. I have to get to work.† Jared already had four plastic cages with two white rats in each stacked on his lap, so he unfolded himself out of the Honda and wobbled on the red platforms to the fire door of the loft. â€Å"Don't try to paint them black,† Jared said, peering into the Plexiglas boxes as Foo opened the door for him. â€Å"I tried that with my first rat, Lucifer. It was tragic.† â€Å"Tragic?† said Foo. â€Å"I'd have never guessed. Put them on the floor in the living room. I'll borrow the truck from work tomorrow and pick up some folding tables to put them on.† In addition to pursuing his degree in molecular biology, and variously rescuing Abby, formulating vampire serum, and tricking out his Honda, Foo still worked part-time at Stereo City, where he specialized in telling people that they needed a bigger TV. â€Å"You still have that job?† Jared said as he stumbled up the stairs. â€Å"Abby said you guys have total fuck-you money.† Why did she tell him? She wasn't supposed to tell him. Did she tell him everything? Why did she have to have friends at all? She'd given Jared five thousand dollars of Jody and Tommy's money for Hanukkah-despite the fact that neither one of them was Jewish. â€Å"Because I will not let mainstream society make me into the Christmas bitch of the zombie baby-Jebus, that's why,† she'd said. â€Å"And because he helped me take care of the Countess and Lord Flood when they were in trouble.† â€Å"I need to keep my cover,† Foo said. â€Å"For tax purposes.† That was partially true. He did need to keep up his cover, because, like Abby, he hadn't actually told his parents that he'd moved out. They were so used to him being at school, in the lab, or at work, that they hadn't really noticed that he hadn't been sleeping at home. It helped that he had four younger brothers and sisters, who were all carrying insane work and course loads. His parents were all about toil. As long as you were toiling, you were okay. They could smell toil from miles away, or the lack of it. He might be able to get away with living in his own loft with his spooky-sexy girlfriend, and doing bizarre genetic experiments on the undead, but if he quit his job they'd sense it in a second. It took Foo and Jared twenty minutes to get all the rats up the steps and lined up around the living room. â€Å"We're not going to hurt them, are we?† said Jared, holding up one of the plastic cages so he was eye to eye with its occupants. â€Å"We're going to turn them into vampires.† â€Å"Oh, cool. Now?† â€Å"No, not now. For now, you're going to need to feed them and make sure there's a water bottle in each of their cages,† Foo said. â€Å"Then what?† Jared asked, tossing his hair out of his eyes. â€Å"Then you can go home,† said Foo. â€Å"You don't need to observe them full-time until the experiment starts.† â€Å"I can't go home. I told my parents I was staying over at Abby's.† Foo was suddenly horrified at the thought of having to spend the night in the loft with a hundred rats, two bronzed vampires, and Jared. Especially Jared. Maybe he'd go home and leave Jared to watch the rats-make an appearance at home for the parents, so as to throw them off the trail of his non-toiling, loft-living, Anglo-girlfriend lifestyle. â€Å"You can stay here, then,† Foo said. â€Å"I'll be back in the morning.† â€Å"What about them?† Jared nodded toward the bronzed figures of Jody and Tommy. â€Å"What about them?† â€Å"Can I talk to them? I didn't get to finish telling Jody my novel.† Jared had spent a very long night telling Jody the first part of the novel he was going to write, an erotic horror story that starred himself and his pet rat, Lucifer 2. â€Å"Okay,† said Foo. He didn't really like thinking about the two people, well, vampires, but they seemed a lot like people, that he'd helped imprison in a bronze shell. It sort of gave him the willies, and that was highly unscientific. â€Å"But no touching,† he added. Jared pouted and sat down on the futon, about the only spot in the entire living-room-kitchen area not covered with plastic rat cages. â€Å"Okay, but will you help me get these boots off before you go?† Foo shuddered. It had been less than an hour since the cops led Abby away and already he missed her like a severed limb. It was embarrassing. How could hormones and hydrostatic pressure make you feel like this? Love was very unscientific. â€Å"Sorry,† Foo said. â€Å"Gotta jet.† A true hero, the kind Abby accused him of being, he knew, would have helped Jared. JARED Abby Normal had once offered to pay for a tattoo for Jared that read: Danger. Do not administer caffeine without adult supervision. Jared asked, â€Å"Can it be in red? Does it have to be on the forehead? Maybe on the side so I can grow my hair over it if I don't like it. Am I being emo? Do you want to play Blood-feast on Xbox? They have green fur iPod cases at Urban Outfitters. I love white chocolate mochas. Marilyn Manson needs to be dragged to death behind a clown car. Oh fuck, I'm so allergic to this eyeliner I could cry.† Abby said, â€Å"Oh my God, you're like Obnoxious and Annoying had an ass baby!† â€Å"What are you trying to say?† asked Jared. What she had been trying to say, although she didn't know it at the time, was that under no circumstances should Jared be left alone in an apartment with an abundance of time and espresso, which is what Foo had just done. So after feeding, watering, and naming all the rats (most given French names from Abby's copy of Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal), Jared began brewing espressos and was nine demitasse cups into the afternoon when he decided to act out the remainder of his unwritten vampire adventure novel, The Dark of Darkness, for a hundred rats caged in plastic and two vampires encased in bronze. â€Å"So the evil Blood Queen dons her chrome strap-on of death and goes after Lucifer 2. But Jared Whitewolf is on her like a fat kid on a cupcake, parrying her blows with his dagger of death, or Dee Dee, as it is known.† Jared pirouetted, a move he'd learned in ballet class at age six, and slashed the air, low and fast, with the double-edged dagger held backhand so as to sever his imaginary enemy's femoral artery, a move he'd learned in Soul Assassin Five on the Xbox (although it was harder to do while wearing platform boots than it was in the video game). The dagger was real enough, twelve inches of double-edged high-carbon stainless steel with a dragon hilt. Jared carried it because he thought it made him look badass when doormen took it away from him at clubs. â€Å"And he strikes her weapon in half!† he said, leaping and bringing the blade around a little too fast. He turned his ankle, lost his balance, and as he fell, the dagger put a deep nick in the bronze statue. â€Å"Ow!† He sat on the floor holding his ankle and rocking back and forth in the yoga position known as the â€Å"freaked-out half-lotus.† Then he noticed the gash he'd put in the bronze, directly over Jody's right clavicle. â€Å"I'm sorry, Countess,† Jared said, still a little breathless from his battle. â€Å"I didn't mean to hurt you. It's just that I had to save Lucifer 2. You'd do the same thing for Lord Flood if he was in the story.† Jared buffed at the bronze with his sleeve, but the gash was deep and wasn't going to go away with polishing. â€Å"Abby's going to kill me. I'll patch you, Countess. Just hang on. Toothpaste. We used it on the wall that time we drank Abby's mom's vodka and played cross-country darts in her living room. Hang on a minute.† Jared let the heavy dagger drop to the floor, climbed to his feet, winced, then limped off to the bathroom to look for toothpaste. He located a tube of all natural tartar control with baking soda just as the sun dropped under the horizon in the west. Out in the living room, a needle-thin stream of mist began leaking out of the gash he'd made in the bronze statue. Toothpaste probably wouldn't have fixed it. THE ANIMALS In the last two months, the Animals, the night stock crew at the Marina Safeway, had hunted an ancient vampire, blown up his yacht, stolen millions of dollars' worth of art, sold it for pennies on the dollar, spent the remaining hundreds of thousands on gambling and a blue hooker, got turned into vampires, were torn apart by zoo animals, then burned up by sunlamps when they attacked Abby Normal, then turned, by Foo, back into seven guys who stocked shelves at the Safeway and smoked a little too much weed. And as it often is with adventurers, after the adventure, they were feeling a little bored, and a little worried that nothing exciting would ever happen to them again. After you've battled the darkness, then become the darkness, then shagged the darkness, frozen turkey bowling and skiing behind the floor-scrubbing machine just doesn't hold the same thrill. After you've shared a blue prostitute with your buddies to the tune of a half a million dollars, only to have her kill and resurrect you before disappearing into the night, swapping stories of banging babes was a bit of an anticlimax. After all, they worked nights and the oldest of them, Clint, was only twenty-three, so most of their stories were gross exaggerations, wishful thinking, or outright lies anyway. Even crucifying Clint with zip ties on the potato chip rack every other Friday didn't seem fun anymore, and last week they had just left him hanging, thrashing in the Doritos, and went off to stock their aisles before he could even forgive them for knowing not what they did. Tragic, really, to be young, free, and mind-numbingly bored. So when the Emperor of San Francisco came screaming out of the parking lot and slammed, face-first, into the big Plexiglas front window, rattling the Tic Tacs on every register, each of them dropped what he was working on and headed to the front of the store, hoping in their hearts that something outstanding was coming down. The seven, the Animals, stood on one side of the big window, while the Emperor pounded on the other, the royal hounds leaping and barking at his side. â€Å"Maybe we should let him in,† said Clint, curly-haired, born-again, ex-heroin addict who worked cereal, coffee, and juices. â€Å"He seems troubled.† â€Å"S,† said Gustavo, the porter, leaning on his mop. â€Å"Troubled.† â€Å"Seems fucking freaked,† said Drew, the Ichabod-Crane-gaunt master of the frozen food aisle and chief medical officer. â€Å"Totally fucking freaked.† â€Å"What's wrong?† asked Lash, the lean black guy who had become their leader when Tommy was turned into a vampire, largely because he almost had an MBA, but also because he was a black guy and inherently cooler than everyone else. â€Å"Murder, destruction, ravenous creatures of the night, a storm of them,† shouted the Emperor. â€Å"Hurry, please.† â€Å"He always says that,† said Barry, the balding fireplug of a scuba diver who also stocked soap and dog food. â€Å"Well, every time he says it, it's kind of true,† said Jeff, the tall blond ex-power forward with the blown-out knee (baking supplies and international foods). â€Å"I say let him in.† â€Å"Look, the retriever is all bandaged up. Poor guy,† said Troy Lee, their resident martial arts expert who worked the glass aisle. â€Å"Let them in.† â€Å"You just want to roll the little one up in a burrito,† said Lash. â€Å"Yeah, that's right, Lash. Because I'm Chinese, I have a deep-seated need to nosh house pets. Now why don't you let him in before my inner Chinaman forces me to kung-fu your bitch ass.† Because he understood that he was the leader only so long as he told everyone to do what they wanted to do anyway, and because he had had his bitch ass kung-fued in the past and hadn't cared for it, Lash unlocked the door and let the Emperor in. The old man fell into the store when Lash opened the door. Bummer and Lazarus stopped barking and bolted by them, and on toward the back of the store. Jeff and Drew got the Emperor seated on one of the registers and Troy Lee handed him a bottle of water. â€Å"Chill, Your Majesty, we've done this before.† â€Å"Not like this. Not like this,† said the Emperor. â€Å"It's a storm of evil. Lock the door.† Lash rolled his eyes. They really had done this before, and the door being locked or unlocked wasn't going to make much difference if a vampire was following the old man. â€Å"We got your back, Highness,† Lash said. â€Å"Lock the door,† the Emperor moaned, pointing through the window. A fog bank was moving across the parking lot, with rather more intent than one usually expects from a fog bank. A high, yowling screech seemed to come out of the fog in a stream, as if it had been sampled, amplified, and duplicated a thousand times. The Animals moved to the glass. â€Å"Lock the door, Lash,† Clint said. Clint never gave orders. The edge of the fog bank was boiling with shapes, claws, ears, eyes, teeth, tails-cats formed of fog, rolling in a wave over one another, some materializing partially, only to evaporate and roll back into the cloud, their red eyes moving through the cloud like embers out of a firestorm. â€Å"Whoa,† said Drew. â€Å"Whoa,† repeated the others. â€Å"Okay, that is different,† said Troy Lee. â€Å"My friends all over the City are missing,† the Emperor said. â€Å"Street people. They're gone. Just their clothes and gray dust,† the Emperor said. â€Å"The cats are killing everything in their way.† â€Å"That is fucked up,† said Jeff. â€Å"Deeply, deeply fucked up,† said Barry, dragging one of the heavy wooden order dividers off the register and brandishing it like a club. â€Å"Lock the fucking door, Lash!† Clint screamed. â€Å"Jesus hates it when you use the f-word,† said Gustavo, the Mexican porter, who was Catholic and liked to remind Clint when his Jesus was slipping. The fog washed against the window and claw marks etched the Plexiglas instantly to frost, as if it had all been sanded. The noise was like, well, it was like a thousand vampire cats clawing on Plexiglas-it made their teeth hurt. â€Å"Did anyone bring weapons?† Troy Lee asked. â€Å"I brought some weed,† Drew said. A cat's claw of fog crept under the door and raked the toe of Lash's sneaker. He snapped the lock shut, pulled out the key, and backed away. â€Å"Okay, break time,† he said. â€Å"Crew meeting in the walk-in.† JARED Across town, in the bedroom of a fashionable loft, in the fashionable SOMA neighborhood, aspiring rat-shagger, Jared Whitewolf, looked up from rubbing his sore ankle to see a completely naked redhead walk into the room. Her hair hung to her waist in a great curling cape, framing her figure, which was perfect and as white as a marble statue. She held Jared's double-edged dagger in her right hand. Jared backed up onto the bed in a reverse crab walk. â€Å"I, I, I, it, it, it-Abby made me-â€Å" â€Å"Chill, Scissorhands,† Jody said. â€Å"You'd better find some of those blood bags of Steve's fast, unless you'd like to finish high school as a pile of greasy dust. Countess is thirsty.†

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Formalism vs Substantivism

The Disembedded economy Why might Polanyi claim that disembedded economies are less stable than embedded ones? Does a market society require a certain level of insecurity for its members? How might people find a disembedded economy empowering? Can there be such a thing as a ‘pure’ market society? Is ‘marketization’ a helpful concept with which to understand contemporary capitalism? Industrial capitalism and machines etc were all part of the establishment of the market economy. The motive of subsistence must become one of gain. The merchant makes his profits on the market and prices are allowed to regulate themselves.Such a self-regulating system of markets is what we call a market economy. The transformation to this system is like the metamorphis of a caterpillar- so stark that it is almost not like a continuous process. Machines in a society transform nature into a commodity. Dalton on Polanyi: Material self-gain is institutionally enforced In traditional b ands the institutions through which goods were produced and distributed wer embedded in an inseperable part of social institutions, and the economy functioned as by product of kinship political and religious obligations and relationships. economy’ is not a field of experience of which humans have always been aware. Primitive societies are gemeinchaften not gesellshaften. Hunger is not an incentive for production. Classical economics and Marxist socialism came from the industrial revolution. Laissez faire capitalism was created in response to the need for machine technology Burling Economics deals with the material means to man’s existence: Does the good have to be ‘material’ in order to be in the realm of economic? Price of a ticket or the cost of someone’s wages are not material yet are economic.We economize between material and non material ends. Do I work overtime in order to afford myself a DVD or do I refuse the overtime and have more leisure t ime at home with my family? Polanyi makes the distinction between economics in the substantive sense that’s material, and in the formal sense- rationalizing and calculating. Polanyi says that because we have the market these two aspects come together but they wouldn’t in a primitive economy. Primitives economize too. The materialness is irrelevant.Economics is the distribution of goods and services: But not any goods and services, only economic ones†¦ which makes this statement useless. If its to do with price systems then some societies don’t have economics. ‘Economics is the allocation of scarce means to multiple ends’ Draws parralells with Freud and maximizing by sacrificing pleasure for future gain. We need to escape the notion of economic as involved with the material , in order to move on with the discussions. Cook ‘Love distorts indeed, but hate distorts even more’Substantivist theory built around the market and pre-market s ocieties. Now the pre-market societies are almost extinct. Dalton- the section being dominated by the market principle is becoming enlarged. Bohannan- transitional and peasant economies are mentioned. Frank knight and merville herskovitz debate- herskovitz didn’t understand the economic man. Romantic anti-market syndrome Polanyi-primitive societies, reciprocity and redistribution- alledgedly a conflict-free model. Le Clair- why is there a felt need for a substantivist definition of economics.Polanyi and Dalton- scarcity is solely a function of social organization Anti market ideology. Go against the scientific method of enquiry- test and dismiss Dalton Economic theory cannot be applied to primitive economies Economic theory was influenced by factory industrialism and market organization. The market continues outside of market places in the west It is market organization that compels its participants to seek material self-gain: each must sell something of market value to acqui re the material means of existence.Back in the 19th century the economy was a cohesive entity apart from other subsystems in society. Neither government, family or religion controlled market organization. They did obviously affect supply and demand though (eg more fish in catholic countries). When market organization is economy wide it creates a market society in the sense that social organization has to adapt to market needs to allow the sustained provision of material goods and of money incomes with which to acquire goods. A market economy can only exist in a market society†¦ society itself is subordinated to the laws of the market’- Polanyi (e. g when labourers wages drop they look for work elsewhere and migrate, so location of population conforms to market registered needs for labour) The market economy is highly decentralized, and this reinforces the atomistic view of society as simply an aggregate of self-interested individuals. William Townsend- hunger makes peopl e workMalthus- natural fertility of humans makes food scarce and population growth brought about wages. Man’s existence requires material sustenance, but not unlimited wants, this is product of social organization. Economic in the substantive sense ‘provision of material goods which satisfy biological and social wants’. Economic in the formalist sense is described by the terms ‘economical’ and ‘economizing’. Denotes a set of rules designed to maximize the achievement of some end or to minimize the expenditure of some means.Substantivists believe that all places have an economy, but formalists believe that all places economize. In primitive economies people do not want profit. Where money is used in a primitive economy, it is not all-purpose money. -cattle/bridewealth. Market economy is unicentric because of the wide variety of material items and labour transacted in the sphere of market exchange. In contrast, primitive economy is multice ntric and the dominant centres are organized through nonmarket patterns of intergration such as reciprocity and redistribution.What is a money economy to an anthropologist appears as a market economy to an economist. In primitive economy the basic institutional precondition is absent, the bulk of material income is not derived from, and therefore does not depend on market sales of output. Firth in NG-There is no final measure of the value of individual things, and you can’t make everything have a value in relation to one thing as there are many types of exchange.In primitive societies there are no penalties for non-repayment of loans. Primitive economy is different from market industrialism not in degree but in kind. Cancian Considers the two sides of the argument Formalists- even if a man is maximizing using only the scarcity of his human energy it is still maximizing. So he is economizing. It’s wrong to reject the strategy before trying to balance the equation. Burli ng-economic anthropology should be the search for the multiple actors that people maximize. t

Thursday, November 7, 2019

How To Research Latino Ancestry and Genealogy

How To Research Latino Ancestry and Genealogy Indigenous in areas from the southwestern United States to the southern tip of South America and from the Philippines to Spain, Hispanics are a diverse population. From the small country of Spain, tens of millions of Spaniards have emigrated to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Central and South America, Latin America, North America, and Australia. Spaniards settled the Caribbean islands and Mexico more than a century before the English settled Jamestown in 1607. In the United States, Hispanics settled in Saint Augustine, Florida, in 1565 and in New Mexico in 1598. Often, a search for Hispanic ancestry leads ultimately to Spain but is likely that a number of family generations settled in the countries of Central America, South America or the Caribbean. Also, as many of these countries are considered melting pots, it is not uncommon that many individuals of Hispanic descent will not only be able to trace their family tree back to Spain, but also to locations such as France, Germany, Italy, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Portugal. Begin at Home If youve spent any time researching your family tree, this may sound cliche. But the first step in any genealogy research project is, to begin with, what you know - yourself and your direct ancestors. Scour your home and ask your relatives for birth, death and marriage certificates; old family photos; immigration documents, etc. Interview every living relative that you can find, being sure to ask open-ended questions. See 50 Questions for Family Interviews for ideas. As you collect information, be sure to organize the documents into notebooks or binders, and enter the names and dates into a pedigree chart or genealogy software program. Hispanic Surnames Most Hispanic countries, including Spain, have a unique naming system in which children are commonly given two surnames, one from each parent. The middle name (1st surname) comes from the fathers name (apellido paterno), and the last name (2nd surname) is the mothers maiden name (apellido materno). Sometimes, these two surnames may be found separated by y (meaning and), although this is no longer as common as it once was. Recent changes to laws in Spain mean that you may also find the two surnames reversed - first the mothers surname, and then the fathers surname. Women also retain their maiden name when they get married, making it much easier to track families through multiple generations. Know Your History Knowing the local history of the places where your ancestors lived is a great way to speed up your research. Common immigration and migration patterns may provide clues to your ancestors country of origin. Knowing your local history and geography will also help you determine where to look for the records of your ancestors, as well as provide some great background material for when you sit down to write your family history. Find Your Familys Place of Origin Whether your family now lives in Cuba, Mexico, the United States or another country, the goal in researching your Hispanic roots is to use the records of that country to trace your family back to the country of origin. Youll need to search through public records of the place where your ancestors lived, including the following major record sources: Church RecordsThe records of the Roman Catholic church represent one of the best sources for locating a Hispanic familys place of origin. Local parish records in Hispanic Catholic parishes include sacramental records such as baptisms, marriages, deaths, burials, and confirmations. Particularly valuable are marriage records, in which the town of origin is frequently documented for the bride and groom. Many of these records are kept in Spanish, so you may find this Spanish Genealogical Word List to be helpful in translation. A vast majority of these Hispanic parish records have been microfilmed by the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and you can borrow the ones you need through your local Family History Center. You may also be able to obtain copies by writing directly to the local parish where your ancestors lived.Civil or Vital RecordsCivil registration is the record kept by local governments of the births, marriages, and deaths within their jurisdictions. These records provid e excellent sources for information such as the names of family members, dates of important events and, possibly, the familys place of origin. In the United States, more recent vital records are usually maintained at the state level. In general, civil records date back to the early 1900s in the United States; 1859 in Mexico; 1870s-1880s in most Central and South American countries; and 1885 in Puerto Rico. Civil or vital records are typically kept at the local (town, village, county or municipal) level in the local court, municipal office, county office or Civil Registry office. Many have also been microfilmed by the Family History Library (see church records). Immigration RecordsA number of immigration sources, including passenger lists, border crossing records, and naturalization and citizenship records, are also useful for identifying the place of origin of an immigrant ancestor. For early Spanish emigrants, the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, Spain, is the repository for Spanish documents dealing with the Spanish colonial period (1492-1810) in the Americas. These documents often include the birthplace of each individual recorded. Ship arrivals and passenger lists provide the best documentation of immigrants who came to the Americas after the middle of the nineteenth century. These records, kept at major North, Central, and South American ports, can usually be found in the National Archives of the country in question. Many are also available on microfilm through your local family history center. Tracing your Hispanic roots may, eventually, lead you to Spain, where genealogical records are among the oldest and best in the world.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Anna Pavlova Quotes on Happiness, Success,Dance, Life

Anna Pavlova Quotes on Happiness, Success,Dance, Life Anna Pavlova was trained in classic ballet, and while she helped transform the classical ballet by her lighter, more natural style, she did not go outside the classic forms as did her contemporary, Isadore Duncan. Anna Pavlova is especially remembered for her portrayal of a swan in The Dying Swan and Swan Lake. Selected Anna Pavlova Quotations The right to happiness is fundamental. When a small child, I thought that success spelled happiness. I was wrong, happiness is like a butterfly which appears and delights us for one brief moment, but soon flits away. To follow without halt, one aim; there is the secret of success. And success? What is it? I do not find it in the applause of the theater. It lies rather in the satisfaction of accomplishment. What exactly is success? For me it is to be found not in applause, but in the satisfaction of feeling that one is realizing ones ideal. Master technique and then forget about it and be natural. As is the case in all branches of art, success depends in a very large measure upon individual initiative and exertion, and cannot be achieved except by dint of hard work. No one can arrive from being talented alone, work transforms talent into genius. God gives talent. Work transforms talent into genius. Although one may fail to find happiness in theatrical life, one never wishes to give it up after having once tasted its fruits. [Last words of Anna Pavlova] Get my swan costume ready. Then Play that last measure softly. More About Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlova BiographyBiographies: Women in Dance About These Quotes Quote collection assembled by Jone Johnson Lewis. Each quotation page in this collection and the entire collection  © Jone Johnson Lewis. This is an informal collection assembled over many years. I regret that I am not be able to provide the original source if it is not listed with the quote.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Article critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 7

Article critique - Essay Example rticle discusses clearly the results of the research, noting that there are still a good number of parents who are not well-informed about oral hygiene. For instance, it has been found out that the use of the right amount of toothpaste is not followed by most children. The researchers find this as important information because the chemical contents of toothpastes can be harmful especially for children who have high tendencies of swallowing instead of spitting out the toothpaste. Moreover, they also discovered that not many parents teach their children to floss. Other negative discoveries include the lack of knowledge regarding the importance of every meal and adding more fruits and vegetables in children’s diet. However, parents appear to be well-informed about the ill-effects of fruit juices and other sugary drinks and foods and they also encourage their children to brush their teeth at least twice a day. The article covered all the necessary information about the study and a ll the issues regarding oral hygiene and the participation of parents/guardians have been addressed. The information given is relevant and the interpretation of data is complete and accurate, giving a clear picture of the result gathered from the

Thursday, October 31, 2019

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP - Assignment Example However major problem with ethical leadership is that it is difficult to define that what is right. Ethical leadership is based on two components, first is that ethical leaders must act and make decisions that are considered to be ethical and second is that they should lead the people based on the ethical standards (Anon., 2014). Leaders know that what exactly they value. They are aware of the importance of ethical behavior. The successful leaders are known for exhibiting both their ethics as well as their values in their leadership actions and style. The leadership ethics and values should be visible in the leader’s actions every single day (Anon., 2014). Lack of trust is considered to be a major problem in many work places. If the leaders are unable to identify the value and ethics required at workplace the mistrust can be understandable. People are not exactly aware of what they can exactly expect. Workplace ethics may take the same route if the leaders of the organization have ethical expectations and code of conduct, however it may become a joke for the organization if the leaders may fail to live up to the codes published by the organization (Heathfield, 2014). One of the effective examples of ethical leadership that can be extracted from the fashion industry is of H&M, which is the global fashion leaders and is enforcing its effort to fulfill its corporate social responsibility in recent years. The mission of H&M is to offer fashion as well as quality at its best price. Quality as defined by H&M is to manufacture its product in a way that is environmentally and socially sustainable. This is why the company works in close collaboration with its stakeholders and suppliers to effectively fulfill its long term goals achieve sustainable environmental and social standards in the factories that are manufacturing their products and also in the operation of their other business partners. The code of conduct of H&M specifies

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Application of different moral philosophies to an analysis of Term Paper

Application of different moral philosophies to an analysis of individual decision making - Term Paper Example The consequences of the ethical violations of the present case may not be the exact same but yet the ethical implications and the issues related to the present case is most certainly a reflection of the ethical violations in the business practices. The case study has Carla and Jack as the two central characters and all the aspects related the business ethics revolves around those central characters only. One of the first ethical issues related to the case could be the listed as the denying of Jack from a potential partnership deal by the organization. As per the case study, Jack has been working for sixty to seventy hours a week for the last ten years. The contribution made by jack towards the organization can be analyzed. Hence it can be said that based on the contributions and the amount of time spent by Jack in the company (more than 17 years), the company could have decided to provide a partnership deal. Although it has been identified as a potential issue, it has to be said that the reasons for which the company decided to deny Jack from the partnership deal has not been mentioned in the case study. The next ethical issue is the behavior of Jack after being denied of the deal. As per the case study, Carla one day found out that Jack has been behaving strangely. Also it was found that Jack was copying some software used by the company for consulting and auditing purpose. It is also believed that Jack had got hold some clients from the internal database of the company and was using them for own benefit. Jack also had a plan to open a new firm. Next case of ethical violations is associated with Carla. As per the case study, Carla has been using the office phones for personal calls and other issues like using the company machine for personal usage. Although the magnitude of the violation may not be as immense as the ones conducted by Jack but it may be notified as a case of ethical violation. However the next phase of the case could lead to severe consequences . Carla decided to keep some of the facts in mind that she has been using the company resources for personal usage also. Add to that Jack has been with the company for a long period of time and the company may not believe her. She also did not want to leave the job. Such a behavior may lead to potential disaster for the company not from a financial perspective but also it may actually threaten the existence of the firm also. Answer 2 Teleology is one of the most important among the six major types of moral philosophy. It describes the acts by any human beings according to a specific situation where the acts need to be acceptable or morally right in terms of achievement of expected results (no author, Chapter 6, 2006). An example of teleology is clear understanding of utility or self interest. Therefore, according to the behavior of Jack with respect to the specific situation in the case, it can be stated that teleology would be the most suitable moral philosophy that describes the b ehavior and acts of Jack in the case. To be really honest the readers of the case would have full sympathy with Jack, for denied a position of partner but not for the acts after being denied. The probable options for Jack have been discussed in this section. There is very little doubt over the fact after putting

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Effect of Fat: Assessment of Apparent Diffusion Coefficient

Effect of Fat: Assessment of Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Abstract Objectives: Recent studies have indicated that excessive fat may confound assessment of diffusion in organs with high fat content, such as the liver and breast. However, the extent of this effect in the kidney, which is not considered a major fat deposition site, remains unclear. This study tested the hypothesis that renal fat may impact DWI parameters, and proposes a three-compartment model (TCM) to circumvent this effect. Methods: Using computer simulations, we investigated the effect of fat on assessment of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), intravoxel incoherent-motion (IVIM) and TCM-derived pure-diffusivity. In domestic pigs fed a high-cholesterol (Obese) or normal diet (Lean) (n=7 each), DWI parameters were calculated using IVIM and correlated to renal histology. IVIM-derived pure diffusivity was also compared among 15 essential hypertension (EH) patients classified by BMI (high vs. normal). Finally, pure diffusivity was calculated and compared in 8 patients with atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis (ARAS) and 5 healthy subjects using IVIM and TCM. Results: Simulations showed that unaccounted fat results in the underestimation of intravoxel incoherent-motion (IVIM)-derived pure-diffusivity, particularly at lower fat contents. Moreover, TCM, which incorporates highly diffusion-weighted images (b>2500s/mm2), could correct for fat-dependent underestimation. Animal studies confirmed lower ADC and pure-diffusivity in Obese vs. Lean pigs with otherwise healthy kidneys. Similarly, EH patients with high BMI had lower ADC (1.9 vs. 2.110-3 mm2/s) and pure-diffusivity (1.7 vs. 1.910-3mm2/s) than those with normal BMI.   Pure-diffusivity calculated using IVIM was not different between the ARAS and healthy subjects, but TCM revealed significantly lower diffusivity in ARAS. Conclusions: Excessive renal fat may cause underestimation of renal ADC and pure-diffusivity, which may hinder detection of renal pathology. Models accounting for fat contribution may help reduce the variability of diffusivity calculated using DWI. Keywords: Renal adiposity, Diffusion-weighted imaging, intravoxel incoherent motion, obesity.   Ã‚   Over the past two decades, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) has evolved to an important tool for studying neurological disorders (1-3), while application of this method for characterization of abdominal pathological conditions awaited improved hardware and robust pulse sequences over nearly a decade (4). In the kidney, DWI has been used to investigate chronic kidney disease (CKD) (5), renal lesions (6), and deteriorating allografts (7). Nevertheless, the contribution of tubular flow and hemodynamics to the apparent diffusion constant (ADC), the diffusion quantitative index of the single compartment mono-exponential model, complicates tissue characterization and renal DWI analysis (8). This encouraged implementation of models incorporating a larger number of compartments to differentiate pure diffusion from pseudo-diffusive components. Indeed, in the kidney the intra-voxel incoherent motion (IVIM) analytical method, which utilizes a two-compartment model associated with pure diffusion and flow, showed superiority over the mono-exponential decay model (9, 10). However, recent studies on hepatic DWI identified fat as a potential third compartment with a significant confounding effect (11, 12), even in non-steatotic livers (13, 14) or other organs (15). Abdominal DWI is typically performed using an echo-planar imaging (EPI) readout, which uses a water-only excitation. Selected excitation or fat suppression methods prevent contribution of the fat signal associated with peaks spectrally distant from water, but cannot effectively eliminate the signal from fat components with resonance frequencies close to water proton frequency. For instance, peaks between 4.2-5.3 ppm associated with triglycerides, which account for nearly 8.7% of the total in vivo fat content, remain unsuppressed (11). Moreover, in the kidney, which is located in the vicinity of bowel, susceptibility artifacts may significantly reduce the efficacy of spectral fat suppression. Because the diffusion constant of lipid molecules is orders of magnitude smaller than that in water an d remains nearly unattenuated over the conventional range of b-values, the amplitude of the fat signal, especially at high b-values, can be prominent compared to the attenuated water signal (16), and therefore has a considerable impact on DWI parameters assessment (17). The epidemic of obesity stresses the importance of characterization of the effect of ectopic fat on DWI parameters, particularly in subjects with high body mass index (BMI). Increased renal adiposity (18, 19) may potentially interfere with interpretation of DWI in the kidney in obese subjects, but to date this effect has not been evaluated. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of renal fat accumulation and suboptimal suppression on DWI parameters. We investigated this effect using computer simulations and verified the error in a large animal model of obesity, and in healthy subjects and in the presence of renal pathological conditions in humans. We hypothesized that residual MR signal from fat causes underestimation of renal ADC and IVIM pure-diffusivity, the magnitude of which may approximate a reduction in these parameters elicited by renal pathology. Moreover, we suggest that the fat-dependency of DWI parameters may be corrected by estimating the MR signal of excessive fat using heavily diffusion-weighted images. Assuming that an unattenuated fat signal acts as an independent compartment, we formulated our model by adding a third exponential decay term to the bi-exponential IVIM model to account for the contribution of fat: (1) In our notation, C and are the fractions of extravascular water and fat in the DWI signal intensity. Dfast, Dslow, andDfat are diffusion coefficients for extravascular water (pure-diffusivity), intravascular flow-dependent component (pseudo-diffusion), and fat, respectively. The product of the fat diffusion coefficient and the b-values, over the conventional range of b-values is small such that the exponential part of the third term can be approximated by one. This simplifies the last term in Equation (1) to a constant signal offset as follows: (2) Considering that at higher b-values (~1000 s/mm2) conventionally used in DWI, the water-component of the signal intensity decays to nearly a few percent of its value at b0 (b=0 s/mm2), while the fat-related fraction (FRF), f, remains nearly unattenuated over the imaging b-value spectrum, the magnitude of FRF and its impact on calculated DWI parameters becomes significant. I. Simulations Simulations in this study pursued four aims. First, to show that in the absence of fat signal, the three-compartment model (TCM) reduces to IVIM. This would essentially verify that a non-zero FRF is not merely a result of overfitting the data of an intrinsically two-compartment system into a three-compartment model, and in fact represents a third independent compartment. Second, to investigate the influence of FRF, as illustrated in equation (1), on the diffusion parameters calculated using the bi-exponential IVIM model. Third, to examine the effect of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on the accuracy of DWI parameters assessed using IVIM and TCM, particularly since increasing the degrees of freedom in TCM per se reduces the stability of the regularization methods. Finally, to test if in the presence of fat signal the DWI parameters calculated using IVIM and TCM would be b-value dependent. We simulated the total MR signal using the TCM, including fast and slow decays associated with intra- and extravascular fluid, as well as the FRF signal as a third compartment. Simulations were performed for diffusion parameters similar to DWI values reported for the kidney (10), over a range of FRFs (0-10%) and SNRs (2.5-50dB) (Table 1). IVIM and TCM were used to extract DWI parameters. In TCM, the total MR signal intensity for all b-values was subtracted by the signal intensity from the corresponding voxel of the high b-value (>2500 s/mm2) image, and the data were then fitted to a bi-exponential model. Table 1 shows the values used in the simulations. To verify the b-value dependency, DWI parameters were calculated from a set of b-values with the highest value being either 600, 1000, or 2000 s/mm2. II. Animal study All animal procedures followed the Guideline for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1996) and were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at Mayo Clinic. Fourteen domestic swine in this study were fed ad lib for 16 weeks. Seven animals consumed a normal diet (Controls) and the other half (Obese) a high fat/carbohydrate diet (5B4L; Purina Test Diet, Richmond, IN) containing (in % kcal) 17% protein, 20% complex carbohydrates, 20% fructose, and 43% fat and supplemented with 2% cholesterol and 0.7% sodium cholate. We have recently shown that this diet induces obesity and adiposity (20). Diffusion-weighted MRI scans were performed at the completion of diet. Renal volume and hemodynamics were assessed 2-3 days apart from MR scans, using multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT). Prior to each in vivo study animals were anesthetized (Telazol 5mg/kg and xylazine 2mg/kg in saline), and anesthesia maintained with intravenous ketamine (0.2 mg/kg/min) and xylazine (0.03 mg/kg/min) (for CT), or inhaled 1-2% isoflurane (for MRI) throughout the course of imaging. Blood pressure was measured using an arterial catheter during the MDCT scanning session. Animals were injected with 10cc of heparin and euthanized with a lethal intravenous dose of sodium pentobarbital (100 mg/kg) a few days after the in vivo studies. Then the kidneys were removed and immersed in saline containing heparin. The tissue was stored at -80 °C or preserved in formalin for histology. a. Diffusion-weighted Imaging (DWI) DWI was performed on a 3T scanner (GE Medical Systems, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) using a torso array coil. Images were collected using a single-shot echo-planar sequence with bipolar gradient. In all animals, 4-6 coronal slices in oblique planes were collected for b-values 50, 100, 200, 300, 600, 800 and 1000 s/mm2. MR parameters were set to TR/TE 1800/79ms, field of view 35cm, Bandwidth 648Hz/pixel, Number of averages 3, slice thickness 2.5mm, and matrix size 128128. All acquisitions were performed during suspended respiration. b. MDCT imaging Renal hemodynamics were assessed from contrast-enhanced MDCT images, as previously detailed (21). A pigtail catheter was advanced through the left jugular vein to the superior vena cava to inject contrast media during the scan. Then animals were moved to MDCT unit (Somatom Sensation 64; Siemens Medical Solutions, Forchheim, Germany). Following localization of the kidneys, a bolus of iopamidol (0.5 ml/kg over 2s) was injected, and after a 3-second delay, 140 consecutive scans were acquired over approximately 3 minutes. After the flow scan and an additional contrast injection, a volume study was performed. Axial images were acquired at helical acquisition with thickness of 0.6mm and resolution of 512512, and reconstructed at 5mm thickness. c. Lipid Panel Lipid (total cholesterol, triglyceride, high density lipid (HDL)) was measured (Roche) at the Mayo Immunochemical Core Laboratory from blood samples, and low-density lipid (LDL) was calculated. d. Morphological Studies Images were acquired using an ApoTome microscope (Carl ZEISS SMT, Oberkochen, Germany). Renal fibrosis was quantified by colorimetric measurements in 5 µm slides stained for trichrome. Tubular dilation was measured in Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)-stained slides counterstained with Hemotoxylin. Intracellular lipid accumulation was assessed by colorimetric measurements in Oil-Red-O stained slides from frozen tissue counterstained with Hematoxylin. III. Human study The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Mayo Clinic, in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) guidelines. All patients provided written informed consent before enrollment. Fifteen patients with essential hypertension (EH) were recruited from an on-going study, to study the effect of renal fat on DWI parameters. Patients were divided in two groups based on their BMI: an obese group (n=10, BMI≠¥30kg/m2) and a lean group (n=5, BMI 20-25kg/m2). Additionally, diffusion parameters assessments in healthy vs. impaired (post-stenotic) kidneys, with and without fat correction, were compared in eight patients with atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis (ARAS), and five healthy controls. a. DWI In patients 3-8 axial images were acquired on 3T scanner (GE Medical Systems, Milwaukee, WI and Siemens Medical Systems, Erlangen, Germany) with MR parameters TR/TE, Bandwidth, Slice thickness, matrix size, and b-values were set to 2000-2400/60-94ms, 1953 Hz/pixel, 7mm, 128128 or 160160, and 100, 300, 600, 900 (s/mm2) in the first study with EH patients. In ARAS and Control subjects the TR/TE were 2600-4286/59-112ms. Pure-diffusivity was calculated from b-values ≠¥300 s/mm2 and fat-related fraction was assessed from high b-values, 2000-2500 s/mm2. b. Clinical parameters and Lipid Panel Clinical and laboratory parameters including age, sex, weight, BMI, blood pressure, serum creatinine, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and lipid panel levels were evaluated at study entry by standard procedures. IV. Data analysis a. DWI Pixel-by-pixel maps of quantitative indices of mono-exponential model, ADC, and bi- and tri-exponential models, IVIM and TCM parameters, respectively, were generated (Figure 1), as shown previously (22). The threshold for fast vs. slow components was set to 300s/mm2 in both animal and patient studies (23). Large cortical regions of interest (ROIs) were drawn on b0 DWI images and transferred to the maps as detailed before (22). Mean values of ADC and IVIM parameters were calculated by averaging values in all corresponding ROIs for all slices in the subject. b. MDCT Using contrast-enhanced MDCT in animals, single-kidney volume, GFR, perfusion, and renal blood flow (RBF) were calculated. To calculate renal function and hemodynamics, the cortical and medullary signal attenuation vs. time curves were fitted to an extended Γ-variate model. Regional blood volumes and mean transit times were calculated to estimate cortical and medullary perfusion and blood flows (products of perfusion and the corresponding volumes). Total RBF was assessed as the sum of cortical and medullary flows. Finally, GFR was evaluated using the slope of the cortical proximal tubular curve, as previously shown (21). Data Analysis software All analyses were performed in MATLAB ® (MathWork, Natick, MA, USA) and Analyzeâ„ ¢ (Biomedical Imaging Resource, Mayo Clinic, MN, USA). V. Statistical Analysis Simulation results are shown as mean  ± STD, and in vivo results as Median [First Quartile Third Quartile]. Minimum sample size was calculated using power analysis for minimum power value of 0.8. Non-parametric Mann-Whitney was used for comparison among groups. For p values