Mistakes Made in Casey Anthony Trial Investigation and Prosecution Research Paper

Mistakes Made in Casey Anthony Trial Investigation and Prosecution - Research Paper Example The accused was acquitted on July 5th, 2011. The Orlando, Fla., jury held that Casey Anthony was never guilty of killing her daughter culminating in a stunning end to the trials that had significantly fixated the country, thus, raising serious similar questions of forensic expertise and evidence featuring in The Child Cases. The case was weakened by a flawed state’s forensic case hence attracting a lot of questions concerning the strength of the forensic evidence. The Florida prosecutors never proved beyond a reasonable doubt how the two-year-old died. Also, they never proved where the body had been prior to being uncovered in garbage bags in swampy woods adjacent to the Anthony’s family home. Therefore, the case greatly relied on cutting-edge forensic evidence that the defense tagged, ‘junk science’ and too experimental for the Courtroom. Therefore, there was a real danger from the case as scientific precedents turned out scary. Therefore, a greater percentage of the forensic techniques relied on the prosecution team had never been permitted in any trial in the U.S. Indeed, an average juror lacks such an advanced expertise to distinguish between ‘junk science’ and ‘good science’ therefore; the Court expunges then to eliminate dubious evidence. Howeve r, there could have been a mistake made by jurors in this particular elimination of the ‘dubious evidence’ The Court juror never bought the evidence and attempted to validate the functionality of the system. Therefore, the state’s case had a number of hard questions unanswered leaving the juror with a single option to acquit the accused. Charging someone with murder must result from the evidence of how she is killed or why one might have killed someone. Also, it calls for where, when why and how someone was killed or might have been killed. However, the prosecutor relied on junk science that had never answered a single question. Indeed,

Robert Browning Essay Essay Example for Free

Robert Browning Essay Essay Browning gave life to the dramatic monologue and made it a distinctive and memorable poetic form. Browning was fascinated with human behaviour, particularly the darker side of humanity and he believed that the dramatic monologue enabled him to create very powerful masks and ‘tell the truth obliquely’. As we become aware that the characters are wearing masks, the layers of artifice or self-deception is where the real persona exits. Browning’s poems open the minds of his readers, allowing for exploration and the discovery of the dark side of human nature: in the context of his dramatic monologue, character revelations are discovered. In Robert Browning’s, My Last Duchess we are introduced to a rich, arrogant and authoritarian Duke of Ferara. Browning immediately establishes the technique apostrophe as the Duke begins to speak to an unseen character about his late wife. The Duke displays feelings of nervousness towards the death of his wife but also speaks in a revengeful and controlling tone. In comparison to the Duke is a young man who is tormented by an elderly man’s light blue eye in the short story ‘The Tell Tale Heart’ by Edger Allan Poe. Both main characters share personality flaws of the need for control over others and the lust for power and authority. Edger Allan Poe and Robert Browning demonstrate the use of an emerging theme in the Victorian era, ‘Goth’. This theme creates an externalisation of the composer’s characters, revealing their deepest passions and fears and the hunger for triumph of evil over good. Browning and Poe share the same love for the dark side of human nature and use the gothic theme to inject personality traits of insanity and madness into their characters. In the first sentence of ‘Tell Tale Heart’, the young man admits to being dreadfully nervous and asks us ‘but why would you think I’m mad?’ This immediately plants ideas of insanity and irrationalism in Poe’s character. Poe uses pathetic fallacy as a metonym as he speaks of the ‘night time darkness’ and with the quote â€Å"my secret deeds or thought†, this creates ideas of ‘the madness within’. Browning also taps into the thoughts of a madman in the characterisation of the Duke. The Duke speaks in favouritism of himself with high order and authority in his tone of voice. The Duke is blinded by his faults of vicious pride and revengeful jealousy over the lack of control in his Last Duchess and this  allows the audience to unravel the Dukes flaws and discover the villain that lay beneath. In the quote â€Å"This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together†, gives off the idea that the Duke enforced high power and control over his Duchess and uses double entendre to imply two possible meanings to his ideas of ‘then all smiles stopped’. Browning combines the contrasts of love and passion with violence and power to enable the depiction of a lovers mind. He reveals the macabre and grotesque side of a human’s urgency for companionship which in turn leads to insanity and madness in the eyes of a lover. â€Å"Youre the brother I never had. Im the brother you never had. I would do anything for you, Dickie†, is a quote from the film ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’; the story of a man named Tom Ripley who befriends a man names Dickie Greenleaf, becoming deeply infatuated by him and as Tom’s obsession grew it led to the grotesque murder and assumed identity of Dickie. This macabre murder performed by a jealous, love-crazed man can be presented in comparison with Robert Browning’s, ‘Porphyria’s Lover’; the first person recount of an anonymous narrator who kills his lover with her own hair. Both texts explore the urgency for everlasting human companionship that is driven by a lover’s madness. Porphyria’s lover uses powerful imagery, ‘shoulder bare’ and alliteration in ‘perfectly pure’ when he speaks of her beauty. Symbolism is also displayed in the name Porphyria which means rich and red in colour. This can symbolise either the grotesque murder of the Lover or the delicate but deep love expressed through Browning’s character. There is also the question of Tom Ripley’s sexuality. He is self-hating and ashamed as he stumbles about his desire for Dickie and tries to repress his sexual impulses. Empty and absent to himself, Ripley doesn’t merely want to poses the object of his affection, he wants to be him. In the quote, â€Å"I always thought itd be better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody†, shows Tom’s yearning to become a person of significance, someone to be sort after and loved. He shows personality traits of a psychotic man who would do anything to have a sense of belonging and purpose in life even if it meant assuming the identity of another to compensate for the loss of self- love within him. Browning invites his audience to uncover the real sense of truth  in his character’s situations that they do not discover themselves. He creates disequilibrium between what the speaker reveals about himself and thinks is the truth. The Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister and Doug Liman’s,’ The Bourne Identity’ are excellent examples of two strikingly vague men who are deceived by their own faults and follies and are unable to justify their real character traits. In the poem, Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister, Robert Browning creates a nameless Spanish monk full of hypocrisy and jealousy. Throughout the poem, this monk expresses opinions of both himself and a fellow monk. Yet these opinions are not what the monk really thinks of himself as can be deciphered by a closer examination of the text. The monk, who is the speaker of the poem, attempts to convince the reader that he is a just, moral man. However it becomes apparent to the audience that this monk carries many hidden flaws that he reveals to us throughout his ranting. An example is shown in stanza 4 as our deceitful monk describes a scene of two nuns, washing their hair outside. The monk accuses Brother Lawrence of lusting after them. However in the quote That is, if hed let it show suggests there is no actual evidence of such thoughts of Brother Lawrence, revealing that the speaker, alone, noticed a need for such lust. In contrast the fictional character and protagonist Jason Bourne is a very quick-thinking, linear type of person who moves quickly and brutally towards his goal. He gives the impression of someone who has been severely traumatized. Jason Bourne was on a search for his own identity and discovered the worst. Bourne reveals about himself that he is a grotesque assassin and he begins to run from the horrible truth but we as the audience are able to see what he is truly like and that as he runs away from the truth, Bourne is bringing the audience closer to the real truth of his identity. He tries to convince himself of who he isn’t, ‘I dont wanna know who I am any more, everything I found out, I want to forget’.

Estimation of Mound Height in Endoscopic Treatment of VUR

Estimation of Mound Height in Endoscopic Treatment of VUR A Numerical Study to Precise the Estimation of the Good Mound Height in Endoscopic Treatment of VUR Author(s):  Mehdi Shirazi1, Zahra Jahanabadi2, Zeinab Hooshyar5, Zahra Mortazavinia4, Alireza Mehdizadeh3, Mojtaba Taherisadr6 Abstract Purpose: it seems that there is no definite and standard index to ascertain the technique and volume of injection in order to increase the success rate of endoscopic VUR treatment. In this study, we introduced a novel method to numerically define the relationship between some indexes in order to determine optimum mound height promise to standardize the injection technique in this kind of treatment. Material and method: The main purpose of this study is to construct a finite element simulation of intramural ureter and injected mound which aims to numerically define the relationship between indexes which have influence in VUR endoscopic treatment. Using linearization software and numerically simulation data the relationship between effective indexes has been derived. Result: By linearization of the effective parameters of different finite element models, the relationship between effective parameters in filling phase is derived as: H=0.7456D+ 0.02174L +0.01846. This equation depicts adequate injected mound height as a function of internal diameter and intramural length, H=f(L,D). Conclusion: Using numerical simulation, we introduced the novel formula to predict the height of injected mound in endoscopic VUR treatment. As a result of this study, in order to increasing the success rate of this treatment, the ratio of mound height to intramural ureter diameter should be approximately 74% (~3/4). Keywords: Mound height, Endoscopic treatment, Vesico ureteral reflux, Finite element model Introduction Vesico ureteral reflux (VUR) is a major disorder of childhood declared by retrograde urine flow from the bladder toward the kidney, predisposing patients to UTI and renal scarring and in long term leading to renal insufficiency and hypertension[1]. Current treatment options include close observation with urinary chemoprophylaxis, minimally invasive endoscopic subureteral injection of bulking agents and open or laparoscopic reimplantation[2]. The prophylactic antibiotic approach is proper for uncomplicated reflux (grade I-III without significant renal scarring or breakthrough infection)[3]. This type of treatment doesn’t cure VUR and has some problems such as patient noncompliance and increased antibiotic resistance[4]. Surgical reimplantation of the ureter is an invasive method[5] and already used for patients with high grade reflux, children with breakthrough UTI and children with reflux and developed renal scarring[6]. Endoscopic subureteral injection of bulking agents was introduced by Matouscheck as an evolution in treatment of reflux with a high success rate and minimal invasion[6], [7]. The substance used as a bulking material should be biocompatible, nonantigenic, nonmigratory and non-toxic with minimal local inflammation[8]. Multiple techniques on injection have been described. These methods include subureteral needle placement[8], intraureteral needle placement[9], [10] or some combinations of these. During recent years, several studies have been done to determine success or failure of endoscopic treatment, and various injection techniques have been introduced. Puri et al., described â€Å"volcano† appearance as the main sign of success of injection[11]. The proper shape was demonst rated by adequate coaptation of the ureteral orifice and by its location in the bladder below the ureteral orifice and/or along the waldeyer’s sheat[12], [13]. Despite all the studies carried out to determine the success or failure of endoscopic treatment, such as description of volcano appearance, injection technique in combination with hydrodistention, increasing injected volume, use of intraoperative cystogram with a simulated voiding phase, there is no definite and standard index to ascertain the technique and volume of injection in order to increase the success rate. In this study, we introduced a novel method to numerically define the relationship between some indexes in order to determine optimum mound height promise to standardize the injection technique. Materials Method In this study, a computational simulation was proposed to simulate the intramural ureter and injected mound which aims to numerically define the relationship between indexes which have influence in retrograde urine flow from intramural ureter. Geometry of the numerical model Fig. 1 illustrates diagrammatic representation of the functional anatomy of the ureterovesical junction and urinary anti reflux mechanism as the accumulation of urine within the bladder will lead to the tight closure of the portion of the ureter in between, thus preventing the backward return of urine to the kidneys, urinary anti reflux mechanism. In Fig. 1, P, D, H and L are intravesical pressure, intramural ureter diameter, injected mound height, and intramural ureter length, respectively. Section â€Å"A† in Figure 1 depicts the cross section of the intramural ureter with injected mound. The geometrical data of intramural ureter and ureterovesical junction were utilized as per Table 1. Materials Properties and Boundary Conditions Material properties for the intramural ureter wall were assumed to be linear elastic, isotropic, incompressible, and homogeneous with Young’s modulus of 10 Kpa [18]. The injected mound was modeled as a rigid volume as shown in Fig. 3. The boundary conditions for the wall were (1) the bottom surface of intramural wall was fixed at the connection to the internal bladder wall. (2) The upper wall was assumed to be free such that the deformation would occur due to the intravesical pressure and contribute to the tight closure of the portion of the ureter in between. Solution Method The ANSYS 11 software was employed to simulate the intramural ureter with injected mound in voiding phase. The intravesical pressure was applied on the upper portion of the intramural wall. The upper bound of intravesical pressure was considered to be 160 CmH2 O to encompass both male and female intravesical voiding pressures[15], see Table 1. The 8-Node structural solid mesh has been utilized in finite element model to have adequate adoption with this geometry and material behavior. 3 Results Fig. 2 illustrates the total deformation of the intramural ureter with injected mound in voiding phase. As shown, the intramural ureter has been closed due to the intravesical pressure. Fig. 3 shows the deformed and undeformed intramural wall in resting and voiding phase. As shown, in voiding position the injected mound height is high enough for the intramural ureter to be closed due to the intravesical pressure and prevents retrograde urine flow. In the first attempt, keeping the intramural ureter length constant, by changing intravesical pressure and internal diameter, the adequate injected mound height leading to tight closure of intramural ureter was obtained. By linearization of the effective parameters of about 30 different finite element models, the primary relationship between injected mound height, intravesical pressure and internal diameter of intramural ureter was defined as bellow, H=f(D,P) H=-0.0000003219P+0.7864D+0.000233(4) According to this relationship, it has been inferred that intravesical pressure coefficient is minute in comparison with coefficient of other effective parameters and it shows that changing the intravesical pressure plays an insignificant role in adequate injected mound height. In order to investigate the more effective indexes on injected mound height, the intramural length has been considered as one of variable parameters in finite element modeling. Varying internal diameter, intramural length and linearization of obtained data, the relationship between parameters was derived as: H=0.7456D+ 0.02174L +0.01846(5) This equation depicts optimum mound height as a function of internal diameter and intramural length, H=f(L,D). 4Discussion Endoscopic treatment of VUR was introduced more than 25 years ago and since then many different substances and injection techniques have been used with different results[13]. Choosing endoscopic treatment is reasonable, as it has many advantages, such as technical simplicity, greater acceptance of patients and parents and significant decrease in post- operation complications[7]. By improving the injection techniques the rate of endoscopic treatment has significantly increased as compared with open ureteral reimplantation[2]. During the recent years, many studies have been done to increase the ability to identify factors predicting success with the endoscopic subureteral injection[19]. At 2003, Puri et al.[11] described â€Å"volcano† appearance as the main sign of success of injection. The proper shape was demonstrated by adequate coaptation of the ureteral orifice and by its location in the bladder below the ureteral orifice and/or along the waldeyer’s sheat[12]. In different studies conducted by Lavelle et al.[12] and Yucel et al. [20], it was found that a subjectively proper mound appearance was highly predictive of injection success, but it should be noted that the morphology and location of the mound are not perfectly predictive of injection success or failure, as the mound seems perfectly adequate in some injections but the injection is not successful; also, the imperfect mound morphology does not necessarily imply injection failure[12]. Moreover, Ellworth PI et al. showed no correlation between the presence of a mound on post-injection ultrasound and the success of injection[19]. Some research agrees that an intraureteral injection technique in combination with hydrodistention results in higher success rates but this is controversial[9],[10],[20],[21]. The effect of injected volume on increasing the success rate is also controversial. Mathew D et al. showed that increasing the injection material volume will improve the success of subure teric injection[22] but other centers have shown that higher injection material volume doesn’t necessarily increase the treatment success rate[21]. So the effect of the injected volume in association with improved success rate remain unclear[12]. To determine the treatment success or failure, Tarry WF et al. described the utility of an intraoperative cystogram with a simulated voiding phase, but they demonstrated that an introperative cystogram can only detect de novo contralateral reflux but is not a proper method to predict the final success of injection[6]. Despite all the mentioned studies, still there is no definite and standard index to ascertain the technique and volume of injection, and also there is no quantitative index for determining the proper mound size and shape. So, we have conducted a study aiming to define an optimum injection mound by finite element modeling. In this study, we introduced a novel method to numerically define the relationship between some indexes in order to determine optimum mound height promise to standardize the injection technique in VUR treatment. It should be noted that due to every patient individual properties of intramural, it is not logical to consider similar injected mound height for all VUR treatment cases. Thus, it is needed to state the adequate injected mound height based on individual indexes of each case. The Intravesical pressure, intramural ureter diameter and length are some of these effective indexes. By specifying the relationship between all of these effective factors, the adequate and optimum injected mound height can be determined which can contribute to more success in treatment of VUR. In addition, it can help to save the needed injected mound height and make this injection method more economical. The results of this study show that the intravesical pressure has an insignificant effect on the required injected mound height. However, intramural length plays an important role on it in comparison with Intravesical Pressure. Moreover, the ratio of mound height to intramural ureter diameter is approximately 0.74 (~3/4), which is drawn that in order to have successful VUR treatment, it is needed that about 74% of intramural ureter diameter be filled with the injected mound. It should be mentioned that in Department of Urology of Shiraz University for the first time, an innovative method, introduced by Taheri et al.[23], is used to measure the injected mound height to assure the adequate injected mound height. In this method by adjusting camera, laparoscopy lens and imaging screen, it would be possible to measure the injected mound height as a ratio of projected picture on the screen. This study has served some limitation. The realistic cross section of intramural ureter has star shape. However, because of some limitation in finite element modeling, the circular one considered. Furthermore, we considered computational simulation only in voiding phase, although VUR may occur in resting phase. Conclusion In this study using numerical simulation, we introduced the novel formula to predict the height of injected mound in endoscopic VUR treatment. As a result of this study, in order to increase the success rate of this tevhnique, the ratio of mound height to intramural ureter diameter should be approximately 74% (~3/4). Moreover, clinical study has been conducted to ascertain the accuracy of this obtained height. Fig. 1Diagrammatic representation of the functional anatomy of the ureterovesical junction Fig. 2Intramural ureter displacement in voiding phase Fig. 3Deformed and undeformed intramural urine wall References Lenaghan, D., et al., The natural history of reflux and longterm effects of reflux on the kidney. J Urol, 1976. 115(6): p. 728-30. Cerwinka, W.H., et al., Radiologic features of implants after endoscopic treatment of vesicoureteral reflux in children. AJR Am J Roentgenol, 2010. 195(1): p. 234-40. Harper, L., et al., Postoperative cystography and endoscopic treatment of lowgrade vesicoureteral reflux. J Laparoendosc Adv Surg Tech A, 2008. 18(3): p. 461-463. Hsieh, M.H., et al., Treatment of Pediatric Vesicoureteral Reflux Using Endoscopic Injection of Hyaluronic Acid/Dextranomer Gel: Intermediate-term Experience by a Single Surgeon.j urology, 2010. 76(1): p. 199-203. Elder, J.S., et al., Pediatric Vesicoureteral Reflux Guidelines Panel Summary Report on the Management of Primary Vesicoureteral Reflux in Children. j urology, 1997. 157(5): p. 1846-1851. Perlmutter, A.E., et al., Utility of an intraoperative cystogram with a simulated voiding phase after endoscopic treatment of vesicoureteral reflux. W V Med J, 2008. 104(4): p. 22-4. Rivilla, F., Endoscopic treatment of vesicoureteral reflux in a paediatric surgery ambulatory unit. Vol. 7. 2011. 132-5. Bae, Y.D., et al., Endoscopic Subureteral Injection for the Treatment of Vesicoureteral Reflux in Children: Polydimethylsiloxane (Macroplastique ®) versus Dextranomer/Hyaluronic Acid Copolymer (Deflux ®). Korean J Urol, 2010. 51(2): p. 128-131. Gupta, A. and W. Snodgrass, Intra-Orifice Versus Hydrodistention Implantation Technique in Dextranomer/Hyaluronic Acid Injection for Vesicoureteral Reflux. J urology, 2008. 180(4): p. 1589-1593. Kirsch, A.J., et al., The modified sting procedure to correct vesicoureteral reflux: improved results with submucosal implantation within the intramural ureter. J urology, 2004. 171(6 Pt 1): p. 2413-2416. Puri, P., et al., Treatment of Vesicoureteral Reflux by Endoscopic Injection of Dextranomer/Hyaluronic Acid Copolymer: Preliminary Results. J urology, 2003. 170(4): p. 1541-1544. Routh, J.C. and Y. Reinberg, Predicting Success in the Endoscopic Management of Pediatric Vesicoureteral Reflux. Uro, 2010. 76(1): p. 195-198. Lavelle, M.T., M.J. Conlin, and S.J. Skoog, Subureteral injection of Deflux for correction of reflux: Analysis of factors predicting success. Uro, 2005. 65(3): p. 564-567. Yeung CK, G.M., Duffy PG, Ransley PG., Nat<

Schindlers List Essay -- essays research papers

Schindler’s List   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Oskar Schindler was a wealthy German industrialist, who made much of his wealth by employing Jewish men and women in his various factories. In the movie â€Å" Schindler’s List,† it starts off with Schindler in a restaurant with many high ranking Nazi officers eating there. He starts off by buying a officer a bottle of expensive wine, but it does not end there. Before the night is gone he has boughten dinner for all of the officers. This is how he made friends, friends with power.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At this point the War was already underway and Schindler seized an oppurtunity to make money. Thinking ahead he hires a Jewish accountant that he believes is very qualified for that position. At first this accountant is careful of the way he acts around Schindler because Schindler is a member of the Nazi Party and fears for his life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The point of the movie in which Schindler starts to view the Jewish people differently is when the Nazis start to flush out the ghettos. From a hilltop he watches, especially a little girl walking through the streets like she is abandoned. At this time he starts to pull his favors from those officers he treated to dinner a while back. He meets Geoth, a SS officer that is known for his cruelty in the Concentration Camps. Schindler starts to gain the trust and admiration of Geoth and he takes advantage of that friendship. He tells Geoth that he will pay him a certain am...

Social Policy stigma

Social Policy Theories and Concepts Essay What do you understand by ‘Stigma' and do you agree that social policies can stigmatize people? If so, what is the solution? In this essay I will discuss what my understanding of the word ‘Stigma' is, whether I agree or not if social policies stigmatize certain groups of people and if so, what are the solutions to these stigmas attached to these groups. â€Å"Stigma is a mark of disgrace that sets a person apart. When a person is labelled by their illness they are seen as part of a stereotyped group. Negative attitudes create prejudice which leads to negative actions and discrimination† (www. entalhealth. wa. gov. au). In modern society, stigmas are nearly almost of a negative kind. They have a negative effect on those being stigmatized and can cause experiences and feelings such as; shame, blame, hopelessness, and distress. â€Å"In every branch of the social services, some provisions are stigmatizing and others are not; but the reasons for the pattern of stigmatization are not immediately clear† (Spicker, Stigma and Social Welfare p. 36). Because stigma is socially onstructed, it varies from setting to setting, there are many different types of groups in society which all react differently to the stigmas which are appointed.All of these different reactions must be considered when planning social policies. In every different society not everyone is going to be content with policies that are made, some may stigmatize groups of people and the groups who have been victims of certain stigmas will also have feelings of discontent, hopelessness and distress. Erving Goffman, one of the most important sociologists of the twentieth century, efined stigma as â€Å"the process by which the reaction of others spoils normal identity'. (Nettleton, 2006: 95).Goffman believes that there are three types of social stigmas, including: 1 . Stigma of character traits 2. Physical Stigma 3. Stigma of group identity Goffman considers the stigma of character traits to be â€Å"blemishes of individual character perceived as weak will, domineering, or unnatural passions, treacherous and rigid beliefs, and dishonesty, these being inferred from a known record of, for example, mental disorder, imprisonment, addiction, alcoholism, homosexuality, nemployment, suicidal attempts, and radical political behavior. The physical stigmas he refers to are different bodily formalities. When Goffman refers to the ‘stigma of group identity he is referring to being of a particular race, nationality, religion etc. whether or not a person understands or agrees with stigmas, they are passed on from one generation to the next, thus there will always be certain stigmas associated with certain groups of people. Stigma nowadays, would be considered a central issue in relation to social welfare and social policy. When discussing stigma, it s important to mention the Poor Law. The stigma of the Poor Law is renowned. In the past and in many cases still today, people often Judged others who claimed money trom the state in the torm ot benetl ts and there was a policy that mar ed k these people off from others in society. This left us with the debate whether or not welfare should be provided, to whom it should be provided and what kind of welfare? This concept of the â€Å"undeserving† and â€Å"lazy' public who refused to work was thought to be ethically corruptible by people relying on the state and not seeking to improve their ndependent source of income or by any policy of substantial kindness. The last remnants of the Poor Law were scrapped in 1948. The stigma of pauperism, which had seemed to be the result of a conscious policy, has proved resilient to eradication. † (Spicker, Paul, Stigma and Social Welfare, 1984, p 9) over the past few years, people have begun to move away from the idea of the Poor Law and have begun to accept how social policies deal with groups of people who do not receive adequate independent income, although there will always be slight stigmas attached o these groups. It is hard to understand why this is so, when cautionary policies have been deserted, right to benefits established, and the administration of benefits has significantly changed.As Goffman has explained, stigmas can be carried in two different ways; stigmas can be discredited or discreditable. Discredited stigmas are those that a person cannot stop everyone else from knowing, for example stigmas that may be associated with a certain race or the use of a wheelchair whereas, discreditable is when a person believes that the general public do not know about heir stigma, due to the fact that it cannot be seen and is not distinctively obvious, for example, their sexual orientation or their religion. Kennedy, P (2013) Key Themes in Social Policy). I believe that social policies do and do not stigmatize certain groups of people. I think that the majority of the time the social policies that some may say attach stigmas to groups are Just highlighting the stigmas that already exist. I think that the Irish government have created a durable system so as to prevent negative stigmatization. Unemployment benefit in Ireland is very generous, for this reason eople often attach negative stigmas to those who receive it.Many believe that those who receive unemployment benefit have little motivation to find employment because they are so well funded, this also leads to many of them being stuck in the poverty trap. The government started an initiative to encourage unemployed people to seek work. This initiative is a government-funded agency known as ‘F†¦S'. The government creating this agency and many unemployed people using it to gain training for future employment should reduce the negative stigmas that are attached o those receiving unemployment benefit.Thus I consider that this initiative is a good solution to the stigmatization of unemployed people in I reland. People may often feel stigmatized if the way in which they act is different to what are known as ‘norms'. This is definitely not fair or Just but it will always exist within society. For example, although our society is changing and gay people are becoming more and more accepted in society, there are most definitely those who see them as different and do not accept them. Whether this is right or not does not take away from the fact that it appens.As a result, gay people will feel stigmatized because of their sexual orientation. This can be because of social policy because it is not the way in which we are told to behave and is not seen as a ‘norm'. As regards to these sort of stigmas, they will always exist within society for the first number of years until it becomes a more regular and frequently occurring thing. Thus I believe that there are not any solutions to these torms ot stigmatizations . For the reasons that I nave discussed, I would agree that some soci al policies have caused stigmatism.

How to Say to Teach in French

How to Say to Teach in French The French verbs apprendre, enseigner, instruire, and à ©duquer all mean to teach but have different uses and nuances. Learn how to recognize and use these four verbs correctly with this lesson. Teach a Technique or Something Apprendre means to teach a technique. It can only be used in the following constructions: apprendre quelque chose quelquun  - to teach someone somethingapprendre quelquun faire quelque chose - to teach someone (how) to do something Chantal apprend la guitare mon fils. -  Chantal is teaching my son (to play the) guitar. Il apprend aux enfants skier. -  He teaches children to ski. Pouvez-vous mapprendre lire? -  Can you teach me to read? Apprendre also means to learn and can be used in two constructions: apprendre noun and  apprendre infinitive Mon fils apprend la guitare. -  My son is learning (to play the) guitar. Les enfants apprennent skier. -  The children are learning to ski. Je veux apprendre lire. -  I want to learn to read. Teaching a Subject Enseigner means to teach in general or to teach a subject. It is used in the following construction: enseigner [quelque chose] [ quelquun] The items in [brackets] are optional. Jenseigne le franà §ais aux adultes. -  I teach French to adults. Mon mari enseigne la chimie en France. -  My husband teaches chemistry in France. Nous enseignons depuis 5 ans. -  Weve been teaching for five years. Teach Someone Instruire  means to  teach someone. It cannot be used to specify what is being taught and is used only in the construction  instruire quelquun: Elle instruit les à ©tudiants à ©trangers. -  She teaches foreign students. Il faut instruire les enfants par exemple. -  You have to teach children by example. Teaching Éduquer  is used just like instruire, except that it is very  general: it can refer to vague  concepts, particularly morals and manners. Là ©glise doit à ©duquer son peuple. -  The church must educate its people. Ces enfants sont bien à ©duquà ©s. -  These children are well educated (well-mannered).

Concepts of Facing Reality through the texts The Riders by Tim Winton, Retrun to Bali and film Snow falling on Cedars

Concepts of Facing Reality through the texts The Riders by Tim Winton, Retrun to Bali and film Snow falling on Cedars Reality is something that everybody has to face and deal with. Facing reality can sometimes have a significant effect on themselves as well as those closest to them. This idea is shown throughout the novel, "The Riders", by Tim Winton, the 60 minutes episode, "Return to Bali", and the film "Snow Falling on Cedars". The realities that the characters in these texts were confronted were presented in the ideas of facing reality is a physical or mental journey, that pain and suffering might be endured and that there will be a change in their life.The novel "The Rider's shows that when confronted with reality, you will face it through a physical or mental journey. Scully took both a mental and physical journey. Moving from one place to another all around Europe searching for his wife, Jennifer. "She'll be in Greece". This is what Scully had thought, though he was soon to find out that he was wrong and that he didn't know his own wife as well as he once thought.Ismael, or IshmaelThe mental journey is shown along the way. How his state of mind changes as each part of the novel is changed. This shows the mental journey in progress. At the end of the novel he ends up with a much better state of mind then what he had when he was in Paris and the other countries around Europe. A circular storyline shows the physical journey and the third person view shows the mental journey, by having different perspective the reader was able to interpret how Scully was truly feeling."Return to Bali" shows the physical journey, how they had to travel from their homes in Australia to Bali where they were recently bombed. This physical journey was short compared to the journey, which Scully...

Free Essays on The Life Of Edgar Allen Poe

Edgar Allen Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston to Elizabeth Arnold Poe, an English born actress, and David Poe, Jr., an actor from Baltimore, Maryland. His life was that of most children, until his mother tragically died in 1811. The young Edgar Allen went to live with his godfather, John Allen, and his wife who were childless. From 1815 to 1820, his godfather sent him to England and Scotland to begin his classical education. When he returned to Richmond, Virginia, he studied Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian. He was bright, but while at university, he gambled so excessively that John Allen pulled him out and wouldn’t let him continue. Upon returning to Richmond from university, Edgar Allen Poe was heartbroken to find his girlfriend, Elmira Royster, engaged to another man. He left home once more, this time going to Boston where he published a pamphlet of poems entitled Tamerlane and Other Poems. Some of the poems in this collection allude to his lost Elmira. Edgar Allen Poe had become incredibly poor. Publishing small works did not bring in the amount of money he was accustomed to living with. Because of his lack of money, he decided to join the army under a false name-Edgar A. Perry. When his foster mother died, John Allen purchased for him a release from the army, and helped to get him appointed at a United States Military Academy at West Point. Before leaving for military school, he published Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems. Edgar Allen hated military school, and successfully got himself expelled by being absent from all the drills and classes for a straight week. Poe went to New York City briefly after this incident, and then returned to Baltimore where he wrote MS. Found in a Bottle and won $50 for it in a contest. In 1835, he became the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond and made a name for himself as a critical reviewer. In his mid-twenties, Poe began to think of m... Free Essays on The Life Of Edgar Allen Poe Free Essays on The Life Of Edgar Allen Poe Edgar Allen Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston to Elizabeth Arnold Poe, an English born actress, and David Poe, Jr., an actor from Baltimore, Maryland. His life was that of most children, until his mother tragically died in 1811. The young Edgar Allen went to live with his godfather, John Allen, and his wife who were childless. From 1815 to 1820, his godfather sent him to England and Scotland to begin his classical education. When he returned to Richmond, Virginia, he studied Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian. He was bright, but while at university, he gambled so excessively that John Allen pulled him out and wouldn’t let him continue. Upon returning to Richmond from university, Edgar Allen Poe was heartbroken to find his girlfriend, Elmira Royster, engaged to another man. He left home once more, this time going to Boston where he published a pamphlet of poems entitled Tamerlane and Other Poems. Some of the poems in this collection allude to his lost Elmira. Edgar Allen Poe had become incredibly poor. Publishing small works did not bring in the amount of money he was accustomed to living with. Because of his lack of money, he decided to join the army under a false name-Edgar A. Perry. When his foster mother died, John Allen purchased for him a release from the army, and helped to get him appointed at a United States Military Academy at West Point. Before leaving for military school, he published Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems. Edgar Allen hated military school, and successfully got himself expelled by being absent from all the drills and classes for a straight week. Poe went to New York City briefly after this incident, and then returned to Baltimore where he wrote MS. Found in a Bottle and won $50 for it in a contest. In 1835, he became the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond and made a name for himself as a critical reviewer. In his mid-twenties, Poe began to think of m... Free Essays on The Life Of Edgar Allen Poe Edgar Allen Poe Known today as the father of detective stories and the perfecter of the psychological thriller, Edgar Allan Poe is best known for his poetry and short fiction. Many say he deserves more credit than any other writer for the transformation of the short story from anecdote to art. But what inspired these great works of art? What led him to write such brilliant yet terrifying accounts? Edgar Poe was born January 19, 1809 in Boston Massachusetts. He was the son of an English-born actress, Elizabeth Arnold Poe, and David Poe Jr., an actor from Baltimore. After the death of his mother, he was taken into the home of John Allan, whose name he incorporated with his own, and his wife. From 1815 to 1820, Poe attended a school in England. In 1826, after the Allan’s moved back to America, he entered the University of Virginia. Although a good student, he ran up large gambling debts that Allan refused to pay. Allan prevented his return to the university and broke off Poe's engagement to Sarah Elmira Royster, his Richmond sweetheart. Lacking any means of support, Poe enlisted in the army. On the death of his foster mother, John Allan bought Poe’s release from the Army and got him into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. It was right before entering the school that Poe published his first book of poetry, titled Tamerlane and Other Poems. He sought expulsion from the school and got just that after not attending for a week. Poe next took up residence in Baltimore with his widowed aunt, Maria Clemm, and her daughter, Virginia, and turned to fiction as a way to support himself. For the next few years, his only bit of luck was winning a $50 prize offered by the Baltimore Saturday Visiter for a story, which he won with â€Å"A MS. Found in a Bottle.† Poe, his aunt, and Virginia moved to Richmond in 1835, and he became editor of the Southern Literary Messenger and married Virginia, who was not yet 14 years old. While there...

Lesson plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Lesson plan - Assignment Example The main aim of the lesson plan in differentiation is show how students lean and how they display their learning to meet the specific goals, objectives and needs. iPad has been used in the preparation of lesson plans in story robe. The iPad is also used as a material or resource in teaching story robe. In the lesson plan, the instructor should state the objectives of the lesson. The instructor should also state how the tool will see to the implementation of these stated lesson objectives. Other resources apart from the iPad should be stated to help in the achievement of the objectives (Moll, 2003). The instructor should also show how the students used the tool, how they responded to the tool, whether he or she had any sample or material already developed to guide the students. The tool will be helpful in the lesson plan as it will help the instructor in the creation of creative apps for the story robe

Curriculum History of the United States Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Curriculum History of the United States - Essay Example tes formal education system experienced a relative period of stabilization that allowed institutions to come together under a common ideal (Zais 1976). Even as curriculum development began to gain structured form, initial developments occurred through the gradual accumulation of diverse subjects: mathematics was followed by an array of sciences, including botany, anatomy, physics, astronomy, and geology. Soon after this subjects for non-college bounds students were added, such as typewriting, woodworking, and metallurgy. However, the ultimate array of subjects remained haphazard, unlike the well-structured form it progressively attained. Recognizing the haphazard curriculum, in 1892 a famous committee was formed to help add structure to the loosely formed curriculum. The group was termed the Committee of Ten and was headed by the President of Harvard at the time – Charles Eliot. The committee understood that the unstructured format of the current education system was pernicious to societal development, so they set out to bring order to the chaos (Zais 1976). Eliot and the committee determined that the greatest means to accomplish this would be to have the curriculum adhere to the already established college structure and function solely to prepare students for higher education. As a result, the core courses that had come together immediately after the Civil War were kept and substantiated, yet the elements of the curriculum designed for students not college-bound was discarded as unnecessary. Historians and educational theorists regard this last point as especially relevant to the changing view of learners ov er time, as its underlining assumption was that these core courses, even if they didn’t target specific vocational aspects of the learner’s development, would have the ultimate benefit in preparing them intellectually for whatever task they undertook. Even as these earlier curriculum formulations considered the development of the human, it wasn’t

Rewrite the essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Rewrite the - Essay Example The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is one of the most renowned museums in the U.S and the world in terms and it is home to many timeless masterpieces, which preserve generation’s worth of history. My visit to this museum captured my interest especially in relation to the arguments of Walker Percy in his text, The Loss of The Creature. Walker’s text inspires me in relation to the presented arguments about human behavior and social interaction with; He demonstrates that, when one contemplates objects in a natural environment they are likely to appreciate and benefit more. He uses the analogy of a boy cutting up a dogfish he found on the beach with a knife whom he argues, has greater advantage over â€Å"pupil who finds the dogfish on his laboratory desk† (Percy 2). The museum is a close attempt at recreating a natural environment and this make the visits there comparatively adventurous and romantic therefore, they can easily relate to Walker’s subject matter in the text. The museum was rich in history, and I wanted to apply the different perspectives outlined in the text in order to assess their credibility. The collections in the museum were overwhelming and amazing such that at some point, I had to stop paying attention to the text’s argument in order to experience the true nature of e very single item housed in the museum. The aspect of reality was partially ignored by the humans highlighted in Walker’s text (Bartholomae and Petrosky 436). Being aware of this factor and basing this story on the text, I can undoubtedly admit that I experienced every bit of reality in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Fine art collections in the museum date back to several centuries ago, and these artifacts remain informative of prehistoric and historic periods. On the same note, over-the-years artifacts have been availed to the museum for display to the visitors.

Arizona Immigration Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Arizona Immigration Law - Essay Example â€Å"Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona signed the nation’s toughest bill on illegal immigration into law in April 2010. Its aim is to identify, prosecute and deport illegal immigrants† (Archibold). Even though, the above bill got some support in Arizona and some other parts of America, many of the prominent political leaders including President Obama and scholars slammed Arizona’s decision to implement such a bill in its territory. Many others expressed their doubts about the legal validity of such a bill considering the fact that America is a federal republic. I strongly believe that Arizona immigration bill is totally against the constitution of America and this paper argues against it. America is currently facing huge manpower shortage in almost the entire segments of the professional world or employment segments. In fact President Obama is trying hard to regulate or prohibit outsourcing jobs. He knows very well that American organizations outsource its jobs to chea p labor markets in order to reduce their expenses. In America, availability of skilled labor is extremely low and therefore it is highly expensive. In fact, illegal immigrants are ready to work on cheaper rates, which is a blessing to the American organizations, especially to the small and medium scale industries. California is one state in which small and medium scale industry is completely dependent on illegal immigrants who are ready to work on cheaper rates. Because of that California is able to compete effectively in the market by reducing the price of their products and services. Arizona is going to suffer heavily because of the crackdown of illegal immigrants and subsequent underdevelopment in small and medium scale industries. Small and medium scale industries are actually controlling the economy of a state and any problems created in this sector may adversely affect the state in the long run. In short, Arizona is going to lose millions of dollars in its revenue as a result of this controversial immigration law. This law creates a suspect class, based in part on ethnicity, considered guilty until they prove themselves innocent. It makes it harder for illegal immigrants to live without scrutiny -- but it also makes it harder for some American citizens to live without suspicion and humiliation. Americans are not accustomed to the command 'Your papers, please,' however politely delivered (Arizona's Hard Line on Immigration: Pros and Cons) One of the surprising things about this controversial bill is the decision of American Supreme Court. â€Å"The Supreme Court gave a big boost to proponents of stricter state laws against illegal immigration by upholding Arizona's "business death penalty" for employers who repeatedly hire undocumented workers† (Savage). In other words, Supreme Court upheld the decision of Arizona to punish the employers who employ illegal immigrants. Even though three of the total eight members in the jury gave their verdict again st the law, majority of the jury supported the law and allowed Arizona to implement it without any reconsideration. â€Å"The court's majority opinion, written by its chief justice, John Roberts, rejected arguments by business and civil rights groups and the Obama administration that the Arizona law conflicted with federal immigration law and must be struck down† (Arizona immigration law upheld by supreme court). Supreme Court also upheld the right of a state in passing such a controversial law. In my opinion, Supreme Court failed to

What is knowledge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

What is knowledge - Essay Example Diverse methodological approaches and various working definitions of knowledge has further created confusions. While knowledge management might yet be able to be claimed to a coherent scientific paradigm, recent publications indicate an increased conceptual and methodological rigor is needed to establish knowledge management as recognized scholarly discipline. The emergence of research and practical information on aspects of managing knowledge indicates that knowledge management is more than the latest management fad. Epistemology, the study of knowledge, has a log honorable tradition in philosophy, starting with early Greek philosophers. Questions such as†what do we know?† and â€Å"what does it mean to say that someone know something?† have been discussed in philosophical literature. The idea of a formal logical analysis of reasoning about knowledge is somewhat more recent, but goes back at least to Von Wright’s work in the early 1950’s.the first book-length treatment of epistemic logic- the logic of knowledge- is Hintikka’s seminal work knowledge and belief, which appeared in 1962. The 1960’s saw a flourishing of interest in this area of philosophy community. The major interest was in trying to capture the inherent properties of knowledge. Axioms for knowledge were suggested, attacked, and defended. ... in philosophy, starting with early Greek philosophers. Questions such as"what do we know" and "what does it mean to say that someone know something" have been discussed in philosophical literature. The idea of a formal logical analysis of reasoning about knowledge is somewhat more recent, but goes back at least to Von Wright's work in the early 1950's.the first book-length treatment of epistemic logic- the logic of knowledge- is Hintikka's seminal work knowledge and belief, which appeared in 1962. The 1960's saw a flourishing of interest in this area of philosophy community. The major interest was in trying to capture the inherent properties of knowledge. Axioms for knowledge were suggested, attacked, and defended. More recently, researchers in such diverse fields as economics, linguistics, AI (artificial intelligence), and theoretical computer science has become interested in reasoning about knowledge. While, of course, some of the issues that concerned the philosophers have been of interest to these researchers as well, the focus of attention has shifted. For one thing, there are pragmatic concerns about the relationship between knowledge and action.It may seem, what ever the merits of a metaphysical description of the world, that knowledge itself cannot be one of its objects, for knowledge is of the world, or not at least not only in the world. But there is nothing that is not in the world. The supposition that there is, in this case, is largely due to a picturesque conception of the self and a related conception of knowledge which have dominated most of continental philosophy at least since Fichte, although Hume warned against them in 1739.they may be

Leading educational change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Leading educational change - Essay Example In the book entitled Schooling by Design: Mission, Action, and Achievement, Wiggins and McTighe (2007, p. 108) discussed the theory behind the â€Å"Curriculum Design Cycle†. Although this particular framework is useful in terms of guiding the teachers on how to effectively change and create a new curriculum that can meet the needs of a commnity, this particular model is not applicable when it comes to the need to create educational vision on teacher empowerment. The Innovative Designs for Enhancing Achievements in Schools (IDEAS) by Andrews (2008) is more applicable when it comes to implementing change for the entire educational institution. Lastly, Eacott’s Strategic Model is all about the use of strategies when managing educational administration or educational construct. However, after examining the modern context of educational administration, Eacott (2008, p. 353) found out that the available strategies that can be used in the field of education is â€Å"incomple te† and â€Å"flawed†. Therefore, among these three (3) models, the model presented by Andrews (2008) is more applicable when it comes to creating an educational vision that could empower the school teachers. ... ng, group discussion and voting are all equally important when it comes to encouraging all stakeholders to engage themselves in participating in the process of designing a clear and inspiring vision on teacher empowerment. The construct of parallel leadership is one of the main constructs of IDEAS. Basically, the context of parallel leadership is highly dependent on mutualism, personal expression, and shared purpose, values, and beliefs (Andrews, 2008). Using this theory, one can argue that it is essential for both the school administrator and the primary school teachers to develop mutual respect and trust at all times. After developing a sense of mutualism, both parties are expected to work together towards the development of a single vision that could strengthen teacher empowerment within the primary school setting. During the initiative phase, the school administor and the primary school teachers are expected to participate in brainstorming and/or group discussion process. Basical ly, brainstorming is all about encouraging the school personnel to generate group ideas (Isaken & Gaulin, 2005). This will then lead to discovering and envisioning stage (Andrews, 2008). By encouraging the school staff to participate in a group discussion or brain-storming session, the school leader will have the opportunity to detect the personal opinion or stand of each school staff with regards to certain strategies that can be used in the promotion of teacher empowerment. Teacher empowerment is all about being able to strengthen the decision-making power of the primary school teachers through the use of either administrative strategies or pedagogy (Di Gropello, 2006, p. 4). In some cases, excessive use or implementation of rules and regulations, and red tape serves as a barrier behind

Arizona Immigration Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Arizona Immigration Law - Essay Example â€Å"Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona signed the nation’s toughest bill on illegal immigration into law in April 2010. Its aim is to identify, prosecute and deport illegal immigrants† (Archibold). Even though, the above bill got some support in Arizona and some other parts of America, many of the prominent political leaders including President Obama and scholars slammed Arizona’s decision to implement such a bill in its territory. Many others expressed their doubts about the legal validity of such a bill considering the fact that America is a federal republic. I strongly believe that Arizona immigration bill is totally against the constitution of America and this paper argues against it. America is currently facing huge manpower shortage in almost the entire segments of the professional world or employment segments. In fact President Obama is trying hard to regulate or prohibit outsourcing jobs. He knows very well that American organizations outsource its jobs to chea p labor markets in order to reduce their expenses. In America, availability of skilled labor is extremely low and therefore it is highly expensive. In fact, illegal immigrants are ready to work on cheaper rates, which is a blessing to the American organizations, especially to the small and medium scale industries. California is one state in which small and medium scale industry is completely dependent on illegal immigrants who are ready to work on cheaper rates. Because of that California is able to compete effectively in the market by reducing the price of their products and services. Arizona is going to suffer heavily because of the crackdown of illegal immigrants and subsequent underdevelopment in small and medium scale industries. Small and medium scale industries are actually controlling the economy of a state and any problems created in this sector may adversely affect the state in the long run. In short, Arizona is going to lose millions of dollars in its revenue as a result of this controversial immigration law. This law creates a suspect class, based in part on ethnicity, considered guilty until they prove themselves innocent. It makes it harder for illegal immigrants to live without scrutiny -- but it also makes it harder for some American citizens to live without suspicion and humiliation. Americans are not accustomed to the command 'Your papers, please,' however politely delivered (Arizona's Hard Line on Immigration: Pros and Cons) One of the surprising things about this controversial bill is the decision of American Supreme Court. â€Å"The Supreme Court gave a big boost to proponents of stricter state laws against illegal immigration by upholding Arizona's "business death penalty" for employers who repeatedly hire undocumented workers† (Savage). In other words, Supreme Court upheld the decision of Arizona to punish the employers who employ illegal immigrants. Even though three of the total eight members in the jury gave their verdict again st the law, majority of the jury supported the law and allowed Arizona to implement it without any reconsideration. â€Å"The court's majority opinion, written by its chief justice, John Roberts, rejected arguments by business and civil rights groups and the Obama administration that the Arizona law conflicted with federal immigration law and must be struck down† (Arizona immigration law upheld by supreme court). Supreme Court also upheld the right of a state in passing such a controversial law. In my opinion, Supreme Court failed to

Leading educational change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Leading educational change - Essay Example In the book entitled Schooling by Design: Mission, Action, and Achievement, Wiggins and McTighe (2007, p. 108) discussed the theory behind the â€Å"Curriculum Design Cycle†. Although this particular framework is useful in terms of guiding the teachers on how to effectively change and create a new curriculum that can meet the needs of a commnity, this particular model is not applicable when it comes to the need to create educational vision on teacher empowerment. The Innovative Designs for Enhancing Achievements in Schools (IDEAS) by Andrews (2008) is more applicable when it comes to implementing change for the entire educational institution. Lastly, Eacott’s Strategic Model is all about the use of strategies when managing educational administration or educational construct. However, after examining the modern context of educational administration, Eacott (2008, p. 353) found out that the available strategies that can be used in the field of education is â€Å"incomple te† and â€Å"flawed†. Therefore, among these three (3) models, the model presented by Andrews (2008) is more applicable when it comes to creating an educational vision that could empower the school teachers. ... ng, group discussion and voting are all equally important when it comes to encouraging all stakeholders to engage themselves in participating in the process of designing a clear and inspiring vision on teacher empowerment. The construct of parallel leadership is one of the main constructs of IDEAS. Basically, the context of parallel leadership is highly dependent on mutualism, personal expression, and shared purpose, values, and beliefs (Andrews, 2008). Using this theory, one can argue that it is essential for both the school administrator and the primary school teachers to develop mutual respect and trust at all times. After developing a sense of mutualism, both parties are expected to work together towards the development of a single vision that could strengthen teacher empowerment within the primary school setting. During the initiative phase, the school administor and the primary school teachers are expected to participate in brainstorming and/or group discussion process. Basical ly, brainstorming is all about encouraging the school personnel to generate group ideas (Isaken & Gaulin, 2005). This will then lead to discovering and envisioning stage (Andrews, 2008). By encouraging the school staff to participate in a group discussion or brain-storming session, the school leader will have the opportunity to detect the personal opinion or stand of each school staff with regards to certain strategies that can be used in the promotion of teacher empowerment. Teacher empowerment is all about being able to strengthen the decision-making power of the primary school teachers through the use of either administrative strategies or pedagogy (Di Gropello, 2006, p. 4). In some cases, excessive use or implementation of rules and regulations, and red tape serves as a barrier behind

Social Psychology Essay Example for Free

Social Psychology Essay In social psychology there are many researchers who investigated and challenged different theories within including well respected psychologists including; Sheriff(1935); Jenness(1932); Asch(1951); Crutchfield(1955) and Mann(1969). The aim of the study was; guessing how many sweeties were in the jar in a competition fashion and testing if the participants conformed to their guesses. The hypothesis was people would conform under group pressures of the pre-set guesses. The null hypothesis was that people would not conform under group pressures unless due to extraneous variables. The experiment was a field experiment using the techniques of independent groups design. The experiment was dressed as a competition based on the following three conditions; high pre-set; control pre-set and low pre-set guesses. The group used random selection in three math classes with the senior pupils of three different levels (higher, intermediate one and intermediate two). The IV (independent variable) that was used was the pre-set guesses and the DV (dependent variable) was the level of conformity performed by the participants. The conclusion of the results showed that 31. 5% of the high pre-set guesses conformed (in the reign of 40+), 23. 33% of the low pre-set guesses conformed (in the reign of -30) and 43. 48% of the control pre-set guesses conformed (within the reign of 25-45). The breakdown of the analysis for instance the mean of all conditions and overall, the range of all conditions and control(appendix 13). After the group completed the experiment thought was put into how testing conformity could be continued. The ideas from the experiment could lead to testing the intelligence levels of people who conform and test is this level of intelligence has an effect on the level of conformity. Introduction Social psychology is an area in which investigations are made into the effects of behavioural differences of individuals and how they reflect on future behaviours patterns. Within social psychology there are different sub topics including the chosen topic of conformity. Social psychology studies the effect specific surroundings have on an individual. Conformity is when a person acts or reacts in an expected way or to yield to group pressures. This varies from peer pressure to pressures that the person is not actually aware of. People conform for two reasons; Normative social influence; the feeling of having to fit in; informational social influence; the feeling of always having to be correct. Jenness(1932), Asch(1951), Crutchfield(1955) and Mann(1969) all studied conformity in different ways. Sheriff(1935) also used the auto kinetic theory to test conforming in specific situations, the auto kinetic effect is a visual illusion which tests observation skills in light movement. The participants were asked individually their answers and were apportioned to a similar answer group. This is to test if the person will conform and the three will decide on an answer which is very similar. The conclusion from this is that in a situation which the participants had no confidence which the correct answer is they looked for a sense of guidance from the group to feel included. Due to the ambiguous nature of Sheriff’s research, Asch(1951) used a laboratory experiment with a group of participants. One ‘naive’ member of the group was removed and the remaining participants were shown a picture of three lines of different sizes. The group was instructed to give a specific answer (incorrect) when the second question was asked to the ‘naive’ participant. When the ‘naive’ participant returned they were shown the three lines, and a single line, they were then asked to give their answer. This was a test to confirm whether the individual would go against the wrong answer of the group under pressure. The hypothesis was that the person who was removed would feel pressure to go against their instinct and go with the majority answer. Crutchfield(1955) also used a conformity based theory of ‘the question booth pressure’ which investigated how the person conformed even though it was anonymous. 100 males were used in the study all average age of 34, their profession orientating around good obedience or leadership skills. This experiment was conducted ballot style; male participants joined into five groups in individual booths and were told to remain silent. Answers from the men showed similar wrong answers and questionability over their leadership skills in a group situation. Mann(1969) also used other valid research to vary the terms used in describing aspects of conformity including; normative conformity and compliance which includes the fear of being rejected in a group situation. Informational conformity; level of ignorance, not knowing so turning for some kind of support and receiving it by copying the group (agreement with Sheriff). Internalisation; when the person publically conforms but personally disagrees (in agreement with the auto kinetic effect). Ingratiation; is a need for some kind of reward for conforming Finally the last term used is non-conformity which is the term used for not yielding to group pressures for reasons which include; individuality and trusting their own judgement, or just going against the group’s decision to rebel. Jenness(1932) conducted an experiment with a jar of beans, participants had to correctly guess the number of beans the jar contained. Pre-recorded guesses (the IV) were written prematurely to test conformity, a base line of whether other guesses were influenced by this issue. This unknown pressure was effective as the finding came that the guesses did in fact have an effect on the other participants. This theory was seen as very useful, as the group used this same idea in their experiment. The groups aim was to test conformity when guessing how many sweeties were in the jar in a competitive fashion. For this experiment at study, the experimental hypothesis was; people will conform under group pressures of the pre-set guesses in order to feel included and correct. The null hypothesis was; people will not conform under group pressures of the pre-set guesses in order to feel included or correct unless due to extraneous variables; conforming in result of bullying, personal problems with the individual and intentional corruption of the experiment . The independent variables (IV) were the pre-set guesses made on the sheets before given to the participants. The dependant variables (DV) was the answers which should be averaged around the pre-set guesses. Method Design The experimental method used was a field design involving independent measures. This design was selected as it was felt that if a field situation was used it would help the problem of ecological validity and loosen experimental tensions. This experiment was conducted in three mathematics classrooms. One of these classrooms were of three levels; intermediate 1, intermediate 2 and higher. When the group entered the class, there were three sheets; one high pre-set, one low pre-set and one control pre-set sheet. These sheets were given to the three rows in the class (the layout of all math classes). The control technique that was used was that each sheet was strictly kept between each of the assigned rows. The independent variable was the pre-set guesses, with the conditions of the IV being high, low and control pre-set guesses. The dependent variable is the participant’s guesses. The selected group member stated the standardised instructions; which was clearly said to all classes; as soon as we entered the class. Also the mood/ general emotions of the class were noted. Experimental methods used include; the brief verbal request; which asked if the chosen pupils wanted to participate. The standardised instructions; stated consistently by one group member. The standardised instructions(appendix 13) stated that it was a competition, there was a prize, it was free of charge and anyone who did not want to take part did not have to. A list was made to make sure all group members were fully aware of their roles including sheets they were responsible for. The response sheets with the pre-set guesses were collected and put on a table (appendix 12) to be analysed.

Sinhala Text To Speech System Development | Research

Sinhala Text To Speech System Development | Research The system, which I am developing, called SINHALA TEXT TO SPEECH is a one kind of fully research project. This documentation briefly describes the functionality of my STTS and highlights the important and benefits of the project. So this system will allow user to enter sinhala texts and internally it will convert in to pronunciation form. Actually it will happen after user select the particular option (convert to voice) to convert it in to that pronunciation form. So totally this system is capable of accepting characters in sinhala language (sinhala fonts) and makes them in to sound waves, which can be captured by a technical object (speakers). User will able to select the voice type, which he/she like, it mean there are three option called child voice, female voice and adult (male) voice to select. By selecting that function user can hear the voice, which he/she like most. And the system will carry out several benefits to users, those who will use this system. The users who are not able to read sinhala, but those can understand verbally will encourage to use this system, because using this product they can overcome that problem very easily. If somebody needs documents with sinhala texts, then he or she can use this system to get that one. In today world there are no such systems for sinhala language like which I am going to develop. Table of Contents ABSTRACT 2 Table of Contents 3 SINHALA TEXT TO SPEECH 4 1.INTRODUCTION 4 2.AIM 5 3.STUDY PROBLEM 5 4.RELEVANCE OF THE PROJECT 5 5.LITERATURE REVIEW 6 6.SPECIFIC STUDY OBJECTIVES 7 7.PROPOSED APPROACH 8 7.1 User 8 7.2 Data 8 7.3 Input 8 7.4 Processes 9 7.5 Output 9 8.RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND TCHNOLOGIES 9 8.1 Database Technology 9 9.PROJECT PLAN 10 9.1 ARCHTECTURE 10 9.1.1 Design Architecture 10 9.1.2 Text process Architecture 11 9.1.3 Voice Tag Selection Process 12 9.1.4 Voice Control Process 13 10.REFERENCES 13 11.Bibliography 14 11.1 SPEECH ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS 14 11.2 SPEECH CODING 14 SINHALA TEXT TO SPEECH INTRODUCTION Sinhala Text To Speech is the system I am hoping to develop as my final research project. As a post graduate student I selected a research project that will convert the Sinhala input text into a verbal form. Actually, the term Text-To-speech (TTS) refers to the conversion of input text into a spoken utterance. The input is a Sinhala text, which may consist of a number of words, sentences, paragraphs, numbers and abbreviations. TTS engine should identify it without any ambiguity and generate the corresponding speech sound wave with acceptable quality. The output should be understandable for an average receiver without making much effort. This means that the output should be made as close as to the natural speech quality. Speech is produced when air is forced from the lungs through the vocal cords (glottis) and along the vocal tract. Speech is split into a rapidly varying excitation signal and a slowly varying filter. The envelope of the power spectra contains the vocal tract information. The verbal form of in input should be understandable for the receiver. This means that the output will be made as closer as the natural human voice. My system will carry out few main features. Some of them are, after entering the text user will capable of selecting one of voice qualities, means women voice, male voice and child voice. Also the user is capable of doing variation in speed of the voice. Actually, my project will carry out main few benefits to the users, those who intend to use this. Below I have mentioned the basic architecture of our project. Sinhala Voice Text in Sinhala And Voice and speed Selection Process Figure 1.1 AIM To develop a system, that can able to read text in sinhala format and covert it in to verbal (sinhala) form. And also, It will capable to change the sound waves, It mean user would able to select voice quality according to his/her opinion. There are might be three voice selections. These are kind of woman voice, kind of male voice and kind of kids voice. And user can change the speed of the voice. If somebody needs to hear low speed voices or high-speed voice, then he/she can change it according to their requirements. STUDY PROBLEM Actually before start this project I have accessed in to the Internet and collect more information regarding this particular field. First-of-all I have to provide a facility to enter sinhala font in to the computer. So, to overcome this matter I intend to use UNICODE. When we pronounce sinhala text, sometime we need use pronouncing voices of two texts. It means to create voice for some texts we need to combine another two text voices. So to have voices we should store voices to each and every text in the voice database. Then voices come from voice database according to the text which we entered. Actually after we entered text internally it (texts) get in to different groups. RELEVANCE OF THE PROJECT The thought of developing a Sinhala Text To Speech (STTS) engine have begun when I considering the opportunities available for Sinhala speaking users to grasp the benefit of Information and Computer Technology (ICT). In Sri Lanka more than 75% of population speaks in Sinhala, but its very rare to find Sinhala softwares or Sinhala materials regarding ICT in market. This is directly effect to development of ICT in Sri Lanka. In present few Sinhala text to speech softwares are available but those have problems such as quality of sound, font schemas, pronunciation etc. Because of these problems developers are afraid to use those STTS for their applications. My focus on developing an engine that can convert Sinhala words in digitized form to Sinhala pronunciation with error free manner. This engine will help to develop some applications. Some applications where STTS can be used Document reader. An already digitized document (i.e. e-mails, e-books, newspapers, etc.) or a conventional document by scanned and produced through an optical character recognizer (OCR). Aid to handicap person. The vision or voice impaired community can use the computers aided devices, directly to communicate with the world. The vision-impaired person can be informed by a STTS system. The voice-impaired person can communicate with others by providing a keypad and a STTS system. Talking books toys. Producing talking books toys will boost the toys market and education. Help assistant. Develop help assistant speaks in Sinhala like in MS Office help assistant. Automated News casting. The future of entirely new breed of television networks that have programs hosted by computer-generated characters is possible. Sinhala SMS reader. SMS consist of several abbreviations. If a system that read those messages it will help to receivers. Language education. A high quality TTS system incorporated with a computer-aided device can be used as a tool, in learning a new language. These tools can help the learner to improve very quickly since he/she has the access to the correct pronunciation whenever needed. Travelers guide. System that located inside the vehicle or mobile device that will give information current location other relevant information incorporated with GPRS. Alert systems. Systems that can be incorporated with a TTS system to attract the attention of the controlled elements since as humans are used to draw attention through voice. Specially, countries like Sri Lanaka, which is still struggling to harvest the ICT benefits, can use a Sinhala TTS engine as a solution to convey the information effectively. Users can get required information from there native language (i.e. by converting the text to native language text) would naturally move there thoughts to the achievable benefits and will be encouraged to use information technology much frequently. Therefore the development of a TTS engine for Sinhala will bring personal benefits (e.g. aid for handicapped, language learning) in a social perspective and definitely a financial benefit in economical terms (e.g. virtual television networks, toys manufacture) for the users. LITERATURE REVIEW Text to speech is very popular area in computer science field. There are several research held on this area. Most of research base on how to develop more natural speech for given text . There are freely available text to speech package available in the world. But most of software develops for most common language like English, Japanese, Chinese languages. Even some software companies distribute text to speech development tools for English language as well. Microsoft Speech SDK tool kit is one of the examples for freely distributed tool kit developed by Microsoft for English language. Nowadays, some universities and research labs doing their research project on Text to speech. Carnegie Mellon University held their research focus on text to speech (TTS). They provide Open Source Speech Software, Tool kits, related publication and important techniques to undergraduate student and software developer as well. TCTS Lab also doing their research on this area. They introduced simple, but general functional diagram of a TTS system [Ref. 2]. Image Credit: Thierry Dutoit. Figure5.1. A simple, but general functional diagram SPECIFIC STUDY OBJECTIVES Produce a verbal format for the input sinhala text. Input Sinhala text which may be a user input or a given text document will be transformed in to sound waves, which is then output is captured by speakers. So the disabled people will be one of the most beneficial stakeholders of Sinhala Text to Speech system. Also undergraduates and research people who need to use more references can send the text to my system, just listen and grab what they need. The output would be more like natural speech. The human voice is a complex acoustic signal, which is generated by an air stream expelled at either mouth, nose or both. Important characteristics of the speech sound are speed, silence, accentuation and the level of energy output. The tongue appropriately controls the air steam, lips with the help of other articulators in the vocal system. Many variations of the speech signal are caused by the persons vocal system, in order to convey the meaning and emotion to the receiver who then understand the message. Also includes many other characteristics, which are in receivers hearing system to identify what is being said. Identify an efficient way of translating sinhala text in to verbal form. By developing this system we would be able to identify and proposed a most suitable algorithm, which can be used to translate sinhala format to verbal form by a fast and efficient manner. Control the voice speed and types of the voice (e.g. man, women, child voice, etc.). Users would be capable of selecting the quality of the sound wave, which they want. Also they would be allowing to reset the speed of the output as they need. People, those would like to learn Sinhala as their second language to learn elocution properly by changing the speed (reducing and increasing). So this will improve the listening capabilities. Small kids can be encouraged to learn language by varying the speed and types. Propose ways for that can be extended the current system further more for future needs. This system only gives the basic functions. My system is feasible of enhancing further more in order to satisfy the changing requirements of the users. This can be embedded in to toys so can be used to improve children listening and elocution abilities. So those will Borden their speaking capacity. PROPOSED APPROACH Main function of my system is read sinhala digitized characters and speak out those words as closer sounds that human natural voice. 7.1 User My basic idea is to develop systems that cater all kinds of users. That mean who know the operate computer very well and also who is beginner to the computer field. Users only want to do insert text in sinhala. 7.2 Data In my database I am hoping to store voice tags, sinhala characters and pronunciation rules. And also I wish to introduce efficient algorithms for search relevant voice tags from the database. 7.3 Input Proposed system will get sinhala-digitized characters, voice selection as input. 7.4 Processes Get the sentence from the user and it will identified end of sentence by full-stop and it will separate two words by the space between two words. Those words will break down to smaller parts. Then after capture the relevant voice tags according to rules that I have given and merge those voice tags. Then after get voice selections that user given and process to give those sound effects. 7.5 Output Produce the related sinhala voices for text that is given by the user according to sinhala pronunciation rules as well as voice selection done by the user. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND TCHNOLOGIES 8.1 Database Technology Hope to use OO methodologies and Relational Database Management System (Microsoft ® SQL Serverà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ 2005) to develop centralized database on main server. A database management system, or DBMS, is software design to assist in maintaining and utilizing large collection of data [Ref. 3]. The SQL Server 2005 is design to work as a data storage engine for thousand of concurrent users who connect over a network, it is also capable of working as a stand-along database directly on the same computer as an application [Ref. 4]. DBMS provide some important functionality. Applications are independent from data representation, storage and location (data and location independence). DBMS is able to scan through million of record and retrieve efficiently (efficient data access). DBMS enforce integrity constrain and security permission on the data (data integrity and security). DBMS provide facilities to data and its efficient accessibility (data administration). DBMS schedule concur rent access to the data in such manner that user can think of the data as being accessed by one user at a time. Further, DBMS protects users from the effects on of system failures (concurrent access and crash recovery). There for hope to use Microsoft ® SQL Serverà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ 2005 to develop voice and text information database. PROJECT PLAN 9.1 ARCHTECTURE 9.1.1 Design Architecture Text in Sinhala Voice and speed selection Process Sinhala voice Figure 9.1.1 Speed selection Array of text (Sinhala) Process in detail Related Sinhala Voice Voice Database Process the Text Get the voice tags according to the Text and merge them Voice selection Voice controller Figure 9.1.2 Figure 9.29.1.2 Text process Architecture Detect full-stops, commas, brackets etc. Separate out numbers Get unique number to each letter and store it in an array Send the data in array to voice tag selection process Separate the text to sentences Group the text according to letters Sinhala Text Array of letter values Figure 9.1.3 This process gets a text as the input. It detect whether there are any full-stops, commas etc. to avoid confusions. If there any numbers in the text they are separate out and text is partition in to sentences. After that each letter in a sentence grouped, give a unique number store in an array. This array is send to the next process. 9.1.3 Voice Tag Selection Process Figure 9.1.4 Voice Database Get voice tags from voice Database Voice selection Array of letter values Merged Voice tag Merge voice tags to the order Send the merged voice tags to voice Control process Select the voice type This process gets the array, which gives from Text process and voice selection as inputs. By using these inputs this process gets voice tags for each letter and merge them. Merge voice tags send to the voice control process. 9.1.4 Voice Control Process Figure 9.1.5 Speed selection Sinhala Voice Store the voice text array Control the speed Voice speed Speak the voice array Merged Voice tag This process gets merge voice tags and voice speed selection as input. It organize the Merge voice tags according to speed selected. Then it will speak out speech each voice tag. REFERENCES [Ref. 1] Building Synthetic Voices, [Online] http://www.festvox.org/festvox/ [Ref. 2] An Introduction to Text-to-Speech Synthesis, [Online] http://tcts.fpms.ac.be/synthesis/introtts.html [Ref. 3] Raghu Ramakrishnan, Johannes Gehrke/Database Management System Third edition 2001/ McGraw-Hill [Ref. 4] SQL Server Books, [Online] 1988-2005 Microsoft Corporation. Photography: Then And Now Photography: Then And Now Why is the photographic image so powerful iconic, how do they produce connections of timelessness, and emotional context + what are the perspectives around image making in addition what is its relationship to painting? In its first decades of its existence photography was labeled as sun painting a term coined to be contemptuous, and one which epitomized the mechanical character to the painters artistic freedom. Therefore because of this, photography has become an ever-growing field of investigation and argument. Photography and its role in art and the everyday is something which I would like to open up in this discussion, I have looked at various writers to aid this discussion as well as a series of classic and contemporary photographers. This dissertation will inform and open up concepts around photography whilst putting it under a microscope and examining it with sensibility. Photography as a medium has become a phenomenal sensation of capturing a still image; it inspired historical as well as literary imaginations. Photography was the possible brainchild of modern science, or of modern invention explicated by science, it oscillates between the realms of science, poetry fiction or fantasy. The registration of the first daguerreotype signaled first and foremost a mystery it also permeated this idea of it being the aura of a cultural creation, and if not a legend, rather than that of a scientific discovery. This idea is particularly evident in an account provided by critic Jules Janin in LArtiste of 27 January 1839, which extolled the daguerreotype as a modern realization of the biblical Fiat Lux 1, and in particular marveled at its ability to record the most minute detail (down to the grains of sand) as well as, even more improbably, the shadow of a passing bird2. Speaking to the camera detaches the visible from the capacities of the eye and brings forth the virtuality of the visible, in a sense the camera can be seen as the third eye which extends ones vision. The procedure of photography is a materializing which makes something material from apparition and through photography things can be seen differently. The ability to photograph was seen as a strange phantasmagoria and a method of hyping up the real, it posited bewilderment at the magic of the daguerreotype, combined with the urge to make the idea of photography as generic as possible. Many photographers change how we look and perceive photographic images. Eugene Atget -a surrealist photographer- was one of the first to refuse to photograph the face and body, Atget removed people from his pictures and with them the last remainders of cult value in the medium. His photographs of Paris were like scenes of a crime, desolate scenes of everyday objects as ordinary experience were revealed as strange and quite unsettling. In this way photographs acquired the first traces of political significance that all was not as it seemed at first glance. Atgets photography replaced the aura of the early image with the emptiness of the city view. He asks But isnt every square inch of a city a crime scene?3. Hippolyte Bayards 12 minute exposure entitled Self Portrait as a Drowned Man (1840) 4, presents us with a fictional image which shows how a photograph can deceive us. At the time was considered quite racy and controversial, nudity was something which was private and highly discouraged, and especially not something to be photographed. It presented a dichotomy of what was and what was not allowed. Latin Phrase Fiat Lux, let there be light The phrase comes from the third verse of the Book of Genesis. Quotefrom book From Walter Benjaminpage Bayard, Hippolyte. Self Portrait as a Drowned Man.1840, France. Instant death is not accessible, so the alternative is to feign death and stimulate the artificial arrangement of it. This staged photo montage displays a conspicuous protest against the cruel injustice of life. Nowadays, every calamity with fatal outcome is photographed in its horrifying representation within the media. We find photographs of death intriguing and visit monuments which represent places where vast amounts of people have died. Why is this? The feeling of being exempt from calamity stimulates interest in looking at painful pictures like war photos etc, partly because one is here and not there.Photographs therefore subtract feelings from something we experience firsthand, but it is the closest we can get to this experience. To summarize, one is vulnerable to disturbed events in the form of photographic images in a way that one is not to the real thing. Pictures are things that have been marked with all the stigmata of personhood and animation: they exhibit both physical and virtual bodies; they speak to us, sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively. They present not just a surface but a face that faces the beholder as if pictures had feeling, will, conscious, agency and desire. 5. With a kind of social or physiological power of their own: a power to attract the beholder, arrest and enthrall, transfix or paralyze the beholder, turning him or her into an image for the gaze of the viewer, the medusa effect. U.S Civil War Photographer Matthew Brady used the power of photos to create social and political photo essays, often centered around injustice and suffering. His images raised public response and outcry which led to positive social changes, they had the ability to change the nations noble, romantic view of war, and although Brady was simply recording events, his picture essays were powerful enough to change public opinion. Photographs can be quite allegorical; they have natural instinct to produce potent emotional responses. In Roland Barthess Camera Lucida, 6. a major part of this book is dedicated to a narrative telling of his bereavement for his dead mother, and through looking at his collection of old family photographs he can find her again. This concept is something that leaks into a large extent of our private lives, as photographers the majority of us have in our archives, portraits of people who are no longer living some of whom may mean an enormous deal to us. We have all gone through this procedure of en masse as a culture following the death of public figures that have touched us: Marilyn Monroe, John F Kennedy, John Lennon to name a few. Correspondingly, we look for the diabolical streak in pictures of persons who turn out to be mass murderers: Myra Hindley, Ted Bundy Etc. Photographs make us, as a collective, understand and appreciate our emotional attachments to them. This hidden agenda is something Barthes tries to permeate in our minds. Barthes was overwhelmed with the connections he found between the images, and time and death are themes which very much personify his writing. The reality here is, as Barthes tries to evoke, that death is ultimately concrete and that the actuality of the photos is palpable. We find ourselves being struck with such emotional attachment when we look at old photos of loved ones in addition to being face-to-face with what time and the instant mean in an image. The Aura in these pictures may be related with time because when we observe them, we sometimes feel nostalgic. The revelation of this is to reflect back to the genesis of his ideas, that the genius of photography provides a spectrum for which the subject really was there; and that he would conclude that death indeed was the rational and logical implication of every picture. Poring over images of the dead Quote : Freedberg, D.( 1991)The Power of Images: Studies in the History and Theory of Response. University of Chicago Press, USA Camera Lucida : name of the apparatus, anterior to photographer, which permitted drawing an object through a prism. is an active part of grief, of mourning, of dealing with the actuality and immediacy of death. This ritual did not exist for anybody but the upper classes (obviously before photography was invented.) Photography marked the birth of the image and in1839 I believe would have been a milestone in the history of mourning rites and thanatology. Barthes looks carefully over these images with a keen hope of remembering. He seeks in sorrow and love for the loss of his mother in hopes of finding one picture which would represent his mothers spirit, he accounts the following when an old childhood photograph is found: My mother was five at the time (1898), her brother was seven. He was leaning against the bridge railingshe, shorter than he, was standing a little back, facing the camerashe was holding one finger in the other hand as children often do, in an awkward gesture. The brother and sister had posed, side by side, alone; under the palms of the Winter GardenI studied the little girl and at last rediscovered my mother. 7. What we can extrapolate from this examination of the Winter Garden photograph is that Barthes become comforted by its actuality, in the sense that the picture literally emanates his mother (although being a child Barthes never knew of.) He sees the photograph as a magic relic of his mother perpetuating love, there is an assertion of tenderness in the photo as she lends herself to the photographer and allows herself be photographed. He can then reassure himself of his mother and know that his heartfelt experience with her was real. Old photographs are ghostly semblances that materialize before our eyes and in our imaginations, this is certainly evident when Barthes sees this particular photograph; and through photographs we try to immortalize a significant moment in our lives. Photographs possess an extraordinary ability to touch us in ways that are supernaturally impossible. They retain a certain animation which cannot be possessed or captured in a painting or sculpture, they speak to us. Through speaking we understand and realize their true intentions and motivations, and this is what we learn from Barthes. The same ideas apply when we look at photographs of people who have committed crimes. A photograph is not just a picture of something or someone its what is attached to it that we hold that emotion. In the case of serial killer mug shots its the evil that you know behind that photograph or the sinister intention which reinforces the feelings of loathing, hatred and disgust Photographs are visual fossils, they make us think about and realize our own mortality and existence, and therefore have remained so timeless. Old photographs fill out our mental image of the past; the photos being taken now transform what is present into a mental image. The passing of time also adds to the aesthetic value of photographs. The Art of the portrait photographer may be to induce in his or her subjects a sense of presence and there-ness. Oddly photographs have the magical capabilities to move you back and forth through time, and because of this, the past always seems accessible except physically it isnt. The photograph becomes a kind of resurrection as it continues to live after the person is gone. It has the strange ability to evoke memories through imaginative recall and gives the texture and essence of things; it is not so much an instrument of memory as an invention of it or a replacement. August Sanders taxonomical portraits developed a philosophy that placed man within a cyclic model of society, by systematically photographing people from various classes, Sander hoped that by using light and photographing their facial features it would reveal and accentuate character, charisma, provenance or background. Quotation : Barthes, R. Camera Lucida. (1980:29-30). Walter Benjamin coined the optical unconscious as a realm of experience, as a similar way as psychoanalysis constituted as access to the psychic unconscious. It invests the photograph with intimacy as well as the capacity for illumination. It is another nature which speaks to the camera rather than to the eye.8. Photography is not only like its subject but homage to the subject; it is part of an extension of that subject. Photography has the power to capture a secret, and we have the power to see it. The viewer feels an irresistible urge to search such a picture for the tiny spark of contingency, of the Here and Now, with which reality has so to speak seared the subjectà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. 9. Benjamin refers to a photograph- a portrait- of the photographer Dauthendey and his wife who had later committed suicide. Looking at the photograph we search the picture for a kind of evidence in the past, of what was to transpire in the future. (Perhaps a sign written on her face, her posture, invi sible to her fiancà © who stands alongside her, but visible to us looking at the photograph many years later, and with the knowledge that she would, after bearing him six children, kill herself). What we can conclude here is that Benjamin then, grants the viewer (as well as the medium of photography) a kind of desire for omniscience. The photographic image calls for translation, and can show traces of the past and point at something that is absent. On the basis of a partial assimilation to the model of painting and through the wake of modernism, the advent of photography has slowly gained acceptance within museums and that of the art market and thus making it a recognizable and distinct art form. But why have they thus far remained a provocative and intriguing form of art? Paintings and sculptures are a matter of interpretation from the artist; whereas with photographs to a certain extent- are a reflection of the real. It cannot just be seen in many ways as an art form but as a way of seeing and thinking. Photography represents a precious asset; they provide us with an encounter we would not think was possible without, however our perception of images and photography have greatly changed since the very first photograph was made. In its relation to painting, a photograph is not only an image (as a painting is an image) it is a usurp reality and an interpretation of the real, it can be thought of as a trace which is directly sten ciled off the real like a footprint or death mask. It carries some of its simplest qualities to such perfection that it will become for even the majority of skillful painters a subject for observation and study. Its because of this perfection that the painter, therefore, will find this a quicker way to obtain collections of studies that he would only by much time, and trouble be able to collect no matter how talented the painter. Paintings, even ones which meet photographic standards of resemblance, are never more than the stating of interpretation. In Benjamin Walters Little History on Photography he makes a point that using photography killed painting10. There is a primitive notion which presumes that images possess the qualities of real things or that there is an inclination to attribute to real things the concept of original and copy, reality and image. There are many conspiracies surrounding the notion of what is real, as well as the criticism of reality as a faà §ade and the depleted sense of it. 8. Quotation: Gold,J.R. Film and Translation in the Writings of Walter Benjamin(2007: 602-622) 9. Quotation: Stamelman, R. Loss beyond telling: Representations of Death in Absence in Modern FrenchPoetry (1990:281) 10. Quotation: Walter, B. Little History of Photograph. (1931:PAGE UNKNOWN) In Sontags The Image World (On Photography) a lot of emphasis is made of the reproducibility of the image. Photography has become a mass art, a social rite, in which we document sequences of consumption. It can provide knowledge independent of experience and can capture, classify and store the Information in a way that provides possibilities for control not feasible under earlier forms of information storage. Feurbach observes that our era -prefers the image to the thing, the copy to the original the representation to the reality, appeared to the being 11. Photography does not simply reproduce the real; it recycles it- a key procedure of a modern society which consumes images. In the form of photographic images, things and events are put to new uses, and assigned new meanings. The camera offers the possibility of possessing complete record at all ages and through being photographed something becomes part of a system of classification and storage family albums, geology, medical training, police work etc. Photograph collections are used to make a substitute world. It can also been viewed as an instrument for depersonalizing our relation to the world. What Sonntag is trying to argue is that human beings have mistaken the copy for the thing itself and, as a result, have created a false division between the copy and the so called real. Sontag explains: Industrial societies turn their citizens into image-junkies it is the most irresistible form of mental pollution 12. Photographs are a form of acquisition; the possession of cherished people or things as a way of consuming events and a potent means of acquiring something as information, and more importantly gaining control over it. At one end of the spectrum photographs are objective data, at the other end they are items of psychological science fiction. Even the most banal photograph or document can mutate into an emblem of desire. Nowadays the lure of the image is starting to replace the real via advertisements, newspaper, TV, and digital. The situation is complicated by the fact that less than ever does the mere reflection of reality reveal anything but reality Bertold Brecht 13. Copying was seen as immoral, however Aristotles view of the imitative faculty is precisely what makes us human. There has been a lot of speculation surrounding the mechanical reproduction of the photograph. Walter Benjamin had a keen relation to nostalgia and a poetic understanding of the world. He explains in A Small History of Photography that the beginning of image-making was seen as a fog which would blind you, using this metaphor politically he is referring it to something which is perhaps dangerous- that art would become nothing more than ideas, signs, allusions or concepts. There was very much a storm of moral fear, it was seen as being blasphemous and opened up ideas about god. That perhaps the photograph or that being photo graphed would contain the soul- a fetish or magical object. In addition to this the reproductive factor of photography was seen as taking away the aura away from the real thing, ideas surrounding forgery, fakery, copying were highly frowned on. Reproducing images was seen as deracination of authenticity and dissolution of aura and historical depth, because of its special condition it can be exploited by capital for advertising purposes. To an ever increasing degree, the work which is reproduced becomes the reproduction of a work intended for reproducibility. Due to the reproducibility of images, this condition opens up theories of the politicizing of art and 11. Quotation: Feuerbach, K. (1843) The Essence of Christianity. Quoted By Sontag,S. (1979-PAGENA) 12. Quotation: Sontag, S.The image World: Traces of the Real (1977-NA) 13. Quotation: Brech, B. Quoted by Walter,B in Little History of Photography (1931-NA) Releases questions like how might the photographer go about dealing with a practice that is not completely reducible to propaganda and modern advertising? The mechanical nature of the reproducibility of art and photography has changed modes of perception in which we have reduced objects and made them manipulable, It is necessary to create something artificial than represent the real., The singular, the unique is divested of its uniqueness- by means of its reproduction. 14. Process reproduction can reveal those aspects of the original that are unattainable to the naked eye yet accessible to the lens- which is adjustable and chooses its angle at will. Through photographic reproduction and with the aid of certain processes (such as enlargement and slow motion) can capture images which may escape natural vision. Today in the wake of proliferation and digital media, photography is in a state of dispersion, hybrid forms of photographic imagery mixing analogue and digital technologies have become the norm. Where much of the images we see are heavily manipulated. There are many reasons why we are infatuated with photography; the flowering of photography allowed for it to be available to everybody, anything in the world is material for the camera, one finds that there is beauty or at least interest in everything seen with an acute eye. The picture is treated as an expression of the artists desire or as a mechanism for eliciting the desires of the beholder. People werent used to seeing their image, so the photograph provided a difference sense of how we look. It awakened people into a new world. Photographs contain powerful presences present in them it preserves the object which is reason why there are superstitions around throwing away photographs of loved ones, as well as the obsession to photograph and to be photographed. Referring back to Barthes, photograph presents to us a spectral, corporal presence in addition to providing a means of reanimating what is unavailable. It imprisons and captures reality; this is something Barthes tries to burn into our consciousness. One cant possess reality, one can possess (and be possessed by an image) with photographic images one cant possess the present but one can possess the past. They imply instant access to the real to possess the world in the form of images is, to re experience the unreality and remoteness of the real. Pictures communicate as signs and signals, it is clear they have a sort of power to effect human emotions and behavior. Nowadays, we cannot live without photographs they are anywhere and everywhere. The logic of consumption is akin to lust, and therefore it cannot be satisfied because the possibilities of photography are infinite. I believe photography and image-making will continue to inspire and technologies will continue to expand. Presently, we find photography used for narcissistic purposes like surveillance. In an industrial society the camera becomes a spectacle for the masses and as an object of surveillance for rulers. It remains to be a source of great iconography as it is an art for all, which posits photography as universally accessible, and an addition to culture rather than science. Photographs will always and continue to be powerful mechanisms to change things or set things in motion, and it will continue to stand the test of time and document the vestiges of human condition until the end of our existence. 14. Quotation: Walter, B. Little History of Photograph. (1931:PAGE UNKNOWN)