A Turning Point Essay -- Personal Narrative Essay

A Turning Point A melting pot of Asian and European culture, a land of scientific growth and opportunity, and a place grown rich with custom and tradition, Singapore is a country unlike any other. Traveling to Singapore for the Second APEC Youth Science Festival, I encountered an environment where people of different backgrounds come together, a fusion of ideas and insight, and a piece of artwork painted rich with the colors of each individual culture. Upon my return to the United States, I brought with me an enhanced cultural awareness, a greater understanding of the international scientific community, a wealth of knowledge, as well as numerous life-long friendships. The cultural benefits of the APEC Youth Science Festival are innumerable. Having virtually no previous understanding of Asian customs and traditions, I found the various cultural performances educational and truly amazing. A breathtaking musical presentation by Korean drummers and a colorful parade of traditional Indonesian costumes were two of the more memorable performances. Throughout the cultural presentations, I was in awe of the distinct differences that became increasingly apparent between each of the individual Asian cultures. My favorite part of the trip was my overnight stay with a Sri Lankan family. With my family I visited Little India, one of the liveliest districts in Singapore where traditional Indian culture is ... ... New Zealand, I have developed a vast network in just two weeks. Sharing ideas and insight, culture, and new experiences has brought us all together despite our differences. Together we did everything including riding "The Venturer" at the Singapore Science Center, researching Nepal Virus, and traveling on a Night Safari. I am amazed at how much I have learned in two weeks, and I know I will cherish this experience for a lifetime. In the future I hope only to enhance my cultural awareness, work to promote international scientific collaboration, express my appreciation for the vital work done by organizations such as APEC, and stay in close contact with the wonderful friends I made in two amazing weeks overseas.

The Choosing Essay by Liz Lochead

The Choosing Essay Marianne Lavery The poem â€Å"The Choosing† by Liz Lochead deals with problems of growing up and the issue of education through the two central characters, Mary and Liz. This poem is about two young girls called Mary and Liz who grew up together living an ordinary life. They were both intelligent and ambitious. They were best friends for years at primary school until they had the chance to go to secondary school and they went their separate ways to start their new lives. Later on in the poem they meet very unexpectedly on a bus years later. This really does show the reader just how much the two girls have change from primary school. In stanzas 1, 2 and 3 the poet Liz Lochead has emphasized the similarities between the two girls by describing their appearances. They both had the same â€Å"mouse-coloured† hair which suggests they are ordinary. Also they were polite, smart and proud. The poet has used repetition by saying how â€Å"equally proud† they are. This emphasizes the similar attitude the girls had towards their education. Alliteration has also been used. â€Å"Collins’ Children’s Classics†. Stanza 4, describes how their lives took different paths. Mary moved because of cheaper rent somewhere else and Liz stayed where she was, in her hometown where she grew up. Mary’s father had a very bad attitude towards girls’ education and he is also sexist. He didn’t believe in high school education especially for girls or in forking out for uniforms†. Marys family had also financial difficulties according to the poet. The final three stanzas shows that ten years have passed since the two girls went their separate ways but they find their selves sitting in the same bus as each other. However this time as they meet, Mary does not recognise Liz. Mary is sitting next to her husband â€Å"who is tall, curly haired a nd has eyes only for Mary†.

Cause and Effect of Cancer

Cause and effect of global cancer Cancer is a leading cause of death globally. Three-quarter of cancer deaths occur in developingcountries or the third world (WHO, 2010). If current knowledge were put into practice, at least one third of cancer cases could be prevented, another third could be detected early, treated and cured; and suffering could be alleviated through palliative care for patients with advanced cancers. (WHO, 2009) In low- and middle-income countries, cancer overwhelmingly affects the poor. This has huge implications for human suffering, health systems, health budgets and the drive to reduce poverty.There are around 30 million new cases of cancer per year in the world. (Eduardo Cazap , 2011) Attributed to changes in risk factors, such as lifestyle trends associated with economic development and threat of cancer caused by infectious diseases, as well as changes in diet, more and more crowded living conditions and an increase in tobacco use in developing countries. (WHO , 2010)A trend is beginning to emerge in some developing countries. There is less and less physical activity in our daily lives, at work and at home, as well getting from place to place.Cancer has become more and more serious in developing countries or the third world. There arenumerous factors lead to this situation, but there are four main causes: few specialists, equipment, chronic infections and lack of awareness. The first cause is not having enough resource people, such as oncologist, cancer specialists. There are 15 Africa countries do not have possess even a single radiation therapy machine, only 20%of patients survive cancer (Margaret Chan, 2010). The second factor is that we do not have the resources to buy equipment.Such as the lack of radiation therapy machines, without budget available ministries of health. The problem is most severe in sub Saharan Africa, where 80 percent of the continent’s one billion inhabitants live without proper access to basic radiotherapy and related cancer services. (Veronica Riemer, 2010) The third issue is that chronic infections are leading risk factors for cancer in low- and middle-income countries, such as hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Programme on Cancer Control has focused on the needs of developing countries or the third world. WHO-IAEA,2009) IAEA offers unparalleled expertise in radiation medicine, a vital component of cancer diagnosis and treatment. For an agency that received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. Later that year, the IAEA established its Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT) to help expand radiotherapy capacity in developing countries or the third world and build partnerships to deal with the huge disparities that exist in cancer care services. After that, PACT, WHO and other key international cancer organizations have undertaken increasingly productive collaboration, working together to tackle the crisis on a broad, multidisciplinary front. The fourth cause is the lack of awareness about the seriousness of the cancer threat. World Cancer Day on 4 February of each year is to have an opportunity to launch key messages to people (WHO, 2010). WHO is taking significant measures to prevent cancer and other chronic diseases. A key achievement has been the entry into force this past year of the first-ever WHO global health treaty. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is a major step towards the goal of reducing tobacco use, which is the leading preventable cause of cancer.To date, 121 countries have ratified the treaty (WHO, 2006). Despite significant advances in medical science over the last 100 years, cancer remains the main cause of death. In developed countries, a number of factors lead to cancer and different regions have different leading causes. The amount of lung cancer has occupied most of the field of cancer all over the world and increasing rates of mortality are also significant especially in the US and Russia. A number of factors lead to lung cancer and they can be divided into inside and outside factors.Inside factors are about bad lifestyle habits including frequently smoking and alcohol consumption and human internal factors which mean inheriting by families (Konobeevskaia, I. N, et al, 2002). However, occupational factor and air pollution can also lead to lung cancer. People are engaged in radioactive substance such as uranium and radium as well as their derivates such as asbestos and tar asphalt. These do badly harm to body health. Consequently, a growing number of people get lung cancer. In Russian, it has been reported by WHO (2000) that there are 150 000 deaths every year and only 15% survival rates.However, this digital data still does not work efficiently. There is increasing number of people frequently smoking. So, more advanced equipments should be provided by government and higher protection awareness should be developed among general public. The second is Australia that has the highest skin cancer incidence and mortality rates in the world. The reason for this is due in part to the high ambient UV radiation levels, combined with a predominantly susceptible fair-skinned population (WHO, 2010) Especially, Australia nears to the South Pole and ozone hole also enhances the risk.However, Australian are not like other countries people, they enjoy the life full of sunshine and do not have the concept of lessening the time of sunshine It has been reported by WHO (2000) that 1200 people died every year in Australia. The third one is there are less cancer in Japan. According to the data statistics, Japan has lower death rate of cancer compared with other developed countries. (WHO, 2000). This is owing to the advanced equipment provided by government, healthy living habits of people and the high protection awareness among the general public.Nowadays, cancer is considered a calamity in developed, industrialized countries, the situation has chang ed tremendously. Developing countries load over half of the cancer burden (i. e. , those with low- and medium-income economies). To some degree, Human beings ought to improve the awareness, know more professional knowledge about cancer to avoid the spread maximally. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the global health. (i. e. , those with low- and medium-income economies) Nowadays, according to Global Health Council (2011), cancer is regarded as the heaviest burden in developing countries, because there are 7. million people die each year while 4. 8 million deaths happen in poor countries. This is caused by several factors. The first and the most important factor is poverty (International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research, 2011). For example, in some African countries, fewer than 15 percent of cervical and breast cancer patients survive for 5 years because of having no money to pay for the high health care. (G. H. C. 2011). Besides, lack of human resources to provid e health care and lack of resources for managing cancer also makes the â€Å"burden† become heavier and more serious.I. N. C. T. R. (2011) points out that nearly 95% of the world cancer resources are in developed countries, however, only the rest 5% are being used in developing countries. Apart from these two main factors, I. N. C. T. R states that limited government funds for health care expenditure and lack of health care professionals trained in cancer care are the other reasons. Cancer has become the most significant health issue in developing countries, and developed countries, as a most important part of the global health issue, are willing to help developing countries in many ways. Global Health Council, 2010) A global call to action for cancer in developing countries is coming into being, which is led by international agencies, academic institutions, and non-governmental organizations. This action not only needs from the global health community, but also needs form th e local governments to achieve an effective target. The agendum for this action includes increasing necessary access to drugs for treatments and palliation, expansion of coverage for prevention. To push forward this agendum, the Global Task Force on Expanded Access to Cancer Care and Control (GTF.CCC) in developing countries is convened by many famous organizations and institutions, such as the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Global Equity Initiative, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard School of Public Health. The GTF. CCC ‘target is to design cancer drugs which can be affordable by the world, especially developing countries, and develop innovative service that can analyze the expansion of cancer and cancer’s control in low and middle income countries. The GTF. CCC will work with existing initiatives and learn the experiences form pervious organizations which are designed to eliminate and prevent AIDS or other diseases.Furthermore, GTF. CCC calls on wide network of services to devote to the health care for women and children. GTF. CCC also attempts to focus on implementation of public policies to expand coverage of existing vaccines for cancer, as well as early detection and treatment of cancers. There is evidence shows that the future about the GTF. CCC’s work will be successful. It states that much can be done even the low and middle income countries do not equip with the most advanced equipment and technologies.Moreover, successful instances of programmes have been conducted in developing countries which are without specialized and professional services. For example, cervical cancer, this is a significant public health issue among women in South and Central America. Cytology-based screening programmes for cervical cancer have been successful in several countries such as Chile. In Chile, cervical cancer mortality rates were very high before the introduction of the programme. While a recent evaluation of the programme indicated that more than 80 percent of the women who are married have been screened at least once, and the mortality began to declineWith such an awful condition in developing countries, cancer also leads to various kinds of effects developed countries, including economic effects and personal effects, which slows down pace of economic development and brings about a lot of family in trouble. On the one hand, cancer has an enormous financial impact in developed countries, for example, the high costs of cancer care and treatments. In United States, the expenses of cancer care have reached $124 billion in 2010, led by breast cancer. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) predicts that this cost will top $158 billion by 2020.Moreover, to personally, it is difficult to face the skyrocketing cost for a patient who required treated over a long term. Every family with a cancer patient wants to provided the ultramodern medicine which will cost more, and as insurance companies reduced much benefits, reimbursem ents on cancer care have also declined. (Debra Sherman, 2011). On the other hand, the influence about family inherit cannot be ignored. Research demonstrates that the primary cancer site was accurately identified in 83%, and the second and third degree relatives was exactly 67 and 60%. (Richard R.Love  at all, 1984) It is important to encourage clinicians to find more medical records about how a family history of cancer affects clinical management, which could help researchers invent more effective medicine and treatments to against cancer, especially about cancer inherit. Meanwhile, cancer also has significant influence on society, which pushes government to issue public policy. Because the life expectancy is low, especially in poor countries and the death rates from cancer is still really high (see figure 1), cancer has became more and more important issue nowadays, only the efforts of the society are not enough.Consequently, governments started to release more efficient policie s and many public benefit activities are being conducted to help defeat cancer. On the one hand, governments are required to publish new laws, for instance, the EU is responsible for the legislation about how patients are been taken care by researchers to take part in clinical trials. Such legislation is drafted at the EU level and could be used by the governments of each member state. In addition, these laws are passed to make sure that scientific research are promoted and it is really good for cancer patients by a few organizations, such as CANCER RESEARCH UK. cancer research uk, 2011). On the other hand, they are trying to make more social influence. For example, smoking makes a huge burden in Europe, which results in 650,000 deaths each year in Europe. (European commission, 2004). As the leading reason of preventable deaths in Europe, smoking also makes 29% of all deaths in affluent countries. Therefore, a number ofcomprehensive smoke-free laws including indoor workplaces and pu blic places have been carried out in more than a third of EU Member States so far. (Commissionof theEuropean communities, 2009).The Empire State Buildingwas lit up in blue and orange to memorize the World Cancer Day by the American Cancer Society and the UICC, such a method will establish a healthier society. Figure1: Population Measures and Cancer Incidence and Mortality, Estimates Between 2005-2010 Population, Years of Life Expectancy, and Cancer Incidence (C00-97 ex C44) and Mortality (C00-C97) for Regions of the World * All cancers excluding non-melanoma skin cancer. Kaposi sarcoma is included for sub-Saharan Africa countries only. Prepared by Cancer Research UK Original data sources: 1. Ferlay J, Shin HR, Bray F, Forman D, Mathers C and Parkin DM.GLOBOCAN 2008 v1. 2, Cancer Incidence and Mortality Worldwide: IARC CancerBase No. 10. In: IARC, Lyon; 2010. 2. UN. World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision. In: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Populatio n Division; 2009 According to the influence mentioned, treatments are being conducted in developed countries. According to the influence mentioned, treatments are being conducted in developed countries. Experts argue that over 25% of all cancer deaths are generated by unheslthy diets and obesity. Scientist have caculated that unhealthy diets cause from 10 to 30% of cancer mortality in ffluent countries. ( Doll, R. and R. Peto,2003) However, it is believed that cancer can be prevented by changing lifestyle, which means more healthy diet, reduce stress and from sedentary to exercise. In addition to this, a large study came to a conclusion about the connection between behaviours and healthy in 2008. These were: : not smoking; keeping active; moderating how much alcohol you drink; and eating five daily portions of fruit and vegetables. (Peto, J, 2003) Both developing and developed countries are affected by cancer deeply, effects between them are not very same.In poor areas, cancer could conduct more burden than affluent areas, especially influence about economic. Meanwhile, governments in different areas also have different policy about cancer. There is nothing to doubt that all the people and governments should combine to fight with cancer, whatever how hard it is. More financial andtechnologycooperation will be proceed worldwide, in order to solve these serious disease——cancer References: World Health Organization Media Centre Physical activity a key in preventing some cancers. [Online] Available from: http://www. who. int/mediacentre/multimedia/podcasts/2011/cancer_20110207/en/Ngoma, T. , World Health Organization cancer priorities in developing countries. Ann Oncol, 2006. 17 Suppl 8: p. viii9-viii14. World Health Organization Media Centre Improving cancer control in developing countries. [Online] Available from:http://www. who. int/mediacentre/multimedia/podcasts/2010/cancer_20101019/en/ Setse, R. (n. d. ) Cancer in Developing World. Global Healt h Council. [Online] Available from: http://www. globalhealth. org/view_top. php3? id=1056 Global Health Council (2010) Expansion of cancer care and control in countries of low and middle income: a call to action [online] Available from < ttp://www. globalhealth. org/images/pdf/cancer_lancet_2010. pdf> [5 November 2011] Global Health Council (2010) Listening to GHC Members: Report on the Global Health Council’s Cancer Control Learning and Advocacy Initiative [online] Available from <http://www. globalhealth. org/conference_2010/presentations/rtt2_higman. pdf>[5 November 2011] Global Health Council (2011) Poverty's Cancer [online] Available from ;lt; http://www. globalhealth. org/news/article/13306;gt; [5 November 2011] International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research (2011) Cancer in Developing Countries [online] Available from lt;http://www. inctr. org/about-inctr/cancer-in-developing-countries/;gt; [10 November 2011] Cancer research UK (2011) http://info. cancerresearchuk. org/publicpolicy/workingwithgovernment/europe/ Debra Sherman CHICAGO (2011) Cancer costs put treatments out of reach for many http://www. reuters. com/article/2011/06/06/us-cancer-economics-idUSTRE7551YF20110606 Doll, R. and R. Peto, Epidemiology of Cancer. Oxford Textbook of Medicine, ed. D. Warrell, et al. 2003, Oxford: OUP. European Commission, Tobacco or Health in the European Union: Past, Present and Future, Luxembourg, 2004 Richard R. Love ,Alida M.Evans, Denise M. Josten (1984) The accuracy of patient reports of a family history of cancer[Online] Available from: http://www. sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/0021968185900748 Peto, J. , Cancer epidemiology in the last century and the next decade. . Nature, 2003. 411: p. 390-5. PubMed Richard R. Love, Alida M. Evans, Denise M. Josten. Journal of Chronic Diseases Volume 38, Issue 4, 1985, Pages 289-293 U. S. Food and Drug Administration, â€Å"Guidance to Industry and FDA Staff: General Questions and Answe rs on the Ban of Cigarettes that Contain Certain Characterizing Flavors (Edition 2)† December 23, 2009Konobeevskaia,I. N. ;Zaridze,D. G. ;Kaepov,R. S. ;kiseleva,S. M. ;Men’T. Kh;Shain,A. A. ;Shikhman,S. M. ,2002,Smoking:the main cause of high mortality rate among Russian population, Medline/Pubmed,[online] Available from:http://www. shendusou. com/search? q=cview:0apXz06vRO;amp;l=all World Health Organization, Media centre,2010,Sunbeds,tanning and UV exposure, [online] Available from: http://www. who. int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs287/en/index. html World Health Organization,2000,[online] Available from:http://www. who. int/research/en/index. html

Mass Media Impact on Adolescence Essay

People cannot deny the fact that media has been playing a powerful and influential role in the society. All the people are affected by the messages that are being shown on media sources and unconsciously change the values and beliefs that have been presented in the society. Undeniably, media contributes to the messages that develop the environments of the adolescents. Even parents agree that media has a great impact on the lives of adolescents but this opinion always leads to negative perception of adults toward media because of the influence that media conveys to the young generation. The information that is released by the mass media is willingly absorbed by the people. Adolescents are often targeted by this information because of their ability to conform easily to what media has exposed to the society. The vulnerability of adolescents in absorbing the knowledge and information that media has provided for them often leads to both negative and positive impacts not only on the adolescents themselves but also on the community. Because the young adults are the active consumers of the messages that are being portrayed in media sources like television, radio, newspapers and magazines, they have been the target of the information showed on media. Sexuality on Mass Media The sexual contents in media can affect the people not only the adolescents; however adults have been expressing their concern for the young people because of their early exposure to sexual messages. According to surveys, the average teenage viewer sees hundreds of sexual behavior on television a week with portrayals of four times as many sexual activities between married and unmarried couples. Moreover, most of the movies that are being shown on cable networks and videos on music channels contain sexual messages. Some researches also suggest that the sexual messages that are being portrayed on media sources are presented in positive aspects with little discussion of the consequences and potential risks (Gruber and Grube). Media has been influential in transferring information to the viewers. In fact, media is used by the young adults to get information about sexuality. Moreover, teenagers view the people showed by the media as the role models of sexy body and aspire to have the same body size and figure as what they have seen on television or magazine (Brown). Advertisements are created in order to persuade the target consumers to buy a certain product; however the audiences tend to buy not only the product that is being endorsed by the media but also the subliminal content of the advertisement. In other words, media is able to influence the emotional and psychological aspect of the society on the messages that are being conveyed on a certain media source. One television shows for teenagers portrays sexually active individuals openly talking about sexual experiences. The advertising poster of one milk brand shows a half naked woman while being bathed by the product. Physical flirting, kissing, and intercourse are often depicted and implied by the media to which adolescents are greatly exposed as they become matured individuals (Brown et. al). Media and Adolescents The people absorb the messages that media portrays to the society. Apparently, media has been an influential source of information for the people because it is the most accessible way of learning about any aspects in a person’s life. Since adolescents are the active consumers of the information that are being showed by the media, the messages that media offers to the society are largely absorbed by the young cluster of the society. Therefore, media has a great impact on the development of the youth and the construction of the society. Heavy exposure of adolescents to sexual messages of media helps the youth in developing beliefs and perceptions. Since this cluster of the society is extremely exposed to the messages that are being conveyed by the mass media, the effects of the information that media shows to the society will be easily absorbed by the youth. Media frequently shows images with sexual content to the society which young generation takes the largest part of the viewing population. In this aspect, information from media may promote sexual initiation and illusion to the young people. Adolescence is the stage of developing sexual exploration which can be triggered by many factors that are present in the society. In this period, the teenager becomes aware of the sexual behaviors that should be considered appropriate for his or her age. However, despite the idea that many young adults still prefer not to be engaged to sexual activities in a very young age, many teenagers are being affected by the factors of the society that change their views toward sex. In other words, adolescents are easily influenced by the perceptions of other people and conform in the cultural norms (Collins et. al). Teenagers easily follow what they can see on the society by imitating what they have seen others are doing and desiring to be fit on the society. Since media has been portraying sexual images without negative consequences to the teenagers, these people on the complicated stage of life would adopt the behaviors that are portrayed to them. Even though teenagers are aware that what media showed are all products of imagination and created only to attract viewers’ attention, the young adults would still perceive the message as reality and believe to the information that media had provided for them. Although some messages on media shows sexual risks, many teenagers tend to engage to sexual activities because of the media’s lack of emphasis to the consequences that it may bring to the young adults. Surprisingly, the media sources even portray safe sex messages and less discouragement to the viewers. However, most researches show that the programs that teenagers have sexual content. Some of the films and television programs portray characters believing in the idea that having sex would keep the romance alive in the relationship. The others talk about sexual experiences which conveyed encouragement to youth to be engaged to sexual activities. Although most of the media sources depict sex as common, some show patience to wait for the proper time and risk sexual consequences, such as unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. However, those programs still evoke sexual behaviors to viewers despite their resistance to sexual activities. In turn, these scenes mold social perspectives and affect the behavior of the young adults. Sexuality on Media and Consequences to Adolescents One of the impacts of sexuality towards media has been discussed even at the introduction of this study; however several problems still exist that adolescents and society may encounter because of the images portrayed on media sources. Aside from imitating and conforming to the messages that the young adults have learned through media, bigger problems may occur in society because of the constant exposure of images and frequently portraying of subliminal messages. In other words, short exposure of sexual images would bring a lifetime of societal problems. Since adolescence is the period in which a person strives hard to fit in the society, this stage is associated with conflicts and complicated aspects to young adults. Young adults conform to society and imitate the actions that adults do which becomes a constructed reality for them. Sexual content on media leaves a mark to young viewers and construct a new perspectives toward sex. In this aspect, a teenager engages in sexual activities at an early age then tends to pursue intercourse once committed to an intimate relationship. In other words, the young adults may continue to engage in sexual activities once they get involved in relationships with different persons. This idea does not show societal problems in terms of polygamy but poses a rather alarming problem. The risk of having sexually transmitted disease for constant shifting of partners can be one of the bigger problems that may be encountered by the society. Aside from this problem, unplanned and unwanted pregnancy often occurs in the society. A growing number of young people who became parents at a very young age are one of the problems that the society is facing today. Some teenagers are being strong enough to face the consequence of engaging to sexual activities by pursuing the pregnancy and accepting the responsibility of early parenthood. However, some prefer to escape the conflict of unwanted pregnancy and engage in abortion, which leads to another societal problem. If these problems would be viewed in a broader aspect, the adolescents’ sexuality results in an immature way of parenting that would lead to domestic violence to divorces and separation. Apparently, these problems have different factors to look back to; but the causes are oftentimes neglected focusing on the bigger or less important ones. Media is being used by the young adults for daily entertainment which makes them active consumers because of more time that are being spent on media rather than other activities. Moreover, adolescents use media to gain information regarding common issues in developing to become independent individuals and use the information learned in their daily lives. Although media has a purpose for sowing certain messages, adolescents use the messages acquired from media in different manner and purpose (Levesque). Undeniably, media has a great impact on the sexuality of adolescents. The influence of media can be considered as positive because of its ability to teach the youth about sex education and leaving them the choice to conform or negative for showing too much sexuality making youth exposed to unrealistic aspects of the society and giving them courage to conform to the media’s constructed reality. The sexual images that are being shown to young adults are not only a source of information but can predict and picture the future of the world through the social perspectives and sexual behaviors that are being constructed for the young adults. Works Cited Brown, Jane. February 2002. â€Å"Mass Media Influences on Sexuality – Statistical Data Included. † Health Care Industry. 12 December 2008 . Brown, Jane Steele, Jeanne & Walsh Childers. Sexual Teens, Sexual Media: Investigating Media’s Influnce on Adolescent Sexuality. New Jersey: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, 2002. Collins, Rebecca, Phd. Elliot, Marc, PhD. Berry, Sandra, MA. Kanouse, David, PhD. Hunter, Sarah,PhD. & Miu, Angela,MS. Watching Sex on Television Predicts Adolescent Initiation of Sexual Behavior. Pediatrics. 3 September 2004: 280-289. Gruber, Enid & Grube, Joel. 2000. â€Å"Adolescent Sexuality and the Media. † PubMed Central. 12 December 2008 . Levesque, Roger. Sexuality Education: What Adolescents’ Rights Require. New York: Nova Publisher, 2003.

Comparing the Ways

Compare the ways in which Owen powerfully portrays physical and mental consequences of war in the poems ‘Disabled' and ‘Mental Cases' Wilfred Owen's poems ‘Disabled' and ‘Mental Cases' each portray very different aspects of war and its consequences. As their names suggest, ‘Mental Cases' is about the psychological effects war had on soldiers, whereas ‘Disabled' focuses more on the physical consequences of war. However, in both poems the physical and mental costs are all intertwined, and although they describe very different situations, in many ways the poems are alike in their portrayal of the consequences of war overall.The first ways in which we can compare these poems is by their content, language and tone. In the poem ‘Disabled', Owen states the subject's situation in the first line of the poem: â€Å"He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark† this line bluntly highlights to the reader that the subject is disabled, and is obvious ly very handicapped by his injury, because he cannot do anything except ‘waiting for dark'. The narrator the informs the reader of exactly what the man's injuries are, in the same direct style – â€Å"Legless, sewn short at elbow. This emphasizes how starkly and immediately obvious the man's injuries would be to somebody who saw him. In comparison, the poem ‘Mental Cases' starts with the line â€Å"Who are these? Why sit they here in twilight? â€Å"; which is a far less straight forward line, and reflects how little was understood about the mental effects of war at the time. The physical consequences of war are not as prominent in ‘Mental Cases', but they are still mentioned.The most powerful example is when the narrator describes how the shell-shocked soldiers appear: â€Å"their heads wear this hilarious, hideous, awful falseness of set-smiling corpses† and the reader comes to understand that their torment is so great they have lost control of t heir facial muscles. Owen uses the phrase â€Å"their faces wear† to show that their facial expressions are not a true illustration of their feelings, but like a mask covering their thoughts. He then eerily compares their expressions to that of â€Å"set-smiling corpses†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ to perhaps to suggest that these men are almost dead with torment.Another powerful physical description in ‘Mental Cases' is â€Å"their eyeballs shrink tormented – back into their brains† which paints a picture of how gaunt the men's faces are, and how their mental torture is so real to them, that their eyes physically shrink away from the memories. Overall, physical consequences of war provide the central problem for the subject of ‘Disabled', whereas in ‘Mental Cases' the subjects' poor physical condition is because of their mental state. This brings us on to the powerful portrayal of the mental consequences of war in these poems. Mental Cases' is set in an ins titute for mentally damaged soldiers, and starts with a stanza questioning how the men concerned have been reduced to such a state of insanity. One very powerful question which describes the men's mental torment is â€Å"-but what slow panic gouged these chasms round their fretted sockets? † The oxymoron â€Å"slow panic† highlights just how terrible the suffering of the men is as panic is one of the most horrible, alarmed and rushed emotions a person can feel; so to have this feeling drawn out and slow is awful.Owens use of the verb ‘gouged' is also poignant as it is a violent action, so it underlines that these men are the victims of something brutal. Another particularly moving line in the first stanza is â€Å"Ever from hair and through their hands' palms Misery swelters† This statement is very effective at showing how all-consuming their fear and misery is as it metaphorically compares the misery to sweat; which of course comes out of every pore of on e's skin, and the verb â€Å"swelters† is adds to the effect as it conveys the clammy fever which is plaguing the men along with their memories.In comparison to ‘Mental Cases', the poem ‘Disabled' describes less direct mental consequences of war; as the subject of the poem is not suffering from shell-shock, but rather from the loneliness and helplessness which his disability is causing him. Before the war, the subject of the poem was a handsome and popular teenager who was excellent at football, however, his injuries have left him disfigured and completely dependent on others, which leads to a mental torment far subtler but almost as agonising as that of the subjects in ‘Mental Cases' – he spends all his time thinking about the time before the war, and regretting that he signed up.This is the main tragedy behind this poem – the fact that the whole situation could have been prevented if he hadn't. The narrator of the poem recognises this, and ex presses the subject's regret with lines such as â€Å"In the old times, before he threw away his knees†. The use of the phrase â€Å"threw away† shows that the subject does not think that it was worth it – he feels that he lost his limbs for nothing; it was a waste. It also suggests that he blames himself for what happened.Another phrase which is very powerful in conveying the mental consequences of war on the subject of this poem is in the first line; when he is described as sitting and â€Å"waiting for dark†. This shows how he empty his life is, because he has nothing to do but wait for darkness to come, so he can go to bed. The final phrase which powerfully portrays the mental consequences of war is when, describing how the subject was naive when he signed up for the war, the narrator writes â€Å"no fears of Fear came yet. By turning the second ‘fear' into a proper noun, Owen powerfully suggests that there are a multitude of different things e ncompassed in this word for a soldier, and shows how central fear was to soldiers' lives when they were at war. Overall, ‘Mental Cases' shows the most vicious and forceful mental consequences that war could have on a soldier, whereas ‘Disabled' shows an indirect and much more subtle, yet still tormenting psychological impact of war. One thing which the poems have in common concerning the consequences of war, is that it is clear in both that war demanded great sacrifice from the soldiers, and caused great loss for them.This is very powerfully portrayed in ‘Disabled' when the narrator writes â€Å"He's lost his colour very far from here, poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry† these two lines are particularly poignant due to Owens use of the verb â€Å"poured† which emphasizes the excessiveness of the young man's loss of blood. The word â€Å"colour† here could be interpreted to mean the man's happiness and natural blush; which reminds the reader again of how handsome and popular he had been.The final point which makes this line so powerful is the phrase â€Å"till his veins ran dry† which conveys to the reader that the subject gave everything he had to the war – his limbs and with them his successful life -, yet got nothing back. In comparison, the subjects of ‘Mental Cases' lost their minds to the war; because of the unimaginable horrors they experienced. The narrator sums this up in the lines â€Å"Carnage incomparable, and human squander rucked too thick for these men's extrication† this shows that the men experienced too many horrors and too much slaughter for them to endure.Another point which both poems express is that the consequences of war, both physical and mental, are irreversible. This is obvious in ‘Disabled', as there is no way he can get his legs back; but the narrator emphasizes this throughout the poem by using the word ‘never' frequently. For example †Å"Now, he is old; his back will never brace†. By describing the man, who cannot be more than nineteen years old, as old, Owen shows the reader just how much of an effect the war had on the subject, as age is one of the few indisputably irreversible things in life.In comparison, the narrator of ‘ Mental Cases', when describing the soldiers' memories, says â€Å"Wading sloughs of flesh these helpless wander. Treading blood from lungs that had loved laughter† by describing them as ‘helpless' the narrator shows he considers the men beyond help. After all, how can you help someone if the source of all their problems is their own memories? The lines are made particularly powerful as they describe the soldiers remembering when they trod on lungs which â€Å"had loved laughter†.This shows that the soldiers had known and laughed with the men whose lungs they were forced to step on because the ground was covered with so many bodies. Another line where we get th e sense that the shell-shocked men are beyond help is when the narrator says â€Å"on their sense sunlight seems a blood-smear†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ â€Å"Dawn breaks open like a wound that bleeds afresh†: if something as beautiful and pure as sunlight and sunrise reminds these men of blood and wounds, then we feel that nothing will ever calm them, and bring them back to sanity. Another way in which we can compare these poems is by their structure.Most noticeably, ‘Disabled' is considerably longer than ‘Mental Cases'. This reflects how the subject of ‘Disabled' is in a state of thoughtfulness and pondering, whereas the narrator of ‘Mental Cases' is simply explaining the subjects to somebody, and therefore does not spend as much time contemplating. The two poems are similar in structure in the sense that they both fluctuate between past and present, but ‘Disabled' does so far more often than ‘Mental Cases' and this again could reflect the contempla tion of the subject. Finally, ‘Mental Cases' does not rhyme at all, whereas ‘Disabled' has a constant, although not regular, rhyme scheme.The lack of rhyme in ‘Mental Cases' could reflect how harsh the realities of war are, and the raw pain and horror that is shell-shock; perhaps Owen did not want to dampen the brutality of the truth in this piece by smoothing it over with rhymes. The final way in which we can compare how Owen powerfully portrays the consequences of war in these poems is by looking at their tone. The first and last stanza of ‘Disabled' have a melancholy tone, which Owen achieves by using language such as ‘ghastly', ‘saddening, ‘pity' and ‘cold'. He also juxtaposes the words ‘dark' and ‘grey', to create a general tone of gloom.The rest of the stanza's fluctuate between a tone of regret and despair, and one of bittersweet reminiscence, as the subject contemplates the past and present. In comparison, ‘Me ntal Cases' has a brutally honest tone all the way through, although it changes from questioning at the beginning to guilty towards the end. Owen achieves this guilty tone with the line â€Å"Snatching after us who smote them ,brother,† in which the narrator accepts that he and his companion are partly to blame for the tragic ending the men in front of them have, and the word ‘brother' suggests that he feels closer to his companion because of this shared guilt.In conclusion, although each poem powerfully portrays a different kind of consequence that war could have on a soldier, they both seem to agree that the losses the subjects of each poem endured were a great sacrifice to them, and one which is irreversible. Another point which the poems seem to recognize, is that their losses were a mistake – it was not worth it. This is shown in disabled by the subjects regret and in ‘Mental Cases' by the narrators guilt at sending the subjects to war.

El Derecho Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

El Derecho - Essay Example A crane is a bird. Then consider: The crane is used to lift heavy things. The meaning gets twisted depending on the usage. The same is true for El Derecho. In Spanish, as an adverb, the term when translated to English means straight, upright, or directly. Or if used in a sentence, Derechos could mean a straight path, as in â€Å"The children walked straightly to the room† But as a noun, the term is no longer used to describe a direction, but rather it refers to the â€Å"right† of a person. Erichsen, Gerald, a Spanish Language Guide (n.d.), explains that the word, when used as a noun would mean another thing and not specific to direction, but more on the rights of a person such as morals, customs, principles, or according to law. The word can also come in a plural form such as â€Å"derechos†, or derechas. So if one would refer to human rights, it is correct to call it â€Å"derechos humanos† for human rights’. When â€Å"derecha† is used, Er ichsen said it connotes political affinity, such as opposite of the â€Å"left† political party, or ‘right wing’. Vernor Munoz Villalobos, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education (2010) used the term â€Å"derecho humano† on her paper to describe a human right to have an education.(UN General Assembly, New York, 2010) . The word has a clearer meaning when used as an adjective because it is specific such as right, opposite of left, straight or upward or in brief, it gives a specific direction, like â€Å"linea derecha†, that means straight line. In news reporting, El Derecho is used as a super storm prediction and a criterion for severe wind gusts. It is a word coined by the NOAA-NWS-N CEP Storm Prediction Center that describes â€Å"derecho† as a long-lived wind storm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms. This could be related to my above description of the word because of the straight damage direc ted in one direction. Thus the Storm Prediction Center calls it a ‘a straight-line wind damage’ or Derecho (John, Roberts, et. al. 2012). The word Derecho was created by a physics professor in Iowa University in 1888. Reportedly, it was said he chose this term to describe a thunderstorm-induced straight line winds as an analog to tornado. The Center so far has used the word to classify storm according to its behavior and damaging winds. It has also become an important word used in meteorological forecasting. As such, â€Å"derecho’ has been an adapted term for storm news reporting, like D.C. Derecho, Maryland Derecho, Derecho Storm, etc.(Debonis, Mike. 29 June 2012); the Intense storms called Derecho as reported by Accuweather.com, July 2, 2012 (author not mentioned) and a rare Derecho storm reported by Aron Harris of ABC news, July 2, 2012 As to usage to signify a â€Å"right†, the United Nations used the word â€Å"Derecho al Desarollo† to mark t he 25th Anniversary of Declaration to the Right to Development (Naciones Unidas) The usage of the word is limitless and some even used the word to name organizations, title, etc. Take for example, the international partners of Catholic for Choice in Latin America, a Catholic Organization that has named their organization as â€Å"Catolicas por El Derecho a Decidir (CCD) in Latin America†( Catholics for Choice n.d.). I will not discuss here the purpose of the organization since it is beyond the scope of my topic. A Spanish newspaper for European press has adapted the name El Derecho for its publication because it is mainly concerned on the legality and rights of people (El

Computing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Computing - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that the field of computer science deals with the idea of computability theory which looks at mathematical and logical problems by examining their solvability. In essence, it examines if a problem can be positively handled by a logic machine or not. In even simpler terms, computability theory works at the very limits of computing power so while we can expect computers today to be very powerful and complex machines; there are certain limits to the problems they can solve. In certain situations, computability theory suggests that specialized computers might be required for solving specific kinds of problems.   The theory, of course, would depend on our own definition of a computer and how a computer operates depending on its language and coding principles. Computability theory considers various models of computers but the three most popular ones are: Finite State Machine Pushdown Automaton System Turning Machine The Finite State Machine is the most common computer machine model which is available to us. It has also been suggested that this is the only theoretical computer model which is realistically possible and all present computers are based more or less on this machine. This computer has a set of predefined states and methods by which transitions can take place from one state to the other. In certain situations, the computer can accept data while in others it is used to output information of some kind. A common desktop computer can be used as a good example of this machine type.