Analysis Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Analysis Paper - Essay Example A powerful research study, namely â€Å"Stress Tolerance: New Challenges for Millennial College Students† has been selected for studying thoroughly on this subject-matter before drawing conclusions. This essay was written in June 2012 collectively by four authors: Helen W. Bland, Bridget F. Melton, Paul Welle and Lauren Bigham. The authors deliver the idea therein that relatively newer generations have poor control and tolerance against stress and eventually they engage themselves in avoidance and denial strategies that are damaging for their welfare. The authors have targeted the college students of millennial generations, their families and their mentors who play a pivotal role in personal and professional development of students. I strongly believe that although stress might not be of severe degree as depicted by this article, still considerable amount of trauma is faced by these teenagers and thus measures need to be taken to help them overcome these obstacles. This stud y presents concrete arguments for its thesis and has proved to be highly effective for my research, providing me with extensive literature material and fruitful research benefits. This article entails possible causes for stress, found in college students, alongwith potential solutions to overcome it as it poses severe psychological and physical threats to sensitive youngsters during their critical ages. It concludes that millennial generations bear adverse characteristics and indulge in unproductive activities to fight stress. My perception revolves more or less around the same grounds as those exhibited by the authors of article in focus. The major part of thesis supported by authors is in line with my personal dissertation regarding this subject-matter: college students desperately need to be more trained to learn coping strategies that shall prove to be helpful for them, in their couple of years spent while studying for an undergraduate degree, to excel at pressure-handling and stress-busting tools and techniques. The essay selected is persuasive and effective in most of the arguments presented except for few areas where authors have made controversial claims, contradictory to my beliefs. They have been discussed in the following paragraphs: The opening section of the selected article contains an expression stating â€Å"college years have been considered as one of the most stressful times in a person's life† (Bland et al. 362). The above statement is highly subjective and prejudiced to personal experiences and mindsets. The authors are of the view that college life represents one of the most traumatic periods. On the contrary, the masses believe college life to be one of the most memorable periods of life spent in leisure, with no responsibilities and tension. I strongly believe that the later parts of human lives are far more stressful than college days due to pressure to earn a livelihood and survive in the competitive world. In spite of some powerful notions presented by authors, the exaggerated aspects of the essay weaken their position. The minor degree of academic stress and pressures to meet expectations can, on the other hand, prove out to be positive energy (known as eu-stress) for the students to work hard and perform well. Similarly, the limitations paragraph clearly states, â€Å"Since the participants were solicited from a medium-size university in the southeastern portion of the United States, the results of the study may not be representative of all college millennials†

Theodore Roosevelt and his contribution to America Research Paper

Theodore Roosevelt and his contribution to America - Research Paper Example He used these enhancements to make serious and positive changes to the US. He focused upon some of the most important questions concerning the power of the government and the individuals within a nation. Body US was experiencing heavy amount of economic growth and was being regarded as the wealthiest nation when Roosevelt replaced McKinley as president. US were leading throughout the world in the production of iron, coal steel and timber when Roosevelt came into action. During that era US even experienced growth in the rate of population and exports. The growth experienced by US was beneficial but equally disastrous as this growth brought poverty, increase in child labor, unpleasant working conditions and unequal distribution of wealth. Roosevelt was of the opinion that government should intervene and limit the freedom enjoyed by private enterprises. Due to this he started regulating private businesses by making several changes to the laws and constitution, some of these changes in laws includes: the drug act, laws regarding the safety and inspection of working conditions in industries and the Pure Food Act (D'Silva 262). Although these changes were not appreciated by the business communi ty during that time period but today the importance of these changes are recognized by the citizens of US. Roosevelt was clearly of the opinion that one aspect of the society that should be directed and supervised by the government was the economy of a country. The laws and regulations added to the constitution by the president have aided the society in bringing Private Corporations such as Enron and Microsoft to justice. During the period of 1912, he tried for the third term as president under the Progressive Political party, during this session he coined and promoted some of the various changes to constitution that were later enacted under president Franklin, these changes included the stock market regulation, minimum wage clause and the Social security clause. Roosevelt played the role of an activist not only in America but throughout the world as he promoted the role of the United States as world power. During the period of 1898 US was at war with the Spanish nations and soon co nquered them, after the war US became responsible for supervising territories such as Cuba and Puerto Rico (O'Toole 300). President Roosevelt was a part of the war as an American solider and later he supported and made the American citizens realize that US was a global power. He was even a promoter of democracy as he promoted the Marshall Plan which was enacted after his death. The legacies of the president were a gift to the world and to the future of US, he was in love with the natural beauty, he liked to experience adventures such as hiking and climbing and he was the first president of US to make the issues experienced by environment as a issue to be countered by the government. He was persuaded by the Sierra Club and the chief of the US forests to take the issue of protecting the environment to the federal level as the issue could not be countered on the state level (O'Toole 240). His love for preserving the environment and his love for nature made him create policies in order o protect the

Men continuous search for the avenue of the known and unknown reality Essay Example for Free

Men continuous search for the avenue of the known and unknown reality Essay The title itself gives a fascinating debate. The â€Å"Known Reality† can be broadly explained because humans already know what it is. It is already known by many people. If we give meaning to the â€Å"Unknown Reality† it is something we haven’t seen yet, went yet or even discovered. How will man find the access to that reality? Will we know if it is the unknown we’ve been searching for? I’ll give my opinion on the â€Å"Unknown†, maybe it is the reality that is already in front of us but we don’t see it because we neglect our understanding for it. Maybe we don’t open our minds and make that reality unknown. The avenue between the known and unknown is being open minded, trying to listen in both sides for us to understand both realities. If we keep tolerating ourselves in neglecting our capability to understand, then man will have an endless search for that avenue. Contradiction to that, if man has the determination and hunger to seek the truth, then they will find what they are looking for that both reality is there, and will realize that the avenue to it is the ability to listen and understand. If man continues to be blind, they will never reach that avenue and the â€Å"Unknown Reality† itself. Both realities are in front of us. But people only pay attention to only one side and brings an effect of ignorance to people. Many people have not yet realized the truth that is being laid down to them for being ignorant. I believe that what they are searching for is easily seen when we give understanding to it.

Witness Memory as Evidence in Criminal Trials

Witness Memory as Evidence in Criminal Trials 1. When, and why, are witnesses’ memories unreliable as evidence in criminal trials in England and Wales? Memory Memory is one’s ability to recall the past events. Memory let us explain our personal experiences and perception about anything which is occurred in past. Types Of Memory There are three types of memory Episodic Memory Episodic memory refers to our memory of special event like accident, death etc. Semantic Memory There are too many general knowledge is stored in one’s mind which comes under the semantic memory type. It also refers to the information which is stored in our mind to perform any skill. It also tells us how to perform in some repeated situation. Procedural Memory Understanding the procedural memory is rather difficult to understand and contains different kind of information. Generally it refers to series of events which occurred on numerous times. Importance Of Witness Memory Witness memory is a fuel of any investigation because it let investigator to collect information about incident but human memory is too fragile to exactly remember every moment. There are also numerous factors involved which affect witness memory that is environment factors, witness factors, stress levels of the witness/victim, weapon focus. When Witness Memory Is Unreliable As Evidence? Witnesses memories are unreliable as evidence in criminal trials in England and Wales when there is a â€Å"TurnBull† direction indicated the state of witness at the time of incident happened because so many researches has found the massive impression on the quality of information. What Is TurnBull? There are too many environmental factors which affect the memory of witness and can damage the quality and quantity of information. R. V. Turnbull guidance proposed a term ADVOKATE Amount of time one observed Distance – What was the distance between event and witness Visibility – How much the scene was clear? Obstruction – Was there anything obscuring the view? Known or seen before – If the situation was familiar? Any reason to remember – What is the reason behind to remember. Time lapse – How long the exposure of event? Error or material discrepancy – Is there any discrepancy between the fact and the description (Booklet). Why Witness State Is Unreliable In England and Wales, Evidence is not reliable, when there is a Turnbull direction in a state of witness because sometime witness rely on external help to recall the incident or he may have perceived wrongly due to distance or visibility or both (Bull, 1999) Generally people under the investigation are not ready to recall the incident currently. Many factors like fear, stress and nervousness can affect their quality of information. Sometimes they rely on external resources to feed them and they wrongly perceive the series of happening occurred at TBR events. Sometimes witness may lie for any previous dispute or grudge. Witness may be biased and can provide wrong information to affect the investigation Conclusion Since witness memory depends on lots of factors which are indicated through the famous term ADVOKATE therefore investigation should be taken with caution and every term of ADVOKATE should be properly and clearly note down. To gather worthy information from the witness, should check the witness personal preference of biasness or favoritism. It should also be checked that whether the witness is pressurized by the culprit to speak lie. What changes should be made, to the procedures for identifying suspects in criminal investigations in England and Wales, according to psychological research? Human memory is too fragile to exactly remember the incident which happened that is why interviewing the witness to identifying the suspect is rather difficult task. It can also affect by the â€Å"Turnbull† directions. Usually witness replies the interviewer in broad term and can only describe six or seven characteristics of suspect like age (Between 20-30) or height (between 5’6’’ – 5’8’’) that is why it is always difficult to get accurate knowledge about victim. The accurate information may be collected through cognitive interview but this type of interview demands too much time to conclude things. These re the reasons for which psychological research stress on the identification parade to identify the culprit. (Kapardis ebrary, 2010) Why Should Be Identification Parade Arranged? Identification parade are arranged to avoid two hurdles of identifying the culprit. Verbal Overshadowing In most of crime, during the investigation, witness is interviewed by more than one officer and provided stream of information due to which he can mix up the details which is stored in witnesses’ mind and the information he is provided by the officers about culprit. If identification parade is arranged then a witness can easily identify the suspect or the person who is somehow linked with the crime. Information To The Public Some crimes are needed to announce in public through media and police shows the picture, video or sketch of suspect in public. Sometimes a totally innocent person can be suspected and shown to public. Witnesses, after seeing the police announcement about suspect can to mix-up the faces of suspect with actual culprit. In that case, after the identification parade, officers are directed to ask witnesses whether they have seen any broadcast on media or not? Asking directly to the witness is rather strange. According to researchers, it is more appropriate to ask logically by the witness rather than directly. Changing Facial Expressions. Facial expressions of people are changed with the passage of time due to weight, tiredness, hair color or culprit can deliberately change it to be hidden from the police but if culprit is arrested for identification parade then he cannot change his facial expression and can be identified by the witness. Conclusion Investigation with witness should be deal with cautious and interviewer should know the art of interviewing to get accurate information. Investigator should avoid direct questions like was that man wearing black shirt? Or did you see blood spot on right side of window? It is recommended to ask series of questions to grab the fact like the series below. What have you seen at spot? Can you tell us the gender of person you have seen? What was he wearing? It is also recommended to setup interview as soon as possible because there is margin of memory fail. Describe the extent to which offender profiling is relied upon both in criminal investigations and in criminal trials in England and Wales.? Offender Profiling Offender profiling is a tool of investigation about the culprit with the help of evidences. Offender profiling is commonly perceive as a magical ability of investigator to put hands on the culprit. It is also called psychological profiling, criminal personality profiling, profile analysis and the offender profiling is carried by the profilers or offender profilers. Offender profiling is a psychological assessment of evidence which is collected from the crime scene. Offender profiler collects evidence from the crime scene and assess assumes the personality type which usually exhibits similar patterns (Jackson Bekerian, 1997). Aims Of Profiling The aim of profiling is to get closer to suspect and get the answer of three questions What happened at the spot of incident? What personality type can be involved in it? What personality traits can be possessed by that personality type? These questions are generally analyzed by the psychologist who are expert of their field and are outside of the police department. Limitations Of Offender Profiling Although the crime scene can reflect the personality of offender and psychiatrist put insights on it but sometimes searching the link between the crime and mental state of offender is not cleared or understandable. It is also criticized that psychologist are helpful only in the crime which are committed in extreme cases of mental illness. They are not much useful in the crimes which are not committed due to mental illness. One more criticism is usually done on clinical approach that psychologists works according to science of psychology which is remain ambiguous and has flaws in it. Understanding and evaluating complex human psyche is rather difficult task and sometimes it is understood completely wrong Conclusion Offender profiling is no doubt a significant part of crime investigation but it is also limited in a way. It restricts psychiatrist to some specific pattern of personality traits while human behavior is always complex and cannot read accurately always. It is not necessary that crime scene always show the exact pattern of behavior which culprit exhibit. Identify the key ways in which the research, into common forms of decision-error, might inform and improve practice in criminal investigations and trials? Deception Identifying someone’s lie is not easy according to research reaching correct result is tending to fall between 50 to 60 percent. The more common reason of this trend is over confidence of people in their ability to judge others. Detection Of Deception Despite of fact that deception cannot be easily caught, people also make some basic judgment errors. These judgment errors are categorized in five types. Pinocchio’s Nose There is indeed some universal signs of lying like stammering, avoid eye contact, blushing but it cannot equally apply to everybody on the earth. So these universal signals may guide to wrong direction. Erroneous Assumptions Some people thing that deception can easily be caught by facial expression or they are the master of face reading. Some people do have the ability of face reading but in general this ability is over estimated. Othello Error This type of error is actually comes in existence due to Shakespeare’s drama where Othello achieved his target by accusing Desdemona but in modern criminal justice system this error misleads because most of people became nervous and feared when the feel that they are under observation. The Plausibility Problem Plausible and implausible problems have problem to judge right because we do not believe implausible event if it is reported by some old man. Countermeasures A natural liar can deceive the interviewer after noticing the interviewer suspicion and can adjust his/her behavior accordingly. Techniques To Improve Decision Errors Scholars and researchers proposed three techniques of improving decision errors. Un- spoken deeds Lying can be judged by the entire body language which includes gestures, postures, facial expressions, voice quality etc. Some common proposed techniques of judging un spoken deeds are: Decrease in movement of entire legs till feet Decrease in hand movements Sudden increase and decrease in voice. These all assumed signs should be deal with cautious because it cannot be true in every situation like deception errors and may lead to in accurate judgment. Spoken Deeds Numerous techniques are used to judge the â€Å"REAL† of words that are written or spoken. The two most famous techniques of read between the lines are: Statement Validity Analysis (SVA) which is developed by Steller and Kohnken in 1997 which is then incorporated by Criteria Based Content Analysis (CBCA). It implies that our account is different in content and quality in case of reality or imagination. This techniques uses nineteen criteria to judge a statement. This technique is not commonly use in U.K. Physiological Methods The most common technique of physiological method is Polygraph, which measures physiological reaction like heart beat, sweating etc to check the deception. The polygraph is conducted through different sensors that are attached to the body and every physiological reaction recorded as a graphical presentation. Although polygraph is considered as very effective tool of detecting deception and has been used in different countries but it is not used in U.K. criminal justice system due to complex human nature and the fact that human behavior and their psychological reactions are vary from person to person. Conclusion To improve decision making process in U.K spoken deeds and physiological test should be considered because these two techniques have been using in different countries and showing successful results to some extent but these techniques should be used with the caution and must not be rated overly. It should be used with the understanding that human nature varies from person to person and same reactions cannot be equally applied to everybody Bibliography Booklet. (n.d.). Retrieved from Police Service Of Northern Ireland: http://www.psni.police.uk/de/public_order_8th_edition.pdf Milne, R. and Bull, R. (1999).Investigative interviewing: Psychology and practice. Chichester: Wiley.† Kapardis, A., ebrary, I. (2010). Psychology and law: a critical introduction. New York: Cambridge University Press 2010. 1 | Page

Change Management Essay -- Philosophy Papers

Change Management "Change is the only constant, we are told" in the twenty-first century marketplace(Ojala, 1997, p.1). In order for many companies, organizations, or institutions to stay competitive in their fields, they must be prepared for change and the effects of that change. According to a 1994 American Management Association and Deliotte & Touche LLP study "approximately 84% of American companies" are experiencing some type of change (Carson, 1998, p.1). Change management helps companies predict, institute, guide, facilitate, and evaluate change. Change management is "the focus of the change project (or initiative), whether it be to bring about alterations at the individual, group†¦or organizational level"(Henderson and McAdam, 1998, p.1). The concept behind change and change management is that these changes or "alterations’ refer to proactive business improvements"(Henderson and McAdam, 1998, p.1). Unfortunately, "the underlying assumption that all change is good"(Ojala, 1997, p.1) is incorrect; therefore, companies, organizations, and institutions must understand the "forces that drive change," how their employees will react to change, and the "underlying principles of change, and use them to develop a comprehensive change management framework" that will ensure a successful change project (Hirschfield, 1998, p. 1). The Forces Of Change "Organizational change is any alteration of activities in an organization†¦[that] may be the result of changes in the structure of the organization, transfer of tasks, new product introduction, or changes in attitude of group members or process, or any number of events inside and outside of an organization" (Carson, 1998, p. 1). There are external and internal forces of change f... ...r). Another reason why companies resist change, [Internet]. Strategy and Business Briefs, 4 pages. Available at: plweb-cgi/idoc.pl?201+unix+_free_user_+www.strategy-business.com.80+booz+booz+SB_All+SB_All++ ‘Change%20management’ Ojala, Marydee. (1997, December). Change management. Database, 20(6), 2 pages. Available at: ABI Inform Database on Galileo Puccinelli, Bob. (1998, September). Overcoming resistance to change. Inform, 12(8), 2 pages. Available at: ABI Inform Database on Galileo Rogers, Everett M. (1995). Diffusion of Innovations (4th ed.) New York: The Free Press. Smith, Catherine. (1998, August). The alchemy of change. Banker, 148(870), 3 pages. Available at: ABI Inform Database on Galileo Wilbur, Randa A. (1999, March). Making changes the right way. Workforce, Workforce Extra Supplement, 2 pages. Available at: ABI Inform Database on Galileo

America’s Great War: World War I and the American Experience by Robert

America’s Great War: World War I and the American Experience by Robert H. Zieger In the book, America’s Great War: World War I and the American Experience, Robert H. Zieger discusses the events between 1914 through 1920 forever defined the United States in the Twentieth Century. When conflict broke out in Europe in 1914, the President, Woodrow Wilson, along with the American people wished to remain neutral. In the beginning of the Twentieth Century United States politics was still based on the â€Å"isolationism† ideals of the previous century. The United States did not wish to be involved in European politics or world matters. The U.S. goal was to expand trade and commerce throughout the world and protect the borders of North America. The American belief at the beginning of the war was that it would be short conflict reminiscent of the fight between Germany and France in 1870(Zieger, 9). At the time both the Allies and the Central Powers, along with Americans, miscalculated the impact the involvement of American forces could have for either side. The U.S. Navy was expanded and upgraded during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt but the Army was still a minimal force. To keep with the â€Å"true neutrality† the United States initially refused to aid either side with supplies or economic assistance. Once the battles became entrenched and a â€Å"war of attrition† began, the European nations continued to look toward the United States for aid. As American financial institutions and exporters sought guidance from Wilson’s administration they received a different answer: â€Å"short term loans and credits by American financial institutions to belligerents in connection with trade were acceptable† (Zieger, 11). Americans could not over look the potential economic boost that could be achieved by supplying the European nations with food, supplies and weapons orders being requested. Both sides accepted the United States’ aid but they also sought to cut-off each other’s supply chain. While the Allies barricaded Germany’s ports with the British Navy, Germany began attacking merchant ships using their submarines, or U-boats. While Wilson was angered by the British tactics he was even more infuriated by the German’s. This would be the ultimate end of U.S. neutrality as Wilson would sternly address Germany’s actions and not Britain’s. In 1915 a German U-boat sank a Brit... ... to be President afterwards. His unwillingness to compromise with the Senate caused the Treaty of Versailles along with the League of Nations never to be ratified by the United States. The notion of the League of Nations that won Wilson a Noble Peace Prize in 1920 was never joined his own country. After the election of 1920 America would return to its isolationism roots and watch as the nations of Europe headed down a path for another world war. As Americans watched Communism rise in Russia they questioned for the first time the patronage of their fellow Americans. Economic and social reforms that started up during the war were set to a status-quo mentality. The actions set forward from the Treaty of Versailles and stance the U.S. Congress took on the League of Nations would eventually lead the world in the worst depression ever and ultimately to a second world war in a mere twenty years. Works Cited: Zieger, Robert H. (2000). America’s Great War: World War I and the American Experience. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc. Davidson, J. (Ed.). (2002). Nation of nations: A concise narrative of the American republic. (3rd ed., Vol. 2). New York: McGraw-Hill

Literary Analysis Night by Elie Wiesel

At first before he got deported from his home, Slight In Transylvania. He was an Innocent young boy who studied the Talmud â€Å"Hilled and Bea helped them with the work. As for me, they said my place was In school† (2). Since he was able to be sent to school by his family and have the chance to learn that shows that he was from a well off family. But once he entered the concentration camp, unaware of the terrors he was going to face, changed his life completely â€Å"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed (32)†.The life changing experiences that Lie went through in the concentration camps scarred him for life. The burning of the little children and their mothers affected him in such a way that it would stay with him for the rest of his life. Ell also turns from religious to loss of faith. When he was still in his hometown he studied the Talmud â€Å"l was twelve. I believed profoundly. During the day I studied the Talmud, and at night I ran to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the .This shows that he was dedicated to his religion and believed in God. He came from a religious family that taught him to praise God and show great respect towards Him. But when he was put in the concentration camp he lost his faith in God â€Å"For the first time, I felt revolt rise up in me, Why should I bless His name? † (31). For the first time Lie stood up to his religion and rebelled. The horrible things he saw in the concentration camps shocked him and angered him; How could his god let these things happen?Before he went to the concentration camps, such a thought wouldn't Ross his mind. He was loyal to his god and to his religion, until the dreaded day he entered the camp. Towards the end of the story, Ell shows no concern of death lingering In the air. He turns from caring into Indifferent. When his father was coming towards the end of h is life he did everything In his power to keep him alive, â€Å"Like a wild beast, I cleared a way for myself to the coffee cauldron, and I managed to carry back a cupful† (101).He tried giving his father anything that would help him get better, and took It back to IM, After his father's death nothing mattered to him anymore, It was as If he had lost everything he had fought for â€Å"I had to stay at Buchwald until April eleventh. I have nothing to say of my life during this period. It no longer mattered. After my father's death, nothing could touch me any more. † (107)All his cares and wants Oligopolies rater Nils Tanner Ana let nil He Llano's even tank AT Nils parents or AT ones he lost. Even when he was rescued he felt no Joy or relief, he felt indifferent.The settings in Night help readers to understand each character and what they present. Lie turns from innocent to haunted by being taken away from a secure community and being but into a completely different and horrible environment. He also turns from religious to loss of faith by forced to believe that his god would tolerate such an inhumane act and everyone in the world was indifferent towards what was happening in the concentration camps. Lastly he turns from caring to indifferent after his father passes away. Nothing mattered to him anymore as if he had lost everything he fought for.

Employee Resourcing and Development Essay

Employee resourcing and development is essential to all organisations and highly contributes towards the organisations success. Employee resourcing is ‘the part of human resource management which focuses on the recruitment and release of individuals from organisation’ and ‘the management of their performance and potential while employed by the organisation’ (Pilbeam & Corbridge, 2010). Employee development is ‘the process & facilitation of learning and knowledge that support business goals, develop individual potential and respect and build on diversity’ (Harrison, R., 2009). Employee resourcing and development can significantly add value to an organisation and help to cement the HR business partnership, and this essay will critically analyse the extent to which resourcing and development activities do so. Absence Management Employee absence levels can have substantial negative impacts on organisations; and therefore it is becoming increasingly common to see organisations introducing new, or revising existing, absence management programmes. A study from CIPD found that the ‘annual median cost of absence per employee was  £595’ (CIPD, 2013); costing the UK economy  £17 billion per year (ACAS, 2010). If an employee is absent from work it is highly likely that the organisation will be faced with both direct and indirect costs. Direct costs being those associated with the hiring of, and paying for, temporary staff while the particular employee(s) are absent (ACAS, 2010); Statutory Sick Pay if the employee is absent for 4 or more days in a row; occupational sick pay, if it is part of the particular organisations terms and conditions (GOV.UK, 2013). Secondly, indirect costs are those related to low morale amongst remaining colleagues, who may be expected to take on extra responsibilities as a result of the absence; decreased customer satisfaction, if temporary members of staff are not adequately knowledgeable in particular areas of customer interest; reduced reputation with both customers and potential employees, potentially affecting future business; decreased performance and productivity, as a result of demotivation of remaining colleagues and lack of staff in relation to workload. All of which can significantly impact upon organisational efficiency and effectiveness  (Pilbeam & Corbridge, 2009). Efficient absence management can reduce the detrimental effects that employee absence can have on an organisation, and can also be seen to contribute towards added value. The study carried out by CIPD found that ‘return-to-work interviews and trigger mechanisms†¦ are ranked among the most effective approaches for managing short-term absence’ (CIPD, 2013). A return-to-work interview is a crucial part of an absence management programme – welcoming empl oyees back to work following their absence and checking that the employee is well enough to return to work (ACAS, 2010). If an employee returns to work before being fully recovered there is the chance that the employee will take longer to return to full health, reducing productivity and potentially resulting in them being absent again in the near future, and possibly for a longer period. There is also the risk that they could pass on their illness to other colleagues resulting in further absences (Robson, 2006) and further impacts on productivity. Read more: Essay on Developing and Assessing Employees The return-to-work interview also allows organisations to identify the cause of the employee’s absence and to assess whether their absence was work-related (ACAS, 2010). This then enables the organisation to take steps to prevent the same employee, or other employees, being absent for similar reasons in the future; this may include training updates in health and safety for example. The cost of such changes will be potentially outweighed by the benefits, by reducing employee absence levels in the long-term. A return-to-work interview may also outline the underlying reasons for absence, such as the employee having to take care of an elderly relative (ACAS, 2010). In these circumstances an organisation may decide to develop different working arrangements with that particular employee, for example flexible working. Flexible working allows the organisation to fit around the employee’s schedule, potentially reducing the number of days that the employee needs to take off work unexpectedly as a result of their circumstances; thus reducing the negative impact that unexpected absences can have on productivity and associated costs. It also enables organisations to plan ahead – if they know that a particular employee is going to be off work then they can recruit temporary/part-time staff to fill in on these days; reducing the impact that the extra workload could have on colleagues stress levels and allows the organisation to maintain levels of productivity. The effectiveness of flexible working and the extent to which  it adds value, however, relies heavily on whether or not it is valued by the employees themselves (Hodge, 2009); therefore this should be investigated prior to it being implemented. As previously mentioned trigger mechanisms, such as the Bradford Factor is also found to have an ‘overwhelmingly positive impact on absence’ (CIPD, 2013, p. 31). The Bradford Factor is a ‘mechanism for weighting frequency of sickness absence’ (Pilbeam & Corbridge, 2009 p. 340). Such management techniques of monitoring absence increase productivity and reduce levels of absenteeism; which in the long-term will reduce organisational costs, resulting in increased profit. A study looking into the impact of positive intervention in absence management found that trigger mechanisms reduced absenteeism, especially if sick pay was withdrawn or there was the threat of disciplinary action (Baker-McClearn, et al., 2010). However , this was also found to ‘contribute to low morale, lack of commitment to work, stress and anxiety’ (Baker-McClearn, et al., 2010), all of which could potentially lead to reduced productivity resulting in increased costs. There was also a close link found between the use of trigger mechanisms and increasing levels of presenteeism (Baker-McClearn, D. et al., 2010). Presenteeism can be used to describe people ‘who, despite†¦ ill health†¦ are still turning up at their job’ (Unison. 1999, as cited in Baker-McClearn, et al., p. 311). For example, employees would come into work feeling unwell as, one, they couldn’t afford to remain absent if not receiving sick pay and two, they were frightened of the consequences disciplinary action would bring. This has severe impacts upon productivity, with findings showing that ‘productivity drops from 75% on ‘normal days’ to 55% on ‘sick days’’ (Newcombe, T., 2013). Ther efore, although the Bradford Factor is effective in reducing absenteeism, it is questionable whether the benefits of this outweigh the negative impacts on the employee and the impacts that presenteeism can have on the organisation. As previously mentioned, HR aims to improve employee productivity through absence management. This consequently improves employee performance, which contributes towards organisational objectives, such as improving performance – potentially leading to increased profit margins. Therefore the alignment of the HR practitioner’s objectives with the business manager’s objectives helps to reinforce the business partnership; with both partners working together to  achieve organisational objectives. Employee Well-Being Employee well-being has been defined by CIPD as ‘creating an environment to promote a state of contentment which allow employees to flourish and achieve their full potential for the benefit of themselves and their organisation’ (Pilbeam & Corbridge, 2009, p. 416). It is becoming increasingly common to see organisations adopting measures designed to promote employee health and well-being; as organisational researchers have found that dysfunctional employee well-being can have widespread costs for the organisation (Wright & Chuang, 2012). For instance, employee well-being strategies aim to create a healthier workforce which consequently leads to reduced absence levels. Therefore, as a result, this then leads to a reduction in the significant financials costs related to employee absence (Bevan, S., 2010). Employee well-being also aims to target long-term absence related to depression and anxiety; both of which prove to be ‘more complex and costly to manage, and have m ore significant consequences for employers’ (Bevan, S., 2010, p. 11). Therefore, it is likely that the costs of implementing such well-being policies will be outweighed by the significant savings and increased added value that will be seen as a result. These measures have not only been found to positively influence an employee’s health and well-being, but also to add value to an organisation through improved employee productivity and commitment (Bevan, S., 2010). As previously mentioned, well-being can have a positive impact on absence levels which as a result improves employee productivity. Macdonald (2005) also suggested that well-being strategies contributed towards employee morale, increased levels of productivity and employee retention (Pilbeam, & Corbridge, 2009). Research has also gone onto to find that there is a significant link between employee well-being and job performance, workplace accidents, customer engagement, quality defects and profitability. Job per formance has been found to be highly correlated with employee well-being in a number of organisational studies (Thomas, et al, 2012). Absence management is one way in which performance can be improved within all organisations, particularly within the domiciliary care sector. With government cut backs and managements time being constrained, absence management schemes can often be overlooked, resulting in high levels of absenteeism. As previously mentioned, the Bradford factor has been found to  have an ‘overwhelmingly positive impact on absence’ (CIPD, 2013, p. 31) and is one way that domiciliary care businesses could monitor absence effectively and efficiently, without taking up too much of management’s time and without incurring substantial costs. Return-to-work interviews will also enable management to identify the key reasons behind the absence, allowing management to take steps to potentially prevent absence of the same reason occurring again. Both techniques will in theory reduce absenteeism as employees will be aware that their absence is being monitored, and so they will be less likely to be absent from work as frequently; therefore overall increasing organisational performance. Recruitment and Selection Recruitment is ‘the process of generating a pool of capable people to apply for employment to an organisation’ and selection is ‘the process by which managers and others use specific instruments to choose from a pool of applicants a person or persons more likely to succeed in the job(s)’ (Braton and Gold, 2007, as cited by French & Rumbles, 2010). The recruitment and selection process is ‘fundamental to the functioning of an organisation’ (Pilbeam & Corbridge, 2006, p. 155), and it is also said that ‘the success of an organisation depends on having the right number of staff, with the right skills and abilities’ (ACAS, 2010, p. 3). Therefore, the right recruitment and selection procedures are crucial to an organisation finding the best candidate for the job. Recruitment The recruitment process is extremely important when it comes to adding value to an organisation in the long-term. Poor recruitment processes – which result in the wrong candidate being selected for the job – can be very expensive for an organisation in terms of employee turnover, organisational costs and employee morale (ACAS, 2010). Good recruitment can ‘significantly contribute to effective organisational performance, to good employee relations, and to a positive public image’ (Pilbeam & Corbridge, 2010, p. 156). The first step in the recruitment process is to create an effective job description and job specification. It is vital that the skills and competencies outlined within the person specification are accurate in  relation to the needs of the job. If this is not the case then there is the chance that an individual will be employed with false expectations, potentially resulting in them not performing as well as was originally intended (ACAS, 2010). In worse cases, the employee may lose faith in the organisation and leave to work for potential competitors, taking with them the training they have received. Not only is this is a waste of an organisations time, money and resources – all of which can be potentially avoided if an organisation has an effective recruitment procedure in place – but it can also have an impact on existing employees morale. For example, it can be demotivating for existing employees to see new employees coming and going within a short space of time. The process of recruiting and training new employees can also be lengthy, in which time colleagues will potentially be expected to take on extra responsibilities; possibly impacting upon employee productivity and overall organisational performance. Over recent years online recruitment has become increasingly popular. Online recruitment shortens the recruitment cycle (Pilbeam & Corbridge, 2010), which can be of great benefit to some organisations w ho find that their lengthy recruitment process can result in them losing potential candidates (CIPD, 2013). A survey carried out by Chapman and Webster (2003) also found that most organisations (within the USA) that used technology based recruitment and selection techniques, did so because they found that they added value in terms of improved efficiency, reduced costs and increased the number of potential candidates. This improved efficiency and reduced costs will potentially allow organisations to increase their profit margins, and by widening the applicant pool the organisation has a greater chance of finding the ‘right’ candidate for the job. However, although this method of recruitment generates a high volume of candidates, it does not necessarily mean that these candidates possess the relevant skills or attitudes required for the job. It is also particularly important that the recruitment and selection process is fair. The employer must recognise that it has a lega l obligation to make sure that they do not unlawfully discriminate against potential candidates during the recruitment and selection process (ACAS, 2010). In ensuring this, an organisation reduces its risk of facing legal costs that may be incurred if it were to be seen to demonstrate unlawful recruitment and selection procedures; improving the organisations reputation  and therefore adding value. For example, if an organisation is seen to operate ethically and value equality then it is likely that the organisation will see an increase in their customer base and also in the number of candidates wanting to work for the organisation – increasing the likelihood of the organisation finding the right person for the job. Selection ‘Inappropriate selection decisions reduce organisational effectiveness, invalidate reward and development strategies, are frequently unfair on the individual recruit and can be and can be distressing for managers who have to deal with unsuitable employees’ (Pilbeam & Corbridge, 2010, p. 155). Therefore, it is important that the selection process is carried out effectively, ensuring the ‘best’ candidate is chosen for the job. The selection process not only produces a shortlist of applicants for the interviewing stage, but it also provides the organisation with feedback in regards to their job advertising and the application form. This will help improve the organisations future recruitment and selection procedures, making the process of finding the ‘right’ candidate more effective; therefore saving organisational time and reducing any potential costs associated with ineffective selection procedures. It is essential that the selection process gains the commitment of managers and supervisors, by involving them in the process of selecting a candidate (ACAS, 2010). The managers and supervisors will have first-hand knowledge and experience and therefore will know what it is they need in future employees, making the process of selecting the ‘best’ person for the job more effective. This again will add value to the organisation, as if the right person is selected for the organisation then it is highly likely that they will perform well, potentially improving organisational performance overall. The involvement of the managers and supervisors will also help settle the new employee into the organisation, making them feel comfortable within their new role; potentially reducing employee turnover levels and the costs associated with this. The involvement between HR and business managers throughout recruitment and selection also helps to reinforce the business partnership. This involvement ensures that recruitment and selecti on is carried out in line with the organisations strategy – ensuring that the candidate selected  contributes to organisational objectives. Recruitment and selection can be an issue within a lot of organisations, in particular those within the domiciliary care sector. Domiciliary care tends to involve very demanding work, and due to ineffective selection techniques the wrong candidates are selected for the jobs; therefore resulting in high levels of employee turnover. Psychometric testing is one selection technique that would allow domiciliary care businesses to assess the personalities of potential candidates; improving decision-making and allowing managers to ‘develop more informed and accurate perceptions about the ability and potential of individuals’ (CIPD, 2009, as cited in Pilbeam & Corbridge, 2010, p. 202). This will help ensure the ‘right’ candidate is chosen; reducing employee turnover and any associated costs, and improving employee mora le and productivity – therefore enhancing overall organisational performance within this sector. Talent Management Talent management is ‘the systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement, retention and deployment of those individuals who are of particular value to an organisation.’ These individuals ‘make a difference to organisational performance either through their immediate contribution or, in the longer-term, by demonstrating the highest levels of potential’ (CIPD, 2013). Talent management has become an increasingly common practice within a lot of organisations, due to a weakening economic climate which has put pressure on organisations to cut costs and increase efficiency and productivity (CIPD, 2013). In the current climate ‘having a rigorous, cyclical, ongoing process around Talent Management [can] be a key differentiator between success and failure’ (Couch, 2012). Talent has been seen to add value to organisations, particularly as talent management has become ‘integral in engaging employees in the organisation’, if prac ticed effectively (Morton, 2005, p. 11, as cited in Hughes & Rog, 2008, p. 746). Engaged employees are committed to the organisation and therefore will be less likely to leave; this as a result minimises employee turnover and any associated costs. Towers Perrin (2003) supports this idea, as he found that 66 percent of highly engaged employees plan to stay with their current employers, compared to only 12 percent of disengaged employees. It is also  more likely to see higher levels of performance from engaged employees; potentially improving customer service and productivity, as well as increasing sales and profits (Hughes, J. C. & Rog, E., 2008). Effective talent management also ensures organisations can successfully attract and retain talent, reducing the risk of talent leaving the organisation or being employed by a competitor – thus allowing organisations to gain a competitive advantage. Organisations that focus on retaining talented individuals are also able to add value through reduced recruitment and training costs as a result of not having to recruit talent externally, or develop talent internally. Retention of talent also reduces the negative impact employee turnover can have on organisational productivity and employee morale; which in turn can potentially have a consequential effect on profit margins (Chitakasem, N., 2011). There is evidence, however, to suggest that talent management doesn’t always add value to organisations. Lewis and Heckman (2006) argued that ‘improvements in bottom line results [prove] to be temporary, despite an ongoing commitment to talent in the organisation’ (as ci ted in Hughes & Rog, 2008, p. 745). Therefore, it is important organisations evaluate the effectiveness of their talent management scheme as this can contribute highly to its success, enabling them to maximise their return on investment (CIPD, 2009). Also, a focus on external recruitment and retention of â€Å"high talent† employees could: increase competition amongst internal candidates, consequently discouraging teamwork; lead to existing employees feeling undervalued, resulting in increased turnover; redirect training and development from those employees who may be struggling to those who are capable, reduce performance of those who don’t receive training; and ignore fixing cultural or other systematic issues which hinder employee performance (Hughes & Rog, 2008). Whelan & Carcary (2001) also say that those employees who are not seen to be ‘key talent’ can become demotivated as a result of them feeling unappreciated within the organisation; leading to f alls in productivity and potentially negatively affecting profit margins. Therefore, in some cases, talent management may not always add value; the extent to which talent management adds value can depend on how well the organisation manages those employees who are not seen to be ‘key talent’. Organisations implementing talent  management programmes may also experience resistance from some employees; as talent management makes their performance more visible to employers and creates a direct link between future career opportunities within the organisation and rewards (Little, B. 2010). Resistance from employees will likely have a knock on effect on productivity, resulting in profit margins being affected; again affecting the extent to which talent management can add value to an organisation. Overall, talent management, if managed effectively, can significantly add value to an organisation. Maximising employee performance and productivity, improving employee retention, a nd increasing the flexibility of employees etc. all contribute towards an organisations success. However, the business partnership plays a significant role in the extent to which talent management can add value within an organisation. A survey carried out by the Corporate Executive Board’s Corporate Leadership Council (CLC) discovered that ‘HR must effectively partner with business line management to drive talent outcomes’ (Martin, 2010). It is important that line manager’s work with HR practitioners so as to ensure that talent management is directed in the right areas of the organisation and that it is aligned with strategic goals. The HR practitioner must also be knowledgeable of the organisations objectives so as to implement talent management programmes that will contribute towards achieving these goals. As a result, this will potentially help to reinforce the business partnership, encouraging HR to work in partnership with the business leaders to improve its performance and future success. Talent management can be beneficial for many organisations in terms of developing and retaining talented employees so as to improve organisational performance. The domiciliary care, as previously mentioned, has problems with employee retention and therefore talent management could be one way of addressing this issue. Appraisals could be used to assess employees’ performance, and allow managers to identify talent within the organisation, and the training needs (Pilbeam & Corbridge, 2010). Managers can then support and mentor talented employees through further training programmes (CIPD, 2013), such as National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ’s). This support will contribute towards employees feeling valued within the organisation, and this along with the increased knowledge and motivation will help to improve employee performance; which as a result will  potentially improve employee retention and the overall performance of the organisation. In conclusion, absence management, recruitment and selection, and talent management, if effectively managed and implemented, can improve organisational performance. Absence management was found to reduce the negative costs associated with absenteeism, and improve employee morale and productivity. Effective recruitment and selection was found to improve the chances of finding the ‘right’ person for the job; therefore increasing employee performance and reducing employee turnover. Finally, talent management was found to increase employee engagement and motivation through mentoring, and improve employee performance and retention through development. Therefore all three resourcing and development activities contribute towards improving organisational performance, consequently adding value to the organisation. Finally, the aim of human resources to achieve organisational goals through these resourcing and development activities helps to contribute towards cementing the busine ss partnership. References GOV.UK. (2013). Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). Accessed 17th November 2013 https://www.gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay Newcombe, T. (23 May 2013). Stress and presenteeism â€Å"sapping UK productivity†, says research. HR Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hro/news/1077290/stress-presenteeism-sapping-uk-productivity-research Baker-McClearn, D. et al. (2010). Absence management and presenteeism: the pressures on employees to attend work and the impact of attendance on performance. Human Resource Management Journal. 20 (3), 311–328. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-8583.2009.00118.x Robson, F. (2006). How to†¦ manage absence effectively. CIPD. Retrieved from http://www.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2006/08/88/howtomanageabsence-2006-08.aspx Hemsley, S. (2011). Absence: How does it affect the workplace and what can employers do about it? HR Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hr/features/1019816/absence-how-affect-workplace-employers Howart h, J. (2005). Absence management. Strategic Direction, 21

Inequality: Race, Crime, and the Law Essay

Policing and punishment in America is hardly colorblind. It is not a coincidence that minorities serve longer sentences, have higher arrest and conviction rates, face higher bail amounts, and are more often the victims of police use of deadly force than white citizens. When it comes to criminals, many people have a preconception of what a criminal is. Usually when people think of a criminal they picture a Black or Latino face. The thought of an Asian criminal is often related to Asian gangs. Interestingly enough, White people as a group are rarely associated with the thought of crime, even though they account for 70% of arrests and 40% of the prison population each year (Russel xiv). This seems to be overlooked, though, when people consider their stereotypical views. Minorities have become victims of these stereotypes in the U.S. courts by judges and juries as well as in their neighborhoods by local police. When asking for fairness, the desire isn’t for more rights for the criminally accused, yet for those rights of the accused to be fairly executed, before they are found guilty or innocent. This being because the system is unfair, it seems to be two different systems: one for the privileged, and one for the less privileged. Cops use methods of investigation and interrogation against minorities and the poor that wouldn’t be accepted against more privileged citizens. Courts assign public defenders to the poor in serious criminal trials that a rich person wouldn’t hire to defend them in a traffic court. Many minorities walk into a courtroom with the feeling that they are guilty until proven innocent. The complexion of their skin is too often viewed as negative. There is no doubt what the reason for it is. The evening news often leads off with a crime story, many times showing black males being taken away in handcuffs. Black females are portrayed as grieving mothers over the death or arrest of their son or daughter. This is shown so much that it’s impossible to ignore. I’m not denying that the ones shown on the news may, in fact, be guilty, but seeing it so frequently results in Americans incorrectly believing that most black men are criminals. On top of that, they connect the image of arrested individuals on the news, and begin  to stereotype all individuals they may come across personally that may have a similar appearance. Consequently, the thought of â€Å"black crime† comes to mind. I find it interesting how I have never heard the phrase, â€Å"white crime.† This leads us to racial profiling. Stereotypical views of minorities by police officers can lead to tragic situations. Amadou Diallo was a 22-year-old West African immigrant who lived in the Bronx, New York. He studied English and Computer Science in Singapore and Thailand before coming to America. A devout Muslim, he worked twelve hours a day selling videos to earn enough money to finish his bachelor’s degree. On February 4, 1999, as he was standing in the vestibule of his own apartment, about to open the door, four undercover police in plain clothes, members of the â€Å"elite† Street Crimes unit, approached him. What happened next is unclear, but when the dust settled, the four officers had fired a total of 41 times, at an unarmed man. Somehow, 22 of the 41 shots missed their target, though the officers aimed into a space not larger than a telephone booth. Of the 19 bullets that did hit Diallo, 11 hit him in the legs, five pierced his torso, one hit the right arm, one went through his chest and one entered through his back. The cops’ defense claimed Diallo was behaving suspiciously, and had not obeyed their command to stop. When Diallo raised his wallet, each one of them, imagined that this black man was raising a gun. Because this scared them, they shot at him 41 times. One year later, on February 25, 2000, the four cops were found not guilty of murder. Diallo’s fear doesn’t matter. Who cares that the skinny black immigrant must have been terrified to see four white guys bearing down on him like thieves or murderers? Not guilty, these four police officers are entitled now to return to their jobs, strap on their guns, and hit the streets armed with the same racism, the same fear that killed Diallo. Police brutality is known to be very common in the Bronx. With situations such as this one as well as the Rodney King incident in Los Angeles, Blacks have become to fear the police. When a police car approaches them, they can’t decide whether justice will be served or if the cop’s intentions are to harm or even kill them. The integrity of a police officer  is not guaranteed to the citizen. In past cases police have been known to plant fake evidence simply to have a reason to arrest a â€Å"suspect.† As a result, African-Americans make up about 12% of the general population, but more than half of the prison population (Cole 4). With so much injustice being done to minorities in general, how can you expect minorities to respect a system that doesn’t respect them? In fact, people are so quick to believe minorities are criminals that they are used as â€Å"fake† suspects by citizens who want to hide the real criminals. â€Å"Racial Hoaxes† are defined as: â€Å"When someone fabricates a crime and blames it on another person because of his race OR when an actual crime has been committed and the perpetrator falsely blames someone because of his race.† (Russel 70) The negative image of African-Americans has become so bad that â€Å"imaginary† Black people are invented as criminals. In some cases Black individuals were even chosen out of a line up and after being identified by who would end up to be the actual committer of the crime. Usually, somebody guilty of racial hoaxing is just charged with filing a false police report. On that note, hate crimes have been on the rise this past decade. There have been many race-related assaults on minorities. The majority of people arrested for Hate Crimes are White. So why is it that we rarely hear about â€Å"White crime?† Although the term â€Å"Black Criminality† is often used you never hear the term, â€Å"White Criminality.† White crime is rarely labeled. If the media feels the necessity to label crimes then when rural crimes take place they can easily call it â€Å"White crime.† When they label crime by race it gives the wrong impression that the criminals race had something to do with the reason he or she committed the crime. What most people do not know or realize is that White offenders are the most common. The following is taken from The Color of Crime by Katheryn Russell: Whites account for approximately 80 percent of those arrested: driving under the influence (86 percent), liquor law violations (80 percent), and drunkenness (81 percent). For these offenses White arrest rates are on par  with their percentage in the population. Table 7.2 also reports that Whites have high rates of arrest for several other offenses, including arson (74 percent), burglary (67 percent), loitering (76 percent), vandalism (73 percent), and sex offenses (75 percent). SOURCE: Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics (1991-1995), Bureau of Justice Statistics Whites also have a much higher rate of white-collar crimes. Criminologists Francis Cullen and Michael Benson state: â€Å"The costs of white-collar crime?the violence it entails, the money it transfers illegally, its damage to the moral fabric?may well outstrip the costs of traditional street crimes.†(Color crime PG 116) Still there is no annual count of white-collar crimes. Some say that criminologists don’t view them as real crimes. The belief that black crime is disproportionate is true, but the belief that African-Americans are responsible for a majority of crime is false. Why is it that we hardly see crime represented in other colors? There is no term â€Å"criminalwhiteman† yet people use the term â€Å"criminalblackman?† If more White criminals were in the media’s spotlight, the public image of crime would be completely different. Still, the Black stereotype will never go away unless the media exposes the â€Å"criminalblackman† as a misrepresentation. Whites who live in mainly suburban and rural areas, actually commit at a disproportionate rate as well. Only if the public could actually see the amount of Whites committing crimes, they would learn that their racial views about crime were misplaced. The O.J. Simpson case was proof of the racial division and views about how the law handles cases. Had he been an average middle or lower class Black man who couldn’t afford a good attorney, he would have definitely been found guilty. Even with such overwhelming evidence that this injustice exists to poor minorities, you would never know it by examining the outcome of most minorities accused of a crime. When it comes to statistics, lack of information may be misleading. The media’s overemphasis on how differently Whites and Blacks viewed the criminal case also masked the fact that many African-Americans believed Simpson was guilty, and many Whites believed he was not guilty. In a poll, it was found that 30% of Blacks believed he was guilty while the number of Whites who felt he was innocent outnumbered  Blacks 3: 1. (Color crime, 31). The public as a whole has a general misconception of the relationship between crime and race. Unfortunately, this misconception is brought into courtrooms. It’s no surprise that things are the way they are given the history of this country. You can change laws but you can’t change people. As long you have the image of minorities being portrayed as criminals in the media, the problem will exist. The problem only makes itself worse as it continues. Inequality is inevitable in today’s society. This nation is too busy dealing with the problems that arise from the views of race and crime to focus enough attention on fixing them. The problem can’t be fixed until we as a people can agree on what the root of the problem is. It begins in the communities and ends in the justice system. We must look inside the system and the role it play’s in society and what outcome we want from it. We need to use equality rather than personal views when making difficult decisions in society. Works Cited Cole, David. No Equal Justice: Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System. New York: The New Press, 1999. Kennedy, Randall. Race, Crime, and the Law New York: Pantheon, 1997 Russell, Katheryn K. The Color of Crime. 1998. 10 Apr. 2002 http://emedia.netlibrary.com/reader/reader.asp?product_id=1331

Comparing Fermentation Rate of the S. Cerevisiae Yeast in the Presence of Mgso4, Naf and Sodium Pyruvate

Syl Rogers Bio 210 Comparing Fermentation Rate of the S. cerevisiae Yeast in the presence of MgSO4, NaF and Sodium Pyruvate Hypothesis In the fermentation of rate of yeast, S. Cerevisiae, there will be a higher/ faster rate of ethanol production, However, using catalytic enzymes would make the rate more faster, and MgSo4 will have a higher rate of CO2 than that of NaF and Sodium pyruvate as it act as a more better catalytic enzyme than the others. Methods Preparation of Tubes A solution of yeast and glucose was prepared with different concentration of enzymes.In All the tubes water, 0. 3M glucose and yeast was placed; with the exception of some tubes in which 0. 2M MgSo4 and 2. 5mL and 1. 4ML 0. 2 NaF was placed respectively. In another tube was placed both MgSO4 and NaF. The different solutions were prepared and placed in separate tubes for the experiment. A 45oC water bath was setup to be used for the fermentation process. Data acquiring The tubes were placed in the water bath. A s top watch was used which aids in determining the reaction time.After Every 15 min, data was collected from all tubes by measuring the amount of CO2 being produced. This process continued for a total of 75min allowing enough time for Fermentation to occur in all tubes. Result For the first 15min, In the tube containing 8. 5mL water and 2. 5mL yeast only, the rate of the reaction was 0mm/min whiles the tube with the glucose has a rate of 233. 864mm/min. This is followed by the tube containing 2. 5mL of MgSo4 which has a rate of 165. 8573mm/min. The tube containing the MgSo4 and NaF has a rate of 69. 5mm/min which is followed by the 1. 24mL NaF tube that has a rate of 40. 63mm/min followed by 2. 5mL NaF tube which has a rate of 31. 08mm/min which was the lowest. After 30minutes, the tube containing only water and yeast has a rate of 0mm/min whiles the tube with the glucose has a rate of 208. 97mm/min. This is followed by the tube containing the MgSo4 which has a rate of 174. 1137mm/min . The tube containing the MgSo4 and NaF increased to a rate of 169. 59mm/min which is followed by the 1. 24mL NaF tube that has a rate of 57. 77mm/min followed by 2. mL NaF tube which has a rate of 35. 08mm/min which was the lowest. After an hour of reaction time, the MgSo4 and NaF tube has increased to a rate of 193. 17mm/min which is followed by the glucose tube with a rate CO2 rate of 176. 52mm/min followed by the MgSO4 Tube with a rate of 171. 73mm/min. The 1. 4mL NaF tube has increased to 61. 68mm/min followed by the 2. 4mL tube which was the lowest with a CO2 rate of 31. 31mm/min. For the final 15min of the experiment, the glucose tube has a rate of 176. 48mm/min followed by the MgSO4 and NaF tube with a rate of 169. 7mm/min. the MgSo4 tube has a rate of 157. 40mm/min which is followed by the 1. 24NaF tube with a rate CO2 rate of 57. 46mm/min followed by the 2. 5mL Tube with a rate of 29. 34mm/min which was the lowest CO2 production rate. Fig 1: Rate of CO2 production in the f ermentation of Glucose by S. cereviae Discussion: The fermentation of glucose by S. cerevisiae, which yields equal molar amounts of carbon dioxide and ethanol, showed higher production levels of carbon dioxideunder controlled conditions than any other implying the same for production of ethanol.Fermentation affected by a magnesium sulfate solution ranked second in carbon dioxideproduction while sodium fluoride yielded the least amount of carbon dioxide. These results suggest that magnesium has a positive influence on the production rate of carbon dioxide during the fermentation process and that the control contained an amount of magnesium that was neutralized by the presence of the fluoride anion. Though mean production was lower for the magnesium sulfate solution than the ontrol, a few specific results overlapped suggesting the addition of magnesium sulfate had no affect for those instances. A lower mean value for the magnesium sulfate solution suggests either that the fermentation process was supersaturated by magnesium or that the sulfate anion adversely affected the production of carbon dioxide. Further experimentation should be performed to determine the affects of magnesium sulfate in comparison to other magnesium and non-magnesium containing salts such as calcium sulfate or magnesium chloride to determine which ion has the greatest affect.Unknown variables such as the age of the S. cerevisiae samples may have affected the outcome of this experiment. Verification of S. cerevisiae batch age would allow for additional experiments to determine whether magnesium supplementation affects yeast of a certain age differently than that of another. Additionally, the experimental test tube/vial container allowed for some of each solution to be pushed out of the experimental test tube as the level of carbon dioxide increased.Further experimentation should utilize a better method of measuring the production of the entire original solution, not a fraction of the soluti on as a function of time. An alternative would be to attach a balloon to the tip of the solution-filled test tube, measure the diameter of the balloon, let an hour elapse and then measure the diameter again to determine carbon dioxide gas production. Decreased carbon dioxide production levels for S. erevisiae in the presence of a sodium fluoride solution suggest that an absence of available magnesium during fermentation results in an inefficient fermentation process; some level of magnesium is required in order for the process of fermentation to operate at maximum efficiency. Additional magnesium does not guarantee a faster or more efficient means of fermentation/ethanol production and can have an adverse affect on the fermentation process.

Article Review Essays - Intellectual Property Law, Monopoly

Article Review Essays - Intellectual Property Law, Monopoly Article Review LAW/421 November 3, 2014 Article Review E-Commerce has become a major source of business due to the Internet giving businesses the ability to conduct online business transactions. Countless companies have expanded their consumer base to the entire world; something that could not have been done without the use of the Internet. Those businesses that have taken the opportunity and utilized the availability of the Internet have experienced a growth like never before. Those businesses have also experienced a growth in profits from the use of the Internet as well. However, these growths do not come without some risk. The intellectual property of these businesses has been put into a vulnerable position because of this type of expansion. The article titled E-Business Makes Protection of Intellectual Property More Critical, Complex than Ever examines how expansion via the Internet requires some strong security and laws covering intellectual property. With up to 90 percent of U.S. companies expected to be transacting business over the Internet in the next year, the need to protect intellectual property has never been greater or more of a challenge (E-Business Makes Protection of Intellectual Property More Critical, Complex than Ever, 2000, para. 1). This example shows exactly how e-business is shaping the requirement for intellectual property protection. Continuous drafting of new software, laws, regulation, and legislation protecting intellectual property is currently in effect. Yet, continuously changing right along with these new drafts are the ways that businesses are at risk regarding intellectual property. Readers are informed by this article, on the way e-business has pointed the way to the increase of intellectual property theft, and how that has increased the concern for this legal matter. The center of this matter is focused on new laws that will protect businesses privacy concerning intellectual property as well as secrets of the trade. E-Business Makes Protection of Intellectual Property More Critical, Complex than Ever (2000) describes how protection of these valuable instruments on the Internet today are varying as much as the creation of those properties. Patents, trademarks, copyrights, nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements, even non-compete covenants and employment agreements that convey title of intellectual property back to the company, all play an important role in protecting a company's interests from its current and prospective competitors (E-Business Makes Protection Of Intellectual Property More Critical, Complex Than Ever, 2000, para. 3). It goes on to state, It's impossible to prevent employees from taking intellectual property with them when they leave. Strategic partners and even vendors also have access to company secrets, so it's easy to see why the lines of ownership become very blurred when it comes to intellectual property (Traber, 2000, as cited in E-Business Makes Protection Of Intellectual Property More Critical, Complex Than Ever, 2000, para. 2). Generally speaking, the article displays well-written examples providing the reasons behind the need for businesses who partake in e-commerce to seek out and maintain help from law groups so that they may protect their business from expensive and unnecessary lawsuits because of intellectual property theft from employees or from the businesses intellectual property. It is essential to notice that some theft of intellectual property can be committed very easily; especially when the business is unaware of any privacy statements in regards to a specific piece of intellectual property, such as a video used for training purposes. Attaching a privacy disclosure to each piece of intellectual property that the business owns is also critical. The disclosure will help to ensure that the intellectual property remains protected by law, from theft or misuse. Moreover, this also allows the company legal rights to take action against the theft or misuse of the intellectual property, giving the compa ny the advantage in the case. Whether it is unintentionally or intentionally, ignoring the privacy disclosure statements on intellectual property is considered unethical. Making sure that all employees in the company are aware of the privacy disclosure statements in their employee handbook regarding intellectual property is essential. Requiring signatures from the employees helps protect the company from any damages that may incur during a lawsuit against any employee that may illegally use anothers property is a good way to help protect the company. Laws pertaining to the use or theft of intellectual property are continuously changing.

Free Essays on Homers Iliad

So it is this taking of Helen inspired by a divine beauty contest, that brings the men of Achaea to the city of Troy across the Aegean. King Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, both sons of Atrides, is the leader of the Argive forces because he controlled the most troops commanded by any other individual Achaean leader. Agamemnon is from the great bronze age city of Mycenae. It has been estimated that the Argive forces were comprised of about 1000 ships, sailing across the seas from Aulis! The battle on this, the first day of battle that we see in Homer's Iliad, begins with a "council of gods", during which the gods consent to inspire the Argive fighters to rise up and fight! Agamemnon recieves a dream, winged to him by the most powerful immortal Zeus. The dream arrives in the form of Nestor, the wise king of Pylos. Zeus has the dream tell Agamemnon that he should attack tomorrow, and that if they do they will be able to easily take the streets and walls of Priam's city. Early in the morning, the head Argive leader began to speak to the highest kinds and other leaders in order about his plan to attack, and as he thinks, win Troy. Before telling the men straight-forwardly what he has in mind, Agamemnon tests the entire fleet of ships from all the Argives. Eventually Agamemnon manages to get all his forces from Greece lined up, ready from Greece lived up, ready to face the equally preparing Trojans, rallying their troops after seeing the Achaeans moving into place. The armies quickly march to front each other, and the beauty of Troy, Paris, came forth from the lines of Trojans to challenge any Achaean man to do battle with him. Menelaus quickly accepted the chance to get at his rival, whom was one of the main causes and impetuses for the Trojan War to be fought. In a sense this battle between Paris and Menelaus is a microcosm of why the Trojan War is being fought, and between the two different foes. This opens our eyes even clearer to t... Free Essays on Homer's Iliad Free Essays on Homer's Iliad So it is this taking of Helen inspired by a divine beauty contest, that brings the men of Achaea to the city of Troy across the Aegean. King Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, both sons of Atrides, is the leader of the Argive forces because he controlled the most troops commanded by any other individual Achaean leader. Agamemnon is from the great bronze age city of Mycenae. It has been estimated that the Argive forces were comprised of about 1000 ships, sailing across the seas from Aulis! The battle on this, the first day of battle that we see in Homer's Iliad, begins with a "council of gods", during which the gods consent to inspire the Argive fighters to rise up and fight! Agamemnon recieves a dream, winged to him by the most powerful immortal Zeus. The dream arrives in the form of Nestor, the wise king of Pylos. Zeus has the dream tell Agamemnon that he should attack tomorrow, and that if they do they will be able to easily take the streets and walls of Priam's city. Early in the morning, the head Argive leader began to speak to the highest kinds and other leaders in order about his plan to attack, and as he thinks, win Troy. Before telling the men straight-forwardly what he has in mind, Agamemnon tests the entire fleet of ships from all the Argives. Eventually Agamemnon manages to get all his forces from Greece lined up, ready from Greece lived up, ready to face the equally preparing Trojans, rallying their troops after seeing the Achaeans moving into place. The armies quickly march to front each other, and the beauty of Troy, Paris, came forth from the lines of Trojans to challenge any Achaean man to do battle with him. Menelaus quickly accepted the chance to get at his rival, whom was one of the main causes and impetuses for the Trojan War to be fought. In a sense this battle between Paris and Menelaus is a microcosm of why the Trojan War is being fought, and between the two different foes. This opens our eyes even clearer to t...

Letters of John and Abigail Adams- A Love Story

Letters of John and Abigail Adams- A Love Story ?The Letters of John and Abigail Adams? are a refreshing eye-opener in contrast to the stereotypes and expectations of their day. After reading the correspondence of John and Abigail, a new light is brought upon their relationship and it reveals not only a loving and committed couple, but lets the reader view through a window in an important time in America?s history.In a time when women were considered second class citizens and put without a formal education, Abigail Adams was an exception. Her father assured that his children would all be educated. In Abigail?s letters, it is evident of her training because of the way she writes.John and Abigail were a true love story and a great match. He was a strong figure in our early American history and she was a strong women who advocated for women?s rights. Abigail not only ran the household while John was away, but was a strong supporter of emancipation and kept her husband up-to-date on the politics at home.English: "Abigail Smith Adams," oil on canvas, by ...The letters chronicle the passion that these two had for each other. It is a stereotype of their time that the woman of the house was to sit back and the husband was the strictly the enforcer and master. In this marriage, that was not so. For more than a decade, John and Abigail were away from each other while John traveled across America and abroad. During this time, many letters were exchanged and the loneliness of separation was evident.Abigail writes in one of the first letters to John, ?I want much to hear from you... The little flock remember Pappa, and kindly wish to see him. So does your most affectionate? (Adams 685).John writes to Abigail in 1776, ?This has been a dull day to me: I...

Myths in Da Vinci Code Essays

Myths in Da Vinci Code Essays Myths in Da Vinci Code Essay Myths in Da Vinci Code Essay There are many myths and confederacies throughout today s authorship. One writer known for seting controversial issues and confederacies in the center of his narratives is Dan Brown. Digital Fortress, Deception Point, and The Lost Symbol, all written by Brown, trade mostly with confederacies in the authorities. However, The Da Vinci Code uses myths environing the Christian religion. It irritated many spiritual leaders with these myths because they were precisely that, myths. In The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown creates the myth that the Holy Grail is the lineage of Christ, who was besides purportedly married to Mary Magdalene. This thought is contrary to the belief that the Holy Grail is the cup from which Jesus drank during the Last Supper. The Grail is non merely a cup or lineage ; it is besides the actual symbol for muliebrity, stand foring the sacred feminine goddess in ancient times. This theory believes that the goblet that held the blood of Christ is a lineage that descended from Jesus and Mary Magdalene ( The Da Vinci Code Fraud ) . In fact, no lineage exists because Jesus neer married and hence has no descendants. Harmonizing to Amy Welbourne, Mary Magdalene was merely mentioned in the Bible 12 times and Jesus was mending her because she was possessed by a devil ( Welbourn ) . The Holy Grail is the cup that Christ used to imbibe the vino during the Last Supper. This cup was so given to Joseph of Arimathea to garner the blood of Christ during his crucifixion ( The Da Vinci Code Fraud ) . The aggregation of the blood is the footing of the Eucharist in Catholic Communion. Joseph subsequently fled to Britain with the Grail, where the cup was passed down from coevals to coevals through his posterities. The Grail is said to hold the power to supply nutrient for those without wickedness ( Holy Grail. ) . Furthermore, in Richard Barber s book The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief, published by Harvard University Press, there is no mention to Mary Magdalene being married to Jesus. There is besides no mention to the sacred lineage as the Holy Grail ( The Da Vinci Code Fraud ) . The quest to happen this cup has even been the inspiration to many mediaeval poets to exemplify heroes in many different European civilizations ( Holy Grail. ) . Another myth that Brown raises in The Da Vinci Code is that of a secret society known as the Priory of Sion. Harmonizing to the myth the name of the group originated in Jerusalem, where a Gallic male monarch coined it in 1099 ( Priory of Sion ) . Members of the Priory are allegedly listed in Les Dossiers Secrets, supposed members include: Victor Hugo, Botticelli, Sir Isaac Newton, and Leonardo Da Vinci. Da Vinci allegedly presided over the Priory s meetings ( The Da Vinci Code Fraud ) . The Priory of Sion is frequently associated with the Knights Templar because they shared the same schoolmaster every bit good as the hunt to happen the Holy Grail ( Pullum ) . All of the paperss that support the being of the Priory of Sion have been proven false, invalid, or forged. Pierre Plantard made up the Les Dossiers Secrets in 1956. Andr A ; eacute ; Bonhomme, Jean Delaval, and Amand Defago are besides recognized with Plantard as establishing the group. There is besides no reference on any historical papers that the Priory of Sion existed until 1956 when Plantard registered with the Gallic authorities as a new organisation ( Priory of Sion. ) . Even the beginning of the name is false ; it was really named after a local landmark Mont Sion which is merely south of Annemasse, France. Handed back and Forth between these work forces Les Dossiers Secrets was vulnerable to multiple alterations and changes ( Priory of Sion. ) . In add-on to these four, each individual involved with the fraud has publically announced the falseness of the papers. Clive Prince, a distinguished writer of many books about medieval confederacies, said, A batch of stuff th at Pierre Plantard was responsible for is demonstrably false, it is a fraud ( The Da Vinci Code Fraud ) . Harmonizing to a author at christiantoday.com, both spiritual and non-religious research workers say that Dan Brown has non done plenty research to claim these facts that are non true ( Critics agree ) . Dan Brown, in The Da Vinci Code, presents different myths that through research and scrutiny have been proven incorrect. This led many people astray because they took it for what it was without look intoing the cogency of what he was stating. It makes you think, has today s reader become so uninformed that we can non find fact from fiction in modern-day authorship? If Dan Brown does it, who is to state that other writers are non making it as good?

The Chemistry of Baking Cookies

The Chemistry of Baking Cookies Baking cookies seems simple, especially if you cook pre-made cookie dough, but its really a set of chemical reactions. If your cookies never turn out perfect, understanding their chemistry may help improve your technique. Follow this classic chocolate chip cookie recipe and learn about the ingredients and the reactions that occur throughout the mixing and baking process. Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe 3/4 cup granulated sugar (sucrose, C12H22O11)3/4 cup brown sugar (caramelized sucrose)1 cup unsalted butter (a fat)1 large egg (consists of water, protein, fat, emulsifier, and albumin)1 teaspoon vanilla extract (for flavor)2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour (contains gluten)1 teaspoon baking soda (sodium bicarbonate,  NaHCO3, which is a weak base)1/2 teaspoon salt (NaCl)2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips Youll get the best results if you use room temperature eggs and butter. This helps the ingredients mix into the recipe more evenly and means your cookie dough will be room temperature and not cool when you put the cookies in the oven. The fat in the recipe affects the texture of the cookies and browns them, which influences flavor as well as color. Substituting a different fat in place of butter affects the flavor of the cookies and also the texture since other fats (lard, vegetable oil, margarine, etc.) have a different melting point from butter. If you use salted butter, its usually best to reduce the amount of added salt.Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Its important to preheat the oven because if you put the cookies in the oven and the temperature is too low, the dough can spread rather than firm up. This affects the thickness of the cookie, its texture, and how evenly it browns.Mix together the sugar, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and eggs. Mostly, this is to blend the in gredients so the composition of the cookies will be uniform. For the most part, no chemical reaction occurs at this point. Mixing the sugars with the eggs dissolves some of the sugar in the water from the eggs, so the crystals wont be as large in the cookies. Brown sugar adds caramelized sugar flavor to the cookies. While it doesnt matter what color of eggs you use (white or brown), the size matters, just like measuring all of the other ingredients! If you substitute an egg from a different bird than a chicken, the recipe will work, but the flavor will be different. You dont want to over-mix the ingredients because beating eggs for too long affects the protein molecules in the egg white. Real vanilla and imitation vanilla (vanillin) contain the same flavor molecule, but real vanilla extract has a more complex flavor because of other molecules from the plant. Mix in the flour (a little at a time), baking soda, and salt. You can sift the ingredients together to make sure they are evenly distributed, but sprinkling the salt and baking soda onto the mixture works too. The flour contains gluten, the protein that holds the cookies together, makes them a bit chewy and gives them their substance. Cake flour, bread flour, and self-rising flour could be substituted for all-purpose flour in a pinch, but arent ideal. The cake flour might produce fragile cookies with a finer crumb; the bread flour contains more gluten and could make the cookies tough or too chewy, and the self-rising flour already contains leavening agents that would make the cookies rise.  The baking soda is the ingredient that makes cookies rise. The salt is a flavoring, but also controls the rising of the cookies.Stir in the chocolate chips. This last to ensure the other ingredients are properly mixed and to avoid smashing the chips. The chocolate chips are flavoring. Dont like semi-sweet? Switch it out! Drop rounded teaspoons of the dough about two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. The size of the cookies matters! If you make the cookies too big or put them too close together, the interior of the cookie isnt dont by the time the bottom and edges brown. If the cookies are too small, they may not brown enough by the time the middle is done, giving you rock-hard cookies. Theres no need to grease the cookie sheet. While a light spritz of non-stick spray might not hurt, greasing the pan  adds fat to the cookies and affects how they brown and their texture.Bake the cookies 8 to 10 minutes or until they are light golden brown. Which rack you put the cookies on depends on your oven. Usually, the center rack is fine, but if your cookies tend to get too dark on the bottom, try moving them up one rack. The heating element in a conventional oven is on the bottom. The Baking Process If the ingredients are high quality, measured carefully, and mixed as they should be, chemical magic happens in the oven to make great cookies. Heating sodium bicarbonate causes it to decompose into water and carbon dioxide: 2NaHCO3 → Na2CO3 H2O CO2 Carbon dioxide gas and water vapor form the bubbles which make cookies rise. Rising doesnt just make cookies taller. It also opens up space to keep the cookie from becoming too dense. Salt slows down the decomposition of baking soda, so the bubbles dont get too big. This could lead to weak cookies or to cookies that fall flat when they come out of the oven. The heat works on the butter, egg yolk, and flour to change the shape of the molecules. The gluten in the flour forms a polymer mesh that works with the albumin protein from the egg white and the emulsifier lecithin from the egg yolk to form the dough and support the bubbles. Heat breaks the sucrose into the simple sugars glucose and fructose, giving each cookie a shiny, light brown crust. When you take the cookies out of the oven, the hot water gases in the cookie contract. The chemical changes that occurred during baking help the cookie keep its shape. This is why undercooked cookies (or other baked goods) fall in the center. After Baking If the cookies arent devoured immediately, the chemistry doesnt end with baking. The humidity of the surroundings affects cookies after they have cooled. If the air is very dry, moisture from the cookies escapes, making them hard. In a humid environment, cookies can absorb water vapor, making them soft. After cookies have completely cooled, they can be placed into a cookie jar or other container to keep them fresh and delicious.

Kate Chopins The Awakening of Edna Pontellier

Kate Chopin's 'The Awakening' of Edna Pontellier â€Å"She grew daring and reckless, overestimating her strength.  She wanted to swim far out, where no woman had swum before.† Kate Chopin’s The Awakening  (1899) is the story of one woman’s realization of the world and potential within her. In her journey, Edna Pontellier is awoken to three important pieces of her own being. First, she awakens to her artistic and creative potential. This minor but important awakening gives rise to Edna Pontellier’s most obvious and demanding awakening, one which resonates throughout the book: the sexual. However, though her sexual awakening may seem to be the most important issue in the novel, Chopin slips in a final awakening at the end, one that is hinted at early on but not resolved until the last minute: Edna’s awakening to her true humanity and role as a mother. These three awakenings, artistic, sexual, and motherhood, are what Chopin includes in her novel to define womanhood; or, more specifically, independent womanhood. Awakening of Artistic Self-Expression and Individualism What seems to begin Edna’s awakening is the rediscovery of her artistic inclinations and talents. Art, in The Awakening, becomes a symbol of  freedom and of failure. While attempting to become an artist, Edna reaches the first peak of her awakening. She begins to view the world in artistic terms. When Mademoiselle Reisz asks Edna why she loves Robert, Edna responds, â€Å"Why? Because his hair is brown and grows away from his temples; because he opens and shuts his eyes, and his nose is a little out of drawing.† Edna is beginning to notice intricacies and details that she would have ignored previously, details that only an artist would focus and dwell on, and fall in love with. Further, art is a way for Edna to assert herself.  She sees it as a form of self-expression and individualism. Edna’s own awakening is hinted at when the narrator writes, â€Å"Edna spent an hour or two in looking over her own sketches. She could see their shortcomings and defects, which were glaring in her eyes.† The discovery of defects in her previous works, and the desire to make them better demonstrate Edna’s reformation. Art is being used to explain Edna’s change, to hint to the reader that Edna’s soul and character are also changing and reforming, that she is finding defects within herself. Art, as Mademoiselle Reisz defines it, is also a test of individuality. But, like the bird with its broken wings struggling along the shore, Edna perhaps fails this final test, never blossoming into her true potential because she is distracted and confused along the way. Awakening of Sexual Freedom and Independence A great deal of this confusion is owed to the second awakening in Edna’s character, the sexual awakening. This awakening is, without doubt, the most considered and examined aspect of the novel. As Edna Pontellier begins to realize that she is an individual, capable of making individual choices without being another’s possession, she begins to explore what these choices might bring her. Her first sexual awakening comes in the form of Robert Lebrun. Edna and Robert are attracted to one another from the first meeting, though they do not realize it. They unwittingly flirt with each other, so that only the narrator and reader understand what is going on. For instance, in the chapter where Robert and Edna speak of buried treasure and pirates: â€Å"And in a day we should be rich!† she laughed. â€Å"I’d give it  all to you, the pirate gold and every bit of treasure we could dig up. I think you would know how to spend it. Pirate gold isn’t a thing to be hoarded or utilized. It is something to squander and throw to the four winds, for the fun of seeing the golden specks fly.† â€Å"We’d share it and scatter it together,† he said. His face flushed. The two do not understand the significance of their conversation, but in reality, the words speak of desire and sexual metaphor. American literary scholar Jane P. Tompkins wrote in Feminist Studies: â€Å"Robert and Edna do not realize, as the reader does, that their conversation is an expression of their unacknowledged passion for one another.† Edna awakens to this passion wholeheartedly. After Robert leaves, and before the two have the opportunity to truly explore their desires, Edna has an affair with Alcee Arobin.   Though it is never directly spelled out, Chopin uses language to convey the message that Edna has stepped over the line, and damned her marriage. For instance, at the end of Chapter 31, the narrator writes, â€Å"He did not answer, except to continue to caress her. He did not say good night until she had become supple to his gentle, seductive entreaties.† However, it is not only in situations with men that Edna’s passion is flared. In fact, the â€Å"symbol for sexual desire itself,† as George Spangler puts it, is the sea. It is appropriate that the most concentrated and artistically depicted symbol for desire comes, not in the form of a man, who may be viewed as a possessor, but in the sea, something which Edna herself, once afraid of swimming, conquers. The narrator writes, â€Å"the voice of [the] sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.† This is perhaps the most sensual and passionate chapter of the book, devoted entirely to depictions of the sea and to Edna’s sexual awakening. It is pointed out here that â€Å"The beginning of things, of a world especially, is necessarily vague, tangled, chaotic, and exceedingly disturbing.† Still, as Donald Ringe notes in his essay, the book is too often seen in terms of the question of sexual freedom.† The true awakening in the novel, and in Edna Pontellier, is the awakening of self. Throughout the novel, she is on a transcendental journey of self-discovery. She is learning what it means to be an individual, a woman, and a mother. Indeed, Chopin amplifies the significance of this journey by mentioning that Edna Pontellier â€Å"sat in the library after dinner and read Emerson until she grew sleepy. She realized that she had neglected her reading, and determined to start anew upon a course of improving studies, now that her time was completely her own to do with as she liked.† That Edna is reading Ralph Waldo Emerson is significant, especially at this point in the novel, when she is starting a new life of her own. This new life is signaled by a â€Å"sleep-waking† metaphor, one which, as Ringe points out, â€Å"is an important romantic image for the emergence of the self or soul into a new life.† A seemingly excessive amount of the novel is devoted to Edna sleeping, but when one takes into account that, for each time Edna falls asleep, she must also awaken, one begins to realize that this is just another way of Chopin demonstrating Edna’s personal awakening. Awakening of Womanhood and Motherhood Another transcendentalist link to awakening can be found with the inclusion of Emerson’s theory of correspondence, which has to do with life’s â€Å"double world, one within and one without.† Much of Edna is contradictory, including her attitudes toward her husband, her children, her friends, and even the men with whom she has affairs. These contradictions are encompassed within the idea that Edna was â€Å"beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her.† So, Edna’s true awakening is to the understanding of herself as a human being. But the awakening goes further still. She also becomes aware, at the end, of her role as a woman and mother. At one point, early in the novel and before this awakening, Edna tells Madame Ratignolle, â€Å"I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children but I wouldn’t give myself. I can’t make it more clear; it’s only something which I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me. Writer William Reedy describes Edna Pontellier’s character and conflict in the literary journal, Reedys Mirror, that â€Å"Woman’s truest duties are those of wife and mother, but those duties do not demand that she shall sacrifice her individuality.† The last awakening, to this realization that womanhood and motherhood can be a part of the individual, comes at the very end of the book. Professor Emily Toth writes in an article in the journal American Literature that â€Å"Chopin makes the ending attractive, maternal, sensuous.† Edna meets with Madame Ratignolle again, to see her while she is in labor. At this point, Ratignolle cries out to Edna, â€Å"Think of the children, Edna. Oh, think of the children! Remember them!† It is for the children, then, that Edna takes her life. Conclusion Though the signs are confusing, they are throughout the book; with a broken-winged bird symbolizing Edna’s failure and the sea concurrently symbolizing freedom and escape, Edna’s suicide is, in fact, a way of her maintaining her independence while also putting her children first.  It is ironic that the point in her life when she realizes a mother’s duty is at the moment of her death. She does sacrifice herself, as she claims she never would, by giving up the chance at all she could have in order to protect her children’s future and well-being. Spangler explains this when he says, â€Å"primary was her fear of a succession of lovers and the effect such a future would have on her children: ‘to-day it is Arobin; tomorrow it will be someone else. It makes no difference to me, it doesn’t matter about Leonce Pontellier- but Raoul and Etienne!’†Ã‚  Edna gives up the newly found passion and understanding, her art, and her life to protect her family. The Awakening is a complex and beautiful novel, filled with contradictions and sensations. Edna Pontellier journeys through life, awakening to the transcendental beliefs of individuality and connections with nature. She discovers sensual joy and power in the sea, beauty in art, and independence in sexuality. However, though some critics claim the ending to be the novel’s downfall and what keeps it from top status in American literary canon, the fact is that it wraps up the novel in as beautiful a way as it was told all along. The novel ends in confusion and wonder, as it is told. Edna spends her life, since the awakening, questioning the world around her and within her, so why not remain questioning to the end?  Spangler writes in his essay, â€Å"Mrs. Chopin asks her reader to believe in an Edna, who is completely defeated by the loss of Robert, to believe in the paradox of a woman who has awakened to passional life and yet, quietly, almost thoughtlessly, chooses death.† But Edna Pontellier is not defeated by Robert. She is the one making choices, as she has determined to do all along. Her death was not thoughtless; in fact, it seems almost preplanned, a â€Å"coming home† to the sea. Edna strips off her clothes and becomes one with the very source of nature that helped to awaken her to her own power and individualism in the first place. Further still, that she goes quietly is not an admission of defeat, but a testament to Edna’s ability to end her life the way she lived it. Each decision that Edna Pontellier makes throughout the novel is done quietly, suddenly. The dinner party, the move from her home to the â€Å"Pigeon House.† There is never any ruckus or chorus, just simple, impassioned change. Thus, the novel’s conclusion is a statement to the enduring power of womanhood and individualism. Chopin is affirming that, even in death, perhaps only in death, one can become and remain truly awakened. Resources and Further Reading Chopin, Kate. The Awakening, Dover Publications,1993.Ringe, Donald A. â€Å"Romantic Imagery in Kate Chopins The Awakening,† American Literature, vol. 43, no. 4, Duke University Press, 1972, pp. 580-88.Spangler, George M. Kate Chopins The Awakening: A Partial Dissent, Novel 3, Spring 1970, pp. 249-55.Thompkins, Jane P. The Awakening: An Evaluation, Feminist Studies 3, Spring-Summer 1976, pp. 22-9.Toth, Emily. Kate Chopin. New York: Morrow, 1990.