Water for Elephants Analysis

Water for Elephants Every book has the same basic hero archetype; a protagonist that faces a problem and rises up to save the day. My book was water for elephants and the protagonist was Jacob. He is the main character of the book. He is seen through two different perspectives. He is seen as the ninety something year old in a retirement home and as a 23 year old that makes a life changing decision. The journey starts when Jacob is days away from getting his degree in veterinary science from Cornell University, Jacob learns that his mother and father have been killed in car accident.His life changes as he finds put that his parents were in dept paying his tuition bills and that the bank was going to take away his father’s practice. When Jacob realizes that he is all alone with no home he jumps a train, not knowing were its going. As it turns out that it was a circus train. And his new life begins. The chapters in the book switch through the ninety year old and 20 year old persp ective. On the circus train he meets the love of his life Marlena, a performer in the circus. The two of them share a love for animals and bond over their friendship that evolves into a relationship.The main problem is that Marlena is married with Jacobs’s boss, August. The two of them fight against their love in the beginning, but circumstances bring them together to the point where they cannot deny how much they want to be together. August is a man with a split personality. He is categorized as schizophrenic. When he is in a good mood, August is generous person giving gifts to his favorite people, making them feel appreciated and adored. But when August does not feel good about himself, he is violent. He becomes irrational and paranoid.He is alternately charming and brutal, both to the humans and animals aboard the Benzini Brothers train. He beats up Marlena throughout the book. He is also abusive towards the animals he trains, denying their emotions. At a point in the book when Jacob is tired of the abusive attitude August has, he takes Walter's knife and sneaks out of the stable car. Jacob makes his way through the train to Augusts’ room. Jacob finds August asleep and alone. Jacob wants to kill him but cannot bring himself to do so. Jacob leaves the knife on Augusts’ pillow and sneaks back to his own room.This is the moment Jake almost loses sight of who really is, but he realizes it was the wrong thing and turns away from the bitterness. August eventually gets what he deserves when Queenie, the elephant at the circus that August abuses, kills him. After having an affair with Marlena, Jacob discovers that she is pregnant. The young parents wanting to the best thing for their family try to get away. Uncle Al is another important character. Uncle Al, the violent and abusive owner of the circus, is a symbol more than a character. Al represents â€Å"misguided humanity†.He is only after power and money, he has no heart. He takes adv antage of other people’s misfortune. He is known for redlighting circus workers; having them thrown off the moving circus train in the middle of the night to avoid paying them, in which he hopes that they die or are severely injured. He is an antagonist along with August. I feel kind of bad for August he is the head animal trainer and he was abusive and deserve what he got. But he did have a mental illness he was a  paranoid schizophrenic, so I don’t think that he should be completely blamed for his actions.This fits into the hero archetype because Jacob is the protagonists. He faces protagonist like Uncle Al and August. He is alone at first and he is faced with great loss. He travels with the circus not knowing where he is headed. He stands up to August who abuses Marlena and the animals. He takes care of Jake and protects him from being redlighted when he gets sick with. He is very intelligent and this helps him throughout the book. He faces a quest to stand for wh at he believes in without losing sight of who he really is. He fights for his love and gives Marlena a home.He does the right thing by going back to Cornell to get his degree and give a better life to Marlena. He is the hero because he helps people, stands up for what he believes in and does the right thing. I liked the cyclic ending. The ninety year old Jacob finds his home, at last. He goes to see the circus that’s in town and meets with the manager Charlie. He begs him to accompany the circus by selling tickets. Charlie eventually agrees and Jacob believes he has finally come home. The best years of his life even with the downturns were at the circus where he met his wife. I think this was a peaceful ending to a great book.

Benefits and limitations of airport security scanners Essay

                  The security and welfare of people is very important in a society. In order to ensure that people are secure and safe, some measures may be employed although they may be controversial. The example of airport security scans represents such a circumstance. The full body scanners are used detect objects that are on the body of an individual for security reasons without requiring the individual to remove their clothes or have physical contact with the device. Statistics indicate that as of December 2013 an estimated 740 scanners (full body scanners) these devices were in use at more than 150 airports in the United States (TSA). They are effective in identifying suspicious objects that a person may be carrying. However, there are concerns whether use of the full body actual really is a necessary precaution or a practice that invades the privacy of travelers.                  The devices are effective in detecting suspicious objects that may be concealed including both metallic and non-metallic objects. As opposed to metal detectors which identify objects that are made of metallic materials, the scanners used in airports detect both metal and non-metallic objects. They uncover objects that a physical pat-down would reveal but fail to be identified by a metal detector such as chemical explosives and plastic explosives. The device therefore performs the function of both a metal detector and a physical pat-down in revealing various dangerous devices at airports. People who have sinister motives or who desire to break the law by moving illegal items through airports would therefore not be able to succeed in perpetuating their plans because of the presence of the scanners. The primary objective of the scanners is hence achieved and safety of passengers as well as national security is secured.                   The fact that it performs the duties of both a physical pat-down and a metal detector means that the device facilitates time saving and is cost effective (TSA). Regardless of the high costs incurred in purchasing and installing it, the device would replace two security guards responsible for physical pat-downs (one guard for each gender). The airport using the device would hence save on wages for two people and less time would be consumed compared to the time used during a physical pat-down.                   Physical pat-downs are considered by various people to be intrusive and full body scanners provide a better alternative that is not as intrusive as pat-downs and that is more thorough. However, since they still examine the body of an individual in-depth, they still make people to feel that their privacy has been invaded. In order to further protect the privacy of people undergoing such scans, screeners are located in a different room from the individual where they can view images without exposing the identity of the person undergoing the scan (Tessler). In addition, security officers entering the viewing room are not allowed to enter with mobile phones, cameras or any gadgets that can take images and store or transmit them (Tessler). Still, fears remain that such images may be stored and used in other platforms such as uploading them to the internet. Authorities provide counterarguments such as the assertion that functions that are responsible for storag e or transmission are not active but rather that they are disabled prior to the installation of these devices in airports. This, though, does not overrule the possibility of technicians managing to enable such functions. Furthermore, it is not quite clear the reason behind inclusion of such functions in the device yet they get disabled prior to installation.                The costly nature of full body scanners is a major limitation that raises the costs of startup for people wishing to enter the aviation industry. Much as they are costly, they fail to reveal objects that are hidden in body cavities and are not capable of revealing objects that are of low density. It is therefore apparent that full body scanner despite of the significant popularity they have gained in combating security threats and illegal practices are incapable of combating drug smuggling that is executed through concealment of drugs in body cavities (Tessler).                   Full body scanners create a potential for harassment or embarrassment of specific groups of people. The device can detect medical equipment that may be connected to body parts such as catheters and it may necessitate further examination to confirm the identity of the object detected (Gartner et al). This would embarrass the victim who would feel that they have been singled out because of their medical condition. Transgender people are also susceptible to such embarrassment as the scanners are capable of detecting prosthetics such as testicles and breasts and the need may arise to further examine individuals whose images indicate the presence of both breasts and testicles as one of the two body features may be an improvised tool to conceal weapons, drugs or other illegal objects or objects not allowed through airport security (Gartner et al). Conclusion                   Full body scanners are recommended to improve airport security and only few loopholes are existent like the inability to detect objects in body cavities. Although much criticism has been directed at the devices, much of it is only based on assumptions and not factual information. On the contrary, the benefits of the device are validated by real life examples therefore full body scanners are largely beneficial. References Gartner M., Heyl M., Holstein A. and Thewalt A. What can the ‘naked’ scanner really see? Bild. 22 July 2010. Web. 8 April 2014 Tessler, Joelle. Airport full-body scanners have benefits, and limits. The Denver Post. 31 December 2009. Web. 8 April 2014 Transportation Security Administration, TSA. Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT). 12 February 2014. Web. 8 April 2014 Source document

Forgotten Fire

Forgotten Fire is a fictional book that is based on a true life story of a boy’s life that was destroyed by the Armenian genocide. Adam Bagdasarian the author of Forgotten Fire, uses Vahan Kenderian’s life story to show the disaster that the Armenian Genocide had brought on to this race. Forgotten Fire is about a boy named Vahan Kenderian who grew up in a very affluent family and was very well know. Vahan never expected to have to lose everything he had including his family. His father had always told him that lacked character and that sooner or later he would have to wake up and mature in his ways.He never expected for it to come so soon in the summer of 1950. Vahan had been arrested, malnourished, separated from family, beaten, and had seen his family killed. The Armenian soldiers took his father and then beat up his uncle and shot his older brother. His mother, grandmother, siblings and him were kept in cells without food or water. They were forced to walk miles in a single file line in order to get to the next camp site. They were finally allowed to drink but whoever drank was killed and he witnessed his grandmother die.He ran away from the camp leaving behind his sister and mother only having his brother left. He later lost his brother to malnutrition. He became the slave of an Armenian governor but later ran away only to find a tribe that thought he was deaf and mute. He fell in love with the chief’s daughter and knew that her father was out to kill him. So he ran away to find refuge in a town that was abandon other than a steel worker who helped him into a girls home. The head mistress, Mrs. Fauld, brought him to a doctor’s home who lived on a farm and worked as a slave towards the Germans.He met Seta who was in the house of the German governor. She was later kicked out because she got pregnant, Vahan took Seta in and she had her baby but she died a week after she gave birth. The governor later took the baby boy. Later that ye ar the wife of the doctor died. After she passed Vahan decided to leave so he left to Constantinople. That is where he found peace and place where the war had not touched. In the 1950’s there was a lot of prejudice all over the world. This included turkey although it was to a more extreme extent. The 1950’s was right inthe time of the civil rights movement in America. I was surprised to learn that the Turkish were so brutal with the Armenians they had no respect for them at all they would beat them to a pulp with no regard to them. They considered them as trash they did not look at them as people, they were less than people they had no value what so ever. I learned that many of the genocide happen just because a race does not like a specific race because of what they look like or because of what they have in their cultures or they seem to have the idea that one race is superior to the other.In turkey the Turks ran Armenia they ran the government and the military. Altho ugh most of Armenia had a huge population of Armenians they ran many of the shops in small towns. Up until the Armenian Genocide the people had been somewhat settle about their dislike of each other. They had not brutally beaten one another up just for the fun of it they respected each other until the leader decided to promote the violence against the Armenian nation. I also learned that during the genocide they killed all the boys from the age of sixteen and older because they have the possibility of revolting.They only allowed the women and children to survive because it was easier for the soldiers to overpower them then the men because they were weaker and they tended to cower in fear of them so it was easy to take control once they showed fear. The Armenian culture is very family oriented because of the Armenian Genocide they are very community based they keep themselves within their race like the Hispanic culture they are very family oriented and put family at a very high stake .Armenian enjoy music, dancing, art , and their literature plays a huge role in their race. Over the years many of the stories were passed down this way and are passed down through many generations they have many stories to tell to their families that have been passed from generation to generation. The Armenian culture tries to stay within their race when it comes to marriage they don’t really marry outside of their race The Hispanic culture is loves to dance and to have music playing, hanging out with their whole family.Forgotten Fire is a great book in the way it was written and told. I really liked that they stayed really close to the actual story rather than going on ends trying to make it interesting when they don’t have to because the story is interesting already. It was really cool to see that in real life he was able to reunite with some of his family. He was able to reunite with his uncle I thought it was really cool how they told his end of the story but they also added a twist onto it.The twist really provided hope for the main character allowing you to see that all his trials are over and that all he had gone through is finally done with and he can be at peace where he is at. Although this book was graphic it really helps you understand only slightly what he is going through even though you may never be able to fully comprehend what had happened to him during his life and during that time period they did a really good job on helping you understand how he was feeling. The only thing I didn’t like about the book was how they split it up into sections it made the book to seem to go on for a really long time.

What is the role of a nurse in the prevention and management of Literature review

What is the role of a nurse in the prevention and management of antibiotic associated diarrhoea and clostridium difficle infection in elderly patients - Literature review Example These are diseases that are very threatening in someone’s life and so they need prevention and control especially in elderly patients (Poutanen. and Simor, 2008). According to researchers, Clostridium difficile associated diarrhea is a nosocomial infection that occurs after antimicrobial treatment (Jennie et al, 2001). Affected patients excrete large numbers of clostridium difficile spores. These spores survive for many months in the environment. They cannot be destroyed by hand disinfection and thus persist despite usual environmental cleaning agents. These factors increase the risk of transmission of C. difficile. The researchers (Jennie et al, 2001) did a quantitative study and came up with the results and conclusion to show the part of environmental measures to prevention of AAD and D. Difficile disease. Researchers found out that infection control measures as well as Restrictive antibiotic policies have indicated to reduce Clostridium difficile associated diarrhea (CDAD) incidence among the patients that are hospitalized. It well known that since time memorial, the environmental disinfectants role in reducing nosocomial CDAD rates has no t been studied well. Jennie et al, (2001) conducted a study (before and after intervention) whereby patients in 3 units had to be evaluated in order to ascertain if the solution of unbuffered 1:10 hypochlorite was effective in terms of environmental disinfectant in reducing the CDAD incidence. Basing on the results, it was observed that amongst 4252 patients with bone marrow transplant, the CDAD incidence rate decreased substantially from 8.6 to 3.3 cases per 1000 patients-days (in this case, the hazard ratio was 0.37; at 95% confidence interval, 0.19–0.74) after switching of the disinfectants from quaternary ammonium to 1:10 hypochlorite solution in the patients’ room that had CDAD. When it was reverted later to

Computer literacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Computer literacy - Essay Example These make of computers are expensive and mainly used for specific operations and applications that need huge amount of information and calculations. They are used in weather forecasting among many other places where supercomputers are needed such as nuclear energy research, geological data analysis, and electronic design. Mainframe computers- it is a powerful computer used by several users thus referred to as a multi-user computer. These computers got their names after the small â€Å"minicomputers† emerged in the early 1970s. Today, the mainframe computers are very large. They are very expensive since they can support several hundreds of users at the same time. In different ways, it can be said that mainframe computers exhibit superior characteristics compared to supercomputers since they can support several programs simultaneously. On the other hand, supercomputers have the advantage of executing single programs at a faster rate compared to mainframe computers. Minicomputers- these are midsize computers used for applications. Their main uses includes engineering, desktop publishing, development of software and many other applications that needs moderate amount of power to compute. Personal computers-they first came to existence in 1970s. They are small, inexpensive and designed to be used by individual users. The first types of personal computers to come to the market were the Apple II. Personal computers are categorized depending on size and chassis. The chassis is also referred to as the metal frame, which serves as the structural support for electronic components. Personal computers evolved to a point where small portable computers came to being. There are different types of personal computers including Tower model-in this computer, the mass storage, motherboard and the power supply are on top of one another in a cabinet. This is opposite of what exists in the desktop models where these computer components are in a compact set of box. Tower

Evaluation of Educational Programs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Evaluation of Educational Programs - Essay Example Other schools rule out students from justice system for children so as to avoid educating the students with special needs who could gain from remaining in school if these educators could have recognized the potentials and address their mental, behavioral, emotional, and development needs. Violation of the rights of students under the act of disabled individuals to get free education is an indirect effort to re-segregate schools through ruling out students based on their culture, ethnicity, linguistic traits and disabilities. It is a high time for schools which do not implement the zero reject placement to start adopting this policy. Faulty lies are not in act of disabled individuals but in systems with inadequate capacities and poor administrative skills. The disabled individual act requires all disabled students to be located in their respective district schools and make sure that they get free and suitable public education. Under this law no child should be denied public education irrespective of his or her disability. The state was to satisfy the provision of free education to the students with disabilities, giving them personalized instructions accompanied with proper supporting services allowing the disabled student to gain educationally using the instructions. These services and instruction were to meet educational regulations as provided by the state. They were to be made available at the expense of the public and be closely similar to grade levels applied in normal education. The instructions were to be formulated in agreement with the Act of disabled individual and in case educating a child in a normal classroom, the instructions were to be carefully looked into to allow a child to acquire the average marks and progress from one level to another. Additionally, the cost of educating a highly retarded student was too high because it required a lot of effort and many educational staff members; the population of highly retarded students was very small as c ompared with whole population of students; the educational advancement of the highly retarded students was very slow compared with other students' progress. Therefore, maximizing total satisfaction would fail following the above positions, through provision of special education to highly retarded students. Alternatively, the positions above would advise the usage of special needs funds on educating other children (Turnbull, A., Turnbull, R., & Wehmeyer, 2010). Least selective environment placement The second placement is least selective environment: this is where the disabled students should be taught by the non disabled students and should gain access to curriculum. The classrooms which contain both the non disabled and the disabled students should provide appropriate and useful environment for students who have disabilities. Moreover, normal students should know that the incapacitated learners are worthy individuals in the classrooms. It is evident that if the disabled students ar e involved in typical education, they can develop and learn more. A particular student with disability may be ignored from the typical curriculum due to the degree of his or her disability; the act of disabled individuals enables the student to get services whether from outside or inside the typical education. The educators' lack of capacity and will are the two things that limit them from following this principle. The act of individuals who have disabil

Using Power and Influence to Get a Promotion Research Paper

Using Power and Influence to Get a Promotion - Research Paper Example Case in point is a person who has been working as a fiber optic network technician for the past 13 years in the organization and feels ready and qualified to take the next step into a management role. Having the requisite work experience, background, education and passion, it does not make sense why the person has not been promoted yet. An interview reveals: â€Å"My education has given me the tools & skills to work as an effective manager. Given the company’s organizational structure it is very difficult to move up without relocating, but not impossible. Relocating is not an option for me. The company typically will not allow someone to supervise current peers†. This case shows an instance in the organization where a qualified person is facing a ceiling towards their steady career progression, with no obvious means at their disposal to help the situation. This raises the question of whether it is possible to utilize power and influence within the organization to get the promotion without having to relocate. Despite having appropriate work experience and education in the field to be able to take on a management role at the company, a person is overlooked for promotion based on the inability of the person to relocate. Without the option of relocating, there are very limited chances of getting a promotion. Is it possible to use power and influence to get a promotion in the company without relocating? Having power and influence in an organization means having access to more information, having control and influence over peers and subordinates and having a say in the decision making process. This power wielding can be done formally or informally. Therefore, power is in a way a product of ability and willingness to control other persons, important information and ‘instrumentalities’ (Mechanic 1962). To attain power, one must not only have the knowledge and the deep

What Is Federalism Examples How Federalism Has Evolved From Its Essay

What Is Federalism Examples How Federalism Has Evolved From Its Origins To The American Political System - Essay Example This period marked a significant development from the older structure since, unlike dual federalism, cooperative federalism had been capable of promoting a kind of federalism that could nurture accomplishments brought about by the presence of harmonious relationship and communication between the governing bodies. Former attempts to restrict allocation of powers were replaced by political attitudes that exhibited willingness to complete a fair share of tasks or duties and to recognize each other’s rights within the federal system. Through this phase, federalism managed to have remedied in part socio-economic problems through the authorization of the national income tax which further addressed the need to sustain the grant-in-aid system (Greene). Out of the cooperative federalism evolved yet another form called ‘contemporary federalism’ which took effect from 1970 until 1997. This phase was found to bear unpleasant inconsistencies in the federal governance due to is sues on federal regulations, increasing lack of funds for federal mandates, and especially worsening disputes over matters that involved determination of the nature and substance of federalism. Apparently, as exemplified in the phases that depict the manner by which federalism evolved, no one form or structure seemed to have stabilized the American federal system which to this day remains a controversial open-ended subject of arguments. (2) Examine three to five (3-5) factors that have allowed the concept of federalism to shape American political behavior. I -- The desire for the process of unification to respond to the unsettled concerns of those who had been declared free by virtue of independence from the British rule: Even after the Declaration of Independence, the American citizenry...The nation, however, observed and felt a great deal of inadequacies in the Articles of Confederation that it sought to nullify the latter and instead, draft a new Constitution that would make poss ible the existence of a federal government whose set of formal authorities ought to be shared within a setting that consists of a national government and a state government. While this system of governance is well identified with the principle of federalism, the governmental structure at the time was not bound to be the same over the course of U.S. history. Eventually, such federalism would be subject to undergo phases of development that had led to the current political weather of the American society and economy as a whole. As one instance of evolution, back in the span between 1789 and 1901, the original state of federalism turned into what had become known as ‘dual federalism’ whereby the states and their people fervently agreed on granting the central government a limited range of explicitly enumerated powers. For one, the complexities of grounds or situations occurring in either state or national affairs upon which policies are made and regulated account for a factor which determines how the interaction between the states and the U.S. federal government must proceed.

Marketing of Centac-200 Compressors Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Marketing of Centac-200 Compressors - Essay Example This has resulted in a cost-benefit matrix, covering sizes and types. Capital costs, life expectancy, installation costs, operation and maintenance costs have come to play a significant role in product marketing, customers being knowledgeable and demanding. The new Centac-200 compressors of Ingersoll-Rand (IR) are meant for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) / direct customer applications. Â  In B2B sales effort for new products, while deciding on the channel(s) of distribution, one needs to analyze the existing marketing operations, demand analysis, and buyer behavior, product segmentation, targeting, positioning, and services marketing. The decision-making process of the potential buyers, their needs and the supplier’s own expectation from the product, are also to be taken into account. At the same time, a supplier like IR has also to sustain the loyalty of the existing distributors, who may feel threatened by the new product impacting their sales, in their own territory. Â  Air compressors are industrial products with a ‘consumer twist’ in the lowest range. IR marketed the smallest compressors (under 5 hp) through its merchandising manager (MM) who in turn appointed manufacturer’s representatives for sales through well-known retail chain stores. Â  Rest of the products are marketed through three channels namely, direct sales force, independent distributors, and company-owned ‘air-centers’. Since the independent distributors also handled competitors’ products, IR followed the policy of direct marketing for the higher range and newer products. The rationale for the direct sale of large size or newer model machines is justified by the buyer behavior.

Refraction of Light Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Refraction of Light - Research Paper Example Refraction refers to the property by which light bends when it travels from rarer to a denser or from a denser to a rarer medium. If a ray of light is travelling from a denser to a rarer medium, say from glass to air it bends away from the normal. If the ray of light travels from a rarer to a denser medium, it bends towards the normal. The phenomenon of refraction of light is governed by laws known as Laws of Refraction. When a ray of light traverses from one medium to another, the direction and the angle by which it bends is determined by these laws. The first law of refraction states that the incident ray, the refracted ray and the normal all lie in the same plane (Walker et al, 2010) The second law is prime factor for determining the direction of the refracted ray. This law is popularly known as Snell’s law. According the this law the direction of the refracted ray depends on the ratio of speed of light in the two mediums. Light travels with different speeds in different mediums. Most materials have refractive indices of their own which primarily depends on the wavelength of light. The refractive index of any material is given by the ratio of the speed of light travelling of light in that medium by the speed of light travelling in vacuum. Optically dense medium are those that have a high refractive index while those materials whose refractive indices are almost near to 1 are known as optically rare media (Haynes, 2014) When light travels from a medium of higher refractive index to a medium of lower refractive index, the path taken by the light rays is dependent on the angle of incidence. If the angle of incidence exceeds beyond a certain value the refracted ray does not travel to another medium but in fact returns back into the same medium. This phenomenon is known as total internal reflection and the angle of incidence is known as the critical angle. Critical angle is also known as the limit angle and is defined as the angle